SaikoPhysco comments

Love them or Hate them, Nukes quite possibly have deterred WWIII from happening to this point. Hopefully they will continue to do so because I don't see the World all of a sudden coming together as one in peace. In fact going forward things may get tougher as more and more people fight for the dwindling resources.

Yeah... stable ties until they destabilize again when another Politician wants to rile up his political base with calls for more war reparations.

So if you take a test and pay for a license you can legally defraud people?

Interesting! Great idea... you use other people's money to manipulate stock prices you own in a ficticious account. Genius... and they're pulling it off. My guess is they're funneling the profits to offshore accounts from the ficticious accounts they created at the various brokers in Japan. Years ago JP Morgan's retail division mailed out small credit card sized code generators. Basically when you want to buy or sell via your PC you would click the code create button on the generator and would be required to input a code before you could buy or sell... I think Japanese brokers may need to do this. The code is specifically created for each account so even getting one's hands on a generator would not work for the hackers.

I remember this, the Govt. went after these people and kept them jailed despite failing to prove they were guilty of anything. This appears quite a bit like it was some sort of Govt. revenge case as opposed to breaking any export laws. This is the scary thing about Japanese laws whereby they can keep you behind bars almost indefinitely. And I gotta think that if you mouth off to them they'll keep you behind bars forever. They have the power to do so.

The Govt. asked Honda to look at acquiring Nissan... Honda looked and then said "No". Nissan makes some very nice cars but it has too many closets with skeletons. Generally when a govt. pushed acquisition is refused in Japan it means there are too many "off the books" things going on.

3rd gen Japanese Korean, it is an insult to be require a Passport in your own country. My children are 2nd gen half Japanese / American, but have Japanese citizenship, they constantly are asked for their Passports. But they understand... I mean, its Japan, they realize how backward people can be here.

Convient lies... you know "weapons of mass destruction". Probably the biggest lie ever and they we invaded Iraq.

What they were doing was telling other Hotels how close they were to full occupancy... they were all sharing that info. That way they know potential customers have no other choice and can then raise the rates. This is collusion... it would be the same as all supermarkets in your area telling each other how many eggs they had left or if they were sold out. Now if eggs were in high demand and supply was low you wouldn't appreciate it if they raised the price based on data they got from other markets sharing info.

"The watchdog's probe did not allege cartel-like collusion". I got a problem with that. These "watchdogs" always just nudge industry instead of actually firmly going after them. They should be tapping phones and build a firm prosecuteable case... but no, they take the lazy route, one that won't ruffle feathers, and just warn them. But if some citizens, not big business, try to do the same they go after them hard.

@Kaowaii - good point! Use the extra revenue to make things better.

Any out there that is complaining that too many foreigners are coming and making their live's miserable is a loser in the first place. Get a life and quit blaming your weaknesses on others. Japan needs the money.

Why is it that the Japanese constantly seem to need a high amount of affirmation? Anytime anything is written that is favorable to the Japanese the media is all over it. Maybe because the people eat it up. Do the Japanese people have such an inferiority complex that they need to hear good things like this.

Got no problem with this... as long as other conflicting Apps are banned too. Personally, I always install Google Maps... I find it to be the best navigation map out there.

No... I'm in Japan and Japan woefully lags in AI technology. I love my antiquated Galapagos life in Japan.

"Spare the Rod and Spoil the Child". That is how I, and most of my friends were brought up back in the 60's and 70's. And actually... we didn't consider it abuse. Bunking school... that might get you a back hand. Getting caught stealing, probably a good whipping, but we did learn right from wrong. We were also brought with "Children should be seen and not heard". And guess what... some of the greatest generations did quit well while adhering to those sayings.

The "profits" from the gambling involved in boat racing goes to The Nippon Foundation. A private, non-profit grant making organization established 10 years after boat racing first started in 1962. Basically use the profits to promote maritime development and humanitarian work. Now don't get me wrong but back in 1952... practically no visible gambling happened in the whole country without certain groups being involved. And then low and behold, 10 years later, after various groups around the country also started their own racing venues a centralized "non-profit" organization pops up. When they write "shadowy" in the headline, they mean it. Today they practically have sequester each racer to try to prevent race fixing... can you imagine how bad it got by 1962. I'd be willing to bet they had to create this organization to try to bring back trust into the sport because everyone knew it was fixed. And the funny thing is... the Japanese Govt. went along with it, they allowed the establishment of the "non-profit" organization. I'd love to see a detailed book keeping of how things are run today.

The bubble collapsed and for 30 straight years the Government spent $ Billions on stimulus packages to keep businesses afloat. They also increased the consumption tax from Zero to 10%... and yet the National Dept continued to increase. The Government the whole time knew the population was trending down but instead of really addressing the issue they used tax money to support the old boy clubs. Even now they continue to try to come up with ideas that promote families but keeps the business community happy. The 1st thing they need to do is force the banks to provide housing loans, even for homes that are over 20 years old. Why don't they do it... because those loans would hurt New Home Builders and Real Estate companies. Most new families in the USA buy a smaller old home and fix it up... then a few years later they sell it and... often at a profit, and buy a bigger home. But in Japan... homes almost always lose money, the investment never pays off. If a new family, one without a lot of money, could get a loan on the old Akiya homes in Tokyo... they then could afford a house, but banks will not do it. They're in bed with the Real Estate industry, the Home Building Industry and biggest of all the Politicians. This not the answer to the number of children being born in the country but it could help if young families found housing more affordable.

Media in all countries could be the same but Japan is different because of the Gaman culture. The USA was possibly the same up until the 1960's but things changed women started fighting back and speaking up which coincided with the fight for Women's Rights. Japan, to this day, has still not ever had any large Woman's Rights Movement.... and again, that is part of the Gaman / stay quite persevere mentality in the Culture. The women of Japan need to band together and make their voices heard.

$1.6 Billion... don't even think about trying to deceive U.S. regulators. Now Japan on the other hand, they'd get of with an apology and a very small fine.

This is total BS... what I really think is happening is that the Japanese Govt. is using this issue as a tradeoff / leverage point for any potential Trump tarriffs. The Japanese Govt would not ever allow a U.S. Company to buy Nippon Steel.... so why would they believe they have any right to back up a Japanese company other than political gain.

At $89,000 starting price... it prices out most of the middle class and poor. Just give me a bare bones electric car without the bells and whistles, that has 400 miles of range and is priced $40,000 or below. Heck... 300 miles of range and priced at $30,000 or below and I'd be a buyer. All the gadgetry is BS... just more things that can break.

50 and 40 years ago the prestige of paying top Yen for the biggest and best Tuna at the New Year's 1st Auction had quite a bit of clout... it announced to all... hey, we're "top dog" or at least a serious "up and comer" and people pay'd attention. However in this age I think it might be dilusional to believe one would receive the same attention, respect and boost to the bottom line.

Must of required a lot of brains to think up the idea.... many thousands of years ago, that bathing in clean hot spring water is desireable. But since it is Japanese... of course they could only be the one's to have the idea and do it right. The cultural arrogance of this country is amazing... but I guess at this point its the only thing they have.

Was talking to a teacher the other day in Tokyo... in addition Teacher's are not volunteering to coach various sports activities around schools because all they get is grief from parents and students. Gone are the days when one would spend their whole life in sacrifice for their employers success. Now people want more balance and you cannot blame them one bit.

A U.S. company has never been allowed to purchase any strategic Japanese company ever. In addition the Japanese Govt. has purchase restrictions on over 600 Japanese companies whereby even if they want to purchase just 1% of a Japanese company it would require prior Govt. approval. Japan does not play fair... so why should anyone in Japan be bent out of shape when the U.S. does the same? Let the U.S. bail out U.S. Steel, just like Japan bailed out its steel companies over 30 years ago and leave it at that.

What is killing these festivals and events is the dwindling population and the reluctance of younger individuals to participate. Selling tickets is BS... they're basically selling themselves out in my book. Tourism isn't killing Japan... don't blame it on that. The Japanese Govt. is killing Japan... they will not open the country to immigration properly.

Sorry but my first thought was it might be some nefarious Chinese company copying brand name liquor and selling them... one may've somehow got into the hotel's inventory.

I recently purchased a 2nd home near Kobuchizawa in Yamanashi and plan to do a bit of hiking nearby in the mountains, this does concern me. Japan's over regulation regarding guns and hunting will cause more hikers and nearby villagers to die as a result.

Just goest to show... when you're "disliked" you pretty much equally "dislike" back. They should just stop doing the surveys... maybe over time people will forget about this mutual problem.