Penske Nievko comments

It beats the slew of "kira kira" names I've seen in recent years.

I've met and talked to TkyoSam on numerous occasions. While I personally think he's arrogant, full of himself, and can be a bit of a jerk to some people, I don't think what he did was that serious. Did it violate some laws? Perhaps. But the extent of charges that people want to bring against him seem to be a bit much. Again, I don't like the guy, but I don't think he deserves the punishment many are wanting for him.

@Matthew Petrea

Drug abuse should be treated as a medical issue and not a criminal one. Take the criminality out of drugs and the black market price drops, thus no incentive for dealers/criminals to sell it.

It's been proven time and time again in Portugal, Uruguay, and several US states that decriminalization/legalization cuts down on abuse among adults and teens. Prohibition does nothing but encourage abuse and crime.

Oh jesus, seriously just legalize it and be done with this nonsense.

@starpunk

Yeah it's a true story and the guy is alive and living free in Japan now. VICE did a piece on his story. Because of some legal mixup between France and Japan, this dude walks free.

Nighty night! Keep your butthole tight!

Still nothing on Trump himself. Teflon Don. The investigation will get everyone but him I guarantee you. See you all in 2020!

Ah Japan. The land that even IF you get thrown a little fun freedom bone, there's always a "catch" and a leash attached to it. Unless you're a smoker of course.

My opinion won't be popular but people who still think that banning guns will magically solve this issue still don't see the problem here. It's not the guns that are the problem, it's the culture surrounding the guns. The glorification of guns and violence is what's the issue. Guns and rifles are merely a tool to protect oneself and one's property. Want to know who to blame? Blame the media who glorifies this kind of violence. Blame the gun nut culture who deifies it. Guns themselves are merely the tool, it's the wielder and the culture they live in that causes the shooting spree to happen on innocents. Yeah, yeah, just because you don't like my opinion doesn't mean you have to get butthurt...but go ahead and downvote me. I don't care. You know I'm right.

Wonder how many of these prisoners were in for victimless, nonviolent crimes...

Still not paying for it.

I have no rat in the race between who has the right to Jerusalem. I could not care any less.

But that being said, all this move does is stoke the fire. But I think it's all part of his strategy. Trump has been currying favor among different world leaders for months. He solidified his relationship with Saudi Arabia and it's new upcoming prince, and key allies in Asia. He's backed Europe into a corner with his attitude toward them, but stoking a fire that could cause them to someday call on the US in case of heated escalations.

Trump knows the teeth of his time as president might be sinking in and is trying to get as much done as he can before he may go.

Selling a new missile defense to Saudi Arabia, making a stand on Israel. What he's planning I don't know, but what it appears to me is he's trying to provoke certain countries to attack first, to give an excuse to destroy his enemies or people he sees as enemies. By any means he can.

I've driven a kei car for years. Have had absolutely 0 problems. Perhaps you're just not a good driver in them?

Ban kei-cars? How about find out the cause of the accident (perhaps negligent driving?) And better train people how to drive cars instead of knee jerk "BAN IT!" statements?

Teaching people responsibility with things, instead of taking them away, is more productive to society.

Why bother? Voting is a sham anyway.

They'd much rather people smoke this junk and risk death than legalize a medicinal herb that can actually HELP people in so many ways. It boggles the mind and thinking of modern governments. The war on drugs is a failure and those who are still trying their heavy handed tactics (Duterte, Sessions, etc.) are on the wrong side of history in this case. Take a page out of Portugal's book and at least decriminalize it and treat hard drugs as a medical issue and not a criminal one. And make cannabis completely legal. It helps. Alcohol and tobacco (which are legal) kill millions of people every year, where as cannabis kills absolutely 0.

Oh boy! Only three years until the still lingering Piko Taro puts out his hit theme for the Olympics "Where Are From?" and it becomes the bane of everyone everywhere.

It still amazes me that "tweets" are international news. Get back to reality people.

Wonder what the royal family will say when she comes back with a "gaijin" boyfriend.

Stupid. It was his choice to travel to North Korea, and his choice to steal the poster. Who knows what happened to him while he was locked up, and I don't want to sound cold but, well damn what do you expect?

But to outright ban people from traveling somewhere for their own good? Yes, nanny, I'll be a good wittle boy and do as told! What a load of hogwash.

People should be free to travel where they wish, even if they are stupid enough to go to North Korea.

The Juice is loose!

The t-shirt aside, do you really think the world needs more people who do what they want, and ignore the rest of humanity?

Actually, I do. Mr. Horie is exactly what this world needs more of in my opinion. Does he hurt anyone? No, he speaks his mind, runs his businesses, writes books, and helps people. He's not a corporate drone who does what he's told and follows the leader. He's an individual and I honestly find that so refreshing in this country. So yes, I think there need to be more like him. Not sure why you wouldn't...

He is following, all advertising is good advertising and got what he wanted. Guys a tool either way.

I'd say he's the opposite of a "tool". He follows his own path without much care of what the rest of the world thinks. That is to be commended in my book. The world, and Japan especially, need more people like him.

People complain about a Hitler shirt that says "No War". He is not a stupid man and obviously wore it intentionally. That being said, people lose their mind over a shirt with a cartoon Hitler, but if he wore a Che Guevera shirt then nobody would bat an eyelash. Unreal.

NHK are the one's with egg on their faces here. Horie is laughing all the way to the bank. Good on him.

The sad truth of it is, based on my many years of living here, Japanese people will just go along with it and "shouganai" it because either A. Because the government is the authority and they'll just follow the leader, regardless, or B. Think nothing can be done about it anyway, so why bother?

After the political upheaval of the 60's and 70's in Japan, dissenters to authority aren't looked upon too favorably.

If they aren't hurting anyone, who honestly cares? Live and let live! I just cannot understand this mentality across the entire world where others feel justified telling other people how to live their lives and wanting to control what others do. Whether it's in the bedroom, what people put in their own bodies, etc.

If you aren't harming another human being (physically, mentally, or otherwise), then you're doing nothing wrong in my opinion.

Long flights are the worst to be drunk on. The hangover/jetlag is that much worse...

To those going on about banning smoking but allowing MJ use is a contradiction of sorts - there are many ways to ingest cannabis, from tincture to edibles. Doesn't have to be smoking. Also, the same laws could apply to cannabis smoking to regulate it to one's property only.

Japan would benefit greatly from medical cannabis (and recreational, but lets be real about what's possible now) as the science clearly shows its benefits far outweigh the downsides.

However, the "mind expanding" element could be something the society doesn't want to creep in. Hells bells if people start to question the status quo around here.

I think this was a concerted effort to teach Ms. Takagi a lesson. She ran a political campaign to legalize this herb and the powers that be came down on her to smear her public image and "teach her a lesson" to keep her place and not bring up such "nonsense" in Japanese public discourse. Just my opinion. Why else does she get such a light sentence in a country notorious for not going well on these types of cases. They did it to scare her into shutting up about it mostly, I believe.

I woke up to this story today and unfortunately happened upon the video of him shooting the old man. Just made me angry. I hope this guy is caught, turns himself in, or does himself in soon.

I hear the faint and fading sound of clucking....