The Original Wing comments

I recently took a trip to Australia and took in a performance at the Sydney Opera House. Before the concert started, a speaker came out to welcome the audience, and announced that the group behind the performance is strongly in support of the "Yes" side. A very, very long ovation from the audience followed.

That kind of fervor often leads to ugly fighting, and it appears that's what's happening here. I wish they (and everyone elsewhere in the world that is experiencing similarly ugly in-fighting) would find their way back to civil discourse.

Yes he's probably the best of all time. But definitely not the most popular.

I'd gladly take that tradeoff

you must be truly upset you bet all your marbles on Nishikori. How's he doing these days

Just came up this weekend: https://japantoday.com/category/features/opinions/is-it-game-set-and-match-for-kei-nishikori

I wish media would stop diminishing the great women’s records by comparing them with the men’s

I couldn't agree with you any more, fxgai. This is a very recent development, and I really hate it. Men's tennis is not women's tennis, and vice versa. They're completely separate organizations, with different histories and different rules.

raze and rebuild a historic rugby venue and an adjoining baseball stadium where Babe Ruth played.

This is written poorly. Jingu is also a historic stadium - second oldest in the country. The Babe Ruth thing is a fun detail, but not the reason why it shouldn't be torn down. New stadiums are shiny but lack character. Save Jingu.

a third had glued his feet to the cement floor

Due to this, security had to bring in medical personnel to pry the guy free, and it ended up halting the whole match for a half hour. There was a lot of criticism of US Open security for taking so long to resolve the issue, but just ripping the guy's glued feet off the floor would've left them open to a lawsuit, so they had no other choice.

The U.S. Open has long been notorious for this, and in the recent years the Australian Open has caught up to it. I hate to be a killjoy, but I'm very much in favor of tournaments not selling alcohol for this reason. Of course, that'll never happen - money is money. But it's hurting the flow of the matches, and ruining the integrity of the game.

I am saying that there are a lot of articles on family murders in Japan that out number murders outside families

That may be a biased image due to the source, though. Japan Today doesn't print an article of every crime in the whole country, it just picks the intriguing ones, which may lead to an artificially inflated view of how many family murders vs. non-family murders occur.

The same is true with molestations. Typically you'll only see articles on here if a teacher or police officer or government official is caught doing it. It's a more sensational story, because these people are entrusted with certain responsibilities due to their work. There aren't many articles here about dentists or bus drivers or accountants getting arrested for molesting people, but you know it's happening. But because it doesn't make the news, Japan Today readers (or most news sources, really) come away with the image that this is a uniquely significant problem amongst teachers and police officers.

@Ricky Kaminski13 - Yes, cheers for the info! I very much appreciate hearing the opposite case stated.

As a non-Aussie, this headline got me interested and I expected a nice explanation of both sides of what's apparently a contentious issue.

Instead, I got 98% explanation of the "yes" side, and a single paragraph at the bottom about "no," which immediately discredits itself by suggesting it's "disinformation."

I'm not voicing an opinion on the issue at hand here, but what a slanted article. Wow.

Regarding the Olympics, I think a nice compromise can be made between the "It should only be held in one city for practicality's sake" idea and the "I like to see different countries highlighted" idea.

Here's my proposal: Designate 3 host cities around the world. Rotate between them, and do it two times through (e.g. Rio - Tokyo - Paris - Rio - Tokyo - Paris). So each city in the rotation holds it 2 times (a total of 6 Olympics). The 3x2 rotation takes a total of 24 years.

After 24 years, pick 3 new cities, and begin another 3x2 rotation. And so on.

This way, each host city gets 2 major events out of its investment, which should offset the costs. Infrastructure built (stadiums, etc.) are still in usable condition throughout the rotation. And then the world gets to experience 3 new cultures the next time the 3x2 rotation starts again.

I think we ought to use the term "conspiracy theory" a little more judiciously.

Certainly there are plenty of ridiculous conspiracy theories out there. But not every idea about an organized government effort is a conspiracy. Governments are made up of regular people, who (just like any of us) are prone to lying, cheating, keeping secrets, being manipulative, being sneaky, and organizing with like-minded people to get their way, especially when there's big power and big money at stake. In general, "(Government body) is lying to the public about X to accomplish Y" seems to be a very reasonable possibility to me, and I don't think that qualifies as a "conspiracy theory" in the same way that flat-earth beliefs do.

But that's how we've started using the word, and I think that's incorrect. It also is starting to be a crutch insult when attacking people whose political/social beliefs are different from ours.

(Disclaimer: I know that the definition of conspiracy is "people working together for underhanded goals," and that goes against what I just wrote above. But I think that dictionary definition of "conspiracy" is different than how we generally use it to talk about "conspiracy theories," which ought to be a label more toward "The moon landings were faked")

Barker was 99

He got as close as possible to $1.00 without going over.

Perfect

Maybe just when it's too crowded

This was my experience too. I love Japanese gardens, and was excited when I finally got to Kanazawa to see Kenroku-en, one of the "Three Great Gardens of Japan." But I knew it was going to be trouble when I got there and saw the pack of tour buses out front. Huge groups of people swarming everywhere in the garden. Want to see the pond? You need to fight your way through 300 people holding up iPads over their heads to take photos, rowdy children (and adults too), selfie-sticks, people loudly having video chats via their phones... it was awful. The garden is beautiful, but gardens are meant to be tranquil places to enjoyed peacefully. It was a miserable experience and I left very disappointed.

I'm no expert, but I'm not sure if the "overhead chop" is really a wise maneuver.

@Antiquesaving and @piskian

Genuine question: What specifically are you worried about happening if you called the police? I never have, so I'm missing what you're implying here as the potential problem.

However, Komine’s lawyer told the lay judges that his client was an alcoholic and was intoxicated at the time [of the crime], and thus not criminally responsible.

Does being intoxicated make you not criminally responsible for crimes committed?

Watching Alcaraz in recent tournaments, I've found myself thinking "How can anyone actually beat him?" That he could main that impressive, impressive level through five sets vs. Djokovic of all people at Wimbledon... this kid is crazy, crazy good.

@CDMX: I'm with you 50%. I think we're definitely in a new era, in the sense that Alcaraz has arrived big-time, and will be a factor in all tournaments going forward. However, I can't call it a "passing of the torch" because Djokovic is still playing at an unbelievable level, and he's not on his way out at all.

browny1: Soon the pressure started from the husband and in-laws to produce children.

I have a Japanese acquaintance with a similar story. Her mother-in-law (who lived nearby) rallied all the neighborhood ladies, who would all stop by and put pressure on her to have a baby. She said the pressure was unbearable - everywhere she turned, the people around her were harassing her about it.

And why did she and her husband live near the mother-in-law in the first place? Because MIL "didn't allow" her son (my friend's husband) to move out of the area after getting married.

Back to the "Smart women don't get married" issue - I think that the younger generations of Japan are much more open and willing to change these outdated and sexist patterns, which should be good for women in STEM. But part of the problem is that the younger generation remains subservient to the older generations, who are still stuck in their old-fashioned ways. From my Western perspective, my friend's stories seem unfathomable - why wouldn't she just insist on leading her own life? But from a Japanese perspective, that's a very difficult thing to do. And that perpetuates the societal patterns that make it difficult for smart women to pursue their high-level careers.

That Alcaraz/Rune match was a lot closer and more exciting than the straight sets score would suggest. Those two put on a very high-level and entertaining show. Cheers to Rune for a match very well-played against the world No. 1. Add in Sinner, and the future of men's tennis is in very good hands with these guys.

Nevertheless, go Novak!

It's a hard life for lonely young foreign trainees with no one to turn to

The trainee conditions discussion above is of course the most important point.

But as the title of the article suggests, socially, it's a tough life as well. As many of us can attest to, it can be hard to make human connections here. I can only speak about my own experiences in coming to Tokyo, but it took me several years to find a reliable circle of friends, and those first few years were quite lonely. And I speak English - an international language. For trainees coming from, say, Vietnam, it'd be much harder for those who only speak Vietnamese. Social networks are very important for your mental health and overall well-being, and without that, the difficult life of a foreign trainee becomes that much harder.

That first set disappeared on him after a brief hiccup. Beyond that, Djokovic was smooth and dominant. His strengths counter Rublev's game very well - that's a very tough match up for the Russian.

Very much looking forward to Alcaraz vs. Rune tonight.

The problem with "marketing" the outstanding natural environment is that the most beautiful areas are difficult to access. If you don't have a driver's license, public transportation options are poor. That trouble is compounded assuming that travelers have limited time available - if you need to spend a full day to get somewhere because buses run only twice a day, and then spend a full day to get home, that cuts into the time you have available to enjoy your destination.

If we're talking about marketing to overseas tourists, the other problem is the language barrier - the further away from the cities you get, the more likely you are to have major communication problems if you don't speak Japanese.

In my backpacker days, I met plenty of around-the-world travelers in hostels around Asia. Most of them were skipping Japan due to the cost. That said, those aren't the people Japan has ever targeted for tourism. Japan has always attracted people who have more money available and are looking for higher-class experience, and I think those people won't be dissuaded much by the increase in costs here. A little? Sure. But not enough to matter.

I had a partnership with a domestic company that got bought by Rakuten (but has nothing to do with Rakuten's main business). They had the English language rule implemented on them as well. After three rounds of TOEIC tests in which most workers were still unable to score the minimum required score, they set up a new deadline after which people's salaries would be reduced if they couldn't get the required score. Our partnership ended before I could hear the results of that, but I've always been curious.

@Babe Ruth - You're quite wrong about the Vegas fanbase. For a group in a non--traditional market who probably didn't know the first thing about hockey a decade ago, they picked it up quickly and have embraced it. The "experiment" of putting a team in Las Vegas has been nothing short of a big success, and the market is a great addition to the league.

@Clay

From what I've heard, the half of the draw that includes the #1 seed is typically not given the late night time slots, to give them a slight reward in added recovery time before the next round.

Those first two sets certainly lived up to the lofty expectations for this match. What a fantastic, high-level display. Pity it couldn't last.

As boos and jeers rained down, Djokovic...

Anti-Novakism is ugly and childish. Booing him for taking a toilet break, while showering Alcaraz for doing the same not long after... And yet he is nothing but gracious in interviews, complimenting and thanking the fans. The man has nerves of steel.

The fourth-ranked Ruud has never won a set against Djokovic in four meetings

Onto the final, and perhaps unprecedented history for Nole.

Aly is right. On the surface it sounds like a simple thing: "I'd just say no, and walk away!" But it's a good deal more difficult once you're actually doing it.

Besides, just because you're quitting doesn't mean that you're immediately excused from decorum. These people may have been good to you, or maybe they took a chance by hiring you in the first place, or spent a lot of time teaching and developing you. Also, leaving at the exact moment that you want to leave may cause them problems. That's not to say that you're eternally in debt to them, but it is reasonable that you'd want to be considerate of their position.

I've had a handful Japanese colleagues who attempted to give their resignation notice, who were either convinced by the boss not to quit at all, or were convinced by the boss to delay their resignation until a better time for the company - and sometimes that delay was well over a year.

It was my first time to watch Etcheverry play, and I was very impressed by his defense. Great job for him to reach the QF, and put up a good fight vs. Zverev.

I typically underestimate Ruud. He consistently gets better results than I expect. Didn't see his match vs. Rune, but it's a good win vs. an opponent who had a lot of momentum through the clay season.

Bring on Djoker vs. Alcaraz!