JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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- 秘書及び業務サポート
- 加治金属工業株式会社, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥4.0M / Year
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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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- ALT - Mie Prefecture - Yokkaichi City - June start
- NPO法人グローバル教育推進機構（GLAD), Mie
- Salary: ¥230,000 / Month For a full working month. Some months differ.
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Virtuoso
To accept foreign help would be to admit the government's ineptitude at crisis management. The trouble is, we've already seen numerous examples of that before 3.11. Nor do the proactive measures adopted by the government -- like emergency hotlines, etc. -- have much effect, since the people manning them are clueless. It would seem the term "Chinese fire drill" is being applied to the wrong country.
Posted in: Japan declined U.S. offer to station nuclear experts in Kan's office: Edano
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Virtuoso
As of last year (latest figures I could find) 2,050,000 people in Japan were receiving "seikatsu hogo" welfare payments. So 73,000 NJs would make up roughly 3.5 percent of recipients. To better grasp the situation it would probably help to have a breakdown of recent arrivals and zainichi Koreans/Chinese who have been here several generations and who are treated as "special permanent residents."
Posted in: Tabloid blasts growing numbers of foreign welfare chiselers
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Virtuoso
Sorry folks, but I'm convinced more than ever this story is a hoax. It originated on the France24 TV news site, but is attributed to AFP. One giveaway is that it carries no dateline. Since it's unverifiable, no other major news site has picked it up, and probably won't
http://www.france24.com/en/20120525-japanese-man-cooks-serves-own-genitals
Posted in: Man cooks, serves own genitals to 5 paying diners
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Virtuoso
If you base Japanese prices according to consumer purchasing power relative to the number of hours of labor performed, there is very little difference from the US and other advanced economies. Fruit sold as gifts is irrelevant and should not be counted -- instead, how about the inexpensive fruit sold by greengrocers that is intended for home consumption?
Posted in: Six things that foreigners feel are overpriced in Japan
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Virtuoso
This raises another red flag. When reporting incredible stories, the reporter has an obligation to interview the subject face to face. Email is not an acceptable form of verification.
Posted in: Man cooks, serves own genitals to 5 paying diners
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Virtuoso
Balderdash. I see a lot of discrepancies in this article. For one thing, Mao is a woman's name. Why wasn't the event hall named? Would a doctor be willing to lose his license to remove the genitals of a healthy person? What good would the supervision of a certified cook be, since no cook, certified or not, would have had previous experience in preparing any portion of the human anatomy.
My gut feeling is that a retraction will be appearing soon that the whole story was fabricated.
Posted in: Man cooks, serves own genitals to 5 paying diners
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Virtuoso
Materials confiscated during the raid demonstrated that UBL was planning future mischief, so there's a good chance lives were saved. Sorry, Amnesty, but that alone justifies putting him down.
Posted in: Amnesty criticizes U.S. for 'unlawful' bin Laden raid, drone attacks
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Virtuoso
The game between China and the US at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 turned into a running brawl, and was a disgraceful spectacle of poor sportsmanship. (The catcher on China's team had to be hospitalized with a concussion.) This bodes poorly for the future of the sport in China.
Posted in: Japan loves Darvish - but MLB wants China
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Virtuoso
Then maybe you will enjoy watching them in action. This video from Kyoto has English subtitles.
http://www.dailymotion.com/playlist/x21hpo49893814970aabout-time-they-did-something/1#video=xq4k9w
Posted in: Internet videos empowering right-wing activist group
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Virtuoso
I suppose Friday pulled its punches on the story, but it still takes courage to devote space to reporting these groups, who can get very nasty indeed. I doubt if any readers will be moved to join after reading the article, so it's not like the Zaitokukai is getting free publicity.
Posted in: Internet videos empowering right-wing activist group
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Virtuoso
China (including Taiwan) is the only country in Asia I've ever visited where a white foreigner can board a public bus and see a local pat the empty seat beside them as an invitation to sit down and talk --- making it the diametric opposite of Japan, where when you sit down beside people they get up and move. Chinese are outgoing and have great curiosity about the outside world. Unfortunately its people live in an information vacuum that makes them easy targets for agitation. I certainly would not want to downplay xenophobia, but feel it's also correct to point out that whatever violence or hatred Chinese may direct toward outsiders in their midst, they deliver against their fellow Chinese many times over.
Posted in: Foreigner-bashing rises amid China's domestic woes
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Virtuoso
Ichiro hit a grounder (fielder's choice) with the bases loaded, however. I think it was a mistake to move him to 3rd in the batting order.
Posted in: Ichiro spells trouble for Darvish
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Virtuoso
The lemurs were upset because their keeper failed to issue them a pair of special goggles with which to view the eclipse.
Posted in: Eclipse fools lemurs into thinking it's night, causing frenzy
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Virtuoso
Tokyokawasaki@Sorry but not 'nuff said. The English wiki to which you refer is very incomplete concerning the eel's life stages. If you go to the Japanese for the same topic it states:
ウナギは淡水魚として知られているが、海で産卵・孵化を行い、淡水にさかのぼってくる「降河回遊（こうかかいゆう）」という生活形態をとる。
Translation: The unagi is know as a freshwater fish, but it spawns and eggs hatch in the ocean and then return to freshwater, a life stage system referred to as "kokkaiyuu" (literally descend river and return). In other words, like salmon.
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/ウナギ
Posted in: Eels slipping away from consumers' budgets
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Virtuoso
http://www.japanjournal.jp/tjje/show_art.php?INDyear=06&INDmon=08&artid=de1e77be9fc1d8b2fe3172c035697af0&page=2
Though Japan is the world's largest consumer of eels, the spawning ground of the domestic variety (Anguilla japonica), which inhabits the East Asian countries such as Japan, China, and Korea, has long been a mystery. Whereas the spawning grounds of the American and European eels were identified in the Atlantic during the early part of the twentieth century, half a century of hunting in Japan has been inconclusive, until now. A team led by Professor Tsukamoto Katsumi from the Ocean Research Institute of the University of Tokyo has discovered the spawning ground in the vicinity of the Suruga Seamount, approximately 200 kilometers northwest of Guam.
Posted in: Eels slipping away from consumers' budgets
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Virtuoso
But why didn't they just watch the eclipse on their iPhones? They use them for everything else.
Posted in: Skyward
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Virtuoso
mikihouse@the first paragraph says "for the 3rd consecutive year," so last year's earthquake could not have been too big a factor.
Posted in: Eels slipping away from consumers' budgets
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Virtuoso
Eel ecology is supposed to be pretty fragile. I read somewhere that the adults swim from around Guam to Japan to spawn, which is a pretty long trip. Good headline, by the way.
Posted in: Eels slipping away from consumers' budgets
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Virtuoso
I recall reading that so far the only measures taken to prevent tagging has been restriction on sales of paint to minors. Japan has a growing graffiti problem and needs to get tough. Enforcement of laws against vandalism don't work without arrests. How about installing security cameras in frequently hit places, and pouncing on the offenders, and then making them pay for the damage? (I'd suggest letting Dobermans patrol the areas at night, but some bleeding heart would immediately leap to the defend the rights of trespassers and call dog bites cruel and unusual punishment.
Posted in: JR East to remove graffiti from walls, pillars next to train lines
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Virtuoso
I think it was Lord Chesterfield who, on the subject of human sexuality, once remarked: "Abstinence is the only aberration."
Posted in: Beat Takeshi compares same-sex marriage with bestiality