ADK99's past comments

  • 0

    ADK99

    It's quite possible that the perpetrators made all of the postings on the site in order to give themselves an "out" in the event of being caught.

    Posted in: Man arrested for molesting woman after being invited to do so online

  • 6

    ADK99

    I a once again fascinated by the number of people who can spare the time to comment on a story, but can't spare the time to READ the story. The 3 years is not for murder. He has been convicted for sexual assault, which we can deduce to be something "less" than rape. His victim is alive, hence no murder took place. We can be reasonably assured that his friend will receive a significantly heavier sentence if convicted for rape and murder.

    Posted in: American gets 3 years for sexually assaulting Irish student

  • 16

    ADK99

    To be fair to Japan, the soaring yen was never down to any fundamental strength in the Japanese economy anyway. It was mostly caused by investors viewing Japan as a safe haven in the face of European and American banking instability. Devaluing the currency a little to slow down or reverse those flows is a dangerous game, but as my own country (Britain) has a programme of quantitative easing, as does the US, whilst China refuses to allow it's currency to float, I'm not sure why Japan is deserving of criticism.

    Posted in: Yen manipulation claims completely off the mark: Aso

  • 1

    ADK99

    @Oikawa, it IS to do with abusing their position in the professional hierarchy. That's why they felt able to order her in this way, and they absolutely ought to be punished accordingly. In the absence of the professional hierarchy it's likely that the crime would never have occurred.

    Posted in: 2 Kanagawa cops arrested for sexually harassing female colleague

  • 5

    ADK99

    You can't realistically expect things to be the same after you leave, but I am rather amused that so much of the disinformation that led people to listen to their own embassies over the government emanated from NHK.

    Posted in: French woman who fled Japan after 3/11 sues NHK for unfair dismissal

  • 0

    ADK99

    I'm sure that Starbucks are genuinely (perhaps misguidedly) trying to respond to customer preferences here. It doesn't take a genius to see that the cost saving is insignificant - people seem to be assuming that they're only paying for the coffee when they go there but in fact you're paying for rent, salaries and a whole host of other things besides. There are plenty of things to criticize them for (tax avoidance and the effect they have had on independent coffee shops being among them) but this isn't it. As for 100 yen cups of coffee at McDonalds - they'd never be able to match that price if coffee was a key part of their turnover.

    Posted in: Starbucks Japan reduces amount of brew in some offerings

  • -1

    ADK99

    I wished him good luck several years ago. This time I wish he does a better job and doesn't choke like he did last time.

    Posted in: Obama congratulates Abe on election win

  • 3

    ADK99

    The quote in isolation isn't especially enlightening and it's hard to understand exactly what her point is. It makes a lot more sense in the context of the full article though, which is rather interesting:

    http://www.stripes.com/news/pacific/bad-behavior-in-the-pacific/military-brass-dealing-with-an-entrenched-culture-of-alcohol-use-in-asia-1.200199

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  • 1

    ADK99

    I'll leave you to it Frungy, I see little point in discussing anything at all given your tone, or indeed anything with anyone who views any disagreement as trolling. For what it's worth I read and understood all of your posts. I just happen to disagree that your solution is sensible or economically viable and it's riddled with problems that, should you ever get around to talking to a train company, will no doubt be pointed out to you by someone that you don't consider to be a troll. Good luck with it, and feel free to make me eat humble pie if you ever get your idea off the ground.

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  • 0

    ADK99

    Oh, and I don't think the train system is so faulty so I shan't be walking. I think it's currently safe enough for the most part, and expensive solutions to stop people from doing really stupid things (with the brave exception of the selfless lady killed in this incident) is a bottomless pit from which we will never emerge.

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  • 0

    ADK99

    Frungy, the rudeness is rather unnecessary.
    However, to address some of the points you made:

    Large planes don't crash because enormous amounts of money is invested in ensuring that they don't. We don't put quite the same premium on ensuring that tiny things don't go wrong on trains because it's not economically viable. It's not an apt comparison to planes, and the idea of a 1 in 1,000,000 failure rate for a train or drone on tracks is rather fanciful unless you would plan to make a similar scale of safety investment. In which case, we'll all be walking as we won't be able to afford the trains.

    I'm curious as to what a "safe distance from the tracks" would be for your malfunctioning drone. Sounds like it would have to rather carefully calibrated to ensure that it a. went far enough away from its own track and b. didn't go on to a neighbouring track and c. didn't hit anything (e.g. a train platform) and bounce back onto the track. Given those variables, I return to my previous point that there is absolutely no way that a responsible train company would allow trains to proceed after your watermelon had been catapulted from the tracks until said object had been satisfactorily accounted for. Delays.

    To answer your questions, I don't think drones would be malfunctioning all the time, and never suggested such a thing. I do, however, think that most things with a high safety threshold malfunction from time to time, and adding thousands of moving things to the train tracks absolutely will cause malfunctions from time to time. I'm not sure when the last time a train that I was on malfunctioned, but I can tell you that a train that I was on last week was delayed due to a problem on another train.

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  • 0

    ADK99

    Well no, you didn't answer the issue of the drone falling on or off the track, you just said that it could be handled. I'm disputing that. I know little about rail safety (or indeed engineering) but I do know that there is no way on earth that JR will sanction a system that, if it fails, relies on a moving passenger train carrying on in the face of a possible obstruction on the track. If what you're suggesting is that the train slows to a walking pace whilst the drone is collected then you're adding a train delay to the whole line every time one of the drones fails. Over-complicated.
    As mirrors, I think they are already used on curves, aren't they? I may be mistaken but I'm pretty sure they're stationed all along my line. Will check next time I take the train.

    You'll be happy to know that "someone like me" is unlikely to be involved in any railway projects in this lifetime. I will, however, be delighted to tip my hat to you if your plan comes to fruition.

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  • 0

    ADK99

    Frungy, I stand by my original comment - this is an expensive, over-engineered solution which introduces all manner of extra issues that complicate the equation.

    In the event of a system failure or other problem the drone could simply be programmed to fall to one side of the track, and be retrieved later for repair. A replacement drone would be attached at the next station up and synch with the train.

    How do you propose ensuring with certainty that the drone has fallen off the track and is not partly on the track? Perhaps another drone behind the first drone?

    I don't doubt that this is technically possible but it's not going to happen on a complex rail system like Tokyo.

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  • -1

    ADK99

    Frungy, it sounds like one of those ideas that's very nice on paper but rather impractical in reality. You'd be doubling the number of objects moving around the tracks at high speed which seems likely to increase the number of interactions with pedestrians and cars, not reduce it. Crossing time would be significantly increased. Every time a drone broke down you'd have to stop the trains.

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  • -1

    ADK99

    Whilst it would be nice to improve safety, I can't help but feel that adding a 100km/h watermelon sized missile to the equation might make things worse, not better.

    Article Unavailable

  • 2

    ADK99

    I think a good rule of thumb is that if they sell it on the train platform then it's OK (unless of course it's crowded).

    Posted in: Eating on trains: Survey asks 'How much is too much?'

  • 9

    ADK99

    No, murder is illegal in all of Japan. As the article states, laws on some crimes vary from area to area. That wouldn't apply to murder.

    Posted in: Man who filmed up flight attendant's skirt freed due to jurisdiction loophole

  • 5

    ADK99

    @Tronru, I regularly ski, hike and camp in Japan, almost always within 2-3 hours of Tokyo. I also attend football (soccer) games, enjoy a beer at baseball from time to time, and manage to make it along to sumo about once a year. I don't fish, but I know plenty of people who do.

    Posted in: Why it’s so hard to have your family come to Japan

  • 1

    ADK99

    It's an Associated Press article, Japantoday didn't write it, hence the focus on the French.

    Posted in: Japan beats France 1-0

  • 0

    ADK99

    @basroil, at my station the same platform takes trains on the sobu kaisoku line (with differing lengths), narita express (completely different trains), the shiosai going out to far Chiba (completely different again) and another train that stops there occasionally that I'm not sure where it goes.

    Posted in: Work to install automatic gates on station platforms proceeding slowly

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