OrangeXenon54 comments

Posted in: 3 school bullies sent to child consultation center following suicide of victim See in context

As a teacher, if you don't see ANY of the signs of bullying in a chronic case like this, you're an idiot. It doesn't matter how "not stupid" the bullies are, @Shumatsu_Samurai.

And to everyone saying this kid or other kids getting bullied should have "stood up for themselves", they shoudn't have to. These are children and we live in a civilized society where we know from experience that violence only begets more violence. The 3 bullies need to be taught first and foremost that their actions have consequences that they and they alone are responsible and must take the punishment due to them.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Posted in: Implications huge for Japan if casino legislation passes See in context

And pachinko gambling cannot be equated with casino gambling. You can probably play pachinko all day and not lose more than 50,000 yen. The same amount can be lost in the spin of a wheel or the turn of a card in a casino.

I had a student who told me they were having a "bad day". I asked him why and he said that he had lost 1,000,00 yen before coming to my lesson. I wrote the number out to make sure he wasn't mistaking numbers, and he confirmed that. This was one morning on a Saturday. When I asked him what he was going to do after the lesson, he said he was going to go back to the pachinko parlor and try to win it back.

Pachinko is a blight on Japan. I find it laughable that most of the Japanese people I talk to say that there "is no gambling in Japan". I go to some train stations in Saitama for work and there are more pachniko parlors around the station than convenience stores. It's a fruitless waste of time and money.

Having legalized gambling on a larger scale will only make things worse, in my opinion. It'll only redistribute money, not create wealth. I doubt any people in Asia will come to Japan for gambling when there are much cheaper options closer to them. Las Vegas and Macau only work because they are destination cities designed for overall entertainment. Nowadays, gambling is one of the least popular things for people visiting Las Vegas to do. Native American casinos in the States only work because it's a way for a oppressed group to get some wealth back. But outside of that, it hurts more people than helps. In my hometown, there's a fairly prominent Native American casino. It was recently renovated from a less harmful BINGO hall that attracted mainly elderly people to a more Vegas-style gaming casino. Many people that I know around my age (in their 20's) go there and lose hundreds of dollars. It's a money pit.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

Posted in: Aging Japan complains over the noise of children See in context

To be honest, the middle schoolers chanting would piss me off, too, but the noise of other kids naturally playing is much much better to hear than the sound of drunk a-holes coming home from a night of drinking or any form of transportation with a loudspeaker attached. As another poster pointed out, this playing is DURING THE DAY. What's the problem???

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Posted in: 150,000 protest in Paris against gay marriage See in context

@Mikune Hara Yeah, cause Japan is SOOO open minded. I bet it won't be less than 20 years till gay issues are even discussed in the Diet, let alone gay marriage.

@Sodesuka These kids that would be adopted by gay families would not be adopted at all if gay couples couldn't adopt, so they'd have no parents at all. By your standard, should all single mothers give up their children?

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Posted in: Woman found guilty of assisted suicide of mother after refusing to accept welfare See in context

I agree with gogogo on this one. I wasn't surprised to find a bunch of assisted suicide supporters on here. Life doesn't seem all that valuable when you throw it away when things get tough. She was only 70 years-old! Lots of people live way longer than that in Japan. I agree, too, that they should have established beyond a shadow of a doubt that the mother wasn't coerced into this. Pride or no pride, life is life and should be respected as such.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Posted in: Cyber bank robbers stole $45 million: U.S. See in context

Has the world turned into a 1990's cyber-punk movie?

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Posted in: Yamanashi high school soccer club members assault younger students in shower See in context

For those asking these kids ages, they'd be around 17 or 18 if they're in the last year of high school, well within the age to know the difference between right and wrong.

For those saying "this is just normal hazing" or "it's not that big of a deal", you obviously can't read as the article states junior club members have received injuries from these assaults (which, BTW, is counterproductive to a sports team) or you just don't have any form of compassion or sense of justice. This is wrong through and through.

From DudeDuce:

Do tell about the country you come from and how athletics are completely safe.

As always, I agree with @smithinjapan. If this had happened in America, these young men would have been arrested at the least, definitely expelled from their high profile school, and the school would have most likely suffered a whole host of punishments, the least of which is preventing their "well-known" soccer team from competing, maybe for multiple years.

Lastly, I agree with everyone else's pessimistic statements about the last sentence in the article. Nothing with be done other than covering it up and saving face for the school. My heart and prayers to those that were bullied in this situation. Here's hoping that more brave young men like these can step forward and break the cycle that is rampant in Japan.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Posted in: Japan says it will honor apologies for World War II atrocities See in context

@SChopenhauer Yeah, they do when their government's officials keep backtracking and revising apologies. Also when their government chooses to whitewash what happened (or flat out lie) in the text books that they use to teach their children. Germany made it illegal to deny the holocaust. In Japan today, you still have hordes of people saying that the Rape of Nanjing wasn't as bad as widely accepted and that all the comfort women volunteered. Until the national attitude is that of remorse for what happened then and not trying to weasel out of responsibility for their actions, then everyone can "move on".

-3 ( +7 / -10 )

Posted in: S Korea summons Japan envoy over Yasukuni visits, Abe remarks See in context

People can't site religious freedom on this one. There are other, better, less controversial shrines 160 politicians can go to. By going to this shrine, they are provocatively declaring their ultra-nationalism.

-1 ( +8 / -9 )

Posted in: 6 injured in escalator accident at Akihabara Station in Tokyo See in context

Yikes. That sounds painful. Three losing their thumbnail.... I had my big toe's nail fall off due to an injury and it took MONTHS to fully grow back and even then it wasn't the same. I wholly agree that compensation is due. @Balefire that's really interesting. Kind of puts more of a bad light on JR. A lot can happen to an elevator in 5 and a half hours, especially during rush hour in Akihabara. @hr2 That is a really gruesome story. I really hope he's alright....

Elevator Rant. **READ AT YOUR OWN RISK*** From the fact that their left hands got injured we can infer that they were on the left "standing" side of the escalator. This would have been avoided if everyone just walked. Traffic into and out of the train stations would be much faster if everyone just walked. I'm not talking about a full on hustle, just a little more pace than the zombies that block my way when I'm commuting to work. Some people actually have places to be! I find more and more "normal" people (i.e. people in their 30's or 40's, men and women, who probably have steady jobs) who stand on the center left and clearly block the path of the walking right side. This needs to stop, especially during commuting times!!!!

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Posted in: S Korea, China blast Japan over Yasukuni visits See in context

@OssanAmerica Going to a place and participating in rituals that occur there is supporting it. When you support something, you acknowledge all of that institution's beliefs. If someone supported the belief that war criminals (let's not get into the whole, fake "sham trial" excuse that holds to water and exonerate these men of the terrible things they did) were "Martyrs of Showa" and that their actions somehow made Japan a better place, then I would definitely be angry. How can you deny that fact? So the pot (Korea) calling the kettle (Japan) black is bad, but it's also the kettle calling the pot black, too.

@conchobar EXACTLY!!! This is exactly the point. The museum is atrocious. And yeah, the netouyo definitely have their hands in a lot of those wiki pages.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

Posted in: Woman caught shoplifting hangs herself in supermarket See in context

Is it compulsory education in Japan to know how to tie a noose and hang yourself in any given situation? I find it astounding that these cases where people hang themselves are so common in such weird circumstances. Japanese people are like suicide MacGyvers.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Posted in: Sending a message See in context

@OssanAmerica What world do you live in where South Korea is not an advanced developed nation?

0 ( +9 / -9 )

Posted in: Mos Burger to take on McDonald’s in breakfast arena See in context

I thought the whole deal with MOS was that it was all "locally produced" and fresher? All I ever see these days all over Japan is pronouncements of how this or that ingredient is 国産. While they probably weren't using all Japanese meat for their burgers before, they better not promote their burgers as having 100% Australian beef or I'm gonna flip a shit as far as what Japan wants in terms of meat/food quality because all I ever hear is how only food grown/made in Japan is worth eating.

While I like MOS's end product, it is overpriced, takes a long time, and for some reason, every time I go to a MOS, I feel like I'm being treated differently for being a foreigner (like on several occasions, they've singled me out to take my tray because they thought I couldn't sort the trash, even though they could've taken the old lady in front of me's tray). I never feel that at the other burger chains (Lotteria, Freshness Burger, McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's).

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Posted in: S Korea, China blast Japan over Yasukuni visits See in context

From the link Yubaru posted which is a translation from the Yasukuni Shrine Website:

Moreover, there were those who gave up their lives after the end of the Great East Asian War, taking upon themselves the responsibility for the war. There were also 1,068 "Martyrs of Showa" who were cruelly and unjustly tried as war criminals by a sham-like tribunal of the Allied forces (United States, England, the Netherlands, China and others). These martyrs are also the Kami of Yasukuni Jinja.... The peace and prosperity of Japan today is the fruit of the noble work of the Kami of Yasukuni Jinja.

If that doesn't show how insensitive visiting Yasukuni Shrine, I don't know what is.

1 ( +10 / -9 )

Posted in: Sending a message See in context

When you live in the past you do not have a future

Like @smithinjapan said, denying the past gives an equal result and Japanese politicians have done just that. People are blasting these guys because they like Japan and don't like South Korea. These guys have a somewhat legitimate complaint. Notice how a politicians picture is on there. It's more a protest of the government than the Japanese people as a whole. Compare this to the protests last month in Tsuruhashi and Shin-Okubo where hundreds of ultra-nationalists called for all Koreans (even those who were born here and whose ancestors were forced to come to Japan because of the Korean occupation) to leave Japan and many even saying that all Koreans should die.

-2 ( +6 / -8 )

Posted in: S Korea, China blast Japan over Yasukuni visits See in context

OssanAmerica: Koreans need to be honest about their role in WII fighting on Japan's side against the allies. Why do they think there are Koreans enshrined there as well?

Wow, that has got to be the most insensitive thing I've ever heard. Koreans who were FORCED to fight for Japan because Japan invaded and occupied Korea. I don't think they'd be happy about that, and rightly so.

Matthew Simon: crazed I agree 100% Its is akin to if people blasted the US president for visiting Arlington Cemetery in the states because of the bad actions of a few of the soldiers during Vietnam or Iraq. They have every right to go there and pray and pay their respects to the honored dead.

It's akin to but not the same because these American monuments are not presenting it in a manner of glorification of these soldiers and/or the glorification of the war they fought in. All the memorials in America and the American consciousness in general acknowledges the terrible things that happened in these wars. In Yasukuni, it's not a place officially established by the government. It's a religious place that the government has no involvement in. It's backers and supporters are ultra-nationalist revisionists who paint Japan as a victim in WWII. It's more akin to the president going to the Westboro Baptist Church (for those who don't know, they're the church that says "God Hates Fags") to pray for those who died in a war or tragedy. Good action, wrong place.

Now Korea and China aren't totally blameless in this who situation now. It feels almost as any apology the Japanese government could give wouldn't be good enough. But their is legitimacy to their claim to at least not visit such a rightfully controversial shrine.

And it feels like everyone here who is supporting the visits to Yasukuni shrine is only doing it because they like Japan and don't like South Korea and China. Look at it from a neutral perspective outside of the international scope. The majority of my college-educated, young Japanese friends think Yasukuni is a joke and should not be patronized by politicians, especially 168 at one time. The rest don't care one way or the other but would rather see better relations with Japan's neighbors. These visits aren't necessary and are plainly provocative. The only reason they go (besides pissing off China and South Korea) is to garner more support for ultra-nationalists. So don't defend these guys.

2 ( +13 / -11 )

Posted in: Organized crime worth $90 bil a year in East Asia, Pacific See in context

Japan needs to get serious about organized crime.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Posted in: Ladies, don’t be disappointed with your Sagawa delivery man's looks See in context

I have to admit, almost all Sagawa guys that come to my office are smoking hot. I came to the theory that Sagawa guys were the hottest while the Kuroneko guys were the leftovers. Glad that my shallow, stupid theory was "proven". I'd date a Sagawa guy any day!!!!!!!!!

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Posted in: Ex-post office delivery woman indicted for stealing 2,100 items of mail See in context

How bizarre. When I saw the title, I was expecting that she was stealing envelopes that probably contained money or something. From the sound of it, it just sounds like she's a crazy lady. Even crazier for (for whatever reason) giving the box to her (probably sane) friend.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Posted in: Garden party See in context

1.) Isn't it way too late for cherry blossom viewing? 2.) If this was America, people would be instantly blasting mom-kuro for taking a side politically. Celebs need to stay out of politics, especially in cases like these where it's just a huge, weird publicity thing.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Posted in: Required or not, English knowledge no guarantee of success See in context

One type in particular you have got to watch out for are the bilingual men and women who have been raised abroad from a young age due to their parents being assigned abroad, points out Makoto Naruge, a former CEO of Microsoft Japan. Thats because neither their Japanese nor English levels reached maturity, and they cant speak persuasively in either language. What do they say in English? If it’s lacking in human depth, then it’s more or less meaningless.

This part particularly pisses me off. If anything, these people are even better communicators because they know how to navigate both cultures and act as a bridge between the two. I think it's a stupid myth in the Japanese business world that a Japanese person who studied abroad their entire college career is less valuable than someone who studied entirely in Japan because somehow their Japanese in "inferior". If you're bilingual, you can EASILY "mature" in both languages. They're not mutually exclusive.

Sadly, this attitude that you can someone only learn one language is passed on to biracial child, too. These parents in Japan seem to always have to, for some unfounded reason, choose which language their child will speak, when these children clearly have the ability and resources to become naturally bilingual. They usually decide on Japanese since they live in Japan. Some of my students are teenagers in this situation, and everyone seems to expect them to know English (which, if their parents were doing their job right, he or she would) but they don't. I think language study needs to be less rigid and tested in multiple choice format that a test-whiz can ace without demonstrable skills. Get on it Japan.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Posted in: Man arrested after 7-hour standoff on rooftop See in context

@Scooter Ivy: I was thinking the same thing, too. How did she play a part in this?

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Posted in: Tokyo Olympic bid chief vows 'safe' Games after Boston blasts See in context

This is just downright terrible and just highlights the lingering sense of superiority that Japan seems to think it has over the rest of the world. I really really really want the Olympics to be here, but I think this just blew it. To show how insensitive you are to the international community as a whole is against the whole spirit of the Games.

This reminds me of an incident I had with an elderly Japanese student. I was telling him about how terrible Hurricane Sandy was, how many people died, how there was billions of dollars worth of damage, and how many were left homeless. He simply brushed it aside and said that more people died in the earthquake on 3.11. I guess Japan does everything better.

6 ( +8 / -2 )

Posted in: Tokyo Disneyland celebrates 30th anniversary See in context

Whatever, all you haters, Disneyland is AWESOME! But I will say, Tokyo Disneyland is way to crowded to be much fun at all. Disney Sea is usually less crowded and more worth your time. But I think most of those figures are repeat customers because I know many a Japanese person who goes to Disneyland at least once a month.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

Posted in: Pro-Korean, anti-Korean forces face off in Shin-Okubo See in context

Ugh, from issues of base complaints to this, Japanese ultra-nationalists and isolationists have the shortest memories or are just plain uneducated. They clearly forget why the majority of the Koreans in Japan are here (i.e. forced labor during Japan's occupation of Korea). The issue of Zainichi and other treatments of Koreans really sends my blood boiling. @StephenKnight is right. Japan needs to get with the rest of the civilized world and put some clear, strong anti-discrimination legislation through. If they really want to do things like be on the U.N. Security Council, they have to actually learn how to deal with a global society.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Posted in: U.N. criticizes several countries, including Japan over death penalty use See in context

Here's hoping that, in the future. the death penalty can be abolished for good. A life does not equal a life.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Posted in: Woman's face burned with alkaline solution in store attack See in context

I really don't understand these "acid attacks" in Asia. Where do you even buy that stuff?? Here's hoping that she has a full recovery and that they catch the man responsible.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Posted in: Have Japan’s anti-smoking laws gone too far? See in context

It definitely hasn't gone far enough. I was in a Mister Donut in Akihabara a couple months back and this jerk salary man lit up a cigar. Yes, you read that right, a cigar, not a cigarette. It was disgusting. The 2nd floor didn't have a designated, sealed off smoking area. It was all just smoking, even though there were only a couple seats in the first floor. That's ridiculous. I mean, does a cigar really go well with a donut????

I think public opinion will win on this issue as less and less people smoke. But it's going to take a while as the older-mind-sets are still around. There's a Chinese medicine store in my neighborhood in MItaka that has 4 cigarette vending machines in front of it and I always see the employees grabbing a pack. Contradiction, much?

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Posted in: Police get tough on cyclists violating traffic laws See in context

I pray to God that this is enforced. ESPECIALLY the side-by-side riding. HOW DOES ANYONE THINK THAT'S SAFE?!?!! I'm sick and tired of being almost hit by cyclists of all types, whether it be moms with three kids strapped to their bikes, teenagers texting while riding, or old ladies who can barely control their giant-ass bike. Any Japanese person will not hesitate to say that Japanese people are known for being polite (which they certainly can be), but spending a week walking or biking in Tokyo will tell you the exact opposite and that bikers especially have no common sense or decency. Yes, it SHOULD be expected that if you're coming to an intersection that you sop, especially if there's traffic coming from the busier street. May all who read this be more vigilant with their cycling.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

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