VoXman comments

What a waste....all this big talk about risking their lives for whales and then in the end I guess Bethune thought a Japanese prison wasn't worth the martyrdom. A few years in prison and he'd been a minor Mandela for Whales and would have gone in the annuals as a true faith believer of his cause. But instead he made the cause a joke... I still believe that what Japan is doing is wrong, but these guys just hit a homerun for the whalers...

See I live in Guam, ya know where Japanese like to vacation. And guess what? They act just loud and obnoxious as we Americans do in Japan. See out side their control freak nation, they really let their hair down so to speak and get drunk, sing in the street, disobey every single traffic law, and jaywalk they they are invincible. All the Politiness, bowing and courtesy they practice in their home country goes out the window when they are outside of Japan. Sure, they generally don't fight with locals, but they are just as oblivious to the local culture as we westerners are accused of when we visit their country. Fact is Japanese don't adjust well to different ideas and ways. So tourist areas have to create a "little Tokyo" for them. Then they feel comfortable, but becuase they know its not Japan and they are spending big money, they can act like most boorish American. So lets stop comparing Japanese and foriegners, becuase the Japanese just check all that cultural upbringing at the ticket counter at Narita....

I've been to both and they are great inexpensive trips for both Japanese and non Japanese alike.

To: moonbeams

I have heard that Okinawa had a 15% unemployment rate with 20% working for the bases five years ago. I cannot verify if this rumor was accurate. However, how would Americans feel if that noise came from France or Japanese bases? Different story, wouldn't it be?

Not a realistic Question, since the US provides for its own defense and would not need to request the assistance of a foreign countries military for defense. Remember Japan’s Gov requests the US presence. But just to humor you, yes, Americans would move away from a French base on US soil.

In the US, it is common to move, but in Japan, people stay in their house for generations. And where are people supposed to move on a little island that has twenty-five percent of its space occupied by bases?

Actually that is untrue! Only a small portion of the population does that, and they are mostly provincial farmers. Mom and dad die, the kids sell the house. Remember the current and previous generation, left homes seeking excitement and jobs in the Tokyo area. So mom and pop are empty nesters. Its urban dwellers that live in mansions built in the last 10-20 years that complain the most. They don’t work on the base, but think they should deprive their neighbor of a base job.

Guam is US territory. Okinawa belongs to Japan. Different story.

Actually, it is the same story. The Bases on Guam were built on land that is either leased or owned outright by the US Gov. Okinawa was a US territory for 25 years after WWII. In that time, the current bases were built and the strategy for their use was born. Their presence was requested and maintained after Okinawa was given back to Japan. Lease money is paid to various land owners who claim land under such places as Kadena base. That agreement was adjusted in 2006. It takes time to change things, and Japanese understand this, maybe Okinawan’s do not.

After the bases are finally and painfully removed, we will once again see Okinawains in the streets protesting the lack of jobs and sluggish economy due the now lack of funding pouring into their beloved Island..

That is possible.

Try most like. Industry is needed for jobs. What does Okinawa have?

P.S. The endagered species bit was the most hilarious given that right now millions of Americans are watching or have see the award winning documentary "The Cove" about the slaughtering of Dolphins and whales. Yes.....Japan should stick to making cars, leave the propaganda to the pros.

The people in Okinawa have nothing to do with the hunts in Wakayama. Are efforts for equality a joke in Alabama if there is a KKK group in California?

That makes about as much sense as asking “What do the readers of the Newspaper this ad was put in have to do with the decision of relocating the bases in Okinawa?” Absolutely nothing and I think that was the point of my original post.

P.S. Yes, Okinawan’s do have something to do with the hunts. If they want to claim in this ad that they care about the US harming endangered species and then protest about it, then they should not be hypocrites and actually start protesting their own countries whale/Dolphin hunts. Okinawa is not its own country, but a prefecture of Japan and should exercise its right to vote and protest all matters not just matters involving the US.

Just shows how little the Japanese understand Americans in the continental US. 100's US bases in 100's of towns and cities provide thousands of local jobs. Everett, Washington (North of Seattle) Specifically solicited the US Gov to build a Navy base there to replace lost jobs. Millions of American's live a short distance from Marine bases in California and North carolina. A small group may complain about the noise, but those who don't accept it MOVE...yes they do the logical thing and MOVE. They understand that having a strong military is part of the deal.

Lastly, don't feel too sorry for the mere 20% of Okinawa currently being used for US Military. The same military owns and uses 38% of the total useable land on Guam.

After the bases are finally and painfully removed, we will once again see Okinawains in the streets protesting the lack of jobs and sluggish economy due the now lack of funding pouring into their beloved Island..

P.S. The endagered species bit was the most hilarious given that right now millions of Americans are watching or have see the award winning documentary "The Cove" about the slaughtering of Dolphins and whales. Yes.....Japan should stick to making cars, leave the propaganda to the pros.

As a former US Mil who lived amongst the Japanese people for 8 years, I agree that America should release ALL their bases and pull back to Hawaii and Guam, or perhaps take up Singapore's long standing offer to host the US Mil there. Fact is Japan is growing more and more too big for their little boy pants! Time for them to move to the men's dept and put on the big boy pants and stop flip flopping on the "we need the US, then we don't". Pull out and let it be a lesson in what happens when you spend 12 years negotiating a deal and then break it, just because you feel like it. Let all the whiners keep whining whe the US is gone and suddenly every Japanese male under 25 is subject to the the draft into the JMSDF because few will volunteer to go. Let the Okinawains keep complaining when the Ministry of Defense in Tokyo see the wisdom of the placement of bases in Okinawa and decide to occupy the current facilities with their own JASDF and Japan's newly rapidly explanded Marines.

Fact is folks these cry babies ACTUALLY believe they can simply declare Japan as Neutral and the years of historical animosity between Japan (on the one side) and China and Korea (on the other side) would simply go away. That somehow the need for a real standing Army and Navy with their ranks filled with Japanese (or even big bad oldd USA) is not necessary. That declaring that Japan is a play nice country will thwart any threat from her asian neighbors. As though the war of economies doesn't exist. That economic competition between Asian countries and between the west and the east is not as big much like a war as war it's self.

Whine all you want but until you come back to reality and come up with realistic solutions to problems, your just crying over spilt milk.

Oh, by the way to my Okinawain friends, the good old USA doesn't occupy Japan as you continue to claim. Your Cousins in Japan do. Or did domebody issue you guys passports that say Okinawa now?

<",” Obama vowed to “do everything that we can to keep America safe” and declared: “The United States will more than simply strengthen our defenses. We will continue to use every element of our national power to disrupt, to dismantle and defeat the violent extremists who threaten us.”

Sounds just like Bush after 911, so why all the criticism of Bush's warlike-get tough-talk all those years and not a peep know that Obama is saysing the same thing.

We know who runs the media

Not sure if this was mentioned before, but I believe the British forcefully imported opium from India to China in the 1840's, which started the Opium War that China lost. And we all understand that this Shaikh was a British national, right?

JHansen, I can guarantee you that 1.4 billion Chinese believe that, in terms of this case, Chinese justice is certainly no joke.

Actually, in those days tea was as big a commodity as Cocaine is today and at the time the only place one could get was China. The Chinese would not accept trade goods for their tea, nor any other form of payment other than gold or Silver. The worlds gold/and silver reserves could never cover the bill the for the thousands of tons of tea that europeans were buying, so blackmarketeers in China accepted Opium in place of gold due to its higher resale value in China. When the Emporess dawager forbade the importation of Opium, it was the same as if OPEC shut off the flow of Oil completely. No oil at any price! Entire economies would fall and mass unemployment. but try to get the Chinese gov to understand that! Or even accept that the currency exchange policy would have to change gradually. We are talking about a country that didn't care a bit about a little island called Hong Kong until the Brits came along and turned it into a financial powerhouse.

Who the hell eats whale in Japan anymore? They are just forcing the meat on school lunch menus to artificially create demand.

The article is classic "bait and Switch" When will Japanese consumer learn the difference? And when will the JGov outlaw the practice? Remember when NHK 2-3 years ago announced that Softbank was going online with their new business and Cell phones? Remember when it was reported that new customers would get their phones for FREE? But then when you got to the store, you learned that to Soft Bank Free means for the first month then you pay for it monthly after that......bait and switch.....Their answer was it was illegal to give phones away. Guess its not illegal to offer them for free on TV. Jcompanies lie to their customers everyday to justify their ridiculous prices for consumer goods. Then in the end the public learns that they've been eating substandard food and waering substandard clothes. Made in China for a Japanese price!

So when the Imperial Couple visits the US in the future should Americans be expecting a jesture of humility when greeting the US President in the White house.

Oh the horror....the shock and dismay the People of Japan would feel at such a jesture by their Emperor to a foreigner.

To my Japanese friends please remember that the US was founding principly to seperate the Americans from the British King.

Interesting. I guess that accounts for the lack of ability to think outside the box. Or in other words! When counting achievments those linear thinkers in the USA and Europe hold hundreds of Nobel prizes for Science vs the few held by Japan.

Old JN men are always in other people's business. I feel for the lady..

YuriOtani at 09:30 AM JST - 5th August

"This poll does nothing for my view of Americans. I sometimes wonder why we fear China and Russia when they did not bomb our cities and kill millions of people like the Americans. They would of dropped extra bombs if they had them. I think the use of such weapons was done by cowards. There is still time to set things right before the last criminals die. They killed civilians to save their troops. I think about the millions of men, women, boys, girls and infants killed and am filled with rage. It did nothing in the end to speed up surrender. Cutting off Japan from war supplies would of done it as well. I view it as racial killing. I do not think Japan would of use such a weapon in the same fashion. It would of been used against military targets and ground burst not air burst to ensure less civilian causalities and more military damage."

I had to pluck this quote from the masses of interesting posts by our Japanese friends. It clearly shows that this individual is product of the Japanese Educational system. Sadly, generations of Japanese who were not alive during WWII have no true reference for the facts of that war since this JGOV has seen to it that they never learn the truth. So I will be gentle in my rebuke as your ancestors 2-3 generations ago misunderstood Honor and bushido.

Yuri you should fear China and Korea, because your grandfather/or Great Grand fathers generation, tried to obliterate the Chinese and Korean cultures. As Yuri has stated the tragedy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is all the innocent women and children that died in a flash. But you missed the decade of slow, methodical torture, rape, theft and pillaging that IJA committed in China and Korea. Japan should fear them, because they have not forgotten. When you speak of cowards, I think of all the Japanese men over 80 I see on TV and out in the city going about their lives as if, they never chopped heads off in China, beat and tortured Allied prisoners of war, as if they have no conscience for the things they did in the name of their Emperor. And of course so many more killed themselves rather than face the tribunal of world judgment for their crimes against the innocent. Japan rebukes Tojo for not committing suicide, but he was the bravest of all for standing up for the decisions his Emporer made right or wrong. You state that dropping the bombs did nothing to speed up the end. When upon viewing the destruction of the city of Hiroshima, and learning that the Soviets had declared war on Japan, Hirohito began publically stating to his cabinet that "We must end this war". Sorry my friend, the Emperor ended it, not anyone else. Not the people of Japan only he ended it when he spoke via radio declaring and end to all. Up until then, he held out for a negotiated peace that would have allowed the IJA and JGOV of 1945 to escape any responsibilty for the millions of deaths, rapes and tortures committed in all the years since 1933. Yuri you state that the bombings were racially motivated when you are the product of one of the most xenophobic cultures to ever rise from this earth. But then all countries have their racial issues to bear. And finally, your last sentence, tell the reader that you feel that the men of Japan in the 1940's were a civilized, humanitarian like group of people when in fact its acts of violence against her neighbors is only exceeded by the Germans and the Nazi party. This poll does nothing for my view of Japanese. I don't blame the current generation and their parents for the actions of the grandparents. But I feel sorry for this generation for not getting the opportunity to learn truth of their countries actions in the past, they can learn from them. All they seemed to have learned is Nuclear bombs are bad.. True, so are swords, guns, cannons, and men with racial hatred in their hearts. Who fill their heads with falsehoods about Japanese superiority over all other Asians and man-kind in general.

Think I am wrong as you read this? Think Americans are evil? I leave you with the thought of a benevolent 7 year occupation, and a 64 year peaceful association between our 2 countries.

Many places in the world have local prices, tourist prices and Japanese tourist prices.

I've seen it in Thailand, Bali and Beijing. I see it also present in Europe.

Taka

Yea, in Guam too its called War reparations. Many Asians resent the fact that Japan got wealthy after the war while they remained poor in part because the IJA stole their treasuries and gold laden religious artifacts and shipped them off to Japan and the Philippines to be hidden and later dug up after the war. See Yamashita's gold. Great book.

Yea! where did this Italian guy think he was Japan? Only in Japan would he get away with a clearly racist act like that.

Its called price gouging. The other airlines reduced or removed their entirely months ago........some free enterprise they have here.

Zurc said

This is quite interesting. It seems that so called religious people favor torture at the highest rate of any group. Since Jesus died by torture you would think they would be against waterboarding and other forms of torture. But no, not the case. And those that dont go to church regularly, more Jesus like in their approach to torture. Amazing.

A ridiculous comparison. Terror suspects were or may have been tortured at GITMO for the purpose of retrieving information about future attacks planned on the US and her allies.

Jesus was tortured for the sake of being tortured. It was a normal part of the Roman way when they sent a man to be crucified. Its partly to humiliate the prisoner in front of the locals and to show them that they may share the same fate.

In order for your example to work, the US would have to televise the torture for all of the Islamic world to see.

Japan! The greatest imitators in the world. Though their imitation of Hip-Hop is insulting. How can they import that style into their J-pop, and call it their own without the proper understanding of its lyrical and rhythmic roots. All this throwing up gang signs and FUBU and Timberlakes...and talking about the "hood". Like that even applies in Japan.

Clearly some people are not aware of the lesser firepower available on a AEGIS class DDG. 25MM rapid fire cannons on port and starboard that fire shells the size of your forearm.

Wow! Only 10-14 hours to charge, now if they'd just make a cheap alternate phone I could use while my solar phone is charging....

Now if you really want innovation, make a cellphone that works like a solar powered calculator. No batteries just a source of light needed.

gaijintraveller: a Brave man you say? Please, he knew no matter what he'd be seen as a hero to the Islamic world. HE figured he'd do a little time and come out as a living hero to his people. Please! A hero makes self-less acts of courage. What he should have done is continue to write the truth about Bush's policies.

"No doubt you consider people who drop bombs on civilians from planes or get others to do it for them are brave"

I say: no doubt you consider people who hijack commercial planes and crash them into buildings to kill innocent people are brave. or so called freedom fighters who use their own people, women and children, as human shields as brave.

"Regarding legality, I suppose nothing is illegal to a President who considers himself and his administration above the law and not restricted by international treaties such as the Geneva convention.

I'd say yes, when in fact you can't even apply the geneva convention to anything the Taliban, AL Queda or any insurgnet has ever done. Not one tenent of the Genva convention was ever followed by those people, so who could anyone apply it to them? Are they children? excused for their behavior, not held accountable?

Who are of us to judge her and her life? Or who she was. No says she was a siant nor are any of the posters here. Her life was a tragedy. Clearly, for all her success she was deeply unhappy and showed it in her public appearances. So go ahead and hate the life she led, but don't hate the person. And while you're at it why don't some of you think about how you'll be remembered when you're gone and someone writes your obiturary.

Photoshop that thing.....

Sad. She will be missed. Just goes to show you what happens in the end for Pornstars, Prostitutes and Strippers. They either overcome the daily trauma of that life or they slowly fade away. I think she died inside along time ago. It just took a while longer for her body to just give up as well. Sad, I've seen this before in the US. RIP Ai-chan.

Sorry Grafton:

Japantimes trumps ya! "The revelation confirms that Sato, prime minister from 1964 to 1972, distrusted Beijing because he was asking the U.S. to be ready to launch a nuclear first strike"

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20081222a1.html

Fact is: read todays JapanTimes online. There are 3-4 articles related to this topic, and definately worth reading.

And for all the their machinations about being anti-nuke, Sato and LDP in the 1960's was all about preparing for war. Yet here the US gets beat up by the JMedia and some America-bashers for being War Mongers, when it would seem that just like any responsible government that needs to protect its people and plan for the worse, Japan made agreements to protect all our Japanese friends here posting irregardless of what they (JGov) were telling the world and preaching to their children in school.

Sure the US was willing to take the heat and be the bad guy...... So my question is does anyone, any poster past, present or future care to debate the reason why the US Military is here, what its purpose is, and whether their presence was wanted or warranted given this recent revelation. I think not! I guess their hiding in their milk teas.....

Getting the Taliban high would end all these Jihad's. But then you'd have to start showing way more cartoons on TV and ship in tons and tons more snacks.......I'd much rather see the Afghan grow Ganga than Opium..... Afghanistan's tourism market would explode.....

"Come to Kabul! Cuz you know you wanna get high!"

They need to get off the greed wagon

There it is! All the protesting and Anti-nuke arguments aside. When the chips are down and Japan is threatened, the J-Gov explicitly asked the US in 1965 to use it's Nuclear arsenal while in Japan waters to defend Japan. No wonder its halfway down the page and not headlined. SO shame on the US for using Nuke on Japan, but let Japan get attacked and all bets are off! Nuke-em Sato said. Irradiate their innocent women and children. Destroy their cities. The real truth comes out! Its not ok for ANY REASON to drop Nukes on Japan. BUT its ok to Nuke, Japan's enemies......

Ahhh off come the rose clored glasses!

Ahh what? Who cares, most foriegners wouldn't be allowed in those places anyway... Bring on the Olympics..