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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Patrick Hattman
Good for the people mentioned here. I hope things work out for them back in Brazil.
Not a few aging English teachers still trying to make a career out of the eikaiwa racket would do well to heed the same advice and move back home while they still have a chance to start anew.
Brazil is a country with a bright future. Japan is not.
Posted in: Japanese-Brazilians go 'home' to tap economic boom
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Patrick Hattman
North Korea is far from being able to put a missile together with a nuclear warhead and deliver it against perceived enemies in East Asia, let alone the U.S. A repeat of an underground nuclear test is not much to be concerned about at this time.
Posted in: Defense official voices fears over possible N Korea nuclear test
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Patrick Hattman
The Olympics will be held seven years after the host city is decided next year. The sentimental mumbo-jumbo shouldn't have anything to do with swaying voters to Tokyo. But it probably will.
If not, a Nagano corrupt bid manual or two must have escaped the fires and could provide guidance. Or if they need more examples of how to do things the under-the-table way, they could talk to the keirin people and see how they got their sport into the Olympics.
Spending tons of money to build some new infrastructure and facilities around the Tokyo metro area has little to do with helping the people of the Tohoku region who will require years, if not decades in the case of some in Fukushima, to get their lives back to normal.
If I could, I would suggest an open forum that features facts from all of the money lost and continuing headaches related to maintenance of Olympic facilities at the host cities of the past few Summer Olympic Games. But this would make sense, in kind of a "dry" way, too logical for the "wet" thinking of the Japanese calling the shots on thie bid.
Posted in: Hosting 2020 Olympics would aid healing process - Tokyo bid chief
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Patrick Hattman
In other words, you should reserve judgment til all the facts come out, since you don't know what happened specifically at the start of the altercation, and you have no more idea than we do about any "ballistics info."
Why don't you wait til the police reports detailing what they observed come out and what the medics saw and TREATED and filed in their report before you assume you know what you're talking about, O.K.? I worked as an EMT in the military for several years and can at least imagine a bit what they did. Do you have any experience in the field?
Maybe you should put yourself in Zimmerman's shoes first, and think about why he was so suspicious of Martin that day...it was raining, the person appeared to be a stranger and was black... the neighborhood had had one incident after the other with blacks committing crimes there...look it up. But, no, this might make some sense.
Should Zimmerman have immediately followed the instructions of the police and not followed Martin anymore? Yes. But from that point on we're left to guess at what really happened. And it will be very hard for Zimmerman to get any sort of fair trial as others have said as well, because Zimmerman has become the national "fall guy" for any and all wrongs done to blacks.
Perhaps the majority of the MSM should look more closely at Obama's hometown of Chicago, led by his pal Rahm Emanuel, and think a little more about black accountability for the rash of black-on-black murders there this year. Or how about using this as an opportunity to talk about crime in general, but no, no, no...that would force the "black community" to take a hard look at the incredibly disproportionate # of crimes they commit and have to answer for it with a little accountability.
So let's make ONE tragedy, the death of Trayvon Martin, into the biggest news story in the country now and for who knows how many months to come. This is much easier for a largely lazy media, and for all the gravy trainers who are now, and will for a long time to come, profit of the tragedy of Trayvon Martin's death.
Posted in: Zimmerman charged with second-degree murder in Trayvon Martin shooting
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Patrick Hattman
>
The #1 reason Obama will not be reelected is the economy.
If you want to nitpick at trivial things Romney has said and done over the years, so be it. I could find just as many objectionable statements-especially if taken out of context-that Obama has uttered over the years.
Posted in: Noda to visit Washington April 29-May 2
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Patrick Hattman
@molenir:
agree with this
Posted in: Zimmerman charged with second-degree murder in Trayvon Martin shooting
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Patrick Hattman
@yabits:
I've read a bunch of times where people have claimed that since his body was a "John Doe" for 2 days that this is somehow indicative of racism by the Sanford Police.
Let's see...a 17 y/o with no I.D. on him...a teenager in a town where he would have been a complete stranger to just about everyone other than his father and his father's fiancee-who they were reportedly staying with. It's just inconceivable that he wasn't identified sooner-the only answer is racism!
Posted in: Zimmerman charged with second-degree murder in Trayvon Martin shooting
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Patrick Hattman
@cleo:
I've seen a few that identified Zimmerman as Hispanic. If Zimmerman is Hispanic because of his mother's ethnic background, I guess that makes Pres. Obama white and Tiger Woods Asian.
@yabits:
The prosecution will have the burden to prove that Zimmerman had continued that pursuit, and was not on his way back to his vehicle when attacked. They'll have a very tough job proving their case in a lot of ways. They're going to rue the day that it was decided to pursue second-degree murder charges, and not manslaughter.
Posted in: Zimmerman charged with second-degree murder in Trayvon Martin shooting
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Patrick Hattman
This should have been the charge.
No, she is just passing the buck. By bowing to pressure from the "black community" and most of the MSM, she decided to charge him with second-degree murder, instead of manslaughter. As with the Casey Anthony debacle last year, another Florida prosecutor has aimed too high and will lose.
In this case, whenever a verdict is finally reached, an acquittal on murder will create an even greater racial divide in the U.S. and spawn more violence. The media, Congressional Black Caucus, Spike Lee, Messers. Jackson and Sharpton etc. should be real proud of their work on this one.
Posted in: Zimmerman charged with second-degree murder in Trayvon Martin shooting
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Patrick Hattman
A meeting of two leaders who will lose their jobs by the end of the year.
Posted in: Noda to visit Washington April 29-May 2
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Patrick Hattman
Asian women, primarily South Korean but also a handful of Japanese, have won one tournament after the other on the LPGA tour over the past decade or so. The South Korean men have had some success in the U.S., like Yang and Choi to name a couple, but very little from the Japanese.
The men in both countries have been trying for a longer period to do well in the U.S. than the women have, but with entirely different results. Why is this when both sexes have access to the same training and coaching?
Posted in: Asians must work harder to win major golf tournaments, say leading players
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Patrick Hattman
@hide suzuki: Relax, man. (Irabu had nowhere near the ability of Darvish.) I think anyone here with sufficient knowledge of both NPB and MLB knows that Yu Darvish should be a good MLB starting pitcher.
Darvish is a better athlete than other Japanese starting pitchers to make their way to MLB since 1995, and he has the size and durability from good genes to be in the majors for a long time, IMO.
How good Darvish will be remains to be seen over the course of his long contract, and we all know the injury factor very often comes into play with pitchers.
There will be ups-and-downs due to all the new things he will encounter his first season-from American life in general to an overall higher level of play on the field in the U.S. I suspect most Rangers' fans are excited about Darvish and the vital role they expect him to play as a starting pitcher this year and beyond. They will treat him well if he plays hard, and as an equal member of the team-not as some sort of disposable part, foreign helper.
Some are concerned that Darvish will not throw enough in practice and games in the majors and will suffer from a loss of durability and incur more injuries. I doubt this in his case as a member of the Rangers. Nolan Ryan has an organization-wide system of having pitchers throw more at all levels than most other MLB teams do, and Darvish will benefit accordingly.
Posted in: Darvish wins major league debut after rough start against Mariners
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Patrick Hattman
Japan, the U.S., EU member nations...what difference does it really make now? The simple fact of the matter is that the best "plans" of these countries to tackle their debt issues would really do little other than slow the growth of their mountains of debt, not push the countries' budgets back into the black on an annual basis.
So far, Japan has been able to fund most of its deficit spending by domestic bond purchases, instead of looking so much abroad like the others. How much longer can this continue?
The Bubble Days of the 1980s and all the fantasies that the Japanese populace fell for concerning Japan being the richest country in the world based on...B.S. land values, insane stock market manipulation etc....are long over. The country has been stuck in an economic malaise for two decades or so because Japan has nowhere to go for the time being but down.
The politicians have no answers for an economic rebound for the country because there are none. Raising the consumption tax might make sense to PM Noda and his ol' Finance Ministry pals. I doubt that it will, though. I guess we'll find out after it's been in place for a few years.
Posted in: Diet passes Y90.3 tril budget, adding to Japan's debt mountain
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Patrick Hattman
Two good rounds by an amateur does not a career make. Ishikawa has a ton of pressure on his shoulders. The Japanese media gives him no space. If Matsuyama were in Ishikawa's shoes, the same struggles could very easily happen.
Let's see where Matsuyama is a few years after turning pro, and compare him with Ishikawa at that point.
Posted in: Don't crowd me
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Patrick Hattman
Any day Hanshin beats the Giants is a good day.
Posted in: Japanese baseball results
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Patrick Hattman
How about a picture of Hideki Matsuyama? Unlike Ishikawa, he made the cut and will be playing the weekend.
Posted in: Don't crowd me
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Patrick Hattman
Yes, there is a long, long history of this. For example, when baseball ironman Sachio Kinugasa did well, he was a symbol of Japanese toughness and perseverance. When he didn't, the fact that his father was a black American was somehow a part of it.
When Hideki Irabu did well in Japan and threw some super-fast pitches, he was an example of Japanese power pitching. When he did poorly at times in the U.S. and got fat, it was because of his white American father.
I think Darvish will do well in MLB. For how many years is impossible to say, of course. Pitching is an unnatural motion that puts great strain on certain parts of the arm-depending on the mechanics.
"is expected to struggle with the league’s slippery ball and harder pitcher’s mound"
Nomo didn't have any trouble his first year. He was tremendous.
Posted in: Japan counting on Darvish to rescue pride, bragging rights
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Patrick Hattman
@Hide: Yeah, NPB is so good. I guess the Tigers and the Giants are employing such has-beens and never-has-beens from overseas like Randy Messenger, Jason Standridge, Craig Brazell, Matt Murton, Dicky Gonzalez, Dennis Houlton, Scott Mathieson, Levi Romero and John Bowker because they want to keep so many high-quality Japanese players on the farm team.
If the U.S. and Japan played a 7-game series with their best players, the U.S. would win most of the time. Take an extensive look at major-league rosters and put together a 25-man roster and do the same for Japan with players from NPB and the majors.
There is no way that any knowledgeable observer would say that the Japanese team would be better. The U.S. team would have the advantage in talent overall, and would win most of the time.
Posted in: Athletics beat Giants 5-0 in exhibition game
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Patrick Hattman
The American bases on Okinawa are part of a larger U.S. strategy to protect its interests in Asia. At the same time, Japan goes along for the ride as a junior partner, and it has largely been to the country's benefit, especially from an economic standpoint for decades. Okinawa is situated at a vital geopolitical location, so the U.S. wants forces there, and Tokyo wants them there even more than they should be, as in "out of sight, out of mind."
The central government in Tokyo uses the defense agreement with the U.S. because it is easier and cheaper than going it alone. Washington and Tokyo tried to get at least 8,000 Marines, their dependents and some support personnel off Okinawa and back to Guam to significantly lessen the burden on the island, but instead of being REALISTIC, Okinawans have forced a situation resulting in only a "half" realignment of forces.
Yuri: I have a simple question for you that JohninNaha refused to answer the other day.
If the U.S. removed all of its forces from Okinawa, do you think all the current bases and other facilities would simply be for private use? Or would there be a significant increase in SDF use of them? If so, how would the SDF planes, helicopters and other training not be a problem to Okinawans?
The simple, sad fact is that Okinawa has been a pawn in a game between more powerful neighbors and outsiders for centuries. To believe that this will radically change in the 21st century, and that some sort of utopia-like Okinawa will return after several hundred years of getting used and abused, is utterly naive.
Deal with reality and try to make the best of it, or things will get even worse.
Posted in: Japan working out details of missile deployment ahead of N Korea launch
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Patrick Hattman
When you speak of China, you're wrong.
If you want to stick to the topic at hand, regarding N. Korea, you're correct-the U.S. Marines are not there to stop North Korea. North Korea has no capability to launch a sea-borne attack anywhere in Japan. They would be wiped off the face of the map if they tried.
Not until their Japanese countrerparts are ready, and legally capable, of doing so.
I worked with SDF for years. They are not ready to do the job. They could've have been, I think, if Japan had taken the necessary steps gradually to remove the constitutional constraints from twenty years ago, better prepared the Japanese public as whole, and gotten more young Japanese to serve.
If the food aid goes to the fat cats running the country, including the military, and those truly in need get little, if anything, then what would have been accomplished?
Posted in: Japan working out details of missile deployment ahead of N Korea launch