Shumatsu_Samurai comments

My initial response is a shrug. The article is talking about fractions of a cm difference. Japanese children generally speaking continue to be well-fed and healthy. There's no suggestion they're moving towards being even partly malnourished. So I'm not sure how this is terribly important or interesting.

I would add the Japanese side could probably enjoy and do better in competition, if they put less pressure on themselves and truly enjoyed the competition as the Canadians seem to be doing.

Britain's swimmers tried doing that for many decades - it didn't work out so well for us.

My guess is that the Canadians simply felt more confident about their routines. I doubt they approached it from a "let's give it a go and see what happens" angle.

Until Japan has better ice dancers and pairs skaters, they'll never get above 5th place either

To be fair to Japan, they had some great female figure skaters for years. It was only 2014 when Asada won her third world gold. But she retired last year, and she hasn't been properly replaced yet.

There will always be lulls whilst waiting for top new talent/people develop - unless ice skating is much less popular in Japan now, so youngsters aren't going to come through at all.

Good to see the SDF stepping in quickly, although I feel for the drivers who have been stuck there.

Rather it's that the media frenzy over something trivial has meant the IHA isn't so keen on the marriage and is putting pressure on Mako to drop him.

Do we actually know for a fact that the IHA is pressuring Princess Mao to break off the engagement, i.e. it has been confirmed by authorities on the subject? Or is that just what people are gossiping about - because they like a good gossip?

I think it's worth pointing out that it will be hard to make sushi that isn't halal, because fish (i.e. something with scales) should be considered halal. If you're sunni, that will extend to most sorts of other sea creatures.

Basically, don't use a few types of sea animals, and you've automatically got sushi that is also halal.

Tragic.

Only thing I'll add is before anyone blames Japan as a whole for the actions of the older driver (without even knowing if he was negligent or not), lots of countries have issues with elderly drivers and finding ways to punish them. I remember in the UK there was even a case recently where an old man killed two people by dangerous driving and was just given a suspended sentence.

If they are born in Japan, then they are simply Japanese

Well, that's got nothing to do with whether you're Japanese or not. You don't become Japanese simply by being born in Japan (unlike say the US, where the children of visitors can automatically become American just due to when their mother entered the country).

To be Japanese you need to have at least one Japanese parent when you're born, or naturalise.

I want them to return some day and lead Japan out of the Dark Ages. Serious. Our purebreds are destroying their culture.

Eh? Are you suggesting that Japanese culture is being destroyed by "purebred" foreigners, or by people with two Japanese parents? Either way, that statement seems pretty offensive to me.

Japan can function perfectly well with or without mixed-race citizens.

Japan needs to learn from its WW2 ally Germany to deal with passed war atrocities

Technically it is already doing better than Germany on the comfort women front.

Japan's original position was that a deal had been negotiated with South Korea, but SK later complained the deal was negotiated with a dictatorship that spent the money elsewhere. Japan recently agreed to make a further apology and set up a new fund for the survivors.

Contrast with Germany and how it has dealt with Polish demands for reparations. Germany's position is that it settled the matter with the USSR/Warsaw-pact Poland, despite the fact that Poland was also in control of a dictatorship at the time. But Germany is refusing to change its position at all and has reacted in a hostile fashion.

until someday the NK fires a missile (with conventional warhead) and lands on Japan and kills a few thousand people. Then these same people will cry "why didn't the government do anything to save lives?!"

Yup.

Then again, most posters on this website are pretty anti-LDP and Japanese defence reform. If it was the Democratic Party holding drills, they'd probably let it slide.

I'm aghast that people seem to think this is a pointless endeavour. Failure to prepare is preparation for failure.

It's worth remembering as well that a North Korean missile strike might be conventional. L'il Kim may decide that a conventional strike would make the point, whereas the "Allies" may not retaliate as hard as they could for fear of nuclear escalation.

Then there's simply the chance of one of the many missile tests going wrong and evacuations being required in any event.

A thousand years ago? Id hazard to guess the age was probably around 14.

You've missed the point. The ceremony itself, for those who are coming of age, is 1,000 years old.

Whilst it is a nice gesture, I'm sorry to say that it is only that - a gesture. At the moment the North and South are still massively apart, and I wonder if Moon is pushing this because his policy on getting North Korea to just stop threatening to murder its neighbours - let alone get rid of its nukes - is going nowhere.

a system of back-door immigration?? Just 10 people were accepted last year! How can you call that a system of back door immigration?

You clearly didn't read the article properly. The concern is that people are applying for asylum purely to use the right to work whilst their claim is being decided. It also sounds like even if your asylum claim is rejected, under the old rules you can just repeat/amend it the asylum claim and gain the right to work again.

It certainly seems reasonable to me that if someone is filing a second/third asylum claim, they be denied the right to work - at least if they're fed and housed in an immigration centre in the meantime.

It's a step in the right direction. The proof of the pudding will be whether South Korea really moves on, or if another political group seeks to exploit the situation by bringing it up again.

Kimono worn by girls on this day cost their parents a huge money.

Only if you buy them brand new. You can rent kimono in many places or buy used. Then there's always the option of having a hand-me-down from one's mother, grandmothers or aunts. (A good reason not to flog off your kimono and keep it for the next generation.)

Ossan, maybe Japan should recognise North Korea as the legitimate government of Korea. Then Japan would be much less likely to face missile attack from "L'il Rocket Kim".

So this is the second time Japan has signed an agreement with South Korea over the same historical issues, and a subsequent SK government saying the agreement is unacceptable because of public sentiment.

Maybe from now on, Japan should refuse to sign any agreements with South Korea unless it has first been proposed and approved by the SK public in a referendum - with minimum 75% turnout and minimum 75% approval. Otherwise this is going to happen every time whatever SK party is in Opposition thinks it can score votes by claiming Japan is being insincere.

why the hell is that guy on the right bowing like a supplicant tool?

Because most non-Japanese don't know how to bow to the "correct" level, so over-compensate, or they are given guidance but panic when doing it for the first time.

And as a member of the assembly, so presumably does Ogata. She can afford a baby-sitter for the occasional half an afternoon.

My thoughts exactly.

Does anyone know what her salary is?

I think its about time to move on from history

In the current age, many people enjoy being outraged. Just look at the pleasure many take in participating in Twitter witch-hunts.

This kind of thing can build a bridge of hope between the two nations.

My guess is that if North Korea reports this news, they'll accuse the Japanese of kidnapping "innocent" fishermen minding their own business.

Don't forget that this needs to be signed off by every parliament of EU member states, so there's the potential for a last-minute hiccup.

As Brian says, depression can affect anyone. It's also very hard to recover from fully. It's quite possible she will be affected by it for the rest of her life. But I'm she'll perform her upcoming role admirably.

I would be honored to have lunch with this elegant woman. Pass this message along please.

You are number 3,984,105 in the queue.

Out of curiosity, does anyone think that San Fransisco would consent to a statute commemorating the Tiananmen square protests and later massacres in Beijing, if China objected? My guess is that it wouldn't.

the administration of new South Korean President Moon Jae In argues that "the majority of the country's public do not approve of the comfort women agreement" on an emotional level

So I guess the moral of the story is don't sign any agreement with the South Korean government, unless they have the backing of a national referendum with clear support - because the next administration can spin around and say "oh, but the public don't like it, so we don't have to honour it".

He was drunk and doesn't remember... bow and it's onto the next thing.

What happened until innocent until proven guilty? He apologised, but who knows what happened? Maybe the other guy was drunk and was baiting Harumafuji about how his mum was a whore, or something?

Just let the authorities investigate. Don't assume a cover-up before anything happens.

What is it with Japanese guys and their penchant to attack taxi drivers?

Well taxi drivers get attacked in pretty much every country - it's hardly specific to Japan. I would guess that reasons why include that many passengers will be drunk when they get in, otherwise they would be making their own way home.

I'm not sure if there has ever been a better image of a madman indulging his madness.

He isn't mad - he's very sane. He's just incredibly nasty and will do anything to stay in power.

North Korea has persistently proven that the only way to deal with them is to reach a compromise.

Except for all those times the liberal South Korean governments tried giving Pyongyang big bags of money and aid, and it still developed nuclear weapons and threatened to destroy Seoul.

what would happen if a small child ran in front of these buses? Will it stop or swerve to avoid hitting ht e child? If (and when) they are able to go faster, would the bus prioritize the saving the life of the child or the passengers in the bus?

The bus would probably break in the safest way possible. If it was only doing 10kph, the child would have to literally throw themselves at the bus to get seriously injured.

If the bus was going at 40 kph, there would still be a good chance of breaking in time to avoid death/serious injury. However, it might be possible to have software that meant the bus would slow down if it detected a person by the roadside, so there would be an even higher chance of breaking.

There's also the fact that a robo-bus would always be alert. It wouldn't be distracted by passengers asking questions, having a coughing fit, being tired/bored, being harassed by a vehicle behind wanting to get in front, etc.

But, if a collision was unavoidable, the bus would prioritise the life of the passengers. First, that is how many human drivers would react anyway - they wouldn't deliberately crash their vehicle and kill them/their passengers to save the life of one other. Some do swerve instinctively, but not all. That's what driving instructors teach you - use the emergency break, don't try to pull a James Bond stunt.

Second, the lives of several people are obviously more important than one.

It's wrong to preemptively blame robo-vehicles for doing things that a) many/most people would do and b) is probably the logical choice.