TPOJ comments

Are we really trying to make some sort of value judgment of society based on a group of dumbass girls in a fishing village?

People have always done stupid stuff. This is not a frightening sign of the new direction that society has taken in modern times. It IS a sign that people are dumb, and that sometimes, they're dumb in groups. Why this merits more than a shrug of the shoulders genuinely perplexes me.

When I was a kid, a neighbor broke into my house while my family was away. The cops caught them. Apparently, one guy kept saying "this ain't for me," then tried to walk out on the guy questioning him. He genuinely seemed to think they would let him go simply because he wasn't enjoying himself.

Was this a sign of how severely society had declined...in 1975? Or was this guy just a dumbass?

Nearly 70 percent of the country now acknowlegdes the media in America is hopelessly biased. And it ain't in favor of Bush and Cheney's party.

First off, I refuse to believe that "statistic" unless you source it.

Second...Who cares?

I have a confession to make: I voted for Bush the first time around. For that I genuinely apologize: that was a BIG ^&#@ing error. Very few mistakes in my life have proven themselves to be mistakes with that degree of speed and completeness.

Since that revelation, I have been absolutely ashamed at how my "party of responsibility" has adopted the "blame everyone but the people in charge" attitude with such enthusiasm and arrogance.

If "media bias" is to blame for the current state of the country, then Bush is even more unfit to lead than I thought.

Conservatives were also angry with how poorly the WH communicated its message these last 7.

Yeah, they've really let him have it (cough.)

Just once, I'd love to hear a right winger criticize Bush without immediately shifting attention to something else. Case in point:

Most recognize though that all 3 major networks were(and still are)prepared to openly lie (so long, Dan Rather).

Dan Rather did not "openly lie." The documents he reported on were forged, he did not know this, and the information the documents themselves contained was found to be accurate. Interesting how, even now, some people don't realize this. Do you also still think Saddaam was responsible for 9/11?

There was little the Bush WH could have done to dispel the image the MSM created.

Then they shouldn't be in charge. Period.

Bush's failures belong to him. Bringing the media, Liberals, whoever into the picture is pure, uncut apologism. THE. BUCK. SHOULD. STOP. HERE.

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Which actually demonstrates the problem. Most teachers, like most journalists, are left-of-center. The elitist nature of the jobs attracts leftists better than jam bands and Che t-shirts. If you're a leftist, you'll have a natural tendency to be anti-American

This statement has so much dumb I don't know where to begin.

First off, there's begging the question. Namely, you assume the problem is more in people's perceptions, and not in the actual actions that they're perceiving, as if you have some natural right to favorable bias. This attitude has always infuriated me, and it's damn near driven me away from the Republican party (yes, I am a Republican.)

Most teachers, like most journalists, are left-of-center.

Define "center." Hint: it's not where you're standing, token annoyance at right wing problems aside. This is also called a bear assertion, and it's also logically invalid. REALLY, REALLY, logically invalid.

The elitist nature of the jobs attracts leftists better than jam bands and Che t-shirts.

The elitist nature of your attitude attracts people who habitually over estimate their personal intelligence and importance better than televangelism. And THAT, all subjectivity aside (as much as it can be, anyway,) is a LOT more supportable than your flippant BS.

Such is the nature of ingrained bias.

You mean, the kind of bias that makes someone complain about REPORTERS for two paragraphs before making a token acknowledgment that things aren't perfect in the States? That kind of ingrained bias?

If you're a leftist, you'll have a natural tendency to be anti-American

This sentence is beneath contempt, but I'll address it anyway.

Since the media has been addressing everything anti-American as leftist (yes, the media. There's always political bias, but the delusion that the left has some unfair advantage is ludicrous, no matter how snippy some people get) then by that definition OF COURSE the "left" is "naturally" anti-American. If you go by actual standards, however, they're anti American government, which is a COMPLETELY different thing.

I'm disgusted by my government's actions, and I AM NOT OF THE LEFT. I am disgusted on many levels: incompetence, hypocrisy, selfishness, greed. But I'm considerably more disgusted and disheartened by the attitude that some of my fellow Americans have adopted: they're more concerned about "liberal" bias than with dealing with the problems the "liberals" point out.

Every time an article like this is commented on, I always cringe internally and wonder how the "concerned" Americans will find a way to blame everyone except the people in charge THIS time. It's cowardice. Stop shooting the messenger and work on the mess. PLEASE.

One more time, for the cheap seats. ACTIONS ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE REPORTS OF THEM. I'm not suggesting the media is clean, but grow up.

Men...at least non-womanizing men...don't really go after women unless they feel strong in themselves. Occasionally they might take a stab at it, but the low confidence that comes with low job prospects pretty much hurts that one. Underemployment pretty much guarantees a lack of scoring/girlfriend.

But...

“Give these young people stable employment,” says Akaeda, “and you’d solve the birthrate problem.”

Yeah, because the wealthier one is, the more kids they have.

/sarcasm

What a shameless about-face.

OK, so you and a fellow soldier are in the same platoon, arguing over a girl. It gets really nasty, and you pretty much hate each other. Then the enemy comes in with both guns blazing, and you fight for your platoon.

Would that be a "shameless about face"?

Infighting does not alter the goal of the team. Infighting does not even effect the sincerity of the team's goal. Anyone with a mental age over 8 knows this.

On a personal note, I hate you with the burning intensity of 1000 suns for making me come to the defense of Hilary Clinton :P

The mother, 41, whose name was not disclosed because she has not been charged, lent her taspo to her son Monday so he could buy cigarettes to smoke in their home, a police official in southwestern Fukuoka prefecture said Tuesday.

Y'know, call me an optimist, but she could have had him buying them for her.

Granted, if that were the case the sentence should read "so he could buy cigarettes for her to smoke," but we're reading this through the dual filter of translation and, possibly, confirmation bias.

I just remember in the States when kids would buy cigarettes and alcohol for their parents. (In small towns, this worked, since everybody knew everybody else.) I would imagine, since there was no age verification on machines until now, that (lazy) parents had their kids running out on cigarette runs all the time.

Old habits die hard :P

My experience (not that I've had a lot) has been mostly positive, although I have been stopped on suspicion of being blonde a couple of times.

The problem isn't police per se. The thing about any society that values harmony and authority over competence and fairness is that it's easier for the scum to rise to the top. There's a lot of checks and balances necessary to keep ANY group of people from going soft, and a lot of those checks and balances are considered rude here. So you end up, on one hand, with some guys who are so clueless that they can let a murderer escape an apartment full of cops (the Lindsay Hawker fiasco.) On the other hand, you get, uh, "situations" where a guy soaked in kerosene is given a cigarette in a no smoking zone.

Incompetence can be found anywhere and everywhere, but I do think it's given a lot more free reign here.

Am I the only person who thinks this is staggeringly childish?

“Mr Kawabuchi suggested creating an ‘honorable chairman’ position so he can have influence over the decision-making process in the JFA. I think that’s why he got so angry.”

So the guy demanded an apology because someone challenged his transparent attempts to remain in charge after he retired.

What kind of overly entitled mindset do you have to have to think you deserve that? Don't have him retire, just send him to his room without dessert.

Yet, most Japanese would ask pointedly, “Attack from whom? From those the United States threatens?””

Uh, I dunno, China? North Korea?

Anyone in the East with expansionist policies?

The article certainly has a point, but there's a big, thick streak of naive in there. At no point in history has anger been the sole reason for attack. Seriously, these people think that a big, wealthy, technologically advanced country like Japan somehow wouldn't be invasion bait?

They say, “Let us live in peace and our example will hopefully make the entire world more peaceful.

There are two countries that are very close to Japan that have (1) a history of hating Japan, and (2) emerging military capabilities. Sorry, anyone thinking "Japan can live in peace" with no military protection (US or otherwise) is stupendously clueless. And that's even assuming that Japanese culture is somehow completely free of chicken-hawk tendencies, which only the most deep in denial could believe.

You think the Dems are going to be any better?

WHO CARES??!?!!??!

I'm sick of the "we're no different" excuse. Bush should be bashed for what he's done, same as any Democrat should be for doing something similar. If society spent more time holding people to their responsibilities, and less time brining up the other side, we might actually see some accountability. Eventually.

Enough with the distractions and apologism. Deal with the world the way it is before you deal the way it probably would be.

Y'know, when I woke up this morning, I thought "I need another reason to worry."

Good thing this came along.

Oh yes, almost forgot...AAAAAAAHHHH! TERRORISTS!!!!!

And I applaud this article for at least headlining him as an "American" singer, unlike most of the Japanese media, which insists on referring to him as the "Black enka singer," as though his color has something to do with the phenomenon of his popularity.

It does.

Are you genuinely suggesting that the novelty of his ethnicity in his chosen genre of music has NO relevance to his fame?

Come on. Not saying it's right, but come on. A lot of Japanese tend to be amazed when gaijin speak their language...you're honestly saying that a black American singing enka isn't going to attract some attention purely for that reason?

Er, 26 letters, not 24...damned newfangled keyboards...

But the comprehension problem may also be indicative of the dumbing down of the nation. Young adult moviegoers’ lack of familiarity with many basic historical facts, says the Sankei, in some cases has not progressed beyond middle-school level.

Seems obvious, but it's not just Japan.

Being an American and a movie geek, I'm used to people being unable to handle subtitles. And it is worth noting that Chinese characters are MANY times more complicated and compact than the simple 24 letter alphabet the West uses. Two lines of kanji is a bit more information than two lines of English.

The whole "what are Nazis" thing though...

This anecdote might be relevant: recently, an American friend's band toured over here, and naturally, we hung out the few days they had off. They had a handful of rabid fans, and the band had befriended one.

We're obviously both music fans, so we started talking. He knew Western music inside out: names, dates, albums, etc. But when I mentioned a Japanese band...one that was not only in the same vein and had collaborated with many of his Western heroes, but was absolutely enormous here in Japan...he had NO IDEA who they were. NONE. Even pointing them out on billboards solicited no recognition.

My rather long winded point is this: I've met many Japanese who hyperfocus on one topic, and seem bizarrely oblivious to other things that might seem to be common knowledge, even things that may be directly relevant. This isn't everyone, of course, but I've never seen this anywhere else. They aren't ignorant (in the general sense,) and they're certainly not stupid, they just don't retain information that isn't of immediate interest.

Kinda like Americans ;)

So if we just turn the blind eye, then the anti-US crowd will begin to sing the song that "Bush doesn't care since there is no oil there" or how Americans are selfish and not caring.

I know there's a handful of people who always do this, but I'm still extremely doubtful that there's any significant group that would take this tack, especially since Myanmar has explicitly excluded us.

But, when we try to respect the borders of the country and not go into without their approval, we get the same rhetoric that we are bad people.

Really? There's a group criticizing The US for not forcing our way into Myanmar? Really? Where are they?

Sorry, I just don't think there's any substance to this complaint. People have criticized Bush with the "no oil" tack in situations where there is a clear reason to invade (if you believe the "rescuing Iraq from Saddaam" schtick.)

So far as the "if we respect their borders, people say we don't care" complaint...well, one, it's not like we have a clear track record of respecting borders in the last few years, and two...can you source that? Are you sure that's not mostly in your head?

Not trying to threadjack, I've just had enough of the "poor, misunderstood US" thing. As an American, I do agree we get a bad rap for many things. Dreaming up more won't help.

The more I think about this quote, the dumber it gets.

Foreigners can't do anything involving property here without substantial Japanese support and assistance. Why target them?

When will some people learn that you don't fix problems by wishing other people were different? Get off your cranky butt and do something useful.

Why must every mistake/conflict between cultures be seen as disrespect to Japan? Unless there's a big chunk of context missing from this quote (which there could well be,) this strikes me as extraordinarily childish.

My Dad used to do business with a Japanese firm, and while the culture clash of the negotiating process irritated him (as it did many others in his field,) he didn't see it as a collective disrespect to America. It was just part of the job.

News Flash: sometimes things don't work out, and it has nothing to do with disrespecting your country or culture. Welcome to 2008.

If all you folk downloading music for free were told that all the money, after overheads for manufacture and promotion, recording etc were taken out - went to the artist: would you pay money for your music then? How do you propose that the musicians get paid and earn a living?

I can't say how exactly this would work in Japan, but I know a few musicians who went the major label route in the States, and they see squat from CD sales.

How would I propose they get paid and earn a living? Exactly the way they're doing it now: touring, selling merchandise, and licensing, none of which require a recording company. Very, very, very few musicians make enough off their recordings to see a profit, let alone earn a living.

The Radiohead example is possibly the best model come across thus far: offer it for what people want to pay. With the advent of recording technology, soon it won't cost much more than time to make an album, so the profit/loss margin will be a LOT easier to handle, especially if the record companies see their role reduced significantly.

Downloading is one of those moral grey areas that it's impossible to make a definitive statement on. What about things that are WAY out of print that NO ONE will see ANY profit on, whether it's downloaded or not? What about the musicians who see all or nearly all of their profits get sucked up by "creative" bookkeeping by their label? (Trust me, the vast majority of major label acts fit into this category. And make no mistake: the money from this tax would mostly go to the companies, not the artists.) You're not "stealing" from the artist, you're "stealing" from a faceless entity that is geared to give the artist as little as possible.

I'm not gonna come out for or against downloading...my musical tastes tend to run to the extremely obscure (unless you can point me to a copy of the Desperate Bicycles' catalog that costs less than my house, I'm gonna stick with my MP3s.) Then again, I've seen some friends' bands struggle even after some degree of success because they're not seeing a cent from their labels.

The problem is not downloading. The problem is the entire corporate structure has been artificially inflated for years, and they're trying to stave off the inevitable.

That is merely your double-standard and naivety speaking. Do you have objections to visiting the resting places of aggressive leaders blah blah blah...

Er, there's aggressive and aggressive. Plenty of countries, leaders, etc. have taken other countries over. That whole "Rape Of Nanking" thing, and including convicted war criminals in the shrine is what gets people bunched up.

There's also visiting and honoring. Two different things. That's why there are two different words for those things. I visited Napoleon's grave. I did not honor him. In fact, my Dad and I spent most of our time either reading up on what a dick he was, or just made short jokes.

If I visit Ghengis Kahn's grave, am I "honoring" him? Seriously, do you need an answer to that?

*To put this in perspective, one might think who has the best track record of not making war in past 60 years? Not China and certainly not the United States. Not only do they not demonstrate beyond doubt that they are truly sorry (as many of you are quick to blame Japan of not doing), they are repeatedly demonstrating that they don't give a f**, as they make war to serve their own selfish interests.

That's a prefect analogy. Because when America honors their war dead, they MAKE SURE they include people like those soldiers who raped a 14 year old girl and set her on fire.

Oh, wait. They don't? You mean they punished them and made damn sure their name would always be spoken with the disgrace it deserves? Well, your analogy is a gigantic steaming pile then, isn't it?

It's also quite interesting that some of you, who are quick to denounce China when China takes the stance against the U.S. (e.g. suing of CNN for "hurting Chinese people's feelings") are quick to take China's side by jumping on the blame-nationalist bandwagon on issues over 60 years old. What hypocrisy, self-righteousness and double standard.

Congratulations! This is possibly the single least logical thing I have ever read on the internet.

Chinese government tries to make nice and people don't buy it.

Japanese war apologists try to make nice and people don't buy it.

You might want to look up the word "hypocrisy" before you get all sweaty about that.

Tell ya what. Since you're all about truth and decency and stuff, maybe you should start a campaign to get those 14 war criminals removed from the shrine. Like I said, nobody (nobody serious, anyway) will complain about honoring war dead. It's those 14 that are causing the problem.

Other countries have bad histories, but generally speaking, they'll distinguish between those who fought for their country and those few individuals who have distinguished themselves as perverted, sadistic criminals. You may well have a point in your rantings somewhere, but stop acting as if Yasukuni is handled and conducted in the same as any other memorial. It isn't. Period.

I have never been able to understand why the Japanese cannot have a memorial to their war dead and other countries can.

I don't think anyone is saying that Japan can't honor it's war dead.

This is a shrine to the memory of the soldiers, not the despicable deeds of a few.

Uh...ahem:

...the shrine itself, which has a museum depicting Japan’s wartime conquests as a noble enterprise...

If it was simply shrine to the dead, I can't imagine anyone complaining. Well, no one worth taking seriously, anyway.

Japan might be better off if they followed Germany's example and denounced those who were responsible, made reparations to the comfort women, and apologized to the Asian countries where they committed these atrocities, especially, Korea and China and put it behind them once and for all.

Bingo.

There's no reasonable criticism to be leveled at people who simply want to honor those who fought for their country. However, if they try to sneak in apologist junk like this, they're going to catch Hell. They should catch Hell.

If honoring their dead was the actual goal, the "noble enterprise" part of the deal would vanish. This is not about honoring the dead, this is about using them to legitimize slimy, nationalist garbage.