PeterRS

I am glad you are finding that Japan is full of surprises of the non-sexual variety (although these ones can also be a helluva lot of fun!). I assume you must already have been to Nikko. It's not difficult to get to from Tokyo by rain or bus. I am reluctant to give stations and lines because it is 12 years since I was last there and I am sure these might have changed. But I got the train from Asakusa station which required one short train change just before Nikko. Nikko is where you find the shrines of the first Tokugawa shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu, and the third his grandson Tokugawa Iemitsu. It is quite a large spread-out area but utterly fascinating in its detail. The Imperial family also used to have a summer resience here and that is open to the public. I would not rely on apps like Grindr. Very occasionally you will find a Japanese who wants to meet up with a foreigner, but they are very much the exception on the western apps. The Japanese have their own apps only in Japanese. Better to visit some of the gay bars in Shinjuku ni-chome which welcome foreigners, or try your luck at the 24 Kaikan saunas. The main one for foreigners is in Ni-chome. There is also one about ten minutes walk from Ueno train and subway station which tends to have a more working class clientele.

No! I certainly would not! As you write, pasenger behaviour is the responsibility of the airline and its on-board crew. I do not believe any long-haul airline would accept this level of intoxication from quite a few passengers who would seriously be affecting other passengers. After a suitable number of warnings I believe the airline would divert and have the passengers arrested. Is there any other poster here who would be prepared to accept this disgusting, loud-mouthed ultra-noisy behaviour on a 12-hour flight? Personally, I doubt it!

You do realise, don't you, that the vast majority of men are heterosexual and money certainly does not buy everything. Da nang is nothing like Pattaya.

Sorry but I don't understand what you mean by "opposite".

You mean you would accept such unruly, concouth and loud mouthed behaviour of a 12 hour flight to Bangkok as long as everyone was seated and buckled up? Why do I believe you certainly would not? Totally agree. But note that the flight was to Ibiza. This is one of several desinations in Europe for groups of young Brritish men seeking a weekend of intense boozing and rowdy behaviour. I absolutely don't condone it and I would have been furious had I been on that aircraft (a low cost short-haul carrier). These booze-fuelled week-ends are increasingly and rightly frowned upon within the UK.

Great day for shopping and some amazing bargains, but I'm sure you are aware it has nothing to do with Valentine's Day

What absolute nonsense! You considently and totally wrongly trash those who have lived and worked in Japan - and even gone to school in Japan - you either have zero idea or totally reject what this subject is all about. So you should just shut up and pay more attention to those who do. Otherwise you continue to look a fool!

Such a pathetically childish and ridiculous statement is not worthy of comment by anyone on this forum.

1. You clearly have no idea what the word study means. It can reference one or many investigations. And for your information, I do read extensively which you clearly do not. 2. No comment! 3. Silly? There is only one silly person in the debate you tried to encourage - but he is more than silly. He is preposterously, nauseatingly mind-blowingly idiotic in thinking that he knows better than another man. And that man is at the centre of the issue. Give it up! Your argument can never win against his.

Facts win out, but only if it has been proven that the medical profession have proved that the facts themselves are either accurate or are not disputed by other recognised and reliable sources. Your fact is, frankly, not universally agreed. Besides, in your post of 15 hours ago you quote a "fact" that is now 7 years old. Other more recent studies do not necessarily agree with that fact! What is fact is that prostate cancer is the second leading type of cancer in the USA. It's also spreading more raidly in Asia than many in the medical profession would have expected a few decades ago. Worldwide there are roughly 1.4 million new cases per year. According to much more recent 2025 reports The Lancet Commission on Prostate Cancer (and you have to agree that The Lancet is a leading, responsible medical journal), states the number is expected to increase to 2.9 million cases by 2040. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in males after skin cancer. About 1 in 8 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during their lifetime. Globally, there are roughly 1.4 million new prostate cancer cases yearly, but according to The Lancet Commission on Prostate Cancer, that number is expected to more than double to 2.9 million cases in 2040. With cases surging, what strategies can be adopted to address the 1 in 6 males who actively choose to avoid screening? “A big component of this is education and the need for the population to understand the risk that prostate cancer poses.” Although screening recommendations for prostate cancer are narrow compared to some other forms of cancer, males at average risk should consider one at age 50, and those with higher risk might consider screening as young as 40. https://www.healthline.com/health-news/avoiding-prostate-screenings-raises-death-risk?utm_source=ReadNext#1-in-8-men-will-be-diagnosed-with-prostate-cancer And your facts are not borne out by those by the most recent American Cancer Society guidelines. This states that discussions about screening should commence - Age 50 for men who are at average risk of prostate cancer and are expected to live at least 10 more years Age 45 for men at high risk of developing prostate cancer. This includes African American men and men who have a first-degree relative (father or brother) diagnosed with prostate cancer at an early age (younger than age 65). Age 40 for men at even higher risk (those with more than one first-degree relative who had prostate cancer at an early age) After this discussion, men who want to be screened should get the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test. The digital rectal exam (DRE) may also be done as a part of screening. (See Screening Tests for Prostate Cancer.) https://www.cancer.org/cancer/types/prostate-cancer/detection-diagnosis-staging/acs-recommendations.html

Today is actually only one of three Valentine's Days in China. First they actually follow the western tradition and call February 14 Valentine's Day. Today being the "I love you" Festival is also called Valentine's Day. The Chinese Qīxījié Festival (七夕节) is the traditional Valentine's Day and is held on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month which this year is August 29. The actual day always changes but nearly always it is some time in August. This Valentine's Day has been celebrated for more than 2,000 years. As in Japan I sometimes wish the world would adopt the practie of two Valentine's Days. February 14 is the first and it is traditionally when the girls (or partners) - yes, the girls! - gave the boys gifts of hand-made chocolates! The type of chocolate often can mean different things. It is now starting to change with more boys giving the gifts. But then March 14 is "White Day" and traditionally the time when those who received chocolates on February 14 return the gesture. The chocolate gesture is no accident. The tradition was started by a confectionary company in 1936 to boost sales. White Day started in the 1970s and is another boost for chocolate makers.

You will have noted that I did add "educated electorate' as Jefferson intended. And I do not believe that necessarily means the education attainment of individuals. You can have a Masters degree and still know little about society and the world outside your own speciality. Another of Jefferson's quotes is equally important here - "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.” I think as a basis for discussion it is actually very timely. I already mentioned in a post in another thread that probably half of the population of the United States have never travelled outside it. Actually the figure is a bit less at around 40%. But then add in some other statistics - - 11% have never travelled outside the state in which they were born; - 54% have travelled only to ten US states or less. When in the 21st century what happens around the world has some meaning for most countries, I think this is quite damning. It means voting for a national leader is based almost exclusively on local preferences. That may have had some validity well over a century ago. It is not true now. in my view. https://www.forbes.com/sites/lealane/2019/05/02/percentage-of-americans-who-never-traveled-beyond-the-state-where-they-were-born-a-surprise/

And is there a more effective form of government than short-term democracy? Oh, I know, Winston Churchill's famous quote about democracy - only that is not what he actually said! In a speech in the House of Commons in November 1947, he said, "Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time." So he was only indirectly quoting what he had heard or assumed others had said. We all tend to think of democracy as being founded by Greek civilisation. Two other quotes are, in my view, interesting. The first was a caution about democracy written by the Greek philosopher Plato - "Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme liberty." The second by one of the USA's founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson - "The cornerstone of democracy rests on the foundation of an educated electorate." I find it fascinating that Americans - especially politicians - constantly refer back to the Constitution and their founding fathers. Yet never once before have I heard any US politician refer to the requirement for an "educated electorate" being a necessary "cornerstone". Leaving aside any definition of "educated", almost certainly the majority of the electorate in the USA - and other countries for that matter - are not educated in the sense that Jefferson intended. And this surely is a primary reason for the failures of democratic government virtually since 1900.

There is no playbook for affairs of the heart for virtually anyone, especially two people from different countries and cultures. There are really ony signs which can be difficult to interpret unless both parties are somehow able to be 100% honest with each other - and that is never easy. Seeing the major change in your feelings - sadness and weeping in the first couple of days to certainly hope that it will all work out again now - do you have a plan B? I know it's a rather silly question because I don't think I ever had a plan B. Fortunately I had a very good friend who would always listen to the tales of my latest romantic tragedy and then tell me I'd been stupid (although not always true)! But in a sense that kept me grounded.

I find more and more people are wearing masks. But there is definitely no mandatory requirement or even advice given.

In the next few weeks I have to pay a very large bill amounting to several hundred thousand Baht. There is no way i am going to bring this money into the country. I have agreed with the other party that I will pay with an overseas bank credit card. I heard sometime ago that payments in Thailand using overseas credit cards will eventually fall under the new law (if it ever gets off the ground, that is!) But how on earth Thailand civil servants will set up a system tracking inward overseas cc payments not only beats me; if I am wrong it is likely to take years before they can get anything up and running. I realise that there will be charges for overseas cc use. But the chances are they are going to be around 3%. I'm happy to pay that rather than cough up a larger percentage in tax here.

This is so typical of @unicorn's aggressive and total misunderstood response in the thread about the Japanese farmer holding out against expansion at Narita airport in order to keep his farm. He quotes one study and assumes it is the only valid one. And there he is wrong. There are six doctors in my family. Every one disagrees with @unicorn's dogmatic and aggressive responses.

I used my 50% off MRT card and my Rabbit card on the BTS yesterday. I am considerably over that age limit and both worked perfectly. @Patanawet - where did you get that info? You give no source. I do remember when the Rabbit card was first introduced for the Skytrain, we had to show our passports and a limit of Bt. 4,000 was placed on the maximum stored value. The reason given was hilarious - to avoid money laundering!!!

"Airplane" was a great movie. Pity the clip ended before the co-pilot started leaking air and the stewardess had to give him a blow (up) job! My best line from the movie is when a stewardess (I know they should now be called flight attendants but that is how they they were described then) is offering tea and coffee. One 12-year old girl asks for coffee. "And how do you take your coffee, dear?" To which she responds, "Black, like my men!"

On a flight from Frankfurt to Seville in Spain in February last year with 205 aboard, the pilot took a toilet break. Almost as soon as he was out of the cockpit and the door closed, the co-pilot fainted due to a pre-exiting neurological condition that had not been picked up in the routine pilot medical checks. When the captain returned, his input requests that the door be opened failed 5 times. He eventually used an emergency code and took control of the aircraft. Since the autopilot was flying the plane at that point there was no danger, although in losing consciousness the co-pilot had knocked the controls. The captain decided to divert to Madrid where the co pilot was taken to hospital. It is not known how Lufthansa enabled the flight to continue. Presumaby it flew another first officer from Germany. What makes this scary is the remembrance of German Wings flight 9525 in March 2015 when the co-pilot locked the captain out of the aircraft and then deliberately committed suicde and mass murder by flying the plane into the Alps. As a result, aviation authorities in several countries mandated that there always be two individuals in a cockpit at any one time. If a pilot requires a toilet break, he will first be replaced by a senior purser. This was to ensure that the automatic entry code would never be disabled. Yet German airlines dropped this condition in 2017! The accident enquiry also recommended a loosening of doctor/patient confidentialilty in the case of pilots. It had been discovered that in discussions with his doctor, the German Wings co-pilot had discussed suicide. https://edition.cnn.com/2025/05/19/travel/lufthansa-flight-spain-no-pilot-report-intl-hnk

I have a Swiss friend who was diagnosed with prostate cancer aged 52 about 12 years ago. He elected for surgery and as a result changed his sexual requirements. He maintains he would be dead by now but for that diagnosis. A dear friend of many years in my home town died of prostate cancer aged 54. It is obvious from the above discussion that even the medical profession in different parts of the world may be uncertain of the benefits of screening other than at an older age. I think we should recall, however, that some personalities have died of prostate cancer at what might seem a relatively young age. The actor Gary Cooper aged 60. Guitarist Johnny Ramone aged 56. Writer and activist Eldridge Cleaver aged 52. Serial killer Carl Eugene Watts aged 52. Activist Stokey Carmichael aged 57. English soccer player and announcer Clive Charles aged 51. President of Ghana Kwame Nukruma aged 62. We are all responsible for our own lives. I'll therefore continue to get screened for prostate cancer whatever the benefits or otherwise. Note - that is not a recommendation for others to do so.

Your response makes several points which have absooutely nothing to do with my post. If you had read it clearly, you would have noted that I never pontificated about anything! I stated merely that there is a recommended minimum age for screening. I then put a question mark after 50 because I do not now what that age is (or did you fail to note the question mark?) I should have thought that obvious. Then you mention that prostate screening is not recommended routinely for anyone. Perhaps you can then answer why the best hospital in Bangkok, Bumrungrad Hospital, has prostate screening as part of its annual Executive Check-ups. That hospital recommends screening starts at 50. I do not know how good or otherwise the WebMD site is but it makes clear that "about 10% of men newly diagnosed with prostate cancer are under 55." Additionally it states "Around the world, there’s been an increase in early onset prostate cancer in men between 15 and 40 years old." It then adds about your country, "In the U.S., the average 5-year survival rate for prostate cancer is between 95% and 100% for men ages 40-80. For younger men, the 5-year survival rate is lower. For men ages 25-34, it’s 80%. For men ages 20-29, it’s 50%. For men ages 15-25, it’s 30%." https://www.webmd.com/prostate-cancer/prostate-cancer-in-younger-men

Agreed. But if Biden was suffering even from the early stages of prostate cancer while running for office a second time, not telling the public was disgraceful! Treated early, even in older men prostate cancer is curable. Don't those running for President have to issue a doctor's clean bill of health? I know Trump failed to do so in 2016 when his doctor eventually admitted Trump had dictated the letter the doctor wrote! But then Trump is Trump. Maybe - hopefully - he will drop down dead from a heart attack due to all the fast food he consumes.

I have no idea why but Nepalis are the largest South Asian Community in Japan - approx. 233,000. Many are students but there is also a large pool of Nepalese workers in low-paid unskilled jobs. Increasingly more educated Nepalis are filling jobs in the IT sector. The majority of nearly 30,000 live in Tokyo. No idea why you find so many gay guys other than the fact that Nepal is in the process of of legalising gay marriage.

Happens to us all now! And we don't even get a sexual thrill from it!