JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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To be healthy, live in the big city
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Teacher nabbed for using miror to peek up girl's skirt
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Japan's nuclear safety standards flawed, says commission chief
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From carnivores to herbivores: how men are defined in Japan
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Why do Japanese change their attitude when they communicate with foreigners?
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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
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glycol57
Exactly.
Pressing the issue would have caused far more harm than the minor, percieved, "insult" to Japanese pride was worth by anyones measure. The government did the right thing, even if it maybe wasn't the most popular thing.
And, it also has to be noted that the islands and surrounding waters ARE "in dispute". Ownership is NOT perfectly clear. Something should be done about this before the NEXT "incident". Is some kind of co-ownership or "internationalization" of the islands politically possible ?
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?
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glycol57
You've gotta love British "kiddie" films. They start off dark, and then progress towards black and horrific. Compare to traditional American "kiddie" cinema where everything just has to turn out more or less OK for everybody at the end.
Posted in: 'Harry Potter' finale, part 1, leads year-end film lineup
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glycol57
Could be the roles and writers you know ... the "action/fantasy" genre is often considered "frivolous" and prone to studios assigning the bottom of the barrel in terms of writers. Wooden dialogue and stupid scenes are ... well ... there's a point where even the best actors can't help the movie.
Jovovich isn't dumb, and I think she could be a decent 'B'-grade actress at least IF given good material. But she's largely stuck with the action/fantasy stuff so maybe this is the best we'll ever see from her.
Interesting though how there are now even college courses on "Zombiology" in the USA. Like vampires, there has now been enough material to create a fairly complete and consistent mythology.
Posted in: Kicking zombie butt
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glycol57
New inventions, or improvements on old ones, are so common now that there's a sort of "mental overload" at work and the sense of wonder or awe no longer functions.
Yes, something IS lost because of that ... however we DO gain mass quantities of neat-o, and occasionally useful, new inventions by way of compensation.
But I still leave the battery out of my cell phone unless I actually need to call someone, in case of emergency. So many new inventions are about "connectivity" ... but I think being "over-connected" has many serious downsides. At this rate we'll be "Borg" in just a generation or so.
Posted in: Where has the wonder of innovation gone?
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glycol57
Smokers have joined several other minority groups in what I commonly call the "new Jews". Persecuting a "new Jew" is politically correct and government approved ... kind of like it used to be considered proper to persecute regular Jews ... and "blacks", and "catholics", and ... and ... and ..... you know, all those "threats" to a decent pure world. Any old excuse or exaggeration or outright lie will do ... and you can hate with impunity.
Same look & feel - and hatefulness - as good old anti-semitism.
Anyway ... now would be a great time for a movie director to put out a film where only the "good guys" smoked ... and the twisted, sour, "bad guys" didn't :-)
Posted in: Smoking scenes on the decline in movies
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glycol57
Aren't there enough suicides from educational overload already ?
Posted in: Japan fattens textbooks to reverse sliding rank
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glycol57
Hmmm ... why do so many people hate Paris Hilton ? Jealousy. She's pretty, she's rich, she's in with all the most interesting people. Her life is fab - yours is, well ..... who's even interested ?
Now as for her "criminal career" ... come ON now ! She's a minor issue. She has fun the same ways umpteen million other people do - including plenty of Japanese - and suddenly she's not good enough to be in Japan ? Too dangerous ??? Sounds like more jealousy, hiding behind a convenient excuse.
Posted in: Paris Hilton leaves for U.S. after being denied entry into Japan
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glycol57
The USA wouldn't have to worry about its "image" if it were more genuine in the first place. Pakistanis aren't interested in, or convinced by, our professionally-crafted "image of the week".
Posted in: U.S. struggles with image in Pakistan
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glycol57
"Ishtar" was awful. Technically "Battlefield Earth" was even more awful ... but it's so incredibly awful that it's fun to watch.
"Zardoz" was, well, "interesting" ... so heavy ideas in an imperfect wrapper.
And "2001" ... that's not a "movie", it's ART.
Posted in: What are some of your candidates for the worst movie of all time?
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glycol57
One should be careful of blanket statements about "kids". Some ARE "little adults", some are idiots who can't be trusted to tie their own shoe.
When it comes to young people doing something "dangerous" the first line of authority is those who know them best, their parents. Government can also step in sometimes, but procedures should be provided for a case-by-case evaluation - is THIS young person suited for the activity in question - instead of just taking the easy, lazy, path of a one-size-fits-all policy.
The last girl who attempted a world-round cruise was sharp, tough, extremely capable and level-headed. In crisis she did the right things. It would have been ridiculous to deny her the chance to so something extraordinary. The next girl however ... who knows ? Somebody should check into her character and capabilities before just sending her off to sea, but "she's only 13" or whatever should not be cause enough to deny her.
Posted in: Are kids old enough to be playing adult games?
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glycol57
The problem with "global warming" theory is that it so quickly moved from the realm of bona-fide science and became a political issue instead. Scientific theories require solid evidence, careful argument, exacting procedure ... but "politics" works more by the rules of debate, where you persuade rather than "prove".
The art of "persuasion" is one where it's OK to leave out facts that might hurt your cause, skew evidence, draw spurious conclusions, mangle logic, exaggerate one thing while shrinking away something else, even tell lies ... debate is NOT intended to lead to truth, just to get people on your side, get them to back your agenda.
And so we've seen the "global warming" issue degenerate into absolute nonsense, sporting only the pretense of "science" at this point no matter which side is arguing at the moment. I don't think it's possible to draw the correct conclusions anymore, the issue has become too contaminated.
Posted in: Do you consider global warming just a theory or a proven set of facts?
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glycol57
So I guess it's official then ... "environmentalism" has now become one of those political crusades people kill for. It had been at the "terrorism" level for a while - mostly involving 'animal rights' extremists - but this seems to have escalated into overt gun-in-your-face tactics now.
Mr. Lee won't be an isolated case, but the first in an escalating series, a precedent-setter, a martyr. Bet on it.
And yes, SOME of his concerns do seem valid. The human population has grown to unsustainable levels and is reaching the point where large-scale resource wars are likely to break out and whole populations of "have nots" may dry up and blow away.
Crazy Ted Kazinski, the "unibomber", also had some valid points about the elite using technology to oppress everyone else.
But in both cases, their SOLUTIONS were seriously inappropriate and really did nothing to help their causes.
Mr. Lee thinks 'Discovery' network shows ought to become nothing but propaganda organs for his particular set of views and 'solutions' - support him 101 percent or DIE. A 'taliban' variant in my humble opinion ... on a crusade to convert, or exterminate, the 'infidels'.
Posted in: Discovery Channel gunman shot by police; 3 hostages safe
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glycol57
In America, the very IDEA of an "America" - a unified people - has been steadily deteriorating ; I'd say since the 1950s, most definitely since the 1960s.
The forces of political, social and class division steadily outpace and overpower what cohesive influences remain. Even right after the 9/11 attacks, there were loud voices calling for unity, for action ... and plenty of equally loud voices saying how we "deserved it", what an awful country we were and that we shouldn't do anything but apologize to our attackers.
This increasing divisionism is not a vast conspiracy, but a predictable emergent property of the kind of "democracy" practiced in America.
If you want to stand out in a crowd in the USA - be it in politics, business or 'media' - you have to "one up" the competition. Otherwise you'll remain un-noticed, a nobody. This has led to a sort of "devils deal" between politicians and the news media.
In order to make money, a media company has to offer "interesting", "compelling", "controversial" material. Politicians quickly came to understand how they could use this to their advantage by presenting more extreme positions than their opponents. Say outrageous things, suggest policies that you KNOW will enrage the opposition.
Your reward ... the news media will fight over who gets to put your face and your interviews on their TV channels and newspapers. "More extreme" = "instant fame" and free publicity.
Now the news media people aren't stupid ... they understand this game and are willingly complicit. Indeed, if you're "almost interesting" they'll try hard to MAKE you a "controversial" figure just to attract an audience (Sarah Palin is an example).
So, populist politics feeds the news media and the news media feeds populist politics. This creates a positive feedback loop wherin the clearest path to more money, more fame, is to become more and more extreme. The easiest path is to divide the population into groups of your choosing and set them against each other. Polarization = profit.
Unfortunately, this game, this positive feedback loop of ever-escalating extremism and divisionism ... in the end it can lead only to calamity. It's like a jet engine with the throttle stuck on full ... revving faster and faster until it explodes.
Both the politicians and news media bet that it won't explode TODAY, not on their watch. They bet that they can extract their rewards and get clear before the shrapnel starts flying.
Of course for the ordinary citizens it's not a game - and it's they who stand to suffer the most serious injuries. If America really does come apart along its fault-lines it would be a disaster for its people. Large well-organized nations suffer the most when that organization breaks down. Even worse, unlike in the 1860s, the "sides" in America have no geographical locus. This means "the enemy" is likely to be the guy next door. When neighbor hates neighbor there is no end to what evils may be done.
Posted in: America feels ready to snap
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glycol57
People like "Barbie" are what Mexico and others get for helping the USA with its puro-fascist "drug war". The results of this 'war' have been ten times as bad as what it imagines it can/should defeat.
Just because Americans are never happy unless they're on some great crusade for 'purity' of some kind or another doesn't mean other countries ought to become equally stupid and sign on.
There are plenty of other ways to look at and handle 'drug use' other than a militaristic "bigger hammer" approach. Of course those wouldn't pipe so much money into the 'drug war' industry or justify meddling in the affairs of other countries, governments and people ....
Posted in: Mexico captures reported drug lord 'The Barbie'
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glycol57
Who are "they" ? This attack was several years in the planning, slowly infiltrating the terrorists, training some to fly, getting everything coordinated. Are we to belive Clinton and Bush were both in on it ?
Sorry, but this attack was classic al-Qaida from start to finish. It didn't need any help from "them".
Posted in: Do you believe that Al-Qaida was responsible for the events of 9/11
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glycol57
Take a look around, Japan, USA, Europe, wherever ... you see all sorts of laws - some quite extreme - about who can have sex with who, exactly how old they're supposed to be, of what relation, exactly under what circumstances - and yet there's an absolutely constant stream of these "outrages" in the press and you know what's reported represents only a small fraction of what's really going on. Humans are very sexual, they fancy what they fancy when they fancy it and all the policemen or imams or whatever can't do much about it.
So let's get real for a moment.
If you want an "age of consent" with a rational base then I'd suggest returning to the sensible old time standard - puberty. It was good enough for 200,000 years ... and then everyone fancied that they'd become 'sophisticated'. Well, maybe the societies became more complex, but the people did not. Same biology as always.
Once the hormones kick in desire leads where desire leads and girls are gonna find guys whether Ma and Pa and preacher Joe like it or not. The outcome kind of depends on whether Ma and Pa and preacher Joe raised their girls to be naive idiots or whether they taught them the real 'facts of life' instead of the Disney version before puberty arrives and bad-boy gangster types with expensive cars become irresitably attractive.
This constant escalation of the 'age of consent' has essentially criminalized human biology - which just happens to keep police/court budgets nice and fat, odd coincidence.
Now rape, coersion and some kinds of exploitation are an entirely different matter. Mere sexuality does NOT justify the use of violence or threats or dangerous deceptions as a means of satisfaction. That's where biology ends and "crime" begins.
Posted in: Osaka man arrested for employing 50 high school girls as prostitutes
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glycol57
Japan isn't quite as into that medieval puritan nonsense as europe and America - and what homegrown "puritanism" exists has a different flavor too. Rather than feeling "used and washed-up" the woman is probably happily counting her thick wad of money and looking forward to a wider variety of fun in her future.
Posted in: Osaka man arrested for employing 50 high school girls as prostitutes
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glycol57
Disabled people are STILL people ... with the same wants and desires as everyone else - but often far fewer opportunities to satisfy those desires.
Only the most mean-spirited hard-hearted self-righteous sadistic puritan would complain about this service. I'm sure it's not "perfect" ... but it's going to be a LOT better than nothing.
Posted in: Business caters to sexual needs of disabled
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glycol57
Such a pity that Allen is contributing to illiteracy.
Posted in: Audiobooks of 4 Woody Allen works released
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glycol57
Isn't about time to stop inventing reasons that make it OK to kill off dolphins and whales ? There are no more reasons ... and were never very many in the first place.
There are other tasty and nutritious critters that can be bred in mass quantities and sold for far less money than whale or dolphin ... chickens and turkeys come to mind ... and aquaculture of fast-growing fish has become a big business now.
Dolphins can sometimes be a nuisance to open-water fishermen, but in truth their numbers are too small to put any REAL dent in the catches. Netted aquaculture areas are going to be immune to hungry dolphins anyway.
So, just leave them alone.
Posted in: Taiji mayor defends dolphin hunts