Dr Maybe comments

Chris Christie put it best: "Trump is a one-man crime wave."

Bling bling bling. This is what I hate about performers of this sort. "Oh yeah dude, I got money!" "Oh yeah, I got bit..es". "Look at me!" And....??? What do you actually have to say? Not much, as far as I can see. Pathetic.

Did I forget to mention...WIFE BEATER.

girl_in_tokyo is totally correct.

Maybe not totally. She just mentions "on trains". Any darkened street at night in the city, especially near a train station, is a danger zone. Women here (and young girls, by the way) are NOT safe.

Why hasn't there been more of an outcry? The lack of sympathy from authorities, which women know about all too well, and results in well below 10% of sexual assaults in Japan even being reported. Plus rapists who are actually caught red-handed are assisted by the legal system, which bullies victims into accepting minor cash compensation settlements.

Cool Japan? Nah...Primitive Japan.

Again this word "selfish" comes up. What do Japanese imagine it means? Something is seriously lost in translation.

"Selfish" is when your wife cooks you a meal, but you go out straight afterwards without doing the washing up.

Stabbing random people in a train has absolutely nothing to do with "selfishness". Could someone please help the Japanese legal profession come up with English that suits whatever it is they are trying to say???

@gcFd1

89 and just said, What the heck.

I think you nailed it, basically. None of us here knows for sure, but what's the most likely scenario?

Answer?: 89 year-old fossil thinks "Hey, I could die tomorrow, and my, that is one delightful looking backside!" Put 2 & 2 together.

I'm not saying that young women should acquiesce to dirty old relics. If it were my daughter, I'd say "Give him a light punch in the mouth". Nothing that would put him in hospital. And the world would go on turning.

Final thought: Japanese woman... you've got to start using your fists girls!! Harder or softer, depending on the age of the perpetrator and how disgusting the attack is. But punch!!! Curl those fingers up and punch, or we'll be reading the same story 50 years from now.

@ Wallace

Sorry I neglected to mention the full package of his skills... very decent actor, average musician and artist, adept and enthusiastic wife beater. There... I think we've covered it now.

@AomoriExpat

Gosh I sure do love those far-left progressive laws they have in place there in Oregon. Just unbelievable!

Really? I'm all ears. Please quote one...just one...of these "far-left laws" they have, as an example, so that we can truly understand what a den of iniquity it is up there.

@JJE

Portland has had an out-of-control crime problem for a long time now.

Correction: The US has had an out-of-control crime problem for a long time now.

@GreenPeas

Yeah, obvious BS without even looking at your "big scoop" video, but I'm bored tonight so I thought I'd tour the lunatic universe a little.

Within 100 seconds of your sad, lonely vlogger's video starting, he's already arrived at the conclusion that the fires are quite possibly a terrorist attack! Ha ha ha ha. I was in need of a chuckle, no matter how bitter.

Probably you are sad, lonely, and confused, like the individual who posted that utter tripe. There are support networks out there, even in Japan. Please look into them. The Internet has a positive side as well, contrary to the horse manure you seem to be immersing yourself in.

@AomoriExpat

From what I’ve read most of these fires have been intentional started by humans and some by climate activists themselves...

I didn't know that comic books had branched into environmental themes. If you truly believe that climate activists would deliberately start such fires, there's really not much hope for you. You really are ....

You folks can read graphs right?

Yes we can. And we also have that crucial extra skill of being able to distinguish between websites that present facts, and those that are run by vested interests, lunatics, and so on.

"I have a cunning plan. I'll tell them I wanted to improve workplace communication."

Makes Baldrick look like an utter genius! Ah, Japan...(sigh).

Moonraker: I don't know, but I'd put my money on your last guess.

The threat of the US being engulfed by fascism is VERY real. The lunatic fringe that took over the Republican Party around 2016 continues to thrive, and grow stronger. Sane, intelligent discourse is nearly extinct. Electoral boundaries and processes are being steadily rigged in favor of the American Taliban (New Republican Party, call them what you will). This will not end well.

fatrain

there's nothing wrong with eating it occasionally if you want to.

I agree. As I said, I'll have a cheeseburger & fries once in a while. So we're basically on the same page, by the looks of it. (Both slightly bored tonight, possibly?)

All the best to you.

a. That's a prime example of social media garbage. It will never happen.

b. Despite their gazillions of dollars, they are both still pathetic little boys.

c. I would love it so much if it did happen, especially if they accidentally connected with a decent punch at the same moment and rendered each other incapable of inflicting further harm on the world.

So judgemental, Dr.

Yes, a bit on the judgmental side. Sorry if it grates on you. I admit to having a cheeseburger and fries on very rare occasions as well. But the point stands. It is s... food, and we should all try to live the best possible life.

(Of greater concern than personal health, the damage to the planet of beef production has to be addressed, but I don't want to get into all that now.)

one meal for one person at home wouldn't necessarily be that much cheaper than a meal from McD's.

I beg to differ. I cook on a regular basis, with healthy, fresh ingredients, plus plenty of traditional Japanese items, plus kimchi, nuts, whatever takes your fancy. People lack imagination. Supplement this with tiny bits of, for example, tinned fish. One small can might spread to 3 meals, if you just use it for a bit of "taste". Throw in plenty of rice or soba/udon/lentils/couscous etc. to go with it and you have something cheap and nutritious. Try it! Cooking doesn't have to be a chore.

Looks like a sign of desperation. Profits must be down, and why wouldn't they be? Even here, people are very slowly starting to wake up to the fact that this franchise, and most like them, are utter s... !

Let's eat real food people. Don't be so lazy. Throw a few things together in your kitchen for 10 minutes and you'll end up with something better than that. You don't have to be a genius. You'll save a bit of money too. Come ON...!

@Blacklabel

The Ukraine “offensive” is so weak that Russia has time/energy to even fight each other while they waiting.

It's finally official. Our favorite provider of reliably warped commentary over the years has finally confirmed his identity as a grunt employed in a Russian troll farm, assuming "he" is not a "bot" of some sort. And here I was, thinking you were a real, concerned (not to mention deluded) American citizen, Comrade Blacklabel.

Also, they are largely responsible for propping up the murderous regime in Myanmar, which overthrew the democratically elected government decades ago. Same thing, basically.

Can someone name a government of any style that China has attempted to overthrow?

Besides the obvious answer of the freedom loving people of Hong Kong, brutally repressed in recent times, I'm surprised that Tibet doesn't spring to mind for you. Attempt 100% successful, thanks very much. You're aware that Tibet is not a natural part of China, surely? If that's a bit too much of a gray area for you, let's try the 1979 invasion of Vietnam. Happily, the battle-hardened Vietnamese kicked some Chinese butt and had them retreating before long.

"My thoughtless behavior has caused trouble and worry to many people."

If so, they *really*** need to take a long, hard look at themselves and consider what they are doing with their own lives. Perhaps... (gasp) they might consider **getting one!

"I let my fans down."

No you didn't, and you don't believe that either. You're just trying to salvage your pathetic career. Maybe Hirosue san could take this as cue, i.e. this is a good time to branch out in a new direction in life. Find something fulfilling to do, take part in a community somehow.

@Gareth

So many sub-divisions with one comfortable old house replaced by 2, 3, or even more...

I'm afraid you're missing the point Gareth. Sub-divisions should, in theory, mean more available places. Unfortunately, the fact is the property market is a massive casino. Real value is becoming less and less of a factor.

Homes for "people who cannot afford a home".

Yes. Correct. And that's a lot of people. Property prices are utterly insane in Australia (and quite a few other countries too).

affordable housing' is foisted upon the masses...

Reality check for those disconnected from events here on Earth: Strange as it may seem, "the masses" are absolutely desperate for affordable housing to be "foisted" on them, you complete _ _er.

Bass, it's nice to be able to agree with you once in a while.

You have wing walkers in and out of the gate

I'm not sure what you mean. Planes randomly coming up next to you? That shouldn't happen.

I don't think anyone has mentioned the air traffic controllers. Maybe one of them mistakenly put two planes in the same area. Either that, or one of the pilots wasn't listening to the controller. It comes down to one of the two scenarios...plain and simple.

Planes do have proximity warning systems that tell pilots (in flight) when they're getting dangerously close (100s of meters) to disturbing things, like the ground, mountains etc. (Doesn't anyone else watch "Mayday"?)

I have no idea really, but maybe it would be impossible to combine a vital system like that with something else that tells you you're really close to another aircraft on the ground. Wouldn't it be going off constantly on the runway?

If it's wing to wing contact between taxiing planes, eye contact and common sense SHOULD be enough.

Unless I'm missing something (??), this scenario has been "locked in" for some years now:

a. "Tech giant" Japan can't think of anything to do with the radioactive water other than dump it in the ocean.

b. The rest of the world looks on aghast, but is powerless to do anything about Japan's policy.

c. IAEA dudes rack up air miles and resort weekends to no purpose, other than pleasing themselves.

d. Onlookers get steadily more sickened and pessimistic about the future.

De Niro's place in history is assured, with a large catalogue of timeless roles (some others very forgettable of course, but no actor has/will ever be fondly remembered for every single movie).

Trump has been working feverishly (for himself and no one else, as always) to cement his own place in history. His efforts currently hang in the balance. As a businessman, he's an undisputed loser. Four bankruptcies don't qualify you as some sort of guru in that area. In two other areas the jury is still out.

The most teflon-coated Don of all time. John Gotti had a good run at the title for a long time, but eventually got busted. Trump's expensively assembled cast of legal obstructionists have been playing a blinder for years now. The way things are going, he may yet go down in history as the slipperiest criminal not to receive his full dues.

He tried and failed to destroy American democracy in 2020, but that was just a trial run. We're really going to see the full scale attack over the next couple of years, aided more brazenly by utter lunatics like Taylor Greene & co. Frankly, I don't like America's chances. The way the AI-assisted Russian troll farm backers are pushing him, I think he has a real chance of being successful at something for the first time in his life... destroying America.

@smithinjapan

Yes. Of course you're right. It's the same old story EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. Entitled low life rapes woman. Woman receives zero support from authorities, is treated as if it's all her fault, and pushed on all sides into accepting a very modest cash settlement. Rapist gets off free. Another day in "Safety Japan".