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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ambrosia
NetNinja: That's an annoying thing to be sure but it extends beyond the whole gaijin / Japanese thing. I frequently go to restaurants with particular friends or my husband and while none of us would be mistaken for being Japanese inevitably the waiter or waitress will decide that they are going to speak to and make eye contact with only one of us. Often it's me even though my Japanese is usually the worst. It's very odd.
Posted in: What do you think of the quality of waiters in Japanese restaurants?
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ambrosia
They're generally polite which is a good point. I don't care if they're friendly as long as they are efficient and that's where I think Japanese waitstaff fail. Food servings are timed poorly, especially western food where an appetizer is meant to come first and be finished before the main course is served. There's too much assumption that people will be sharing food so things come in bits and bobs and often ruin a meal. I'm talking about when the food in question is western food and again, that's part of the problem, serving all food in the same manner. Japanese food is served in a different way than is appropriate for western food so there should be some consideration to that. Also, as someone stated, there is a huge dearth of proactivity. I shouldn't have to flag down a waiter or waitress in order to get someone and I shouldn't have to ask them to remove the empty plate that I've moved to the edge of my table which they've walked by 5 times. I've been a waitress and know that the most efficient way to do your job is to never walk into or out of the dining area with empty hands. It would also be lovely if I could ask about the menu(s) - which generally change seasonally and not every day - and have the waiter know the answer without having to go into the kitchen to ask. I'm talking about a simple question like whether or not a dish has meat. Finally, and this is just a personal pet peeve of mine, I hate when I am with one or two other people and the waiter has to interrupt us to ask who ordered what. How hard is it to remember two or three orders especially if you've taken them in a particular order? Again, that goes back to inefficiency. You don't generally have a waiter or waitress here dealing with a group of tables but everyone dealing with all the tables and not communicating things to each other very well. I know that other places have worse or better waitstaff. I understand that. Some place has to be last in terms of service and it's not Japan. That said, there is work to be done. Being polite is important but it is not the only criteria to good service or for me anyway, not even the most important one.
Posted in: What do you think of the quality of waiters in Japanese restaurants?
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ambrosia
AmericanForeigner: First, the government has tried to do something about this. There have been public service announcements cautioning people and there are signs on all ATMs telling people to be mindful of this kind of thing as well as buttons you can push if you're being coerced into give someone your money. On top of that, there are limits as to how much you can withdraw in a certain time period to avoid people giving all of their money away to some fraudster. Second, this happens everywhere in one form or the other. I can't seriously believe that you think Japan is the only place where fraud occurs. Have a think! Why would there be an English word for it if it didn't exist in the English speaking world?
Posted in: Fraudster confesses to stealing over Y32 million by posing as victim's son
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ambrosia
"The thing I always find amazing in these stories is that the victim really does believe it is his or her son!"
So true! I don't even live on the same continent as my siblings and I know it's them when they call. I may get my brothers mixed up with each other and my sisters mixed up with each other seeing as how they sound similar and share speech patterns, having been raised together. Still, I at least know when one of my brothers or sisters is talking to me and that they're not my friends, husband or random strangers. Very odd indeed.
At the end of the day, most fraud, be it investment fraud, ore-ore fraud or what have you, is based on appealing to the "victim's" greed, dishonesty and or willingness to avoid trouble or embarrassment through what they know is dishonest, unlawful or immoral behavior. I'm not saying that's true for all fraud but I do think it's the reason behind most fraud where the victims are not senile or mentally disabled. But then again, is being extremely stupid and naive considered a mental disability?
Posted in: Fraudster confesses to stealing over Y32 million by posing as victim's son
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ambrosia
"I am rather amusing when discussing amusing ..."
Oh, you have no idea.
Posted in: Doctor jailed for buying kidney from gangsters
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ambrosia
602miko If only that were true..... There's plenty I'd be willing to do.
Posted in: Doctor jailed for buying kidney from gangsters
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ambrosia
tmarie: If funny bones ever become available for donation I want first dibs at yours because your sense of humor just slays me.
Posted in: Doctor jailed for buying kidney from gangsters
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ambrosia
Funny, as Cleo stated, it was in the news, which is how I heard about it. And you may not have said anything to your students about Muslims and organ donation but you said it here and what you said was incorrect.
Posted in: Doctor jailed for buying kidney from gangsters
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ambrosia
It's not true that there are no transplants for kids either. Japan changed their Organ Donation Law in January 2011. It previously said that only kid over 15 could give consent for organ donation, which severely restricted the number of organs available for children. That is no longer the case. Japan definitely has a way to go in terms of organ donation but misinformation doesn't help the situation at all.
Posted in: Doctor jailed for buying kidney from gangsters
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ambrosia
http://www.jotnw.or.jp/ This is the Organ Donation site for Japan. You should be able to register here as an organ donor.
Posted in: Doctor jailed for buying kidney from gangsters
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ambrosia
While educating your students about organ donations is a very good thing, please don't give them further misinformation by telling them that Muslims can't donate their organs because that's simply not true. The majority of Islamic leaders have come out in favor of organ donation after death and living donation in very limited cases. The same is true for Jews. Yes, there are people on either side who oppose it, as there are with any large, diverse group of people, but the vast majority of leaders have concluded that there is nothing non-Islamic about it. The same is true for Buddhist leaders, which is helpful for Japanese to know because I've had many of them try to convince me it's against Buddhism and is the reason they oppose it.
Posted in: Doctor jailed for buying kidney from gangsters
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ambrosia
j4p4nFTWJAN: I don't think it's possible for non Japanese to truly understand KIZUNA (a special bond shared between Japanese people), but the article is a helpful introduction to the concept.....
Is that meant to be a joke? And if not, what in the world are you talking about?
Posted in: 'Kizuna' takes many forms in post-disaster Japan, including marriage and infidelity
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ambrosia
A quick google check seemed to show that it is indeed usually women who commit this sort of crime against men and usually after the man has been caught cheating or forced himself on the women but men far outnumber women when it comes to criminal mutilation of female genitalia. I'm not talking about the kind done for whatever bizarre cultural reasons. Still, there were a surprising number of cases where men had mutilated other men and not because they were scorned lovers. I think the links I posted were removed so you'll have to do your own searches.
Posted in: Body of naked man with genitals sliced off found in apartment
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ambrosia
Nicky Washida: I have no idea what the case was for the guy and wasn't trying to suggest it was anything other than a heart attack. The "cut and paste" was simply in response to some clearly incorrect information on radiation poisoning given by another poster and should be read no other way. No interpretation, subtle or otherwise, is needed.
Posted in: Fourth worker at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant dies
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ambrosia
Sorry, I thought I'd corrected "No true" to "Not true" but must've hit submit too quickly
Posted in: Fourth worker at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant dies
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ambrosia
mikihouse:
Acute radiation...thats unlikely as it should have cause death to all people exposed in the same area at that time.
**No true. **
"There is great individual variation in how people respond to radiation and the process is not fully understood.Among the cells that are most sensitive to radiation are those that have a high turnover such as cells which line the intestine (crypt cells), white blood cells that fight infection and the cells that make red and white blood cells. "
Radiation related illness? unlikely as death by radiation usually induces cancer cells and well it will take years before you develop one.
Not true.
"Acute radiation syndrome has four clinical stages: prodrome, latent, manifest illness and recovery/ death. the prodromal stage is characterized by symptoms of nausea, vomiting and diarrhea which are dose-dependent. symptoms may begin just minutes after exposure, with episodes typically lasting no more than 48 hours. During the latent stage, which can last from a few hours to a few weeks, the individual may feel and appear healthy. however, critical cell populations such as leukocytes and platelets actually undergo critical depletion during this stage as a result of bone marrow insult. the duration of latency decreases as the radiation dose increases. During the stage of manifest illness, symptoms of overt illness emerge and last for weeks or months. this stage is characterized by intense immunosuppression, with symptoms depending upon the radiation dose and major organ system affected (bone marrow, gastrointestinal or neurovascular), as well as factors such as age and underlying health status. During the fourth and final clinical stage, the patient may recover; most patients who do not recover will die within months of exposure. the chance of survival decreases with increasing radiation dose."
Posted in: Fourth worker at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant dies
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ambrosia
Accurate radiation poisoning will usually result in a coma before death. Heart attacks often result in comas too. Japanese men have relatively low rates of heart disease when compared to men in other industrialized countries. Accurate radiation poisoning can cause heart failure which results in a coma. Japan requires some of the lowest rates of medical and forensic autopsies in industrialized world.
It's easy enough to understand how a man in his 60's died of a heart attack, especially as he was working in a very stressful situation. It's also easy enough to understand how a man in his 60's working in a nuclear power plant when he was, suffered from acute radiation poisoning which resulted in a heart attack which resulted in a coma, natural or medically induced. The article doesn't clarify which type it was.
It's easy enough to go either way on this but that people are so willing to believe it was due to radiation is the fault of TEPCO for already lying so much about what went on during the - ongoing - disaster.
Posted in: Fourth worker at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant dies
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ambrosia
And, yes, it is available at Tokyu Hands as well, as Gogogo wrote.
Duty-Free shoppers may apply for consumption tax refunds at the Information Desk on the 2nd floor before 8:00 PM. Duty-Free purchasing cannot be done directly on the sales floor. After making your purchases, which will include the consumption tax, please go to the Information Desk on the 2nd fl oor and present your passport and sales receipts. You must have your valid passport with you. (We cannot accept copies of passports, copies passport numbers, or identifi cation cards.) Duty-Free services are available only to customers who have been admitted into Japan as tourist for stay of no more than 6 moths. Consumption taxes will be refunded on purchases made on the same business day totaling 10,501 yen or more (including taxes). (Multiple receipts will be tallied.) The following products are not duty-free: Non-durable items such as food, soft drinks, alcoholic beverages, protein supplements, cosmetics, detergents, bath powders, soaps, toothpastes, bonding agents, paints and pigments, dyes, fi lms, and dry cell batteries. Duty-free items are limited to durable items purchased for personal use. Products purchased for commercial- and industrial-use are not tax exempt. Purchases made at Takashimaya Department Store, Books Kinokuniya and shops in Times Square Building are excluded. (Purchases made at other Tokyu Hands stores are not tax exempt.) Duty-free applications can be made after the day of purchase. If you do not have your passport with you on the day of purchase, applications will be accepted up until your departure from Japan. Please read carefully the stipulations printed on the back side of the form listing your duty-free purchases, that has been attached to your passport. Customers with diplomatic status must present their Tax Free Card.
http://shinjuku.tokyu-hands.co.jp/en/floor.html
Posted in: Japanese stores offering foreigner-only discounts
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ambrosia
I thought this was old news. My brother got refunds when he was here three years ago.
*Tax-Free Shopping
Overseas visitors in Japan with temporary status who spend more than 10,001yen on any given day in one shop are entitled to a refund of the 5% consumption tax. Only department stores and specialty shops used to dealing with foreign tourists offer the refund, and clients must show their passports. No refund is granted for cosmetics, food, alcohol, cigarettes, medicine, film and batteries, which include the consumption tax in their price tag.*
http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/ttp/sg/09-TouristAttractions/MediumIndex/07-Shopping/E-Tax-fre.html
Posted in: Japanese stores offering foreigner-only discounts
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ambrosia
No one has said that your average 15 year old j chick is selling herself. Where on earth did you get that from?
tmarie JAN. 09, 2012 - 05:59PM JST You're average 15 year old girl who is selling herself is doing so of her own free will because she wants the latest bag.
Does it matter what kind of home she grew up in? Does it matter what kind of parents she has? Sex for money is illegal in Japan regardless of your background.
Does it matter what kind of home she grew up in? Did you mean that as a rhetorical question? How would that not matter in terms of why a 15-year old would engage in prostitution? It's got nothing to do with legality. I'm talking about the purpose for engaging in prostitution.
So you're calling her a slut? I certainly haven't.
I never called anyone a slut and you know that. I put the word in quotes to paraphrase what you suggested.
tmarieJAN. 09, 2012 - 05:59PM JST She could easily be one of the tea coloured hair, "garu" with her skirt hitched up more than happy to make a few bucks of a hard up guy.
Please don't insult us now by disingenuously suggesting you meant anything but "slut". I don't know where you come from but had you said that where I'm from it would have been loud and clear what you meant. You may not have called the girl in question a slut but you painted her with the same brush.
If you had bothered to read anything I wrote you would see that I too have suggested this.
So you take a comment that was directed at someone else and choose to get angry over the fact that you made a similar statement rather than being happy that we agree about something? That's odd and a little hostile.
Have to disagree on this. They aren't "children" they are young adults ...
The Japanese law would disagree with you as would Japanese culture but you always know best. Go on, then. Have the last word. I'm sure your dying to tell me how wrong I am about everything.
Posted in: 35-year-old man arrested for paying 15-year-old girl for sex