Tuesday February 14, 2012

taj's past comments

  • -1

    taj

    "It shows that some dogs have more of a natural tendency to be mean and attack people."

    Corelation does not imply causation.

    The problem is that violent idiots are drawn to owning pitbulls and rottweillers than other breeds. It's the owners with the bad natural tendencies. And for that reason, ownership of these animals should be legally restricted and should require a special license.

    Posted in: Australian girl, 4, killed by pitbull-mastiff

  • 5

    taj

    The kind of people who want to own these dangerous breeds are the problem. The owner should certainly be charged with manslaughter.

    Posted in: Australian girl, 4, killed by pitbull-mastiff

  • 1

    taj

    "there is a clear difference between tose there to gawk and those there to help clean up."

    Sorry, but I'm going to disagree with you again, Export. There is this whole 3rd category grey area of "voluntourism". One example: People pay a tour operator to arrange the bus and a place to stay. They spend one afternoon of the weekend digging a ditch and the rest of the time seeing the sights. Another example: a service group gathers donations and drives them up to the affected area, again has arranged a half day of volunteering but spends an equal amount of time taking photos. Some of those photos are to show donors how the money is used but some are purely personal safari "here's me next to a trashed home" shots.

    They're doing good, but ... the world is full of grey.

    Posted in: Tsunami wreckage becomes tourist draw

  • 2

    taj

    "just visiting his friend, “Mr Johnny.”"

    That gives me a chuckle.

    Posted in: Man arrested after barricading himself in home of Johnny's president

  • 0

    taj

    My neighborhood doesn't even use building numbers. There are at least 20 buildings (mostly houses) with the same address. Apparently this area was a hotbead of resistance the last time the goverment tried to impose more order. The folks in my cho value their privacy over convenience. It can get awkward with the pizza guys, but it keeps us tight knit. Everyone knows who lives where (even though the family names are also often not on there or are too faded to be read.

    Posted in: 'Streetwise' South Korea drops Japanese legacy

  • 5

    taj

    Uh, so did he call the Emperor out , too?

    Posted in: Ishihara calls Kan, cabinet 'not Japanese' for not visiting Yasukuni Shrine

  • 1

    taj

    For anyone worried about ghouls, the Japan Times has a fuller version of this article, complete with interviews of the "tourists". 1) lady from Morioka who lost 11 relatives to the tsunami, 2) man from Hanamaki who wants his 9 year old son to understand the force of nature and to realize what they are going to be working to be rebuild and overcome in the years and years to come. Not particularly ghoulish. Nothing that sounded as bad as what Hima saw in Kobe.

    Posted in: Tsunami wreckage becomes tourist draw

  • 1

    taj

    Ssway: "Who in their right mind would travel there and risk higher exposure to radioactive materials? Insanity."

    My boss and several colleagues go regularly to northern Ibaraki, Fukushima, and and around Miyagi to do volunteer work. They are all very much in their right minds. They go there to help. They are good human beings who can thing about the large benefit their specialist skills offer others vs any minute increase in risk to themselves. They are not insane.

    I tend to go further north, simply because that's where my friends are. Rikuzentakada = about as much radiation as Tokyo. No worries.

    Posted in: Tsunami wreckage becomes tourist draw

  • 0

    taj

    Sudden and non-suspicious = suicide with a note? Anyone know? Sad story, regardless.

    Posted in: NHL player Rick Rypien dead at 27

  • 0

    taj

    "only 10 percent speak English" I think they left out the qualifier, "as their first language".

    Posted in: New separatist party emerges in Quebec

  • 3

    taj

    ExportExpert, of the many friends and colleagues who've made the trip all have either gone to help or gone to visit relatives or their own former neighborhoods. I have yet to meet / know of any pure tourists. Not to say there aren't any at all, but they'd be well out-numbered by people who have a connection to the region.

    BlueWitch, the coastal road through Rikuzentaka was recently reopened, so I saw that tree for the first time this month. It is a sad and lonely sight. Poignant. On the other side of the road are two lone standing buildings. Not as romantic. Straight up depressing.

    Posted in: Tsunami wreckage becomes tourist draw

  • -1

    taj

    Streets, Avenues, and consecutive numbers are all good and well when you have something approximating a grid. However, I live on a tiny back lane in the middle of what's now a part of a larger numbered block and not even a full block long. How would having a separate single name for this wee alley make anything easier?

    One the whole, Tokyo is too much of a warren for any address system to be "intuitive" to an outsider. And mores the better for it. The people who know their way around serve as gate-keepers / extra security for outsiders asking their way to find the Tanaka household, etc..

    Anyone here able to comment on how grid vs warren-like most S.Korean cities are?

    Posted in: 'Streetwise' South Korea drops Japanese legacy

  • 1

    taj

    Now, Kentaro, you said,"These two heros faught for freedom of Japan and asia," and I'm wondering, how old do they look to you? I'm thinking they might be at Yasukuni to honour their father(s), rather than their own fallen commrades.

    And I don't personally see anything wrong with honouring the war dead on the memorial day of the end of war. My father and uncle would dress up in their Legion uniforms on November 11th in honour of their father. Not much difference. (Just to be clear, I'm Canadian by birth. Japanese by choice. Said Granpappy was fighting with the Brits in WW1 & 2)

    These fellows don't appear to be doing anything to intimidate or annoy - which is my big huge beef with the guys in the speaker vans. Them, I'd like to look in a small room with some very loud music blasting them deaf. (But of course I wouldn't actually do that. Just a fantasy.)

    Posted in: Paying their respects

  • 0

    taj

    Mainichi says: Their 6 year old is healthy. 5 year-old has been hospitalized with malnutrition. Son had been seeing a doc regularly but they stopped taking him. His digestive tract was blocked with paper & plastic.

    Now, had he ever been diagnosed with pica? Given the concerns about the weight and size of both the two younger kids, was social services monitoring the family?

    I really, REALLY wish the laws could be tougher here in terms of usurping parental rights for the welfare of the children.

    Posted in: Chiba parents arrested for allowing child to starve to death

  • 0

    taj

    "The fact is they deliberately starved one of their children to death."

    OK, papasmurf, I'm one of those people who gives everyone the benefit of the doubt prior to a trial and conviction.

    But you say you have facts. Could you please point us to them?

    Thanks!

    Posted in: Chiba parents arrested for allowing child to starve to death

  • 0

    taj

    Arrested =/= Convicted. (And thankfully, finally, an in-custody confession is no longer enough evidence for a conviction)

    The father said, "“It’s not like we did nothing for him.”" and blamed a disorder.

    Now, IF that' really were the case, there would be plenty of evidence available from medical records for their defense. Imagine the number of hospital visits and rounds of tests you'd go through if your 2 year old were failing to thrive in such a dire way!

    Several people are mentioning other children - I guess they've been watching more news sources. (And are better informed.)

    Posted in: Chiba parents arrested for allowing child to starve to death

  • 0

    taj

    PlasticMonkey, not only is the story the same every year, it's the same string of posts in the comments, as well. PLEASE mods, let us compare disaster response between then and now. At least that'll be something different from the plast 10 threads.

    Posted in: 26th anniversary of JAL crash marked in Gunma

  • 0

    taj

    "But people who want to play other Zynga titles such as FarmVille, CityVille and Empires & Allies will still have go to Facebook"

    Or they can just play the originals that Zynga copied. "Farmtown", etc..

    Posted in: Google adds games in its latest move on Facebook

  • 1

    taj

    Massive police force out today in full riot gear. the black (and white) vans were massed by lunch time. a rather small but well prepared group of "End the Imperial System", "No more Yasukuni" marchers with effigies of, ... I guess it was Tojo's face on the skeleton?... were being protected as they walked their parade route and the right-wingers shouted at all those chosen-jin to get out of Japan!

    It was one of the first times I could ever actually pick out the words. The vans were coordinating their noise timing and shouting in turn. They had one good point - about the parade being mostly made up of homeless people. Or at least it sure appeared that way, once it was said. Too bad they are so ill-mannered and annoying in general. No one in their right mind would hear a thing those asshats have to say. Sadly, the otherside was no better.

    Dear police force - "Gokorosama!" I'd love to buy each and every one of you a beer!

    Posted in: Paying their respects

  • 0

    taj

    these murky times,

    What murky times?

    Posted in: Japan's autopsy rate woefully low

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