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
I think Nick Kristof, who's written a great deal about genocide, appropriately focuses attention on proportionality rather than magnitude:
Israel’s right to do something doesn’t mean it has the right to do anything. Since the shelling from Gaza started in 2001, 20 Israeli civilians have been killed by rockets or mortars, according to a tabulation by Israeli human rights groups. That doesn’t justify an all-out ground invasion that has killed more than 660 people (it’s difficult to know how many are militants and how many are civilians).
Posted in: Israel fires on Lebanon after rocket strike
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Betzee
Egypt is also a dictatorship and the second largest recipient of American aid after Israel. This is the problem with the so-called "moderate" Arab states, they are run by autocrats who are heavily dependent on the US to remain in power.
Posted in: Israel fires on Lebanon after rocket strike
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Betzee
In fact Arab terrorism strengthened the hands of right-wing Israeli politicians who took a hard line against the Palestinians who responded with more rockets which the Right, both in Israel and the USA, used as proof that "see, we're right about 'em". The assault on Gaza will simply up the ante rather than changing the status quo.
Posted in: Israel fires on Lebanon after rocket strike
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Betzee
I appreciated your link, Nessie, as well as Taka's.
Coleman is fortunate the state constitution does not mandate a run-off because which would exclude the third party candidate who took 15,000 (?) votes cast by people who would presumably support Franken over Coleman. (Some of the ballots which both sides agreed should be included were for write-ins like Mickey Mouse.)
Elections are winner-take-all and no doubt losing is tough, particularly in a close race. What makes Coleman the butt of jokes is that he's doing exactly what he said Franken should not do when he was ahead, namely contest the results in a drawn out legal battle. "Let the healing begin" and all that.
I would presume outside benefactors are picking up the legal tab which is now on Coleman since the state decided, following a mandatory recount, Franken was the winner.
Posted in: Coleman sues over Minnesota Senate recount result
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Betzee
SezWho,
I'm so glad to "see" you back! The logic you bring to this has been sorely lacking on these threads.....
Posted in: Deepening Israeli assault on Hamas divides Arab world
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Betzee
It's hardly surprising the election was close. Challenger Coleman was in a tight race against Paul Wellstone in 2002 when Wellstone, who had voted against the war authorization for Iraq, was killed in a plane crash. He himself had won against the incumbent Rudy Boschwitz in 1990, prevailing with a shoestring operation.
Posted in: Coleman sues over Minnesota Senate recount result
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Betzee
That depends on the state's constitution. There is no provision for a run-off in Minnesota (as occurred in Georgia).
Posted in: Coleman sues over Minnesota Senate recount result
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Betzee
The reason I thought of it is because someone I once viewed as a "soul mate," also mentioned in the post, used to read that poem aloud on a regular basis. It was a long time ago....
What I meant, with respect to Japan, was that the government was pro-active in orchestrating tne country's export-led development, it wasn't left to impersonal market forces. Cheap credit was steered toward industries which were deemed "winners" by someone in the bureaucracy.
I've met a number of people from MITI who were very impressive. And they no doubt enjoyed a social and professional status their American counterpart at, say, the Commerce Department would never achieve.
The origins of the Japanese bubble are the same as its more recent American counterpart, namely the cost of capital became so cheap that people plowed money into very risky ventures (such as real estate).
Posted in: Gloomy predictions for 2009
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Betzee
Not from me, Adverts. You are certainly right from a strategic point of view. The question comes, then what? I've been reminded repeatedly, "The Israelis want peace while the Palestinians want to pick a fight."
The thing is, when you have everything else of course you want peace to formalize the status quo. The "peace dividend" is a lot less meaningful to those with little or nothing else.
Curiously, the American public is not strongly supportive of Israel (in contrast to the leadership of both parties) on this. I can only conclude it's because the same voices who claimed we needed to invade Iraq for our own safety are insisting this assault on Gaza will bring security to Israel. Bill Kristol claims Israel will be successful here when it failed miserably in Lebanon, an assault he supported at the time incidentally. He also predicted Iraq would be a cake walk. Well, what if he's wrong again?
Posted in: Israel says incursion will continue until Hamas rocket fire ceases
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Betzee
Taka,
How close are the feds to nailing Norm?
It is amusing that somewhere along the line the incumbent changed his tune. Specifically, Coleman asked Franken to concede on election night so everyone could put the bitterly fought content behind them and spare the state a lengthy legal battle.
Flip flop time? Banish the thought! His lawsuit, as he explained today, is based on a bigger principle than just the results of one silly little election. (Pardon me if I'm a little skeptical in concluding it's about his own political survival at all costs. Undoubtedly, he's rattling a tin cup to cover the costs.)
His suit makes essentially the same case Al Gore did in 2000, namely there's no uniform standard for tossing or counting individual ballots. Nor could there ever really be one given the role discretion plays in the process.
Everyone should remember JTP, aka Samuel Wurzelbacher. It came out his last name had been misspelled on his voter registration and he'd never bothered to correct it. That could get your ballot tossed (though it hadn't in his case). In the event of a recount, it could not be tossed having been accepted the first time. For someone whose ballot had been disqualified for the same reason, there would be no grounds to reverse that decision in a recount.
Posted in: Coleman sues over Minnesota Senate recount result
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Betzee
When I see photos like this I regret not starting pilates at a younger age since it helps achieve balance.
In the photo each firefighter's body is balanced at a slightly different angle. This reflects the fact each person's "core" is a little bit different.
Posted in: Firefighting drills
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Betzee
The goal of Buddhists is to escape the endless cycle of suffering through birth, death and rebirth. To do this, they seek enlightenment. But that's only one reason boys join a monastery for some period of time.
Other reasons include enabling their mothers to accrue merit. Women cannot become monks and are therefore consigned to a lower status in the life cycle.
Posted in: Eat Sleep Sit
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Betzee
In fact meru I sent a copy of this photo to someone studying kanji thinking she would find it inspiring. Instead she wrote back:
I wish people would not keep these animals captive. Their intelligence is better utilized in their own environments. I wonder how well we would do performing some of the activities they do on a daily basis and how good we would be in making the type of decisions they need to make. We proscribe their intelligence from our cultural tunnel. This just makes me crazy because I love animals so much. We need to be so much more humble about our own intelligence.
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Betzee
This issue came up with respect to their counterparts in Beijing (one can substitute Japan for China here):
http://twintowers101.blogspot.com/2008/07/beijing-olympics-city-still-shows-twin.html Tourists at the World Park in Beijing, and in the photo they are walking by model replicas of famous cities around the world, miniatures, cool, but guess what? The New York City replica shows the Twin Towers as still standing. This struck me as
a) odd
b) strange
c) out of sync with reality
d) disrespectful to the USA and the 3000 people, of many nationalities, who died in that 911 attack by terrorists
So question for the world is: what is China trying to say by this theme park model? And is it respectful of the USA or disrespectful? Taking it down would show reality for what it is. Leaving it up, as it has for the last 7 years, shows a kind of time warp and fantasy world thinking. Just what does the director of this park THINK? Is he living on planet Earth?
I don't think any disrespect is intended. It's simply a case of the world's architectural landmarks being reduced to a series of photo backdrops. The fact and circumstances of their disappearance from the landscape is irrelevant.
Posted in: Tobu World Square
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Betzee
I saw a photo of little Sasha Obama peering out of a black SUV that was part of a convoy delivering her and her sister to school. It's tough enough to be switching schools mid-year without all that.
The Obamas asked if they could move into Blair House early so the girls could begin classes after the Christmas holiday. The request was turned down by the GWB administration on the grounds "it was booked."
It's supposed to house foreign dignitaries, of which none seem to be visiting at the moment. It's also covered by the Secret Service cordon. Lord knows how many rooms had to be booked at the upscale hotel where the Obamas are staying, paid for by the taxpayers natch, to provide security until Jan 15, the day the president elect traditionally moves into Blair House.
Posted in: Obama girls start school with photographers in tow
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Betzee
Your post is rather goofy! Few elected officials can afford to wait around for "spring." Besides, as T.S. Eliot wrote, "April is the cruelest month."
The US is governed by what is known as a "broker state." Essentially the government is a boxing ring where different interests duke it out and the mighty prevail. This explains why the financial sector was bailed out but not the auto industry, for example.
Japan, by contrast, has a government that is much more pro-active in pursuing things like industrial policy which emanate within the bureaucracy. In theory, this should give it more leeway in terms of a creating a stimulus package. Yet this is not the thinking here:
If the economy is doomed to shrivel for the next 10 years, we’d better learn to do without the “things” a thriving economy provides.
When they figure how to create a thriving post-industrial economy which is not driven by consumption, hope they let others know.
Posted in: Gloomy predictions for 2009
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Betzee
Such parks are geared toward people for whom photography is the primary medium through which the outside world is accessed.
In Beijing there is also such a park, described as "a bizarre cross-cultural pollination of Las Vegas and Epcot Center,with scaled-down replicas of the Taj Mahal, the Eiffel Tower, St. Mark’s Square, the Pyramids and even the Twin Towers" at least one of which appears to glow in the darkness of Tobu World Square.
For me, I'm much more interested in observing the natives touring the park than the sights themselves.
Posted in: Tobu World Square
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Betzee
Tkoind,
We certainly get mixed messages. On the one hand we are encouraged to shop to support the economy. If you don't, well then so many people will lose their jobs as a result of falling demand. On the other hand, rampant consumerism has all the effects you described so well in your post.
Posted in: Gloomy predictions for 2009
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Betzee
I didn't mean to imply otherwise. Only that in the desert, falcons are crucial to human survival owing to their hunting prowess.
Posted in: Falconry
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Betzee
I think he was more qualified than Linda Chavez, GWB's original pick for Secy of Labor, who was forced to withdraw after it was revealed she employed undocumented immigrants in her home.
Elaine Chao got the job. Though qualified, she's also the wife of Senator Mitch McConnell which demonstrates the value of family connections in rising to the top.
Posted in: Richardson withdraws bid to be U.S. commerce secretary