Freedom Shrine Month on May, 2024: Do people in Japan have the same freedoms as people in the United States?

May, 2024 is Freedom Shrine Month 2024. Freedom Shrine :: Historic American Document Collection :: United ... virtual Freedom Shrine.

It's an interesting question.

I wouldn't rush to say that Americans have more freedoms. Maybe on paper, but...

Japanese tend to be a lot more tolerant than Americans, so you can do certain things in Japan that you would be reprimanded for back home.

Take religion for example. It's perfectly fine in Japan (for most people) to visit a shrine as a baby, have a Christian marriage, and have a Buddhist funeral.

Most Americans can't handle that type of attitude towards religion even though they have "freedom of religion".

Most Japanese really believe in kharma. Like, there's no point in getting overly upset at someone's behaviour because ultimately it's that person who suffers. American on the other hand tend to mock people who act differently, or seek to punish them.

Japan has a more healthy attitude towards sex. It's no problem to show naked kids frolicking on TV if it's in the right context. In the U.S. that would never be shown, no matter how innocent because non-sexual things are sexualized in the U.S. There are a lot of prudes who run the show in the U.S.

Sales tax and income tax are also much lower in Japan, so there's more freedom with one's own money.

But the U.S. often has more freedoms than in Japan.

Work isn't usually as restricting as it is in Japan.

There's more physical space in the U.S. whether that be in homes, on city streets, in the countryside, etc.

A lot of freedom has to do with the individual.

If you learn Japanese you're free to do a lot more than if you don't know any.

Same goes for English in the U.S.

It depends on your manners too. If you're polite, that can get you far, especially in Japan.

Too much to write here.

i ve been thinking about suicide for two months now.ive already attempted it and might do it again i need help

Let me join with the others, here, in offering condolences for your loss. Go to and type "grief" in the taskbar, and enter. Call: The Grief Recovery Institute (U.S.A.) 1-800-445-4808, or Hospice (phone book). Email jo@samaritans.org Chatrooms and forums: and and Other websites: and and and Understand that there are often several stages of grief.

The stages are:

Denial: The initial stage: "It can't be happening."

Anger: "Why ME? It's not fair?!" (either referring to God, oneself, or anybody perceived, rightly or wrongly, as "responsible")

Bargaining: "Just let me live to see my son graduate."

Depression: "I'm so sad, why bother with anything?"

Acceptance: "It's going to be OK."

Kübler-Ross originally applied these stages to any form of catastrophic personal loss (job, income, freedom). This also includes the death of a loved one and divorce. Kübler-Ross also claimed these steps do not necessarily come in order, nor are they all experienced by all patients, though she stated a person will always experience at least two.

See for books on the various stages. After a while, consider making a photoalbum/scrapbook and/or a shrine, in remembrance, and set aside one day per month on which to reflect. Many religious organisations offer counselling, or you may feel more comfortable with a therapist, to express your thoughts, and feelings. Journalling may help in this. If there is depression: visit your doctor, and see depression treatments, at in section 2.

Suggested Resources on Grief and Mourning

Livingstone, B. (2002). Redemption of the Shattered: A Teenager's Healing Journey through Sandtray Therapy, .

Livingstone, B. (Planned August, 2007). The Body-Mind-Soul Solution: Healing Emotional Pain through Exercise, Pegasus Books.

Simon, S, & Drantell, J. J. (1998). A Music I No Longer Heard: The Early Death of a Parent, Simon and Schuster.

Grollman, E. (1995). Living when a Loved One has Died, Beacon Press.

James, J. W. & Friedman, R. (1998). The Grief Recovery Handbook, Collins.

Worden, J. W. (2001). Grief Counseling and Grief Therapy: A Handbook for the Mental Health Professional, Springer Publishing. ~~~

Paracetamol abuse can cause kidney damage, and require a life of being hooked up to a dialysis machine, for hours, 3 times a week!!!See suicidal thoughts/ideation, in section 5, at and contact them, when the need arises. Many people who attempt suicide are depressed. There is a quiz about depression, through sections 1, and 2, at ezy build, below: print the result, and take along to your primary mental health care provider. My standard post follows, but, if you are young, antidepressants are unsuitable for young people, because they have been shown to increase the rate of suicide, homicide, and aberrant behaviour. See depression treatments, at ezy build, below, in section 2, (much more detailed) or the Myspace blog of shaneris, and consult a doctor, to eliminate thyroid problems, etc. as possible contributing factors: also seek a referral to a therapist using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, or Rational Emotive Behavioural Therapy. It is your decision, and yours alone, as to whether to take any antidepressants offered, but, before you do, read section 1, and check medications out at www.drugs.com so you will be on the lookout for side effects, like sexual dysfunction. My strong recommendation, however, is to follow the advice of my doctor, his associate, and Nathanial S. Lehrmann, MD, Marcelle Pick, OB/GYN NP, and Dr. Mercola, at www.mercola.com and many others: avoid antidepressants (pages 2V, and 2Z refer, & antidepressant websites: page 2). The reasons why we all share the same view on this are explained in full, as you will find, if you read it, and section 1. All of their advice, (except prayer, because many people are not religious) I have incorporated into the "core treatments" of the multidimensional approach to treating depression, including occupational therapy, Omega 3 fish oil supplements, or , preferably, "krill oil", (use the searchbar at www.mercola.com ) relaxation techniques, and exercise, with others as options, such as the supplements: SAMe, Inositol, or herbal remedies, like St. John's wort. If you are diagnosed with clinical (major) depression, antidepressants may be necessary for a while, which will give the treatments time to become effective. The antidepressants themselves need at least several days, or even weeks to begin becoming effective. It's a good idea to taper off them slowly, with medical advice, after several months, say, to a couple of years, at most, because they are only effective in the long term for about 30% of people. Because of this, you would be well advised to begin the treatments immediately, and maintain them. I'd just thank your mental health care provider, and pocket the prescription, trying the treatments for a few months, to see if they are sufficient for you, before considering filling it (unless clinically depressed, and having great difficulty functioning, or suicidal, in which case I'd take them). If the amount of daylight you have been exposed to recently has reduced, perhaps due to the change of seasons, see Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D.) in section 2, at and, instead of taking 4 Omega 3 fish oil supplements, daily; replace 2 of them with cod liver oil supplements for the winter months only! (or, as probably a better alternative to the 2 cod liver oil supplements: 1 teaspoonful of cod liver oil, with a little butter, to ensure its use; I take mine on sourdough rye bread, or toast, covered with fishpaste, and pepper, to mask the strong taste). Consider having your doctor test your vitamin D levels, using the 25 Hydroxyvitamin D test. Optimal levels are 50 - 55 ng/ml (115 - 125 nmol / L. It should be above 32 ng/ml. Those people who receive adequate exposure to sunlight, daily, won't need the vitamin D from cod liver oil, but many people, particularly those in latitudes far from the equator, find this difficult, to achieve.

why does america insist that they can force freedom on their neighbors by pointing a gun to their heads?

jason - when will you stop listening to propaganda.

Iraq wants the US led invasion to help them.

They dont want us to leave.

12 dead in car bombs, attacks in Baghdad By BUSHRA JUHI, Associated Press Writer

1 hour, 29 minutes ago

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A series of car bombs struck mostly Shiite areas in Baghdad on Wednesday, killing eight people, while a mortar attack on a Sunni neighborhood killed four in more retaliatory sectarian violence.

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In the deadliest attack Wednesday, two parked car bombs struck simultaneously in separate areas in Baghdad, killing at least six people and wounding 15.

One of the blasts targeted a transit area in central Baghdad where people can catch minibuses to predominantly Shiite neighborhoods, including the sprawling Sadr City slum. The attack occurred at 12:45 p.m. on Jamhuriyah Street near the busy Shorja market, killing four people and wounding 12 others, police said.

Shorja, one of Iraq's largest markets, has been struck frequently by bombings, including one on Nov. 21 that killed 25 civilians.

Another car packed with explosives blew up in the religiously mixed neighborhood of Maamoun in western Baghdad at about the same time, killing two civilians and wounding three others, police said, adding the target of the attack was not immediately known.

Insurgents have launched several bombings in the capital in recent weeks as they seek to maximize the number of people killed before U.S.-Iraqi troops launch a neighborhood-by-neighorhood sweep of the city of 6 million. Iraqi authorities have promised to crack down on Sunni insurgents as well as Shiite militia violence that has spiraled since the Feb. 22, 2006, bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra.

A car bomb also struck a predominantly Shiite area in eastern Baghdad earlier Wednesday, killing two people and wounding 10, police said.

The explosion occurred at 10 a.m. after the driver parked the car near a currency exchange office in the Amin district in New Baghdad neighborhood, then walked away.

"A seemingly normal person parked this car and told us that he would not be long," said the owner of the currency exchange who identified himself as Abu Talal. "When that person disappeared for more than 20 minutes, we tried to call the police but the car exploded as we were trying to do so."

Shop owners often insist that motorists get permission before parking their cars due to the frequent bombings in the capital, which faces rising sectarian violence.

Police found the body of one person killed thrown into a nearby alley by the force of the blast, while six others were wounded. The blast also damaged several nearby shops.

Nine mortar shells slammed into different areas in Azamiyah, landing on houses and streets and burning a car in the predominantly Sunni neighborhood in northern Baghdad. Four people were killed, including two children, and 16 were wounded, some seriously, Mohammed al-Mashhadani from the al-Numaan hospital said.

Nobody claimed responsibility for any of the attacks, but bombings against Shiite targets followed by mortar attacks targeting Sunni has become a common pattern in the violence plaguing Baghdad.

Iraqi security forces also have been frequent targets of insurgent attacks as they are seen as collaborators with U.S.-led forces.

A suicide bomber driving an oil truck blew himself up after he was stopped at a checkpoint near an Iraqi army headquarters north of Baghdad on Wednesday, wounding 9 soldiers, an officer said.

The attacker apparently planned to drive the truck into the compound in Muqdadiyah, but guards stopped him at the checkpoint about 100 yards away at about 9:15 a.m. He detonated his belt of explosives as he got out of the vehicle, causing it to explode as well, army Col. Ibrahim Hussein said.

The blast came just over a month after a suicide bomber struck a police station in Muqdadiyah, 60 miles north of Baghdad, killing seven officers.

A parked car bomb also struck a police patrol in the northern city of Mosul about 10:30 a.m., killing one policeman and wounding two others, Brig. Abdul Karim al-Jibouri said.

In the volatile western cities of Fallujah and Ramadi, at least eight bodies were found with their hands and legs bound and showing signs of torture.

The bloodshed Tuesday took place despite heightened security following a battle with messianic Shiites who authorities said planned a large assault on Ashoura ceremonies. With security so intense at the main venues, extremists chose targets in smaller cities where safety measures were less stringent.

A suicide bomber blew himself up among a crowd of worshippers entering a Shiite mosque in Mandali near the Iranian border, killing 26 people and wounding 47, according to police. At least 12 more died and 28 were wounded when a bomb exploded in a garbage can as Shiites were performing outdoor rituals in the largely Kurdish city of Khanaqin, police said.

In Baghdad, gunmen in two cars opened fire on a bus carrying pilgrims to the capital's most important Shiite shrine, killing seven and wounding seven, police said. Hours later, mortar shells rained down on two mostly Sunni neighborhoods, killing nine and wounding 30 in what police said appeared to be a reprisal attack.

A morgue official in the southeastern city of Kut, meanwhile, said his facility received six more bodies from previously unreported Ashoura-related violence on Tuesday.

Those included a suicide bomber who detonated his explosives belt at a checkpoint aimed at protecting a religious procession in Hafriyah and the two people killed in the attack. A police commander and two of his guards also were killed by gunmen while they were on patrol protecting Ashoura processions in Aziziya, also south of Baghdad.

Amongst all that is innocent Iraqi families.

I think most Iraqis would "love" nothing more than have FREEDOM forced upon them.