smithinjapan comments

Doesn't matter that this movie will be a huge success... Japan will postpone showing it if it does not paint Japan in a positive light related to the war. Period. No doubt that the movie will show the conflict of Oppenheimer's decisions, and the terrible chaos they create, but if it shows American generals pointing out Japan's war crimes, sex slaves, or anything wherein Japan is not the victim, expect a straight-to-video/streaming release in two years.

I'll take a couple of small day trips, but I don't consider that really going anywhere.

Love Miyazaki, but why did he, like so many J-celebs, make a huge deal about retiring and then go on working? I'm glad he is, but still.

"I wanted to kill women who appeared to be on the winning side of life and couples looking happy after a woman made a fool of me at a university student society,"

Wonder what he's going to do when people "make a fool of" him in prison. Hopefully they do it every single day, with fists. These people need to THINK before they act.

Again?

He'll get four years, she'll get 2.5 years, max.

So, nothing to do with safety at all. Great.

Anyway, I 100% support it, as long as it is made clear the origin of the products being shipped to the EU. Let in cheaper, superior products to Japan, and let the EU decide if they want to eat food that will no doubt cost a fortune and is from irradiated areas.

I bet you gun nutters are actually PROUD of this.

Another suspended sentence in a land that has defined them. I have absolutely no doubt this man and the others, as well as those thinking of accepting or giving bribes, will heretofore never even dare with such punishments!

rainyday: "The incompetence is quite shocking."

You being serious? Sounds like you just arrived.

obladi: "This is a big problem. And old people vote."

Well, yeah, but they vote LDP, who then take it as a mandate to hike prices. In places where they would NOT vote LDP the LDP has successfully eliminated representative voting, meaning they can only choose the LDP or that LDP member automatically wins because there is no one to oppose them.

Japan has maybe five good years left.

"Police officially apologized to him on Monday."

Awwww... a heart-warming end to the story. They officially apologized, so he will now get his job back, now get his reputation back, all the worries about him having gone missing without a word will suddenly be relieved, and he'll be rewarded all monetary loses over the 42 days PLUS a little bonus for his trouble, no doubt.

The police, on the other hand, will still maintain they have a 99% conviction rate, they never ever force confessions, they act only in just manners, they don't need cameras in interrogation rooms, etc. Well done, Keystones! Of course, someone will retire, and younger police will be forced to do menial tasks for a while. But, again, a heart-warming end to the story.

I'll save them the trouble:

Court: "While we recognize negligence on the part of the staff involved contributing to the woman's death, we cannot find them guilty of negligence resulting in death. However, we recognize the suffering of the family and will require immigration to pay the family ¥10,000."

Case closed.

On the one hand, it's admirable the guy doesn't give up, but on the other hand, like many other J-athletes WELL past their prime and ability, he probably should, and it will likely become quite embarrassing (at the very least to the point no one will talk about him anymore). But, good luck!

Agreed 100%. Japan also gets back its fair share of things stolen from the nation, and rightly so. I would like to think they are eager to do the same.

So embarrassed are they by the fact that they were outed for the false confession and forcing the man to 50 years, most in isolation, that they just can't bear to have been contradicted. What an embarrassment the justice system here is. Seriously. And Japan wonders why it always ends up so far behind on human rights issues.

Coward. Start with yourself, please. Or better yet, since all is said and done, in prison, tell the other inmates there what you had wished to ultimately accomplish. Perhaps they will oblige you and help... slowly.

Never a day goes by here without this kind of sick family stuff.

Good! Let's hope EVERY SINGLE nation on Earth follows suit. Japan has had more than a decade to deal with this, and it was all based on lies and incompetence to begin with (What fault lines? No one could have known!). In fact, every single export from Japan should be banned until the release stops, and until the clean up and decommissioning of the plant is finished if they even begin.

Explains the silence.

Cost of an infant's life? ¥300 - ¥400.

Well done, Japan. Well done.

Strangerland: "Want your wife to sleep with you? Do the dishes, put the kids to bed, clean the bathroom, take some of the load off her plate."

Sounds like some misdirected frustration that is coming out of nowhere.

"Six people didn't like me pointing out why their wives find them unattractive."

Who cares who thumbs you down? I think we all know it doesn't mean anything, and you are usually not concerned.

People aren't having more kids because it's just unfeasible to do so, and those kids would be born slaves here with no future at all to look forward to. As it is, I think we have MAYBE until the end of this decade at most before the retirement age is put up to 75, and less than that before the amount covered by health care (which will increase in premiums) is 50-60%, and there is zero pension to speak of, not to mention income tax and other tax increases. Add to that the fact that there is little to no support for parents and schools and daycare cost a fortune and why is this any surprise?

Japan is FAR past the point where they can effectively deal with this problem. Instead of addressing it you have clowns like Kishida pouring TRILLIONS into defense spending and putting this on the back burner.

A suspended sentence?!? Who'd a thunk it?

Must be an election coming up if he's promising to deal with the abduction issue. Next he'll be calling a meeting with Ms. Yokota in front of the press.

"But fishermen and shoppers in Japan and across the region are afraid."

As they should be. But, no sympathy. They voted in the people doing this. I hope that ZERO Japanese marine products are bought from now on as a result of this, and when it comes up that it has in fact caused massive environmental damage the Japanese government is sued by every nation across the planet in the trillions per case.

Hopefully he's not still tired or the other players aren't still too tall this time around.

Hope he finds prison to be quieter.

They can qualify anything and everything when it suits their needs, from saying "kokumin" doesn't include permanent residents of non-Japanese nationality, to saying exporting lethal arms isn't against a law saying Japan can't export lethal arms. Heck, if they explain in English I have no doubt they'd say something like, "Well, the guns don't actually have 'ARMS' do they? The people who use the leth--errr, helpful weap--errr... equipment have arms, but there are no arms on the equipment itself, right? Therefore we can't really say by definition they are 'lethal arms', can we?"

I GUESS you could say Japan is "moving up" if you consider a higher number than before to be "up". I mean, that's what I'd be trying to tell myself if my country consistently slides down in gender equality ranking and leading politicians are "starting to buckle down" and set dates for goals that will occur when they are out of office.

Pretty embarrassing.

Ummm... because the yen is in the toilet vs. the US dollar. Mind you, if they go to Italy they can't just head to the Duty Free shop and call it a day -- they might have to take in some culture.

Ukraine should use this to push forward in their counter-offensive. And while Yevgeny represents the worst of scum, here's hoping he and Putin go at it whole hog, and Russia gets a big, BIG taste of what it has been doing to Ukraine and others. They brought it on themselves.