Shunsuke Amanai comments

 The problem is that Abe and the LDP have totally mismanaged finance during the last decade or so and left NOTHING for any emergency. 

The list should include Ministry of Finance that is stubbornly against the handout.

Some independent Japanese media, not mainstream of course, says that Ministry of Finance have upper hand because it kept its mouth and doctored all the record to protect Abe in the Moritomo scandal.

With Fukushima Daiichi in touch-and-go situation, it is just insane to restart this Sendai plant in Kagoshima. Ordinary people in Korea and Taiwan would be feeling uneasy. It is amazing that Abe gets everything he wants, despite oppositions and despite his ministers who are just craps - look at the remarks and attitudes of these ministers broadcast live from the diet.

Absurd. When volcanic activities in the proximity taken into equation, lousy evacuation plans would look totally meaningless with everything buried under falling volcanic ashes. Restarting is insane.

"NOW is the time for a REAL opposition party to step forward." as per BertieWooster, it is indeed.

I moved from Tokyo to Naha in Okinawa two years ago, and it would be fair to say that these two newspapers are good representation of the opinions of the Okinawans. Discrediting these papers out loud while top level talk under way on Futenma Replacement in Henoko might be a tactic to change the course of the talk. If that is the case, it would backfire again.

I will remember “rinse, wash and repeat.” Yes, MORE of this would be great.

This matter goes unnoticed by the Japanese public. We really need alternative media.

I would not be surprised this is related with Japan's impasse in signing the TPP agreement through HAARP extortion.

Or it might be a warning to Hamaoka nuclear plant, which sits on the same major fault line....

Can anyone educate me why the severe intensity 6 was measured in a rather small area only, if it is really natural occurrence?

Vandalism by Abe government. Lack of due process.

After all this they still want to put nuclear power back on? Put more lives at risk so they can have more money? Why the hell isn't anyone doing something? I'm just a simple white devil that probably would not make a difference, but why don't the Japanese do something????

That is because all the main stream media is controlled by the government to undermine all the anti-nuclear movements which have gone unnoticed by the majority of the population.

The BIG ONE is long overdue, we all know. Why on earth IOC selected Tokyo for hosting the 2020 Olympic games?

But I'm completely skeptical that it makes much business sense and it has a whiff of desperation and lack of ideas about it.

I am skeptical if everything turns out as expected by Japanese government, especially with Muslim tourists.

Tons of money earmarked for promotion seems to have been and will be wasted somewhere in the working of bureaucratic process.

Take a look at the signs written in supposedly English on the street of Naha where I live. The chances are high that you need an interpreter.

What we need a complete overhaul of administrator to drive the tourism more effectively and efficiently.

So a "A Japanese judicial panel has recommended that three former executives of the utility that operates the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant face criminal charges over their role in the disaster." And what now?? What do you expect? This will never go further than this. It's Japan for God sake. LDP will never allow than their friends will be charged and face the danger of a negative verdict. There is no independent legal system in this country.

Probably just a stage performance of Japanese justice system, knowing very well that this recommendation would do nothing.

I always go for mineral water, and never cared for selection littered with artificial flavors.

I have love and hate relationships with these vending machines... A life saver when under blistering hot scorching sunshine. Annoying and unpleasant objects fluorescent illuminated in the cold winter night.

I don't know how accurate he stats are but I do know for a fact that the number of smokers is on a decline and that's good news. I think they should jack-up the price a few hundred yen more. That should pretty much do the trick.

This article is contrary to what I have been seeing here in Okinawa. More female smokers to compensate the drop in the number of male counterpart. I agree that jacking up the price would do the trick.

seriously, the japanese press is such a lap dog of the government. a loony cuts the hands of two AKB girls and there's nonstop coverage of it. a man self-immolates and not even a mention of it this morning on any of the news shows. shocking and pathetic.

True, the 9 pm main news on NHK which completely ignored the protection demonstration. Yes, the same is taking place in other parts of the world to some degree. Sad fact is that we do not have influential alternative media to choose such as InforWars.

The NHK newsroom needs to check with Momii-san and Hyakuta-san on how to report this story. Same reason they were slow to report on the Tokyo LDPs bullying of a female lawmaker.

Yeah, I recall Momii san aka NHK the broadcaster cannot say "right or left" till our fellow government gives him what to say. Long gone is the spirit of journalism form NHK...

A ex-SDF guy now working happily as a salary man told me that these political movements had scared his ex-colleagues hell out and quitting from SDF in mass. SDF is no longer a mere stable profession. A profession to kill or to be killed.

On the 7 pm news, NHK remains silent on this. There is no report on the data news sections either. Why?

What a contradiction with what lies ahead.

Who would gain if Abe's official promises are broken? IOC? Any secret clause in the host contract to compensate should the games suspended due to nuclear-related accidents?

Good. Stir up the political scene, making more headlines like this, so that people would think hard WHY,starting to doubt all the bullshits on TV and big newspapers.

Tax should be better spent than enriching AKB... What a waste of tax payers' money. ...

I absolutely and fully support the Minister on this matter. I have been wondering why we have so many universities, filled with students and professors - strictly based on my personal observation - of low quality, and alas funded by taxpayers. A bit too much of a shock treatment, though.

Sad and unpleasant, indeed. Japan deserves good apologies. However, more and more of this kind of incident will surely be to follow, unless our government seriously ceases to spread contaminated debris and foods to the unaffected part of the nation.

Japanese have been learning hard way that peaceful demonstration or protesting at the gates would be meaningless to deter the fix-minded authorities from proceeding further.

Obstructing with kites - Dangerous maybe. But this kind of reporting, particularly in English media, would draw attentions of the people all over the world.

Combination of Osprey and kites are very effective indeed for that purpose.