JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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Why do Japanese change their attitude when they communicate with foreigners?
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Confrontation
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U.S. Navy investigating how parts fell off aircraft near Atsugi
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California court to decide if SeaWorld whales are illegal 'slaves'
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Kuroki reported pregnant 2 weeks after denying relationship with Akanishi
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- Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) in Kanto region
- RCS (RCSコーポレーション), Kanto
- Salary: ¥180,000 ~ ¥250,000 / Month includes performance bonus
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- Assistant Language Teacher - TOKYO - late-March start
- Interac, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥230,000 ~ ¥255,000 / Month
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- Assistant Language Teacher - Kanagawa Prefecture - late-March start
- Interac, Kanagawa
- Salary: ¥230,000 ~ ¥255,000 / Month
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gonemad
mike23thurgood, you took a lot of effort to write a long comment, but unfortunately almost all of it is just repeating the official fairy tales which have long been proven wrong. Please do a little bit of background search before you post your comments.
Posted in: Workers at Fukushima nuclear plant recall desperation
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gonemad
Just add an 'l' at the end and it is still there...
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/11040103-e.html
Posted in: Study shows deeper meltdown than thought at Fukushima nuclear reactor
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gonemad
There are several simulations showing a complete melt-through should have happened already. It's probably a safe assumption that the TEPCO study worked with rather optimistic assumptions. But even if we take the TEPCO study as a basis, we can assume that within something like a couple of months latest, the core will reach the soil below the plant. I do not believe that there are any ways to stop the core from melting through. What I would like to see are simulations which determine the further spread of radiation under the specific soil and ground water conditions at Fukushima and what technical possibilities remain to contain some of it.
Posted in: Study shows deeper meltdown than thought at Fukushima nuclear reactor
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gonemad
zichi, as we have learned in the meantime, there were too many issues with the plant and fixing them would have been impossible. He would have lost his job.
Posted in: Study shows deeper meltdown than thought at Fukushima nuclear reactor
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gonemad
Hope you will not repeat the mistakes of your parents...
Posted in: The Penn State scandal and our children
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gonemad
Which parts of the plants will be put on quake-absorbing systems? I can't imagine you can simply retrofit a whole reactor with a quake-aborbing system and much less than 200 billion for adding them to several facilities (all 11 of them are reactors?) seems to be extremely cheap.
Posted in: Kansai Electric says reinforcing Fukui nuclear facilities will cost Y200 bil
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gonemad
All he wants to get is some defectors who are against the TPP leave the DPJ and join his party. He will give the party a new name so that it is no obvious.
Posted in: Kamei looking to form new political party to counter DPJ
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gonemad
It'll be called Social Platform Integration phone, SPI phone ;-)
Posted in: Facebook, HTC building Android smartphone: report
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gonemad
I have always wondered about the vending machines which sell whiskey, sometimes in large bottles (1.5l). It seems there is no problem with teenagers buying them uncontrolled?
Posted in: Unique vending machines in Japan
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gonemad
59 comments so far, 60 including this one. Much ado about nothing. It is exactly this kind of feedback which encourages the "artists".
Posted in: Vandals target metro subway lines nationwide
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gonemad
sfjp330, a nice long generic list, which unfortunately you can more or less apply to any country. Now please explain where specifically any of these apply to car imports in Japan.
I don't know the prices, but I suppose the Focus will not be sold cheaper than the Axela? If not the price, then what is the benefit of the Ford model to a customer in Japan? When you want to buy the car or when you have a problem, how long is the way to the next dealer? As a rough calculation you can divide the Axela sales by the ratio of Mazda vs Ford dealers in Japan. Then what is the brand/quality image of Mazda versus Ford? For me personally, Ford lags far behind and it's hard to believe this would be different for Japanese people. Are there design differences? Then which one fits better to the Japanese taste? And last but not least, go to the Japanese Ford website and try to find the Focus. It doesn't exist. How do you expect that Ford can sell a car that it doesn't promote at all? You really don't need any trade barriers to explain the difference in sales figures.
Posted in: Last year, Japan exported 1.5 million vehicles to the United States, while U.S. automakers exported just 8,000. Why aren't U.S. makers selling more in Japan?
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gonemad
There are a couple of good wines in Japan, but value for money is generally problematic. Koshu is quite an interesting alternative when you're tired of drinking wine made from always the same international varieties.
Posted in: Japanese wine ain't half bad
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gonemad
I suppose Japan will give the money under the condition that it is Japanese companies which get awarded the contracts. As such it is a stimulus package for the Japanese industry or a large porc barrel with even less public control, depending on your perspective.
To answer the question: neither of them. Save the money.
Posted in: Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has offered ASEAN leaders 2 trillion yen to help improve infrastructure in the region. Do you think that money should be spent on post-quake reconstruction efforts in the Tohoku?
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gonemad
It seems the whole argument about the cancer rates is a bit too simplistic. When you take the whole number of cancer cases then it is probably correct that the additional cases will not be detectable. But the probability to develop cancer increases steeply with age (exponentially?). When you only look at younger age people and the time of occurrence, the statistical detection threshold becomes much lower. Furthermore, we will probably see different types of cancer depending on which radioactive elements are absorbed by the body. The article mentions thyroid cancer as one example. By differentiating tumor types, detection thresholds should become even lower.
Last but not least, what does the number of 1:400 for a child exposed to 20mSv/a really mean? Where does this number come from and are conditions really comparable to the situation in Japan now? If the 20mSv/a is external radiation (which I think it is based on the comparison to measured exposure levels), you have to add the internal radiation. How do external (for which we have relatively reliable numbers) and internal radiation levels correlate? How does this probability change when the child is exposed for not only one year, but many consecutive years?
As difficult as it is to get meaningful data, it seems that public entities and their dependents like Yasumura don't even try to improve the estimation base due to the fear that people might later ask for compensation payments.
Posted in: Future cancers caused by Fukushima radiation may be hidden
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gonemad
sfjp330, the majority of industrialized countries has a progressive taxation depending on displacement and/or CO2 emissions. There are good reasons for it. Just because the US doesn't have it, everybody should adapt to the lowest level? Have I mentioned arrogance before?
Despite that, I can see a significant number of cars with engines beyond 3l in Japan. Few of them are US made. There must be more than tax...
What's wrong with shaken? I mean specifically for foreign cars as opposed to Japanese cars?
Posted in: Last year, Japan exported 1.5 million vehicles to the United States, while U.S. automakers exported just 8,000. Why aren't U.S. makers selling more in Japan?
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gonemad
Ah, the promoters of free trade again... Are you aware that the US already now raise 15% import tax on cars, while in Japan it is a whopping 0%? This is most probably the reason why so many people in the US have started voicing concerns about Japan joining the TPP. They just want to keep their protectionist barriers. In order to conceal their true reasons, Detroit's spin doctors launched the campaign about alleged unfair trade practices in Japan.
Posted in: Last year, Japan exported 1.5 million vehicles to the United States, while U.S. automakers exported just 8,000. Why aren't U.S. makers selling more in Japan?
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gonemad
sfjp330, my comment was specifically about your comparison of the Mustang versus Camry. I don't say that Detroit makers can't build fuel-efficient cars. But the Mustang is ill-suited to the Japanese market when it comes to fuel efficiency in a similar way as the Prius hybrid is not necessarily a good choice for many consumers in the US.
I'd prefer to return to the trade barrier discussion, but you stay silent on that one...
Posted in: Last year, Japan exported 1.5 million vehicles to the United States, while U.S. automakers exported just 8,000. Why aren't U.S. makers selling more in Japan?
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gonemad
sfjp330, just how relevant is this for the typical Japanese user who rarely drives his car on a freeway? You should rather compare the city ratings, the ones which you have left out deliberately...
You wrote this again, but you missed to explain how the keiretsu can manage to keep off foreign makers from the Japanese market.
Posted in: Last year, Japan exported 1.5 million vehicles to the United States, while U.S. automakers exported just 8,000. Why aren't U.S. makers selling more in Japan?
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gonemad
NetNinja, same for you: please name the restrictions.
Posted in: Last year, Japan exported 1.5 million vehicles to the United States, while U.S. automakers exported just 8,000. Why aren't U.S. makers selling more in Japan?
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gonemad
Children harass each other in one or the other way. That some of it becomes sexual harassment during puberty is no surprise. When you take into account that sexual "maturity" comes a bit earlier for every generation we should expect slowly rising numbers. So, like tmarie, I'd have expected higher numbers.
Posted in: 48% of U.S. students face sexual harassment: survey