Japan Today

villagehiker comments

Posted in: 'Soapland' manager arrested for hiring 13-year-old girl See in context

Guys running businesses like that can tell the difference between 13 and 20 year old females. Telling the difference is their business.

The true age of an older-looking 13 year old girl is easily discerned by the way she walks and talks.

NambyPamby, anyone who cannot tell the difference between 13 and 20 should not be teaching. The same goes for anyone who calls teenagers does and bucks. Filter your mind.

5 ( +8 / -3 )

Posted in: Japan launches global 'thank you' poster campaign See in context

Grammar aside, everyone knows the meaning. The meaning is the message. You are welcome. Japan. Anytime.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: Things that foreigners find annoying about life in Japan See in context

Nothing annoying comes to mind. Japan is kind to Americans.

-3 ( +3 / -6 )

Posted in: My frugal Valentine: Romance in a recession See in context

Making breakfast in bed for my wife this morning. In two weeks we will have been married 39 years, providence willing. Love is from the heart.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Posted in: No. of suicides surpasses 30,000 for 14th year in a row in 2011 See in context

The high suicide numbers makes me sorry for Japan. Although the Japanese people are very kind to foreigners, we still notice much quiet despair in Japan. While the Portuguese did a deception job on Japan—hiding behind religion and trade when the ultimate goal was apparently to colonize—there is hope in the Root of their religion, but not the way the Portuguese government warped it. I am not a religious person, but do find peace, calm and meaning in the midst of trouble by knowing the one who created me. I pray for hope for many people, but especially for the Japanese. God bless all of you.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Posted in: Japan scraps plan to give away 10,000 free flights to visitors See in context

We are planning another working and goofing around trip in 2011, mostly to Wakayama, Osaka and the surrounding areas, plus some time in Tokyo to visit friends. We are glad to pay our own airfare. Japan—the land and the Japanese people—are amazing.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Emperor, on 78th birthday, praises nation for its response to disaster See in context

Happy birthday to the Japanese Emperor—wishing wisdom and good health in the coming year for you, your family and your country.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Husbands who take active role in family life have more loving wives: study See in context

Husbands who take active role in family life have more loving wives: study

Duh. We need a study to tell us this?

Every family man knows great love begins in the kitchen, helping with the kids—cooking, cleaning, helping with homework and enjoying it. You have to do these things because you love your wife and kids. You must mean it from your heart.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Al-Qaida criticizes Japan, China over how they treat elderly See in context

In my 60's, I am always treated with very kind respect when living in Japan. This is true of Tokyo and Wakayama. I visit Japan on business, but do not look affluent--mostly because I'm not by Western standards, so that is not the reason for receiving respect. It is more about polite culture. It may have something to do with Shinto and Buddhism, but am not sure of that. Though a very small group, Japanese Christians are very nice, too. Al-Qaida-Islam treats me with respect only when I submit to its laws. Beware of Al-Qaida-Islam, Japan.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Posted in: Emperor leaves hospital after bronchial pneumonia bout See in context

I pray for the Emperor. Godspeed.

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

Posted in: Do you think Christmas illuminations should be displayed in Japan's cities this year or should they be canceled or curtailed in order to save electricity? See in context

The US tried this in 1973 because of the so-called energy crisis. Bad idea. Christmas lights use very little power and help encourage sad hearts.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Posted in: Japan's ear-cleaning salons offer childhood fantasy See in context

"The amount of men here with mommy issues or the women who do this without retching every 30 seconds."

Not necessarily either of these. I have my ears cleaned with ear candles twice annually. While it helps control tinnitus and removes all sorts of interesting things such sand from the swimming in the ocean, ear doctors do not recommend them. You really have to be careful to avoid injury. But I have never had my ears cleaned with a sharp bamboo stick. Done correctly, it's probably perfectly safe, maybe.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Posted in: Ten years on, do you believe al-Qaida was responsible for the events of 9/11? See in context

No conspiracy theories about 9/11 really work. After Dad died, Mom remarried. Turned out he is a conspiracy theorist who believes the One-World Government watches you through the red dot on your TV. Same paranoid illogic says---without credible evidence---the US government did in our own World Trade Center buildings.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Posted in: Earthquake prediction still stymies scientists See in context

I once worked on a project to predict earthquakes in the Kyrgyz Mountains of Kyrgyzstan. The idea was to warn people in Bishkek so they could go to safe places. The problem is, while you can tell when the earth is upset you cannot predict the exact moment or hour or day or week or month or even year when the pressure will let loose. While HonestDictator is correct about dogs knowing, we have lost our abilities--if we ever had them--to listen to the earth. Elbuda is also correct, earthquakes are scary giving you no place to hide. BTW, my work on the Bishkek seismic network was very minor and more than 20 years ago. Done nothing about it recently.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: 17 dead, 54 missing as typhoon moves northward See in context

While the numbers are statistically low, they are pretty important to the people impacted by the typhoon. Historically, typhoons have protected Japan from invasion by sailing vessels. In September 1945 my father rode out a typhoon in Wakaura Bay south of Wakayama City. In combat for 30 months during 1943 through 1945, he said it was the most terrifying thing he did during his years in the Pacific. Typhoons are hurricanes in the northern Asian Pacific. In the southern Pacific they are cyclones. Off the west coast of North American they are hurricanes. In concept, they are all the same type of circular low-pressure storms. I pray for Japan.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Posted in: Fukushima cesium leaks 'equal 168 Hiroshima bombs,' says report See in context

Tokyo Shimbun daily quoted a government official as saying. “It is not rational to make a simple comparison only based on the amount of isotopes released.”

This is the key element of the article in my opinion. The article does not address the spread, destination and durability of the radioactive cesium-137. People killed by the radiation from the Hiroshima bomb were exposed to heavy concentrations in a very short time.

Why in light of such continually frightening news do a number of foreigners insist on staying on in Japan?...Why aren't foreigners leaving in droves? I don't get it.

The radiation leak is dangerous, of course, but so are lots of things--air pollution, water pollution, food additives, intense heat or cold, pit bull dogs--all over the world. I visit Japan to do some research and because I like the Japanese people. Japan is beautiful and in my experience most Japanese are very kind toward internationals. I don't expect the radiation leak to keep me from traveling to Japan.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Was I a date, a friend or just a potential English teacher? See in context

You may need to lighted up a bit, Mike. Mix your languages when speaking with your international friends. Pride in your second language can easily slip into arrogance.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: Ishihara calls Kan, cabinet 'not Japanese' for not visiting Yasukuni Shrine See in context

As an American I have no problem with Japanese honoring their war dead. In the US, our Memorial Day honors all of our war dead, including both sides fighting during our Civil War. Although the South in our Civil War generally supported the slavery of Blacks, honoring their dead does not make me a racist and I am from the North, although I now live in the south.

Plus in an earlier post I misspelled MacArthur. I did not proofread. Sorry.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Posted in: 8 shot to death in Ohio, including child See in context

steve@CPFC: Maybe so, maybe not. You are guessing based on a presupposition to support your views, a common tactic in many types of discussions. Plus, you didn't address the main point of my comment: "The deadly or wrongful use of anything as a weapon is a willful matter of the heart." Since we're now guessing, here's mine: The folks in Tottenham have hearts good enough to not kill, even in their anger.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: 8 shot to death in Ohio, including child See in context

The deadly or wrongful use of anything as a weapon is a willful matter of the heart. Outlawing guns doesn't address the heart. The riots in Tottenham outside London saw the use of gasoline, bottles and baseball bats. Should these be outlawed?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: The world below See in context

This is nothing like hiking a magnificent mountain during the summer. As an American, I have hiked Pikes Peak in the Colorado Rockies, near Colorado Springs. I love the massive size of Mount Fuji---having viewed it from Mount Tenjo---and hope to hike it during July 2012 while on a research trip to Wakayama.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

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