SDCA comments

Funny thing is it's been close to a year since rice prices started to go up and they finally came up with a way to lower the prices because suspiciously enough there is an election coming up soon and they need to polish their new poster child as this "savior" so they gave him an assignment to make it seem like he's fit for the job. I'm gonna have to call him out, his so called solution to the problem that the LDP created in the first place isn't a solution at all and it's actually a continuing waste of our tax payer's money yet again. Let's not forget Koizumi didn't exactly do a good job as the environment minister, so there is no way in heck this is going to convince me to vote for them.

upcoming House of Councillors vote and the Tokyo metropolitan assembly race in June as "rice elections.

These people are delusional to think rice is the only reason to vote in elections.

It was always funny seeing the politicians using these masks with their noses or chins sticking out because of how small they were lol.

The Japanese Government methodology was flawed from the beginning. You can't have your cake and eat it too! They wanted inflation, but they also want to protect businesses.

I would say medical research. If my child wants to pursue the medical/ science field, I would recommend a Japanese university. If they want to pursue something else, I will tell them to go abroad.

Starbucks, especially the ones in Japan, should have their coffee shop license revoke. Except for the normal drip coffee and espressos, there isn't enough coffee in their full of sugar and calories beverages, that don't even taste like coffee...

Not even their espressos taste good compared to say Segafredo. Wish they had more shops.

Although this beverage is likely super sugar heavy, the concept is nice with the spicy mango. Might try it out.

It's not realistic for China to attack and try to colonize Japan. The amount of resources China will need to maintain control over Japan's geography is enormous.

The best way for China, is to keep buying lands in Japan, keep sending its people here, when the ratio between immigration/local population reaches some threshold number (20% or something), it will be much easier to take over the country. First, through local elections for example (which many political parties are suggesting), then national elections.

Came here to say this. Never understood the perceptive of Chine taking military action against Japan through force to acquire land when they can just buy it up from us. It would be very mendokusai for China to think about going to war with Japan, all for what? To acquire an earthquake prone land with very little beneficial resources for China. They already have our water land and are also taking our crabs so no need to go to war with us.

Went there once a while back and even then I felt prices were relatively high for what it is. If I'm at work and I need a quick grab, curry is always a quick meal I can eat but I always choose Matsuya as their prices are cheaper and the taste suits me better.

I do enjoy cooking curry at home like others are mentioning. Experimenting with all the different spices is fun!

Guess they had to graduate from Hogwarts first.

Gunma Prefecture is a place where "there seems to be many scary people."

I don't know about that. I visit quite often whenever I want to escape the city and the locals are some of the nicest people I've met. Some young folks and many non-Japanese are also very chill and kind. The older folks have great hospitality.

"I sort of cringe at women because of their strong image," he said. 

It's not strong women you should be scared of, it's the narcissist that want everything their way. The same goes for men.

When I was at the Suitengu Shrine last month for Inu no Hi, it was pouring rain that day, yet there were so many other soon to be mothers/ fathers there that we had to wait a while before it was our turn. I was asking myself, wait, I thought the birth rate was declining? Then again the parents and relatives were also there so it may have just seemed like there was a bunch of people.

Yeah, I don't advocate for this at all. Residents here are conditioned to return their rubbbish to where they got it from, and this should be followed, irrespective of how busy a tourist may think they are. I would encourage people to eat properly at established restaurants rather than eating junk from the combini, but I guess that's not trending on Instabook or Faceterest.

@Negative Nancy

My bad, I think I may have misinterpreted your other comment. Yes, it seems you are not advocating for throwing trash away at a different conbini location.

No its not infuriating. Just dispose of the garbarge in the appropriate place, which is usually the place where you bought it.

Who will empty them? Also, Japan does not have a culture of standing and moving with food. People sit to eat, and if they do stand, they do so in the vicinity of where they bought it. There is literally a convenience store on every block, and there is no need to buy a plastic bag if you are in the habit of carrying a bag to put things into.

I somewhat agree that us residents have already gone through the 5 stages of grief and have accepted that this is "normal" and that we are responsible for our own rubbish. But asking tourists who are here for a very limited time to stand around the area they purchased the sandwich is a bit much. Tourists have a tight schedule so they always have to be on the move. Grabbing a sandwich from a conbini means they don't have time to waste and likely can't even wait to get into a restaurant.

I understand your logic in that someone can buy a sandwich at 7 eleven and throw it away at the 7 eleven the next block down and I sometimes do this myself. However, there is an unwritten rule that you are actually not supposed to do this unless you are buying something at the next 7 eleven (same with using their restrooms). The reason being is these conbinis are a franchise and each owner is responsible for handling their trash bins and cleaning their restrooms. It is perceived as rude to just go in, use the restroom, throw your trash away and leave. If it weren't for my Japanese friends and wife, I would have never known to do this.

I feel like tour guide books should showcase where to throw away trash for tourists. If they are riding the bus on the highway, the SA for example usually has places to throw away trash. Things like that to help keep the tourists informed would be nice.

Perhaps it’s just because the police’s attention tends to be on other matters that drunk cyclists manage to slip under the radar unless they’re doing something really conspicuous.

I don't know about that, I usually see them just standing around the koban while people are riding around looking down on their smartphones. I wonder where the police need to keep their attention focused on?

Looks like inflation got to the bosozoku too! Poor guys... On the bright side gas prices are coming down so time to go back to making brrrrrr noises? Just don't do it in the middle of the night lol

Remember when handing kids a gameboy didn't break the bank? Pepperidge Farms remembers

I don't know the full story, but I feel like the parents should also be held responsible as witnesses. Her quote says it all “I thought my parents would get angry if they found out,” meaning the household wasn't exactly in tact considering a grown woman who is 26 still fears her parents and her parents don't notice anything odd.

I will give some remorse in that certain women have such a small figure here in Japan, it is sometimes hard to notice the protrusion. Certain women also don't suffer morning sickness and can go about doing things normally. However, not noticing any behavioral changes is something else. Either they must've isolated from her long enough not to notice anything or she isolated herself in her room, either way there had to have been signs.

Though I will reserve my judgement for when I hear the full story, because there are many different possible scenarios.

The quote is a good one. Japan has only just started ignoring the calendar when it comes to Cool Biz. Until this year, there was a range of dates when it was officially hot.

If I wanted to show up to work in a half sleeve shirt before summer, I should be allowed to do so. Why is it that we have to wear specific attire based on the season and calendar? Any time you wear something that is considered offseason, you shouldn't have to get the death stare or constant nagging of "samukunai desuka?" or "atsukunai desuka?".

My office is so damn hot during the winter because Shizuko-san is a samugari, therefore we need to blast the heater on all winter without consideration for others who are forced to wear long sleeves to work. Can we stop with this and just wear whatever we feel is comfortable? We all have different body temps and adaptabilities.

staff who smoke complained about the inconvenience of walking across the large venue to reach the smoking areas.

playing the world's smallest violin. How would they feel about taking a slight pay cut to cover the cost of installing a smoking area, given that it's an added expense for the employer to accommodate their personal habit? It's not fair to the other employees who don't smoke and don't receive any special perks.

feel like a shiro-bai fits this statement the best, but the idea of an NSX-R being a police car is pretty sweet! Such an iconic beauty of a machine, especially the ones with a roof scoop.

glad we're all in agreement those commercials look too cheesy lol. Would've appreciated if they showed some previous of what the park would actually look like. Even their website looks like they asked Sora to come up with images: https://junglia.jp/

If this is what it actually looks like, I'm sold!

Let them refresh every once in a while. Perhaps stop giving out excessive homework during the summer and let them cool off. There really is not point in doing homework or studying during their minimal 2 week vacation since the heat will diminish the quality and productivity.

Could they move it up to September of this year? My daughter is having our second grandchild, and that money would be a big help.

Would greatly appreciate this as well! It's not fair for me that I am having my child a few months prior to this despite being an avid tax payer. Lol bad timing, oh well.

@Chikatilo

Hey I get it. I'm not saying the US needs to follow Japan's steps and I get why citizens have their rights. I'm just stating I'm glad that when I walk around in Japan and some random unstable person decides to choose me as their target, it is relief knowing that 99% of the time they will not carry a tool that can easily take my life or others around me in an instant.

And I agree we should address the root cause, but that is far more difficult to do than to say. Identifying those with mental instability will be a tedious process and you may be able to prevent future incursions, but you won't be able to prevent all of them.

I know I'll be downvoted for this, but I am really glad we do not have guns in Japan. I can't imagine all these random stabbings, violence, murder cases being replaced by a tool that can end a person or multiple persons life at once.

I hope the widower of this lovely lady is able to get justice by having this punk face trial as an adult and locked up in a non-juvenile prison. Nobody should get away with murder.

Why would products made with wheat flour cause a rice shortage?

I just realized my wording was off. I meant to say that I wonder if more people are flocking towards buying bread over rice because of the prices.

If we had an answer to this problem, we would already be exercising this option.

Is it just me, or are bread stores lining up more than usual? I mean bread has been popular for a while now, but I see many stores selling out quickly. I also notice more of the cheaper breads being prepared in excess than usual like dinner roles and shio pan. Tis a shame if this is the cause of the rice shortage.

I don't know many people getting married and having the spouse quite their jobs to not have any children. As others have already mentioned, stay-at-home mom already has the term "mom" in there which means they already have children. What kind of data is this really? It doesn't bar any value to the topic at hand.

On the other hand I do know plenty of women who are married, about to have children or have children, and would love to quite their jobs but can't because they need the extra income to survive. Just because a few people want something, it doesn't exactly mean it represents everyone's opinion. There are plenty of opportunities for equality such as my workplace, and so it's about finding the right job. It's not like men are getting treated better nowadays.

No wage increases for me working at a medium sized firm with a large global network, but I am looking to get a promotion soon hopefully. Lots of unexpected expenses popping up recently so I had to take up sukima baito and work a couple gigs to earn a little extra on the side.

Although part time wages aren't as bad as back when I was in high school, earning hourly wages really does open your eyes when it comes to time and money. Since I am only doing short hours alongside my regular job, I earn about 1,000 yen per hour for 3 hours early in the morning. One little treat like a coffee or snack after work puts my few hours of work into waste. This experience has got me learning how to treat my time and money well. Will be bringing water with me from now on and coffee at home.

I hope this case provided valuable lessons that will help us take preventative measures if a similar situation arises in the future. May he rest in peace.