QueenKong comments

If these supposed aphrodisiacs could talk, they'd speak the language of love.

Not a huge fan of donuts in general and Krispy Kreme's are too sweet for me. I wish Japan had more bagels or hot pretzels.

I suggest Mr Husband, in the bedroom, with a necktie.

cactusJack. Well, that would explain why y3chome kept getting hit on.

Tokyo Gov Shintaro Ishihara has declared the bid would be a "big catalyst" for reconstruction and revival...

One would hope that the government does not need this to be a catalyst for helping rebuild Tohoku. Reconstruction should be a priority regardless of whether or not Tokyo hosts the Olympics.

Despite the light sentence, the boy's lawyer told AFP: "We are really disppointed with the judge's ruling."

"Disappointed"!? You should be grateful that's all he got. I wonder if he hadn't gotten caught, would his parents have sent him to a rehabiliation program?

It's kinda tacky looking and a waste of money/gold.

I know this is really un-PC, but I’m an advocate for careful use of sun beds.

I don't really think that any level use of sun beds can be considered safe. It's skin cancer waiting to happen if you do it regularly. The gym that I went to here actually advertised tanning beds to be "healthy", which I found to be very misleading.

young Japanese guys make us look like savage, hairy wildebeests in comparison

Ah..no, I think that young Japanese guys make most foreign guys look even manlier, which does not translate into "Neanderthal-like". I personally find that the way most Japanese (and other Asian) guys dress and groom to be too feminine for my tastes. Though, this doesn't go for Australian/American/Canadian-Born Chinese/Japanese/Koreans etc. Though they are Asian, they definitely come off more masculine than those born and raised here. Sometimes it's not just the clothes and the hair, it's the way they hold themselves that make them look feminine, I guess.

Cathay Pacific. Great staff, roomy for economy class and good entertainment system.

paulinusa, some kanji might have a general meaning for it, but some might have different nuances. You have to keep in mind that when it comes to translation it's not just about each individual word (or kanji). Grammar comes into play, too, not to mention expressions and context that software might not be able to pick up and translate into natural English (or other language).

Translation tools are not reliable if what you want to translate goes beyond a simple phrase or sentence. Anything more complex and it's literally "lost in translation". My students submit speeches that have obviously been translated through a website such as Google or Yahoo and I can't understand what they are trying to say. Reading their own limited English, as flawed as it may be, is a lot easier than trying to read the garbled mess that comes out of these translation tools.

The girl had earlier consulted the police, telling them the man had molested her more than 10 times starting in January, and police notified the railway company.

I'm not blaming the girl for the disgusting actions of the groper, but I assume that she got on the same car every time. If this had happened more than ten times, why didn't she at least get on a different car in the train? Unless the guy followed her on the train? In any case, good on her for reporting to the cops and the security staff for apprehending the guy.

Just the name "giri-choco" is unromantic. Why should someone feel obligated to give a present to people? I feel bad for the guys that they "have to" return the favour even though they probably didn't want the Valentine's chocolate in the first place. This is an extreme example, but at my previous job a guy gave the women luxury-brand handbags on White Day. Such a waste of money.