Wednesday February 15, 2012

JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION

borscht's past comments

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borschtJan. 19, 2012 - 09:22PM JST

Timeon:

18 players (in 14 centers) out of 555,537 malfunctioned

They had 555,537 IC players?

Timeon:

no student suffered from this problem.

From the article:

18 students in 14 test centers experienced malfunctioning IC players.

But I'm glad to know they had back-up players and the 18 didn't suffer unduly.

Plus:

3,462 students will be required to take the exam at a later date,

But 3,462 suffered from a problem not of their doing, basically. Right? I also agree that the IC players weren't the main problem, but that the printing and distribution were.

Posted in: Errors result in highest ever number of entrance exams retakers
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borschtJan. 19, 2012 - 05:08PM JST

Editors,

"The cinema is happy to offer guests a refund on their film choice is they raise concern with a member of staff within 10 minutes of the film starting."

I silently believe you are missing an 'f' in this sentence. Perhaps instead of the 's' in 'film choice is they raise'. Just a thought. (The first 's'.)

Posted in: 'It's silent?': Britons demand refunds for 'The Artist'
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borschtJan. 19, 2012 - 01:56PM JST

fidaruzki

School starts in April in Japan and finishes in Feb/March. Graduation is usually in the middle of March and jobs start April 1. Students start looking for jobs in the middle of their third year and generally have an offer by the middle of their fourth year.

Posted in: University of Tokyo considering autumn start to academic year
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borschtJan. 19, 2012 - 01:47PM JST

March?

Everyone's going to have to decide which university tests to take before March. They have to come up with a re-test by the end of February.

Why don't they use the same method of re-testing they've used for the last billion years and do it soon?

Posted in: Errors result in highest ever number of entrance exams retakers
1

borschtJan. 19, 2012 - 08:14AM JST

Nicky,

Exactly. I wonder if Todai is going to require professors to teach in English, too, as that is probably the main reason many schools in the world have foreign students rather than a start date. I've had several students go to graduate school in France but don't speak a word of French because the teachers teach in English.

hard for students ... to prepare for exams

If they graduate in June and the professional tests are in April or May, they'll have eight or nine extra months to study OR, and I know this is too drastic of a change, they can take them in the April of their fourth year. A student? Taking a professional test? Is that even possible?

Posted in: University of Tokyo considering autumn start to academic year
1

borschtJan. 18, 2012 - 11:03AM JST

Part of one of my friend's job required him to drive around town and buy CDs of the current singer his company was promoting. His company contacted similar companies throughout the country to do the same thing and voila! Instant Top Ten hit.

This is the same except now my friend can stay home in his underwear and accomplish much more. Good for him! How can I get this kind of job?

Posted in: Yahoo! restaurant reviews and rankings manipulated by fake comment companies
2

borschtJan. 17, 2012 - 07:39AM JST

First, James Bond had to deal with Goldfinger. Now, Gold....

Posted in: 8 men arrested for smuggling gold from S Korea to Japan in rectums
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borschtJan. 17, 2012 - 07:36AM JST

He should've worn a pirate's patch instead. It'd give him an aura of Jack Sparrow-ness and simultaneously raise his approval ratings.

Posted in: Noda appears in eye patch for tax fight
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borschtJan. 16, 2012 - 08:44PM JST

Took awhile because of the great reporting but I finally realized she was riding a motorcycle, not driving a car. 'Auto,' in English, means 'car.'

And, yes, UncleB, you are correct, because no man has ever died in a motorcycle racing accident. Shoya Tomizawa, Daijiro Kato.

Posted in: Japanese woman speedway racer killed in crash
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borschtJan. 15, 2012 - 09:34AM JST

In Europe and the US, jumping into cold water with a bunch of other people isn't 'religious', it's considered 'fun.' My favorite quote from a polar bear plunger: "I like being crazy."

http://www.appeal-democrat.com/articles/cold-112691-water-plunge.html

Some other crazy people do it to raise money.

http://globegazette.com/news/local/article_3f01907c-00fd-11e0-83bf-001cc4c002e0.html

In either case, it has nothing to do with showing your faith or ganbaro spirit. If people feels it will improve their religiousocity, however, fell free to jump in.

But why do certain people need a 'serious' reason to do something vs just to have fun.

Posted in: Now that's cold
1

borschtJan. 14, 2012 - 01:36PM JST

First, one should always freeze when a uniformed police officer requests it. I hope any investigation shows Browne was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. RIP.

Second, there were about 866 murders in New York last year. In 2009, there were 781 murders, the lowest since 1965. Not 'more than one thousand'. Still, one is too many.

http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/nycrime.htm

Posted in: New York police kill man at his home after burglars flee
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borschtJan. 14, 2012 - 07:26AM JST

Police are currently investigating the possibility that the funds are connected,

Two quick questions:

First, do the police really think Saito's 8 million is part of Hirata's 10 million after 17 years? If so, then Saito is a very careful shopper.

Second, even if the 8 million is part of Hirata's 10, so what? I believe religions can dupe... er.. request their followers to tithe. Churches then do with the money what they wish. Is there something illegal going on with the money?

Posted in: Woman arrested for harboring cultist had 8 million yen in her possession
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borschtJan. 12, 2012 - 12:30PM JST

not reported to police for another 45 minutes?

The 45 minutes was probably spent looking for him in prison. Then they contacted the police to say they couldn't find him. If it was 'Contact police' THEN look for him in prison and they find him in prison, the local police would be terribly 'confused.'

OK, so I have a question for all of you who think his sentence was extremely harsh: what sentence you think would be good for a shootout with cops?

Five years, mas or menos. 23 years for a murder is understandable.

Posted in: Inmate escapes from Hiroshima prison
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borschtJan. 12, 2012 - 12:24PM JST

If I had 400 million, I'd keep it at home, too, as anything over one million in a bank is taxed in my home country.

Posted in: Ozawa: Nothing unusual about keeping Y400 mil in cash at home
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borschtJan. 11, 2012 - 11:12AM JST

I think the headline should be "Woman Turns Herself In for Aiding Hirata" because the police just sat in their koban and waited for 17 years. 'Arrested' implies some sort of action by the police department.

Posted in: Woman arrested for aiding ex-Aum fugitive Hirata
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borschtJan. 10, 2012 - 12:44PM JST

Some of those 'college dropouts' dropped out because they were making more money than the entire teaching staff combined.

And, naturally, book-learning without street smarts results in things like Aum Shinrikyo while street smarts without book-learning results in either long-term un~ or underemployment or a career in sales. Both are required. As for 'continuous efforts' Gates & Paul Allen bought MS DOS from Tim Paterson of Seattle Computer Products and turned around to license it to IBM. And then?

Posted in: Book smart or street smart
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borschtJan. 08, 2012 - 11:07AM JST

Also, I've been told that admitting you have a disease, such as cancer or even asthma, will result in 'friends' shunning you because they don't want to catch it, too. Imagine if you admit to a psychological problem like depression. You'd be shunned by everyone but the NHK bill collector.

Posted in: 'Getting help' is not un-Japanese; it's expensive
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borschtJan. 08, 2012 - 09:36AM JST

The man then got into the ambulance that had been left outside

It's a good thing they left the ambulance outside as most Japanese homes are too crowded to accommodate a car, too.

And, yeah, what happened to the son, if there ever was a son?

Posted in: Man attacks emergency rescue team workers, steals ambulance
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borschtJan. 07, 2012 - 01:24PM JST

He lists a lot of costs (camping, bicycle bag, ferries) but skips one minor cost: airplane tickets. (Somewhere in the neighborhood of 30,000 yen or so). Kind of a large bit of the expense of 'bicycling, sort of, from Tokyo to Okinawa.' However, I've had friends who fly to Okinawa for the weekend or a day just to go scuba-diving. Great place, they say.

Posted in: How to cycle from Tokyo to Okinawa in a day - sort of
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borschtJan. 07, 2012 - 09:22AM JST

Does anyone know how much oil Japan imports from Mexico, Venezuela, and Indonesia? I thought after the oil embargoes in the 70s that Japan diversified their oil portfolio.

Posted in: Japan considering alternative oil supplies as Iran sanctions loom