JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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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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- 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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DoctorTofu
Right? Especially during the recession! I love how American government always thinks outside of the box. See, a regular person, with a brain fossilized by traditional thinking, common sense and reason, would use water to quench a fire. Not American government though! In a novel, bold approach they use gasoline, alcohol and oil to do it - truly a burst of genius and a brave, unorthodox approach!
Posted in: U.S. tightens entry rules for travelers from Japan, Europe
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DoctorTofu
No, actually I believe it didn't expose "your lax entry system". Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the hijackers have LEGAL visas, didn't they use their REAL passports and weren't all their documents in perfect order?
As to why it's paranoid - statistically you have a much bigger chance to be killed by a stray lightning, in a car accident or, if you live in Alaska, by being trampled by an angry moose. The "security" measures proposed by various governments (and by that I also mean the fingerprinting in Japan, by the way) have very little to do with actual security - they're just there to provide the illusion of it. Security theater, that's what it is. Trouble is, that particular play is not really entertaining...
Exit, stage left.
Posted in: U.S. tightens entry rules for travelers from Japan, Europe
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DoctorTofu
I guess the generals don't like chocolate - those inconsiderate countries trying to help should know that, and instead donate diamonds, luxury cars, champagne and maybe some weapons to the poor victims of the cyclone...
Posted in: Myanmar lashes out at donors; says cyclone victims do not need 'bars of chocolate'
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DoctorTofu
@majimeaussie: what, are you some ARB-ed GPD who doesn't understand even the most basic BUP terminology? How NQX of you!
Seriously though, overuse of acronyms, contractions and such is to me almost as annoying as AOL- or l33t-speak... Fortunately, most of the time acronyms are explained in parentheses when they appear for the first time in a newspaper or such - not in this article, unfortunately.
Posted in: NTT Communications diversifies its CSR
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DoctorTofu
Wow, are you telling me Japanese also commit crimes? Inconceivable! I thought it was just those awful foreigners!
Jokes aside though, this is a really sick, twisted crime. I can't even imagine a level of cruelty and cold-bloodedness that a person has to have to chop up a body into pieces small enough to flush down the toilet - skull, ribcage, pelvis bone and all... Ugh.
Posted in: Police find human bone in sewage drain in Tokyo after murderer's confession
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DoctorTofu
sarcasm123 - I disagree. To me, "gaikokujin" is a neutral word for "foreigner", while "gaijin" is closer to "alien" - impolite at best.
And I said it before (it was moderated out, let me see if I can express it in more politically correct way) - adding "-san" or even "-sama" to an offensive term doesn't make it better. While it's a much more emotionally loaded word, referring to a black person as "Mister n****r, sir" or even "Your exalted n****rness" wouldn't really change much, would it?
Posted in: Do you consider the word "gaijin" racist?
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DoctorTofu
Well, I was half expecting that, but my post was horribly gutted by the moderator(s) and now my point is unclear at best... Oh well, I guess some words, unlike "gaijin" are inherently bad, racist and evil and cannot be uttered even to prove a point in, say, linguistic comparison of contractions... >_<
Posted in: Do you consider the word "gaijin" racist?
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DoctorTofu
I'm not sure about the racism, but I still don't appreciate people calling me "gaijin" - my reasoning for that seems to be slightly different from the opinions above.
First, to me gaijin is a clearly contraction of gaikokujin and not a separate word. Thus, it bears a striking resemblance to other contractions considered impolite at best, racist and offensive at worst. Sure, there are contractions that are neutral (Brit and Aussie from the top of my head. I can't think of any more readily), but I feel most of them are not. Sure, it all depends on the intentions of the speaker and all that, but I still cringe even at the most well meant and warm gaijin coming from anyone - Japanese or not.
By the way, I also don't consider adding -san or even -sama to it as an improvement.
Posted in: Do you consider the word "gaijin" racist?