JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
-
- Corporate Business English Trainers
- ACT Systems, Inc.（株式会社アクト・システムズ）, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥269,500 ~ ¥280,000 / Month
-
- 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
-
- 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*
0
hokkaidoguy
kronos:
The ICR website has a substantial amount of material on Japan's research program, datasets, published articles, and so forth. http://www.icrwhale.org/DocumentList.htm
More can also be found at the IWC website.
Posted in: Japan says its whaling is conducted under international accord
0
hokkaidoguy
seeker1:
Everything about scientific whaling, including use of whale meat, is outlined in Article 8 of the IWC charter, available here: http://iwcoffice.org/commission/convention.htm
Posted in: Japan says its whaling is conducted under international accord
0
hokkaidoguy
Blue Tiger -
No, I meant Tonga, but I was pre-occupied with Togo after reading the last whaling thread. My bad.
Posted in: Are there any sports that you think should be dropped from the Winter Olympics for whatever reason?
0
hokkaidoguy
LoveUSA -
India did it's first winter olympics in '64. They're competing in xc, luge, and alpine this year. From Africa this year we have Algeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Morocco, South Africa, and Tonga. Other nations not normally associated with winter sports include Lebanon, Brazil, Columbia, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Oh, and Jamaica, of course.
Thailand isn't competing this year, although they did in '02 and '06. Also sitting out this year (but having competed in the past) are Costa Rica, Venezuela, Madagascar, and Kenya.
Posted in: Are there any sports that you think should be dropped from the Winter Olympics for whatever reason?
0
hokkaidoguy
I rather like Narita, as airports go. Not at all fond of the recent police activity - last two times I've been flying out of there (October and December), I've been stopped by the cops in the ticketing area and subjected to lengthy questioning.
Posted in: Narita ranked third in airport quality survey
0
hokkaidoguy
To what extent is the IOC actually responsible here? Granted, they have a sort of "buck stops here" position, but in reality the design, construction, certification and operation of the venue is the responsibility of VanOC.
If anyone is to blame for the venue, and if anyone is to blame for placing the image of the games over the lives and well-being of the athletes, it's them.
Posted in: What part of 'slow it down' doesn't the IOC get?
0
hokkaidoguy
7,000,000 vehicles recalled. The most often cited statistic in the news is that there have been 2,000 cases of sudden, unintended acceleration.
That means that this problem has been shown to exist in 0.03% of the Toyotas on the road.
From the media coverage, editorial commentary, comments from US politicians, lawyers, and so on - you'd think that every single Toyota on the road is a death trap.
I don't know if there is a concerted effort to discredit Toyota's image in the USA, but I can certainly understand why someone might think there is.
Posted in: Japanese ask: Is U.S. backlash on Toyota a ploy to boost American auto producers?
0
hokkaidoguy
"Skiing mogul Aiko Uemura"
LOL. Pretty sure that should read: "Mogul skier"...
Moderator: It has been corrected, thank you.
Posted in: SMAP singer Masahiro Nakai to be TBS' main commentator for Winter Olympics
0
hokkaidoguy
If anyone is interested in the recent "surge" of complaints about the Prius, you can view them in their raw state here: http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/complaints/index.cfm
Some comedy gold on that site.
Posted in: Skepticism over Toyota's fixes grows as probe widens to Prius
0
hokkaidoguy
The press coverage of this is starting to remind me of the "sudden acceleration" problem that Audi was facing in the 80s with the 5000 series.
It turned out that the source of the problem was driver error, but they were still crucified by the US media - and they took a beating in the market as a result.
Posted in: Skepticism over Toyota's fixes grows as probe widens to Prius
0
hokkaidoguy
Err on the side of caution. People are rarely offended if you show up to an interview in a suit.
Posted in: If a job applicant is not sure how to dress for an upcoming job interview, what should he or she do?
0
hokkaidoguy
I've seen these cars in person, this past summer in AmiMura in Osaka. They are pretty cool. They are quite the attention draw.>
Wait... do you mean they're meant to be used as advertising props to draw attention to the company and the products they actually manufacture for sale, and aren't meant to be driven around town by people eager to display their wealth and blind people despite the fact that children are starving in Africa?
I'm sorry, I refuse to believe that. Evil Japan Must Be Stopped.
Posted in: Vroom vroom
0
hokkaidoguy
dbung10 -
They didn't buy it. Peter Bethune, the owner and skipper of Earthrace (Ady Gil's former name) allowed it to be used in this operation by SS, but he was always at the helm.
It's well known that he took on a lot of debt with the Earthrace - both in the construction and circumnavigation attempts. Just speculation on my part, but this really looks like a high profile insurance job to me - given the structural problems they encountered in '07 and '08, I've been scratching my head over how they thought it could withstand a few months bombing around the Southern Ocean...
Posted in: Anti-whaling boat sinks off Antarctica
0
hokkaidoguy
Looks like Bethune finally found a way to settle all those debts he picked up building his boat - providing the insurance company pays, that is.
Posted in: Anti-whaling boat sinks off Antarctica
0
hokkaidoguy
No, it doesn't. It used to. Now it runs on straight diesel.
Funny how the SS keeps the bio-diesel bit in the press releases, though.
Here's a link to the company taking care of their carbon offsets: http://www.mycleansky.com/?a=earthrace
Article Unavailable
0
hokkaidoguy
Why does this discussion remind me of the American anti-evolution brigade?
Selective quote mining and a near-to-zero understanding of the science combined to make a political point.
The talking points in this article - and in a lot of the comments - have been dredged up (and soundly refuted) all over the web at this point. Makes no difference, I suppose. Climate Change isn't even the issue anymore. It's become an expression of where you stand on the political spectrum.
I wish people would wake up to the fact that they're being manipulated by a handful of neo-conservative lobby groups who are determined to make this issue a left vs. right issue, much like they've been doing with evolution in America.
Oh well. Good luck sifting through the e-mails, for those of you that actually are doing so, and not just repeating what you read on a blog somewhere. Someday, you might find that smoking gun you're after.
Posted in: Climategate: The fix is in
0
hokkaidoguy
Very true, Cleo. Lake Erie is a prime example of phosphorus (used as a fertilizer) destroying fish stocks. The problem began in the 50s, and there are still massive dead zones today - and the prime source of phosphorus is runoff from farms (grains, vegetables, and fruit).
Posted in: Fisheries lab succeeds in producing 'man-made' tuna fry
0
hokkaidoguy
I'll admit, I frequent the hostess bars, and have done for years. I'm a regular at three. I was at one last night.
I know about a dozen former hostesses. None of them are alcoholics, none of them are on medication, and all are happily married. Go figure.
A hostess, when all is said and done, is a super-waitress. That's it. She mixes your drinks, lights your smoke, and keeps the conversation going. A good one will be able to gauge the mood of the party and direct the energy level to where you want it to be. She's there to make sure you have a good time. Not all of them drink, either. I know several who stick to oolong with a token drop of shochu. Or water.
There's a lot of western moralizing that comes with the hostess bar thing, mostly from people who don't know what's actually going on inside the clubs. As far as alcohol abuse, the toll of late nights, and relationships with the customers in the off hours go, it's no different than the average bar waitress in Canada or the USA. Some are alcoholics. Some sleep with the customers. Some aren't, and some don't. Some wear revealing clothes and flirt a lot to encourage tips and return customers, some don't. Some stay with it and go on to open their own place, some quit when they've made their money and move on to other things. Like everything else in Japan, it's exactly the same but completely different.
Posted in: The rules of hostessing
0
hokkaidoguy
mygrain - "American beef is slaughtered at 6 months of age, common knowledge for anyone following this story year after year.."
6 months of age is veal.
Common knowledge for anyone who has ever been in a butcher shop.
Posted in: Japan suspends U.S. plant's beef amid mad cow fears
0
hokkaidoguy
Because the treaty is at odds with Japanese citizenship law and aspects of Japanese family law concerning child custody.
I suspect the same is true in the other countries that have not signed the treaty (ie. just about all of Asia and Africa).
Posted in: Why do you think successive Japanese governments have refused to sign the 1980 Hague Convention on International Child Abduction, which seeks to ensure that the rights of access of both parents are protected?