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
Raising the minimum age for buying tobacco products is a complete waste of time. How many people, if any, have ever been prosecuted for buying under the age of 20 or selling to under-20s?
I seem to remember reading in JT about a mother being prosecuted for giving her child a cigarette. I also remember that it was news because it was the first time anyone had been prosecuted for that offence.
It seems the the current government is much more likely to crack down on smoking than the LDP, who are closely connected by amukudari with JT (Japan Tobacco, this time) and tobacco farmers, who, like most farmers, support the LDP to protect their interests.
Posted in: Health minister wants to hike tobacco tax so pack of cigarettes costs Y700
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gaijintraveller
It may have been staged. It probably was. Still, it looks incredibly natural for a photograph approved by the Imperial Household Agency. It is a great improvement over the standard stiff poses.
I remember when a photographer was banned from taking photographs of the Imperial family because he published one that looked too natural. Maybe it was Princess Kiko adjusting Prince Akishino's hair for the official photographs.
Posted in: Happy birthday
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gaijintraveller
I am surprised goya wasn't the least popular. Many adults don't like that one.
Posted in: Eggplant most hated vegetable among kids
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gaijintraveller
Godan, on Facebook you can see Friends of Friends. If your colleague accepts you as a Friend, your work Friends can see that she is on Facebook and may want her to become a friend. That could include your and her boss. That a few other colleagues have befriended you would then seem to her to be a big negative. She wants to keep her Facebook for Friends who are friends and separate her private life from her work life, which may be a rather foreign idea in Japan where work life is often a person's whole life.
JapanGal, you are right about Facebook and privacy. Many people display too much information on Facebook. Many were surprised to find their mobile phone numbers were displayed by default. Publicising all your information on Facebook these days could even lead to identity theft, which is a serious problem if it happens.
Facebook is becoming a great way for people to keep in touch and swap information. It did provide a lot of support and helped back in March.
It should be noted that it is a great way to communicate for people who want to overthrow their government as we have seen in some Arab countries.
I have found an interesting feature is that I have got in touch with old friends through it.
Posted in: Facebook and social interaction in Japan
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gaijintraveller
Raymasaki says: "This is done in the States also."
It is probably done in the States so that you have photographic evidence to show the court when you sue them for making you sick.
Posted in: Why do so many Japanese women take photos of their food at restaurants and post it on Facebook or their blogs?
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gaijintraveller
Steve@CPFC
If my wife did this after i had paid for a meal i would smash her phone/camera. Who cares what soemone else ate. What is happening to the world.
You may well ask what the world is coming to if you would smash her phone camera. How low class can you get? In my country resorting to violence and meaningless destruction signals a lack of education. An educted person can express themselves verbally and does not need to resort to violence.
Posted in: Why do so many Japanese women take photos of their food at restaurants and post it on Facebook or their blogs?
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gaijintraveller
Yamaya's baked beans are from Italy. Not bad, but not up to Tesco's standard. I will have to buy a load of their ginger nuts and their version of Branston Pickle, which nowhere else seems to have. Then there's the shortbread, which is much higher quality than anything else I have ever found in Japan.
Tesco are smart cookies. They are very big in Thailand where Tesco Lotus must be one of the biggest supermarket chains and they have smaller Tesco Express stores there, too. Tesco bought up the Lotus chain when the Thai economy and with it the baht crashed. They bought in when the baht at an all-time low.
Perhaps they are selling here because the yen is at an all time high. But then perhaps the cost of opening and running one store in Japan is the same as the cost of opening and running ten in another Asian country.
Posted in: Britain's Tesco to sell network of 129 small supermarkets in Japan
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gaijintraveller
"Japanese bankers tend to concentrate first on customers."
I assume this refers to corporate customers and not individuals, who get virtually no interest on their deposits and have to spend ages queuing see a teller to perform what would be a quick transaction anywhere else in the world.
Japanese bankers tend to concentrate first on bankers.
Posted in: Seven Bank Ltd
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gaijintraveller
The national government is only part of the problem. I feel Kan was doing his best. He was obstructed all all the way by political opponents who wanted to lay the blame on him and his party for something he could not control.
A lot of the blame lies not with Kan and his allies, but with the opposition, who opposed and still oppose much progress, and the bureaucracy, most of whom were appointed by the opposition.
Perhaps, if Japanese TV aired the old BBC comedy series, Yes, Minister, they would understand where the problem lies.
It is not the time for turf wars: it is a time for cooperation.
Posted in: Anger mounts in tsunami-hit areas over political power games
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gaijintraveller
I live in Chiba. Virtually all the rice is planted tractors with rice-planting devices attached. As far as I know the only rice grown in this area that is grown the old-fashioned way is planted by WOOFERS, Willing (i.e. unpaid) Workers on Organic Farms. If the rice were planted by hand by paid workers, it would be ridiculously expensive.
It may surprise many of the city dwellers who imagine the countryside still uses old methods, that the rice is sprayed with chemicals by helicopters. On the day of spraying we are advised to keep pets and people indoors.
Most of the farmers are old. There are few young people working on the farms here. Healthy 80 year olds are not unusual. In the future, without a doubt, there will be more machines as there will be fewer farmers.
Posted in: The old-fashioned way
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gaijintraveller
This was not a pit bull. It was not a mastiff. It was a mongrel, a mix. It may be possible to ban certain breeds, but can you ban mongrels. This a breed known to have attacked and killed humans mixed with a breed known for its size and strength.
Probably, the true danger is not the breed or the mix. It is more likely the mix of the type of dog known for violence and the type human who chooses a dog because it has a reputation for violence and wants a tough dog. On Youtube, there is a video of a pit bull gently playing with a kitten. That pit bull must have a very different owner.
Having said that, it is true that some breeds are more dangerous than other, and some dogs, just like some Japanese and some foreigners, but not all, are dangerous. A pit bull is more likely to be a danger than a sheep dog that instinctively herds are a chihuahua which is small and weak.
The previous posts by Cleo show an understanding of the problem and dogs.
I would like to point out that in Japan, dogs are usually mistreated and kept tied up all day on a leash. This mistreatment, which is required by law, produces a dangerous dog that can never be let off the leash. Also, a trained dog is a rarity here. A dog is a social animal and needs be part of a family, whether canine, human or a mix including cats.
A loving family will have a loving dog if the dog is treated properly and trained. However, too much love and too little understanding can produce the wrong type of dog. The owner should be the head of the family and the dog should be low in the pecking order. Only that way can a dog be controlled.
Posted in: Australian girl, 4, killed by pitbull-mastiff
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gaijintraveller
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano says two Chinese vessels entered "Japanese" waters.
Actually, they are disputed waters, not Japanese. This is just like the Chinese saying that the Japanese Coast Guard were operating in Chinese waters.
Posted in: Japan protests Chinese boats' entry in disputed area
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gaijintraveller
Phak khana is just komatsuna, isn't it? That is commonplace in Japan. Occasionally, we can find kushinsai, pak boong, in supermarkets.
But, yes, there are sometimes good finds in farmers markets these days.
Posted in: Chefs talk about unusual farmers market finds
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gaijintraveller
With chopsticks?
Posted in: Mai Satoda releases book on best ways to eat rice
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gaijintraveller
It is very hard for people from some countries, especially developing countries, to enter Japan or stay in Japan for a long time. It is easy to travel just about anywhere with a Japanese passport or one from a developed country. Some people get married so that they can stay here and work on a spouse visa. Often, this is a bona fide marriage at first. In marriages things often change. A break-up and divorce would end a spouse visa, yet the spouse may want to remain in Japan for work or to stay in touch with children resulting from the marriage.
Look at the figures. 88 fake marriages is not many. Farmboy suggests this might be a way to get prostitutes into the country. If it is, it is not he who is missing something, but would be the police missing a lot. If the yakuza are involved in this, the numbers would suggest that they are not the ones being caught.
Posted in: No. of fake marriages between Japanese, foreigners jumps by 49.2%
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gaijintraveller
Maybe the pilot and co-pilot will take a 20 day holiday together in a foreign country with a free flight provided by JAL.
Posted in: JAL pilot disciplined for letting female co-pilot sit in his seat for photo
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gaijintraveller
Is that plasticky stuff they sell actually cheese?
Posted in: Megmilk Snow Brand to raise butter, cheese prices
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gaijintraveller
I just read this in Japantoday:
"Kyoto rejects ceremonial bonfire wood from Iwate over radiation fears."
It seems it is dangerous to burn wood from Iwate, but we cannot offend rice growers in this country: they are politically too powerful.
"Japanese rice is the best and safest in the world." Believe that if you want. If you are Japanese you may believe it. If you are a foreigner, you probably know better.
As far as I am concerned, if the wood is too dangerous to burn, the rice will be too dangerous to eat.
Posted in: 'Radioactive rice' joke causes trouble for Tokai Television
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gaijintraveller
Bobolinkski says: "Back in the 1990s, after some very low rice harvests, a lot of rice was imported. It was fine."
Some shops would only sell Japanese rice if an equal quantity of foreign, e.g. Thai rice was bought. Housewives would buy 1 kg of Thai rice so that they could get the accompanying 1kg of Japanese rice. They then promptly dropped the Thai rice in a rubbish bin.
As Bobolinski says the imported rice was fine. Unfortunately, many Japanese are brainwashed into believing otherwise. Unfortunately, the government will probably continue to promote this fallacy. And unfortunately for us, they will try to prevent us from having any choice when we purchase rice.
The government surely knows by now whether this years crop will be safe or not. It is not necessary to wait for the harvest to test the rice.
I suspect the plan is to mix rice with a high level of radiation with rice with a lower level, maybe even old rice. I believe this is not the right way to handle the problem. Radioactive rice should be dumped.
Posted in: After the earthquake, there's been a prevalent feeling among people that you can make do with replacements... It doesn't have to be beef curry, it could be pork, or chicken, or the beef could come from another country. It's not quite the same with rice.
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gaijintraveller
"Wagyu meat has a higher proportion of unsaturated fat." In proportion to what, total meat or total fat content? I would like scientific proof of this before I believe it. The claim sounds dubious to me.
If the meat is so valuable, why is it ground up and frozen? How does it compare with freshly ground meat? Is there no risk of 0-157 if frozen patties are not properly cooked?
This is not news: it is PR.
Posted in: U.S. produces version of pricey Japanese Kobe beef