Wednesday February 15, 2012

JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION

gonemad's past comments

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gonemadOct. 18, 2011 - 12:33AM JST

Hori-san, this was your best article so far on JT.

Posted in: Japan must draw on vitality of global economy
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gonemadOct. 17, 2011 - 09:42PM JST

There is no need to bash any company. The simple fact is you cannot make a smartphone without infringing on somebody's patents. Both Apple and Samsung are not stupid. It won't take long until we will see them sign a cross-licensing agreement. Until then they will fight in courts to get a better position in the negotiations.

Posted in: Samsung seeks iPhone sales ban in Japan, Australia
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gonemadOct. 15, 2011 - 12:04AM JST

Afterall what sicko reads this stuff, and is that sicko going to differentiate between cartoons and the real thing?

You are entering a very slippery slope. What about things such as murder, rape, torture, bullying? How many fiction books or films are there without them? Are we still allowed to read newspapers or watch the news on TV without being accused of thought crimes? If we don't draw the line at where a real damage occurs to a real living person, we will quickly loose all rights to free speech.

Posted in: How Japanese manga can land international travelers in jail
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gonemadOct. 14, 2011 - 11:13PM JST

Strange story. What could be the motive behind such an attack? I mean, Iran and Saudi Arabia can't really be called friends, but killing an ambassador - for what? Using a guy who, according to all people who knew him, is so disorganized that he would be incapable of performing such a task? On the other hand, I see no reason why the Obama administration should try to orchestrate a false flag operation. Are we sure this assasination attempt doesn't have a purely criminal background?

Posted in: Obama blames Iran for plot to kill Saudi diplomat
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gonemadOct. 12, 2011 - 09:23PM JST

Laguna is dead-on with his comments.

One further observation: when we exclude those CEOs which were founders of the company or joined in the very early phases and only look at the CEOs of companies that have been established a long time ago (where "long time" has to be seen as somehow relative to the dynamics in the respective market), the remuneration of the CEOs seems to be inversely proportional to their achievements (the less they achieve the higher the remuneration). It's a purely subjective observation and I don't have numbers to back it up.

Posted in: Chief executives are fond of saying “That’s the market system” when it comes to defending their remuneration package. What do you say?
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gonemadOct. 12, 2011 - 12:00AM JST

The US is one of the countries with the highest agricultural subsidies worldwide. Together with the EU they have stalled the WTO talks for this very reason and I'm sure they won't give up their subsidies for the TPP. For Japan, this means there definitely will be possibilities to continue with their subsidies for farmers albeit maybe in a modified form. It all depends on negotiations. It doesn't help to paint everything in black and white.

Posted in: Noda says Japan must decide soon on trans-Pacific trade agreement
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gonemadOct. 11, 2011 - 11:05PM JST

Most of the attacks can be fent off by properly using a software called Brain version 1.0. It seems these guys are still using an alpha version and on top of that on ancient hardware with lightning-fast response time...

Posted in: Cabinet sets up taskforce to deal with cyberattacks
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gonemadOct. 10, 2011 - 11:05PM JST
What I expect any relevant medium to do is
1. collect and present all information which is somehow related to an event
2. categorize the information and break them down into different levels of detail, provide links to past information
3. put the information into context by adding opinions, both from "experts" (journalists, politicians, scientists) and users
4. provide a suitable mechanism for filtering the large amount of daily news
There is no medium which covers all points satisfactorily, but it is clearly visible that internet-based media have the biggest potential to come close. TV by its very nature fails most of these points and as such is deemed to become an entertainment-only medium. Radio, while equally limited, still has a chance for a niche market for people who perform other tasks in parallel, like e.g. driving a car. Newspapers can cover most points better than TV or radio, although limited by speed. I have given up on daily newspapers since many years, but still enjoy reading a monthly paper. Social networks are en vogue, but except being good at collecting information for some type of events like natural disasters and adding user opinion they utterly fail at the remaining points. I don't believe they will ever become relevant news sites.

I can see some developments on some of the internet sites of large traditional media which go into the right direction, but the makers are still too much focussed on the concepts of their roots. There is a large potential for a newcomer to roll up the market in a similar way like Google did with the search engine market.
Posted in: What we expect from the mass media
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gonemadOct. 10, 2011 - 09:16PM JST

Eddie, I have never met anybody who learned thousands - or even hundreds or tens for that matter - of Kanji prior to basic communication skills. But what I found is that for me personally without learning Kanji I cannot make any real progress. Maybe because I'm fundamentally used to visual learning and I cannot remember things which I have only heard. But beyond that I have also made the experience that I could not fully understand and hence use certain expressions until I finally learned the Kanji behind. In that sense, I found my textbooks and teachers, who wanted to keep things simple more confusing than helping.

As others have said, the headline is a bit of an exaggeration. Otherwise interesting article.

Posted in: Demand for Japanese language instruction in U.S. skyrocketing
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gonemadOct. 10, 2011 - 07:46PM JST

Serrano, I gave you another thumbs-down. Because you are unable to differentiate and use words you obviously don't care to understand. BTW, I will never give anybody here a thumbs-down because I don't like his opinion or political standpoint.

I'm not surprised about the protests, rather that they come so late and (still?) tame.

Posted in: How do you feel about the Wall Street protests which are spreading?
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gonemadOct. 10, 2011 - 07:21PM JST

This fits well into the picture of the vindicative thinking about the justice system in Japan. Somebody who gets sent to prison should suffer, the more the better. No thoughts about adequacy - the penalty is defined as deprivation of liberty, but nothing beyond - or the burdens to society after the prisoners are released.

Posted in: Prison inmates' illnesses, injuries go untreated
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gonemadOct. 10, 2011 - 06:41PM JST

All (straight) men worship all female breasts

No, Ben, no. Not all. I mean, not all breasts...

Posted in: 'You lookin' at me?' Fake book soothes race relations
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gonemadOct. 10, 2011 - 06:23PM JST

The probability that any North Korean defector knows Megumi Yokota is quite low. She certainly isn't a celebrity there. When the news that she is still alive comes without further reference (who is this defector and why can't she tell his name?) from a right-wing MP which has some "issues" with Japan (e.g. she changed her official residence to Dokdo), then how serious can we take it?

Posted in: Megumi Yokota still alive: N Korean defector
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gonemadOct. 06, 2011 - 11:28PM JST

The focus on making technology usable for the masses, not just some geeks. There are lots of other companies which made and make products which are technically better than Apple's and which even brought them to the market earlier. Yet they lack(ed) a consistent and easy way how to use them.

Posted in: What do you think Apple founder Steve Jobs' greatest legacy will be?
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gonemadOct. 05, 2011 - 07:00PM JST

Tying such diverse economies together in one currency is sheer lunacy, and the only way to solve the problem is to remove its cause -- the common currency.

If this is true, then tell me how the US dollar still exists? The economic disparity between federal states in the US is larger than between the states in the Euro zone. Many US states, such as Nevada, Illinois, Texas, Oregon and last but not least California are on the verge of bankruptcy. On the other hand, none of them has such a high debt ratio like Greece. When we go back in history we can see that in 1837 eight US states defaulted and in 1933 Arkansas went bankrupt. The dollar survived these events and there is no reason why Greece should leave the Euro in case of default.

In the US all states now have constitutional limits on public debt, something which only exists for a few states in Europe. While this is certainly no magic bullet (we see rising fears of state bancruptcy again in the US), it is definetely something which European states should introduce as fast as possible.

The reason why Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal are in crisis is similar to what led to the crisis in 1837: wages in these states have risen too fast, making their economies uncompetitive in comparison. Some painful adjustments to salaries would be required, but making these adjustments too fast will kill economic growth and make the debt situation worse. Something like a decade of pay freezes seems more suitable, maybe even in legally binding way. Ireland is a different case since they made the strategic mistake to publically guarantee all deposits in Irish banks during the crisis in 2008.

A break up of the Euro would have devastating consequences world wide and one of those who would get hurt most is Japan. Thus Azumi-san's worries are quite real.

Posted in: Japan calls on eurozone to swiftly implement Greece aid plan
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gonemadOct. 05, 2011 - 12:19AM JST

Whatever we think about Ozawa and his aides, let's be careful. We all know about the 99% conviction rate in Japan. Did these guys really have a fair trial? And all we know about this case is through the press. Who controls the majority of the press in Japan?

Posted in: Ozawa says aides' convictions 'unbelievable' in a democracy
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gonemadOct. 02, 2011 - 09:13PM JST

Facebook comes up with new functions and changes to the way it handles private data, so that when you don't constantly check your privacy settings, sooner or later all information you ever entered becomes public. In that way users are already locked in since they signed up on FB.

Posted in: Facebook rolls out big changes to 'lock in' users
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gonemadOct. 01, 2011 - 12:05AM JST

Just plain vanilla food. Today's young chicks are easy to impress.

and the kitchen doesn't look like a war zone when he's finished.

cleo, isn't this a prerequisite for any good cooking? Just as it is that she cleans up the mess?

Posted in: Guys, take note: This is what you should cook to impress women
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gonemadSep. 27, 2011 - 06:40PM JST

The farmers vote wouldn't have much meaning in any election, there's not enough of them.

The way constituencies are set up in Japan, rural areas and hence farmers are overrepresented.

Posted in: For two, almost three, generations Japanese agriculture has been essentially 'socialized,' that is, sucked into the maw of the bureaucratic, administrative state. Japanese farmers think and act like government employees, who expect—and receive—a guaranteed income from the state.
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gonemadSep. 27, 2011 - 06:27PM JST

Set up an independent organization which checks all agricultural products from the prefecture for radiation. Make absolutely sure that the organization is trusted and that e.g. stickers which they put on the products are tamper-proof. Then start an advertising campaign. I'm sure many people are willing to support the people in Fukushima by buying their products, but only when they are safe. Later, when radiation is not so much an issue any more you can extend this label into a certified quality label.

Still, many farmers will go out of business, either because their land is contaminated or because they don't have the financial endurance to survive the crisis. Use the free land for solar energy plants. Use the evacuation zone as well to set up huge solar plants or wind generators. In this form you can make use of the land which otherwise will just lie fallow for decades. Look at other forms of renewable energy sources as well. Make sure you remain the source of power for the Kanto area.

Set up an agency to take care of large-scale decontamination. Use this agency to employ those who have lost their jobs due to the nuclear accident.

Last but not least, don't rely on the central government. Don't wait for them. Come up with your own ideas, implement them by yourself. But put the heat up on Nagatacho for the funding.

Posted in: What is the best way to help rejuvenate the economy in Fukushima Prefecture, considering that many people are reluctant to buy produce from the area due to radiation fears?