The passage comments

@gaijinfo

This is a very misleading statistic. The truth is that if you compare per capita data, specifically Murders per thousand per gun, the U.S. is only the fourth of fifth dangerous country.

And you will notice that there are no "developed" countries up there with you. Every other country with the same issue is a developing nation.

Also, if you look at causes of death in the U.S., guns are way, way down on the list. Even below "Medical Mistakes."

However you look at it, 11,000 people could be alive today in the US if there were no guns available to the general public. Each cause of death need its own solution, saying more people died by "medical mistakes" isn't an excuse to not deal with the deaths caused by guns. Just means you have two issues to deal with hand not just one.

Japan launched two intelligence satellites into orbit on Sunday amid growing concerns that North Korea is planning to test more rockets of its own and possibly conduct a nuclear test.

Here's one I made earlier! Hang on, so NK starts being belligerent and Japan finds some satellites to put up so it can watch its neighbour? Probably more like it has been planned for a very long time (how long to plan and build a satellite?) and this is a god way to bury the justification. Not fooled here.

I wish Mifune, had been included in the list of collaborators.

What did he write? I ask out of ignorance, as I know he is a terrific actor, but I didn't realise that he wrote as well.

You may think so, but the research proves otherwise: the deterrent effect has been proven.

Depends who is doing the research, and/or who is funding it. Amazing what can be "proved" if the price is right! I will will stick to common sense and instinct for now.

No Ozu? That's a pity, as you would have the 50's and 60's Japanese cinema kings completely covered. Kurosawa himself is probably turning in his grave (or casket) as he firmly rejected the notions of awards, claiming he was still learning!

@surf Interesting piece but it only sets out one side of an argument. Where I disagree with the article (and on this topic in general) is the attempt at ahigh level to politicise it by saying it is liberal vs conservative. I think there are as many conservatives who are sick to the teeth of large scale massacres as they are liberals who would fight tooth and nail to keep their guns ("you and who else" from the article).

That said, I still can't see anything positive in armed guards at schools, cinema's, or any public place being a positive culture - and being armed to protect yourself only does one thing. Make the attacker ensure he/she/they have more firepower than you.

@surf Apologies, absolutely no malintent.

OK, so

That is a pertinent question. Why? Why have the mass killings occurred?

and

The tools used are one factor, but not the motive.

I think 99% of the current problem (mass killings) is that currently is way too easy to get hold of weapons that have the ability to inflict huge numbers of casualties. They have no place in any normal society, and the danger that they pose is just too great. I would argue that ANY gun should not be available to any regular member of the public simply because unless they lock it up and control access very carefully, there is a chance it will get into the wrong hands. Being locked up and controlled is about as useful in defence as a water pistol when the attacker has the advantage of surprise. To take that further, removing all guns from the society at large should be the ultimate goal. To rely on the Police forces for protection SHOULD be the right of every citizen. Now, I concede that that won't happen too soon in the US, but lets take the first step and remove the stuff you don't need - automatic weapons.

Now, as for motive, you will always have people that are going to try to do harm. We need to understand that and act at the earliest possible chance. They need better care, and that issue is not unique to the US. One precaution we can take is to minimise the risk of them being able to get hold of destructive devices as difficult as it possibly can be, hopefully by never having them available in the first place.

Look at other country's and see how it works.

@surf Can't see any insults in my posts, sorry if you are offended though.

The following link should serve to enlighten on the topic of school security.

You'd be surprised how much common ground there is. Both sides also believe that breathing air is good for you! Saying security is good can mean a million things, from improving the culture of the society in its attitude to a non-gun culture to having several battalions outside each educational establishment. Think about that again please, why would you need a physical security presence in the US? What drivers are behind that?

@surfoholic

It's also worth noting that such shootings have not occurred at public places that have actual security,

Keep riding those waves, because you are way off topic here. Do you really think for the a fraction of a second that armed guards at an ELEMENTARY school are really, in the 21 first Century FHS, a real and positive option? Is life really that bad in the USA?

Still the ad is true and you will see how evil this government is going to get. It s only the beginning of their hypocrisy and hate for freedom. Ego maniacs

It is a true reflection of how wrong the pro-gun lobby are, and as indicated before, I truly believe that lobby will win the Nobel Peace Prize for uniting America against guns. Odd - but true!

@sailwind

communist revolutions in other countries that plunged them into dictatorships.

OK, so you and the neighbours are going to stop that should it ever occur in US? DO YOU REALLY THINK YOU CAN (that is after you consider it would ever be possible??)?

The founders were wise and knew this unfortunate impulse in human nature of those that end up in positions of ruling over others

The founders were very intelligent men, who lived over two hundred years ago. The World moved on, and threats are not what they used to be, which is why the second amendment relates to a militia guarding freedom as opposed to individuals shooting burglars. Big, no, a very big difference.

The 2nd amendment makes this as difficult as possible in the U.S from occurring no matter the events of the day and acts as the final check on the U.S Government to remind it that it only governs at the consent of the people, and the people are armed if the Government forgets its place in the people lives as its servant and not its master.

You have described "anarchy" very well!

@wolfpack Way off the pace in many ways.

If Obama didn't want his children brought into the debate he should have left out the kids he used as props while announcing his own gun control policy prescriptions.

Truth be told, Obama is happy the pro-gun lobbyists used his kids as it really emphasizes how weak their position is. The comparison is insane at best. Pro-gun team couldn't have done a better job of galvanising US public opinion against guns, maybe so much so that they would now be eligible for the Nobel peace prize!

Lets skip past Elbuda comments, they do seem quite racist, I will agree.

The NRA is organized around the second amendment of the Bill of Rights.

No it isn't. it is TWISTED around the Second amendment. Pro-gun lobbyists have managed to twist the wording in a way that the whole of America has become a well organised militia. It isn't, and never will be because it is not a country that has just been born. Over two hundred years of intelligent growth have given birth to a great country that should no longer fear "tyranny" from its own leaders. Time to move into the 21st Century at last. EVERY other civilized country is already there, NRA and its followers are the ONLY things holding back the US.

@Herve

Does that mean all schools should have armed guards?

I think you may be missing the point entirely. What has a society become when it even needs to just ask that question? How low can it get from here?

Critics say that leaving in the middle of the financial year is a dereliction of duty and that a sudden decrease in the number of police officers, for example, may have an effect on the NPA’s ability to preserve the peace. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the national teachers union said, “The problem is with the system. We would like to see a system that supports and encourages our teachers.”

The problem is clearly with a system that provides incentives for early retirement. Who thought that one up without considering the consequences. Expecting teachers, etc to lose out on 1.5-2.0 million yen?

Don't ask me, ask the experts that stated as such. I'm not an expert on suicides, so I leave it to the industry specialists who made the studies saying that suicides do not get transferred when installing platform gates.

Hmmm, so they (experts) interviewed people who committed suicide to see if they changed location due to barriers? Nice thought, but doesn't compute! Shouldn't always rely on "experts" ;)

@basroil I think you are off the mark on this one.

Platform gates do stop suicide, 100% of platform suicides with full height gates.

They don't stop suicides, but they can stop suicides at some specific locations. Do you honestly believe that someone who has decided to leave this world will not commit suicide because it is inconvenient and train stations are suicide proof? Sure they can help, but they won't solve the core issues, which you don't mention. JR are installing, they recognised the issue and are doing something, but punitive fines for not completing will result in only one thing - higher train fares for travellers. Why not put some effort into why the suicides are occurring?

@basroil

The firm said its Galaxy line of smartphones and tablets has been its top seller, driving profits. The handsets division, which sells about a quarter of all mobile phones in the world according to analysts, saw an operating profit of 5.44tn won, up from 2.56tn won a year earlier.

TBH, I think their TV and white goods have less profit margin. Does the mobile group profit match Apples %? No, but the reason for the Apple stock price drop is all related to potential. People see competitors as taking more market share from Apple, and Apple don't seem to have anything stunning in the works that could claw that share back (or defend it).

People were wowed by the iPhone, it stood alone in the market, but that isn't true now. I have a 4s, and like it lots. Reason for buying it was the associated infrastructure with app store, etc - others are catching up and provide most, if not all of what I want in their respective eco-systems. My next phone (2-4 years later if this one doesn't break) will most likely be based purely on price/value.

Around the same revenue but way lower profit.

Are you absolutely sure?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21191431

The government has so far refused to identify those who died

They didn't work for the government, and moreover, is there as absolute need to publicly identify them? The danger is more media circus hounding the families to get more stories like........

the sobbing elderly mother of one man struggling to come to terms with the loss of her son less than two years after the March 2011 tsunami swept her husband to his death.

Please, let them grieve in peace!

Look's like 2012 was a very successful year for Apple. The first full year with its new CEO Tim Cooks. Apple sold 126 million iPhones, 67 million iPads and 17 million macs. It will give back to stock holders, half of the $137 billion its holding in cash. That will leave those who sold their stock having regrets.

@zichi - Great sentiment - but all below expectations. I don't write the rules so please don't shoot me, but underperform can't be classed as a "successful" year in the investment world.

Apple stock was $514 on close, unchanged from yesterday. Actually, if you look back over 12 months, the stock is higher (409ish) and higher than 2 years back, BUT the price rise was fueled by optimism of new product launches growing the footprint even larger. It may have peaked, so the stock may drop a bit more unless Apple come out with something really new. Staying stable doesn't excite institutional investors. Which could be why our economies are in such a mess.

http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/chart?symbol=AAPL.O

What’s the next innovation that captures the market for the next few years? Get that announced and released, stick stays high. Otherwise competition is just going to gnaw away at the client base, and an iPhone5s is just not going to do it! They won't die, but keeping stock as high as it is is going to be a huge challenge.

So fake outrage and nasty remarks were more important than the people murdered by terrorists.

It wasn't fake, or didn't look like it to me. What is completely fake is the outrage of Republicans saying the administration lied to the people. Doing this during an election period and doing it ONLY to gain political advantage. Scraping the bottom of the political barrel, but they were desperate weren't they.

What on earth drives people to do this? I saw a pair of whippets in Yoyogi wearing denim boiler suits. The world has gone absolutely crazy.

“Our hope is that further research will help us better understand the mechanisms of change so that each child can have the best possible life.”

Could we parallel that with public education so that the general public aren't terrified of the disorder, and can also cope with it too?

“But we don’t take his comments very seriously, as we have all seen and heard that many foreign soldiers, occupiers who come to Afghanistan, develop some kind of mental problems on their way out.”

assassination of young girls on buses in Pakistan because they believe women should have an education is clear NOT a mental problem.

@smithinjapan

Yeah, that, and bragging about killing insurgents makes me think for a change the Taliban may be correct. Harry is nothing but a spoiled, arrogant kid, protected to the hilt. Comparing war to video games is disgusting, and now I truly believe Prince Harry is disgusting as well.

Did you actually watch the interview or just the somewhat biased and edited transcripts that are out there. If not, I'd recommend to seek it out and have a look. You may not like him, but you'll find that he seems quite balanced, unlike the media attention he draws - here is one section from Channel 4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_8enZAQ12s.

This article completely misconstrues Prince Harry's remarks. Especially re: the video game correlation, that was about what he did in his off-duty hours, not a comparison to his responsibilities as a pilot.

Agree with this - saw bits and pieces of the interview and makes much more sense now. TBH though, I still don't think this can be classed as bragging, even in the context of the article above. Other forums have also commented on the "take a life to save a life" comment, but for heavens sake, what exactly do those people think soldiers do?

Also enjoyed his dig at the media, and made his disgust for them very clear "you (i.e. the media) are only here (inside the camp interviewing him) because a deal was made that you don't speculate about my deployment in advance". Alert goes off and he sprints to his plane to fly into a danger zone. Not the actions of a spoilt royal brat.

Upfront let me state that I'm not a fan of Norh Korea's regime, and a speedy return of those who have been kidnapped is required. However, I find it interesting to note that most sources ignore the fact that the exercise carried out by the North Koreans DID actually launch a satellite. It was reported on BBC TV news that it is up there, but broken (i.e. not sending out signals). If NK were much more open about their intentions and processes, they wouldn't attract half as much vitriol - or would they?

http://gizmodo.com/5968007/north-korea-satellite-out-of-control-why-this-is-very-bad-news

@tmarie

You're forgetting the parents

Mentioned in last sentence of my post - yes they share the blame, and it is baffling why some "new" parents are pushing for their kids to get into the school now

Actually, I don't disagree with him but the way he presents his opinions could be significantly improved. Think about it for a second, a school system in Sakuradai that actually supported the physical punishment of children for errors or bad performance in sports. It wasn't just this teacher, the assistant teachers knew it went on not only because they saw it, they were also at the school many years before under the same coach! So what do you do, put more kids into that same system hoping that someone pushed the magic button? This happened less than a month ago and corrective action has not been completed. It needs to be sorted out PDQ then they can start again. It's not one guy, the school shoulders the blame as an entity, and maybe the parents too.