Japan Today

naturalboke comments

Posted in: Man arrested for starting forest fire after barbecue in Hyogo See in context

He sounds like he was being a bit lazy. There are plenty of places to safely dispose of BBQ waste in Japan. Fire is a big problem in Japan especially in the summer. I hope this guy is suitably embarrassed by what he did.

We had a local man do something similar here(Japan), while burning his fields (illegal here) he accidentally set fire to two houses. The following year the man was burning his fields again (still illegal) and it began to spread to a neighbors property. He panicked and in his attempt to stop it spreading ended up setting himself on fire and killing himself. Let's hope this guy is smarter.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Posted in: 'Hysterical' man removed from hotel in restraints; dies later See in context

Japanese news often refers to any kind of stimulants (including cocaine and methamphetamine) purely as stimulants when reporting stories like this. It hasn't been released yet but I am guessing that what will be later announced. The idea is to scare people off drugs of any kind but in my personal opinion more education would be helpful. I think the dealers often tell the buyers "Oh, that stuff people die from on the news is the other stimulant not this one!". The only drugs I know of that appear brown in color are heroin and amphetamines and I can't imagine heroin causing this kind of reaction.

2 ( +7 / -5 )

Posted in: U.S. indicts Kadena base worker for sex with under-age girl See in context

According to the department of justice website he has been arrested on charges of sexual abuse plus creating/ being in possession of child pornography. http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2014/May/14-crm-495.htmlThe indecent happened on base and therefore is covered by American law not Japanese. All charges are allegations at the moment but as he has admitted to making the video on his phone he will likely be charged with at least the child pornography charges. Their ages were relatively close but he was still the senior and as he worked in a role that carries some authority/ respect he should have behaved as such.

It is nice to see that the U.S military has stuck with there zero tolerance approach for misconduct on bases. Let's hope this incident has not damaged the girl too much, mentally or physically.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Posted in: Woman phones fiance, asks him to call police, before going missing See in context

Japanese news is reporting that the reason the phone cut off was because the fiance stepped into an elevator after he got the call. Probably a panic decision and a real shame. It seems unlikely that the fiance did it as he would have had to have someone else answer his phone in a completely different place. The position of both phones at the time of the call were logged. The place where she made the call is under a bridge with plenty of places for someone to hide especially at night. Our best hope is that she was kidnapped or phoned for another reason and she is still alive.

Its not always the jilted lover and its common practice to call your boyfriend if someone is following you. People generally don't call the police until they are absolutely sure they are in real danger. She probably thought making a call was enough to put off her possible pursuer.

I really hope she turns up safe.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Posted in: Aichi man arrested for threatening Nagoya boy who committed suicide See in context

I think it's attempted because he probably received no payment. I feel really sorry that no one got a chance to intervene and stop this getting to this stage.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Posted in: Teacher tapes up mouth of girl, 7, to stop her spreading germs See in context

Why is this not in the 'Crime' section. This is obviously some level of child abuse.

-6 ( +2 / -8 )

Posted in: Father of TV 'talent' Rola put on int'l wanted list for fraud See in context

She shouldn't held accountable for another person's actions even if they were her fathers as long as she was never aware of what he was up to. For 23 I think she does remarkably well on TV, some people may not like her TV persona but she is a great vessel for one line puns that often help to diffuse sometimes awkward moments on TV. She seems to be quite a talented cook to boot.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

Posted in: U.S. petty officer charged with two counts of molestation in Kanagawa See in context

I wasn't in any way implying that the military's importance here excuses them for their actions, quite the opposite. I am implying that they deserve to be highlighted as they are meant to be setting an example to other Americans living in Japan.

I compared the military to the foreign residents of Japan because its a much fairer comparison than trying to compare them with the general populous of Japan. Initially just in the size of the sample the number of troops and foreign residents are measured in thousands whereas the whole population in measured in millions.

RE: Point 1/2) The military shouldn't need to be kept on base to behave themselves their not wild dogs. They need stricter discipline and penalties.

My two cents if they mean anything are that these crimes tend to happen more with military than with non-military foreigners is that for some members of the armed forces view Japan is just another place to be shipped out too and don't really have an interest or any real respect for the culture or society. As opposed to people who come here because they have a real interest in Japan.

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

Posted in: Man throws himself, ex-girlfriend into path of oncoming train See in context

Dammit the alignment on that got all messed up just read it boy, girl, boy, girl and it should make sense.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Posted in: Man throws himself, ex-girlfriend into path of oncoming train See in context

"I love you so much that I tried to throw us in front of a train! I must really love you, right?!" "Yeah, I guess you really do love me but......" "We should totally get back together!" "But the trying to kill me thing......" "Oh don't worry about that, now we are back together I will never need to kill you again!" "I guess that makes sense......" "See we're all fine now! Just as long as you never leave me.....................or touch my stuff."

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: U.S. petty officer charged with two counts of molestation in Kanagawa See in context

@CrazedinJapan You seem to missing a major point here and that is the role of military in Japan. The Military are here as representatives of their country and as protectors of Japan under the military agreement the countries share. You are completely right that lots of sexual offenses are committed by the general population of Japan but don't forget they are just, that the general populous every single different type of person Japan has to offer. The military however is meant to be assembled by of America's finest young men and women who have and have pledged to protect America's interests both at home and abroad. They proclaim to be highly trained which includes training in interacting with the people of foreign countries in a diplomatic and fair way. Let us not forget if a crisis hits the military may be called upon to police the general populous. They are meant to have been trained to be able to make the right moral decision when things get tough. Instances like this dishearten the general public of Japan who have been assured by your government that these bases around Japan are in Japan's interest to allow to be established and run.

There are a lot of sexually related crimes in Japan that don't get highlighted but JT is not highlighting them anymore than they are the sexually related crimes of the general populous in America. The fact is that both are just not relevant. The defense of the Japanese are doing it too and nobody cares just doesn't stick. No crime of this nature is acceptable at any time, no excuses! Even if everyone in Japan was molesting each other it doesn't give anyone the right to join in. You don't seem to be so keen to compare the military to the thousands of non-military foreigners living in Japan who on the whole are doing a lot better job of keeping themselves out of trouble than the military is.

My Japanese friends in Okinawa say they feel utterly emancipated by the American military there because whenever trouble occurs which involves the people of both nations both the Japanese police and the Military police get involved complicating matters no end and resulting in most problems taking months to resolve most often with the Japanese police allowing the military to punish the Americans involved themselves. I have only anecdotal evidence for this but even so is this the way America's finest should make the locals feel?

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Posted in: Boy, 11, brings gun to class in Utah See in context

@Superlib- A background check? For an eleven year old? What kind of information do you think they could possibly find on a child? That he has been trolling some of his friends on Facebook? The simple fact of the matter is you can't tell who is going to snap/ 切れる. The only thing we can do is take away the means to kill so many people at once. People snap here in Japan and although it is equally horrific there are always a lot less fatalities.

We had the exact same thing happen in Scotland (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunblane_school_massacre) so we outlawed rifles and handguns leaving only shotguns for farm use. (Snap and load only) You know how many shootings there has been in the 16 years since then? You guessed it ZERO! America come on! How can you look at the pictures of those poor children and still justify to yourself the need for guns?

6 ( +6 / -0 )

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