OMGhontoni comments

Do other countries include those on paid-by-the-hour or part time with no be benefits jobs in their "working" statistics? Its just very difficult to compare when you dont really know the definition of "jobless".

There are even teams consisting of a girl and a couple of "witnesses" going around acccusing people of groping to make easy money

This is absolutely true. it happened to my friends husband - they were coming out of an elevator and two guys and a girl were clearly harassing him, bumping into him and trying to start something. He ignored them but they followed him across the car park muttering and staring. In the end he turned around and said "Whats your problem?" They all started arguing and suddenly the girl started screaming really loudly "GEt your handsoff me! Dont touch my boobs!" - then he realised what was going on and jumped into his car and drove away.

Until women in this country start fighting back when someone touches them this problem is not going to stop. Maybe thats how this guy got his broken arm? If guilty, then I hope so.

Bass4Funk: thank you for sharing that story. It must have been tough for you but I admire your honesty in fronting up and accepting your mistake.

Why do the cops scream and shout like that anyway? They did it to me once over something completely not even my fault (big 6` plus guy accusing me of attacking him! It was a joke!). It was really intimidating and especially bad as they did it right in front of my frightened children. So unprofessional.

I dont care what anyone else does as long as they are happy and legal. I just said not for me, I prefer older men for a relationship. Thats all. So go ahead and call out someone else and stop wasting your time with me.

Good. Name and shame the little thugs. Breaking into peoples houses, beating innocent people to death, random wanton violence and destruction - they need to be brought to justice.

Oh, my mistake! Thanks for the tip Francesca!

SimondB- if you are referring to me I am female, but I am also not really seeing why my statements are "unusual" for a woman?

Why are you so negative about this? You're making some pretty nasty and baseless comments. Not all men don't have a clue and plenty older guys have none. perhaps you see it as an ego boost but perhaps other women are already confident and don't need that boost? Man cub? Yikes.

Jeez tmarie, lighten up! Nasty and baseless??! For Gods sake, did you not see the bit where I wrote "Ouch! I generalise!" Save your venom for the nasty comments made by men writing off any woman over 35.

You forgot 'good in bed'

Sorry! Cant vouch for that! But if you say so! ;)

Actually, yes I can! My husband turned 40 a couple of months ago! So far so goooooooood.....!

The vast majority I know are funny, interesting, attractive, experienced, kind, wise and great company.

You forgot 'good in bed'

Sorry! Cant vouch for that! But if you say so! ;)

An older woman's biological clock will be ticking super loudly in her late thirties, and menopause is waiting just around the corner

Huh? Really? My Mom menopaused at 58 - twenty years around your corner.

Maybe the women just want the younger men for sex.

Yes, quite possibly, but to be honest, those younger men dont have a clue what they are doing and I cant be bothered witb teaching them. Been there done that. Give me someone who knows what he is doing.

They are cute to look at yes, maybe even fun to hang out with for an evening for a bit of an ego boost, but when it comes to an actual relationship, I dont want to be trailing a man cub around on a leash. Give me a partner - an equal. And maybe as some have pointed out there is the problem here - many J men in the 40s and 50s are smoking drinking selfish, bitter smelly losers. (ouch! I generalise!)

Which is where you gaijin guys step in! On your marks, gentlemen!

Now I think about it, all the male friends in their 40s I was talking about above ARE gaijin! (except one who is just a total hottie, a rare diamond in the rough!)

This is probably true but nah - give me an older, more experienced, more interesting man any day. And not all men in their 40s suddenly morph into "ojisan". The vast majority I know are funny, interesting, attractive, experienced, kind, wise and great company.

Which is more than I can say for a young 20-something guy with no career, no real prospects and no ambition in life beyond being a kept man.

The North Korean has pretty good reasons to hate the yankees and Japan. If have seen the touched earth of North Korea after US air raids during Korean war, the massacre of Korean people and thousands of families broken and never seen again , all of these brutalities made every normal human beings cant control their anger! The British army touched the white house in washington back in early 19thcentury was an unexcusable crime against a nation then why did the atrocities done to all Korean people were neglected and forgotton!? Because America is massive and Korea is small....the logic that haunted the whole world how they view who is right and wrong!

"Someone did it to someone else in history" - the perfect excuse to brainwash, threaten and starve an entire nation.

I would be interested to know the set up here - was it in a park and the mothers were nearby? Could they have thought the kids were safe because of the barrier, not knowing there was actually a hole in the fence? Or were the mothers at home and the kids got out of the house and went to the canal by themselves without the mothers noticing?

Too many unknowns for this to be a clear cut case of neglect on the mothers part, but certainly seems to lean that way.

I really can't understand all the Japan hate on this site. Regardless of what the article is about a bunch of people find ways to turn it into an attack on Japan or Japanese culture. If you all hate Japan so much then what on earth are you doing on this site?

I really cant understand why, whenever someone makes a statement of fact about history, culture, anything that is not lauding the wonder of this archipelago, that suddenly it becomes about "you hate Japan", "why are you here if you hate it so much", "you people are always attacking Japan" blah blah blah.

Realism is not hatred. You can love Japan but still see it for what it is. But blind allegiance and inability to see reality is even more scary - as this article clearly demonstrates.

I agree with Pukey - label it all up correctly, put it on the shelves and let the market decide.

So, eventually it is clear: saying that insufficient production of energy and higher energy prices would have a direct negative impact on the economy was not just scaremongering

Who said it was scaremongering? I thought pretty much everyone knew it would have a direct, negative impact on the economy.

What, as opposed to all the seafood allegedly caught off Fukushima, allegedly landed in other ports, and allegedly relabelled as "Chiba" or suchlike that has been allegedly on supermarket shelves for the last year?

Probably false but in retaliation for Japan refusing to buy Iranian oil.

I dislike the Iranian regime as much as anyone, but as wontond pointed out, Iran is hardly a destination of choice for Japanese is it? Or anyone in todays political climate.

As this story develops I'm certain we'll be hearing that all four of them "were requested to carry the suitcases by someone as a favor" and that they "had no idea what was inside."

They will have been in Iran trying to get money for a friend from her ex, and the exes chauffeur will have asked them to carry a suitcase full of "books" to somewhere like Malaysia and given them a cellphone for someone to call them on arrival.

If they are innocent the government should throw its full weight behind this. If they are not - good luck in Irans jails. Probably slightly less comfortable than the nurses cell in Malaysia.

160~175 cm tall. 24-40 years of age. With glasses.

OH MY GOD!!!! ITS MY HUSBAND!!!!!!

He is 165, 40 and slightly mayo-pic (groan!)

I have very little sympathy for famous people who bitch and moan about their success. If you dont like it - quit and get a job in Walmart. Otherwise shut up and be grateful for the break you have been given that most people can only dream of.

OK, I have one..

The guy must be doing this for sexual reasons

Really? I was putting it down to cross dressing. (groan!)

For gods sake some people need to lighten up. Yes, it is not pleasant, and if it was me I would be pissed off, but there is a world of difference between spitting on someone or tossing mayo at them - about 100 viruses and bacteria for starters. Or rubbing rotten egg whites in someones face. I am sure the mayo he is using is fresh.

These train incidents that people have blogged about are examples of people with an extreme sense of entitlement. In some cases, they assume the rules are designed around them.

So what you are basically saying then, is even though there is a priority seat section, and even though there is a big sign saying "Please give up your seat" and 4 big pictures of someone elderly, infirm, pregnant, and carrying a small child, people who fall into these categories are selfish and have an extreme sense of entitlement for thinking the rules are designed around them.

Oh, and BTW - many pregnant women have to use the subway in rush hour. Its sort of how they get to work. Are you the foreigner who told my heavily pregnant and holding a toddler friend to eff off when she asked you if she could possibly sit down as she was struggling to stand? Wouldnt be surprised.

Well if you had killed someone and were being hounded for comments, you wouldn't do the same??

Well, yes, thats exactly my point! He didnt seem to be acting like a "normal" "regular" guy who wouldnt do something like that to me. He didnt seem irritated by the hounding, or embarrassed, or anything like that, he seemed shifty and nervous.

He was cute in a young, immature kind of way. He looked more like a high school kid to me than a 26 year old man.

It is all very strange.

One thing I am not understanding though -

Why would he go to rob the place if he knew she was home (he had seen her walk in and he had her keys because she had dropped them)? How come he would then have been "surprised" by her?

How did SHE get in if she had dropped her keys?

I am wondering if this guy went there with the intention of committing some kind of sex crime, rather than robbing the place. I suppose either way it is a moot point now.

I agree with Clemens - no sign of forced entry. The ex would have been the prime suspect.

Once the Japanese police accuse or even suspect you...you are toast. Becasue they then know you are guiity no matter what the evidence would tell them. It is called 3rd world justice system.

Its also called "finding the suspects DNA at the crime scene".

I think we have different taste in men tmarie! I found him vaguely normal looking but strange. When the reporters were chasing him in the bike shed for sound bites and quotes he seemed very shifty to me - evading peoples eyes and generally looking very uncomfortable. Maybe I have just been watching too much "Lie to Me" but I thought he was acting pretty weirdly for simply a resident of the building. Maybe his behaviour is what tipped the police to him as a suspect.

Feel sorry for the ex who came home to find her. They clearly still have a good relationship so that must have been pretty horrifying for him.

The biggest single fear in my life right now is that my 6 year old boy, who is already showing the signs of no fear and total training wheels off and hurtling down a hill craziness, is one day going to be 18 and no longer within my control.

There but for the grace of God go many of us I am sure. RIP crazy teenagers, and condolences to your families.

It is right that you cannot watch toddlers every second, but would you let one play near an open window on the 5th floor? Would you?

No. Wasnt suggesting this was excusable. Just responding to Tahoochi who said you should never take your eyes off of them. Not possible.

Meditation can help Japanese. Sit some where breath in and out slowly catch every breathing.

Yep. Just do it in the shade, with a hat on, and drink plenty of water while you are doing it!

99% of the people who die from heat stroke are people on a low salt diet.

I seriously doubt that statistic. I would put money though, on 99% of victims being over 60 and working the fields in the hottest part of the day without adequate fluid replenishment, or under 10 and left alone in a car.

I totally understand that, as a Northern European and or ginger, you need to be super careful and if you covered up, you get a pass, because you probably wouldn't tan, you would fry. However Japanese women don't have the same kind of skin, NOW that doesn't mean they don't need to take any precautions, but the panic that they have about the sun is a bit over the top.

Agreed! I cant stand it in the Summer when someone in a big floppy hat, mask, sunnies, gloves up to the armpits waves at me and shouts a cheery greeting to me by name. Excuse my half-hearted reply. I am not being rude, I am wondering who the hell you are!

The Great Cover Up is actually becoming an problem in some parts of the world, for example Australia. There have been reports recently that researchers believe the constant fear of sun exposure is leading to a rise in low vit-D levels leading to premature osteoporosis. There has also been some (as yet unproven) research suggesting that low sun exposure for pregnant women can lead to a higher risk of MS for the baby in later years. This is based on growing evidence that MS is more prevalent in the more extreme northern climates (for example Scotland) and in adults born in Winter and early Spring months when Mothers-to-be were less likely to have experienced sun exposure. Everything in moderation it seems, including the sun!

Heat stroke is always caused by a diet lacking salt.

Sorry, know you claim to be a doctor but with all due respect I disagree, and so do the CDC, Mayo clinic and numerous other professional websites. Heatstroke is caused by spending too long in the hot sun without adequate hydration causing the body temperature to rise to dangerous levels.

I get that low sodium levels are a factor (for example low sodium levels can cause the muscle cramps associated with heatstroke) but they are certainly not a cause, and advocating the use of salt tablets without proper medical supervision or a high salt diet as a sole preventative measure is irresponsible.