OrangeXenon54 comments

As someone who has taught, classroom management is an insurmountable task. You for sure have to put out a message that your word must be taken seriously and defiant punks will be dealt with. So in a sense, I can understand where the teacher is coming from. But yeah, he went too far. I think discipline should be light in this case, though, and this is definitely not "assault" or "arson" as people above claim.

@wontond EXACTLY!! So many of these young murderers have a common excuse of "I wanted to know what it was like to kill someone" or "I was stressed and wanted to kill someone". Those grandparents were so young and were treated to an early demise for the kindness they showed to their grandson.

@HollisBrown To be fair, he is an adult who can research for himself the truth of the matter rather than blindly following what he's told. I was taught a lot of stuff in school that I don't agree with. Doesn't mean I'm obligated to support it. Japan is willfully ignorant on too many issues.

I hate when foreigners in Japan describe their wife as "my Japanese wife". Oh, do you have an American wife, too? Are you a polygamist? Or do you just want to brag about the fact that you married a local?

I really want to know the motive. In these "bizarre" murders in Japan, I wish JapanToday had a "follow up" section once it goes to trial.

I totally agree with the first commenter and don't understand people criticizing him. The husband should do something if his wife says something as serious as that. You don't just ignore it and hope it's "just a phase" which a lot of people seem to think. All cases like these -and there are a ton in Japan -can be prevented with a little pro-action and self-awareness of people's declining mental state.

Antiperspirant deodorant.

Honestly, they have themselves to blame. The idea of "warning lamps that light up when the incoming call is from an unfamiliar number " is called CALLER ID!!! It's been around for decades!

At least we get one good thing out of it. Super ridiculous posters of shadowy men preying on sweet, confused grannies at the ATM.

@Tahoochi Example: Card Captor Sakura has one of her friends, who is TEN YEARS OLD, dating their teacher. Everyone thinks it's "sweet" and "cute". Nothing sexual is shown, but he proposes to her. Even Sakura's mom was Sakura's dad's student when they met and were married. This is an anime aimed at children and, like I said, the main characters are in elementary school. What part of that should be condoned?! There's lots of other cases in other manga/anime (Sailor Moon also comes to mind) where the teacher and the student date and it's seen as something great. That's not a healthy thing to promote, especially to children and other weirdos who might become teachers to live out this "fantasy" that is shown as positive.

There's a difference between having violence "in" manga and having it be promoted/glorified. I've never seen sexual relations with minors being condemned or spoken ill of. Let's take this further and say what if a manga/anime talked about how stupid black people are and how worthless they are. Would you honestly say "It's just fantasy! It's your responsibility to distinguish between the two" or would you decry it as obscene?

I find it disturbing about how many dislikes responses decrying this "art" as obscene have received. Are their secret pedos on here? It really does lead to a culture where sexual relations with minors is normalized.

Futons are hella uncomfortable and a pain in the ass to spread out and clean up every day. A bed also offers extra storage space below the frame, which is another nice perk. This is one of those really inefficient things Japanese cling on to to preserve their "culture" despite how unpractical they are.

Wait, did the man who stabbed him or the resident who found him call 119?

I agree with Ms. Alexander. There needs to be some supervision. Japan may be safer than most all countries, but I think it's negligent when I see 6-year-olds taking the train by themselves to go to school.

Okinawa was given a chance to become it's own independent nation after America left. They can't have it both ways. The bases need to be in a strategic place to counterbalance China, and that just so happens to be Okinawa.

That doesn't excuse the terrible behavior of many of the Marines there. But if for whatever reason Abe manages to overturn Article 9 and kick all US bases out of Japan, you can bet your ass that the SDF will use Okinawa as a main base.

I think that Narita protests just highlights the instance of "not in my backyard" and seems utterly inept and short sighted from protesters. These things need to go SOMEWHERE. I understand that this is pushing people out of ancestral land, but it will push someone else out of their land if it moves somewhere else. Get over it.

I wasn't aware of this guy until I read this article, but I have so much respect for him for taking a stand about where he wants Japan to go in the future; From this article, it seems like having a real sense of humor in Japan is a liability.

When I first moved to Tokyo, I was kind of impressed when I stepped into a restaurant and see a plaque on their wall commemorating their 15 minutes of fame being featured on TV. But then, as I learned the lay of the land (especially the vapid wasteland that is Japanese TV), I realized that it's not all that special. I reckon about 20 restaurants are featured every night.

I would say that pretty soon they're gonna run out of restaurants to review if it wasn't the case that Japanese people get bored with trends quickly and restaurants close down after their 15 minutes of fame. Look at the Wendy's in Omotesando: a high quality fast food experience with a big menu, stylish decor, and decent prices. When it first opened, there were lines for hours. A couple years later, though, it lost its trend status and is now gone.

This is true for Japanese TV, but in a different way. A show will do something and become wildly popular. But then, instead of it being appreciated for what it is, 20-thousand copycat shows appear. These types of celebrity variety shows weren't popular at all 20 years ago. But once producers saw how successful they were, they latched on and never let go. Now, there's no innovation: nothing new, nothing exciting, just the same rehash with different settings or colors.

And this trend is pretty true for Japanese society as a whole. Everything seems stuck in a rut, and what's "new" isn't really new. I hope for the sake of creativity that they can get over it.

This is absolutely ridiculous. I guess they should pair their food with a nice hot cup of sake so the rice farmers can get even more money

Those who are banging on about the necessity of milk seem to be oblivious to the China Study - just read about it. Just because something has calcium doesn't mean it's good for you.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15981182 Yup, I'd totally trust a Chinese study over one in the US sarcasm Let's take a look at Korea which has increased the protein in their diet since WWII in the form of more meat and milk. Most Korean men 30 and under are usually around 180cm or so, way taller than their Japanese neighbors. Bottom line: If the Japanese want to stop having to complain about being shorter than the rest of the developed world, then they need to shut up and drink their milk.

Notice how in this and other reporting, they actually don't reference specifically what this group was protesting.

I have a feeling the author of this article has never been to Japan before because all of the things they list as "not being allowed to do" are committed thousands of times a day on trains in Tokyo.

This is terrible. But a life doesn't equal a life. Capital punishment is barbaric. It's sad that such a large group of people want to kill someone, regardless of what they did.

It's supremely obvious that Japan has a HUGE embezzling problem. It seems like every week, there's a new case. What is it about Japan that makes it seem "OK" to do this? I feel like part of it is that the common man is so apathetic towards politics, politicians can go on in their own little world without any outside scrutiny. I feel like if the Japanese were more politically involved, less people would even have the opportunity to do it.

Hmmm, I wonder what herb he "inhaled".

How does this not scream "Nettouyo"??! To suggested a woman "envious of Anne's life" is not only naive, but blatantly overlooks the ultra-nationalistic, ultra-conservative nutjobs who are gaining strength in this country.

Definitely the work of the future string pullers of the Japanese government.

The problem I have with this is not concerning the source material, but just the over-acting in general. This movie, like the countless live-action adaptations of books, comics, etc. before it, rests its laurels on the source material alone and uses the same "acting-style" that is used nowadays in dramas and what-not. There is no subtlety. It's all hamfisted. On top of that, the special effects look half-assed.

While I love Japanese food, UNESCO should have noted the lack of spices or seasonings and the high sodium content.

My "暴走老人" story: I was on the Sobu line and my train was just arriving at Kinshicho station. On the platform was this old guy in his 60's who stood DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF THE DOOR. I was wondering if he was really serious, but when the train door opened, he didn't make any effort to get out of the way, and if fact, he tried to get on just as the doors were opening. Rather than going around him, I shoulder checked him into oblivion. I have no regrets.

He is soooooooooooooooooooooooooo sexy!

Also wanted to point out, like Control Freak said, that they're doing the right thing for the wrong reasons. They're trying to increase the participation in sports. Why? What problem will that solve other than more kids in sports? Is there an obesity epidemic? No? What gain is there to more kids in sports? To me, the biggest problem facing Japanese society is the bullying and crippling mental health problems. To me, that should be focused on more by legislators than whether or not more kids are mindlessly practicing for NOTHING.

I think ControlFreak has the best point. All these club activities seem so boring to everyone involved. All of my students talk about it like it's a duty, not something that they want to do.

From the students I talk to, it seems that only about 1% of the time spent on club activities is actually spent on competition. The rest of the 99% involves useless, repetitive practices, standing on the train with your huge gym bag for hours going to the out-of-the-way practice or competition area, and doing awkward social events that are just excuses for the miserable older students to bully the younger ones.

When there's no end attached to the means, you've missed the whole purpose. Let kids do something they enjoy and let them enjoy it. Don't turn it into a group exercise in the futility of life.