JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
-
- Translator
- ZAIHON, Inc. (日本財務翻訳株式会社), Tokyo
- Salary: ¥6.0M / Year Negotiable
-
- 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
-
- Assistant Language Teacher - TOKYO - late-March start
- Interac, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥230,000 ~ ¥255,000 / Month
-4
herefornow
Every day it seems, even 7 months after the disaster, disclosures like this keep occurring. Why I am so glad I got out when I did so this kind of stuff deosn't cause me constant stress and worry anymore.
Posted in: Nuclear radiation from Fukushima twice more than estimated: report
-2
herefornow
tokyokawasaki -- spot on. But we are talking about Japan here, so the fake bows/apologies and lack of ethics will continue unabated as they are the lessons taught in Business 101 here at almost every company. They know no other way, and are so insular they really don't grasp the way other countries operate. So while the call by the foreign business groups is admirable, it will fall on completely deaf ears, and, if anything, simply cause the boards to become more tight-knit/circle-the-wagons even more. They will just point to it as proof that foreigners "don't understand" Japan and how it is different. Plus, they are protected by a press here that is just as ignorent, and simply, dutifully shows all the bows on TV, and does no investigative journalism.
Posted in: Foreign business groups urge gov't to bolster corporate governance rules
-2
herefornow
Sort of ironic that Japan, with a debt to GDP ratio of over 200% is going to help bail out Greece, that will end up with a ratio of 120%. If Japanese people weren't stupid enough to settle for .1% interest and so scared they can only put their savings in the Post Office, Japan would be going down the same road.
Posted in: Noda offers vague promises to help stabilize Europe
-4
herefornow
pawatan -- nonsense. You know not of what you speak. Because, in the U.S., unlike in Japan, directors must be approved by the shareholders. So even a hint of corruption will get them dumped, because the funds that hold the stocks can't risk that kind of thing. As a result shareholders have real power in the U.S., unlike in Japan. And, wanderlust "to maintain shareholder value" is what directors are supposed to do. That is why they are elected by the shareholders. Except of course in Japan, which we all know is NOT a capitalist/free-market economy, but rather a semi-Socialist one. Japan's sytem lost its effectiveness when the bubble burst, and will simply drag the country down further and faster if not changed.
Posted in: The lack of outside independent directors is simply a symptom of the underlying issue that companies are run by a tight group of people who have been in the company for decades.
-2
herefornow
In other words, "We have let two decades slip by without addressing the serious structural issues in the Japanese economy, like increasing domestic demand and efficiency, so we are still too vulnerable to external forces that we cannot control." And everyone will just have to suffer through at least two more years of a poor economy -- but now with increased taxes to pay the repair bills. Nice job guys.
Posted in: BOJ cuts growth estimates; expands monetary easing policy
2
herefornow
hoserfella -- you hit the nail on the head. And since laws here are deliberately written to be vague and with plenty of ambiquity -- with words like "make best efforts' and the like -- companies have lots of leeway in determining what is legal. Moral and ethics have little or no place in corporate Japan, and that should not be a surprise to anyone.
Posted in: Olympus says it did nothing illegal in controversial deals
-1
herefornow
Mark -- nonsense. The decisions made on these deals, including the payments to the "advisors", as well as the ousting of Woodford, were all made in Japan, in a major Japan-based company environment. Hence the problem -- isolation, arrogance, and lack of concern about share-holders well-being. And your second point is equally irrelevant. So far we know; that they paid too much (we just don't know to whom), that they canned Woodford because he was going to expose it, and, then lied about all of it. And now shuffle the CEO off to a meaningless position while making some bows and saying they are sorry for having caused confusion. Sorry, but IMO, based on ten years in Japan working with numerous major companies, that is "normal business practice" there.
Posted in: Do you think that the problem unfolding at Olympus is a difference in perception of how business is done in Japan? For example, could deals that ousted British CEO Michael Woodford considered dubious, be thought of as normal business practices by Japanese executives?
1
herefornow
Where are all the Japan fans with their rationalizations in this? On numerous occassions they have stated that these sort of corporate shenagins only occur in places like the U.S. due to too much greed on the part of the managers, supposedly due to the capitalist/free-market mechanism. Or something like that. Well this can only be attributed to greed, arrogance, or complete incompetence. And we all know Olympus is the rule, rather than the exception. Bottom line, Japan Inc has as many issues to deal with as any other country, and this should be a lesson to all those who throw stones.
Posted in: Olympus chief Kikukawa resigns amid reports of FBI probe
-2
herefornow
Proof once again that the concept of fiduciary responsibility has no place in many boardrooms in Japan. Amazing. These companies want to compete globally, and even have global investors buy their stock, but still run the companies in the "Good Old Boy" manner of Japan Inc. Are they that ignorant, or is its arrogance?
Posted in: Olympus ex-CEO pursues the $687 million question
-1
herefornow
My word they even have a cute expression for mental illness/depression. Puts it in the same class as "groping" and "comfort women". Will Japan ever grow up and be able to face its issues in a muture way, rather than relying on euphemisms and cute campaign characters to make everything so childish?
Posted in: Fukushima a chance to reform Japan's mental health care system: WHO
-3
herefornow
Interesting that Japan, which prides itself on being so technologically advanced/sophisticated, and is staking much of its future on being a leader in technology like robots, continues to suffer these kinds of breaches. Wonder why?
Posted in: Cyberattackers may have stolen military info from Mitsubishi Heavy
-4
herefornow
Iken? -- nonsense. You, obviously have no experience/exposure outside of Japan and know nothing of what you speak. First off, in most major countries stock holders have real power, and would dump any managers who had any hint of impropriety. The mutual funds that own much of the stock would never take the risk of being associated with something like this. Plus, there are truly "outside" directors. Second, have you heard of the Oxley-Sarbanes Act? It requires that all CEO's of publicly traded companies in the U.S. sign a statement that says there is nothing "fishy" in the numbers -- under criminal penalty if found to be false. The day will never come when Japan gets that serious about this kind of thing. Because everyone knows that much of Japan Inc. is a house-of-cards that would come tumbling down if the way these companies operate was brought to light. Third, many large companies in the U.S. have a significant number of foreigners as directors, who don't succomb to this nationalist nonsense of protecting Japan Inc. that is so prevalent in Japan.
Posted in: Fired Olympus CEO dismisses internal probe
2
herefornow
Unreal. What an idiotic thing to even speculate about, much less comment on. Guy needs to focus on his own country's problems -- like the fact that their biggest cash crop is opium -- and not be evoting any time at all to such nonsense.
Posted in: Afghan President Karzai says he'll back Pakistan if U.S. attacks it
-6
herefornow
Iken? -- sure, but they are usually "puns, misspellings, distortions of langauge" of the native langauge. Not reinforcing the inability of most of the population to properly pronounce a langauge they supposedly learned in school, but did not do so because of the prevalence of Katakana English. My point was simply that Japanese teachers can try as hard as they want to teach Japanese students proper English, to the betterment of the country by making it more global. But all that effort will be wasted so long as companies make it cool to deliberately speak it incorrectly. Why not just use the Japanese word "uruosu"? Why foster deliberate ignorence?
Posted in: TV commercial of the week: Shampoo UL・OS
-2
herefornow
The JPY 20.0 billion is less that 1/2 of 1% of the JPY 4.5 trillion tab. I think they need to try a little harder.
Posted in: TEPCO to raise Y20 bil for nuclear compensation payouts
-5
herefornow
No, in pig English as practiced in Japan UL OS can be pronounced "uruosu".
Posted in: TV commercial of the week: Shampoo UL・OS
1
herefornow
While I agree 100% with Woodford blowing the lid off of Olympus' corruption, or at least gross incompetence, the net effect of this will be neagtive for Japan's becoming more global. Because instead of other companies' boards seeing this as a lesson of what can happen if you don't become more tansparent/do things to international standards, just the opposite will happen. They will all circle the wagons even more, and see this as what happens when you let "gaijins" get too powerful. Which will set Japan back even more, since companies need desperately to become more truly global, and less insular.
Posted in: Fired Olympus CEO dismisses internal probe
1
herefornow
If Hatoyama and Kamei are against particpation, then it must be the right thing to do. Those two are both morons who have not a clue as to how to get Japan out of its economic malaise.
Posted in: More than 100 lawmakers oppose Japan's participation in TPP
-1
herefornow
Good. About time shareholders here started asserting their rights. This kind of corporate malfeasance is the rule rather than the exception in Japan, and is another in the long list of reasons Japan's corporations have a hard time becoming truly competitive on a global scale without all the government protections, especially of the stock market and acquisitions. Shields them from having to deliver decent profits and adhere to strict accounting methods. Which makes all this sort of ironic, since a Britsih company would likley have found it virtually impossible to make acquisitions in Japan. Bet the Chairman wished he'd never called that board meeting to oust Woodford. Shows how much he does not understand about Western mentality in that he apparently thought he'd just slink off quietly to his new non-executive position and keep the truth to himself, like any good Japanese executive would do.
Posted in: Shareholder groups call for investigation into Olympus deals
-7
herefornow
Oh yes, the wonderful Japanese Christmas "traditions" of KFC, Cakeeee, and a romp at a love hotel. Truly inspiring.
Posted in: Haruka Ayase kicks off KFC's Christmas campaign