WasabiWit comments

> bass4funkToday  05:19 pm JST

No such thing as a DEI hire in NZ as it has one of the highest levels of equality in the world

Come again??

https://x.com/nz_media_watch/status/1826405608486285315?s=46&t=YGWP_lcRZjddiWlx4QxURQ

That’s the literal meaning.

When right-wingers say 'DEI hire' as (the original commenters was) , they’re really saying she was hired solely because she was a woman (or an ethnic minority as Kamala Harris).

That's not how the Diversity, equity and inclusion policy works it;'s just the way the right portrays it.

Good. It;s about time Japanese people were more considerate when walking around with their luggage.

asdfgtrToday  12:05 pm JST

I don't get the joke. The song and video have nothing to do with policemen stealing underwear and it's a pretty bad track from the Floyds.

The song is about a man whose "hobby" is stealing women's lingerie from washing lines. According to Roger Waters, "Arnold Layne" was actually based on a real person: "Both my mother and Syd's mother had students as lodgers because there was a girls' college up the road so there were constantly great lines of bras and knickers on our washing lines and 'Arnold' or whoever he was, had bits off our washing lines."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Layne

I see. Yeah, interesting background story. It was based on a rumour, apparently.

Before we get deleted, and while we're on the topic of Floyd and Youtube videos, did you see Rogeer Waters make Piers Morgan cry recently?

Petrified Piers Morgan literally Bullied by Pink Floyd's Roger Waters on Gaza Ukraine Putin and More - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2yv2eePCik&t=222s

asdfgtrToday  11:32 am JST

Nice attempt at twisting the facts to suit your narrative about Japan. It's not making headlines in other countries because it simply didn't happen there.

Rubbish.

It's so common in England that Pink Floyd had a hit song about it about 60 years ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3DGpINHX5Q

I don't get the joke. The song and video have nothing to do with policemen stealing underwear and it's a pretty bad track from the Floyds.

TokyoLivingToday  08:00 am JST

Steal women's underwear in national headlines..

Proving again and again that Japan is one of the safest countries to live in the world..

Japan, I love you, please never change..

Nice example of a non sequitur and false dichotomy.

Why do Aussies go into water where crocs could live I'll never fathom

Bow wifeToday  06:24 pm JST

Estimates are that there are hundreds of sexual assaults on public transport in Japan every day, so reporting on one kind of hides the magnitude of the problem.

Shiori Ito's new documentary goes into this in detail.

Black Box Diaries (2024) - IMDb

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt30227076/

She did a radio interview recently.

She can no longer live in Japan due to the death threats. Sad story of a victim of sexual violence like this in Japan.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/2018949618/shiori-ito-black-box-diaries

KenToday  01:43 pm JST

As Bow Wife and others said, it's not about not liking something, it's about following global journalism standards that Japan does not adhere to protect marginalised groups in the community, whether they are Caucasian, Chinese or Vietnamese or whatever.

If this is something unfamiliar to you go learn because when you talk about something you don't know about, it just frustrates the hell out of those who do and makes you look uninformed.

This time they break the global journalism standards and people care about it, the previous stories where the person who committed the crime was Pakistani, Vietnamese or from India people didn't care as much but now those same people who didn't care actually care for some reason. That is what our point was

No Ken, Vietnamese and Pakistanis, etc,. are even more vulnerable marginalised groups in Japan.

KenToday  01:07 pm JST

Nowhere does it state that the man is caucasian. You obviously have not been to Sweden during the last 20 years? If you find a caucasian in southern Sweden you should put in a lotto.

The main point she is making is if it was a person from a third world country you all would say "immigrant this immigrant that blah blah blah" And for that reason I think it is important to put their nationality. If the person that committed the crime didn't want to look bad to other foreigners and Japanese maybe he shouldn't have done anything bad

As Bow Wife and others said, it's not about not liking something, it's about following global journalism standards that Japan does not adhere to protect marginalised groups in the community, whether they are Caucasian, Chinese or Vietnamese or whatever.

If this is something unfamiliar to you go learn because when you talk about something you don't know about, it just frustrates the hell out of those who do and makes you look uninformed.

CephusToday  04:38 pm JST

"Police in Sapporo, Hokkaido, have arrested a 33-year-old Swedish man on suspicion of assaulting his common-law wife."

Is it really necessary to indicate the man is Swedish? The progressive gotcha games are endless.

Yes, I've asked before and even sent an email asking JT about this practice, but we have to remember this is Japan after all

Japan is a bit slow in keeping up with the ethical standards of journalistic practice.

Give them time, just like everything else, they'll get there in their own time. All we can do is jeep the pressure on

WasabiWitToday  09:19 am JST

Geoff GillespieToday  07:08 am JST

What is indecent about the cheek and how was this 'assault'? As a previous poster pointed out, a peck on the cheek has always been an acceptable greeting in most western countries. Lighten up, Japan...

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Not a Western nation and not Western people. Besides, they weren't greeting each other at the time.

Geoff GillespieToday  07:08 am JST

What is indecent about the cheek and how was this 'assault'? As a previous poster pointed out, a peck on the cheek has always been an acceptable greeting in most western countries. Lighten up, Japan...

Not a Western nation and not Western people. Besides, they weren't greeting each other at the time.

Falco1Today  09:44 am JST

Get back to us Herve when you find evidence that 6 million people were "ethnically cleansed" by WW2 Japan as they were by the Nazis.

Now we do know that you tenaciously defend anything that Japan does but deny that Japan was not at the same level of German Nazi in warcrimes is frankly outrageous.

Japan was in the axis so as fascist Italy (the word that you use so often) and Nazi-Germany.

And actually according to POW from the allied side they were treated more humanely by the nazis than the Japanese.

The Germans were comparatively kind compared to the inhumane and barbaric treatment the Japanese inflicted on POWs during World War II. The level of cruelty was beyond anything you can imagine:

Japanese POW camps were known for their extremely harsh conditions. Prisoners faced starvation, beatings, and executions. In camps like Changi in Singapore and the camps in Japan, the death rate among POWs was significantly higher than in German camps​.

Bataan Death March: After the surrender of Bataan in the Philippines in 1942, approximately 75,000 Filipino and American troops were forced to march 65 miles to prison camps. The prisoners were subjected to extreme physical abuse, denied food and water, and many were killed along the way. Estimates suggest that thousands died during the march​.

POWs were often used as slave laborers in harsh conditions. The construction of the Burma-Thailand Railway, known as the "Death Railway," resulted in the deaths of an estimated 12,000 Allied POWs and tens of thousands of local laborers due to malnutrition, overwork, and brutal treatment​.

Of course, Unit 731 conducted horrific medical experiments on prisoners, including vivisections without anesthesia, testing of biological weapons, and deliberate infection with deadly pathogens. These experiments caused immense suffering and resulted in the deaths of thousands of prisoners​ (Brill)​​ (SpringerOpen)​.

travelbangaijinToday  12:29 pm JST

There is an additional video on X with him being confronted - he is Chinese.

Apart from stoking discrimination and negative cultural stereotypes, is his nationality important?

He could be from anywhere, including Japan, and may be a Japanese resident or citizen.

Daniel NeagariToday  11:43 am JST

ese kind of microaggressions are everywhere and happens to anyone. Is not just an exclusive "Japanese thing"... These type of studies and articles are more telling about how many thin skin and socially unfitted people are around thinking they are the norm or, even worse, important.

Nope. That is not my experience. I have lived in several countries and visited many, and it was only in Japan and China that I experienced microaggressions.

Think about it: back home in Canada, the UK or NZ, you wouldn't say to a Japanese person;

'your English is so good!',

'Oh, you are not wearing your kimono today!

'you are really good with a knife and fork!',

Japanese are not ignorant children and they can do a lot better.

owzerToday  09:39 am JST

But I don't know a single woman who hasn't been groped, either on the train or on the street, in a bar, or somewhere else.

Yes, yes, but what about married women?

What difference does their marital status make?

The men who assault women on public transport don't just attack random women they have specific targets, e.g. attractive and vulnerable-looking women. So if you don't know any women like that, then you won't have heard about it.

MeiyouwentiToday  09:14 am JST

If the same survey was conducted in the US, the percentage of women who answered yes would be much lower since only 0.2 percent of surface passenger traffic in America goes by rail. In Japan, the comparable figure is 30.3 percent.

Why bother even comparing then? Why does everything in Japan have to be compared with the US? Very different countries.

What about other parts of Asia or Europe where public transport is more common?

リッチToday  06:04 am JST

This story is written without any details and provides no insite at all. Girls 15 look and act 20 plus here when it’s in their benefit. Not excusing him but people lie all the time and many lie for money or other reasons. Both sexes do it. So on this a lot of sting him up comments or poor her victim without any info at all. Carding and ID’ing each other is your practice posters? Let’s use some common sense that people don’t do that and this story lacks any substance at all and is no boarder line journalism justice.

The myth of girls and women lying and falsely accusing men of sexual assault is pervasive and harmful and significantly overstates the frequency of false allegations. I encourage you to refrain from promoting it.

Research shows false allegations constitute only 2% to 5% of cases. This false belief about girls lying overshadows the reality that sexual assaults are in fact significantly underreported, with many victims fearing they won't be believed.

The myth contributes to victim-blaming and discourages victims from reporting assaults, perpetuating a cycle of silence and impunity for perpetrators.

> wallaceToday  11:34 am JST

The employee will be fired. The company will not be fined.

Companies are partly responsible for their employee's actions.

Plenty of cases where an individual did insider trading and the company was fined/

ZaphodToday  06:28 pm JST

So misguided. There are plenty of countries that deserve more attention before criticizing Japan.

So, ignore serious problems because there are more serious problems elsewhere?

WFT logic is that?!

HawkToday  01:12 pm JST

dido,

Thanks. Japan may have a higher rate for some of the problems you mentioned (and no doubt lower rates for others), but as you rightly say, they exist everywhere. I'm still interested in knowing where this magical place is that your daughters are 100% safe from any of it.

Surely, his/her point is to reduce risk, not eliminate it completely.

Sad case this.

This girl could have reduced her risk of being murdered by leaving this scumbag earlier if he was being abusive. Alas, it's not always easy for them.

Baanzu DomToday  01:41 pm JST

@WasabiWit Agree with most of that except that the ANZUS pact has been suspended since the mid 80’s when NZ became a “no-nukes” nation. Currently, other than the “Five Eyes” network I don’t think there’s any military/security partnership in place.

There’s no excuse for NZ’s successive govts - left or right - to not ensure there’s reliable and secure international air transport for govt. personnel. Flying commercial has obvious security issues - it’s a non-starter. It’s embarrassing.

It's true that ANZUS is defunct, but New Zealand still has close military cooperation and dialogue, especially between New Zealand and Australia.

There's also the FPDA (Five Power Defence Arrangements): This arrangement involves New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, Malaysia, and Singapore. It provides for consultations and potential joint military exercises and assistance in the event of an external threat to Malaysia or Singapore.

NZ is also involved with NATO but is not an official partner.

I agree it's not suitable to have aged military craft transporting the PM.

Hopefully, this will be a catalyst to buying something newer and less embarssing.

NZ has a tiny air force and military with, comparatively very low spending for good reasons.

It's geographic isolation and its reliance on strategic alliances like ANZUS for security is one.

Also, NZ prioritizes regional security, disaster response, and international peacekeeping over large-scale military operations.

Public opinion and historical context also favor non-military solutions, emphasising investments in social services and infrastructure instead.

A pretty fortunate position to be in, really.

It makes sense. Some of the Japanese women I know and work with, most of whom have chosen to leave Japan to study or live, say most Japanese women accept the way things are and have little idea how better the situation is in other nations.

I just asked one Japanese woman friend who is emigrating to New Zealand with her children what she thought about the report, and she responded:

'Japan is f*^%d for women, and they have no idea."

"In my work, women are expected to shut up and let men do everything with responsibility."

If it goes to trial in Japan, the chances of being found innocent are 1% (99% conviction rate).

Trials are a mere formality rather than a fair process where evidence and arguments from both parties are examined by a judge and jury to reach a fair and impartial resolution based on the facts and applicable law.

It seems like a strange reaction and other tourist nations would not usually try to control tourists' movement unless it caused some real damage (e.g., Machu Pichu).

Japan is still relatively new to having itself as a massive tourist draw - it's a learning curve.

WasabiWitToday  09:09 am JST

Shadows of the Rising SunToday  08:44 am JST

I don't get it about both of these places: if many people are jaywalking, they clearly need access to the other side of the road at that point, so do the obvious thing and build a crosswalk to facilitate that need safely. Why are they trying to prevent what people want and need to do in an area?

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Japanese are like; We want foreign tourists, just not anywhere near us, thank you.

I suspect that the locals are simply indirectly trying to discourage the influx of foreign tourists. They complain about jaywalking and installing measures to make the areas less appealing, hoping this will reduce the number of visitors.

Shadows of the Rising SunToday  08:44 am JST

I don't get it about both of these places: if many people are jaywalking, they clearly need access to the other side of the road at that point, so do the obvious thing and build a crosswalk to facilitate that need safely. Why are they trying to prevent what people want and need to do in an area?

Japanese are like, we want foreign tourists, just not anywhere near us, thank you.

I suspect that the locals are simply indirectly trying to discourage the influx of foreign tourists. They complain about jaywalking and installing measures to make the areas less appealing, hoping this will reduce the number of visitors.

I've never seen fisticuffs on trains, but I've seen a fair few kerfuffles on —I once saw two salarymen angrily yelling and tugging at each other's neckties. Another time, a woman got on in mid-summer and, in a loud voice, said, ' Mo atsui! atsui!' Another woman angrily retorted, 'Urusai ne, mina atsui yo!'. Then they started yelling at each other until the next stop.

owzerToday  03:19 pm JST

Not a drinker myself, but I love that you can drink in public in Japan. I hope it never changes!

What's to love about it if you're not a drinker?!