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
1
britling
The NY Academy of Sciences work referred to above is probably the translated Russian paper that predicted huge number of deaths from Chernobyl. That paper was not peer-reviewed by the NYAS, as they have openly stated, and it contradicts other research backed by the UN, IAEA, and the World Health Organization. It does not form part of the views of the majority of nuclear scientists (as opposed to pseudo-scientists and actual scientists quoted well outside their own fields). Furthermore, a scientist giving an opinion (as quoted in the media) is not the same as evidence in the form of actual rigorous, peer-reviewed published work.
Science is also a cumulative process: it is not about accepting every possible idea but gathering evidence in order to form conclusions that gradually become more robust: idea becomes hypothesis is becomes theory becomes fact. 'Fact' meaning not, of course, 'absolute truth' (for that, see religion), but as near as we possibly can to it based on the evidence.
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3
britling
Radium-226 has a half-life of about 1600 years. According to NHK tonight, anyone could buy radium in Japan until the law was changed in 1958.
On NHK it also said that the radiation level on the surface of the bottles was about 600 microsieverts per hour (over 5000 millisieverts a year), which is well within serious danger levels and is likely to kill. I would imagine that anyone who has spent much time in that house would want to be checked out.
Of course, the radiation drops dramatically with distance, and the bottles were under the floorboards, but Japanese people do tend to sit on the floor...
Posted in: Radium bottles in Setagaya home may have been there for over 50 years
4
britling
The number of things someone's written is not evidence of authority. Kaku, who has also been interviewed about the threat of an alien invasion, has a background in theoretical physics but really works towards public understanding of science, i.e. he writes popular science books and goes on TV. I have just checked his technical research papers at Cornell University Library (I can't find a full list on his website) and found 6 papers, the latest of which was published 11 years ago. So he wouldn't be your first port of call for a fully-informed assessment of the latest cutting-edge research even in his own field. If anyone can find more recent peer-reviewed technical work, I will concede that he has up-to-date expertise in that area - but it's not nuclear physics or reactor operation experience.
I wonder how you go about seeing a problem when presumably you're not a nuclear physicist. I would hazard a guess that none of us here are. The Dunning-Kruger effect strikes again. The only thing we can do is look at the backgrounds of these people making public pronouncements on Fukushima and ask whether their qualifications and peer-reviewed research output (if they exist at all) are relevant to the subject.
Posted in: TEPCO says temperature of No. 2 reactor has dropped below 100 degrees C
2
britling
I hope Kan is one day seen as one of the greatest prime ministers in Japanese history. By Japanese standards, given the sort of shower who generaly get to the top, this was an act of Churchillian statesmanship.
Posted in: Kan forced older nuclear plant workers to stay on duty after tsunami: report
5
britling
More accurately, many speakers assume it to be an abbreviation of 'gaikokujin' and use it as such. But 'gaijin' actually precedes 'gaikokujin' and, as pointed out above, used to mean anyone outside someone's community. I don't think 'gaikokujin' is political correctness; it arose out of need as Japanese developed a political state. I'm not sure what Doak means by 'non-human', though.
More oddities here. I don't think even hardliners can make themselves "biologically" Japanese. And trotting out one novelist, an opera and two fictional characters doesn't really exemplify the point. I wonder if he thinks that Marutei Tsurunen is trying to become completely Japanese, biological and all, by exercising his right as a citizen to stand for election.
My own view is that if someone calls me a 'gaijin', that means they have trouble getting past being confronted by someone who is different from them. I pity them, and hope the word fades away.
Posted in: Gaijin -- just a word or racial epithet with sinister implications?
1
britling
@BlueWitch: right, Ichihashi should never be let out, but neither should he be killed. It doesn't matter what kind of rhetoric people dress the death penalty up with; it comes down to an ugly scene of a bunch of guys lynching someone in a room, away from prying eyes.
Ichihashi will clearly be a danger to women if he is let out. Though it is tempting to think of six English teachers being given half an hour in a room with him, no questions asked, the most appropriate punishment is to let him age away in a cell somewhere.
Posted in: Ichihashi appeals life sentence for killing British teacher
1
britling
I would be very surprised if Breivik has ever visited Japan. His claims about the country comprise typical extreme-right assumptions. Japan appears to be a homogeneous monoculture, so its historical success must be because of race and anti-immigration policies. Nothing to do with post-war reconstruction, the move into high-tech because they weren't allowed a massive arms industry, the export economy, or the way that much of Japanese culture has been adopted from China and Korea and then allowed to develop in its own way.
Breivik also conveniently omits how the economy has tanked in the last 20 years, or how there is so much molestation that it is considered almost normal, and indeed feeds into the porn industry. Japan is one of the few non-Muslim countries in the world with women-only train carriages.
It's often my observation that cultures see themselves as directly opposite to what they are. The British think they're fair-minded when a lot of foreigners see them as sneaky. The Americans think they live in the freest country on Earth when in fact they can't even directly elect their own president or easily get on to a ballot paper; then there's the sink-or-swim mentality. The Australians think they are the most easy-going people around, but try asking immigrants or Aboriginals. And the Japanese think they are a monoculture when they are anything but.
Posted in: Norway killer's manifesto praises Japan for not adopting multiculturalism
2
britling
There is a document on-line by the Center for Prisoners' Right Japan which points out that the average time served for lifers before being released on parole has extended over the last few decades. They say, for example, that 1,670 people were in for life as of 2007 (nearly double that of 1993) and 74 sentenced then, but in the same year only one person was released (after serving 31 years). At that time, there was also one person who had been in there for over 55 years without parole!
On the other hand, there are people like Sagawa, who was never jailed for killing and eating a woman (and did a documentary recently where he quite openly admits to cannibalistic urges), plus cases in the last year or two of children being killed by their parents but avoiding lengthy sentences.
So it is highly unlikely that Ichihashi will only do 10 years. He may even do longer than 20. But he could also get out in less than that, who knows. He really should have been denied any sort of parole from the start.
Posted in: Hawkers 'pleased' with life sentence for Ichihashi
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britling
@lucabrasi: why do you assume he'll do significantly more than a ten-year stretch? There's no evidence he was a troublesome prisoner while in custody, other than a period when he refused food. This is just my opinion, but I think he'll sit out the time quietly. Psychiatrists' reports can also be ignored, as they were in the Sagawa case.
Posted in: Hawkers 'pleased' with life sentence for Ichihashi
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britling
@lucabrasi: you think they can read his mind? Ultimately he will have to be freed unless he can be shown to be an obvious dangerous lunatic, and that is rather unlikely. Even if true, the Issei Sagawa case shows that if anything, being declared unstable can get you out of jail even quicker in this country.
Posted in: Hawkers 'pleased' with life sentence for Ichihashi
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britling
Ichihashi will still be a danger to women when he is freed. Note July 2021 in your diaries.
Posted in: Hawkers 'pleased' with life sentence for Ichihashi
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britling
Well done Kaio!
Posted in: Ozeki Kaio makes his retirement official
8
britling
I think the Hawkers, like 99% of other people, can distinguish between the actions of one man and the image of a whole country. Foreign nationals seeking justice for murder in Japanese courts according to Japanese law is not an act of Japan-bashing or gaiatsu.
Posted in: Grim journey
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britling
I wonder what the reaction on here would have been if TEPCO had caused significant panic by announcing that the pool had dried up, then three months later admitted that they were wrong. And in turn, what would have been said had TEPCO defenders argued that this was just one small error, that they 'fessed up to it, and that this means the Japanese system of public accountability works. Meanwhile, as the radiation death toll remains obstinately stuck at zero and with the injuries among civilians also hovering at nought, armchair pundits remain determined to uncover a nuclear catastrophe.
Posted in: U.S.: Spent fuel pool never went dry in Japan quake
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britling
Amazing how many think that guns are a magic bullet. Oh, wait a minute, I see - if this lunatic had had access to guns, he would have shot himself earlier instead of failing to hang himself in a toilet, and all would be right with the world!
Posted in: Heartbroken Kobe man stabs ex-girlfriend, three policemen
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britling
Anyone daft enough to think that this will change anything at all, especially in US foreign policy? The search for a new bogeyman begins.
Posted in: BIN LADEN BURIED AT SEA AFTER BEING KILLED IN FIREFIGHT WITH U.S. FORCES
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britling
The one with the horns was Beatrice. There is a conspiracy theory that their mother Fergie, who didn't attend, let them dress that way...
Posted in: What did you think of the British royal wedding on Friday?
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britling
Strictly speaking, the British monarchy is not completely hereditary since the Privy Council must meet, approve the succession and take the new Sovereign's oath. In theory, they could block Charles or reject a younger male heir in favour of an older female one. Such action would be unlikely, however, in a system that runs based on convention and precedence.
A return to the Anglo-Saxon model of nominating monarchs might be a step in the right direction.
Posted in: UK mulling royal succession rule change
0
britling
Let's hear firm, detailed proposals from the LDP for dealing with this mess. They've already refused to work with the government during this crisis more than once, and yet now they're complaining that the government is incompetent. So why not step up? Tanigaki must be secretly breathing a sigh of relief that this didn't happen on his watch.
Posted in: Gov't under fire for disaster response; TEPCO chief heckled in Diet
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britling
I got sucked into it because I found it was the only way to communicate with some people. But I only use it for sending messages and occasionally re-tweeting stuff. I think tweeting your own opinions is just like talking to a wall. Then again, I'm on JT. :)
Posted in: Do you use Twitter?