JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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Why do Japanese change their attitude when they communicate with foreigners?
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Confrontation
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U.S. Navy investigating how parts fell off aircraft near Atsugi
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California court to decide if SeaWorld whales are illegal 'slaves'
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Kuroki reported pregnant 2 weeks after denying relationship with Akanishi
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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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Apsara
Looks more like シチュー than カレー, but the head part is cute.
Posted in: Pandamonium
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Apsara
I live in Tokyo, and we and the people we know do this as well, and I don't think we're unusual. Did you think all 20 million Tokyoites lived in perpetual isolation?
Posted in: No. of people dying alone rises in 'no-relationship' society
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Apsara
The interviewer was with a New Zealander in New Zealand to be accurate, and the strong accent did throw him off, but it was weird that Bieber than claimed not to understand "German", which should have been clear.
Posted in: Bieber on the cover? Are you MAD? Yes, yes we are!
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Apsara
tmarie, my parents divorced when I was a child, so I grew up with parents with different last names. I don't recall it ever being an issue. Divorce and remarriage isn't that unusual here, so there will be plenty of children already with parents with different last names. Changing the law so that people can choose whether to change their name or not will probably remove some of the stigma these kids may feel, since that situation won't be limited to people whose parents have divorced/were never married.
Posted in: Women file suit to keep their surnames after they marry
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Apsara
tkoind2, well said. I have no idea why other people think it should be any of their business which surnames a couple has, any more than it matters to them what brands I buy at the supermarket.
Posted in: Women file suit to keep their surnames after they marry
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Apsara
Sorry, "strong resistance".
Posted in: Women file suit to keep their surnames after they marry
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Apsara
Such odd things to say. Are you aware that there are many countries in the world (including neighbouring Korea and China) where there is no tradition at all of the woman changing her name on marriage, yet they don't seem to have problems knowing that they are married. Latin American countries are another example.
There is plenty stopping couples taking the woman's surname- string resistance on the husband's part, pressure from relatives, custom, fear of ridicule on the man's part from friends and co-workers, all make it much more difficult to go that route.
I also beg to differ on the issue of using your surname in daily life- there are plenty of times I have to use my official surname in daily life- anything to do with banking (so therefore at work), immigration or tax purposes along with many other situations.
I just don't understand the people who are opposed to a change in this law- why should people be forced to change their names? You may be happy with the status quo, but why do you want other people to be forced to accept it?
cnc, I have a different surname to my husband (as a foreigner married to a Japanese guy I have to go through channels back in my home country to change my name- an expensive and time-consuming procedure), and I have no idea what you are talking about- there is no doubled paperwork at tax time, and no way to claim double benefits just because a couple has different names.
Posted in: Women file suit to keep their surnames after they marry
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Apsara
You're missing the point, himehentai. These women simply want the right to choose, they are not out to overthrow the patriarchy.
Posted in: Women file suit to keep their surnames after they marry
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Apsara
Go and see Zed at the permanent C de S theatre next to Disneyland as well if you have the chance- pretty impressive.
Posted in: Spectacular
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Apsara
It's definitely an interesting thing to be able to watch on the news from Tokyo. A friend's grandmother lives just 3 km from the volcano though- not a nice time of year to be sleeping in unheated school gymnasiums.
kawachi, that "u" instead of "a" is part of the dialect of that area. Hence the former Miyazaki governor's name (東国原) being pronounced Higashikokubaru, not Higashikokubara.
Posted in: Volcano erupts again with big blast of ash, rocks
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Apsara
While it may not be the driver's fault if a senile elderly person suddenly walks out in front of them, being so oblivious that you drag them under your car for who knows how many km and possibly upon realising what has happened, just drive off, is pretty reprehensible in my opinion. What if she were still alive at some point while being dragged or just after? A hit and run is a hit and run.
Posted in: 77-year-old woman dies after being dragged 6 kilometers in Niigata
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Apsara
I saw Avatar in 3D and am glad I did for the experience, but I'm one of those who gets headaches and nausea (I'm also carsickness prone) from watching 3D for any length of time so that was enough for me. I also have quite a narrow head meaning I have to hold the glasses on the entire time to stop one side slipping off my ear- you would have to pay me to watch another 3D movie.
Posted in: 3D means headaches to many, yet companies push on
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Apsara
Well fishy, it's pretty unlikely that she noticed her daughter fall out and then decided to deliberately drive over her, so it's most likely one of the following if not both:
a) it would take lightning-quick reflexes to stop a car the very millisecond you noticed something amiss, even if the speed was very low a car will still move half a metre or so after you take your foot off the accelerator and that is all it would have taken to go over her daughter's body.
b) she was distracted by one of the other two children and did not notice her daughter had fallen out until too late, and as above, that would have only needed a half-second delay.
Both of the above scenarios are far more likely than her driving over her daughter on purpose, which is what you seem to be suggesting she might have done.
Posted in: 5-yr-old girl dies after falling out of car and being run over in driveway at Tochigi home
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Apsara
You haven't had a good look at the women-only cars on the Chuo line at rush hour obviously- absolutely packed, I can assure you, just like the next carriage down. It may look slightly less full because the people on it are shorter, but really it's just as full as the others.
Here you're correct, they say this all the time. Himehentai, listen out for "tsugi no densha goriyou kudasai"- it's something the staff often say, but people usually ignore.
Posted in: Annoying habits by train commuters, hot trends for 2011 and other survey results
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Apsara
I might ask a close friend where the loo is, but it's not a word I would use at a restaurant- "toilet" is less vulgar, because as I've said, it's a completely neutral word as far as I'm concerned.
Posted in: 'Toilet God' song makes a star of songstress
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Apsara
Smithinjapan, I happily ask wait staff and people whose house I am visiting in my home country where the toilet is, because it just doesn't have any kind of dirty or vulgar connotation there, and asking for the bathroom would confuse people. Funny how the north Americans find it so hard to accept that word usage can be different in other English speaking countries. Seriously, the word toilet is no more vulgar where I come from than "door" is.
Posted in: 'Toilet God' song makes a star of songstress
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Apsara
I agree that bathroom doesn't translate the word "toire" in the song title properly at all unless you are American. Americans may think the word "toilet" has a vulgar tone, but that's not the case in British English-speaking countries where it's a perfectly neutral word. In NZ as well as the UK, the bathroom is where you take a bath, the toilet is the name of the room as well as the porcelain thing, so "bathroom god" would be a totally inaccurate translation- the song has nothing to do with the bathroom as far as I'm concerned.
Posted in: 'Toilet God' song makes a star of songstress
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Apsara
Sorry, "A young guy pulling a stupid prank"...
Posted in: SDF member flashes staff at drive-through restaurant in Saitama
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Apsara
I've seem some pretty juvenile/atrocious behaviour by members of other countries' militaries on shore leave, so if any of you think this kind of thing is restricted to the JSDF, think again.
This guy is clearly quite disturbed- at 46 it wasn't just a young pulling a stupid prank to impress his friends, so should probably be let go from the SDF and receive a lot of counselling.
Posted in: SDF member flashes staff at drive-through restaurant in Saitama
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Apsara
There are far and away more types of robots in use than this. The problem is when people hear "robot" they imagine something humanoid, but most practical robots are actually not very human looking at all. I used to work for a Japanese "robot" manufacturer- their robots consist of a single arm, which moves very quickly through to accomplish the same repetitive task (usually welding, gluing, inserting screws, pressing or pick-and-place) many thousands of times each hour.
These robots are widely used in the automobile and cellphone industries in particular, and modern manufacturing would be impossible without them.
Posted in: Robots: The future of Japan? Maybe not