Viclovesdrama comments

London - not good at all. Even the ones that are officially accredited by the Japanese government, and run by Japanese are not great. Or very expensive, and mainly focused on sushi and sashimi. My Japanese friends living in London recommend taking the Eurostar to Paris for good Japanese food. I haven't tried that myself.

kimuzukashiiiii you need to get over your bias against single women in their 40ties. Bitterness can also be found in housewifes, salarymen, children, the elderery, in short in all stratas of society.

I think it can be successful if you just introduce yourself and give space to the women. And yes it always helps if you are good-looking, but that's economics.

LOL - yet another guy who fell for the classic Japanese tactic of portraying themselves as delicate and sensitive. They eat Kusaya for god's sake ;-) Taste is certainly something that is partly acquired by growing up in a certain food culture, but has little to do with being subtle.

@sfjp330 - try to be a Japanese woman in a Japanese working environment for one week. My Japanese girlfriends are regularly reminded during appraisals how on day x they wore ballerinas and not high heels or that during week y too much natural skin shimmered through their make-up. Plus all the questions about when are they finaly getting married, or if they are married, shouldn't they retire soon. Of course it's manipulation to keep them low and of course it works.

I don't mind it at all, not the most elegant thing but it saves time and everybody can be in a pinch. And given the pressure some of my girlfriends get from their workplace (read male bosses) to wear make-up, I do understand they have to make sure. Having said that, I was bothered by the girl who painted her nails in the Yamamote line.

In relation with uncurable illnesses it's certainly something I stand for. For other cases there must be better solutions.

Shinohara Ryoko? Looking good :-) liked her in the Unfair series.

I don't know about the above but my Japanese friends who lived more than 5 years abroad usually mention health care and food (and being closer to their families but that doesn't count as such).

As the petition shows, a lot of Japanese are equally unhappy with the appointment of Akimoto. I have more issues with the old people, especially Mori - why oh why a 76 year old? And honestly, I believe there is a lot of window-dressing going on here, at the end the old boys will probably pull all the strings.

LOL - the country where the fax still rules ;-) The dinosaurs in charge .... hahaha after the recommendations, each one of the oyajis will strech and interpret the recommendations to their advantage and little will change.

It sadly shows that the a crisis has to be much more severe/violent before change will occur. But change is not only necessary in Japan, also on a world-wide level. It would have been THE momentum to rethink energy and invest in research to find sustainable solutions. Because the next accident is going to happen somewhere, that's a given.

Good that they caught the guy.

I admit I had a bit of a giggle thinking about the "expert" claiming the perpetrator was likely to be woman in her 30ties, working in researche and because she failed to get married, she was jealous of Anne Frank.

Sure, if I loved the place and the area.

So sad that he didn't have anyone who could support him just a little, because people knew.

And even more sad, there really won't be any consequences and then the next kid will die, ...

Good observations, Austin is correct. Japan's efforts are little bit like me and my lifelong diet with the goal of losing 5kg. I am officially doing all the right things or at least talking about them - gym, veggies, etc - but I am not actually changing all my bad habits and have no intention in doing so.

In short, it's not going to happen, unless something radical or violent happens and this will lead to change. And it has to be worse than March 11th, sadly, or truly affect the elite where it hurts.

Lol, a bit like those women who try to achieve to look like a barbie doll, completely unrealistic. But let them all have their dreams.

One correction though, C-cups are not the norm, AA or A-cups are :-) unless you count the stuffed bras that make your AA look like a B or C.

Brilliant she seems to be a very clever lady. Yes, it's a shame that so much talent gets wasted when women "retire".

The real elephant in the room here is that Japan fails to train fully competent language teachers, may it be English or any other language. Plus the methodology of teaching and fixation with entry tests.

I believe it's not necessary if the teacher is native, especially in the beginning years. But in Japan, as long as the system doesn't change it might be helpful.

One that makes me still laugh, my ex-boyfriend asked me on our second date or so. He's B and I am A, when we split up he said anyway, it wouldn't have worked out because of our bloodtypes - and the man was in his 30ties.

@albaleo - personalities are most likely formed by a mix of your DNA and external factors such as how we were brought up, socio-economic factors, your peers, personal experiences and traumas, your hormone levels etc etc ...

One easy way to identify this as BS: A lot of Japanese people I have met are type B, B's are rebels, I have never met a Japanese person who was a rebel or was viewed as one ->hence BS

Rakuten, isn't that the company that isn't claiming that they are doing everything completely different from other Japanese companies but are doing exactely the same? ;-)

From personal experience, I had to take both Toefl and Toeic and I would say that the Toefl is a bit more accurate in measuring actual levels ...

I don't think I can name 10 but I enjoyed and can re-watch the following:

during my younger years: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Veronica Mars - great role models.

HBO stuff: Six feet under, The Sopranos.

Japanese series: Keizoku and SPEC, as well as Kekkon Dekinai Otoko.

Guilty pleasure because I am arafo, (incidentially アラウンド40 was a very bad Japanese series): Vampire diaries.

Why the harsh words for the victims? Sure of course the victims were stupid, naive, guillible etc but hey even smart, ruthless Rupert Murdoch fell for Wendi Deng. In the history of men, love and sex or the promise of those two have always been used as weapons on victims that range from the silly to the clever.

Oh wow, these so-called experts lol, they should rather volunteer going through security camera material, the only concrete way to determine who did it.

Well, it's legal in my birthcountry and I support it especially since I saw a one family member suffering five years, the last year unspeakably terrible before passing away - and no, the suffering is not as beautiful and noble as these terminal-illness dramas in Japanese television let us believe. It gives me peace of mind that if I'll get really sick, I'll have a choice.

I agree with the other posters. Having lived in London and Paris before, I must say Tokyo is not that expensive if you avoid taxis and travelling within Japan. Often you get more value for the same amount. At least your small place in Tokyo is clean and newish whereas in London it's grotty and mushy. There's the 1000Yen movie tickets on the 1st of each month, 250-300Yen a glass bars, the 100Yen shops, very decent 500 Yen lunch sets, Donki, if you are tiny enough you can buy the latest fashion second hand as the fashionistas throw out their stuff at the speed of light etc.

It's not a Belgian brand, they just use the so-called "country marketing" - it started in Belgium but was already sold off to a US company in the 50ties and belongs now to some investment company. Most Belgians do not consider it as Belgian. Neuhaus and Pierre Marcolini are more authentic.

For those who are wondering why. Almost every guy I dated has asked for pictures at some point or other, usually very early on. And that's both Western and Japanese men. I always refused because of the risks involved, but you usually get a lot of pressure, which I imagine is hell for the insecure ones or the ones eager to please: "so you don't love me", "so you don't trust me", "you are such a prude". Then there are the ones who enjoy it, and that's their rght too.

I am not offended, and it's clearly targeted to the Japanese market but I don't think it's 100% right either. Just imagine Air France or Delta would do the same and put a black wig and draw slinted eyes on a blonde caucasian to go and discover Asia...

To me he's quite the looker. I also think he is a decent enough actor, but not a great one. I couldn't see much difference between his Gallileo persona and the Like Father Like Son character, and even his Under one Roof character from the 90ties was similar. But then again, he's a musician first I guess.

Well they never had concerns the other way around, my Japanese teachers only spoke Japanese from day, rightly so. Teachers need to get a little creative, use visual help to make themselves understood. And she should ask herself why students can't understand plain Japanese ...maybe they shouldn't be in junior high.