Posted in: Junior high principal in Hyogo fired for stealing seven half cups of coffee See in context
Hard to know which is worse - the stupidity of what he did or the absurd over-reaction on the part of his employer.
1 ( +4 / -3 )
Posted in: University entrance exams begin across Japan See in context
I hope all of them can gain entry into a university.
Wouldn’t that kind of defeat the point?
2 ( +4 / -2 )
Posted in: What time is evening? People in Japan puzzled by official answer See in context
The puzzling thing is that there IS an official answer.
11 ( +11 / -0 )
Posted in: Japan university to disband scandal-hit American football club See in context
MoonrakerToday 07:41 am JST
It's pathetic. Collective punishment for nothing much at all. The physical assault on the opponent was actually a bigger issue.
Exactly. They're not using drugs because they are members of the football club. Disbanding it makes precisely zero sense.
1 ( +2 / -1 )
Posted in: Headless body of man found in Sapporo love hotel See in context
A pedantic but important point... Presumably what is meant here is "Headless body of man"!
Moderator: Yes, that is more accurate. The headline has been changed.
5 ( +6 / -1 )
Posted in: Ex-UK leader Truss to urge tougher China stance in Tokyo meeting See in context
Regardless of the topic, it’s hard to think of a single person whose opinion I would value less.
4 ( +4 / -0 )
Posted in: Billions pour into bioplastics as markets begin ramping up See in context
”For now, bioplastic represents just 1% of global plastic production. If plastic made with fossil fuels is the enormous Mall of America in Minnesota, bioplastics would be a 7-Eleven.”
For the benefit of those who don’t understand the concept of 1%…
0 ( +0 / -0 )
Posted in: Middle-class life today is a struggle with poverty See in context
The general point of the article is fair enough, but…
Are Shibuya and Minato prices really “typical” of Tokyo, let alone Japan as a whole? No more so than Chelsea is typical of the UK, I’d have thought. And the quoted condominium prices seem to be for new builds. This may be the preference of a middle-class Japanese family, but hey could knock at least a third off their outlay by buying somewhere ten years old.
8 ( +8 / -0 )
Posted in: Japanese resort travel company offering exciting 'revenge' graduation trips See in context
What on earth does any of this have to do with revenge?
2 ( +2 / -0 )
Posted in: 36-year-old man arrested after parents found dead at his home See in context
So I guess “his wife” didn’t have a name? Pretty poor reporting in this day and age.
4 ( +6 / -2 )
Posted in: Saitama's new ordinance banning walking on escalators gets off to a standing start See in context
The way incredibly minor risks are so often described as "extremely dangerous" on signs and in public announcements really annoys me. It's so overused that I now ignore it altogether and will doubtless end my days by plunging into a ravine or being mauled by a pack of marauding bears.
10 ( +12 / -2 )
Posted in: Why Japan took the word 'mansion' and applied it to condominiums See in context
This made me interested enough to look at the etymology. Seems the original mansion definition just meant “place to live” which suggests the current English usage is the one which is incorrect.
Because the "correct" meaning of a word can only ever be the original one?
-2 ( +0 / -2 )
Posted in: Why Japan took the word 'mansion' and applied it to condominiums See in context
Try googling "London mansion flats" and look at the images that come up. Adoption of this meaing of "mansion" seems a far more likely explanation to me.
2 ( +3 / -1 )
Posted in: China's virus slowdown offers hope for global containment See in context
"While the crisis appears to be easing in China, alarming clusters of thousands of cases each have turned up in Italy, Iran and South Korea and Japan."
Thousands of cases in Japan?? This is very careless and unprofessional journalism. There are currently 331 cases in Japan:
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries
Even if you include the Diamond Princess in Japanese figures, which would make no sense, that comes to 1037. That is NOT 'thousands'.
1 ( +3 / -2 )
Posted in: Policies differ concerning retail staff wearing face masks to ward off colds See in context
Good for Aeon! Workers in the rest of the world seem to manage perfectly well without masks.
5 ( +6 / -1 )
Posted in: Company employee robbed of ¥10 mil See in context
Why on earth is it necessary to describe him as a ‘company employee’ in the headline? What’s wrong with just ‘man’?
4 ( +4 / -0 )
Posted in: Vietjet to launch daily flights to Osaka from both Hanoi and Saigon See in context
Saigon?? What century are you living in?
-1 ( +0 / -1 )
Posted in: Japanese car rentals include stickers that read: 'A foreigner is driving' See in context
It's removable and therefore optional, so what's the problem? If you're a tourist who's not confident driving in a new country then you may well want to use it. If not, don't. Pretty straightforward really.
2 ( +5 / -3 )
Posted in: Young people dying alone a growing concern See in context
PerformingMonkey is right - a ridiculous article. If this was about suicides or terminal illnesses then it would be different, but if we're talking people suddenly dropping dead then the alone part is irrelevant. If young people are spending all their time alone, then perhaps that's a problem, but it's also a separate issue.
1 ( +2 / -1 )
Posted in: Man in coma after being stabbed in eye by umbrella in fight with colleague See in context
Patrick Macnee may be gone, but the spirit of John Steed is with us yet.
3 ( +3 / -0 )
Posted in: 70 years on, survivors keep memory of Battle of Manila alive See in context
@igloobuyer
I had a good education about the UK's often brutal rule over India, Africa etc. and of the US colonists mass murder of native Americans. Remember though that these events happened more than 100 years ago
Those events may have started more than 100 years ago, but the British were still doing some pretty brutal stuff in Kenya in the 1950s. And we haven't exactly been the best at acknowledging or apologizing either.
3 ( +4 / -1 )
Posted in: Yomiuri apologizes for using term 'sex slaves' in English edition See in context
Non-Japanese people have no trouble whatsoever understanding the phrase 'comfort women'. We know full well it means 'sex slaves'.
9 ( +11 / -2 )
Posted in: Norway named best place to grow old; Japan 9th See in context
I think you could substitute 'to grow old' in the title here with 'for pretty much everything'! The results of these surveys always seem basically the same - Scandinavia top, Afghanistan bottom.
1 ( +1 / -0 )
Posted in: Japan's bullet train marks 50th birthday See in context
Hard to believe that more other countries haven't copied it in that time.
2 ( +2 / -0 )
Posted in: Police questioning man over kicking of visually-impaired girl See in context
Well, if this is today's top news story then I'm glad I live in Japan. Bad as it is, can you imagine somebody kicking a blind person making the national news anywhere else?
0 ( +1 / -1 )
Posted in: British PM Cameron says passports could be seized to fight terrorism See in context
As Elizabeth Heath states, "You cannot take away British citizenship from non-naturalised citizens".
Exactly. Arrest, charge and detain them on re-entry. Fine, let British justice take its course. Seize their passports. Fine, this is a legitimate power that the government holds. But refuse British citizens entry to the UK? Strip natural born Britons of their citizenship? I cannot believe that a British government, even a Tory one, is seriously considering this. This kind of foolish and ill thought-out over-reaction is exactly what terrorism aims for. Thatcher understood this, why can't Cameron?
1 ( +4 / -3 )
Posted in: Porn queens raise Y5 mil for AIDS charity at 'Boob Aid' See in context
“I never thought my boobs could contribute to society,” added the ponytailed Serina, apparently unaware of any contradiction.
Where's the contradiction in this? I'm as unaware of it as Serina...
7 ( +7 / -0 )
Posted in: China executes Japanese man for drug offenses See in context
He said the case 'was related to drugs', without elaborating, and declined to identify the individual, citing reasons of privacy.
How very considerate.
3 ( +3 / -0 )
Posted in: Japanese, Korean backpackers found living in squalor after Sydney fire See in context
Why the moral outrage? Nobody forced them to live there - these guys are backpackers from wealthy countries trying to save on cash to extend their holidays, not not desperate economic migrants forced to live in squalor and work for a pittance.
5 ( +9 / -4 )
Posted in: 3 youths arrested for throwing eggs at foreign students in Saga See in context
Someone threw an egg at me from a moving car once, in Liverpool. Hit me right in the back of the head and hurt like hell. I was pretty pissed off of course, but having been young and stupid not so long before that could certainly see the funny side, and wouldn't have wanted the perpetrators arrested. I was also very impressed - to hit that small a target from a moving car and at a decent distance takes a fair bit of skill. But this is totally different - 19 incidents all targeted at foreign students, as Reckless said, is harassment, and racial harassment at that.
7 ( +7 / -0 )
Posted in: Trump revokes security clearances for Blinken, Sullivan
Posted in: Trump revokes security clearances for Blinken, Sullivan
Posted in: Trump revokes security clearances for Blinken, Sullivan
I agree. It takes time and money to clean the ketchup off the walls. Libs talk and as usually they…
Posted in: Trump revokes security clearances for Blinken, Sullivan