gaijintraveller comments

And what does "In principle" mean when referring to law in Japan. In principle it is against the law to sell alcohol or tobacco to a minor. Have you ever met a Japanese who waited till 20 to drink, who never drank as a first-year student? I think that explains the meaning of "in principle" in this context.

"In principle" means in fact the law has no real meaning.

144 kph is a lot fast than 40 mph. It is almost 90.

In Japan surely better insulation is a better solution.

Why are Japanese home better insulated? So many Japanese think this is because the summer is hotter and a better insulated house will be too hot, but this is so wrong. The point of insulation is not to keep only heat in, it is to maintain a temperature difference. If you don't understand this, think of a vacuum flask, which can be used for storing hot or cold drinks or a coolbox, which can also keep food warm.

Englisc aspyrgend

In answer to your question, about Japanese law, yes and no. No make that clearer, on paper there is, but in effect there isn't because the police do not enforce it. It is like the laws about purchasing alcohol and cigarettes, there are laws, but they are not enforced.

The police do not consider dogs, cats, animals need protection. However, policemen do.

The man refused to take the Shiba back. “I've got no need for a dog like this!” the man angrily yelled, commanding “You take him to the animal shelter!”

As well as laws on animal abuse there are also laws on paper about abandoning animals, at least on paper.

Read the guide books for recommendations, check the advertisements for holidays, go somewhere else. Usually, the guide books tell you not where you should go this year but where you should have gone 10 or even years ago.

In Japan I recommend you ask Japanese people where to go, make a list of their recommendations and cross them off your list of where to go because they will all be overcrowded.

I don't suppose it would be possible for the police to find out where the alcohol checks are before they go out for a drink. Of course, if they crash or cause an accident, they could be tested after that.

Think about how company bankruptcy works.

Customers of pay in advance. In the case of nursing homes this often many years in advance. One nursing home in my area, as an example, charges about ¥30 million to move in and pay ten years in advance. This is just an example, but there must be many similar cases.

What happens when such a place goes bankrupt? The directors of the company get paid in full, shareholders and tax departments get a claim their share.

The old people, the customers, get nothing. In fact they lose everything.

I suspect many nursing home may go bankrupt and get bought by a new company, which in actuality may just be a reformed, refinanced version of the old one without all the responsibilities of the old one. Should we call the the English school chain principle?

This happened years ago in Hyogo. That time it was a schoolboy. That time the police did nothing until the killer got fed up with killing cats and moved on to people. I hope the police have learnt their lesson.

Don't ignore cat-killers. They are evil.

I often wonder why people who worry about China spying on them don't worry about the world's biggest spy, the U.S. The NSA wants to spy on the world.

It is extraordinary how how Americans worry about China spying on them, yet surrender their privacy to their own government.

I would worry about China spying on me if were Chinese. I would worry about the US spying on me if I were American.

Maybe this is a conspiracy theory, but I would imagine many apps sold through Apple or Google have a back door for the NSA.

This is the pot calling the kettle black.

It is particularly hard to know when cats are ill or in pain. They still retain many features from wildness. They know that a sick animal is weak, and as a result, a target for predators. To protect itself from predators it is in an ill cat's nature to appear healthy. Cats are small animals. Such self-protection is important to them. It is also important for caring owners to understand when they are ill.

If you are worried about your health, just cut down on salt consumption.

I was wondering why the police acted in this incident. It seems the answer is that it was recorded on video. That means the police did not have to collect evidence. The evidence was given to them by the temple so they did not need to look for evidence.

Usually the police refuse to investigate animal cruelty if it requires looking for evidence. They say they act only if provided with a video of someone killing animals.

So what happened to all that money that was going to go the NHS as a result of Brexit? It seems it just disappeared.

I cook a lot. Sometimes I take knives or even a meat cleaver to a friend's house when I have to cook there.

Few people seem to have decent kitchen knives in there most. Most people seem to have only stainless knives with blunt blades. Stainless knives are hard to sharpen to an effective edge. Few have a heavy meat cleaver.

Fortunately I live in the countryside and drive everywhere so carrying knives is not the problem it is on a train.

I am guessing that to be called a chef you have to have a licence. Self-proclaimed chef is probably one who does not have an official licence. It seems you need a licence to prove you have attended and paid for classes for everything.

So how does it work? Does it work? What does it do?

I would like to know if it actually makes ice cream or just adds flavours to already made ice cream.

I tried an ice cream maker one time. It was pretty useless. First you had to leave a container in your freezer for hours according to the instructions. Actually, first you had to empty your freezer and store everything in a coolbox until the ice cream was made. Do you have to do that with this one? It looks as if it is battery-powered. I can't see it freezing a liquid with battery power.

Jeff Lee

There is no "funds pool." When the Japanese government spends, it marks up recipients' accounts electronically by basically pressing a button. Presto, yen is created.

The government doesn't withdraw or transfer out its cash savings out of an account. This latest scheme is just political theater. FDR did the same thing for funding the first social programs. He created mirage "funds" and "accounts" to give the public the sense that government benefits were based on finite resources.

Isn't that how all banks work, too?

They will probably hold him for three weeks, release him, then immediately re-arrest him for tax evasion or something else.

As usual there is so much missing from the story. What type of visa does he have? Was he brought to Japan through the slave labour, sorry training system? Was he fired from a Japanese company or just simply not paid by one?

Did he give receipts for the haircuts? That would be proof of doing business. Did he just receive tips, gratuities, and is that illegal.

It is interesting to see the headline says "disputed" and not "Japanese". Is this a signal of an offer of reconciliation to the Chinese? I am assuming the article is not written by Japantoday but a translation of something in the Japanese press, which would basically be what the government dictated to the Press Club. One hopes it leads to an improved relationship and reduction of tension with China.

I suspect in at least one cafe his spy camera was not the only one, and that was his downfall.

Anti-Zionism is not the same as anti-Semitism or being anti-Israeli. Many Israelis oppose their current government under Netanyahu. Many Jews in Israel and around the world also oppose it. Zionists love to shout anti-Semitism.

The Minister of National Security in Israel is a Zionist and was a member of the Religious Zionist Party until he formed his own party. He has been convicted of inciting racism.

Roger Waters is anti-Zionist. He is not glorifying Nazis. He obviously despises Nazis.

Why? I don't see this as a signal that Japanese business is recovering. I think Chinese companies may want to buy Japanese companies with the hope of turning them around. The only thing likely to improve the value of many Japanese stocks is a foreign buyer for the company.

When a Japanese exporter sells to an importer in a foreign country? Does the exporter have to charge the importer the 10% tax? If that importer visits Japan and places an order here, is 10% added to the invoice?

So what is the big difference if the importer is an individual who comes here and do a little business for himself on his return? Is the problem that he is on a tourist visa not a business visa and he is a tourist working illegally by doing business?

Perhaps it is because prices in Japan are lower than through a Japanese company's subsidiary in another country. This is possible as some Japanese companies like Panasonic try to some their products foreigner-unfriendly by removing menus in all languages other than Japanese.

Is that the miserable small memorial for Korean victims across the river from the one for Japanese victims? Does the Japanese memorial still have a right-wing recorded message in English as well as Japanese honouring those who "nobly gave up their lives for their country"?

I have only been to Hiroshima once. That was on the 50th anniversary of the bombing. Has anything changed?

I wonder why mirrorless cameras and lenses are so expensive when compared with DSLR models. The pentaprism and mirror of DSLRs are almost certainly more expensive to produce. There is no doubt that mirrorless lenses should not be more expensive to produce as the mirrorless design allows the rear element of the lens to be nearer the sensor.

The Nikon mirrorless camera may well appeal to Canon DSLR users when they decide to switch to mirrorless as unlike Canon Nikon is not locking out third party lens manufacturers.

I am a Canon DSLR user, but if or when I decide to go mirrorless, I may well get a Nikon and a Canon EF to Nikon z-mount adapter rather than a Canon EF to RF adapter so that I can still use my EF lenses.

Wallace says: Komeito is not a cult nor is Soka Gakkai.

Well, how about the LDP and Nippon Kaigai?

To be honest, I think both Soka Gakkai and Nippon Kaigi are cults.

Neither Komeito nor the LDP are cults. They just happen to be controlled by religious cults which have moved into politics.

Is that farmer in the photo really a farmer? Several people have commented on his facemask. I think he is a model posing for the photo. What else would explain how clean his clothes and hands look?

Mark, Ronald Reagan was, too.

Chance the gardener. He may not have been intelligent, but he wished no one ill.

Many people worry about North Korea. Many worry about Russia. Many worry about China.

What about Israel? What about India and Pakistan? Why is no one even mentioning them?

Wouldn't a koban have been better?

If you were a gaijin and had taken it to a koban, you would have had to answer many unnecessary questions and produce your gaijin card. You would also probably have had to fill in many forms. Somewhere near where you found it would be a lot quicker.

As this is news, perhaps the police will actually do something. It seems they refuse to investigate cases of animal cruelty unless it is news. There are laws against animal abuse, but there are of virtually no effect because the police do virtually nothing.

Some of my cats disappeared. I am sure a neighbour has killed them. I went to the police, presented my evidence and asked them to investigate and question him. They said they would question him if I showed them a video of him actually killing a cat. If I couldn't do that, they said they couldn't even ask him question. I pointed out that the police had on several occasions questioned me with no evidence.

The police refuse to question the particular neighbour because they say they have no evidence. I thought getting evidence of a crime was the police's job, but apparently not.

It is extremely unlikely the police will find the criminal. They will probably pretend to investigate.

Animal welfare organisations have told me there is virtually no hope of getting the police to do anything.

The laws against animal abuse are a fine example of tatemae.