JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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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
- Salary: ¥125,000 ~ ¥250,000 / Month
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- FT English Teachers for Kids - Osaka
- Kohgakusha Co., Ltd. （株式会社興学社）, Osaka
- Salary: ¥255,000 ~ ¥275,000 / Month Travel Expenses, Encouragement of Japanese learning*
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- Translator
- ZAIHON, Inc. (日本財務翻訳株式会社), Tokyo
- Salary: ¥6.0M / Year Negotiable
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Alphaape
@cleo: Thanks for the background research. Seeing this line, I can tell that these parents were not ready to be parents, simply by the fact that a 16 year old girl had a child five year ago. A 16 year old girl in a place where it is still somewhat the norm for adults to have the attitude of "cute (kawai)" and childish behavior by supposed adults is still rampant. This woman probably thought that it will be fine to go out, since nothing bad will happen.
Such a pity that these two kids had to die. I hope that justice will be served in this case.
Posted in: Two sisters, aged 5 and 3, perish in Tokyo fire
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Alphaape
@FruitsBasketFan: I am not saying that. What I am saying that if a person wants to have sex, then they need to be responsible for all aspects of it. If they can't afford contraception, then they obviously can't afford to take care of a child if one is born or the prenatal care until it is born.
Posted in: Top Republican wants vote on birth control mandate
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Alphaape
I guess the really tight gun control laws in Japan are working. Oh wait, the law abiding citizens are not armed, but those who will break the laws are. Again I say, why is it that those who abide by the laws and want to own a gun over here legally have to go through so many obstacles just to get one, and yet criminals can seem to get them regardless of the regulations.
Posted in: Former gang member shot dead in Denny's restaurant in Chiba
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Alphaape
It boils down to personal responsibility in my book. If youi can't afford to see a doctor, then you shouldn't be doing things that can lead you to having to see one, i.e. having sex without any contraception. Condoms are still cheaper than cigarettes and most of the bad snack foods that many people like to say that is causing the rapidly rising obesity rates among the poor in America. Also, if you can't afford to get pregnant, then don't have sex. It is not my responsiblity to assist someone in gaining contraceptive devices if they can't afford them.
Funny how many people say that conservatives are concerned with what goes on in the bedrooms. To some extent that is true. Yet some of the very same liberals who decry that, will push to have the snack foods taken out of school cafeterias, and zoning laws so that fast food places will not be put up in poor neighborhoods, as well as pushing the no smoking mantra, yet it is okay to smoke weed.
I think both sides should stay out of other people's business in regards to some of these matters.
Posted in: Top Republican wants vote on birth control mandate
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Alphaape
Never understood why guys who have taken a vow of chasity are so concerned with everyone else's sex lives.
I am a religious person, and lean towards the right on a lot of issues, but I don't think that this should be a major focus for the GOP. It is good to stand for a morality, but this comes down to an individual choice, just like if you are going to accept a particular religion. I do understand the church's point on this issue however. Why should they have to go against their tenants.
Posted in: Top Republican wants vote on birth control mandate
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Alphaape
She simply should have told the credit card company that the grandson is an adult, and he needs to take care of his responsibility. She should have told the "scammer grandson" that you're a man, and you need to "man-up" and pay your obligations. I take it that the grandson probably doesn't call grandma much.
Even calling from Japan to a very small town in America, and when my grandmother was in her 80's and she could still recognize my voice from her other grandkids. I guess there probably weren't close family ties in this case.
Posted in: Woman conned out of nearly Y4.5 mil in bank transfer scam
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Alphaape
@SushiSake3: At least the Reps are putting up people with different viewpoints, even if you don't like them. You can't tell me that every Dem is happy with Obama and that there are some that want to see the party go in a different direction, whether that be more to the left or center. But, the bosses that control the Dems will have none of that. I understand standing behind your party choice after the nomination convention, but to not even put up another candidate in the primaries makes it seem like the party just doesn't care if you like who they have annointed or not. They just expect you to vote for them no matter what. The problem I see with that is the elected officials will not have to worry about the people, and only concern themselves with keeping power.
Posted in: Santorum's wins shake up Republican race
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Alphaape
Hey Karl, it was "W" who started the process of bailouts. Imagine, it took an Italian owned company to tell Americans that we can do better and we can work this out by sticking it through, and not the so-called party that is in opposition to the Dems and the socialist aganeda that you guys say Obama and the Dems are pushing every 5 minutes on Fox.
Look, I am no huge supporter for Obama and the Dems, and I do watch Fox, but only take if for what it's worth, but the commercial was good in the point that it is telling us that we can do better. He didn't come out and say that it was going to take a Rep to make it right, nor was he adding on to the "Hope and Change" but what I got from it was along the lines of that famous Dem president and his "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country" (JFK).
Posted in: Ford blasts GM 'apocalypse' ad for Super Bowl; Chrysler also under fire
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Alphaape
No that is not what I said. Why wouldn't you want a Safety Net to help those who fall from the Middle Class, to get back on their feet? The problem we have with the very poor in America now, is that there is no incentive to get off the safety net. When all the talk was in Congress about extending the Unemployment benefits from 99 weeks for the long term unemployed affected by layoffs, there was opposition from both sides. Yet, where is the opposition from cutting off welfare for those who spend years on it, with no desire to get off. I can point to people in my own family, who have generational members on public assistance, and some demand to stay that way; yet we get a Congress that wants to cut off unemployment insurance (which many people have to pay into from their taxes).
So the safety net for the very poor is strong in America. Romney said he will fix it in areas that need to be fixed. We need solutions to help the middle class.
Posted in: Romney admits he 'misspoke' over poor Americans
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Alphaape
@ The GTruth Matters: You have not been really paying attention to the news lately. Sure middle class may have their homes and IRA's, but what we have been seeing is that the value of these homes have been decreasing, yet these persons still are paying for them at what they bought them for, thus in an emergncy will have no equity. Also long term unemployment has caused many middle class families to have to dip into their IRA's since the amount you get from unemployment insurance will not cover their needs (i.e health insurance premiums, mortage, etc). My own brother is a clear example. Solidly middle class, worked for over 20 years at a company and was laid off. Had to dip into IRA, and sell home wich left him with nothing. The funny thing about this is that when he did try to apply for assistance, he was told that because he had been making money above a certain level in the year before, he was ineligbile for any asskstance. All while he was sitting in a room full of single mothers and women who didn't speak the English language as a native, getting all the assistance that they needed (and before you start the diatribe on race, he like me is a Black man).
So no there is not a safety net for the middle class as there is for the very poor.
Posted in: Romney admits he 'misspoke' over poor Americans
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Alphaape
@yabits: And you just validated what Romney was saying. There is a safety net for the very poor, but yet those who are not classified as that have no safety net, and that is what Romney wants to tackle. He also said he is not concerned about the very upper class, since they seem to be making it. If he sticks to that, then I hope that he cuts out the bailouts for those super rich who make risky investments and fail.
Posted in: Romney admits he 'misspoke' over poor Americans
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Alphaape
Back in 1964, the US poverty rate was 19% of the population. In 1965, LBJ instituted the "War on Poverty" and during the years since then there has been $16 trillion spent on welfare programs. But yet, the poverty rate in America today (with an estimated 50 million Americans in poverty) only went down by 4%, to 15%. So spending $16 trillion in 46 years only brought the leve down by 4%. Obviously it is not working.
Notice in Romeny's statements, he said he wasn't going to cut any programs, but he was going to fix them where they needed fixing. Making sure that those programs are doing what they are supposed to be doing, providing a safety net for those who need it and not wasting tax payers money is a good thing. Nor did he say that he was going to help the middle class by taking from the poor.
Posted in: Romney admits he 'misspoke' over poor Americans
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Alphaape
@yabits: True, Romney has not laid out a plan to fix it, but I think that middle class Americans will have a much better chance at getting better than under Obama. Obama made many grand promises when he was running, and what has he done? How has Obama helped the middle class since he has been in. And for that matter, how have the poor been helped since Obama has been in office? Their numbers have increased and not decreased.
Posted in: Romney admits he 'misspoke' over poor Americans
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Alphaape
@RR: Right on point!
I get what Romney was trying to say. Contrary to ppopular belief, there is a vast safety net for the very poor in America. Why else would people come from places like Mexico and other places to live there who can't speak the language, yet manage to live there for years and send money back to their home countries. Try getting a job in a place like Japan if you have no working concept of the language.
It is the Middle class, especially the lower end of it who are getting hit the most. They make just enough to not qualify them for Federal assistance, yet the rising costs of items, and the loss of jobs hits them the most. Don't think so, remember this; there is a way that an elderly person can qualify to live in assisted living totally paid for by Social Secuirty. However to do so, if they have any assests like a home or any money, they have to give it away or turn it over so that they can be declared "below the poverty leve" so that they can get assistance. If you just happen to be a middle class person in that situation, you have to sell it all off to become poor in able to get assistance. That needs to be fixed.
Posted in: Romney admits he 'misspoke' over poor Americans
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Alphaape
@zichi: Tha's not really true. The reactor on the GW is constantly manned, and they have controls to shut it down without having to worry about the outside sensors, since they monitor it closely. The reason it was moved was dut to the possibility of contamination from Fukashima coming towards the ship. If that was the case, the ship would have had to o someplace to be decontaminated, and that would be expensive and cause reprocussions all along the other carrier deployment timelines. The US was simply protecting its asset.
But I do like what the man was saying.
Posted in: Ex-U.S. diplomat Maher pulls no punches on Japan
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Alphaape
I agree. Also, if grandma never worked in the US, then she should have no problem moving back to where she is from, since obviously she came to the US at an age where she couldn't work. Self deportation is the best way.
Posted in: Gingrich: Romney self-deportation plan a fantasy
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Alphaape
This is probably the lowest of the low. There are plenty of women in Japan who are probably just as desperate as the boy's mother that would take a looser like him. I say that the mother is a looser because there is no way that she didn't notice that this guy didn't like her son, and probably mistreated him well before he started giving him the drops.
This guy is a loser, and should be castrated just because.
Posted in: 5-yr-old boy may lose sight after man adds battery acid to eye drops
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Alphaape
Newt needs to look at what happened in AZ when they passed (or tried to pass) their illegal immigration laws that allowed the police to question if they were in the country illegally. About 100,000 illegal immigrants left Arizona after the state passed a law in 2007 that enhanced penalties on businesses that hired them, according to the Department of Homeland Security. (From a USA Today article), and some were doing the same with the recent law that was enacted in 2010. Same thing happened in Alabama when they enacted tougher laws.
Why would someone stay if they no longer were able to receive benefits and services. No matter how old they are, they would find somway to leave.
I wonder will Newt say something different when he gets to AZ.
Posted in: Gingrich: Romney self-deportation plan a fantasy
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Alphaape
I agree. If you have ever looked at any o the "Behind the Music" shows on VH1, MTV, etc. you will see the story of famous musicans (and actors too) who got screwed out of royalties by these same companies that are now saying that downloading is hurting their business. They have been doing it all along to the very same people that they say they are trying to protect.
Posted in: U.S. Congress puts online piracy bills on hold
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Alphaape
@ oginome: And I can speak to the above post, sine I am a Black male who grew up in the 70's, in areas that you like to refer to as ghetto. True I grew up in a Black area, but it was not all ghetto, and people were not worrying about why other people had more than they (at least not to the extent that they are today).
The goal for people in my area, was to do better for themselves, and to try at all costs not to be on public assistance. Now I see people in my old area who demand the right for welfare, while when I ws growing up, people knew it was there, and some had to use it, but it carried a stigma as you not trying to make it on your own. In other words, people didn't have so much of the "entitlement mentality" that they have today.
Posted in: Social tensions increasing in U.S. between rich,poor