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
1
Alphaape
@ unreconstructed: Well said.
This can be said about Japan too. I will say that the crime rate is not as high as that in America, but you can see here in Japan how if you live in one ward of Tokyo you are paying way too much for a little apartment to be in a "good area", and two stops over, same size places but not such a good area. The difference between the haves and the have not's is more striking I believe in Japan. At least in America, every person is afforded the chance to go to high school and better themselves if they apply themselves, and a few breaks are given to them. In Japan, if your parents can't afford a "good" highschool, you are being set up for long term minimal success.
I can go on about many other aspects between Japan and America, but I think in many ways Japan is in just the same situation as America, as you describe it.
Posted in: Social tensions increasing in U.S. between rich,poor
1
Alphaape
@DentShop: And the article on the main page of JT is that Ozawa says it was nothing unusual for him to keep 400 millioni yen in his house and not in a bank. This from a public servant.
Posted in: Social tensions increasing in U.S. between rich,poor
1
Alphaape
This is the same in every country in the world. NK, the ruling elites are rich, yet the "people" are dirt poor. Same goes for everyplace in the world, especially in the developing world.
But, at least in America there are systems in place to help the poor. If you don't think so, why are so many poor from Central America crossing the border illegally to get benefits and assistance? America's problem is that it gives to those who probably don't really deserve the help (i.e. illegals) but for those who do need legitimate help, there are hurdles that one has to go through.
Posted in: Social tensions increasing in U.S. between rich,poor
6
Alphaape
@cleo: Police can't be in all places at one time. No sure which part of OK this lady was in, but if she were out in the countryside, no matter how many police you have, there still will be a time/distance problem for them to get there. Thankfully, she had a gun, and had the authorities on the phone to help keep her calm. I feel no sympathy for the guy who got killed, he got what he deserved.
Posted in: Oklahoma woman asks 911 operator for permission to shoot intruder
2
Alphaape
Just yesterday people were posting about the J-cops who told the Aum member who wanted to turn himself in to go to the next station as being incompetent. Police have a difficult job. We can sit here and arm chair this thing in many different ways, but bottom line, a 15 yr old boy had a gun and police reacted in a way to make sure that they were coming home. We don't see any pictures of this kid, but how big was he? They grow pretty big in Texas and what if this guy was some type of athlete who was larger than normal, are you still willing to take chances on someone with a gun in their hands who is also big?
Brownsville is right across the border from Matamoros, Tamaulipas Mexico. Home to one of the most dangerous drug cartels (Gulf Cartel), and there are many cases of young boys being caught up in the drug trade who will kill in an instant. So I don't blame the cops, they were faced with a difficult decision. THe kid may have had mental issues, but he was smart enough to know that you don't show a weapon in public, or there would have been calls to the police about a kid at school with an open weapon and not just about a fist fight. The kid, in my book, is still responsible for his own death.
Posted in: Texas police kill 8th-grader carrying pellet gun
1
Alphaape
@ Dog: good post!
Posted in: Police at first turned away surrendering Aum fugitive
4
Alphaape
Don't they have that ship that makes a landing in Japan 3 times a month? Maybe the sailing dates didn't jibe with the funeral plans. Also, I would probably imagine that those who are here are probably not too willing to go back to NK. Imagine leaving a place like Japan, where you can go to the corner Covienience store and buy something to eat and going back to NK where you probably will not have such access to as much as you can here in Japan, or for that matter just watch a simple TV show or listen to the radio without some propaganda message. Probably becuase they know that once they get back to NK they will be treated as suspect by the ruling class as a threat and sent to a gulag. I would stay here myself, and sing song of praises, hoping never to return.
Posted in: N Korea says Noda, Fujimura lack morals for not sending condolences on Kim's death
7
Alphaape
I thought that police had to take all comments such as these as serious. I mean, you can't go into an airport and joke about having a bomb or going to blow up an airplane without some security screener hauling you out of line, and detaining you. I guess it is because you could screw up some companies profit margin by delaying flights so those comments are taken serious, but a public sector bureaucract, just move along and go to someone else's station so I can do my job without any extra effort.
Posted in: Police at first turned away surrendering Aum fugitive
1
Alphaape
i bought a turkey from the commissary and cooked it. Turned out perfeclty. The key is to cook the stuffing sepeartley. FOr those who don't have an oven, try cooking the turkey in a slow cooker for about 8 hours. Then when you take it out, leave he juices and add stuffing mix. Just stir and then you will have the best stuffing with some pieces of turkey in it with the flavor of the cooked turkey.
Posted in: Staple diet: Christmas turkey nightmare resolved at last
1
Alphaape
As I said in an earlier post, if this is supposed a "people's paradise" where the workers control the production and all are equal, why then is one family set above the others?
Posted in: Mythmaking begins for N Korea's next leader
1
Alphaape
I thought that the whole goal of communism was that we were all supposed to be equal, and that the workers controlled the means of production and everything was distributed on a fair share and the ruling class was eliminated. What gives then if the only way you can rule the country is to be "born" into it. So much for the workers and equaliity.
Posted in: Kim Jong Il's body displayed; N Korea media hail son
3
Alphaape
So now every time someone who works at this plant gets sick, it will make the news?
Posted in: Stomach flu outbreak hits 52 workers at Fukushima nuclear plant
1
Alphaape
@Daren Brannan: Your situation really sounds like my coworker. He was USN and when time came for orders, he had to go back to the states. Due to the fact that is his wife had done similar things to him as you describe with knives, attempted suicides, and other things that were documented, the US Embassy denied her visa claims. I was shocked to find that would happen since it seems that every deadbeat can get into America. So he transferred alone, and from the last reports the abuse is long distance. When we used to go on trips back to the States, he had to continuously be near a phone in order to accept calls from his wife. She gave him only a paltry $200 for a week (he worked she didn't) to spend while we were away and had to show receipts of what it was spent on when we returned. So I imagine his life is still going on the same way. A shame too, since he was not a playboy and actually wanted to be in his kids life, only to be saddled with a lunatic.
I know this may seem cruel, but many times he had to come home to find her attempting suicide. If I were in that situation, the next time she would have told me that she was doing such a thing, I probably would have taken my time getting home. I know that is wrong, but I guess it boils down to you have to protect yourself and any kids you may have, and not just throw it all away because someone may become irrational.
Posted in: Husbands who take active role in family life have more loving wives: study
1
Alphaape
@ Darren Brannan: I had a coworker in a similar situation to yours. The funny thing was, if he had his wife out in public, then she acted normal and one would have never known she was "batty." I guess it has something to do with some Japanese not wanting to show a bad face in public. It got to the point where the only way he could find peace at home was to have people come over so that his wife would be on her P's & Q's. That is no way to live, and I hope that you can find a solution to your problem.
Just curious, what are her parent's situation like? You can tell a lot about how a person will enter a relationship when you look at what they had to develop role models from.
I think some of the results of this survey can also be cased by the expectations that the couples went into their marriages with. Did the women go in just looking to have a kid and someone to pay for the upbrining, or did they see it in TV and the movies about marriages and didn't really realize that it takes work to make things go right, and even then your are going to have problems.
Posted in: Husbands who take active role in family life have more loving wives: study
1
Alphaape
Pretty dumb on Bale's part. Ok to try to visit, but he should remember, he still has to leave China and if they are going to do this to him, an actor and a CNN camera crew, and the guards were obviously acting under government authority, why doesn't he think that they wouldn't be able to stop him.
My guess, this new movie will be out in pirated version well before it normally would in order to probably show him who not to "mess with."
Posted in: Actor Christian Bale attacked during visit to China dissident
1
Alphaape
Wow, China is the biggest holder of US debt and one of the biggest producer of goods in the world, and yet it is a "developing country." Yet they and India will make out on this accord since they will not have to cut back and already have plenty of cheap labor.
If the UN loves China and helping the developing nations so much, I say that they move there. Let those highly paid diplomats move to those countries and let them start growing in service industry jobs to cater to these so called leaders and then they can help them get out of being a developing nation.
Posted in: World's nations set course for 2015 global climate pact
-1
Alphaape
I admit the guy may have went too far, but I wonder did the kid have the decency to go up and ring the doorbell and ask if he could retrieve the ball? That simple act probably could have saved him from gettig kicked in the face. I wonder, was the guy wearing boots or house shoes?
Posted in: 49-year-old man kicks 9-year-old boy in face, breaking his nose
2
Alphaape
I guess it doesn't matter if you are an American company or a Japanese company, bad management is everywhere. I guess it is the same the world over: "Sh@#t floats to the top" sometimes.
What I can't understand, if the management at Olympus rose from the ranks and had to go through the levels of the company to get there, didn't any of them along the way pick up any moral compass in regards to not just doing what's right for the company but doing what "is the right thing to do." There can be a big difference between the two.
So can we assume then that no matter what, Japanese company men learn how to cheat and cover up at the lowe levels and if you don't get caught you will keep going higher?
Posted in: Olympus top management was 'rotten': 3rd-party panel
-1
Alphaape
Oh well, I guess they will just go back to their parents house and start all over again. If your dream while you are young is to only have an expensive sports car while you are young, I guess you will have not much to look forward to for later in life.
Posted in: Speeding blamed for pileup involving 8 Ferraris, 1 Lamborghini
1
Alphaape
@John Becker: I can agree with that, but another person posted here that downloading is taking income away from the other people who help out in the production of shows, like the people working on the sets and all of those others behind the scenes. Syndication does not cover them, they get paid their salary as part of their work, and are not in any syndication rights. So no matter how many times a show is viewed, they are not gettting "A piece of the pie" so to speak. Also as you have mentioned with syndication, take a look back at how the studios cheated many anactor out of royalties due to them not giving them syndication rights. A classic example is the crew of the "SS Minnow" from Giligan's Island. Take a look at how they got cheated out of their rights by the same industry that now says its the little guys that are robbing them of a profit.
What's the difference if I invite someone over to my home to watch a show I have Tivoed and just sending it to them via a file to watch? What if we watched it in realtime just like gamers do with games. Am I vioating a law then?
Posted in: 30 arrested for illegally sharing manga, music, movies, TV shows online