NAM comments

It is actually her singing in the Christmas song that John and her wrote together. She can sing nicely when she wants to, it was just that horrible cat screeching they were both into during their musical experimental period that everyone remembers, unfortunately.

But yeah, I prefer her art to the music. The wish trees seem very Japanese to me, like when you get the fortunes and hang them up at the temples/shrines here. I'd like to go to this exhibit, pity it's not touring.

This is a genuine question, I'm not trying to be rude or insensitive. If you were miserable in the shelter, what is to stop people from renting a 1 room in a neighboring prefecture, if they had the funds obviously. I mean, I know some people don't have enough savings for renting a room, but if you did, wouldn't it be better? Do people want to stay there to help with the clean up and stuff? Be close in case there is some news of family? But I feel they have found all the survivors by now. I mean, I feel I would try to rebuild my life close by rather than stay in a center without food, water, privacy, etc. I don't understand why they wouldn't just go away for a little while and try to focus on getting their life back together. If anyone has some ideas, please enlighten me.

There is no need for any type of card holding with translated words on them.

My son met ignorant prejudice when changing over from international schooling to the Japanese system but somehow managed to achieve a TOEIC score of 900 and fluency in both languages.

There’s nothing to fear especially

If most of the children are Vietnamese or partly Vietnamese, they will most likely not speak Japanese with each other. So, their Japanese level will be lower than other kids, and will have a hard time when they enter grade school. Especially understanding what the teacher wants them to do and the content of the lessons.

Your son might have a language learning aptitude, not everyone is so blessed. You can't assume everyone will be so fast and easy to adapt like him.

In general, I agree with everyone that this preschool is commendable and it's wonderful that they are going the extra mile for the kids. This country is not known for its flexibility, so it's really great to see it.

Oh man, this is going to be so popular with the over 60 Japanese crowd! I can't believe no one thought of this before, genius marketing move.

I doubt younger crowd will buy this, but as the over 60 population in Japan continues to increase, stuff like this is going to fly off the shelves.

Dating married people will always, always, always lead to drama. From my friends who have done it, they have all been at times deeply miserable. I would recommend to single people to not waste your time with people cheating on spouses and tell them to deal with the problems in their marriage before dating others.

Although it wasn't mentioned in the article, the tiny deer on Yakushima are absolutely precious. They're not used to humans, so don't run from us. I have wonderful memories of hiking there, and looking over to see deer munching on leaves. The monkeys there were also pretty chill (for monkeys).

As others are saying, they want cheap laborers because most of those jobs are unappealing to Japanese workers. They avoid 3K jobs (kitanai, kitsui, kiken) so they need people from developing countries. If they job isn't like that, they want the most Japanesey foreigners available- business level Japanese, willing to work overtime constantly, never asks for vacation, etc.

If this is really a trend online in Japan, it is very troubling. I can think of a few ulterior motives for spreading this idea.

In order to downplay Japan's own atrocities during WW2. As in, if we can see the good in even them, then we were not so bad in comparison.

In order to justify terrible actions by focusing on miniscule positive effects.

It's very scary that young adults might believe this garbage. I think as for causes it has to do with the lack of honest WW2 history lessons in school and lack of critical thinking skills / skepticism. This can also be attributed to an education system which values students following rules and doing what they're told rather than creating thinking citizens. I really hope this trend decreases.

I like how this article goes deep into details of her crazy personal life, and nothing about her work- what did she actually do or write that was interesting. (Sarcasim)

They have less a birthrate problem, and more a social skills and free time problem. Lots of people I meet have wanted to have kids, but they never found the right person. And they hardly date, because they're working all the time. Then they are exhausted, and never have time to ask people out, go on dates, etc. Everyone here is running on empty, so to speak. They also want some ideal situation in which to bring kids into, whereas there never really is an ideal time! There's always going to be some reason to delay having kids, until it is too late.

I don't see the baby problem getting solved until the work culture changes. There is no reason to regularly stay at the office past 6pm.

This article is making it sound like there is nothing to be done about this problem, when a solution is very very easy. All these factories have a bathroom, right? Just write in Japanese about what to do if you're pregnant-your rights, the helpline you can call etc., put it into a translation software, then ask one of the Vietnamese workers to check it for mistakes. Print it, hang it up, and done. Also mention some people they can talk to if they're scared of management.

The solution to this problem would take like an hour.

If they want to preserve the "charm" and esthetic beauty of Kyoto, first and foremost they need to start burying some of those powerlines! They are so much more of a constant blight on the skyline than any 10 meters of building would be, imho

Or they could start running direct busses to their major tourist traps from Kyoto Station. They could still do the one-day pass, but just put all the tourists on separate busses that go directly to those places. Stupid

First, they should put a cap on how many parttime/contract workers a company can have. For example, 1% of total employees.

Second, they need to ban jukus and let's teens date and have free time to develop their social skills.

Third, no more unpaid over time, strictly enforced by fines to the company and/or jail.

Fourth, childbirth should be completely cover by the health insurance. No more of these complicated subsidies and paperwork.

Last, under 20 years old is completely free healthcare for necessary reasons (not like cosmetic surgery)

OK, my dream is over lol

What's for dinner tonight in Japan? Gotta be Trout lol

All kidding aside, what a great game and amazing plays left and right. Well done all!

Seriously, people can get upset about anything. They chose one of the lightest skinned black women too, and people are still whining. My fictional character is a slightly shade darker than usual, wah wah wah. Honestly these people are ridiculous. But I guess racists are always going to be like that.

Anyways, if they also did like an underwater African Atlantis, that would be a really fun movie too. Like Wakanda but underwater

I found this a very interesting article, instead of relying on tired old stereotypes of who does what/who evolved to do what, and personal anecdotes, there might be an actual psychological reason behind it. I'm sure everyone knows a man who is better at homework than a woman, or a woman who provides more money to the household than the man, or vice versa. Also, in gay households, are the chores and childcare more evenly distributed? Are there still imbalances? I would like to see more research on this.

Personally, I believe some people are trained well from an early age to clean up with attention to detail, while others are not. Then they marry each other and make each other crazy lol.

If you have that much extra money to burn and such need to special, I too will put ice cream in a bowl for you and tell you you're pretty.

As they say, a fool and their money are soon parted.

@kabukilover, a lot of the Ukrainian men are staying to fight, so most of the people leaving are women and children. This is usually, but not always, the case for refugees.

I agree with everyone saying that the guarantor system is garbage and really easy for creeps to exploit. I feel bad for the Ukrainians! Imagine the powerlessness, I hope the Russian army leaves soon and the refugees can go reunite with their families. Pray for peace.

I hope they lock him up and throw away the key. My deepest sympathy for all his victims, I hope this will help them find some peace.

I think it's important to let gifted kids develop and dive into their interests, but it is really hard to make sure they still interact and develop socially too. My sister is having problems with her son in that sense- he's in JHS and taking university level maths, but has almost no friends at school. The pandemic didn't help things either in that regard. I hope he doesn't grow up smart but lonely. I think a lot of gifted kids face this problem of balancing their intellect and social skills.

My go-to sweetener will always be honey. It's good for your throat, supports the pollinating bees, and tastes great. Never understood why people mess around with all those weird aftertaste giving chemical sweetners.

Imho, if you are young and trying to decide how to choose a partner, love is most important. Also, work ethic. If someone is willing to work hard, even if they start out poor, eventually they will get a decent job- not saying it's the secret to being rich, but will lead to an ok life. Even if a person is born rich, if they aren't willing to work hard, they most likely will lose their money. And if someone is willing to work hard, they may understand it's important to work hard in the relationship in terms of communication and figuring out problems etc. Not that a relationship should be hard work, but that a willingness to work hard at something even if it's tricky will teach a skill set that is valuable in a relationship. Just my 2 cents.

This would be so fun with a group of friends! What a great thing to do in your 20s, I hope they target that market.

If someone praises you on the skill of speaking the language of a country you've spent a great part of your life in, isn't the implication that they think non-Japanese are too stupid to learn the language and you should be glad for being praised on a skill you take for granted at this point? Afaik, Japanese friends I've met in the UK never got praised on their English because it's understood you speak the language of your resident country and implying otherwise is condescending

Or is it that because most Japanese have seriously studied English for 10+years, and have never attained a comfortable level of fluency (mostly through no fault of their own), so that they are genuinely impressed if someone can speak Japanese well. Not to mention knowing first-hand what a beast kanji is to learn. And, as I said before, they're just trying to be nice and not implying anything by it. People will really try to be offended by anything to feel special.

Imo, most people are just awkwardly trying to be nice or start a conversation. When someone makes a comment about my nose or big eyes, I usually say something about how I think smaller noses are cuter and it's easier to wear glasses with them, or something to that extent. Then talk about, well I guess everyone wants what they don't have lol. Or compliment their straight black hair. Or lack of body hair. Or whatever it is to compliment back. This sometimes makes them uncomfortable, but that isn't my intention. I'm just trying to say something nice back.

People need to chill out about well-intentioned compliments, even if it comes off a little awkward. I much prefer it to people making rude comments, like gaijin stink or all Americans are fat etc.

100,000$ a year for that!? Seriously!? I am in the wrong business lol

I think it's fine for now, but a near 20 year age difference will feel bigger when she is 50 and he is near 70. Who knows though, love is love. I wish them happiness and health. Always liked his acting in movies.

Can really see this story becoming a TV movie. Lots of overacting and drama! Imagine if he actually turns his life around.

There is no way to solve the birthrate crisis without solving the overwork crisis. People who routinely work until 8pm or later do not have time or energy to make or take care of babies and then kids.