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
cleo
Alphaape - Yes, it's still a lot of money, but nowhere near the figures you were throwing around. While the Japanese system is far from perfect, the fact remains that a reasonable level of medical care is available to all, and this is a huge factor in the public well-being. While in America, if you have the money you have access to some of the best care in the world and if you don't, you're in big trouble if you get ill. (Unless you're penniless and at death's door, then you get the necessary treatment (if it isn't too late) though because things have been allowed to get worse treatment takes longer and is more expensive, and people complain about having to pay taxes to support ne're-do-wells who can't afford to pay).
The story of the illegal immigrant you mention is actually a story that backs up the need for reasonably-priced health care for all: the man in question was so ill and with so many severe complications because his initial problems had been left untreated. If he'd been able to afford to get help earlier, his treatment would have involved a hospital stay of around two weeks and been much, much less expensive. (The cost of hospital treatment for acute pancreatitis is around $1670 per day, so $23,380 for a 2-week stay) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18090234
And the average cost of an operation to remove gallstones (the patient's initial problem) is around $3,000~$8,000 and involves no more than an overnight stay for keyhole surgery, a few days for open surgery. (http://www.placidway.com/subtreatment-detail/treatment,39,subtreatment,245.html/Laparoscopic-Gallbladder-Removal-Treatment-Abroad) See how much money could have been saved if reasonably-priced primary care had been available.
Posted in: Social tensions increasing in U.S. between rich,poor
1
cleo
And if it's an unjust, unnecessary war then it's better if the country doesn't unite behind it. I can't believe that anyone still thinks there was anything patriotic about the Vietnam War. Self-serving politicians in no danger themselves sent America's young off into harm's way for political reasons, not for the sake of the country.
The selfish and divisive public figures, the ones failing to do their duty, were those who were stoking the fires of war, not the people saying Hell No.
It's no one's duty to go and kill and die on the say-so of some self-serving politician, and Ali's refusal in no way reflects on his patriotism. (Whether he's patriotic or not, I don't know and am not really interested. Just saying, refusing to swallow the coolaid dished up by the politicians of the day is probably a sign of greater, not lesser, love of country and one's fellow man)
Posted in: Ali at 70: Legacy endures for new generation
1
cleo
No way. This page (in Japanese) http://www.bms.co.jp/kogakuryoyo/program01.html calculates the cost to the individual when medical treatment is expensive. Translating your $1 million over a year into yen per month and assuming our patient is under the age of 70 and a low-income earner, the maximum he pays over the year is the equivalent of $5,519.75. (¥35400 per month max)
Posted in: Social tensions increasing in U.S. between rich,poor
0
cleo
What I don't understand is how I ate nothing for three days yet lost not an ounce of weight. :(
All you want to know about norovirus, and then some - http://www.medicinenet.com/norovirus_infection/article.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norovirus
Posted in: Crown princess has stomach flu
0
cleo
Noro (not novo!) can be transmitted via food, but it's more likely to be passed person-to-person. Maybe some member of the Imperial household (one of Masako's personal maids?)brought it in on their hands.
How badly people are affected varies depending on a number of factors, including, apparently, blood type - people with type O are likely to have a harder time than others. In our family, everyone with a direct English link (me, the kids and the grandkid) got it bad, while the Japanese-only men in the family merely lost their appetites for a couple of days, and the Japanese-only ladies were completely unscathed. Apsara was lucky to be over it in 24 hours - I did one day thinking I had a really bad hangover, then three days prostrate and another 3 days tottering about the house feeling weak and wobbly. Never again. (I hope!)
Posted in: Crown princess has stomach flu
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cleo
＞I think an actual public service announcement might suffice.
Couldn't agree more.
Darn bug robbed me of a week of my life.
Posted in: Crown princess has stomach flu
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cleo
Maybe a bit of heightened awareness will encourage people to be a bit more careful about handwashing, etc., so that fewer people get it?
Posted in: Crown princess has stomach flu
0
cleo
Poor Masako. Norovirus can be nasty and debilitating, and there appears to be a lot of it about at the moment. An infected person is contagious both before symptoms show and for several days up to a week or so after symptoms disappear. The Imperial cleaning staff needs to disinfect with bleach every loo the princess has used, as well as every door knob and surface she has touched, and all her eating utensils, towels, etc. And make sure she gets lots of fluids.
Chez cleo young and old had it over the holidays, and it's not pleasant. Not pleasant at all. Dunno what medication Masako has been given - the doctor told us there is no medication that works on novovirus. All he could give us was kanpoyaku to ease the symptoms.
Posted in: Crown princess has stomach flu
0
cleo
According to the Scientific American, the data the 'medical scientists' worked with is 'critically flawed'. http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2011/06/21/are-babies-dying-in-the-pacific-northwest-due-to-fukushima-a-look-at-the-numbers
This is not to say that the radiation from Fukushima is not dangerous (it is), nor that we shouldn’t closely monitor its potential to spread (we should). But picking only the data that suits your analysis isn’t science—it’s politics. Beware those who would confuse the latter with the former.
Posted in: Fourth worker at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant dies
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cleo
Rubbish. At between ¥1500 and ¥2500 per 100gm, minke whale meat is not for the 貧乏。
Commercial whaling has been banned for over 25 years. Surely that's plenty of time for these people to have acquired new skills and got themselves new jobs? Anyone whaling then would be retired by now.
Posted in: Activists hurl stink bombs, paint at Japanese whalers
1
cleo
Rubbish. They're there to do scientific research, remember. They're not there to catch food for the table. Honest. Nothing at all to do with trying to make a profit out of selling the stuff. It's perfectly legal™ research. Remember that. Research. Call it part of Japan's food supply and you're calling the Japanese government, the icr, the JCG and the intrepid 'scientists' on board the mother ship liars.
Mmm.
Posted in: Activists hurl stink bombs, paint at Japanese whalers
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cleo
What was the SM2 doing in the waters offshore of Fremantle ? It just happened to be there? It was lost, maybe? Ditto the Yushin Maru 3 in territorial waters - it wasn't chasing a SS boat? Just out for a bit of R&R, were they?
The best way they can defend themselves is do what they did last year - give up and go home.
Posted in: Activists hurl stink bombs, paint at Japanese whalers
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cleo
They are travelling half way around the world in a fleet of ships into waters where they have been officially told they are not welcome, is that isn't actively looking for a fight I don't know what is. What are they supposed to do? Go home and get proper jobs, and stop wasting my tax yen.
Posted in: Activists hurl stink bombs, paint at Japanese whalers
-5
cleo
Because it's the JCG reporting it?
Posted in: Activists hurl stink bombs, paint at Japanese whalers
4
cleo
No mention of the JCG throwing stun grenades?
http://www.majiroxnews.com/2012/01/12/japanese-whalers-hurl-stun-grenades-at-sea-shepherd/
Posted in: Activists hurl stink bombs, paint at Japanese whalers
-1
cleo
Just filming the Canadian seal slaughter without joining in is considered a crime. Being arrested or charged of seal cull obstruction in Canada doesn't make anyone any kind of terrorist.
Posted in: Do you consider the anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd to be eco-terrorists?
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cleo
The JCG are using stun grenades.
http://www.majiroxnews.com/2012/01/12/japanese-whalers-hurl-stun-grenades-at-sea-shepherd/
Crewmen aboard the Japanese Fisheries Protection vessel Shonan Maru 2 on Jan. 11, raised the ante of violence by hurling stun grenades at Sea Shepherd crew members
The Japanese Coast Guard claims that though this was the first time on this particular research voyage that stun grenades had been thrown at Sea Shepherd boats, they have used them a number of times before.
Posted in: Do you consider the anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd to be eco-terrorists?
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cleo
A bucketful of rotten butter splashing eventually into the sea places much less of a burden on the environment than the tons of organic waste deliberately dumped overboard from every whale carcass (You don't imagine they take back the bits they can't eat, do you?)
Posted in: Do you consider the anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd to be eco-terrorists?
1
cleo
If it was that intelligent, it might decide the infestation on Sol-3 needed dealing with.....
Posted in: Milky Way teeming with 'billions' of planets
-6
cleo
Rotten butter, bad music and standing in the way? Yes.
As for retrieving the three boarders, if the cost to the taxpayer is a problem, then Australia should bill Japan for the costs. The Shonan Maru #2 had no business in Australian territorial waters, had spent days just hanging around and could easily have spent another few hours offloading the men to accommodate their friends the Australian government. Instead they chose to steam off full-speed down south, thus increasing the cost to the Aussie taxpayer to have a boat chase off after them. Add in the YM3 presently continuing to violate Aussie waters in the Macquarie Island World Heritage Area, and what we have here is sheer bloody-minded bad manners and bad faith on the part of the whalers.
If the government had acted quickly instead of believing the false coordinates given to them by the Japanese whaling industry then the three men could have been taken off the ship close to shore at very little cost. Perhaps Madame PM could send the bill to Japan. It's only a tiny fraction of the whaling 'research' budget.
Can't say I'm up to date with Aussie politics, but I have read claims that the cost of picking up the three men will still cost the taxpayers less than the PM's recent pay raise. Any Aussies care to comment?
Posted in: Aussie PM criticizes antiwhaling activists after Japan decides to free them