Hello Kitty 321 comments

But my hay fever has just about disappeared over the last three or four years. I might get itchy eyes for a day or so, but that is about it.

One reason why old people continue to drive is that in the countryside there is no alternative.

The question is not clear; is it asking if readers assume that somebody is guilty because they have been arrested or if many Japanese assume this. If the latter, then definitely and with the famous 99% conviction rate they have no reason to doubt it.

It is exactly this kind of us/them mentality that leads to wars.

HopeSpringsEternal

"Surely this is a one-off situation, and police in Japan spend sufficient time at the firing range etc."

When I was having my shotguns checked by the police one year I asked the officer there how often they practiced and he told me that he had fired a pistol once as the police academy but that was all.

@CapuchinToday

"No doubt Israel will do its absolute best to drag the U.S. into this latest unhinged escalation of conflict."

Judging from previous experience, the U.S. will not require much dragging.

@bass4funk

"Good, you can’t have the Iranians have a nuke, not going to happen"

But you are fine with the genocidal, mad-dog Israelis having them?

They are hardly 'a uniquely Japanese class of criminals' I imagine they exist everywhere.

Every day

@JBoneetc

But the Camp David Summit did not support right of return so Arafat had no choice but to reject it.

When I came to Japan nearly all the cats were bobtails even in Tokyo

I just looked up the top university rankings and Harvard was not number one, even in the States Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was ranked higher.

The motorbike license was quite difficult, but the car was easy peasy.

@itsonlyrocknroll

"Nazi Germany used comparisons with rats/vermin to dehumanise Jews.

This led to the holocaust "final solution"

Lineker knew full well the implication of his antisemitic hate tweets"

Not having been born during the 1940s I had never heard of rats being used as a comparison to dehumanize Jews and being younger than me, I imagine Gary Lineker hadn't either.

＠wasabi

The man said that he had rice stolen before so he is probably a farmer and so the rice will be in 30kg bags (that are still cheaper than a security tag).

"At that time, if proactive measures had been taken, the gassings might have been prevented,"

Equally, if the police in Matsumoto had carried out a proper investigation of the gassing there properly instead of trying to pin in on one of the neighbors, the Tokyo gassing might have been prevented.

@itsonlyrocknroll

"Hamas, 7th october infamy,"

Israel every day infamy.

No need to imagine, just look at America

When the consumption tax was first introduced and every time it has been raised we were told that it was to pay for social security, does this mean we have been lied to all this time? Who would have thought it

Everyone here is talking about people having the blues, but I think depression and loneliness are very different things. I feel lonely since my wife died but otherwise I am quite happy.

It was not returned willingly, it took a high/supreme court order to force them to give it back.

@nickybutt

Actually one reason why Japan is so clean is that a lot of people volunteer to spend their free time picking up other people's rubbish or sweeping the streets.

Why can’t tourists carry their trash with them like everyone?

"What’s the one thing everyone wants besides money and power?"

What on earth is that supposed to mean? Is that really what people want?

@TaiwanIsNotChina

But ownership of the islands is disputed, China might as well put anti-aircraft systems and naval guns on them. The first thing to do is to come to an agreement over ownership, not just unilaterally claim possession.

"some Japanese were still taking this Edo-era balderdash seriously"

Balderdash? Is that how you are supposed to refer to other people's culture and beliefs? It is no different to Westerners reaction to Friday 13th, walking under ladders and all the other stupid things they believe in.

Everyone seems to agree that Russia should pay for the damage in Ukraine, so by the same token, surely America has to pay money to Afghanistan, etc., etc.?

Equally one could also say that Chinese low-cost eateries thrive in Japan as economy sputters

The weaponization of the dollar caused it to cease being a safe haven.

When the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security with the US was signed in 1960, it led to the largest anti-government demonstrations in modern Japanese history and in order to pass the bill in the diet, Prime Minister Kishi (Abe's grandfather) had to order 500 police to remove opposition politicians from the diet building, so no, the bases aren't there by popular consent.