miru comments

*The army is EVEN reportedly considering allowing recruits with tattoos / dismayed to find themselves doing military tasks / no one expects an actual armed conflict*

Reading this article makes me LOL. With such an obsolete approach from above and public sentiment on the ground this is only natural for SDF becoming a hot-spot for sekuhara, shooting accidents, etc. All in the victim of a joke costing over USD60bln of taxpayers' money...

Absolutely logical step by Russian government. Also this quote made by Japan's chief cabinet secretary is quite funny: "Japan would demand that Russia engages in the annual talks..." LOL, realistically it is rather beg or beseech or sweet-talk or at least ask for permission.

There is a saying: one that steals honey should beware of the sting.

I guess one should understand that Japan Inc acting like this (eg. punishing Russia one hand and asking for energy on the other) make it being at the mercy of Russia thanks to its own short-sighted politicians. Imagine in the coming winter Russia cuts its energy supplies to Japan due to the sanctions which Japan has imposed on Russia, who to thank then?

Japan Inc is yet and again displaying absence of any sort of moral principles, no dignity, zero sense of rightness.

On one hand pulling out Toyota, Nissan, Bridgestone, Uniqlo, illegally freezing Russian assets in Japan, shouting about the unattainable islands, stinging Russia off and on. At the other end of scale, begging Russian government to allow to stay within Sakhalin 1 and 2 projects, asking for more LNG and oil deliveries and paying top dollar for that. Do you have any guts or pride at all Mr. Japan Inc?

What a blatant hypocrisy from the one not amounting a hill of beans. Look at France actions exerting considerable influence in its former colonies in Sub-Saharan Africa, Indochina... French colonial empire lost everything and now mentally suffering from phantom limb pains vehemently accusing Russia of wrongdoings.

Brilliant example of hypocrisy at the highest level. On one hand blaming Russia for all i'ts worth, imposing sanctions, freezing assets, etc. and on the other hand asking MiMi to ask Russian government to keep their stajes in Sakhalin 2 project and keep paying for the gas. Well done! Good example is the best sermon for the younger generation and future politicians, lol.

Naive in the extreme!

Japan Inc. want to have it both ways. Impose sanctions on one hand and still keep receiving competitive (read cheap) LNG.

J Gov. should prepare plan B to avoid rolling blackouts and reliable story to citizens.

Should visit Nakasu area soon to see how many of them would be available there at a night time...

In in Nagahama in Shiga Prefecture??? LOL and wonder if any Russian/Belorussian tourists ever stayed overnight there before...

It is very simple.

Japanese government/METI cannot afford to let Mitsui/Mitsubishi to exit from Sakhalin-2 project. Otherwise domestic electricity and gas bills will sky rocket, also facing real risk of rolling blackouts across the country. If this happens Kishida and ruling party will be wiped out by the anger of the commoners and opposition party.

Typical hypocrite behavior.

Sanctions game is a lose-lose game for both sides. Japan has no natural resources but cash, Russia vice-versa.

For instance, it is not only Japan who is hungry for palladium and neon. There are other big consumers of this rare earth metals, Taiwan, South, Korea, China, etc. At a time of semiconductor shortage competition for these rare items is going to be fierce.

Besides this article did not mention many other items imported from Russia such seafood (crab, salmon, etc), timber, precious gems, etc.

Rather than following the crowd, Japan again and again losing momentum to gain and become stronger. Too bad!

If and when Russian LNG supplies to Japan halts, which I personally don't think happen, certainly it might become serious challenge for Japan to resolve. City gas and electricity prices will certainly soar. Besides and with all my sympathy to the people of Hiroshima, they might struggle the most as they use special LNG ship to deliver LNG to Hatsukaichi LNG terminal and there are very few plants worldwide which could cater for such a small LNG vessel. Perhaps preparing for settlement in Russian rubles could be an intermediate solution if that would be condition for continued supplies.

All of these could have been avoided should Japanese government moderated its actions against Russia though...

Is there any luxury Japanese car, can anyone name it? I mean Lexus, Infinity or Acura are just a bit more expensive than just mass market Toyota or Nissan, but pretty far from being called luxury...

Mitsuoka? Maybe. But how many of those are being exported to Russia.

Ban on second hand junk cars could have been much more serious blow, but apparently this is what is being called "minimizing the negative impact on Japanese companies' earnings"...

IOC and Thomas Bach is a complete joke and a travesty over the athletes who put their lives on the edge to achieve results and make happy sport lovers all over the world. Thomas Bach has been in IOC VP and President roles for over 20 years by now, longer than so much blamed Putin, and is a totally corrupt bureaucrat who's only ambition is to stay (make money) as the head of IOC as long as possible.

IOC is in need of a complete reorganization otherwise we can forget about the Olympic principles and the interest to the Games will diminish over the short period of time.

Japanese Government should be very careful in this Russia bullying game.

Fact is Russia has done nothing directly harming Japan since after waging a war with Ukraine. Plus Ukraine is thousands miles away from Japan. Same time Japan had already imposed numerous one way sanctions (SWIFT, auto-industry, illegally seizing assets, now most favored nations ban, etc.) on to Russia, which mostly common Russian people will start to suffer from.

Russia now has all the liberty to impose counter-sanctions on Japan which would make not less severe blow to Japanese ordinary people when they would find theirs electricity bills sky-rocketing to the moon, if not blackouts in some areas.

It's sad, but reality is that it doesn't really matter whether commoners agree or disagree. Japan Inc will follow its government "informal" instructions which (J government) in turn will follow its suzerains' orders from Washington DC.

Following standard Korean practice, I wonder now how many years of prison term leaving president Moon will get?

Following standard Korean practice, I wonder now how many years of prison term leaving president Lee will get?

The dog (West) may bark, but the caravan (Putin) moves on.

Japanese government had no way but to introduce its own sanctions as part of the G-7’s collective action against Russia. Same time, Japan is not keen shooting its own feet and thus introduced such laughable set of sanctions. The wolves are full and the sheep are whole.

History repeats itself. 1962 Cuban missile crisis is the mirror case. Back then Soviet rockets were placed in the uncle Sam's backyard. These days NATO came all the way to Russian borders with all its mighty modern armament. Russia is naturally concerned just like JFK was back in the days, speaking of whom, he completely ignored Cuba being an independent country which had concluded bilateral agreement with USSR. So why so angry about Putin being concerned and acting to contain NATO's subscriber growth. Any other state which has a privilege on independent foreign policy would have reacted the same way. Problem is there are very few left however...

Just a show to justify US$54bln military budget and keep it increasing year by year. Uncle Sam must be very happy about this.

Seriously, it is Japan as a state who has territorial disputes with all of its neighbors over Kuril islands, Dokdo, Diaoyu and not Russia, China, Korea. Hearing statements like possibility of "pre-emptive strikes" makes me think that either WW2 lesson wasn't learned well enough by Japan establishment or ruling cycles being a mere muppet in the hands of US Dep of Defence, which in both cases quite despicable.

Another thing is that cute SDF on its own won't stand a single chance in a modern warfare neither against China nor Russia.

Great example of Japanese-Russian collaboration. Thing is, when it not politicised, when it's on a individual level both sides mutually benefit from cooperation with each other. Go Maezawa - Go Roscosmos!

Reading through the comments, it's quite amusing to see how Japanese propaganda works. Poor politicians being hostages of territorial dispute over Northern territories have no guts to get over this issue and forego it for good. Instead military agenda is being played over and over again all over across its borders (Northern territories, Senkaku and Takeshima) like it was about 150 years ago. Just look at numbers and content of Japan annual military budget, despite of Article 9 of Constitution of Japan it's just whopping US$50bln (almost on a par with Russia) as if the country prepares for war. The crowd is being brainwashed too, perhaps this is the only way for political establishment to hold to its power and .