JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION

knews's past comments

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  knewsDec. 11, 2008 - 10:56AM JST

  The headline reads like the victim bungled the investigation...

  Posted in: Australian rape victim loses case against police for bungling investigation

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  knewsDec. 05, 2008 - 09:00AM JST

  newsboy

  I'm with you on this one. Basically, tourists get in the way of people trying to do their job at the markets. That is what this is about. You can find whale meat in other areas of the market so it's nothing to do with that. Imagine busloads of Japanese tourists at the NY Stock Exchange running around the trading floor taking photos or having their photos taken in front of traders!

  Posted in: Tourists to be barred from Tsukiji tuna auctions for a month

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  knewsNov. 15, 2008 - 10:48PM JST

  elbudamexicano

  If you are going to call someone a "loser" four times in two sentences, at least spell it right...! Or was the passenger actually loose?

  Posted in: Jilted man arrested after refusing to pay for 500-km taxi ride

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  knewsOct. 26, 2008 - 05:20PM JST

  The "first death on the island since WWII" line is a little misleading. It may well be true but only the military is allowed to go there because there is still a lot of live ammunition lying around. So the number of people who've been to Iwo Jima since WWII is actually quite small. It's certainly no tourist spot. I would also guess that the "annual school trip" mentioned is actually for the Self-Defense Forces Fuji School that is referred to in the article and not a regular mainland civilian school.

  Posted in: Japanese army major dies during visit to Iwo Jima tunnel

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  knewsOct. 13, 2008 - 07:48PM JST

  Not to criticize but "one of Japan's top 200 climbs"?!! Sounds like it's not the greatest of climbs. If it was number 149, it would be one of Japan's top 150 climbs but one assumes it must have been about no. 199!! I'm sure the baths and food are nice though.....

  Posted in: Head to Yufuin for hot springs, mountain climbing

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  knewsOct. 09, 2008 - 11:29PM JST

  The debate was pretty average but it's difficult not to think that John McCain has really had his day. He could even remember World War II as he would have been 8 or 9 years old when it ended. He is just too stiff and still looks like a traumatized soldier. I don't blame him for being a bit messed up from what he experienced and even though he is softly spoken, I sense a short temper that is dying to get out. He served his country well and people are proud of that service. This doesn't mean he should be president with the keys to the nuclear arsenal. He still waffles on about his captivity in Vietnam which must have been terrible, but I'm all for moving away from the Vietnam connections. Every president since the Vietnam War has had to explain his position and/or contribution to Vietnam but, finally, there is a chance to move on from that with Barack Obama. He was too young to have been involved. Obama certainly isn't perfect but he's much more eloquent and charismatic than McCain. His running mate, Biden, seems to have been a good pick but McCain's choice of Palin was a terrible one. She really is quite embarrassing. Although eloquence and charisma aren't the most important things when in office, they are certainly important qualities that help a nominee win people over (Bush Jr. being an exception here. He just had the numbers fudged). If McCain wins, it almost feels like it won't be the beginning of the end, more like the end of the beginning of the end! We would then move into even scarier times. Finally, I totally agree with Obama that dialog with dodgy countries is always better than ignoring them or bombing them and hoping they'll fade away. Communication is vital for all humans in order to try to understand one another.

  Posted in: Race little altered by 2nd McCain, Obama debate

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  knewsAug. 08, 2008 - 11:03PM JST

  Japan Husker

  "It's a selfish, coward's way out..."

  Remember that is your opinion based on your social upbringing. Things aren't always so simple and her upbringing was obviously different from yours. Once again, it's hard to judge without knowing the woman personally. Who knows? Maybe the father just claimed his wife had problems to cover up his own incestuous problems and she wanted to protect them from him. Or perhaps he'd been having an affair and she found out. Just speculation of course but that's the point... we can all speculate when we don't know the details. Mothers can feel an extremely close bond with their kids and taking kids to jump off an overpass together may have seemed like the best thing to do at the time. Honestly. Problem with that is it's irreversible. People do have moments where they snap so, as tempting as it is to criticize, we shouldn't.

  Posted in: Mother, daughters die in suspected murder-suicide leap in Kanazawa

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  knewsAug. 08, 2008 - 06:51AM JST

  Actually, it appears to be quite rare for capital punishment to be applied in Japan when someone kills his or her own family member/s. There is supposedly a big difference between killing those "inside" one's family and those "outside" one's family. But more than this, it would probably be his daughter (the elder one who survived) who most likely "saved" him from the hangman by her wish that no one else in her family die an unnatural death. As selfish as it may seem, some fathers do feel that the shame of failure (i.e. wrong business/investment choices) will also shame the family so it would be better to "save" the family from future shame. Those who say he should just bump himself off are of course right, but we say that because we can't understand how someone could do it. The reality is that it does happen all over the world but tends to be more prevalent in Japan (and possibly Korea and China, too). Learn about history and old stories of these countries and you will see that this kind of behaviour is thousands of years old.

  Posted in: Man sentenced to life in prison for killing wife, daughter

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