Phillyprnc comments

ThereS one in Sapporo.. I havent been there but thought the idea was nicer than the run of the mill pink club in Japan. This story is lacking in information. Why did they shut him down. Did he not have an underwear exposing license? Was he not paying off the right cops? Do you have to actually shower and or have sex with customers to own a kinky club? I am confused!

Consevatives are so pleasant in person. Why can't conservatives tolerate other points of view? why can't liberals tolerate other opinions?

LOL - really?

Great. You`ve learned that on one continuum there are liberals and conservatives. When are you going to take the next step in your education, learning that there are liberals and conservatives of all shades within those groups. Generalizations just make you sound uninformed and lazy.

This topic could be though of as pro of con from either view point, depending on what you focus on. And given that there are millions of either group in California, alone... well, you should get the picture by now.

I`m sure some Americans are ready to snap. TImes are tough. But the author just cherry picks every negative stat and anecdotal story out there to make his point. A more balanced view of the situation would admit that with times as tough as they are, and 300 million in the country, most of which could snap if pushed far enough, there are precious few examples of people loosing it.

The raising of this prima donna stewards to a folk hero icon, I find really disturbing. I found his behavior unacceptable. Many may find a moments release in imagining themselves acting out as he did but, they dont in their own lives and they would be beyond angry if they were on that plane, delayed for hours due to someone elses temper tantrum.

Anecdotally, everyone I know back home is dealing with their situation with a positive outlook and nose to the grindstone efforts to make things better. There have been better times in America for sure, but there have been much worse as well. These articles will always pop up, I guess.

Ok.. I couldnt decided on one comment so Ive give everyone three choices.. what`S it gonna be???

A - Calm down Shirley. When I was young, my father was an idiot. Stuck in the old ways, while I was learned in the ways of the new, the ways in which the world was headed. He was stuck, poor bast.. It must have been my genius rubbing off on him because as I got older he got smarter. Now I think of him as very wise. Lucky him! So perhaps someday, these "longtime expats" will learn from your enlightened example.

B - Im here about a year less than you and live in Sapporo. I have a Japanese wife, I could not have been luckier to meet and I married her out of no sense of obligation at all. My kids will be a mix of races, to use your distinction, as I am a mix of cultures or tribes or nationalities, to use my own. (As I guess you are too) I look at my friends who have been here a while and find most of them to be "stand up" people. My wife couldnt believe the outpouring of help from the "longtime expats" when we had 12man stolen from us one night recently. I think you paint with too broad a brush and if you were as enlighten as you think you are you would not be prone to speaking in such broad terms. They are simple.. for the simple.

C - Am I really reading this on a news web site?? This "free-lance writer" as he likes to be considered, is obviously belly aching about one experience and using it to smear an entire group of people (quite poorly I might add). If Shirley were talking about Japanese would this have made it to the site.

So.. A, B or C... which is my response?????

There are idiots in every group, even in the ranks of free lance writers. LIfe would be great without them, but none of us, or very few, would exist, if any idiotic infraction were enough to make you disappear.

I found this article trite, pathetic and warranting a response, but completely not "news worthy..."

Most of Americans think that US is the king of the world (for good or bad) and are very ignorant about things that take place outside of US.

THis is a quaint opinion of Americans.. Its several generations old though and while I think you could say most american dont stay up at night ringing their hands about what happens outside there borders, clinging to this old idea that an american MUST be ignorant of foreign events seems rather ignorant in itself.

Have you tested that opinion or do you just used it to keep yourself warm and self-satisfied at night.

As far as Toyota... American doesnt need them NEARLY as much as they need America. Its economics. Weve been through auto plants closing before. The car companies suffered much more than the COuntry over all.. and with auto sales on the rise, but Toyota in decline.. itS just a matter of time before others plans take up the slack... but this won`t come to pass. Americans love their (foreign or domestic) brands, Toyota included.

Well, I live in Sapporo really Enjoy the night life. Compared to New York, Philly, New Orleans it`s not that great but there is plenty to do and tons of options if you spend time here and look around. It might not be as broad as Tokyo, but I would be really disappointed if Sapporo had all that went along with Tokyo, just for the bump in night life.

As far as food... itS the best in Japan. Ive only had a hand full of meals out that we not great or delicious. There aren`t a lot of options when it comes to AUTHENTIC international fare, but I just assumed that was a Japanese thing.. not Sapporo.

Its a beautiful city, with the cutest and best dressed girls (particularly in winter) and with the Skiing and snowboarding in winter and the AMAZING weather in SUmmer, its one of the best places to be in the world, I think.

And the foreign community here is amazing. REally great people. Not like I`ve met anywhere else...

wiz at 08:00 AM JST - 5th March I love the use of action words like "shattered". Looks like elections and security are going very well, except a for a few idoits.

The Headline is misleading, but not JTs fault. It was actually written by a woman reporting for the AP, why that isnt in the byline?? I can only guess.

yawn...

neverknow2 at 11:25 AM JST - 1st February WOW! My life is now complete because I can look at flowers on a tree.

That made me LOL!!

Amazing imaginations... Thanks Punanydoc for some common sense.

sad article, sad comments.. sad state of affairs (or lack their of) in Japan I guess.

"Sex ruins everything??" Really.?? it`s all about love... yes, as sex can (and possibly should) be as well. Is that not obvious?

"The quickest way to stop having sex is to get married..??" Really? Such a "victim" mentality. Although I agree sex is like (I used to say water.. as you can live without it for a while. air.. not long.) ,,it`s like water, money.... things you take for granted unless you run out.

IM shocked by the numbers in the article but agree that the disconnect between sex and relationships might be responsible for why its not seen IN relationships. Good luck boys.. Ill keep on trucking on an work on my end to bring up the numbers!! (The things I wont do for this country)

what a bunch of crotchety old... comments. Theres a lot of bennies that come with facebook. Epically living away from your home country where your family and friends still are... Ive recently connected with people who I haven`T seen in 20 years. Do I want to talk to them on the phone.. once in a while. But the occasional comment on an update or post is more like jumping into a conversation while passing by someone at a party.

I`m actually closer to a lot of people thanks to the connivence of facebook. REturning a message.. hell reading it or rereading it at your leisure can only be described as convenient, compared with writing down the important part of a phone message.. finding the note later and calling back only to have to leave your own message on THEIR answering machine.

While people do not interact in person as much to say there is less communication is to misunderstand what is going on between people on these sites.

BUT if you dont want certain info to be available to others.. dont post it, period. For sure.

My Hero!!!

Anyone who would question or doubt whether the Baby was "even crying" or not is missing the whole point of this.. but is probably beyond explaining it to.

My first post was taken down by JP as it was considered rude to another user... I didn`t realize chastising someone who went just shy of condoning this act (as it was far better than the actually rape of a baby he heard about in the states) was considered rude. But nothing JP does surprises me any more.. made me LOL actually. Thanks JP.

I wonder how many of Obamas supporters would take the time hes taken on the Afghanistan decision.. If they had the job. I can say, when I disagreed with Bush I said so.. but he made a lot of decisions in ways I think I might have under the circumstances. I would have sounded better doing it, but that`s my personal charm!

Obamas decision making, and/or lack of, has confounded me. After serious the consideration with an open (as possible, I suppose) mind, Im often left wondering... WHAT? REALLY? Lot`s of people are starting to feel this way. So get used to hearing it. THanks JT for posting something to counter balance the all too frequent knee jerk demagoguery from the left that we see on here (especially in the comments section.. just read below!)

Wow... I`m dumbstruck...

As to the black widow comment.. as much as that rings true those women are strong. I`m not sure why women would see this guy as strong. He murdered a woman!! Not a yakuza thug of even a salaryman. There was no shootout with the cops. No romance. He was like a little rat scurrying away from the responsibility of his action. No honor. Nothing to respect at all.

Forget about the fact that he looks like one of the ugliest men I`ve ever seen in BOTH photos released of him.

ANd I loved the "He can converse in another language" line. Do we know this? A Japanese student studying English gives him about a 20% chance of actually being able to speak by my experience.

But, maybe I`m wrong!!

You CAN have a problem with this greeting without it being political. THere are many democrats who are uncomfortable with the image as well as republicans. It doesnt make you a cowboy or arrogant to want to see your countrys leader showing himself and his county the same respect every other world leader in this situation has shown.

On top of that.. had it been just a bow, hands to the side, it would have been much less strange looking. But the handshake coupled with such a deep bow looks very strange. Does anyone posing here really think it looks good or are they just knee jerk defending him?? If you think it looks good fine. I happen to disagree. I think it looks amateurish and over reaching, therefore it makes me uncomfortable.

But thanks for the continuing anit-American drivel... the comments section never fail to provide that banter. Most likely from the American left.

he only knows how to bow deeply.

He should clean his shoes while he`s down there.

Embarrassing.. bow, or do the handshake. Both?? really??

The night life (In Sapporo) is great. Not like Tokyo, but plenty to do and the best dressed girls in Japan.

It is an amazing place, Hokkaido, with the most amazing Sky I`ve ever seen. And SApporo is a really livable city.

Wild West... more like little house on the prairie. But beautiful none the less!

I Had a 22ish year old kid standing net to me on a street corner in Hakkodate, taken a picture up a high school girls skirt. I was the ONLY one to freak out and chase the kid. And then I was looked at like I was an Animal. (I`ve never seen anyone run SOOO fast.... Japan is like a big gay bar!)

Anyway... it was disgusting. And all I really wanted to know was, how did he disable the camera sound on his phone! ???

"Maybe they just wanted to get their trophies and memorable back."

HA HA HA!!! THAT made me laugh out loud!! thanks!!!

Agreed, agreed, agreed, agreed.

It’s notorious as the kind of zoo Donald Rumsfeld would create, and achieved international recognition as the only zoo in the world with green polar bears (algae left untreated)

Really... Did you use Rumsfled in a ZOO metaphor. If you disagree with his running of the Iraq war or revamping of the US military.. call him a monster, immoral, evil... the fall backs for those of that ilk, but expecting us to imagine what kind of zoo he would create as a metaphor to explain the thoughts of those with whom this zoo has gained notoriety, is a painful stretch.