wolfshine comments

Posted in: Would a Trump return to the White House after the November election be good news for Japan? See in context

For the, at the time of writing this, 21+ people who voted "No", please enlighten me. What major changes to the US-Japan relations occurred the last time Trump was president? Because I can't seem to recall any.

-1 ( +13 / -14 )

Posted in: 'Moshi-Tora' speculates on how Trump's election might impact Japan's economy See in context

In Japan's print media, the possibility of former U.S. president Donald J. Trump's election this coming November has been handily encapsulated into four syllables: Moshi-Tora, literally meaning "if Trump."

Of course they did. Anybody else starting to find these silly linguistic gimmicks pretty annoying at this point?

Anyway, I doubt much will change in the US-Japan relationship dynamic regardless of who is president. I think if the Japanese want to actually succeed economically in the 21st century, they are going to have to stop relying on boning Americans via unbalanced trade agreements, and instead start innovating while making their economy more dynamic. South Korea has already been eating Japan's lunch for quite some time now, and even more recently, Taiwan has come to play. Now the Japanese basically have to beg Taiwan for more semiconductor fabs.

Too many Japanese companies are getting bailed out by the state even though they are unprofitable and stagnant. This makes it harder for smaller startups and foreign companies to compete. Time to let go, you can't save some of these guys anymore.

-4 ( +5 / -9 )

Posted in: Osaka Prefecture eyes collecting fixed fee for inbound tourists from 2025 See in context

This is honestly so dumb, and I am so done with listening to Japanese people cry on and on about "overtourism". It is a boon to their economy in a time when their companies are infamously unproductive and not profitable.

On the other hand, I'd like to think there is something they could put that extra tax money towards in Osaka. Maybe building new schools considering the old ones are dilapidating and have incredibly poor facilities? Sadly, in reality, probably not.

-3 ( +6 / -9 )

Posted in: Marijuana use linked to higher risk of heart attack and stroke See in context

This whole effort to link cannabis usage to strokes and heart attacks is essentially Custer's Last Stand for the anti-weed crowd.

"Smoking marijuana is not good for you"

Like, hello? We already knew it technically wasn't healthy per se. That still doesn't change the fact that the people advocating for weed enforcement to be rolled back to the 70s have not, in the twelve years since legalization started, produced any evidence of actual signficant risk.

The article tries to establish a link between higher risk of stroke and heart attacks with marijuana usage, but immediately thereafter states the most common method of usage was smoking, not vaping or edibles. I would imagine if you were breathing in any type of smoke all day every day, that could cause health problems. But the technology and science of cannabis has improved drastically since legalization started thanks to new research and data being available. One hit off of a THC vape can induce the same effects as maybe ten or twenty hits of smoked cannabis. So if people have an alternative to smoking, are the same risks still present? I doubt it.

Not only that but now that the vapes are on the market, there is effectively no way to police cannabis use anymore. The only reason enforcing weed laws was possible was due to the pungent smell of cannabis when smoked. Vapes are much more discreet and easier to hide. On top of that, even in states were pot is illegal, THC-A, Delta 8, and HHC all remain fully legal alternatives, and they should rightfully be left alone. Unless people really want to waste taxpayer money playing whack-a-mole, like Japan does.

The typical pot fan: "But alcohol beep boop beep but tobacco beep boop beep ... "

It is not even necessary to make this argument to begin with.

No serious risks stem from cannabis use.

Is smoking cannabis unhealthy? Yes, but you could reduce risk by simply not smoking everyday, or switching to a vape.

Is cannabis addicting? Sure to a minor extent perhaps, but the reason we view drug addiction as dangerous is because meth, crack, and heroin addiction often happens immediately after people try it.

How debilitating is cannabis "addiction"? Basically not at all. The reason heroin or meth addicts are considered dangerous is because they have trouble functioning in society and thus can't work normal jobs, so when they run out of money, they will rob or steal for drug money. I'm aware of instances in which addicts of hard drugs have literally killed their family members in order to get drug money. Name me one weed "addict" who robbed or killed someone to support their habit - you can't.

Is cannabis "addiction" difficult or nearly impossible to overcome? Absolutely not. Addiction to hard drugs creates a strong physical dependency, and people suffering from withdrawal symptoms often have trouble even getting out of bed in the morning. This is not the case with cannabis.

Is cannabis a "gateway drug"? This one is so stupid I'm not even going to bother.

All arguments for cannabis criminality can immediately be dismantled with facts and reason. Thus you are left with the final one: you personally don't like it and want to control what other people do. Sorry, but I don't care about your feelings. You can keep screaming into the void all you like, but anti-weed politics is poor optics for your party of choice and a losing issue overall.

The cannabis industry has money now. Nobody cared in the past because they couldn't influence politics. But now they can. This is going to happen pretty much everywhere whether you like it or not.

The US is the first domino, next is Europe, then finally Asia.

Focus on less trivial matters.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Posted in: Kim's powerful sister says N Korea, Japan can open 'new future' See in context

A future in which North Korea exists as a non-dysfunctional civilization with stable foreign relationships is possible. I still think the summits with Trump a few years ago were a step in the right direction.

Right now, they certainly don't have much to offer Japan, or any western affiliated countries right now. The first thing they need to do liberalize their economy and open up to foreign investment. Edo era Japan was likely not massively more prosperous than the DPRK is today, if at all. This has happened with basically every Asian society since the mid-1800s: once you allow Westerners in and show you how things are done, conditions improve and a path towards modernization/economic prosperity is possible.

So of course they understand this, and want to make the pitch, but they need to fix their house and stabilize their own situation first. That would be a reasonable step in the right direction.

It's unlikely their core political philosophy is going to change. North Korea ain't moving in the direction of Liberal Democracy anytime soon. But when has that ever facilitated economic development? Most countries undergoing rapid economic development are not lovely places to live in terms of human rights. Neither were many previous societies during phases of industrialization.

I imagine at some point in the future North Korea will understand what they are doing wrong, correct course, and trade with their neighbors. Or, NK will continue to lose out.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Posted in: More Japanese women buying Valentine's Day chocolates for themselves See in context

I think there is something deeply and profoundly sad about this kind of phenomenon. Not necessarily because they are treating themselves, but because it demonstrates the extent to which Japan is becoming a loveless society.

From childhood, we are essentially telling women,

"Yeh go girl, you can do literally anything the boys can!"

"Be a girlboss - work your way up the corporate ladder so you can be independent from men and self-sufficient!"

So girls buy into this idea, they study hard in school, get into office work, and grind for ten years from about age 23 to 33. But then around that age the reality sets in - they've firmly established a career and an income but many of them have no meaningful relationships with men. Their fertility is starting to decline. They've essentially traded the boundless joy of starting a family and having kids so they can send emails and build PowerPoint presentations for a living. And no matter how much wine they drink, no matter how much chocolate they eat, no matter how many cats they adopt, they are missing a chance that will disappear rather soon. So the panic and depression begin.

On one hand, we should reject the foul idea that the sole value of a woman's existence is to be a baby making machine. Women can and should contribute much good to the world outside of that. But is it any better if women live their life as work drones, slaving away as mere cogs in a corporate engine?

I think the Japanese especially really need to consider how their perspectives of work and productivity negatively affect women, forcing them to choose between a career or a family.

-7 ( +10 / -17 )

Posted in: Sapporo Snow Festival crowds recover to pre-pandemic level in 2024 See in context

They definitely did not need to wait this long to resume it. Why couldn't they have resumed it last year, as the country had already reopened fully? Or two years ago?

Does anybody actually believe that people making ice sculptures outside really constitutes an environment for the virus to spread and thus an actual risk? Covid era policies and event cancellations were always sanctimonious theater, nothing more nothing less.

-10 ( +1 / -11 )

Posted in: Japan maglev train project being derailed by Shizuoka stalemate See in context

I would personally like to see Maglev Shinkansen trains succeed.

However, the honest reality is that it will probably be ludicrously expensive and thus inaccessible to the average passenger. The beloved Tokaido Shinkansen can already get you from Shinagawa to Nagoya in, what, an hour and half? Osaka in only two and a half? I think we have to ask ourselves if this is really a necessity and if it is worth spending billions of taxpayer yen as well as damaging mountains, all for the sake of getting salarymen to cram their schedules with even more meetings at other regional offices, in an age where video conferencing has already rendered that largely obsolete. Or, for the uber rich, this is unnecessarily high levels of convenience.

Don't get me wrong, something like a Maglev that runs between Tokyo and Sapporo could be really exciting, but that's not what this is. China needed Maglevs to connect distant cities in an age of rapid development, but even they went about it the wrong way, and now there is the infamous "trains to nowhere" problem.

Japan should be rebuilding its schools which are quickly dilapidating and falling apart, instead of trying to look cool and modern.

-1 ( +5 / -6 )

Posted in: Foreign-born Miss Japan sparks debate on what it means to be Japanese See in context

After reading through so many replies to this article, I think JapanToday readers have arrived at the overarching question that contextualizes this story: what does it mean to be "Japanese"? Does attaining citizenship make you Japanese? Does being born in Japan make you Japanese? Does being born ethnically Japanese make you Japanese, even if you weren't born in and brought up in the country itself? Do these ideas on what it means to be Japanese overlap in some areas, making the true answer to the question more complicated and nuanced than one can summarize in a single sentence?

There may not be an answer, and I certainly am in no position to provide one in any event. But it certainly is something this society will need to address in the near future.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

Posted in: Japan to launch electronic immigration entry stands at Tokyo's Haneda airport See in context

Big improvement post Covid! I may finally have a reason to use that silly web app now.

Now if we could just get the JR line and other transit operators to accept credit cards at turnstiles...

1 ( +4 / -3 )

Posted in: Foreign-born Miss Japan sparks debate on what it means to be Japanese See in context

Absolutely.

If they - like Karolina - are Japanese, embrace and love Japan, and choose to represent their nation with pride - why not?

I'd put my house on it the same knuckle-draggers outraged over this were the same deadbeats throwing racist insults at Japan Goalkeeper Zion Suzuki days ago, falsely accusing him of being "not a real Japanese". Sad little people.

Fair enough, man.

I wholeheartedly agree that the netto-uyoku types that angrily and blindly spread vicious hate against non-Japanese people in Japan seriously need to work on themselves if they want to have a better life rather than always blaming someone else, whether that someone else be Ukrainian, Chinese, American, African, ect.

The debate on immigration should always be open still, as long as people approach it from positions of respect and good intentions.

5 ( +15 / -10 )

Posted in: Foreign-born Miss Japan sparks debate on what it means to be Japanese See in context

I have mixed feelings on this, though at the end of the day, I am not Japanese, so my opinion probably doesn't matter very much. Whether one is born Japanese or can become Japanese is a question this society most certainly will have to consider in the current era. I do not consider myself Japanese, that I know.

I can understand why many, especially Japanese people, would be befuddled to learn that this year's Miss Japan is an ethnically Ukrainian woman. I do not think that this decision is an attempt to push the DEI philosophy in general, though. It seems to be more a means to echo the overwhelming pro-Ukrainian virtue signaling already prevalent in Japan. That is to say, if it not were for Russia's invasion two years ago, she would not have been chosen. Hard to imagine an immigrant from any other country being selected.

Karolina Shiino may not have "Japanese blood", but she is Japanese.

Would you feel the same way if the contestant was born in the Russian Federation or Mainland China but spent the majority of their life in Japan?

-1 ( +23 / -24 )

Posted in: Japan’s biggest dating app says young people not interested in romance; creates AI girlfriend app See in context

Does anyone need further proof of the fact that Japan is declining culturally?

-12 ( +3 / -15 )

Posted in: Japan becomes 5th country to land spacecraft on moon See in context

bit too late to the party but better late than never. Goodish job Japan.

And

Well done. But 60 years late; once it's all tried and tested. And it seems to be broken.

Look, at the end of the day, a dub is still a dub. Successfully landing on the moon is a massive challenge even for extremely developed countries.

More innovation and boundary-pushing advancements from Japan certainly are desirable but for now I think they've earned their praise for even being able to do this.

0 ( +6 / -6 )

Posted in: Couple in their 80s apparently freeze to death in Tokyo apartment See in context

Very sad.

I remember reading about a massive heat wave that occurred in the American Midwest several decades ago. It killed over seven hundred people in Chicago. This kind of thing can happen anywhere during the harsh seasons.

Always important to make sure your living quarters are properly cooled/heated. Additionally, while passing the blame onto the municipal authorities is a tad optimistic, it is true they could be doing more to mitigate these kinds of risks via firmer rules and regulations.

0 ( +8 / -8 )

Posted in: Prosecutors unlikely to build case against bigwigs of scandal-hit LDP faction See in context

Japan is a corrupt country, regardless of how much J-nationalists online attempt to paint this picture of a false reality.

-4 ( +4 / -8 )

Posted in: China opposes Japan's congratulatory message to Taiwan president-elect See in context

Pretty pathetic sight from mainland China. Just a few months ago they were all jazzed up and giddy over banning Japan's seafood exports, and now they are crying over a short congratulatory message?

I say let them cook, they are just digging themselves a deeper hole at this point.

9 ( +9 / -0 )

Posted in: Taiwan tells China to 'face reality' after election See in context

A Chinese invasion of China

A Chinese invasion of Taiwan****, sincere typo.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

Posted in: Taiwan tells China to 'face reality' after election See in context

But Taiwan's biggest backer, the United States, stated today that it does not support the independence of Taiwan.

Eh, as an American I could care less. "Strategic ambiguity" is silly. You can't be ambiguous about important policy. How can America even begin to inspire any confidence in the hearts and minds of the Taiwanese if the US also doesn't support their right to establish themselves as an independent country? It's their land, is it not?

"Strategic Ambiguity" seems nonsensical until you consider the context: during the height of the Cold War, Taiwan was a necessary piece on the geopolitical chess board, and the RoC was viewed as the legitimate "China"; then the US normalized relations with the PRC and seemingly abandoned military obligations to the RoC via the Taiwan Relations Act in 1979; since then we heard considerably little about Taiwan until they came back into focus due to American dependence on their chipmaking via TSMC. Apple, Intel, AMD, Nvidia, Qualcomm, and others all rely on Taiwan Semiconductor to manufacture their chips. That's what it comes down to. All of these corporations are very savvy on the lobbying side of things, so the US government really doesn't care about the people of Taiwan, they care about the semiconductors.

But I think the Taiwanese should be independent. They've existed separate from the Chinese mainland for three quarters of a century. There's no longer any need to entertain such a facade.

Whether I think the US should risk entering a potentially nuclear war to protect Taiwan from invasion is a separate question; but with the recent corruption coming out of the PLA and the fact that they were apparently filling their missiles with water, it's looking less likely that a Chinese invasion will ever happen. A Chinese invasion of China would be very long, very costly, and very bloody for them, and if they decide to do it, they have to basically commit to it and see it through to the very end, even if there's no guarantee they will win it.

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

Posted in: Trump defies judge, gives courtroom speech on tense final day of New York civil fraud trial See in context

Besides monetary damages, James wants Trump and his co-defendants barred from doing business in New York.

To be honest, I really haven't been following this one that closely; but this is hardly a punishment. New York state (especially the city) is a terrible place to do business. Absurdly high/complicated taxes and regulations that have caused both small businesses and even large companies to move elsewhere. Pizza chefs? Leaving. Most of the Italian-Americans headed to Florida, I hear it's all Pakistanis in New Yorks remaining pizza parlors. Want your PC components restored by an expert? Louis Rossman, legendary "right-to-repair" activist and challenger to big tech companies, packed up and moved his company to Texas, although the government of New York is still trying to tax his business which no longer even exists in their state. New tech startups and financial firms don't really seem to be doing much in NYC these days, either. After all, if the government may at some point try to house illegal immigrants in your office, why even bother dealing with New York? No bright, up and coming entrepreneur wants to deal with that.

All of which raises questions of the legitimacy of New York state's policies and practices. When you consider the myriad of nonsensical regulatory apparatuses and bodies, the double standards, and apparent corruption that exists among the NYC's business and political elites, it does kind of call into question the State Judiciary's case against Mr. Trump, and I am hardly even that big a fan of him.

New York state is beautiful, especially Lake Placid; New York City is perhaps the world's most iconic, a centerpiece of American culture and history. But nobody likes living there or wants to live there, and we all seem to know why.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

Posted in: Putin says he will visit disputed islands off Hokkaido See in context

So if I understand this correctly, Japan only relinquished claims to the northern "Kuril Islands", but not the southern ones. In spite of that, Putin is trying to claim all of them. The whole "tourism" strategy seems to be more of a way of getting people onto the islands so they can then have an excuse to say they need to protect them. In other words, the current Crimea playbook.

Of course the true strategic value has little to do with the islands themselves, but of the waters surrounding them. He who controls the islands controls the waters, and thus has full freedom of movement from a naval perspective.

For Japan, I think it's important for them to be assertive and aggressive about protecting their territorial waters. Though I'm not really sure what they can do besides argue their case, at the present time. The J-Naval forces are still rebuilding, and with what is going on in the more geopolitically important southern territorial waters, it will be difficult for them to do very much about Russia's actions in the northern ones.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

Posted in: Landfill work resumes at new U.S. military site on Okinawa despite local opposition See in context

Let's be honest guys, the opposition to American military prescense in Okinawa is not solely limited to Okinawans. Much of it is coming from Japanese people on the four main islands. They often cite the environmental impact even though this country is very much far from environmentally friendly. You can point to the endless plastic waste, the killing of whales, or the chopping down of urban trees... even the releasing of the Fukushima wastewater, which I mostly agree with, seems to contradict their own history of environmental positions. For a culture that often stresses the importance of "reading the air", this society definitely engages in it's fair share of hypocritical virtue signaling. They need to stop whining and be self-aware of the fact that they are totally dependent on other countries for survival. Period.

Nonetheless... if you care about Japan's national security and its future, Okinawa is just about the most strategically important location of them all. The new base absolutely must proceed, regardless of any naysaying.

1 ( +8 / -7 )

Posted in: Kishida vows 'ceaseless' aid as snow hampers quake relief See in context

It had better be ‘ceaseless’, because the woefully insufficient $35 million he’s just promised, itself less than the paltry $37 million offered to the Ukraine, needs to be ramped up by a factor of ten if there is to be any hope of an expedited recovery.

You are mistaken. They are offering FAR more than just $37 million to Ukraine. Last I read they want to give like $4.5 BILLION to Ukraine.

Fortunately it looks like under "Operation Tomodachi", the US is going to be helping out as they did in 2011. I really hate the direction the America is going in, but honestly, I don't think Japan has done very much to deserve the insane privilege that is having the US as a major military ally and economic partner. All they ever do is complain, from things ranging to the precious coral reefs in Okinawa to the Ospreys, while they simultaneously anger their neighbors by dumping Fukushima water into the ocean, and crash into JAL planes full of passengers. But every time Japan is in need, the US finds a way to help out somehow. If the US collapses, it is definitely over for these guys and they will have no future.

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

Posted in: Kishida vows 'ceaseless' aid as snow hampers quake relief See in context

Let's acknowledge the truth here: he is a bum, as are the majority of the figures that occupy his political party. If the combination of their inability to provide relief from this disaster in addition to their slush funds scandal isn't enough to get the voters to dislodge this dangerously incompetent cabal from power, than Japan certainly deserves to decline as an economic and cultural power. The Japanese are having their future sold away by a group of people that literally could not do more to show how little they care about them.

Just look at how swiftly the government acted a few months ago over their little "weed gummy crisis" wherein a few people got dizzy in the park, versus how they are handling this. They're more concerned if they should dress business formal or cosplay in first responder attire.

This is embarrassing and cannot continue.

-3 ( +3 / -6 )

Posted in: Man arrested for pushing woman off station platform in Tokyo See in context

Yup, just like I said the other day, Japan is on the decline. Events like this and what also happened at Akihabara station will only become more common as time goes on.

For all we hear about how much safer and better Japan is than the rest of the world, the sobering reality is that it's just another country.

-20 ( +7 / -27 )

Posted in: Woman arrested after slashing 4 men in train at Tokyo's Akihabara station See in context

I dunno, Japan is starting to give off some late stage civilization vibes here.

Today on the Toyoko line again, somebody was spotted with a knife, leading to service being shut down.

It's been a long time coming, but I think within a decade or two, Tokyo will not look much different than New York or London as far as crime and violence is concerned. All that praise for their tough stances on immigration, their politeness, and work ethic will not stop the inevitable. The riches accumulated in the 60s-80s will eventually dry up, and when people get desperate, that's when violent crime surges. Better just to accept it now than deny it and live in a fantasyland.

-15 ( +12 / -27 )

Posted in: China seeks stable ties with Japan on Nanjing massacre anniversary See in context

China wants stable ties while throwing this into Japan's face every year. Good luck with that.

What did they do here or say that was so controversial? The massacre is a part of their history. It's not something they can just forget, or pretend didn't happen.

Imagine how Japanese people would feel if they were accused of diverting attention away from discrimination in their country because on August 6th and August 9th they choose to focus on and commemorate the victims of the atomic bombs? That would make the Japanese very angry, and would be rightfully condemned by any rational individual.

Why we hold the Chinese to a different set of standards is rather illogical.

For the Japanese, August 6th and August 9th are their days to reflect on and commemorate the tragedies that occurred on their soil. I have absolutely no problem with China designating December 13th as a time for them to do the same when it comes to Nanjing, in fact I unapologetically support them doing as such. Only a sick minded individual would mock or attack their right to do so.

There are legitimate reasons to be against China and the CCP - I am no sympathizer of theirs and that is not what this is. But blind racial hate and sinophobic hysteria should be called out for what it is.

-10 ( +3 / -13 )

Posted in: China seeks stable ties with Japan on Nanjing massacre anniversary See in context

The Communist Chinese govt still banging on about Nanjing? Definitely using it as a smokescreen to divert attention away from shocking human rights abuses and genocide committed in recent times by the Chinese.

Why on Earth would they not talk about a major historical event that negatively affected them and left them scarred for decades on the anniversary of the day it happened? It's their country. Just as Japan has a right to commemorate their victims of war, so does China, and regardless of how I feel about their political ideology, I will defend their right to do so. Especially a massacre that left innocent women and children dismembered. Literal horrors of war unseen for centuries. That's what the society you endlessly idolize did.

The one creating a smokescreen and diverting attention is you, and such sentiments on historical tragedies are quite frankly disgusting.

Japan is GUILTY. Japan is guilty of what happened that day whether you or they can acknowledge it or not.

-7 ( +7 / -14 )

Posted in: Biden impeachment inquiry authorized by House Republicans, despite lack of evidence See in context

Reap what you sow.

-8 ( +2 / -10 )

Posted in: China seeks stable ties with Japan on Nanjing massacre anniversary See in context

It definitely appears that in the long history of the relationship between these two societies, Japan has committed the majority of the abuses.

I certainly agree that Japan's past identity doesn't define Japan's current identity, and also that Japan has a right to commemorate its war dead, ie the Yasukuni Shrine, a modern target for misinformation and unnecessary hysteria.

Though it is amazing how all these rising sun flag waving nationalists get all red-faced and outraged over supposed provocations against Japan from China, but they don't even want to consider the historical factors that caused China to act this way.

"Nanking is in the past - get over it!"

It's all so contrived and fake. These people get so uncomfortable when you mention one of the worst massacres in recent history, but also act like China is commiting atrocities against Japan in the current day.

China's government is not a force for good but I am so sick of this narrative that Japan is always the victim.

-11 ( +5 / -16 )

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