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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Honne
Uhm, check out what James over at Japan Probe is saying regarding this video.
http://www.japanprobe.com/2011/07/26/fukushima-residents-angrily-shout-at-mid-level-bureaucrat-demand-he-accept-bottled-urine/
Didn't bother leaving a response there since I'm done with his site. He was one of those who was constantly outspoken about the sensationalist foreign media coverage in the period immediately following the disaster and was also one of those downplaying the nuclear crisis as a result.
Look at this video rationally, sure. I have no problems with that. I also realized it was just a small part of the meeting as the rest of the clips it was taken from is linked in the description. But he seems to be missing the point regarding this heavily edited video and that is the way these government bureaucrats are acting. And spare me about the mid-level bureaucrat who don't have the authority. There is a proper way for even low and mid-level workers (does not need to be just civil servants) to respond and acting in this elusive manner sends all sorts of wrong signals no matter if this was just a small portion of the meeting. They can easily respond that while it is not their responsibility and do not have the authority, they will check and get back in touch with the local government and residents as soon as possible. What the hell is so difficult with that?
His previous article regarding the contaminated beef was even worse in downplaying the situation because no matter how much scientific data he cited in that post, this again is missing the point completely. It's about the government mishandling the situation and as a result, causing its citizens undue anxiety. I can see providing some leeway early on but we're going to be heading into the 5th and 6th months soon. Remember, there was a period of time when the politicians were in-fighting about Kan; a period of time they could have been working with local government officials to set guidelines and insure that this contaminated product would not even accidentally get into the supply chain.
And I'm expected to have any trust and confidence in the government after they've managed to screw the pooch with their inaction?
Posted in: Fukushima mobilizes 3,900 to help decontaminate 'hot spots'
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Honne
Throughout this whole post-March 11th disaster, I've maintained a rational outlook while also having contingency plans based upon factual information gleaned from multiple sources. One of my biggest issues however was contamination infiltrating the food supply and well, no need to repeat what is slowly leaking out. I say slowly because it is quite clear, the government has been far more reactive than proactive in handling the situation and cannot be trusted. They've been slow in providing compensation to those directly affected because of bureaucratic red tape when they should be going all out to the cut the crap out and help these people. What ticks me off is this the contaminated food ended up being used in school lunches. What is the Tokyo metropolitans stance on this? The standard serving poses no immediate risk. To which I ask, what about the long term cumulative effects? There is this air of denial going on and that is inexcusable.
Over the past few weeks, we've also been discussing leaving because one of the key criteria was the credibility and timeliness of the information being released as well as the government pulling out all the stops to insure the food supply would not be contaminated. Well they've unfortunately managed to fail on both accounts Family and friends here are growing livid with the handling of the aftermath and it is probably only a matter of time before this will begin to boil over with the average citizen, the more the government continues to bungle things up.
Posted in: No. of tainted cattle shipped around Japan nears 1,500
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Honne
Great, the new JT site now allows me to see photos much larger if I accidentally clicked on it like I did here. Now I need to wash my eyes out.
But I agree with others, the charity side of Gaga is a thumbs up.
Posted in: Going gaga
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Honne
Thank you for calling some of us crazy and being concerned for our well being but I think I'll make those decisions on my own (like certifying myself crazy and considering the need to leave.) I've stated before I have various contingency plans in place depending upon the analysis of various sources of information.
Posted in: TEPCO struggling with water treatment system at plant
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Honne
Quite a bit of people last weekend who saw the early published photos from the recent Weekly Playboy thought there was something odd about her. Comments made was that her eyes seemed expressionless and didn't go with the smile. More than a handful said her face looked plastic and were already speculating the face was a mashup of current members.
I suppose it is something instinctive where while the CG mashup is still rather impressive, it still isn't easy to piece together the subtleness of details which emote a natural expression.
Posted in: AKB48's 'newest member' turns out to be computer-generated image
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Honne
Excuse me... but what the hell is wrong with you? I've ignored your nonsensical postings up until now but this takes the cake.
As someone else said, there is more than enough scenes of heart wrenching devastation. Most people who have gone to the areas themselves say the same stuff. The pictures and videos do not do any justice until you see and sense it with your your own eyes, ears, and nose. Scenes like this are more than common but I guess in your view, it must all be setup. Oh yeah, some journalists went out of their way to put all those shoes of children, their backpacks and belongings in a strewn pile just for a photo-op to make a quick buck.
Posted in: Tired teddy
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Honne
Kan studied physics at Todai. That led him to create and patent his invention, a mahjong calculator for tallying the complicated point system used. His science background does not make him a nuclear expert but he does have a far better foundation at better understanding this stuff than most of his fellow colleagues and probably, the general public.
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Honne
Ad nauseum.... again, that can only take place once they are sufficiently cooled. You do know the fuel rods in the reactor core are extremely hot and radioactive right? Even once the fuel has been depleted and relocated for further cooling in spent fuel pools, they remain extremely hot and radioactive for a long time. Only once that spent fuel has cooled down sufficiently can the process of longer term dry cask storage be performed. In otherwords, what currently exists at Daiichi cannot easily be removed elsewhere until its been sufficiently cooled. What also compounds that entire process are the layers of damage to structures and equipment. Moving around in those damaged buildings is difficult as it is not to mention the high levels of radiation which prevents workers from being in those areas for long periods of time. Add to that trying to move extremely hot and highly radioactive fuel rods. It would be great if Star Trek like transporters exist where we could quickly zap these things into some remote quadrant in outer space but we don't.
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Honne
Ad nauseum statement follows: the fuel rods need to be sufficiently cooled first before they can be dry casked and that is going to take awhile. The spent fuel is far cooler than what exists in the reactor core but those are still hot enough to continually boil water away.
IANANE-NP, IAJAAPOJT (I am not a nuclear engineer-nuclear physicist, I am just an armchair poster on Japan Today)
The fuel or whatever remains of it needs to be sufficiently cooled 1st. With all the problems and damage which are currently known to exist, encasing the reactors in concrete will only complicate matters with regards to the current makeshift cooling process. If you completely entomb what currently exists, how is the remaining hot fuel going to be cooled? Without long term cooling, the current residual heat from the fuel rods and/or corium will melt right through whatever remains of the containment vessel, through the concrete entombment, and into the ground below spreading lethal radioactivity into the environment. That scenario would make the amount of radioactivity that has been released from the plant since March look like a tiny little puff.
I've stated it before. There are no quick fixes with Daiichi. If there were, at least one real expert from somewhere in the world would have made such a solution known to the public via some means as they'd really be able to make a name for themselves. Not one nuclear expert has stepped forward with an alternative quick fix solution for Daiichi. And all the damage sustained there only makes the entire process more time consuming and difficult.
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1
Honne
This whole fly-jin thing is pitting foreigners who stayed versus foreigners who fleed. Unfortunately, it isn't so simple because my personal take has always been that everyone has their own personal reasons.... folks with kids for example would have a very good reason for maybe wanting to be cautious.
There are of course groups of foreigners who for some reason or another have this rather superiority complex... or maybe even the opposite (inferior complex and have to always prove they know a lot about Japanese culture and society to everyone else). You know the types; the ones who feel they've earned their "wings" based on their years living in this country along with the amount they've learned in that time regarding the different facets of everyday Japanese life resulting in "achieving a higher level" of knowledge and expertise compared to other foreigners (I guess in their eyes, they would label these other lesser foreigners as n00bie gaijin).
Some foreigners who spend serious amounts of time blogging about their life in Japan come across this way. I know most done mean it but some do have this serious condescending style in their approach to sharing their idea of Japanese culture to the rest of the world. A few of those sites (not going to name them here but some are known sites in the gaijin J-blog community) clearly also had a chip on their shoulder directly after March 11th regarding the whole thing about foreigners fleeing the country and causing this foreigner versus foreigner derision in the first place.
My stance has always been that each individuals circumstances are unique and if a foreigner felt it was in their best interest to leave based upon their own situations, then I don't see why some other foreigners felt it was any of their personal business and taking it to a level of creating another subclass. When you look at these folks, they come across as class A morons.
However, I also felt that if someone was leaving on their own decision (weren't being directed by their employer to leave as some companies did), they at least owed their employer some form of simple notice and the reason why. This is just plain common courtesy which I know is very lacking in todays society. Yes, I know some companies are cr*p but in this day and age where jobs are not a dime a dozen, you don't want to burn the bridge or leave a less than desirable impression of yourself no matter how crummy that firm is. I personally would give far more leeway to someone who at least informed me they were concerned for their personal safety or whatever other reason as opposed to someone who packed up and quickly skipped town for a few days without saying anything (communicating intentions goes a long way when it comes to employment). Regardless though, I wouldn't go about classifying these folks in the derogatory manner that some did in terms of the whole fly-jin thing.
IMHO, the ones who intend to engage in that going forward are the ones with the problem as all they are doing is showing what really small minds they have. They really aren't that much better than the ones doing the tasteless scaremongering.
Posted in: Why did those foreigners who decided to leave Japan in the aftermath of the March 11 disaster come in for so much derision from some people who labeled them with words like 'flyjin?'
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Honne
I posted in some other topic last week that this would be an issue which would vex even the experts. Short term, everything has been stopgap as far as "solutions" go. There was even an "expert" on CNN who was asked if dumping this into the ocean was the best route to take and he said it wasn't but that it was essentially the lesser of two evils. In otherwords, this "expert" in the short term also had no better idea of where to put this lesser contaminated water so that they can use the storage for the more highly contaminated stuff.
Thus I highly doubt any of the armchair "experts" here on JT have any feasible solutions which those working in the nuclear industry worldwide haven't already thought of because if there was one, there would surely be at least ONE nuclear industry expert to have gotten some serious airtime with their solution.
This also isn't about shokatta ga nai and sticking ones head in the sand. Human hindsight is always 20/20 about what should have been done. Maybe if one needs to have so much contingencies in place, maybe that is telling that such a thing should not be done in the first place. Our society has placed great demands for ubiquitous amounts of power and nuclear has been one method for countries that lack natural resources. But like everything else in life, there is no free lunch as there are always potential consequences. Nuclear energy has its achilles heel being shown much more clearly now. You cannot just shut it off and be done with it. There is a long maintenance cycle which includes cooling the fuel rods and then dealing with the ultra long term storage of spent fuel rods. When the system works, it works well. But when things go bad, they go bad big time.
Posted in: Japan says dumping radioactive water in ocean doesn't violate law
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Honne
+1!
Posted in: This is not a test
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Honne
Maybe because he doesn't know how to operate those two?
Posted in: Edano criticizes TEPCO for series of mistakes on nuclear plant
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Honne
Unfortunately, this is a huge understatement by Edano. As I mentioned in the other article, one just has to look at the videos of the structural damage to the reactor buildings from the hydrogen blasts to deduce there is going to be damage to the contents of those buildings which just complicates the task of stabilizing the cooling situation for both the reactors and spent fuel storage pools. The radiation complicates everything since it makes it difficult to get into the trouble spots to see what is happening; then there is the whole matter of trying to fix them under the circumstances. We're witnessing the classic "exploding parts" problem where you have all these issues cropping up but are able to only address a few of the higher priority ones that are critical to getting the situation stabilized; but fixing the most pressing issues are wrought with other problems that prevents resolving them quickly.
Still, that does not excuse TEPCO's mismanagement with regards to monitoring and reporting radiation levels in a timely manner as well as ensuring the safety of their workers at the site who have it even worse in terms of having to deal with direct exposure to ionized radiation.
Knowing the modus operandi of large entities in how/when they release information to prevent a larger scale of anxiety and panic amongst the general populace that can lead to irrational behavior, it is quite clear (when reading between the lines of Edano's public criticism) that the government is now feeling more pressure in walking that fine line balancing act because as time passes, the public's level of anxiety will naturally increase. I mean look at the run on bottled water when they just released information related to the increase of iodine in the water plant water supply. The problem is compounded by the scope and magnitude of the disaster (the natural one up north and the man made one at the Daiichi plant). There are no quick easy fixes with the nuclear plant issue and that in itself has a trickle effect on so many other things which the government, businesses, and the populace will be facing in the coming months.
And at this juncture, I highly doubt the government even cares about putting on a good public face regarding the selling of their nuclear technology to other countries because their immediate first priority with the nuclear plant is getting the necessary cooling infrastructure in place to provide long term cooling of the reactor and spent fuel storage. Getting that under control reduces the long term radioactivity risks faced by the public.
Posted in: Edano criticizes TEPCO for series of mistakes on nuclear plant
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Honne
Thank you for giving me a really good laugh for the first time in two weeks. It is much appreciated in these trying times.
Nah, filtering out pee requires TWO of them Brita's... Kanpai!
Posted in: Tokyo shoppers clean store shelves of basic goods
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Honne
I wonder if JIZASU KURAISUTO-san enjoyed Aomori's delicious apples and garlic?
Posted in: Jesus Christ lived in Aomori - really?
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Honne
This might just be a case of death by natural causes. Quite a number of her blog postings seemed to complain of poor health (worse than when she stepped away from the geinou in 2006). One photo looks like she is getting her hair done and she jokes about how it looks like she has alopecia areata (hair loss).
What comes around goes around. Karma usually has a way of taking care of classless and disrespectful people like that.
RIP Ms. Iijima.
Posted in: Former porn star Ai Iijima found dead at Tokyo apartment
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Honne
DJ OZMA never had any high limits to begin with. His act and resulting popularity was just a flash in the pan which ended up growing old like the "GET'S" dude, Hard Gay, and what will happen if it already hasn't happened to one trick ponies like Yoshio Kojima.
Posted in: DJ OZMA to retire at end of year; become producer
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Honne
I believe that Appleinsider article is misleading because it is missing some important pieces of information. If you go to the original Tech-On article http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/20080808/156265/, those numbers (391,500 and 215,400) are year-over-year numbers from July 2007-2008 and not for just the month of July 2008.
The article also says near the bottom that SoftBank added 52,000 new subscribers. That number is the gain from the iPhone 3G in July 2008. KDDI's numbers for July 2008 was flat at 17,000 new customers so yes, if you look at it from that perspective, the iPhone 3G had a huge impact on KDDI. The number of actual units sold however is not impressive at just 52,000. This is why this article says they now expect sales to reach just a little over 100,000 units instead of the original 1 million because now that the initial demand is over, SoftBank is way below the rate needed to achieve that original goal unless sales pickup drastically.
Posted in: Softbank boosting efforts to shore up sales of Apple Inc.'s iPhone 3G
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Honne
I believe they used footage from some of the surveillance and traffic cams in the area to figure out the length.
Posted in: Porn actress, producers arrested for filming in rear of dump truck