ThonTaddeo said...

ThonTaddeo at 12:23 AM JST - 16th September

If I were a world-class sprinter, I'd be arranging to run the 100 meters starting at 08:59:55. Then when I finished at 09:00:04, I'd be bragging to any reporter who would listen about how I was the first person to run it in 9 seconds!

Posted in Leap second to be inserted to adjust for Earth's rotation at 12:23 AM JST - 16th September
ThonTaddeo at 12:21 AM JST - 13th September

Six times as many female centenarians as male ones.

Thanks, Japan Inc., for working all those loyal men to an early death.

Next time someone claims that Japan is a "male-dominated" society, remind them of this statistic. If the average man were so valued by society, he would be enjoying…

Posted in Female centenarians in Japan to top 30,000 by end of Sept at 12:21 AM JST - 13th September
ThonTaddeo at 10:10 PM JST - 11th September

The record he brokw a while back was the one for hits in one season, which had been 257 until Ichiro came along.

Posted in 4 hits move Ichiro within 10 of tying MLB record at 10:10 PM JST - 11th September
ThonTaddeo at 10:06 PM JST - 11th September

ExPrinceska, the order in which the items are listed in the passport is irrelevant -- almost all countries put the surname first in a passport, but in speech and writing, the surname never goes first. I'm guessing that Japanese investigators just copied the names off the all-important alien card, and…

Posted in Wakanoho begs to return to sumo at 10:06 PM JST - 11th September
ThonTaddeo at 09:45 PM JST - 10th September

JT, can you please show these sumo wrestlers some respect and print their names correctly?

Soslan is his given name, Alexandrovich is his patronymic (derived from his father's name), and Gagloev is his surname. He should be referred to as Soslan Gagloev, or if the patronymic must be included, Soslan…

Posted in Wakanoho begs to return to sumo at 09:45 PM JST - 10th September
ThonTaddeo at 09:14 PM JST - 10th September

Luddite, I imagine that these prices were written a few months ago when a pound was close enough to $2.00 US/Canadian. Actually, when I first read the headline, I thought it was going to be touting the sudden return-to-reasonableness of the GBP, which is now in the $1.70s for the…

Posted in Bargain Britain? If you know where to look at 09:14 PM JST - 10th September
ThonTaddeo at 09:43 PM JST - 29th August

Nessie, I think it's the other way around; supposedly ANA has a minimum height (because you need to be able to reach the overhead bins and such), but I don't think there's a maximum.

How tall is Saori Takizawa? Please let her be about 175 cm!

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ThonTaddeo at 09:21 PM JST - 28th August

Stabbing a sleeping person is just about the most low-down, cowardly way there is to hurt a person. Maybe Mr. Kamikawa was a bad stepfather, and maybe he wasn't (he's no longer around to argue for himself, now is he?), but he was as defenseless as a man can be…

Posted in 15-year-old boy held for fatally stabbing mother's common-law husband at 09:21 PM JST - 28th August
ThonTaddeo at 10:41 PM JST - 27th August

Isn't Y300,000 also the fine for refusing to carry around your alien card if you're a foreigner?

Think about that for a minute.

And the maximum fine for violating the terms of one's visa was recently decupled to Y3,000,000.

So society can punish a student who works extra hours, or…

Posted in Ex-cop fined Y300,000 for running teenage prostitution in Fukuoka at 10:41 PM JST - 27th August
ThonTaddeo at 09:28 PM JST - 22nd August

Why does Ms Sakai not adopt as artist's name a truly Ainu name ?

Freespeech, she already has a perfectly-good real Ainu name -- "Mina" means "laugh" or "smile" in Ainu.

She herself may have waited until age 16 to discover her bicultural-ness, but her parents certainly wanted to make…

Posted in Ainu rise up from the margins of Japanese society at 09:28 PM JST - 22nd August