Terho comments

It saddens me to see the same confusion here, articles and comments alike, about refugees and immigrants. They are not the same and suggesting that they are, is offencive to both groups.

European media switches the label consistently to the one that suits the story at hand, and it is just revolting to see from otherwise reputable sources.

As for Japan, all I say is that learn from the mistakes of others. Whatever you decide to do as a nation, atleast you should copy approaches taken in Europe. Only the most fanatical and irrational would dare call it a success.

What I'm thinking, without a shred of understanding about the local geography, is that during WWII there were extensive submarine nets laid in many locarions - and if this seems to be a recurring phenomen, would something similar solve the issue? Perhaps this has already been explored and discarded.

Picked 8 pieces of ceramics, really nice work that pleased my eye. Me: "These, please...". Shop keeper: "Sorry, cannot sell this because it is sample." Me: "Oh, that's a shame. Well, I would like the rest, please." Shop keeper; "Unfortunately this is also sample." (there were several dozens of them and none of them were marked in anyway special - first suspicions rose here) Me: "Oh, sorry. I will go and change this into another cup." Shop keeper: "They are all samples." Rude as it may have been, I did not bother to return the 8 pieces to their places, but left them to the counter; "Perhaps I will come again, when you have restocked sellable items" ...and walked out of the shop.

I have spent decent amount of time in Japan, and situations like this are very rare. When I am denied service or access, it has always been done politely, with quasi-believable excuses - the kind that clearly let you understand that you are not welcomed, but allow the pretence of acting as if the excuse was real.

Then there is the question what constitutes as discrimination. I feel that my cases, being denied something based on my appearance that is available to others, are clearly a form of discrimination. Some would place the bar lower, some might put it higher. Some might "decide" case by case based on how they felt about it (my notes above on polite refusal). In addition, foreigners race, sex and appearance is likely to affect the attitudes one encounters.

I hope to see the whole study, the questions, answers and their interpretation, once it has been completed. I hope the results will also try to probe in some way to the attributes of the participants. I will try to remember this when the end of march comes.

I hope not, as my future plans involve migrating to Japan as a skilled and language capable tax paying resource, as the current policies here in Europe make living conditions unacceptable. Wife agrees and we see this taking place in 2-4 years at most.

Driverless cars should have mandatory 360 deg video recording to an encrypted storage, which retains the last 6 hours and can be decrypted by police only.

Thereafter the car should be considered like a "child", in which case owner assumes any and all responsibilities of his or her robot vehicle. Responsibilities should be determined from the 360 degree recording case by case, assuming the robot is at fault, unless the video proves otherwise.

That would cover it all from legal point of view, to my satisfaction, but I'm sure many will disagree with this idea.

This question was not a technical question, so I shall not speculate on reliability and such...