Posted in: 5 lies you’re likely to hear in a Japanese hostess bar, and what they really mean See in context
You've missed one, "You look so young!" Alas, this is never uttered to a man who really is young; it really means you're (and I am) an old fart and what are you doing messing around with someone young enough to be your grand daughter?
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Posted in: Monks delivered via Amazon as role of Japanese temples fade See in context
Journalists should be more precise in language: I believe that the organization is sending out priests, not monks. Monks, according to English language usage, are men who live under a rule in communities and who have taken vows of chastity, poverty and celibacy, and this hold true for both Buddhists and Christians. Priests, on the other hand, work in the world and may be married or single. My family regularly utilizes Shingon Buddhist priests, but not monks, for their ceremonies.
As for cremation, scattering the ashes presents difficulties in Japan due to the problem of the bones. In the West, after cremation, the bones are dumped into a machine that resembles a drum clothes dryer or a cement mixer along with steel ball to crush them to powder. At a Japanese funeral, the bones are placed by the mourners, (certain bones assigned to certain family members) into a case for internment in the family tomb.
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Posted in: NZ male model-actor arrested over cocaine possession See in context
Foreigners anywhere are always more suspect than locals. What would rate a slap on the wrist for a local will get heavy time for the foreigner. Maybe not just but usually true in most of the world and it won't change. Maybe cocaine possession would not have been such a serious rap on his home turf, but he wasn't on his home turf.
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Posted in: Global organized crime as big as a G20 nation: Australia See in context
Organized crime is never a factor in all the world economic models and projections that we see; can this be one reason that they always seem to fail?
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Posted in: Aso retracts Nazi remarks amid criticism See in context
The fact that I am no spring chicken myself is the only reason I do not recommend that Mr. Aso, born in 1940, follow his own advice. His party, however, might consider compelling him to undergo certain medical examinations concerning aging and mental acuity.
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Posted in: Delta CEO calls for open skies in Japan See in context
If you fly to the States from Osaka (KIX) you can take Delta. Or, if you have a fantasy about decent service, you can take ANA or Japan Air - except that they will turn out to be United or American, with all the contempt for passengers that flying on a United States flag carrier implies. What more does he want from us?
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Posted in: The secret of Japan Post: unbeatable service See in context
This was a good article about a great service but needs one correction. In my part of the world, Okayama kita-ku, there is neither delivery on Sundays nor on national holidays.
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Posted in: Japan to deport 14 detained Chinese activists See in context
All this nonsense over islets began when, in an excess of idiocy, the world community created the 200 mile economic zone concept - as if humans needed yet another thing to fight over.
These nations are battling over seabird toilets, for heaven's sake; they all should show a little more self-respect.
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Posted in: New study finds diverse beliefs in Muslim world See in context
Stories such as these should provide links to the original data.
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Posted in: Women warriors urged to keep up the fight See in context
Does anyone know if the women's football team received seat upgrades for the trip home?
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Posted in: 'Modest' swimwear back in style in U.S. See in context
Let's get serious - the largest group of Americans is the Baby Boomers and that group could really use some more modest clothing. Ladies in their sixties, despite having come of age in the sixties (best period of cultural history, no question) are less willing to show off the saggy flesh of today than they were to show off the - well, great flesh of then. As for men - well, I'm not particularly eager to flash my extended belly nor my bandy old man's legs to the world, either.
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Posted in: TEPCO video shows tensions as Fukushima crisis unfolds See in context
One has an eerie sense of deja vu. Nixon was forced to release the White House tapes as TEPCO has been forced to release their videos. Nixon tried to get away with versions that edited out what, in his mind were the damaging parts and so has TEPCO. What Nixon considered acceptable and harmless to him was so offensive that it showed his incapacity to understand normal codes of behavior and put paid to his public career. The TEPCO videos show a leadership in total disarray, amoral at best, and unconcerned for the lives of the Japanese people - and that's the part they want us to see!
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Posted in: American man attempts to smuggle meth disguised as Snickers candy bars to Japan See in context
Actually, Ch1n4Sailor, average sentences in Japan are much lower than in the United States. This, coupled with a very low rate of recidivism, accounts for the fact that Japan has less than 70.000 people incarcerated at any given time while the figure tops two million in the United States.
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Posted in: Top U.S. swimming coach calls China's Ye 'suspicious' See in context
Talk about sour grapes: what a mean-spirited little man!
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Posted in: 4 Kanagawa cops admit sexually harassing female officer See in context
Prison is a kind of discipline...
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Posted in: Actor Christian Bale reflects on years as 'Dark Knight' See in context
"Stone-faced" is right. Christian.Bale, Demi Moore and Natalie Portman are all proud graduates of the Mt. Rushmore School of Acting.
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Posted in: Japan's baseball world surprised by Ichiro's trade to Yankees See in context
OK, that does it - I'm a Yankee fan now. I had been waiting for the Dodgers to see the error of their ways and come home to Brooklyn but I must admit I have lost patience.
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Posted in: Monk strangled by wife in Yamanashi See in context
A monk, in the English language is a male living in a religious community (of any religion) with other monks under vows of chastity and celibacy: the victim in this case should have been identified as a priest.
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Posted in: Pre-empting air rage See in context
The article misses the point; it is not lack of planning on the part of the public that produces air rage; it is the end result of consious decisions made by airline executives. Certainly, it is far worse in the US; American airline executives have a profound contempt for people of their own nation that they do not have for people of other nations, which is why their international services are so much better than domestic. When flying to the US is is far easier on the mind and heart to avoid switching to a US flag air for as long as possible.
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Posted in: Fukuda, Bush discuss N Korea, climate change See in context
So now North Korea is demoted from membership in the "Axis of Evil" to what? The "Axis of pretty bad?"
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Posted in: Fukuoka Stock Exchange exec arrested for taking upskirt photos
Posted in: Japan to release 210,000 tons from rice reserves due to surging prices
Wallace ,do the rice Fukushima glow in the dark
Posted in: Japan to release 210,000 tons from rice reserves due to surging prices
Wonder if drones can be used to slowly spray the roof with something to melt the snow away.
Posted in: 98-year-old man found dead under eaves of shed after removing snow from roof