TokyoXtreme comments

All these people talkin', all this stuff about him; why don't they just let him be?

Hah, that's right. I sit in priority seats pretty often actually, as they are PRIORITY seats; IF there is someone whose description matches the silhouette sticker, then I'll give up the seat. Otherwise, an empty seat's an empty seat. BOOYAH!

Why don't the idiots standing directly in front of the door step off the train for five freaking seconds so I can get off without having to give them a shove? One of my biggest pet peeves is not even the idiotic behavior that I see; it's actually the obnoxiously redundant and seemingly unending announcements. "Now arriving at Kita-Senju station; transfer here for the Hibiya line, the Tsukuba Express Line, the Chiyoda subway line, the JR Joban line. The door on the right side will open." (translated from Japanese and then provided again in English). And then the moronic conductor frantically and LOUDLY repeats exactly what has just been read verbatim, in double speed, adding rhetorical gems like "please don't do anything dangerous or rush for the train." Those stupid announcements benefit no one, and people who are acting unmannerly already know they are misbehaving; the noise pollution just makes riding a smelly sweat-car all that much more unpleasant. The announcement should simply say (in a calm feminine voice, or alternatively James Earl Jones' voice) "Kita-Senju". Just ONCE.

The 19-year-old man is a minor! There is something very wrong with this terminology. Why doesn't the article call him a 19-year-old boy?

I wonder how many ID cards the policemen caught. Just between you and me, ID cards are kind of a suspicious lot. I don't trust them.

I guess the officer standing to the right just got finished with some particularly nasty bit of interrogative surgery on poor Ichihashi.

There's nothing wrong with being on a train and talking on the phone at a normal conversational level; the problem is the SHRILL and ANNOYING ringtone (always someone over 45) that goes off for 20 seconds, and gets progressively louder the longer it rings. Anyway, what do you expect from a society that rarely teaches basic courtesy and actually disdains social grace?

I have to also point out the irony of the legions of Japanese cosplay "surgeons" wearing masks (all day without changing), yet not properly scrubbing up with soap and hot water. Doctor, the patient has just died of septic shock.

Can anyone tell me if gargling even gets the germs out of your throat? Unlikely. I think that the whole mask/gargling combo is simply a social ritual designed merely to satisfy the primitive reptilian brain, perhaps promoting a sense of national fraternity, while doing nothing at all to prevent spread of germs. I'm sure that Japanese people couldn't be so naive to believe that these measures actually prevent influenza; that's why they often don't wear masks while overseas.

Really glossy stuff.

Well, as long as the possession of the child pornography is kept civil, then there should be no complaint. But once the possession becomes egregious, then we have a problem. Interesting how possession of CP is tolerated and legal whereas possession of a naturally growing plant (cannabis or magic mushrooms) brings severe prison time. The whole CP industry requires victimization in order to thrive; much like pachinko.

Scouted at Yokohama station? Every lady's dream.

Can we safely assume the pro-nuke nuts in the Happiness Realization Party don't have a chance of winning? I imagine they would have Communist-style missile parades in Shibuya, if they had it their way.

Why do Japanese people love turning themselves in? Is it just to prove that they could have escaped had they really wanted to?

Flav should've told immigration that they had him in a cell because their records, they sell.

To be fair, global banking is highly orchestrated. Even the phrase "global banking" is attacked as being anti-Semitic.

And the crime was perpetrated by an 18-year-old child.

The rules are simple. Look all you want, but take no photos.

Sounds like the kid is a wuss. The Empire Strikes Back had some scary stuff too, but it was just one of the rites of passage on becoming a young adult.

What's with all these Democrat parties!? And worse, a LIBERAL democrat party!? What Japan really needs is a staunchly conservative and stubbornly static party resistant to all change. Get rid of these world-peace "love conquers all" hippies already!

Is this story meant to incur subtly racist shock and disgust over regimented and militaristic cheering? Essentially, all professional sporting events inspire some degree of reptilian ritualism that hearken back to the beginning of recorded human history. Although the slapping of a child is serious business, the description of the act within the context of the story makes me suspicious as to how accurate is the author's account. Perhaps that's why the author didn't contact the police and press charges!

Maybe "NO! DRUG" is simply the name of a drugstore, like "Universal Drug" or "Happy Drug" or "Papa's Drug". Also, the "NO!" is a typo, because it's supposed to be N°1 DRUG, as cooeecobber suggested above. That number one drug, of course, is assumed to be sex with Japanese girls wearing glasses. And "dame zettai" is the token resistance a refined lady is supposed to offer.

I'm considering making a T-shirt with "NO! GRAMMAR" slogan, and the requisite "dame zettai". Satire is apparently a deep underground concept in Japan.

Some say no to drugs and take a stand, but after the show they go looking for the dope man.

NO! GRAMMAR

Other thing, if the local residents are upset about noise and fireworks, then they can call the police and report the disturbance? Then, the police would come and ticket the noisemakers. I mean, that's how it works in other countries.

This is hardly a "travel guide", since there is no guide given on how to travel there.

Speed is totally right. Wearing masks is something everyone's doing, so everyone must wear masks.

Do Japanese journalists speculate which questions their audience might raise upon reading the news story? Presumably all readers will infer that the suspect was somehow responsible for administering the sedatives; the article however makes no definitive statement as to what's going on.

He was probably drugged anyway. Who strips naked from being drunk? My problem with the guy is all of the apologizing he did afterward. What's he got to be sorry for?