BertieWooster's past comments

  • 0

    BertieWooster

    Toshiko-san,

    Don't worry. I'm not easily offended.

    You make an interesting point. Actually, Hashimoto has very little power. So, I wonder why people don't just ignore him. There are people in the world who want to start trouble. Hashimoto's brainless words just give them the opportunity to do it.

    Maybe the best thing to do is ignore him.

    And, when he finds that no one is listening to him, maybe he'll go away.

    Posted in: Hashimoto's party 'faces extinction,' some media say

  • 3

    BertieWooster

    It's interesting to know that cab drivers have their own slang. Although in Okinawa, they often just speak in Uchinanguchi which leaves most of their mainland Japan customers scratching their heads.

    Like Taj, I've had mostly really good experiences, with drivers turning off the meter when they don't know where an address is and so on. The reason for this, Ninjazilla-san, is because they don't have addresses in Japan. At least not addresses as the rest of the planet knows them. Cities are divided into districts, these districts are divided into blocks and those subdivided into smaller blocks. The "chome" blocks are numbered, a fireman once told me, in the order that the plots of land were sold. So, if anyone looks for 2 chome next to 1 or 3 chome, well, he may get lucky. Usually it's quite random. You mentioned giving them a street address. Well, you see it isn't a street address. Some of the larger streets may have names, but there are no house numbers and the street name doesn't feature in the address.

    Head beginning to spin?

    Clutching the walls for support?

    In Okinawa - even in Naha, the largest city, in many places what city block, section, "chome" it is isn't written anywhere. Ask people who live there and they don't know either.

    And many of the taxi drivers have only a basic knowledge of the roads. They can easily be thrown by meandering back streets. If they are, their passengers complain. So, they often ask before you start the journey which route you would like to take - to avoid criticism.

    But they are usually amusing and have a few stories to tell.

    Except the strong silent types who feel that to reply to a customers question is beneath their dignity.

    "Could you take the next right, please, driver?"

    (silence)

    "Do you see where that car is turning now?"

    (silence)

    "Turn there please."

    (silence)

    "Driver, do you understand?"

    (silence)

    "Do you understand? Yes? or No?"

    WAKARIMASHITA. (shizukoi na yatsu da na! chiki shou!)

    Posted in: The secret slang of Japanese cabbies

  • 0

    BertieWooster

    gaijinfo,

    Japan's time as an electronics exporter is quickly fading.

    Right.

    And it's such a shame!

    SONY and many others had some great and highly innovative products.

    But Japan suffered was hit by that dreaded malady, complacency.

    And now they are suffering.

    And so the spirit of the samurai has moved down a notch or three.

    It's no longer "do or die in the attempt!"

    But, "If at first you can't succeed, CHEAT!"

    Posted in: The club, meaning corporate Japan, will do everything it can to mask and hide what’s wrong. That’s what’s most important.

  • 0

    BertieWooster

    Toshiko-san,

    I apologise for the confusion.

    When I described Hashimoto, Abe and Inose as "cronies," I wasn't referring so much to any actual camaraderie amongst them so much as the ultra right-wing, nationalist "Japan-never-did-anything-wrong" pigheadedness that they hold in common.

    I realise that this is a sweeping generality and do not wish to state that all ultra right-wing, nationalist "Japan-never-did-anything-wrong" politicians are pigheaded.

    There may be some that are quite nice when you get to know them.

    Posted in: Hashimoto's party 'faces extinction,' some media say

  • 2

    BertieWooster

    Asaya-san,

    If you pick out only the good things that China has given Japan and the worst things that Japan has done to China, of course you can make the scales tip this way.

    General statements that push forward certain facts and ignore others are what upset people.

    This is what Hashimoto does.

    He makes broad sweeping statements that ignore certain things and push forward his own (ganko oyaji-based) opinions.

    It doesn't resolve the problem.

    It just adds fuel to the fire.

    Posted in: Hashimoto's party 'faces extinction,' some media say

  • 1

    BertieWooster

    Generally speaking, things in Japan are done because "that's the way they are done," with no more thought about it.

    The purpose of an activity is not even looked at.

    The purpose of a road system, surely, is to enable people to get from where they are to where they want to go in the shortest possible time.

    The first point to look at is that in order to get between these points in space, they need to know where they are. With no system of street names and house/building numbers, working out a route, or finding a destination can become very complicated and time consuming. It often ends up with people driving round blocks, looking at a cell phone, address on a slip of paper or car navigation system and not concentrating on what is in front of them.

    Streets need to be named and the name of the street prominently displayed on each corner. Houses/buildings need to be numbered and these numbers prominently displayed so that people can work out where they are and where to go.

    Otherwise, you get problems like this cell phone conversation:

    I can't seem to find your place.

    Are you in 3-chome?

    I don't know. I can't see it written anywhere.

    I'll come and pick you up, where are you?

    I don't know. How do you tell?

    Then, for road use, it makes sense for vehicles to travel on the same side of the road. Because if they don't, the chances of them bumping into each other are very great. This is particularly true on a corner when, if one vehicle is on the wrong side of the road, his/her view is obstructed by the corner until it's too late.

    The question is whether a bicycle is a vehicle or a pedestrian. It's very difficult to classify as one or the other because you have kids racing around at breakneck speed on the one hand and obasans slowly making their way to the shops and back. What's greatly missing here is road sense. Instead of just spewing out more or less the same "education" as their forebears had, educators should take a look at what knowledge and skills are needed in the 21st century.

    Living in the country in East Anglia as a kid, I loved to watch the cars go by. About ONE every half hour! In that place and at that time, road sense wasn't particularly important. It is now. I haven't been back for tens of years, but I'll bet that same street has cars, trucks and vans whizzing past at a steady rate and gridlock at "rush" hour.

    When I was a teenager, I was living a couple of miles from my school. A long walk. But not a long bicycle ride. Students who wished to ride to school had to pass a "Cycling Proficiency Test." Instructors would come and lecture about road safety and rules and a playground was set up with pedestrian crossings and so on. It was an excellent idea.

    This should be part of the school curriculum.

    With this knowledge and these skills, bicycles should be able to share the road safely with powered vehicles. But without these things, it's rather leaving too much to chance, don't you think?

    And then people would be able to get from where they are to where they want to go, rapidly and safely.

    Posted in: Road traffic laws in Europe and the United States are simple, whereas in Japan pedestrians are always exposed to the risks of bicycles bumping into them from all directions...It is time for us to go back to the original point of the road traffic law, where bicycles and cars share the road.

  • 1

    BertieWooster

    I wish, I really wish that there were a Japanese Wikileaks!

    God it's so needed here,

    Posted in: The club, meaning corporate Japan, will do everything it can to mask and hide what’s wrong. That’s what’s most important.

  • 1

    BertieWooster

    I was amazed to watch a movie on TV. I forget the title. It wasn't very interesting. I was only watching it because I couldn't sleep.

    Anyway, there was a golf game. One of the players teed off. As he did, he shouted - as you do - "fore!"

    I was highly amused when the Arabic numeral "4" appeared in the Japanese subtitle, just as he said it.

    Posted in: What do you think of the quality of Japanese subtitles on English movies shown in Japan?

  • -5

    BertieWooster

    Some actors, like Sean Connery improve with age.

    It's sad to say that Keanu Reeves isn't amongst them.

    Posted in: Keanu Reeves makes directorial debut with modern kung fu film

  • -1

    BertieWooster

    Yubaru,

    I think you need to check the dictionary:

    crony: noun informal, often derogatory - a close friend or companion: "he went gambling with his cronies."

    Posted in: Hashimoto's party 'faces extinction,' some media say

  • -1

    BertieWooster

    Glad to see him on the way out.

    Hope he takes some of his cronies with him, Ishihara, Abe, Inose, et al.

    Posted in: Hashimoto's party 'faces extinction,' some media say

  • 1

    BertieWooster

    Isn't it a bit early to be talking about recovery?

    Posted in: Is Japan's economic rebound a recipe for Europe?

  • 6

    BertieWooster

    This looks very good.

    It's exactly what Japan needs.

    I just worry what the commitment is.

    Goldman Sachs is not doing this out of the kindness of their hearts.

    Posted in: Goldman Sachs to invest in Japan green energy projects

  • -1

    BertieWooster

    Virtuoso,

    Your sarcasm comes through very clearly.

    But I wonder if you have any idea just how much devastation the US caused in Iraq?

    Whole areas of major cities razed to the ground.

    Hundreds of thousands killed.

    Not just combatants, but innocent women, children and elderly people.

    Many more condemned to a slow death, injured and without any means of support.

    ALL based on a lie, "Hussein has WMDs, we know where they are," etc., etc. And all really for oil, nothing more.

    God knows, Hussein was a greedy despot. BUT he had his country under some kind of control. There are MANY Iraqis who say it was better then.

    Posted in: Iraq violence kills 25 as PM blames sectarianism

  • -2

    BertieWooster

    GG2141-san,

    Is this true?

    We can see unlicensed 'pirate weather girls' on YouTube?

    Whatever is the world coming to?

    We'll all be murdered in our beds!

    Posted in: Taiwanese weather girl idol group to take Japan’s national weather forecasting license exam

  • 0

    BertieWooster

    National Weather Forecasting License Exam?

    But of course!

    Wouldn't want to think of a weather forecaster operating without a license!

    Heaven forbid!

    Posted in: Taiwanese weather girl idol group to take Japan’s national weather forecasting license exam

  • -3

    BertieWooster

    noriyosan73,

    Just get the USA military out of those countries and JAPAN as fast as possible.

    I don't think we need to worry. The U.S.A. is vastly overreaching itself, going rapidly down the road to bankruptcy like the USSR with military overspending. And Japan certainly cannot afford to support them with "sympathy money" for much longer.

    Posted in: U.S. Congress rethinks 9/11 law on military force

  • -3

    BertieWooster

    Sectarianism?

    No. Can't be.

    At the command of Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld Iraq is now a democratic and free country.

    Isn't it?

    Posted in: Iraq violence kills 25 as PM blames sectarianism

  • 4

    BertieWooster

    smithinjapan,

    Agreed!

    There seems to be a phenomenon at work when brainless idiots are let loose in a place where nobody knows them, whether they are British lager louts in Spain, soccer hooligans or US servicemen.

    There are, as you say extremely intelligent and well-mannered, Chinese, British, American, etc., people.

    And there is the other end of the evolutionary scale.

    It's not confined to any one nationality.

    Posted in: Some Chinese tourists 'uncivilized,' says top official

  • 0

    BertieWooster

    Of course, Hashimoto has never abused a woman in his life.

    Has he?

    Posted in: Defiant Hashimoto says U.S. troops abused women during occupation

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