JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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Why do Japanese change their attitude when they communicate with foreigners?
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U.S. Navy investigating how parts fell off aircraft near Atsugi
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Confrontation
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California court to decide if SeaWorld whales are illegal 'slaves'
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Kuroki reported pregnant 2 weeks after denying relationship with Akanishi
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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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Very nasty. I pity the people who died such a terrible death.
But I could have sworn ABC news earlier said it was prisoners (or mostly prisoners) who died? At least they gave that impression, and they 100% for certain did not suggest that the dead were all guards trying to rescue Palestinians. I hope this isn't a smoke screen.
Posted in: Israeli forest fire kills at least 36
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But perhaps grandmother is a terrorist? Would you exempt a man from suspicion of hostile intent just because he's old? I wouldn't exempt either of them, although 99.9% of the time (or more) they'll be innocent. But then so am I, and I'm not old, or young, or a grandmother. Are grandmothers the only exception? If only they could invent a motive reader, then it would be easy to travel without fear of a terrorist being on board.
Posted in: What is your view on all the fuss this week about pat-downs as part of security measures at U.S. airports?
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I've been patted down, although not in the US. It's not such a big deal, and when approached with humour (they usually search the people WITH the suspect rather than the suspect himself, which means they suspected my hubby lol) it's hard not to laugh at how ludicrous it all is.
Frankly I think those Americans doing all the whining are making a big fuss for nothing, and being totally selfish too as they wanted to cause every US holiday traveler nothing but total chaos. No, it's not nice to be searched, or to be suspected. But it's nothing to being blown to pieces. Priorities people, priorities.
Posted in: What is your view on all the fuss this week about pat-downs as part of security measures at U.S. airports?
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I've never seen one. Has anyone else?
Sometimes true, other times less so. It might seem like a bargain at the time, but the items you can get in ¥100 stores are often seriously sub-par. Like the Malaysian chocolate bars, some of the xmas decorations, some of the toys, particularly the painted wooden toys.
Sometimes being frugal can be a mistake, better to be a skinflint and keep your money in your pocket. Better than buying dodgy articles anyway.
Posted in: The effects of a frugal Japanese society
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Simply not true.
We've had Beatles music on our iPods for years, copied directly from OUR copies of Beatles CDs onto our iTunes and then our iPods. Nothing illegal about it, no different to recording it to a cassette tape so you could listen to it on a cassette walkman.
Posted in: Apple's iTunes music store starts selling Beatles songs
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I don't think they are put up early here at all. Were there any displays lit up before November? None around my area were. Christmas decorations and displays in public places are for added colour and sales-enhancement. Nothing more, nothing less. And exactly the same applies in Christian-based countries.
Posted in: Why do you think that Christmas decorations and illumination displays are put up so early in Japan?
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Just one small question.
Booking seats online is normally a lot cheaper than any other method, but I've never noticed a box to tick for "book me an extra seat to accommodate my fat butt". How do people do it? When you book online you need to enter the details of everyone traveling, so short of paying extra per seat to book over the phone or even more extra to book through a travel agent, how can it be done?
Just wondering, that's all. Seems a valid point considering the topic, because if they don't make it easy for people to ask for an extra seat then how can they efficiently plan seating?
Still I think a few comfort width seats on each plane wouldn't go amiss, at a small extra charge. Say 5 or 10% more than the normal economy seats.
Posted in: How should airlines handle obese passengers?
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lol@ Shinjukuboy's comments. But don't worry, the increasing obesity rates in other parts of the world will balance it out all right! Not to mention the increase in Chinese people, who may not be fat but are just many.
@Tangoll, sorry but they can't slant the rows of seats no matter how much more comfy it might make it. The trouble is that seat rows have to be in a certain configuration so that emergency service personnel can get to them easily, and know which seat is where. They could theoretically have to go into a smoke-filled cabin packed with semi-concious tourists. They need easy access, although it still won't be easy with the economy class travelers.
I've always dreaded having to sit next to a whale, but luckily I've so far managed to avoid it. This year and next year it's just three of us traveling, so it's logical for them to put us in the three seats by the window (although they don't, I have to go to online check-in the second it's open and choose our seats as quickly as possible.)
I approve of a size surcharge, rather than a weight surcharge. After all, some people have a huge lump bulging out in front of them but don't need a larger seat - not to mention pregnant women. I also like the idea of a couple of rows of wide seats designed for obese people, but I thought they already had that and called it first class. ;)
Itsmeagain, Thanks for the tip! If we ever find ourselves in that situation at least we can have the assistance of the armrest to keep the obese person in the next seat off us, then we can perhaps borrow a tray from the service trolley to wedge between the seats to keep the obese person in the next seat off our arms too.
Posted in: How should airlines handle obese passengers?
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On the whole, I support their ideas.
I was on the dole myself for a couple of years, no available jobs after leaving school. It's really too easy to just get into the habit of drifting about doing very little all day. Listening to music, wafting down the job centre, down the off-license, then move on to the tv. It's not easy to actually DO a job properly when you're in that mind-set, and it's not for lack of trying either. It takes a good few weeks before you can get home after work without having to go straight to bed, but sometimes your lack of energy will get you fired before then.
I really like the notion of giving people the chance to do jobs to keep their payments, I don't think the idea of forcing people should even come into it, they know it's better to get off their butts and experience the world of work so they damn well ought to be grateful. Those that aren't don't want to work, and shouldn't get benefits anyway. Enough said.
The main problem I see is with the single mothers. How can you expect a woman with one or more pre-school age kids to find a job with sensible hours? They say people whose youngest kid is one or more will have to make themselves available for work, and look for it. Are they nuts? I hope they're making plans to help with the childcare costs for such people, because I don't know how else they expect people to manage it. Even with school age kids it's a huge problem with low-paying jobs unless you can land a job IN a school so you get the school holidays off. (And never forget that in Britain it's actually illegal to look after someone else's children unless you're a registered childminder if you are paid or if it's a returned favour, which they consider the same as being paid. ie. 'you mind my kids today, I'll mind yours tomorrow.' So letting granny or the neighbour mind the kids on the cheap could turn out far more expensive if Big Brother finds out.)
But of course,
as we all know. Every single plan for reforming benefits hits the same problem. But the people who take the p**s by having 10 or 20 odd kids on benefits REALLY get my goat, especially if they end up with two two-bedroom council houses knocked into one, so do the people who claim to be disabled in some way and then spend most of their time in Spain or somewhere, flying over to collect their benefits and then flying back to their swimming pool and jacuzzi. Genuine disabled people have to struggle to the door, never mind jetting back and forth several times a year.
It's hard to target these things in a truly accurate way, but I hope they can whittle away at it and get it a bit more practical before it actually comes into practice.
Posted in: Off the sofa! UK gets tough on welfare
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I wasn't told to transfer to another hospital, but I was told to go on a diet. Despite the fact the doctor had no idea how much I weighed before becoming pregnant and the fact that I was under orders to take things very easy most of the time, and get lots of bed rest at various other times. (It's not easy to avoid weight gain when you have to lie about resting all the time on doctors orders.) No advice either. No leaflets suggesting healthy pregnancy eating habits, which would surely be cost and time efficient. Not even any leaflets suggesting gentle exercises suitable for those on bed rest.
The situation we have here of low birth-weight babies is mostly the responsibility of idiot obstetricians who only think of the here and now instead of considering the longer-term effects on the baby. They see no reason to do that, they think it's the job of the paediatrician who gets to try to help the baby after it's born.
Posted in: What's happening in Japan is a shocking phenomenon. You hear doctors yelling at expectant mothers and telling them to transfer to another hospital if they can't manage their weight.
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"Why don't you have G W Bush arrested and sent to the international courts? Many people throughout the world believe he's a war criminal, and surely it's in the best interests of the public to give justice a chance to say yes or no?"
Posted in: If you could meet U.S. President Barack Obama while he is in Japan this week, but only had time for one question, what would you ask him?
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Almost all the 'western' style soups in Japan are corn based. Corn this, corn that, corn the other. I hate corn soups, they're just so grotty and unpleasant. (Although I like corn as a vegetable very much.) Why don't they make some more interesting flavours? French onion soup isn't much of a substitute either.
Posted in: Soup of the day
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Someone said this guy was British, can't remember who, but are you sure? His name is more American, his spelling is more American, and his lack of knowledge of the obvious fact that the Indian food sold in Britain's Indian restaurants is not authentic Indian food seems to be a dead giveaway. He probably also doesn't know that Chinese food in restaurants is tailored to suit the tastes of the locals, not just in Japan but in all countries. Would he like to order chickens' feet? No? Why not? It's the sort of thing you get in China, that makes it authentic, right?
The reason Chinese food sold in Tokyo's Chinese restaurants seems like Japanese food is probably because some of the things he calls Japanese food are from China. Like mabou doufu, gyoza, kata yaki soba, etc. Plus if you eat in a chain restaurant it will never be truly authentic. More like revolting. Pizza? In America you get the closest to the real thing, but it's never going to be truly authentic, regardless of how many Italians you have living there. Chinese food? Outside of the Chinatowns most of the food will be tailored to suit local tastes and local supplies. Even in the Chinatowns you'd have to make a special request to get authentic Chinese food. Look at the sushi they sell in America, avocado? WTH? That's absurd. Authentic my foot. London is worse though, especially with the Japanese food. You can't have authentic sashimi without suitable fish. Simple and obvious. So why should Japan be held solely responsible for a lack of authenticity that verges on being outrageous, when there are similar horrors in other countries?
If you can't find a restaurant that's actually run by people from where the food originates it will never be authentic. I really don't believe he's tried, he's just gone to the grotty and cheap chain versions of such restaurants and of course it's rubbish. That stuff is for people who have no time to get real food. (Like mcdonalds is.)
Posted in: One man’s culinary paradise is another’s cultural wasteland
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Asukawind at 11:44 AM JST - 21st April
christyjapan at 11:46 AM JST - 21st April
I don't recognise your names. Please forgive me if I'm speaking out of turn, but are you two trolls? Either way I don't agree with you. Frankly you must be either incredibly naive or totally irresponsible if you genuinely believe that it's acceptable and safe to leave young children on their own ANYWHERE, let alone so high up from the ground.
Poor little boy, if only there was hope that his death would get through to people how dangerous the practice of leaving small kids alone is. But although I think some people like to exaggerate the number of times this happens in Japan it certainly happens far too often, and some people never ever learn from the mistakes of others. Why is that? Do they not watch the news? Do they think their own convenience is of a higher priority than their children's safety?
Posted in: 4-year-old boy dies after 12-story fall from Chiba apartment
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Yes they should have to be native speakers. Despite the obvious disparity in accents and spelling. (Or at least have spent long enough living in English speaking countries to be fluent conversationally.)
Anyone who doubts this has obviously never tried to have a conversation with someone who's spent their life living in a non English speaking country (like Japan) and claims to be fluent. Since when has the word Autumn needed the n pronounced? Only when extended, Autumnal for example. Try explaining that to some of the Japanese English teachers here and they would even have trouble understanding your explanation. They often can't pronounce English words without using the katakana version too, even English often gets extra bits to become Ingurisshu, how can you teach English if you can't even pronounce the word? You need to be able to converse fluently to be able to teach others to converse. Simple as that.
It may seem that for younger kids the fluency of the teacher is irrelevant, but even at that stage the bad things stick. So you get kids screaming 'harou' and 'ai rabu yuu' at foreigners. It's hard to break habits like that, so it's not surprising when they still think that's how to pronounce it as adults.
I'm not suggesting that education in foreign languages in other countries is any better, because I know mostly they're equally awful. I'm simply stating my opinion on the question asked.
Posted in: Do English teachers at schools have to be native speakers? Can non-native English speakers do just as well or better?
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I do too, but I always take out the batteries.
Posted in: Hair iron blamed for Narita airport suitcase fire
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I really thought they'd have found a cure for the common cold by now. They're just so tardy!
But I'll tell you what I thought would never happen, home computers. I never thought they'd shrink from huge room-sized monstrosities, and I never thought anyone would bother trying. And the thought of little old me sitting on my butt typing things that would be seen instantly by anyone looking in the right place? Never. And now I'd be lost without it!
Posted in: When you were younger, which inventions or technological developments did you think we would now have in 2010, but which have not come to pass?
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It's probably a good thing if they do.
Israel are going in with bulldozers, and demolishing homes with the occupants still inside. Do you really think that people who indulge in sickening senseless murder like that need protecting from their potential victims? Serve them right if they do get scudded, although I hope it never proves necessary. If they stop their genocide and further invasion it won't be necessary. (Cue all the usual rhetoric about how Jews should be allowed to exterminate anyone they like because of Auschwitz, and Palestinians are evil for objecting to having their land and homes ripped from them by Jews, not to mention being killed by them. This isn't about religion, it's about lives. Not just Jewish lives either. It's all so unnecessary, and hideously sad. For all involved.)
Posted in: Israeli officials say Syria gives Hezbollah Scuds
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Right. Not like he's just as blinkered and American-soil obsessed as his predecessor then. Why the hell is there an international nuclear security summit that's focusing on US protection, US rights, US interests, US opinions, US egoism, etc.?
Posted in: Obama: Al-Qaida would use nuclear weapons if it could
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Nagoyalove, anyone who takes up a habit which they know is addictive, which they know may well ruin their health or even possibly kill them, is surely doing something foolish? If they're doing something foolish, then they surely are, at least in one way if not in others, a fool.
Certainly the tobacco companies think so, and they're loving it. (All the way to the bank.)
Posted in: Anti-smoking 'monsters' have smokers on the run