tomoki comments

Mimitchy--yes Japan was awesome some time ago. We were not victims since we defended ourselves from the European imperialism in the past but now we are. You sound like a victim to me. British and other Europeans should pay for their imperialism before demanding justice from Japan.

Ishihara and other conservatives in Japan are trying to change the dysfunctional “pacifist” Constitution imposed on Japan by American occupying forces after the war. The plan is to build the conventional military possibly to replace the American military stationed in Japan. This idea is supported by the conservative Americans as well, who are getting tired of Japan’s lack of contribution to their collective defense. US forces have most recently agreed to intervene if China decides to militarily occupy Senkaku. US may be “neutral” with regard to the islands’ ownership but they are currently under Japanese administration. If Japan wants to defend itself it needs ultimately to become nuclear but US is not allowing it for now.

This group is purposely acting in the outrageous fashion to get people's attention, like "Sea Shepherd" does with anti-whaling. Many Japanese especially the young people seem to be sympathetic to their cause, i.e., a conspiracy theory about how Japanese nation after WWII has been manipulated by the U.S. and China, and how Koreans in Japan have taken unfair and illegal advantage of the political and social chaos prevailed after the war.

We enjoy the "unique" way we drink beer. You can drink it in any individual ways you want. That's fair, isn't' it.

I don't think Japanese government has paid compensation for Comfort woman. More Japanese now days believe that it has not happened.

He is being a bit sarcastic to be funny, but brings up the real concerns for the children raised by two men or women in the societies rampant with all kinds of prejudice especially among youth. Japanese would at least not be violent against them like some people in other countries such as ....?

He is just open-minded. If Japanese sees "god" in any objects in the world, he or she could fall in love with it too.

A typical gaijin is like a typical Japanese who do no like Natto unless they are accustomed to eating Natto at home. In some regions in Japan people don’t eat Natto. They typically don’t like Natto.

I hope Noda won't mess up Isihara's plan. It's time for change with Japanese weak-kneed diplomacy toward China and Korea.

You don't seem to know how Japanese media are biased toward leftist agenda. Japanese media love to talk about war crimes, racism and discrimination, etc. Politicians are harshly criticized and the "free speech" is compromised more by the media when the conservative agenda are promoted.

"Most of the above posts sound like the usual pro-China propagandists"--- this also is my impression. They all show the pro-China propaganda---the ugly, inhumane side of China with their arrogance and ambition to repress the rights of diverse ethnic groups in China and to dominate surrounding nations outside of China.

"bad news for whales", good news for people.

What is Noda thinking... Joining TPP and free trade with China, S. Korea results in destruction of Japanese domestic economy and of big business.

I hear that the people who come to the World Uyghur Congress, including Kadeer will be going to Yasukuni to show their respect, not to protest. There is strong support from the Japanese conservatives for Uyghur movement, rather than the “progressives” who tend to side with the Chinese communists.

I thought Japan and South Korea were still fighting the WW II. Just kidding.

In this case China seems to suffer from Dementia, not remembering the fact that she has in the past recognized the islands as part of Japan, dating back to the period before the first Sino-Japanese War. Japanese should feel pretty confident going to ICJ.

"Consider suicide" could mean passive death wish or thinking about killing oneself with or without intent, plan, and/or means. There is nothing pathological about "thinking about it" without intent.

Tokyo has received more than 120mil yen in 6 days. I have to figure out how to donate from outside Japan. One step closer to protect the islands from China.

I am annoyed by the double standard applied here. Many Westerners and others seem justified and comfortable with putting all Japanese in one category when the discussion is about the shortcoming of Japanese people. On the other hand, when the discussion is about good quality, “unique” of Japanese as a group, some people passionately make a point about individual differences and that people are pretty much same anywhere. This is the reason why Japanese people often think (probably defensively) of themselves as “unique” rather than “defective” in some ways.

No big deal. Japanese likes to make fun of Koreans. And Koreans do the same about Japanese.

When I look back on my own experience, the level of motivation had lot to do with this. I was one of the worst students in my high school English class in Japan. Then I became inspired to learn English after meeting English speaking Japanese people who did very exciting things in their lives. I wanted to emulate them and then I was able to pick up the language in a fear years. I listened to FEN and took a few courses at an international Univ. in Tokyo. I was speaking English and it was good enough at least to transfer to college in the U.S. It's been over 30 years since then. My English is now good enough as a professional working in the U.S.

Koreans have as much prejudice, if not more, against Japanese as Japanese do to Koreans. They both think their feelings are justified. We don't like each other for reasons.

Who cares.

Japan needs to build stronger economy and conventional military before dealing successfully with Russians. People seem to be talking about creating internal demands by renewing infrastructures within Japan instead of relying on export. There is also discussion of changing Constitution written by the Americans during occupation. They all sound good to me. Japanese people should take away the political control from the big business and social/political establishment.

Kyle Sakic I mostly agree with you but you seem to be talking about different set of islands. This is Senkaku, not Takeshima, which is located between South Korea and Japan.

Believe or not, Ishihara is getting more popular among young Japanese. It's a good thing but you wouldn't probably understand unless you are Japanese.

Japanese younger people are becoming more nationalistic and Ishihara is getting their support. This needs to be done to protect Japan from Chinese imperialist ambition.