James comments

Gold bars are incredibly heavy! A standard gold bar, often referred to as a "Good Delivery" bar, weighs around 12.4 kilograms (27.4 pounds). Even smaller bars can be surprisingly dense because gold is one of the heaviest metals.

Yes but if you do the math 1 XAU Gold Ounce is 432,075 yen and he stated 850,000 yen. So that's what 2 ounces of gold which is about 56g not that heavy.

Yep I always carry my gold bars around in a tote bag while walking around Shinjuku.

Phew thought it was just me and the guy who got robbed... but seems more common than I thought.

He could have just drove his own car

No he was drunk so he new he shouldn't drive his car.

United Steelworkers President David McCall declared Friday that U.S. Steel had the financial resources to go it alone. “It can easily remain a strong and resilient company,’’ he told reporters.

If this was true, there'd be a line of American investors ready to save US Steel. Where are they?

I am sure they have the funds to "go it alone" I don't think that was ever an issue, the issue was with blast furnaces and those will be closed down without outside help.

And with those gone it wouldn't make sense for them to stay in Pennsylvania and they would most likely move their HQ to Arkansas.

Cleveland-Cliffs had offered to buy U.S. Steel for $7 billion however that was with no guarantees that they wouldn't shut down all the blast furnaces and you can be sure they wouldn't be moving to Pennsylvania from Ohio.

when the tariffs started, u.s. domestic steel production went up only 1.9%.

Yea but tariffs only works for the domestic market, Doesn't help when exporting steel

According to export data from the US Department of Commerce, monthly steel exports in September this year decreased 11.3% from August and down 13.3% year on year to 379,700 m

China’s steel exports in October 2024 increased by 10.1% compared to the previous month – to 11.18 million tons. Shipments increased by 40.8% compared to October 2023. It is reported by Reuters.

The US can't force other countries to add tariffs to Chinese steel.

US steel now needs to optimize output and decrease costs to compete internationally, and newer electric arc furnaces are the way to go. And you know that means getting rid of those aging blast furnace operations and it is cheaper to sell those parts off and layoff workers than demolishing plants and rebuilding them.

China has the most on that UNESCO list at 43. Japan is in second place.

You sure about that?

You might need to provide where you get your information it seems askew according to Wikipedia ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intangible_cultural_heritage

China 44 and Turkey in second with 31, Japan and South Korea both seem to have 23

Why are those push/pull suitcases so popular?

They always look so difficult to manhandle.

I assure you they aren't that difficult to manhandle at all specially when you only need to travel a short distance from plane to train to car/taxi.

For very old people I can understand their usefulness, but otherwise why would anyone not opt for a good quality rucksack?

Most people are going "home" to see family and not some remote location where you need to carry your luggage for long distances where the ground is rough and unstable or along the edge of a mountain, and you only have 1 change of cloths and you flip your underwear 4 times before washing them.

I don’t get the downvotes here for people that live in Japan and know the dire economic situation very well in the country.

It seems as a general rule on these types of forums is if somebody gets a downvote on a comment they tend to give everybody a downvote just because it "must have been" one of the other commenters who gave them the downvote.

It is very clear in this story a vast majority of these crimes were committed not out of greed or dishonestly but out of desperation.

Even though that seems to be the case the following applies "do the crime, do the time", unless of course you are a CEO then you get a suspended sentence.

I cannot see how an increase in fees is going to deter anyone from going. People will pay it. This is a gaijin tax.

If it was just for foreigners I would agree. However it isn't, it is for everybody who wants to climb they are not setting it just for foreigners so how can it be a "gaijin tax" ?

It's more of a nature tax.

I have dropped my wallet full of cash and get it returned, left bag, phone in full sight at macdonalds, never lock my bike the whole day at the station and even once left the house door open the whole day. In all cases, nothing happened. Japan has changed nowadays

This used to be the case more often than not I have had similar occurrences however over the last few years with the new generation taking jobs in the industry it is more common to have your stuff swiped at the table.

I now carry a bag where ever I go and anything I use laptop phone keys etc all go in it as soon as I use it and I take it with me when going to the restroom after having several things stolen from the table and complain to the manager and all they do is look around and say nope sorry nothing we can do . All the while it sits in a servers pocket. I'll also just call the police next time something goes missing from my table too.

Japan needs to find Prime Minister “Abi” 2.0

No japan just needs to allow Trump a win and increase imports from the US ... 2015:68bill, 2018:83 bill worth of us imports.. 2023:76bill worth of imports, with out Trump imports from the US has decreased.. just bring in more from the US and allow Trump to think it is his negotiation skills and play a few rounds of golf and make sure he wins.Also constantly praise his stories and tell him he is great. We don't need another Abe to be able to brown nose and offer to increase imports from the US.

The government will draw a supplementary budget to finance the stimulus measure

Hmm they no longer have a majority in the Lower house, I imagine anything that would make LDP look even remotely "good" would have a hard time getting enough votes to pass and this is one of those things.

Opposition parties should vote NO, Stimulus can come after the upper house elections once the opposition party can secure enough members to make sure new bills reach a vote and LDP can't block changes.

The opposition parties should utilize this to gain the needed seats in the upper house elections and only support this government on things that are needed to keep the country Afloat, Then call out how useless the LDP is and how they are not worth voting for. They would be stupid to call for a no confidence and force a new election now. They need to use this time to discredit LDP and say how useless they are. It is the only way to gain the needed seats in the upper house to be able to push through any changes they plan on once they do call a no confidence vote

At the time of his arrest in the Tsuyama case in 2018, Katsuta was already serving time for stabbing a female junior high school student in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, in 2015.

A man serving a life sentence for killing a girl in western Japan two decades ago was arrested on Thursday for an alleged stabbing in 2006,

Kinda confusing

How was he still stabbing kids while serving time

Read the dates. He was first arrested for a stabbing in 2015 and then again for crimes that so far go back as early as 2004 so far...

He is a serial killer and has been killing and stabbing young girls for what maybe nearly 15 years or more. Seems that the time line on individual cases is starting to catch up. He may have done a lot more that he hasn't been questioned on yet so we may see him being arrested again and again in the near future for other stabbings in other neighboring prefectures like Tottori, Hiroshima and Osaka they are not that far to travel to all at least can be reached within less than a day. For all we know he may have been doing stabbings every year or even more. I wonder if others have been arrested and convicted for his crimes. Hope they take it seriously and piece together a bigger picture.

Papua New Guinea, an impoverished Pacific nation vulnerable to climate shocks, says it is "sick of the rhetoric" and is boycotting this year's U.N.-led talks in Azerbaijan altogether.

Yep good idea that is the way to make your voice heard in a political arena. oh wait no it isn't boycotting only works when it is a large number of people hurting the pockets of corporations.

Papua New Guinea needs to be their and make their voices heard... a no vote is a vote for no change.

Although I like the idea of the LDP stepping back, Noda had his chance before and couldn't do the job. Isn't there someone with new ideas?

If you look at the history there is a reason he couldn't push through any of the changes that they had promised. The LDP controlled the Upper House (and still does) they blocked all the attempts to change laws by not voting on any of them forcing them to need to be resubmitted time and time again.

Baba told reporters after his meeting with Noda at the Diet, "We can't stand with him unless there is a solid cause or concrete plan for political reforms."

Well that's not going to happen while the LDP control the upper house which can ignore bills for law changes (no vote) making the lower house's veto strength worthless as all bills must go through an upper house vote.

The UN has no right to interfetre with Japanese monarchy what so ever. Or any monarchy from any country.

The UN is always over stepping its bounds culturally.

Unless of course some royal Japanese family pressed the United Nations to include it since their voices at home are ignored...

Risky isn’t it? An over zealot customs agent and it gets you a fine and it’s thrown out. Heck in Narita you can’t even transfer with duty free liquids inside the customs bags so I don’t think they will be able to guarantee USA or Singapore compliance. So risky.

Did you read the article?

Japan Airlines Co launched a service on Monday to sell Japanese luxury wagyu beef to passengers traveling to the United States and Singapore and have it inspected for customs clearance.

They are saying it will be cleared. I imagine if you get the beef from anywhere else it won't be certified and then would be risky, this way you can probably make a claim against JAL if it does happen to get seized.

This chef, if he's that good, could surely do just as well for himself if he came back to Japan and opened a restaurant here.

Not when you can charge 150€ for lunch and 580€ for dinner or 280€ for a tasting menu ... don't know about you but don't think I'd be dinning there very often specially on the wages the average Haruto gets here... and I would most likely still be hungry after and need to stop at Lawson for a rice-ball on the way home.

He wanted to stay behind bars until his last day of his life. He doesn't cares his own personal freedom anymore. He just want a stable for food and shelter with rents, medical free. How sad !

This is Japan after all and he is Japanese so they will probably just give him a suspended sentence. So if that is his plan I wonder what crime he will do next.

If you think you have a model for economic growth in the face of a rapidly declining population, or have some idea how to turn around demographic trends that are global, there are probably some Nobel Prizes awaiting. Go ahead if you think you have all the answers. Anyone can complain. Now what do you know that your elders don't?

It is actually pretty simple to say what needs to happen doing it on the other hand would require a lot of work, firstly you would need to raise minimum hourly wages to met international standards to be able to persuade talent to come here.

Opening the gates to more foreign workers and actually allow their integration into society including allowing permanent visa holders to vote and be elected.

Revamp the justice system, to be able to handle the influx of international people, adjust the school system, and the political system. (to allow them to cater to internationalization)

When you are older you watch the younger members and you think to yourself, "this fool is going to mess it all up doing that", and they proceed to do so, but they won't listen because, well, you're just some old timer. What could you possibly know?

I do the same with elder people as well, specially all these inherited and entitled politicians here in Japan.

Don't forget what was relevant 30 odd years ago where these elder Japanese politicians seem to be stuck in time, is actually no longer relevant. This is why many people call for younger politicians. We all watch these elder politicians here in Japan mess it all up all the time.

Another old person who should have retired puts their hat in the ring. What is it with Japan and the USA choosing old people to be prime minister. Surely someone in their forties married with children would be a better pick to represent the Japanese public.

Well with around 36 million people over the age of 65 in Japan and pretty much where ALL the LDP votes come from I'd say 71 would be about the age group they want to represent.

Sick of all these entitled inheritance politicians.

Other factors include lower harvests caused by hot weather and water shortages, as well as increased demand related to record numbers of foreign tourists.

Bunch of lies..

https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20240823/p2a/00m/0bu/024000c

Whaling: Why the practice will not go away

The article is long winded and covers a bunch of other stuff not related to the title.

I read the article to see why it won't go away, but that wasn't answered?

Did you read the following?

Tokyo argues that eating whale is part of Japanese culture and an issue of "food security" in the resource-poor country, which imports large amounts of animal meat.

Basically this is the sentence that answers why it won't go away.

So anyone who smoke and left cigarettes' butts around that area during that time will be subject for a crime conviction? Most important where's the murder weapon?

No butt they would be a suspect if their DNA turned up in the system.

Since Tanaka is already behind bars for another crime involving guns, you can bet his DNA is in the system.

And I am sure it is not the only evidence against him they probably have CCTV footage of him using the stolen scooter.

They ought to hold the general election ahead of the party president election to give the party at least an inkling of what the public wants. Not that they really care.

What would be the point? More than 50% of voters here don't vote.

By political party, the support rate for the LDP stood at 36.7 percent, while that for the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan was at 12.3 percent. The second-biggest opposition Japan Innovation Party measured 8.5 percent

And by knowing that 50% of eligible voters in Japan don't vote you do the math.

Congrats of creating unnecessary panic and fear

HUH? What panic has been created?

.Reservations for reserved seats on the shinkansen ... were about 1.2 times higher than last year, JR companies said.

Airlines reported that reservations for domestic flights were at the same level as last year.

Expressway operators are predicting that traffic jams of more than 10 kilometers this weekend.

Doesn't seem to have created any panic at all. Japan sends warnings for everything.. they even cancel schools just for a rainy day.