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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ThonTaddeo
Basil, I couldn't have said it better myself. The Japanese national government is the one forcing these bases on the Okinawans, for Japan's benefit. A national referendum would of course keep the status quo intact -- Japan defended by the US, but with many of the living, breathing human soldiers -- that pesky downside of defense -- crammed into a faraway southern prefecture that in olden times was considered to be second-class compared to the Yamato people.
If Okinawans want them, great. (Not much sympathy for people who built homes and businesses on empty land around the bases and then complain that the bases take up too much space, though.)
But if Tokyo wants them, I say let Tokyo host them.
Posted in: Okinawa fears revised plan may leave Futenma where it is
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ThonTaddeo
An automobile has the potential to be a deadly weapon. A moment's indiscretion or inattentiveness while driving, and people around the driver can die. In this an automobile is no different from a gun or hunting knife. If you can't handle this weapon responsibly, you shouldn't have the privilege to use it, and if you harm others using your weapon, you must bear responsibility for what you've done.
Forget the race of the perpetrator. The drunk driver is responsible for not being able to control his vehicle responsibly. And this is manslaughter whether he used a vehicle or anything else that can kill.
Posted in: Parents of hit-and-run victim present petition demanding stiffer penalty for defendant
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ThonTaddeo
Paul, they're far from Kyushu, and far from the main island of Okinawa, but very close to -- and almost due north of -- Ishigaki and the other Yaeyama islands. They're closer to Ishigaki than any other place, including Taiwan.
And when big mainland China gobbles up little Taiwan?
Sorry; we won't fall for that gambit.
Posted in: China protests Japan's plan to name disputed islands
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ThonTaddeo
Dismaying statistic: today, Japanese women live 4.45 years longer than men. Fifty years from now, this gap will widen rather than narrow, with women living 4.54 years longer than men. In fact, even after all the advances in medicine and health care that will come during th next five decades, men then will still have lives that are two years shorter than what women have now! At the rate of increase seen in these figures, it will be around 2110 that men finally reach the point (86.39 years) where women already are now. (And they will never catch up, because that gap is widening with each passing year, not narrowing.)
Spare a thought for Japan's poor beleaguered salarymen. Worked to the bone, deprived of chances to be with their kids, no job security anymore... and they're falling behind in life expectancy gains. And no one seems to care.
Posted in: Japan's population to shrink two thirds by 2110
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ThonTaddeo
And yet the "solution" is not to cut benefits to the huge cohort of elderly, but instead to further tax consumption just when younger people -- and there are so few of them! -- are at an age when they want to have children, and are thus coming into their highest-consumption years?
How does this work again, Mr. Noda? "Debts resting on future generations"? So it's either debts on future generations or taxes on future generations?
How about some sacrifice from your generation, which benefited tremendously from the peaceful, high-growth postwar world without any of you actually going off to war and being shot at like today's super-elderly, or enduring the lack of material comfort that today's "ordinary" elderly did in the immediate postwar years? You boomers made your fortunes in the bubble era -- and didn't pay any consumption tax at all while doing it.
No, things will not get better "tomorrow", because "tomorrow" we working-age people will see shrinking paychecks and massive increases at the cash registers every time we buy something. It'll get better for you, of course, because your pension will be assured. How about some concern for the day after tomorrow, when the birth rate goes down even further because of the decrease in spending power for today's and tomorrow's parents?
If the government really cared about being fair to the post-1970 generations, they'd institute big cuts in current pension payouts and gut all the useless government projects that have been providing steady paychecks to the pre-1970 crowd but now aren't hiring. They'd cut pensions by a small percentage for what's being paid out based on post-1989 (post-consumption-tax) premiums, and cut them even more for payments based on pre-1989 premiums, when payers were able to make money without paying any consumption tax at all.
"Improved understanding" for your tax? More like "improved resignation" as everyone under about 50 realizes that the oyajis and obaas are circling the wagons and leaving everyone else out in the cold. ”Après nous, le déluge,” huh?
Posted in: Noda struggles to conquer Japan's debt mountain
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ThonTaddeo
So much to like about Japan's subways. I ride them in Tokyo, where they're reasonably cheap compared to other cities. The 190-yen mid-range Metro ticket is a fantastic deal!
There's very little to complain about, but these things stick out:
Excessive heat. If you're going to do the "Cool Biz" thing and under-air-condition in the summer, how about not over-heating the train in winter?
Sanity-eroding announcements. We don't need to be reminded to keep our hands on the handrail when riding the escalator; we don't need to be reminded to be careful if we have children with us. One of my stations even does out of its way to have a recorded voice reminding us that this escalator goes slightly faster than an average one!
Having your ears bombarded by this garbage, particularly in the off-hours when there's no other noise to drown it out, drives me crazy. Just stay quiet and limit announcements to the essentials. Come to think of it, because of all the meaningless announcements, it's easy to just tune it out. So when you get to a station and the doors open, you've missed the name of the station because it was in with all the other clutter. How about announcing the name of the current station immediately after the doors open?
Posted in: What do you think are the good and bad points about the subway systems in Japan's cities?
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ThonTaddeo
Noda: "Hear that, elderly? We're going to take all this money from the general public and give it just to you! Now vote for us! (Don't worry; we;ll win if we get your vote. The Japanese population skews older than it ever has. Silver tyranny!"
Posted in: Gov't says revenue from 5% consumption tax hike to be used only for social security
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ThonTaddeo
Get ready for another summer of 28° indoor temperatures, and another, and another.
Last year I was a bit more willing to sacrifice because of the emergency, but if this "Cool Biz" thing is sticking around in perpetuity -- and TEPCO's huge rate hike is a perfect excuse for companies to keep it going -- you're going to see employee productivity being affected by being hot, sluggish, and sweaty all the time.
I'd happily take a few hundred yen off my salary every month to go back to 21° room temperatures like we had before 2005.
And my next job hunt will be focused outside Tokyo.
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ThonTaddeo
One more outrage: bank transfers.
Back in the US I could keep money in a checking account (which, I admit, paid little or no interest) and then write checks for small amounts without paying any extra fees.
Here they've eliminated the cumbersome paper checks, but you still have to pay Y100 plus consumption tax -- double that or more if it's to another bank! -- every time you want to send someone money! And lots of people insist on bank transfers instead of having you hand them cash. The maintenance fee at my apartment is like this: no choice to just go hand the money to the head of the residents' association, and no ability to pay 12 months at a time. No, I'm stuck making that bank transfer every month and paying Y210 to do it, every time. Y2520 per year just in transfer fees -- try making that much in interest on a savings account!
Even the post office makes cash transfers free. Come on, Mitsui Sumitomo and UFJ, get with the program!
Posted in: Six things that foreigners feel are overpriced in Japan
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ThonTaddeo
As for the Senkaku Islands, those could be given names in a totally fair and unbiased manner simply by using neither Japanese nor Chinese, but rather the native languages of the Yaeyamas.
Yonagunians used to dream of a "Hai-Dunan" (South Yonaguni) where they could sail away and escape the harsh tax regime of the Kyushu overlords. How about calling one of these islands "Nichi Dunan" (North Yonaguni)? People from Ishigaki might want to call them "Nishi Yaima" (North Yaeyama).
Yaeyaman fishermen have been making use of these waters for centuries. How about calling one of the islands something like iyu tui nu chima, which (approximately; someone correct it if you can) means "fishing island"? That would settle the Uotsuri/Tiaoyu argument right quick.
Posted in: Japan to name islands in disputed area
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ThonTaddeo
One thing I'm not complaining about is the low cost of wines and spirits with alcohol over about 14%. Could the taxes be lower on that because native Japanese sake has alcohol at this percentage? Whisky and spirits are cheaper here than in the US, whereas beer is much more expensive.
I drink lots of milk and am not a big fan of paying quadruple the US price. But my most outrageously overpriced item is the same as Smith's: cheese. All kinds of European cheeses are in my US supermarket for $6.99 per pound, and here you pay more than that for 100 grams, which works out to over $30.00 per pound!
Posted in: Six things that foreigners feel are overpriced in Japan
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ThonTaddeo
Cleo, you're getting downvoted because the word "coerced" seems to imply that the murderer somehow had no choice but to kill and mutilate the genitals of this man. Nothing justifies a crime like this. Nothing.
Posted in: Body of naked man with genitals sliced off found in apartment
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ThonTaddeo
Graham, I couldn't have said it better myself.
As much wealth is held by Japanese over age 71 as is held by everyone younger than that, combined. The government seems determined to keep this next generation of elderly in comfort while the following generations will be ground into poverty with slowly-growing taxes.
No one under age 50 should be in favor of Noda's plan. It's generational theft, full stop. There's no inherent connection between consumption tax and retirement benefits, and if there isn't enough money to keep retirement benefits at their current levels, then those levels should be lowered.
Something tells me that the Yomiuri and Asahi polls were focused on readers of their print editions, and on readers with the time and leisure to answer this kind of survey -- now what age groups do you think that skews to? Right.
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ThonTaddeo
Yuri, what the Americans demand from Japan is peanuts compared to what mainland Japan demands from your home prefecture of Okinawa -- to say nothing of what they demanded from you before 1945, and before 1903.
America did help you in your time of need. They were much more benevolent during the 1945-1972 occupation than the Yamato ever were.
Posted in: Success for U.S. as Japan decides to cut Iranian oil imports
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ThonTaddeo
John, I'd invest most of my life's savings in such bonds tomorrow if they were offered -- where else can you find a safe return like that?
(I do hope that by 'citizens' you mean individuals living in Japan, and not just people with Japanese nationality.)
Posted in: Noda orders all ministers to attend Friday meeting
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ThonTaddeo
2012 will be the start of Japan's rebirth... and then 2014 (or whatever year he gets his beloved younger-generation-destroying consumption tax hike) will be the resumption of Japan's decline.
Posted in: Noda says 2012 will be start of Japan's rebirth
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ThonTaddeo
Queen Elizabeth II would like a word.
^_^;
Posted in: Kumi Koda announces upcoming marriage to KENJI03
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ThonTaddeo
@CHuan - China's historical ties to the Senkaku Islands are tenuous at best. They are Okinawan first and foremost, and part of Japan second, and not at all Chinese. Your spelling of the name of the islands isn't even valid; even if they were part of Taiwan they would be called Tiaoyu using Wade-Giles romanization. The only way to justify a Pinyin spelling would be if they were part of mainland China, which they are not, and which Taiwan, despite the fervent wishes of the mainland, is not. Call then the Senkakus; call them Pinnacle Rocks; call them Nishi-Yaima ("North Yaeyama" in the local Okinawan language); your word for them is invalid and reveals your bias.
Your position seems to be "China is big and strong, so it can take what it likes." That has never worked out for any great power in history, and won't work for the PRC either.
Posted in: LDP's Ishihara wants base on China-claimed islands
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ThonTaddeo
I love the PSP (white one; should've gotten black so that the screen would stand out more) and use it all the time while on the train. The Vita game I want most is Wipeout 2048 -- the PSP versions are also excellent -- and since it's being delayed, I'll hold off on buying the Vita until it comes out.
I can't understand why some of the people who bash video games are the same ones who will then go home and spend three hours a day in front of the TV watching insipid geinoujin eat things and shout oishii!. I'd much rather be playing a game and actually interacting with the screen in front of me than vegetating in front of the television. I've hardly watched any TV in years -- that screen in my house is a game monitor, not a TV.
Posted in: Let the games begin
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ThonTaddeo
It should be forbidden to put advertising on any sports uniform. The players are there to play their sport, not serve as walking billboards for some corporation.
Posted in: Is Japan's 2020 Olympic bid going up in smoke?