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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- 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*
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- Translator
- ZAIHON, Inc. (日本財務翻訳株式会社), Tokyo
- Salary: ¥6.0M / Year Negotiable
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Tim_Fox
Do I really have to use this?!
Posted in: Facebook rolls out 'Timeline' feature to all users
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Tim_Fox
It is a little like the US declaring that things in Iraq are completely under control... Well perhaps a bit of an apples and oranges comparison - but a project a good 100 years to get the area habitable again...
Posted in: Noda's declaration on Fukushima met with cynicism
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Tim_Fox
I have three words to say to these protestors: "Get a life!"
I mean come on! Don't these people have anything better to do with their time? Or, anything more important? (i.e. Fukushima reconstruction efforts, or women's rights in Japan?!!!)
Posted in: Korean drama backlash
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Tim_Fox
The Christmas without Christianity is nothing exceptional to Japan. In the US and Canada, it became about Santa when the Night Before Christmas was published and about the time Santa appeared in Coca Cola commercials. The big difference is that in Japan, Christmas is likened to a Valentine's type of day, whereas in North America it is a family day. The question "How can you celebrate Christmas without Christ?" is not a North American one. It is a question asked by North American and Japanese (yes surprise surprise there are several) Christians. It is largely a holiday of affluence though for Americans and Canadians. Black Friday starts it off in the US, and Boxing Day wraps it up in Canada.
Posted in: Christmas minus Christianity
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Tim_Fox
I'm always suspicious of celebrities trying so hard to be happy... I'm waiting for another Tom Cruise-like moment "I love this women!" and scientology to creep into the picture...
Posted in: Angelina Jolie says Pitt is 'wonderful father'
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Tim_Fox
These kinds of conclusions are made in every country. Think about west coast or east coast "mentality" in the US and Canada, or the idea of the "well-mannered" southerner in the US. Then people harbor how people of different race / ethnicities are supposed to act everywhere.
Posted in: Each prefecture breeds a different personality type
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Tim_Fox
Bento: "Most Westerners(unless they travel alone) lack the subtlety required to use and preserve mixed sex bathing.In their enjoyment of it they destroy it."
There are a great deal of Westerners who try to follow local customs in groups. I take issue with the word most and would like to see this substantiated with numbers. It takes one or two negative incidents to create bad press for all Westerners.
Also, I believe many onsens do not post instructions in English. My first experience in a public bath way back when, I went into the bath alone because my girlfriend at the time went into the women's side. I did not know I should be discreet about holding the cloth over my nether region when not in the bath. I did not know the rules, and once I learned them I was very careful about following them and trying to respect local culture.
I also think though that minority populations will also direct culture and tradition in new ways. New cultures brings new ways of thinking and ideas, and Japan does not have the flexibility that Westerners are used to in their multi-cultural countries. Japan can sometimes come across as rigid to Westerners. But, I think good travelers should be well-informed ones - and well-informed ones should do their best to blend in rather than make waves and risk offending locals.
Sorry this post got a little long and off-track didn't it?
Posted in: Foreign nudists flock to Gunma hot spring resort
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Tim_Fox
IvanCoughalot wrote: "Talent" US Style: Sammy Davis Jr. Multi-instrumentalist, singer, actor, dancer, impressionist, author. "Talent" japan Style: Junichi Ushida. Doesn't wear socks.
Let's amend this because the US does not always fare so well: "Talent" US Style: Brittany Spears, pop singer and ex-rehab patient "Talent" Japan Style: Kiyoshi Hikawa, Enka star and notable singer
Point being there are serious artists in Japan, and most TV is geared towards very young people in Japan. The age demographic target is older in the US.
And lets face it, Japanese dramas are just as entertaining as the likes of Gossip Girl - and the acting no worse in quality.
Also you are what you eat. You don't have to watch TV you don't like. Try anime or Japanese film. There is some good stuff out there.
Posted in: Idiocy versus intelligence on Japanese quiz shows
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Tim_Fox
Although spoken but a much smaller number of people, Japanese is a widely spoken language throughout the world. I suggest you Goggle this. Remember Toshihide Masukawa was chosen to be a prize winner, he did not choose to become a prize winner nor represent Japan. I sense a little too much flag waving nationalism on your part Blue_Tiger.
Posted in: Physics requires the ability to think creatively using mathematical formulas, so English isn't essential to pursue theoretical physics in Japan.
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Tim_Fox
Why does Prof Taichi Kugo feel any need to defend his esteemed colleague? His colleague won a Nobel Prize! That's good enough for me. That is a personal and professional choice for Toshihide Masukawa to make about whether he wants to learn English or pursue it for professional reasons. He may do very well without it because he is again and I stress a Nobel Prize winner. Enough said.
Posted in: Physics requires the ability to think creatively using mathematical formulas, so English isn't essential to pursue theoretical physics in Japan.
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Tim_Fox
Homosexuals, heathens, and right wing extremists said in one breath! I have a real problem with this guy. Always easier to point the finger at others instead of at yourself, right?
In Japan though, the real issue is and has always been the inadequate or lack of psychiatric medical treatment. Unlike the US, social pressures make people believe they will lose face if people admit a psychological problem. Many psychologists and psychiatrists in Japan also do not know how to professionally treat psychological problems. Many people in Japan also turn a blind eye to people who have psychological problems.
I'm not saying the US is better off crime wise because of better mental health facilities, treatment, and societal acknowledgment of these problems - but I would like to say greater openness and less social stygma about mental health problems has in all likelihood averted suicides, violent acts, and curbed some sex offenders from worse or continuing crime.
Social sygma in Japan towards mental health problems has lead to higher level of suicides, and self-destructing salary-man aka Akihabara slasher. One way to address this is to have manditory private counseling sessions for company workers (say once a month - and twice a month for those undergoing greater stress such as family problems - i.e. divorce or a death in the family), not this 1950's McCarthy style pontification we see here written by the concerned but ever-so naive and ignorant concerned parent.
Posted in: Stalking the predators
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Tim_Fox
It's harmless escapism and a great outlet for creativity. It beats the hell out of boredom, too many drugs, or getting into fights...
Posted in: Cosplayers get set for world summit
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Tim_Fox
So tell me a little more about how she is cocky or arrogant. Is she like a Japanese equivalent of John McKenroe who ruined American tennis for several years?
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Tim_Fox
Happens in the US but would be a scandal - and then there would be a raging divorce on TV. Not in Japan...?
Posted in: Pregnant Megumi has to contend with husband's partying
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Tim_Fox
These days there are two types of films made by American film makers about Japan. The first hits you over the head with a WWII reference, and the second puts 2 losers (aka "Lost in Translation") in Japan and hits you over the head with stereotypes about how Westerners are treated in Japan. Like to see a film about the later done properly - say for example about an English teacher living in Japan etc... I assume this Glover film tries to fall somewhere between the 2. Don't get me wrong. I'll probably see the Glover film and like it. But, I also expect to be disappointed.
Posted in: Glover examines prejudices in new film set in Japan
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Tim_Fox
From what I've, and I will have to speak with more Japanese people to understand this better, Japan is not very open to people seeking help from mental health practitioners compared to America or Canada.
Japan likely needs a federally funded public health campaign to encourage people to turn to mental health professionals in times of depression. This is a necessary step to reducing the suicide problem in Japanese society...
Again, though this is just my Western take on the Japanese issue of suicide. Would like to hear what other Japanese think about this issue.
Posted in: People used to say 'why do we have to use tax money to deal with suicides, when this is an individual problem?' But unless the entire community understands that this is an issue, it can't be solved.
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Tim_Fox
Actually, I was unmotivated and short-sighted financially, and a bit of a coward until I had my wife's encouragement to get a decent job that really was me.
Posted in: What advantages does married life offer in an era of increasing divorce rates?
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Tim_Fox
I'd to lean in with my own point of view here because I think some pertinent points are being missed here. A decline in moralism is more of a force of internationalization and not Americanization. If you truly want to illustrate this as an international phenomena you have to give international examples. Only a handful of the world's population lives in America, and with declining moralism America is still a leader in women's rights and multi-cultural integration. It has problems but so do all places - and countries need to look to themselves and stop blindly following the lead of another. Read on for some more international examples of declining moralism, and you may begin to question as I have that it really hasn't started anywhere:
We read that baby fetus' have been served in some Chinese restaurants, and we learn that in Japan compensated dating is legal, but in America it is called illegal prostitution. We learn that in Japan, suicide is an ancient Samurai tradition that businessmen practice to preserve honor, and is rising among young people hoping to escape reality in Japan. We learn that in Germany courts recently grappled over how to deal with a man who successfully asked and got someone to cannibalize him. We learn that Islamic fundamentalists smash planes into buildings in the name of a so-called moral order. We learn that in Canada fishermen hunt baby seals with baseball bats. We learn that children were forced to fight as child soldiers in such places as Sierra Leone. We learn that women have no - and I mean no rights before the law in Saudi Arabia without the presence of a male member of the household. We learn that women's rights is still behind in Japan. We learn that Japan has great difficulties integrating other countries compared with many Western countries, and learn that several places in Japan (such as hotsprings) still prohibit foreigners from entering. We learn that plastic surgery is common in Brazil. We learn that cigarettes and alcohol are still available in Japanese vending machines - easily accessible to minors. We learn that most Americans have tried marijuana sometime in their lives.
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