Posted in: Student suspected of hammer attack at university cites 'bullying' See in context
I don't know what this student went through, but I think there are many people who can't handle difficult coworkers and colleagues. In my workplace, I have two female Japanese subordinates in their thirties who use terms like "power harassment" and make complaints about their sixty-year old Japanese coworker who has a sharp tongue and scolds them for their lack of effort or lack of dedication. Being told off is just a fact of life in the workplace, and probably in college too. People need to grow up and become mentally resilient and emotionally stronger.
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Posted in: Record number of Japan ramen eateries went bankrupt in 2024 See in context
If the link isn't stripped out, please see the below JT article from 2024 which said many noodle shops might go out of business because they could not afford the high cost to reprogram their ticket machines to accept the new paper currency? I was expecting to read this article and have JT pat itself on the back for correctly predicting the cause and effect, but it wasn't mentioned at all. Sure enough, nine months later, a record number went out of business...
https://japantoday.com/category/national/japanese-ramen-restaurants-under-pressure-from-new-yen-banknotes
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Posted in: Two fans who grabbed Betts in World Series banned by MLB See in context
This is so justified. These men could have dislocated Mr. Betts' elbow or shoulder. If they weren't Yankees fans in New York, they should have been prosecuted for battery or some other non-consensual contact offense in a court of law.
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Posted in: Japan urges U.S. military to make changes to stop rapes in Okinawa See in context
@Taiwan and @Rock,
Art. XVII makes this a case of shared jurisdiction as rape is a crime in both countries. When the crimes are not against the security of the US nor against another member of the SOFA forces, then Japan has primary jurisdiction. When the Japanese Police have assembled enough evidence to pass the case to the Japanese Prosecutors, the Japanese Prosecutors will decide whether to indict the American. At that point, the US Government agrees it will turn over an indicted military member.
Because of many cases of Japanese Police getting false confessions out of suspects, even Japanese suspects, the US Government (in my opinion) is wise to exercise their leverage and not allow their military personnel to be subject to potential abusive Japanese Police practices. Instead, the Japanese Police actually have to do real investigative work rather than relying on confessions alone.
It seems so many posters above feel it's not fair that the American military personnel should be exempted from the tender mercies of Japanese Police interrogations and confessions. I feel it is unfair that anyone, American, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, European, Australian, southeast Asian, should be subjected to the Japanese Police interrogations process. The goal should be for all persons to have the same rights as the American military, not for reducing the American military members' rights to the really low baseline here in Japan.
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Posted in: Weekly applications for U.S. jobless benefits fall to the lowest level in 4 months See in context
University restarted across the USA during the same time period, so some people matriculated or returned to college, which would make them ineligible to apply for unemployment benefits. This number is not surprising. Of course, in a few months (after the election), the Dept. of Labor will adjust the unemployment number higher to reflect the reality of the American economy right now.
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Posted in: Man arrested for beating girlfriend at their home Sapporo See in context
It started "at THEIR home". Meaning, they shared a residence, which will mean there will be more opportunities for him to repeat this misbehavior. Used car dealers don't have great reputations no matter where someone goes!
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Posted in: Tokyo Metro to go public Oct 23; market value to reach ¥640 bil See in context
The point of a capital market is for an investor to make a return on his investment. I would like to know whether the Metro system is profitable right now, before investing. If it is not, what would be the plan to generate a profit? [raise ticket prices, cut staff, cut services, cut employee benefits] If it is already profitable, it would be nice to know how much we have been over-paying for our tickets and passes.
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Posted in: Top Hezbollah leader was among 37 killed in Israeli strike on Beirut apartment block See in context
It shows another amazing failure of Hezbollah's security, that the Israelis could know the time and location of a meeting of such senior personnel. If the pagers were tracked before blowing up this week, the Israelis likely have determined the location of Mr. Nasrallah himself based on analysis of movement patterns. This attack on Mr. Akil was probably a message that Mr. Nasrallah is next, no matter how deep a command bunker he has.
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Posted in: Oktoberfest is open. The world’s largest folk festival begins after ceremonial keg-tapping See in context
When taking our children to the Japanese school in Munich, during Oktoberfest Mrs. Affist and I would always see many celebrants sleeping it off in their cars, still in lederhosen and similar clothing, waiting to return to Theresienwiese for another go as soon as the fest tents reopened.
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Posted in: Man acting violently dies after being restrained by 4 police officers in Ibaraki Prefecture See in context
If this event had occurred in America, we might be considering fentanyl poisoning, or the relatives would already be lawyering up in the hope of suing some municipality for millions of dollars for police brutality.
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Posted in: Police officer arrested for stealing underwear from girl’s home See in context
Even though we hang our laundry on our 2d floor balcony, Mrs. Affist always reminds me to hang the female panties on the inside of the rack so they can't be easily spotted through the towels, pillow cases, and my clothing on the outside clips. She thinks some of these fetishists would climb to the 2d floor to take panties if they see them.
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Posted in: Asian stocks track Wall Street gains after encouraging U.S. jobs data calm jitters over economy See in context
But wait, why would stocks in the US go higher if they think the economy is not slowing? Recent articles have indicated that stocks rally when interest rates are cut, but a stronger economy means the US Federal Reserve is less likely to cut rates or cut them as much as traders hope for. These articles which purport to assess a rationale for why the market went up or went down are often contradictory from day to day.
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Posted in: Trump's Truth Social posts Q2 loss, lower revenue See in context
I am incredulous. Why would anyone invest money in a startup headed by someone who has declared bankruptcy as many times as Mr. Trump?
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Posted in: Venezuela's Maduro says no negotiating with opposition over vote See in context
Mr. Maduro promised to hold a free and fair election in exchange for sanctions relief from Mr. Biden. Mr. Biden agreed and gave him sanctions relief. Now it looks like Mr. Biden has been had.
Tyrants never leave willingly, never transfer power peacefully.
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Posted in: What is Japan's 'megaquake' warning? See in context
I was in Tokyo on 3/11 and watched plenty of the videos over the ensuing days. I encourage all of you to Google those videos, of villages and cities large and small. They had just had a 9-magnitude earthquake off their coast, not many kilometers away, and very few buildings were knocked down or on fire (as happened in January 1995 in Kobe). In some locations, residents were gathering to talk to each other, while in others they were running for their lives as the tsunami warnings went off. (It was the tsunamis that caused all the destruction in those locations.) Yes, some people away from the tsunamis were killed or injured by things falling on them, but by and large Japanese buildings remained standing if not deluged. Look at the pictures from the Fukushima evacuation zone inland - nearly every structure and house was fully intact when abandoned - again, even though located a few score kilometers from the epicenter. So I was shocked to see the collapsing structures on January 1st in Ishikawa, and wondered what the difference was.
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Posted in: 2 police officers stabbed by drunk man in Ibaraki Prefecture See in context
This is unreal. After stabbing two officers, I am surprised he wasn't perforated himself. The restraint of the second groups of responding officers is admirable.
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Posted in: Ex-Japanese Red Army member imprisoned over Jakarta attack dies at 76 See in context
They were feeding him mochi every meal, every day, and now look what happens!
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Posted in: One or two bowel movements a day keeps the doc away: study See in context
Gut health is linked to many other conditions, including external complexion. Previous studies indicated that constipatory foods such as red meats lead to release of toxins in the bowels and colon, resulting in colon cancers. Everyone should have daily exercise, plus eat yoghurt at least once per day, and decent quantities of fibrous fruits and vegetables to make excretion a regular, daily event.
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Posted in: Dolphin mass stranding on Cape Cod largest in U.S. history See in context
I'm not familiar with why marine mammals would wind up beached, but since they are air breathers, surely they can survive until the next high tide floats them back to the sea?
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Posted in: Iran's new president vows balance with all countries but warns U.S. his country won't be pressured See in context
The West has an expression of "good cop, bad cop" where a police duo intentionally try different tactics to get the same end result. Mr. Pezeshkian is the good cop (so-called reformer) to the bad cop of the Supreme Leader (who runs everything in Iran.) They are one and the same. They have the same goals. One is just more of a smooth talker who says what the soft West wants to hear.
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Posted in: Ohtani belts 200th MLB homer in Dodgers defeat See in context
Mr. Ohtani can hit these homeruns every day as far as I'm concerned, as long as the Dodgers continue to lose. It's the best possible form of entertainment.
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Posted in: Possible security lapses in focus after Trump rally shooting See in context
Nothing to worry about. The FBI, who all just love Mr. Trump so dearly, have taken over the investigation. I'm SURE it will reveal a lone wolf, mentally disturbed, who everyone knew should not have had access to firearms. Any manifesto revealing his political leanings, if not politically useful to the FBI's leadership, will be suppressed into at least mid-November.
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Posted in: Japan inflation rises to 2.8% in February See in context
And at some point, BOJ may just get more inflation than it wants. Hopefully not Argentina-level or Zimbabwe-level, but with the public debt twice the size of the GDP, printing more and more money eventually leads to this.
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Posted in: Man arrested after beating daughter for ‘not helping with chores’ See in context
Thankfully only minor injuries after a child was punched in the face by an adult man. He could have disfigured her for life or broken her neck.
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Posted in: Who is Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani's interpreter? See in context
Mr. Mizuhara needs to sue the Dodgers for wrongful termination, as the reported acts occurred when Mr. Mizuhara worked for the Angels and there is no report that these transactions occurred during his Dodgers employment...
-1 ( +0 / -1 )
Posted in: Ohtani's 'perfect person' image could take a hit with firing of interpreter over gambling See in context
This is the second time Mr. Ohtani is in financial trouble. He took money from a failed cryptocurrency company to hawk their product, and has been sued for fraud for promoting a Ponzi scheme. His defense was "I am Japanese and I do all my business in the Japanese language. I have no idea about English-language business. I just take the money people throw at me to advertise their products." Good luck with that, and good luck with telling everyone you and your accountant had no idea the interpreter was running off with $5M. This athlete has a team of lawyers and accountants (and agents). He and his lawyers are in self-preservation mode right now to claim there was a theft. It's the least damaging choice to the Ohtani brand. Throw your long-time friends under the bus. But Mr. Mizuhara has the scoop on everything Mr. Ohtani has been doing for the last six years. An orange jumpsuit will make Mr. Mizuhara rat Mr. Ohtani out pretty fast, maybe even halfway through this season.
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Posted in: Ohtani's 'perfect person' image could take a hit with firing of interpreter over gambling See in context
In the USA, there are tax issues from giving "no-interest" loans (even to friends), especially at that magnitude. There are also rules on the "gift tax", that limit how much of your own money you can give someone without it becoming a taxable event. There is a reason the USA Internal Revenue Service is looking at this, and it isn't because someone "lost" $5M. The IRS doesn't care about someone losing money. They do care about failing to report income or failing to report gifts or failing to properly account for "loans".
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Posted in: Heavy snow in northern England causes havoc on highways and knocks out power See in context
Looks like winter at Hogwarts and Hogsmeade.
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Posted in: Former pro baseball player gets 16 months in prison for stealing whisky from supermarket See in context
His situation is reflective of many high school athletic prodigies. He didn't study or learn anything in high school other than baseball. Maybe junior high school too. He was what was called a "baseball baka". And when the career didn't pan out, and any signing bonus dissipated, he wound up as an uneducated man with no marketable skills. His gambling debts may be to shady characters - it's not that he couldn't help himself and avoid stealing, but he needed to come up with some cash quickly to satisfy the hoods who lent it to him ... or else.
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Posted in: Australian PM Albanese heads to China as relations thaw See in context
PM Albanese continues the historic tradition of foreign leaders traveling to the Middle Kingdom and kowtowing to the emperor. Every country will have to do it, sooner or later.
-7 ( +0 / -7 )
This is why Japan thumbs its nose at the Haigue’s parental、 child abduction policies
Posted in: Japanese woman found dead in Hungary had sought embassy help over DV
Posted in: Trump says he is serious about Canada becoming 51st state
The Ukrainian president said Putin did not want to end the war" Yes, he does. there needs to be a…
Posted in: Trump plan to end Ukraine war must prevent new Russian aggression, Zelenskyy says
Posted in: Richard Gere calls Trump 'bully' and 'thug' at Spain's top film awards