JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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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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- Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) in Kanto region
- RCS (RCSコーポレーション), Kanto
- Salary: ¥180,000 ~ ¥250,000 / Month includes performance bonus
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- Assistant Language Teacher - TOKYO - late-March start
- Interac, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥230,000 ~ ¥255,000 / Month
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LFRAgain
Alphaape,
Wow. If you genuinely believe that corporations and wealthy skipping out on their tax obligations is something only Democrat-supporters do, then you are painfully, abysmally, unforgivably stupid. Corporations and the wealthy follow one political philosophy and one alone: The philosophy of money. And they'll back whomever keeps the most promises to help them keep their wealth, be it a Republican, a Democrat, or a Pumpkin Patch Party candidate.
The mess the U.S. is in is the fault of everyone at the table. EVERYONE. Starting from the wealthy who seem to think their ability to amass wealth happens in a vacuum, dependent solely on their fortune to be born to wealth or in the right place at the right time, and completely independent of a political, social, and economic system (otherwise known as the United States) that creates the very environment in which they can thrive, all the way down to a huge segment of the ever-growing demographic of poor Americans who seem to feel that the best expression of success in life comes not from working harder, studying better, and taking responsibility for oneself, but rather in the acquisition of flat screen TVs, game consoles, cell phones, and the myriad of other junk that are trappings of wealth without the income to justify them, i.e., wealthy lifestyle via overextended credit.
Oh, yes, we've been hearing both sides of the argument for years, and you know what? Both sides are right and both sides are wrong. Unmitigated selfishness and stupid pride prevent us from making honest efforts to truly understand this, but at the end of the day, these arguments, when you strip down the rhetoric and vitriol, are all based in real truths. The sooner were get to understanding this cooperatively, the faster we can get back on our feet.
But continuing to clinging to the convenient but inaccurate "let's blame the other guy" cliche isn't going to get us there any time soon.
Posted in: U.S. credit rating cut for first time ever
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LFRAgain
Ugh...! More 3-frackin'-D. Now there's a scam that gone well past it's sell-by date.
Posted in: 24th Tokyo International Film Festival to open with 'The Three Musketeers'
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LFRAgain
Not seeing the problem here. A year in jail with three years of probation in an accident that was not malicious, but rather the result of exhaution. He didn't get behind the wheel of that bus thinking, "I made sure I didn't get enough sleep last night. Let's see if I can fall asleep at the wheel and kill some people." It was an accident, and he's going to be paying restitution for it for years to come, not only financially, but also emotionally.
Also, what it heck IS is it with posters and this obsession with equating prison time to thinly veiled suggestions of rape, as if rape were silmutaneously a suitable punishment for anyone and a hilarious punchline to a joke. Grow the hell up, people.
Posted in: Japanese driver in fatal U.S. bus crash gets less than a year in jail
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LFRAgain
Bluewitch,
Actually, you can thank a democratically elected government for sentencing guidelines that may or may not be what you like.
Nor should it. Why would taking photos of someone in the nude be worthy of jail time? Do you mean taking nude photos against someone's will? You need to be more precise in your posts and perhaps put a cap on the unbridled emotion.
Besides, he was caught before any photos were taken. Call me crazy, but I was thinking the kidnapping at knifepoint would be the first thing prosecutors looked at.
As to how much time he serves, I agree that he will probably see a short time in jail followed by a suspended sentence -- primarily because no one was physically injured -- but it's a pretty fair bet he will never work as a public school teacher again after this. He wouldn't be able to get the references and there isn't a board of education out there that would accept the risk of hiring him on to see him do this all again (which is a distinct possiblity with people like this).
Not sure where the "draconian" aspect of Japanese governance comes into play other than you possibly misunderstanding the word, but I strongly suspect your 30+ years in Japan haven't been nearly as harsh as the majority of your posts would suggest.
Posted in: Teacher held for allegedly abducting school girl at knifepoint in Hachioji
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LFRAgain
"Many" is a bit excessive, wouldn't you say? The more accurate statement would be, "Some men become teachers to get close to their prey."
But yes, it's a good thing he was caught. I'm glad to see that bystanders got involved and made it possible for this girl to still be alive. One can be pretty sure that this teacher's plan to take photos of the girl wouldn't have stopped there once he realized that letting her go afterwards wasn't an option.
Posted in: Teacher held for allegedly abducting school girl at knifepoint in Hachioji
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LFRAgain
steve@CPFC,
Is obnoxiousness a contractual requirement of the vast majority of your posts?
Posted in: Nissan fumes over BBC TV program 'Top Gear'
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LFRAgain
Considering you are aware of Ozawa's nonstage name, (I had no idea), it would seem you've put in more studying than most here. Pat yourself on the back.
Posted in: Japanese porn star's hugging contest draws crowds to Hong Kong comic fair
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LFRAgain
Wow. For someone sporting the handle, "bicultural," that was a pretty obnoxious statement. She was born in Japan, raised in Japan, possesses Japanese citizenship, and speaks fluent Japanese .
Yet you seem to think citizenship hinges on a name. Interesting.
Posted in: Japanese porn star's hugging contest draws crowds to Hong Kong comic fair
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LFRAgain
I think the contest aspect was who would be among the first 40 to show up. So, it was probably a camp-outside-the-venue-the-night-prior sort of thing.
Posted in: Japanese porn star's hugging contest draws crowds to Hong Kong comic fair
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LFRAgain
Chewitup,
You either really don't understand the obligations and ramifications that come with group affiliation in Japanese society, or you choose to actively pish-posh them because you can't reconcile their existence with your personal interpretation of what does and does not constitue rational. In either case, your disdain for certain realities here does not magically negate their existence.
You do make one accurate observation, though: This indeed would never make it to a civil court in Japan. But I'd go one step further and say the univeristy would have a better than half chance of winning. We'll just have to agree to disagree on this point.
Were I commenting about broader Japanese society, perhaps, but no, I stated it precisely as I meant to. This student took it upon himself to advertise his lack of judgement by tweeting his "alleged" illegal behavior to any following his feed. His actions and the consequences they bring are far more germaine to the discussion that any suggestions that he was somehow victimized or unfairly outed.
Posted in: University student suspended following 'drunk driving' tweet
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LFRAgain
Maybe in other parts of the world, but not here in Japan. What you do in your private time instantly becomes your club's/employer's/shool's business the minute you make it public.
Tweeting to his friends, the world, and God wasn't private. It's very, very public. He may as well have stood outside the front gate of his school and used a bullhorn instead.
As the university spokesman said it best by pointing out that, "[One of our students behind whom the entire reputation of this university rests from the day we granted him admission to the day he begins searching for a future employer] writing messages that condone, or seem to condone, drunk driving shows a lack of common sense."
This kid put the school into a negative light and threatened its future existence by essentially telling the public, "Fukuoka University exercises poor judgement with it's admission policies."
And parents who are the actual paying customers here, certainly aren't going to fork over cash to have their kid go to a school that also counts admitted drunk drivers among its student body.
I know you're thinking, "Well, that just ain't right." That doesn't matter. It's right for Japan.
What gets me is how many posters here are so blase about the implications of this kid driving drunk (and we can all dispense with the, "Posh, there's no proof" silliness. He admitted it). This kid could have killed someone. Or someone could have killed him and been haunted for the rest of their life by his death as a result of his stupidity.
Instead, it seems the overwhelming message anyone reading this thread is supposed to take away is that it's only wrong if you get caught doing it.
Posted in: University student suspended following 'drunk driving' tweet
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LFRAgain
Working for JR isn't small money, though. It's one of those now rare and highly coveted "employment for life" positions that pays employees in their 20s an average salary of US$88,000 annually. Employees who stay on with the company into their 30s can expect to take home US$123,000 annually. I could get behind cleaning some toilets and pulling some weeds in lieu of losing my $88,000 per year job.
Posted in: JR West punished staff with toilet duty, cutting weeds
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LFRAgain
I think the college has a case. They could very easily hold this idiot accountable for behavior that harms the reputation of the school. His actions, whether true or not, harm the universities ability to draw students, and thus income. This kind of stipulation is present in a wide host of contracts throughout Japan and is generally known as the "Don't Be Stupid Clause."
Meanwhile, the kid really is an idiot and deserves some grief for this, not only because he was irresponsible riding while inebriated, but also because he though it would be wise to tell everyone about it.
Tweeting: Is life really so boring that we're compelled to broadcast the minutia of our lives to the planet?
Kind of like posting photos of our idiotic antics on Facebook. For the love of Pete, why?!
In one of my company's branches alone last year, we had to let go of three people for posting compromising/incriminating photos of themselves, including one woman who thought it would be a great laugh to post photos of her scaling a 1000-year old cherry tree in Kyoto that has apparently been designated some sort of national treasure. She also proudly shared a photo of a branch she snapped off of it as a souvenir. Classy.
This kid in Fukuoka should accept the suspension graciously and be thankful it wasn't expulsion.
Posted in: University student suspended following 'drunk driving' tweet
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LFRAgain
Exactly. Which begs the question, precisely what kind of 're-training' exists to correct a person's propensity to be late? The kid (and he really was a kid) who crashed the train and killed all of those people, himself included, most certainly did not speed out of control out of a fear of having to clean toilets or pull weeds. Weed pulling and toilet cleaning are NOT the problem here.
Posted in: JR West punished staff with toilet duty, cutting weeds
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LFRAgain
I have mixed feelings about this as well. While the fear of punative measures may have been a factor in the train operator speeding to the point of a horrific crash in 2005, how is being forced to clear toilets or pull weeds any more a debilitating painful concern for lax employees than, say, being fired?
It makes little sense that in the absence of a living scapegoat to blame for the crash, people seem to be tripping over themselves to hold JR accountable for having the audacity to (gasp!) discipline its employees for screwing up.
And pulling weed or cleaning restrooms is degading?! Methinks some folks have entirely too high an opinion of their place on this planet.
Posted in: JR West punished staff with toilet duty, cutting weeds
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LFRAgain
Anyone still think Al Qaida and the vermin they spawn have legitimate and valid grievances with the West?
Posted in: Afghan insurgents hang 8-year-old boy
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LFRAgain
That doesn't justify pushing her down a flight of stairs. That anyone would think it does, even a little bit, needs professional help.
Posted in: Man arrested for assaulting schoolgirl on escalator at Yokohama Station
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LFRAgain
People who work in restaurants have no inherent value, in your book? Lovely.
Posted in: Police arrest 27-year-old Nara woman over Kyoto murder
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LFRAgain
High-speed trains in countries that have the sort political, economic, and social systems that ensure accurate and accountable safety practices and oversight are very, very safe. I would never balk at riding ona high-speed train in Japan, Germany, or France.
But high-speed trains in China? Hell, no.
That there was no system in place in China to indicate or warn other high-speed trains that a train was stopped on the tracks is simply mind-boggling.
Posted in: In view of what happened in China, how safe do you think high-speed trains are?
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LFRAgain
No system in the world is perfect. It's all in a matter of degrees of how much crap we're already used to or are willing to take. I've had good experiences in Japanese hospitals, and I've had bad ones.
Preventative medicine in Japan is a wonderful thing. Care for minor ailments is excessive to a fault. But when it comes to emergency care, U.S. hospitals beat Japan's without question.
Just last week I had a really severe asthma attack at 2AM and had to go to the emergency room. Like a fool, I decided to call ahead to the university hospital, thinking because I had been treated there in the past for asthma, it would be a safe bet. Imagine my surprise when the person on duty told me that they couldn't provide emergency treatment right away because they were busy. He recommended I call another hospital.
I called the other hospital and the person in charge was noticably inconvenienced by my request for emergency care, asking me (and I'm not exaggerating), "You don't seem to want an ambulance, so can't it wait until morning?" When I said it couldn't, she gave a deep sigh, and said, "Fine. Come in," then hung up on me.
Gee. Should I head on over to that warm welcome. I decided to go back to my original plan and just head straight over to the much closer university hospital. I get there and hacve to wait in the reception area for about an hour. No problem. I was warned as much, but I figured, I'm not moving. I can rest.
Turns out what I was waiting for was the staff of two doctors, three med school interns, and four nurses to finish taking care of the two -- two -- patients that were ahead of me, one an elderly woman who had sprained her wrist and said goodnight to me on her way out.
It turns out that this emergency room, the biggest and most modern in the city, has only two exam rooms to handle emergencies.
Meanwhile, do I get a specialist? No. Do I get a doctor? No. Do I get a trained nurse? No.
I get a med student learning how to treat his first asthma attack, with a mentor standing by coaching this kid on how to do a blood gas drawing, even though it was established by the nurses immediately upon entering the exam room via a piece of proven tech that's been around for 20 years that my blood oxygen saturation level was 90% and that I was indeed having an asthma attack, as if my blue lips and fingertips weren't a dead giveaway.
But no, this kid spends time trying -- and failing -- to find out my blood sat levels the old-fashioned way. He fails three times over the course of 40 minutes to find an artery, digging around in my arms and legs. I still can't breathe. I can't really draw enough breath to talk either. And my head's on the desk they have me sitting at while the med student tries to figure out what to do next. I still haven't received a drop of medication to open up my airways. And the mentor is standing by the entire while, smiling patiently as his student gets frustrated at being unable to complete a redundant task.
Then the student doctor decides to give me lsome medication in a nebulizer. But for some reason, he decides to lowball the dosage. Why? Because he's a med students. When it becomes clear after the entirely-too-short 5-minute nubulizer treatment that it's not working, he orders another 5-minute session at the same low medication dosage. Imagine his surpirse when it still doesn't work.
At this point, I'm angry, and I tell him I need a shot of epinephrine and a 45-minute nebulizer treatment. He looks at me with surprise and asks, "Epinephrine? You don7t mind if we give you that?"
At this point I want to strangle the moron. Emergency Asthma Attack Treatment Basics: Administer epinephrine immediately to open op the airways and stabilize patient.
He apparently was worried that I'd be adverse to this course of treatment. No, I'm not joking.
So, he gives me the epinephrine at 5AM. My airways open up. But wouldn't you know it? He lowballs the epinephrine dose as well. And I'm flat on my back again in 15 minutes. He scratches his head and tells me, "You should take a nap," and leaves the room. I don't see anyone for an hour.
Then at 6AM, the morning staff rotation begins and an actual honest-to-goodness doctor shows up. He glances at my chart, checks my blood sat level with the gizmo, sees that it's at 91%, asks me how I feel. I say, "Not to good." And he tells me, "Okay, you can go home now."
I'm simply stunned at this point. I'm no better than when I came in, and in fact worse, all things considered. As I stagger out of the emergency room, I apparently look rocky enough for the receptionist to run out and ask if I 'm okay. I told him I'm not, but that I was sent home. He just shakes his head and tells me to take care, before heading back to his desk.
The result of this wonderful emergency care? I spent the next two days hospitalized with an oxygen mask and an IV drip of anti-inflammatory steroids at a hospital across town, with the doctors asking me why I was sent home from the university hospital in the first place. To which I had no answer.
God help us if there's ever a natural disaster, because this, the largest hospital in a city of 160,000, can only handle two emergency cases at a time, and the other hospitals don’t seem to want to be bothered with the inconvenience of emergencies.
Like I said, I've had good experiences here -- when it wasn't an emergency. This most recent experience, however, has put the system in a whole new light for me. Emergency health care here is abysmally inadequate.
Posted in: Cases of emergency patient refusal by hospitals rise to over 16,000