JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION

philsandoz's past comments

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  philsandozMay. 10, 2012 - 07:38PM JST

  "While some claim that the Japanese are paragons of good table manners..." I've never heard anybody claim this. After many years of trying desperately not to complain about slurping (noodles OK; coffee not OK), salarymen smoking between courses at a restaurant, the picking of teeth with chopsticks, the raising of bowls to the mouth, the speaking while having a mouthful of food -- no enough is enough! If the Japanese can't recognize their own terrible table manners, let them by all means buy shoddy, cheap and totally crude chopsticks.

  Posted in: Novelty chopsticks

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  philsandozApr. 27, 2012 - 08:31PM JST

  Now, if she'd got pregnant by a girlfriend -- that would be news!

  Posted in: Rie Hasegawa pregnant by boyfriend

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  philsandozApr. 27, 2012 - 07:43PM JST

  Surely Japanese politics must be the one world where the slime rises to the top? Just look at the photo -- would you buy a used car from that man?

  Posted in: Japan's 'shadow shogun' rises again

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  philsandozApr. 10, 2012 - 09:59AM JST

  I apologize in advance for my perhaps twisted sense of humor, but I find this story amusing. I'm sorry, but the picture I have in my mind of a 37-year-old policeman dressed in a sailor suit is magically funny. In fact, I think I may have seen the same man or one of his mates at Shinjuku Station about three months ago -- what I saw was an obviously 40-to-50-year-old man in a sailor suit, bedecked with at least a one-day stubble, but dressed in a shell-suit equivalent of a schoolgirl uniform, striding purposely between the Saikyo and Chuo lines, but, as I'm sure most people did, I just thought he was an idiot.

  On the serious side, however, I have nothing against transvestitism in general, but targeting schoolgirls is very, very wrong. The idiot mentioned in this story, however, is just that -- an idiot!

  Posted in: Policeman in schoolgirl uniform arrested for flashing

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  philsandozApr. 09, 2012 - 08:23PM JST

  Does the company have a fifth core value -- putting the steering wheel on the legal and safe side?

  Posted in: New Jeeps for new Japan

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  philsandozApr. 07, 2012 - 08:41PM JST

  Ozawa is a lying, grasping, self-agrandizing thief — so why should we be surprised that an up and coming Japanese politician would idolize him? Hashimoto is simply showing his true colors — no, his true camouflage.

  Posted in: Hashimoto criticizes DPJ policies, praises Ozawa on Twitter

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  philsandozMar. 31, 2012 - 07:46PM JST

  "Noda defends use of death penalty" He can't . It is indefensible. Killing is wrong, pure and simple.

  Posted in: Noda defends use of death penalty

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  philsandozMar. 21, 2012 - 07:14PM JST

  What a bloody cheek! Who the hell does Uncle Sam think he is telling other FREE nations what they can or can't do?

  Posted in: Japan to cut Iran oil imports after exemption from U.S. sanctions

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  philsandozMar. 05, 2012 - 09:51PM JST

  When I first came to live here in Japan in 1973, Japanese earthquake experts were clearly stating that massive earthquakes struck Tokyo on a cycle of around 50 years, so we were immediately due for a completely destructive follow up of the 1923 giant Kanto earthquake. Well, 39 years later, I'm still waiting. I am, however, slightly questioning that, apart from the "expert's" inability to forecast earthquakes, whether or not the architects and construction companies have learned nothing. We are now 90 years on from the Kanto Dai-jishin, and even if a similar quake hits again, there should be less wholesale destruction. Despite all the rationalization I have just given, however, the main point is that we have no idea of the geological rhythms of our archipelago -- 50 years, could be a pattern or a mere blip on a scale of billions of years. In other words, we have no idea, so why worry? The "experts" in this case, probably no nothing more than the astrologers or other nuts. Of course there is a 50% chance that a massive earthquake COULD hit Tokyo in the next four years — but this also means that there is also a damn good chance that such an earthquake WILL NOT DO SO in the next 4, 40, 400 or even 4000 years. At my age, I'll settle for the next 40.

  Posted in: Quake researchers warn of Tokyo's 'Big One'

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  philsandozFeb. 14, 2012 - 09:25PM JST

  wanderlust, Surely that's "anus horribilus"

  Posted in: Australian man fined for mooning Queen Elizabeth

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  philsandozFeb. 13, 2012 - 10:02PM JST

  The steering wheels are on the wrong side, that's why you see even less American cars in Britain than in Japan -- they are dangerous, and in the UK face a huge (100%?) insurance load

  Posted in: What do you think are the main reasons why U.S. car sales are so low in Japan?

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  philsandozDec. 18, 2011 - 09:17PM JST

  "self-imposed ban on arms exports"??? This is simply not true. Japan can't constitutionally export weapons because the American-imposed Constitution of May 1947 says so --prior to that, the Japanese exported militarism and military technology wherever and whenever they could. Whether or not Japan should or should not nowadays have equal opportunity with the US, the UK and other warmongers to make money from the international sales of machines of murder is debatable -- but please don't propagate the idea that the Japanese government in some way or other actually made a decision not to kill foreigners.

  Posted in: Gov't begins discussions on easing self-imposed arms export ban

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  philsandozDec. 17, 2011 - 10:02PM JST

  James:

  "99 percent of the wars across the world involve Islam... " Apart from the fact that you are exaggerating, see http://www.religioustolerance.org/curr_war.htm, don't you find it interesting that Christianity is involved in an equal number of religious conflicts? Perhaps it would be better to advise the Japanese to stay away from all religions except the indigenous Shinto -- after all such an animistic faith couldn't cause any problems, could it?

  Posted in: Al-Qaida criticizes Japan, China over how they treat elderly

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  philsandozDec. 17, 2011 - 08:13PM JST

  It is about time somebody had the guts to tell the truth about how the Japanese mistreat their elderly and how a more perfect future could be achieved. If Islam were to be rooted in this depraved country, no doubt the elderly would be left to live and eventually die in poverty, as they do in Pakistan, Afghanistan and practically any other Stan you can mention, which would allow the rest of us to stop paying their healthcare and pension costs and instead use the money to live the life of Riley -- or should that be the life of Ali?

  Posted in: Al-Qaida criticizes Japan, China over how they treat elderly

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