Wednesday February 15, 2012

JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION

frontandcentre's past comments

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frontandcentreSep. 14, 2010 - 10:53AM JST

The words to MY Kanye West song wouldn't have been quite so forgiving.

Poor Kanye, 32 years old and so troubled by the pressures of fame and life in the spotlight.

Give it up then !

Posted in: Emotional Kanye West closes VMAs; meat-clad Gaga wins 8
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frontandcentreSep. 08, 2010 - 03:25PM JST

ilkub76's comments are a tired old dust-off of the same rubbish that the Boeing flag-wavers were coming out with when the Singapore Airlines A380 service first started. Extra time at immigration has never been an issue - there's plenty at Narita, both leaving and arriving. The only thing that has slightly slowed things down is the photos and fingerprints and thanks to the extra re-entry permit holders' queue at Narita, that actually made things faster for resident gaijin.

Finally, count the seats - the total passenger capacity is probably only 20 - 25% more than a fully laden 747 on the same route. No big deal.

Boeing are very much on the back foot - everyone I've met who's flown on an A380 thinks it's a great plane. Even Americans !

Posted in: Air France begins A380 Flights between Paris and Tokyo
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frontandcentreSep. 08, 2010 - 03:15PM JST

To all of those being gleeful about the strength of the Yen: PLEASE be a little more far-sighted - I'm paid in Yen, but when it is killing off your clients slowly, you can see it very much as a double-edged sword.

If you're an English teacher or hostess just dropping in for a year or two to make some Yen, then I guess you have no reason to care about the health of Japan's economy as long as the money keeps coming.

But for those of us whose clients trade overseas, or whose friends simply cannot afford to come to Japan because of the unreasonably high Yen, or who are committing their future to this country, this is really bad news indeed. Japanese trade will shrink, industrial production will fall and imported goods will get cheaper. The economy will continue to stagnate and it will basically cause a lot of pain, cost cutting and lost jobs. Ultimately everything will get worse the longer this goes on.

I suggest you are a little more thoughful, and appreciate that your good fortune has a flip side for other people.

FnC

Posted in: Tough day
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frontandcentreSep. 06, 2010 - 03:25PM JST

klein2, nice that someone understands what I mean!

I literally watched Killing Me Softly aghast at how shockingly, confusingly bad it was. At first I thought they were taking the mickey, but they actually did set out to make an erotic thriller, just it came off like a parody of one. If you appreciate truly bad cinema, you MUST see that film. Part of the reason was apparently that it was the first movie in English that the Chinese director had ever made.

Some films you watch because you know beforehand that they are bad - Plan 9 (charmingly amateur) and Gigli (two star egos and a rubbish script collide) for instance - but in the case of Killing Me Softly I had no expectations at all but found I'd stumbled across the crap thriller motherlode by lucky accident.

...and I think it had a half-naked Heather Graham on the back cover of the DVD - notice how the Japanese releases always do that?

FnC

Posted in: What are some of your candidates for the worst movie of all time?
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frontandcentreSep. 06, 2010 - 10:45AM JST

The most amusing and captivating bad movie I've ever seen was "Killing Me Softly" with Heather Graham and Joseph Fiennes. Absolute car crash of a film, such a terrible script, badly directed, preposterous story and trying to make an edgy drama out of a laughable plot concept. You do get to see Heather with not much on, though. Breathtakingly bad, and fascinating.

Why anyone is mentioning Slumdog as a bad film is unbelieveable. Even if you weren't grabbed by the story the quality of the direction and the cinematography is excellent. Hence the Oscars.

I do agree that Avatar was wildly overhyped, though.

Posted in: What are some of your candidates for the worst movie of all time?
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frontandcentreAug. 23, 2010 - 10:54AM JST

Doesn't say whether it's Narita or Haneda in this case... Given the opening of the new international terminal at Haneda, it could be "the convenient one".

Posted in: Garuda Indonesia to launch Jakarta-Tokyo flights
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frontandcentreAug. 20, 2010 - 10:45AM JST

Personally, when I go back to the UK, it's a bonus. The rest of the time, the strong Yen is very bad for our clients, who generally depend on Dollar income. This is slowly killing exporters and those dependent on Dollar earnings, so my spending power in London is not as important as my clients staying alive. I'd love to see the Yen back to 100-110 range, personally.

Posted in: Is a strong yen against the dollar good for you personally?
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frontandcentreAug. 09, 2010 - 01:24PM JST

On the balance, I've had a lot more benefit from the advice fellow gaijin have given me than frustration.

I think the author just considers himself to have been patronised, which is perfectly possible. There are some know-it-all people out there whose only way of feeling good about themselves is by claiming that their number of years in Japan alone deserve respect, regardless of how they've been spent.

I've met a few people who've fitted a hell of a lot more experience and learning into their first year or two in Japan than I ever did, plus some who seem to have been here forever but wasted their time, going nowhere and learning very little. It's all a matter of circumstances and motivation.

As a general rule, however, I regard most advice as usually well-intentioned, even if it sometimes proves to be wrong.

Posted in: If a longtime expat starts offering you advice, walk the other way
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frontandcentreJul. 08, 2010 - 09:20AM JST

Costly and unreliable - is that the connection?

Posted in: Michael Owen premium watches
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frontandcentreJul. 06, 2010 - 10:34AM JST

Eating contests are ridiculous anyway. They shouldn't be allowed and excessive consumption of food hardly needs encouragement in the USA.

Posted in: Kobayashi leaves jail after hot dog contest fracas
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frontandcentreJun. 09, 2010 - 09:54AM JST

No points for anyone who saw this coming. She'll have snoopers watching his door and once he gets hooked up with someone else, it'll be divorce courts here I come and a multi-billion settlement...paid in pachinko balls, hopefully.

But if you ask me, he deserves the compensation for putting up with this cringeworthy woman for so long.

Posted in: Uno Kanda announces separation from husband
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frontandcentreMay. 12, 2010 - 10:03AM JST

The Labour party has failed so comprehensively that this coalition was the only workable outcome, in my view.

For Labour to have remained in power with the support of various tiny minority nationalists (who themselves lost support in the election) would have been completely unjust.

There are some tough spending decisions to be made, but at least a new government can make them, rather than carrying on with the profligate tax-and-waste policies of Gordon Brown and his failed vote-buyers.

Goodbye Gordon, Mandelson, Balls, Miliband 1, Miliband 2, Harriet Harperson and Alistair Campbell, you have done your best to try and wreck Britain, now leave others to try and sort out the mess you have made.

FnC

Posted in: David Cameron takes over as British prime minister
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frontandcentreApr. 19, 2010 - 09:29AM JST

Time travel. Mind you, perhaps people like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have already done 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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frontandcentreFeb. 19, 2010 - 10:14AM JST

The answer to the question is probably because they are an easy target. There have been some good descriptions of the way that Japanese TV works here, and these people are acting stupidly for money, because that's what's expected of them.

While most of the personal criticism is probably baseless and unjustified - not withstanding my right to criticise Uno Kanda for any aspect of her arrogant personality - I do think some of the promotional events are ludicrous. Best "jeansist" etc., awarded to this year's latest pretty face is really worthy of ridicule. Why not just have an event to promote the product, rather than handing out an award? They lack imagination.

Posted in: Why do Japanese celebrities featured in photos or stories on Japan Today frequently come in for a lot of derision from some readers?
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frontandcentreNov. 26, 2009 - 02:15PM JST

The other day I saw an old man pull out a "hair nude" porno mag as soon as a young boy sat next to him. If I'd been the boy's Mother, he'd have had a slap for that.

I treat ALL seats as priority seats, and I don't feel guilty for sitting in priority seats if they are empty and no-one else is using them. It amuses me when people tut at me for sitting there when they'd be empty anyway.

Bad manners also include the pushy obasans who race into the train before everyone's got off and sit down and look smug like getting a seat's the greatest thing that they've ever achieved in their life.

Pathetic.

Posted in: Do it at home: Train manners in Japan
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frontandcentreNov. 26, 2009 - 01:41PM JST

The difference between London and Tokyo is that in London people still seem to know how to behave, and people don't shove because they know there's the prospect of getting hit if they wind the wrong person up. In Japan, as a sturdy foreigner, I've lost count of the times oyajis have deliberately shoved me. They do it because they know that they can.

Posted in: Is chivalry dead on Tokyo trains?
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frontandcentreNov. 24, 2009 - 05:44PM JST

As soon as I saw those twits Exile singing to the Emperor on his 20th anniversary, I finally knew Japan was doomed.

This is just another symptom

Posted in: Johnny's boy bands join lineup for 'Kohaku Uta Gassen'
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frontandcentreNov. 17, 2009 - 02:56PM JST

I think chivalry is good anywhere, but given the particularly raw deal that women get in Japan, should be more prevalent here as they deserve more support. Patronising and sexist? Maybe. But would most Japanese women object to being offered a seat? Never, in my experience.

Posted in: Is chivalry dead on Tokyo trains?
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frontandcentreNov. 17, 2009 - 02:33PM JST

"As equals he should not have bowed"

Why not? There's absolutely nothing in Japanese etiquette which says he shouldn't...

I often bow to people of lower work status or seniority than myself and get bowed to by people more senior and much further up the ladder. So what? Obama showed appropriate respect, not subservience. Storm in a right-wing blogger's teacup, I reckon.

Posted in: Should President Barack Obama have bowed to the emperor while he was in Japan?
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frontandcentreNov. 17, 2009 - 01:41PM JST

Err...a bow is normal courtesy in Japan, not always a matter of status. I'm sure Barack wasn't down on his knees or anything, just showing proper manners and cultural sensitivity.

What's to criticise - unless you are of the mindset that America still owns Japan, which is "kinda" ironic since it's actually the other way around!

Posted in: Should President Barack Obama have bowed to the emperor while he was in Japan?