JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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1
To be healthy, live in the big city
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2
Japan's nuclear safety standards flawed, says commission chief
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3
Why do Japanese change their attitude when they communicate with foreigners?
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4
Teacher nabbed for using miror to peek up girl's skirt
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5
From carnivores to herbivores: how men are defined in Japan
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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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chouwa
baafly's getting himself in a twit:
What the hell are "acquasitions"? And no, the U.S. will not survive. It is crumbling. The whole infrastructure is crumbling. Investors have lost faith in corporate banking in America. On TV, they showed reporters trying to ask stock brokers on Wall Street questions, but they all looked in a huff and puff about it all. Greed and corruption has brought the downfall of Wall Street and here is the predicament: Americans realize that a bailout is needed, but are sure as hell not going to pay for it. 700 billion dollars from taxpayer's money? Ha! Yeah, right. America will be pushed further and further into debt. The illegal Iraq war has already cost Americans tons and tons of their money. Not to mention that the recent spate of hurricanes has caused many states to issue long lines at the gas pump with signs of "No gas" attached to it. Frankly speaking, it's going to take a long time for banks in the U.S. to gain the trust of the public back. Banks as well are not going to feel like lending out loads of money after the subprime loan crisis, which is still affecting many people who continue to lose their homes.
Posted in: Skylark to close 200 restaurants
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chouwa
Are you daft? Yes, I've read the book before, but where in it does it even mention Greg Maddux?
Uh, no. The Oakland A's do more with the payroll they have than any other major league team has done. According to Wikipedia:
"Beane became GM of the A's in 1997 and since then he has crafted the Athletics into one of the most cost-effective teams in baseball, applying sabermetric principles toward obtaining relatively undervalued players. For example, in 2006 the A's ranked 21st of 30 major league teams in player salaries but had the 5th-best regular-season record. This reflects a typical pattern throughout Beane's stewardship."
Although they haven't won the World Series during his tenure, they have remained competitive almost every year. It's not his fault that his bosses are such tightwads.
Oh, and besides, "Moneyball" is about baseball, not basketball or soccer (my specialties).
Posted in: Mariners malcontent centering on Ichiro
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chouwa
Well, I lettered in basketball and soccer in my high school days and played on my university's soccer team, so I guess I could consider myself an athlete.
And if I use your curious reasoning that stats don't mean much, then why do managers, teams, and the general public take them in the first place? Because they do mean something.
Yes, some statistics are crap, like the amount of points you average in a basketball game and your homerun total. Pure athletes like myself care more about other stats like field goal percentage, assist-to-turnover ratio, in basketball. As for baseball, I feel OBP, WHIP, and walk-to-strikeout ratios are better stats to look for. But nonetheless, they are stats.
If I were a baseball player and were a pitcher, I would really care about stats like how many hits a batter gets on sliders vs. breaking balls, vs. fastballs, etc. or stats of what percentage of a batter will hit first-strike balls thrown at them. After all, good pitchers like Greg Maddux pay attention to them. Also, the smartest man in baseball Billy Beane cares a lot about individual stats like OBP when choosing players to draft. Bad managers don't pay attention to stats and say to their hitters, "Swing away!" and to their pitchers "Pitch whatever you want!" I guess that's how you play, huh?
Posted in: Mariners malcontent centering on Ichiro
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chouwa
Well, you know what they say, "No news is good news" or "Bad news is news". But in general, human nature states that society flocks to scandal, gore, death and destruction. It is why home videos depicting streetfights, blood and scandal always hits high ratings on the web.
Fact is, good deeds and feel good stories only hit the local documentaries and commentary and often times never get known to the general public.
It is sad, but true that in most cases, only travesty brings to light the good stuff in the world; as in the case of the Japanese aid worker, Kazuya Ito, who was killed in Afghanistan. He did a lot of good and helped a lot of people in Afghanistan, and thus is the reason why so many Afghanis mourned his death and knew his name. Yet, we didn't know about it until his kidnapping and subsequent murder.
But hey, if you want good daily news, then look no further than the "Lifestyles" section of JT.
Posted in: Police arrest mother for strangling 11-year-old son in Yokosuka
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chouwa
Good post nigelboy. Rumors from a credible teammate who actually worked for their money would be deemed credible. Rumors from a player who stunk and wants to point fingers at others for their ineptitude are just what they are: RUMORS. Seems like one poster in particular (bafly, aka horefell*) seem to think fabrications are more credible than facts.
Posted in: Mariners malcontent centering on Ichiro
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chouwa
You are forgetting, that food prices in U.S. theaters are outrageous, and they don't let you bring in outside food. Here in Japan, I can bring in a full-size bento without anyone batting an eye. I can bring in all the 98 yen goodies I can carry into the theaters and not spend one yen on the food in the theaters.
Moderator: Chouwa and westurn, enough of this childish tit-for-tat.
Posted in: Tokyo 2nd most expensive city for expats after Moscow
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chouwa
http://www.boston.com/business/personalfinance/articles/2008/03/09/surgingcostsofgrocerieshit_home/
According to this post, eggs in the U.S. are on average $2.18 now for a dozen. But wait, isn't the average price for ten eggs about 158 yen ($1.47). Now if we calculate that rate for a dozen eggs, we come to $1.76. That my friends is a savings of 42 cents.
Posted in: Tokyo 2nd most expensive city for expats after Moscow
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chouwa
Wow! Things never seem to change. Westurn's comments are always a good read for a laugh. I come back from the States (Thank god I did, cause I've been losing a ton of money), and I see this:
Yo homie, you been gettin ripped off. I'm glad I can get a 500l can of Yebisu (frankly the best in my book) for 69 yen ($0.65) at a nice liquor shop (run by the nicest obasan you'll ever meet) near my humble abode.
Wow! You tryin ta go fancy? I tend to like stuffin my face with a bit of good ol 200 yen ramen. A little oily (on par with the greasy burgers I had back home), but fills me up.
If you like shopping in upscale Shirogane, or like buying import from Kinokuniya, I won't stop you. Me? I like to buy my 8 slices for the decent price of 118 yen, or 98 yen when it has that nice little "waribiki" sticker on it.
As for movies. I couldn't believe the outrageous prices nowadays. Over 10 bucks for a non-matinee movie! With popcorn and drinks, you are looking to spend like 15-16 dollars (twice that if you are on a date) for a movie. It's gotten to the point where going to the movies ain't a cheap date anymore. And I swear, anywhere I try to sit in the theaters back home, I end up with my sneakers STUCK TO THE FLOOR! I could've sworn I felt something moving down between the seats. In Japan, I've only once had the "sticky floor effect" at a movie theater.
Back to beer: I don't know why, but back in the States, you get some places serving some lukewarm beer. If I want lukewarm beer, I could just get it from the bottles stocked in the supermarket (and then it would probably be colder still). I don't know about you Westurn, but I like my beer cold!
As for eggs, I'm glad that I'm back in Japan where I can get my nice carton of ten eggs for a decent price of 88 yen. Back home, I was paying something like a buck 80 for a dozen. Highway robbery, if you ask me.
Posted in: Tokyo 2nd most expensive city for expats after Moscow
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chouwa
Downer cows mistreated in Chino, California. Terrible, terrible, terrible.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/08/business/08nocera.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Posted in: More bull over U.S. beef