JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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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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Cos
Marriage or not, she is the mother of the orphan of a US serviceman killed at work. How can they deny her a visa and the support to raise the child in his country ?
It's a shame that the US behave that way. They are able to make official declarations to condemn how others behaved with comfort women 3 generations ago (facts, OK), but look at what they do with theirs now. There are thousands of kids of US military in the Philippines too. The US don't think they have any duty to help them.
Posted in: U.S. Marine's Japanese widow allowed to live in U.S.
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Cos
I disagree. Maybe some mature balanced children are able to live on their own and in such case, parents are still there to sign the paperwork and check what they do (that they study or do decent job, and don't work in mizushobai or worse). Victims of abused have to heal. They need to live with adults they can trust, in a foster family or a in small size structures, they need professional psychological support. With the current frequency of suicide, that would be criminal to abandon them and let them "solve" their problems on their own.
Posted in: Children need parental consent in many situations, such as when renting an apartment or getting a mobile phone. We need to quickly form a framework to help children be more independent.
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Cos
The fact the question is asked shows airline companies are really retards in customer service. Look at clothing industry, they provide pants in many sizes, don't they ? And restaurants propose larger or smaller servings. You can also have cosmetics for your type of skin. It's not because of a law. It's plain common sense. Why can't we have plane seats that fit us ?
Planes are not designed for humans. Who doesn't fit in their space now ? Even among young and fit people, 1/3 have too long limbs. For elderly, it's 80% of our grand-parents that can't use the cattle class seats, either they are too voluminous or they lack the flexibility to fold themselves like origami. Then obesity, no matter what you think about personal life style and consequences, is a private matter, not something airline staff have the right to judge. They have to manage it when they dispatch the seats, that's their job. And they are incompetent at it.
Planes should be made with a variety seats for big, for thin, for short, for tall, for children, for elderly... Maybe modular space seats. It's possible they would have to charge certain seats 20% more, but there is already a much larger variation in price. Maybe they should also have "familial cabins" designed for travel with little kids. I don't get the lack of choice with so many companies that say they want more customers.
Posted in: How should airlines handle obese passengers?
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Cos
That's a "shocking" way to present things, but they are right. A lot of effort is made against illegal drugs, that's not a bad thing. The thing is the alcoholism and binge drinking issues are not taken seriously enough in a number of country. And if public health effort and budget has to be dispatched, "targetting" alcohol damages in priority makes sense.
I don't think a ban would be possible or even efficient, but more awareness about drinking problems would help. If you are on cocaine, it's likely that your relatives and friends will take it seriously from day one. If you simply drink, oh, it's social life, no ? They will wait till it becomes a domestic violence issue, accidents due to dangerous driving or whatever...
In my country, they made big campaigns in the 1950's and 1960's to educate people about drinking. That had a large and positive impact. Some practice that many thought "normal" in certain social classes, like children drinking wine as a main drink, have disappeared. Average people drank less, favoring wine and beer to strong liquors. Serious cases of alcohol addiction were less numerous. These days, younger generations are adopting very bad habits of partying with huge amounts of alcohol, like in Great Britain (where they did that study).
In Japan, they have never done anything, correct me if I'm wrong. The margin of possible improvement is very large : post-work drinking sarariman, drinking shufu, constantly stoned old guys, binging daigakusei...
Posted in: Alcohol more lethal than heroin, cocaine: study
0
Cos
Of course, places that sell industrial products like the fast food chains should be able to provide all the technical data, the complete ingredient lists and calories, salt, etc , also origin of ingredients and process. Places that cook from ingredients should be able to tell you what ingredients were used. They cannot give precise nutritional data, as natural ingredients vary a lot in caloric value and nutritive properties. That said, I don't think very high of a cook that has no idea of the approximate value of his teishoku. If he is clueless about nutrition, expect the worst about his knowledge about food preservation, general hygiene and healthy cooking process.
But there is no point in having all the available data on the menu. Only certain customers are interested and each has specific needs or criteria (religion, health, tastes...). They can ask, they can even call in advance and order specially cooked dishes.
Posted in: Do you think restaurant menus should list the calorie content for each item?
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Cos
What's the deal with this shop ? It's like a snack, and Japan has 4 million snacks already. The food will probably be yucky, the beer more expensive.
Posted in: Girls, girls, girls
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Cos
Airion, it's no joke at all. A number of studies have demonstrated the possible addictive effect of junk food on animals and on humans. It seems I cannot post a link so browse "studies addictive junk food". One found that a person, usually having a sane diet, and for the study was given very fat food (like your fast fry menu) at each meal started to have modified hormonal balance in a few days only. And the result of the modification was craving for more of that type of food.
Posted in: Snack foods a threat to nation's youth
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Cos
I think that in 10 years, the dumb class of Japan will noticed from far in the crowds. Now parents still look OK, children cheeky, teens seem to have puppy fat... but we see more extremely chubby people every year.
What I find scary is Misdo. Whenever I walk near one, I see all the brain dead shufus of the area, they gather there. Those women are there smoking, drinking coffee, the brats in baby cars or running around. When the kids start being noisy, they stuff them donuts in the mouth. One day, I saw a guy with his baby (about 3 month old). He was putting bits of donuts in her mouth.
@Gaijininfo The stay-at-home mums raise chubbier kids. The kids are alone at home because Mum is playing pachinko. It's the level of education, not the hours the parents spend with kids. Many working parents are serious about the whole family's diet and their activities. That's not at school, in clubs and juku that the kids drink soda and eat sweets. And during the week-ends, some families have other activities than visiting fast-food malls. Going to hike, to the beach, with home-made onigiri costs less actually. In certain families, they don't care at all, food is chosen because it looks good on the ads and the kids are glad to have it. The same let the kids miss school, watch TV and play games at home as much as they like.
Posted in: Snack foods a threat to nation's youth
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Cos
XXXX, the environment impact of the tack bags and watches is a bit different...
Posted in: Many wealthy people don't have private jets because they fear criticism from Japanese society. It's seen as a luxury.
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Cos
"I didn’t hear that Japan has made official apology over its past invasion"
Efisher, you were not even born. Pekin has been living on the Japanese ODA apology money for 20 years and has sucked from Japan more money than the Chinese economy ever generated by itself since pre-history. Yes, Japan regrets ever going there.
China never makes any apology for its invasions and regular offensive actions, and they keep asking others to apologize. Now they are super-arrogant, but has others pointed, China is still a poor retarded country. They have a spectacular growth because when you start from zero, you can only go up. The richness that can be seen is mostly generated by foreign companies settled there. That seems a lot, but per inhabitant, that's a misery. If all foreigners leave, China cuts electricity the next week, the next month the country is starving and not getting water to drink. So they don't need the tourists and businesses of the Brits ? the French ? the Americans ? the Japanese ? We could all get out of there. That would be a small temporary loss for the exiting countries, but they could go to India and many other places. Then China would be left on its own, with tourists and investors from Malawi and North-Korea.
It's clear China can't have those islets. That would give them a parking for military toys on Okinawan beaches, at shooting distance of Taiwan. Washington doesn't want them there. Nobody does.
Posted in: How bad do you think tensions between Japan and China are going to get over the disputed islands? Is Japan's detention of the Chinese fishing boat skipper the proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back?
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Cos
@Pestronika
She is different from the average junkie celeb. Being on drugs is common, sadly. But others do it at home, try to get cure, or they seem. She considers herself above the laws, in any country. And so far that worked. A few months ago, her jet landed in a French airport carrying some dope. If an unknown citizen of Thailand/Ukraine/etc arrives in the ferry from Morocco with the same amount of dope in his car, he waits months in jail. Then a beginner lawyer takes 4 hours and a part-time translator plead his case, that is lost in advance. He pays a fine and the fees for the confiscated car (or he lets the car as that's cheaper) and he has to leave the country and is on the Interpol list of convicted drug dealer for all his life, he shouldn't count on getting even a tourist visa in European Union, US, etc, any time soon, he will never get jobs as civil servant, in army, army supply industry, etc. He is another young man that stupidly messed his life. That's the normal price of drug smuggling. And your parents and teachers warned you. The Hilton brat called super-lawyer, paid a fine, flew away 3 hours later, as white as premium cocaine. And she'll be back in Paris at the next fashion show, with dope in her hideous hand-bag, as usual.
That happened what ? 20 times ? That's disgusting.
And when, for a change, she is treated as the criminal she is, we have to read : "She is very disappointed by tonight’s events." We aren't. This time, we enjoy the show.
Posted in: Paris Hilton leaves for U.S. after being denied entry into Japan
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Cos
"I thinking Japan is asking for trouble here with China!!!"
The thing is Japan WILL HAVE trouble with the Chinese dictators, no matter what they do or don't. Such affairs occur whenever there is an anniversary of war events of 70 to 1500 years ago, it's as regular as the Kim Jong Il sending one of his toy rockets. OTOH, China still wants the Japanese ODA, the business opportunities, etc.
That said, I can't get how Japanese diplomacy could go be more incompetent than these days. They know they can't reach any progress on the matter with the Chinese government (as long as that regime will rule). And China cannot get a more negative image in the world, nobody think they are democratic, pacifist, altruits, or anything positive, they are accepted because they are a big cattle of cheap factory workers and cheap good buyers. But Japan needs its good reputation, and it can be damaged. And that's happening. They could use PR advice, don't they ?
@NorthLondon
You said :
"In a normal world, a Chinese diplomat should have been invited"
I don't think the Japanese refused access to the Chinese diplomats when they show up to assist any arrested Chinese national.
Well, in a case like this, the Chinese ambassador should have boarded on the boat of their activists in the first place, with their own reporters to film it all. You know the degree of freedom of a Chinese citizen, don't you ? You are naive if you imagine a Chinese captain could go there on his decision like a group of Australian hippies go to bump into whale hunting boats.
Posted in: Japan urges calm after China severs contacts
0
Cos
Many of you confuse the Romanian Roms and the Gypsies. They are not related at all, and not comparison. It's true Sarkozy has made some amalgams too.
French Gipsies live normally, in houses, with jobs and their kids go to school. They are blended into mainstream population and only travel for folkloric events like in Saintes-Maries. Except a few persons -but black sheeps exist in all groups, they have no integration problems. They usually pass for "of Spanish origines". A cousin married a "Gipsy girl", and she is the most boring standard middle class French person that exists. Her grand-parents were nomads, she is secretary.
The Roms that were sent back came in the last 15 years from Romanian. They are all living of criminal activities, and that's why nobody wants them in their backyard. As they are not French and they moving along all the time, they are not refused the right to settle, they choose to move. They live in a legal loophole. They don't let their kids go to school nor receive any other form of education (like distance learning). It's nearly systematic and I think it's a terrible form of child abuse that should not be tolerated in France (nor anywhere in country of EU).
I have personally tried to make social services and the police intervene. I was really sad to see a 8 yr old girl (she seemed to be 6, but she said 8) breaking my bicycle's chain instead of being at school. I grasped her and took her to the police station, a few streets away. I don't care about the parents, if they want to be thieves, let them do it themselves. She had to go to school. She deserves an education so she can have chances to become a honest adult. The social services can't do anything because the parents are "tourists" in France. They believe she goes to school in Romania ? Night school, special course of Romanian national education on internet, for expat kid-thieves ?
You don't get arrested at 6 or 8, which is normal, but the parents ? The cops don't know what to do of them if they are arrested. They'd have to get them for a killing , but they avoid for small stuff that happens 250 times a day (number of stolen bicycles in our area). They let her go free, she ran away, at the corner of the street, a car stopped to take her in. I wrote the number : that was a stolen car, not belonging to any celebrity. Small stuff too. They just entered a line in the computer.
It's the life of those Roms. Who finds that acceptable ? I don't. I don't like Sarkozy's way either, and Romanian President says the truth : they are already back.
Now what to do ?
Posted in: France defies EU criticism on Gypsy expulsions
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Cos
@Porter,
Your assumption is wrong. The attendance rate and the funding are not problems, on the contrary. And if that was, do you believe that would bring more visitors to make the place look like a shopping mall ? You have heard anybody saying : "Oh, they put a hamburger joint / a Jeff Koons expo in Versailles/ Le Louvre... I had no interest in flying to Paris, but know that I hear that, I go to JTB to get my ticket..." ? And Murakami is not even that famous, for 500 000 persons that have the wish to visit Versailles someday, there is one that has heard that Murakami existed. The promotion benefits him and the sellers of his hand-bags, only them. It's one-way.
Then I don't care what "art" is or should be. It's not the point at all. The "States" has not to be the new Louis XIVth and select any artist.
Versailles is one of the most visited historical sites in the world, and it's visited for its historical past. If I travel from Japan, I don't want to see the Egyptian pyramids with Xmas decorations, invaded by concerts of taiko nor by a Hawaiian culture fair. Those attractions can travel over the world and can be shown in my city, not the pyramids. That's the contrary of snobism. I think the famous sites are not to be made at the taste of the jet-setters that can afford the trip to Versailles as often as they want, nor the bored Parisians that already saw it 15 times and wants to see something fun in it. They are a minority that should not get priority on the rest of the world.
I don't want to see Monna Lisa nor Lady Gaga standing in the middle of Ryoan-ji garden. In each country, there are a few dozens of places that have to be preserved in their historic state, for history purpose. There are not hundreds, not thousands. That's not a huge effort. There exist an infinity of other possible places to exhibit new creations.
Posted in: Japanese pop art at Versailles stirs controversy
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Cos
That has not the least interest. When you need to rent a famous historic monument to force people to see your creations, you have left the field of art to enter the one of shameless marketing. Even then, to take a few photos, invite the snobbish clique to a cocktail and boast in the media, 1 or 2 days are enough. Or he could have decorated a space in a lesser famous aisle (and sold tickets separately) in order to spare the famous halls. No, the installations will stay during months, blocking the most famous halls. It's gross, a total lack of respect for the visitors from all over the world.
Many tourists make a once in a life trip to visit Versailles. And they will find the place filled with totally unrelated objects. He wastes these people's visit. They want to see the historic setting, not an attraction park nor the FIAC, otherwise they'd go there directly.
Posted in: Japanese pop art at Versailles stirs controversy
0
Cos
"Speaking near-fluent English, and without hesitation—a real rarity in Japan— "
I know at least 10 000 real rarities in Osaka. Even if 90% of Japanese can't speak English, there are still many people that can talk like her. My dentist is bilingual, but besides, he is a competent dentist. And 10% of Japanese teen girls could replace Erika as a singing doll and lolita model. The only requirement is having parents willing to pimp them and invest in surgery on you at an age when normal parents tells their daughters they are too young to paint their nails.
"Restricting talented "
Not at all. They manage the absence of artistic talents. She reproaches them their failure in making her acquire talent. They are not magicians. They can't implant talent like they implant silicone boobs.
We didn't wait for Erika-chan to notice that all the geino crowd had only two talents : a friendly girl/box next door look and their acceptance to be Sakae-san middle class role-models 24/24. She is not friendly, she doesn't do the role model. She is useless.
I read the full article and she says she was forced to sing crap songs as "that was pop", while she has a talent for good music which would be "dance music". In that case what is she doing in Tokyo ? Erika, go to show your talent in London, if you have anything to show except your little legs dancing in a fancy club.
One of my relatives is in the music activity. He did it sincerely. When he finished his studies, he found that his amateur group would never have any success in my country, where the industry was about pretty local singers interpreting-slaughtering translations of American/English hits. Like Japan now. He moved to London, spent the mid-60's and 70's there, where the action was. He worked as a musician 5 years. He was not such a good performer, but he was good in the studios. He went back home and during 20 years, he was an exec, then the CEO, in a major company, he made them change their ways and promote alternative musics, young artists, old indi stage artists that were never given a chance to record their music in the previous system. Now, as he has the age to retire but he still has a passion for music, he has his own label to promote anti-Erikas : young artists with music, lyrics, voices, and that don't count on their sexy bums to sell stuff. I'm sure that Japanese artists with talent can find ways to succeed outside the Wonderful World of Johnny's. Fashion stylists like Yamamoto, Kenzo, Miyake, etc, did it. The chefs and bakers went to succeed abroad too. But musicians and actors don't seem to have the mentality to try.
Posted in: Erika Sawajiri: Inside the head of Japan's outspoken star
0
Cos
I find the story hard to believe.
The second message on August 15... and she is left alone all day the next week, in a new town where she probably knows nobody ? Either the Mum wrote the messages to cover herself, or she was particularly careless. And I don't know many parents in Japan that move end of January, especially without finding an arrangement to let the child finish the school here in the old school, to avoid arriving in a new class 2 months before the end.
About bullying in school, that will happen as long as there will be kids. But the schools don't handle it properly. Which kid did it ? If you know, punish him. But teachers cannot do like cops and say "as we have not found, we arrest nobody, let's do as if nothing happened...". You need to give some kind of punishment to the whole class and let them know that their group has done bad.
Nothing worse that letting the children go with the idea that "not caught, no consequences". The bullies will live without limits, and their victims will believe things are written in advance and they can't fight back.
Posted in: 8-year-old girl hangs herself at home in apparent suicide
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Cos
I don't want to hear she was a foreigner. It's irrelevant now. Just like the thing about her being an easy target of not. It's not her trial. She was a person, she was raped and killed by him (no doubt).
"she died as a result of his efforts to quiet her down"
It's killing her. Punish him. And add some penalty for every illegal action he and his relatives did to escape justice.
Japanese people are as scared of guys like him as foreigners are.
Posted in: Lindsay Hawker's accused killer appears determined to fight murder charge
0
Cos
Less spending, which is good as income goes down too when customers are in holidays. Less electricity and gas (no aircon, no need for hot water now), less food especially less meat and dairies... Then they lower certain prices for me each Summer : Fruits and veggies are cheaper (or free as many people have too many in their gardens), local swimming pool, rental videos and clothes too. Maybe I'm the contrary of some others, I can't stand the freezer-shops, so I avoid most stores, cinemas, etc.
Posted in: How has the hot weather affected your spending habits?
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Cos
Japan is a dynamic country
Thanks for that gem. That said, if anyone wants advice, call me. I sell some.
Posted in: If a longtime expat starts offering you advice, walk the other way