TheBigRiceBowl comments

One friend working at the USPS (in the east coast region) said that a colleague is petitioning not to do their job outside because they will be exposed to radiation.

This would be a good article to "go viral" so that more people in far off lands panic less and see things a little more realistically.

If a famous person visited a public restroom, and claimed that "something good happened", that place would be inundated with photo-snapping people from around the country. It never ceases to amaze me how things boom here when a tarento introduces something. I feel sorry for the bust after when the trend dies as suddenly as it boomed, and the manufacturer of the product that was introduced is suddenly left with 300% capacity...

You realize that if a famous person says that the Vornado air circulator (not a "fan") is the cat's meow (it really is, actually) then there will be no availability for this summer when we have to cut our energy by 20-30% (see other related JT article). Better get your vornados now!

For the dogs ALL to be collies (of various breeds), it must have been a breeder's kennel that broke. Strange to see that many of the same dogs all milling together. They are likely all family members.

I love border collies.

My ex-wife laments the fact that she didn't worry about the sun in her teens, twenties and 30s because now she has a LOT of freckles, and black spots that she is very concerned about.

Come to think of it... so do I!

I wonder if the letter was as long as his speeches/rants usually are?

Go go Placido!

Although my company was "business as usual", it understood well that many of the commuters from the outlying areas could not make it into the city as their trains were not running. The company also offered to cover hotels for managers who could not commute to and from home during the week following the debacle. Some staff took extra leave due to "mental stress" (emotional stress?) from the fear of the quake and damage to our building; the company supported that by stating that yuukyuu did not need to be taken (though without pay, which is reasonable).

Companies do MANY things to support their employees. It is also very important for employees to support their companies as well. There has to be a balance in everything done. Many employees think that their 8hrs of work = their income, and if they put in the time, they are square. But in most cases they fail to understand the full costs a company bears to support an employee and the family. The company can pay up to 3X the employees salary in other costs. This is why everyone needs to work together, the company AND the employees, in normal times, as well as abnormal times. The company and the employees are a team, a family, and should support each other in a very balanced way.

"The new complex will also provide space for evacuees in case of possible disasters" - This is EXCELLENT forward thinking! Let's hope more companies start doing this for the future.

I already have all the books, and have watched all the movies, so I don't think I will download them all again to my Kindle. However... were I to be a first time reader of this wonderful series, I certainly would prefer getting them on my kindle now, than having to buy them in paperback (hardcover). I hope they do offer a e-book version of the series.

"White is beautiful", so it seems in Japan.

What if they were a revival group, growing it to make rope for rigging on a period-ship they were constructing?

I have never spent much time thinking about my food source in Japan; it's been always available, easy to access WHEN I want it, and there has been a huge variety (in Tokyo, if not in the outlying prefectures) from. Now when I go to the supermarket and can't buy yogurt or eggs readily unless I get up early and head out as soon as the supermarket opens, it really has me thinking about how fragile our lifestyle really is.

There has been very little actual change for me and it seems strange that only 250km away there is occurring a disaster on unprecedented levels, while Tokyo carries on almost as if it were "business as usual".

Gadhafi is not making a lot of sense these days.. if he EVER made any sense, he is making less now.

I swear the Japanese businessmen on the trains in Tokyo have terrible breath, and body odour that has gotten even worse over the past two decades. I wish they would start using anti perspirant...

Smith - So that would mean that the owners would not be able to collect on their insurance policies, I guess.

More than likely most people do not have auto insurance that covers damage due to tsunami (does it exist on regular coverage, "act of gods"?). If one were to claim one's trashed automobile, wouldn't it then become the responsibility of the owner to pay for destruction? Who would want to bother doing that?

All of the machines used to assemble cars in the automobile industry are "robots". We tend to mistakenly think of robots as having a human shape, and carrying out human-like motion. Couldn't the same companies that have developed robots for the auto industry begin to develop them for the nuclear industry? It won't solve the problem now, but we have to start looking at the future because nuclear energy isn't just going to go away because of this disaster.

My friend in Italy is just over 40 years of age, so she would have no recollection of WWII and the damage to Europe during the war, other than that which her parents, and the elders might share.

HOWEVER, in spite of that, she, and every other Italian she knows is SO GRATEFUL for the US Forces AFTER THE WAR because they basically came into the devastated areas and rebuilt the country.

They didn't have to, but they chose to do so. This is one of the amazing things of the US Military forces; they don't just walk away.

The amount of support, reconstruction, rebuilding, etc. that they are providing to the damaged areas and the people is stunning. Although I am not American, I am very proud to see the humanitarian work that they are providing for their Allies, regardless of how Okinawa feels about them being in this country.

50,000 houses of energy PER DAY. Wow. That is HUGE!

So, does that mean that Mori Building Co should make a subsidiary energy company and call itself Mori Electric Power Co., or MEPCO?

Provide deep incentives for people to purchase and install solar paneling on their homes, thus reducing their energy consumption on a personal basis, and then they can sell back the extra power that is generated.

My guess is that people are NOT taking extra precautions during the black outs, as they should be. I have seen this time and again; motorists do not slow down when approaching a signal/intersection nor do they "look both ways before crossing the street".

There have been so many incidences (especially when living in Fukui), that when ambulances or fire trucks approached, people did NOT pull over and wait. In fact, they continued to cross at intersections in spite of the fact that they should have known better.

It is no wonder that the ambulances and fire trucks don't speed in this country; they would be continually taking out other motorists who were not paying attention!

Promote "Cool Biz" all year round so we don't have to wear heat-enhancing neckties at the office, and can keep our AC off a little bit longer in the year.

What accident in Canada???

"As a result, Ford is telling dealers to stop ordering “tuxedo black” ... Chrysler told dealers it was temporarily restricting orders of vehicles in 10 colors. “We don’t want to have to tell customers, `You’ve got to pick another color.’”

I guess that's what happens when you rely upon outsourcing - you are at the mercy of those countries' economies, and politics.

I wonder what THEIR excuse will be:

"We needed it so we could eat at Yoshino-ya for a month."

Where the heck is one expected to keep "a few weeks of food supplies" in a 1K apartment in Tokyo?!? Most apartments don't even have closets here!

This is lovely, except a HUGE number of movies are NOT available from Japan. And in addition to that, not all movies are subtitled, meaning that those that are NOT subtitled are dubbed with no other option.

Most of the animation is dubbed, not subtitled so a large number of Japanese people complain (and I agree) that it ruins the movie. They much prefer the original voices (eg. Tom Hanks as Woody) and subtitles to dubbing.

I have had only good experiences with cabs in all of Japan.

When I walk through the women's section to get to the men's section I see a ton of E-cup, I-cup, J-cup that look HUGE and likely would even be too big for a good deal of the "standard C" cups in the west. But then again, Japanese women aren't so much into tattoos and breast enhancement like the western women seem to be all agog for.

But who the heck WEARS a J-cup anyway? And what is the equivalent N.A. size?

Also, bigger than the cup size issue is the cage size. Japanese women are VERY narrow through the cage. When I go back to N.A. for a visit I am always astounded (shocked) at how "thick" N.A. women are from front to back (UNDER the bust). The ribcage of western women is a LOT bigger than the Japanese women.