SunnyMorning comments

FightingViking: Actually this manga is full of explicit illustrations of violence done by Japanese in Asia, in addition to horrific results of the atomic bomb. It is left-wing, so it's NOT what Abe likes. It is the type of literature that says "We did these horrible things in Asia, and then suffered horribly in return. Let's never get involved in war again, and never do bad things to other people. It comes back to us double strength."

The only problem is that while the author wrote (drew) about what happened to him in Hiroshima, the scenes in Asia are fictional. Sure, Japanese did stuff LIKE that then. But it would be more powerful if the Asia bits had been based on fact (event for event), not a ton of violence "that is said to have been done by the Japanese" all stuck together. There are enough true events and episodes to take from- and that would have been unarguable and just as powerful. Just an aside.

Qamar- not sure on that one. I haven't been around school libraries here while in use by kids. That would certainly make a big difference. Anyone know if teachers or librarians are around and attentive to students' needs when students are using libraries here?

Quamar:

I completely agree with you. But I do think WITH ONE'S PARENTS is important here. Watching gruesome war scenes with one's family when the family thinks it's a good time for that particular child is a good thing. But running across a manga in a school library without parents around to explain or comfort, or without maybe even the reading abilities to see what the the visuals are depicting (6 years old facing kanji) might not be the best for a certain child.

Remember that this was a question of gore, not of what the Japanese did or didn't do. I personally think junior high kids are OK for this manga (which I have a copy of here), but I wouldn't want to show it to elementary school kids, especially my own. Would you show Platoon and Full Metal Jacket to elementary school kids? I wouldn't- not because I want to hide what America did there, but because I don't think they are ready for that level of blood and violence. (Rated R for violence.) They will be ready for that stuff a bit later in their lives, and probably should see it. But for a school library with kids as young as 6 years old, I do see their point. And they're not banning the books. Kids can see them if they ask.

While before it was a historical manga in the school library that kids would never have gone near, making it "not freely accessible" and making a big deal about that in the media will result in kids going out of their way to get a copy, then tear through it looking for the grodies. Take a look- it is now sold out on Amazon. Whether you think kids should or should not read this manga, I think nobody will be happy.

Shouldn't read: many will be reading it now who never would have Should read: they will be reading it for the wrong reasons

Hope Japanese voters wake up and see this.

Usually voters are not given any role in decisions like this. They are at the mercy of the representatives they have voted in, who can then do whatever they like. If a matter is not publicized much, their actions will not even affect re-election chances.

The dog must have looked quite sick (if still alive) when they transported him from the tarmac (after waiting there in the heat) into the airplane... did none of the crew notice at that time? Think, "Hey, this dog needs attention right now." Or, "Why is someone transporting this deceased dog?" Did they just think, "Man, someone's going to get a nasty surprise!" It should have been aerated enough to see in.

One thing I never understand with these JR charging suicides and people such as in this article, is... what exactly costs so much? Dealing with delays would be something that JR people would handle, and they would be salaried employees so it doesn't cost more to have them deal with train scheduling. Perhaps they outsource for the cleanup?? ...was what I was thinking. But this article says "a loss of earnings for the company"... do people actually decide not to take the train because it's delayed? Usually we're all sitting on the train and get stuck somewhere. JR doesn't refund our money if we're delayed or anything- it's not pizza delivery. Even if we know trains are running late, we usually have no other method of getting to our destination in a timely manner. And usually we HAVE to get to our destinations (such as for work), so it's not like, "Well, maybe I'll go tomorrow instead." Even if people do decide not to take the train due to delays or stoppages, a high percentage of them are traveling on commuter passes, not individual tickets. So, for those people, who have already paid, there is no change of income for JR.

I think these charges to the poor people who have suffered (including suicide victims, and especially their families) are just a lot of BS. Trying to deter suicide by making this practice public and putting pressure on suicide contemplators not to inconvenience their families with huge bills? Possibly, but not fair for all the families who have paid so far.

“The parents were busy at work,” he says, “and the harder they worked the more prosperous they grew. Child-raising was left to daycare centers, to schools, to juku. The parent-child bond grew weaker.”

This logic seems odd. If the parent-child bond grew weaker because the parents were never around, why would the kids end up living at home with their parents forever? Wouldn't they go off on their own- try to get away from the family with which they have such a bad bond?

And if the parents are hard-working, at least they're setting a good example. Is it really the hard-working parents whose kids end up hikikomori? Kids who go to juku? I'd like to see that data.

I agree with the many posters here who say that the parents should have given the kids more responsibility when they were young. Perhaps it's not so much the fact that parents weren't around but that they had the attitude that "as long as you study, we'll take care of you and pay for anything you need." The kids get used to being taken care of, as long as they have a "thankful" attitude.