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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Antonios_M
Awful, awful, awful! Rest in peace, poor girl. I wish somebody could prevent it...
Posted in: Woman arrested for murder of 11-day-old daughter in guesthouse
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Antonios_M
Haha...yes, i have seen some people walking the street in front of me and i found myself wondering "Is he/she a guy or a woman"? Japan gives a new meaning to the word "unisex". I can't believe that there are women in Japan who find this style as "sexy" and "kawaii". It's a good thing to have variety, uniqueness and individuality, but this trend is getting so popular among J guys to the extent of either seeing sararimen or these "trendy" guys out in the street.
Jguys, please, take a look at some photos of Abe Hiroshi. This is how a real man should dress like in terms of both clothing and haircut.
Posted in: What do you think of Japanese women's fashions so far this fall-winter season?
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Antonios_M
Subarashii!!!
Posted in: Shinjuku shine
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Antonios_M
The problem with Japanese women is that they seem to care more about fashion and shopping than a way to develop their individuality and personality. Of course, i could say the same about women from all over the world, but in Japan this trend is commercialized and promoted as a new lifestyle.
As for the Japanese women fashion...it seems same to me for the last 4-5 years. Black tights with denim shorts and long boots. Faux fur coats are getting more popular.
What really drives me nuts in Japan is the mens fashion... I can't stand how feminine it looks. To be honest, it might look good for the Japanese men, but when it comes to a Mediterranean guy...god, its awful. It's getting even worse though when your Japanese gf insists you should dress like these guys and buys you clothes of this feminine style...
Posted in: What do you think of Japanese women's fashions so far this fall-winter season?
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Antonios_M
Nice photo! Merkel and Sarkozy seem so close to each other.... Too bad that European member states were never so close but followed different fiscal policies. Well, better late than never.
Posted in: Merkel says Europe set to launch 'fiscal union'
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Antonios_M
It was to be expected, unfortunately. Changes and reforms are either for the better or for the worse.
Posted in: Ultraconservative Islamists make gains in Egypt
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Antonios_M
Very impressive indeed. Just imagine that when World War II finished, she was already a middle aged woman (not so "middle" for her though). Life is always a mystical journey towards catharsis which is death. Sometimes we don't realize that everyday it passes, we are closer to our end. I just hope that when my last breath comes, i won't have any regrets in my life.
Posted in: Japan's oldest person dies at age 115
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Antonios_M
Corruption is the worst enemy of any developing country which seeks to improve its economic growth. It has a lot to do with the mentality of the people and the way they view themselves as members of a community.
Posted in: Corruption making euro debt crisis worse
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Antonios_M
Ohayo, Japan!!!
Posted in: M5.3 quake hits near Tokyo
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Antonios_M
Give them the death penalty immediately. Or something worse: make them watch the twilight series.
Posted in: 30 arrested for illegally sharing manga, music, movies, TV shows online
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Antonios_M
That's the way to go, Bluewitch! Most people can not understand the feeling of a parent who worries about their kids. I don't have any kids, but i realize that if i did, i wouldn't even risk 1% of something happening to them. As you said, better to be safe than sorry!
Posted in: 8-yr-old girl stabbed by man while walking home from school in Matsudo
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Antonios_M
Maybe you are right and i hope that you are right, my friend.
There is no excuse behind any crime...but stabbing a small girl??? I can't even process this... I may be sound cruel, but i don't care what kind of psychological problems this lunatic had. I know few people who had difficult and unpleasant childhood but they didn't turn into serial killers or anything. Yes, i understand that some people are more sensitive and fragile than others, but hurting a small girl is something beyond imagination. The only fortunate thing in this story is that the girl was not hurt seriously and i hope that she will recover from the scar (both the physical and the psychological).
Posted in: 8-yr-old girl stabbed by man while walking home from school in Matsudo
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Antonios_M
Oh, just checked the girls next to the Porsche model. Very elegant looking ladies! I guess each brand has the right representatives: Suzuki vehicle - short, kind of cute but goofy looking girl, Volkswagen - curvy girl but simple looking and modest, Porsche - elegant, tall and sexy, etc.
Posted in: Fine bodywork
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Antonios_M
Cute girl but very short. Not exactly my cup of tea. And this imitation of vehicle as well...
Posted in: Fine bodywork
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Antonios_M
Terrible news to start your day with... I don't have any data, but i get the feeling that these awful cases of people being stabbed for no apparent reason by strangers have been multiplied a lot recently. Of course, someone could argue that there are western cities with a much highest ratio of crimes, which is 100% true, but stabbing an 8 year old girl....what kind of person could do something like that???
Ben is right that there are many readers who tend to bash Japan severely in some of the articles. I guess they have their own reasons, as we all know that life in Japan is not always easy for foreigners. However, we all must agree that a case of stabbing a random and innocent 8 year old girl is not something that anyone can ignore so easily. I hope they will arrest the lunatic or that he will surrender after realizing what he has done.
Posted in: 8-yr-old girl stabbed by man while walking home from school in Matsudo
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Antonios_M
herefornow, please, keep in mind that i don't excuse the government for not predicting a catastrophe of that scale. Yes, they should have had a management plan in case of a nuclear crisis. They didn't and they are definitely to blame for letting the irresponsible TEPCO deal with the issue, while they should have invited the best of the best of nuclear experts in order to deal with the crisis more effectively. They shouldn't have let an old nuclear factory operate in such a seismically active region like the Tohoku region. Yes, there is corruption behind this decision and the need to protect corporations in order to save face. Yes, it was terrible! If you have read my comments during March, you would have noticed how much i criticized the J-gov for these decisions and the lack of crisis management plan.
However, leaving the facts above aside....what would you expect the J-gov to have done? Saying something among the lines of "We don't know whats going on. The situation is uncontrolled and we don't have a plan. Run for your lives."??? Can you imagine what would have happened if only a glimpse of fear had spread to a country where the nuclear nightmare is still a part of the recent history? I don't want to imagine.
When the earthquake happened i was not in Japan. I was probably one of the few gaijins who actually came to Japan instead of leaving few days after the earthquake. This was because i was planning to take my gf who is working in Narita airport and either take her out of the country with me or take her to her family in the south. I was panicked, read several articles about Tokyo becoming a "nuclear wasteland", i saw the shortages in food and water, i was even scared about going out. I wanted to leave, my gf chose to stay and therefore, we stayed. She didn't want to quit her job. At that time, i didn't care at all about job, sense of duty, etc....all i cared about was her safety. Apparently though, she didn't listen to me and she convinced me to stay. Initially, i was angry, upset, shocked...etc. Now, i am grateful for that choice. I know few people who chose to leave and they regretted it afterwards. Keep in mind that it was in our hands whether to stay or not. There were sources and information available from everywhere, radiation monitoring, etc. Nobody forced us to stay here.
Yes, you can blame the J-gov for the way it dealt with the crisis, but not for trying to relax and comfort people.
Posted in: Study shows deeper meltdown than thought at Fukushima nuclear reactor
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Antonios_M
ANA is doing one gaffe after another...
Posted in: ANA flight canceled after pilot exceeds safe alcohol limit
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Antonios_M
@ Masterbape, tmarie, nonanon
Ok, so let's admit that J-gov did the wrong thing during the first days of the crisis and misinformed the people. What exactly do you expect it should have done? I hope you do realize that there are more than 40 million people living in Kanto area. The majority of them followed their daily routine precisely like nothing happened at all. (Well, except from the shortages in some supermarkets and Kombini stores, as well as the power blackouts). Other than that, the daily routine was 100% the same as before the earthquake.
Now imagine J-gov saying something like "The situation is out of control and we don't know exactly what is going on! Probably a full meltdown, so get out of here". This is not a vast country like Russia where you could have large number of population moving from one place to another easily. This is Japan, one of the most densely populated countries in the world. Where exactly would everybody have gone? Or do you believe that the J-gov could have organized a massive evacuation of the Kanto area like it did in Fukushima?
And let's imagine that the first who would have decided to quit their jobs and flee to the south were the airport workers. Yep, no flight available for abroad. Can you imagine the chaos that would follow? We tend to think that everything is in order and working, but thats not happening because of some kind of magic, but because civilized societies behave rationally and with a sense of duty and purpose. Having these gone, its very easily for everything to go bad. And believe me, when it does...it's really ugly.
Having to choose between an 100% honest government and chaos, and a 20% honest government and order...i would go for the second any time. Everybody who chooses the first probably has no idea what a real "chaos" looks like. Besides, now that we know that things are not as the government was saying, we can freely choose to leave, can't we? This is not Soviet Russia where everything was covered under propaganda and censorship. We do have the means of information to know at least if someone is covering the truth deliberately.
Posted in: Study shows deeper meltdown than thought at Fukushima nuclear reactor
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Antonios_M
Some of the readers here criticize the J government for not revealing crucial informations about the meltdown during the first days of the nuclear crisis. Yes, you are right. Jgov indeed lied to all of us.
However, just imagine the chaos that would follow having Edano declare something like a full meltdown few days after the earthquake and with international press already covering the crisis with sensationalized articles. It would have been a disaster.
You should give credits to the Japanese people for acting rationally during the first days of the crisis. If this had happened anywhere else, i doubt that everything would have been so "normal" like it was here in cities with millions of people just few hundred kms away from Fukushima. Part of this behavior though was a result of these "shinpai shinaide" comments by Mr. Edano. Indeed, i was panicked because i was listening to global media but all the Japanese who listened to the government's announcements felt comfortable enough to go on with their daily routine (including my gf as well). I can't imagine what would have happened otherwise...
Posted in: Study shows deeper meltdown than thought at Fukushima nuclear reactor
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Antonios_M
Iran should be more wise and not let these things happen. We can not afford another war of this scale. Iran is not Iraq and the consequences of a conflict against the west would be huge.
Posted in: Britain evacuates embassy staff from Iran