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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Hikozaemon
yongfook - the text disappearing is now fixed, but the comment window now disappears - still, a lot better.
Must agree though, the ad on the top right is a bid distraction and takes away from the page. The fact that it is an ad for a company that has a policy of witholding special discounted return tickets from foreigners causes some irritation on top of that. The fact that it is fugly looking ices off the cake. I agree that it contributes to the clutter.
Peace
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Hikozaemon
Kagunlapell - in comparison to China (the topic of this discussion), I would say "absolutely". Peace
Posted in: The 2008 Nazi Olympics
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Hikozaemon
And by the way, the posting function is still buggy - as it was just now.
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Hikozaemon
I don't think that it is necessarily a matter of being "too sycophantic". The site seems to be using new software and recognizing that it won't just go back, I think the main thing is to provide feedback that can be applied to makeing the site user friendly. Some comments: - Thank you for getting that oversized ugly ass ad off the top of each page. It contributed to the appearance of clutter, and tempted me to raise some issues I have with the advertiser (http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=254). Anyway, I know you need adspace, but ads are no good if they are set up in a way to drive away readers so thank you for removing that - No search indexing of posts yet? - Text still disappears when the window is resized
Yongfook deserves credit for applying some of the feedback given here. And I'll be happy to keep giving constructive feedback on my take on the site. I don't think "put it back or I won't come any more" is really very helpful.
Peace
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Hikozaemon
Jammer. Oops, sorry mate - I skimmed through and picked up your criticism of Dubya's stuff, among all the other posts complaining that this was "biased" and picked you out, quite incorrectly. Apologies mate, I see we agree - the point was intended at those criticizing CB Liddel (with whom I have other general quality issues, but not such great ones today) for daring to make a sensationalist comparison.
I meant to target it at DubyaKiller.
DubyaKiller - incidentally, why are you getting defensive about your handle? You knew that this would offend certain people. I couldn't care less, but it is little different to the title of the article - designed to offend and grab attention.
Peace
Posted in: The 2008 Nazi Olympics
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Hikozaemon
Jammer.
Here in the free world, newspapers not only contain "news" that (ideally) has objective information and cold hard facts, but also "columns" by people who "think" and have "opinions" that "express" the biases and thoughts of the author. A column is supposed to be biased. It is putting a point of view out there for people to disagree with.
People say that sports and politics are separate like it is an objective fact when it is not. Fact is that Olympics have always been hijacked by politics. Take the 76 Olympics when all African nations withdrew because of the participation of New Zealand, that supported sporting ties with South Africa. Take the 1980 Olympics that the west boycotted because of USSR's invasion of Afghanistan.
Also, the publicity that sports attract can have positive influences. Look at Seoul - there were huge civil protests by students demanding democracy prior to the 88 games that won international attention, and I would say played a significant part in the end of one party dictatorship there not long after the 1988 Olympics. Students in China demanded freedom 19 years too early it would seem, but people in Tibet are doing exactly what students in Korea did back then, and who knows, the embarrassment may cause similar change there.
The sports embargo on South Africa was also a palpable way that people there, isolated from the world in every other way, were made to feel that their government was wrong about apartheid, in spite of what it told them to think. The facts are that the current government in China is a totalitarian regime, that does abuse its power to abuse the basic human rights of its citizens, and has a long history of crimes against its people that can certainly be compared alongside the excesses of the Nazis. The question is whether the world decides to let this be another 1936 Olympics that reinforces the dictatorship putting on the show, or if they want it to be another 1988 Olympics that shines a light on the country and brings about positive changes in democracy and human rights for the citizens of that country.
Sports and politics can be linked in positive ways, and I hope that his proves to be such an example.
Peace
Posted in: The 2008 Nazi Olympics
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Hikozaemon
Cleo, glad to see that as usual, you are a nicer, vegetarian version of myself on these things ;-)
The whole "nurture their self esteem" thing just always makes me remember this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoS8j9eNMZU
I used to get more into the "disagreeing" with zombie kids, tired salarimen and freeters with no future to look forward to... I even did the salariman thing myself for many years. But with the passage of time, I think that these things all originate out of and feed into the things I like the most about Japan. I think that Japan is essentially a peaceful "nerd" culture. People quietly focus in on the few things they care about, usually being their job and one hobby, or in the case of freeters, a hobby, supported by a job with no future, and peacefully go about their lives being nice to everyone else each in their own little worlds.
Yes, the end result is people don't really care about things outside of these little "spheres" of family, work and hobbies, like politics, international relations, civic participation and responsibility and so on, and that is what this policy is trying to address. But to my mind, I don't know that these things are really in such a need of being changed.
I guess that I have come to the conclusion that people aren't actually as miserable as I first thought they were. The framework around education needs a lot of fixing up, but I think the less government interference in the content of education, the better - especially when it comes to anything labelled as "patriotism".
Peace
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Hikozaemon
If the EU fears a reversal of progress toward EU integration and a victory of nationalist hardliners, and plans for having both Kosovo and Serbia in the EU, its members should not have split the country up to begin with.
Unless the EU makes some radical fast track offer of membership now, natioanlists will win the upcoming elections, and they will fight NATO for control of northern Kosovo. All of this could have been avoided of course...
Peace
Posted in: Serbian PM seeks EU deal ahead of elections
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Hikozaemon
Cleo - so you're advocating a kind of individual level patriotism?
"Patriotism" as I hear it get used through the media by Americans, and also by people mainly from non-democratic countries is a term that I would consider indiscriminate from "nationalism", which, technically speaking, simply means the pursuit of your own country's interests ahead of those of others.
I think Taka, Cleo and many other here agree with the view I have that "patriotism", if it is to be distinguished from simple "nationalism", it should be that "patriotism" is a combination of; 1) A deep understanding of the characteristics that define a nation and its culture from that of other countries 2) A desire to improve that country
I don't think that (1) is possible without spending time living overseas and experiencing other cultures, and developing an external perspective on one's own culture. Hence, I don't accept that your conservative voting oyajis in Nara, or West Virginia who claim to be patriots but don't know if England is a democracy or not, are truly capable of being patriots.
Second of all, I don't think that (2) is possible without a developed capacity for critical thinking and individual self reflection. Japanese education (and culture to a great degree) is weak on developing critical thinking, but I think does fairly well on critical self reflection, to the extent that the culture is one where people subordinate themselves to the group and their superiors. I think countries like the US are the reverse - everyone knows how to argue, but there arguments seldom get resolved because people "believe in themselves" so much.
So Cleo, I disagree that education should build all chidlren's "self-respect and self-esteem", at least not unless those kids actually work hard and do something to earn that praise. I think the problems many western education systems have with slipping education standards and class discipline comes down to too much ideological nurturing of the feelings of kids, which educates them to be lazy brats.
My view is simple. Trained teachers, smaller classes, more essay writing and two-way communication, and study abroad opportunities wherever possible and you will have a populace that knows what Japan is and its place in the world is, and have a view on what that role should be.
Japanese do not need to feel better about themselves. They just need to have any kind of interest at all in what their country is, and what it's place in the world should be.
Peace
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Hikozaemon
If I had any say in this, I would support Clinton. I like Obama more as a person, but he is more loopy left than centrist - anti-free trade, isolationist, etc. Although there again, as I recall Bush campaigned on isolationism and "a humble foreign policy" and look at how that ended up.
I like the Clintons, but they have failed to get the democratic nomination, and I agree that if she wants the democrats to win, she should step down and start supporting Obama now, and hopefully start trying to influence his policies.
As it is, the election will be a centrist candidate (McKain) against a far left (at least as the US goes) candidate. While I would prefer not voting for dems or republican, in order to not waste a presidential vote (all hail the 2 party dictatorship) and have it count, I think that in terms of the direction he would take America as an international citizen, McKain is the better candidate. Clinton forcing Obama to posture as a true-left candidate in a prolonged campaign will reinforce this perception and so she should pull out and let him claim her centrist supporters now if she wants the dems to have a shot.
Peace
Posted in: Clinton vows to stay in White House race
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Hikozaemon
I don't see how making sports fans switch from eating hot dogs to eating beans is going to reduce greenhouse emission. If anything, I would assume it would increase them.
Peace
Posted in: PETA urges baseball stadiums to go vegetarian
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Hikozaemon
The posting function is a bit buggy... Sometimes a post will go in and I will go to a black and white posting page - if I hit BACK on the browser, I go back and the thread is updated, but if I hit RELOAD on the black and white page, the message is posted twice.
Nessie - you should have been Gravatarated by now... I suspect you have done what I did first - after you upload one or more avatars, you need to then click on the uploaded image you want to use to selet it and assign it as your avatar. I wonder if you didn't do that, perhaps?
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Hikozaemon
One nit on Recent Comments - you could make each page a little longer, 20 comments at least instead of the current 10.
Also, I think it would be fine to have just a Most Recent Posts version of "Recently Popular Posts" on the right - just with the article name, so we get an idea of which stories have discussion being added, without necessarily having to look at each post. Just a personal preference based on what I liked to use before, but a link somewhere to a kind of "recent posts index" would be nice. Still, it is reassuring to see the responsiveness to reader suggestions and comments. Keep up the good work.
Peace
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Hikozaemon
Woohoo, my avatar kicked in! The new features are working nicely.
Peace
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Hikozaemon
Sebastien/Yongfook. Care to share how we can give ourselves KAWAII little avatars like yourselves?
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Hikozaemon
Avatars! Nice... A bit of personality. And the Recent Comments too. A step in the right direction. Good stuff yongfook. The resizing issue is still a pain though so I look forward to seeing some progress on that.
Peace
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Hikozaemon
I'm under the impression that with the new outfit running the site, using entirely different software/etc., "putting it back" is not an option, so I would suggest offering some constructive criticism of what you want. I think that with improved navigation features, the site will be a lot more comfortable to use.
JT - I think about half of the posters on this site only come here to whinge and vent to begin with. Secretly, I think that they are all happy that they have the new layout to rag on. This is the most popular thread on JT for a while, and many of the posters who said "I won't be back" are back, repeatedly, to say they don't like the site and still won't be back...
Another constructive suggestion - how about comments on the weather? I think you'd be surprised just how much dialog that would generate (a good number of comments here are on the wind speed).
Peace
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Hikozaemon
yongfook - just another thing I have noticed - I am not against the simplification of comment text (no quotes, italics, etc), but I thought it was a nice feature before that html links were recognized.
As a "down the road" feature to consider, I've come to quite enjoy the video sharing capabilities on applications like Funwall for Facebook and such - most blogs now will recognize a link to a youtube or google video and generate a preview image and in some cases even allow the video to be played on the page.
I realize that is probably still a long way ahead right now, but for now getting posted links to work would be cool - a lot of posts use links to relevant articles and web content.
A "most recent posts" feature is still what I think we all want most.
Mummet - don't worry, your axes to grind against Japan will having you coming back in no time like a submissive, battered wife.
Peace
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Hikozaemon
Actually I've been going through a bit of a Shiina Ringo thing lately. Not drop dead good looking, but taken as a package - style, talent, everything else, she is probably my current sexiest woman anywhere: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwqbMGSoR-Q&NR=1
Posted in: Who gets your vote for the sexiest man or woman in the world?
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Hikozaemon
I second RR's nomination of either of the Kano sisters/brothers.
Peace
Posted in: Who gets your vote for the sexiest man or woman in the world?