JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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- 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
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- Assistant Language Teacher - TOKYO - late-March start
- Interac, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥230,000 ~ ¥255,000 / Month
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- Assistant Language Teacher - Kanagawa Prefecture - late-March start
- Interac, Kanagawa
- Salary: ¥230,000 ~ ¥255,000 / Month
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Alan
Government control and brainwashing in North Korea is so absolute, that an internal grass-roots uprising would be very unlikely to succeed.
Before sending leaflets into the North, those involved should think carefully about the consequences for any North Korean who is caught looking at one.
Posted in: S Korean, Japanese activists send leaflets by balloon toward N Korea
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Alan
I like to see politicians snoozing. When they're asleep, I know that for a little while at least, they aren't robbing the taxpayer or wrecking the economy.
Posted in: Nap time
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Alan
Mikanojo: Then he should have been charged with trespass, not with disrepect for a religious site. The Japanese state has no business demanding respect for any religion. My surprise that disrespect for a religious site is illegal relates to Article 20 of the Japanese constitution, which states that no religious organization shall receive any privileges from the state.
Posted in: Photographer charged over nude photos at cemetery
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Alan
I'm surprised that "disrespect for a religious site" is actually against the law in Japan. If it is, I'm guilty many times over, because I disrepect all of the money-grubbing, amulet-hawking, bereaved family-exploiting religious sites in Japan, and all of the hypocrites running them. An honest pornographer is far more respectable.
Posted in: Photographer charged over nude photos at cemetery
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Alan
The fast food obesity problem in the States seems to be weighted (pun intended) toward low-income people, which is a puzzle, because fast food isn't cheap. A typical Mac meal will cost 3-4 times as much as a quality home-cooked meal, and by the time you've waddled down to the Golden Arch, waited in line and waddled home again, it isn't really fast either. MacDonalds has its place. For my family, it was a very occasional treat, or a convenient option when traveling. But I don't understand people who live on this stuff. There again, I've walked past a lot of Mac joints, and I don't recall Ronald ever leaping out and dragging me inside to be force-fed.
Posted in: Ronald McDonald under fire from child obesity opponents
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Alan
The police should be compiling statistics on smoking-related accidents. I'd wager that for every accident caused by cellphone use, there have been dozens caused by smoking-related inattention. But banning isn't the answer. Insurance companies should write clauses into their policies saying that cover will be withdrawn if accidents are caused by smoking, drinking or cellphone use. Let boozing, texting, smoking drivers take responsibility for their actions.
Posted in: Trucker, trying to smoke, causes 5-vehicle pileup in Tokyo
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Alan
Cigarettes in cars are lethal, and not only because of the obvious health risks. Accidents have been caused by driver attention while lighting or stubbing cigarettes, and by temporary blindness caused by the flash of a lighter at night. And a driver who drops a lit cigarette is certainly going to take his eyes of the road and his hands off the wheel. Fortunately, the truck driver in this story is unlikely to be driving anything anytime soon.
Posted in: Trucker, trying to smoke, causes 5-vehicle pileup in Tokyo
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Alan
I'd consider getting one of these if they could make it a bit quieter. According to Honda's website, the noise level is around 80db. That's a big improvement over gasoline generators, but it would still be a bit intrusive for prolonged use.
Posted in: Butane-powered generator
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Alan
It looks like this uses Bluetooth to get messages through a cellphone, rather than connectng to the network directly. So even if I had one I'd still have to carry a cell phone, which also vibrates when receiving messages, and by the way, can also tell the time. I want a light, compact mobile phone that I can strap to my wrist, maybe with a mechanism to generate power for the battery from hand movements.
Posted in: Text message watch
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Alan
According to their banners, these guys are opposed to voting rights for foreigners, separate surnames for married couples and the JDP. They are in favor of respecting the gods and emperor. Though they are dressed like janitors, they are in fact the "Rising Sun Movement to Put the World Right." I'm all in favor of putting the world right, and we could start by taking all the megaphones away from religious and political whackos of every hue. Japan is far too tolerant of this noise pollution.
Posted in: Now hear this
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Alan
Genji17: I assume you accept that cigarette smoke is harmful? So who takes responsibility for the harm caused? Kanagawa has provided one answer? Is there another?
Posted in: Anti-smoking 'monsters' have smokers on the run
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Alan
manfromamerica "So you are worried that your incidental contact with second hand smoke might give you cancer after another 58 years? If you live to 116, you're quite lucky." Now you're being deliberately obtuse. "Incidental" is relative. For anyone who's lived through the 50s and 60s or in Japan, the contact was actually quite continual.
ManfromAmerica: "No, what you are saying is that you and the government should have total control over everyone's lives." And now you're getting a bit hysterical. I've said nothing of the kind. I don't care when, where or what people smoke, as long as they don't inflict their habits on me. If they can control the fumes and stink of their habit, let them enjoy it in good health. (That's irony, BTW, in case you didn't recognize it.)
It's the irresponsible behavior of smokers that is bringing government into the equation in Kanagawa and elsewhere.
Posted in: Anti-smoking 'monsters' have smokers on the run
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Alan
manfromamerica: "What risk? second hand smoke has not affected you after 58 years." How do you know? The effects are extremely long-term. I've been exposed to the risk in the past, and I want to avoid it in the future. "You can't make a law to force people to be considerate." I absolutely agree with you. What I am saying is that anyone who lights a cigarette is 100% responsible for preventing for any nuisance or harm to others. Adults shouldn't need politicians to tell them that.
Posted in: Anti-smoking 'monsters' have smokers on the run
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Alan
genji17: "whiff of smoke", "whiff of exhaust"
You're missing my points, too. First point: One whiff, no problem. Many,many whiffs on many, many days, big problem. Second point: Why compound unavoidable risks with avoidable risks caused by the mulish selfishness of a dwindling minority? Third point: While cars and factories are getting cleaner all the time, smokers are still puffing out the same old dangerous filth that offended King James I 400 years ago.
Posted in: Anti-smoking 'monsters' have smokers on the run
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Alan
ManfromAmerica: "you need to change restaurants, or sit in the non-smoking section" LOL Until recently few restaurants (or any other public spaces) in Japan had non-smoking areas. In any case, a non-smoking area is just a place where people don't smoke, often consisting of one or two tables surrounded by smoking tables. It's still part of the same fuggy atmosphere. As to whether 58 years of exposure to second-hand smoke has killed me, I think it's too early to say. But you're right. I have a bias against smokers (and all other forms of dangerous lunatics).
Posted in: Anti-smoking 'monsters' have smokers on the run
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Alan
genji17: Your comparison of cigarette smoke and car exhaust fumes doesn't hold water at all. You're saying that because we are already taking one risk, we shouldn't mind being exposed to another. That's illogical. In any case, vehicle manufacturers have dramatically reduced exhaust emissions. What have cigarette manufacturers and their army of nicotine junkies done to improve their emission levels?
Posted in: Anti-smoking 'monsters' have smokers on the run
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Alan
I've observed a lot of smoker behavior in my life. There are smokers who like to take a breather by holding their cigarettes at arm's length (often under someone else's nose) for a few minutes. There are those who walk swinging their arms with a cigarette in one hand. (I was once burned by one of those in Ikebukuro Station). For sheer comedy you can't beat the drowsy smoker whose cigarette drops out of his mouth into his crotch. But my all-time favorites are those polite souls who ask "Do you mind if I smoke" and have the ciggy in their mouth and the lighter lit before they complete the sentence. And when you say "Yes I bloody well do mind," it takes their brains a few seconds to do a double take.
Posted in: Anti-smoking 'monsters' have smokers on the run
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Alan
manfromamerica: "But sitting next to a smoker during lunch is NOT risky, so don't exaggerate" Sitting next to how many smokers during how many lunches is NOT risky? I'm 58 years old. That's a lot of lunches. And besides, when I eat lunch, I want to taste the food and wine I've paid for, not the by-products of someone else's suicide trip.
Posted in: Anti-smoking 'monsters' have smokers on the run
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Alan
manfromamerica demands: "Prove you have been harmed" (by second-hand smoke). Why should I? Smoking is risky. I CHOOSE not to take that risk because there is no commensurate pleasure or benefit. I resent having that choice taken away from me by selfish, pathetic addicts who can't go five minutes without a fix. I don't want smoking banned. I want smokers to get a brain and get some ethics. If you want to smoke that's your business. Just keep your business out of my nose.
Posted in: Anti-smoking 'monsters' have smokers on the run
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Alan
The nuisance and health damage caused by smokers is only part of the picture. What about all the fires they cause? In just about every fire report I read, the cause is a discarded butt or some idiot smoking in bed. I'm amazed the Japanese are so tolerant, given their traditional horror of fires in their cities.
Posted in: Anti-smoking 'monsters' have smokers on the run