as_the_crow_flies said...

as_the_crow_flies at 01:25 PM JST - 8th November

The mother was reported by some American media to have unlawfully taken the children first from the United States.

Talk about rubbish reporting! she wasn't reported by some American media to have done it. She abducted the children out of the US in violation of a custody agreement, and therefore…

Posted in Czech man takes son out of Japan in suspected child abduction at 01:25 PM JST - 8th November
as_the_crow_flies at 01:12 PM JST - 8th November

The old tvs are gathered and put into containers and shipped to the Philippines.

I saw a programme in the UK and just about every part of a TV is recycled by specialist companies. Much goes back into making new TVs. Even the recycling centres are energy conscious and try…

Posted in Nearly 70% of Japanese families have digital broadcasting receivers at 01:12 PM JST - 8th November
as_the_crow_flies at 08:55 PM JST - 7th November

I think you can get some sort of decoder that costs about 3000 yen and just run your analogue tv till it runs into the ground. No eco points for that though! Perish the thought that you'd do anything like avoiding buying a new tv for the sake of the…

Posted in Nearly 70% of Japanese families have digital broadcasting receivers at 08:55 PM JST - 7th November
as_the_crow_flies at 08:49 PM JST - 7th November

It's families that build communities and sustain them. Breaking them up is not what elected officials are for. Laws should be obeyed, but only if they don't create unnecessary misery for people.

Seconded. Actually the supposed policy was not to break up families beforehand. That's why cases like the Calderons…

Posted in Filipino family gets special permission to stay in Japan at 08:49 PM JST - 7th November
as_the_crow_flies at 08:32 PM JST - 7th November

and she was invited to give ladder-climbing a try.

She was probably too tied up communicating with Martians to come down to the Big Top.

Posted in Hatoyamas check out Cirque du Soleil in Tokyo at 08:32 PM JST - 7th November
as_the_crow_flies at 08:30 PM JST - 7th November

The fine strands of unsaturated fat in the meat melt when it is cooked,

Oh sure! They can breed cattle which have saturated instead of unsaturated fat! Usual Japanese bllx, I imagine. Anyway, whatever, if it sells, good luck to the eaters and the sellers. Wagyu at ASDA sounds a…

Posted in Ordinary Britons to get taste of exclusive Japanese beef at 08:30 PM JST - 7th November
as_the_crow_flies at 08:42 AM JST - 4th November

It advised the broadcasters to ‘‘produce programs that correctly convey the reality of the serious harm that drugs can cause and to guide young people to think and choose not to use drugs.’‘

What they mean is that there should have been images of Kitty-chan plastered all over our screens…

Posted in TV coverage of Sakai lacked warning about drug use, says ethics panel at 08:42 AM JST - 4th November
as_the_crow_flies at 08:35 AM JST - 4th November

EFFICIENCY - making the most out of the energy you harvest. There is a definite market for dirt-cheap OLED-based lighting panels too

.

Too true. They could try closing a few shop doors and switching a few trillion unneccessary lights out, too. Force companies to do energy audits. Fine truckies…

Posted in Japan accelerates purchase of surplus solar electricity at homes at 08:35 AM JST - 4th November
as_the_crow_flies at 08:32 AM JST - 4th November

Good point, noborito. I wonder if the speakers play the gentle sound of hubby snoring to soothe fractious wives to sleep in their solitary glory...

Posted in Sleep tight at 08:32 AM JST - 4th November
as_the_crow_flies at 08:30 AM JST - 4th November

“Occasionally foreign managers or coaches become uncontrollable from the Japanese perspective.

This is a very interesting and telling sentence. What is it about this deep-seated need to control other people's emotions?

I thought it was about the only interesting thing in the article, too. I think the new Foreign Minister…

Posted in Is Miki Ando's skating coach a Japan hater? at 08:30 AM JST - 4th November