Mizuame comments

Nearby Zojoji is almost as famous - the first tree planted in Japan by a (former) American President - Ulysses S. Grant in 1879.

Rules to promote to Yokozuna must be stricter. Kakuryu was not qualified.

He was qualified and he won six tournaments. Who out of all the current wrestlers (excluding Hakuho) looks like winning six tournaments?

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga had asked Mori if there was either a younger or a female candidate to succeed, but Mori recommended Kawabuchi

Hello, Mori, is there someone inside that head of yours?

Bet you Kawabuchi would have reliably looked after the spare money.

 'Autumn' would have cleared up any ambiguity.

It's now summer (January 23) where I'm writing from.

Is he qualified ???

The logic behind the choice (and a previous such ex-Ambassadorial choice on the Supreme Court) is that the Court is too narrow if all the Justices have a rather narrow Japanese background, and there needs to be a Justice who has a good understanding of international norms, and experience of interaction between Japan and the international community. This seems reasonable in an increasingly internationalized Japan, and could influence decisions such as on divorced child custody and access, for example.

Japanese media including NHK 6am and 7am television news this morning omitted the word "nonresident", i.e. giving the impression that all foreigners are banned.

I am currently living in Australia in a city which has not had a single locally transmitted coronavirus case for several months. The other day my wife, who is Japanese, developed a cough. She visited the doctor who there and then extracted a PCR test kit (for free) from his fridge, and of course, there was soon a negative result. It's a pity that Hata was not able to receive a similar standard of care.

Speaking from experience here, I was able to enter Haneda from LAX in October. I am happy to say that the process was quick and efficient. There was a pcr test for international arrival, and it only took 30 min to get the result..

But a negative test on arrival doesn't guarantee that you are negative. In Australia there is three stage testing - on arrival, after 5 days, and at the end of the 14 days quarantine.

Having lived here nearly 25 years I remember when change was always put in the tray. I am not sure exactly when this changed.

Bet you the shop attendant was a Nepalese or Sri Lankan not automatically accustomed to using the tray. Which perhaps will suggest something about the complainant...

The cashier can touch the money to put it the tray but can not put it into the customer’s hand. Just think about that for a second or two. It is the same thing!

Indeed!

It seems her father, the Crown Prince, basically doesn't like the candidate for the groom. Is the unspoken message here that the wedding would place a cloud over the Crown Prince's family, and therefore strengthen the case for the Emperor's daughter Princess Aiko to eventually take the throne?

"Popular" doesn't quite seem like the right word. Maybe next year Okinawa will be the popular spot for them.

Something is the matter with the implementation of government in China despite its much vaunted bureaucracy. Sort of self-fed overconfidence that it is the center of the world and it can't give a damn about what is logical from experience elsewhere. Compare China's overall reaction to the coming of foreigners in the 19th century to that of Japan, or Siam. Compare the success of China's installation of democratic government after ousting the Emperors in 1911 with the history in most 20th century countries. Compare China in the period October 1949-1978 (family cooking pots were melted down to "improve" steel production, CCP factions fought each other and even killed each other, millions were sent to re-education camps) with the recoveries of equally impoverished 1945 Japan, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan province, or with the later successful economic policies of one-of-a-kind "capitalist roader" Deng Xiao-ping... And it continues.

P.S. Why on earth does China militarize islands in the South China Sea? Such islands become a considerable military burden for the PLA, will be the first thing to be easily attacked in case of war, will represent a loss of face for the then Chinese leadership, and thereby will become a source of Chinese internal stability...

A group-centric society vs the nail that sticks out!

The big problem with this panel of experts was that its views were deliberately hidden by the government. Unlike other panels of experts, no formal record was made, a point which infuriated the opposition parties in the Diet. Also evidence is just emerging that those summaries of views that were produced were deliberately edited and weakened by the government before release, to fit in more with government policy.

Until they find a body or he confesses there is a big likelihood that he will walk away from France a free man after his trial!

Circumstantial evidence has been strong enough for both French and Chilean prosecutors to take it this far, although both countries are acting under pressure from Japan.

A group-centered culture is more susceptible to bullying. And as even Seiji Ozawa points out, the nail that stands out tends to get hammered down.

I feel that as a whole nation, Japan has handled this situation appallingly.

But Japan's coronavirus numbers, per capita, are far better than any other industrialized country. And the economy is working perhaps more than in other countries.

I suspect the real reason for this is the Olympics. This decision creates an international image of Abe being in control, decisive and extra cautious. It will inherently strengthen Japan's decision to continue with the Olympics and Paralympics preparation schedule..

In my experience, being able to send and receive emails in Japanese is indispensable. Although you will you always have leeway for mis-steps because you are a gaijin, not upsetting anyone is also very important.

It's amazing how this relatively minor aspect of the Ghosn Affair - just how he managed to escape Japan - is being given such airplay in Japan, probably with government pushing via the Kisha Clubs. Yes, he was hidden when he passed through the immigation barrier, we all know that. Why waste time on it? This was news a few days ago, but not now.

The bigger issues are the evident corruption in Nissan, the willingness of the Prosecutor's Office to take this on with little apparent evidence, the prosecution and incarceration of Ghosn and Kelly but not other Nissan executives, the unbelievably unfair conditions by international standards faced by Ghosn while he awaited prosecution at some undetermined date (2021 onwards?), and the presumption of guilt, with the added implication that this was because he was a foreigner, who happened to force rationalization in a traditional company.

The biggest issue of all of course is Japan's slow movement toward true internationalization and the people at the cutting face who get hurt...oh, and how Ghosn is leading the way...looking forward reading the transcript of his press conference and seeing how Japanese media will (deliberately) miss the salient points.

Some international reporting (WSJ) is suggesting that Ghosn would accept a trial conducted in Lebanon, if Japan agrees. This is common practice between countries that do not have extradition agreements and Japan has accepted this before. This would be a good way for Ghosn to prove his innocence on the original charges, and he would be in a much stronger position against the prosecution, with better access to evidence and a greater possibility of being judged more fairly. Nissan and the Japanese prosecutor's office could come out badly, and Ghosn could even be declared not guilty, something the Japanese government would be forced to accept. Of course, if there are new charges on the illegal departure from Japan, he would likely be found guilty on such charges, but this is a more minor matter.

Look like a continuing fight between executives appointed from outside who favor the alliance with Renault and Nissan traditionalists who grew up in Nissan and don't want Renault.

One limitation of the study is that the results in the Korean population might not represent what would occur with people from other countries or different racial and ethnic groups, the study team notes.

People familiar with Japan will know this argument!

The way seiza is written in Japanese - 'correct seating' (正座) - almost seems to imply that this is the only correct way to sit.

Abe is sure to mention Tokyo War Crimes dissenting judge Radhabinod Pal of India who held that every one of the accused should be found "not guilty".

The most important thing, above all, is that he face justice in a court of law, before victims and relatives of victims. The doctors are working towards that end.

Genomic medicine is an area where the application of computer algorithms will be very effective and could produce good outcomes. A company like Fujitsu is well suited to such work which is appropriate to Japan's national goal of eliminating cancer.

The fact that moral education makes up a huge part of the initial learning for children in Elementary school yet something as simple as respecting a woman is overlooked shows a huge problem in the system.

If that's true it's close to giving the reverse message - respecting the opposite sex is not a moral requirement.

She was to have a major role in the Sunday night drama on NHK next year. An arrest for admitted possession of one little tablet of MDMA will finish that. Someone (her yakuza boss?) was out to get revenge.

When we were in Japan in May there were no small bottles of shampoo, etc. in any of the hotels we stayed in. Just huge containers of something cheap - but then we don't stay in Hyatts. Budget hotels are more our style.

My wife and I have stayed in budget hotels throughout Japan roughly 70 times this year. There are no small bottles. The large push-bottle type containers of shampoo, rinse and face/body soap in the majority of cases were manufactured by Pola, an upper market brand.