sammuraisteve comments

Is stick deodorant even sold in this country? And no mention of the moldy, musty smelling clothes. I visit some homes of friends for a couple hours and leave with that stink on me.

Show it to a Japanese person and ask them what they see.

I just did. All ten said the guy on the right could be a gaijin.

The other 3 are foreigners.

Ahhh, yes. Japanese Crime Prevention posters depicting all of the criminals as foreigners. Saw my first one twenty years ago in the local bank. I went in and told them I wanted to close my account due to the racist posters they had displayed out by the ATMs, depicting foreigners stealing money from trustingly honest Japanese victims. They explained that it had nothing to do with them but it was the local police and could do nothing, sorry. When I explained that the media would then be contacted, they quickly changed their tune. I was given a pen and pencil set, some lovely tissues and was told the posters would be taken down. Great to see that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Granted that was a poster of foreigners pickpocketing and stealing money where this is guys goofing around. In both cases, in all of the media coverage I have seen in print, on TV and on the net, it is always done by Japanese. So why did they and why do they continue to see the need to depict foreigners as the 'bad' and 'us' as the good.

OK, I'll ask the question...If Ryo Ishikawa is completely fluent in English, as all of the 'Speed Learning' commercials tell us, why does he need a Japanese-speaking caddy?

I used to love that magazine - especially the inside back cover and spy vs spy.

And another thing that my significant other does that I can't stand is refusing to sleep in the same bed. I've also heard from women who refuse to even wash their husband's clothes together with their's when doing laundry.

And now that you've got me started, I think what I find the most interesting is that my wife wouldn't be caught dead going anywhere dressed up and especially without make-up. Heading off to work, parties, school, weddings, funerals, nomikais, the park, even the supermarket but for some reason when she crawls into bed with me she sees the need to remove all make-up and put on granny's underwear as well as pajamas that must have been passed down a couple of generations. And her most recent demonstration of fore-play is a kick to the shins - mind you that is less than once a month. I'm reminded of an episode from 'Friends' when Chandler asks his boss "Does your wife work?" And his boys says "Work? Work? No! Well, unless you call turning into your mother 'work'!"

"Metamorphosising from a buxom quasi-nymphomaniac who laughed and made me laugh all the time into a lipless, apronned harpy."

I'm living in this hell as well. It all started the second we had kids.

As a former JET, I've always said that if the government really wants its people to be bilingual, it will implement the proper programs to ensure that it happens. So far it has just been a half-assed attempt to please a few small groups. The low-score TOEIC argument is nonsense. In Japan, many people who don't even study the language are forced to take the test and thus receive low scores. This happens more here than in other countries. The company I worked at had all 400 employees write the test annually - about 50 of them were students. I agree with the overhaul. The best JTEs I have met were part of a program that sent two teachers overseas annually for a one-year sabbatical. Those teachers then come back able to speak English and with much more awareness of an English-speaking country and its culture. They need to do much more of this. One idea, stick JETs in kindergartens and elementary schools - jr high is way too late to learn a second language seriously. I have noticed recently that the local BOEs have taken to hire the local gaijin carpenter, mechanic, cook, whatever at 2,000 yen per hour instead of real English teachers. Most have stopped using JETS and most of these 'cheap' teachers are working with illegal contracts (don't feel like getting into specifics). Personally, I worry when a country starts making major cut-backs in education - especially English education, when Japan's neighbours like China, Korea and Taiwan are all making strides to improve.

Killed 400? How many bears are there in Japan and roughly how long until there are none?

I'm almost certain that another inmate will 'get him' regardless of how hard they try to segregate him, before he hits 25 years.

Lots of things are 'based on race', but that doesn't mean it's racism or that it's something to be frowned on. If someone mentions that I have blonde hair and blue eyes (which I have on account of my race), they're not being racist, they're simply stating the bloomin' obvious.

DUH!

You will ALWAYS BE LABELED IN JAPAN!

I realize that but it still doesn't make it right. Personally I stop using certain words if some people find them offensive. It really isn't that difficult, time-consuming or troublesome. I just think before I speak.

Cleo - except that ha-fu is based on race and racism is frowned upon by most of today's societies.

Miyazawa - What? I will teach my kids that they are Japanese and they have the passport to prove it.

krisallentown

Tell them he's human.

What is wrong with it? There have been hundreds of documented cases in this country of people being discriminated against because although they are fully, 100% Japanese, they are treated differently because either one of the parents is white, black, hispanic, etc.

Some of the arguments on this thread are whacked. 'Kids' used to be derogatory? Where and in what generation was that? Racism: 1 - the belief that some races of people are better than others 2 - the unfair treatment of people who belong to a different race The problem is kids who are thought to be ha-fu are thought to be a of different race or at least partly and are treated differently or unfairly. Whether it be in the school playground "You're a ha-fu!", "You're a gaijin!" "You're a ha-fujin!" is much like kids teasing others saying "You're fat!", "You have buck-theeth!", "Four-eyes!", whatever but they're all said to hurt the other kids feelings. Just that the first three are based on the fact that one parent is a different race - thus racist. Not being allowed into the onsen, not being able to get a kanji hanko, not being able to play on a sports team or be a member of a club because one is ha-fu is also racial discrimination. The more people use the term, the more people think they is actually a difference between kids with 2 Japanese parents and 1 Japanese parent. Legally there is no difference but for many of you, you feel a need to call them 'something.' Well, if I don't call them half, well, well, what do I call them (sometimes even one's own kids). Why call them anything but their name? We are all mixed. When will people realize this? Why call them anything? Why aren't Japanese kids who have one Chinese parent, one Korean parent, one Mongolian parent considered ha-fu. By your whacked thinking, they are only half Japanese. The other thinking that because some Japanese have a bit of "white" in them they are more attractive or cooler is also whacked, If one grandmother is Spanish, the other is English, one grandfather is Kenyan, the other is Chinese, then what am I? Human, I suppose. Just like if three of my grandparents are English and one is Irish, three are Japanese, one is Dutch. And slightly off topic but mentioned above, if people I have never met want to know what I feed my kids, what language we speak at home, how often we visit the other grandparents I usually make it a quick conversation and think "we're just another family, not a circus act, get a life, moron" Been here a long time and don't feel like wasting my valuable time speaking to people like that. Now I can say "Hey, you'd like the web-site JT."

Great!

Yes, Piglet. My thoughts exactly. I don't care about suffrage. Allow dual citizenship, then I will become Japanese and have the right to vote. Japan is the only G8 country that doesn't allow dual citizenship.

Klein 2 I see what you're saying. People were quite shocked to find out that I was using Kanji and not katakana for my kids names. They still are. It makes me laugh when westerners themselves even find it normal or assume it necessary to give their kids katakana names cause they're not 'really' 100% Japanese.

The term is used in Japan to describe a child with one 'white' parent and one Japanese parent, even if that white parent is Japanese. I saddens me that even in 2010, the white race is still held to such esteem that people feel it is important enough to point out someone's amount of 'whiteness' in conversation. I can give a million examples of famous people who are never referred to as ha-fu by the mainstream media even though both parents are of a different race. (Tiger Woods, Sadaharu Oh) In legal terms, there is no such word. I mean you are either Japanese or you aren't. What exactly does ha-fu mean for all you people who use the term on a regular basis? I suspect those that are also proud of the 'whiteness'.

I've lived here a long time and although I try, I have no problem becoming friends with Japanese women but Japanese men - forget it. The conversation is just soooooo lame. It almost never goes beyond the 'you use chopsticks well', 'do you like natto?' The 2 or 3 close male Japanese friends I have are at least 10 years older than I am.

Madokakato - "Without American fans, NHL would fold since NHL can't survive on Canadian fans alone."

You couldn't be more wrong. Canadian teams make up for 20% of the teams but bring in 40% of the revenue. Canada would do quite fine if the NHL only played in Canada and only had Canadian fans.

And the league would be much better off if the American Gary Bettman were not the Commissioner.

Women's Ice Hockey! Only 2 countries can play. Canada and the US have always and will always meet in the final. But then again, the Olympics' main purpose is so 'white' rich countries can pat themselves on the back.

Smythe,

What?

Tomomi Okazaki of Japan carries her country’s flag

A first for Japan! This is the first time that a Japanese woman has ever carried the flag into an Olympic stadium - although I don't think the Japanese media said anything about it.

I thought the opening ceremony was pretty good...

Great show! Gonna miss it!

I notice too that once a Japanese couple has a child they start calling their husband otoosan or papa. Can't figure this out. Why would you call your husband your father? No wonder all the romance is gone and the marriage is sexless.

This doesn't surprise me. Thousands of Japanese couples live like this. Very few Japanese women have a clue what romance even means. Have a bath, take off all your make-up and put on grandma's underwear and pajamas then crawl in bed with her husband.

This not wanting contact with his parents is just the beginning of what will be his defense. Everyone feel sorry for me, my parents were awful people forcing me to become a doctor and I failed. Woe is me, I had stress, feel sorry for me, etc.

The Japanese public is already starting to buy this crap. I've already heard people say they feel sorry for him.

After reading this I honestly feel sick to my stomach.