whitepocky comments

How about the deaths of 4000 U.S. servicemembers in order to give the Iraqis a chance at governing themselves, you ungrateful... grrrrrr!

Pittance really in comparison to the amount of civilians killed in Iraq. Not to mention those who have been displaced. I must say though the words echoed in the preface to the Vietnamese Remnants War Museum stating that American power would never put another nation through what the Vietnamese suffered is somewhat laughable.

Though I don't condone his actions, I can see just why Al-Zeidi did what he did.

"...people don't have dreams"

Isn't that because old Japan whallops them everytime somebody aspires to something great. People have no dreams as the country does not like change!!

he ended up discharging his gun right through the middle of his left hand while "cleaning" his weapon.

Nice terminology that bebert. Keep it up!!

Since she has zero connection with the actual TV show, don't let it put you off

Which makes you wonder why she is promoting it in the first place. Great marketing!!

This story doesn't really surprise me to the say the least. Growing up in the UK during the 90's, I knew of a few girls dropping out of school due to have children at a young age. They also got splashed over the tabloids on a regular basis when of special note came to light.

I think the most shocking thing is that as a UK citizen, who left the British Isles some 6 years ago, I do not wish to go back to what I would consider a lower standard of life. There seems to be a real exodus of Brits at the moment, and on the par of most Brits I have spoken to about it, the whole country seems to be folding. If its not under-age pregnancies, its youth crime or some other nuance.

God Save the Queen....God save our country!!!

Woman in Japan go into hospital early and take medicine to induce artificial labour

Don't recollect my wife having to do such a thing.

Doctors are very busy and might not be available when natural delivery happens.

A doctor will delivery the baby when its ready. Me & my wife had to pay a little extra for an out of hours delivery, but none-the-less was born in the small hours of the morning. What a nonce!!

It seems they just pluck some random people to advertise anything these days. What the relation between her and firefighters is I don't know. Of all the tarento, there must be one out there whose dad/brother/sister must be in part of the wellie wearing brigade!!!

Seems some people have the nicest ways in which to show their gratitude to their parents for all the work involved with raising them!!

Japan lacks that killer ball that is going to unlock a stubborn defence. They perform poorly on the world stage because they can not penetrate the oppositions defence with speed and guile. All these nice passes to feet mean nothing when the opposition has two lines of four behind the ball.

Australia had no intentions other than to get a draw out of the game and they achieved it.

So Australia came for the draw, what's wrong with that. As the home team it is Japan's priority to play attacking football and find that winning goal.

I wish Japan the best of luck for reaching the finals in SA, only so that there is some interest generated in this country. Trouble is I fear they will be on the first plane home when they come up against decent opposition.

Throw the book at 'em!!

Having to put strawberries on cakes; was this seasonal work as the old Xmas cake is only a 2mths a year job.

Agree with wontond. Why don't they use actual female firefighters over some tarento bint!! As for reaching the magical mark of 100,000, I think that figure is a bit optimistic.

Let's say the first "English" word you learn as a toddler is "MIRUKU"

Considering the Japanese language has a richness of words already in existence there is no need for mi-ru-ku to be milk (gyunyu)

As for such words as ra-i-o-n to be lion (shishi) , biiru for beer (bakushu), and o-re-n-ji for orange (daidaiiro). Why the hell these words and many more like them have been erased from standard Japanese is a mystery!!! And the fact that many more standard words are entering conversational Japanese makes it all the more baffling e.g. ka- for car (kuruma). Raising a child in this country to speak proper English is difficult when they are surrounded by such incompetence. I suppose it's even worse when the children, who absorb language like a sponge may I add, have parents and teachers alike communicating this rubbish to them on a daily basis.

In short, if you were to pick the most common items a child will interact with/use/need on a daily basis, a high percentage of them are katakana based words. Brainwashing starts before they get to school. It starts at birth when the parents ask for the be-bi ka-, instead of the ubasha!!!!

Kewell to miss game through injury Hardly news. This seems to be the norm!!

You will also find that English is extensively taught not as an educational tool, but a vantage point to enter that all so prestigious school. Once there accepted, the knowledge taught quickly disappears.

There is also far too much dependence on the written word and not enough trust in the workings of the human brain. Teachers write everything up on the board 'for clarity', with the effect that students never really get into the habit of adsorbing the language and sorting it out internally.

Hit the nail on the head there Cleo. My neighbour pointed out the same thing in conversation just the other day. He described how Japanese can be said to be a visually learned language, whereas other languages, in this case English are more audio-orientated.

Learning a language in it's natural environment is key. The fact that everything is dubbed and/or edited with the use of that dreadful Katakana system makes it near impossible to learn. Given the choice, would you refer to your native language or a foreign one?? That coupled with the atrocious English signposting/labelling that is used to no effect here makes it all the more mind-boggling.

The English language is so rich in diversity that putting your head in the books for XX period of time is not sufficient to manage the complexity of innuendos, double-entendres and the like that makes up the core of the language. As a Brit. living here in Japan, our humour is somewhat wasted on this very lack of understanding.

I nearly mistaked this picture for an AKB48 concert. My god, what handsome chaps....

Before knocking and stirring the pensioners you should remember they were the ones who provided all the money and built all the roads you are driving on. If they charged you for using them they would not need a pension.

With this level of thinking, perhaps every nation in the world should prop up the European economy for the mountain of things that our grandfathers made to benefit our lives today. Perhaps we should take 10% of everyone's train ticket and give it to the UK for funding early locomotives, or 10% to the Germans for their ingenious idea of developing the modern car. Honestly, what a nonce!!!

I'm not scrubbed up on the Japanese driving license rules, but surely there must be a system in place where by seniors must take their test again after reaching a certain age to qualify that they can drive safely. My UK license for example is valid until I'm 70yrs old.

Having said that though, the divering old fools will no doubt plough into you on their bicycle whilst you walk down the road!!

I doubt if those posters are effective as it appears too late for that now. Maybe they could at least put real people in the roles such as the above and add a little drama to 'shock' the masses a little. The manga thing is too make-believe and will be ignored for sure

As could be said for the masses. If it don't concern me, i.e. you are not in my affiliated group, fcuk 'em!!!

seesaw: The old birthday cake adage gets used for obachans. I like it, lol.

tkoind2/tmarie - It basically boils down to the fact that you should treat one as you expect to be treated. Granted, If Ms. busybody obachan knocks you for six on her way to the pew, then she doesn't deserve to be treated with respect. However, as I'm sure most on here will already know; be it driving down the road, sitting on the train or queueing at the local greengrocers, the arrogance of most citizens is that they will not let you go ahead of them if the lights are on red, you only have 1 item at the checkout or you are elderly with a stick wanting to sit down. Thus, the whole country is at war to get that seat, be first at the checkout and so on. Arrogance breeds arrogance and so you will find when the door of the train opens, some obachan will smash her way past in search of the seat as both you and I know nobody will have the kindness in their heart to offer it them!!!

Crikey, Japan is late for this one. They start Christmas 2 months prior, Hallowe'en around a month prior and poor old Valentines day gets a fortnight!!! What has happened???

Lovely poster, won't change d*ck!!

this was reported on NHK Sunday evening. Why does it take 3 days to make press here??

“Himote” perceive a gender bias in Japanese society — a bias against men. They reject the idea that guys must slave to accumulate capital and win women

Good on these 'Himote' for standing up for what they beleive in.....

200 people will attend to help ring in the holiday. The price of commiserating is 2,000 yen, but women get in free

The bloody hipocrits!!!

As the yanks tried to change the game to meet their commercial driven appetite back in '94, they wanted to play four quarters instead of two halves, I would rather it didn't go to the US. England with the best league in the world and the quality of stadiums already on offer should get it but won't what with Monsieur Platini in charge of UEFA. For heavens sake Manyoo dropped out of the FA Cup back in '99 to enter the World Club Championships in South America as a bargaining tool to their fellow football associations, only to be given the cold shoulder. No matter what England's FA does, the European elitists don't like them and would rather vote for another European state to host it instead.

Why would anyone want to watch sweaty fat blokes with their bums hanging out push each other around a ring in a fixed contest?

Ironic, I thought that mantle belonged to the WWE!!!

so, according to people who read into this shizer.. there are only 5 types of personality in the world.. muppets

would that be the sixth personality trait......a muppet??