pathat comments

Posted in: CanCam Super Kawaii Collection 2010 See in context

I prefer Naoko Tokuzawa.

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Posted in: Tokyo Tower vs Tokyo Sky Tree See in context

I don't care much for the appearance of Tokyo Tower, and the view is anybody's guess on a particular day or night. but it sure is a good place to take a girlfriend.

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Posted in: Cultures collide with Toyoda testimony See in context

Akio Toyoda scored considerable points back in Japan with his televised "otoko noki" act.

I'd say he showed enough of the required regret and remorse for what has happened.

Toyota tried to get too big to be #1 in the world and forgot about some of the controls that helped make them a leader in quality and customer satisfaction.

And they really screwed by worrying about how many millions they could save with limited recalls to deal with only a part of their problems from a couple of years ago

They will recover after a down period, and many thousands of Americans whose jobs depend on Toyota's success certainly hope so, too.

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Posted in: U.S. Marines, Afghan troops clear last pockets of resistance in Marjah See in context

Incidentally, sailwind, the U.S is broke if you haven't realized it, and we continue to try to remake the Middle East to be what we desire utilizing borrowed time and money. I can't see any conceivable way for us to keep occupying one country after the other in that part of the world after a few more years.

There are other ways to fight the war on terrorism without using the 9/11 tragedy for a decade or more for imperial adventures in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and who knows where next. Perhaps Iran?

We have a long and generally failed history post-WW II from Indochina to the ME at present of sticking our collective noses into geopolitical situations that we don't understand and, for the most part, have no real bearing on the defense of the U.S.

We never learn. I thought we had learned the lessons of Vietnam, but our conduct over the past decades proves otherwise.

I served in the U.S. Navy as you did. However, I don't feel the need to toe the company line with our ME policy in order to feel patriotic.

We have too many problems at home and continue to largely ignore them at our own peril.

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Posted in: U.S. Marines, Afghan troops clear last pockets of resistance in Marjah See in context

sailwind wrote:

The 13th century prevails pathat?

The leader in Kabul cannot create a viable, centralized state that subsumes the control of local leaders in the large numbers of tribal areas in Afghanistan. We don't have the money or forces-with or without our NATO allies-to stay in "cleared" areas and control them. Staying for much longer than another year or two in most areas of the country will ultimately have our forces viewed as occupational ones anyway.

The Afghan people, with all their diversity within the modern borders of their nation-will have to determine their future. We cannot do it. And what we think is best for us in our never-ending role as world policeman is not necessarily what they will do-not by a longshot.

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Posted in: American cheerleaders show Kansai their moves See in context

These pro cheerleaders look good, but there are a lot more better looking women in Japan than in the U.S. in all age groups.

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Posted in: U.S. Marines, Afghan troops clear last pockets of resistance in Marjah See in context

U.S. Marines, Afghan troops clear last pockets of resistance in Marjah

They'll be back in a couple of years in force. And the local leaders will find down the road that the drug trade is once again more lucrative when the U.S. payoffs dry up.

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Posted in: Mixed emotions for Japan after women's team pursuit silver See in context

The Germans raced a better tactical race than the Japanese and squeaked out a gold medal in the end.

Japan finishes with 3 silvers and 2 bronze medals. If you follow the gold medal count determiner for the medal standings, Great Britain had a superior Games with its one gold medal for just one overall medal. Japan also finishes behind Australia, Belarus, and Slovakia using this system.

And to think that Japan's miserable failure at Torino in 2006 would also trump this year's overall performance because of Shizuka Arakawa's one gold medal.

Both ways of counting medal standings-gold medals and overall medals-should be considered equally important.

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Posted in: Ohno earns bronze in relay, disqualified in 500 in wild night of short track See in context

Short-track speedskating: too many collisions and DQs. A marginal Olympic sport.

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Posted in: Well done ladies See in context

Kim Yu-Na: A beautiful woman and a skating superstar. Congratulations on the gold medal!

Congratulations also to Mao Asada and Joannie Rochette on their well-deserved medals.

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Posted in: China wins women's short track 3,000-meter relay after S Korea disqualified See in context

The long track speed skating is the "pure" skating sport.

The short track is there for entertainment and to increase the number of medal events years ago to raise the number of days of Winter Olympics coverage for the networks broadcasting them.

It is a marginal Olympic sport at best.

There are always going to be problems with accidents in this so-called sport, and someone is going to get screwed over at times, depending on your point of view.

The Koreans take big chances in their pursuit of short track golds. Sometimes you win, sometimes you bite the dust.

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Posted in: China wins women's short track 3,000-meter relay after S Korea disqualified See in context

The simple fact of the matter is that short track speedskating is a marginal Olympic sport at best.

The Koreans take a lot of chances with their skating style. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

this is a deliberate bad call from the referee

A "deliberate" call on the part of an Australian referee to give the Chinese a gold medal. Dream on.

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Posted in: Figure skating gets more attention than Toyota's problems in Japan See in context

Figure skating gets more attention than Toyota's problems in Japan

As it should.

The average person can't do anything about the Toyota safety scandal.

But out of the scanty good news Japan gets from these Games, most Japanese can take immense pride in their top-notch female figure skaters.

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Posted in: Magazine airs anxieties over China's burgeoning economic clout See in context

As the Japanese see their economy decline and their population with it, China will increasingly be the target, and Japanese attempts to lead in Asia through various organizations will be rebuffed by China as well.

Japan knows that China will almost certainly dominate Asia in the 21st century, and Japan will have to kowtow to the Chinese as the years pass.

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Posted in: Magazine airs anxieties over China's burgeoning economic clout See in context

"anxiety-tinged headline"

"hordes of tourists"

"the fate of Japan’s corporations, its real estate, its food supply—even its women."

"purchases are raising national security concerns"

"Not even Japanese names are safe from the onslaught"

"With marriage becoming increasingly globalized, this represents a new and ominous portent for already beleaguered Japanese males."

This article=Yellow Journalism by the Japanese about the Chinese.

The Japanese are just as capable of this as the American press was a century ago to effect immigration law changes to exclude Asians and foment attacks on those already in the U.S.

Most Japanese don't want Chinese in their country other than in strictly-controlled, subservient roles, and things will probably worsen as time passes.

Sounds like history is repeating itself to some extent across the Pacific in the 21st century.

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Posted in: Magazine airs anxieties over China's burgeoning economic clout See in context

China is merely reasserting its dominance vis-a-vis Japan as was true throughout much of the thousands of years of their recorded histories.

The Chinese have long memories and Japan will still be held accountable for its conduct to the Chinese in the first half of the 20th century.

Three decades of ODA as war reparations by another name is not enough.

What goes round, comes round, Japan.

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Posted in: NATO air strike kills 33 civilians in Afghanistan See in context

The U.S. invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan will eventually be regarded by most as colossal failures.

We cannot win. No matter what things may look like in 2010, even with rosy assessments and positive future projections galore, the U.S. will lose.

It is just a matter of time.

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Posted in: Going for gold See in context

Ossan wrote:

Good thing this is figure skating and not a beauty pageant.

I'd like to think the judges see it that way, but in the Japanese court of public opinion, appearance counts very highly in the scoring.

Miki Ando looks great. She has blossomed into a very attractive young woman. I bet she picks up a medal. My money is on the bronze for her.

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Posted in: Ice dance See in context

The slightest bit of research confirms the Reeds to be born-and-bred Americans-the dual citizenship technicalities notwithstanding.

You'd think with it being 2010 and all that, instead of the constant speculation, some posters above would at least check out their Wikipedia entry to get a little info, and then maybe do a little more detailed Internet search.

Special exceptions are made for "special" people.

Supposedly, Georgia's leader railroaded Alison's citizenship through the bureaucracy so she could compete, for example.

kaminarihito et al: If you want to know more about the naturalization process and many other legal issues for foreigners, I suggest you go to William Wetherall's site. I don't necessarily agree with his interpretations of the accumulated material he has put together, but it is an impressive bunch of stuff.

And, by the way, congratulations to all the Reeds for pursuing your dreams and competing in the 2010 Winter Olympics.

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Posted in: Lysacek upsets Plushenko for figure skating gold; Takahashi takes bronze See in context

When Plushenko’s scores were announced, Lysacek, the current world champion, jumped in elation backstage. Plushenko simply smiled and walked out of the kiss-and-cry area.

There's always controversy surrounding the scoring of top figure skating events. People need to get over it. It will never change.

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Posted in: Anna Umemiya's relationship with footballer over See in context

First time I ever saw a picture of her mother.

I've seen her mother on many a travel show, especially the "Dreamy Trip" type to various onsen, usually with husband in tow. The mother's life story in Japan and how hard she worked to learn the language and raise a family is actually a pretty good story.

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Posted in: Kokubo out See in context

Good on Kazuhiro Kokubo and the other members of the Seven Samurai snowboarders for trying to assert their rights as individual human beings, and not submitting to the pressure to conform as clones in the collective mass of the Japanese.

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Posted in: Narita ranked third in airport quality survey See in context

Narita ranked third in airport quality survey

This sounds about right to me. I'd rather go through an international airport like Narita anytime than be subjected to the hassles of most of the ones I've been to in the U.S. and Europe.

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Posted in: Anna Umemiya's relationship with footballer over See in context

On the other side of the fence, Nakajima’s parents’ opposition to the relationship is rumored to have dealt a decisive blow. His parents, who run a long-standing sweets manufacturer in Kobe City and will hand over the reins to Nakajima, are said to have been opposed to him marrying a woman nine years older and with a child from a previous marriage.

Five paragraphs in and we get "the rest of the story", as Paul Harvey famously says.

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Posted in: Obama says stimulus bill saved U.S. economy See in context

yabits is correct-there has been a lot lately in publications like The Wall Street Journal and Time about the debt-to-GDP ratio comparing the Great Depression years, WW II and its aftermath, and this decade heading forward.

It's almost guaranteed with the projected deficits the next several years that the U.S. national debt will reach 90-100% of GDP, which will make a shaky economic future for the U.S. even worse. Japan's situation seems worse when you look at the approaching 200% debt-to-GDP ratio, but, to some extent, Japan can breathe a little easier because around 95% of its debt is funded domestically, while the U.S. has about half of its controlled by foreigners.

One way or the other, the U.S. has a lot of work to get its debt back to manageable levels, as does Japan.

And it's impossible to say right now, unless you're Obama or one of his supporters, that he has saved the U.S. economy.

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Posted in: Obama says stimulus bill saved U.S. economy See in context

I'd say measures taken by the Bush administration in 2008 staved off a complete implosion of the U.S. economy.

The jury is still out on the massive debt Obama has piled up through his stimulus packages.

There's still another round of housing foreclosures to deal with this year. Most states have intractable debt problems that seemingly will still get worse. The lifeline of continually extending social welfare benefits has to be cut off at some point.

Where these issues stand a year from now-after the Democrats very probably take a terrible beating in November's mid-term elections-will have a lot to say about whether Obama is a one or two-term president.

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Posted in: Sarkozy announces big French aid plan for Haiti See in context

It's about time France took care of its past debts to Haiti.

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Posted in: American White wins halfpipe gold; Kokubo, Aono finish 8th, 9th See in context

sarge wrote:

"the dangerous, spiraling Double McTwist 1260 Why would the IOC sanction a dangerous event?"

Because they know that snowboarding events help their ratings and profits spiral to the stratosphere, and the more daring, the more dough in their pockets and those of the TV networks.

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Posted in: From 'Kill Bill' to Uniqlo, Chiaki Kuriyama shows her killer style See in context

Chiaki Kuriyama is pretty nice, but I still prefer Kazue Fukiishi's UNIQLO commercials.

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Posted in: Managing gaijin teachers See in context

space monkey wrote:

Basically, the entire industry became very unattractive to work in once the mandatory 250,000 yen a month pay required to sponsor a work visa was removed.

Very true.

I put my money on it that Dean doesn't hire any English teachers (don't call us Gaijin as you are not Japanese and it's a ridiculously stupid term that make Japanese sounds like bigoted morons) on full time contracts, paying full medical insurance, unemployment insurance etc. at a decent rate of pay on par with professional teachers in Japan.

Spot on.

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