swingaway comments

He was 80, which by itself requires vigilance but doesn't preclude him from driving. But, the irresponsible part was that he had had a stroke years before, paralyzing or limiting his right leg's mobility. When suggested that he stop driving he said he didn't want to cause others trouble. There's "trouble" like asking for a ride, and then there's "TROUBLE" when you kill yourself and possibly others. Very selfish of him.

I tend to walk on the escalators, but most because I feel they move waaaay to slow in Japan. I've been on escalators elsewhere, like Singapore, that move at a brisk pace. Wouldn't that solve the dilemma?

Wait, isn't this the same political party, or one of the descendants of it, that gave us the increased consumption tax some years ago? Which was supposed to be used to shore up Japan's finances incl pensions?

I think I read in the Japanese press that he her so badly that her face was swollen to the point of being unrecognizable. What a POS.

Shear stupidity.

Good one, Nessie!

Sounds like a nice recipe. But in Japan, 2-3 kgs. of green beans will end up costing, what, a couple thousand yen? Will need to downsize this one.

Let me get this straight; this new submarine technology is powered by a lot of Lithium Ion batteries, placed in an airtight tube, sheltering its delicate human cargo from a very hostile external environment? Are we talking about a new submarine or a Boeing 787? Australia - you had better do more in-depth testing on this technology than the FAA did on the 787 before make such a hefty commitment. Especially since the battery technology for the 787 is manufactured by Yuasa.

How fortuitous that I've figured out how to stream from Hulu US recently. Thank you, No. If I wanted to see more Japanese programming, I'd actually watch Japanese TV.

Along the same vein of food labeling, I noticed recently that many products on the produce and meat shelves are now labeled as "Nihon San", or of Japanese origin. Certainly it is technically true. I only noticed it because a day earlier, the same products were labeled as "Fukushima San", or from Fukushima. Japan definitely needs to give its consumer watchdog some teeth.

and.... we're off. I'm not debating the merits or need for this increase, however, this will do nothing but slow the economy down. Spending is still out of control, and growing, with a rapidly aging society. I fear that the JGov will continue to spend like drunken sailors, and we'll be back here again in five years.

Publishers, already facing falling paper book sales, have so far been reluctant to digitise their books for fear that e-books could kill physical sales.

Hey, Publishers! It's about the content, not the "physical" sale! You still get paid for the content, you don't have to pay for a physcial printing, AND it is very hard for consumers to resell their used books to Book-Off after reading. Sounds like a win-win situation for the publishing industry if they embrace this.

If they aren't careful, they are going to find themselves in a situation similar to the recording industry. Had the recording industry embraced an i-tunes like model, with affordable and easy downloads, we might see less content piracy today.

Allen Carr's book finally did it for me.

Tried nicotine gum - No good. Tried nicotine patches - did alright, but eventually fell off. Tried nicotine blocker - champix - still no good. Will power - Forget about it.

Carr's book, whether standard, comic version, or audio, changed my whole thinking about smoking, and even trigger situations don't really bother me anymore.

Does anyone actually believe that the gov't would lower taxes after the 5 or 10 year period?

I suspect this picture doesn't do her justice.

Third-party online ordering and delivery is available from theflyingpig.com, though you do pay a 20%(i think) premium. I've used them a few times in the past before I finally got my Costco membership. Sometimes good if you don't want to deal with mass crowds on the weekends or if you don't live near a Costco. Can't wait till August for the Zama store to open!

The price is right, but the technology is...old. Ipad? Iphone? other multimedia devices? Still, I suppose there are still a lot of people out there with DVD's lying around.

I think Groupon is going to come out of this here in Japan just fine. As cstaylor says, refer to Schindler. In both cases, Groupon and Schindler were technically not the ones at fault. BUT, unlike Schindler, Groupon apologized, refunded, and gave out vouchers to settle their public image. Should be fine. BTW, I had a friend who recently applied for positions at BOTH Groupon and Rakuten for work. Funnily enough, the online application for both was eerily identical. Does anyone know if Rakuten is affiliated with Groupon in any way?

OgieDoggie - "new character to the board game CLUE. The Fireman did it with the Kotatsu, in the living room."

Good one!

tokyokawasaki - those are used in dance, typically in contemporary styles, where being barefoot requires freedom of movement. The problem with barefeet is that while they allow greater freedom of movement and tactile touch with the ground, it's very difficult to turn. The skin on the feet "grip" the floor surface and prevent 360 degree+ turns. So, these shoes allow a combination of bare feet and some slippery-ness (I know, made-up word; apologies)

How Much!?

I don't know what the bigger surprise of this is; that this is even a story, or that the cops actually stopped someone for going through a red light!

Seriously? This is the best they can come up with? I agree with some of the previous posts on how this one came about...

Ahh~, folks, it's just clean, healthy fun! No grabbing, just ogling. Wait, we do that at the beach too. Most people will be going to Hooter's for the breasts(chicken)and legs(crab)... Wish I was the hiring manager!

Forgetting the costs for a moment, I've had the pleasure of visiting Pasona's O2 facility. It was amazing - Off the top of my head, the rice room had specific conditions regarding wind and light wavelength. In another room, they had a giant tomato plant, with a main stalk as thick as your wrist, that was essentially a giant vine, trained to grow much like at a winery. There must have been a hundred tomatoes ripening on that vine. They even had a cafe-like arrangement with a kitchen serving food to guests and employees using the very vegetables and herbs grown in O2. I hope the new version is as nice as the old one!

The hell with chemical castration - a dull, rusty knife would be better suited.

The winner will be the clinic - they got to take Ichihashi's money for services rendered, they turned in a picture of the "new" Ichihashi, AND they get part, if not all, of the reward money.

Unless the suspect admits to a DUI, he can say that he was in a panic, fled the scene, went home, and had a drink.... Which is probably the story this yahoo will probably end up using.

I agree, unfortunately, that the deceased did not have a common understanding of money like the rest of us. (aGAGHG - Just give me 1%) Maybe it wasn't limited to just avoiding taxes, but also having so much bread that it literally had no value to them. Hence, blabbing and bragging. You can be sure the cops will be investigating acquaintances to the couple.

They kept their money at home not so much because of a lack of trust in the bank, but because of a lack of trust in the Japanese government and their high death tax. (inheritance tax) I think it's something like 60%?

williamsmith at 03:19 PM JST - 16th June It was just a joke, not so funny but maybe dry humour or something or the sort. The lass is just writing, what happened to freedom of expression?

There is such a thing as freedom of expression, but shouldn't it be tempered with some common sense? Making a threat can be relatively insignificant (I'm gonna kick your a**), or it can be much more serious, as this case was. This is clearly the equivalent of assault as people truly felt threatened. Anyone can yell "fire!" in a crowded theatre, but I seriously doubt that society would regard it as a "joke."