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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Hotbox08
Update: I've just noticed an article showing the second edition of the IBAF (International Baseball Federation) rankings.
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/baseball/story/2009/03/25/sp-baseball-rankings.html?ref=rss
According to the article, major tournaments like the WBC, the World Cup, and the Olympics carry more weight, while they also take into account junior, youth, and world university competitions.
Posted in: 'Samurai Japan' return to heroes' welcome after WBC triumph
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Hotbox08
Being the WBC champions should be no more or no less important than being the Olympic champions. Just as it is in other sports, like boxing (which has three legitimate championship belts: the WBC, WBA, and IBF), being the WBC champion carries weight, but no more weight than being the Olympic champion. I'm sure Korea wanted to "unify" the championships by winning it, but to end up being the runners-up to me (as well as being the current Olympic champions) signify that Korea should be ranked slightly ahead of Japan in terms of international baseball rankings. It's the same as in soccer/football; international competitions like the World Cup, the Olympics, and continental championships like the Euros and Asian Championships all carry weight in determining world rankings. As such, being Olympic champions should carry weight as well in determining the world rankings of baseball. In fact, in the first ever International Baseball Federation rankings, Cuba was first, the U.S. second, Korea third, and Japan fourth. It will be intersting to see if and when they come out with a more current ranking of the teams.
Posted in: 'Samurai Japan' return to heroes' welcome after WBC triumph
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Hotbox08
Bluetiger, enough with the "Japan didn't shake hands with Korea" comments. Whether all of them, or some of them shook hands with them or not, we will never definitively know, since the footage shown on TV did not (and probably was not capable of) showing all angles of Dodger Stadium and at all times. And even if all Japanese players didn't shake hands with all Korean players, it happens.
Yes, I've seen players go over and shake another player's hand in the NBA and NFL, but not all players do it. Many others were either too busy clutching the winning ball, doing a stupid dance, or pouting and walking straight to the locker room. In fact, I've watched the 2008 World Series on TV and saw the Phillies celebrating on the pitcher's mound for the longest time without any of them making any move to shake a Tampa Bay player's hand. But hey, they earned their right to celebrate. Let boys be boys. On the flip side, the Tampa Bay Rays were shown sitting glumly in their dugout; not one of them moving. So what? It happens. Such is life.
Yes, ideally it would be better to have everyone line up after and shake each other's hands with a tip of their caps. Sadly, these things only happen with Little League teams, high school, and sometimes college. In Japan, I've only seen it happen with Little League and high school teams (as in the "Senbatsu" baseball tournament). Maybe the money pro players make, somehow goes to their heads and they forget proper protocol.
Posted in: Team Japan
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Hotbox08
Very interesting to see many posts saying Korean players were playing dirty and having calls go their way, and also posts saying that Japanese players were playing dirty and having calls go their way. Objectively speaking, after having watched the game in its entirety and watching several recaps again on the Internet, it was an overall fairly clean game. There were of course some disputable calls on both sides of play and some borderline dirty plays from both teams, but when you have an intense rivalry like Japan and Korea has, and on a stage as big as this, you will have moments which can be interpreted as "dirty" or "hard play" from both sides of the coin. Whether or not one missed or bad call would have turned the outcome of the game around is pure speculation. It was nice to see both teams continue to play hard in this game and not gripe about supposed missed or bad calls. Good show, Team Korea and Team Japan! It's like watching a Boston Red Sox/New York Yankees game. Red Sox supporters will always claim the Yanks played dirty and vice versa. In the end though, you have to continue to play the game and let your skills determine the outcome, rather than letting complaints do so.
In any case, it was an excellent way to cap off a tournament which was better than the 2006 version. As the color commentator Rick Sutcliffe said, it will only get better in 2013.
Posted in: Ichiro delivers as Japan beats South Korea 5-3 to win WBC title
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Hotbox08
True, JohnDoe. That did happen, but too be fair and objective, you have to also mention the many questionable and bad calls that went against Japan, like the questionable 7th innning ending double play which commentator Rick Sutcliffe questioned on the broadcast.
Posted in: Ichiro delivers as Japan beats South Korea 5-3 to win WBC title
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Hotbox08
Uhh, highhope. Actually, having a rule like that would be strange. Winning any combination of three wins within a best-out-of-five game series is enough to rule out the possibility of luck. Or, you could make it a "best-out-of-seven" series with the winner having to take four games, but not necessarily consecutive. That's what happens in the World Series, the Stanley Cup finals, and the NBA finals.
Posted in: Ichiro delivers as Japan beats South Korea 5-3 to win WBC title
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Hotbox08
Congratulations to Japan! Also, good job to Korea for making it a very tense and exciting game. It seems as if these two teams were meant to play each other in the final, since only Japan could have any chance of beating Korea, and vice-versa.
Good point smithinjapan. I have a feeling that Korea vs. the U.S. wouldn't have been as competitive. And although the attendance might have been a bit higher, the attendance in this game (54,846) is nothing to be ashamed at. In fact, that is much higher than the 43,874 average attendance of the 2008 World Series between the Philadelphia Phillies and Tampa Bay Rays. And you know, in American baseball, it doesn't get any bigger than the World Series.
In any case, congratulations to Japan for a well-deserved victory.
True imacat, but in all fairness to Team USA, they will be back. And in their post-game comments after their loss, they clearly understand where their weaknesses lie and I'm sure they will be much better prepared in 2013. In fact, I'm sure all teams will be better trained and prepared. I just hope that the schedule gets worked out better so that we'll see a more mixture of teams playing each other. I've heard that Bud Selig was thinking of expanding it to 24 teams with play-in games. Also, he was considering mixing the teams after the first round pool play.
Posted in: Ichiro delivers as Japan beats South Korea 5-3 to win WBC title
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Hotbox08
Yeah, it should be a good matchup. I'm sure the U.S. and Japan won't be making as many errors as Venezuela did.
Posted in: South Korea beats Venezuela 10-2 to reach WBC finals
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Hotbox08
smithinjapan: Sorry, I meant this WBC and the last WBC combined. I guess if you included the Olympics, then Korea's record would be 22-3, with all three losses coming to Japan.
Posted in: South Korea beats Venezuela 10-2 to reach WBC finals
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Hotbox08
Congratulations to Korea for a well-played game. Yet again, it goes to show how great pitching and defense can overcome great hitting. Venezuela touted some great hitters, but just couldn't overcome tremendous pitching by the 22 year-old Yoon (I'm sure he caught the eye of some MLB scouts after his performance today). Wow! According to the announcers, Korea is now 13-3 in this WBC and the 2008 Beijing Olympics combined. The three losses of course, coming at the hands of Japan. Korea seems to be in the driver's seat now, since they have an off day tomorrow, and their pitchers are well-rested. Tomorrow's game between the U.S. and Japan will be interesting to watch. DiceK will be on the mound and is having an excellent tourney, but the Americans are ever dangerous and some of the players know DiceK, so will be well-prepared. Good luck to both teams!
Posted in: South Korea beats Venezuela 10-2 to reach WBC finals
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Hotbox08
Congratulations Japan. As usual, it was a tight game between Japan and Korea. Good luck to the both teams in the semifinals. Interesting matchups await.
Posted in: Japan beats S Korea to set up semifinal with U.S. in WBC
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Hotbox08
Another thing that I've observed while watching this game between Cuba and Japan, is that I've never seen cleaner dugouts in my life! Wow! If any of you get a chance to see shots of dugouts in the semifinal and final games of this tournament, take a close look. Absolutely no Gatorade cups on the ground, no peanut shells, and no spit. Amazing! The Koreans' dugout was also clean, in the game they just played with Japan.
Posted in: Japan beats Cuba 5-0 to reach WBC semifinals
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Hotbox08
Too bad for the lousy conditions (fog, or "marine layer" as they would say on the West Coast; or according to the color commentator "a big 'ol Texas barbecue") at the Cuba-Japan game. It is also interesting to read opinions of people who actually attended that game:
http://www.lookoutlanding.com/2009/3/19/804088/my-night-at-the-wbc
It is quite hilarious reading.
Posted in: Japan beats Cuba 5-0 to reach WBC semifinals
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Hotbox08
bobbafett: True, the current WBC format has some flaws and it is ridiculous to see the same teams playing each other over and over. Yet, I would hardly call games between Japan and Korea boring. Other than the lopsided first meeting in this WBC between them, they've always had close hardfought games. Both teams don't pound out a lot of homers, but do play "small ball" (aggressive base-running, tagging up on sacrifice flies, laying down the bunt in key situations) very well. They also both have deep pitching rotations.
Posted in: Japan beats Cuba 5-0 to reach WBC semifinals
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Hotbox08
Congratulations to Japan for reaching the semifinals, and for yet another date with Korea. It was sad to see Cuba end their run like this, but pitching proved to be the difference tonight. Looking at the stats, it wasn't surprising to see that Iwakuma got 15 groundball outs and a few flyouts. He is the type of pitcher who won't overpower you and try to get strikeouts, but will use location and placement of the ball to induce you to groundout or flyout; much like Greg Maddux did. It was too bad that the foggy weather played a factor in creating a key error, but that's the game of baseball. I'm sure Cuba will be back. They have some young, up-and-coming players who we will see in many international tournaments to come.
Posted in: Japan beats Cuba 5-0 to reach WBC semifinals
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Hotbox08
Wow! 16 runs scored in this game. And like you said, smithinjapan, too bad some of the runs were scored on errors, but such is life. Venezuela has some real strong bats, and a lockdown closer in Francisco Rodriguez. Good to see the Americans make a game out of it though. The semifinals will be interesting to watch. Congrats and good luck to both teams! I also like watching Venezuela since they always seem to be having fun, but seriously playing the game at the same time.
Posted in: Venezuela downs U.S. 10-6 in WBC
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Hotbox08
Which is probably why all spaces for the washing machine is located right near where the bath is.
Posted in: Mottainai Campaign enjoying new relevance
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Hotbox08
Wow, smithinjapan. How old is your house/apartment? I bought my place a few years ago and the system kitchen that it came equipped with had a very good sink complete with disposal system, "stopper" as you would put it, and purification system for the water (there is a switch where you could choose pure or tap water). Even my bathroom sink has a "stopper" and thing to catch any "gomi" and hair that ends up going down the drain. If anything, some of the eco-options for houses are just way too high-tech for me, like the compost device.
The one area that I have seen the most improvement in is the eco shopping bag; they're everywhere. It's nice to get a card from the supermarket, where they issue a stamp everytime you refuse a bag. There are several places now that even if you don't know how to say "polybukuro iranai", you can just take a card (located near the cashier) and place it on your shopping basket. Yet, I felt funny one time when I was standing in line and I pulled out my plain Uniqlo one and the lady in front of me was holding one with a Chanel print on it. Wow!
Posted in: Mottainai Campaign enjoying new relevance
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Hotbox08
Whatever happens in this game, I feel that either Venezuela or Puerto Rico will win it all. They are the only two teams that seem to have the goods to do it.
Posted in: Cuba beats Mexico to win pool B of the WBC
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Hotbox08
Excellent point, likeitis. The gun is way too convenient a weapon for killing someone, and the fact that it is so easily obtainable in a country such as the U.S. makes it even more so the weapon of choice. I remember seeing a video taken in Thailand where a crazy man with a knife held a young girl hostage. As he put his knife up over his head, the young girl's father rushed the man and wrestled the knife out of his hand; thus the girl was saved. Now, let's substitute the knife with a gun and see what the success rate of that happening would be. Dodging a knife vs. dodging a gun .... Hmm ...
Good example, grafton, but was the school boy successful in hurting anyone with the bomb? It would be interesting to know the success rate of guns vs. a bomb. You see, with a bomb, you need to do research on how to make a bomb first. In other words, making and using a bomb requires a bit of planning, and there is never a guarantee that it will go off when and where you want it to. With a gun, even a little kid would know how to point and shoot it and you can use it instantly, whenever and wherever you want with such a high success rate; especially when used in a large crowd. People like to compare this shooting rampage with the knife rampage that happened in Akihabara, but I can guarantee that if that person had a gun, there would have been far more deaths. In this Alabama case, these 10 people were killed in several locations. Imagine what would have happened if he went off in a crowded area like New York, or Tokyo?
Posted in: 10 killed in Alabama shooting rampage