Yubaru comments

involving popular former TV host Masahiro Nakai.

Let's keep it real, "former" lead member of the popular Johnny's group SMAP.

could be considered sexual harassment’…..I’d have thought it either is or isn’t sexual harassment? Once all the facts come to life, this statement might come back to haunt them.

It's just speculation, and the facts have "come to life", just not to light, and nothing will haunt anyone if he stays out of the light, and pays enough hush money.

In a statement of apology, he said that "my lack of awareness for the situation I am in, my naivety, my arrogance and my inappropriate behavior have caused everything."

50 years old, in an industry that has had far too many incidents of sexual harassments and worse, and the best thing he can come up with is this for an excuse?

I hope he never returns, his arrogance is just incredulous!

If Aiko's husband is a foreigner, will he become emperor?

I take it you dont know about how the royal family works here in Japan. If and when Aiko-sama marries, she will be forced out of the royal family and officially become a "commoner".

Just like her cousin did in becoming Mrs. Komuro

The ONLY way a female can stay in the royal family, at least one who is in the direct line to the Emperor, is to stay unmarried, and because of the archaic rules, they will never become Empress.

Oh noes forgot again JT posts results during finals.

And what else are they supposed to do?

Indiana has been a surprise all through these playoffs, I would love to see them win it all!

Since the current problems have arisen because GHQ reduced the number of male-line Imperial families, we should simply restore male-line Imperial families with the right to succeed to the throne.

Exactly. Problem solved.

Yeah and who is going to pay for it? It would be far cheaper to allow a female to become Empress than to restore those old lines!

The system as it is now is idiotic! The misogynistic views that "only" an Emperor may sit on the throne is ludicrous, when there have been Empresses before.

If they can't get back to allowing the heir to be male or female, then it deserves to die out.

If many of these foreigners can afford i-Phones, cigarettes & beer, I 'm sure they can afford to pay for better teachers.

And how do you suppose they manage to pay for all these things? By not having to pay for "better" teachers. Oh and dont forget, not all language teachers are "better" just because they are paid.

While the number of local governments that do not provide Japanese language classes, known as "blank areas," 

This is one of the most idiotic statements I have ever read here!

all the other BS ... like 'garbage' rules.

Sounds like English teaching in Japan!

(Sarcasm Alert)

The inference must be like these volunteers are like the ALT's in Japanese schools. Well at least with them (ALT's) they are a step above "volunteers".

Volunteer Japanese teachers may hinder foreign residents' learning

Please expound on this. There is nowhere in the article that says anything other than the inference stated here.

Better they have SOME assistance than zero!

They can ask, but without a warrant they have no right (unless the "suspicious" person agrees to it). Otherwise a simple "no thanks, I don't want you to check my bag," or, "I don't want to talk to you" is all that is needed for them to leave you alone.

Yeah, and see how far you get away with them finding a way to further "investigate" you. They can always claim a "clear and present danger" and if you dont allow them the right, you can get into deeper trouble.

Better to cooperate, especially if you have nothing to hide!

Abe's assassination had more to do with his connections to a religious group than any election. The election may have given the opportunity, but it is far from the reason why it happened.

Probably thinks he is going to get a pardon!

You’ re obfuscating.

Answer simply why the construction of the new house (

new base) is needed. We re shouldering the construction cost. So, we have the right to know about it.

I see you didnt read, or possibly didnt understand what I wrote here:

So? You build a new addition to your house, do you claim you built a new house? No way, people would laugh at you if you did. Same argument, but you fail to see the illogical conclusion to your post.

Same thing with a landfill. Look at Chatan, they built a landfill at Mihama, with many new businesses and "innovations" that the "old" Chatan didnt have, and yet no one calls the town Mihama Town, it's still Chatan.

You have no logical way possible to refute the facts. Same with Camp Schwab, it's just a landfill to an existing facility.

Let me explain it clearly again,

There is no "new house" being built, just an extension to an existing facility. And you talk about "obfuscating"?

No one "built" a new Itoman when the landfill at Nishizaki was completed, no one "built" a new Okinawa City, when the landfill at Awase was completed. (I could go on,) there is no "new house" just a new landfill with new buildings and facilities, just like any other landfill, anywhere in Japan.

Oh and please stop assuming that you are the only "paying" for it. I probably pay more in taxes here than you ever have, and I and countless others, are 100% glad that the landfill is happening and more importantly that Futenma will be closed.

Is it just an addition to your old, dilapidated house? Besides, what are your reasons why the new house must be built when I say it’s the waste of money without any meaning.

Your question makes absolutely no sense, seeing as how Camp Schwab is far from "dilapidated" and it's still not a new base, no matter how you try to obfuscate it!

What you "say" and what IS happening are fortunately two very different things! Here's to hoping you will see the day when it's finished and Futenma closes!

This is a national news story folks

Where? Never saw anything on Fuji tonight.

Gabbard's remarks come as aides to President Donald Trump voice growing frustration with Putin, who has refused U.S.-led, Ukraine-backed calls for a temporary ceasefire.

Only because her boss looks like a fool for making promises about ending the war that he has been unable to keep.

Trump is the problem, and literally every person he appointed just acts like his mouthpiece.

The construction and the landfill in Henoko started to build the so-called replacement of Futenma. But is it a mere replacement, with so many innovations added which Futenma doesn’t have, such as port facilities? It is a white elephant both financially and strategically. Answer this clearly and succinctly. Don't obfuscate.

So? You build a new addition to your house, do you claim you built a new house? No way, people would laugh at you if you did. Same argument, but you fail to see the illogical conclusion to your post.

Same thing with a landfill. Look at Chatan, they built a landfill at Mihama, with many new businesses and "innovations" that the "old" Chatan didnt have, and yet no one calls the town Mihama Town, it's still Chatan.

You have no logical way possible to refute the facts. Same with Camp Schwab, it's just a landfill to an existing facility.

You really should take your own advice here, "don't obfuscate".

Vote buying!

Haven't you heard? Vote buying by politicians campaigning for public office is a HUGE offense, and politicians who give almost anything away during their campaigns can and have been prosecuted and lost their Diet seats because of it.

This is literally the only legal way that politicians can "give" money to the populace to get votes!

I do not understand why rice is not simply imported.

Japan imports literally tons of rice!

The US still has nukes in Okinawa. The bases are not “Japanese soil”. Anyone naive enough to believe otherwise really doesn’t understand geopolitics.

Prove it! I could say the sky is falling and tell you that you dont understand what's happening either. Ludicrous right? Same as your views on "geopolitics" and nukes in Okinawa

Oh and if the bases arent "Japanese soil" why are the landowners getting paid millions in rent every year.

Another ludicrous assumption right?

Contrary to the belief of some, perhaps many, posters here, JA and the government do not hold all the "stock" of rice in Japan. There are, as noted on national news, that the government is "urging" private holders, who are storing rice, to "sell" their stocks as well.

But seeing as how it's an "urge", odds are not much will come from it!

There were at least four Mace B launch/storage sies in Okinawa before it was returned to Japan in 1972: Bolo Point in Yomitan, White Beach and at Kin just north of Camp Hansen, where a new base is under construction,

For purposes of "accuracy" and not conspiracy, there is no "new" US base being constructed anywhere on Okinawa

Camp Schwab, in Ginoza, supposedly once held nukes, a "well known secret" but not today.

The move will leave the country with a rice reserve of around 100,000 tons, down from about 910,000 tons before the government began releasing stocks through auctions in March and April.

So what this is stating is that contrary to the 300,000 reportedly planned to be sold, Japan has actually going to be "selling" 800,000 tons and cut its emergency supply down to roughly 10% of what it normally keeps?

Even at 200,000 tons per year, restocking the "emergency supply" will take roughly 4 years.

I pray that there are no other emergencies on the horizon, or we will be SOL

How appropriate... JA

voiceofokinawaToday  02:40 pm JST

just north of Camp Hansen, where a new base is under construction,

For the sake of accuracy, there is no new base under construction anywhere in Okinawa, "just north" of Camp Hansen or otherwise.

There is a landfill project on Camp Schwab, which is miles away from Hansen.

The Korean War is still on, with occasional flare-ups. Let’s try to get something right.

If you want to "get something right" then by all means follow it yourself.

The "Korean Conflict" was never a declared war from the prospective of the United States, and that conflict still lasts today.