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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KobeKid
I would add spiritually to that list. Those who have a belief system no matter the religion, are much more prepared to help others who are suffering.
Posted in: Few volunteers mentally prepared for devastation they confront
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KobeKid
So, let us suppose the whole of Japan was covered in caesium-137 to give everybody a dose similar to the helicopter crews flying over the Chernobyl reactor core. Let us further suppose that there was subsequently a tripling of leukemia rates throughout the whole of Japan. What are we up to? I have postulated a ridiculous worst case scenario over a ridiculously large area causing a rate of leukemia way above anything actually measured. The result would be that leukemia would rise to about 13 cases per 100,000 people per year. This is about half the rate of bowel cancer increase that has afflicted the country as a result of shifting from their traditional diet to one with more red and processed meat. It is about a third of the male rate of bowel cancer.
from "Would sir like a Caesium salad with his steak?" by Geoff Russell
Posted in: Fukushima's cesium spew - deadly catch-22s
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KobeKid
once you let the crazy out of the box it's hard to get it back in... ride that tiger Repubs!
Posted in: Donald Trump's possible presidential bid generating a lot of buzz
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KobeKid
@Nigelboy
let's see, shoot the messenger and the MOF's word is the bible... riiiiight.
"If you're able to catch a 1,000 (name your dolphin/whale here) every year at a same designated period and location without too much variation, in all likelihood, the estimates are indeed correct and the limit is "sustainable"."
Dall's porpoise catches have gone from 15,000 to 7,000 in the past several years so according to your last comment this would make them unsustainable.
Posted in: 'Cove' director gives free DVDs to Taiji residents
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KobeKid
@Nigelboy
For safe management of small cetaceans exploited by Japan, studies are urgent on the population structure, abundance and validity of catch statistics. The results should be open to scientific communities.
Dr. Toshio Kasuya
This has yet to happen.
Posted in: 'Cove' director gives free DVDs to Taiji residents
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KobeKid
****• The IWC Scientific Committee has expressed its concern over the unsustainability of Japan’s Dall’s porpoise hunt 12 times in the past 16 years.****
It would seem there is a shortage of scientific data supporting the dolphin/porpoise hunts, unless you have some to share Mr. Dog.
****Japan has come under repeated pressure from the IWC to reduce or stop the small cetacean hunts. In 2001, the IWC urged Japan to halt the directed takes of Dall's porpoises until a full assessment by the Scientific Committee has been carried out. The advice and recommendations of the IWC Scientific Committee and Commission have been largely ignored, although in recent years the catch quotas have been slightly reduced.****
Posted in: 'Cove' director gives free DVDs to Taiji residents
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KobeKid
From EIA web site,
"The Government of Japan currently permits the killing of more than 22,000 dolphins, porpoises and small whales off its coast each year, with the products sold in commercial markets across Japan. Numerous EIA investigations have confirmed that the hunting, landing, transportation and distribution of small cetaceans and small cetacean products are almost completely unsupervised. With over 400 boats authorised to hunt small cetaceans, the system of self-regulation is wide open to abuse."
"It was not until 1993 that national catch limits were set for all exploited species. However the basis for the quotas is uncertain, since there is no real knowledge of stock structure, abundance or status of the exploited populations. A review of the available scientific data makes a mockery of the Japanese Government's claim to support a policy of sustainable utilisation of marine resources. With respect to the striped dolphin, scientists have concluded that some of the coastal population units involved in the Japanese coastal fisheries may have been hunted to extremely low levels or even local extinction - and yet a quota of 700 dolphins is still assigned to fishermen in Wakayama, Shizuoka and Chiba. In addition, the quotas are not legal controls and have no punitive provisions, so fishermen may violate them without breaking any laws and without fear of punishment."
Posted in: 'Cove' director gives free DVDs to Taiji residents
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KobeKid
some good discussion going on here. I'd like to add one more voice, one with a little more experience and authority on the subject of the degree of humaneness of the Taiji drive hunts...
"What horrified me in Taiji was that the dolphins were not harpooned, and thus secured to be quickly dispatched. Instead, the hunters were simply throwing spears into a melee of the animals swimming in a small inlet they had sealed off from the sea, hitting them here and there. Then they'd retrieve the spear by hauling in a rope tied to it and hurl it again or use it close up to stab with. This was a far cry from the efficiency — and respect for life, and death — of an Inuit hunter or a whaler at sea.
That first time I witnessed the Taiji killings, I saw a dolphin take 25 minutes to die, while on another hunt I saw one that thrashed and bled for a horrible 45 minutes before it succumbed to its wounds. Killing, if justified and necessary, should surely be merciful and quick — yet I even saw an old grandmother laughing at a dolphin's death throes and pointing out the animal to the small child with her as if it was some kind of joke. That really hurt and shook my belief in people.
In addition to this catalog of horrors, though, as a former marine mammal research technician in Canada, it shocked me that all those dolphins were being captured and killed with no government inspector or fisheries biologist on hand to take data and monitor the kill. I protested about what was going on to the fishermen, and to Town Hall officials in Taiji. I even went to Tokyo and protested to a senior official in the Fisheries Agency, but he just sneered and said, "What does it matter, they die anyway."
CW Nicol
Posted in: 'Cove' director gives free DVDs to Taiji residents
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KobeKid
actually Mr. Dog this comment is not from Mr. O'Barry but a trained scientist who is presently visiting Taiji. And of course plankton would be included in this assessment.
Posted in: 'Cove' director gives free DVDs to Taiji residents
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KobeKid
@ crazyjohn
from the Ric O'Barry's blog...
"I've also already been asked by one of the town's residents: "What is so special about whales and dolphins and not cows and chickens?" I doubt that I know enough Japanese, or he knew enough English for us to have an intelligent conversation. But, I'll be happy to answer the question here as I see it.
There is a difference pertaining to the ecosystem and either farmed animals or wild animals. When a cow or chicken is removed from a farm, nothing is removed from the ecosystem. When a wild animal is removed from its natural habitat, not only is that animals life taken, but it's also depriving possibly millions of others of animals who depend on what has been removed both while it's alive and after it dies in it's natural environment. This is especially a problem when whole populations of dolphins are removed and permanently depressed in numbers in the ecosystem."
Posted in: 'Cove' director gives free DVDs to Taiji residents
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KobeKid
@scotch 17
"AFTER demonizing the entire country"
can't let this one by without a challenge, please post a comment by O'Barry that "demonizes" the whole country. Mr. O'Barry has been very clear that this campaign is not against the Japanese people as a whole, but the 26 fisherman engaged in the drive hunts.
"One of the things I have emphasized in our campaign to Save Japan Dolphins is that the killing of dolphins is done by a small minority of the Japanese people – certainly fewer than a thousand fishermen and others throughout Japan are engaged in some way in killing, butchering and selling dolphins and whales.
I think it is wrong, as some organizations have done, to call for a boycott of Japan because of the kills. The Japanese people are not at fault."
from O'Barry's blog
also from the Save Japan Dolphins blog
"I really love the country of Japan and the Japanese people. My horror and staunch opposition to hunting dolphins has nothing to do with the vast majority of the Japanese people, most of who still do not know that dolphins are killed in the most savage manner possible. They are told lies by their government, and do not have the resources we do in the US to counter those lies.
Our approach, fierce advocates of the dolphins and friends of the Japanese people, is gaining momentum and much attention, especially in Japanese business and government circles where it really counts. The Japan Fisheries Agency, which generates propaganda demonizing opponents, can’t find a way to demonize me and our Save Japan Dolphins Campaign."
Posted in: One year after 'Cove' Oscar, activists shift tactics
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KobeKid
Ever heard of Timothy McVeigh?
Posted in: Arizona shooting victim arrested after threat to tea party leader
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KobeKid
what the hell is the media doing? having "a televised town hall meeting" before the funerals? what did they expect? oh yeah a boost in their ratings.
@sailwind all coverage I've seen mentioned Fuller being a veteran.
Posted in: Arizona shooting victim arrested after threat to tea party leader
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KobeKid
some comments and a quote from the recent Pentagon report on DADT...
"69 percent of them acknowledge they have fought or worked alongside gay men and women already. A staggering 92 percent of those were fine with lifting the ban. Again: when you know someone is gay, all the fears and stereotypes tend to evaporate. This is not a surprise. The men and women of the US military are among the finest in the land; they want to do the job at hand, not deepen social division or posture politically. They are not bigots. I note one colorful quote from a special ops fighter:
“We have a gay guy [in the unit]. He’s big, he’s mean, and he kills lots of bad guys. No one cared that he was gay.”
The point of getting Congress to repeal this was to give the military time to work out a smooth transition. One court has already ruled against the policy with more surely to follow.
@goodDonkey... "Oh by the way which one's Pink?"
Posted in: U.S. Senate votes to overturn military gay ban
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KobeKid
China should take part in the drills
Posted in: S Korea boost security after North warns of more attacks
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KobeKid
but had you read this article before?
Posted in: Dolphin activist Ric O'Barry won't swim off into the sunset
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KobeKid
met and chatted with who? Ric O'Barry? CW Nicol?
Posted in: Dolphin activist Ric O'Barry won't swim off into the sunset
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KobeKid
a link for Zenny the hunter, a hunters view of the Taiji dolphin hunts
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fe20100704cw.html
Posted in: Dolphin activist Ric O'Barry won't swim off into the sunset
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KobeKid
Yes Zenny you've told me this before, but if you would just watch it all the way through once as I said it would sharpen and focus your pro hunt arguments. Honestly I've benefited from some of your posts and some of your points have made me rethink mine. But as much as you seem to be engrossed by this subject it strikes me as strange that you wouldn't see the movie.
Could it be that you are afraid of being converted? ;=)
Posted in: Day of the dolphin
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KobeKid
well seems I wasn't the only one not able to find a "misrepresentation".
The study I quoted was by the NIMD National Institute of Minamata Disease one of the leading institutes on mercury poisoning in Japan and located in Minamata. If you've got studies that tell a different story share a link, you're the one making the case. I'd also encourage you to write a letter to the Japan Times, if it's credible they will print it.
Not a chance Zenny, no way I think you'll have some Damascus Road experience from watching the movie, but it might sharpen your critique of it. When you make statements like, "I've never heard a firsthand account of a dolphin saving a human life" or "the hunts are humane" or "Ric O'Barry got traumatized by his beloved Dolphin dying(Whoopeee, Pets are lost daily)" you look uninformed. The world's number one dolphin trainer did have a Damascus Road experience, but you downplay that without even listening to him tell why.
Posted in: Day of the dolphin