JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
-
- 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
-
- 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
-
- FT English Teachers for Kids - Osaka
- Kohgakusha Co., Ltd. （株式会社興学社）, Osaka
- Salary: ¥255,000 ~ ¥275,000 / Month Travel Expenses, Encouragement of Japanese learning*
0
ThonTaddeo
The Dalai Lama does want independence for Tibet, but knows that it's not politically feasible and that the Chinese would really make things miserable for them if they demanded that. So he goes with what's more politically palatable.
Posted in: Dalai Lama blasts 'brutal crackdown' in Tibet
0
ThonTaddeo
Congratulations to this happy young man! It looks like the "Warriors" football club wants him to join!
I've got to post in defense of Tokyo U. -- sure, it's popular to deride Todai students as drudges and plodders, and then again as the next generation of government wonks, but the university also attracts a large number of extremely creative, fascinating people that I'm very, very glad to have met. You don't hear from these people in the newspapers because they're off researching obscure languages on other continents, or in science and industry designing fantastic new technology, or anywhere other than the government ministries.
Todai kids aren't the rich and overpriviliged -- anything but! National universities like Todai only charge about Y550,000 per year in tuition: a fraction of what the big private schools demand. So if you're a smart kid and your family is on the poorer side, you really, really want to be accepted by a institution where you can get a good education for a moderate price.
A bunch of years ago it was my number, 12101, that was up on one of those white panels. I'll never forget the feeling of satisfaction and vindication that came from seeing it there. Congratulations to you posters whose kids are attending!
Posted in: Tokyo University
0
ThonTaddeo
Always great to see another article about Ainu culture and present-day efforts to revive it. It's a shame that so many Ainu people are still embarrassed to reveal their ancestry, even in this multicultural age.
But the first paragraph is a little off-putting. Nobody still thinks that way -- the primitive tools are gone; orthographies for the language have existed for over a century; the mouth tattoos have, thankfully, given way to modern beauty methods. Anyone from Tokyo who still thinks this needs to be educated!
I remember reading about Mina Sakai right here on this site a few years ago and am anxiously awaiting the release of their CD. The author doesn't mention it, but she has the perfect name for a Japanese-Ainu child: aside from sounding perfectly normal in Japanese (and many other languages), "Mina" means "smile" in Ainu. I'm hoping that CD puts a smile of pride on the faces of Ainu kids all over the country.
Posted in: Tokyo’s thriving Ainu community keeps traditional culture alive
0
ThonTaddeo
I saw the 15-minute recap on TV, in which they managed to show all kinds of highlights without a single Australian player's name even being uttered. That was a pretty amazing feat, even by J-media standards. Now reading this report, I've finally learned the name of the Aussie manager and one of the players.
Posted in: Japan routs Australia in WBC warm-up game
0
ThonTaddeo
Jeans? Blah. Norika should be advertising something like mini-skirts instead.
Article Unavailable
0
ThonTaddeo
As The Crow Flies, "abandonment of a body" is the crime that they charge people with at the very beginning so that they have many heavier options open should they need more time for questioning/torture and then choose to re-arrest them. Everybody knows that this charge is just the first of several which can be used consecutively, leading up to the "real" one.
Posted in: 15-year-old girl arrested for abandoning mother's body in Okinawa home
0
ThonTaddeo
10-14 hours is enough to charge 4 hours of talk. For reasonable folks who only talk 15-30 minutes a day at most, it should be easy to keep the phone charged.
Posted in: World's 1st solar-powered phone goes on display
0
ThonTaddeo
As usual, Japan expects to get away with its xenophobia knowing that other countries won't be as xenophobic.
If all nations went Japan's route, there would be no place for infected people who live in one country and have the citizenship of another to go. Are there going to be UN boats shipping people to internationally-adminstered Antarctica? Some terra nullius island in the Pacific? Space Station Mir?
Posted in: Japan has flu plan to block entry, spread of virus
0
ThonTaddeo
My company, involved in banking, issues credit cards. A few years ago a directive was issued to all employees, ordering them to apply for the credit cards and to use them.
Everyone dutifully did this, but I'm sure you can guess what happened with me, the only katakana-named foreign employee. My application for credit was rejected!
(Fortunately after the cards were issued, the whole thing was forgotten, and nobody even knows that I never got the company credit card.)
Posted in: Panasonic orders 10,000 employees to buy its products by July
0
ThonTaddeo
Obscure trivia: This intersection is a nexus point connecting three different wards. From the article, the accident took place in Bunkyo-ku, but had the car on the left made it about three more meters (into the middle of the intersection), it would have been in Shinjuku, and had it happened just behind the ambulance, it would have been in Chiyoda.
This really is a terribly-designed intersection; the lanes are unclear, there's very little room for cyclists and pedestrians (separate traffic lights for them, on the Shinjuku side), and the whole thing is a mess. Maybe this accident will spur one of the three wards to redesign it. (Then again, they'll probably just argue about who has jurisdiction and who gets to grab funds from the city!)
Posted in: Five-car pileup in Tokyo caused by 80-year-old driver
0
ThonTaddeo
I'm a Type O and we Type Os don't believe in this superstitious nonsense!
(Seriously, there might be one redeeming thing in knowing people's blood types, and that's that it can assist in revealing unfaithful parents. That, and blood transfusions. But for personalities it's hogwash.)
Posted in: In Japan, you are what your blood type is
0
ThonTaddeo
Say what you like about Cruise and his philosophies, but the movie was excellent. I highly recommend it.
Posted in: Cruise says he 'always wanted to kill Hitler'
0
ThonTaddeo
Well done!? What is going on with you people?
She just murdered her own husband, and so far the only thing we have to indicate that he did anything to deserve it is her word -- the word of a killer, I might add. "I've been abused for years... I intended to kill myself right afterward..." Well, why didn't you? It's easy to make up lies like this when the victim is no longer alive to defend himself.
Shame on all of you for cheering on a cold-blooded killer. There's nothing to cheer or joke about here.
Posted in: 79-year-old man strangled by wife after argument
0
ThonTaddeo
*"Apparently, taxes come first, followed by employee obligations"
Why am I not surprised? If governments really cared about the people below them, this would be reversed and a lot of people who are in trouble wouldn't be.
Article Unavailable
0
ThonTaddeo
Herefornow and Razor, I agree completely! Let's see more photos like this one; who needs the beach volleyball gear?
Posted in: Miwa Asao swaps beach volleyball gear for glamour of Paris fashion week
0
ThonTaddeo
Nessie, nothing to worry about; I'm not gonig anywhere! Just thinking hypothetically.
Gaijintraveler, while I certailny like your idea a lot, I wonder what fixed costs (per employee) have to be borne by employers. I wouldn't be surprised if those costs make it more profitable for a company to pay ten people to work 50 hours a week than to pay twenty people to each work 25 hours.
Posted in: Is taking redundancy a good idea?
0
ThonTaddeo
Is this Beni Arashiro? Come on, JT, just because she wants to toss the rules of English in the dumpster and spell her name with all capitals doesn't mean that we readers should have to be subjected to it.
Posted in: BENI holds mini-concert in Shibuya
0
ThonTaddeo
Anyone know if you can arrange a visa renewal after taking a redundancy package? (I. e., are you still considered "employed" for the months that you're still benig paid?)
If you, as a ten-year veteran on a visa with four months to go, could get ten months' pay in such a package and space the payments over ten months just like a regular salary, and then renew your visa, it would be a lot more attractive than taking a lump sum only to find that you can't relax because you've only got a few months left on the visa to find another job!
Posted in: Is taking redundancy a good idea?
0
ThonTaddeo
People don't delay big purchases because they think prices will come down in the future -- that would ignore the value of having the item now and not several months or a year from now. Small declines in prices over time are a good thing for consumers, and are to be expected as steadily-improving technology makes production easier.
What they're delaying is purchasing non-essential items. And if the economy is built on people spending more money than they should, on things they don't need, then it's the economic model that needs to change, not the people.
Posted in: The Japan model is everywhere
0
ThonTaddeo
The Japanese government has given crew members (not police officers) the power to arrest people in international waters (not Japanese territory)?
Forget the moral and legal issues surrounding whaling; I'm more concerned about how Japan thinks it can extend its frightening police system wherever it chooses.
Posted in: Japan to arrest anti-whaling activists, newspaper reports