Stonecoldsoba comments

I'm also assuming Japan Today is based out of Tokyo

No, I think it's based in Tokyo.

How can you be both 'Dutch-born' and 'born in Hiroshima' ...?

Born into a Dutch family in Hiroshima.

And once more, alcohol was to blame.

No, alcohol was not to blame. The two police trainees were, and still are allegedly to blame.

It is an aged cyclist and he stoppeth one of three...

(Sorry!)

In the UK we had some pretty in your face commercials especially around Christmas time on drink driving, seatbelts and carseats etc. Harrowing to see and not easy to forget.

The police should show things like that to drivers renewing their licences, instead of that video about a drink-driving accident (which concentrates on the shame of other people knowing that he caused an accident but precious little about the effect on the victim).

Apparently some just didn't get the message:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5LGscpkCUU

(Thanks to LivingInJapan for mentioning this on another thread.)

As Papasmurf says, aircon really is not necessary in homes. Just drink plenty, keep the windows open and if the wind doesn't give enough natural ventilation, switch on a fan. (The disadvantage is that you get tobacco smoke from the ****heads downstairs who step onto the balcony to smoke because they don't want the smoke inside.)

What really wears me out is the sudden temperature changes when walking out of an air conditioned room into the muggy heat.

I find it worse going from the warmth outside into an over-refrigerated building.

...the country's annual political conventions, which begin next month ...

They are called party conferences.

... I was forced to dodge cars, cyclists and pedestrians

I guess he's never heard of the Palace Run and never wondered why there are always so many runners there.

39 kilometers south of Shizuoka and 165 kilometers south of Tokyo

Someone needs an up-to-date map. That's south-west of Tokyo.

Some people here are suggesting that we should pay no attention to Mr Breivik's 'manifesto'. I disagree and I'll try to explain why.

The reason is that from his manifesto we can find out why he did it: how his ideas and beliefs developed (development is not always in a 'positive' direction) and led him to do what he did last Friday. He didn't just go crazy that afternoon: he made a rational decision to go out and kill people in specific groups (with the caveat that the basis of his reasoning included ideas which the rest of us would - I hope - reject immediately). Indeed, this discussion here on JT is probably helping some of us to understand. If we find that his ideas sound similar to those of certain groups in society, we should consider how that situation is related to policies, attitudes etc concerning multiculturalism, integration and so forth.

Understanding how he got to the point of going on a killing spree might also help us to identify the next one before it's too late. ('Pre-crime', anyone?)

"A rational decision?!?" you may ask. Yes. He arrived at his decision to go out and kill people by reasoning on the basis of things he believes. We may disagree with his beliefs and we do not (presumably) condone his actions but that does not mean his decision was irrational.

That's why I always do my time travelling using tachyons.

You should try using chronons. You get a much better effect if you can fine-tune your kit properly. But that's quite tricky and it does take a bit of time.

Tochigi underwear thief busted

Excellent wording!

10 million kilowatts of power a year

I wonder whether it's Mr Ishihara or the translator who doesn't understand kilowatts. Maybe it's both.

Miss Damrau is still performing.

“It’s removing a very important part of modern marketing, which is the brand itself, and these days, that’s worth billions of dollars,” Hughes said. “It’s like taking the Golden Arches away from McDonald’s—it removes equity from a company’s balance sheet overnight.”

I have absolutely no sympathy for anyone who might suffer loss of brand value if the value of the brand is based on getting people addicted to a harmful form of drug taking.

... what free thinking adults wish to do to their own bodies ...

Yet again, the smokers' fallacy. It's not (only) about what they do to their own bodies but also about what they do to others who breathe the polluted air in the smokers' vicinity. (I suspect the idea of doing it with their own money is also a fallacy but I don't have any figures from neutral sources about medical costs attributable to smoking.)

... most tobacco smokers don't really care about the taste ...

Indeed. The addictive drug that comes with it enables smokers to tolerate the revolting tase.

How did Obama and Clinton get in. No conviction, but admitted use.

As we all know, when one admits to having done something, it isn't necessarily true.

Heh, it's fair that Japan applies the rule to everyone regardless of stature,

Do you think some countries' immigration officials might be intimidated by people over 6 foot tall?

Smoking is potentially deadly. Time to stop that too.

“Studios want to make movies that integrate international flavor and in genres that transcend cultures and language,”

Studios want to make movies they can sell to more people.

“It’s always done with the story in mind,” Ream says, “and not just for the sake of doing it.”

The story? I think she means the money.

If Micro$oft made cars ... !!

But seriously, from the account of the demonstration, this looks like a glorified self-diagnostic system but I notice it doesn't say anything about messages from the owner to the car. With M$ involved, stories of malfunctions will be a lot more credible than the claims of runaway acceleration caused by drivers pressing the wrong pedal.

It can also help Toyota gain massive information not only about their buyers but about how the car is working or not working, he said.

This is the other scary bit. I'm not sure I want a car that 'phones home' regularly.

Sarah Palin?

She looks like she's about to initiate a 'wardrobe malfunction'.

Pioneer Co is selling a new wireless speaker, the Kai-Tele-kun VMS-700-K, which sends sound waves from the TV directly to the speaker for a distance of up to 30 meters.

This makes no sense. Surely the speaker (wireless or not) sends sound waves to the listener's ears, as has been the case for a century. "Sound waves from the TV"? No extra kit needed for that. And this gem: "... a ... speaker ... which sends sound waves ... to the speaker ..." Even with such a disastrously muddled description, I think I understand what it really does.

Just a couple of questions.

Why only TV sound? Isn't it just as feasible to transmit sound signals from other sourcers to remote speakers?

Are men who cook not expected to be interested?

Why so expensive? Short-range wireless transmission is cheap so the price suggests that the speakers themselves are of unnecessarily high quality for the hard-of-hearing, people busy preparing dinner or those listening in the dead of night at low volume to avoid distubing their slumbering cohabitants.

Women boxers can date but they'll have trouble finding men who don't think they have to prove themselves stronger.

why is the needle on the dial below zero

Negative radiation. Or maybe he wasn't pulling the trigger at the moment the photo was taken.

Yes, nice eyes. Nice, scintillating eyes. Scintillating with ... radiation!!?

(only kidding)

It is reasonable to ask What went wrong?

Maybe, but is it reasonable to get angry towards people who could not possibly have seen all that happened when they cannot provide answers? I think not.

Laguna, I've had similar thoughts about this and other ships swept inland: if they are reasonably sound structurally and can be made stable, why not put them to use where they came to rest? It would cost a fortune to have a ship shipped inland for use as an unusual building for a restaurant, hotel, museum or whatever; but there they are and it will cost quite a lot to remove them in a process that will effectively destroy them.

I expect various obstacles would arise, not least relating to ownership of the vessels themselves and the land beneath them.

... 90% of its visitors from overseas, mostly from South Korea, had cancelled reservations, mainly out of fears over the nuclear plant accident at Fukushima.

Ignorant fools! The decision would make more sense (but not much more) if it were based on new understanding about the extra radiation they would receive during the flights.

they aren’t used to the depth and shape of the bathtubs

Seriously?!?! Oh, FFS!

It would be more credible if they said they didn't have clean clothes to put on after getting themselves clean.

570,000 kilowatts per day

This is absolute nonsense! It's not surprising that the general public are not very familiar with the various units used in measuring radioactivity but confusion over everyday units such as kilowatts is inexcusable.