Tony W. comments

Dammed good idea, hopefully they can sell them to Taiwan too!

My late friend spent most of his life teaching English in Japan, to children initially, and then the bulk of his time there to students in a technical university in Kitami. He always maintained that the students were difficult to teach well because they found it so hard to learn and many probably wished they didn't have to. Having attempted to learn Mandarin as an adult myself and given it up, I'm not surprised, the two languages are so dissimilar to English verbally and graphically. However, as has been pointed out, English is the most widely spoken language over the world, especially if you include it learnt as a foreign language. This obvious if you go almost anywhere in Europe; it's routinely taught as a second language in many Asian countries too, like Malaysia, and pretty much all over the globe: and why? Because English IS today's international language, like it or not, so it can benefit children to learn it if they end up in business, science, travel....or teaching it! But it does seem that the teaching method needs an overhaul in Japan. I did seven years of French at high school, but found I improved much more much later on in life with conversation classes with adults, so that, and better testing techniques, is what Japan could look at I think. I wish them luck with any overhaul it does.

Maybe the psychiatrist needs a diagnosis!

This is another sad case, only occurring because of an unfair and outdated law. Children should know their fathers and mothers if possible, provided that there is no reason, like family violence for example, why it's best if they don't. I write as someone who never knew his father, and was put in foster care virtually from birth vwith a single lady. I write also as a father of a son who had enormous difficultirs with an ex-partner over access to their daughter. If access had not been successful through the courts, he (and uus) may never have seen her growing up. Fairness is the name of the legal game, be fair to both parents AND the child!

The headmaster "requested" students not to go to the river? He should have BANNED them from going! The more emphatic statement might have made a difference.

Having worked in the Intellectual Disability sector in two different countries, I can clearly see the need for some method of reducing the number of such people born. However sterilisation is not a decent answer, far better if more effort could have been put into in utero (pre-birth) diagnosis so that parents could have been advised in advance of conditions, and offered, but not compelled to accept, abortion. That way much parental distressed would have been saved, and, after all, not all conditions are 100% inheritable, and they could have the option of not trying to have any more children if they wish, as has been done by the Jewish community with the Tay Sachs syndrome.

Or even better, if they had the capability to turn it back to where it came from!

Typical Communist country reaction to justifiable concerns about its incursions into others' territories, counter with a threat; bolsters its image in the state-controlled minds of its own citizens, but is inflammatory internationally and totally unproductive. Wlll they ever learn? Probably not, short of an internal revolution or a sharp lesson!

I wonder how dolphins navigate. It is known that geese navigate by feedback to the brain from magnetic elements in their nervous system, so if the whales have that too, the eastward wandering of the magnetic North Pole could cause faulty navigation, though the Pole's directional change would suggest it would more likely take them further out to sea, but then we don't know exactly how it's used by wildlife.

Could be that the Foreign Minister told the ambassador that it was nothing personal, but that the PM felt that in view of the contentious political issues between the two countries he felt that.........etc. Diplomatic games!

The Supreme Court judgement is very fair. The poor woman was in a terrible dilemna, being in a foreign country. It would be interesting to know who the father of the children was, was he another trainee, or was he an employer who took advantage of her? She would have been especially vulnerable to the latter.

Whilst personally not caring if another civil war broke out in America, solutions might be to do away with State Governments or at least reduce their authority, and improve the tax laws and the power of the federal authority to enforce them so that tax evasion is minimised. Can't see the vociferous Right coming to terms with that though.

Whatever transgender athletes think or "feel" they are, biology is overriding, and that criterion should be applied by all sporting bodies where events held are for a single sex. That way the only source of problems for officials will be hemaphrodites, like the Russian Press sisters were said to be, but they were decades ago. In any case testosterone assessment could be relevant here.

Well of course China would, wouldn't it. I'm sure the Yellow Emperor would have said something about individual opponents being easier to conquer, but there again, China is a bloc in itself!

Troubled is it? Well, isn't that the idea?

Whilst I wish them luck if they can get it, I am rather surprised that they are asking for it, as it was common in wartime for foreign nationals from an enemy country to be imprisoned, in fact I used to know an Italian who was working in England when the Italians joined World War two, and he spent the rest of the war working on a farm. where he told me he was very well treated.

It seems Japan has quite some ground to make up compared with some other developed nations. Watch a rugby match with the New Zealand All Blacks team in it, and see both the Maori and non-Maori players performing a Haka with enormous enthusiasm (and seemingly intimidation!). There are Maoris in all areas of society, including parliament.

In Australia, which may have made slower progress initially towards inclusion, indigenous people are increasingly active in politics and in legal challenges against destruction of sacred sites by big business. Their art is sold worldwide. They are being consulted about bushfire prevention as they've had their own techniques for millennia. In the U.K., the Welsh language is still taught in schools, both Scottish and Irish Gaelic are still alive. Moreover Cornish, which almost died out in the last century, is once again being revived by enthusiasts. These are languages originating in the Celtic tribes that came over from Europe as the Ice Age retreated. Celtic music is widely appreciated, in Europe as well as the U.K. So what does this mean for Japan and the Ainu and other minorities? It seems to me that the minorities have to become more publicly and politically active so that the Japanese government can no longer be able to ignore them.

About time too!

There seems to be some information missing from this. She's bragging she's bought it, but has she? Where is the evidence? Is it only at present a verbal agreement between the current Japanese owner and her, and why doesn't the Japanese government step in and stop it being formalised?

Having had to buy the expensive RAV4 Edge recently to get AWD, maybe Toyota could consider offering AWD as an option on some of the cheaper variants, and indeed on smaller models too. It gives even more safe handling in the wet, and especially in the snow.

There are reasons why people commit suicide and infanticide. Psychosis is certainly one of them, but a very abusive partner can drive a woman to despair and desperation as to how to resolve the situation. Cases like this need thorough investigation to find the history of them, and public education and readily available resources to be alerted by the public or concerned relatives are essential.

Typical communist bullying tactics. Is the sister the one mooted to take over from her brother if someone takes him out? Rather worrying!

This is criminal negligence by the Japanese education department to treat their teaching staff like this. It is taking gross advantage of a profession that consists mostly of people dedicated to helping children grow mentally and physically, and who love their work. No way should staff be involved in cleaning, cleaners who come after school should be emoyed for that. Responsibility for the children should cease when they leave the school premises, and only commence when the kids arrive the next day. Exceptions should only be on school-day outings or outside-hours activities, in which second case overtime should be paid. Lunch breaks should be standard and coincide with children's playtime if possible, or pay in lieu given if not. I cannot imagine that in any western country these stressful working conditions would prevail, not even in private schools where I suspect more is expected of their staff to attract parents to send their children there (and get better exam results for the same purpose!).

About time too, it is incumbent upon any country to acquire the capability to defend itself, and Japan has for too long followed the passive strategy imposed by the Americans after the war, and relied on them since to provide defence capability. With regional threats from China and North Korea, now would be a good time for Japan to "grow up" militarily speaking. By doing so it would be adding to the security in the region, not supplanting America's presence, since you can be sure that with its paranoia about any form of socialism, it's not going to evacuate itself f rom the region!

These whacky religions are everywhere, and there have been so many exposes of the excessive control exercised by their founders and senior adherents. Its hard to prevent adults who are dumb enough or psychologically needy enough to follow them, but children should not be compelled to do so if they feel upset or unsafe in doing so.

The government's therefore need to clarify in law what is unacceptable, apply itcross all religions, and provide a process whereby concerned children (or parents or friends) can express their concern and expect them to be investigated. So there would need to be e.g. special police and/or children's social worker units, and school psychologists would need to be trained to recognise symptoms of discontent in children, and they and teachers should be required to report it to the authorities.

Unfortunately this is not unique to Japan there have been cases in the Australian forces too, notably the Navy. The confined proximity of the sexes in the armed forces, especially the navies, is inevitably a "pressure cooker" for this sort of thing, even more so than offices. Clear teaching on enlistment, clear procedures for investigation, and clearly stated punishments when found guilty will at least make offenders less likely to offend.

Laguna, you mention the Cavalry Church school, would that be the Calvary church school by any chance? I'd put a Smiley in here if I knew how to do it!. But seriously, if it was a Christian school, you would have got a good education. I write as an ex-Catholic who did my senior schooling at a school run by the Jesuits, and I still have great respect for them. But cults like the Moonies twist the minds of their followers because of the narcissistic self-aggrandisement of their leaders.

An autopsy should be done on any body found to determine the cause of death and in this case, if it is not the boy known to be missing, it is doubly important in case the poor child has been sexually or orherwise abused and murdered.

I've always been critical of the perceived need to have equal numbers of women and men as a target for any sort of position, believing that the best person for the job should be the main criterion. Maybe the Japanese government, and employers everywhere, need to draw up strict guidelines as to the selection processes which require the ignoring of the sex of the applicants. Who knows, maybe parity will be achieved as a result anyway!

Be nice if the three were there, but Zelensky may well feel of better use leading his country on to victory against Russia!