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
-10
Fredster
and in light of lesson one the resounding take home message for Japanese Corporations is;
Lesson two: Don't hire any Brits..........................
Anybody that thinks that "Wally Whistle Blower" did less harm than good, needs a reality check...
What was that guy's name again....... ummmm...... ummmmm...... That's right he's just a footnote on a wiki page now.... What a hero....
Posted in: Olympus reports Y33.08 bil net loss for 9 months to December
0
Fredster
Sorry, proof reading brainfart...
Should read...
In the end the Sapporo Snow Festival is all about promoting the uniqueness of both Sapporo & Hokkaido... To that end, the SnoFest has proven to be one of the BEST tools and most historically significant ways we can accomplish that IMO...
Posted in: Sapporo Snow Festival gets under way
1
Fredster
grammefriday wrote
The Sapporo Snow Festival - like so many other festivals and cultural events here in Japan, have HAD to change in order to survive and attract both participants and attendees...
I don't really know how to quantify how much "charm" it has lost - but I suppose I can understand what you are trying to say - - being said however the SnoFest has never been quant or charming to me because it is such a large and well attended event... This is a Big, Bustling and Vibrant event that was too にぎあか to be charming to me...
You speak as though you live here, so I assume that you know that the general Japanese populous grows more tired of such events year on year ( citing that "it's just the same thing year after year" ) and so in order to have the economic boost from events such as this the festival organizers have had to make certain commercial sponsorship trade offs and pander to visiting foreigners from Taiwan, China, Korea etc.., in order to facilitate the very survival of these culturally significant events.
Your post makes these things seem negative - au contraire - they are in fact just a normal side effect of a increasingly westernized population in Japan as well as the harsh reality of what it takes to finance these cultural events without unnecessarily burdening the local taxpayers...
In the end the Sapporo Snow Festival is all about promoting the uniqueness of both Sapporo & Hokkaido - that that end it is one of the BEST and historically significant ways we can accomplish this...
Cheers,
Posted in: Sapporo Snow Festival gets under way
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Fredster
All you need to do is watch 1 installment of Whale Wars and you will answer your own question...
By your logic - If the J-boats have prop-fouling countermeasures then the SS'ers would know and it would be downright silly for them to even attempt such a dangerous maneuver...
Countermeasures or not - no such a system is completely infallible - as such, I myself would not be taking any chances of being stranded in the Southern Ocean with a disabled ship because I was too overconfident to think that the SS'ers couldn't get LUCKY... just once...
Posted in: 3 anti-whalers injured after Japanese crew throw hooks, bamboo poles at them
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Fredster
The story conveniently omits the following relevant points...
-The small boats used by SS are trying to drag ropes and cables across the bow of the J-boats in order to try to foul their propellers and disable their propulsion and steering systems - in this case to try to break the J-boat from tailing them and relaying their position to the other J-boats in the fleet so that they can avoid them....
-In order for the SS inflatables to have the best chance of fouling the props they want to get as close as possible before releasing their ropes...
-In order for the J-boats to try to counter these maneuvers they first use bamboo poles - because they are blunt and flexible - to push the inflatables away from them WITHOUT causing a puncture and thus endanger the crews ( face it - if they wanted to puncture these boats it would be easily accomplished using other methods and tools )...
-Lastly, the grappling hooks are deployed in an effort to try to snag the lines and cables being dragged by the SS boats before they can go under the boat and disable their propulsion and steering mechanisms...
CLEARLY... the J-boats actions are PURELY DEFENSIVE... If the SS'ers are going to get that close that they are putting themselves in harms way then this sort of thing is going to happen more and more...
I challenge anyone to logically refute these points - put up or shut up...
Posted in: 3 anti-whalers injured after Japanese crew throw hooks, bamboo poles at them
-1
Fredster
Kakaku are fools to think that they will ever stop creative thinkers from "gaming" the system...
It's a huge problem stateside and in EU at numerous famous ratings sites and those sites employ VERY smart people who are paid solely to spot and circumnavigate those people seeking to profit from these activities...
Threatening prosecution has NEVER worked so they have to figure out a way to stop /interrupt them pre-infraction not punish them post-infraction...
Posted in: Operator of restaurant rating website Tabelog says paid posters manipulated rankings
0
Fredster
It's all in the grand plan this year... Let the eco-nutters chase around 1 harpoon ship ( decoy ship ) while the rest of the fleet gets on about their business...
Well played and all just fine with the SSS as their prime concern is generating sound bites and footage that gets them funded again and again - so long as they have enough controversy to fuel the anti-whaler sentiment they could care less about how many whales are harvested... This is why this is a Jgov press release - give the nutters the sound bites they need to keep them happy and they will feel fulfilled...
Watson is a nutjob - I met him 25 years ago when he was chasing the "controversy du jour" culling of overpopulated wolves in Canada... He was a narcissistic nut-job then and certainly has done nothing but gotten worse - he is one of those guys that we look back on in history and say "Wow, I guess we were wrong to encourage him"...
Posted in: Japan whaling fleet obstructed by Sea Shepherd
-2
Fredster
Don't forget to double check the consultancy fees....
Posted in: Fujifilm to acquire SonoSite
-7
Fredster
Wow - way to feed the Amazon propaganda advertising machine....
A million a week during December sounds soooo impressive until you see that Apple activated 4.2 million IOS devices on Christmas day ALONE...
If Kindle Fire is on fire them what words exactly should we use to describe Apple and Android device sales during the same period ???
This whole article is just one big press release from Amazon...
Posted in: Kindle sales on fire: Amazon
1
Fredster
Wish the disinformation would simply cease...
Additional funding for the PROTECTION of the PEOPLE / Japanese Citizens manning the boats in the the whaling fleet is coming from the Secondary (?) budget allocation ( "**most but not all" of which is earmarked for PD reconstruction )...
IT IS NOT being funneled from DONATIONS for relief...
Why do people keep spouting this drivel... agenda perhaps ? ?
Posted in: Huge waves damage Sea Shepherd boat during chase
-5
Fredster
You are correct in that the door has not been WIDE open by any means - BUT it was open if only just an inch or two - - Woodford himself was evidence of that...
Semantics... 20 years from now we can look back at this and decide / debate the balance of cause and effect - but for now there is no way to tell...
FWIW - I believe that HE felt what he did was right - but I am not yet convinced that there may have been better ways for him to have gone about it...
History is full of decisions made in the heat / haste of battle that - at the time - were felt to have been in the best interest or common good that turned out to have horrific consequences for many - - in this case the vulnerable would appear to still be shareholders, banks / creditors, employees and perhaps a foreign led work force that Japan needs so badly with it's aging baby-boomer population...
History is written by the Victors - so I guess this will all come down to who comes out on top.....
Posted in: Woodford ramps up campaign to oust Olympus board
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Fredster
I am amused at all of the Woodford cheerleaders here...
It would seem that few of you have a realistic understanding of the way things work here or fail to see the trouble that all of this is going to cause for DECADES to come in the Japanese business community and how they act / react to foreign involvement or management styles...
You can forget about ANY major Japanese corporation appointing a foreigner to their board - let alone an executive position - for years and years to come because Woodford will go down as "representative" of the kind of trust one can have for such people...
Insubordination - inappropriate demands - disregard & disrespect for rank - threats in the media - whistle blowing - hostile take-overs., are all the western business character traits that are going to be associated with this guy and anyone to come after him for a long time...
This sort of thing plays right into the hands of the right-wing business leaders and the corporations / boards that those people control... "We simply can't trust them - remember what Woodford did ?"
Woodford "may" well be absolutely correct in his conclusions about who did what, why, when and where BUT shareholders will not be so easy to forget that - even with 20 years of debt cover-ups - their shares and investments in Olympus were doing just fine until he decided to blow the whole thing wide apart - - perhaps one day we will hear the REAL story behind his motivation but for now the "I wanted to protect the shareholder's interests" ( his primary duty as CEO btw ) just doesn't wash with me = It all seems just so self-serving IMO...
Me thinks I can still hear the reverberations of a very large door being slammed shut to anyone non-japanese who had any ambitions of corporate career success in Japan...
Time will tell.......
Posted in: Woodford ramps up campaign to oust Olympus board
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Fredster
badmigrane
You sure can using a VPN account... works for me... perhaps google AceVPN....
Posted in: KDDI to sell new iPhone in Japan, ending Softbank's domination
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Fredster
Because... Some people are more concerned with having fun and enjoying life in their own distinct way than sitting around wondering WHY other people are doing stuff that has absolutely zero effect on their own lives ?? 8-)
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Fredster
Only a non-domestic manufacturer without a solid grasp on how business is done here would come out and publicize the fact that they see a tremendous opportunity to increase their market share and profile in Japan as a result of a competitor's misfortune resulting from such an unprecedented disaster...
It's one thing to ramp up promotion and production to try to fill the gap and "absorb" some share of the market not being fulfilled by manufacturers hit by this disaster - it's another to celebrate and promote it as a good opportunity to take advantage...
This will win them no long term solutions to their domestic market woes... especially at 5m yen for product that is already available for near 1/2 the price...
Posted in: Ford sees chance to woo Japanese buyers
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Fredster
I see 3 NPA bodyguards in Frame and possibly 1 IHA staffer...
Posted in: Showing support
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Fredster
most of the footage I saw last night from this location was time stamped around 8 pm
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0
Fredster
I believe she has been in a serious relationship for some time with Nakai-san from Smap !!!
Posted in: Kumi Koda talks love on last date of mini-tour
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Fredster
Wow - takes less than a week to...
convene a "Crimes against Humanity tribunal"...
revoke the diplomatic status of Gadhafi and his entire family / entourage...
Freeze all his assets in foreign countries ( USA first and foremost )...
meet and determine UN Security council resolutions against this oppression...
etcetera etc...,
BUT they still can't get together and do anything productive in regard to DPRK - even after the shell their neighbors ( killing civilians ) and torpedo a naval vessels ??????????
DON'T be telling me it's Not about the OIL...
I have no disillusions about Gadhafi being a Madman and that he must go but is this the same Obama who won the Nobel Peace Prize - All these threats and Sabre rattling seems to be just another page out Bush's playbook on Iraq...
IMO any concerted efforts on the part of the UN to try to strong-arm Gadhafi or use force will only result in HORRENDOUS civilian casualties - because when backed into a corner with NO WAY OUT this kook is capable of ANYTHING........ ANYTHING......
Posted in: Obama declares Gadhafi must leave Libya now
-1
Fredster
There is no more reason for it now then there would have been 6 months or 6 years ago... It's a convenient time for somebody... Who ? who really knows... religious opposition ? political opposition ? democratic movement ? foreign interest ( governmental and non-governmental ) in Libya's resources ? political revenge ?
MK has always exibited that he has absolutely no "compassion against killing" so who are the idiots fanning the flames that are getting civilians / pawns / cannon fodder killed... And even more of interest is "What is their Endgame / Goal"....
Posted in: Protesters hit by hail of gunfire in Libya; U.S. freezes Gadhafi assets