JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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- Financial Advisor
- Select Asset Management KK, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥100,000 ~ ¥999,999 Paid Training Commission Based
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- Corporate Business English Trainers
- ACT Systems, Inc.（株式会社アクト・システムズ）, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥269,500 ~ ¥280,000 / Month
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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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frontandcentre
Pushing 60, it's the father's health I'm worried about...
Posted in: Ryoko Shinohara back in public 3 months after having baby
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frontandcentre
Alinsky4prez, it's pretty clear that most people DON'T know what is important to them - look how low voter turnout is in presidential elections, and the 8 years of disaster under Bush.
Posted in: Michelle Obama, Kennedy rally Democrats as convention opens
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frontandcentre
Confederate2008 - it saddens ME when anyone holds the blindly patriotic, blinkered views that you have. Accept it - Bush has treated the military like dirt, especially all of the people who've been injured in Iraq and Afghanistan and then been neglected upon their return to the USA. Just like Vietnam, the other war that you lost. Call that "patriotic"? I don't. No wonder, like everyone else, servicemen and women increasingly want a change
Posted in: Michelle Obama, Kennedy rally Democrats as convention opens
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frontandcentre
Hilarious - like the Republicans' views don't? From the same man who has cheerleaded the invasion of Iraq, McCain has had the gall to protest the Russians' little incursion into Georgia - the stated justification for which was to prevent Georgian "terrorism" against minorities. Incredible ultra hypocrisy once again
Posted in: McCain says Obama's views invite trouble abroad
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frontandcentre
0.368 grams? almost a meaninglessly small amount. Yep, he shouldn't have done it, but come on...
Posted in: Ex-sumo wrestler Wakanoho says he bought cannabis at Roppongi disco
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frontandcentre
I have tried good examples of almost EVERY type of cuisine in Tokyo.
tkoind2 - you've got to get out more.
Posted in: Critics dispute Michelin regard for Tokyo food
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BoldWar Veteren
I can't understand why you are concerned about the Democrats' patriotic credentials given the harm that Bush has done to your country's reputation and position in the world over the past 8 years. I'd say the definition of patriotism is voting against the GOP and its horrific record of failure.
Obama isn't perfect, but he may be the new start that your country needs. More of the same would be a disaster for Americans and for the world
Posted in: Michelle Obama, Kennedy rally Democrats as convention opens
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frontandcentre
change - the police surveillance cameras that you mentioned are to make sure that the Yakuza are OK, not to spy on their activities. If the police had the balls - not to mention the political support - to seriously tackle organised crime, then they could walk in with their list and arrest everybody. Unfortunately for law-abiding citizens the police prefer a policy of containment and accepting that yaks have a degree of immunity, because they prefer yaks to control the majority of domestic crime rather than the triads. What irritates me is that foreigners are accused of misunderstanding the yakuza when in actual fact the Japanese have simply learned to turn a blind eye and accept their highly damaging criminal activities with their usual "shoganai" attitude.
DXXJP - the "disruption" by Yak shareholders of listed companies was in some cases welcomed (or sponsored) by the boards as it gave them an excuse to keep their AGMs as short and "uncomplicated" as possible... i.e. no difficult questions from legitimate shareholders either.
That's an example of where Yaks performed a service for business - though arguably to the detriment of society at large, by reducing accountability.
Posted in: Yakuza 'misunderstood' by foreign media
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Boris Johnson looked like a total scruff bag compared to everyone else there. He made me laugh - a rather nervous laugh, given that this twit has some influence over London's planning.
If the London Olympics are like Boris, they'll be eccentric, scandalous, colourful, confident and indiscreet.
Posted in: Curtain comes down on Beijing Olympics as baton passes to London
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Highpoints: Britain excelling in sports that I enjoy - sailing, cycling & swimming in particular. We stayed at 3rd place in the medals table right until the end and we were clearly the strongest of the European nations. Rule Britannia!
I was also pleased to see Japan get bronze in the 4 x 100 metres relay. It was a real team performance and made a nice change to see athletes celebrating so enthusiastically even though it was 3rd place.
Low points? the behaviour of some of the Chinese spectators, which was basically rude and unsportsmanlike, biased judging by the Chinese (in Taekwondo, for example) and the Japanese TV coverage - calling it coverage is, as usual, stretching the definition of the term. One expects focus on the medal prospects, but sports without Japanese competitors (or where they had no chance of medals) were almost completely ignored. Instead we get replays of the medal-winning performances again, and again, and again, and again.....
Posted in: What, for you, were the highlights and low points of the Beijing Olympics?
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chibaman - yes, that's a kind of weird comment for him to make after the same person has tried to disassociate the yaks from their criminal equivalents in other "better understood" countries...
"500 years" of (criminal) history? Just means they are a problem that hasn't been dealt properly with for far too long, really, and is the fact that Japan tolerates their publicly-stated gang affiliations something for this country to be PROUD of? I hardly think so
Posted in: Yakuza 'misunderstood' by foreign media
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I should add that the foreign media seem to understand the Yaks a lot better than the Japanese media - or at least aren't scared to portray them as they actually are.
Japan's government really takes the biscuit - banning kids from getting life-saving transplants in Japan, but sending top criminal bosses over to America to get them instead. What totally misplaced priorities - and yet the Japanese journo is worried about foreigners getting the "wrong" idea...!
You have to laugh, or you'd cry...
Posted in: Yakuza 'misunderstood' by foreign media
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What a total p**s take this article is. The only difference between the Yaks and criminal groups in other countries is that they seem to be more effective at intimidating politicians and casting themselves as honourable defenders of their host country's culture.
Suggesting that they did some good PR stunt during the Kobe Earthquake is pretty ludicrous when you add up all of the harm that they do the rest of the time. It's like saying the Kray twins were OK because they (supposedly) only ever tortured and murdered other criminals in their own community.
Posted in: Yakuza 'misunderstood' by foreign media
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usaexpat - if Phelps had pulled out a gun and shot a few people in the front row in celebration, I suspect you'd forgive his "exuberance", so I hardly think we can consider yours an unbiased view. Similarly, if a Frenhman had done the same, you'd be whining, I know
Posted in: What do you think of American swimmer Michael Phelps' long victory yell after he wins a race?
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frontandcentre
Good - the death penalty is barbaric, illogical, reprehensible, irreversible and simply doesn't deter crime
Posted in: Expert says capital punishment dying out in Asia
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frontandcentre
Correction - I meant "if they protect their health with contraception".
I have no respect for people who think a former Hitler Youth based in Rome has a hotline to God - if you invented that concept today people would, quite rightly, treat you as if you are nuts
Posted in: The Catholic Church and Yasukuni shrine
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frontandcentre
I wonder which has killed more - the war criminals at the Yasukuni Jinja, or William Grimm and his religion of fear that tells people they are going to hell if they don't protect their health with contraception?
Probably the Catholic Church, I suspect.
Posted in: The Catholic Church and Yasukuni shrine
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techall:
he / she probably hasn't because they hardly ever do that - it's more of a Continental or South American-type goal celebration. Plus go too far and you'll get booked.
PS it's called 'football' - and we have a right to say that since like so many of the sports that the world enjoys, we invented it...
Posted in: What do you think of American swimmer Michael Phelps' long victory yell after he wins a race?
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frontandcentre
I would equally criticise (and be embarrassed by) a British swimmer behaving in that way when winning. The difference is that it would come as rather more of an unpleasant surprise if they did.
The rest of the world marvels in Phelps' achievements, just as they did in Thorpe's, but pity he has to spoil it by making himself look stupid, that's all
Posted in: What do you think of American swimmer Michael Phelps' long victory yell after he wins a race?
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frontandcentre
The funny thing is that a lot of Americans think this is perfectly normal behaviour - it is only those who have seen the way that most of the rest of the world behaves who are cringing. One of my American friends said he thinks it's a bit over the top, even though he's rightly proud of the achievement.
I don't remember Mark Spitz doing this, back in the days when the rewards were miniscule in comparison to those on offer today.
Dignity is a virtue, I concur with Cleo
Posted in: What do you think of American swimmer Michael Phelps' long victory yell after he wins a race?