JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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Why do Japanese change their attitude when they communicate with foreigners?
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Confrontation
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U.S. Navy investigating how parts fell off aircraft near Atsugi
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4
California court to decide if SeaWorld whales are illegal 'slaves'
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5
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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donkusai
timeon: Couldn't agree more.
Posted in: Mobs attack home of Iranian opposition leader
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donkusai
I remember seeing a movie a long time ago called (I think) Megaforce. It was horrendous.
Posted in: What are some of your candidates for the worst movie of all time?
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donkusai
Of course, every American politician is only in it to make a name for themselves. God forbid that there be anyone who would actually WANT to fix things that are wrong in the world. Where would the world be if we had politicians who actually tried to improve things. What a horrible thought. I'm sure we all hope he fails miserably in this so the conflict can continue on and countless lives will continue to be lost. It would be a small price to pay to ensure Obama goes down in the history books as a complete failure...
Seriously, folks, do you not even care about fixing this conflict? Or are you only worried about how bad this would look on you and your set in stone views if anything good actually come out of it? Talked about mixed up priorities. No wonder the US political system is in such a mess at the moment.
Posted in: Obama says Mideast peace moment 'must be seized'
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donkusai
Restoring America's honour? I thought they did that when George W. packed up his stuff and moved out of the White House. One thing they can do is to stop all the rhetoric and actually get both sides of government to work together to a common cause, the betterment of the people. From the outside, it just looks like every small thing is being blown up into big things and blocked on principle rather than practicality. Sure, it stops the government working properly and makes the President look lame, but it also pushes the country into a hole that is mighty hard to get out of. Perhaps if both sides worked together to recover from the effects of the financial crisis that began under Bush and continues under Obama, then they could concentrate on providing the best services to the people at the lowest cost, thus making everyone happy... Then again, as they say, pigs may fly...
Posted in: Beck, Palin: Help us restore traditional American values
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donkusai
I don't think carry guns will be very helpful when a car (or two, in this case) explodes. Besides, the police already carry guns and that hasn't stopped them being killed. I really think this is one of the myths of guns. Rather than make things necessarily safer, it has the potential to just increase the number of bullets flying around. More guns or not, these cartels thrive by using fear and intimidation. Carrying a gun doesn't help you if you're shot in the back.
Posted in: 2 cars explode in Mexico where 72 bodies found
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donkusai
Actually, it's their second. Michael Organ won the seat of Cunningham (Wollongong) in a by-election in 2002 to become the Greens' first Lower House representative. Brandt is the first Green to win a seat in the Lower House in a full election.
What on earth do the US and UK have to do with this election? And what does that have to do with Tasmania (formerly Van Diemen's Land)? If you're worried about the influence of the US and UK on the Australian election, don't. It was fought on purely local issues.
Posted in: Australian parties seek backing of independents
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donkusai
THIMK, I don't think there are any actual remains there that you could "flush them down [the] nearest sewer". Only their spirits are enshrined at Yasukuni.
Posted in: Generations
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donkusai
I have a friend who religiously wears his favourite team's jersey. Should we ban those in public places too?
Posted in: In some countries, there are moves to ban or restrict the wearing of religious clothing and symbols such as burqas, veils, head scarves, skullcaps, turbans and crucifixes in public places like schools, recreational facilities and so on. What’s your stance?
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donkusai
I work with quite a few Saudis and from what I've been told, the full face covering comes and goes based pretty much on fashion trends. From what I've been led to believe, the current trend is to wear the headscarf, but not the face covering. In this respect, the full face covering is not an integral part of the Islamic faith, but just one way of many to show it.
But, in saying that, I've found that many of the Saudi women I've met switch to the full face covering when in a Western country, as they are out of their comfort zone and resort to a more conservative approach to life when in that situation. They will live with the full face covering here, then switch to just the headscarf when they return home.
As HonestDictator says, they should just concentrate the law on not covering one's face in public for identification purposes and move the argument completely out of the religious area. The next question would be if we really need to legislate to stop people covering their face. Is it really an existing problem in society? Do we really need such a law? If not, then this whole thing is just religious bigotry. If we do need the law, then it should be passed based on the good outweighing any negative effects.
Posted in: French parliament debates ban on burqa-style veils
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donkusai
grafton, there really isn't anyone else other than Gillard to run the party now Rudd is gone, so I can see her as being put up to "take the fall". In the latest polls, Rudd was ahead of the opposition, so they were actually in a winning position, if only narrowly. This is why this whole thing stinks of backroom factionalism. Rudd doesn't have the factional backing, and the first sign of a drop in his popularity and the knives were planted firmly in his back. I'm starting to seriously think that I don't want a puppet of these factions (Gillard) to be PM for another 3 years.
For those who don't know the reasons behind all this, Rudd (with Gillard as his deputy) set up a heavily discounted home insulation program that wasn't properly regulated and it resulted in many houses burning down and a number of people dying. On top of that, they set up a program to spend large amounts of money to build new buildings in schools across the country and many companies vastly over-quoted their estimates, cashing in while leaving schools with virtually useless buildings. Finally, Rudd announced a new tax on the mining industry, which was the main industry that made Australia the only Western country not to fall into recession during the GFC, and the mining industry has started to fight back with mass advertising campaigns.
All this things have been done by Rudd without a lot of consultation with his party and people who are used to holding the power behind the scenes are not happy with him. With the drop in popularity of Rudd, they can now move to get rid of him and go back to the factions holding the real power.
Posted in: Australia gets its 1st female prime minister as Rudd ousted
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donkusai
So the Labor party sack a Prime Minister who, both historically and by the latest opinion polls, looked the goods to win the upcoming election. While it is true that we didn't vote directly for Rudd, it was his platform that we voted for when we chose our local representatives. I really don't like this. It shows disrespect to the voting populace. I kinda wish the Liberals had kept Turnbull as their leader so I could change my vote to them. I'll never vote for them while Abbott is the leader. Wouldn't vote Green if you paid me as they see everything in black and white only. Leaves me with no real voting option now... :(
Bubzabub, way to go in showing everyone you have no idea what you're talking about. Keep up the good work. You are indeed but a pale shadow of the one you are trying to imitate.
Posted in: Australia gets its 1st female prime minister as Rudd ousted
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donkusai
Most Boring: Baseball and American football - both just seem to go on forever.
Most Exiting: It really depends on the quality of the game rather than the sport. A good game of rugby, basketball, tennis or a closely fought motorsport race.
Posted in: What for you is the most exciting sport to watch and what is the most boring?
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donkusai
I agree. Well done JAXA. We can probably learn as much or more just from the task of sending a probe to an asteroid, landing it, and bringing it back as from the possible dust it may have collected. Every bit we learn brings us a little bit closer to more effective space travel.
Posted in: Space probe returns to Earth from 7-year trip to asteroid
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donkusai
These changes are an improvement, for sure. The free market can continue freely to do what they do, providing they don't step over the line into the area of fraud. A free market without clear ethics is not a free market at all. If companies cannot set clear and acceptable ethics (as the financial crisis has shown some have not), then they need to be set externally. Once the framework is clear, the market becomes free once again.
Posted in: Senate passes massive Wall Street regulation bill
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donkusai
And there you have the hypocrisy of it all. It is obviously a US plot carried out by the Pakistani Taliban... I think not. It's this strange idea that everything bad in the world is a plot by the US that drives the nutters who brainwash guys like Shahzad to try things like the Times Square attempted bombing. Of course, it doesn't help when half of the same accusations are used within the US by people who have become more and more radicalised toward the far ends of their own political spectrum. All fuel to the fire, I guess.
Posted in: Investigators try to unravel Times Square bomb plot
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donkusai
Thank goodness the man did have access to anything more lethal than a hammer, or who knows how many would have died.
Posted in: 5 Chinese kindergarten children hurt in hammer attack
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donkusai
Also:
Japan was the first country to reject this deal.
Posted in: Australia rejects proposal for limited whale hunts by Japan, Norway and Iceland
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donkusai
More info from other sources:
"Australia and New Zealand expressed their opposition on Friday to an International Whaling Commission proposal that would allow Japan to resume commercial whaling." - It is not just Australia that has rejected this.
Posted in: Australia rejects proposal for limited whale hunts by Japan, Norway and Iceland
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donkusai
If it was just a case of an honest investment and a downturn in the market, 'you play, you pay' as some have said, then fair enough, but the playing table was rigged and the play wasn't fair as the dealer already knew the hand was a dud and, after dealing the hand, put their own bet on the other guy to cash in. In my books, that's fraud. It doesn't matter if taxpayer money is involved or not, fraud should still be prosecuted.
If you buy a house, there are laws that say the vendor must reveal any defects that they know of so the buyer can fully appraise the risk and whether they want to buy in to it or not. Are other investments such as the GS ones also covered by similar laws?
Posted in: Goldman Sachs execs deny wrongdoing in Senate testimony
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donkusai
Doesn't matter if Australia has rejected it or not. Japan had already rejected it earlier, so it's dead in the water. It's interesting that the article fails to point that out, and instead targets just one of the several countries that have said no to this.
Posted in: Australia rejects proposal for limited whale hunts by Japan, Norway and Iceland