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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- 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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herefornow
Ah, duh, maybe because Apple is like the world's second most valuable company based on market capitalization, and has gotten there by being innovative. Something Sony was once known for. Sony, like many major Japanese companies, is a victim of its own success, because it has now become so bureaucratic and compartmentalized that it cannot function in the fast-paced world of the 21st century. Expect at least another three years of red ink.
Posted in: Sony headed for fourth straight year in the red
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herefornow
sunhawk -- nonsense. Every major business group in Japan supports joining TPP because they know that not joining will destroy what is left of Japan's manufacturing base. Because, unlike you, they recognize that Japan's cost base is higher then most of its competitors, and, if Japan is subject to import tariffs on top of that, they will be completely uncompetitive. Joining TPP is one of the steps Japan must take to end its near three-decade long economic slide.
Posted in: Japan to make decision on TPP next week
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herefornow
Shootland -- what an idiotic statement. Sure, as in this case, there have been periods in American history when certain groups were oppressed -- women, blacks, Japanese, possibly being the most recent. And those are certainly not our most shining moments. But at least the U.S., unlike countries like Japan for example, tries to better itself by admitting mistakes, and righting them when possible. And that is never "too little too late". In fact, the U.S. long ago recognized the errors associated with the internment camps -- in fact in 1988 it admitted that this was based on "race prejudice, war hysteria, and lack of political leadership" -- and paid over $1.6 billion in raparations. The day Japan can look itself in the mirror and do similiarly is the day when folks posting on JT have a right to critisize the U.S. for this kind of action.
Posted in: U.S. Congress honors Japanese-American soldiers
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herefornow
nigelboy -- and for the "upteenth time", let me remind you that Edano did state that there was the high possiblility of a meltdown, as you suggest, (how could he deny it when there was proof which the whole world could see?) but he also obfuscated on the severity of it and the number of reactors that were involved. Weeks after the outside world was saying there had been at least a 70% meltdown in three reactors, he was still sticking to phrases like "partial" meltdown. He never admitted that it was a near complete meltdown until anyone with half a brain had already reached that conclusion. So, the J-government's credibility on all this is hardly very good. Which might just be why the IAEA has basically demanded that Japan be more forthcoming with information. Or did you miss that?
Posted in: New fission suspected at Fukushima nuclear plant
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herefornow
minello and Ranger -- have either of you ever taken a business class? Without shareholders there are no companies. That's where the capital companies run on comes from. And just like banks who get paid interest, they are entitled to a return on their investment. And if companies don't make a profit they will not be able to raise funds in the future. Pure nonsense.
Posted in: TDK to cut 11,000 jobs worldwide
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herefornow
Glad its not my tax money paying for such insanity any more. Bad enough to support a worthless Imperial household of spoiled , isolated weaklings, but, also a health-care structure where folks run to hospitals for a cold. Insane.
Posted in: Princess Aiko hospitalized with cold symptoms
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herefornow
No way. This is absurd even by Hollywood standards.
Posted in: Kim Kardashian files for divorce after 10 weeks
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herefornow
And the beat goes on. One day its Panasonic saying they are going to have a huge loss; then its Sony pulling out of its deal with Samsung; and, now its TDK letting 12% of its workforce go. Does anyone doubt that the hallowing out of Japan is gaining traction and some significant changes need to be made?
Posted in: TDK to cut 11,000 jobs worldwide
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herefornow
sensaiman -- you should be a politician. You don't respond to anything directly and try to hide behind using meaningless statistics to make an argument. Suddenly, not experiencing negative growth, is a positive. (And howcome when I use statistics or point out the flaws in your "thinking", they are "straw arguments'?) Just answer my basic question -- If doing the same thing for over twenty years has resulted in Japan declining dramatically in relative economic prosperity, how can continuing it make sense? Like I said before, you are just comfortable and don't want to live in a society that promotes growth and ambition. Has nothing to do with economics.
Posted in: Making Japan a more attractive place to do business
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herefornow
Alan -- wishful thinking. Japanese business is rife with this kind of thing. The whole business model of Japan is based on lack of tranparency, cross-holdings, and boards made up of only insiders. Where else do you have annual meetings held with members of "anti-social forces", who are on the company payroll, attend to keep order and make sure no shareholders actually ask tough questions? There is no such thing as real corporate governance in Japan, nor sense of fiduciary responsibility/shareholder's rights. It simply does not exist. And the only reason this came to light is because an outsider exposed it. Corporate managers in Japan are taught to manage for the benefit of each other and their partners, not the public or shareholders. This situation defines what Japan Inc. is all about.
Posted in: Olympus scandal not good for Japan's image, Noda says
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herefornow
Reckless -- bingo. Those saying that Japan's debt is "owned" by Japanese are just playing the denial/euphemism game played all the time in Japan. If Japanese were not so insular and risk-averse, they would be demanding a much higher return on their savings, and then the whole house-of-cards would fall apart. But Japan Post and the government that protects them from any real competition, have an un-holy alliance to keep them in the dark. And as you say, any debt that is over 200% of GDP and takes 40% of the budget just to service the annual cost cannot possibly be good in the long term. No matter who "owns" it.
Posted in: Japan's public debt to hit record Y1,024 trillion
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herefornow
Wow, a whole year of profitablity before another loss. Now that's some accomplishment. As others have noted, Japan has been passed in innovation by countries like the U.S. and even Korea. And China, Vietnam, etc. are producing things far cheaper, especially with the strong yen. So industrial Japan needs to a new strategy -- fast. Japan Inc is on life support.
Posted in: Panasonic expected to post Y300 bil loss
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herefornow
senseiman -- rubbish. Please give me ten years out of the last twenty when Japan had real GDP growth of greater than 2.0%. And if it has done so well, how come per capita GDP in Japan dropped from being in the top 5 in the world to barely in the top 25 now ? And lowering tax rates alone will likely not make companies relocate to Japan, but, not doing so is going to certainly increase the rate at which ones are leaving/reducing investment. Respectfully, you are simply "comfortable" with your life here, and want everyone else to decide stability is better than growth because that suits you. And that's fine, but your economic arguments are hogwash. (For example, rather than change the labor laws you imply that Japan should just let companies hire more temp/contract workers, who are easier to fire. Do you realize how counter-productive that is and will lead to more problems and economic uncertainty?) And for a sensei I would think you would be aware of one of Einstein's most famous quotes "That the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting a different result". Japan is sliding into irrelevancy, if it already isn't there, because folks like you just want to do nothing. Unreal.
Posted in: Making Japan a more attractive place to do business
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herefornow
gifu -- fair enough. But it is also important to note that the population is shrinking, as are savings, while the servicing cost on the debt continues to rise as the size of the debt rises. So the ability of the Japanese to continue to purchase all this debt is rapidly declining. Then what happens? Certainly no one outside of Japan will buy it for less than 1% interest. So the borrowing costs will have to go up, and, again, up goes the amount needed to service it. So, no, it is no Greece, but it is an unavoidable spiral in the making unless something drastic is done.
Posted in: Japan's public debt to hit record Y1,024 trillion
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herefornow
Unfortuantely for Japan, the Tohoku disaster could not have it at a worse time. There were already two parts of a perfect storm in place -- two much debt and a shrinking population and economy. Now add trillions more in re-building costs, and the storm is complete. Especially since the government is clueless on how to turn the counrty around.
Posted in: Japan's public debt to hit record Y1,024 trillion
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herefornow
30 years for "final disposal". Anyone who doesn't think this is in the same category as Chrenobyl is simply fooling themselves. Fukushima is a dead-zone for at least a generation or more so that Japan could have "cheap" power.
Posted in: Gov't announces plan to store radioactive soil in Fukushima
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herefornow
So? That has nothing to do at all with the fact that the could speak English. Most Japanese university gradautes are worthless because they really didn't learn anything, especially their last two years, which are totally devoted to networking and finding a job. This article is crap.
Posted in: Adopting English as workplace language in Japan has its downside
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herefornow
Frungy & senseiman -- wrong, this article is a brilliant one, and recommends amny directions that myself and others have stated on this site for years. First off, he is not proposing a "U.S.-style economy and society". He is proposing one that is capable of competing globally in the 21st century. South Korea is moving in many of these directions. IMO, frungy, it is you who has missed the "basic fact". Japan is now going into its third-decade of economic, and social, stagnation. Which, as the author says, can only be reversed by an economic revival, not by simply doing the same things that have not worked. Respectfully Japan will become a much less of a "nice place to live and work", at least for anyone with any ambition, which is the point the author is making. If "stability" is your measuring stick, then fine, you have landed in the right place -- because as much sense as his recommendations make, as others have stated, none of this will ever happen in Japan. But if you want to live in a vibrant country where people are excited about the future, and young people can look forward to a better life than that lived by their parents, then Japan, without change, is not the place. That simple.
Posted in: Making Japan a more attractive place to do business
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herefornow
Which means it will take 30 years for the public to stop paying for TEPCO's mistakes -- at least.
Posted in: Decommissioning Fukushima nuclear plant likely to take 30 years
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herefornow
Huge missing piece of information in this article -- Is Daio a publicly traded/owned company? If so, this is worse than Olympus. I mean the fact that someone could get over $140.0 million simply by demanding it is just unbelievable. Are there no controls at all in these companies?
Posted in: Former Daio Paper chairman to be indicted over dubious loans