This overtime in Japan is usually paid, BTW.

Nonsense. I’ve worked in a Japanese office for 10+ years and US offices for 10+ years before that. Japanese offices are far better balanced than US offices. People get plenty of annual leave AND actually take it. They get company provided annual health checks, most overtime is PAID even for salaried employees.

Keisei buses as well, for points in Chiba. Very cheap.

I don’t know when you are arriving in BKK, but I’ve never waited more than 5 minutes for a taxi there, and I’ve flown in there dozens of times.  Don Mueang, yeah, that line can be terrible but BKK is usually smooth.

Nah, he’s certainly renounced his US citizenship to become Japanese as the law in Japan requires. He would have both citizenships as a youth but needs to choose one as an adult. For average Taros they don’t really check but for a member of the national team they certainly do.

Yup. Unless it’s a major Japanese holiday period there will always be places to stay.

I don’t think so. The bigger problem is a lot of people bought residential properties to live in with their families, and now there’s a hotel next door to them. Even before this law a lot of properties were banning owners/renters from allowing people to rent their rooms as minpaku.

I saw a lot of bitching about this on Twitter, but there’s tons of cheap hotels available even after this move. Plenty of Minshuku around, too (those are basically smaller family-run hotels). Rakuten travel is also helping owners of minpaku to get registered properly.

I know you are being a bit facetious here, but there is a real issue with mental health in Japan among those who do not speak Japanese very well. (There are many services available to Japanese speakers). I know of several foreign residents who have also struggled with mental health issues and have taken their lives.

Almost all the friends I have who are marathoners drink beer, at least occasionally. OTOH I don’t think anyone I know who abstains completely from alcohol is super athletic.

As someone navigating Tokyo trains on a daily basis I can assure you nobody has any tolerance whatsoever towards those ending their lives by train here.

I used to live a few blocks from the Menil Museum and nobody walked there. All car, all the time baby!

What unwritten rule was broken here? A 5 run lead is nothing, is the team with the lead supposed to stop trying to score?

Hell, you realize if your a white guy or any race and want to become a Japanese citizen you are given a Japanese name. You can’t keep your original.

The face recognition works great for me! I use it with/without glasses, with/without hat, hungover as shit - works every time.

I realize there’s a price disparity due to it being somewhat rare and imported, but the Akashi Single Malt is less than $35 in Japan. Good value!

Yup, this is me too. I’ve been very happy with GPM over the time i’ve had it.

Counterpoint: Leading the AL West despite basically every batter hitting markedly worse than last year. Will that continue all season? I don’t think so.

Basically everywhere else I’ve been in the world manages to handle airport security much more humanely, efficiently than the US. I fly Japanese domestic through Haneda frequently, it’s one of the world’s busiest airports and it’s never a hassle. Can’t say the same for how the TSA runs the show in the US - it should be…

Zima never went away in Japan! You can and always could buy one.