Sam Watters comments

The 68-year-old leader's coalition was deprived of a majority in the powerful lower house in October as voters vented their anger at rising prices and political scandals

Wait until July. You ain’t seen nothing, yet.

Rice price cut rush puts Koizumi back in spotlight ahead of election

I haven't seen any price reductions in Hokkaido. Has anyone?

A protest vote is possible. While there may not be a better alternative to the LDP, voters can at least punish them by removing their majority. At the very least, I hope politicians have enough common sense not to use those loud, expensive vans to drive around and shout "よろしくお願いします." Too many people are suffering due to governmental mismanagement, and wasting even more tax money on an activity that looks and sounds like a festival would be a slap in the face.

This would be a good time to formulate a plan for establishing alternative government sites in the event of such a disaster. The stoppage of Japan's financial services due to the destruction of Tokyo would have dire consequences for the world.

In the intellectual property strategy for 2025, the country will take advantage of the international popularity of Japanese anime and the content of such movies that highlights local culture to help promote regional economies, expecting a total economic impact of around 1 trillion yen.

I would love to see thought process that allowed this group to arrive at the figure of 1 trillion yen. Seems wildly optimistic.

Calling a general election would create a political vacuum even under such circumstances and may encourage many voters to react strongly against the LDP-led ruling coalition, the source added.

100% agree. The last time the general population was this angry with the government resulted in the LDG being thrown out of office and the DPJ taking over. Had it not been for the Tohoku disaster, the LDP might still be out of power. The climate is ripe for a massive protest vote.

The man who stole the rice should just ask Farm Minister Taku Eto to give him some. According to Mr. Eto, he never has to pay for rice.

Seriously, we should just vote out the LDP for at least ten years. I know there is no better option but this party has been in power for way too long and they need to be politically spanked. Since they cause most of our pain, let’s force them to share in it be removing them from their cushy jobs.

"Sometimes I was a little bit tough or too tough on one or the other because I absolutely wanted to get there and was demanding a lot...(but) they always realized that it was done in good intention and that it was done to accomplish the IOC mission."

The only mission the IOC has is to line their pockets with money taken from regular citizens.

@Simon Foston. Agree 100%.

Issue of legality, practice, etc. are all red herrings. The economy is terrible and the average citizen is suffering financially. We citizens of Japan cannot stop our economic pain but we can make sure those responsible feel some of it: do not vote for the LDP again for at least 10 years.

@HelloKitty321. Thank you for the clarification. I was not aware of that law.

Unless there is more information not being shared, this seems like an overreach. The girl is 18 (age of consent is 16 since last year) and they seem to be in a mutual relationship.

100,000 yen for my kid's 9th grade school trip.

80,000 yen for her uniform.

5,000 yen monthly for "school supplies" and "other."

10,000~~ yen monthly for her sports tournaments, games, uniforms, equipment etc.

-- Education is not free as stated in the law. 

These on top of other expenses with food prices pretty much doubling in the last 2 years. Gas is over 190 yen per liter in my area. 

No wage increase for me since the mid-90s.

You nailed it, Speedy!

you are unable to state you have led a crimeless life without breaking any laws.

Perhaps the issue is not so much having “led a crime less life” but rather committing acts of violence against another person.

Following his arrest, the man denied intentionally striking the clerk, saying “We were arguing. I didn’t strike him, but when I pushed him away from me, my hand probably hit him.”

Doesn’t matter. You hit the clerk and in doing so likely set back relations between long-term foreigners like myself who have invested years into making Japan more accepting of people from others countries. Hope you do some jail time and get deported, you jerk.

Considering that America is not currently at war and there hasn't been a war on American soil since 1865, this is a rather strange first thought to have.

9-11-2001. Twin towers in NY, among other targets,

The WEF is irrelevant. It’s a group of unelected people who want to replace national sovereignty with a utopian view that most of the world rejects.

So, what do you call it when record number of businesses go bankrupt because they can't find people to work?

You call it what it truly is: companies are refusing to pay decent wages. If there truly was a worker shortage in Japan then wages would be soaring and Japan might even loosen up its immigration policy. These business owners who complain about the (fictitious) worker shortage are like fisherman who refuse to put bait on the hook and then moan that they don’t catch any fish.

Like others have pointed out, if the political swine cared at all they would lower taxes on certain essential items. They don’t, which is why money again will be taken from our pockets and moved around for a short time and placed in their (government’s) pockets. This is just another shell game from the same old group of tortoises.

Lower the sales tax. Lower the salary and perks of politicians correspondingly and there will be no increase in strain on the Japanese public.

“My local taxes alone eat up 2 months of take home salary.”

Some wise people have already said it: lower taxes. My local taxes alone at up 2 months of take home salary. Government spends too much.

Have you seen the LDP’s new campaign commercial video? It’s starts off like this: “The LDP has changed. We follow the rules.”

I think the article makes a dangerous assumption and that is the premise that young people will have the financial resources to care for the elderly. The economy has been on a slow-but-steady decline for decades now with no end in sight. People are barely getting by so where the extra money to pay for an expensive nursing home will come from remains a mystery. Bringing the elderly into their homes is also not always a possibility because of lack of space and the need for both partners to work which leaves the elderly unsupervised.

Ishiba will reportedly discuss plans to launch a new disaster management ministry in the earthquake and flood-prone country, as well as stressing the importance of nuclear energy.

I’m against any new ministry but I like the idea of exploring nuclear energy options. in resource-poor Japan, it’s doubtful we will be able to afford oil for much longer if prices continue to raise.

I’m not a fun of consuming puffer fish but I am beyond impressed with Tabira’s skills at such a young age.

Absolutely horrifying.

Compared to who? The USA?

Yes, among others. Compared to almost any other country, the CCP looks bad.

That’s because the CCP, one of Japan’s neighbors, is one of the most dangerous rogue regimes in the world.