Tuesday February 14, 2012

JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION

albaleo's past comments

3

albaleoFeb. 05, 2012 - 06:03PM JST

Makoto, you might have done well to look at some of those old yakuza movies featuring Takakura Ken to see that notions of loyalty are fairly universal. In the usual plot, our hero is taking refuge with another yakuza group (often in Shikoku if I recall), and carries a debt of honor to the leader of the group he is staying with. But this leader is a nasty guy who gets up to some vile behavior in our hero's eyes. But recognizing his debt of honor he says nothing and goes through a long period of "gaman" (usually the middle hour of the movie), until, as Popeye would say, he can't takes no more. That's when honor takes precedence over blind loyalty, and he dispatches about 30 or 40 henchmen on his way to killing the bad guy. You can see similar themes in the "dollar" movies with Clint Eastwood.

"Clearly he thought only about himself." I wish I were as sure as you about that. Perhaps he knew he could do nothing to help his passengers, and only put himself in danger if he stayed on board, causing more problems. Perhaps he understood that he would be reviled for leaving his ship, but considered staying alive to look after his family was a more honorable thing to do.

Posted in: Honor and loyalty
1

albaleoJan. 31, 2012 - 06:11PM JST

@Reckless "My concern is the US companies that went bankrupt FOREVER because of these practices."

But the prices were set artificially high, so wouldn't this benefit any competitors who were outside the cartel?

Posted in: Two Japanese auto suppliers to pay price-fixing fine in U.S.
1

albaleoDec. 05, 2011 - 03:43AM JST

@ Ivan Coughanoffalot "They're worse than Scousers"

No one picked you up on that one. Not sure if you're joking or not. I hope so. I come from Scotland, where the "wallowing in unjustified self-pity" description is often aimed, and often rightly. But the treatment of POWs by Japanese, however bad, is never a justification for wrongful treatment of your own country's citizens and residents because of their foreign origins. Most Italian Scots men were interned on the Isle of Man during the war years. It's not something that is generally mentioned in Scotland. It should be, and we shouldn't try to hide our shame.

I've met many Japanese who have acknowledged the vicious treatment of foreigners during the war. I've found them generally more aware of those events than my British friends who tend to focus on the relatively small number of POWs involved, and who are ignorant of the worse treatment given to millions of citizens in the countries they were interned. Are you not wallowing in self-pity too?

Posted in: Japanese return to Canada's WWII internment camps
0

albaleoNov. 21, 2011 - 07:16PM JST

blackbagger "Just because 40% of the population gets cancer anyway doesn't necessarily mean cancer caused by low-level radiation won't be detectable."

It probably does. There are many areas in the world where natural background radiation is far higher than average. But studies of cancer incidence in these areas seem inconclusive. Some studies show higher than average cancer rates, others no change, and some even show lower rates. More interesting perhaps is that some studies show that certain individuals are more at risk than others (for example, women in one study). So we could even hypothesize that some people will be at higher risk while others are at lower risk which would give us a situation where some people could blame their cancer on higher background radiation while others might be healthier for it. Some here appear to blame the government for our general ignorance, which is both understandable and yet irrational, just like people drinking misoshiru to keep the radiation at bay. Until we know more, I think Foxie has the right attitude,

Posted in: Future cancers caused by Fukushima radiation may be hidden
0

albaleoNov. 14, 2011 - 05:55PM JST

smithinjapan: "have no links? Sounds dodgy to me"

Whatever did we do before the internet? Ubikwit provides a date, publication and article name. It took me a few seconds to find the article. Why is his claim any more dodgy than your story of being ignored at the Tenjinbashisuji arcade?

Article Unavailable
0

albaleoNov. 05, 2011 - 09:09PM JST

Patrick, I'm sure it's not that simple, but Virtuoso was describing the 10%- 15% - 20%, etc. levels as a general characteristic of the tax. That isn't the case. In general, only 5% is paid, and ultimately by the consumer.

Posted in: Japan to double consumption tax to 10%, G20 action plan says
3

albaleoNov. 05, 2011 - 06:32PM JST

Virtuoso and Patrick, I don't think your explanation of the tax rate is correct. Japan's consumption tax is a "pass through" tax. Although it is added at each stage of the process, tax submitted to government is the remainder of tax received on goods sold minus tax paid on materials, etc. So the net payer is the end consumer, and it really is 5%.

Posted in: Japan to double consumption tax to 10%, G20 action plan says
0

albaleoJan. 03, 2009 - 03:21AM JST

UnagiDon, if you were really serious about car safety, you'd recommend that all car occupants wear crash helmets too. But somehow I don't imagine such a law being passed, in any developed country.

I sense an element of "pitchforker justice" in many of the comments here. Whether the girl's death was due to not wearing a seatbelt seems immaterial. Many just want to vent their rage on those who don't follow a Western nanny-state mentality. Am I to take it that bad driving can be excused if we all wear seat belts? (And on other threads on this site, I can be guaranteed that Japanese are being accused of acting like sheep.)

Posted in: Father, daughter, 5, thrown out of car after accident on Kyushu expressway; girl dies
0

albaleoJan. 02, 2009 - 06:35PM JST

A lot of assumptions here that wearing a seat belt would have helped. Few details, but it seems it wasn't a head-on collision, where seat belts are more effective. The girl was thrown clear, which in other circumstances may have reduced the risk of death and serious injury by reducing the impact force. About Japan not catching up with the rest of the world, I take it we mean the other five or six countries that have a lower road death rate.

Posted in: Father, daughter, 5, thrown out of car after accident on Kyushu expressway; girl dies