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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Azrael
They all look very happy and full of cheer. They must be successful cheerleaders!
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Azrael
If they really want to make some money, they should open the service to all age ranges. I do suppose it'd be a complete success.
Posted in: Tokyo Disneyland Hotel offers girls chance to be 'princess'
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Azrael
I agree with cal1c0cat. Worn-down shoes on a date make a man look... bad. In fact, that detail makes them look unsuccessful (not as bad as LOSER, but just unsuccessful).
There is not such thing as a "rule" or "standard" of bad things to do - well, there's all ranges of taste out there concerning people. However one thing that makes the "run for your life" alarm is, if the guy deals with the service (waiters, clerks, guides, etc.) with contempt. Excess of arrogance towards subordinates is a trait of abusers.
If the guy asks to borrow money from you, that is also an alarm-ringer.
Posted in: What are the biggest mistakes single men or women make on their first date which usually torpedo any chance of a relationship?
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Azrael
^0^! That looks like FUN! I wish I was there at the pool, too.
I think this is the FIRST EVER photo on JT of natural, spontaneous, non-sexualized fun picturing Japanese women. It was about time! Congrats to the photographer for pressing the shutter right on time to get a photo that really makes your inner child smile!
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Azrael
Notginger: You miss the point entirely. Japanese people are paying for those English lessons and yet, the results they get are not exactly ideal. There must be a reason. If English were not relevant to the group of the Japanese population that spends money in English lessons... the reason would be far more complex and psychologically deleterious than ever suspected.
Posted in: Why don't Japanese speak English better than they do?
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Azrael
.___.; I wouldn't really know... I have always thought Japanese "can't" take a better hold of English because of things like nationalism and self-contempt (and related issues).
There's this strange myth fostered by the Japanese themselves that goes: "Japanese language is unique, because it is so complex only people with Japanese genetic build could master it" (nationalistic view). Then there's the corollary: "Japanese are genetically built to speak their own unique language, which is the Japanese language, therefore Japanese are not built to speak foreign languages; specially Western languages which are incomprehensible in their structures" (self-contempt view).
I kid you not. I have been told such things by young Japanese with amazing candidness. It was not till I heard about Nihonjinron that I began to glimpse how could such myths come about.
Japanese are convinced that one of the wonders of Kana is it supposedly can reproduce the sounds of all world languages close to perfection, which is not all that close. I have even been told things like, because Western languages use alphabets, it becomes obvious that Western words have no meaning, only sounds. This supposedly makes Western words harder to memorize. When I explained about Latin and Greek roots, and word morphology which serves the exact same purpose as Kanji to understand a word upon looking at its composition, I got mystified and amazed looks. "That can't be" they said, "because alphabets show letters have no meaning when they are not together." It was my turn to cast them a mystified, amazed look.
It is an undeniable truth that most Japanese seem to speak poor English with tortuous pronunciation, but I am also convinced that lack of skill has nothing to do with "genetics" or with "being Japanese." That is just and plain nonsense. Their problem is not "being Japanese." Their problem is the deficient English learning system in Japan.
I am convinced that one of the most important reasons why Japanese can't learn English better from their English teaching system is, because the system itself is inadequate, full of aforementioned unconscious and pervasive myths that both cripple the learning experience and sabotage the pleasure of learning a new way of expression. Languages cannot be learned without a basic knowledge of the cultures from which such languages emerged, and Japan (as an insular country) tends to ridicule and compare itself to all foreign culture and behavior. In Japan, the need to come on top in cultural terms goes beyond the average insular country. There are social traumas that were born with World War II which to this day cripple the way Japan looks at itself and to the world. The persistent use of Kana to teach other languages and the demand for "native speakers" most of which have no pedagogic credentials to teach, let alone teach a language, is a clear example of this.
Taking a look at English teachers, what is their image? I don't mean the truth about them, just the image attached to them. Yes, "Engrish teachers!" a chorus of people would correct me.
Posted in: Why don't Japanese speak English better than they do?
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Azrael
The Japanese are pressured to conform to beauty patterns which walk away from Japanese natural features. Breast augmentation, eye enlargement, surgery to acquire double-layered eyelids, botox for thicker lips, chin prostheses for men, liposuction to remove the fat below the eyebrows, and so on. As long as Japanese media keeps on bashing the features predominant in Japanese faces, plastic surgeons will have a boom in business. Anyway, if their clients want to spend money, the surgeons are only helping the clients to spend. I do suppose that makes everyone content enough.
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Azrael
Yeeks. The infection the actors got from the amount of microbes in the rear of the garbage truck will be grand.
Posted in: Porn actress, producers arrested for filming in rear of dump truck
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Azrael
Why did she kill it?
Posted in: Panda
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Azrael
I think it's excellent that at least somewhere people fight back against the trend of vulgarism as "trendy" and "acceptable" behaviour in Media outlets. Everyone complains how vulgar and rude youth is and yet, the same ones are setting the lead youth follows.
Posted in: Joan Rivers booted from British daytime television show for swearing
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Azrael
Through observation I learned that the word Gaijin has racist and derogatory connotations, its intensity depending on the context and tone of the speaker. At its least offensive it is a patronizing word.
Gaijin may not be as strong as "Gringo," (term used to refer to US nationals) but it's very similar in its use. "American" is a much more polite term, and formal as well. Yet some people use "Gringo" to convey familiarity, it's patronizing and rude.
Gaikokujin is a formal term, which I welcome. The only and scarce times someone has called me a "Gaijin" it's been in either patronizing or derogatory manner, and always by strangers on the streets. No one ever at University or related research workplaces has used "Gaijin" referring to me (or at least, not in front of me).
Posted in: Do you consider the word "gaijin" racist?
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Azrael
Suicide is wrong.
Looking onto other aspects of the news report, IF she committed suicide at least she used charcoal briquettes instead of poisoning gas. I suppose she refused to provide more interest/glamour to the poisoning gas trend, which may severely harm or even kill others. In these sad news, at least that one point may or may not show her regard for the troubled people of this country.
Posted in: TV announcer Ako Kawada found dead in car in apparent suicide
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Azrael
Ampontan: Think before you type. Criticizing is what we freely do online.
On other things, the "Japanese" wedding at the end of The Rise of the Silver Sufer was too disney-esque. I criticize that unfavorably as well.
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Azrael
Very nice and beautiful! Why don't all Japanese couples try keeping these traditional ceremonies instead of staging mock Christian weddings? That's something I often wonder.
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Azrael
I saw the TV commercial ad for Core Rhythms; they should have chosen someone else for that ad. During the scene practicing the dance, that lady had no difference between hip and waist! When dressed up of course it was different, but without the layers... Kanashii. Is it far fetched to ask why are these type of exercises considered a good choice to cater to Japanese ladies?
Japanese consider a toned body is not kawaii. Japanese seem to like women slightly squishy (that is, ultra thin and without any muscle definition on the skin), with straight limbs like dolls. Also, the beauty of a Japanese torso modeled into a kimono calls for a straight, tube-like figure that bends gracefully like a willow in the breeze, with a long torso and a graceful neckline. Asking Japanese women to have large chests is hidoi enough - but asking now for a noticeable ratio difference between hip and waist is not very respectful. Again, most fashion trends are not known for being intelligent choices.
Posted in: Core Rhythms
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Azrael
Wonderful; now they are giving ideas to the local crazies. Thankfully I don't spend long hours in a place with central air conditioning systems.
Posted in: Hydrogen sulfide gas suicides raise specter of terrorist attacks
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Azrael
Indeed, I also fail to see the normalcy in such activities.
Posted in: Plastic fantastic: Japan's doll industry booming
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Azrael
KaptainKichigai, this link may be helpful:
http://www.crnjapan.com/en/
The Children's Rights Network of Japan has legal information and links that may be useful to you. I wish you good luck!
Posted in: Losing Kei
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Azrael
I am not sure, but I think the subtitles on Japanese TV are for the benefit of hearing impaired people.
I am from a Spanish-speaking country. Everything on national TV is dubbed, but as for theaters, it's different. We get on theaters movies from many countries, but the only ones that get dubbed are movies for child audiences. All the others (as far as I know) are subbed. However, even Disney movies get the two options, subbed or dubbed. In contrast, almost all foreign movies in Spain are dubbed; my brother-in-law is Spaniard and he always makes sure the movies he buys are dubbed and it's common there. I am not certain, but for example my American friends HATE dubbed Anime. I don't know how it goes for movies, though. Watching foreign movies seem to be considered a "cultural" activity in the US (like ballet, almost - yet the comparison might be a bit exaggerated). One of my friends who happens to be American watched Pan's Labyrinth after I recommended it to her, and she loved it. She never mentioned the subs.
Posted in: Why do moviegoers in English-speaking countries tend to avoid foreign movies with subtitles, while in Japan, for example, it's just the opposite?
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Azrael
I agree. I recently read on Asahi Shimbun that Japan -might- sign the 1980 Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, perhaps in 2010. I say -might- and -perhaps- because I will only believe it when I see it done.
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200805100051.html
It's such a heart-wrenching problem, how the Japanese can so easily abduct their children from international marriages into Japan, and how the foreigner parent is helpless due to tacit complicity of the Japanese government (refusing to sign the Hague Convention, not moving any sort of laws to protect the rights of these children and the parent who has legal custody, how joint custody cannot be enforced and so on). I would never want to even remotely find myself into such a situation.
Yet it seems like the divorce of the couple in the book did take place n Japanese soil, perhaps the topic is related enough.
Posted in: Losing Kei