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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OldHawk
Having had a few close calls with tornadoes here in my part of the U.S., I definitely have sympathy for those who survived or lost a loved one in the Tsukuba tornado.
Posted in: 14-yr-old boy killed, dozens injured after tornado hits Tsukuba
0
OldHawk
But does it tell the time? I'll stick with my Seiko, thanks. I always know where it is and it has great lume in the dark. However, my phone is... did I leave it in the car again? In my desk at work? Or maybe it's in the other room. No, wait... can somebody call my phone so I can find it? Thanks.
Posted in: Sony straps on Internet-linked wristwatch
-2
OldHawk
@yabits
Seriously? You have issues.
Here's another thing: According to Leftists, Palin only gave one interview during the candidacy. Which is completely, false, of course. She gave dozens, if not hundreds. But the only one they remember is the Couric interview. Why is that? It certainly couldn't be because of Couric's ratings. She was consistently dead last. No, it's because that's the only one where Palin looks bad. In turn, why is that? Because the interview was edited. Now pretty much all interviews are edited to some degree, but this one was edited by CBS. You think the forged National Guard documents fiasco is unrelated? Oh, but it is, by three letters: CBS. A network known for decades for its Leftist slant. Couric herself is a blatant Leftist. She even used a Christmas poem to campaign for Obamacare - during a news broadcast! Again, any Leftist trying to imply that Couric and CBS set out to give Palin a fair interview is delusional.
Otherwise, how can you explain one interview portraying her in such a different light than the dozens and dozens of other interviews she's given?
In yet another example of Leftist echo chambers, Couric was awarded the Walter Cronkite Award for Journalism Excellence for that interview. Was the interview that good? No, it's just that it was a landmark exercise in partisan political thuggery. Something Cronkite was good at himself. But that's what the Left does: Congratulate each other for being Leftists. Gore, Moore and Stone win Oscars for making highly inaccurate movies (sometimes under the pretense of being documentaries) for the Left-wing agenda while conservatives are blacklisted from working in Hollywood. Carter, Arafat, Gorbachev, Annan, Gore and Obama are given Nobel peace Prizes. Leftists obsessed with hating Palin (especially if they can't explain why they hate her) fawn over this movie like they did Tina Fey's portrayals. The whole scene on the Left is incestuous. Where is the Lysol?
Has the "highly intelligent" Zakaria ever been governor of a state? A successful one at that? Run for public office? No? Fascinating. Has Zakaria ever explained how someone who had such a successful track record could suddenly not know any answers, much less not be able to understand questions? Can you?
Finally, did you read this review?
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2012/03/09/top-10-lies-game-change
Or will you refuse to because of the source?
Oh well, at least you didn't try to deny that this latest film wasn't designed to bring down a potential 2012 Palin run. Perhaps there's hope for you yet? ;)
Posted in: Palin movie 'Game Change' premieres in U.S.
0
OldHawk
@oginome
How ironic. Southerners prefer to be responsible for themselves. Especially right-wing Southerners. Or have you not spent much time in the south? Did you just watch Deliverance and think that movie was 100% true too? If Al Gore made a movie claiming that JFK was killed by man-made global warming, would you believe that as well?
Repeatedly? Or was that just a one-time slip?
So... got any others? At least you came up with one. Yabits couldn't even do that.
You're right, but just like the first time, only out of irony. It doesn't compare because Obama repeatedly mispronounced corpsman. Not just multiple times in one speech, but again in another speech several months later. You would think he'd learn! But he didn't even know how to pronounce Comisky Park when claiming to be a big White Sox fan. One would think that someone living in Chicago and claiming to be a big White Sox fan would know that it's not pronounced "Cominsky". But then, you would also expect him to be able to name his favorite players, too. But he couldn't name any Sox player, past or present. Now, I'll give Obama the benefit of a doubt on this one. He might not be stupid. But that leaves only one other logical answer: He's a compulsive liar.
If you wanted to compare apples to apples, an Obama equivalent to Palin slipping up on "North Korea" would probably be when Obama said "my Muslim faith", and not catching it until being corrected by the sympathetic interviewer. No wait, maybe that one's more serious too... ;)
Posted in: Palin movie 'Game Change' premieres in U.S.
-4
OldHawk
I got a negative vote for saying I'll visit Japan this year?
Posted in: Japan tourism still suffering one year on from quake
-1
OldHawk
Has anyone on here who claims Palin is dumb, please list exactly what she has said or done that makes you think she is dumb. Something at least on the scale of Obama refusing to learn how to pronounce "corpsman", or Biden saying... well pretty much anything. Did she demand that the government force a Catholic college to pay for her contraceptives? Oh wait, that was someone the Left looks up to...
The people (Schmidt, anyway) who ran the McCain campaign are now trying to shift blame to someone else, hoping that they'll get hired to run another campaign in the future. The same people who leaked false rumors about Palin and Africa. The same people who set her up for a heavily-edited interview with Couric. CBS? The same network that tried to sink Bush's re-election with phony National Guard documents? Yeah, great thinking there. Palin wrote a column that appeared in newspapers nationwide - including the New York Times - only a few weeks before her interview with Couric. Yet Couric asked her what newspapers she read? Eh? Apparently, even Katie Couric doesn't read the NYT.
Palin energized the campaign. In fact, it was the only bump McCain's campaign got. Especially after the focus of the campaign went from border security and terrorism to the economy (Funny, three years later, it's still the economy. The Republican candidates each had records of cutting spending, balancing budgets, and improving economies, but for some strange reason, the best pick was supposed to be a far-left radical/wanna-be Marxist who had zero private-sector experience... and Biden?!? It must have been because Leftists have such a great track record with economies. Just look at the old Soviet Union, North Korea, Vietnam... same mindset, same mentality, same empty promises. Now that's some impressive marketing, Democrats. Oh, and you still had to play the race card. No, it's because Obama "wasn't Bush". Well now he has to campaign that he's not Obama either. Oh wait, I'm getting distracted...). But once Palin was on board, she quickly became the star. Better speeches than McCain's, much more appealing to the cameras, and more connection with staunch conservatives, where McCain was weak. McCain's campaign staff clearly didn't know how to deal with that.
But like it has been said, it was all moot. Christ had returned and he was running on the Democrat ticket, at least according to the fawning media. And if you didn't vote for him, it was because you were a racist. Yeah, as if Republicans (or moderates) ever voted for a white Leftist radical.
It's also pretty clear that this film was planned and green-lighted back when politicians were still announcing they were running, and it was yet to be seen if Palin would run or not. This film, like other Leftist works (the aforementioned CBS/Mary Mapes/Dan Rather fiasco chief among them), was designed to bring down candidate or nominee Palin's presidential run. Any Leftists denying that must be delusional.
Posted in: Palin movie 'Game Change' premieres in U.S.
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OldHawk
@Serrano
Yeah, like pretty much any Michael Moore or Oliver Stone movie. Take the reality they want, make it into a movie, and suddenly it's the new reality. Well, for people who think Tina Fey's lines are what Sarah Palin actually said, anyway.
@donkusai
Yeah? Just who verified these details? http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2012/03/09/top-10-lies-game-change (Note: This review is by someone who has seen the movie.)
@yabits
So it strokes all of your prejudice buttons. You can use it as a tool to justify hating someone you already wanted to hate anyway. Probably because it's based on all the rumors and inneundo you wanted to believe in 2008.
@oginome
But you're not prejudiced or bigoted in any way, right? You just keep telling yourself that, junior.
Posted in: Palin movie 'Game Change' premieres in U.S.
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OldHawk
I'll be there later this year, strong yen or not. Partly for business, but mostly to see friends and enjoy Japan again. Sure, it'll cost me. If I were just looking at getting out of the U.S. for a vacation, then there are other, more affordable options. But none of them are Japan, so for me it's worth the extra cost.
Oh, and if I buy now, round trip will be about US$1,300. BNA-LAX-NRT. Not cheap, but I priced a round-trip to Toronto last year, and just that was going to be over $800.
Posted in: Japan tourism still suffering one year on from quake
2
OldHawk
@Gaijinochio
My racing driver friend saw the video after I sent him the link. He said that doctors are his worst students. They're not accustomed to taking instruction from anybody else, and have massive egos. He said it's usually not until he drives their car - while they're a passenger - that they begin to realize he knows more about driving than they do.
He had plenty of technical criticism too. The doctor isn't looking far enough ahead, he's lifting off the throttle at the wrong time ("He would have spun there and there had he been going faster, but he's so bad, he can't even get up enough speed."), rough transitions, etc.
Maybe part of the doctor's sentence should be driving an old Daihatsu Midget, or just a bicycle. Or taking lessons from the Porsche driver.
Posted in: Speeding Ferrari driver caught after YouTube post
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OldHawk
@BurakuminDes
There's no point in taking it out on his car. It's just a mechanical device. Besides, someone else will own it one day, so you would be trashing it for them too. And they have nothing to do with this doctor's lack of judgment or skill.
Posted in: Speeding Ferrari driver caught after YouTube post
4
OldHawk
A moment of silence for those lost and those still suffering. A lifetime of remembering, and recovering, for all.
Posted in: Japan falls silent for tsunami victims
2
OldHawk
That's what racetracks are for.
Apparently, the "beauty of a Ferrari" is that it costs more than a Porsche which can outrun it.
A friend of mine is a track instructor, sometimes for Porsche clubs, sometimes for Ferrari clubs. He'll probably have all sorts of things to say about the doctor's driving technique. Or lack thereof.
Posted in: Speeding Ferrari driver caught after YouTube post
0
OldHawk
Ah, so it wasn't bullying after all. Why does the media always suggest that first? In fact, why does the media report such things without verification?
Posted in: Ohio shooter says he chose victims at random
-1
OldHawk
@cleo
I don't know that I would call it "fear". I would have fear if I could not prepare for such an event. But I can prepare, so I do. "Readiness is all." Still, one of my fellow citizens justified my being prepared.
I agree. I've certainly tried not to give up on civilization, but as I pointed out to oginome, I can't make a difference in my country. Even honestly discussing the roots causes cannot happen any more. So the only option one has is to prepare for themselves.
Here's an example: In Japan, people living on welfare get audited, correct? No such audits exist in the U.S. Forget trying to implement them, even suggesting such would get one vilified beyond recovery in the media. Now you'll probably say that the Japanese take it too far, and I agree. Elderly people shouldn't lose their air conditioning in a country known for humid, stifling summers. But the American system is at the other end of the spectrum. And it's creating a system of broken families, entitlement mentality, and ingratitude. Imagine "poor" people living more comfortably than many who work, and then behaving like trust-fund babies, never being satisfied with what they have, because they it was handed to them instead of them working for it. If they do work, it's illegal work, under the table and hidden from taxes. It's prostitution, or selling drugs, or robbing people for drug money. That's what we have now, and the percentage of Americans living in that manner grows every year. And it's intentional on the part of the "progressives".
Here in America we have fought for causes, even on our home soil. And we might have to again. If we do, I want to be armed for that.
Posted in: One dead, 4 wounded in Ohio school shooting
0
OldHawk
@oginome
I didn't say it was. In fact, I wasn't talking about gun-related deaths at all. "Progressives", as they like to call themselves, are enablers of a culture that destroys itself. They make a group of people out to be victims (whether they genuinely are or not) and exploit their victim status for political gain. If the "progressives" truly wanted to tackle the core causes of "social injustice", they could have done so decades ago and brought about true reform, which would naturally lead to a reduction of violent crime in America. Instead, they vilify anyone who even attempts to have an honest discussion about the problems facing certain groups in society, and then complain that we can't have an honest discussion about the issues. Even one of my own friends from (waaaaay) back in my school days is like that. We recently got into a somewhat heated debate on FB. But we've done that before, and know not to take our debates too personally.
True progressives support personal self-defense. Personal responsibility, in other words. Others might find it more civilized to wait for the police to arrive. If that's what you want, then practice it. But don't make me live by your moral standards, especially if it puts my life at risk. False progressives pressure reluctant gun dealers to sell weapons to Mexican drug cartels so they can "see where they end up". Like anybody couldn't guess...
Besides, the shooter in this case was 17. I'll bet that he can't legally buy a handgun in his state, much less get a carry permit. And then he carried it on schools grounds, which is also against the law. So tell me, what law would have prevented this tragedy?
As for how murder stats are counted, I would have to see what source you are referencing. Just a couple of weeks ago, I saw a press release by an anti-gun group, and it turned out that they were manipulating the numbers in a very big way. They counted every single gunshot death as a homicide, inluding those made in self-defense. And that certainly wan't an isolated case. Years ago, the CDC was caught counting 25-year-olds shot during drug deals as "children" so they could pad the numbers for child deaths caused by guns.
Would you rather be strangled, as I almost was? I thought I made it clear with my personal story that criminals are criminals, and are going to use whatever they can get their hands on. It might be a gun, it might be a kinfe, or it might be a strap. But outlawing or banning guns won't remove violent criminals from society nor prevent violent crime. Just see Chicago or D.C. for examples.
Earlier, I wrote:
The question that is not being addressed by the "ban guns" debaters is "How many legally owned guns are used to commit crimes or murder?"
Care to answer that?
Posted in: One dead, 4 wounded in Ohio school shooting
-1
OldHawk
@oginome
I don't consider myself "lucky" to read the opinions of inexperienced or mal-informed people. Besides, it wasn't luck, but rather my gun.
I'll get to how you count "murders" in a moment. Legal gun owners don't glorify violence. Did you see the NRA video game? Shooting at paper targets in a range environment. Contrast that to pretty much any non-NRA shooting game. There's lots of violence in the James Bond film franchise, but American gun owners don't make those movies. The non-gun-owning Brits make them. Now sure, the Americans do make hip-hop or rap (or whatever it's called this week) videos that glorify violence, belonging to gangs, etc., but I doubt you'll find many NRA members among the folks in that industry. In fact, it's not hard to guess which party they ironically vote for.
And nobody - and I do mean nobody - scoffs at those who die because they cannot afford health care. If you're going to vilify anyone, base it on facts you can prove, and not on your prejudice against them.
Posted in: One dead, 4 wounded in Ohio school shooting
1
OldHawk
@cleo
I admit it can be a bit high-pressure at times. But some of us do try to improve the country we live in. We're opposed by those who prefer to exploit "victims" and manufacture crises and situations that they can then further exploit for political gain, but occasionally we make a bit of true progress against those who call themselves "progressives".
Personally, I wouldn't mind living in Japan (without my gun), which is one of the few countries where one can have a reasonable expectation to live a violence-free life. Well, other than violence against women, who are at a physical disadvantage. But I am committed to caring for my parents as they age, so I can only visit for now.
Posted in: One dead, 4 wounded in Ohio school shooting
0
OldHawk
@Noliving
Yes, that is interesting. A friend of mine works for a non-profit that assist victims of domestic violence. I asked her once about why children from violent homes repeat the violent behavior as adults. One would think that they would not want to repeat the behavior that scarred them as children, whether they were a direct victim or witnessed it happening to someone else. She said that it's "learned behavior" and very difficult to overcome, because it's the only method they know. She even said that she had to learn not to yell at her partner, because her parents yelled at each other when she was a child.
It may be that for this shooter, there was something else going on at home. Abusive parents aren't going to see warning signs.
Posted in: One dead, 4 wounded in Ohio school shooting
0
OldHawk
If I'm not mistaken, Ted Bundy didn't shoot any of his victims. Neither did John Wayne Gacy, or Geoffrey Dahmer. Tomohiro Kato used a truck to kill three people, and then a knife to kill four more. Whenever a news story comes out about a missing wife, it often turns out that the husband killed her. Not by shooting her, but by strangulation, or drowning her in a bathtub, or some quieter means. So does anger kill people? Yes, it does. Do people still find the means to kill others when guns are not available? Yes, they do. Do people use guns to kill people without legally obtaining them? Yes, they do.
The question that is not being addressed by the "ban guns" debaters is "How many legally owned guns are used to commit crimes or murder?" Let's see, there was the Tuscon shooting last year, but I've already discussed what went wrong there. And then there is... hmmm...
Posted in: One dead, 4 wounded in Ohio school shooting
0
OldHawk
@oginome
Considering that I'm still here to read your condescension because I was armed...
Posted in: One dead, 4 wounded in Ohio school shooting