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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bobobolinski
Smith
I don't think there has been any new legislation enacted. Indeed, it isn't necessary as all appropriate laws are already on the statute book. Rather, Cameron (no stranger to youthful idiocy himself) has been telling magistrates and judges to use particularly harsh sentencing. As LucaBrasi said, all these excessive sentences will be reduced on appeal in a few months time; for example, I would think the two facebook morons will have an appeal, have their sentence reduced to 9 months, and be released as they have already served the tariff. Of course, it won't be front page news, and that is what this is about; it's theatrics. Rather than addressing the concerns of the police for more resources and manpower, or of community organizations who want more attention to alienated youth, the government, or the Tory wing of it, is just shouting about punishment and "zero tolerance" - whatever that means.
Posted in: Two jailed for inciting British riots on Facebook
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bobobolinski
Neither of these young men has been in trouble before, and neither took part in any rioting, stole anything or caused any actual damage. One of them got drunk one night, put a stupid message on his facebook page, woke up next morning and immediately removed it. No rioting or other criminal acts took place as a result of their messages. And for this they are getting four years. As luca says, these sentences will be appealed, further clogging up the legal system; surely a criminal conviction in itself would have been enough for what is after all just youthful stupidity.
Posted in: Two jailed for inciting British riots on Facebook
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bobobolinski
Cameron has two big problems here, and he is trying to avoid them by playing the "lock-em-up and throw away the key" card. First, he was having a nice holiday in Tuscany and failed to appreciate the seriousness of the situation until he was forced to return to Britain. This has made him look weak and detached, and he has lost a lot of support; note the way the staunchly Tory paper the Daily Telegraph has turned on him. Secondly, funding and manpower for the police have been subject to massive cuts, along with other public services. The police don't need any new powers, and they don't need instructions from toffs like Cameron; they need more police officers and more support services. Banging up first-time offenders and making families homeless isn't going to solve anything, and will only create more trouble down the line.
Posted in: Riots force rethink on Britain's juvenile justice
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bobobolinski
These kinds of terrible acts unfortunately happen everywhere, in all societies. But it is really depressing that there seems to be no demand for a public inquiry or investigation into what went wrong with the social services who should have been able to intervene well before the tragic death of this kid. In Britain, for example, when similar cases have occurred, there have been public inquiries set up by the government, and these inquiries have investigated, made recommendations and in some cases radically changed things. Of course, bad things still happen, but at least there is a sense of something be done about it.
Posted in: Chiba parents arrested for allowing child to starve to death
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bobobolinski
He's 43. Even if he gets the 12 years being asked by the prosecution, he'll be out in 6 or 8 years. It seems from the article that he has had a share in numerous big robberies, from which the goods have not been recovered. So, he will have a reasonable retirement plan set up, presumably. And I wouldn't think he would have too much trouble in prison, gaijin or not, since he is no doubt well connected.
Posted in: Prosecutors seek 12 years for Pink Panther thief over Ginza heist
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bobobolinski
It's a bit worrying that with the encouragement of Cameron and other politicians, the courts seem to be handing out very heavy, custodial sentences. Some calmness and consideration might be appropriate in thinking about how to deal with this situation.
Posted in: British PM unveils tough anti-riot measures, including social media controls
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bobobolinski
Well, obviously, rice could come from abroad too. It's just that there is a massive delusion, encouraged by the government on behalf of the farmers, that Japanese rice is far superior and safer than imported rice. Back in the 1990s, after some very low rice harvests, a lot of rice was imported. It was fine.
Posted in: After the earthquake, there's been a prevalent feeling among people that you can make do with replacements... It doesn't have to be beef curry, it could be pork, or chicken, or the beef could come from another country. It's not quite the same with rice.
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bobobolinski
It would be nice if it could become a continuing trend. Seasonal and local variations would be good.
Posted in: Prankster dresses Osaka street statues in red
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bobobolinski
The trouble with longevity is that it gets tacked on to the end, not when it would be useful. That extra five years, you get it when you're 80, not when you're 25.
Posted in: Japan ranks first for women's longevity
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bobobolinski
From latest news reports, it seems that Murdoch might be inclined to sell up the UK operation entirely - Times, Sun, FT, shares in BSkyB etc. He will then head back to America, taking favoured son James and the loathsome Rebekah Brooks with him. This seems to be fine with Americans, as represented here on JT, so everybody will be happy.
Posted in: New allegations besiege Murdoch media empire
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bobobolinski
An unfortunate headline to this piece. Surely "increase" would have served just as well?
Posted in: Toyota takes steps to beef up Japan production
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bobobolinski
I do wonder about this. I always thought that the body scanners were never going to be effective, as the level of radiation they emit is way too low to see much other than contours. Obviously, if someone really wanted to hide something, they might be able to do so. Hence the invasive groping that is going on now, when or if the scanner might not work thoroughly. I doubt very much that the surgical implant theory is real - when you think about the difficulties presented, it doesn't make sense. But, if the story was put about that it could be done, would it be used to go for much heavier radiation from the scanners? How else are they going to be able to check that a bulge or lump isn't a threat?
Like much of the anti-terror legislation and practices of the past few years, the real application of this would lie in the prevention of drug and other smuggling, just as fingerprinting, photo and retinal scanning, and RFID passports have much more to with immigration factors.
Posted in: Alert: Terrorists look to implant bombs in humans
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bobobolinski
Actually, Molenir, one of Murdoch's best-known traits is his hands-on involvement with his media; he reads all of his papers every day, for example, and is in constant contact with his managers and editors. But even if this wasn't the case, and he confined himself to looking over the accounts, he would have known about what was going on at the News of the World a long time ago. In 2008, for example, James Murdoch (son) approved a payment of 700,000 UKP hush money to one victim of the phone hacking. Rupert might have noticed that, or the massive payments being made to dodgy private agents, or the payments being made (totally illegally) to serving police officers. These outrages have been going on for many years, just reaching a public tipping point in the last week, and it is in your words "ludicrous" and "idiotic" to suggest that the boss wasn't aware of it.
Posted in: UK's News of the World bids farewell to readers
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bobobolinski
Des, News International will publish The Sun on Sunday within two weeks at most. They have been planning this for a while, so it's just a little earlier than they expected.
Posted in: UK's News of the World bids farewell to readers
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bobobolinski
The delay between US/Euro release of this movie isn't so bad compared to many films that take over a year to get a big screen promotion. (By which time the DVD has been available for ages.) Annoying, but then this, as Hyman Roth declared, is the life we chose.
What I don't like is that on its opening weekend, and possibly for the entirety of its show in Japan, Thor is only viewable in 3D. Fine for themz who like it, but I would much prefer the 2D alternative which has been available everywhere else.
Posted in: If I had a hammer
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bobobolinski
Seems like teachers and health care workers in the UK don't get it. Even though they have devoted their working lives to areas with relatively low pay but reasonable benefit provision, they seem to think that having contributed to pension funds that gives them some kind of right to expect the money to come back to them later. Don't they realize how important it is that the government spend large portions of the national budget on shoring up hedge fund brokers, investment bankers, and other gamblers? Teachers, nurses, and other state employees should be happy to see their retirement plans going towards rescuing the unfortunate bad luck of the "wealth creators".
Posted in: Hundreds of thousands strike in UK over pension cuts
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bobobolinski
Nope. Doesn't compute. If you have a car in Japan, you have to have it registered with your address, parking space, license details etc. So any vehicle that goes through a payment barrier must be recorded, and the owner/insurer of that vehicle must be identifiable. OK, maybe this guy took unlicensed vehicles through the barrier a few times; but over a thousand? Unless ... there are hundreds of thousands, possibly millions of unlicensed vehicles in Japan, which, if you think about it, would be quite scary.
Posted in: Driver forces way through ETC barrier over 1,000 times
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bobobolinski
USN - yep, that is basically it. EU players can play anywhere in the EU, so a lot of non-EU players who have a grandparent born in an EU country get dual nationality - a lot of South American players in Europe use this rule. Otherwise the club can appeal - sometimes approved but sometimes not.
I hope Miyaichi does get it. I don't understand anyone dissing Wenger. In his time Arsenal have been a major team, and have also played really good football. Miyaichi would be training, and playing at reserve level, with a seriously high quality of team-mates. Exactly the conditions to improve both his own play and the level of the Japan national side.
Posted in: Wenger to assess Miyaichi for spot in Arsenal team
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bobobolinski
While the details are still unclear, and may remain so, it is noticeable that the story doesn't say that OBL was shot after being captured, but that he resisted and was shot. I would have thought in this type of situation - dealing with an experienced terrorist in a volatile environment with limited time - the rules would be simple: immediate surrender or be shot.
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bobobolinski
Mugabe, and Berlusconi. Could it get any more beatific?
Posted in: Pope beatifies John Paul before 1.5 million faithful