Susan Elizabeth-Marsh Tanabe comments

The article states it is a new commercial, so evidently Toyota is selling this pickup in Japan. At any rate, it was indeed silly. Nothing wrong with silly.

Kathryn Sunday, spot on! My thoughts, exactly. Jerseyboy, it might be humour however Japan Today is not a humour source, and readers will take this as truth. The write does not want to mislead, as is evident by his polite acceptance of a previous correction. He can take it (^.^)!

A plethora of negative comment here! Regarding HOW Japanese youth can gain truly communicative skills; a bit off the usual track, west of Tokyo, is Kawagoe. This city has glorious history and takes great pride in making it accessible. Tokyo International University is there. TIU is using creative and unique methods to teach English. Students truly practice; research techniques, critical thinking, comprehension, and speaking skills. TIU has a branch in Oregon, on the west coast of the USA, where students take course at their Sister School of Willamette University, the oldest college west of the Mississippi. Japanese CAN gain try English skills....but to do so they must be brave and step out of their comfort zone. It is to be hoped any non-Japanese living or visiting Japan is willing to do the same, however considering the upcoming Olympics the priority of raising English levels is understandable.

Important detail; President Obama tell of what the US/CIA did following 9/11. Remember; he was NOT president at that time.

Agree 100%, however i must say the textbook i use (teaching Japanese to high school students) uses a mushroom cloud to show Hiroshima. I was furious. This book was published in Hawai'i. All authors are Japanese or Japanese Americans and should know better. At first i thought it an OAK TREE....then, with a gasp, i realized what it truly was. I inform my students of the ignorance shown by the artist; that Hiroshima is known for other things as well. Their suggestions? A PEACE SIGN. Love it.

Surprising to me that everyone assumes this is a Japanese issue. I've lived and taught over 30 years in both the US and Japan, and we have three bilingual/bicultural/biracial children. Teachers in the US are OFTEN forced to attend school events where they teach and miss events where their children attend school. This is one reason many elect to move their own children to the school where they teach. Teachers in the US do NOT have "vacation" or other time they can take off; in my school district we have TWO days in the entire year which we can take off for "personal" reasons.... therefore events are attended because we have no option for NOT attending. Not a complaint, simply an observation; teaching is, everywhere, an occupation which SEEMS family friendly, however is not quite so.

Lived in Tokyo in the 1980s. Husband is from Wakayama. Family, many friends in both places. I return nearly every year, he 2-3x/yr. We are HAPPY at the changes in the U.S.! MANY people ask guests to take off their shoes. Everyone (even my high school students) loves sushi, edamame, panko, yakisoba, ramen, ... and they know how to use hashi. We can buy kara age powder, wasabi, nori, sake, furikake, satsuma imo, etc. at any supermarket! It has become easier and easier to enjoy Japanese culture while living in Oregon.

Perhaps it is my age, but it seems the author and most who comment are all rather inflexible. I first met students from Japan at my uni in 1977, also studied in Japan that same year knowing NO Japanese, but having a wonderful homestay. Since them i fell in love a couple of times, married, gave birth in Tokyo, gave birth 2 more times in the States, taught English in Tokyo (5 years) and Japanese in Oregon (almost 30 years) at the college and high school levels. I've gone back nearly 20 times, usually escorting students. My husband seems very Japanese; from Wakayama, he even has practiced and taught Shorinji Kempo over 30 years. Still, when asked "what is it like to be married to a gaijin?" He answers "I don't think of her that way. She is a woman, the woman i love." Honestly, people are different of course..... yet whether family in Wakayama or Dublin, friends in Tokyo, Boston, Portland, Kawagoe, or Kyoto, i see them all as people. I make allowances and bend, as does he bamboo, without breaking. They do the same for me. Try it.