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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Fadamor
The crazy thing about leaks is: You can't fix them until they appear, even if you KNOW they're going to appear. Some of the posters here seem to be implying that leaks should be fixed BEFORE they happen. Sorry, I left my time machine at the cleaners.
Posted in: Frozen water causes leakages at Fukushima nuclear power plant
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Fadamor
I said this was going to happen. With the shutdown of the nuclear plants, the "conventional" plants are going to have to increase output to make up the difference. Increased output equals increased emissions. Different sources of power present their own societal issues. You go with the sources (and their issues) that you can live with.
Posted in: Japan's emissions rising after nuclear crisis
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Fadamor
The problem with Japan is mostly with their "consensus-building" mentality. Nothing gets done until a consensus has been reached. An organization making a presentation to a Japanese company can "ace" the presentation with the Japanese company's representatives praising the presentation and the organization, yet never get a follow-up. Why? Because the Japanese company's representatives will not make a REAL decision until it has been referred to the rest of their company and a consensus reached.
Now take that mentality and apply it to the Japanese government. If your leadership is changed every year, it becomes impossible to reach a consensus on ANYTHING and the country stagnates. Just as it requires extra energy to go from treading water to swimming forward, trying to initiate change in how government works also requires an inordinate amount of extra effort. The existing political base acts like the water does in the swimming analogy: They resist any deviation from the status quo. Only with concerted effort on the part of the swimmer will progress be made. Japan needs such a swimmer at the helm.
Posted in: Ex-U.S. diplomat Maher pulls no punches on Japan
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Fadamor
The hospital in my city (Manassas, Virginia, USA) prohibits smoking anywhere inside the buildings. Signs and ashtrays are posted about 50 feet from the entrances. By doing that it makes it real easy to detect people breaking the rules - just follow the stench of cigarette smoke. I laugh at the people who wave away their cigarette smoke with their hand as if that's going to make them or their room/office reek less.
Posted in: Fatal hit-and-run suspect escapes from hospital in Wakayama
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Fadamor
Why include an amateurish picture with this article that has nothing to do with the article? "Hey! If we move the camera while taking the picture of a plane, it will make the plane blurry and hard to focus on! Whoa! Cloak of invisibility!"
We often refer to things being "invisible" to radar when the more accurate description would be to say that they are not detectable by radar. This actually IS a significant step in the pursuit of 100% radar invisibility. Even the latest stealth aircraft have SOME radar return. The addition of this material would reduce the signatures even further.
Posted in: New material takes 3D 'invisibility cloak' a step closer
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Fadamor
Yeah and the species we now know as the giraffe ALWAYS had a neck that long. Riiiggghhhht. The simple fact is that a genetic modification resulted in a longer neck - allowing the modified animal to reach more food in the trees than the original shorter-necked version. The longer neck allowed that GENETICALLY MODIFIED species to become dominant and the original shorter-necked species died-out because they couldn't compete for the food source There were ZERO humans involved in that genetic modification.
By the way, while mammoths and saber-toothed cats are extinct, other species in the same families survived because their genetic modifications over the years allowed them to successfully compete and thrive in the changing environment. There are STILL cougars, pumas, and ocelots of the family Felidae in existence which are from the same family as the saber-toothed cats. There are STILL African and Indian elephants of the family Elephantidae around which are from the same family as mammoths. Why? Because their genetic modifications that happened in the past allowed them to better compete and thrive than their ill-fated cousins.
Stating that genetic modification is only conducted by humans is ludicrous.
Posted in: Gene breakthrough to help farmers hit by tsunami
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Fadamor
Genetic modification doesn't occur naturally? I guess that's why we still have mastodons and saber-toothed tigers roaming the world. It's also why we're the Australopithecus species. Oh. Wait... Let me guess, you're one of those "The world was created 6000 years ago by God and evolution is a crock" people, right?
Posted in: Gene breakthrough to help farmers hit by tsunami
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Fadamor
Yeah. It threw his doping schedule all off when the tester didn't show up in the "window" of time that Murray allowed for him to test. I guess Mr. Murray still hasn't grasped the concept of "Random Drug Testing"
Posted in: Murray upset with late-night drug testing
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Fadamor
Even in his "Mork and Mindy" heyday, Robin Williams was known more for the wide range of voices he could present in dizzying combinations.
They haven't decided whether to give him a live-action part, yet. Maybe Mork makes a return to Earth?
Posted in: Monty Python members to re-unite for new film
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Fadamor
I agree. When you cross-breed strains in an attempt to reach a desired genetic configuration, you're doing genetic modification. This is why I don't have an issue with genetically-modified foods. Humans have been performing genetic modifications for centuries and we haven't died-out as a species yet.
Posted in: Gene breakthrough to help farmers hit by tsunami
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Fadamor
Question, if the suspect's detention was suspended for the medical examination, then isn't the headline false? If there's no detention in effect, you can't say "escapes from hospital". The guy just left the hospital without his police escort. What you COULD say is that he eluded police because once he left the hospital grounds, the "medical examination" suspension of detention was obviously terminated.
Posted in: Fatal hit-and-run suspect escapes from hospital in Wakayama
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Fadamor
Seriously? You watch tennis on TV just so you can hear "thwock, tink-thwock, tink-thwock"? I guess it would have been too difficult to just turn the volume down, huh?
Posted in: Azarenka thrashes Sharapova to win Australian Open
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Fadamor
If this is a direct quote from CNNGo, then they need to do some work on their English. If the yen was "historically strong", then prices would have ALWAYS been strong. I think what they meant to say was, "...JNTO also says the record-setting strength of the Japanese yen has caused many potential visitors to stay away."
As for me, it seems like there's plenty of Japan not affected by the Fukushima disaster and as a tourist, even if I traveled through Fukushima I wouldn't be exposed to anything even remotely hazardous. It's the people who are there year-round who are at risk due to accumulation.
Posted in: Quake drives tourist numbers to rock bottom
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Fadamor
...and it won't be long before the levels of particulate matter in the air start rising as the coal and oil-fired plants stay online longer. I wonder if it will return to the levels of the 60's and 70's?
Posted in: Chugoku Electric shuts Shimane No. 2 reactor, leaving Japan with only 3 reactors online
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Fadamor
Hoserfella asked in the beginning why 54 reactors were needed when Japan could get by with three. It's a cost issue and TEPCO's business customers are already discovering the difference in the cost of nuclear vs. coal/oil-based power generation. Residential customers will soon find their electric bills on the rise as well. Coal/oil has to be imported regularly, and that costs takusan 円. Those costs naturally are passed on to the end users. Oil-based power generation also makes Japan dependent on oil suppliers like Iran.
Posted in: Chugoku Electric shuts Shimane No. 2 reactor, leaving Japan with only 3 reactors online
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Fadamor
Heh. "Spice" and other synthetic pot became such a problem in Japan that the U.S. Marine forces there were banned from possessing it two years ago. (From January 4, 2010):
http://www.military.com/military-report/marines-ban-spice-drug
Posted in: Shibuya herb vendor raided after 3 teenagers fall ill
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Fadamor
As golf is an individual, rather than team sport, I don't see why the tours aren't a year-round deal. Individual golfers build breaks and vacations into the tour schedule as they see fit. Different golfers will naturally choose different events to stand-down from depending on their current situations. They could start the next season the week after the PGA Championship and you'd have golfers there. Probably not the top teir, but how many of those are attending the Q-schools during that time now? (Answer: None)
Posted in: Asian events could gain higher U.S. PGA profile
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Fadamor
I wonder if the people displaced by the reactor disaster are included in those eligible for the free tickets? Their homes weren't technically "destroyed", but they still have been rendered unliveable.
Posted in: Japan to play Taiwan in March 11 baseball charity game
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Fadamor
I'd take your word for it... except for the picture that accompanies this article. The guy in the right foreground looks neither like a reporter nor a politician. He appears to have just been pushed out of the way and is dressed how you would expect a protester (as opposed to a journalist or politician) would dress. And that's just the one captured in this shot. Still want to stick to that "20 meter" claim?
Posted in: Aboriginal leaders condemn treatment of Australian PM; Gillard's shoe put on eBay
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Fadamor
(Sigh) Just another variation on the "They were ASKING for it!" pseudo-defense of sexual misconduct. Women join the military for many reasons and none of them involve fantasies. Maybe their family has a history of military service. Maybe they feel that the military is the type of structured lifestyle they could flourish in. Maybe they just love shooting guns and lobbing grenades. Maybe they see military service as a way to get/finish a college degree that they couldn't afford while working at McDonalds.
Please keep your own fantasies to yourself.
Posted in: Sundance lifts lid on rape in U.S. military