TrevorPeace1 comments

Not news, except for the people being laid off, and frankly, 90 across the country is miniscule. I own a Sony TV and didn't buy it from a Sony store. Go figure - it was cheaper where I bought it. Duh!

Absolutely!

15 and 18 years to remove tariffs on Australian beef is hardly what I would call a successful negotiation, especially for Japanese consumers. Beef is disgustingly expensive here, and there's no reason for it, except for a lack of spine amongst politicians who kowtow to domestic producers. And don't tell me Kobe beef is worth protecting - I've eaten not only Kobe, but Canadian, Australian and US beef, and as a cook whose table is appreciated by people of several nationalities, I can tell you one thing for sure - it's all in the preparation.

Lost his temper because they were being kids??

I hate to say it, but if I saw him do it I'd have stomped him, and tell the police I was drunk and didn't remember a thing.

What a jerk.

McGraw-Hill's reference to either 'sex slaves' or 'comfort women' is not incorrect, just politically incorrect to Abe and his revisionists. Why can't they let sleeping dogs lie? Looking to the future is a lot more important than trying to 'correct' the past. You can't change the past, only influence the future, and influencing the future does not depend on falsely changing the past. As The Eagles song iterated, 'Get over it!' As a lover of Japan, I can't fathom the fixation on this dead issue.

@FightingViking - we'll have to meet, when I'm in Japan (Mar11-Apr16), because your comment about one child remaining with father and one being looked after by yourself brings my situation to mind, except that I had only one child with my wife, and my wife, when we divorced (our little girl was six and in a private girls' school) agreed to the child living with me because of my education and background. That child is now a political science major in a highly-regarded Canadian university and won an international contest to attend a rather significant two-week conference in Taiwan, last summer. Education is expensive, yes, and so is travel to Taiwan from Canada, but our children are worth it, wherever they go to school. Our job as parents is to give them moral guidance and encouragement to be who they are.

Have to agree with @kurisupisu. As a single male, I wouldn't spend upwards of ¥160,000 for a round-trip and a few nights accommodation in Tokyo, just to have dinner with a picky woman, regardless of whether she appears to be nice when I first meet her. The true person comes out after multiple encounters, in most cases. Of course, love at first sight is a different matter - but a rare one.

@katsu78: The answer to your question, "So that means the rational choice is not to ask if multiculturalism can work, but rather to ask what countries where it has worked have done right and how other countries where it's not working well can emulate those successes."

Canada. But, even Canada - probably the world's safest multicultural country - can suffer from the occasional crazy terrorist.

Art (real art, not prints), silk, kokeshi dolls, wall hangings, calligraphy specially done for me by my sensei and host in Sendai, Noritake porcelain, gifts made for me by the children at the schools where I am invited to present classes with stories about Canada, sets of postcards from special shrines and museums, split doorway hangings (what do you call them?), socks with five individual toes, t-shirts (I have 15, so far) and the odd sword (the good ones are expensive, and have to be shipped, not brought back with me on the plane). There's a lot more - oh, yeah - whiskey - but each thing I bring back, if it's for someone else and not for my office shrine, takes considerable thought to make it personal. And thousands of photos from which to choose enlargements for my office walls and bookshelves. And books, even if they're only in Japanese - makes me work harder to learn.

I'm sure I've forgotten something.

Re-build the Gaza Strip??? What about first looking after his own people, displaced by the Fukushima disaster? Misplaced priorities, or what?!

What an incredible waste of time! And another pitiful example of US filmmakers lacking in creativity. If any commenters haven't seen the original, do yourselves a favor - find it at your library; there's no way a new version will be any better. That's the screenwriter in me talking - it was required viewing and parsing, when I was learning the craft.

I'll probably get a lot of thumbs-down for this, but it wasn't TEPCO, or any human being for that matter, that caused the Fukushima disaster. It was Mother Nature - a huge earthquake and tsunami did it.

And while I believe TEPCO and its executives are guilty of mismanagement of the plants, and possibly the sidestepping of international norms for the safe operation of said plants, AND should have their feet put to the fire for their pointless pontifications and delays in reimbursing those who have been displaced, I would also add that the national government is equally responsible for looking after those people who are living in virtual poverty and substandard housing.

That government is also responsible for keeping people like me, with construction management skills from volunteering to help fix the mess. I still can't get over how difficult it is to stay for a year and build new homes for those displaced people. THAT'S a bigger disgrace, to this J-lover.

If Obama vetoes the wishes of the Senate and the House, how much better is he than any third-world dictator? Or, as many on JT's comment threads bemoan, the leaders of China and Russia?

What's the US of A come to, other than the Super Bowl and bad Hollywood movies? Sad stuff, from the supposed leader of the free and democratic world.

There's no excuse for losing your cool on an airplane. If you do, you should be relegated to a seat in the rear of the plane - preferably cargo space - and secured in position until the plane lands safely. Then, you should suffer the consequences, according to aviation law. No-brainer.

Can't remember if I saw JT carry this last year, or the year before, but surely there are other visuals?

"Potential foes in both parties have already begun to pour through Bush’s extensive private dealings in search of fodder for criticism. "

The expression is "'pore' through". I swear sometimes JT should correct crappy spelling and grammar, but that's what cut-and-paste gives the common crowd. Bad English.

Not one opinion here - at least so far, it seems - is based on the writer's appreciation of the taste. Odd, that.

And, while I appreciate the comments about depleting the species - perhaps even eliminating it (perish the thought) - I believe logic will prevail and the 'harvest' will become limited, much like the American/Canadian westcoast fisheries have overseen their sockeye salmon catches.

'Nuff said, I've enjoyed bluefin sushi, pricey as it is, not all that often admittedly, but often enough to really enjoy it. Sorry.

This is the most specious non-issue.

@LFRAgain, you repeat some very good points that other commenters have made, but you made one glaring mistake, if I may say so - it is not Baby Boomers (born between 1948 and 1962) who are to blame, it's their 70- and 80-something-year-old parents who are doing the complaining.

And as a deaf Boomer, I don't have a problem with kids making noise at play. Perhaps we should give all the 'old farts', as one commenter called them, ear plugs? Problem solved, without the cost of moving those old folks to distant retirement communities. Their pensions are already costing enough.

Just a thought.

From this retired ad agency owner and marketing prof, there's only one sure way to make that happen - ask foreign tourists for the true answers to the question and act on that information. Don't guess, don't poll Japanese citizens or the local tourism associations, and for heaven's sake don't believe the bureaucrats. Go to the source of the money that's coming to the country for the solution. Pity that simplicity isn't obvious to those who claim to care or pretend to want to do something about it.. As I used to tell my agency staff, Keep It Simple Stupid! And Don't Assume, or you'll turn yourself into the first three letters of that word.

After reading the comments here I wondered if any of you are Canadian. Perhaps one? For a fact, mental illness is not a problem restricted to any one country. And immigrants to any country more often than not bring their contempt for the law and order of their adopted country, their hatred of others, and their own sense of vengeance, which can't be stopped before it happens. And gangs are everywhere.

Yes, in Canada we have the occasional nut who goes on a rampage, but let's not compare my native country to any other, just because of sensational tabloid stories.

Happy New Year everyone. Stay smart, stay safe. See you all for sakura.

The best thing - returning to Nobiru Beach on March 11 for a reunion with the young woman I prevented from killing herself because she lost her family (and the entire town in which she lived) because of the 2011 tsunami.

The worst thing - saying goodbye to her for the last time, when she said she was moving to the U.S. to be with a cousin's family, to get away from the pain.

But, I'm still going back to Nobiru Beach, on March 11, 2015, a day after I return to Japan for my ten-week 'immersion course'. Can't stay away.

The 'spirit of selfless hospitality' is not a custom unique to Japan, but its impact on the Japanese hosts and hostesses who greet foreigners can easily be misinterpreted by the guest(s). It is best, in my view, as a frequent visitor to Japan, to learn as much about such behavior - and the language - to properly and politely say, 'itsumo sumimasen, osewa ni narimas, but it is not necessary, I am here to learn, not to be spoiled.'

This little scene has yet to play out. While I tend to agree with some experts (and one poster hereon) most North Koreans don't have access to the Internet. The country has less than a half-dozen servers - all connected through China, by the way - and those got shut down. NK's elite and those working for them at higher levels can't access the internet without China's support.. Methinks the brat got a good spanking.

I still love singing 'Unchain My Heart' his way, arms akimbo, eyes closed, tears on my face. Watch out karaoke bars in Tokyo, I'm on my way!

Fabulous!

From Victoria, BC, I've been to Japan four times in the past three years, each time for 2-3 months, and I promote it like no other place I've been, including every province and territory in my own country. And I've even been called a Japanophile by Japanese people, here in Canada. I love it, and wish they'd let me immigrate, but people in their 50's who are retired, like me, are generally not accepted, and that's unfortunate. I'd love to live out in the country somewhere.

A funny photo, in a way. But what's not funny is they are working on a very skinny a platform. Wouldn't find me up there.

Hey, JapanGal, isn't that running away? :-) All jokes aside, I hope my family and friends in Sendai makes it through until I get back at the end of March. By then I hope to see some early cherry blossoms, as well as play with the boys before they return to school. Top of the season to you!

Forty years overdue, as far as this Canadian is concerned. Nice to know that two of the countries on Earth that thought the policy was insane had something to do with its demise. Now, Mr. Obama, open up Cuba to US tourists - we Canadians love it down there, and so would most if not all Americans (except those who hold a grudge and carry a gun for fun and destruction).