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Complaining about font size is a first world problem. "proves that the farmer's behavior is not something uniquely Japanese" I never said it was. "You continue to ignore that the only two parties which supported the farmer have either disappeared completely in one case, and have only minimal representation in the National Diet in the other case." What has their disappearance got to do with anything? The fact that the farmer is still there after these parties disappeared should tell you something! It's totally irrelevant. Your argument is that the farmer was only supported by 2 political movements and nobody else. If that were true, common sense would surely suggest that the government would not have given into him. The Japanese people were on the side of the farmer, as was portrayed at the time in the media. The government caved in to public pressure. (Have you ever heard of that happening before? I guess not). You don't know that because you weren't there.

I went to GB every night on my trip last year. There was smoking throughout the bar and some of the boys were sitting in the bar smoking during the rotation. Maybe they have changed the rules now, but confining smokers to the back of the bar is a waste of time. The bar still stinks. If you are a smoker, you won't notice it. They have seating outside the bar so the bar should send smokers there. I don't smoke at home, but I do in Thailand. Then I can sit in the smoking area and get up close and friendly with the boys during the ladyboy acts or when the guys are on rotation. Any remaining cigarettes get thrown in the bin at the airport.

"just because you explain your position" I'm not explaining my own position. I'm explaining the farmer's position. "I have shown examples of dozens of people who similarly turned down generous offers.." So what? How on earth is that relevant? Please explain. "... and paid the consequence" What consequence has he paid? He won the fight to keep his farm. That's all that mattered to his family. And for the last 50 years they have quietly gotten on with their lives. "this was the only farmer (all of the rest were also Japanese) who rejected the offers" Watch the video again. He said that 5 other farms remain within the airport precinct. And are you sure they were all Japanese? Nobody from say, the Cook Islands or from one of the where-the-fuck-a Stan countries, perhaps? 😂 And I will repeat my question, as you forgot to reply. Why did the government move the original location of the airport if it wasn't for the refusal of the farmers to sell their land? "...the lone farmer's behavior was, in all appearances, quite "un-Japanese" (anti-social and pig-headed)." See my previous comment. Do try to keep up, Unicorn. "It is you who claimed the "whole country" was behind him" See my previous comments. Do try to keep up, Unicorn. "only a fringe political group supported him." See my previous comments. Do try to keep up, Unicorn. "most other Japanese people apparently disagree with you" See my previous comments. Do try to keep up, Unicorn. And I've just seen one of my own previous comments : "I've has enough of talking to a brick wall, so I'll let you carry on arguing with the BBC." But I haven't had this much fun since my incident with the turkey baster! 😂😂

I just checked the first page Beer Bar statistics and this thread has now garnered 12,200 views! The thread that came in second with 3,700 views was an Admin issue regarding the new url. Four topics came in third with 1,300 views each. Asaik, the more popular a topic, the higher up the list it goes, so it is the members of the forum who are to 'blame', not Unicorn or myself. I'm stunned that so many are interested in this farmer. Perhaps it's because they like to read about the underdog and his fight against an arrogant, uncaring government - a simple farmer who stood up to the bully and won. That was the sentiment in Japan at the time.

"After 50 years? That video is 4 years old" Yes, but the story resulting in the 4 year old situation - and the situation today - of him remaining on the farm is 50 years old. It's called "background information". Things do not just happen in a vacuum - there's always a story behind events and that history is important to understand and explain what's happening now. "Just about anyone looking at that video would think "Oh, dear. What a mess that farmer got himself into." So, now you are speaking on behalf of others, whose opinion you couldn't possible know. Such arrogance! Nobody here has said that he got himself into a mess. And judging by the number of views you say this thread has received, that should tell you something. I guess readers believe the 2 people who were on the ground at the time and saw it with their own eyes, rather than the account of someone who was 10,000 km away and 50 years too late to the party. Plus, the farmer himself never said he was in some kind of mess in the interview. (I know, I know - you reckon he's just telling lies, as it suits your version of what happened. How do you know he's lying?) He said the amount of compensation offered was equal to working the land for 150 years. Yet he still didn't take it. And your Western logic can't understand it. ('Take the money, you stubborn fool! Take the money!' Are you really that shallow Unicorn?) Using Japanese logic, it's perfectly understandable. I've tried to explain it to you but it's obviously gone completely over your head. Either that, or you reject it because it doesn't suit your narrative. I think it's a bit of both. As for regrets, he had the chance to leave the farm, take the compensation and live a life of undreamed of luxury. But he didn't. As for Covid bringing peace and quiet, that noise and pollution was obviously no more than an annoyance. There are thousands of farmers living around the airport with its noise and pollution. Take a look on google maps.

"What you said was that the "whole country" was behind the farmer." That's right. That was the sentiment at the time. "what you said was that only leftist political parties were involved" I never said that. If you believe I did, please quote me. "you really should see a physician for evaluation of memory problems. Seriously." The farmer in the video proves that even after 50 years have passed, my memory is, in fact, perfect! Unicorn, your breath-taking arrogance is summed up in these comments : "probably a liar" "What might possibly lead you to think I'd find anything he says persuasive?" And all because he didn't agree with you in his interview! Unbelievable.

Here's an interview with the farmer. He backs up everything I've said, and nothing you've said. I've has enough of talking to a brick wall, so I'll let you carry on arguing with the BBC.

"Well, if you don't agree with my sources, you're more than welcome to provide your own" WTF??? Unicorn, did you fail English comprehension at school? I'm doing exactly that! I'm agreeing with you- or rather, what is written on Wikipedia! 100%. Yes, leftist political parties were involved in the demonstrations. Isn't that what I said - twice? Give me strength!

Maybe it's time for Ukraine to forget about Trump and wait the next 4 years out. In the meantime, they could offer those valuable rare minerals in a deal with China, in which Xi pressures Putin to end the war on fair terms, and then sits back and waits to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Now, that would really piss Trump off!

Guilty as charged! 😂😂😂

Warning, Unicorn! I'm cutting and pasting from Notes on my ipad again. (Just thought I'd get in early) "There you go again, stating I couldn't know what was going on because I wasn't there." Let me see if I've got this right. So you're saying that not being an eye witness to an event is the same as actually being there.I think you should tell that to media outlets who employ foreign correspondents at great expense. I'm sure they'd withdraw them immediately. "..... the Communist Party and Socialist Party." I've already told you that the conservative farmers aligned with their sworn enemies - the leftists. (And I didn't need Wikipedia!) Are you making a new point now? If so, what is it? "I would hardly characterize 17,500 people as "the whole country." Nor would I. Then again, I never suggested that 109 million people all turned up to Narita to protest. You've missed the point. "while I deal with reality." No, you deal with speculation, illogical and irrelevant comparisons and forays into mind reading of a farmer you know nothing about. You wrote this in one of your posts in this thread : "When you jump to conclusions without knowing the facts, you just demonstrate yourself as someone who forms his opinions first, then ignores any facts which don't jibe with his opinions. Something doesn't become true just because you want it to be true." I couldn't agree more! Keithambrose wrote: "This is getting really boring." Not for me, Keith. Fighting against sheer ignorance can be fun at times!

This morning I woke up feeling the sudden urge for Asian cock so I went online a booked KL for a week. However, it is Ramadan, so I was wondering if otot-otot sauna would be open.

Actually, I don't think that was reader's conclusion at all. Did you not see the word "seem" (sic) in his OP? I tend to take anything I hear from a Thai with a grain of salt. In my experience, they love to gossip or they want us to think that they have some kind of inside information. I remember the fiasco around the closure of Soi Twilight. I got a different story from just about everyone I spoke to working in the various beer bars and gogo bars. The soi was supposedly on the verge of closing, it was never going to close, the closure was years away........ There was a sign at the mouth of the soi telling us punters that the soi would be open for another year. Then it suddenly closed! The only people who really know what's happening are the developers -people to whom we do not have access. Best just wait and see.

"July 2022. Zelenskiy posing for VOGUE with his wife, at the most tragic time for Ukraine." Well, not quite, Moses. They were not posing for a frivolous fashion shoot, which is usually the case - the words on the cover explain why they were there. It was PR for Ukraine and the war.

"name calling and childish posts." Fancy doing that! Thank God Trump is above that type of churlish behaviour.

"Typing in a huge font is childish and doesn't make your argument any more persuasive." Wrong. Again. The huge font is because I typed it into ipad Notes first and then copied and posted. That size font is probably not even available on this site. "he was the only holdout" Then explain why the government made the costly move to another location if you say it wasn't because many other farmers refused to sell. I'm dying to hear what you know to be the real reason is for that move. (What happens around the globe is irrelevant, as we are talking about Japan.) "As I said, neither of us can know what's in the stubborn farmer's mind." Actually, I think it was me who said that. You were the one claiming to be able to read the farmer's mind and thereby knowing how he feels about his decision, not me. "What one can see is that he's either sorry or very foolish (or both)." No, that's what you want to see. And you've just said that we can't see what's in his mind, so how do you know he's 'sorry'? "It is you who proclaimed, without any evidence to support it, that the "whole country" (your words) was behind the foolish farmer. That's pure fantasy and speculation on your part (you have declined providing evidence to the contrary, as I suspected)." There you go, 'suspecting' again. I told you that I hadn't done a survey, but that it was the overwhelming sentiment in Japan at the time. How do I know that? Because I was living in Tokyo at the time and you weren't. Because I watched it on TV every night and you didn't. Because I was reading it in the media and you weren't. Because I was talking to Japanese people and you weren't. Now, please address the points I made in my previous post. You know, how you could suspect that something happened when it was 10,000 km away and 50 years ago. Or what evidence you have to support your claim that only a small minority supported him. Or how you can judge his feelings of regret. Our how you decided he was 'insane'. You conveniently forgot to explain how you came to these conclusiions. Unicorn, I'm loving this! But without explaining anything and just speculating and making wild, uneducated claims based on your own beliefs, instead of facts, makes you look a little foolish.

Watching Trump being played like a violin, first by Kim Jong Un, and now by Putin, must be galling to everyone, apart from the magats. Both are way too smart for Trump, whose level of education is that of a third grader. He has the vocabulary of an elementary school student. He's such an embarrassment.

Zelenski is fighting a war, whereas Trump just plays golf. He surely has more important things to worry about than what to wear! BTW, in true dictator fashion Trump now only allows journalists who support him to attend media press conferences, thereby ensuring he isn't asked any hard questiins. He also chooses who asks questions, and only a few questions are allowed. Given the seriousness of the topic, that was a useless, frivolous question designed to antagonise Zelenski. Surely there were more important questions that could have been asked. Trump set it up. If they thought it was somehow important to wear a suit, they would have told him to get changed. As for "He is just Musk", you may think that but Trump obviously doesn't. He has a much higher profile than Vice-president J D Vance, who has virtually disappeared. So Musk should wear a suit instead of jeans and a T-shirt when on government business, especially when in the Oval Office, and should certainly not bring his kid into the Oval Office. It's a case of double standards.

Let me go through your post, line by line. It is full of assumptions and inaccuracies. The number of "vocal" supporters you referred to in relation to Mangioni can in no way be compared to the "majority of the population" of a country. As I stated above, I did not carry out a survey to see how many Japanese supported him, but the sympathy for him was overwhelming. (BTW, I haven't surveyed the population of Okinawa either, but I can say the feeling of the people there is that they want the US bases gone.) "I suspect, it was only a vocal minority". I admire your ability to 'suspect' from 10,000 kilometres away and after 50 years have passed! And also your ability to know that it was a minority, not a majority is impressive. "so it's up to you to look up any opinion polls to support your dubious claim" What opinion polls did you look up to support your own "dubious claims"? "I notice that you consider yourself the ultimate arbiter of what's "Japanese logic" and what's "Western logic." Not the 'ultimate arbiter' - I'm merely speaking from the point of view of someone who is in the unique position of having experienced both over decades. You have experienced both but one was only for a few weeks. Hardly comparable. "a selfish boor" Well, yes - 'selfish' in the sense that he was looking after himself. I can't comment of whether or not he is a 'boor' because I've never met him. But neither have you, so it's another example of you dealing in speculation - expressing an opinion about something you can't possibly know. "I do agree with @PeterRS is that being a selfish boor probably represents rather "un-Japanese" behavior. " I don't know much about Peter, but I do know he lived and worked in Tokyo. I'm guessing he was there for many years because his knowledge about Japan, its culture and its people is remarkable. He and I both know that, in general, Japanese are willing to sacrifice their own interests for the overall good of everyone else. I say ' in general' because it is not always the case. The Japanese are not masochists. If they feel strongly about something, they will put their own interests first, especially if, as in this case, they believe they have majority support. "After all, he was the only holdout. " I'm sorry, Unicorn, but you shouldn't make false claims based on ignorance of the situation. He was not the only one to hold out, and it is for this reason that the government had to move the original site of the airport 5 km away to the villages of Sanrizuka and Shibayama. In the end, half the farmers affected kept their land. "Of course, I have no way of proving that he regrets his intransigence." Well, in that case, don't make that claim. The fact that he turned down the compensation and is still farming the land today suggests he has no regrets, but neither you or I can know how he feels. "However, only an insane person..." Maybe his is. I have no idea as to the state of his mental health, and nor do you. Yet you are making this claim based on what you would do in the circumstances. "No telling what he could have made had he invested the money..." Again, that's Western logic - grab the money and run because money is the most important thing in life. I explained earlier the Japanese logic behind his decision. "I doubt this farmer's ancestors owned the land then,..." They're you go, 'doubting' again. But this time, you're in luck - indeed, they did not own the land. Land ownership was introduced in Japan after the 1868 Meiji Restoration. However, unlike the US, Japanese society during the time of the shoguns was feudal. Farmers were just below priests but above artisans in the feudal heirachy, such was their importance in society. The land was farmed by pleasant families and it is from here that generational attachment to land began. The US experience is totally different, which is why I suggested someone from a relatively young country would not understand. I mentioned earlier about the importance of knowing the Japanese language in order to understand their way of thinking. It goes for all countries and languages, not just Japan. Here's a very common expression which helps explain the farmer's thinking and beliefs: 七転び八起き (nana korobi ya oki) - fall 7 times, get up on the 8th. Hang in there when the going gets tough. And here's one for you : 井の中の蛙大海を知らず (I no naka no kawazu taikai wo shirazu) a a frog that lives in a well can not know about the ocean. And one more : 知らぬが仏 - Not knowing is Buddha. In other words, ignorance is bliss. And one more (I can keep going, but you get the picture): 身の程 知らず - mi no Hodo shirazu. You are in way over your depth. Unicorn, I'm not arguing with you - I'm simply explaining the situation to you from the point of view of an insider.

Musk never wears a suit when he's in the Oval Office. Nobody should "humble" themselves in front of anybody, especially in front of a convicted rapist, sex abuser and fraudster. "Reportedly" spent aid money on jewelry, "Reportedly", Bucky. Wouldn't you want to see a copy of the receipts? Or perhaps and interview with people working in the jewelry store? Or a photo of all the jewelry? Without that, this is just hearsay or one man's opinion. Hearsay and opinion are not fact and should not be reported as such.

What are his sources for this information? Was he in the room at the time? If not, he's yet another random guy you've managed to dig up making a tiktok video. Bucky, do you believe everything you see on the internet? Do you ever wonder where these ordinary people get their "information"?

Actually, I'm "pushing war" until the last Russian soldier leaves Ukraine.

Gosh, how dare Zelenski constantly berate a dictator and war criminal!

All evidence suggests it's because he wants to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Well, JD just put an end to any chance of that. Besides, caving into a dictator and war criminal to win peace is a peace not worthy of the prize.

Are you talking about Putin? How many of his relatives are fighting in Ukraine? What the world witnessed in the Oval Office was a draft-dodger and a Trump ass licker insulting a man fighting for his country. At the start of the war Zelenski was offered a chance to leave Ukraine, but he decided to stay and fight. And he is still fighting, while Trump spends his time playing golf.