tokorobam comments

Darn it, I lost again this year.

I think that Japan should encourage the creation of a multinational team will be based at Fukushima for years. Not only would Japan benefit, but the world would by gaining experience on how to deal with such disasters. It should not only be Japanese, Americans, and British, etc. but Russians, Indians, Iranians, and any country that has nuclear reactors.

Who was actually harmed by this foolish prank? No one apart from the father. This is an overreaction.

The logical conclusion of Aso's argument is that if the Japanese bankers did not read any language at all, they'd be in even better shape.

7-11's domination strategy even extends to Singapore. In some areas 7-11's are the only convenience store seen. This is unfortunate as it leads to a mono-culture of products.

Pandora blocks you based on your computer's IP address location, be it Japan or Singapore or other countries. I first started using pandora from Japan when it first went on line. It was blocked by pandora in May of 2007 due to lack of an international licensing framework.

Looks like a wonderful place. But it reminds me of a place in Gunma that was advertising a 10 year lease on a plot of land for 100,000 yen. Only rule is that you need to live there at least a few months a year.

@bluewitch, et al: do YOU actually know what you are talking about? Is there any science or simple facts behind what YOU say?

GJDailleult: all the USA's problems were caused by left-wing radicals forcing banks to lend to unqualified investors.

Wow, what a statement. GJ, where did that come from? If the government is responsible, it was a bipartisan effort. Both republicans and democrats alike rigged the rules in favor of too much lending. I'm with hereandthere on this one, no one forced anyone to take a loan that they could not repay. I'm not talking about honest folk who took a reasonable loan and then lost a job. But some of the loan amounts were way out there, like 10 times the annual salary where 3 used to be the norm.

@chotto

So the fact that people can't think for themselves and buy something useless based on a logo isn't a dismaying fact? Speaks volumes for peoples' intelligence.

So since I like my iPad, you question my intelligence? You have no idea what I use it for and why it's suitable for me but you take an insulting tone anyway. Not that I'm particularly concerned about what you think, but looking at your other posts, you pretty much take a negative and often insulting tone in general. So at least you are consistent.

@Jeffery, @chotto, and others:

What is most dismaying about this dialog is there is surprise to the point of anger being expressed at those of us who like our iPads from those who do not. Relax folks. No one is forcing you to buy one.

I've had my iPad since the first day it came out and I love it. The other critics here are either missing the point or what is important to me is not to them and vice versa. I can use it standing on a train which I cannot do with a laptop. It does have multitasking with iOS 4 (which I'm running). It runs fast and smooth and is not weighed down by the overheads of Windows or even MacOS so you get better response for your processing power. And it has one thing I've never seen in any laptop, PC, or other tablet: true "instant on". I press a button and it's on immediately. Laptops have a sleep mode but that is not as fast to turn on and uses too much power.

That is not to say they don't have improvements to make. They do and I hope that google, samsung, Microsoft and others all keep on the pressure.

I have believed for many years that the role of the Soviet invasion of Manchuria has been understated in the West. However I do not believe that it played a "much greater role". Rather, I think they were equal to that of the bombings (plus the imminent invasion from the Americans that the Japanese were preparing themselves for). And most definitely they would rather deal with the Americans.

With all of the participants in the decision now gone, perhaps a way to measure the relative weight of the bombings verses the Soviet invasion would be to estimate what percentage of time the Japanese government was spending on both problems in the final weeks and days of the war.

While there are recruiters that are less than helpful, there are others who are first rate and I count them among my lifelong friends. When you find one that is good, keep in touch with them.

With selective editing, I could find a correlation between anything and anything.

There are financial institutions in Japan that refuse to open bank accounts for Americans because of the tax reporting requirements. Also, Japanese that live here who own stocks of US companies have to file a form justifying why they should not file US income taxes.

I'm unimpressed. So far, I don't notice a difference to justify it.

But most disappointingly, it has region encoding like dvd's do (though the regions are different). This attitude by the movie studios only encourages piracy.

The Tea Party is more aptly named the Disgruntled White People's Party.

Being PM does have its perks.

I always trust Akebono and Komori for all my drink selections.

Words cannot express my feelings and the anger at the mother (and father). Presumably the mother wanted to avoid the shame of friends and family finding out about an unwanted pregancy. With the shortage of births in this country and the number of people around the world waiting to adopt, it would have been easy to find a home for these poor souls.

Don't suppose they could have found an actual firefighter to be the poster girl - or at least a fire department employee.

Leave it to JT readers to be as cynical as can be. This incident is a tragedy and it's hard to tell what really happened from a few lines in a news article.

If JT wants to put some cute girls on the front page each day, that's fine. But at least find something noteworthy and not a Pocky Ad. On the other hand, JT is free for readers so maybe I should not complain.

In the States, I often would give out a few coins or a dollar or two to the homeless, especially around the holidays. In Japan, I'm told not to do this since it's "their fault" they live on the streets. I pass through Shinjuku everyday on my morning commute and can't help but feel for these poor homeless folks.

This is Japan Today's daily chick-on-the-front-page photo.

I used to really enjoy picking up a newspaper, especially during the weekend. But where I live there is no place near by that sells English newspapers, I'd like weekend only delivery which they don't have, and not long ago they increased the price. So I'm going on line almost exclusively.

Yes. Someone has to pay for it. I would pay provided it's reasonable in cost. Online content is free largely since print subsrcibers are subsidising it and ad revenues are often not sufficient. That will end someday and I wish to have newspapers and magazines survive. But I don't want to pay the print costs just to get online access which is often the case.

I favor having the option of micropayments for one-off articles or subscriptions for continuous.

Long term, there is no single answer. I think it's going to be a combination of continuing to lower the cost of living and improve the living conditions, discouraging long working hours, better child care support, and increased immigration. And they probably need to encourage the use of English more to make it easier for foreigners to live here.

Japan continues to have a great many advantages: arguably the world's best infrastructure and a hardworking, educated, and honest work force.

I think many of the postings here are overly harse and critical while others are heartfelt. Let's take a moment to mourn this loss and to appreciate our families.