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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JeffLee
Cleo, Macs always leave me bewildered. Maybe that wasnt the correct name. But it took this long-time Mac user and enthusiast much longer to do some simple tasks that are accomplished very quickly on a PC. I work indepedently in the media, often in collaboration with Mac-using colleagues, and for the life of me, I have no idea what advantages they gain. Over the years, my colleagues have bought Newtons, Cubes, iMacs, etc. and their experiences hve been a horrid comedy of errors. The odd thing is how quickly they are willing to forget all their Mac hassles -- and then slam PCs. There's some fascinating psychology involved, I'm sure.
Posted in: Apple leads mobile computer market
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JeffLee
My impression is the exact opposite. I once had to download an attachment from Web mail on my friend's Mac, and I couldn't figure it out. So my friend did it for me, and it took several stages longer than on my PC, which would target the attachment to a new location via a right-left click. The Mac required the opening of a whole new application, called a Download Manager! Talk about "clumsy" and a "poor effort."
That's just one of many examples. When I peep at my friends working with their Macs, I'm amazed at how long it takes them to do even starightforward processes.
Posted in: Apple leads mobile computer market
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JeffLee
Mine is 60w equiv.
Posted in: LED bulbs feature wide light distribution angle
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JeffLee
LOL! Thanks for supporting my suspicion that the anti-sweetener brigrade is really just another bizarre conspiracy theory.
Posted in: Diet soda tied to stroke risk, but reasons unclear
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JeffLee
Artificial sweeteners pose no health risks. The FDA states that aspertame, etc., are among the most extensively tested substances in human history, and they have yet to find any link to any health problems in people.
What's more, billions and billions of gallons of diet sodas have been consumed in the last couple of decades, and there hasn't been a single documented case of a health problem attributed to them. White sugar? Now THAT's the killer. Diabetes, obsesity, etc.
This study compares soda drinkers and water drinkers. The factors clearly are lifestyle-related, as people who drink water regularly have a better overall diet than those who consume soda and other processsed foods.
Posted in: Diet soda tied to stroke risk, but reasons unclear
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JeffLee
Huh? We've got an LED as the main ceiling light in the living-dining area, and it lights the entire room very nicely. LED's are da bomb. Plan to switch over entirely when the flourescents pop.
Posted in: LED bulbs feature wide light distribution angle
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JeffLee
Indicted for being on a list? What about...umm...evidence and questioning first? No wonder human rights groups slam Japan's (in)justice system.
Posted in: Philippines confirms fugitive stripper Minako Komukai arrived in Manila
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JeffLee
Good article, but one major point is always left out - the prospect of your building being demolished in the near future.
How good is your investment if you're obliged to foot the costs of demolition/construction of an entire new building again several years down the road? And then have it quickly depreciate?
How is the decision arrived at? The tenants association? What criteria are used?
I've asked such questions to the experts and homeowners before, and I never get any clear answers.
Posted in: How to make money on property in Tokyo
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JeffLee
Clearly bad for psychological reasons. Workers are getting paid less and less money for doing more and more work in this recession. That tends to create a national sense of malaise.
The econ 101 textbook explanation that deflation supresses consumption doesn't apply in Japan. Consumers have already had 20 years to get used to it and are consuming as much as they can, hence the shrinking savings rate.
Mortage-paying homeowners, however, are getting screwed.
Posted in: Is the deflationary spiral we are seeing in Japan ultimately good or bad for the economy?
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JeffLee
Seems like fun. However, it appears you have to either be a gap student or unemployed to take part, as the contest is so intensively time- and effort-consuming.
Posted in: Win unlimited travel on Cathay Pacific
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JeffLee
You mean Kagoshima?
Posted in: Why must Tokyo’s railways engage in aural assault?
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JeffLee
Most of my fellow hikers are either elderly or retired Japanese, with a sprinking of salarymen types and foreigners, when I go hiking in Okutama. The younger generation of Japanese is basically underrepresented.
So this seems like an odd "trend." I hope it remains a superficial one, because the last things Okutama's quiet mountain trails needs is congestion by a bunch of fashion-conscious lemmings.
Posted in: Fashionable 'yama' girls take to the hills
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JeffLee
Japan's dolphin slaughter is a drawn-out process that lasts thruout the day. Fishermen use spears to repeatedly stab the dolphins, until they die a slow painful death. The spears are twisted once in the flesh, enhancing the pain, over and over. The Cove showed filmed evidence of near dead dolphins left to die slowly on Taiji's streets. Lovely.
Posted in: Sting meets dolphin advocate Ric O'Barry; advocates debate
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JeffLee
I've got a Yonex racquet like that. Easy on the elbow and shoulder, but lousey control with backhand slices.
Posted in: Victory smile
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JeffLee
But Toyota already has been making a significant portion of its cars overseas. The Thai plant alone rolls out over half a million vehicles a year. This announcement seems really disengenuous.
The high yen, an external factor seen as caused by foreigners, does seem like a convenient excuse.
Posted in: Toyota chief says rising yen could force production shifts
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JeffLee
Not when I'm on a crowded Tokyo train, bus, traveling abroad, etc. Give me a Kindle any day instead.
Posted in: Journalists to launch News Corp's iPad newspaper
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JeffLee
And then Japan can force others to eat Ajinomoto (MSG), instant ramen and other garbage Japan exports.
More land is freed up for residential use. Japanese people will live in spacious houses with lawns and gardens on former rice paddies.
Posted in: Japan’s current trade fiasco
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JeffLee
"Protected"? Under NAFTA, nearly all agriculutral products from Mexico and Canada -- both of which are global farming superpowers -- enter the U.S. with no or minimal tariffs. Not quite "protected," is it?
Posted in: Japan’s current trade fiasco
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JeffLee
So...it's not Japanese, so let's reject it. Well, good luck with your FTAs.
Thanks, Billyshears, for supporting my point - the attitude you described is indeed consistent with brainwashing.
I'd like to point out that I love German and French breads, even though I was raised eating different types of bread. Thankfully, I was never indoctrinated to hate things that are different or foreign.
(BTW, In 1994, foreign suppliers did send glutinous rice, but many Japanese refused to eat it, including dumping it in the garbage.)
Moderator: Back on topic please.
Posted in: Japan’s current trade fiasco
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JeffLee
Good, relevant point. But it assumes Japanese society is rational.
Rather, the stumbling block is psychological...all those years of government-sponsored propaganda that brainwash Japanese people into believing that foreign rice is dangerous. I was here during the "rice crisis" of the early 90s, and the attitudes were disgusting. Japanese residents threw their Thai rice in garbage piles, while politicians in the Diet proclaimed that foreign rice was dangerous, as it contains things like rat bones (which is also common in Japanese stored rice, tho' that conveniently wasn't mentioned).
Those hardened attitudes will have to change first. The DPJ's election indicates that the political system is already somewhat flexible.
Posted in: Japan’s current trade fiasco