yabusama comments

I'm sure in many cases people choose to be homeless for whatever reason. Other times it's through no fault of their own. But when a society doesn't give you much of a reason to climb out of a hole you're in other than to shame you into non existence, it's no wonder the problem is as big as it is.

Money will never solve this problem. Taking the time to care and respect everyone as equal no matter what their social standing in life is will go much further than a fistful of dollars ever will.

Australia or England would be my choice. Canada would be an excellent choice. Not just because all the facilities are already in place but it's also the only way we'll ever qualify for the damn thing!

I was on a flight from JFK to Heathrow about 15 years ago. Sitting in the same row on the opposite side of the plane was a Hasidic Jew rocking back and forth in prayer kind of like they do in front of the Wailing wall. I thought he was having an epileptic fit. I'd never seen someone act like he did before. I got out of my seat and told the flight attendant. She told me what he was doing and said she sees it all the time. Sure I felt like a complete idiot but how was I to know if I'd never seen it before?

Same with this crew and passengers. If they never saw this done before how are they to know what he's doing.

As far as not giving a clear answer. If he was in the middle of a prayer he most likely wouldn't interrupt it to explain what he was doing but wait until after he finished.

In today's world any "weird" actions or activity by a passenger on a plane is going to cause excitement and panic.

they don't have to be over 30. Ironically I just smashed into a 20-something guy on a bicycle while riding my own because he was looking at his keitai while riding out of his driveway. didn't see him until it was too late. The lack of safety in "safe Japan" is unbelievable. Sure it's unfortunate the woman died, even IF it may have been her fault and even more so that the driver took off. But what's it going to take to make people aware of the dangers of being utterly brainless when deciding to go for a bike ride, a walk down to the park, or a nice relaxing drive? Common sense doesn't seem to be helping.

It's ok cracphat. I knew what you meant ;)

Any chance of Kameda leaving Japan and facing some serious competition went out the window with this "victory".

I don't think it's just Asia eagerly awaiting the results of the draw. I think everyone is.

I like the attitude of the Asian coaches though except for that line about Japan not looking brilliant but having more stable strength. Unfortunately when you get to the WC level stable strength will only get you to the round-robin stage. You have to be brilliant if you're going to win or at least compete with the best of the rest.

And a bit off topic...hopefully the French repeat their performance of 2002. They don't deserve to be there. Slante!

elsewhere on this site was a question or article asking or talking about what the chances were the guy who committed this murder would be caught. Someone made a comment saying the most likely way he would be caught would be if he were arrested in connection to another crime. Whoever that was........nice call.

This murder happened a couple doors down from a couple students of mine. They were really shaken up about it. R.I.P. Ogino san.

Senate report: Bin Laden was 'within our grasp'

no kidding.......what's the next report going to be "scientists discover water is wet"?

Is she really worth paying over ￥３０００ for her cd?

GW great point. I was trying to figure out why this route was created but that makes sense. Hoserfella TOO FUNNY HAHAHAHAHA Moose Jaw...

Hopefully it will be, as one man said, a positive change and not a one time event. Gotta love the editorializing in this comment 'asked a particularly combative lawmaker, Renho, who goes by only one name'. Combative for asking questions that people want to know the answer to? Or combative because the person DARED to ask a politician who, as we all know, is in a position of power and influence and should never be questioned because they know what's right for the rest of us peasants? And good on the Saitama Taxi driver for his comment.

seven hours?!?!?! what's japanese for mini series?

"A child who is loved does not become depressed.".

This from a TRAINED PROFESSIONAL who, I'm assuming went to Uni and studied and didn't get her degree from a Froot Loops box,pun intended. The article says there are no easy answers why children are in despair according to specialists. Well one answer, or a good start, might be not to let quacks like these practice.

I think it's about time the Japanese look inside themselves and ask some serious questions about their society, beliefs, and what they truly want. Maybe not being so afraid of the outside world and looking for answers there too might be of some help.

Geez...what else is the guy supposed to say? "Uh...well compared to the rest of the countries we suck but you know....GAMBATTE!" Give the guy a break. So what if he's deluding himself. The players on the field will dictate whether they make it that far or not.

At least they're in the finals, unlike all my teams. Don't even get me started on Ireland not going!

but that's another story altogether

does anyone know why Japan has such a fascination with this wine? not even the french are this fanatical about it. Ever heard of marketing?

???...thanks for answering my question. and thanks for coming out. you really hit for the fences on that one.

nutsagain...that's what i've heard. my french co-workers wont touch the stuff. so again just wondering what all the fuss is about here in Japan. Paolo, never mind.

yes he should have....and then do a pirouette a la Trudeau

does anyone know why Japan has such a fascination with this wine? not even the french are this fanatical about it.

I would hardly call this mutant a man.

Can we stop saying that there are loads of guys out there that cant control themselves and grope women if they are wearing something sexy?

no we can't because it is true. This guy was drunk so he wasn't aware of his surroundings, didn't care about his surroundings, or both. If the guy was sober perhaps he would have been a bit more discreet. Either way given the right circumstances he probably would have done this in any event. And it's news because the guy's a cop. Given how crowded the trains are in this country and the fact that they have Women only cars tells me that it does happen a lot and lot of it just goes unreported or it's just some baka salaryman who hasn't got an interesting life worth reporting.

If women in my hometown dressed like a lot of women dress here they would be stopped every 10-20 minutes and asked "how much?". Having said that nobody deserves to be touched or fondled in a way they don't want to. However while it is a woman's choice to wear what she wants, if she does wear some pretty revealing clothes she would be an absolute moron to think she would not expect any attention. And since there are a lot of guys out there who don't know how to control themselves and look at a woman's choice of clothing as a silent invitation to molest her, perhaps a little common sense in what you choose to wear might help instead of being all innocent and ignorant.

Nowhere in the article did it say she was wearing a short skirt or really sexy clothes. Perhaps she was wearing a business suit, which I for one find quite sexy. But whether she was or wasn't doesn't give this Keystone turd any right to touch her.

i am really sorry to say this but some of the men here start to sound like they are jealous of Ichihashi.

well judging from some of the more "intellectually profound" comments you have made on this site I highly doubt you are sorry to say what you've said. Perhaps you meant " I am really sorry I didn't think before I say this but......

whatever the case may be perhaps you can enlighten us with how any of us could possibly be jealous of this human piece of apathy? Yes you're right. I wish I had the guts to brutally kill a woman,have sex with her, then dump the body in a bathtub and fill it with sand. Yes, then I wish I had all these pathetic women lusting after me as well. Yes truly we are jealous of old "stone chopsticks".

As much as I would love to have all these airheaded simpletons thinking I was a catch and be given the opportunity to sow my wild oats because they thought I was cool and cute, I prefer the human species and I for one wouldn't degrade myself associating with this trash.

Give your head a shake.

I once saw a foreigner stand up on a crowded train and offer his seat to an elderly Japanese woman standing. However, some high student collapsed into the space the man had provided and the Japanese lady looked on too embarassed to say anything. The foreigner stamped his weight on the student's foot, and started to grind it into the floor while demanding an apologise to the somewhat shocked old lady. As that wasn't forecoming quickly enough, he grabbed the student and forcefully lifted him out of the seat and to the middle of the carriage.

How often I have dreamed of doing this. But the idea of spending time with the keystones doesn't appeal to me.

I think everybody's got it wrong, including Nikkan Gendai. Ichihashi's appeal is that he refuses to be sunao, a nice obedient otonashii Nihonjin who does what is expected of him. He runs, he hides, he ducks, he weaves, he gets plastic surgery, he refuses to respond to interrogators, he won't take meals -- in other words, by whatever means he can, he resists. The system here is so good at breaking people down that only a few Japanese have anything that could be described as indomitable spirit, and it is this aspect of his behaviour that people may view as admirable. His crime, of course, was evil.

A very good point.Similar in theory to what, I think, Bill Maher said of the 9/11 hijackers; they were brave in the sense that to fly a plane into a building knowing you were facing a horrible death was "brave". He of course wasn't comparing them to the brave firemen and policemen who ran into the building afterwards to try and save people.

But I digress.

NOTHING surprises me in this country anymore.

I watched a bloke - a grown man - this afternoon picking his nose, licking it, rolling it between his fingers and flicking it on the floor.

I'm going to start filming them and posting them on YouTube. Now here's this week's segment of "Digging for Gold"

you're welcome kirakira.

Azrael I agree somewhat with what you're saying. But the use of religion or culture to excuse a way this country and it's people act or think sometimes doesn't hold water with me. Most Japanese can't tell you the origins of something whether it's a thought,concept, or object. It's always "that's the way it's always been." The ironic thing is most of the time they say that they're dead wrong.

Aveda's scrubbing shampoo does a great job. and smells good too. What does open price mean?

I solved it! It was Sadakazu Tanigaki!!!!!

I don't know why the readers above think this is insignificant.

because it is. not all acts of violence or vandalism is a clue to some deep rooted problem. Maybe the guy was bored.

Doesn't Chiba have a lot of cops already? How could this have happened? A murder and letting the suspect escape in his socks I could understand. But this?

I think it's a lot easier to enjoy this country by avoiding use of rush-hour transport in major cities. Or avoiding going to places where the natives will be out in full force, like temples at new year's, anything to do with shopping, anywhere with cherry blossoms/koyo. Avoiding the trains is only one way to have a better quality of life in Japan.

Japan would be a great place if it weren't for all the Japanese :p

Chivalry is a Western concept. All the manners and deferences associated with chivalry are foreign to Japan and are not taught to children by their mothers simply because Japan has a different set of manners and what is considered polite in the West does not match what is considered polite in Japan. Simple things like, allowing the elderly to go to the front of a line, for example; leaving one's seat for a pregnant woman to sit down; holding open doors for women and children; allowing an older person to pass first through a narrow space; none of these things happen in Japan. Hence, is strange to expect chivalry to manifest in Japan train cars or anywhere else.

Why is it that every time someone uses these kinds of arguments they think Commodore Perry opened the doors yesterday? You can't tell me the Japanese, or anyone for that matter, don't know right from wrong, or what is considered good behavior vs bad. It's simply a choice that is made. To say the Japanese are not aware of this is just because it's a cultural thing is wrong.

The Japanese have the idea of WA, preserving the harmony of society, not being disruptive. Acting like a bunch of monkeys on the trains is not practicing WA.