JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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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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- Full-time English Teacher - Osaka
- Epion English Language Schools, Osaka
- Salary: ¥200,000 ~ ¥250,000 / Month Depending on your ability and experience
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- Part-time English Teacher - Osaka
- Epion English Language Schools, Osaka
- Salary: ¥10,000 ~ ¥15,000 / Day Depending on how many days a week are worked
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as_the_crow_flies
While personally I don't see why she should go free, unless the term she has served is the same as local Tupacs. She should get the same treatment as the rest. I don't think anyone doubts her involvement, Mist Wizard. Peru's government pulled up the stops with this "celebrity" trial to ensure judicial process was completely followed. She's got to have the same process as everyone else, and as a good revolutionary, I'm sure she insisted on that. Even if Mummy and Daddy have backed her.
Two weird things about this, though. First,her being arrested on US soil. Surely the US didn't allow that? Sounds like a serious breach of diplomatic protocol, however much they might want to wash their hands of her.
Second, what's with the baby? In prison? A bit careless of someone, isn't it? Maybe Peru allows conjugal visits, but you're not allowed to ask for that being a factor in getting early release or parole. Anyone know?
Posted in: American activist Lori Berenson surrenders to Peru police
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as_the_crow_flies
Couldn't disagree more. Brazil, besides already having large populations from many Arab countries, specially near the "triple frontier" in the far north, have an openness to other cultures that makes learning Portuguese easy. Having a culture which has fused elements of many others, including Arab ones, welcoming newcomers comes naturally. I'm sure she would manage very well, if they let her go there.
Posted in: Brazil offers haven to Iran woman in adultery case
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as_the_crow_flies
True, we don't know enough about this particular case. But I believe the definition of
in Iran includes any sexual relationship post marriage, could even include rape. I also know that no human deserves to be stoned to death. So good on Lula, as leader of a country in more of a position to do something, for making this offer.
Posted in: Brazil offers haven to Iran woman in adultery case
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as_the_crow_flies
Um, if it's really an issue, perhaps they could (gasp) consider adjustable seats for pilots. I know, quite a revolutionary concept, but still... Requirements for flight attendants are irrelevant to pilots. When was the last time you asked a pilot to open your overhead locker for you? And if they did need to in an emergency, they could put one foot on a seat, just like I do. sheesh!
The fact she could train in another country shows that being 1m 55 is no barrier to being a pilot in the US. Or are Japanese planes
to all other planes?
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as_the_crow_flies
It would be great to have more articles like this on a regular basis. Interesting topic, analysis, and argument. Written in English, not Japlish, like half of the news. More please!
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as_the_crow_flies
This bit tickled me:
As long as our nice cuddly home-grown yakuza extort their own patriotic consumption tax on businesses, have their fingers in the pie all over the place and keep control in the Family, we Nihonjin are all safe. We have no ghastly foreigners under our beds, so we can sleep tight tonight.
Klein2, good point about the difference between EU's VAT and Japan's consumption tax. I'd always thought 5% was a very small amount compared with 17.5% VAT, but I hadn't thought about the difference between how they're levied.
Posted in: 10% consumption tax will destroy Japan, argue some
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as_the_crow_flies
Teaching them to think what doing a particular job involves is a great tool. They learn to be analytical, to size up and evaluate. That's not teaching them to do a particular job. I think what this guy is doing, and the initiative of the organisation is great. What so many kids need here. Good on him!
Posted in: Children learn about the world of work
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as_the_crow_flies
We want Chinese tourists to be curious about Japan. We want them to go beyond Tokyo and spend money.
Yes, our culture is deep, and we have many ancient traditions. One of which is fleecing hordes of Japanese tourists at dozens of identical tourist traps. As our own hordes are thinning out, we need more curious hordes to check the shopping on the steps to our temples, buy the made in China ancient Japanese souvenirs, and fill our emptying resorts. Go forth and spend, o despised neighbours!
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as_the_crow_flies
I love that! He musta thought you were saying 'I've moved in next door. 死ね (drop dead)！’ My husband's opening gift to the next door neighbours was to accidently splash white paint from our balcony down onto his shiny red car. Whoops...
Actually, after 15 years here, in only five different places, I've had one towel and one box of soba. Lots of people have said that whole meet the neighbours ritual is half-dead. But when I moved in to my current place (residential city centre flat in a very small block), when after a month the guy upstairs' toilet leaked through our ceiling, he told me maybe customs are different, but still ticked me off for not having observed the custom. His name's Lee, so I'm not sure what customs he might be referring to.
I try to keep out of the whole gift-giving and returning loop as much as possible. The odd omiyage when I come back from a visit home, stay away from weddings and funerals. Are any of you doing the summer gift thing?
Posted in: Navigating the intricacies of Japan’s gift-giving protocol
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as_the_crow_flies
Excellent article. wish the rest of this site was up to this standard. Kind of shows 90% of the rest up. Guess it helps that it's in English, not the usual Kyodo Engrish.
Posted in: Risk management a booming business
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as_the_crow_flies
You do if you've got a big plastic hammer to whop them a good clout over the head with first. Ritual humiliation is the name of the game here, after all.
Posted in: Blacklisted Miki Mizuno dropped from 'Bayside Shakedown'
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as_the_crow_flies
Here's an exciting new idea on how to keep food costs down - buy what you actually need, not what your eyes tell you. And another - before cooking, take a look in the fridge and cook based on what's in there and needs eating first. Next one: buy from farmer's markets - yes they do have them in quite a lot of places, even in Tokyo. Take your own bags and avoid all that plastic rubbish creation. Hmm, what about the soy sauce? Um, how about this - buy a smaller bottle from somewhere cheap (pity about the extra plastic generated, but at least it avoids food waste.) Oh, and one more brilliant money-saving idea - avoid convenience stores. Since I stopped using them for buying any food or drink, my food bill's gone through the floor.
Containers to keep food costs down? Balderash! Next they'll be awarding eco-points for buying more of these!
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as_the_crow_flies
I don't think any of us know what the situation was in this ex-family. All we know is the couple were divorced and she says it's not the ex's child. If they were divorced and living under the same roof, it's hard to know on what kind of basis. Maybe just sharing the same space because both refuse to move, and they can't afford to buy the other half out, and they were both just ticking over and hoping for a resolution further down the line. In the meantime hardly on speaking terms. It happens, and people on this forum are very judgemental. Relationship breakups are often messy, and people organise things in different ways.
Anyway, don't know how anyone can be sure she cheated on the ex-husband, unless you know they divorced after the babies were conceived. One thing's for sure - It sounds a terrible trauma for the 13-year-old, living in that situation, and then finding a body on the balcony, probably his brother. Though nothing is for sure with this story.
Posted in: Remains of 2nd infant found in planter on veranda of Osaka woman's apartment
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as_the_crow_flies
I totally second that, LFRAgain.
On shyness,
Yes, I think it's only because of that one-size-fits-all word, hazukashii that people start falling into the trap of calling it all shyness. Some of the emotional reactions and responses I see a lot here, and which are considered normal, I always associate with people with serious behavioural and developmental problems back home, such as autism. For example, total zoning-out and disengagement from an activity seems to be accepted here by 99% of teachers in 99% of classrooms (ball-park figures there, by the way). Junior high students showing emotional reactions appropriate to a child 5 years younger. Bullying in different forms as a major model of leadership. And adults not taking an interest, pretending not to see what's not convenient to see, sending the message that you're on your own out there. No wonder many children here grow up with seriously dysfunctional ideas, isolated, disengaged, and an inability or unwillingness to communicate their feelings.
Posted in: Bare statistics mask human cost of Japan’s high suicide rate
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as_the_crow_flies
As the article suggests, the roots of this conflict seem to be in a fight over resources/control over resources. Many of these divisions, such as traders coming from a particular ethnic group, date back to the good old colonial tradition of divide and rule, often by moving populations from one area to another and giving them exclusive priveleges. To really understand what's going on here, it would be necessary to know the history, rather than instantly labelling it religious intolerance.
> Jos lies in Nigeria’s “middle belt,” where dozens of ethnic groups mingle in a band of fertile and hotly contested land
Posted in: More than 200 dead in religious violence in Nigeria
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as_the_crow_flies
Oops - roof gardens - you know, so Tokyo would look like one big field from space.
Posted in: Food for thought – future of food
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as_the_crow_flies
Yes - foreign=insecure, Japan-made=secure. That's why we eat 75% of the world's tuna and fish our whale from the Antarctic. What? You mean every fish swimming everywhere in the world isn't Japan's by right? BUT - we eat it EVERY DAY!!!
If Japan really wants to address its food security, it's going to have to a) start thinking of cooperation, because the consequence of non-cooperation when there's a scarcity is conflict, and behaving like the fat greedy kid isn't going to win it many friends for the future. b) it should start thinking of the meaning of a sustainable diet. Eating unsustainable amounts of fish in the diet is a good place to start. Second, thinking about making Japanese farming more economically viable is an urgent necessity.
If anyone honestly thinks that everyone in Tokyo growing a few tomatoes or spuds on their balcony is the answer (the article seems to suggest these is even worthy of mention), they're in for a rude shock. That said, land-use policy could make some big changes in the city. Give local authorities some teeth and convert some of that concreted over land to allotments. There seems to be serious car-parking over-capacity where I live. When I moved to the centre of Yokohama, I located all the local car-parks to check the price, and of the 20 in walking distance, every single one had spaces. Think of all that potential green space!!
Roof terraces is another of those meaningliess eco-policies that they trumpeted a few years ago, but no-ones done anything about.
Ah yes, if they encouraged farmers from other countries to migrate to Japan, they might find they could revitalise local economies. Yeah, right - and pigs might fly.
Posted in: Food for thought – future of food
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as_the_crow_flies
Exactly. Let's just all just erase the US from our travel plans and let them steam in glorious isolation. Maybe if they do it for a couple of centuries, someone'll send some black ships, or black planes or something, to force them to open up to the outside world.
Just pity the people who have to live there and put up with this cr@p.
Posted in: Terrorist watch lists grow; more screening on flights to U.S.
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as_the_crow_flies
I'm not Christian, and this Pope's position on a lot of issues is too conservative for me, but I admire him for being spunky enough to pick himself, dust himself off and carry on doing the good stuff. I lived in Rome, and I know that many migrants there live in desperate circumstances, which are still usually better than the desperate ones they left behind. To sit and eat at the table with them gives an important humanitarian message to millions of Catholics around the world about the meaning of many teachings of Christianity. Good on the old guy!
Posted in: Pope visits Rome soup kitchen
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as_the_crow_flies
Most likely one of those trailer converted to bus death traps that tip over easily, or the cabin comes apart from the trailer bed on a curve or uneven patch. Don't risk your life on one of these. Those who did probably don't have the money to pay for something a bit safer.
Poverty that most readers of us can hardly imagine. Makes you realise how much we take for granted.
Posted in: Peru bus crash kills 40 passengers