JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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- 秘書及び業務サポート
- 加治金属工業株式会社, Tokyo
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- English Instructor (Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe)
- Berlitz Japan, Inc. (ベルリッツ・ジャパン株式会社), Kansai
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- NPO法人グローバル教育推進機構（GLAD), Mie
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5SpeedRacer5
The article is 27 paragraphs long. Paragraphs 24 and 25 pretty well explain why the rest of the article is not news.
AP wants to waste our time and then say "Thanks for reading!"
Forbes has an article on Yahoo News about THE WORST MADE CARS ON THE ROAD. Have a read, everybody. They really pin Toyota to the wall in that article and tell it like it is. They also give Detroit their due. Don't read it if you are a Toyota fan, because it is scathing. Just brutal.
Posted in: Toyota uses questionable legal tactics, AP investigation shows
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5SpeedRacer5
Actually, she looks shopped. I have seen a few shops in my time, and I can tell by a few of the pixels that this is not makeup.
Posted in: Blu-rei
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5SpeedRacer5
She should smile a little more. She looks, I dunno, kinda blue.
Posted in: Blu-rei
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5SpeedRacer5
"Man caught taking up-skirt photos "
Talk about redundant. Has anyone ever read about a woman doing anything like this? I won't say that ONLY MEN do this, because that would be sexist, but I will say that only people with an x and a y chromosome do this.
If you wanted to find people who do this, you could use probability to profile them with this simple rule: the more x chromosomes a person has, the less likely they are to use a camera to take dirty photos. I have a feeling that the security guard used a similar rule to catch this guy. The part that stumps me though is how could the security guard know so much about someone's chromosomes just by looking at them?
Posted in: Man caught taking up-skirt photos with camera in his shoe
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5SpeedRacer5
I fail to understand the upskirt fetish. Something needs to be done generally about guys with cameras. Women seem to be able to handle cameras without using them for sex, but for some reason guys HAVE TO take pictures of genitalia or genitals covered by fabric. Why is that? Any guy with a mask and a camera, for instance, should be lynched on the spot.
Posted in: Man caught taking up-skirt photos with camera in his shoe
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5SpeedRacer5
"Umm... yes, but you have to qualify that. Ask some Japanese collegues if they can swim, and often you are told "I can swim 50 meters", or "I can swim a 100 meters". And then what?"
It is a great point. I taught my kids to float, tread water, side stroke, and scull. Nobody ever teaches those in schools, but they are easy skills and are great for long distance swimming and water survival. Schools teach strokes that are adapted to speed, not endurance. Why not spend 10 minutes to teach little kids to tread water efficiently?
Regarding the story, I think we could all agree that a four year old near deep water with only big brother watching is a risky situation. We might also agree that if the four year old were able to merely tread water, the outcome would have been much different. Too bad this boy had to die to be a hero.
Posted in: 10-year-old boy drowns trying to save younger sibling in Saga
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5SpeedRacer5
"I've had a discussion with my Quality Control professor about this, and he basically said that the chance that the "
I suspected something like this, Elephunk. You are a student! That explains why you know it all. In the real world, Quality Control professors don't get to decide how things work. All the other rumor bottom feeders and professor-querying students here should pay attention to the facts, not the allegations. Look at the NHTSA site information, which gives the official US government account. Then look at Toyota's and Toyoda's official statements. Then go to some automobile industry trade magazine home pages. Then follow what scientists are saying about the technology. If you do all that diligently, you can understand what is going on. You can understand why this stock is up about 15% over the last couple of weeks.
Can any people see what this allegation for the 16 million dollar fine actually is? The allegation is that Toyota KNEW there was a problem and DID NOTHING. Because of the fact that nobody, not even the NHTSA or NASA, has identified "a problem" as of today and because of the fact that Toyota actually started replacing floor mats voluntarily months before LaHood flew to Japan (according to the NHTSA timeline on their website), I don't think the US has a case. The NHTSA wanted Toyota to identify a problem that does not exist, fix a problem that does not exist, and to have done it before they were told to do so by an NHTSA that still does not know what the problem is. I think Toyota employees are pretty great, but I think the NHTSA expects them to be a bunch of Kreskins.
The only interesting part about the whole thing to me is whether Toyota will pay the fine anyway. As I posted above, paying off LaHood will make the whole regulatory thing go away. Maybe Toyota will do it despite the facts of the case. The lawyers will also take a look at how this affects other adjudication.
"why anyone would continue to support a corporation that has behaved so blatantly irresponsible is beyond me."
Oh the HORROR! You need a reality check. I am quite sure that you use products or support companies that have done worse things than you accuse Toyota of doing. Union Carbide, Exxon, Shell, Dow Chemical, Ford, GM, Nestle, Bumble Bee Tuna and so many others. These allegations you make and the ones that the US government is making are unproven. In fact, Toyota is allowed to contest them or accept them. That is how it works. All of the other companies above have been proven to have visited death and damage, sometimes to hundreds or thousands of people and to the environment. Here is a project for you. MIDORI JUUJI Pharmaceuticals infected many Japanese people with AIDs in the 1990s. What company are they today? Do you use any of their products? How do you know? If you think Toyota is a black hat, you probably are not paying attention.
Posted in: Toyota hit with $16 mil fine over recalls in U.S.
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5SpeedRacer5
It will be interesting to see if Toyota contests it. They have two weeks to either knuckle under or fight it.
It is a perfect chance for vindication. LaHood basically spells out in the article the US government case. Toyota thought there MIGHT be a problem and announced a voluntary recall after they did. That is it. So what? Where is the crime? Toyota can beat this. And if it does, those lawsuits will melt away.
Or does Toyota just take the 16 million hit and clear all that up, and then deal with each court case on its merits? Accepting the fine might also protect Toyota from being sued for any crashes that occurred before September, so instead of being sued for 40 cases, it will be sued for 4 or 2.
This really is a winner for Toyota either way. What it all comes down to is that THIS is the worst that NHTSA can do. They cannot find anything wrong with Toyota vehicles as they are. Nobody can. So they will try to show that Toyota should have reacted more quickly somehow. I don't think they can. Their sole "smoking gun" is that someone in a sales office in the US made a powerpoint presentation showing that they saved money by avoiding a mandatory recall. That is not illegal. It is called business as usual. Did you ever see Fight Club? This is not news.
Toyota's US lawyers are going to eat this up. They can win this. But Toyota guys just want to make cars and get past this. So I wonder how it will play out. If Toyota decides to spend 100 million to fight this 16 million fine, it will be money well spent. But I expect that they will just pay the 16 million. Because... really... all LaHood was after was a shakedown anyway. He does not care if he is right, he just wants to look good. Toyota will give him that just to get rid of him. If they cross him, he will just make up something else.
Posted in: Toyota hit with $16 mil fine over recalls in U.S.
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5SpeedRacer5
Nash. I agree. You are right. What I am not so sure about is that the denial is a strong force in Japanese culture. The black trucks run around and there are always right wingers trying to change history, but you get that from the left too.
Personally, I think that the average Japanese person knows that things were wrong there and in other places during the war. But WHOM they should apologize to and exactly for WHAT seems very unclear, so actually phrasing that apology, especially officially, does not happen. I mean... unconditional surrender is the harshest treatment any country ever gets in war. Along with the war trials and post war hangings, I can understand why many Japanese feel that they paid for their transgressions. 900 Japanese military personnel were killed after trials. 20 thousand were detained for up to 7 years, and almost all prisoners taken by the Soviets died.
And what does a Japanese person say when they do not know what to say? Think of any Japanese person you know... in my experience, they say nothing. But they do know shame, and they are human, and they seem peaceful. Germany officially apologized to Israel in 1956. Japan probably should have gotten it over with then. We can all see what it has turned into. The facts will only get more muddled as time goes on. The numbers go up and down. Every year it seems there is some new film or protest to get everyone all excited.
Will an apology make all that go away? I agree with Nash that it is worth a try. On the other hand, how are these people going to sell their books and films? I am quite certain that any sincere, earnest apology could be picked apart and ridiculed. Probably peace is the best apology. Who can refute that or criticize it?
Posted in: New film has Japan vets confessing to Nanjing rape, massacre
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5SpeedRacer5
Well, it looks like some people got REALLY bent out of shape by my statement of the obvious. Just off the top of my head, I have seen two BBC documentaries of this. I have read three books from different perspectives, and I have seen two Japanese documentaries. Each of them had three or four eyewitnesses telling what they saw, did, or heard. Each of them included Chinese accounts as well. I knew about this before I entered junior high. How many people know that some of the most reliable reports from the area while it was occurring were from Nazis? How many people know a map of the old city well enough to know why the civilians could not get away? How many people know the conditions of the invading Japanese armies and what they had been through during the prior month?
This film apparently provides no new information beyond some gory details and descriptions of rape. It will never be shown to students. Maybe the other documentaries will be. Hey. War is heck. A year's subscription to the History Channel can pound that message home. Oh. Who am I kidding. A year's subscription to the Christian Science Monitor will show you how bad war is.
Little about that place and time is controversial. I think Elephunk has some axe to grind because he found the need to drag slavery, naziism and all the rest into it. People who live in the past and who think that they can exorcise hate by dwelling on it are welcome to try. I am pretty sure it does not work.
Posted in: New film has Japan vets confessing to Nanjing rape, massacre
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5SpeedRacer5
"It is nice that you have an opinion on such a delicate matter however your opinion completely ignore China's perspective of the issue.."
This is so tired. You have no idea who I am or how much I know about this issue. China has a perspective. Everyone has a perspective. Maybe the perspective you lack is that this is not a new issue. Guess what? It has been going on for almost 70 years. Learn about it and all of its perspectives for another 30 years and then come back and tell me what I am ignoring.
This is a new film about a tired topic. There is nothing new about this film. Nothing at all.
Posted in: New film has Japan vets confessing to Nanjing rape, massacre
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5SpeedRacer5
Yeah. What Smith said. I think that the operative word is "fringe groups deny." I would also say that anybody who thinks that this represents Japan of 2010 is pretty much out there on the fringe.
What does this movie really accomplish? I have seen documentaries 20 years old and older where Japanese soldiers admit that it happened and admit taking part in it. The reasons that it occurred are also generally acknowledged. Although I am sure that some people are VERY interested in this, I think it is pretty irrelevant. What is it like to base one's entire existence on something that happened three generations ago? I am certainly glad I don't know.
I am very glad to see that China has devoted itself to making sure it renounces and deplores similar situations occurring with out of control military units in Darfur, Rwanda, etc.
Posted in: New film has Japan vets confessing to Nanjing rape, massacre
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5SpeedRacer5
"Look at the big picture people, forget the hype."
That is excellent advice. Since you have more exclamation points than anyone else, you are elected as the hype-monster on this thread.
The big picture is that Toyota is still number one and Toyota's accusers... all of them... are unable to come up with the smallest bit of evidence that anything is wrong with their cars at all. An accusation with no evidence is a smear campaign. A shakedown. Will you let me borrow one more of your quotes, please?
"Shameful beyond belief !"
Thanks.
Posted in: Toyota promises quicker response on quality issues
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5SpeedRacer5
tkoind2
I find it interesting that you read the new testament and cannot find a story of a nutjob who wanted to foment a broad, revolutionary uprising. One of my favorite stories is this one guy who loses it at a temple and starts throwing money and tables around. His friends were pretty shocked. He started calling himself the king of the Jews and I hear they killed him for it. He didn't even try to resist or run away. It was weird. I forget exactly where the story is, but I think it has something to do with Easter.
So Christianity, interpreted in some ways, should stir something in all of us. Impatience with hypocrisy is a very Jesus-like trait. So is love.
Posted in: Christian militia accused of plotting to kill police in U.S.
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5SpeedRacer5
This is excellent Cleo.
"Not to mention 'Give unto Caesar', which I think covers property taxes"
It covers a lot more than that. I learned it as RENDER unto Caesar that which is Caesar's. Meaning that not only does Caesar have a claim to your goods, but to your person too. Everything but your faith. And I would bet that this part of the scripture is conveniently forgotten by every Christian baptized since 1980... the Reagan era. This one little phrase, which is in both Luke and Mark, is "overlooked" by Molenir despite the fact that both are synoptic gospels, and it is crucial to what Jesus preached.
A Christian separates faith from worldly things. Being a good citizen can rightfully and legitimately be separated from being a good Christian. Paying taxes is not evil. Anyway, these militia people were ready to violate a lot of old testament principles too, but I do find it interesting that you bring this up. In the time of Caesar, Christians did not defend their faith with guns. Why do people feel it is necessary now?
Posted in: Christian militia accused of plotting to kill police in U.S.
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5SpeedRacer5
Guns and Ammo, Guns and Ammo; Go together like crazy guys and Camo; This I tell you brother, you can't have one without the other...
I am betting that there are plenty more like these all over the place. If you watch Bowling for Columbine, Michael Moore interviews some militia people from Michigan. Tim McVeigh was from that area. One of the Columbine killers spent time there too.
Cleo: I was just talking today with someone about the topic of how Christian standards of belief have changed. I also spent a lot of time in the study of the old and new testaments. Younger people rarely know their scripture except for the gospels anymore. They freely state that the Bible is the literal word of God, but I tell you, you don't have faith sufficient to say that if you have not been through Leviticus. Anyway, I guess my point is that this group calling themselves "Christian" despite their violence and other sinning does not surprise me at all. I do not want to give Dave Koresh and the Branch Davidians a compliment or anything, but most of them knew their scripture at least.
The religion here is just the lubricant, I guess, kind of like Al Qaeda. The supreme being provides a ready motive and justification that makes killing more important than preserving society.
The killing part was made easy for them by the NRA. I have been railing against guns in the US for months. What can I say but I told you so? Too many guns. Too many whackos. Too many bullets. Let us spray.
Posted in: Christian militia accused of plotting to kill police in U.S.
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5SpeedRacer5
Because responding in three days is not fast enough!! Get it together Toyota!!
Go to the NHTSA site. They have a timeline. It is not Toyota's version of events. It is the actual chain of action against Toyota. It shows the whole Toyota process. It appears to show that NHTSA went from "gee you should look at this...maybe floor mats are not the root cause..." to "you negligent criminals" in about three days. Really it looks like two days, culminating on a hurried trip by LaHood to Japan for dramatic effect. When you factor in that Toyota had done floormat advisories and fixes since November, you wonder what kind of schizo maniacs are running the NHTSA. The NHTSA has YET to publicly announce actions against two US auto manufacturers with accelerator problems, although Ford's reported incidents and GM's together account for about as many as Toyota's.
And let me say I use the word PROBLEM loosely. Toyota cannot replicate or identify the problem. Nobody at the NHTSA can either. Nobody at NASA can either. Guess what? What is a "problem" that nobody can identify, quantify, replicate, explain, or even formulate a test for? I call it hysteria and rumor. You could probably call it driver error.
I heard someone once ate POP ROCKS and drank some Coca Cola and their head exploded. I think I should sue Coca Cola. What do you think?
Posted in: Toyota promises quicker response on quality issues
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5SpeedRacer5
Badsey, of course you are right. I would think that they might have meant sonar. If they were actually listening, they probably would have heard a NKorean torpedo coming. On the other hand, that area is apparently so rocky that a submarine would not want to negotiate that area. It would also not be able to get away if caught.
"“The navy is rotten to the core!” a man yelled,""
Wow. What motivates people to say things like this? Even if his relative died, it makes no sense.
Blaming all this on the NKoreans is certainly the easiest way off the hook, but there is that nagging casus belli problem. If it were the US Navy, we would all be moving down that path already.
Posted in: S Korean warship may have struck mine
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5SpeedRacer5
The appreciation is amazing. This was worth about 10,000-20,000 dollars when I was a teen ager.
Of course, when you figure some kid bought it originally for a dime and sold it a month later for a nickel, well, there you are.
Posted in: Superman comic sells for record $1.5 million
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5SpeedRacer5
“Everyone tries to copy the surface of Japanese animation,” he said. “But real Japanese animation is different.”
Well, that may be true, but I think that what has happened is that once you sell out, everyone can get in on the act and the encore goes to the guy who is willing to do the same old thing for the least amount of money. If the mass market can't tell what real quality is, who cares about a few critics?
Miyazaki Hayao seems to still have his own style, such as it is, and he paid his dues long enough that he might be unassailable. Everybody else can be copied or co-opted. It is worth keeping in mind that all of those Koreans and Chinese who were contracted to do Pokemon illustrations can now draw the characters better than anybody. A few changes here and there and those artists can move on while Japan relearns how to draw the same old characters.
netrek... you might be missing some meaning or irony there. The Great Leap Forward was an attempt by Chinese to replace foreign capital and technology and achieve high growth based on their own efforts and technologies. So in the sense of meaning, his statement might fit because they are doing the exact same thing. They are using Chinese made technology and skills to replace foreign inputs. In terms of it being an abject failure, well, there might be some irony there. The Chinese might be moving strongly into an art form that it already past its prime. Maybe China will fail because this anime, which seems so new to them, is a stale medium with jaded fans. They are making huge investments that will never pay off.
Posted in: China making anime push as Japan hits slump