smithinjapan comments

It's a two-way street, the only difference being Japan is a supposedly democratic nation and with free and easy access to all sorts of information. I still know people here who call Covid "the China virus" with a big smile.

syniksan: "I get it now. How to be safe in Japan means wear a helmet when shooting a gun"

The boy was wearing a helmet, not the shooter, and the person you quoted was obviously glad for the kid with the helmet being on.

In any case, this guy needs to be locked up for a little while. I agree as well that "air gun" needs to be clarified. From the sounds of it it sounds like a pellet gun, but without more news on what kind of sign had the air gun ammo marks and what not it's hard to tell. I can't imagine parents looked at the helmet and knew it was one of those small plastic yellow BBs.

Japan does not have four seasons anymore, at least not the majority of it (Hokkaido still does, for now). Some people get truly offended when you say that, but it's 100% true. There is summer and winter, and nothing in between.

My partner's parents both live at home still, though they are getting on, and we've been talking about the possibility of retirement homes, since it is getting hard for her father to take care of his mother and himself. We were told that it is standard to have patients at the homes turn over their MyNumber cards to the staff as well as the passwords to use it in case of emergency when the patient is unresponsive. Now, do you know what that means? It means the homes -- where there are NEVER abusers -- will have access to much more than just health care info, especially when the cards are linked to bank accounts (will be mandatory by the end of next year, I'm sure). Can't wait to see what happens.

They'll still go if called upon.

Oh my sweet lord, no! The Japanese obsession with mayonnaise is very bizarre and unhealthy. Like calling shredded cabbage with mayo on top a "salad".

Leaves this year have been disappointing from what I've seen, but not much you can do. Do it for the hike, and go to places that are not so crowded if possible.

OssanUltra: "You really should be worrying about water quality in your own country first."

Yeah, I guess we have no right (unless weebs!) to even PONDER what might be in the water in the country we live... well, unless it's strictly blind praise.

That explains why I haven't heard anything about baseball for the last few days. Japan will, of course, claim that because of this loss the tournament has no official relevance in terms of world rankings. What amazes me is that it STILL uses the system that allowed Japan to win the first time, where a team that loses even twice is automatically (for some reason) put into the finals while other teams are eliminated in a round-robin style, and can win if they beat an up-till-then unbeaten team. THAT is what makes the WBC irrelevant, not that Japan lost.

Way to go, Taiwan!

This is one reason why Japan is leading a list of human rights abusers when it comes to work trafficking. The government calls the program which brings them in the "internship program" and turns a blind eye to any and all abuses, even denying they knew when some incidents come to light, saying, "We do not handle to subcontractors so it is not our responsibility, but we promise an investigation so that the issue will not be repeated," etc., etc. Some people come here with the idea of a great opportunity to have a better living and make more money for family back home, and then they become trapped and saddled with debt so bad they have no hope of ever escaping.

"These security guards have been employed by the town to oversee the site and stop people from jaywalking and running out into traffic, which is a safety issue as large vehicles often pass through the narrow, two-way street. Although the guards are on hand to help keep people safe, visitors appear to have little regard for them, with one saying he’s been yelled at by foreigners using broken Japanese, with words that translate as “idiot,” “die” and “go away.”"

Well, obviously their moronic ploy worked!

"The language hurdle adds to the stress, because on one occasion, when the guard used English to stop someone from running out onto the street, they angrily told him, “I’m Japanese!” The guard then told him that if he was Japanese, he should cross the street properly — in Japan it’s commonplace to always use crosswalks and refrain from jaywalking or going against pedestrian signals — to which the person told him to use honorific language when addressing him."

ZING! I LOVE how the guy shot back and told the guard to use the honorific like a proper Japanese, you know, since the guy so snidely assumed he was not Japanese because all Japanese behave one way and foreigners another and all that. I mean, you almost can't come up with a more perfect example of generalization and hypocrisy, with the guard even telling a JAPANESE how Japanese behave when the guy was not at all behaving that way as a Japanese person! hahaha. Perfect! And as for being commonplace for Japanese to refrain from jaywalking -- HOGWASH! It's as common for people to jaywalk here as it is for drivers to ignore you when gonig to cross a "zebra crossing" crosswalk. In fact, Japan is the only nation that doesn't punish people for not stopping when someone is about to cross the road legally and speeds through the pedestrian area and through red lights.

Bret T: "There are many areas in the US he would have been killed long before he reached 1000. It's called the "Castle Doctrine" and it is a legal defense for killing someone on your property if you feel your life might be in danger."

This is not the US, thank the gods, and not just for this guy's sake. Yes, he should definitely get a new hobby, though.

Meh... if it's just walking on other people's properties it's not THAT big of a deal, though he should be warned and fined, and possibly forced to do public service or something. If he broke anything, vandalized, and/or entered people's homes in the process, that's a bit of a different story.

"I am deeply sorry that you were placed in an uncertain legal status for a long time,"

Yeah, a non-apology if ever there were one. "Hey, uh... sorry there was a bit of a mix-up. Not that you have a future, and we erased your past, but we... uhhh... promise to try not to do it again in the future. You can trust us on that!"

Old guy has a good attitude about it being fate, but he should have thrown his drink in this guy's face and told him to get out. Yeah, he'll get some compensation, but it will NEVER bring back what he lost, and it will never bring to justice the actual criminals (including the people who forced his confession), and what's he going to do with the money at 91 that is worthwhile? Pass it on to the kids he couldn't have due to the "justice" system? Are they at the VERY least going to put a black mark next to the names of the investigators who carried out this travesty? No? Didn't think so.

Thank you so much to his sister for sticking by and helping him all this time.

Peeps, I don't think punishing the family is going to help here. I mean, what is the family of a potential suicide going to do to try avoid it, guilt them into not doing it -- ie. make them feel horrible about living? Punish them pre-emptively to stop them from committing suicide? The person killing themselves is doing the ultimate calling of a bluff.

What I think they are trying to do here is leave a record on this person's life so that she cannot even be mentioned ever again without shaming those around her in a number of ways. THAT might help prevent it a little -- the idea that in your final act you will isolate yourself posthumously even more than you were in life. That will be your only legacy.

Sooooo.... what's her punishment going to be if found guilty?

Anyway, I might feel a little sorry for the young woman, but in her absolute cowardice and selfishness she murdered another person. Hope she realized that in her final moments.

OssanAmerica: "It doesn't alter anyone's position on the forced labor issue one way or the other."

Well, that's because of the inability with Japan to actually come to grips with its history and the acts of horror it committed. With this site and Gungkanjima (however it's spelled) and Hashima Island, as a poster mentioend above, they promised to honestly address the issue and lied. Now, you can say that the boycott won't change things, and that may well be true (UNESCO status should immediately be removed, as with that of the aforementioned island), but if nothing else the SKorean stance has brought quite a lot more attention to the issue than if Japan had simply done what it promised and acknowledged what it had done.

You have to wonder what the Japanese reaction would be if, for example, the US applied for UNESCO status for the area that is home of the atomic bomb creation, saying they promise it'll be a step in healing. Then, when the ceremony comes about, they say, "The atomic bombings ushered in peace and prosperity and saved countless lives. In a way, this ceremony marks the beauty of peace and also commemorates all the victims of war, whether American, Japanese, or otherwise." If Japan chose not to send people and/or were outraged by the whole affair, I'd say they were right, wouldn't you?

South Korea is in the right on this issue.

OssanAmerica: "No Japanese leader since Koizumi has been able to get a Kim to talk and address this issue."

I liked Koizumi and really respect him for making more progress than pretty much any Japanese leader before him on the issue (if not all). It is a shame that after the abductees we know about returned to Japan the media went so crazy that Koizumi had to renege on all his promises and it sent everything back to square one. For a short time, things were looking up...

Mr. Kipling: "Within 14 hours on a plane you can be almost anywhere from Japan. Yes, fares are expensive, especially if you don't book in advance. But after they have gone you can't ever see them again."

Not during Covid. That's when my mom passed. Couldn't go home and wouldn't have been able to come back if I had. Lost my dad a decade before, also while I was here. Would have gone home to be there with him but family decided not to tell me (at his request) so as not to "disturb my life here". Turns out he had a very quick, but serious illness. Was rather upset about it, but family said they wanted to tell me but had promised him. Ah well. They live on in my mind

I love it... preempting the, "Okay... look... there's a chance I may fail my drug test because... ummm... there is a lot of marijuana smoke mixed in with the regular exhaust fumes... ummm..."

Poor kid. RIP.

"During the trial, Miyagi’s lawyer argued that he was drunk at the time..."

Pulled the old TIJ, I see. Glad it didn't work. And I am glad he's getting 14 years. Perhaps he'll learn what it feels like to be an innocent young lady just sleeping in bed and not expecting to get stabbed in the back... minus him not being a young lady.

It's weird, though... this guy gets 14 years for attempted murder, but a drunk driver who kills a family gets the same or less?

bo: "In sagamihara, 80% of drivers are on their phones while driving .And 80% run a red light ."

At the scramble crossing outside my apartment there a TEN SECOND pause between when the lights for drivers go red and lights for pedestrians turn green, and exactly ZERO seconds for the reverse. Saw an old many with back problems (I assume) the other day who couldn't get across on time because it's so short, and yet drivers are ENCOURAGED to speed through the red lights -- and all literally in front of the town's main police station.

Sigh... as usual, when popularity begins to wane, bring up the abduction issue and how you vow to solve it.

I agree that you don't necessarily need native speakers of any language to learn that language. It can be done at least in part through books and/or anyone who knows the language better than you do. Might not be perfect, but then a lot of native-English speakers don't know the language as well as those who have studied it intensely as a second or third language. Heck, as a volunteer at my local community center I teach Japanese to some foreigners who come here on spousal or working visas, and I even sometimes teach Japanese youth how to properly write Kanji (and some adults). I'm sure I make some mistakes, but I still pass on the knowledge I have learned, as to teachers of English in or from countries where it may not be there mother tongue.

"Many of them were given meager food rations and nearly no days off and were caught by police if they escaped, historians say. But the Japanese government has refused to admit they were “forced labor.”"

Anyone surprised? It's the same with Gunkanjima -- promised UNESCO status if they addressed the issue of forced labor, and they put up some tiny sign saying something like, "Koreans were given jobs here", which was taken down after getting the status. You have even weebs on here saying there were no sex slaves but that, "these women were eager prostitutes and were well paid!" or "It was Korea's fault, not Japan's!" So why would it be any surprise here that, once again, Japan doesn't want to fess up to its war crimes and only wants recognition as a victim?

So, yesterday it was one guy killing his family, and now another (I realize it is past crimes). It is getting worse and worse every day.

"It was taboo for us to talk about money, but according to a friend of mine who worked in the prison's accounting section, Ichihashi had plenty," said Yamauchi. "I don't know the exact amount, but his supporters are believed to have frequently transferred tens of thousands of yen to him. I suppose he has about ¥1 million saved up."

Leave it to Japan. Well, it was only a foreigner the guy murdered, after all, before making an absolute fool of the cops and before his dad helped him flee and live as a fugitive (but was never held to account for it).

Doesn't seem to mention that no one forced Japan to murder almost 20-million people across Asia, nearly all innocents, nor that these torpedo incidents would not have happened if Pearl Harbor hadn't either. Cause and effect. This tragedy was brought on by the nations leaders. Period.

Agent_Neo: "Because America won the war, no one was charged with using weapons of mass destruction or massacring civilians."

The Allies won the war, not America, just to get the facts straight. And as for massacres of civilians, I didn't see you mention how Japan killed more than Germany before and up to the end of WWII, and that's not to mention the forced suicides of its own people in Okinawa with families being told at gunpoint and bayonette to huddle around grenades, or to walk off the cliffs of Laderan Banadero in the Marianas, etc. But hey, they always have people to deflect on their behalf when not doing it themselves.

"The majority of the expert panel members were of the opinion that numerical standards could be set with figures representing situations that are "considered to be out of the ordinary."

Ummm... ya think? Going 130 kph ABOVE the limit is enough to be somewhat sure it's more than negligence? It's amazing how they will bend over backwards often to protect drunkeness and its consequences here. All police need to do is watch any given izakaya and check the people walking out and getting into their cars. They also need to start enforcing the law enacted a while ago where they can charge establishments that allow people to drive after serving them. I saw a guy drink a tallboy of beer after walking out of the convenience store and plopping down into the driver's seat of his car. Chugged it, then went in to buy another. I asked the staff if they should be selling it to them since he was drinking in his car and it was deer-in-headlights. Went out to get the guy's plate and call the cops but he took off.... likely to hit the next convenience store.

Japan praises itself as a land of zero tolerance when it comes to drinking and driving, but with announced safety driving campaigns and turning a blind-eye during enkai seasons, it simply does not want to confront reality and deal with the problems.