JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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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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herefornow
nigelboy -- wrong. Please re-read what I said. I said if the "priority" was on profits rather than safety. Not simply having an accident occur. Is that too difficult for you to understand?
Posted in: Ex-JR West president found not guilty over fatal 2005 derailment
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herefornow
IMO this comes down to a simple question -- is it criminally negligent if the president does not set a corporate culture of prioritizing safety over punctuality and profits? (If I recall correctly, there is a competitive rail line in this area that was stealing riders from JR West at the time.) Again, IMO, the answer is Yes. Was the president driving the train himself? Obviously not. But, if that driver had known that any act that endangered safety -- like speeding -- would be severely punished, rather than being late, then he might have acted quite differently.
Posted in: Ex-JR West president found not guilty over fatal 2005 derailment
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herefornow
So a record low number of new adults will be paying off the huge debts run up by their parents, who just decided to kick-the-can down the road for decades, rather than make the tough decisions necessary to give this generation a brighter future. (Just last week Noda pushed back the potential start date for raising the consumption tax rate by another six months -- too mid-2014.) Hope the parents felt some degree of guilt for that. But good luck and best wishes to these celebrants.
Posted in: Coming-of-Age Day ceremonies held across Japan
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herefornow
tmarie -- great post and agree 100%. But assuming Japan Inc. could react any other way that in the manner they have -- "deny, sweep, deny, sweep, carry on as usual" -- is just wishful thinking -- at least in our lifetimes. The senior managers at Japanese companies know no other way to operate. It is the model that is drilled into them from the day they start work. As a result, "coming clean" does not even show up on their radar screens as a possibility. And that will not change for at least a couple of generations.
Posted in: Olympus sues 19 current, ex-board members for Y16.54 bil in damages
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herefornow
Wonder if Darvish has any clue as to who Nolan Ryan is -- other than the president of the club -- and what he accomplished in his career. Ryan could teach him a lot about pitching in the majors if he is willing to listen and learn.
Posted in: Rangers have until Jan 18 to sign Darvish
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herefornow
Same can be said about almost every government declaration since the crisis started. Good to see a Japanese leader call them out on this.
Posted in: Noda presses Fukushima to accept waste storage plan
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herefornow
I think Hirai is Sony's last hope of returning to glory again, and, for the sake of Japan, I hope he has success. Stringer did what needed to be done -- make the tough decisions to get some focus back -- but he cannot lead it forward. Even though Sony is a "multi-national" company in many regards, its day-to-day workings are still virtually 100% Japanese, and many still believe Morita's statement about never believing anything a foreigner tells you. So the resistence to real change is still strong, as is the legendary compartmentalizing there, and refusal among groups to work together and share information, as that is how they protect their jobs. So if Sony can be saved, it will start with putting a Japanese manager back at the top again and see if he can rally the troops. Just hope he has a broad enough vision of the world, and what consumers outside Japan want, to do so.
Posted in: Sony's Stringer reportedly to step down as president
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herefornow
rickyvee -- thanks, since it was Pogo that I was quoting. And if you honestly cannot see the connection between that famous quote and the Japanese political system, then I can't possibly make the connection for you. But, suffice to say that the Japanese political system is broken -- completely -- and is a significant drag on the country's ability to progress in the 21st century. And since the Japanese citizens elect this inept leaders, and are therefore responsible for this problem, they are their own worst enemy. Apathy and "shoganai" do catch up with a society eventually. And it is going to swamp Japan within the next couple of decades.
Posted in: Defense, consumer affairs ministers to be removed from cabinet
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herefornow
"We have met the enemy, and he is us" about describes Japan's political system perfectly, and until the populace realizes that, and does something to make fundamental changes, Japan will continue to decline and be taken less and less seriously.
Posted in: Defense, consumer affairs ministers to be removed from cabinet
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herefornow
j4p4nFTW -- thanks for my daily laugh. You really do refuse to acknowledge any problem on the board's part here. Yup, Olympus did release results -- fraudulent ones -- for over two decades. And, respectfully, that is not a "molehill" since investors placed trust in those statements and gave the corrupt board the capital it needed to operate. Also, they paid dividends illegally for many years, since they were unprofitable in reality. But, Japan Inc. will always think like you do -- it is only wrong if you are caught -- so circling the wagons and not wanting to address the problem was entirely expected. In fact, many posters, including myself, predicted that as the outcome when the story first broke. Corporate boards in Japan are like roaches -- they could not stand the harsh light that true governance would bring --so it is better just to hide. Rather than open Japan up, this incident will set Japan back for many years.
Posted in: Woodford to sue Olympus, citing lack of investor support to get his job back
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herefornow
LOL. He alluded capture for 17 years and had to try three different places to turn himself in. Yup, crack police work by any definition.
Posted in: Police at first turned away surrendering Aum fugitive
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herefornow
Guess international investors have seen the inherent weaknesss in the Japanese economy and know it will be unable to develop the strength needed to address them. So as long as Europe and the U.S. remain weak, Japan will as well.
Posted in: Nikkei closes 2011 at lowest year-end level since 1982
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herefornow
Fantastic. Over two more years before Japan starts raising its tax base. Meanwhile it will just keep spending and borrowing to did its hole even deeper.
Posted in: Noda proposes putting off planned consumption tax hike by six months
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herefornow
Agreed. And Dog, don't waste your time responding to "ExportExpert". If he really was an expert, he'd know how far off base his position is. First off, he has said nothing in all his posts to refute the Treasury's basic points about Japan. All he wants to do is blame the U.S. and critisize its economic policies. Second, he conveniently forgets to mention that Japan has probably been the biggest benefacator of the U.S.'s decades-long strong dollar policy, as its cars, electronics, etc. had built-in price advantages versus their U.S. competition. And because of that it conveniently ignored its structural problems. But now that the shoe is on the other foot, and the Yen is strong, all Japan can think to do is intervene in the market in a panic -- with completely no benefit. But, addressing the real issues is not discussed. Just blaming the U.S. Pathetic.
Posted in: U.S. Treasury criticizes Japan yen intervention
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herefornow
Like others I have been highly critical of TEPCO's and the J-government's handling of this crisis for the past nine months. And that lack of faith in them, and Japan's ability to turn things around, ultimately made me conclude that leaving Japan was the best option for me. But, I do hope that the sentiment expressed in this quote is real, and sign off by wishing Japan a Happy New Year holiday and prosperous and safe 2012.
Posted in: Noda says Fukushima reactors have reached state of cold shutdown
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herefornow
What a moron. And this was the guy who George Bush famously said he could trust just from looking him in the eye.
Posted in: Putin mocks Russia protesters
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herefornow
theeastisred -- rickyvee has no such information. He only wants to continue to make his ugly attacks on Woodford every chance he gets. In his mind, the guy who exposed the crime, only when the board refused to fire the culprits who committed it, is the villain, and not the criminals. Thirty years of false financial statements and paying illegal dividends as they now additionally admit, is not the crime here in his mind. It's bringing it to light that is intolerable.
Posted in: Olympus shares plunge 21% on dilution fears
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herefornow
hoserfella -- too true, too true.
Posted in: Yakuza involved in Fukushima clean-up: reporter
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herefornow
nigelboy -- as is often the case, I'll choose to disagree with your rosy assesment. IMO, taking nine months to have finally figured out that the cores did in fact meltdown/through, and are still potentially continuing to do so, while operating a cooling system that is creating tons of radioactive water on a daily basis that they want to dump in the ocean, because they have no place to put it, is hardly "remarkable". Agreed, the courage and fortitude of the workers who have gotten it to even this stage is remarkable, but simply getting the cores cooled down hardly is. Important, absolutely. Remarkable, hardly.
Posted in: Japan to declare Fukushima nuclear plant in stable condition
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herefornow
rickyvee -- fair enough. And your and issa's whole argumnet is based on the "assumption' that allowing a crooked company, with over thirty years of false accounting, going is better than the alternative. That hiding the truth from shareholders, who, let me remind you, own the company, is best for Japan's economy. The stock price should be depressed, since the earnings were fictitious. Now, investors can choose to buy or not based on the true value of the company, not some version of reality cooked up by the board. sf2k is clearly correct, and people like you and issa defending Japan's willingness to condone fraud is just going to push the country further downwards.
Posted in: Woodford wants to clean up Olympus management for good