JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
-
- 秘書及び業務サポート
- 加治金属工業株式会社, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥4.0M / Year
-
- 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
-
- ALT - Mie Prefecture - Yokkaichi City - June start
- NPO法人グローバル教育推進機構（GLAD), Mie
- Salary: ¥230,000 / Month For a full working month. Some months differ.
1
Eleanor Goldsmith
Thanks for posting that, Elephunk.
Posted in: Russian consul in Japan dies in cliff fall
0
Eleanor Goldsmith
Nigel is quite correct - it was halted for winter - I have my seasons/months mixed up since moving to the southern hemisphere!
Posted in: 4 workers confirmed dead in Niigata tunnel explosion
4
Eleanor Goldsmith
None at all, Wakarimasen - it was a tragic accident in entirely unforeseen circumstances.
Posted in: Russian consul in Japan dies in cliff fall
10
Eleanor Goldsmith
Apparently the ground was rather slippery and there was no guard rail at the edge of the cliff. It's a tragic accident and we're currently hoping that Roman, who's a friend of ours, has suffered no long-term spinal damage.
Posted in: Russian consul in Japan dies in cliff fall
1
Eleanor Goldsmith
Apparently construction had only just restarted, having been suspended in (IIRC) July last year.
Posted in: 4 workers confirmed dead in Niigata tunnel explosion
2
Eleanor Goldsmith
They already do that, but it hasn't had as big an effect as hoped. Not sure if this is going to make a massive difference either - I think it could well lead to crime and black market sales - but given that cigarettes are already about $15 NZD a pack (about 900 yen), it's bound to give some people the impetus to quit. I'm just glad that my husband quit a few years ago.
Posted in: A smoke-free country? New Zealand aims for it with 40% tobacco tax hike
0
Eleanor Goldsmith
That'll teach him to mess with an obasan!
Posted in: Woman bites off bag snatcher's finger in Sapporo
0
Eleanor Goldsmith
Nice to see a good news story. I kept a budgie when I was a child, but he refused to talk, despite my best efforts to teach him.
Posted in: Stray parakeet tells Tokyo police where he lives
0
Eleanor Goldsmith
"Ambulatory" is a recognised term in the medical field - it refers to outpatient care - see Wikipedia for more.
I'd add a caveat to the article - private insurance will only cover medication/treatment prescribed by your doctor which is deemed by the insurance company's doctors to be medically necessary. So if your doctor refuses to prescribe a drug, chances are that your insurance company isn't going to spring for it either. Your insurance company won't cover treatment deemed to be experimental, so if you are diagnosed with some form of cancer, for example, you shouldn't expect to be able to get it to cover treatments that are not yet mainstream.
If you aren't enrolled in one of the Japanese governmental health insurance schemes, you might find that hospitals charge you double what the full rate would be if you were enrolled in those, as a form of penalty. If your insurance company will pay the hospital directly, that's less of a problem (though you might be asked to enroll in the kokumin kenko hoken if you're having a particularly expensive treatment), but if you're having to pay first and get reimbursed later then be prepared to be quite a bit out of pocket.
Be aware that the degree to which Japanese hospitals are willing to cooperate with insurance companies varies wildly. Most charge to complete the documents required to obtain preapproval, some refuse to deal with foreign insurance companies at all, and some will be cooperative, but might take a while to return the documents to your insurance company, even if your insurance company chases them up frequently.
Finally, don't forget to check what type of insurance you have. Many policies require pre-existing conditions to be ruled out, and checking your medical history with your previous doctors might take a while. If you have private insurance, it would be worth your while to review your policy and put together the information about your previous doctors that you will need in the event of making a claim. It's better to do it in advance, when you're calm and conscious, than have the extra worry when you're already concerned about your health, or for your spouse, friend or parent to have to do it while you're unconscious.
I used to deal with inpatient claims in Japan for a private medical insurance company and we dealt with a number of the hospitals mentioned in this article. The other thing you could do if concerned about where to go is call your insurance company and check whether there are any specific hospitals in your area that they've dealt with in the past or found particularly easy to deal with.
Posted in: Medical care: Are you prepared?
2
Eleanor Goldsmith
Oh dear, exactly the same fuss as when Tatu were kissing in school uniforms in the video for All the Things She Said nearly ten years ago (now I feel old!)
It rather betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of how sexuality works....
Posted in: AKB48 candy ad criticized for encouraging homosexuality
-1
Eleanor Goldsmith
Mid-life crisis?
Posted in: SMAP's Takuya Kimura fined twice for speeding since Sept
1
Eleanor Goldsmith
My father-in-law had this surgery a few years ago and is back to his usual active self, able to walk several kms, including hills, without any problems. Angioplasty (stenting) is a possibility for arterial stenosis, but if it's too severe, then a bypass is the best option. This is a routine procedure, and as the Emperor has plenty of people to look after him, maintaining a good diet and driving him around, then I'm sure he'll recover well afterwards. Having said that, I would agree that it's probably time to let his sons take on more of his duties and for him to enjoy a more relaxed schedule, rather than an endless round of visits from one end of the country to the other.
Posted in: Emperor to have heart bypass surgery next Saturday
-1
Eleanor Goldsmith
Fun article - I particularly like the drinking game :-)
Article Unavailable
-1
Eleanor Goldsmith
I'm just jealous that clothes like this weren't really available when I was a teenager - I would definitely have been interested in something like this, which is far less revealing/annoying than "ganguro" style or even your average high school uniform....
Posted in: Japan's 'Lolita' style: cutesy and disturbing
0
Eleanor Goldsmith
The word I think you're looking for is "discreet". "Discrete" means "separate" (although you might also have meant that).
Posted in: The story of love hotels
8
Eleanor Goldsmith
@Elvensilvan - The child was 11 days old, not 11 years old.
Sounds like puerperal psychosis....
Posted in: Woman arrested for murder of 11-day-old daughter in guesthouse
0
Eleanor Goldsmith
懐かしい！When we lived in Niigata, Aizu-Wakamatsu was a favourite day-trip destination of ours. I have happy memories of visiting Goshiki-numa, Sazae-do, Tsuruga Castle and Oyakuen, as well as eating Kitakata Ramen. I have a beautiful Aizu-nuri lacquer tea caddy with a pine tree pattern that I still use for tea ceremony, and for my 30th birthday I treated myself to an Aizu-nuri jewellery box that plays Kōjō no Tsuki (荒城の月 - Old Castle in the Moonlight). Incidentally, The Scorpions did a rather good live version of that song - it's on one of their CDs.
Article Unavailable
1
Eleanor Goldsmith
This article does ring a lot of bells with me. My translation companies quite often run the checker's amendments past me and they accept any amendments I make to those. Of course, I often don't see the finished article, but I'm usually happy with those I do see (generally those that give me a translation credit).
There is a certain politician whose press conferences I've translated for publication on the web. His utterances (like those of many politicians) can be rather difficult to render into English if translated word-for-word, and he's very fond of the word "yappari". One has to find a way of conveying the substance, which can be challenging. I do enjoy that challenge in translation - there's enough creativity in it to satisfy me. It's a bit like doing a crossword, really.
Posted in: The trouble with translating
-2
Eleanor Goldsmith
Japan's getting a lot of attention from Bhutan recently - the PM of Bhutan visited a primary school in Fukushima in September and ate lunch with the children there, as well as visiting their classes and giving a talk about Bhutan. Apparently, the country also sent supplies over after the earthquake.
Posted in: Nice boots
1
Eleanor Goldsmith
It's a good idea.
Posted in: Wesendtoyou.com