Dave Fair comments

63 percent said they would accept higher charges at tourist destinations and other facilities in Japan if they would help ease congestion and protect those cites, up from 43 percent in 2019.

How about asking the tourists how they would feel being charged more or having to pay a tax, well, simply because you are a foreign tourist? Something tells me the results would be like 10% who would be willing. How a question is phrased has a lot to do with the outcome of a survey! "Would you be willing to pay 20% more as a tourist if those funds supported a children's hospital for disabled orphans?" maybe 90% would approve.

vandalize a stone pillar at the shrine, and spray-paint the word "toilet" in English, on May 31. The damage is estimated at 4.6 million yen.

So it cost nearly 5 million yen to remove spray paint? Wonder who got the bid for the cleanup, Yakuza?

maybe they ought to make it a pedestrian toll road, say a 200m stretch with gates on either end and charge like 2,000yen! Residents are free. Then the town makes money off of it.

Ohtani seeks $325,000 worth of baseball cards from his ex-interpreter

ahhh, that ain't likely to be realized!! I'm betting that all of those cards are now in the possesion of bookies as payment on Mizuhara's gambling losses!

The OpinionatorNov. 25 08:16 pm JST

BTW, since you took the time to find out what Level 1 Care entails, could you please share that information, I like to be spoon fed.

The OpinionatorNov. 25 08:16 pm JST

Took me about 30 seconds to find out lv 1 nursing care requirements. A brief explanation would have been easier. Do you really want to be spoon fed everything though?

YES, actually! I don't have time in my busy life to hunt down pertinent information which should have, easily could have been given in such a brief story! So yeah, i DO really want to be spoon fed, at least what is vital to the story!

Hideko had been certified as requiring nursing care level 1.

and "nursing care level 1" is determined to be........? Would have been helpful to have included a description.

unfortunately with trump coming to office in January, Benjamin Netanyahu is even more embolden to crush the Palestinians and Lebanese people, literally destroy their communities with no regard as to civilians or military casualties. I blame him and his government who permit these atrocities, not the Israeli people as a whole.

Benjamin Netanyahu must be held to account for the death and destruction he as mastermind. Maybe, just maybe, one day justice will prevail.

She was arrested on the spot and later charged with violating the stimulants control and customs laws. She has been in custody for nearly two years.

I am at a loss of words as to why, a case as simple as this, takes 2, TWO years to reach trial. Did she or did she not know she was transporting drugs into Japan? That is all the judge is deciding as she has admitted she entered the country with the suitcase but claims she was unaware of the drugs inside. I guess there could be a YUGE backlog or maybe it took two years for the police and prosecutors to find a competent translator?

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say this plan will never get off the drawing board! Do you really think that the politicians in Tokyo (Japanese government) will allow even a single yen to go to a system made by the Chinese? And for those of you who don't get it, without Tokyo's support a plan such as this is too costly for the prefecture and/or municipalities to finance themselves.

Police said they have received several complaints from passengers claiming they were subjected to obscene remarks while riding in a taxi driven by Matsuori.

I guess like a lot of others reading this story right now are wondering why this taxi driver still had a job leading up to this arrest, unless....... the police failed to follow up and speak with the company?

TaiwanIsNotChinaToday 06:36 am JST

Business can still be done as 47 will be too distracted with domestic problems and Ukraine to worry about Japan/SK.

nevertheless, trump will still send a warning shot across the bow to keep all on edge and to let them know he has them in his sights! but you're spot on, this time trump needs some friends on his side cause he's sure to make a lot more enemies this time round.

How about making K-12 education free investing in the future instead of these senseless cash handouts! That would incentivize families who wish to have (additional) children but find the idea too much of a financial burden. But that would require a complex approach to a problem the government isn't interested in addressing as it would require an effort.

Ishiba said the biggest election factor was "people's suspicion, mistrust and anger" after the party scandal.

just shows how out of touch he and the LDP are! The party scandal isn't the "biggest election factor" but just overall suspicion, mistrust and anger at a party that has held power for nearly Japan's post WWII history.

The biggest problem for Japanese is they don't have confidence that the opposition can really be any different. When they did have power for a few years they squandered the opportunity to prove they were capable of bringing change due to a lot of infighting and power plays for leadership mainly due to the antics of Ichiro Ozawa who could be a thorn in the opposition's side once again if the CDP manages to form a coalition government and is given the chance to lead the nation.

Japan's ruling bloc loses lower house majority

So, does this mean Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba will step down and take responsibility? It was in fact his idea to hold this snap election and let the people express their support or not of his new administration and the LDP.

Harry_GattoOct. 27 08:13 am JST

safety lanyard is not going to be of any help 

A properly fixed safety lanyard would have saved their lives as they would have only fallen a very short distance until the safety rope stopped their fall and left them hanging; that's what they are for.

What do you think the safety lanyard attaches to? It attaches to the scaffolding so if it collapses they go down with it.

It remains unknown whether the three workers from the Shikoku Dockyard Co were wearing helmets and safety ropes.

Can tell you this, wearing a helmet and safety lanyard is not going to be of any help when the scaffolding collapses and fall from 18 meters!

JeffLeeToday 05:14 pm JST

The current police chief!?? He could not have been at the station when the arrest happened six decades ago. So his words don't mean much. What about those actually responsible? The cops who investigated and planted evidence. The prosecutors who relentlessly fought his defense to keep him on death row. The judges who agreed with them and fell for phony evidence. Not a peep from them, eh.

I'm guessing "those actually responsible" have all left this world and hopefully now are forced to spend eternity reflecting on their evil ways!

I wouldn't vote for him as town dog catcher the way he has manged his own companies let alone president of the United States. If it weren't for the electoral collage, he wouldn't have gotten elected in 2016. God help the world if he gets a second term!

sorry but how many Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Hamas, Hezbollah and other leaders has he ordered the assassinations of?  I think a "touché" by Netanyahu is enough said!

seems like the police could have held off a bit, determined cause of death and then decided on how to proceed next. maybe perform a mental competency evaluation before charging him?

Well, if they had more cabinet members wearing skirts, not pants it may have been less notable! Out of 24 just two women? There goes the governments diversity push down the pooper!

Hakamada is entitled to receive compensation of up to about 200 million yen ($1.4 million) when prosecutors accept the ruling, making the acquittal final.

Time to pass into law Double Jeopardy in Japan (a protection that prevents a defendant from being tried twice for the same offense. Double jeopardy applies after an acquittal or a conviction is reached). Prosecutors, not defendants, should be prevented from appealing a courts ruling! Secondly, set up an appeals panel and base the decision on the merits of the ruling as it's HIGHLY unlikely new evidence will be admitted by prosecutors. During this process, the defendant is released and allowed to go home, if one is still there. Prosecutors NEVER accept a not guilty ruling and to save face, probably a promotion, are more or less forced to appeal such rulings. If J-prosecutors can't win a case in a J-court then suck it up and move on or find another job. Time to end this but as plain to see here, justice in Japan takes decades to happen, a lifetime for some :(

The Nagoya High Court handed down the reduced sentence to Mai Watanabe, known by the moniker "Itadaki Joshi Riri-chan," literally "Sugar Baby Riri," as damages had been paid on her behalf to one of the victims. The court upheld a fine of 8 million yen.

Wow, I guess when you have money, or in her case a Sugar Daddy who paid on her behalf, you can buy your way out of prison time! Seems like she should have paid the victims full restitution as part of her sentence and not simply a fine of 8 million.

MocheakeToday 07:53 am JST

Hmm. How much money, jewelry, etc did they get? Or did they just come to assault her while hubby was conveniently away on a business trip?

What are you inferring by using ..."*while hubby was conveniently away on a business trip?*" Sounds like you are inferring that he was in some way involved on this assault and wanted harm to come to her?

We have a park a stone throw away and we always find litter about. But what don't we find at all, a single trash bin! And BTW what don't we have any, foreign tourists so who to point the finger at? If you want the tourists and the yen they bring in, pony up and deal with the issues, put a few trash bins in convenient places and problem more or less solved. Maybe even pretend to be Eco-friendly and have separate bins for burnables, pet bottles and non-burnables and show them that good ol' Kyoto Protocol spirit, (京都議定書, Kyōto Giteisho)

WasabiToday 10:18 am JST

If the US army want to stay, they must pay the rent and keep to their base only.

Shouldn't the question be "If Japan wants the US military to stay,...?" If you are a farmer and have a wolf problem and decide to ask your neighbor who has a few extra guard dogs to come over and stay at your farm to protect your flock from the wolves, are you going to insist that your neighbor pay for their stay and upkeep?

Next question is how do you expect these US military personnel to "keep to their base only."? Have you ever been to a US military base in Japan and seen their size?

Daniel NeagariSep. 26 07:04 pm JST

....OOOOKKKKKK... so reading and comprehension is lacking.read the article you posted again please

I did and I am quoting from the article.

The operator of the Seven-Eleven convenience store chain is covered by the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act, which governs foreign investment in Japanese companies to prevent leaking technologies that could be diverted for military purposes.

Although convenience store operations, which are Seven & i's core business, are not among the designated industries, the Finance Ministry has applied the rule to the firm. It has not, however, disclosed which of Seven & i's businesses the rule applies to.

The government can block the investment if it deems the acquisition would cause issues with economic security.

TheRegulatorToday 06:55 am JST

The pure joy of hosting foreign armed forces in your country.

you do understand what that comment entails don't you, that Japan stand on her own two feet and be fully capable of defending herself and all the complications of achieving that ability? I don't think anyone is disputing the fact that the US military has a few bad apples and that there needs to be actions taken, as does ANY military in the world as recruits happen to be on occasion, how should we say, not the best apples in the basket? And that isn't necessarily a bad thing as in war you want your most fierce and aggressive men facing off against the enemy!

So, here is the question then for you, is Japan better off scrapping the US-Japan status forces agreement and SIGNIFICANTLY increasing it's defense budget along with a big military personnel increase to compensate, and remember Japan has it's own bad apples with-in it's ranks, lets be honest.

Daniel NeagariToday 03:24 pm JST

@Dave do you come from the future!?!?!?!?

Because as far as I know, the Japanese Government hasn't said anything officially regarding the 7 & i Hldgs. buyout stuff....

Seven & i takeover bid by Canadian retailer faces Japan gov't review

https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20240823/p2g/00m/0bu/012000c