nikkeiboy comments

If my math is right, 49.1 billion yen is around $450 million. That is a ridiculous amount to pay for a sport that most people won't be watching. I'm pretty sure there won't be too much use after 2020. Ticket prices will so high that no one can afford to go to the events.

I watched the match and was disappointed how it ended. I'm a fan, but Nishikori basically gave up the last couple of games and was not chasing down balls as he usually does. I don't know if it was injury or fatigue, but he had no fight and deserves some of the boos that he got during the last couple of points. The foreign commentators suggested an injury, but so far I haven't heard anything. My two teenage boys called "tanking".

I use the same parking lot 3-4 times a month. It's underground and after paying you come up a spiral ramp to stop sign. You are forced to make a u-turn which would have you facing the Zara store that was crashed into. I have a hard time believing falling asleep at the wheel as he was most likely in his car for less than 5 minutes and you have to make it up the narrow spiral ramp even to get to the exit. He would have most likely crashed on the ramp. He probably mistook the gas pedal for the brake or hit the gas pedal to hard in the u-turn and lost control. Anyway, a very crowded area of Ikebukuro so it's fortunate that there weren't more casualities.

I would have to say Oden. The fact that it sits out in the open and anyone can sneeze or cough on it is not a good thought.

My company imports 80% of our goods so costs have gone up by nearly 50% over two years. We've raised prices but have lost lots of distribution due to retailers pushing back and consumers moving to cheaper products. So we're forced to cut costs and people just to stay afloat. That makes it difficult to raise wages. How about the government cut costs and wasted spending then lower taxes.

If it is a super hero, my first choice is Ultraman.

Speed Racer would be a cool addition, but not sure if he is classified as a "super hero".

It could be strict parents. She probably comes from a well off family since most public elementary schools don't have uniforms.

I wouldn't say this is common, but it does pop in the news once a while. I have heard of guys that might have a fetish cutting girls skirts on the train and cutting the hair of napping girls. Usually they do it a couple of times and get caught.

where can one see pictures of the before and after?

The guy made it 2.5 kms away without anyone saying anything. To be honest, I'm not sure if I would have intervened unless I specifically heard the girl say she was being kidnapped. Otherwise I might have just expected a child not happy that dad didn't buy her something at the store.

Next time I go to China I need to remember to pack some diapers to sell.

Actually in HK they have limits on the numbers of cans of formula that mainland tourists can purchase. The formula is actually kept behind the counters.

Export seems like the smart thing to do, but everything is heavily regulated. Not an easy country to do business in. However, I have heard they are starting up free-trade zones in Shanghai where consumers can by imported goods that don't need to pass all they local regulations.

It's all about making money. The confectioners and retailers rack up the sales during christmas, valentines, and white day. They market it as much as they can and now it's popular. I always wonder what they do with all the candy that is not sold as I rarely see it go on sale.

The amount of money seems reasonable for high school students. It's pretty amazing that someone can go through 80 bags without anyone noticing anything.

From a consumer standpoint a stronger yen is better. When the yen was below 90 there were many retail shops holding sales because of the strong yen. Even if products are made in Japan, a bulk of the raw materials are imported. The weak yen only supports the large corporations that have revenues overseas. When the money is repatriated back to Japan they get a boost to earnings which may help their stock price or which only the wealthy hold stock. Products that are exported again come from raw materials that need to be imported. So in the end the only ones benefiting from a weak yen are the large corporations and wealthy Japanese stock holders. The average consumer loses.

I also thought immigration while reading this article. I don't think the gates need to be freely open, but there needs to be consideration into bringing in immigrants that are willing to work hard in developing the rural areas. I look at many of the farming communities in the western USA and these communities were started by immigrants. People that were willing to build these communities up and thankful for the land that the owned. Unfortunately I don't see that mentality in the young generation of Japan. Free land would also be a big incentive. Give someone some land to farm which will bring them stable income and you will have many more people interested.

But, increase tax for luxurious goods, it's dumb that a Luis Vuitton is taxed the same rate as a pack of natto.

Most luxurious goods are taxed in the form of import tariffs, but an additional tax might not make a big difference in demand. A person that can afford to buy a LV bag will probably be willing to pay an additional 5-10% in tax.

I think we will still see economy retract, unless we see the yen strengthen again. Large Japanese corporations get the gains from the weaker yen, but are not necessarily raising salaries or creating new jobs. Sales are still sluggish so their poor performance is just being masked by the weaker yen.

A stronger yen reduces costs for many corporations that import goods/services. These companies can then offer lower prices to consumers which would result in more spending. This spending by consumers is what drives the economy.

The case in question does sound like a nuisance, but the ambiguity of the law is ridiculous. I'm sure many on this forum are guilty. Have you ever visited a temple/shrine and taken a picture of woman in a kimono without her consent.? I'm sure some of you have snapped a shot of a funky dressed japanese girl in Harajuku or Shibuya. If you walk around the busy parts of Tokyo there are many visitors taking pictures of the people in the crowd. If it's taking a picture of any woman without her consent then I'm guilty.

I do agree with some comments, but it is for a good cause and my kids would not know what ALS is without this. And I did enjoy pouring a bucket of water over him at 7am. But it has gotten out of hand and I was really disappointed that Masayoshi Son held a press conference to do it. The videos of people in their backyards with friends around make sense. The ones calling attention to themselves do not. I saw one posted by Versace where she actually said ASL and not ALS.

If you drive when there is not a lot of traffic, roundabouts make sense and can save you a lot of time. Especially in Japan where stoplights are just on timers. I hate when I'm sitting at a stoplight for a couple of minutes and there is absolutely no traffic anywhere. Those stoplights for crosswalks that turn red when no one is crossing are kind of annoying too. I like the States where you have stoplights that stay green for the main flow of traffic and only turn red when traffic going across approaches a stoplight. Very efficient and saves commuters lots of time.

I'm a little ignorant to football terminology. Is the fee the salary for Kagawa or is it what the club gets? So does Bundesliga pay M. United $10.5M to get Kagawa back or is this what Kagawa gets from the club? I never understood this.

Barriers should be put up to prevent accidents. Although tragic, this is not an accident. While barriers may deter people from jumping from a platform, there are many other ways to jump in front of a train. There are many train crossings in my neighboorhod which would be fairly simple to get on the tracks. If we live in a society where we need to put up barriers to prevent suicides then something is wrong with society, not the train operators.

McD Japan was not performing well lately and it will be interesting to see how they recover from this.

I fully agree with M3M3M3 . The supplier was definitely not right in their actions, but too many retail giants push the suppliers to the max. They always want to have the lowest price which in many cases may result in lower quality.

The economy is only going to fully recover when we start to see real prices rise in the market. As a consumer, I don't want this but it needs to happen in order for companies to sustain business while keeping quality and service at top standards.

With a 5 year old and 3 year old, the woman may have been distracted by one of them. I saw the news footage and it did happen in a very open area in the rice fields with clear views of traffic from all directions. I don't know the situation, but would think that the police car would be able to notice the car not slowing down. In Tokyo the police usually drive around at 10-20km below the speed limit so surprised that this type of accident would happen. Rest in peace...

I was surprised at the 550 bank cards also. The banks say they are doing all they can be posting warnings not to wire funds to people you don't know. However, they allow 3 kids to open up 550 accounts without any suspicion?? The banks need to do a better job also!

It will be interesting to see how numbers are revised after March. I was in Yamada denki over the weekend and it was packed with customers. I assume lots of people trying to make big ticket purchases before the tax hike. We'll see reported recovery in Feb/Mar which the government will take credit for, but Apr/May figures will tell the real story.

I lived between Sugamo and Komagome for a year and thought it was a nice quiet neighborhood. I guess I should have tried the Senzoku Jiman Ramen joint. My suggestion is find somewhere close to a station. Less than 5 minutes is ideal and more than 10 minutes should be avoided. It doesn't seem like much, but on a cold windy day or during a summer monsoon it does make a difference.

It's a sad and unfortunate loss. I always wondered why some actors are classified as "character" actoers. Aren't actors playing some type of character? I look at Robert Downey Jr. who I think is a great actor and has played a variety of different characters, but I have never heard of him referred to as a "character" actoer. Johnny Depp is always some odd-ball character, but never listed as a "character" actor. Philip Seymor-Hoffman is always described as a brilliant "character" actoer. I don't see the difference.

If she cited "communication problems" as a reason for her first divorce then she has got a lot of work cut out for her in an international marriage. I assume they will be communicating in a second language for both of them. Hope it works out for both of them.

What exactly does 6 months is prison suspended for 3 years mean? I read about suspended sentences, but never quite sure what it means. After 3 years he will go to jail for 6 months or if no other incidences during 3 years their is not jail time?

Whether she can sing or not, I do think it's unfair to take away someone's career for something where she did not harm anyone but herself. If Western countries had similar mentalities, over half of the musicians/actors would be out of jobs. Beiber would be long gone so maybe it is a good thing.

What I don't get is why he isn't arrested on drug charges that were found in his home. If they are sitting out in the open it would be hard to determine that they weren't his unless one of his groupies takes the fall for him.