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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Betzee
She's probably referring to aliens who've been certified eligible for deportation. Yet some of our treaties limit the number who can be repatriated so as not to overwhelm the home country. Such is the case with Cambodia which we've pumped no small sum into to make it a showcase for free-market democracy; there are 600-some Cambodian nationals whose convictions make them ineligible to remain in the US. But only 30 are sent home a month and those convicted of non-violent offenses can be released until their number is up.
There's been grumbling of course. It applies retroactively to offenses where, had a defendant known, he might have gone to trial rather than pleading guilty. Some deportees have never actually set foot in their country of citizenship, having been born in a refugee camp and grown up here. Had their parents legalized the family's status, which can cost several hundred dollars per person, they would not be subject to deportation.
Posted in: Homeland secretary wants criminal aliens out of U.S.
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Betzee
While few would want to see rape victims forced to bear children conceived under such circumstances, the number of pregnancies that result from rape is small. Seduction is much more likely to be the culprit. That, in fact, was the way it could have played out for my own mother. When she was 18, her healthy father dropped dead. It threw the family into financial turmoil and emotional shock. There was an older man, whose wife was one of my grandmother's closest friends, who offered his support at a point when the carpet had been pulled out from under her. They only did it once, but that's enough. Had she become pregnant, she could hardly have confided that in anyone in her circle.
Such circumstances drive pregnant women to seek the services of a back street abortionist, since secrecy trumps safety. If abortion were criminalized, the desperate would again be forced to seek them out.
God doesn't raise children, people do. Whether you are a subsistence farmer eking out a living in some impoverished corner of the world or a citizen of a post-industrial country, it takes certain wherewithal to be a parent. Until I see the pro-life crowd addressing the resources required to raise a child to adulthood, as opposed to simply bringing babies into the world, I'm entitled not to take their arguments seriously.
Posted in: What's your stance on abortion?
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Betzee
Wherever they originated, they've gone mainstream in the US (often worn with a chain accessory).
It's not the length which gives older folk, particularly school administrators, coronaries but the low cut. When schools institute dress code regulations it just becomes a cat and mouse game for the kids.
This could be a Japanese Grease, eh?
Posted in: High School Musical
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Betzee
You guys are so mean. This film could put Japan on the Bollywood musical movie map.
Posted in: High School Musical
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Betzee
Nice try, but it's named for Garfield Avenue. And it's in the section of Los Angeles County informally referred to as Little Taipei (小台北) so it's firmly in "Hello Kitty" territory from the perspective of cultural geography. The draw for non-Chinese (老外)is the chance to sample some fare from America's undisputed capital of Chinese cuisine, not to have babies.
Posted in: Hello Kitty invades Taiwan maternity ward
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Betzee
Indeed. The discussion is in the abstract whereas the situation specific. We sometimes think teenage pregnancy is a sign of our reduced moral standards. In fact the rates were just as high in the 1950s, but it was handled differently. To spare their families shame, girls in trouble were whisked off to homes for unwed mothers where they gave birth in secrecy to a child over whose future they had little say. Adoption was the norm and, if the girl was lucky, she could reenter society and some guy who knew nothing of her past would marry her. Needless to say, the burden of maintaining society's standards fell firmly on their shoulders and it must have been very, very hard.
If the guy was in a position to marry you then it was handled that way. Many of those marriages probably worked out fine. One didn't need much education to find a decent job and things like health insurance were not the issue they are today.
Access to abortion changed all that. In today's world, it takes a lot more education to land a decent job. Not to mention, there's far less societal support for early family formation. So I would not criticize either the parents of pregnant teens or the teens themselves in the event they opt for termination. Hopefully it would be impressed upon them there are ways to avoid pregnancy and they should be utilized until you want a child.
The birth control pill revolutionized contraception. If you are blessed with a regular cycle, the chances of pregnancy are quite small. Women's empowerment could not have occurred in the absence of a reliable way to regulate fertility. (There's no two ways about this but if you don't believe me, see Revolutionary Road.) And abortion is a back-up.
Sometimes I do feel sorry for men who must go along with whatever decision the woman makes in the event they disagree. But I wouldn't have wanted to live in the 1950s when it was society's standards that would have controlled the outcome rather than me.
Posted in: What's your stance on abortion?
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Betzee
There are certainly different ways of interpreting its consequences given Buddhism is somewhat more amorphous than other religions, not to mention there are different schools.
Posted in: What's your stance on abortion?
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Betzee
This is certainly what happens. The doctor doesn't ask and you don't volunteer anything. ("Don't ask, don't tell.") But when some bureaucrat examines the demographics, that's clearly what's going on. Where the law has been broken is when the doctor, during a routine ultrasound test, reveals the sex of the in utero child to the mother/parents, illegal in India, enabling them to seek termination for that reason.
In the case of Buddhism, while I doubt there's any formal ban on abortion, a woman who opted for one would certainly understand the karmic implications of her choice. Specifically, she has interfered with the death and rebirth cycle. The fetus will be angry for forcing it to remain in some state of permanent purgatory when it should have been reborn. So you must make offerings to it, just as you do to other familial spirits, particularly those who met a violent end in the human world, to keep it happy and prevent it from exacting revenge on your life. In Taiwan there's a temple where offerings are made to what's known as "the haunting fetus."
But among the fertile, there are not that many Buddhists with such a level of devotion in this day and age when they have been exposed, through education, to scientific explanations for natural phenomenon.
Posted in: What's your stance on abortion?
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Betzee
Finding myself unexpectedly appalled when an affluent, married friend who's a great Mom confided she'd had an abortion for what I considered to be a rather frivolous reason, I confronted the reality that to be pro-choice means you cannot pass judgment on the circumstances of "the decider."
"Well, you're entitled because you're an unmarried teenager with no means to support a child whereas you shouldn't because you're a married woman who is in a position to raise another child in a two-parent family despite the fact you didn't plan for it."
Like lots of freedoms, you may not approve of the specific circumstances of the individual who choses to exercise it, but she cannot be denied the choice simply because someone else doesn't agree with her rationale. It's a private matter for all, marital status and economic circumstances have no bearing on it.
Sex-selective abortion is different from a government's perspective, since most people will be opting to abort the same sex for cultural reasons and that has demographic implications. In that case, abortion may be preventing infanticide or even abandonment. Soooo, the government needs to address the reason parents find rearing that sex, and it's almost always girls, onerous.
Posted in: What's your stance on abortion?
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Betzee
That's because rendering your children orphans is a cultural taboo. But for Americans, most people would say, "If you want to take your own life, well that's your right. But why kill your kids too?" If they didn't have family who would take them in, the county would have put them in foster care.
According to the LA Times, the father had pulled the school-age kids out of school several weeks ago, informing the principal they were moving to Kansas. Since there was no indication they planned such a move, clearly things started unraveling a while ago.
Posted in: LA man, upset over being fired, kills wife, 5 kids, himself
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Betzee
In fact they are not married, so it's a moot point. In Hollywood that may reflect a deeper commitment: Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins, Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell, Jessica Lange and Sam Shephard all seem to have raised blended families whom we don't hear much about, and in this case no news is good news.
Posted in: Brangelina
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Betzee
Any celebrity employing help requires them to sign a non-disclosure agreement. As the former nanny to Tom Cruise's older children, whom he adopted with Nicole Kidman, explained, "If he comes out and says 'I'm doing it alone,' well I can't step forward and set the record straight." Though I think he is a devoted Dad, and who would believe he didn't hire help given the demands of his career?
Moderator: Readers, from here on, posts that do not refer to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie will be removed.
Posted in: Brangelina
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Betzee
It may be, as in other parts of Asia, when adoption occurs it is not spoken of. I was somewhat unsettled to discover I knew a Chinese friend's much younger sister had been adopted but the girl herself had never been informed. I'm sure she figured it out eventually due to various factors, but it was not something to be discussed in the house or outside.
Transracial adoption is also puzzling to Chinese, "Why do Westerners adopt children from Asia, everyone will know it's not their child?" In other words, blood is thicker than water.
Moderator: Back on topic please.
Posted in: Brangelina
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Betzee
Maybe it is; on my initial forays across the Pacific I flew uber-cheap KAL which carries lots of families going home or returning to the USA after a visit. The lines to use the restrooms were a mile long with all those wee ones on board.
Now I fly UA, maybe it's their rule.
Posted in: Brangelina
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Betzee
I'm sure they arrived on a private plane. It was wonderful when the rule was changed on transpacific flights going toward Asia that each person had to have a separate seat. Prior to that, people held babies to save money on tickets. I remember one flight on which a pregnant woman seated directly behind me had a squirmy toddler on her non-existent lap for most of the 15-hour flight. In fact I will never forget it, the trip from hell....
Posted in: Brangelina
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Betzee
I do wonder why any birth parent would willingly surrender their child to a celebrity couple given their often mercurial marriages and the level of public scrutiny it puts the children under in our celebrity-obsessed culture. Now these kids were abandoned, of course, by parents who were probably unable to provide for them.
In fact it was Mia Farrow who lobbied to have the law changed to allow couples to create families via multiple country adoptions and we know what happened. This family, thankfully, appears to be more stable.
It's too bad adopted children in the public eye are forever described that way. I felt "enough already" while watching Ronald Reagan's public memorial services and hearing Michael Reagan repeatedly referred to as "his adopted son." After all these years, can't he just be "his older son"???? Michael paid tribute to his father by noting RR never referred to him that way.
I was extremely close to my step-grandfather from whom I gained so much. He was the one who taught me how to swim, ride a bicycle and appreciate the natural world. I never felt our bond amounted to less than what he shared with his biological grandchildren since that's not what the most important connections are based on.
Posted in: Brangelina
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Betzee
The unemployed person calling their credit card company trying to address an unpaid balance will be connected to someone in India and think, "I could do that job, why did the company who's charging me a usurious interest rate have to send it overseas?"
There are far fewer takers for long hours spent toiling in the hot sun picking cash crops for an hourly wage and no benefits. Moreover, unless you've done agricultural work all your life you're unlikely to be fast enough, at least that's what those pleading for guest worker visas claim.
Posted in: Tens of thousands more layoffs announced in U.S.
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Betzee
The Indian government has become nervous that the number of jobs which have gone to India may produce some type of backlash in America as the unemployment rate continues to climb. In fact it's not that many, it's just Indians have direct contact with Americans, like every time you need to speak to a real person as opposed to an automated response robot, whereas most jobs are outsourced to people who do not.
Posted in: Tens of thousands more layoffs announced in U.S.
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Betzee
Not to worry, Nessie, mainland China's factories are probably working 24/7 to feed the "Hello Kitty" frenzy. I mean "hello kitty, china hello kitty, wholesale hello kitty" (as a www advertises).
Posted in: Hello Kitty invades Taiwan maternity ward
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Betzee
Thank you, Cleo, that means a lot given that I never gave birth. As difficult as it is for the mother, the trauma is no doubt greater for the child who is being ejected, if you will, into a strange environment. Not surprisingly, they're usually a little bit stunned after they come out. Still, it's nice to have someone on hand to provide the reassurance, "This is normal...."
Suddenly they are in a world where they find themselves reliant on others for their care. I don't know if it's true everywhere, but in American homes that have been visited by the stork, there is invariably laundry that needs to be folded since clean clothing is required after each little burble. And usually there is one, if not two, stressed out parents running around trying to meet the needs of an infant.
In the Taiwan I knew it was not like that. I used to walk through the marketplace where many of the female vendors had babies strapped on their backs as they sold chickens, fish, cabbage and other agricultural produce and poultry. When the child moved a certain way, well that meant it was time for a trip to the street drain where h/she would relieve him/herself. I admired the way they could swing them down and get them back up again with such ease.
Far from howling to indicate some type of unmet need, these babies exuded tranquility in a frenetic and noisy environment. Westerners might have seen them as developmentally delayed, but I think it was because their mothers anticipated their needs and fulfilled them promptly. After birth they simply moved from her abdomen to her back. Once they were ambulatory, they were lowered to the ground and older children watched over them as they played games in the market. When it was nap-time, there was a little bed behind the counter.
That Taiwan has been replaced by Hello Kitty. But I'm glad I caught it before it disappeared.
Posted in: Hello Kitty invades Taiwan maternity ward