JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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mikeinhach
I feel the airline industry has really dragged their feet on the fuel issue. Oil is never going to go back to $50 a barrel, those days are dead and gone. And while other industries, especially the automotive industry has worked very hard at building more efficient cars, hybrids etc. I wonder has the airline industry built more efficient planes with better engines? Since there are only two major builders these days, Boeing and Airbus, it is all up to what they produce. But back to the airlines, they have to stop complaining about the price of fuel and do something about it, or there people will, and already have stopped flying because of the price.
Posted in: Turbulence ahead for airlines despite oil price drop
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mikeinhach
So Japan launches a satellite for the Koreans, but gets the French to launch one for them? That seems a bit strange, or were they afraid it would blow up like so many of their other launches!
Posted in: Japan launches first commercial satellite
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mikeinhach
For those of you against restarting the nuclear power plants, what do you recommend people and companies do, when or if there is a shortage of electricity. I am honestly looking for alternatives, as I often hear people say, we don't need to restart these plants, but they never offer alternatives, or how to cope.
Posted in: Oi assembly agrees to restart 2 reactors
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mikeinhach
Well if you remember back to the Nagano olympics, the Japanese gov't was very quick to give a number of Canadian ice hockey players Japanese citizenship, just so they could field a competitive ice hockey team. The big joke at the time was when they were asked where they were from they would answer,"Japanada". I think many of them probably returned to Canada and their Canadian citizenship.
Posted in: Japanese comedian barred from Olympic run for Cambodia
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mikeinhach
I can't believe that the Japanese gov't has been paying this family rent for the islands for years! Out of pure patriotism, shouldn't this family donate the islands back to Japan! It's not like they are going to build a summer house there!
Posted in: Ishihara says Tokyo plans to buy disputed Senkaku islands
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mikeinhach
Squidbert, thanks for the post. I don't know much about Japan's thermal power plant capacity, and you might be right, that they weren't up and running in time for last summer. All I know is that my friends husband didn't get to see his children most of the summer due to his weird working hours. So hopefully that situation will be addressed. Another friend who owns a fish processing company really felt betrayed when after losing two factories to the tsunami, he was then forced to switch production to his remaining factories, only to be told that he had to cut his electricity by 15%. Which he did, and shifted more of his work to factories in China. That is my worry, that the current situation will be detrimental to the Japanese economy and it's industries. I don't know about a lot of the posters on this site, but I plan on staying in Japan for a long time, so while I want to live in a safe, clean, radiation free country, I also want it to be a country with jobs and industries for its people.
Posted in: DPJ's Sengoku compares closing nuclear plants to 'mass suicide'
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mikeinhach
I don't want to get into a pissing match with a lot of posters on this thread, but I think many of you are forgetting that a lot of sacrifices were made last year to keep Japanese companies up and running with the limited amount of electricity. I know a lot of workers who had to switch shifts from regular week days to weekends and night, when electricity was more available. Other industries were threatened with huge fines if they did not meet the 15% mandatory cut backs, which in turn hurt their bottom line. So while many consumers made small sacrifices by turning off their lights, or turning down the A/C, many others had their lives disrupted. The other point I would like to make is, even if the nuclear power plants are mothballed, there is still a great risk of an earthquake or a tsunami damaging the facility and causing a new disaster. I feel a lot of people feel that if the reactors are not operating that there is no worries, but that is not so. So I say, let the gov't really inspect the nuclear facilities, certify the ones that are safe and have passed real stress tests, and begin to decommission the others.
Posted in: DPJ's Sengoku compares closing nuclear plants to 'mass suicide'
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mikeinhach
That is mighty nice of Mr. Wyden, but I doubt if either the Japanese Gov't or TEPCO would accept help from anybody, as I don't think they really want the world to know the extent of the damage and how totally screwed they are!
Posted in: Fukushima damage leaves spent fuel at risk, says U.S. lawmaker
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mikeinhach
How will spending huge sums of money, that could really be used for the reconstruction of the Tohoku area, help cheer them up. I would be completely angered that they were diverting funds, just to make that old bat Shintaro Ishihara happy. I really hope that Istanbul gets the games and allow new and exciting places to become part of the Olympic family. Too many times they return to old haunts for no other reason than corruption and graft.
Posted in: Hosting 2020 Olympics would aid healing process - Tokyo bid chief
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mikeinhach
There was a report about a month ago, talking about all the offices and buildings that TEPCO rented in Tokyo, and the sum was astonishing, and basically not necessary if they just consolidated their operations. They have a suite of office in Roppongi Hills, and perhaps also Midtown, just a huge waste of money.
Posted in: TEPCO to sell additional 800 properties to raise funds for compensation
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mikeinhach
If it is a small private hospital I doubt they would have any cameras in the hospital.
Posted in: Patient murdered in Aomori hospital
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mikeinhach
Oh come on, Japan suffered the worst natural disaster in more than 100 years, so of course last March nobody was buying cars. Or at least after March 11th. So yes any kind of sales increase this year would be significant. I'm just glad that the car industry seems to be back and running at full strength and hopefully this will help the Japanese economy. As for growing deficits, I feel that this becomes a wash as the gov't will recoup from the extra sales.
Posted in: Green subsidies boost Japan auto sales by record 78.2% in March
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mikeinhach
I think the report should have stated he was slashed in the thigh, probably cutting the major artery running on the inside of the groin, right to the heart. If that was the case, he would have bled out in minutes. All the same, RIP to the driver.
Posted in: Man stabbed to death in road rage incident
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mikeinhach
I have one question, the nuclear power plants are here, they cannot be decommissioned quickly, it will take years to do so. Why doesn't the govt choose a few that have past the stress tests, allow them to be started up, and begin to decommission the others, while at the same time begin to look for alternative sources of energy. I get the impression that people feel if the reactors are left shut down, the problems are gone. But they still need cooling, and if another big earthquake or tsunami hits, they will be vulnerable. So, make the best of a bad situation. Also, I truly feel that even though Japan has an abundance of geothermal power possibilities, the onsen and hot spring industry, and thus the whole Japanese population will be against this. The minute you begin siphoning off this water for power production, goodbye hot springs.
Posted in: With the last two of Japan's 54 nuclear reactors to go offline next month, can Japan meet its energy needs in the foreseeable future without using nuclear power?
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mikeinhach
The people of Tohoku are resilient and will do everything they can to help themselves recover. What scares me is the attitude of other Japanese who while claiming to support and want to help Tohoku, also shun their products and goods. From the snow incident in Okinawa, to the wood incident in Kyoto, if other people around Japan don't help and support Tohoku, or continue to discriminate against them, that will be the worst outcome for the region!
Posted in: Amid all the stories on the 1st anniversary of the March 11 disaster, do you see anything that gives you hope for the recovery of the Tohoku region?
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mikeinhach
I believe in global warming as much as the next person does, but this quaint idea that young Canadians are still learning to play hockey on the outdoor rinks and ponds around their houses is dead wrong. Sure some people do enjoy skating outside, and maybe even playing shinny, but the vast majority of kids who play organized hockey, do it inside, in a rink, and the season has become a year round process. With hockey schools and power skating schools running all summer long.
I also think that this year's weather, albeit abnormally warm, was due to elninya, and next year things will return to normal. Look at the winter we have had here in Japan, much colder than usual, heavier than usual snow fall, does that mean we are going to see more hockey players in Northern Japan now!
Posted in: Warming threatens ice hockey in Canada
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mikeinhach
I can't wait for them to tackle the trees behind and clean each branch one by one! Are there any rivers that flow from Fukushima to Tokyo? Just wondering?
Posted in: Cleanup
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mikeinhach
Up here in Aomori-ken, girls all wear black nylons or tights in the winter. I'm not sure if it is a rule, or just common sense. I was in Tokyo a few weeks back, and saw a lot of hs girls with their short skirts and white socks and thought they would literally freeze their bums off if they lived here in Aomori.
Posted in: What do you think of school uniforms? Should schools even have uniforms?
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mikeinhach
Ozawa is so frustrating! Why does he feel that Minshuto must stick to its "manifesto". Things have changed since it was drafted in 2009. I know he is a power hungry megalomaniac, but why doesn't he try to work with his own party and try to come up with a system that is good for "the people". Nothing he does helps anybody but himself, as far as I can see. In a perverse way, I would like him to become prime minister and see what he could do. Does he think he can get more cooperation from the LDP? I know since he was a member for such a long time, he probably knows where a lot of their skeletons are buried, but I think he would fail to get anything passed just as PM Noda is experiencing now.
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mikeinhach
I'm guessing said 50 year old, was either unemployed, or a kind of shut in, watching TV at 3:30 in the afternoon with his father. Maybe the father had been harping at him about a job, or get married, anything to get him out of the house, and boom, the guy explodes, gets a knife(not sure why they always say kitchen knife, I've never heard of a living room knife) and stabs the old man to death. Nothing to do with TV, just the catalyst.
Posted in: Man fatally stabs father over TV channel argument