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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- ALT - Mie Prefecture - Yokkaichi City - June start
- NPO法人グローバル教育推進機構（GLAD), Mie
- Salary: ¥230,000 / Month For a full working month. Some months differ.
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- Business Teaching Positions - Part-time - Kanto Region
- Interac, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥3,000 ~ ¥5,000 / Hour
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John Lawrence
Wonderful article - just what we all needed. To put this contract in 22 words: "This is not a place to have a good time. Sit down, shut up, order something pricey and mind your own business." Right - if I set foot in one of those places, I'd turn around and walk out before they were done with the "irrashaimase"...assuming I warranted one. After all, I'm just street dirt that wandered in. The joints I hang in are probably a bit more lowbrow than the Ginza snobotoriums, but at least you can meet some fun people, sit where you like, get lit and have a good time.
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John Lawrence
I never really got 3D. Saw "Avatar" in 3D - about 3/4 of the way through, the glasses started to annoy. I'll just see the normal flat-screen version and I'm good.
Posted in: Sony to stop paying theaters for 3-D glasses
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John Lawrence
Maybe in a little wooden boat floating off the North Korean shoreline?
Posted in: Search fails to find missing JR Hokkaido president
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John Lawrence
Awesome read, Eddie. I never knew about Henry Black. I pass by the Yokohama Foreigner's Cemetery often and I'll just have to go look him up, so to speak. Hey! JT mods - where did you find Eddie? After years of dealing with vapid "I've been in Japan for 8 whole months and, boy, is it different than Omaha, lemme tell you!" line of articles, you finally found someone who can deliver a serious, thoughtful, well-written column. Keep at it.
Posted in: Henry Black (1859-1923): Japan’s first gaijin talent
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John Lawrence
One of the better written articles to appear in this space in a long, long time. Certainly, there are volumes more you could write on the subject and this could quickly become a major book. But, I understand the need for space. For the venue, well done, Eddie.
Posted in: Japan’s crisis of ambivalence
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John Lawrence
We need Mac and Cheese in this corner of the planet badly!
Posted in: Nihon Kraft Foods Ltd
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zzonkerr
Ah so - yeah, that's the cool part. I don't know. I would love to research that. It shouldn't be that hard; it seems to be a pretty prominent landmark. Someone in the area should remember it.
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zzonkerr
Urban archaeology is a hobby of mine; I love this stuff. The Diet building is in the background, so this photo was taken from the south of the tower looking north. Tokyo station is not in the picture. I'll bet anything that the main road in the picture is the present-day Rt. 1, which leads toward Shinagawa. That small leftward-leaning curve is still present in the road today.
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zzonkerr
Sarge - *"Saudi Arabia is far more powerful than the USofA"
Har! *
Ummmm, living life through your red, white and blue-colored glasses has rendered you incapable of reality. As much as it pains me to say this, BlackFlag does have a point.
Black was not referring to classical power, such as derived from the military. I think he's referring to economic power. Follow the money trail.
Consider two points: 1) During the oil price spike earlier this year, where do you think our money went? You think that when your friends Stateside paid $4/gal that the money stayed in the US? Nope.
2) Where did the Saudi money go during the summer and autumn? It wasn't in US banks and institutions. It was moved to Dubai. Why do you think things collapsed so quickly? Because Saudi money was no longer there.
Look at life outside your chevrons, man. The US may be a military power and we will always be an economic power, but until we shake our oil dependencies, the Saudis have us by the short hairs.
Posted in: Remember the bubble economy years
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zzonkerr
A business-driven decision; I can't argue with it. Like franz75 says, one section manager is hassle enough.
Posted in: Tourists to be barred from Tsukiji tuna auctions for a month
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zzonkerr
AMEX has always been hassle-free in my opinion. You get an AMEX, build a good history, then the Japanese card issuers will look more favorably on your application.
Posted in: Try to get a credit card in Japan
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zzonkerr
Great article, but how much is the ferry/seaborne Greyhound?
Posted in: Escape the cold with a trip to Tokyo’s southern paradise
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zzonkerr
My, my...how the mighty have fallen. I heard that Keiko is divorcing this guy now.
Posted in: High-flying Komuro crashes to earth
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zzonkerr
Dogdog - take your hate and pack yourself up.
My daughter loved this guy when she was younger and was one of the reasons she likes to study music now. His efforts go way beyond just teaching little snippets of English to kids.
I'm just really, really jealous because he has more hair than me even though he is 3 years my senior and he plays guitar better than I can.
Posted in: Singer-songwriter teaches Japanese kids the fun of learning English
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zzonkerr
TKO and GW - Look, nobody said that working life was going to be whipped cream and gumdrops. It's hard, yes. Not a lot of fun. I pull the salaryman thing and that life is not easy. But, I do it because I have a sense of responsibility; a critical something the freeters lack. Both of you sound like your groove is avoiding work. Either that, or you guys are single and living in some gaijin house. Hate to break it to you, but, unless you hit the Lotto, you're gonna have to swallow your pride and slave away in order to give you and your loved ones food and shelter.
GW - interesting comment. If I hear you right, you say being a freeter is a dead-end, and being a salaryman is a dead-end. I hear you complaining, but I hear no solutions from you, which means you have nothing to offer but whining. You tell me the right path to take, then. Living in an urban area, what do you do? For the record, I do NOT think salarymen have it better than freeters; I am simply saying that freeters are slackers. Being a salaryman ain't that hot, but at least I can have a family and provide for them.
Sorry, you two, but as I see it, the freeters made a choice in their early 20s to opt-out of the rat race. Yeah, maybe they had a bit more fun than me when they were younger, but now, they have to deal with the cards they have. Tough.
Posted in: Mass despair permeates working class
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zzonkerr
Let's get something straight here - Being a freeter in Japan is by and large a choice. Unless your personal situation is extreme, you have to pretty much make a conscious decision to opt-out of the rat race here. These freeters who decided to extend their childhood into their 20s are now finding, 10 years on, that maybe they didn't make the best career choice.
I remember reading an article a few years ago, perhaps on JT, perhaps on another Japan-related board (apologies on forgetting the source!). They interviewed a number of freeters who had an across-the-board disdain for their corporate peers. They were enjoying their freedom. They were quoted in the article as saying things such as "I can do what I want!", "I don't have to work overtime," and "I will never submit to a company's rules," etc.
Sounded like a good path to follow when they were 23 years old. Now, pushing 30, maybe not so much. Freeters are basically backpackers who don't have the guts to step foot outside of their home soil.
Sorry, no sympathy. It was their choice. They have to live with it.
Posted in: Mass despair permeates working class
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zzonkerr
He only changed his shirt. Look at his trousers and shoes - he's still effectively in work clothes.
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zzonkerr
Cow - Comes as no surprise, but your student is seeing it wrong. It's not a race to have a female leader first. In that regard, Japan will have to go for the bronze among G8 countries; the UK's Thatcher and Germany's Merkel coming in 1 and 2.
I don't care if she's female. Koike may do a good job; my distrust of her is rooted in that she comes from showbiz land, albeit journalism, but showbiz land nonetheless. If Aso was some geinokai somewhere and plopped into politics, I'd share the same distrust.
Posted in: Koike, Yosano declare candidacies for LDP presidential election
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zzonkerr
If, God forbid, Sarah Palin becomes the US vice-president, and Koike ends up heading Japan, we need to get those two together. The resulting vortex of nothingness would create the largest low-pressure system on the planet since Hurricane Katrina.
Posted in: Koike, Yosano declare candidacies for LDP presidential election
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zzonkerr
I saw this movie yesterday. I was cool to the idea at first, but went just so my daughter would stop nagging me. I thought it was a kid flick; truth is, the movie rocks. It is really, really good. I enjoyed that film more than I have any other in a long, long time. Highly recommended.
One points: The CG-created pelican is a little off and a little too smart to be believable, but aside from that, it was fantastic.
Posted in: Jodie Foster finds her inner adventurer in South Pacific