papasmurfinjapan comments

Looks like I'll be off to Osaka Jo Hall early next year then.

http://udo.jp/Artists/EricClapton/index.html

One of the most famous people in the world.....nothing to lol about. Enjoy your mediocrity!

lol

the star was largely ignored by Shibuya shoppers as he walked the streets surrounded by friends and plain-clothes guards

lol.

As I mentioned before, a bit of embarrassment at the front of the class I can understand, but why is a photo on a private cell phone necessary?

The article says the photos were on his camera - was it his phone or his camera? For many there may be little difference between the two, but to me, a camera that probably sits in his desk at school - for taking photos of school related things - and his private cell phone that he carries around with him all the time, are two different things. If it's the former, then fine. If it's the latter, then, yeah, a bit creepy.

There you go papasmurf. Feel better now that I've done your enraged bidding? sheesh... Get a coffee down before you blow a gasket!

I'm not blowing a gasket. Just suggesting if you think you have a better way to deal with the situation, why not share it instead of just whinging?

Heres the thing, smurf. Do you honestly need an alternative when common sense should tell you to remind the kids? Were you at such a complete loss for what to do??

I'm not worked up, but thanks for the concern. The point is criticising someone without offering a solution in it's place (no matter how obvious you think that solution may be) is really no better than the humiliation, berating, and scolding you have your knickers in a knot about in the first place.

But really, what this guy did is not such a big deal. I'd be more worried about the parenting skills of the complaining mother.

If the only remedy the teacher can think of is this, then he needs to rethink his approach. Any kind of public berating is not good.

I'm sick of people who complain about everything but offer no solutions. If you think what he did was inappropriate, then fine, but why not back it up with what you think should have been the appropriate response to the problem?

"I think he should take the kid aside after the class and kindly remind them to bring their stuff next time, and for good measure check that they actually have everything at home".

There you go, that wasn't too hard, was it?

So Speed, every time you make a mistake at work, you're willing to do the same at your office?

What do you suggest the teacher should do then?

Then which colors are used for all the other (and partly more fatal) types of cancer?

Lung Cancer awareness month is November. Perhaps a nicotine-brown would be a good colour to get the point across.

We're Japanese private universities not included? Keio and Waseda are nowhere to be found but Tokyo Toritsu is. I find that a bit odd when you consider Japanese perceptions of prestige.

Your answer is in the article - The biggest proportion of a university’s ranking - a third - comes from how frequently its research is cited by academics. - Keio and Waseda are not what I'd call research-intensive universities.

The problem with rankings like this is you can be the world's leading research university, but a crap teaching university. The university I went to was like this. All the award-winning, internationally reknowned professors were busy with their own research projects, leaving the actual teaching job to part time lecturers and associate professors.

Call me a prude, but I find this to be pretty demeaning to women. There are plenty of other places for men to watch T&A, there is no need to put it in commercials that will ultimately be viewed by the whole family.

Yet Google doesn't have the factories to produce such cars.

The point is, if Google already has the tech, and Nissan wants a driverless car, why don't they do some sort of technological tie-up? Saves money and time.

It's hard to find words to do justice to her selfless act. All I can think of are the clichéd epithets, but they are all relevant here: Brave. Respect. True hero.

RIP Ms Murata.

I'm not thinking it is the joggers fault more like the tourists stopping in the middle of the sidewalk and taking photos and blocking the sidewalk in large groups.

Ambrosia already mentioned it, but this is not a dedicated jogging course. The tourists have just as much right to stand in the middle of the sidewalk taking photos as the joggers do to jog past them. If they accidentally bump others, it is common courtesy to apologise. If they are deliberately bumping into people they deem to be pesky interferences to their jogging, then it is quite honestly an act of assault.

Do your homework RocketNews, these CD rentals are priced to Tsutaya so you can copy them (although the don't say it out loud).

Why do some rental CDs have copy-protection then? (Easily bypassed, but that's not the point). Ditto movies. Are you saying it's perfectly legal for me to go and rent a new movie from Tsutaya, buy a DVD-R from the counter, then go home and copy it? If so, no wonder sales are down.

Why pay 2000-3000yen for something when you can legally pay 200-300 yen for exactly the same thing?

Hasn't Google been doing this for years already?

Sweden and Norway also allow euthanasia, which also ensures that elderly with terminal illnesses do not have to suffer needlessly. I've seen a number of people in nursing homes screaming "just let me die" "kill me" while abusive doctors and nurses shove tubes down their throats.

Elderly people deserve to be treated with dignity, not pinned down and force medicated.

Stop paying the politicians until they come to some agreement.

That's the smartest comment here.

You can pay others to do it all for you I suppose, but if you really aren't involved at all with ensuring that your kids are properly nourished, kept in a reasonably hygienic state, and have someone to keep an eye on them and be there with a hug, a kiss and a sympathetic ear when needed, are quite happy to delegate it all, then you really cannot seriously call yourself a mother.

Err, there are, believe it or not, competent fathers out there too. I agree that someone has to do this, but the responsibility shouldn't automatically fall solely upon the mother. I work full time, and manage to find time to spend with my child every night including bath time together, hugs, kisses, story books, and heart-to-hearts about what is troubling him etc. On top of that I do the washing, vaccuuming and various other chores around the home. I admit my circumstances differ from the norm in that I work from home, but I actually know quite a few Japanese dads who don't work overtime, and are really, great, supportive fathers to their kids (of course I know quite a few of the opposite as well).

I'm not surprised. It sounds like you had nothing to go home to or for.

That's pretty mean. Some parents believe kids are actually better off playing with other kids after school, rather than going directly home to mummy. I'm not saying you are wrong in your choices, just that everyone is different. There is really no need to belittle a person because their life choices are different to yours.

I pity those little kids and toddlers who see their parents less on Monday to Friday 's than paid strangers do.

Me too. But what does that have to do with this topic? Like I said to Cleo - you are presuming that all mothers who choose to work all have 0-3 year old kids and are shuffling them off to child-care so they can "selfishly" pursue their careers. Now that may be the accepted norm in Western countries, but here in Japan, many mothers, at least where I live, choose not to return to work until their children enter elementary school and they have more time on their hands.

I wholeheartedly agree that regarding preschool age kids, where economic circumstances allow, parenting should be a full-time job. I'm talking about after the kids get older and go off to school at 7:30 in the morning and don't come back until 4 or 5pm (or even later). There is no necessity for the mother to be at home, and I think it is only fair that instead of spending her husband's hard-earned money on lunches with friends and yoga and designer clothes, that she also go out and earn her keep - of course there will always be exceptions, but since we are talking in generalisations, that is where I stand.

You mean they pay for someone else to watch their kids while they're busy earning those double incomes.

Regardless of whether you work or sit on your bum at home, your kids will go to school unless you choose to home school them. You are simply making the assumption that all kids whose mothers choose to work are little babies put in child-care. That is an inaccurate assumption. Many mothers who choose to return to the workforce do so AFTER their children have entered Elementary school. You think they should sit around until 3:30 for their kids to come home?

From scratch, using fresh ingredients, every day?

Oh, I'm sorry if my friends home cooking doesn't meet your high standards Cleo. How dare someone use frozen vegetables when they should be buying pesticide-laced "fresh" vegies from the supermarket.

Two incomes being a lot easier to do the finances for than one More trips to the bank, more taxes to pay.. easier, sure..

If everyone is out all day, why wouldn't it be spick-and-span?

Dust accumulates whether you are in the house or not. Windows need cleaning, baths need scrubbing, trash needs to be taken out, washing needs to be done...

I'm not putting down women who stay at home. I'm just saying I think it's preferable to going out to work for a living if hubby's income is enough to live on. I support a woman's choice to support whatever she wants to do. But I take issue with women who complain and whine about how hard being a housewife is to their husbands who are working their arses off to actually pay for everything - then complain that he doesn't do enough around the home.

kids dormant from 7 am to 6 pm

Kids go to a place called S C H O O L during the day.

Now if you're caring for little kids all day, sure you'll have a bit more cleaning up to do - but that is a small blip on the decades of housewivery the woman who chooses not to work has to deal with. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.

If a stay at home mum who has a 12yr old kid in school is flat out cleaning up that kid's mess all day, then she has failed as a mother in the first place. No offense intended to stay at home mums, but I still think dad who works 12hrs a day, 6 days a week has it worse off than mum. If I had a choice, I'd choose the former.

I'm beginning to think that those who accuse housewives of doing nothing all day either don't know how to clean a house properly, shop or cook, either that or they had layabout mothers themselves

Funny, I think the same thing about housewives that complain about household chores being a full-time job. I have plenty of double-income friends who somehow manage to raise 3 kids, cook, do the finances and keep their houses spick-and-span without turning it into a 7-day a week, 8hr a day marathon, then whinging about being "under-appreciated".

If my wife gave me the choice to stay at home and be a house-husband and pursue my interests with no obligation to contribute to the household income, then I'd take it in a heartbeat. I'm surprised the number isn't higher.

@ jpn_guy

Great post... Just one thing. Is it your belief that Abe was "forced out" the first time around? I thought he quit voluntarily because his tummy hurt.

Hatoyama's wife was also a minor celebrity as far as first ladies go, but for all the wrong reasons. :)

Is there a way to watch this show in Japan?

Who needs a GalaxyWatch or Google Glass when you can have one of these?

@ CH3CHO

Thanks for the link. When you look at the numbers of people and the amount of money, you really get a sense of the scale of this tragedy. The simple fact is all the money we donated just simply isn't enough to change peoples lives.

We need to help more and the government needs to help more. The problem is we (myself the main offender) gave our "generous" donations after the Tsunami, and tell ourselves we did our part. Now we say we're doing our part again by supporting the Olympics and the "economic boom" it will bring to the country and no doubt the people of Tohoku.

The failure to help the people of Tohoku is as much an indictment on us as a society as it is on the hapless Japanese government.

This is a government responsibility - charity is of course welcome, but not enough to make all this right

Of course, I agree 100%. But supporting them in whatever way we can is still better than doing nothing.

People who bitch and moan here, please go participate. See the situation on the ground. Buy some souvenirs and eat at the local prefab shops and restaurants. Talk to the people. Listen to the people. See the big picture.

I bitch and moan just as much as everyone else, but you make a good point. Instead of the next vacation to Disneyland or USJ or Okinawa - why not take a trip to Iwate or Miyagi?

@ BodyBoardBabe

Great idea. Then please take your body board off the coast of Fukushima and tell us how that goes for you.