horizon360's past comments

  • 0

    horizon360

    Home schooling varies in quality largely as a reflection of parental knowledge and teaching ability. Some parents with high academic wherewithal have managed to homeschool children who have gone on to enter Ivy league schools and then graduate and enter society as fully functioning adults. Certainly there is a case to be made for educating your children better than formal schooling (public or private) can achieve. However, withholding the experience of mainstream schooling from children is, in most instances, an irredemable act of parental selfishness. Kids need to experience as much soclialization as possible during their developmental years. It is a simple fact of pedagogy that we learn to learn together and therafter learn to teach ourselves. Sadly many "half" kids in Japan end up with defective knowledge of kokugo (especially Kanji) and a vapid lack of scientific awareness - all because of supposed parental worries about bullying or exposure to evolutionary science. At the age of 20 these kids become walking advertisements for dropout cultural distress. They are qualified for nothing and worry constantly why they are not like other people their age.

    Posted in: Home schooling gains traction in U.S.

  • 0

    horizon360

    Fujimoto Ryosuke (the murder victim) was a restaurant owner in a popular downtown metropolitan district (Shibuya). His murder was perpetrated by an organized gang of assailants who managed to track him down (with precision) at a nightclub in another popular downtown metropolitan district (Roppongi). This case bears all the classic hallmarks of an organized crime OC group taking vindictive action after being denied their demands for "protection money" payments from a restaurateur or shop owner. Idle talk about wicked ways in Roppongi or Kabukicho (or the pernicious presence of malevolent foreigners in Japan) is simply a red herring distracting law enforcement from their proper case objectives. Diligent investigations of shake-down operations taking place at businesses in the Shibuya district is the proper starting point for authorities. Having police focus all of their "efforts" on "catching" "mysterious assailants" is exactly what the OC oya-bun heads want. So long as they can continue to pinch independent business owners in Shibuya for cash whatever happens to their little league thugsters is insignificant.

    Posted in: Man dies after being beaten in Roppongi club

  • 4

    horizon360

    Anyone with knowledge of how the Unification "Church" operates to prey upon on socially isolated and mentally vulnerable innocents would never call it a religion. It is a self-serving personality cult which sustains itself through aggressiively soliciting people to forfeit all their wealth in exchange for promises of afterlife rewards. Key to this fraudulent activity are the immense psychological pressures applied to keep people from discussing with family or friends anything about how all of their financial assets and real property have been "lost".

    Anyone who is a victim of Unficiation Church agents can get help for themselves or family through a Japanese bengooshi familiar with the laws against "religious sales" - which are aggressively enforced by Japanese courts. The are several prominent University of Tokyo educated Bengooshi who have special practices dedicated to bringintg legal action against Unification Church groups involved in defrauding the Japanese public. These legal services and related social services to help people traumatized by cult brainwashing are provided by a growing network of not-for-profit groups. The Tokyo Bar Association can refer an appropriate bengooshi for consultation.

    Posted in: 30,000 from Japan invited to Moon's funeral

  • 2

    horizon360

    borschtAug. 09, 2012 - 09:54AM JST Why the note?

    Giving a handwritten note to the teller instead of using spoken communication accomplished two critical purposes. First, it allowed the teller to stay at "her" window instead of leaving to speak to a supervisor - because she could just pass the note. This gained extra time for the authorities to respond. The longer the mother was "busy" in the bank the better the chances were of the child being rescued. Second, the use of a written note reduced any risk for verbal miscommunications or panic among bank employees or doubt about the facts of the situation. With a written note in hand the bank supervisor had a much easier task when speaking to the police by phone. This level headed thinking to write a note for the teller was a very intelligient move. Mom, it seems, is one very smart lady.

    Posted in: Man holds 4-yr-old boy hostage; sends mother into bank to get money

  • 3

    horizon360

    TEPCO is the largest bond issuer in the country after the government. Making sure that those bond holders (banks, insurance companies) don't lose any money is the purpose of the rate hike. It simply has nothing to do with anything else.

    Posted in: Gov't officially approves TEPCO plan to hike household electricity bills from Sept 1

  • 3

    horizon360

    In this license mad nation how is that nuclear clean-up personnel are not subject to strict registration and training plus lifetime health monitoring? How is it possible for an employment agency to dispatch anonymous workers to a nuclear zone without maintaining precision records about each and every individual contracted? What legal status do such agencies have to profit from this kind of enterprise? Shouldn't this be a dead-center exclusive responsibility of the nation's nuclear industry regulators?

    Posted in: Firm told workers at Fukushima plant to lie about radiation dose

  • 0

    horizon360

    Because a presidential candidate who holds most of his personal financial assets outside of the country is unlikely to be elected.

    Posted in: Why is Mitt Romney hiding his tax returns?

  • 1

    horizon360

    Borgnine created characters that audiences ernestly wished they knew in their real lives. He always reassured everyone that any troubles could be handled and everything would be ok. A star personality in life and acting.

    Posted in: Oscar-winning actor Ernest Borgnine dead at 95

  • 1

    horizon360

    Restraining a gaijin in any manner is a major event in the career of a Japanese law enforcement officer. Without that experience to talk about they don't garner the kudos necessary for accelerated career advancement. It is a badge of courage.

    Posted in: No charges over Ghana deportee's death in Japan

  • 2

    horizon360

    How long before the first traffic fatality from driving while surfing with cyber-spectacles? "I was just cruising along and then this pop-up ad for fast-food distracted me so I didn't see those people in the crosswalk. Actually I didn't realize that I had hit anyone until after I got into the parking lot and looked at my car."

    Posted in: Google to sell prototype of futuristic glasses

  • 0

    horizon360

    Japan and Russia can never resolve their dispute over the Kurils by pressing legal or historical claims alone. There are simply too many threads to the story which are entangled by time and knotted by failed compromise efforts in the past. A joint economic project in the Russian Far East (Primorsky Krai) will give both sides a new chance to excuse each others transgressions without losing public face. It is a kind of uber diplomatic solution based on the principle of greater aligned economic interests trumping lesser matters of territorial dominion. Besides, the knock-on benefits of having a regional LNG producer partner will bring better payoffs for Japan than any equivalently costly domestic energy investment.

    Posted in: Japan, Russia to back Y1 tril natural gas project

  • 2

    horizon360

    Under this law if your company is investigated for tax evasion then employees will be at risk of doing felony jail time for any illegal downloads found on the office systems (even if your company wins their tax case). Welcome to the Orwellian Kafkaesque new age.

    Posted in: Japan to make illegal downloading of music, videos punishable with jail terms

  • 2

    horizon360

    During original construction of the Fukushima reactors substantial excavation intentionally reduced the elevation of the chosen reactor sites. This excavation and terrain leveling resulted in the reactor facilities being built closer to sea level. Justification for this engineering debacle at the time was a substantial reduction in the costs of transporting construction materials and equipment brought to the location by sea and then moved up the cliffs to the build site. Apparently TEPCO officials did not recognize the geologically obvious point that the original landmass provided a natural barrier to tsunami and a natural history record of coastal tsunami impacts. Instead an artificial seawall barrier was erected which only partially compensated for the lowered elevation of the reactor sites. Contrary to assertations in the "final report" that "(our) tsunami anticipation was too optimistic" TEPCO actually grossly increased the risks of a future tsunami disaster through negligent engineering and construction which placed financial considerations above public safety. If construction and engineering contractors for TEPCO had been permitted to build all reactor facilities atop the existing landmass and then supplemented this natural barrier with an artificial seawall this disaster would not have occurred. Only when TEPCO publically acknowledges gross negligence in the design and construction of the Fukushima facility will the title "final report" be appropriate.

    Posted in: TEPCO report admits flaws worsened crisis; denies plan to pull out staff

  • 0

    horizon360

    And so endeth the lesson to moribund those donothing Republican congressmembers obstructing legal reforms to immigration policies. The President of the United States is our Executive in Chief who bears power and responsibility to act with moral authority when the political system is vexed by small minded bickering. Who stands among the American people and says with the spirit of our forebearers..."throw those kids over the border".... because they represent an abomination to our nation.

    Posted in: Joy and anger as Obama relaxes deportation rules

  • 0

    horizon360

    JAPANTODAY (not JAPANTIMES)...oops

    Posted in: Former gang member shot dead in Denny's restaurant in Chiba

  • 0

    horizon360

    kakifry wrote: "I guess being killed makes you a "former" gang member, not your age or the extent of your gang activities. Once in, always in.' [That is clearly one way to become "former"]

    Perhaps "former gang member" refers to someone who is not presently a criminal suspect or the subject of an arrest warrant (but was sometime in the past). It seems that mere association with a gang does not technically make you a "gang member" up until you become "wanted" in connection with a crime.

    I wonder how editors at JAPANTIMES define "gang member" and "former gang member".

    Posted in: Former gang member shot dead in Denny's restaurant in Chiba

  • -2

    horizon360

    "...former gang member" is an interesting term. Does it mean that he was convicted of crimes and served some time and eventually returning to society as a productive citizen? Maybe it means that he was "semi-retired" or "inactive" from criminal "work" due to advanced age. Perhaps he was "restura" out of his group because of the bad economy.. [shirokuma2011 called this one right.]

    Posted in: Former gang member shot dead in Denny's restaurant in Chiba

  • 1

    horizon360

    "Peters, a former lawyer, said she is renewing her legal license after a 10-year lapse so she can represent other Honda owners who have the same problems she did."

    Peters was never a "former lawyer". She is, more accurately, a qualified "lawyer" who chose to claim "inactive" status with the California Bar Association for some period of years. Describing someone as a "former lawyer" is like describing someone with an M.D. degree who has passed Medical Board Examinations as a "former doctor" if they don't currently see patients or work in a laboratory. Anyone who has ever qualified professionally as a licensed attorney or M.D. is still a lawyer or doctor regardless of what activity they may be engaged in at present.

    Posted in: California woman wins suit over Honda hybrid mileage per gallon

  • 1

    horizon360

    For this individual shareholder to file a lawsuit against the Board of Directors he first needed to find a good lawyer (bengooshi) to represent him. That probably took a lot of time and effort and money. So far all of the institutional shareholders of Olympus (like banks and investment companies) have refused to take any legal action at all. Now this one small individual shareholder ("The Lone Ranger" ) with his lawyer ("Tonto") are fighting to save the day for all the shareholders. AmericanForeigner bashing the Lone Ranger and calling him an idiot was very uncool.

    Posted in: Shareholder sues Olympus board for firing Woodford

  • 2

    horizon360

    Making the V sign in pictures is a throw-back to mid 70s americana. It came to Japan mainly through black and white teenie bopper picture magazines on international pop culture. Current generations are simply copycatting a trend that was cool when their parents were in junior high. Of course they have no idea that this is so and think it makes them look like rebels.

    Posted in: Why do young Japanese make the V sign when they pose for photos?

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