JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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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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- Full-time English Teacher - Osaka
- Epion English Language Schools, Osaka
- Salary: ¥200,000 ~ ¥250,000 / Month Depending on your ability and experience
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- Part-time English Teacher - Osaka
- Epion English Language Schools, Osaka
- Salary: ¥10,000 ~ ¥15,000 / Day Depending on how many days a week are worked
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gaijintraveller
Can it scan slides, too? Is 4000dpi a true scan figure or an interpolated rate?
Posted in: Film scanner
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gaijintraveller
This seems like part of the au two year scam. They tell you you must sign up a two year contract. What they do not tell you is that the contract will be automatically renewed for another two years when it expires. They then charge a hefty contract cancellation fee if you cancel the contract any time other than the 25th month.
Posted in: KDDI to begin discount campaign for some smartphone users
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gaijintraveller
If you buy from a Japanese carrier, the phone will be locked. Buy the phone from overseas if you plan to use a Docomo or Softbank SIM. It seems au is more extreme and locks the SIM to one particular phone. If your battery dies on you, you cannot just borrow a friend's phone and slip your SIM in it.
Also, if you are worried about batteries, ask if you can buy a spare. au will tell you you have to order one.
I wonder is the term "Smart" can applied to any au product. The past few au phonesI have used have been incapable of sorting the phone book in true alphabetical order beyond the first letter of the name.
If you spend 40,000 yen or more on a phone, you want one you can use overseas with an overseas SIM and use with different carriers.
Posted in: Fujitsu introduces ARROWS ES IS12F smartphone for au
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gaijintraveller
Perhaps they should enhance cyber defence before spending money producing cyber weapns.
Posted in: Japan reportedly developing cyber weapon
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gaijintraveller
"Compatible with" or "following" international standards? I suspect "compatible" with mean that international standards are not truly being followed.
Posted in: DoCoMo, KDDI, Softbank to promote NFC services compatible with int'l standards
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gaijintraveller
But there are no local fishermen any more: everyone has been evacuated from the area.
Posted in: TEPCO must get fishermen's OK before dumping radioactive water into sea: Edano
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gaijintraveller
Ishihara wants to give China a reason to build aircraft carriers and expand its navy by telling them that Japan is still an aggressor. This is a politician who still denies the Nanjing massacre.
Posted in: LDP's Ishihara wants base on China-claimed islands
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gaijintraveller
How does this compare with burning the Stars and Stripes in the U.S.? Is that still against the law or has it been updated?
In this country people don't often openly criticise the Emperor. Even if it is not against any law, people seem afraid to do it.
Posted in: Thai court jails U.S. citizen for royal insult
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gaijintraveller
I believe breeders in some countries refuse to sell to Japanese breeders because they know the conditions are so bad in the dog factories here.
Some prefectures actually have bins for unwanted pets. You can drop an unwanted pet in just like any other gomi.
JapanGal
You say: "That is so sad."
I say: "That is criminal" At least it would be in most countries.
Posted in: Despite recent crackdowns, pet industry still rife with problems
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gaijintraveller
I have been told that Yahoo News says he started out with cats and took a cat's head in to school to show to his classmates. A neighbour told police he had been abusing animals. No alarms bells rang as it was only animals and they don't matter. Now doesn't that remind one of the Kobe killer?
Posted in: Police arrest 16-year-old boy over knife attacks in Chiba, Saitama
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gaijintraveller
I have seen many Ferraris in Japan, but it is extremely rare to see one driven fast. The same is true for Porsches and other exotic imports. The cars that are driven fast are Japanese ones such as the WRX and Skylines. There was, probably still is, a video on youtube of a Skyline doing well over 300 kph in the Aqualine. Ferraris and Porsches are for posers. The seriously fast drivers want tuned Japanese cars, some of which produce 1,000 bhp and that is serious power.
Posted in: Speeding blamed for pileup involving 8 Ferraris, 1 Lamborghini
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gaijintraveller
One thing that never seems to be mentioned is the cost of electricity at the charging station.
I also wonder of it is greener to use electricity produced by Tepco generators, which include, as we now know, far-from-green, environment-destroying nuclear generators, oil-powered generators and so on than using petrol or diesel engines.
Has anyone come up with environmentally friendly ways of disposing of used batteries?
Keeping your car going as long as possible is probably more environmentally friendly than scrapping it and buying a new one.
Posted in: Toyota begins taking orders in Japan for Prius plug-in
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gaijintraveller
This is such a rip-off. Ok, I use petrol in my car not aviation fuel, but I expect that as both are derived from crude oil there is a close relation. Because the yen has increased in value so much, petrol is much the same price it was say 25 years ago. Can anyone explain why, if it has, fuel for a plane has gone up in price when fuel for a car has not?
Buses and taxis do not charge for fuel in addition to the standard fare. Why should airlines?
"The fares covered are generally for departures between December and February, meaning they cover Christmas, New-Year and winter-sports seasons." I suspect this is misleading: it probably excludes departures after around 20th December to just before New Year. Of course, it will cover Christmas and New Year If you leave at least a week before Christmas and can get a seat back in early January.
I have found that the cheap seats are not usually available from agents till about two months before Christmas but they are all booked three months before. Am I the only one who is so cynical?
Posted in: Airlines drop prices for year-end Japan flights
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gaijintraveller
Perhaps Australia should come up with an alternative, such as colourful packets, which would be sold through chemists to only registered addicts with a prescription.
I suppose a trade mark might have less value when it cannot be advertised. One could argue that it has a negative value when associated with an addictive substance.
Posted in: Philip Morris sues Australian gov't over cigarette pack law
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gaijintraveller
Why don't Americans stop using the Orwellian term "Defence budget" when what they are talking about is mainly a war budget? If it were called a war budget, people might be more likely to accept cuts.
Posted in: Failure looms for U.S. debt talks
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gaijintraveller
The road tax is Japan is not really so bad.
A large part of the car tax is compulsory insurance. In the UK this is handled by commercial insurance companies. If compulsory insurance were not added included in the tax and were handled by commercial insurance companies, young drivers would find that they could not get insured on really fast cars such a GTRs. That would not help the auto manufacturers.
The purpose of the shakken is not safety, but to provide an income for service station and ensure that people use what the parts the manufacturer recommends.
What really would increase sales more than anything else would probably be the removal of traffic wardens in the cities. A car was useful and practical in Tokyo in the days when you parked, got out of the car and checked the road and car tyres for chalk marks. If there were any chalk marks, you knew the police were checking that road on that day, so you either made sure you parked for less than 20 minutes or moved and found a place with no chalk marks. Many people have told me that it is not worth having a car in Tokyo or, I presume, any other big city. In the country a car is essential, but it does not have to be a new one.
Posted in: Auto company execs, unions, dealers demand lower taxes
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gaijintraveller
A large part of the car tax is compulsory insurance. In the UK this is handled by commercial insurance companies. If compulsory insurance were not added included in the tax and were handled by commercial insurance companies, young drivers would find that they could not get insured on really fast cars such a GTRs. That would not help the auto manufacturers.
The purpose of the shakken is not safety, but to provide an income for service station and ensure that people use what the parts the manufacturer recommends.
What really would increase sales more than anything else would probably be the removal of traffic wardens in the cities. A car was useful and practical in Tokyo in the days when you parked, got out of the car and checked the road and car tyres for chalk marks. If there were any chalk marks, you knew the police were checking that road on that day, so you either made sure you parked for less than 20 minutes or moved and found a place with no chalk marks. Many people have told me that it is not worth having a car in Tokyo or, I presume, any other big city. In the country a car is essential, but it does not have to be a new one.
Posted in: Auto company execs, unions, dealers demand lower taxes
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gaijintraveller
Everyone is criticising the quality of TV. I agree it is bad, but I would like to make a completely different point: Japan has become so noisy. Shopping is noisy, travelling on trains is noisy, using escalators is noisy, everyhwere outside we are bombarded with noise.
Perhaps, when people get home they want to give their ears a rest and have some peace and quiet.
Posted in: Japanese viewers tuning out, turning off their TVs
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gaijintraveller
"Not afraid to intervene in the lives of their citizens, the government looked next at reducing salt intake, and campaigned accordingly." So why is Japanese food so salty? Many Japanese have told me that 12gm per day is ok. In Britain six is now considered too much.
Anyway, what is more important, length of life or quality of life?
Funny, I always associated Ian Drury with Sex and Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll.
Posted in: Reasons to be cheerful: 1, 2, 3
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gaijintraveller
ShootandScoot, the US government also forbids its nationals to travel to certain countries. Time for revolution there, too?
Miyazawa3, Japan would not be the safest. Many work in yakuza controlled businesses such as certain bars. Human trafficking is far from unknown here.
Posted in: Philippine workers banned from 41 countries due to abuse