It's the Law of the Land; you're f'ed.

[Taro Toporific]

Bill of rights
Military law ignores gaijin rights violation danger
The Japan Times: July 20, 2004
... In passing military contingency legislation last month, the government has sought to prepare the civilian population for and guard their rights during an attack on Japan, military or terrorist....However, foreigners cannot automatically be protected by this law in a time of heightened national security, since they are not included under its terms, or those of the Constitution....
....Article 14 (I) of the Constitution stipulates that "All (kokumin) are equal under the law and there shall be no discrimination in political, economic or social relations because of race, creed, sex, social status or family origin," since the word "kokumin" does not include foreigners, the Constitution provides no legal basis for the protection of foreigners against discrimination.
...historical precedent suggests good reasons why foreigners would need to be protected in an emergency situation.
When a huge earthquake struck the Kanto region in 1923, rumors abounded of Koreans starting fires, rioting and poisoning wells....hich led to the torturing and lynching of thousands of Koreans.
And in 1995, when the Hanshin earthquake struck, rumors of "Chinese looting" and "Asian laborers stealing," circulated. Foreigners also had difficulty obtaining housing after losing their homes....
The issue was raised again more recently when popular rightwing Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara warned that foreigners could be expected to riot in Tokyo in the event of a major disaster in the city.

[Charles]

Yep, this is one of the really interesting issues surrounding the original draft constitution, back during the days of the occupation. Apparently when the original draft in was supposed to use the word "shimin" for citizen, but they changed it to "kokumin" through a bit of trickery. I believe I read about this in John Dower's "Embracing Defeat" which has a lot of new information about the drafting of the Constitution. Anyway, the Japanese delegation deliberately changed the wording so constitutional rights would not apply to all residents (as was the original draft's intention) but only to Japanese nationals.

[Big Booger]

All I can say in teh event of a war, I am gone. If I have to swim the Pacific, I'm heading home.. They can take their crummy constitution and shove it up their arses.. When Lil' Kim decides to get his groove on with Japan, Big B is splitting like a banana.

When asked if foreigners were to be included in the terms of the new law, the government replied "No, but foreigners will be protected."

That statement is reassuring.

[AssKissinger]

If there is a war a lot of FG's will roll. That would be cool. Up my special status. Too many FG's these days, that's for sure.

[cstaylor]

If there is a war a lot of FG's will roll. That would be cool. Up my special status. Too many FG's these days, that's for sure.

Well, at least their heads will.

[American Oyaji]

I'll just say this.

The big one is coming for Tokyo.

I won't move there until after it hits.

[plaid_knight]

If GENOM has their way, then yes. We must p|-|34r their 1337 Boomer armies.

[Caustic Saint]

If GENOM has their way, then yes. We must p|-|34r their 1337 Boomer armies.

Too much anime or too much Megatokyo?

It's gotta be one of the two...

[Taro Toporific]

If GENOM has their way, then yes. We must p|-|34r their 1337 Boomer armies.

Too much anime or too much Megatokyo?
It's gotta be one of the two...

English translation anyone?

[cstaylor]

If GENOM has their way, then yes. We must p|-|34r their 1337 Boomer armies.

Too much anime or too much Megatokyo?
It's gotta be one of the two...

English translation anyone?

"I am an Otaku who washes infrequently".

[Mulboyne]

From Neal Stephenson's "Cryptonomicon" (in which he loves using the word "Nipponese")

No one hereabouts is willing to face the fact that they are about to be besieged by Nips. His next words ought to be"Shit then, I'm getting the hell out of here, I'll send you a postcard from Australia" But instead he says something like "I'll come by in a few days to check up on you"

Yeah, yeah, out-of-context, etc etc..

[cstaylor]

From Neal Stephenson's "Cryptonomicon"

That book sucks.

[amdg]

Sucks? .... Sucks?? O.K., so its not the best book ever written... but "sucks"?????????

I can't imagine what you'd consider non-sucky? Dostoevsky?, Flaubert? Fielding? Tolstoy? Bronte?

SUCK?

[cstaylor]

Sucks? .... Sucks?? O.K., so its not the best book ever written... but "sucks"?????????

I can't imagine what you'd consider non-sucky? Dostoevsky?, Flaubert? Fielding? Tolstoy? Bronte?

SUCK?

Anything from William Manchester.

[amdg]

Hmmm, quick google. Sounds interesting. Care for a book swap?

[Caustic Saint]

Sucks? .... Sucks?? O.K., so its not the best book ever written... but "sucks"?????????

I can't imagine what you'd consider non-sucky? Dostoevsky?, Flaubert? Fielding? Tolstoy? Bronte?

SUCK?

Yes, Craptonomicon sucks. Even moreso after having read Snow Crash and The Diamond Age. Stephenson can write great stuff, but apparently he's chosen not to anymore.

[amdg]

Well then, I must be the only one who found it a good read.

EXTREMELY SERIOUS WARNING (printed out on a separate page, in red letters on a yellow background):

Unless you are as smart as Johann Karl Friedrich Gauss, savvy as a half-blind Calcutta bootblack, tough as General William Tecumseh Sherman, rich as the Queen of England, emotionally resilient as a Red Sox fan, and as generally able to take care of yourself as the average nuclear submarine commander, you should never have been allowed near this document. Please dispose of it as you would any piece of high-level radioactive waste and then arrange with a qualified surgeon to amputate your arms at the elbows and gouge your eyes from their sockets. This warning is necessary because once, a hundred years ago, a little old lady in Kentucky put a hundred dollars into a dry goods company that went belly-up and returned her only ninety-nine dollars. Ever since, the government has been on our asses. If you ignore this warning, read on at your peril - you are dead certain to lose everything you've got and live out your final decades beating back waves of termites in a Mississippi Delta leper colony.

"That time in Seattle - during the lawsuit - was a fucking nightmare. I came out of it dead broke, without a house, without anything except a girlfriend and a knowledge of UNIX."

"Well, that's something," Avi says. "Normally those two are mutually exclusive."