JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
-
- 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
-
- 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.
-
- Business Teaching Positions - Part-time - Kanto Region
- Interac, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥3,000 ~ ¥5,000 / Hour
1
Lamarr
Generally speaking, these days, saying stuff that might be considered even remotely anti-gay, or indeed, anti any "minority group", results in the perpetrator being proverbially hanged. You see this in particular when comments or epithets about race are mentioned.
This is maybe kind of what's happening with this commercial - a complete over-reaction to something not particularly harmful.
Posted in: AKB48 candy ad criticized for encouraging homosexuality
1
Lamarr
When you think about it, there's loads of varying degrees of "dodgy" stuff like that in Japan:
Two girls passing a sweet with their mouths is just titillation, like a lot of advertising. There've been plenty of adverts with famous stars in their birthday suits, with their naughty bits covered. Again, it's titillation, all designed to sell more product.
Posted in: AKB48 candy ad criticized for encouraging homosexuality
0
Lamarr
Residents of Chiba Prefecture take note, if you have to report someone as being the victim of a potential stalking, kidnapping etc., you'd better be prepared to light a rocket under them to get them to do anything about it.
Posted in: Chiba police admit stalking murders could have been prevented
0
Lamarr
As a former resident of Chiba, this makes me very angry indeed.
Posted in: Chiba police admit stalking murders could have been prevented
1
Lamarr
Desperate. Simple as that.
Posted in: Young women interested in how plain-looking 'Black Widow' lured men to their doom
0
Lamarr
Seriously, what harm is going to come from passing sweets to each other's mouths? Kids are hardly going to spend all day doing it. If you've ever tried it, it's quite difficult. More likely they'll have a bit of fun, drop the sweets and get bored with it. Something to do during lunchtime. If girls do get a "thrill" from touching each other's mouths, so what?? What's wrong with that?
Honestly, I think people get too worked up about these sorts of things. There are much more important and pressing problems in the world than "pass the sweets".
Posted in: AKB48 candy ad criticized for encouraging homosexuality
0
Lamarr
Maybe, but I think it's stretching things to purely blame the movie for it, and to then go censoring or banning things as a result. More likely that there's something else wrong with the person, or something from their environment having a bad effect on them, that makes them "act out" things.
Media reflects the culture as well as, if not more than, culture being influenced by media IMO. Better to change the culture than to go banning things from media. If it wasn't in the culture, it wouldn't get reflected in the media.
Posted in: AKB48 candy ad criticized for encouraging homosexuality
0
Lamarr
Is there any science though that supports the idea that homosexuality is done by choice? Just because scientists haven't found proof that homosexuality is biological doesn't mean that it ISN'T biological or innate.
So by that reasoning, people who see this video are going to experiment with passing sweets to each other's mouths.
I'd better build a shelter in my back-garden to protect myself from the collapse of society that will inevitably result from that.
Posted in: AKB48 candy ad criticized for encouraging homosexuality
1
Lamarr
They're not even snogging each other or engaging in any lesbian activity anyway. Complete over-reaction. Who hasn't ever played "pass the ice cube" at some drunken piss-up?
Going back 10 years maybe, there was an Ayumi Hamasaki record cover or poster with a picture of herself lying with herself in a semi-cuddly pose on a bed. I'd say that's more disturbing and unnatural than seeing two girls pass sweets to each other's mouths.
Posted in: AKB48 candy ad criticized for encouraging homosexuality
0
Lamarr
Did he think that licking someone's hair would get him a lighter sentence than pinching her butt, or peering up her skirt?
Posted in: Policeman arrested for licking woman's hair
8
Lamarr
Conbinis definitely. Where else can you pay your bills, photocopy documents, flick through a wank mag, have a wee, and get a beer, cup noodles and snouts for the walk home, at 2 in the morning? Awesome.
Posted in: Things that foreigners miss about Japan when they return home
1
Lamarr
The cynical conspiracy theorist in me would say that these firings are a backlash in the wake of the Olympus scandal. Japanese companies re-asserting Japanese values in the face of foreign CEOs bringing in their dastardly Western ways.
The even bigger cynic in me would say that this is being encouraged by the government in the old "administrative guidance" sessions in high-class "No Pants Shabu Shabu" restaurants in Ginza.
Who knows though, maybe it's just coincidence.
Posted in: Another foreign CEO leaves Japan over 'fundamental disagreements'
6
Lamarr
Safety, cleanliness, orderliness (relatively-speaking).
Customer service tends to be better, people are generally at least a little bit nicer, more polite and helpful, trains run more punctually, things that break down tend to get fixed more quickly and efficiently. You don't get garbage strewn over places and not picked up for weeks and months on end, chewing gum on seats, dog turds and the like. Or being stuck on the bus next to some sweating, unshaven gyppo that smells like a toilet and an ashtray mixed together.
Posted in: Things that foreigners miss about Japan when they return home
1
Lamarr
You have to doubt the mental state of Mr Imamura for saying such a nonsensical comment as that.
The fact that he also said that the Skytree "will not fall" (the very same thing that was said about a certain famous passenger liner, beginning with the letter "T", that sank exactly 100 years ago) does not bode well for the safety aspect of this new construction.
No doubt the moderator will now say that "the mental state of Mr Imamura is not relevant to this discussion".
Posted in: Tokyo Sky Tree safe from quakes: operator
0
Lamarr
Similar thing happened to someone I know, he got into a tussle - no punches thrown - with a bar owner and ended up paying out a similar amount of money because he wouldn't apologize to the guy.
That's the way it works in Japan, they come down heavily on any kind of aggression.
Posted in: A punching bag on the Odakyu line
0
Lamarr
It's normal that people will get more irritable as their lives get more stressful. Cities become more crowded and lonely, jobs become less secure and less satisfying, and people are less considerate of each other. This is happening in many places, not only Japan.
In Japan, people's anger and frustration gets bottled up because it's wrong to openly show your frustration. Although it's no justification for it, this is why the guy on the Odakyu line reacted the way he did.
Posted in: A punching bag on the Odakyu line
0
Lamarr
This doesn't surprise me. I've done over 5 years in Japan and I think people have got ruder and more aggressive in that time.
Travelling round Tokyo especially, you see a lot of stressed out, miserable people. I certainly get wound up at times by the crushes on trains, the pushing and the shoving, and the constant looking at the watch stressing about whether you're going to make it to where you're going on time.
I think most Westerners get the feeling when they first come here that it's really safe. When you're out and about on the street, the general atmosphere feels a lot milder and less threatening than the West. Because of this, people tend to throw caution to the wind. However, with a bit of time and experience in Japan, you can see that there's other things going on beneath the "mild" exterior.
A lot of the social problems you hear so much about back home are happening here too, and are only going to get worse. Japan might still be SAFER than a lot of places, but it's not SAFE.
Posted in: A punching bag on the Odakyu line