Simon_Foston said...

Simon_Foston at 10:35 PM JST - 29th May

Emperor Palpatine.

Posted in Who gets your vote for the most evil movie villain of all time? at 10:35 PM JST - 29th May
Simon_Foston at 08:44 AM JST - 26th May

What gets me is how this can possibly be aceptable to the Japanese people, who are the main victims of the (I believe uncomfortably frequent if not predominant) miscarriages of justices caused by forced confessions. It really is time the Japanese people started making a lot of noise about the…

Posted in Kagoshima police deploy officers to monitor interrogations at 08:44 AM JST - 26th May
Simon_Foston at 08:38 AM JST - 24th May

They're not going to engender a lot of patriotism by making it compulsory. How many teachers do you suppose stand up for the "Kimigayo" not because they love Japan but because they'll be punished if they don't?

Anyway, I suspect that they only have these rules because it plays well…

Posted in 2 teachers punished for refusing to stand up, recite 'Kimigayo' at 08:38 AM JST - 24th May
Simon_Foston at 11:27 PM JST - 23rd May

I dont see how pouring money into education and health will change anything.

Let's see... they could have more teachers, smaller classes (generally considered to be a good idea by anyone who actually knows anything about education), more doctors, more nurses, and more hospitals in rural areas where they're…

Posted in Two-thirds of governors still want generous road funding at 11:27 PM JST - 23rd May
Simon_Foston at 09:02 AM JST - 22nd May

The governors, from prefectures including Hokkaido, Yamagata, Kochi, Miyazaki and Okinawa, appeared particularly vocal in their demands for more road-building subsidies because their areas’ highway networks are quite underdeveloped compared with those in other prefectures.

That's their own stupid fault for spending the last 60 years wasting everyone's money. Anyway,…

Posted in Two-thirds of governors still want generous road funding at 09:02 AM JST - 22nd May
Simon_Foston at 10:48 PM JST - 21st May

If anyone needs a reason not to pay for NHK, just consider that those collectors are getting something like 3 million yen a year and that the cost of getting the fees takes up about 12% of NHK's total annual budget. There was some discussion about finding ways to cut…

Posted in Large message on TV screen can reduce nonpayment by NHK viewers: panel at 10:48 PM JST - 21st May
Simon_Foston at 10:12 AM JST - 21st May

NHK just doesn't produce anything that I want to watch, and they seem to be under no obligation to do so. I distinctly recall a government politician going on record saying that the quality of NHK programming didn't matter, people still had to pay because the law said so. So…

Posted in Large message on TV screen can reduce nonpayment by NHK viewers: panel at 10:12 AM JST - 21st May
Simon_Foston at 04:49 PM JST - 20th May

In Europe and the States farms have grown in size as the more successful farmers have bought out their competitors.

I don't think that could happen in Japan, as I believe there are US Occupation era laws that limit the amount of land that can be owned. The law could…

Posted in Gov't warns low food self-sufficiency, global shortages may lead to drastic diet changes at 04:49 PM JST - 20th May
Simon_Foston at 10:48 AM JST - 19th May

Japanese TV sucks, period. It is generally peurile and is obsessed with programmes about Japanese people becoming "metabolik" while at the same time spewing out mindless, unending programmes about cookery. Personally I am thankful for SkyPerfect TV. One of the few contacts with the real world.

Agreed, but personally I…

Posted in PTA says 'London Hearts' is worst TV program at 10:48 AM JST - 19th May
Simon_Foston at 10:47 PM JST - 18th May

Simon, that is an incredibily unintelligent thing to say, you're picking up the standard stereotypes again. And just to be fair, do you have any idea how much fruit and vegetables Japan simply throws away just because it isn't in absolute pristine condition?

A very fair point about Japan throwing…

Posted in Gov't warns low food self-sufficiency, global shortages may lead to drastic diet changes at 10:47 PM JST - 18th May