socrateos comments

Cremate to hide the cause of death.

Following Kamikawa's appointment, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters in Beijing that the two nations should "manage and control differences," emphasizing the importance of enhancing "dialogue and communication."

But Kamikawa lambasted China's increasing military assertiveness in the Asia-Pacific region at her first Group of Seven foreign ministerial meeting Monday on the sidelines of the annual session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York.

Exactly what Japanese people have expected from her. A good job.

A large share of that was an 11% drop in the value of shipments to China, whose economy has slowed in recent months as a hoped-for rebound from disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic fizzled.

China's economic slowdown is not solely attributable to the Covid-19 pandemic. There are more fundamental reasons that cannot be easily remedied.

The loss of Western investments, previously funneled through Hong Kong, is a significant factor. However, now that Hong Kong is fully integrated into China, it no longer serves as a buffer between the West and China. China has essentially jeopardized a lucrative source of income. This issue is unlikely to have a quick fix.

The real estate bubble is another pressing concern. Even the Chinese government recognized that their real estate sector was unsustainable. As a preemptive measure, they took steps to cool it down before it became a full-blown crisis. However, this action initiated a negative economic cycle: banks ceased lending, builders halted payments, construction projects stalled, property prices plummeted, and banks stopped lending again, perpetuating the cycle. Finding a straightforward solution to this issue will be challenging.

Meiyouwenti:

The next thing Japan should acquire is nuclear capabilities but the big brother US will never allow Japan to have them.

At least one prominent American politician, Trump, has publicly announced his willingness to allow Japan to possess its own nuclear weapons.

Japan's new Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa on Monday agreed on the necessity of stability across the Taiwan Strait with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken during their first in-person talks, the government said.

Me too.

In South Korean polls released Sept. 1, over 70 percent of respondents opposed or were concerned about the Fukushima water discharge, while a Gallup Korea poll showed the same day that the support rate for the Democratic Party had fallen 5 percentage points from a week earlier to 27 percent, the lowest level since Yoon took office in May 2022.

It seems that the opposition party has not achieved as much as they had hoped for regarding the Fukushima water discharge issue. I believe that ordinary Koreans may perceive China's actions as extreme, while the rest of the world remains relatively calm about it. They may wish to avoid embarrassment. Is Korea finally becoming a more "normal" nation?

kurisupisu

The vast majority of Japanese will never have the means to buy such a vehicle but there will be plenty to drive around their wealthy employers....

[T]he richest group of adult population (1.1%) owns 45.8% of the total wealth in the world. So Toyota here made a smart business decision.

Japan's top court orders Okinawa to allow ... government plan to build U.S. military runways

Good.

memoryfix:

It’s nice to be enthusiastic about things, but Japan’s fascination with the idea of “things” being better than humans is kind of scary ( as well as philosophically shallow).

Probably due to your ignorance.

David Brent:

A guy I work with collects figurines of things like this. Imagine being a university-educated adult in your 40s and collecting things like this.

There are qualities that are genuinely admiable in children. Unfortunately there are people who have lost what they had in their childhood. Fortunately there are people who have maintained what they had in their childhood.

Yubaru:

And you think Japan is "civilized"? Yeah, I get it, you live in Utopia, while the rest of us live in the cesspool of planet earth! There is no "civilized" country on the planet, as ALL police carry or have access to weapons. 

Yes, Japan is a civilized society - relatively speaking - where guns are under the civilian control; that is, guns are allowed only for law enforcement officers. Civilians in a civilized society are not carrying guns, and the police therefore do not have to "shoot to kill."

Yubaru:

Lousy ass shooting if you ask me! When you shoot, you shoot to kill, that's it, no other reason.

Only in an uncivilized society if you ask me.

So cool. Good luck to the moon project!

So, the day went just as usual in Russia.

u_s__reamer

"...japan, on the other hand, has been winning the war easily without much effort or cost."

So far, true, but if the experience of other democratic countries can teach us anything, the Japanese authorities are surely soon going to get tired of winning, especially when more offspring of the elite find themselves tangled up in legal jeopardy.

The reason why it is easier in Japan to fight against drugs is that we know exactly who are using them.

The most recent data shows that largest group that use illegal drugs in Japan is Yakuza groups with 43.5%. The second largest group is foreigners (mostly from Tailand, Malaysia and Iran) with 40.4%. In other words, a very tiny specific population (Yakuza and some foreigners) is using most of the illegal drugs in Japan. General public in Japan is not interested in drug culture. They think it's stupid.

winston:

"That's very nice of Japan."

Not really because it came out of our taxes

I am happy to use my tax for this cause.

According to data from NASA's satelites ("GRACE" and its follow-on):

Antarctica is losing ice mass (melting) at an average rate of about 150 billion tons per year, and Greenland is losing about 270 billion tons per year, adding to sea level rise.

https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/ice-sheets/

ANTARCTIA

2002 - base

2004 - 488.0Gt loss

2008 - 727.0Gt loss

2012 - 1148.5Gt loss

2016 - 1930.4Gt loss

2020 - 2777.2Gt loss

GREENLAND

2002 - base

2004 - 378.3Gt loss

2008 - 1346.0Gt loss

2012 - 2718.1Gt loss

2016 - 3741.9Gt loss

2020 - 4793.8Gt loss

Yubaru:

This article is hardly a story about a "pink flower" but of an athlete. It's time to retire this outdated nickname and start to treat these women as rightful "samurai".

"Nadeshiko" in their team nickname actually refers to "Yamato Nadeshiko" (大和撫子). "Yamato Nadeshiko" is a symbolic term that means "Ideal Japanese Women" since Nadeshiko flower symbolizes "beauty, purity, humility and strength." As such, it is often used in pair with "Samurai", which of course means "Ideal Japanese Men." Since Japanese men's national soccer team was named "Samurai", its counter part was named "(Yamato) Nadeshiko" to follow the tradition. Samurai and Nadeshiko are a pair.

For example, a Japanese pop group "Samurai Otome" (Samurai Girls) has a song about themselves: the title is "Well done, Yamato Nadeshiko!"

In short, Yamato Nadeshiko is "Samurai Women" already. No change is necessary.

I thought US was in the form we used to know - dominating - during the game unlike any of their previous games in this world cup. But at the end of the day, it turned out that it was not so, failing to finish every possesion and chance they had. They have lost something important.

Sweden's defence was incredibe, particularly their goal keeper! I think that going for penality was their plan.

Congraturations, Sweden!

Japan will be awaiting the winner after another impressive display in defeating Norway 3-1 on Saturday.

Yes. Against USA or Sweden. This is going to be a very tough challenge for Japan. Good luck to Japan and I hope Japan wins another exciting victory.

sunfunbun (said a few days ago before this game):

Norway actually has more top end talent...

Norway could easily put up a quick goal or two....

That did not happen. Japan won 3-1 against Norway.

Here is the history of matches between these two national teams.

2023 Japan 3-1 Norway

2018 Japan 4-1 Norway

2013 Japan 0-2 Norway

2012 Japan 2-1 Norway

2011 Japan 1-0 Norway

2008 Japan 5-1 Norway

Japan won 5 games

Norway won 1 game

sunfunbun (said a few days ago before this game):

Boy are the Japanese followers over confident, or what?

Norway actually has more top end talent...

Norway could easily put up a quick goal or two....

So where are you, sunfunbun?

sunfunbun:

Norway could easily put up a quick goal or two, and no one yet knows if Japan can play from behind.

No one knows if Japan can play from behind? Are you kidding?

Here is the famous Worldcup final between Japan and USA when Japan beat USA coming from behind, twice, to become a world champion:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNMTCT1lyhs

Mat:

I don't understand why drugs are illegal.

Here are reasons:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7vPhw1yQlU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nl0fDm7HSQ0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWBzxr3c29s

Beijing criticizes Japan, Britain over 'anti-China' G7 summit (Article Ttile)

Russia said a sililar thing. This verifies that G7 summit was a great success. A good job.

President Biden would expand his 2020 margin of victory over former President Donald Trump if a rematch were held today, according to a new poll exclusively shared with The Post Wednesday.

The WPA Intelligence survey of 1,571 registered voters found Biden, 80, leading 76-year-old Trump 47% to 40%. By comparison, Biden defeated Trump by 4.5 percentage points in the 2020 popular vote, while former President Barack Obama won re-election over Republican Mitt Romney by 3.9 percentage points in 2012.

https://nypost.com/2023/05/17/biden-up-7-points-against-trump-in-2024-election-poll/

Nikkei is up. GDP is good. Wages are up. Inflation has peaked out. Yen is cheap (Good). Tourism is back. Manufacturing is coming back to Japan (one out of four Japanese manifacturers have brought it back to Japan). Investors are investing in Japan again.

My family and area (Okayama) did not have a custom of eating Natto. I grew up without Natto. When I ate it first time in Osaka, I was very very hugry. And you know, if you are really hungry, everything tastes good. So it was easy for me to become a lover of Natto.

Nadrew:

You are forgetting about their slow roll to BEV. And, PHEV don’t count anymore.

Toyota's BZ4X is doing well, for example in Norway, being the second best EV seller after Tesla's Model Y. Toyota is adding 10 more EV models by 2026, aiming to sell 1.5 mil EV worldwide.

(https://cleantechnica.com/2023/04/10/the-toyota-bz4x-shines-in-norway-perhaps-its-time-for-toyota-to-seriously-look-into-adding-the-bz3-there-too/)

When I heard her song "Jolene" for the first time, I fell in love with her immediately.