nsg79 comments

@Maria apparently the protocol is that all ambassadors get a choice of the horse drawn carriage along a set route or the option of a car from their residence...

I flew them just the other day as they offered the cheapest business class option going on the intl route I was flying. No wonder they have saved money. The seats were exactly the same ones I flew when I was last on their planes 10 years ago. It was horrible - so outdated, dirty and just had an incredibly dingy feel to the whole thing. They might have posted a profit now but they are going to have to start offering a competitive product if they are going to start earning the all important repeat customers.

Police said that this year, the weeklong campaign will also try to raise awareness of the dangers of getting drunk at cherry blossom-viewing parties and then lying down on a street

That must be why this morning I saw the police standing at a major intersection to enforce the safety rules completely ignore two cars that ran a solid red right and an illegal u-turn. What a joke.

"I would have been able to rally if I had 10 billion yen more"

Yeah right, yet in the meantime you were still happy to take 4.5billion out for yourself and your sidekick instead of not lying to your investors.

Don't understand why Newt is demanding an apology from Obama on this one, the event did not even take place in the White House.

Or they could install CCTV focused on their cash till area so that they can get an accurate photo of any robbers and also instate a policy limiting the amount of cash that is kept in the till in the first place to minimise the loss during theft.

They could also put the questionnaire on an online form for the students to submit. Eg make enough unique log-in details that can only be used/submitted once that are pulled out of a hat, can't get more anonymous then that...

It is a real shame that they say the survey was ill advised - it clearly isn't, just the method that it was delivered in.

@ paulinusa given that budweiser is already one of the official sponsors of this world cup the beer issue is actually quite a significant issue for fifa and a ban on beer (or more accurately budweiser) sales at the stadiums would probably a breach by fifa of that sponsorship agreement. completely agree that valcke was right to make the statements he made, there have been others saying similar things about the lack of preparation for sometime now, instead of getting angry they should get on with the job of sorting it out.

with respect to Tokyo given that the government announced the other day that in such a situation the major highways, roads etc. out of town will be closed to normal traffic, assuming of course that said roads/highways survive the quake and are usable in the first place, I don't think any of us will be going/escaping anywhere fast. of course it doesn't hurt to be prepared with emergency supplies, copies of important documents etc. but beyond that there is not much more people can do.

this is disgraceful. it also states that the attacks happened at her parents house yet were only discovered a month later during a check-up...seems incredible (if not impossible) that the other family members did not realise something had happened to these babies. am sure this aspect will not be investigate though - hope she gets locked up for a long time.

of course they are going to make this process as complicated as possible for these poor people who (in most cases) have probably lost pretty much everything as it is not in tepco's interest to pay out in a timely manner. the claims process itself needs to be taken out of tepco's hands and responsibility given to an independent body whose sole purpose is to ensure that compensation is getting to the people who deserve it.

Once bitten, twice shy. The Aeon President has it spot on - no one wants to buy any food that has any contamination even within the 'safe limit' because no one really believes that there is a 'safe' limit especially after the 'limit' was mucked around with by the government in the aftermath of the disaster. The zero tolerance approach is the only sensible way to begin to get people purchasing food from these areas again and rebuilding trust, in the meantime the affected farmers should go and keep knocking on TEPCO's door for compensation.

One big problem is that most people are completely unaware of that there are any laws they have to obey when cycling. Whilst ignorance is no defence there needs to a major campaign to educate people so that they know what they can and cannot do. That has to be accompanied by a crackdown by the police with a zero tolerance policy on any infraction...it will take time but that is the only way people will change their behaviour.

Serving Yoshinoya on-board is now THE reason not to fly JAL...why can't they just make their seats and other basic services more decent?! Even Business Class is a joke long-haul on JAL compared to other airlines that cost half the amount JAL deign to charge.

this is really only scratching the surface when it comes to the cuts that need to be made to bring the deficit down, but at least it is a start....

wow - these stories do seem to be more prevalent these days. why is it so difficult for some to take a step back, take a deep breath and let this type of argument go? another sad story.

good to see that the Marshall Islands are not afraid of enforcing their laws...hope they manage to collect

What happened to the nets?! Thought in a previous JT article it stated that they were going to use these as well as the other totally useless measures described above...

Well, the minimum they will have to do is 'improve' on the last bid since that one was unsuccessful. Alternatively, instead of wasting an incredible amount of money on something that is unlikely to come through why not direct those funds towards domestic projects that are actually focusing on 3/11 recovery.

Brilliant, so enforcement only comes one day and month and the rest of the time one is free to break the regulations unimpeded! Only in Japan...

When will all of these guys 'get' that this is what they are supposed to do?! They were elected to enter into debate, shape policies and (heaven forbid) actually help to govern the country. They were not elected to sit on their arses like petulant school children refusing to consider sharing their toys. To pointblank refuse to enter into any negotiations on the pension system is pathetic.

@ NetNinja, TELL is the lifeline in Japan that provides its service exclusively in English. There are Japanese lifelines through Inochi no Denwa (about 50 I believe) out there serving the local population.

On the article specifically, this is a totally ridiculous campaign but I especially loved the part about 'requiring more research' a typical politician's response which means absolutely nothing.

It would be interesting to know what the legal requirements are for charging someone with vehicular manslaughter and why the prosecutors office decided not to charge the suspect with this charge in the first place. I am presuming that it wasn't done because there was not enough evidence to do so...? Nevertheless, it is a completely tragic story, there is never an excuse for driving drunk and here a young man has lost his life because of an idiot who had no respect for the lives of others. If he is found guilty this guy deserves to have the maximum sentence.

Agree with ssway - it makes no sense to spread the contamination further then the areas that have already been affected. The land around the Fukushima plant will be uninhabitable for MANY years, despite what the J-government would have us believe about being able to clean it up. The logical solution is to keep the contaminated rubble in this area instead of spreading it around the country. However, a bit of logic is going to be too much to expect, I know.

"Macho Gorilla Gang"?! These morons weren't so macho when they chose to beat up old guys who stood no chance against them. Hope the victims have recovered.

injuries not helped by people using their hosepipes to spray cold water on wet snow at 6am this morning when the temperature was still near freezing which helped to turn an already bad situation into a more dangerous one. can someone please explain why people thinking putting cold water onto already wet snow/ice is a good one? i have lived here for 20 years and it happens every time it snows and still have not been able to figure it out...

Just watched her resignation video on youtube, she is truly inspirational who seems to have made significant steps in her recovery. Can only hope that she continues to recover and can fulfil her wish to return.

'imported cases'? does this mean they are trying to blame foreigners for bringing AIDS in and infecting the local population or is it Chinese nationals who have lived outside China, contracted AIDS and then returned? I would also think that a large proportion of these cases can also be attributed to drug use in terms of needle sharing but drug use is another contentious issue that the Chinese government does not like to publicise/admit to.

I hope the participants are also asking him explain why the government is not cutting back on its own costs as an initial measure.

hope they find him and he is ok, but a week is a long time to be missing in the current conditions on fuji. good luck to the rescue team.