morriconelover comments

A friend from Kyoto told me that the reason that some restaurants are doing it is to give the image that they are now open and in business. And as i am now in Kyoto i noticed that only the more old style traditional restaurants are doing it every day. Appearently it is a custom from old days. A signal that they are now open for business. Quite possibly from the days when people didnt have a watch.

Probably the same pleasure people in ancient Rome got from watching gladiator games. Only difference is that some gladiators volunteered for their career.

@wakarimasen. Times are changing. It was on request from 180.000 signatures gathered that the legislature was proposed for changing the law. Without change in societies, we would still have slaves and homosexuals would be forbidden. Talking about tradition, then tradition is something that changes all the time. So i find it amusing when people talk about tradition. For example looking at sakura (cherry blossoms) was centuries ago just a thing that the ruling class in Japan did. It was never something that commoners would spend their time doing. Now everyone is amazed by how Japanese watching Sakura is. The same with many western traditions. What people did 500 or 100 years ago as compared to today is often two different worlds. The majority of young people in Spain obviously believes that bullfighting is outdated and they may be more concerned about the wellbeing of the animal than to consider bullfighting a tradition that deserves to be treasured. Wake up and smell the change. Also you dont see samurais in the street in Japan practising their swords on burakumin people anymore.

@galileolover Maybe because there is Yuzu in it???;)

All over the world the laws have been changed in response to anti-terrorist laws. The few times i have been to internet cafes in Japan in 2007 i still had to sign up by writing a registration document. Dont think i had to show personal ID, but i still had to provide the information which was contained in my personal ID anyway. And several countries in europe now are also changing laws for example for buying a cell phone or sim card now so you have to register your ID or social security code when buying a subscription. Unfortunately its extremely few real criminals who are gonna get caught this way, and instead the bureaucratic burden is gonna get bigger.

Dont see the connection between Sakai and the school. Two totally different matters. Besides, it is most likely that around 50 percent of students at Copenhagen University have done some kind of mild drugs like smoking weed, but no matter what would happen to any former student, celebrity or not, then it would be unthinkable to link a person with that persons school. At least in northern europe.

Interesting to see how many commentators here are in favor of beating and physical assault. Since it is illegal, then there isnt so much to discuss actually. But a complaint could be made to the bus driver and he should have gone and told the boy to move. Vigilante justice for something as stupid as a bus seat is not acceptable. They teenager boy may or may not have been a punk, but it is actually not illegal to stay seated even though its a priority seat. And in generel in Japan, many young and middleaged people do sit on the priority seats. Many elderly people even refuse to be given a seat when i offer them one cause many are in excellent health and dont want to seem weak.

@Yuriotani. Have you even been to South Korea? Recently i took a trip there and yes i am aware of the political bashing between South Korea and Japan, but most people i met there were really interested in a positive way about japanese people and japanese culture, and many even speak simple japanese. So try and learn more about South Korea instead of just reading the newspapers.

Besides Avatar, then all the other stuff labeled a 3D movie has essentially been made in 2D and then modified, so it never really made sense to make a big fuzz about the 3D thing yet. The big production companies saw that Avatar was a big hit and they had to cash in on it. Im sure things might be different in 5-10 years, but its simply too early to really talk about 3D being successfull.

@lovausa There is a spice measure scale calle SCOVILLE SCALE. Look it up on wikipedia. It also lists how spicy different are, for example how spicy a jalapeno is compared to the pepper used in pepper sprays.

The second story seemed so strangely put together that i didnt really understood what it was about.

The horse race scene from "BEN HUR" starring Charlton Heston. I get a kick out of it every time i see it.

Also the ending of the original 1960ties "Planet of the apes" is filmed in a way i would label as spectacular. At least memorable.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_film

@Honestdictator: As i mentioned, watch some of the old 70ties and 80ties stuff from Japan when we talk about Nikkatsu or Ping eigas. Many of the movies belong more in the art house department because of the style of directing and not as porn. Please see some of the movies before just talking without having seen any of them. Many of the movies from back then are shown as film retrospectives in art cinemas across europe and New York and do have a big cult following. Its actually as far away from "porn" that you can get considering that the target audience is supposed to be people who want to see "Porn".

@Paulinusa: I was mainly pointing out how the output was from the industry in the 70ties and 80ties. I did say that the genre faded out into cheaper production from end 80ties, and whats left is more close to hardcore and cheap productions that doesnt have the style or the talent among directors making these movies today. You need to check out some of the old stuff.

Most people commenting here appearently know nothing about japanese film history. Many of the Pink eiga and Nikkatsus roman porno movies were genre movies with high production values and were often filmed by very talented movie directors. Some movies are more subtle than others, but i can assure people that these movies have a lot to offer. The genre really lost a lot in the 80ties because of changing times and a different film industry. The sex shown or concealed in these movies often dont overshadow the stories present in these movies. The movies may not be Kurosawa or Ozu, but definitely are worth watching for people interested in good genre cinema.

Even though i have been surprised at some japanese vending machines, then the weirdest vending machine concept i have seen so far was at my workplace here in Copenhagen, Denmark, where the management bought an instant spaghetti with tomato sauce vending machine. The spaghetti was supposed to cook for 90 seconds, and then a sauce bag should come out separately. Sometimes the pasta didnt cool well enough at all, and sometimes the sauce bag didnt come out. Lousy machine that only lasted a few months.

At last the US is being a bit progressive now. Its about time.

Does anyone actually get a word on FOX if they are not a role model conservative rightwinger?

Molenir, So european health care system which is universal, has really good standards, cost much less than the american system, should be bad? appearently its a myth in the US that universal health care can actually work.

Always back and forward between the redshirts and yellowshirts. This is gonna be a long divide in the population. If the thai king dies, the problems will only get bigger. The population in the countryside are mainly on the redshirt-fraction side, and people in Bangkok mainly on the yellowshirt side with the current government.

the US, a country made up of immigrants...are keeping immigrants out. Hilarious. The majority of the illegal immigrants are people taking the shit jobs that most americans wont take. Only a big strengthening of latin american economy can really help this problems. But at least the millions of illegal immigrants who are in fear of being deported, and who are already having a job, should be helped into a better life.

Marushka. Have you missed something about working hours and stress in Japan??..Its normal for many salarymen and public officials to work around 14 hours a day, sometimes even working saturday/sunday. It doesnt mean that they earn more money because of working 14 hours instead of 8 hours. But it is expected that you work hard.

@Architrex. You havent seen any big variety of documentaries then... Try watching something made by Errol Morris, or check out nominated documentaries from different years, there are a lot of great documentaries made. I will definitely see THE COVE at some point.

I will agree with most posts here that it does seem to be hard to make close friends among japanese. I personally have a handful of japanese friends who i consider as pretty close, but these few exceptions are japanese people who have lived abroad and thus they have been more open to getting to know other people. I do have a good deal of japanese acquaintances, and maybe just one or two of these could evolve into a life long friendship.

But its also difficult to generalize. Not all japanese are too stressed of work or too busy to make friends, many are also shy and feel socially awkward getting emotionally deep. I do know some really interesting people though, and most of them dont seem to lack friends.

As many people already wrote, there are no simple answers. Lack of discipline is not a universal reason. In Scandinavian countries education is 10 times more relaxed than Japan and very few students do homework in elementary and high school, and university classes are not so demanding, but in generel there is a high level of common knowledge among even teenagers about many subjects around in the world. But i also feel its difficult to generalize about Japan. Many of my japanese friends are university students, and maybe i just met the right people, but the japanese i have met are pretty knowledgeable about a lot of things. I have gotten the feeling though that many japanese are more focused on a special interest and have chosen not to focus on stuff outside of their interest. I have met japanese who knew a lot of things about small subjects like european fusion jazz music and about underground movies and so on and so on, but at the same time they were not really aware that Thailand produce rice. For me it was like hearing that danish people would be unaware that Russia produces Vodka. And most people do know that here. But Japan is also a nation where a lot of young people are paying a lot of attention to their social life with other young people, and pressure to be accepted by others and finding boy/girlfriends and fitting in could maybe mean that no priority is given for basic knowledge. The school system raises you with the idea that YOU MUST know this and that, but only for passing a grade. It doesnt seem like students are being stimulated into really wanting to be curious/hungry after knowledge outside of their own hobbies.

@netrek. Japanese train geeks is a powerful militant sect, didnt you know that? hehe.

Actually there is a really tasty japanese relatively healthy donut brand called HARADONUTS. They have a shop in Kyoto and it has become my favourite donuts now. Many interesting flavors to choose from. Sure Krispy Kreme is delicious stuff, but i prefer Haradonuts.

Its funny for us in scandinavia to hear about these crazy news about how difficult it is to get a health reform through. Obama is considered a right wing liberal according to european standards, but still many conservative right wing americans have the idea that the Health reform is some kind of evil socialist thing. Fact is still that existing american health care system is extremely expensive compared to the system that exists in europe. Too bad the republicans obviousy have no interest in improving the basic needs of their own population.

the director of THE SIXTH SENSE repeated himself too often, as he also did that same type of surprise ending in movies like "Unbreakable", "Signs" and "The village".

Other good movies with surprise ending: Mad detective (hong kong movie from 2007: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0969269/ )

Profondo Rosso (Deep Red) by Dario Argento.