JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
-
1
Why do Japanese change their attitude when they communicate with foreigners?
-
2
Confrontation
-
3
U.S. Navy investigating how parts fell off aircraft near Atsugi
-
4
California court to decide if SeaWorld whales are illegal 'slaves'
-
5
Kuroki reported pregnant 2 weeks after denying relationship with Akanishi
-
- Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) in Kanto region
- RCS (RCSコーポレーション), Kanto
- Salary: ¥180,000 ~ ¥250,000 / Month includes performance bonus
-
- Assistant Language Teacher - TOKYO - late-March start
- Interac, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥230,000 ~ ¥255,000 / Month
-
- Assistant Language Teacher - Kanagawa Prefecture - late-March start
- Interac, Kanagawa
- Salary: ¥230,000 ~ ¥255,000 / Month
0
Ah_so
There has never been anything that turns my stomach quite like a KFC "bucket" of fried chicked. I think the fries are good and things like chicken fillet burgers, but otherwise, a place to avoid.
Article Unavailable
0
Ah_so
The best onsen experience is being in an uncovered rotemboro in midwinter, while snow falls on your head.
My strangest onsen experience was walking into the onsen and finding it completely empty except for a naked sumo wrestler. He looked pretty shocked at the sight of a naked gaijin, so I suppose we were quits.
Posted in: Bathing: much more than washing off
0
Ah_so
The obvious question seems to be whether there is any truth behind any of his claims to having been a mercenary or martial arts black belt. Yes, a first dan black belt might easily a fist fight, but would you expect the same of a toughened mercenary?
Sounds to me like he is a total fraud who has built a business around a fiction that no one can really disprove.
Posted in: Tough man Terence Lee loses street fight in Kanagawa
0
Ah_so
They are not going to succeed in importing Italian culture to Japan - Japanese do not want to stand up to knock back an espresso and nor do many other people around the world. That's why it is Italian. It is much the same as English pubs not working in Japan, except as gaijin hang-outs or as Japonified versions of pubs.
Posted in: Bringing Italian cafe culture to Japan
0
Ah_so
Not another visit Japan campaign. How many of these are they going to have?
Japan needs to tackle some issues such as perceived cost/language difficulties. You need more than a few posters of a bullet train in front of Mt Fuji to pull this off.
Posted in: Visit Japan Campaign launched
0
Ah_so
What a good idea, or at least the beginning of a good idea. In regions where literacy is low, it can be used to help people. It can also be used for translation - the quality of translation software is pretty good these days (apart from Japanese!) so could be used in all sorts of situations.
Those pesky foreign menus would be a great place to use a translator pen.
Posted in: Audio pen
0
Ah_so
I generally have superb service in Japan and usually all you have to do is mention a problem to have it resolved with a lot of gomennasai-ing.
Japanese people are more likely to be retiscent about complaining and more likely to withhold their future custom than make a scene. I do not really recognise the picture above of childish whingers.
Posted in: Japan becoming nation of unrelenting complainers
0
Ah_so
It would need to be an image/symbol widely known in the following population centres: China (and sattelites), India, Africa and "the West". The religious symbols are widely known, but I doubt that more Westerners know the buddhist symbol than they do Coca-Cola. I would also think the same in the East with regards the Christian cross.
I think that I have to agree that the Coke symbol is everywhere. You can obtain it in tiny villages hundreds of miles from the nearest McDonalds.
Coke is it.
Posted in: What do you think is the most recognizable image in the world?
0
Ah_so
We know that disciples got as far as India - where "doubting" Thomas was matyred. It is not improbable that in some way bits of the Christian message got to Japan over the next 500 years, but without firm evidence it is hard to draw too much from some vague similarities between words and songs.
Oh, and I know it has been declared off-topic, but the tengu is not a respresentation of a gaijin, but has a phallus for a nose. These days we have a cleaned up phallic symbol. The phallus is central to a large number of Japanese festivals.
Posted in: Rediscovering Japan, Reintroducing Christendom
0
Ah_so
The jujitsu advertising mantra, but not really true.
I do taekwondo. The kick is an effective weapon, but in reality kicks can be risky as you might have your leg caught. It is a bit weak on punches and there is not grappling at all. I will probably do some jujitsu or aikido at some point in the future. A hard art should ideally be complemented with a soft/grappling art as well.
Posted in: What is the most efficient martial art to learn for one's protection in the real world?
0
Ah_so
Can we be far away from the first sexbot?
Article Unavailable
0
Ah_so
Starving him to death sounds like quite a good punishment...why force feed him? Just get on with the trial.
Posted in: If Tatsuya Ichihashi continues to refuse food and refuse to talk about the murder of Lindsay Ann Hawker, what do you think prosecutors should do?
0
Ah_so
Funny...a geriatric from England would probably not have quite the same positive feelings about the Japanese. The Oba remembers the American occupation, the British remember Burma.
Japan does not want mass permanent third world immigration, or rather its population did not. The only real solution is the birthrate - Japan must be more generous to families. It is proposed, but long overdue.
Japan needs a baby boom now, or the country will be in crisis in 20 years. Then the young will be trying to get out and wishing they had paid attention in English class.
Posted in: Hatoyama says Japan should embrace more migrants
0
Ah_so
Firstly, they are lay judges, not jurors - a key difference as they are participants in the trial, not observers. Secondly, surely the whole point of a trial is that the judges ARE swayed by the way the defendant answers their questions.
Posted in: Jury member loses cool in Miyagi high school girl rape case
0
Ah_so
Jury is a misnomer; they are lay judges, so it is appropriate. It may be sensible to question whether lay judges are a good idea, but if you have them, then they can ask questions.
Japan's system is unusual, but not totally unique - England and Wales also have a lay judiciary, known as magistrates. These are volunatry positions and deal with around 95% of criminal cases.
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/CrimeJusticeAndTheLaw/Becomingamagistrate/DG_071384
Posted in: Jury member loses cool in Miyagi high school girl rape case
0
Ah_so
Great news and her parents must be so relieved.
The story has now been posted on the BBC.
Posted in: ICHIHASHI ARRESTED BY POLICE IN OSAKA
0
Ah_so
The movie is good fun, excellent in places. Better than Kill Bill, very well filmed with some fantastic scenes. However, it is not in the same league as Reservoir Dogs or Pulp Fiction.
Posted in: A bunch of basterds
0
Ah_so
Realist - either you have an all-seeing scientific knowledge far beyond the powers of the majority of scientists around the world, or perhaps you take anti-global warming arguments as "fact" simply because it fits your particular outlook on life. I wonder which...
You might be right and the whole global warming thing is a load of nonsense. In that case, great; we can continue to churn greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere unfettered. Hooray, drinks all round!
And what if you are not right and actually we are doing the planet potentially irreversible damage? Well, in that case we are totally screwed. And your ancestors may look back and wonder how selfish people could have been in the face of a balance of probability on known scientific evidence.
Article Unavailable
0
Ah_so
No one has ever been able to repeat Spurlock's "findings" in his documentary, because it was a load of attention-seeking nonsense.
Posted in: Quarter Pounder back for seconds
0
Ah_so
If that is the case, the evidence will be judged inadmissable. Let this be judged on a case-by-case basis, not a blanket number of years that applies to all.
Article Unavailable