JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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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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- FT English Teachers for Kids - Osaka
- Kohgakusha Co., Ltd. （株式会社興学社）, Osaka
- Salary: ¥255,000 ~ ¥275,000 / Month Travel Expenses, Encouragement of Japanese learning*
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- Translator
- ZAIHON, Inc. (日本財務翻訳株式会社), Tokyo
- Salary: ¥6.0M / Year Negotiable
![[Shibaura] EL Shibaura](http://www.realestate.co.jp/rej/image/70/32601-58x58-c.png)
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glycol57
Sheer quantity of life must be balanced by the quality of that life ... and a health-NAZI approach to living most certainly does NOT improve the quality. You do not "owe it" to government or 'society' to give up what you love just so you can live an extra couple of years - and maybe put an extra dollar or two in your employers pocket.
So sit back, relax, have a beer and a smoke and maybe order a pizza with all the yummy toppings. Might take a few minutes off your life, but it'll be a life you remember with fondness. Besides, not being uptight, unhappy and feeling deprived reduces stress - which ADDS to your lifespan ...
Posted in: Smoking, obesity are why U.S. lifespans lag a bit
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glycol57
Cruelty, mean-spiritedness and predatory behavior are as much a part of Japans history and culture as they are of almost any country you care to mention. These 'memes' are deeply, probably permanently, embedded and reflect the inner nature of the species as much as the details of any given culture.
However, these little devils sitting on our shoulders CAN be ignored - if we really want to ignore them. 'Empathy education' in childhood can go a long way in keeping these demons under control.
Finding things for unhappy youths to do other than make trouble ALSO goes a long way towards reducing such incidents. Alas that approach is something large industrialized societies have a poor record of success in achieving and sustaining. Japan, given its penchant for organized activities and group-think, COULD have better success with this than many other countries - IF it tried. In your struggle to earn a living, don't forget what you're living FOR ... don't forget your children.
Posted in: 9-year-old girl slashed in face and neck in Osaka
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glycol57
Sudan will improve on its own ... but that won't stop Clooney from trying to claim credit.
Posted in: George Clooney uses Hollywood starpower in Sudan
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glycol57
Sam Clemens would have beaten these publishers with a cane.
Posted in: Mark Twain remains censored, and uncensored
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glycol57
Lunatics and fanatics abound in this world. They always find a way to torture us. So long as there are people there will be incidents like this. Accept it and move on with life.
Posted in: Arizona Rep Giffords shot, 6 killed, including judge, 9-year-old girl
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glycol57
The gays were always there anyway. It's puzzling why some soldiers who are afraid of or wary about of gays would be more upset about the gays they will now know rather than the "stealth" gays they previously didn't know about.
There exists a faction that is opposed to homosexuality on religious grounds however. They see any evidence of homosexuality as a sort of promotion of homosexuality and thus prefer to keep it buried - lest others be tempted.
The USA is still a rather puritanical - sometimes almost 'Talibanistic' - culture and "sex=sin" has been a longstanding cultural feature/fetish/obsession there since the first religious fanatics fled to those shores from europe. Ordinary sex is bad enough in the puritans eyes, so out-of-the-ordinary sex causes their brains to implode into a tiny dense mass which neither logic or civility can penetrate. It's why the gay soldier issue is such a big deal for the US military and population.
Posted in: With gay ban debate over, military impact in doubt
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glycol57
Privacy isn't a "lost" cause - but it needs to become a major cause in this century. The more government, corporations and criminals (but I repeat myself :-) can find out about the details of your life the easier and more tempting it is for them to exploit that information for their own gain, and your loss. Technology has made it far easier to steal more quickly than either law or public awareness has been able to react.
More legal measures are needed to prohibit information "diffusion" - ie make it illegal to sell/trade personal data between corporations. Penalties for allowing information to 'leak' - stolen or lost - must be increased (no more unencrypted laptops full of credit info left at rail stations, no more employees loading such info onto thumb drives for sale to criminals !). Standards for government obtaining/buying/stealing such info without a proper warrant must also be tightened.
Unfortunately, those who benifit from the data trade are also the most powerful entities - the movers and shakers - and have considerable influence over legislative agendas. Thus it will require considerable, persistent, pressure from the public to push through data-protection laws.
As for "WikiLeaks" ... that's less a 'privacy' issue than one of, well, you can call it 'reporting' or 'espionage' depending on your point of view. The leaks major value is in demonstrating what a huge difference there is between the politics our "news" sources deliver and the REAL truths that shape our world and lives. The public lives in a fantasy world engineered by our 'leaders'. How can we make sound decisions under such circumstances ???
Posted in: In view of what has been happening with WikiLeaks and various file-sharing software, is privacy a lost cause?
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glycol57
Um ... you might want to investigate some of MT's details rather than just what her PR people generated. She was not "benign" in either the theological or practical sense. Not awful, but not "benign" either.
In any case, people who become convinced they have some superpower on their side, well, you've heard the phrase "Absolute power corrupts absolutely" I suppose ....
Posted in: Is religion more of a destructive or benign force in the world today?
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glycol57
Pretender.
Although she's smarter than she lets on, she still doesn't give anyone that feeling that she could be a "unifier" - everyones president - nor do we get the impression that she's especially well-informed or well-opinioned about relevant issues large and small. Palin serves best as a fundraiser and path-marker for the Republican Party.
However, as a party strategy, it doesn't hurt to dangle Palin in front of the opposition ... thus forcing them to spend time and resources on ways to counteract her if she DID actually run. Meanwhile a 'stealth' candidate - like Obama was - of greater potential can be cultivated off the radar.
Posted in: Sarah Palin: Serious 2012 contender or pretender?
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glycol57
The dominant religions always seem to be about dividing people into "The Good" (your religion) and "The Bad" (other peoples religions). This may or may not have been the intent of the original founders of these faiths, but the human factor guarentees that divisionism WILL become a significant factor. Faiths all too easily lend themselves as political tools.
I'll exclude Buddhism as it's less a 'religion' per-se than what one man saw as a "self-improvement" guide that could be applied to many religions (if you're into that whole ego-hating, self-evaporation, nothingness-loving thing ... which I think a short walk off any tall building could accomplish without 50 years of meditating - but that's just my opinion dontchaknow).
Alas, people seem "wired" for religion - doesn't seem to matter WHICH religion - so I doubt religion or its influences are going to go away. This means we need to develop some kind of philosophical and practical framework within which all religions can operate as freely as possible while, at the same time, avoid doing damage to each other.
The United Nations was an attempt at doing this for political/economic philosophies ... so why not aim at something similar (and better) aimed at smoothing the sharp edges between religions so they can't easily be used as weapons of mass destruction ?
Posted in: Is religion more of a destructive or benign force in the world today?
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glycol57
This has been an extremely successful series of films. Movies almost -never- accurately translate a novel ... and, being a totally different kind of medium, maybe they shouldn't try for that degree of "perfection". Film tells a story in a different way than print ; artistically it's a "different language".
Clearly the movie patrons aren't "insulted". They've made the producers very rich, and Rowling even richer. I expect both the books and films will stand the test of time.
And the BEST thing about the films is that they've maintained that particularly British institution of horrific 'kiddie' stories. Each one is darker than its predecessor. An American treatment of the stories would have coated them with a thick layer of sugar and cute-ness and sucked out every trace of moral complexity and ambiguity - yuk !
Posted in: 'Deathly Hallows' will leave fans eager for finale
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glycol57
Bigger planes.
Posted in: How should airlines handle obese passengers?
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glycol57
And you've never noticed women competing over some cute guy ? As obsessed as any group of males ... sometimes even more.
Oh, and clearly guys have LOTS of things on their minds ... although sex obviously takes priority under certain circumstances. But hey - men, women, sex ... they go together. If a guy meets an interesting girl, well, industrial design and foreign trade law isn't going to be at the top of his priority list. Would you WANT it to be ?
Posted in: Common misconceptions about the opposite sex in Japan
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glycol57
I think it is necessary - even if it doesn't always taste very good.
Every "diplomatic mission" (including Japans) exists as much to do certain kinds of spying, business and persuasion as to be a nanny service to troubled tourists. Missions are an extention of realpolitik into someone elses territory - and realpolitik isn't anything like the diluted honey-flavored politics you see in the news, it's how things ACTUALLY get done. It's ruthless and dangerous.
As such, nobody would DO the job if they were completely vulnerable to local laws and political machinations.
Every country understands the value of their diplomatic missions and has been willing to treat other nations missions as small squares of the foreign state and the diplomats as legally untouchable. It's an arrangement that serves everyones interests.
Diplomats caught dirty however CAN be expelled. Diplomats who do REALLY bad things, especially if they are 'personal' offenses, may sometimes be abandoned to the justice of the host country. So, it's not as if they're totally immune under every circumstance.
Posted in: Do you agree with the idea of diplomatic immunity?
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glycol57
There needs to be a counter-Chinese business/manufacturing alliance. Otherwise it won't be long before the -only- well-off country is China and everyone else is living in appliance crates and eating rats (or cats) for dinner.
The US and Japan complement each other nicely - Japan having some traits the US lacks and vice-versa. This symbiotic relationship needs to be strengthened, and deliberately aimed at snatching away a slice of Chinas pie. Obama seems interested in India, which may be the "other China" although not quite yet. India has brains and manpower, but no real sense of direction. If the US and Japan buddy-up with India NOW, before the Chinese lay claim, the three could actually stake out a claim in the 21st-century business environment.
Posted in: Do you think gatherings like this week's summit of APEC leaders in Yokohama are a waste of time and money?
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glycol57
3000 pair ???
Clearly this was a man with a -lot- of spare time ! :-)
The "crimes" were very minor, though you've got to wonder how someone gets -that- obsessed with panties. Maybe he should have asked some of his 'victims' out on a date instead ?
Posted in: 3,000 pairs of stolen panties found in home of underwear thief
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glycol57
Packed tightly together like that, nothing to do but think about the people you're pressed up against ... yes, trains can be "sexual places". Nothing wrong with that, perfectly natural response.
Of course there's "thinking" and "doing" ... so naughty people should keep their hands to themselves (unless invited to do otherwise :-)
Posted in: Seibu Railways to introduce 'maid trains'
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glycol57
The anti-smoking NAZIs are conditioning the population to be hyper-sensitive about the smell and bogus dangers of "secondhand smoke" - but ignore automobile exhaust, powerplant emissions, industrial facilities bleeding chemical vapors, brake-lining dust and a hundred OTHER things that are as bad or worse for the average man on the street than cigarette smoke.
Posted in: Make way for the Butt Police
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glycol57
"Terrorists" ... or "annoyances" ? Your chances of dying in a tour bus crash are VASTLY greater than becoming a random victim of these extremists in europe. Refuse to be "terrorized" ... there is no cause, and it will lead you to endorse 'anti-terrorism' laws that will do far more damage to your civil rights than all the extremists combined could ever hope to do.
Posted in: Credible terror plot against Britain and France uncovered
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glycol57
Does Japan have to wait for China to make a move ? Can't it put a case before the ICJ itself, asking for a final definitive ruling on the matter ? China would then have to argue its case, what little of it there may be, or just forefit any future claims.
Posted in: Do you agree with Japan's decision to release the captain of a Chinese fishing boat that collided with a Japanese patrol boat that was pursuing it near the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea?