SaikoPhysco comments

Great... so they'll also give Shenzen the ability to rule Democratically and will face zero chance of being extradited to Communist China in the future. Sounds better to me.

And YoY next year, it will be down.

Ahhhh..... did you know that "shotgun wedding" actually was taken from Japan? Yes... its true... Katana Kekkon, existed well before shotgun.

And yet.... the Japanese farmers that are left still don't want do give up any market share to imports. The government needs to let imports do as they will but they need a backup plan too. Basically they need to identify agricultural land and ensure it is available when needed along with seed warehouses.

This is so stupid..... show me a flying car that has a range of 100 miles. Other companies out there are already vastly surpassing Japanese companies.

The question is.... would the guy in El Paso have shot and killed 20 people when he did if Trump were not the person he is? Tough question to answer... but I will say this, you cannot rule out Trump influence totally and that in and of itself is a problem. Trump is making all immigrants, whether legal or illegal appear to be bad people.... even though his White immigrant wife stands next to him.

Yeah.... and a lot can and will happen before December. We'll see if this ever happens.

Japan is extremely slow to change.... it is almost 2020 but Japan still has some very archaic rules on the books. Things that us foreigners, because we come from multi-ethnic countries, just could not fathom. I say, yes, of course change the rule but the rule in itself and it's existence in the first place is not surprising. You know "the nail that sticks out". When I first got to Japan back in the early 80's, I heard that saying all the time, now, very rarely. Japan has changed massively in the last 40 years but, again, some things have not. Over the more than 200 years of "Sakoku", up until 1853, which historically speaking, was not that long ago. During that time Japan must have really developed a "norm" whereby people had to look and act a certain way. Those days are quickly fading... young kids are getting a lot of international exposure by watching the internet and not watching Japanese TV, which has not changed for the last 50 years. It is still controlled by those that do not want change.

South Korea's National Pastime..... Protesting, is in full swing. They're not happy unless they have something to protest over.

I'm 100% behind Abe on this. War reparations were paid, for the S. Korean's to again and again go after Japan on this issue is just plain idiocy and wrong. Stay firm Japan.

For a country that prides itself by defining everything in order to stay away from awkward situations this is a massive reversal. Be prepared to hear "motchi-kaeri" or "take-away", quite often from now on. Now you're going to begin to wonder, did I get far enough away from the store for this to be 8%.

Lets look at the "crime is on the decline" thing from a demographic standpoint. Right now 35% of Japan's population is 60 or older in age. I've got to think that the majority of crime in Japan is committed by those aged 15 to 60. At its high around 1995, 72% of Japan's population was between 15 and 60. Just 24 years later that number has dropped to 61%. That is about a 15% decline. So when Crime is on the decline.... is it really, or is it just that the number of people has declined and crime has stayed the same or even increased.

Good on Darvish.... many of us that have been here for years know how sports programs are run here. So its good to see someone that is famous speak out. Things are slowly getting better.... things are definitely better now than they were 30 years ago, but much can be improved upon.

I know what the article says.... I just like it better when the headline sounds a bit more equitable when pointing fingers.

If the headline read "Foreign tourists and Japanese citizens warned not to fly drones during Sumida River Fireworks Festival". I'd be.... nice, they included the Japanese too and didn't single out foreigners.

The way things are going.... with Japan increasingly becoming economically weaker, people from these countries may not want to come to Japan in the numbers they used to. Especially now that the U.S. is massively adding tariffs against China. With those tariffs on China, other countries like Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia, are seeing better economies.

Interesting.... this incident could have proven to be a nice diversion from Japan's Trade Dispute with S. Korea but Japan instead decided to also have issue with S. Korea on this. To me this shows that Japan wants to keep the trade dispute on the front burner.

Interesting.... that is a lot of visitors. I'm sorry JT but I wonder if Japan will put a cap on the number of visitors any one country could have visiting Japan at one time. I mean, it could be a security issue. However that said, great news and the extra revenue will do wonders for Japan's economy.

Whatever you call it... telling a bunch of mixed raced elected officials to "go back to where you came from" is just wrong and not called for.... especially by a sitting President. In any other context it could be called "racist", and it probably should be called that here. The only reason Trump has not been impeached by now is because he supports a bigger budget for the military and his support for Israel.

They only thing they make that my wife likes is kimchi.... beyond that, they can keep all their inferior crap!

There are literally hundreds of town falling apart in Japan due to the declining and ageing population. These people have short memories... had nobody showed up to help revive the town, they'd all be lamenting their bad luck. Typical woe is me selfishness....

What he did was illegal! Now, if he properly paid the local organized crime group their percentage, it would have been fine. What was he thinking.

I think I might just go up to Hokkaido and start a new "Garbage Separation" business. For a small monthly fee my company will properly separate your garbage. I'll buy a Garbage Truck, pick up their garbage, bring it to my facility, separate it, and then bring it to wherever the regular garbage companies bring it. But guess what, I'd be willing to bet that would be against the law somehow.... or that the existing Garbage Companies would be against it. They'll figure out some reason for it to be a bad idea.

The last time there was a Crypto Currency theft.... the governments response was to let the Crypto Companies police themselves. Which basically means, we, the Japanese Government, will allow Yakuza groups to infiltrate crypto companies and steal all they want. The Japanese Government will not even investigate the crime.

I certainly hope the USA is given better terms regarding the export of Beef to Japan. However, it will be difficult. When Japan signed its TPP agreement with Australia and New Zealand, the terms were decent, not great, but decent. If Japan signs a new deal with the USA, it would be difficult to give the USA better terms than those given Australia and NZ.... and I doubt those 'decent', terms with TPP, will satisfy Trump. And when I say 'decent'. Basically, over over the time of a few years, import tariffs would be reduced. Also, if the percentage of imports jumped too quickly, it would trigger a lower fixed import percentage to slow things down.

In Russia and China, they'd have put the guy that found and published this report in prison or worse. We've known for decades about Japan's chemical weapons and their usage before the end of WWII. Which does not make it any better. Every single country that had large operations during WWII bent or broke the rules of engagement.... which again, was wrong and should be accounted for in some manner.

Ahhh yeah, I'm not quite of the mind where a "poop" museum, no matter how cute, would be on my list for a visit. Putting cuteness on crap and creating a museum is absurd. But because the Japanese live with so many rules, stepping outside normal boundaries is difficult and anti-social. So the absurd, a poop museum, becomes funny and trendy. Next up.... possibly a "booger" museum.

And there the S. Korean's go.... falling for more Political machinations. 1965.... in today's money, Japan paid a very large amount of money to them. They took the money, added to infrastructure and grew existing companies into large corporations. S. Korea felt that, instead of compensating individuals, this would be best for the country. Now, over 50 years later, they're coming for more. Its not like this is the first time either, countless, countless number of times they've asked for apologies and money. These people should be suing their own government, not Japan.

200 years ago, young men probably ran down a dangerous mountain trail to see who'd win, or they raced horses. It is called Testosterone and some young men are full of it. The one's that have too much, well they end up in various sports, the military, or sometimes become Yakuza. Hate to say it... but they just cannot help themselves.... they are the one's that we really relied on to protect the tribe when invaded. You can't throw out millions of years of genetics in ten or twenty generations. Plus, we still need them.

Two separate applications and two separate dates for basically one test. The other day I bought a sokutatsu envelope and a stamp to mail it. I had to do two separate transactions at the post office to accomplish this. We've all been there before.... no one in this country is all that interested in doing things faster and better, especially outside of a factory. Got to give people something to do until they retire because they cannot afford lay them off.