JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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- Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) in Kanto region
- RCS (RCSコーポレーション), Kanto
- Salary: ¥180,000 ~ ¥250,000 / Month includes performance bonus
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- Assistant Language Teacher - TOKYO - late-March start
- Interac, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥230,000 ~ ¥255,000 / Month
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- Assistant Language Teacher - Kanagawa Prefecture - late-March start
- Interac, Kanagawa
- Salary: ¥230,000 ~ ¥255,000 / Month
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ca1ic0cat
Retirement? After the housing bubble burst my 401k looks more like a 201k and my taxes are going up to bail out the greedy sods who got rich handing out loans to anybody with a pulse. I figure retirement at 67 will be a gift now. Unless I learn French and emmigrate. Who was it who teaches French?
Posted in: French strikes disrupt life, shut Eiffel Tower
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ca1ic0cat
Look at the bright side. If nobody can go up the Eiffel Tower the terrorists won't bother to blow it up.
Posted in: French strikes disrupt life, shut Eiffel Tower
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ca1ic0cat
That's just sick. Hopefully somebody will adopt the dog.
Posted in: Police probe under way after dog found buried up to neck on canal bank in Toyama
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ca1ic0cat
The Chinese govt continues to pour gasoline on the fire in the hopes of putting it out. They really need a better public relations campaign. Or maybe they thing a public retaliation campaign is better?
Posted in: Wife of Nobel Peace laureate under house arrest in Beijing
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ca1ic0cat
Maybe the comments were over the top but still, any attempt to apply sharia in the US (like in Great Britain) is a travestry of justice. It's got nothing to do with the mosque in NYC and everything to do with the rule of law and the separation of church and state. Any US judge who would apply sharia (or any other religious code) as a point of law should be sacked and disbarred.
Posted in: Senate candidate: Muslim law taking hold in parts of U.S.
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ca1ic0cat
Yeah, I don't know whose side to be on. Guess I'll put the Road Warrior in the DVD player and try to figure it out.
Posted in: Mel Gibson's ex says she feared for life after fight
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ca1ic0cat
Yeah, I know the feeling. I was sitting in a steak restaurant in Ebina one night with some American co-workers. They started commenting, in a crude fashion, on a very attractive woman sitting around the counter from us. I said something to the effect of "be careful, there's a good chance she speaks English," which the woman used as an opening to say "Yes, I do, I work for a company in California," in perfect English. Talk about wanting to crawl under a table. If these guys had done this at work they might have gotten a formal reprimand....
Anybody can be a complete idiot at times. Pity that it reflects on us all.
Posted in: In your experience, which country's tourists are the least well-behaved whenever you have seen them out and about?
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ca1ic0cat
Fundamental research in Japan really took off in the 1980's and has been continuing to gather pace. This was a nice bit of work. Usually a Nobel for real research (not Al Gore or that other guy) usually has to be reduced to practice or proven by experiment (e.g. particle physics) before a prize is awarded. That might explain the delay. In any case, this is a prize given for solid work that will benefit all. It's well deserved and congratulations to all involved.
Posted in: 2 Japanese, American researchers share chemistry Nobel Prize
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ca1ic0cat
As far as the terror warning is concerned, you probably have a better chance of being hit by a bus. Best to iggy the whole thing and just keep your normal street smarts going. No point living in fear.
Posted in: U.S. terror warning could hurt Europe's economy
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ca1ic0cat
The Germans in Antwerp can be rude. They rather expect everybody to speak German. Guess that doesn't work as well in France.... I've never had a problem with Japanese tourists in Hawaii. It's the Americans who behave badly there. Brit lager louts are bad in any setting but think they can get away with more when they aren't at home. Those are my observations....
Posted in: In your experience, which country's tourists are the least well-behaved whenever you have seen them out and about?
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ca1ic0cat
John is probably right but it looks like she's blowing a bubble with green gum and waiting for it to pop onto her face.
Posted in: On the ball
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ca1ic0cat
As far as smoking goes, nicotine is an addiction and not easy to get over. A few people might be motivated to stop smoking but I think the majority are just going to suck it up and keep puffing away at some (maybe reduced) rate. Anybody have any data on the price of the number of smokers as a % of population versus price?
Posted in: Japan hikes taxes on cigarettes by 40% to curb smoking
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ca1ic0cat
In reality neither the president or congress controls the economy. They can screw thing up, ala unfunded wars (LBJ and Bush Jr.) or by changing taxes and deficit; but by and large it is business, investors, and the people who control the economy. One reason that the economy isn't growing is that people who are in debt (the vast majority) are paying down debt and saving more. Banks aren't making loans to anybody who can crawl through the door any longer. Housing prices have dropped as property speculation collapsed; but speculation bubbles have been going on for a long time. The Dutch even had one based on - get this - tulip bulbs a few centuries ago.
In any case, taxes are going up and that is going to slow the economy. Companies are trying to figure out the health care costs and what the economy is going to do so they are being cautious and not hiring. People aren't living beyond their means any more, so consumer spending (~68% of the economy) isn't going up.
As far as the housing bubble goes, the push to get lower income people into their own houses goes back to Carter. It was during the Bush years that the bankers ran amok loaning money to everybody. Bush had little to do with that, just like Obama can't control the economy at will. Bush had his unfunded war. Obama has health care and higher taxes. That's the damage that either can do. They can't force consumers to spend or companies to hire. What will be interesting is if "price destruction" comes to the US. That cost Japan 20 years of feeble economic conditions. Time will tell.
Posted in: In Obama's 'backyard' visits, Republicans are the absent foe
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ca1ic0cat
That would be the lowest common denominator theory then. The teacher's unions would be all for that since their members would have no accountability then.
Interesting that Obama is going to pick a fight with one of the Dem's major supporting unions. I agree with him but I wonder how all this is going to turn out.
As far as donkeys vs elephants goes; they both have their snouts in the same trough and somebody else has to shovel up the manure.
Posted in: Obama: Money alone cannot solve U.S. school problems
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ca1ic0cat
Look at the bright side. With such talent in the military leadership any move against SK would be doomed to failure. Rather like that other military genius, Adolf. Who also showed some odd proclivities toward relatives.....
Posted in: N Korean leader Kim promotes 3rd son to general
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ca1ic0cat
Too bad Ahmadinejad doesn't walk out every time he hears something he doesn't like; we wouldn't have to put up with his ravings. This guy has a case of foot in mouth that makes Bush's gaffes tame by comparison. I'm glad Obama told him where he could stuff the drivel, in so many words. More diplomatically than I would be.
Posted in: U.S. walks out on Ahmadinejad U.N. speech after 9/11 remark
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ca1ic0cat
Gitmo is still open so I'm still skeptical....
Posted in: Obama reaches out to skeptical voters
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ca1ic0cat
Uh, say again? In Iran you might not be terminated from your job for speaking your opinion but you are probably tossed in prison and terminated there. I suppose there is a subtle difference in syntax but the outcome is certainly the loss of your job - and a lot more.
A pity that the US can't bar Ahmadinejad from the country but, as a head of state, no matter how pathetic that state is, he is allowed to visit the UN. One of life's cruel ironies. The man who takes the freedom from his own countrymen is allowed the freedom to travel by the UN.
Posted in: Ahmadinejad says future is Iran's
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ca1ic0cat
I expect that, since China supports the status quo, that is what is going to happen.
Posted in: Suu Kyi officially barred from Myanmar election
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ca1ic0cat
The Chinese have a really big chip on their shoulder and they are just daring anybody to knock it off. In the meantime they help out thugs in NK, Burma and Zimbabwe to further their own nationalistic goals at the expense of the people and world peace. They justify this by the treatment the Chinese received at the hands of the French, Brits, US, and, later, Japan. But that was years ago. Time for the Chinese leadership to understand that to be a world power you have to behave like one - not just toss your weight around.
Maybe it's time to give Japan a seat on the Security Council. That would frost China's knickers.
Posted in: Japan urges calm after China severs contacts