Puff_the_Magic comments

The departure of Hiroko Kuniya on "Close-Up Gendai" ended my interest in JTV.

"Man beaten to death after car is intercepted by gang" would suffice as a title.

Thank you, BertieWooster. Yes, we are all getting SHAFTED in the worst possible way.

Pearl HarBOR, not HarBOUR. Can you imagine a Japanese company tweeting, in English, the same message on that anniversary?

More on Mr Gumo. http://wikibin.org/articles/gregory-gumo.html

Why don't they put the lab up in one of the radiated zones near the Fukushima nuclear plant?

We also had the benefit of 20/20 vision back then. Those people knew what they were doing and rationalized it in various ways. There were enough people in power who were against it and appalled at the thought of using the atomic bomb. The hindsight is actually finding out what those people really thought at the time. It's all covered up in glory and blood and guts.

Digging and cooking bamboo. Working in the fields and mountains. Getting in the wood-burning ofuro, then under the old kotatsu that burns charcoal, drinking atsukan and beer and eating fresh sashimi caught that day, listening to the cats fighting outside and growling at each other . . . Smoking a cigarette and taking a piss outside in the moonlight. Having whole days to do nothing at all . . .

We tried . . . https://www.facebook.com/groups/201368116725307/

At least they didn't come to Yonago. :) Yet.

There are about four or five very good cafés here. Tullys just arrived not too long ago. Starbux is not needed and a lot of people I know basically don't support it. I asked the owners of some of these shops and they agreed that it was a plus to be the only prefecture without Starbux, just for the novelty, but none of them felt it was serious competition and welcomed it. This prefecture's main train line still uses diesel. There may never be a Shinkansen. The main highway is two laned with some three lane passing areas. The beaches are mainly unpoliced and there are few signs telling you what to do and not do. It's beautiful and a nice place to live.

But Tottori City IS boring as hell. :)

Tottori already has great coffee shops run by local entrepreneurs. Much better and classier than Starbucks any day. Tottori was the last holdout. I was hoping it would stay that way.

What's an under-fire burger?

Disillusioned, the word lie is an intransitive verb showing that someone or something is in a reclining position. (An intransitive verb cannot take an object, that is, a noun cannot directly attach itself to the word lie.) So, that is correct usage in the article. Your spelling leaves a little to be desired though.

Yeah, it musta been a love pentagle. Can you imagine? You wouldn't get any rest. :)

Hey! Happy Great Disaster Day, Everybody! Here, have a pink lollipop with an image of the exploding reactor!

I don't like the photo with THAT flag. Scary.

Good job, Dan. I thought maybe Magneto unbuckled her seatbelt and opened her door for her. Or maybe he removed her windshield.

A car falling 8 meters would be a very hard impact. Maybe the door popped open or she was thrown forward through the windshield. It's hard to tell exactly without more details.

This is all the more reason that those of us who teach English and other foreign languages should encourage our students to read the news from outside Japan. At the same time, for those of us who have the time and ability, we need to learn Japanese well enough to be able to discuss important events with people we meet on a daily basis. Most people I know are quite willing to hear different opinions and even change how they think, a lot easier than people where I come from.

I urge anyone who doubts that cannabilism occurred to watch the following clip and full movie of "The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On":

http://youtu.be/67MbYJ4TY48 http://youtu.be/FDkrunQwoLc

Also, I hope Japanese people consider the nature in which their societal relationships are NOW, in relatively peaceful times, and how those relationships may have been unbearable in tougher times. An element of cruelty underlies some of their hierarchical functioning.

I don't wanna reach Nirvana.

OK, so maybe when I go eat sushi, I avoid those on the endangered list, tell the people at the shop about it and tell people around me. I feel that when people here start to find out about things like this, they do respond. It may take a while but in this way, maybe we can be part of a grass roots effort to do something right.

Peter, give us some details of how his suicide stopped nothing and stirred the hearts of both sides. I know, at the time, that many self-defense force people and others jeered at him when he made his speech just before he killed himself. Bushido is long gone. I suspect these suicides are not based on its tenets although I could be wrong, at least in some cases.

"The political party that is in power is doing something that I disagree with, so I am going to commit suicide by immolation."

And so there's one less voice to object the government's policies - not that the voice that was lost was capable of reasoned objection. The "if you're not going to play the way I demand, then I'm going home" method of negotiation doesn't work for children, so why would a supposedly sane adult think it would work?

This shallowness of the thinking behind this comment is all the more reason you need to study more, Fatamor.

Pandabelle, when I tried to access the page earlier it didn't load up. There was nothing but a title and a link to the French version. Now it seems OK. Happens sometimes for whatever reason. :)

OK, Fadamor. You're an idiot.

Interesting that the link that nigelboy posted above for the Wikipedia article on this group (革命的共産主義者同盟全国委員会) has no information in Japanese but you can choose another language, French, and I'm sure that does a lot of Japanese people good. There are certain rules for revolutionaries regardless of political outlook and one of them is, Don't s!/t in your own nest. By attacking their escorts, they only brought unnecessary trouble on themselves, a sure sign of amateurs. I agree with many of the statements above that the uyoku is more worrisome right now and get away with murder. Thye need to be dealt with.

Everybody who has posted here - please read about the varied history of self-immolation and rethink your comments. Wikipedia has done a fairly good job of presenting it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-immolation

Self-immolation has a long and honored history. Sometimes it is the result of a long thought-out decision based on a firm belief that sacrifice of one's body is an extremely strong message towards a particular person or persons to obtain some result. Although I wouldn't do it myself, I understand the strength of someone's conviction to do it. Do you really think a vote equals the message sent by someone who sets themselves on fire? Do you really think it is a waste of life? Is it pointless? The only thing I don't understand is why they don't give this man's name. Also, what is the name of "the bespectacled man who appeared to be in his 50s or 60s"?

To Joe Bigs: you're right. No right winger would ever get caught doing this. Sacrifice for other people is just not in their nature.

If you're having trouble understanding what I am trying to say read about Thich Quang Duc: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thich_Quang_Duc

We've been celebrating here for 25+ years in the same place and always have a huge amount of people. We've always encouraged locals to join and slowly but surely, over the years, we've got mostly locals joining in now. And their costumes are absolutely brilliant! Winners for 1st and 2nd prize easy this year. It's a good thing. Beats the Christmas nonsense. And we are anything but all-American so you complainers can . . . come join the party! It's not too late!

Yeah, folks, keep your wits about you on those platforms.

That's funny. I went around the corner but I didn't see anything.