oreoreda comments

When is the sailor suit version coming out?

He's doing Gakushuin proud.

bobbafett: well put. This is absolutely disgraceful.

timorborder: too early to say but unlikely; among other reasons, the team has Tamils in it (like Murali).

If she did this in India she'd be arrested in most states.

Great city but nasty drivers.

The irony is the store would probably have thrown away the onigiri at the end of the day anyway.

Tired and emotional on the world stage, another of Todai's fine upstanding generational politicians (he also has some interesting ideas about the place of women in society and struggles with reading kanji too). Perhaps the party should stop his grog and make him wear a headband with kinshu ("on the wagon") on it.

The man looks shell-shocked at the sight of a real, actual woman; he came to Akihabara to escape all of that.

Apart from the obvious mama's boys, 2ch hikikomori and the other variously socially anxious/inept, some of these men are probably just gay, but due to the vicious Japanese taboo over homosexuality can't/won't come out or haven't even realised it yet. Of all the Japanese men I know here only one is openly gay (a barber in Osaka), a figure that does not compare well to the statistics of homosexuality.

Proof you can fool some people all of the time.

Such naive and vapid tosh. What was she expecting, creepy married guys looking for sex to not be on the internet?

And of all Japanese politicians, exactly how many are 'in touch' with the people?

Couldn't have happened to a better man.

From my understanding the origins of blood-type-determining-character theories are in eugenics and Nazi medicine; the different blood type profiles of Jewish and other ethnic groups were supposed to be 'proof' of their inferiority to the 'Aryan' race.

If my memory serves me correctly the theory became popular in Japan after someone (with no medical or research background) published a book here in the 60s or 70s describing all the 'traits' associated with each blood type and their compatibility. Pure twaddle of course, as ridiculous as phrenology (the shape of one's head determining character) a similar theory that thankfully is left behind in Victorian times.

I just saw some photos on the BBC website. Absolutely amazing nobody died, and full credit to those involved in the rescue.

Was it his appearance that gave him away, or was it his kareishuu?

I once saw a chap in my local Akafudado doing his grocery shopping wearing high heels, a rather revealing one-piece dress, a cute little hat and a day's stubble. He wasn't bothering anyone; and he paid up at the till.

Bushlover, I read an article on the Tokyo Shinbun website, there is media other than JT out there. He became a hikikomori, buys a knife online, deliberately attacks his father while he sleeps. What's your explanation, 'Because it's in Saitama'?

bamboohat, the mother of the family died from cancer 12 years ago.

His father indulged such behaviour in his son (don't want to go to school, fine, you don't have to &c.), instead of raising him in a nurturing and disciplined environment. Packing your kid off to private school doesn't make up for the education and guidance a parent has to give to his own children. The father is as much to blame as the kid.

If they think that's the worst language one can hear in the British Army they are living on another planet. People should save their righteous outrage for stuff that actually counts.

The real figure is probably even higher than the official 30,000-odd. Sometimes the corpse is never found, or the families are so ashamed they get it recorded as a sudden illness or an accident. I find it incredible that the central government is reducing funding. It's not even that much money, by government standards.

Although the Saikyo line is notorious for it chikan are everywhere (I haven't met a woman living in Tokyo who hasn't been a victim of one, at least once) and always will be until their victims take a more proactive role in outing these sad pervs. Chikan are encouraged because they think they can get away with it, and more often than not, they can.

He must have drank one too many Lipovitans? At his age he ought to be sitting at his kotatsu at home listening to the rakugo, rather than out trying to pick up high school girls at an arcade. Bizarre.

Saw a demonstration of yabusame many years ago back home; very impressive. Although I wish I got a hundred yen every time I heard 'this exists only in Japan' or similar.

sounds a bit clap to me

Bullying, humiliation, belittling, gaman...just like a microcosm of Japan.

I've been to Eiheiji, it's not that remote but they are definitely more serious than the monks in Kyoto. Although the novice monks go crazy for pinku chirashi.

He obviously learned a lot, in Saitama.

Just like dai-dai (generational) Japanese politicians.

bobbafett: fair point, I exaggerated. My point is that he has had it a hell of a lot easier than the majority of professional boxers, thanks to the celebrity cult, and his instructions as a cornerman for his brother's fight (you're losing...cheat!) do not reflect well on him or his ethics as a sportsman.

Old "Punch him in the nuts and gouge him in the eye" Kameda...a real gentleman, eh. Never worked a day in his life, living off his famous otohsan's name and money.