Tessa's past comments

  • 1

    Tessa

    I think that in Japan, college is a good way to make important connections, often life-long ones. I'm impressed with the way that people keep in touch with their old school friends here. I recently met a lady in her seventies who attended a kindergarten reunion - I didn't even know that kindergartens existed in those days!

    Posted in: Is college worth it?

  • 0

    Tessa

    I'm sorry to say this, but the most annoying non-Japanese co-workers I've had in Japan are the blah, beta western males who get treated like superstars by giggly OLs, and let it all go to their heads. Some of them get away with behaviour and remarks that would have them hauled up for sexual harassment in any other nation.

    Posted in: Annoying office mates

  • 9

    Tessa

    The son of a friend of mine had a part-time job with KFC in Japan while in high school, and he stuck with it through university graduation. By that time he had accumulated so much knowledge about how the franchises are operated they offered him a permanent position.

    Absolutely! My friend's daughter was in the same situation. Although her (relatively wealthy) parents were happy to provide room and board during her student years, they refused to pay for anything else, such as clothes, hobbies, or travel. She was forced to take on a part-time job at a fast food restaurant, and did so well at it that she was offered a full-time position by the time she graduated. She recently married, and plans to keep on working within the system to improve conditions for working mothers. I'll be watching that young lady with interest!

    Posted in: Parents advised to give the boot to their sponging adult kids

  • 5

    Tessa

    I see "Tiger moms" who stress out their kids but very rarely do THEY take any part in helping the kid. Push them into piano, eikaiwa, juku but yet, the moms never sit down and help their kids with thew work they have from school, juku, eikaiwa... They seem to think it is the teacher's job to teach and the kids job to study.

    Absolutely. Nail on head. I work with mothers and kids who are Japanese, Chinese and Korean. Without wishing to generalise, the Japanese mothers are "hands-off" to the point of being downright lazy. The other mothers take a keen interest in their children's education (yes, sometimes to the point of being annoying, but never to the point of disprespecting the teachers) and they do whatever it takes to get their kids to sit up and pay attention. Oh, and quite a few of them hold down jobs as well!

    Posted in: Parents creating stressed-out children

  • 0

    Tessa

    I can't help thinking that atopy (atopic syndrome), or hyperallergic skin rashes may be caused by over washing.

    I used to think so, but a student who suffered from "atopi" was told by her doctor that it's more likely to be caused by air pollution. He strongly advised her to move out of the city.

    here are a few simple facts; your toothbrush contains more bacteria than your rectum.

    Without wishing to sound vulgar, I don't usually share either with other people. I don't care to share my bathwater, either, for the same reasons.

    Posted in: National obsession with cleanliness bodes ill for health

  • 0

    Tessa

    Cleo, your comparison to onsen and the ocean (?) doesn't really hold up as onsen are far bigger than a bathtub as well as having cleaning systems.

    Not to mention that people generally don't go to the ocean to clean their bodies. At least, I certainly don't.

    Posted in: National obsession with cleanliness bodes ill for health

  • -1

    Tessa

    It is believed that the sudden decrease in Japanese tourists is related to the effects of the cheap yen and the fear and anxiety surrounding North Korea's nuclear experiments.

    Okay, now I've heard it all!

    Posted in: S Korea sees marked decrease in number of Japanese tourists

  • -1

    Tessa

    If you have a MA TESOL or something similar, get a job with a private JHS or university. At first it will probably be a contract position, but if you show aptitude, initiative, and most important, suck up to the boss, they may offer you full-time employment. I think the pay is also around 5-6 million. Not great, but more than the average eikaiwa teacher.

    This is brilliant advice. I'm glad I took it.

    If you want to make a career out of teaching, go to grad school, get a Masters degree, join your local JALT chapter and get involved with other teachers. Once you have made connections in the academic circles, you will find it easier to get work. While you are teaching as a part-time university lecturer, you can easily fill up the rest of your time with private lessons, do some research and work on getting published. Once you are published, and have a few years of teaching experience under your belt, opportunities in public universities may open up, and eventually you may be granted tenure.

    I know several people who've done this, too. They are easily supporting wives and children on their incomes, and they get to go "home" once or twice a year. Kudos to them, I say!

    Posted in: Silver bullets won’t help Japan, and neither will JET

  • 1

    Tessa

    Everyone washes before getting in the tub, which means there is very little difference between first-in and last-in.

    If that's the case, then why do women go last?

    Posted in: National obsession with cleanliness bodes ill for health

  • 1

    Tessa

    The rates of mass- food poisoning in Japan seems way higher than any other "developed" country?

    Yes, it really does. It seems that every couple of weeks or so, you hear about mass food poisoning incidents. And that's just the reported cases (there are unreported ones too, if my Japanese friends' experiences are anything to go by).

    Posted in: Mass food poisoning outbreak reported at elementary school in Fukuoka

  • 0

    Tessa

    I must be hanging out in the wrong places, but I only know two kinds of western male in Japan:

    1. The bright-eyed and bushy-tailed newbies (who have no interest in me).

    2. The bitter alcoholic divorcees (who are of no interest to me).

    The smart ones get out between 1 and 2, so I never get to meet them.

    Posted in: Five things I like about expat guys

  • -3

    Tessa

    Mt Fuji was rejected as a natural heritage site several years ago because it was too polluted.

    Fuji-san was disgustingly dirty, almost like a toilet. The first UNESCO team was apparently shocked to see this. Japanese friends regularly assured me that Mt. Fuji was better admired from a distance, and that I'd be disappointed by the mess if I got up close (so I took their advice and never bothered climbing).

    I always thought it was a world heritage site anyway.

    I thought so too, the way the Japanese carry on about it!

    Anyway, good news for Japan! Long live Mt Fuji. Now Japan, do the right thing and apply far more stringent criteria to climbing rights, don't just let anyone go on up there.

    Posted in: Fuji to get World Heritage Site status; Kamakura misses out

  • -3

    Tessa

    The great thing about tatami is that it gave you an extra room.

    This argument doesn't hold water. The same thing can be done with a flooring room too, provided there is enough storage space.

    Put away the futon in the morning and your bedroom becomes a breakfast/lunch/dining/sitting room for the rest of the day.

    Ah, this was the bugbear with my architect student. He said that the fact that people insist on using their bedrooms as dining rooms is precisely what attracts the nasty insects in the first place. He strongly recommended that if people insist on regularly using a tatami room as a living room, then don't even spill so much as a drop of clean water on the mats, let alone crumbs of food.

    Anyway, if tatami is so great, then why do most modern homes now only one tatami room, and flooring or even carpeting for the rest?

    Posted in: National obsession with cleanliness bodes ill for health

  • 4

    Tessa

    Wait a minute, she went to college and ended up with a 130,000 yen a month job?

    Posted in: Women use smartphone games to lure men into paying for their food expenses

  • -2

    Tessa

    Hooray, she showed up after all, and she looks great! I wonder who the po-faced lady standing behind her is ... her minder, perhaps?

    Posted in: Dutch treat

  • -5

    Tessa

    Japanese people not especially clean. Cold water in washing machines, no morning showers, spraying all that artificial spray over anything that smells instead of taking care of what's causing the problem. Tatami. There's a germ farm if I ever saw one. Now, they think they are very clean with their damn masks on all the time, their costant wiping and what have you but, as often here, nobody knows why they do it.

    I cannot stand the idea of washing my undergarments in cold water, or washing them together with bath towels and dish drying towels, like so many Japanese people do. Since I came to Japan I wear disposable paper panties. It's probably not good for the environment, but it's better for my peace of mind. Also, a large number of Japanese households recycle their bathwater for laundry. Just think, four or five people have bathed in the water that you are about to use to launder your panties.

    About tatami: according to my student, a retired architect, tatami is so attractive to insects that he refuses to have a tatami room in his home. Tatami is dirty. He said that this is pretty much common knowledge amongst architects in Japan.

    As for the face masks, they are often re-used for days on end. My feeling is that masks aren't really used to keep germs out, so much as to keep people cut off from society. I can't really blame them.

    Posted in: National obsession with cleanliness bodes ill for health

  • -1

    Tessa

    When I was a kid in England, baths were once a week - and if we could find a way round it, we would.

    Hi Bertie, I don't know your exact age, but according to my older Japanese friends and students, Japan wasn't so much different. Bathing daily is a relatively recent custom here. One of my students, a lovely lady in her seventies, told me that "bath day" was a big event in her village, because only one family had an actual bathtub, and when they were feeling generous they shared it with the rest of the neighborhood.

    Don't forget that bathwater is shared by families (ew!) and that traditionally the youngest daughter-in-law in the house is the last to use it. According to my student, by the time she got to use it the water was milky-colored, and not especially clean at all.

    As for dishwashing, I know people in my neighborhood who still don't have hot water in their kitchens. They do all their dishwashing with cold water and non-soapy detergent. They are scrupulous about rinsing, but only because they don't trust the quality of the detergent.

    Posted in: National obsession with cleanliness bodes ill for health

  • 0

    Tessa

    Can you say "third wheel?"

    Posted in: Royal gathering

  • 1

    Tessa

    Princess Masako didn't show up at the banquet. Poor Naruhito had to go alone and unescorted. I guess he's used to it by now ...

    Posted in: Crown princess leaves on first official overseas trip in 11 years

  • 0

    Tessa

    Ooh, that looks good. I'll be giving it a try.

    Posted in: Mos Burger goes green with Natsumi burgers

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