JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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- 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
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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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ambrosia
When people who are so anti-pot accept the reality that alcohol causes way more problems for individuals and families that pot ever has or ever will and start calling for the criminalization of alcohol - then I'll listen to what they have to say. Until then they're just hypocrites talking out of both sides of they're mouth.
Posted in: 8 people arrested for use of illegal drugs in open-air live concert in Gunma
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ambrosia
So they handed out blankets. Big, stinking deal! Who got robbed, conned, beaten or murdered so they had the money to pay for those blankets? That technique is as old as the hills and has been tried on by every dictator from Peron passing out televisions to the poor to Mugabe giving farms to those who have no idea how to maintain them. A wife beater is still a wife beater no matter how good of a businessman he is. A child molestor is still a child molestor no matter how well he coaches little league. And a yakuza is still a criminal no matter how many blankets he passes out. What exactly is it that the foreign press doesn't understand about that?
Posted in: Yakuza 'misunderstood' by foreign media
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ambrosia
Obviously a lot of the posters today are not big Sex in the City fans or they'd know a bit more about Patricia Field. She's well into her 60's and opened her first boutique in 1966. She is well famous for her flamboyant outfits and eccentricity. She's also the unseen star of Sex in the City since the outfits she had the women in, especially Carrie, garnered nearly as much talk among fans as the men they dated and the things they did and said. As for this specific outfit, it may not be the most flattering but I give Ms. Field credit for looking as good as she does at her age and for defying the "you're over 50 now so you'd best dress in ugly, dull, gray, yellow and brown clothing done up in synthetic fabrics and unflattering cuts which clearly tell the world you are no longer interested in looking in the least bit like a sexual person" attitude which as so ubiquitous in Japan. Japansese women may maintain their figures but to me that doesn't make them look any younger or even better than their western counterparts when they seem to purposely make themselves devoid of any sexuality. Ms. Field looks like she loves life and could give a lot of grown women here a run for their money!
Posted in: Norika
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ambrosia
The woman was 22 when she had her baby. That is hardly a case of a "kid having a kid". That is old enough to have finished university and begun a career. It is old enough to have been in the military for 4 years and to have been eligible to vote for 2. Whether or not a typical 22-year old in this day and age is less mature than a typical 22-year old from 25 years ago is questionable but not having known this woman I can't say how mature she was or wasn't. I think we can agree though that she was sadly lacking in the help that might have prevented this tragedy.
Posted in: Osaka suicide mother charged with murdering her own daughter
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ambrosia
serendipity: Not to be rude but I'm not sure why my having or not having children would have any bearing on what I wrote. Nor does that fact that you had children make you an expert on either children or post partum depression. Again, if you think that common sense should dictate what someone does when they are depressed then you haven't ever really been depressed. Depression can cause such inertia that a depressed person may go days or weeks without showering and months without leaving his or her house. If you are seriously interested in this topic and are not just looking for a chance to bash Japan and or this woman, I would recommend two excellent and very readable books on depression: The Noonday Demon by Andrew Solomon and Night Falls Fast by Kay Redfield Jamison. Whether or not people know they have depression is certainly an issue. Many people do realize that something is wrong but having no vocabulary to discuss how they are feeling prevents many people from recognizing the problem and from getting help.
Posted in: Osaka suicide mother charged with murdering her own daughter
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ambrosia
serendipity: You're right to question why a society wouldn't try and take care of people who are having emotional difficulties but I disagree with any implication that Japan is worse in terms of this problem. Post partum depression is recognized in many cultures as being a real problem. In Japan traditionally a new mother's mother or mother-in-law would help her with the new baby for 40 days after the birth. This was partly to give her time to rest and to teach her about the baby but also (consciously or not) to help her through the period of hormonal adjustment that comes after having a baby and which is extremely difficult for some women. It has nothing to do with a lack of emotionally stability in Japan as it occurs to rather high degrees in all cultures but more so in industrialized ones due to shifting family values and a lack of support as well as a decrease in traditional rituals designed to help women adjust to motherhood. That it did not happen to you is great but that you see it as a simple matter of common sense tells me you know little to nothing about the realitiy of post partum depression.
www.granitescientific.com/granitescientific%20home%20pagefiles/bms%20rituals.pdf - http://www.ncpamd.com/PostpartumDepression.htm
Posted in: Osaka suicide mother charged with murdering her own daughter
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ambrosia
I feel sorry for the woman if she was really so depressed as to do something like this but I still think she should be charged with murder. All parents or guardians who kill their kids while attempting suicide should be charged with murder and if the parent was successful in killing himself or herself, it should still be officially listed as murder where the child is concerned. I always wondered how these murder / suicides were officially listed and whether or not doing so correctly would change the official numbers on murder in Japan.
Posted in: Osaka suicide mother charged with murdering her own daughter
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ambrosia
That's really too bad especially after all the hours and hours of training that she put into it and the excellent shot she had of winning. She's not too old to give it another shot in 4 years.
Posted in: Olympic marathon champ Noguchi pulls out injured
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ambrosia
The lady doth proteset too much so please, Cleo, stop. I'm embarassed for you. It's not as if I disagree with everything or even most things you post but if anyone should grow up, it's you. Your anti-American bias is so obvious it ought to embarass you, especially considering you've admitted never even having been to the country.
Posted in: What do you think of American swimmer Michael Phelps' long victory yell after he wins a race?
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ambrosia
Cleo: Kitajima of course is the first kind. He's full of confidence, of course, as he has every right to be because he's a darn good swimmer, but it doesn't come across as arrogance and it's easy to join him in celebrating his win.
I'm not sure which one was Phelps, but the cock-crowing after the US team snatched the 400m relay gold struck me as being the second kind. There was something aggressive and boorish about it, and it didn't leave a favourable impression.
Oooh boy! What a surprise that post was. Why didn't you just type Kitajima is Japanese and therefore great. Phelps is American and therefore I dislike him. You would've saved yourself some time.
Posted in: What do you think of American swimmer Michael Phelps' long victory yell after he wins a race?
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ambrosia
And this matters because...?
Posted in: Some fireworks at Olympic opening ceremony reportedly faked
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ambrosia
We had a great view from a building overlooking the bay and in general the fireworks were quite lovely. Unfortunately the wind refused to cooperate so we couldn't see what I can only assume were some fantastic fireworks. They were obscured by the smoke which didn't dissipate very much at all.
Posted in: Tokyo Bay fireworks
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ambrosia
mikihouse: In Japan, athletes shoulder all training expenses (unless they got sponsors once they become famous)
That's absolutely not true. Many companies "employ" workers who are actually semi-pro athletes either on company teams or in individual sports. These are not the famous athletes either because the famous ones don't need this patronage. While it's true that the number of employee / athletes has decreased due to a bad economy it still happens and often.
Posted in: Uchishiba defends judo title for Japan's 1st gold; swimmers advance
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ambrosia
moonbeams:
Beautiful hearts or not, I don't think what you'r referring to as mentally challenged is the same as what posters are talking about, that being people having psychological problems. I also don't think that anyone here is worried about a sweet young man with Down's Syndrome stabbing them for no reason. People are talking about people who've gone off the rails and are not getting help getting back on track. I'm sensitive to what you're saying but I too watch my back when I'm near someone who looks slightly unhinged or wound too tightly and I don't see how you figure that to be in the least bit racist. I'm in Japan so the vast majority of people I see who fit either category are Japanese. If I were in Germany they'd be Germans and if I were in Columbia they'd be Columbians and so on. There's no need to be so reactionary when people are simply expressing concerns about violent crime.
Posted in: Man arrested for stabbing father, daughter during stroll in Ibaraki
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ambrosia
zenbuilder: From your posts I might assume that you haven't got kids yet yourself(correct me if wrong).
You are wrong and on so many levels, it boggles the mind. And if you do have kids who are still alive after you left them alone in a high rise or otherwise neglected them, then you ought to be thanking your lucky stars that you're not going to have to live with the guilt this woman will and should have for the rest of her days.
Posted in: 2-year-old boy falls to death from 7th floor apartment in Osaka
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ambrosia
zebbuilder: I don't understand. Are you simply taking a childish tit-for-tat stand now or do you actually have some example of what this surprise might entail? Face it pal, you don't leave a child alone, unsupervised in a high rise no less. Got a migraine? Call a neighbor, friend or family member to ask for help. Hungry? Order delivery. Bored? Deal with it. My parents managed to live just fine without any 7/11s or grocery stores within a 10-km radius as I'm sure did the parents of many posters here. I could almost understand dashing out if you're in a house surrounded by neighbors who you know and trust, at least one of whom has been told to keep an ear out for any crying. But on the 7th floor of an apartment building? I don't know how parents relax at all when they have kids in such high places let alone to try and justify going out and leaving them alone. I feel sorry for her but she still has reason to feel guilty, migraine or not.
Posted in: 2-year-old boy falls to death from 7th floor apartment in Osaka
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ambrosia
Zen_Builder at 07:27 PM JST - 14th July
And, btw, check up with "Child Protective Services" what THEY define as neglect.
Yeah! I'll get right on that. And thanks for the laugh!
Posted in: 2-year-old boy falls to death from 7th floor apartment in Osaka
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ambrosia
zenbuilder: But being out of sight and hearing inside the house is as good as being outside the house. You agree?
He may agree with you but I certainly don't. If you're in the house, you ought to be watching the kids as closely as possible. Kids are difficult, especially in the early years. If you're not prepared to supervise them properly then don't have them. Certainly things will happen to even the most well supervised children but when that occurs because you've turned your back for a second or the kid can do today what they couldn't do yesterday it's an accident. When it's because the child is not being supervised or has been left alone at an innapropriate age or in an innapropriate situation, that's criminal negligence. I'm truly sorry for the parents as they do have to live with the guilt forever but to be perfectly honest, they both do or at least one does have a reason to feel guilty. Being out of eye or ear shot and in the house is hardly the same as being out of the house, at least unless you have some sort of superhuman power and can get from where you are outside to inside. You're just making ridiculous attempts at defending this negligence and you know it.
Posted in: 2-year-old boy falls to death from 7th floor apartment in Osaka
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ambrosia
frontandcentre: Again, I said I don't know about Yomiyuriland but was speaking of Toshimaen, which sorry, but I doubt passed even one health check and if it did, then quite frankly the checks themselves are pure rubbish. The filters surrounding the pools smell very strongly of mildew and there is absolutely no smell of chlorine. So, yes, if I am grumbling it is with cause. As for this supposed bureaucrat's paradise, I don't know what in the world you're speaking of because that sure doesn't extend to recreational facilities or have you not read about the young girl who got sucked into the pool filter, the amusement park accidents, the cases of food poisoning and so on and so on? You're right about one thing, it's not bathwater. It's so much worse! Enjoy!
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ambrosia
Hey, good for them if they can enjoy swimming in pools like those at Toshimaen. Me, I'll opt for slightly more sanitary choices and avoid the swimmer's ear and skin infections. And no, I'm not a germophobe but I wouldn't share bathwater with a bunch of complete strangers either. Some of us just have different standards. If you like it good for you. Enjoy!
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