mewarmo990

The point of view of the government, if something happens to you during the next 20 years, that $1 million is no longer their problem. A cynical way to look at it, but it is a reason.

However, getting paid annually is much better than being paid a lump sum all at once. They have secure income for the next 20 years, rather than just getting a whole bunch of money they don't know what to do with. However... the value of that money is going to go down over time, and that sucks (but not for the state government)

EDIT: TIL, a lot of people have pointed out that private annuity contracts (like inheritance) often allow one's estate to keep the money even after the person's death. However, there's no guarantee that this is the case with these two. Would be interesting to find out either way.

They have portable DVD players with USB ports.

I believe specifically what he is referring to is background checks for PPTs at gun shows, and adding some sort of provision for mental health to the current check requirement because the VTech shooter despite his diagnosis never had his info sent to the NICS (which is now done in VA)

who would be doing these evaluations and who would be setting the standards and how would you enforce these so that they aren't abused on both ends - i.e. anti-gun psychiatrists denying permits based on their personal views and vice versa.

A legitimate question. I think we still need it but the rub is in how we implement such policies.

It really depends. Most Japanese friends I have are at least pretty ignorant about the war, because they got taught a very sterilized version of its history. One of the Occupation's many legacies, but also not so different from most other countries.

I have a Japanese friend, late 20s, who was a private military contractor, and his opinions on the war are somewhat different. But that's probably because he got fed up with military-industrial complex and nationalism after spending some time on the outside.

Most of the time when I talk to (younger) Japanese people, they just don't really care.

Not OP but I can comment on this as a Chinese-American who has spent 10 years studying Japanese and working with Japanese people.

The animosity stemming from WW2 is stronger in China and Korea because the scars are still there and people are reminded of it in education and the media. I think you will find that most ordinary Japanese people, especially younger generations, are quite friendly have no animosity towards Chinese people. In fact they might even be ignorant about the war because the public school history curriculum is largely sanitized of those ugly parts of Japanese history.

It's mainly the ultranationalist right wingers and elderly who you are likely to find xenophobic, which is true in almost every country.