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
0
Cos
"Just because a sect or a cult calls themselves Buddhist does not make them so. "
Yes it does. There is no control, no other criteria than self-claim from the groups/persons. The prophets don't come back often to say : these are my guys, these are not. Any group is free to say "we are Buddhists, Christians, Muslims, Jews...". And in all cases there are many groups not recognized by most others using the same label... but why are other sects entitled to judge ? That does not matter. We don't know what group it is here. I'm going to browse because I'm curious.
Nakayama-shingo-shoshu was recognised as a religious corporation in 1952. It had about 350 temples and churches nationwide with 305,555 believers as of the end of December 2008. They have a very serious looking HP.
nakayamashingoshoshu dot com
Posted in: 2 arrested after teenage girl dies in 'exorcism'
0
Cos
"There is no exorcism in Buddhism. "
I don't think the news is invented. What is "in Buddhism" is what people that claim being Buddhists do. And that's not the first time that nutcases taking that big label played the which doctors. There are Catholic exorcists in Europe, but I don't think there are any in Japan. The are many offers of that kind of service by Buddhist/Shinto groups, and precisely Christians say their "selling point" is they are above that and don't those Middle-Age things.
Posted in: 2 arrested after teenage girl dies in 'exorcism'
1
Cos
Crazy Joe, the takigyo is like scuba diving, the guys are going there by themselves and able to walk away if they feel bad, and they are usually adults, so if that's how they have fun, no problem for me. No relation with what they did here, which is plain torture and murder.
" a religious group deriving from a Buddhist sect"
And their name is what ? How can we avoid those wackos if the information is not given ?
Posted in: 2 arrested after teenage girl dies in 'exorcism'
-1
Cos
"The government of the day was very slow"
I agree. And the "even the Yaks were quicker, even the SG were quicker" makes sense in the meaning the officials had no shame. Now the noble intentions... I don't believe.
" I think the city did a great job in the reconstruction of the city and surrounding areas"
So you arrived a while after or you are the less demanding citizen of the city. Hopefully now that looks good. I don't put it on the account of "the city" but of the citizens, the individuals, and companies. I have seen people camping as late as 10 yrs after the quake. And the last works, to rebuild housing, ended roughly last year. I don't think NYC situation can be compared, as dramatic as that was, that did not made many "homeless" and the loss of offices is not big at the scale of the city, so the needs to rebuild are at a different level.
"There are many new towns behind the mountains as you put it which were started even before the earthquake."
Superb anticipation if they had planned to relocate victims before the quake. But no, they didn't. Of course there always where houses over there, and new ones being built. There were private projects not getting big success, and for the infrastructures, there were public projects not getting much political support and no budget voted. If that had been private, "free market" and "democratic", they would not have sold many house deals in Kita-ku. See why below. Especially with the economic downturn, the projects would have been shelved. Citizens, weakened by the quake, became unable to refuse.
"You can't expect the government to rebuild private housing, that would be up to the owners. "
The government, the local government did not consider letting owners decide of their own fate. Then, as the government expected us to pay taxes for the rebuilding, I expected them to use the money to support people rebuilding their houses (instead of letting them contract yami loans with some Soka-Yakuza bank). And no, I didn't expect the quake money would make an airport 30 km away from 2 other airports.The jobs creation could have been for rebuilding houses quicker instead of making the artificial island, but that was not exactly the same companies... As you know most airport workers were not from Kobe, not even from Japan, they were those migrant workers that hop to all big projects nationwide. I don't mean they don't deserve work too, but that's making locals work.
There was many years of delay before that was officially decided citizens would get a benefit to rebuild.relocate. I think they got the checks around year 2000.
"I love living here. "
Have you been relocated ? I haven't as I arrived when that was "ground zero", I was there everyday in the first years and I talked to thousands of people, I saw what happened to them. I don't see the positive points in the city politics of rebuilding. Many people had a home in convenient coastal Kobe. And after the quake they were told they had not the right to rebuild on the same land or even had to abandon a house still up. That made sense, some areas were too dangerous. But then , they were told to choose between losing all or rebuilding (with their money ) in Kita-ku. Many families thought they couldn't aggravate their loss and took the Kita-ku deal with tons of false promises about delays, conveniency and costs in the package... Nobody wanted to move there. That was decided against popular will that the quake reconstruction money would be to develop the new "ku". Their main problem is before the people lived 30 minutes away from Osaka/Himeji, 1 hour from Kyoto, and after they were hours away (=unable to commute for jobs, schools, hospitals and acquaintances for elderly...), and there was no other jobs, schools, etc nearby. Those that could sold the houses in Kita-Ku very cheap, and moved to somewhere convenient, meaning they paid their relocation twice. Some are still stuck there. Hundreds of bad situations, like teenagers having to go to boarding schools, fathers getting a dormitory near office, interrupted careers, studies... I know that was not easy to organize, but the lack of "democracy" had terrible effects. So many people had the feeling they lived 2 tragedies, the quake and later being thrown out of their city. Use your browser for archive documentaries about suicides, depressions due to that situation... So, yes, the new buildings look nice, don't they ?
"I know the Korean community in Kobe was largely ignored by local government during the crisis, but do tell me where you get the info that NKoreans and Chinese gave more aid."
Some facilities owned by organizations of these communities were already part of the system in case of disaster, they were stocking supply and equipment, doing the drills. They were not particularly ignored (well local government was MIA and ignored everybody). Now ethnic schools, gyms, parks, etc, serve as standard local evacuation centers for everybody around. It's not extraordinary. The Yakuza and SG have no official rescue centers nor anything. As we wouldn't know if it's a shelter or a recruitment center of weak targets for yami loans (to repay in cash or in services to the yakuza religion or to the SG corporation).
"Everything is divided as such, not just Soka Gakkai."
Bwahahaha... they started as a group of leftists that were against the regiment structure and hierarchy.
@Viadrin.
What they write for their PR is necessarily what they do in real life ? Maybe for mother Teresa. For the SG, I see a different picture. I have not only heard rumors of their bullying manners, I see them do. They are not the only ones in Japan : a fervent Catholic friend has paid the bonzes on O'bon visits for 50 years (after all her family converted) as she never managed to get rid of them and they insist she owes for her grand-parents souls, and they could make a scandal bad for her family's business. But well SG, it's not only O'bon money, it's each election, plus the phone call whenever they need something, they have reached a huge scale, are involved in many fileds you wonder what a religion does there... Good if we worry for nothing.
Posted in: Survey of Japanese students shows changes in attitudes, outlook since March disaster
-1
Cos
"Even the Yakuza was quicker."
The yakuza and SG where there before the quake, particularly as the area with the ritzy housing of their important guys was touched. They did not more do than the others, they helped their own families mostly, and the nearest neighbours. The local shotengai people, the North Koreans, the Chinese many did the same and offered shelter and supply to more people than the 2 above, why don't you mention them ? Because the 2 mafias made a lot of PR about their "aid" and in the years following the disaster they have harassed around saying "Remember that we saved you, we advanced money for you, you can't do anything without us...". And people had no choice. It's getting better now, but that took 10 yrs. That's true that Tokyo's government and the big corporations have been disgusting about Kobe (they tried to limitate their losses before helping). That doesn't transform the gangsters into angels. They were quicker to exploit the situation. That was clear in the years after. Who made the most money out of the Hanshin Quake? No idea ? Look at the map before and now. You will see the "new town" behind the mountain and the infamous most expensive train line in the Guinness record, a new airport, That took the whole budget of aid from the country. And who built the airport ? The victims benefited ? Dot you believe they preferred getting a new airport to getting their houses rebuilt ?
" they were told not to air it out of embarrassment "
The SG has mass printed booklets of testimonies from people airing it, they don't seem embarrassed. Your organization is pumping 100 times the sums of money it gives back (to get a good facade image only). Or tell me where the millions go...
"Soka Gakkai Tohoku student division leader, comments, “Many of our student members"
Division leader ? Like a military academy. Sounds so 1940. Students members : like those students whose family were granted a small loan from SG to pay for their studies, and after paying back with interests like at the bank, they have the SG telling them to help back the network, and pulling them to vote, until their death ?
After Hanshin Quake, the SG grip was stronger than ever...and the political party they are no longer officially related with (LOL) supported the Jiminto, didn't they ?
Please JT : when you publish an article written by the SG, add a "biographic note" for the readers that don't know +who+ the authors are.
Posted in: Survey of Japanese students shows changes in attitudes, outlook since March disaster
0
Cos
"but if your life is on the line, you need to start brining proof."
I would think that the persons judging of his death have the charge of the proof... The man can be stupid and inconsistent, he can lie, he can be a violent thug with a past criminal record, and he can still be not be guilty this time. I can understand that some favor the principle of death penalty, but not those some think it should be applied in case there are doubts.
Posted in: Filmmaker Moore demands Georgia boycott after execution
1
Cos
It's not clear... but it seems the second time, that was the girl that was arrested for stimulants, so she goes to the detention center. They had to do it Oh, that solves nothing on the long term, just takes her out of business and away from the drugs for a while.
The question is about her future, she goes where after that ? What support ?
Posted in: Child consultation center fails to protect girl forced into prostitution by mother
0
Cos
What they will win with that trial is that experts will avoid working on earthquakes. No more informations will collected nor given.
Posted in: Scientists on trial for manslaughter in Italy for failure to warn residents about quake
3
Cos
"Eating in a toilet preferable to trying to find a friend?"
I don't think that's the problem of feeling lonely. That could that they don't want to spend one hour in the dining-room with a band of creeps that bully them. Kids, teens, uni students spending too much time in any nook they find to hide themselves is very common, not only in Japan. That said, I don't think they eat much on the throne. Sadly, I know by experience (as witness, not myself) that some hang themselves, take overdose of bad stuff or open their veins.
"toire no kamisama"
Who said that was a goddess ? Cheap translation. Nobody remembers Tanizaki's text about his outhouse ? I associate my Grand-ma with a kettle (she had no benjo, LOL), for a reason like that. She boiled the kettle on the stove every evening, and every holiday afternoon, just in case... it's a way to express you wish you had visitors. Cleaning your house, even this place, has totally the same intent for some persons. Oh, our kettle had a kamisama. That was a whistling kettle, and the tune was different when visitors were on the way to the house. No kidding, that never failed ! Well... no that I think about it, maybe there was a trick, it's possible adults were pushing the lid or something when I didn't watch. They played a lot on my gullibility.
Posted in: Lonely youth take meals in toilets, and a new subculture springs up
0
Cos
**Yare there really that many Vegans in Tokyo?"
There are surely a number of vegans, but most are not interested in burgers and faux-cheese.
Posted in: Get your soy joy at Tokyo's 5 best vegan restaurants
0
Cos
"Who needs proof when you're determined the man is guilty?"
He admitted he was guilty. Trying to kiss would be considered "simple sexual assault" (something like that). This a crime to try to force a kiss on someone, but there is a prescription of I think 3 years. Anyway, the delay is past, so he can confess that. Trying to force sex on the person has a longer prescription delay.
Posted in: Strauss-Kahn admits making pass at author, denies rape
0
Cos
"DSK is ruined "
So please, make me ruined like that... my account is UFJ Bank **********************
Posted in: Strauss-Kahn admits making pass at author, denies rape
0
Cos
"And wasting police time here is a serious offence. "
Oh come on ! If your car disappears, you cannot prove it has been stolen. But you will go to the police. Shall we consider it's wasting police time ? Then they find a guy driving your car, and he says : "But he gave it to me for my birthday, yesterday..". He can partially prove it : that was actually his birthday. You have no proof that you didn't give your car... Etc. Police's job is to find evidence, or at least try. Most victims cannot prove much. They still have a right to sue. Maybe the police fail at their mission with Banon. Whether Banon is a mythomane or DSK a rapist, they have to prove one option. But wait, they are still investigating. So far they found : 1. she is not a total mytho as he did try to kiss her, 2. he is liar since he previously declared nothing happened.
Posted in: Strauss-Kahn admits making pass at author, denies rape
1
Cos
I tell them I want to sleep (my main on board occupation). And if they want a conversation buddy, I propose them to switch seats with someone else.
Posted in: What do you do on a flight when the passenger beside you insists on talking to you the whole time and won't shut up?
0
Cos
The problem with such experiment is the same as with the hen and the egg. Do people think that way because of the language... or do people that thinks that way end up using a language in a certain way ? They have a large choice of words for snow in Inuit, I was told... now, teach Inuit to Tahitians. and go back a few years later to see if they keep using the words for snow... When they defined the Anglo-Saxon vs Latin behavioral patterns, they linked them to languages. French speakers were said Latin. And French people matched the Latin behavior (in average). But when they took, among the Swiss, the Canadians, the Belgians, those that speak French, they could no longer find that result at all, many were totally in the Anglo-Saxon pattern. If you want to go a little further, these pattern can be taught and learned. And there are enough gurus to tell you that if you are trained at such patterns, your inner soul, mind, system whatever will change. They have as much scientific evidence for them the homeopathy, reiki, etc.
"If people learn another language, they inadvertently also learn a new way of looking at the world. "
I only meet the cases that are immune to that phenomenon.
"When bilingual people switch from one language to another, they start thinking differently, too.”"
I switch between 3 languages on a daily basis, I have a few more in the closet that I use more occasionally. I'd really get headaches... What mostly change is the reaction of people. My sister : "Please stop talking Japanese, that scares me when I don't understand what my sister says...". And the big family gag, when my smily teddy bear grand-dad suddenly switches to German and becomes serious, all the idiots that don't speak German jump away : "Aaaah, he is so angry your grand-dad ! -No, it's a poem about little birds, it's so sad, see how his face darkens...". I say idiots not because they didn't learn German but because they dare judging a person in language they don't know at all. As if among people with harsh German accents there were not totally cute and delicate persons, and as if among speakers of the soft syrupy Mexican Spanish there were not those thugs that shoot whole families in tourist resorts...
"My American friends who have never been to Japan often like to observe that “Boy, the Japanese sure are weird!” But those same people – superficial differences aside – are far less likely to comment on how strange, say, Australians, who also speak English, are. This can’t possibly be a coincidence, can it?"
Your White friends noticed the Japanese were not White. I don't say they are intentionally racist, but people feel proximity/weirdness due to physical appearance... as long as they are not used to meet many types of people. What do they say when they meet ( English speakers) from India or Cameroon ? Or even if the Australians you bring them are Aborigenes or of Asian ethnicity ? I know the answer. Whenever I've been in the US, nobody had a second of doubt, they talked to me in English (or Spanish) expecting answers in the same language and the (thick) accent never troubled them as I could be from the other coast or inventing myself a genre. 5 minutes after boarding in JFK, I already had those Texan farmers convinced I was the airport staff in charge of guiding them. They all made a superb effort to understand me, never asked me to repeat... That happened many times. But a British friend (with a Chinese face) was meeting the same persons as me. They hesitated, fewer people would talk to him. Then they would try English, and when he answered as his accent was not 100% American (but still more than mine), they concluded he was not from New York's Chinatown. With a foreigner, they could go commando and shoot at him : "Where you from ? Wow that accent...can you repeat ? Oxford, yeah, but before ? London, and before ? But why you look like a Jap (anese) ? Adopted ? Ah, your parents, from Hong-Kong... so you a Chinese Commie ? You won't eat my dog ? " He has heard everything from all those peeps that think they don't need a passport. Not everybody did that, there were many degrees of it, and I don't mean that's only Americans.The same model can be found in many countries, including mine. In Japan, that will be the contrary, that guy will be considered Japanese at first sight.
"the Japanese to refrain from levying blame"
I had no idea. You can even buy animated dolls that "moshiwakenai" for you... I should get one for my kanrinin, she is always accusing us of the worst crimes against humanity (like taking out the PET bottles on the day of plastic gomi !).
" English speakers" "the Japanese"
Mike, you don't see a bug in your theory here.... For instance me, you put me in what box ? I've learned English and Nihongo. So when I go to your country I become an English speaker, and here in Japan, I am Japanese ? Honestly I don't see the slightest difference between the 2 languages and their speakers, native or second language.
"the infamous Japanese concept of “sho ga nai”"
Explain me the difference with the infamous "sh*t happens", sometimes.
Posted in: How language defines us
5
Cos
"they just could not call them an obstruction and quietly move them"
If they move them without a paper from a judge, the cops will be called dictators.
"France/EU can&t stop preaching equality,"
They are applying it. When I was a teen, we'd gather 70 of us with skate-boards in a street, the cops would move us away too. Same for everybody.
For those that misunderstood : The prayers are allowed, they can do them in any location like their mosquees and if there are not enough, they can rent for free or very cheap a hall, a gym, a stadium... 98% of French Muslims and 100% of other religions find places for regular gatherings that are not the streets, When anyone, Catholics, Jewish, etc, held occasional street events and they always ask local authorities approvals months(and even years) in advance, and whenever it is refused, they change their plans. It is the choice of some religious extremists to do it in streets.
Posted in: France herds Muslim faithful off streets after prayer ban
0
Cos
Media should ignore him. If he has something to say, he should talk to the Courts.
"So what will he say? "
A few years ago, he got trials for mishandling Social Security money to fund his party (don't imagine he'd use his own gazdillions of euros), and at the end, the trials were aborted due to lawyer's tricks to sideline witnesses and exploitation of loopholes, prescription and a convenient change of law voted by his buddy... He came to say : "So I am a victim, innocent and falsely accused... no, I have no comment on this insurance affair, the trial is over... respect my rights, I am here to talk about my next election campaign....". Idem this time. I bet he'll avoid talking about the facts and will give a lecture about his rights to privacy and having his innocence proclaimed (as long as he is not convicted) not respected, blah, blah...
His wife is one of the most famous TV show host and BFF of his interviewer. A number of French journalists have already apologized to him. The won't squeeze him with embarrassing questions. But few people doubt that he did it, at least a couple of times. If not rape, at least harassing women that had not the means to reject him nor complain.
Posted in: Strauss-Kahn to break rape case silence on French television
0
Cos
@Ojiu
In every country there are restaurants that adapt foreign cuisine. That doesn't mean you don't have "authentic" cuisine too. There are even some shops that gives you a choice, with a part of the menu "classics", and some creations for local taste. Even if they add a natto mayo pizza on a side of the menu, that won't affect the quality and authentic baking of their margherita. If the baker has meron-pan in the same shop as the bagels, the baguettes and the ciabattas, they don't get contaminated. Surely you don't find all the cuisines of the world, but I have never seen a place like Japan where you find a so big density of restaurants that import the chef and a team of cooks (or send theirs to train abroad), the equipment and necessary ingredients, or even start producing them especially. It's usually easy to know which doing the classic, which is not, before entering, ordering... if you know what the authentic looks like, tastes like, it's very obvious.
" Authentic is the operative word."
That's your personal problem if you are so traditionalist. I really care more about the quality and freshness of ingredients and the talent of the cook. For instance, Mc Donald, KFC, Subway, I'm sure it's authentic. Idem if I see a Yoshinoya abroad.
"If they can't cut it, they shouldn't even try. "
But why ? I see no problem at all with adaptation and fusion. After, you like it or not... Surely Wiener Schnitzel is more authentic than tonkatsu. So what ? Nobody is forced to go to a tonkatsu restaurant.
Posted in: Living in Japan, which food or drink item do you miss most from your home country?
-7
Cos
That's funny to read. If someone that never came to Japan read the huge problems the Brits here have to find proper food... they'd get convinced that it's so much worse than in North Korea. Well roughly, for so many, the thing is you have never walked further than the first supermarket, and never bothered to check that the second had their burger buns, "cereals", pork skin, you name it.
"authentic ethnic cuisine without the "Japanese touch" "
No, what you want is foreign cuisines adapted to your country's taste (or lack of).
Posted in: Living in Japan, which food or drink item do you miss most from your home country?
-2
Cos
"I would like to be able to buy:- Fresh Artichokes, Swede, Beetroot, Rhubarb, Gooseberries,"
Department stores underground vegetable shops. Red beetroot is available year round. Not sure which you call swede, parsnip... but they have many sorts, depends on season. Rhubarb and artichokes (not nice ones) in season. For cheaper options, there are farmer's markets. There are also farmers that sell directly and mail, but you cannot choose exactly what you will get and when. In suburbs, many amateur gardeners put produce on tables in the street and sell cheaply.
Never seen those berries in a shop and I don't know anyone that have them in gardens here.
"Hummus"
Ask for "hiyoko-mame" (sometimes labeled as garbanzo or chick peas). Most supermarkets, mame-ya, import food stores, Indian stores, on line... It's a bit more effort to find the small ones (tastier in my opinion), but not impossible at all.
"There were very few foreign import shops compared today, now there are a couple of chains, and the number of stores is increasing. But the demand isn't from the foreigners, it's from Japanese travelling overseas."
You are talking about what country ? I don't see the North-Korean importing much from "home". Japan has foreign import shops at every corner of street. It's for Japanese and residents living here, whether they travel or not.
"All imported food stuff will cost higher than home grown stuff. "
It is not the case. Most cheap food is imported. Japanese produce tends to be more expensive. Case by case...
"So many come here and expect to find foodstuffs from their own countries? "
I find nearly everything. My country is a big export country.
"It depends what you consider real Chinese food."
Pate chinois, fortune cookies, chinois aux amandes... If that was gastronomy from China, that wouldn't be called "Chinese food".
Posted in: Living in Japan, which food or drink item do you miss most from your home country?