Shipwrecker comments

I don't really care either way, but dividing acting ability by gender is arbitrary to begin with. It's not like your gender gives you any competitive advantage.

Who died and made Nike a human rights NGO?

I thought they were a shoe brand.

This is a fair point and I'm sure the main reason for making the advert is to try and improve Nike's image. However, they have a far bigger reach than any NGO and this ad will be seen by lots of people who have probably never thought about the issues before. The motive may not be pure but hopefully it will result in a little more understanding and acceptance for mixed race kids and kids of Korean descent. I'm glad its out there.

@ obladi

There are a couple of translations for 3つの蜜 around but "confined spaces, crowded places and close-contact settings" is the one being used by the government, so it has become the standard. I'm a translator and this has come up a lot in my work this year.

When moving, ask the sales rep whether the people who will be doing the actual moving are full-time employees of the company. The properly trained company employees like the ones in the photo are amazing, but a lot of cheaper companies just hire untrained part timers for the day.

Holding a panda while wearing too much makeup. What is the correct amount of makeup for holding a panda?

My wife was surprised that both candidates were so old.

The survey also found that 66.9 percent of respondents said that "compared with five years ago, diversity of sexual orientation and gender identity is better recognized by society."

I think this trend will continue. A lot of the ignorance concerning LGBT in Japan seems to be from a lack of awareness or general resistance to change, rather than a belief that it is immoral like in many Christian and Islamic countries. As awareness grows, it will hopefully lead to better representation and understanding, which will then lead to even greater awareness. Fingers crossed it will also lead to legal change regarding the rights of same sex couples, although I'm less optimistic about that.

At least the kids are still alive. I've read too many stories recently where this kind of neglect has led to heartbreaking deaths. Although I'm not too sure about the decision to leave the children with their parents, that is what has happened, so I hope for their sake the mother is sincere about changing.

This is probably more of an issue for people with the money for private nurseries because in most places, if you go public, you get what you're given. Due to a mix of waiting lists and a move, my kids have now been to four different public nurseries in two prefectures. Although one was significantly better than the others, the standard in general has been pretty high.

A bit of both. We bought a second hand house from a family who lived with the husband's parents. Most of the house is Western, but the rooms where the parents lived are washitsu, including a really nice wooden carved relief above the door separating the rooms. I really like having the mix, although shoji doors are not the best idea when you have small kids.

I'm still waiting for them to enforce the no tailgaiting rule.

I have young children and I'm usually fairly flexible with them (if they make a good argument for something, i'll consider it). However, social media is going to be one of the areas where I will draw a line. No social media until they are at least high school age. There is a growing body of scientific evidence that social media use leads to greater rates of depression and suicide among teenagers (which seems to level off when they get to around high school age). It seems that younger brains are more susceptible to the addictive and negative aspects of social media. Basically, they need to get more life experience and a greater sense of perspective first.

Thankfully, they are still too young for it to be an issue yet. We'll see how it goes when their friends start going online.

Of course not. We don't want athletes shoving their personal politics down our throats. It would distract from the true meaning of the Olympics, which is to shove the brand messages of the "official sponsors" down our throats.

I remember seeing a documentary about Dignitas many years ago. The process leading up to the death is rigorous and explores both the medical and psychological situation of the person who wants to die (most of the cases featured in the documentary were refused). Even then, the doctor that actually administers the fatal dose can stop the procedure at any moment.

There will always be grey areas, but I think this kind of system is better than nothing. It is certainly gentler on the person's family.

They have so many members this was statistically inevitable.

Looks like you have to climb in through his groin.

As much as I love being out in nature, Japanese forests in July are dens of mosquitoes and ridiculous humidity. Maybe wait for the autumn.

Some projects I was due to work on were postponed, but now they are starting up again, alongside the ones I was due to be working on anyway this month. As a result, I had a couple of quiet months which are now being followed by a couple of crazy months. Hopefully income will balance out over the year.

"I didn't want my house to be washed away in my absence."

How exactly are you going to stop that happening? Evacuate and reduce the risk and workload of the emergency services.

He's pretty much consigned himself to being single now. Even if he meets a women in a normal way, sooner or later the tire slashing history is going to come up.

With the coronavirus panic buying of TP, I predict hard times for Cornholio.

The question asks about respect so I've thought about what I respect in a leader (even if I don't agree with their political stance). Decisive, proactive leadership but with a willingness to adapt if the situation changes. Clear communication so you can understand why they are doing something, even if you don't agree with it.

I think Ardern fits these criteria the best out of the current world leaders that I can think of.

Johnson and Abe are the worst fits (especially when it comes to communication).

I have a vivid memory of seeing this mask in Cairo when I was five years old. I would love to go back there some day with my own kids.

Somebody who isn't the child or grandchild of a politician and has grown up outside of the political bubble. Some experience of a normal working life before they became a politician would also be a plus.

I won't hold my breath though. It'll be one of the old guard as a placeholder until they feel confident enough that the younger Koizumi will toe the party line.

If they really want to amp up the tension in the haunted mansion, just get one of the ghosts to start coughing when visitors enter.

Low calorie versions of junk foods always make up for the lack of calories with something else unhealthy (as do low sugar versions). I looked up the nutritional information and in this case, it is pretty high in fat (about 23g per 100g compared to around 17.5g for regular karaage).

I think tourism is a pretty short-term and fragile way to support an economy, as this pandemic is showing. I bet there are 1,000's of young people crushed into packed trains in Tokyo who would love to live somewhere more rural and cheaper. They need to start lobbying for companies to let their people work remotely and live away from the office. Although I guess it's pretty limited to what a small local government can do in this regard. I fear it will take a huge disaster for the overcrowding of Tokyo to end.

If they are going to stick with tourism, I recommend at least making a model that actually looks like Obama.

I'll miss bookshops but new books had become expensive. I think it's a natural death. Most people have either shifted to technology or go to second hand bookstores and libraries like me.

In recent years I'm coming more to the opinion that at least three sizable parties are crucial for a democracy to function. A one party system is not a democracy as people with views different to those of the governing party are not being represented. The U.S. is currently a good example of the problem of a two party system, where trying to undermine your opponent is often a more effective tactic than trying to strengthen your own position. At worst, this can lead to a cycle where each party spends its time in power trying to undo the actions of the previous government and no one moves forward.

A strong third party lessens the likelihood of one party having a strong majority. This means that lawmakers need to be more pragmatic and open to working with colleagues in other parties to get anything passed. I personally feel that this kind of compromise, while not ideal for any one person, is better for a country as a whole and more representative of the entire population (although the UK Tory - Lib Dem coalition of 2010 shows how this doesn't always work).

As a resident of Okayama Prefecture, I'm happy to hear this and hope it is implemented in other towns and cities soon.