morriconelover comments

wow, i actually have the manga "Saint young men". That one is pretty popular in Japan. Last summer a japanese friend recommended it to me:-)

Just a reminder that every religion have the possibility to et violent and authoritarian. Around asia there are many buddhist extremists linked with nationalist movements. with the air to limit the inflences of other religions. In Sri Lanka buddhist monks have for decades supported the tough Sri Lankan military and suppressed Tamils from being integrated in Sri Lankan society and keeping them from gaining simple citizen rights. So the tamils decided to fight against the state. The talibans in Afghanistan were a harsh regime that brutalised the country, but do remember that the forces that rules Afghanistan before Taliban were also involved with brutalising the country, and it was because of the chaos Afghanistan was in, that Bin Laden and the talibans were able to come into power. If people want to see an interesting documentary about the past and present state about the statues, then try to find a documentary made by the german documentarist Christian Frei. I saw it at the Copenhagen documentary festival some years back, and is worth seeing.

About the burgers. I cant really take anyone serious who would call MCDonalds or Wendys a good place to eat burgers.

@tmarie. Want english speaking staff?...Go to america then. I dont really think it makes sense to judge a place by an article. this isnt even a food review, but just a short interview.

Mcdonalds is pure shit. Burger King is somewhat better. Living in Copenhagen though means that most cafes have their own signature burger. Most cafe burgers here are around 2000 yen, but thats Denmark for you. I think i would like to try that Setagaya burger. I have been several times to Kua Aina, which i like, and can eat Mos Burger also, although i dont think theyre that good. I think people are being way too negative here. Why the hell should the guy use Kobe beef??...That would make the burgers crazily expensive. And the people who think that western food in Japan is crap...well, try to go to places that actually serve good food instead of being cheap. I have eaten at french, american....you name it places in Japan. There are good as well as bad places. But how is it possible to make bad american food?...American food can hardly be called fine cuisine.

About the name issue. There have been and still are many controversial issues regarding it, especially regarding the zainichi (korean minority in Japan) communities. Many of the koreans have been reluctant throughout the decades to change into a japanized name in fear of losing a part of their korean identity. Of course this problem goes way back to the colonization days from before and after second world war. But today tensions are fewer, and the name law is not so strict anymore. But some citizens rights groups in Japan will still argue that there is a form of discrimination inherent in this issue.

I can understand giving people a fine, but getting arrested?...Its even laughable for japanese standards. So should the guy have been peeing in his pants instead? But then again, i come from Denmark where you can pretty much urinate everywhere. But when you have to go...you have to go. Law of nature overrules any other law.

@Badsey. Sure it could be fun and interesting to have England, Denmark and Sweden as the next wine producing nations, but also consider that is small island nations like Fiji gets flooded because of global warming, or natural disasters destroy livelihoods of many people, then we have a totally different problem with refugees and such. And many countries already have hard restrictions on accepting refugees

Whether the scientists are right or wrong, if there is a manmade global warming or not, or if its still gonna be big business interests that are dictating things, its still important to actually get things done that is good for environment. Fact is, that most of the politicians are supported by industrial capitalists, but besides that, there are also many consumer groups and environmentalist groups and NGOs that are working on getting different agendas through.

And as a citizen of Copenhagen, im delighted to see how many different groups are in town. Through couchsurfing.org i even receive loads of requests from individuals attending the climate conference, or just people who want to make a difference. Even if the results from the conference might be limited, its a joy to see that people take an active interest in this.

"Beneath the planet of the apes" where the world actually gets destroyed in the end. Its the second installment of the original movies series. I am not fan of the mediocre Tim Burton remake of the original one.

"Kairo" (Pulse) by japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa also has a kind of end of the world feeling to it. Great horror movie.

tkoind2: Remember this goes on all over the world. And you cant really judge "evil" from a picture. Besides, i dont believe in the concept of evil. The thing is that it can all be explained in psychological terms. It is proven that most psychopaths had a mental disorder or disfunction in the brain that under the wrong conditions would enable them to become killers or abusive. It doesnt mean that these murderers and crazies should not be locked away, but your idea of how the world in put together is just too easy to shoot down.

This is a common phenomenon. Many women in the US and also in europe are writing to guys in prisons who are serving lifetime and death sentences for murder. Some people are just fascinated and attracted to psychos. Here in Denmark the most wellknown murderer Peter Lundin who murdered his mother, his girlfriend and her two children recently got married to such a naive woman who had correspnded with him. Appearently they got a divorce soon after, guess she came to her senses.

I dont give a dime for people posting about how they would do themselves to get a criminal caught. Pretty much most countries in the world a criminal can be on the loose for many years or never get caught. No matter if its Japan, USA, or europe. There have been loads of cases in the US where crime suspects were not apprehended for years, and being smart about why Ichihashi could be on the loose for two years is just a poor way of trying to be a home sofa cop. Try joining the police force instead.

I once bought 10 burgers at a Burger King in Sweden. That should be in the news also. It cost me 15 dollars.

He knows his way around making stylish movies. He draws a lot of inspiration from especially 60ties and 70ties b-movies, so its a joy finding out how he makes new things out of old movies. He has never made a bad movie. Many critics may he has never made anything original. Well, why should he?...And in many ways, the movies he makes are pretty original reinterpretations to the old movies he love. "Death proof" has a lot of the sensibility you find in exactly those same movies that were made in the "rape and revenge" genre back in the 70ties. Sure lots of Tarantino is food for film geeks like me, but in general he is highly entertaining. And the fact that he is full of himself doesnt make any difference. Its the movies that is the end product, not the interview he gives. Anyway, most people in the movie business mostly dont have anything interesting to say anyway.

Whale sushi is tasty in some good sushi places. But i would still support a real ban on whaling. It sounds like a pretty crappy evasion of Hatoyama" to just say he dislikes the taste. Poor rhetorics. He should either say he is pro or against. of course politically he knows that being pro means getting in trouble with international community, but maybe even more important by being against whaling he will have problems with groups in Japan. Also many restaurants and supermarkets sell whale meat. I even have a can of whale meat pieces as a souvenir i bought in Japan.

@lutfreak. Your reasoning sucks. The girl was 6 years old. Children doesnt have an understanding of adult sexuality and the mother sold them for a market where the buyers must have been paedophiles. This is way beyond just using the term "pornography".

There are sooooooooooo many types of bars that caters to people with different services. If the dead girl might have specialized in "aggessive" service, then it sounds likely that she might have ended up with a costumer following her home and went over the edge. I have once spoken to a japanese prostitute myself who started her work in a "Kyabakura", and it is the reality that many young women that start a job in a kyabakura later on in life continue in a more seedy place. There are actually a few good books and reports out about the subject. So there is more to it often than just "drinking and talking" in many cases. But it depends on the clab and depends on the girl.

Actually in some japanese media the story has been reported that the boyfriend of the friend arrived to the crime scene before the friend, and that he should reportedly have been discovering what was going on. At least thats what my japanese friend said, and she said it sounded suspiciously as if the boyfriend might have been involved. But this is just second hand knowledge, i havent read those articles myself.

China again trying to show its political muscles.

Reminds me of one of Kurosawas early movies "Nora Inu" (Stray dog) where Toshiro Mifune plays a cop who goes undercover in 50ties seedy Tokyo to get back his police gun who got stolen.

Republicans are made up of a lot of different voting groups. Actually in 1964, many republicans voted with democrat president Lyndon B. Johnson for the civil rights laws.

The republicans are still scary though.

This doesnt exactly increase his chances of getting a girlfriend.

@anydaynow. Funniest remarks i read today. For a moment i actually thought someone should be as fascist as really meaning this. Hilarious.

Karzai should never have been put as president.

Will be looking forward to seeing it. Tran Anh Hung is a great director, "Cyclo" is really a beautiful film, and "the scent of green papaya" also an astonishing movie.

What stupid things people do. Fortunately the woman is ok. Could have been deadly.

This genre actually sells well in the dvd business. You would be surprised how many people would buy these movies. And in a way its more surprising to hear how "disgusted" people are about these movies. The cinema and literature have for decades/centuries been exploring the borderland of human nature. Hollywood and non-hollywood movies have for decades churned out movies that were shocking for their time, and there is absolutely nothing new about "Grotesque". If people have seen "Hostel" or "Saw", or many of the groundbreaking movies from the 60ties/70ties then there is nothing new here, people.

@Peeping Tom. Not true when you say that only EU or Nordic passport are the only ones eligeble for voting in Scandinavia. My mom is a thai citizen with thai passport with danish residence permit and have always been allowed to vote for local elections these last 30 years. And so is the case with several others i know.

There seems to be no real intellectual argument for or against why foreigners should be allowed to vote or not. Its all about taking part in society. Voting is indeed a privilege.

In Denmark and Sweden, foreigners can vote for local elections, but not for parliament elections. if foreigners participate in the daily routines in a society, then dont see why they shouldnt be allowed to vote. Voting means participating in society. Anyway, just because youre a native citizen, doesnt mean that you understand political elections better or worse than a foreigner.