Anime Dad wrote:

I think so. It was on ABC news, which is as reputable as you get in Australia.

Goodness. That's so dumb I can't even laugh properly
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Wanna trade? My Drama List (UPDATED: July, 2013)

It's hard to believe that's real, it's so dumb! LMAO Bless, they musta been heart broken!!!
SHEEP!!! XDDDDD oh my gosh it's hillarious, thank you SO much for sharing that!!! Classic <3
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Japan plans to launch Maglev rail service in 2025


TOKYO (AFP) - Japan said Thursday it would aim to launch its first magnetic levitation (Maglev) rail service in 2025 as it starts to phase out the famed Shinkansen "bullet" trains.

The commercial service, which can hit top speeds of more than 500 kilometres (310 miles) per hour, will be run by Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Tokai) between Tokyo and the central city of Nagoya.

"We will take the initiative ourselves in putting into reality a means of transport replacing the Shinkansen," JR Tokai president Masayuki Matsumoto told a news conference.

500km/h that's fast. It'll probably go slower than that tho...

K.T.Tran wrote:

Maybe all they were taught were math, science, and japanese history in school

Maybe that's the problem. Even with the movie star talking about his dog on a talk show... this is ridiculous. Did they ever saw a dog? 1000s of people got screwed at $1,600 a piece.

*Think of a scam to sell goldfishes as tuna for $20K*
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From FUJITV News: A tax man arrested on suspicion holding up a bank in Aichi Prefecture and taking a female employee hostage told investigators that he hoped his actions would get him fired because the tax office had refused to accept his resignation.

This guy must have REALLY hated his job!

gaijinmark wrote:

From FUJITV News: A tax man arrested on suspicion holding up a bank in Aichi Prefecture and taking a female employee hostage told investigators that he hoped his actions would get him fired because the tax office had refused to accept his resignation. This guy must have REALLY hated his job!

I can think of plenty of other ways to get fired from work that don't involve a bank holdup

Anime Dad wrote:

I can think of plenty of other ways to get fired from work that don't involve a bank holdup

I guess he's never seen that drama cliche where the lead actor walks in to resign, and his boss always talks him out of it.

He should have picked a better excuse.
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Japan opens baby drop-off box


A Japanese hospital opened the country's only anonymous drop box for unwanted infants on Thursday despite government admonitions against abandoning babies.

The baby drop-off, called "Crane's Cradle," was opened by the Catholic-run Jikei Hospital in the southern city of Kumamoto as a way to discourage abortions and the abandonment of infants in unsafe public places. The hospital described it as a parent's last resort.

A small hatch on the side of the hospital allows people to drop off babies in an incubator 24 hours a day, while an alarm will notify hospital staff of the new arrival. The infants will initially be cared for by the hospital and then put up for adoption.

"We started the service but hope it won't be used," head nurse Yukiko Tajiri said. "I hope it is seen as a symbol that we are always here for parents to share their difficulty."

But government officials warned the service might only encourage more abandonments.

"In principle, parents should not abandon their babies anonymously," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters on Thursday.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki meanwhile said it was "fundamental for parents to raise their children with their own hands".

Similar baby drops exist in Germany and South Africa. Some US states, such as Alabama and Minnesota, also have programs protecting identities of women who give up their babies.

The drop box was set up after a series of high-profile cases in which newborn babies were abandoned in parks and supermarkets, triggering a public outcry.

Abortion is readily available and widespread in Japan where restrictions against the measure is loose and there are no clear religious taboos.

Nearly 290,000 abortions were reported in 2005, according to the Health Ministry.



Sad.

Anime Dad wrote:

Similar baby drops exist in Germany and South Africa. Some US states, such as Alabama and Minnesota, also have programs protecting identities of women who give up their babies.

I don't know about the rest of California, but in L.A. county, they have a program where a parent can leave their baby at any emergency room or fire station. No questions asked.

I started a program like that myself. Parents can drop off their hot 20 years old daughters at my door no questions asked.


I think I've heard of the Japanese one a few months ago. The problem is adoption is extremely rare in Japan. There was one adoption by public couple, I can't remember who, could be a politician or movie star... anyway, and it sent a shockwave throughout Japan because they adopt a child outside their family.
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Somewhat related:

Japan scraps plan to urge breast-feeding


TOKYO - A Japanese proposal to urge mothers to breast-feed their babies and sing lullabies to children was scrapped after critics warned it was too intrusive, a news report said.

The proposal, which would also have recommended parents limit their children's television viewing and promote age-appropriate morals, was to have been announced Friday by an education reform panel named by the government.

But experts and some government officials said the measure was "beyond intrusive," and interfered in people's private lives, Kyodo News agency said Thursday, citing unnamed individuals close to the panel.

gaijinmark wrote:

But experts and some government officials said the measure was "beyond intrusive," and interfered in people's private lives, Kyodo News agency said Thursday, citing unnamed individuals close to the panel. [/list]

Encouraging breast-feeding is 'intrusive'?!

According to Freud those government officials were probably deprived of the privilege of being breast-fed. Hell, they were probably abandoned by their mothers where they were toddlers.

tabana wrote:

I started a program like that myself. Parents can drop off their hot 20 years old daughters at my door no questions asked.

i tried that program, too but scrapped it due to lack of interest!
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http://www.facebook.com/kenjimlewis
also on twitter @71digiboy

I understand both sides of the "Baby Drop-Off" debate, but in the end, I think I'm glad this drop-off thing exists. I mean, maybe it WILL encourage more mothers to give up their children, because it's now made easy. But this isn't about them. It's about the mothers who would give up their baby by leaving them in a dumpster, or bathroom, or park, etc. to die. If those babies are saved because of this new drop off thing, then I think it's a good thing.
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Sake may power cars in the future By Risa Maeda
SHINANOMACHI, Japan (Reuters) - Japanese motorists may one day pump their cars full of sake, the fermented rice wine that is Japan's national drink, if a pilot project to create sake fuel is a hit with locals in this mountain resort.

The government-funded project at Shinanomachi, 200 kilometres (124 miles) northwest of Tokyo, will produce cheap rice-origin ethanol brew with the help of local farmers who will donate farm waste such as rice hulls to be turned into ethanol.

"We want to present the next generation a preferable blue print -- a self-sustainable use of local fuels," said Yasuo Igarashi, a professor of applied microbiology at the University of Tokyo who heads the three year project.

IGARASHI!!!!!

Igarashi...

Wynter wrote:

It's about the mothers who would give up their baby by leaving them in a dumpster, or bathroom, or park, etc. to die. If those babies are saved because of this new drop off thing, then I think it's a good thing.

Yup. Sadly there are a few stories like that every year. Most of them were young mothers, sometimes as young as 14 years old. One of them was charged with murder a few months ago, because her baby died. It would have been much easier on everybody to give it to adoption, but she didn't want her parents to find out.
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Yet another "only in Japan" news.

Ballot box bra takes top spot in weekly entertainment news ranking source
Ballot box stuffing of a different kind took this week's top spot on the Japanese-language MSN-Mainichi Interactive site's entertainment rankings this week, with an article about a bra designed to look like ... well, a ballot box.

Lingerie manufacturer Triumph International claims that the silver "Voter Turnout Lift-Up Bra," was designed to increase the turnout at the House of Councillors election in July. But to hammer the point home, a skirt made from 96 ballot slips is attached to the bottom of the strappy bustier.

Triumph's image girl Erika Nakayama appeared onstage wearing the bra during a promotional event.

"If you put it on properly, it really makes you look good," the 21-year-old clotheshorse said. "It's got a futuristic feel to it and I like it." Hopefully the bra will boost voter turnout as well as the cleavage of its wearers. ...

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Wow, with as little as 20 votes, you can go from a B-cup to a D-cup...

It gives a whole new meaning to ballot stuffing.
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