Piotr Gierszewski comments

Best wishes to the new PM. I don't expect Abe to be like the American "Abe" - Abraham Lincoln, but I don't find it disappointing at all. Democracy is not about strong leaders, but about efficient power structure. I'm pretty much convinced that Japan has very stable power structure.

About my previous post: it should be "delusions about WORLD peace", not "war peace". I was thinking "world" and I wrote "war". sighs

Such criminals aren't people who just pop out in random places on the Earth. They are usually people who were raised in an atmosphere of tolerance to crime and deviations.

The gun laws are not a problem really. Ban guns and people will throw knives at each other. The problem is the public education which is on a frighteningly low level in the US.

Some people might say that still America has given the world many great scientists. But they were all educated in private schools. Private school system is the most egalitarian thing in the American society. There are some schools which accept only those candidates who's parents have the diploma of that school. Where's the equality?

So Fuji-san is the proper name for the mountain after all. I thought it was a mistaken form. Well, my mistake.

I hope Japanese people will be able to relax during this special time in the year, and there will be no deaths from overworking.

Is it not time that Japan got permission to have military forces?

I just hope the new government won't drown in ritualism and will make some actual changes.

The most neutral solution to both China and Japan would be to create a new country which would control the Senkaku islands. But wait... no one lives there.

China has an unpleasant tendency to get involved in territorial disputes with it's neighbors. For example the Sino-Indian border dispute, where both India and China claim the right to a particular area. Chinese people seem to take Confucius' teachings of not letting go to literally. Additionally China is dealing with no strong leaders in politics, so no one wants to take the responsibility for anything. I heard a story once that when some corn fields turned out to be a mistake, the government accused birds of destroying it (I'm not sure whether it's true though).

All signs in the heavens and on the earth show that Japanese politics are redirecting towards nationalistic rhetorics. But still the situation is quite mild for the moment.

It looks like an exhibition of "lipsticks for men" (no offense). Every shade of red possible (with one exception). Nissan cars look okay, but my favorite one is still Subaru Impreza.

This is what happens when single crazy people ruin the reputation of whole nations.

I remember reading an article about North Korea's long range missiles once. It said that they are able to reach even part of Europe.

Remember about taking a snack before visiting the place. Orange color makes people hungry (I suppose that's why the word orange also means a fruit, and not only in English)

Maybe North Korea was observing the recent situation in Israel and wants to show everybody that "we have our rocket too!" That's quite silly.

I wonder where the tradition of painting bridges red came from.

The traditional Japanese family gave a right to the man who was the "head of the family" to decide about the life and death of his relatives. I suppose this man forgot that Japan doesn't approve such relations any more.

There is a very negative response from the native English speakers here (presumably native) about telling kids about serious things in such a funny (read: childish) way, but I suppose this "cuteness overload" is an ultimate strategy for everything to be popular in Japan (for example anime character advertising the new Windows system)... Also the manga / anime business considered as childish in the west is quite a serious thing in Japan (although this is what I know from the outside sources, not from personal experience).

It looks somewhat dangerous. But I consider burning things more appropriate form for a festival than corrida in Spain.

A few more "accidents" like that and I'll start to think that it's a typical thing for Japan.