usaray comments

There is no question a nuclear bomb is a horrible weapon and war only brings destruction, death, and sorrow. The bombs prevented the need to invade Japan which would have resulted in millions of dead Japanese and thousands of dead Americans. Just look at the carnage that was seen on Iwo Jima and Okinawa. An invasion would have been a blood bath. The bombs saved millions of Japanese lives as terrible as they were.

100 hours of overtime a month is absurd. I work in the USA. To have that regulation permitting such in the USA would be construed as slave labor!! Japan wonders why they are seeing a sharp population decline. It is because Japanese culture is not family centered, but business centered. Who can have a family, or wants to have a family, when the Japanese worker is married to their job instead of their spouse? How can any Japanese worker have quality family time when working 100 hours of overtime a month is seen as acceptable? 100 hours of overtime approximates 25 hours a week or 5 hours a day. Add that to an average 8 hour workday and a Japanese worker would be working 13 hours a day!! It is time for the Japanese population to speak up and say enough is enough. Your elected politicians who seem to be more interested in what benefits Japanese companies and industry need to be voted out, for politicians who will represent you, and your families. Of course those companies probably contribute large sums of money to the politicians that want to continue to enslave you. Only you have the power to change the intolerable situation the government and Japanese industry have placed you in through your vote.

As an American citizen I don't care if he "unifies" us. I want him to do what is right, and so far he is right on target. Obama sure did not uniify us! As far as the media goes who cares. The US media is corrupt, biased, and does not report news. It reports the opinions they subscribe to. Trump will be the best medicine we have had in decades.

I agree with Japan's policy to limit the number of refugees coming into their country. I am a US Citizen married to a Japanese Citizen. To accept refuges from countries with a vastly different culture will only serve to dilute the Japanese Culture which I respect and revere. Let the gulf countries, who have vast resources due to their oil wealth, take in the refugees. Europe will regret what they are doing, and Chancellor Merkel will be on her way out if she persists on her present course.

We visit Japan annually and do not want to see that unique culture diluted. The Japanese culture should be adopted by more countries and we would have a better world.

The 2nd Ammendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right to a US Citizen to bear arms. While liberals in the USA would like to strip that right away from US Citizens blaming every gun related crime on "guns", any attempt to "disarm" law abiding American Citizens would be met with a firestorm. Outlawing the ownership of firearms in the USA would just assure law abiding US Citizens do not have guns, and criminals who could care less about following any law, will.

Statistics show that those states in the USA that permit concealed carry of a gun with a permit or without one have the lowest crime rates. A criminal is less likely to have you as their victim if they think you could be armed. Those states in the USA with the strictest gun laws have the highest crime rates. Criminals who would rob, rape, steal, or murder care less about violating gun laws. All should remember guns do not commit crimes, prople do.

Those that protest must not be reading the news about the growing Chinese threat in the South China Sea, and in Asia overall. China seeks to elevate itself to the position of the dominate military power in Asia. What do the people on Okinawa think will happen if their are no U.S bases on Okinawa, and elsewhere in Asia, to challenge the growing Chinese menace? Remember my Japanese friends that the Chinese have no love for Japan or the Japanese people. The war crimes Japan committed in China in WWII live long in the memories of the Chinese, even in the younger generation Chinese I know. The only balance to the rising Chinese threat is a strong military presence by the USA, not only in Japan, but also back in the Philippines and even perhaps in new bases in Vietnam.

Those that forget the past are doomed to repeat it. China is setting itself up to be the new Asian aggressor of the 21st Century as Japan was in the 1930's and 40's. For Japan to ignore this threat she does at her own peril. The bases on Okinawa are a strong deterrent to future Chinese aggession. Once the shooting starts it is too late!!

Having spent a lot of time in Japan I can understand why the birth rate, and thus population is declining. The working male population is married to their jobs first, not their wives. Working 10 plus hour days, and having vacation of more than a week at a time frowned upon and discouraged does not help. The culture is not "family friendly" and does not put the family first. It puts loyalty to the employer first. Husbands return home at 9PM or later leaving the wife to deal with the children all day alone. If the wife works also there is limited if any flexibility in scheduling to accommodate the needs of a working wife. The philosophy is job first, family second. This is not going to change until the government mandates change. The culture will not permit an evolving change on it's own. The long term consequences of the status quo for Japan are grim economically and socially. If the leaders of the country want to turn the situation around then concrete action needs to be taken now or Japan will be a declining economic power.