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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Azrael
Aelieth: I don't think she'd laugh, but rather she'd think you are trying to tell her -something- you know. If you don't want to marry her, don't buy that bra for her.
On other things, that pink ball looks disturbingly like some article for male solo entertainment. The fact that a brand like Triumph is attempting this model of bra is... perplexing, to say the least. The image I had of Triumph was that of a respectable and professional company. The bra on the photo is not even that girl's size (there is a noticeable gap between her chest and the cups) and it looks like it's made of cardboard.
'Franchised' is the only possible explanation.
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Azrael
Ben-Hur c.c; and The Ten Commandments.
Also, The Sound of Music.
Posted in: Hollywood is in full remake mode this year, with "My Fair Lady" (Keira Knightley as Eliza Doolittle) the latest project announced. Which of your favorite movies would you absolutely not like to see remade?
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Azrael
Is the purpose of this to add insult to injury? Because it does seem like the coup de grace humiliation aimed at Kusanagi. This is so sad, but I had to laugh.
Posted in: Deer character unveiled as Kusanagi’s successor for digital TV commercials
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Azrael
Well, it's free. However Scanlations are free, downloadable and translated by rabid fans that work for free, count with native English speakers to do the final editing and are years ahead of the corporations considering the incredible amount of manga already translated and made available by Scanlators. Once the files are uploaded there is no telling where they may be re-uploaded or how many times, or to how many people they'll be distributed.
Scanlators are fans doing translations on a voluntary basis, and as such they make the best translations they can. Their English phrasing makes sense, for one. Also the idiomatic expressions utilized as equivalents of those in Japanese come close more than enough. In summary, the Japanese companies neglected the overseas market and lost it. Perhaps they didn't realize on time such a market existed, but that is hard to believe considering geisha, Fuji-san and manga are the prevalent image of Japan overseas.
I think the companies will need to find another approach if they want people to switch their manga-reading habits... but it's a situation similar to that of movies and music. Movies for example - it's incredible how fans extract the subs of a movie from the DVD and translate them to another language where no official subs are available just to share it. Worse even when there is no subs and the people type them themselves, then translate them. Translating manga is a WHOLE LOT of work. Why don't these Japanese companies approach the scanlation staff and offer them a job? Their quality of translation is professional. If you can't stop them, invite them to join you! I think that would make more sense. I admit though there is a very large crowd, it'd be impossible to hire them all. Anyway, it's just an idea.
Posted in: Japan comic publisher starts English version online to fight bootlegs
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Azrael
LFRAgain, please do illustrate us about the legal terminology in Japan to allude to both terms in both Japanese and their official translation to English, and if both terms exist in Japan at the present. Thank you.
Posted in: Dealing with sexual harassment in the workplace
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Azrael
I find it odd how some posters don't think Claire was a victim of sexual harassment even after reading the article paragraphs which go,
> What people tend to miss, however, is that the definition of “sexual” in “sexual harassment” means both “sexual” and “sex” as in “gender.”
"Sex" does not mean only sexual acts, but the gender itself. The manager was simply shutting Claire out because she was a woman. Some men still believe women do not belong in certain workplaces, in certain jobs, in certain work positions. I am an architect. Some construction workers would gladly ignore the orders of a woman at the working site, regardless she is their boss and regardless the credentials and knowledge she has. It's simply put, a matter of gender culture which is changing. For me such instances have been rare, but for my mother (who is a Civil engineer) it was an everyday fight (1960's - 2000's career span). She is retired and her generation successfully opened inroads for mine.
Here in Japan, gender discrimination is more intense, it's less altered and quite pervasive. Women also act against women, belittling other women fears and concerns regarding sexual discrimination and that is one big obstacle for progress. Education is the only way to clear out misunderstandings and just reading the posts in this article I can see it's still a worldwide problem more clearly than reading statistics.
Posted in: Dealing with sexual harassment in the workplace
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Azrael
If the bar staff is involved, it'd be impossible to know if your drink has been spiked beforehand or not. Same for the locker keys - if the bar has a second set of keys, you are done for. Who leaves their personal documents in a locker anyway? In a bar, of all places. Anyway, I don't discard the possibility that the bar staff is involved in order to get these crimes done smoothly. After all, bars in Japan are known to prostitute their staff (hosts and hostesses) and demand them to cover a "quota" of spent liquor and money per client. The best course of action is to migrate out of Roppongi and find another entertainment place. Sure there must be another one.
Posted in: U.S. Embassy warns Americans to avoid Roppongi bars due to drink-spiking increase
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Azrael
A little poison, indeed! Human beings are highly impressionable creatures (shouldn't we know) and every experience feeds the mind and shapes behavior, whether some would like to admit it or not. A game that turns the stalking and rape of a mother and her children into a source of personal amusement is anything but nurturing for the human soul. This is the sort of game no one in their right mind plays in front of their parents, their boss, their children - because it is shameful. The need and curiosity to play a game like this arises from the darkest and bestial far corners of the human mind, where the difference between man and beast blurs. Ideally, humans should respect women and children and protect the weaker in their society. A game that goes against this principle is thus abhorrent and deviant. In a world where rape is a weapon of war and in a country such as Japan where women are second class citizens and reduced to sexual objects by Media and society itself, it is only natural such a game appears, because the criminal mind will always find loopholes to perform questionable deeds; what is NOT natural is to support such a game, market it and defend it.
Posted in: Boycott of violent Japanese video game urged in U.S.
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Azrael
There IS creativity in Tokyo and some liveliness, but it needs so many permits to exist (and yet, is considered more meiwaku than anything else) that it gets smothered out like a candle flame under a glass bell. "The nail that stands out needs to be hammered down," that classic Japanese saying is as true as it has always been; there is creativity in Japan but you have to get into labyrinths to see it. In Tokyo, there are regular art exhibits and some progressive art shows, but somehow the bureaucracy that mandates all life in Tokyo stiffens the atmosphere, making everything "formal" and robotized, to a considerable point. This is one of the reasons why people in Tokyo and elsewhere in Japan marvel at the inherent spontaneity of the foreigner (real or stereotyped); the outward thinking, expression, colors and shapes (artistically speaking). Some people look at the foreigner at a social, semi-official gathering (which enables them to assume the foreigner is safe, has had all its shots and has higher education) and expect some kind of magic to happen. That villager attitude does not announce the living cells of a futuristic hub. In Tokyo, you need to struggle and fight for the right to be creative; there is not only the cultural obstacles in which being different in any way translates into social friction, but also the "we don't do things this way," "in Japan we (insert random uniqueness here)," sucking air through teeth in mild disapproval, and bureaucracy (the most important obstacle). Japanese innovation resides with the highly educated technicians working in laboratories. Sure there are fresh ideas among Tokyo art community, but where do they go after a year or two?
As a city, Tokyo is a visual disaster. Due to fire regulations, the building facades and urban surfaces got way too standarized, and the common architecture (mansions, apartment buildings, small office buildings) is frankly hideous. The streets are too small, littered, too many cables and too little color. No sidewalks. The areas of tourist interest and cultural representativeness (mainly, cultural property buildings such as Tokyo Station, Ueno Park and its museums and historic buildings, Imperial Palace, modern architecture such as Tadao Ando buildings; these are isolated examples rather than nodes of a whole. Public transport is superb, but the panorama from the vehicles' windows is not inspiring. Tokyo is gray and depressing. A few places like Ameyoko, Nippori and Yoyogi Park offer rare windows to another kind of Tokyoite human landscape, and I think the global economic downturn will benefit those areas as people shift their standard of living in order to survive. Perhaps that will wake up and bring out as well the dormant Japanese creativity.
Maybe sometime after the post-war generation, people in Tokyo became too complacent and self-congratulating. Japanese people love regulations and strict, dignified behavior; spontaneity is stomped out quickly. I think those tendencies went overboard in Tokyo and homogenized not only the urban landscape, but the very behavior and will of the people. Too many DAME DA, MURI DA, too many rules and fear of meiwaku. That hasn't bode well. Which is worse, the graying heads outnumbering the young people gives stiffening forces strength in numbers. Tokyo in 2050 could look just the same as today, maybe with ghettos for guest foreign workers (nicely designed or not) and spontaneously segregated facilities. However I think the global economic squeeze could be beneficial for Tokyo, if its economy sinks deep enough. A Spanish saying goes, "Necessity is the mother of Invention" and true enough, it was the Japanese who survived WW2 who made Japan a powerhouse. Something good may come out of hardship. Only time will tell, though.
Posted in: Tokyo in 2050: Futuristic super-hub or graying has-been?
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Azrael
I wonder if work-sharing hours cuts turns the Japanese work day from 16+ hours into 8 hours a day per person.
Posted in: Japan turns to 'work-sharing' to avoid layoffs
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Azrael
Spot on. I agree with you.
Posted in: Boycott of violent Japanese video game urged in U.S.
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Azrael
::LOL@shoes with red pompoms:: >:D
I like best the first uniform counting from the left. The hat is quite chic, the shoes are comfortable for long hours standing and walking, the skirt has anti-camera-chikan length and that shade of blue is flattering to most complexions.
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Azrael
.___.; I think it's a marketing problem.
English learning is seen as a pastime by most people, as shown by the advertising campaigns' focus. In order to attract more students, English schools have "dumbed down" the English language to make it easy and pleasant (tanoshii). I don't think katakana is to blame. Katakana was here way before Engrish appeared, it is simply a phonetic syllabary. English schools took katakana and made the Japanese believe it is a tool which can reproduce "all sounds for every language in the world" (a professor of Japanese language told me that in Saitama University, where I learned basic level Japanese years ago). They HONESTLY believe it. It's not Katakana's fault - it is a strange mix of nationalism (a byproduct of Nihonjinron, if you like) and insecurity. The nationalism element in it makes it nearly impossible to convince a Japanese that katakana is NOT correct to reproduce every phonetic sound. So the problem is two-fold: Katakana is being misused and must be removed from English learning; and Japanese must face the fact that foreign languages ARE difficult and need qualified teaching to be learned. It's no secret that English teacher positions to teach in Japan only require being a native speaker (and sometimes not even that) REGARDLESS OF UNIVERSITY LEVEL QUALIFICATION to teach English! That is plain absurd. These pseudo-teachers will do as the company tells them, which no doubt is, dumb it down to katakana, make it fun and pass the students because they pay - that is the real root of the problem. English education in Japan is not serious. It's a game.
Most of the Japanese people I've met that have ever brought up the topic of English to me (they marvel at my English level because I am not a native speaker of the English language) tell me things like, Japanese language is difficult and unique, with the corollary going that Japanese cannot learn English because they are built to speak their unique language and that makes it genetically difficult for the Japanese to learn English (I KID YOU NOT!). I've also heard the one that goes, Western way of thinking turns phrases backwards and weird (this work for other languages too, not only English, mind you). There's this whole lot of apologetic myths... it's incredible. I know a handful Japanese professionals that speak excellent English (they all without exception studied abroad though). However the whole marketing approach the English schools in Japan take to attract and keep students destroys the objective for the sake of the means.
Japanese examinations focus on passing people without a minimum reasoning (apparently), focusing on memorizing formulas and repeating "recipes" without question. I hear that because of that, dialog and essay are not a substantial part of tests because students would fail (would they?). That gives the other side of the coin of Engrish teachers: the native Japanese teacher of English language that cannot speak it fluently.
To summarize, several points must be addressed. First, remove katakana from English learning; English vowels have far more than just five sounds. Second, demand a degree or certification to teach English language from foreigners who wish to teach English in Japan. Third (being a little risky) give the Ministry of Education a share of the English schools in order to not only supervise them but to enforce a proper teaching standard. Fourth, remove from the public mind that nonsense about Japanese language being uniquely difficult and genetically special thus hindering the Japanese from learning foreign languages - that is the most pervasive and absurd myth I have heard from mouth of Japanese here in Japan.
They could start a campaign for that, with a mascot and everything. Maybe an idol or two, to make it more digestible for the public.
Posted in: What's wrong with the way English is taught in Japan?
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Azrael
The "Eco" buzzword is everywhere; there's even alleged "eco" terrorism. Wow.
Posted in: Whalers 'on the run' again, say activists
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Azrael
Is it a moth, what is its name? It's very pretty.
Posted in: Tama Zoo
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Azrael
I love trains ^^
Posted in: Hello Kitty invades Taiwan maternity ward
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Azrael
Even though I think a hospital's maternity ward turned into a Hello Kitty den is not exactly healthy, all maternity wards and children's hospitals I've ever visited do have cute blankets with teddies, trains and other cute motifs to soothe the children and create a more relaxing environment. Even the nurses' aprons are in pastel colors and sometimes in cute print fabrics. Blankets, walls decoration also tend to be warm and gentle. Because of the aforementioned I think a cute environment in a maternity ward is not strange AT ALL. Previous posters haven't visited a maternity ward or a the pediatrics ward yet, apparently!
Anyway, I think giving exclusiveness to Hello Kitty over an entire maternity ward is not all that gentle or a fit-all measure. There's still people somewhere who prefer rockets, horses and trains for their little boys.
Posted in: Hello Kitty invades Taiwan maternity ward
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Azrael
Fashion Alert: The photographer at the left is wearing WHITE SOCKS/TIGHTS with a DARK PANTS SUIT.
That said, I think these events are remnants of the Meiji Restoration when so-called refined social traits were eagerly adopted by Japanese nobility and European manners and dress became a standard in Japan, displacing the Japanese equivalent. It looks like the dancers are having fun. That is nice.
Posted in: Vienna Ball
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Azrael
Apparently, franz75's post is a perfect summary for the book review above: Okinawans and Ainu (in Hokkaido) should not be taken into account. Tremendous power of rationalized discrimination. Regardless of their numbers, Ainu and Okinawans are Japanese and are not Yamato. Therefore, Japan does not have an homogeneous population. I suppose that is why the Ainu were target of specific "integration" laws forbidding them from passing down their language and customs to their youth. There's also the Zainichi Koreans and people of Chinese descent - I guess they should not be taken into account, either.
Posted in: Japan’s Minorities: The Illusion of Homogeneity
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Azrael
The Globe Trotters u___u;
Posted in: Who or what is the most recognizable pop culture icon on the planet?