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
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dammit
Cool thinking by the prize-givers.
Obama will definitely go down in history as the first black president of the USA. He will possibly go down in history as the black president who either made things worse, or fixed Bush's mess. He might even go down in history as the one who helped heal a war-striken world, though I doubt it.
But whatever happens next, no-one will forget that Obama made promises about his and his country's future actions when it comes to war and nuclear disarmament. If he breaks that promise the whole world will know about it, and he'll go down in history as the scumbag who ripped off a world that wanted peace.
Poor bloke doesn't stand much of a chance with all the fingers pointing at him, does he.
Good luck to him.
Posted in: Obama says he'll accept Nobel Peace Prize as 'call to action'
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dammit
Again?
Surely they're just testing the waters to see how much Hatoyama will let them get away with?
Posted in: Japan suspends U.S. plant's beef amid mad cow fears
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dammit
Saw a couple of foreigners on the train here in Japan a few months back. One was talking in what sounded to me (a non-speaker of Japanese) like fairly passable gaijin Japanese, the other was nodding profusely, grinning knowingly, and repeatedly saying "Aaaah, sousosososososososososososou." as if his life depended on it.
I'm sure he thought it made him look wise and fluent, but I'm afraid it just made him look like a complete twit.
Therefore, the constant repetition of 'sousosososososososososososososou' (with or without the 'aaah' at the beginning) is absolutely my current most irritating expression.
Hell, Japanese people only repeat the sou maybe 3 or 4 times when I hear them say it. He should've used a little restraint!
Posted in: Which words or expressions annoy you the most when you hear them repeatedly used by other people in conversation?
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dammit
I'm sick of seeing that here. It normally used to be the father who got custody. I don't know whether it being the mother nowadays is because they're going too far in copying the west, or whether they're going too far trying to give mothers more equal rights, or a combination of both, but it annoys me to hell and back when people insist it's cultural in Japan that upon divorce a father loses contact with his kids. It's a new tradition.
If you don't think it's true, look at the story of Koizumi. He got custody of his 2 sons because he was the father. The third son was not yet born, so just got left to the mother and 100% abandoned by Koizumi. Did the third son have a terrible life with a mother who couldn't or wouldn't care for him? No. So why did the two older boys end up with a father who worked all the time? That's your cultural influence, not the new problem of mothers getting all the custody rights.
Incidentally, this situation has played out in most western countries too, with fathers going from the automatic custodians after a marriage breakdown to being the ones blamed for everything and being lucky to get visiting rights. Now the situation is less uneven in most western countries, with judges at least trying to put their prejudices aside for long enough to do what's best for the child, but it's far from perfect even now and will probably remain so forever. Japan too will gradually even up the odds, but it took an awfully long time in other countries so please don't hold your breath while you wait for change.
They probably could have found a man who didn't hit his wife even once for the interview, but could they have found a divorced couple who could honestly claim there was no violence whatsoever from either side? Maybe, maybe not. If he was claiming his wife had hit him you'd probably get even more outraged posts on here insisting that his wife is a virtual criminal. But who knows the truth in these cases? Either one can make up stories about the other and without some sort of evidence it's meaningless. I think judges shouldn't even consider accusations of abuse from the ex-spouse unless there's some sort of evidence that there were injuries, whether it's from a hospital visit where they claimed they fell down the stairs, or a neighbour who saw there were bruises. Not a perfect way to sort the truth from the fantasies, but there is no perfect way, and this situation we have in the world, where people can make up fairy-stories about their ex, is really not helpful at all to anyone, least of all the kids.
Posted in: Divorced, separated Japanese fathers also fight to see children
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dammit
Manga? I dunno, sounds like your average Hollywood horror movie or English-language scary story to me.
But whatever inspired the weirdo, it's terrifying to think of what his plans were for his next move after binding her arms. Poor kid. And I hope she was the first, after all, how many missing people are there? Who knows what this creep has already done to defenseless children?
Posted in: Man arrested for binding girl's arms with tape
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dammit
Anyone who's been on a British Airways flight to or from Narita will know that all Japanese people know where the cup noodles are stored.
So I doubt if the people in Japan needed to be told about the galley!
For the rest of the world, there's sometimes free snacks there as well as drinks.
Posted in: 8 essential tips for your next flight
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dammit
It's funny really, but it's a bad influence.
Imagine all the worst possible things little kids could ever do, then roll them all into one badly drawn boy named Shin-chan.
Then imagine your kids copying him.
That's the worst part.
Plus the badly-drawn bit.
Posted in: Mystery still surrounds death of Crayon Shinchan creator
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dammit
Mystery?
He was on a cliff. He ended up at the bottom.
He fell by accident, jumped, or was pushed.
In the absence of evidence of murder, it's hardly relevant whether he topped himself or not. Only the family would really care, because they'd be the ones left feeling guilty for not helping him get over his depression (and for letting him go up a mountain on his own.)
And yes, it is a rubbish anime. But it's more for the parents than the kids, and many parents won't let their kids watch it. Including me. But it's shown in many English speaking countries too don't forget, with it's American dubbing.
Posted in: Mystery still surrounds death of Crayon Shinchan creator
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dammit
Shame on you, Ireland.
You have the right to vote on EU things like this, unlike your neighbours in Britain. And what do you keep doing? You say a great big NO! at first, making sure everyone knows your mind. And then they ask you again and what do you do? You say "yes sir. Whatever you say sir."
Why the hell do you always have to capitulate? What's the point saying no in the first place when you always give in so easily? Heck, what's the point in you having the right to vote on these things if you obey the government in the end anyway?
Shame on you.
Posted in: Ireland OKs EU reform treaty
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dammit
I'm moving to the side of the ex wife too. It's amazing that I and (probably) others were willing to jump to the conclusion that the ex-wife was in the wrong. But really, why should a mother be forced to live in a foreign country just to keep her own kids? Who the hell do those US courts think they are? Do they really think they rule the world?
Unfortunately, when a multicultural marriage splits up there will always be problems with access to the kids (or in some cases, to the pets.) But who does this man think he is to expect his ex-wife to live within a convenient distance of him so that he can see his kids without having the responsibility? And does anyone here really think his kids weren't disturbed when daddy suddenly got new children to love? When he couldn't be bothered to stay with his own kids and their mum? For anyone who hasn't experienced it, it's most unpleasant to have a bunch of other kids calling your dad their own, (and because they live with him they act as though they have more right to him than you.)
The set-up in the US may have looked good on paper, and may have been nice for the man, but for the kids it wasn't so good. It wasn't good for the ex either, being forced to live in America like a good doormat. Would an American woman tolerate being forced to move to Japan just so her kids could have visits from their father?
These kids were and are Japanese. I don't know how good their English is, but they've lived in Japan almost all their lives, probably both were born here, and being uprooted because daddy refused to part with a penny until his kids were on his soil was totally unfair to them. He seems to be a completely selfish man, wants to have his cake and eat everyone else's.
But couldn't she have divorced him here? I suppose if they weren't married here they'd have to be divorced in the country they got married in, but couldn't she have done it from here? (It might have saved all this trouble if she had.)
Posted in: American father arrested in Japan had asked Tennessee court for help
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dammit
Come on, there must be more to it than this?
Where are the airwaves in the title? Surely they're not just rambling about the alarm sound selections? What's the point of that?
I bought a nice little digital alarm clock, and it sends out a nice electric bleeping noise to wake me up. Battery included, 105¥. Not so bad, and I see nothing in this article to suggest Seiko's product is worth even 1¥ more, let alone 4,095¥ more, than my Daiso clock's price.
Posted in: Digital airwave alarm clock
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dammit
Not strictly true of course, but if mother isn't happy then everyone knows about it.
You're both right, as more and more Japanese women return to work after having kids it's not logical to keep up the housewife myth. But lets face it, in most countries it's still the mother who gets to do all the housework, even if she's out working as many hours as her husband. Most men for example are only interested in 'permitting' the purchase of a dish-washing machine if they're expected to help with the dish-washing process. Amazing. And I'm not talking about J-men, I'm talking about men.
Posted in: Yuki Amami still single but happy with Toshiba’s mother-oriented appliances
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dammit
It really makes France look bad, doesn't it?
If you love drugging little girls, then raping, sodomising, and generally sexually molesting them then please, come and be a good friend of the French president and all the little French political personalities.
If France had behaved like a civilised nation with moral scruples in the first place he'd have served his time long ago and probably restarted his career without having to hide.
As for the victim, there are only 2 reasons why she wants the whole thing to go away and be forgotten. 1, he's already privately compensated her and she doesn't want the issue further complicated, and 2, all the publicity directly affects her and her family (although that's only because she identified herself.) That doesn't mean he shouldn't get jail time still, and you can't keep letting people get away with horrendous crimes just because they can claim the title holocaust survivor. It's unfair on the rest of humanity.
Posted in: Director Roman Polanski in Swiss custody on 31-year-old U.S. arrest warrant
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dammit
He certainly has a point when he criticises politicians.
But so what if it used to be legal? Surely I heard reports that the US was feeding the troops in Iraq drugs to make them more trigger happy a few years back? Does that make it right for civilians, even celebs, to take such drugs when they're illegal? I think not, so why should the media let these fools get away with their crimes and just carry on their careers as if nothing happened? All those young fans who are currently carrying banners would surely take it as meaning that such drugs are all right, and before you know it the use would have spread all over the place. (More than it already is, I mean.) You can't let people in the public eye get away with things, it's bad for the crime stats.
Posted in: Celebrity drug offenders face public humiliation
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dammit
She looks absurd.
I'm sorry, but even the lines of her g-string don't look stylish in any way, and it seems her tats were designed by someone with no notion of how to bring out the best of her body shape.
I'm not fond of whole body tattoos, but I've seen it done much better than this. She's not done herself justice. A young, pretty woman should respect herself enough to get tats that look good on her.
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dammit
Which papers would that be I wonder?
Whatever, they're unlikely to get a penny from me, and unless they literally all start charging I'll just go elsewhere. If they do all start charging I'll just select one with lots to offer me, probably the BBC. Unless they were way more expensive than all the others.
Forget it!
Posted in: Many newspapers around the world are considering charging fees for readers to view online content. What do you think about it?
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dammit
Nevarezga and dolphingirl, prefectural law on this subject always overrides federal law, it's the age in each prefecture which is different, not whether the ancient federal law is still what matters. Sites like that are unnecessarily inflammatory by even putting the age 13 on there, but they can hardly be blamed when the Japanese government can't be bothered to make one simple law that applies across the whole country to clarify things. (There you go newbies, a clue to one of the many cleaning up jobs you need to get on with!)
You'd be hard pushed to actually find a prefecture which still allows 13 year olds to have sex legally, and if you did I'll bet it'd just be for the boys, who often get neglected in these laws as girls are by far the more likely victims, and the only ones likely to suffer health problems from pregnancy. Boys are often left until later even in the most modern countries.
As for this man, is he charging her interest is what I'd like to know. And what's it got to do with pornography? But maybe he's only claiming it was a loan to make sure she can never be charged with prostitution? After all, if she wasn't paid in money or goods it was just sex, and although it may be illegal that doesn't mean they don't actually have a mature relationship going, with love and plans for the future and all that jazz. People often can't wait, but with such an age gap it would be his his responsibility to hold back.
Posted in: Man arrested for paying 14-year-old girl for sex
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dammit
Typical pointless tragedy.
People have such short fuses nowadays, although he would have been better off to have left her if she was an alco.
But, is it common for married Korean couples to have different names? I'm only asking out of curiosity, not disrespect or anything.
Posted in: Man arrested after strangling wife to death in Tokyo apartment
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dammit
OMG, what the hell was that *reak doing still living at home? If his parents had even an ounce of sense they'd have helped him find a cheap place just to get him out of the way.
Smoking indeed.
Sometimes people just rub each other up the wrong way, and then when they live apart they find they miss each other and get on great when they visit. If they'd got him out of their home and into a cheap smoke-hole somewhere they'd probably be cooking him a special holiday dinner right now, or out at a restaurant with him, instead of lying in hospital beds with who-knows what prognosis.
Shocking.
Posted in: Man arrested for attempted murder after hitting parents with golf club
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dammit
Duck? More likely she fell over. Sheer good luck either way.
Why do some people object to other countries being brought into discussions on this site? The mod is just as bad. Surely by comparing similar occurrences from other countries we stand a good chance of finding out the pros and cons of these things in all countries being mentioned, for example the lengths the UK train companies are legally obliged to go to in order to prevent people wandering onto the tracks (as deepair65 mentions,) in comparison with whatever feeble efforts are made here. It certainly seems they can't even keep their own industrial machinery off the tracks here, so how can they expect to keep people off? But how many people in Japan would sue the train company for not preventing the death of a child (or adult) who wandered onto the tracks? Any? Probably not. No wonder the train companies don't care. Blame the pedestrians. That's their attitude.
Posted in: Girl escapes injury as train passes over her