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What Trump is really saying is "Stop the war and give Russia all the land it has captured during its illegal war against a sovereign nation." In other words, surrender. Hitler would have loved you, Bucky.

Actually, I think it goes back to the time when Trump demanded Zelenski "find dirt" on Hunter Biden and he refused.

Err....you cannot equate "a bunch" with "the majority of the population". Simple maths. Where did you get "the moral high ground " comment from? In all the years since the riots this is the first time I've heard this expressiion, either in English or Japanese, in reference to this situation. But of course, here you are thinking with Western logic. Japan thinks with Japanese logic. There is no moral high ground from a Japanese perspective. It's interesting that you somehow know that he's lying when he says he didn't regret rejecting the compensation offered. How do you know that? And where are your sources to back your claim that he tried to extort more money? As you have only spent a few weeks living in Japanese society I do not expect you to understand the cultural importance the land has to the farmer. Your Western logic says, take the money and run. I don't know where you are from, but I wouldn't be surprised if it were a relatively young country (USA? Australia?) where farmers have not hear the time to develop their generational connection to their land.

. You make some valid points. I don't think the Japanese have a particular aversion to twinks. In fact, they are open to anything. I wasn't talking about host bars or beer bars - the bars I mentioned were sleazy hands-on bars where the language barrier wasn't a real problem. And twinks were few and far between in those bars. (I'm more into masculine types.) I still think the main cause for the demise of Sunee is the lack of advertising to the Asian gay tourists. If they didn't know it existed, they onviously wouldn't be turning up there. BTW, a bar like Eros would have certainly appealed to the Japanese, as they are totally into sleaze, whereas I think the Chinese are a bit more shy and reserved.

Unicorn, I find your comparisons between the farmer and cell phones and Luigi Mangioni very confusing and irrelevant. I was there when it all started, watched it for years and it certainly seemed like everyone was on the farmer's side. (But I didn't do a survey!) Even today the farmer is unrepentant and doesn't regret rejecting the monetary compensation offered. The location of Narita airport was chosen because it was a large area of flat land, it was far enough away from Tokyo to mitigate any forms of pollution and the government falsely believed the farmers would hand over their land without complaint. But the farmers were infuriated with the total lack of consultation with them and the total disregard for their connection with the land - in fact, I recall them first finding out about the site on the nightly news! The government, which relied heavily on the notoriously conservative farmers' votes, panicked and quickly decided to forgo the eminent domain solution, opting for the traditional Japanese way of solving disputes, which is through negotiation. And the result of that negotiation is the situation we see today. As I said in a previous post, trying to enlighten westerners to the complexities of Japanese logic is something I shy away from with my friends. It's too exhausting.

Note the word "reportedly." Are there any receipts we can look at? If not, it's pure speculation - just another person giving their opinion without presenting any facts to back it up. Does she have some kind of inside information unavailable to everybody else? Why doesn't she quote her sources? But if evidence proves it be true, then of course it should be paid back. With interest! And she is right when she says celebrities never do anything for free. Hey, Trump is the biggest celebrity of them all! As for the "mandate" to fire people, Trump never mentioned this during the election campaign, so he doesn't have any mandate. This is precisely why he got unelected Elon to issue the mandate.

Bucky, maybe you could post a tik tok video explaining why President Elonia and DOGE haven't looked into the cost to taxpayers of Trump's regular visits to the golf course. It is estimated that over $100,000,000 (!!) will be spent in 2025 alone. And while Doge is questioning the work ethnic of federal workers, perhaps they could look into the amount of time Trump spends playing golf rather than working.

Maybe we don't need to over -think this. I was a regular visitor to Sunee for many years - I even stayed at the Don Plaza/Elephant Plaza hotel, situated right in the middle of Sunee, a few times. My regular haunts were Eros, Holiday 2, Goodboys and the bar directly opposite called All of Me, and Krazy Dragon. Over the years I noticed fewer and fewer customers - they just stopped coming. So the bars closed. The final straw was when Eros closed. Over the years I rarely saw Asian customers. I did see a couple of Japanese guys, one Korean and one or two Chinese, but that's about it. I always wondered why the bars didn't get together and advertise on Chinese social media. Given their population, there must be millions of gay cocks looking for a home.

The attachment and commitment to the farm land can on no way be compared to cell phones or the internet. They didn't exist generations ago, so there is no attachment. And at the end of the day, his refusal to sell has has no impact on anyone. The airport was finished and 99% of people travel oblivious the the fact that they are taxi-ing past a farm. If the farmer is suffering from noise and pollution, that's his problem. So it's all good.

It's ironic that President Musk and VP Trump want to get rid of federal workers who they believe are not doing their job by working from home or being lazy and unproductive. Trump has spent 60% of his time on the golf course!

Magamaniacs look at the number of questions, whereas they should be looking at the quality of the answers.

I admire his commitment to the land, which his family has probably farmed for generations. To many farmers - and not just in Japan - that deep attachment is more important than money.

We followed the building of the airport in great detail every night on the news. Supporters of the farmers often clashed violently with those who wanted the airport. I think it was a case of the Japanese siding with the little man - the underdog - fighting government bureaucracy. I know I supported his battle to keep his farm at the time and so did just about everyone I knew. As for understanding Japanese logic, I don't have much trouble in this regard. You really need to know the language. Everything kind of makes sense to me but I've basically given up trying to explain it to my friends.

Japan has strong eminent domain laws but I think in this case, the government had already pissed off the farmers, who are an important electoral constituency, so they probably just gave up. If I recall, the farmer in question had the support of the whole country. People admired his tenacity.

I've often wondered if things would have been different had I grown up in a western country. Chances are, I wouldn't be interested in asian guys, who knows? As for being pestered for tips, I'm not a charity and only reward people of they actually do something for me. So if a waiter or a guy in a gogo bar comes up to me and asks for a tip, I just smile and say "Sorry. Not tonight." However, sometimes, if I see a nice looking guy in 7/11 or of he gives me a smile, I'll pay for his purchases. The look on his face is all the reward I need!

This is just another way of propping up his dictatorship - replace competent people with incompetent Trump boot lickers. And now we read he has decided who can attend his press conferences and fly on Airforce One. It started with the banishment of the AP journalists and he has now basically told all reporters that if you don't support me, your out. Like all dictators, control of the media is paramount. Bye bye free press! PS: didn't J D Vance - he's the vice president, in case you've forgotten - scold European leaders for the lack of free speech in their countries?

"The big problem for Narita has always been the nearby farmers who have an extremely active lobby that not only delayed the airport's construction decades ago, but also significantly delayed the opening of the second runway" There were clashes between the authoritative and an unholy alliance between the notoriously conservative farmers and radical left wing organisations. We watched it all on TV every day. For years after the airport opened security was very tight entering the airport; cars were stopped and searched and passenger documentation was thoroughly checked. Riot police hovered nearby and their heavily armoured vans were parked along the roads. One stubborn farmer refused to sell his land so various taxiways were diverted around his farm. It is still there today,

If I'm arriving late at night or early in the morning, I prefer Narita. Public transport options are limited late at night from Haneda so your plane better be on time. And you don't want to hit morning rush hour in Tokyo. Transport from Narita into Tokyo - I like to stay in Ueno - is fast and convenient, and there is no need to change trains, unlike Haneda. The Keisei Skyliner stops in Ueno, near the station. The Nex (Narita Express) stops at Shinjuku and Shinagawa. I remember how Taiwan's China Airlines profited from the opening of Narita Airport in the 70's. Because Japan recognised China, not Taiwan, China Airlines could not use Narita and had to use Haneda. Needless to say, everyone flew with them, at it was much more convenient than heading all the way out to Narita, which had limited transport options then.

Well, those other places mentioned here sound fine, but they're not for me. I'm really only into Asian guys. I had my first sexual experience with a western guy when I went to Europe in my late 20's. I've had other Western guys on subsequent trips to Europe, and now my regulars here in Australia are both westerners. But I can't feel any connection with them. I guess I'm just a hopeless rice queen!

The beds are the most comfortable I've ever slept in in a hotel, and the eggs Benedict are incredibly delicious - and I don't even like eggs! I can't recommend it highly enough.

Trump's monster ego has set him up for failure down the track, which will lead to a further slide in his popularity. There is no way the Palestinians will just roll over and give Trump what he demands. So failure number 1 will be his plans to turn the Gaza Strip into an adult fairyland. There is no way Greenland will surrender to his demand to take over their country. That's failure number 2. There is no way Panama will relinquish the canal. Is Trump going to send in the military? Hardly, especially as he told everyone he was going to be a president of peace. Failure number 3. There is no way the Canadians will agree to become a state of the U.S. Failure number 4. One thing Trump hates is to be seen as a loser. There's 4 examples already.

"I don't think any other president could have the world's attention like Donald Trump." Unfortunately, it's for all the wrong reasons.

"Zelenskyy is not the man you think he is!" But unfortunately, Trump is. I'm glad to see Danny agrees with me re:Trump's mafia-like behaviour. I always thought he would. 😂😂😂

"The polls from CNN and The Washington Post were joined this week by new results from Reuters, which found for the second time since Trump’s inauguration his job approval rating had declined." The six-day poll, which closed on Tuesday, showed Trump has a 44% job approval rating as president. That’s down from 45% registered in a Reuters/Ipsos poll Jan. 24-26. A poll conducted Jan. 20-21 shortly after Trump’s inauguration found his approval rating stood at 47%.

"When I gave the operator the entire month of March for a two week absence, no biz seats were available. He suggested calling a week later. I did, and this time extended the period to four months - any two week period between March 1 and June 30. All he could get me was one outward ticket. No return was available. I told him this is nonsense! Qatar have 5 daily flights out of BKK, one of which is an A380. They also have 2 daily flights to my onward destination. That all the mileage seats had already been 'sold' made no sense . . ." I've accumulated close to 1,000,000 Qantas points - I've earned my points mainly from using my credit card - but find it impossible to use them. Either no seats are available, or I can only use them one -way, meaning I have to buy the other leg of the journey at an inflated price. I wouldn't fly Qantas in a fit, but would like to use the points on partner airlines. It has become a bit of a scam.