JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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- Financial Advisor
- Select Asset Management KK, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥100,000 ~ ¥999,999 Paid Training Commission Based
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- Corporate Business English Trainers
- ACT Systems, Inc.（株式会社アクト・システムズ）, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥269,500 ~ ¥280,000 / Month
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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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PleasureGelf
@paulinusa, which cheeks?
Posted in: 'Toilet God' song makes a star of songstress
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PleasureGelf
Why, only last night I dreamed my room was very messy and when I woke up today it was.
Posted in: Do you believe that dreams have a bearing on or are symbolic of something in your real life?
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PleasureGelf
Yes, I do warn them of the strange old man in funny clothes who's suspiciously fond of children and likes to sneak into people's homes at night and then in the morning, shudder to think, children may come upon his leavings. Fortunately, he comes just once a year.
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PleasureGelf
well, if someone thought that politicians speak their mind and China REALLY liked North Korea, Middle East liked Iran etc they must be living in their own world.
Posted in: Do you agree with WikiLeaks' decision to release sensitive documents?
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PleasureGelf
What WikiLeaks does is dangerous in extreme and naive in its quest for truth but I agree with it in the way I agree with hacking Pentagon and similar websites to show they're not protected well enough. Once something is leaked it practically doesn't matter whether it appears online or not.
Posted in: Do you agree with WikiLeaks' decision to release sensitive documents?
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PleasureGelf
Instead of another futile discussion we could watch the Christopher Hitchens debating Tony Blair on pretty much the same topic which probably has inspired someone at JT to ask the very question. They both make some good and valid points in a much more erudite and informed way than I possibly ever will be able to, so I won't bother but I'll just point out to techall, following what Hitchens said; empowering women to choose if and how many children they want to have did much more good than Mother Teresa's misguided intentions. And the suffering she caused by insisting that contraception is a sin probably outweighs her achievements. It could be compared to someone insisting that seatbelts are evil, but comforting car accident victims.
Posted in: Is religion more of a destructive or benign force in the world today?
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PleasureGelf
I bet undertakers see the world as full of dying people, for police officers it's filled with criminals, and for psychiatrists most of us are crazy. For a weekly magazine reporter catering to male interests Japan is swarming with ladies itching to get their kit off. In my experience it's absolutely not true that Japanese women are eager to show off their body, not more than women of other nationalities anyway. However, to those few who are comfortable with nudity and want to push the boundaries of what is deemed OK in Japan, more power to you girls. I won't be complaining.
Posted in: Why are Japanese women so eager to bare themselves?
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PleasureGelf
We should all rejoice that this is the closest his seed will ever get to a woman.
Posted in: Man arrested for throwing used condom at woman
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PleasureGelf
Lol, fishing for undies with his rod in hand.
Posted in: Man who 'fished' underwear from balcony arrested in Kobe
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PleasureGelf
No, they are voluntary. If you want to maintain your privacy, don't fly.
Imagine for a moment that your local shop, the bus or subway you take every day, your favorite pub or bar, your church and so on introduce strip search. Would you still maintain your privacy the way you propose others do?
Posted in: Are airport body scanners an invasion of privacy?
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PleasureGelf
And the shortest route between Japan and Europe is from Sapporo. Helsinki-Sapporo, come on Finnair!
Posted in: Finnair to increase flights to Asia
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PleasureGelf
First a legs beauty, now an eye beauty. Soon we'll have a whole beautiful bride of Frankenstein.
Posted in: Akina Minami wins Beauty Eye Award
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PleasureGelf
I'm not going to white-wash American history to defend democracy. I don't think nor claim the US army is squeaky clean but I dare say it has a better track record than non-democratic countries such as soviet Russia, China, half of Africa or that country that Godwin's rule forbids mentioning so early in this thread. The only democratic country that makes it into top 20 democides of the 20th century is the United Kingdom, mostly for its engagement in the colonies, according to R.J. Rummel's calculations at least, although American bombing is mentioned as well.
In my opinion it's not terribly important but it counts for democracy that there have been very few military conflicts between two democracies and please let me rest my point here since on the whole we agree.
Posted in: Do you think democracy is the best form of government?
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PleasureGelf
Cleo, the States sure has had a few dark moments. Point me to a country that hasn't. Nobody claims democracy prevents all evil, merely that it prevents it better than other forms of government.
WilliB, Saddam's secular regime massacred Shi'ites, Kurds and engaged in many wars, eventually bringing the country to its knees. I don't see how Iraq was better off with him for a leader.
Posted in: Do you think democracy is the best form of government?
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PleasureGelf
WilliB, I think you sort of miss my point. My point is democratic countries generally do not attack the States and vice versa. Excluding covert operations all military conflicts of the past 100 years the U.S army took part in were against non-democratic governments. Democracies co-operate, trade and help each other rather than wage a war. Of course, democracy will not always work if there aren't other necessary mechanisms already in place guaranteeing protection of civil rights and freedoms. But my question stands - what other form of government do you think would work better there?
Mark, a constitutional republic like the USA is a democracy in form if not in name, so I have no quarrel with you. You seem a decent chap who wants everyone (children excluded) to have the right to vote, protect minorities and uphold the rule of law. There's nothing wrong with that.
Posted in: Do you think democracy is the best form of government?
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PleasureGelf
Mark, I don't know what you oppose, but it clearly isn't democracy I support.
Tim, any examples? And what do you mean by "pure" democracy?
WilliB, that's certainly a valid point and definitely more stimulating than explaining what democracy is, but again what other forms of government do you think would work better in Afganistan, Iran or Iraq?
It was the lack of democracy in the first place that got Afganistan and Iraq invaded. Iraq under the iron rule of a dictator, Afganistan torn by a bloody civil war and controlled by local warlords. Iran, with rigged elections, is equally far from being democratic as well.
My thinking is that the people of all those countries have the right to decide for themselves how they want to be ruled and repeat the process every now and then. If they elect another shah or a dictator, or fail to retain this right then it is another matter, but at least they deserve a chance.
Posted in: Do you think democracy is the best form of government?
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PleasureGelf
If only children and criminals then you are in favor of democracy, you'll find. I don't know of a democratic country where children are entitled to vote. I'm not sure about those convicted, but in most if not all democratic countries suffrage includes adult nationals regardless of their wealth, sex or race etc as long as they haven't been stripped of the rights otherwise.
Posted in: Do you think democracy is the best form of government?
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PleasureGelf
A constitutional republic, you say. And who do you propose to be deprived of the right to vote?
Posted in: Do you think democracy is the best form of government?
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PleasureGelf
I've noticed that votes for democracy go up when America goes to sleep and down when it wakes up. Could it be that in American mind this word is hopelessly colored by the association of the democrats with social welfare, higher taxes or even socialism, which President Obama is so often accused of recently, among other things? What about social justice, equal chances and the right to be heard, my friends?
I wonder what those opposing democracy have to offer? If it's a republic without democracy, who would they like to disfranchise? Surely, not themselves? If it's dictatorship, absolute monarchy or any other authoritarian government, are they really willing to entrust their life and limb in the hands of others? If it's anarchy or a somehow devolved state without central government, how they imagine it would function without democracy?
Posted in: Do you think democracy is the best form of government?
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PleasureGelf
Sarge, yes indeedy.
Zenny, and where are those great empires now? And more importantly, would you like to be a black, female slave in any of them?
Look at the modern world instead and show me a non-democratic state that flourishes and that you would like to live in disfranchised.
Posted in: Do you think democracy is the best form of government?