hokkaidoguy said...

hokkaidoguy at 11:24 AM JST - 3rd September

hoserfella - if you've been watching TV lately, both TBS and NTV have given coverage to this press event on the nightly news. So, yes, I think they would touch this story with a 10 foot pole.

Posted in Star of Taiji dolphin-hunt film wants to win over Japan at 11:24 AM JST - 3rd September
hokkaidoguy at 10:32 AM JST - 3rd September

If he's really serious about "winning over Japan", he should do more to actually engage the Japanese media. Promote the film, as it were.

This latest trip has been almost exclusively for the benefit of the foreign media (note the AP copyright on this piece) - which promotes the movie…

Posted in Star of Taiji dolphin-hunt film wants to win over Japan at 10:32 AM JST - 3rd September
hokkaidoguy at 10:20 AM JST - 14th August

In the case of golden week and new years - it's because you can maximize your banked vacation days. I booked April 30 and May 1,7, and 8 off - and was off from April 29 to May 10 inclusive with all the public holidays and weekends. 12 days off,…

Posted in Why do most Japanese take their holidays at the same time - Bon, Golden Week and New Year? at 10:20 AM JST - 14th August
hokkaidoguy at 03:09 PM JST - 4th August

Mittsu - police should shut roads off late at night for them to do so.

Out here in the sticks, drifters tend to "shut down" the roads themselves for late night/early morning runs, usually long stretches of rural winding road. Cars are posted at either end of a stretch of…

Posted in Drift gang leader, 19 others arrested at 03:09 PM JST - 4th August
hokkaidoguy at 07:03 PM JST - 28th July

cleo - "Going down a year for a while would have been a good idea. I wonder why more effort wasn't put into trying to persuade the parents, instead of simply saying 'go somewhere else'?"

Telling the parents that their child needs to be held back a year because of…

Posted in Foreign schoolgirl's admittance delayed due to teachers' opposition at 07:03 PM JST - 28th July
hokkaidoguy at 01:56 PM JST - 23rd July

Knacjerz: Unfortunately there's so few Ainu left it may be too little too late.

... That's hardly true. There are well over 125,000 Ainu in Japan today, and the best archaeological evidence suggests that at no point between 1200 and 1700 (the beginnings of Ainu culture and the beginnings of…

Posted in Panel stresses need for new legislation on Ainu at 01:56 PM JST - 23rd July
hokkaidoguy at 08:51 AM JST - 26th June

I think it's a good idea - and hopefully they'll expand the program over time to include more everyday products.

Perhaps a few points for buying things grown or produced in a 50km radius of wherever you are living might be a good place to start.

Posted in What do you think about the eco-point registration system, which starts July 1, in which consumers who purchase government-designated environmentally friendly refrigerators, television sets and air conditioners can apply for eco-points and later exchange them for other goods and services? at 08:51 AM JST - 26th June
hokkaidoguy at 01:22 PM JST - 12th June

bamboohat-

Shouldn't they have made the common cold a pandemic by their reasoning?

What reasoning is that?

The WHO criteria for a pandemic: - A newly emergent disease - Causes serious illness - Easily transmitted between humans - Transmission levels are sustained.

Explain how the common cold fits those criteria.

Posted in WHO raises new-flu alert to highest level, declares global pandemic at 01:22 PM JST - 12th June
hokkaidoguy at 10:33 PM JST - 10th June

Here's a list of all the current territorial disputes in the world:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Listofterritorial_disputes

Feel free to do your own checking on all of them, if you're one of those people who doesn't trust wikipedia. But have a look anyways.

This issue between Japan and Russia is hardly unique in the…

Posted in Should Russia return the four disputed islands off Hokkaido to Japan? at 10:33 PM JST - 10th June
hokkaidoguy at 09:01 PM JST - 10th June

BurakuminDes-

Anyway, the several hundred thousand people who have lived on these islands for generations - a mixture of caucasian, Korean and NE Asian native people ....

Japan isn't claiming Sakhalin. It claims the four islands directly to the east of Hokkaido, one of which is uninhabited. The total population…

Posted in Should Russia return the four disputed islands off Hokkaido to Japan? at 09:01 PM JST - 10th June