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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badmigraine
You can't go wrong with brick oven pizza. Yum!
Posted in: An oasis for pizza lovers opens in Tokyo's Azabujuban
1
badmigraine
Oops...thanks zichi and Heda_Madness. My mistake!
Posted in: Fukushima rice given all-clear after radiation tests
1
badmigraine
Let's think of all the things we can say about this discovery:
"No harm to humans has been detected".
"There is no evidence of any harmful exposure."
"We have not detected elevated strontium levels anywhere else in Yokohama".
"The level detected is comparable to background levels of strontium and is of no special concern."
Posted in: Radioactive strontium found on Yokohama condo rooftop
-2
badmigraine
Zichi, your numbers are incorrect. The US number is 170 becquerels per kg. Here's the URL for the CDC page:
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/csem/csem.asp?csem=23&po=12
In Ukraine, where they have actual, sad experience with this stuff, the permissible number is 40 becquerels per kg. In Belaurus the limit for vegetables is 37 for children, 100 for adults.
The EU number of 600 is much higher than many national numbers for EU countries, meaning that certain foods cannot legally be sold in many places.
And this entire discussion is only about Cesium. There are other harmful radionuclides out there that nobody is measuring (on purpose).
Posted in: Fukushima rice given all-clear after radiation tests
2
badmigraine
Over at Enenews.com they are saying that "2.7" was the number AFTER decontamination. The number that was initially found was reportedly 4.7 microsieverts per hour. Hope it isn't true!
http://enenews.com/4-7-microsievertshour-in-tokyo-between-kindergarten-and-nursery-school-measured-5-feet-above-pavement-photo
Posted in: Stringent tests planned to map radiation spread after hotspot found in Setagaya
1
badmigraine
Time to upgrade for me. I'm still using an iPhone 3G. Even though the handset was paid off more than a year ago, the monthly bills never seemed to get any cheaper.
Posted in: Apple says pre-orders for iPhone 4S break record
2
badmigraine
I read that Softbank intentionally priced all their iPhone data plans so far 1000 yen cheaper than other smartphones, to gain market share. Is that still true? How much are the Android data plans? Or is it all the same now?
Seems ridiculous that the data plan fee would differ by handset, but that is basically the kind of irrational fleecing that you get when a few big players have an effective monopoly in the telecom/internet world. Tryng to make sense of all the plans on the SB site is futile. There is nothing but a giant jumble ridden with footnotes and exceptions. The only thing I've noticed the whole time I've had cellphones, whether here or in the US, is that the bill I get, no matter what I do, is about twice what the monthly advertised charge is.
Posted in: Battle to sell iPhone heats up as Softbank undercuts KDDI on monthly fees
3
badmigraine
On to the nuts and bolts of this. My Softbank 2-year iPhone contract ended many months ago and I've just been paying the data plan fee since then. What does this mean for switchers? Bad news. It turns out I could've quit SB without penalty within the 30 days of contract end. But past that point, it renews as another 2-year data contract. If I quit now, in the middle, there is a cancel fee that destroys any price difference or savings. What greedy prats!
Posted in: Battle to sell iPhone heats up as Softbank undercuts KDDI on monthly fees
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badmigraine
I honestly thought this was a translation of one of those wishy-washy Japanese "editorials" where the person merely strings together a jumble of received views in a polite manner.
Posted in: The course of Japan’s energy policy
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badmigraine
Too bad the jeans on her look like tent fabric draped over thin sticks.
Posted in: Meisa Kuroki, Masaki Aiba among 'Best Jeanist' winners
1
badmigraine
Fredster, thanks for the tip. I gave that up. I was using proxy servers for Hulu and other stuff, then they blocked that so I went to VPNs and found the bandwidth/quality issues made it no fun. How well is it working for you?
But that's a computer solution, not for smartphones. Even if I did access Netflix that way, it's a PITA to get it through a VPN, save it to my computer and then resize it for a phone, then move it to the phone, only to find that chapter menus and other features I expected are stripped out or not working right. With iTunes/iPhone, it's all a one-click solution.
If I were in the US, I wouldn't care. I'd probably have some Android phone and get my media another way. Probably my phone would even have a slide-out keyboard!
I used to be all about Linux distros, terminal commands, FOSS. I hated any walled garden--especially Apple's. Now look what happened. I had a kid, and another, and another, and the fourth is on the way. Most days, I have trouble getting free to even use the bathroom. I have no time for computer hobby hacking or geek-tweaking or circumventing restrictions anymore, and can't believe how much time I used to spend on it for very little benefit. In fact I found I was the guy asked to fix everyone else's PC problems. No I just want a one-click solution and to get back to my life!
Posted in: KDDI to sell new iPhone in Japan, ending Softbank's domination
0
badmigraine
Bluebris, see my comment as to why. I fully agree that iTunes really does stink as software. I couldn't believe how bad it was years ago when I first saw it, and it's gotten no better. But thanks to some international licensing door that Apple and Big Media left open probably by accident, you can get the entire lineup of the US iTunes store here in Japan. Where else can you get that media? Not on Android or Windows phones. Not direct from Netflix or Amazon. My three kids and I consume a lot of this media and no point in giving it up because iTunes software is crappy.
I'm a computer geek and used to play around with Linux versions. I had no love for Apple. But at this point in the game, really, what is the big difference. Now it just seems like a Lacoste shirt vs. a Polo shirt, or Starbucks vs. Tullys. The ecosystem is a big part of it, more than the hardware, and it is all converging anyway.
Posted in: KDDI to sell new iPhone in Japan, ending Softbank's domination
2
badmigraine
smithinjapan, so true. I remember when I first came here long ago. All newspapers were the exact same 120 yen. It amazed me. Then, item by item, I found out much of the country works this way and most people have internalized it so deeply that they can't even make out what you're trying to say when you question it.
Posted in: KDDI to sell new iPhone in Japan, ending Softbank's domination
1
badmigraine
The hardware in any fairly recent smartphone is plenty good enough. I'd just as soon have an Android or Windows phone as an Apple one, and more likely, try a different one every time. But the dealmaker for me is this: if you have a US credit card billing address, then all media in the US iTunes store is available even though you are physically located in Japan. All the recent TV shows, all the movies.
I can't find any other source for this in Japan. Netflix and Amazon won't allow access from IP addresses located outside the US. So if I switch to Android at this point, then I lose access to all my US media. I would never do that. Certainly a lot of the media is crap, but it's nice to have it when I want it. Nothing like getting the whole season 3 of Breaking Bad and eating an entire bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos while watching it.
Other than that, I don't care what OS or platform is on my stinking phone.
Posted in: KDDI to sell new iPhone in Japan, ending Softbank's domination
0
badmigraine
I wouldn't hold my breath for any price plan wars or carrier-unlocked iPhones from these two providers. By gentleman's agreement, pricing will stay the same. Even unlocked iPhones become available in Japan, neither carrier will sell you an unlimited data plan at the price people get when they buy the handset at the same time.
Posted in: KDDI to sell new iPhone in Japan, ending Softbank's domination
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badmigraine
Not a peep about the new iPhone on either of the Softbank or AU websites. Now that's what I call excitement and efficiency in marketing.
Posted in: Apple fails to impress with updated iPhone
0
badmigraine
"No thoroughfare"... As an American, would I write this as "No Thru Street"?
Posted in: KanjiSpy iPad app ends Tokyo street-walking frustration
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badmigraine
As of mid- to late August, officially reported measurements were still showing radioactive iodine 131 in Tokyo, Iwate, Nagano and Niigata. The half-life is only 8 days, so this means fission was ongoing at that point. This is re-criticality, right?
http://enenews.com/fukushima-in-recriticality-iodine-131-detected-in-4-locations-tokyo-iwate-nagano-niigata
Posted in: TEPCO says temperature of No. 2 reactor has dropped below 100 degrees C
3
badmigraine
By definition it is not "cold shutdown" if the fuel has melted through the bottom of the containment vessel.
Posted in: TEPCO says temperature of No. 2 reactor has dropped below 100 degrees C
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badmigraine
It really is true that if you aren't the kind of person who can get rich with a startup company, new invention or professional skill, then the best option is to hook up your bank account to the government feedbag. Municipal construction contracts, roads, waste removal, government supply, military, selling and servicing subpar, Balkanized custom IT software to various government agencies. And for those with nice teeth and foreheads, the revolving door of government bureaucratic posts followed by lucrative stints on the boards of the endless list of crony companies lining up a million deep outside the tent. Inside all of this, agricultural subsidies to individual farmers are nothing more than a piffle. These farmers are like the postal workers of government graft. Perhaps their first and most basic mistake is assuming they actually need to work hard and produce something of value in order to receive government money.
Posted in: For two, almost three, generations Japanese agriculture has been essentially 'socialized,' that is, sucked into the maw of the bureaucratic, administrative state. Japanese farmers think and act like government employees, who expect—and receive—a guaranteed income from the state.