Apsara said...

Apsara at 03:59 PM JST - 13th July

"that plastered city dwellers by surprise"?! Odd expression.

I was in Omotesando and could see a wall of dark cloud coming, and also all along the Chuo Line going home, but for some reason the storm never hit the area where I live (Suginami).

Posted in 4 drown nationwide as heat wave bakes Japan at 03:59 PM JST - 13th July
Apsara at 10:11 PM JST - 11th July

The thing is that damaged eyesight is far more debilitating than a rash from not washing your clothes or split ends from hair dye, and that people are buying and wearing coloured contacts without knowing that they are potentially damaging their eyesight. I think at least requiring strong warnings on…

Posted in Color contact lenses to be strictly controlled at 10:11 PM JST - 11th July
Apsara at 08:56 AM JST - 3rd July

Japan definitely isn't the only country where you have to line up to talk to the customs officer- whoever said that obviously hasn't been into Australia or New Zealand where you not only have to be approved by a customs officer but also a Ministry of Agriculture officer and then…

Posted in Customs say officers have planted drugs in unwitting travelers' bags 160 times for training at 08:56 AM JST - 3rd July
Apsara at 08:46 AM JST - 3rd July

"It's one of the most famous Japanese foods in the world?" I don't think so...

Posted in Singer Akiko Wada named Natto Queen 2008 at 08:46 AM JST - 3rd July
Apsara at 08:45 AM JST - 3rd July

On first glancing at that photo though I didn't pick Hiroshi as a guy. My grandmother has a jacket like that, and is he really wearing pink trousers?

Posted in NEC phone at 08:45 AM JST - 3rd July
Apsara at 09:21 PM JST - 2nd July

NHK news just did a feature on the shinkansen graffiti, the Florence graffiti and graffiti on various national monuments all over Japan. Never was it suggested that any of it was the work of a foreigner, and much of the graffiti featured was written in Japanese anyway, so they would…

Posted in English graffiti 'Hack' grounds bullet train at 09:21 PM JST - 2nd July
Apsara at 07:58 PM JST - 2nd July

There are loads of islands in New Zealand where introduced or "foreign" species have been eradicated in order to help preserve the native flora and fauna, but I haven't heard anyone suggesting that this means we are racist.

Posted in Getting rid of 'foreign' influences in Ogasawaras at 07:58 PM JST - 2nd July
Apsara at 05:50 PM JST - 22nd June

Here we go again- the idea that more copycats will probably follow is pretty scary.

Posted in 3 women knifed at JR Osaka Station at 05:50 PM JST - 22nd June
Apsara at 08:19 AM JST - 15th June

NZ also managed the switch in 1967, along with changing the currency to dollars and cents from pounds and pence, and somehow everyone managed.

I think the reason is just stubbornness, really, and perhaps a fear of change, like Japan not having daylight saving.

Posted in Why doesn't the U.S. switch to the metric system? at 08:19 AM JST - 15th June
Apsara at 08:14 AM JST - 15th June

You can't compare the earthquake in Iwate with the one in China, or use it as a basis to compare the two countries. Big differences in the size of the earthquake, the kind of area it hit and many other factors. The China earthquake was many times stronger than the…

Posted in 6 dead, 13 missing after magnitude 7 hits northeast Japan at 08:14 AM JST - 15th June