Salsero comments

Get serious. I use Skype with people in many countries, and often the audio quality is so crappy, and so many words get lost that it is doubtful a machine would be able to make out what it is supposed to translate. Of course, Microsoft owns Skype, so that pretty much says it all. Microsoft should first focus on getting Skype to do its current tasks, but that would not be Microsoft style.

I get tired of all the Japan bragging by people who don't know what is going on in the world, which pretty much sums up the locals around me in Japan. A German-built maglev is the only one in use so far, and it went into use quite some time before a Japanese one ever will. Also, the French have the speed record of 575 km/h with a conventional train, and this record was set some time ago. Thus, 603 km/h with a maglev is not that impressive. Maglev technology and decades of work and that is the only edge that they can get on the French capabilities with a conventional train?

Sounds like the list of my married male friends and/or divorced male friends. Thank God I escaped this hell.

I'm the first person to always say that the government here needs to support women who want to have kids and work, but at the same time, I totally get the people with noise complaints. I used to live next to an elementary school here and it was atrocious, especially on weekends when they would hold a "sports" thing, more like "screaming festival," that went on for hours. I have also experienced renting a short-term apartment that had a daycare right there. The noise was horrific. A pure assault to the nerves, rendering it impossible to read, work, or listen to music in one's own home during the day. The best solution I can think of is to place daycare centers among commercial properties rather than among residential properties. These kids don't play, they scream and shout non-stop. When I walk by a local kindergarten, the screaming children easily drown out the cranked up rock music I am listening to on my ipod, using large, noise insulating over-the-ears headphones. Their noise is definitely over the legal limit, and can affect people's health.

Yes, JeffLee, "hopefully," but I think it will take a while. Most Japanese I talk to still do not have a clue about anything, and if the Middle East/Africa conflicts are discussed, they say, "oh, we just have to understand them, and then we can have world peace." lol.

I might as well join the waste of time here. People are "half" because it is short for "half and half" or "50/50". "Double," as suggested by some is more ridiculous; it sounds as if one is referring to Siamese twins, or two complete entities. Sorry, but "haafu" people in Japan, nor anywhere else, are two complete entities, not even if they are schizophrenic. As some earlier poster said, the problem is in peoples' heads, for the most part, not in the word. Having said that, "mixed" would be ideal, but I don' lose any sleep over words like "haafu" and "gaigin."

With all the whack jobs you hear about in the news in Japan, using Uber might be like playing Russain Roulette. Policemen here are constantly being caught perpetrating perverted crimes. Chikans are rampant. Who is going to be driving my Uber car?

Having said that, I agree with some posters that the reason so many taxis are not busy enough in Tokyo is that they charge to much, have a bad attitude, and have a habit of pretending to not know where you have asked to take them, in an attempt to pretend to be lost and rack up your fare. I avoid taxis in Tokyo like the plague, for the above reasons.

I also boycott taxis because far too many times I see them blowing red lights and driving aggressively through crosswalks, nearly ramming people, if not actually hitting them. A-holes like that don't deserve to make a buck.

Talk about "authorities" taking forever to catch up with what truly educated people know. It was demonstrated years ago the serum levels of cholesterol have little to nothing to do with cholesterol intake, and that cholesterol is very important to health. Trying to tell that to the brainwashed masses of sheeple is an exercise in futility though. The same goes for the lipid hypothesis, which long ago was exposed as being a scam, the man who started it all having fudged and/or thrown out data that proved the exact opposite.

Awesome post PamiMame. It is surprising to see a Japanese woman admit what most of us with brains in our heads figured out a long time ago. Pity the fools who are still at the stage of worshiping Japanese women as if they were the pinnacle of female creation. My divorced friends, separated friends, and half of my married non-separated friends here in Japan would certainly not share the view of these fools.

Sounds like a great way to encourage arson, or "accidents" at the hands of squatters...

What a bunch of loser whiners. Any Christmas dinner I ever had had Turkey, along with numerous vegetable and carb dishes, but apparently someone is force-feeding these women meat only until they burst? Like rotten, cold o-sechi ryori would be so much better. Yum.

I've been pointing out what Hampton said to everyone around me for some time, as I feel the pinch of spending more and getting less these days, all while getting paid less (income has been decreasing in the last two years). I'm sure it will surprise very few people here that the natives around me have been supportive of what is going on: "we need this, it's working." Sure, let's all ignore reality and repeat what we are being fed...

Some people appear to be interested, so let's get something straight. This AN 24 is not the biggest of Anatov's planes. The Anatov 225 is larger than this one. If someone likes doing comparisons, one should compare the AN 225 to the C5. We don't compare B737s to A380s.

These stories of foreigners fleeing without giving any notice are truly unbelievable. I work for a mid-size company with a few dozen foreign employees and not a single one fled.

Good one Sapporodenki. Anyone who wants to reminisce about American engineering, we're looking at it everyday at Daiichi...lol..Maybe Japan should have bought their nuclear reactors from Germany and then we wouldn't be in this situation today.

Are sure she didn't belong?

Nessie, do you actually fly much? Buy your ticket from any of most major airlines and you can choose your economy seat right online as soon as you complete your purchase, even many months in advance. Maybe you are still using those fools at H.I.S. who sell you some kind of unused group tour ticket that you have to pick up at the airport just before your flight. With such a ticket you are often also lucky enough to get only half or none of the mileage points that you should.