Simon_Foston said...

Simon_Foston at 11:24 AM JST - 25th April

The biggest barrier faced by the new Tourism Agency is that over the past sixty years bureaucrats, politicians and construction company bosses have been busy concreting over most of the country and generally making it look as ugly as possible.

Posted in New Tourism Agency faces several barriers to boosting visitor numbers at 11:24 AM JST - 25th April
Simon_Foston at 10:25 AM JST - 23rd April

'It costs the taxpayer' can surely be dealt with by making prisoners work for their food and board while they're inside (they'd have to do it if they were outside, so what's the difference?), allowing friends and relatives to contribute to their living costs, etc.

How about making relatives contribute…

Posted in 27-year-old, in retrial, given death for murders he committed when he was minor at 10:25 AM JST - 23rd April
Simon_Foston at 12:16 AM JST - 23rd April

They often leave a person on Death Row for 40 years because they know he's innocent. That's how pathetic the process here is. Once someone signs that piece of paper they are coerced into signing during 23 days of incarceration permitting torture, they become one with the 99.7% conviction rate.…

Posted in 27-year-old, in retrial, given death for murders he committed when he was minor at 12:16 AM JST - 23rd April
Simon_Foston at 12:06 AM JST - 23rd April

I don't think there will be any fuss about this either. Large groups of right-wing lawmakers trooping off to Yasukuni is a fairly regular occurrence and I don't remember the Chinese or the Koreans ever complaining about it.

Posted in 62 lawmakers visit Yasukuni Shrine at 12:06 AM JST - 23rd April
Simon_Foston at 07:41 PM JST - 22nd April

A lot of the time in Japan there's hardly any difference between a life sentence and the death penalty anyway, what with the bizarre rules about executions they have that leave prisoners on death row for forty years. Let the defence go through with the appeals process by all means,…

Posted in 27-year-old, in retrial, given death for murders he committed when he was minor at 07:41 PM JST - 22nd April
Simon_Foston at 09:01 PM JST - 21st April

they will support it on condition that ‘‘the fiscal resources for building necessary roads are secured.’’

i.e. They get enough cash to bribe their useless pals in the construction companies into continuing to support the election campaigns of their equally useless and corrupt doro zoku pals.

Posted in 15 of 47 LDP prefectural bodies oppose Fukuda's road tax revenue plan at 09:01 PM JST - 21st April
Simon_Foston at 08:10 AM JST - 15th April

If the death penalty is really such an effective deterrent, how come the atrocious crimes are increasing? LDP people really do speak a load of crap.

Posted in Capital punishment deters heinous crimes: Machimura at 08:10 AM JST - 15th April
Simon_Foston at 08:56 AM JST - 12th April

I bet there won't be any talk of amakudari, pork barrel public works, LDP factions' backroom deals or the rural/urban voting disparity. But I'm sure they'll manage to work in the usual mix of cute kids, melodramatic shouting and rousing speeches set to "stirring" background music that's usually so loud…

Posted in Kimutaku to be prime minister in new drama at 08:56 AM JST - 12th April
Simon_Foston at 11:45 PM JST - 10th April

Northlondon, there seems to be nothing at all like the system in the UK, where typically young actors might do a few school plays and amateur drama before going to drama school for three or four years. It just seems that talent scouts find these people somehow and propel them…

Posted in From Cutie Honey to sexy nurse at 11:45 PM JST - 10th April
Simon_Foston at 10:14 AM JST - 10th April

"On the BOJ personnel, I have been at the mercy of the DPJ"

Any prime minister saying anything like that in the UK would be facing party leadership challenges if he wasn't already on the way to Buckingham Palace to tell the Queen he was resigning.

Posted in Fukuda vents irritation at DPJ chief Ozawa at 10:14 AM JST - 10th April