JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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- 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
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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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isthistheend
What a worthwhile outing for the noble prince, and wouldn't it have been a refreshing chance for Masako to join him?
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isthistheend
Oh good. So now the cigarettes will get lit and add to the pollution problem But at least the late night sales will.....???? Who, what, when, where, why?
Posted in: Cigarette retailers to revive late night sales at vending machines
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isthistheend
Let's elevate Nioka to the commissioner when the newly appointed 70-something comish resigns. Nioka has all that it takes. He can pursuade the next SMAP group to join Ch. 4 for broadcasts, and we all know he knows how to whisper sweet nothings into a horses ear. The expressioni Uma no mimi ni Nenbutsu means, "Its like praying in a horses ear". That's what its like to expect Ch. 4 to take more strident action in this case.
Posted in: Mona takes the fall, while Nioka gets off
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isthistheend
Its the hit the nail that sticks out syndrome. There is ONE way, and that is OUR way not yours. And when they ALL stick to it, like the early morning commuters walking around like elephants or intentionally running off your intended path, what do you do. After fighting for several times, several years, you slowly get tired of fighting and give up. That's what's happened with Masako-san. Still probably a brilliant mind, but will NEVER be normal within the circus she has to parade in.
Posted in: Crown prince seeks public understanding for ailing wife
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isthistheend
And for good riddance, how many of us live on train lines where they have benches made at least 50 years ago. Low wooden benches. They're about as high up from the ground as a baseball catcher's squating position. And you know how many girls in skirts sit down on those benches every morning from 7-8:30 a.m. You don't have to see one on an escalator, just look out the window as you pass by these benches across the tracks. Where? O.K. Hatanodai on Tokyu Ikegami line for starters.
Posted in: School teacher arrested for peeping up student's skirt in Oita
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isthistheend
This is not a matter of skirts alone. But the place can't change because they don't want to change. Thats it in a panty shell.
Posted in: School teacher arrested for peeping up student's skirt in Oita
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isthistheend
The skirt is just being used as an excuse. The real problem goes WAY DEEPER than how short the girl-schools skirts are. I'm sure you're all aware of the smutty magazines that prime the society from an elementary school level for affordable small change, graduating to Jr. High, High, and on up. Its as if they indoctrinate the whole population right from the get go. They sell right along with the newspapers at practically every local Kiosk. Whenever I buy a paper, I have to overlook all the boobs and skirt pulling of teenagers and pre-teens on the covers of multiple magazines, just as the mother is leading her hatted-elementary darling off to trains. Why don't Japanese women protest such exposure? Again, it ain't just the skirt!
Posted in: School teacher arrested for peeping up student's skirt in Oita
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isthistheend
If only it were funny! Tonight due to the G-8 there's finally police at the stations, and many of them. When its over, do they all go back to the Koban? I hope not, but I'm afraid so. Then we all have to our own Woody Allan, scowl at the brutes and hope no one in our vacinity is armed.
Posted in: Man arrested for allegedly raping female JR employee on train in Kanagawa
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isthistheend
The reason only women are working those cars may be because the pay is below standard. Cutting down on train employees by JR and others in the name of cost cutting is a huge problem these days, (all days?). My previous comment was "edited" but I repeat here minus the guys name mentioned. When is a good time to sound the alarm if you see a suspicious person or object? Immediately, even if you have to make a huge move in a crowded a.m. rush train, or do you wait till your leaving the train and shout? Not all doors have those emergency buttons. I'll have to check again, maybe just one spot per train? In the heat of transportation, that might not be sufficient.
Posted in: Man arrested for allegedly raping female JR employee on train in Kanagawa
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isthistheend
Its really unbelievable since the rape last year in Kansai district made such big news. People aren't affected by this type of shocking news? What's next. You know, another Ichihashi, Akihabara? Nothing has changed since either of these horrendous acts. And its no good to just keep saying, things are better elsewhere. How are things getting better here?! is what I wish to know. I've seen more police dressed men and women around train stations holding batons, or stun guns? I'm releived a bit to see at least this type of implementation.
Posted in: Man arrested for allegedly raping female JR employee on train in Kanagawa
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isthistheend
Hello? Hasn't anyone in the government seen the four letter word graffiti painted graphically along the walls for everyone to see as one rides the mono-rail from Hammamatsu-cho to Haneda? Take a look next time and then tell me the Shinkansen story is more newsworthy!
Posted in: English graffiti 'Hack' grounds bullet train
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isthistheend
This will be the last entry I make on the subject. Do I hear cheers out there? There is English and there is "Eego". English is that spoken by all people all over the world, of different shapes, styles, pronunciations, grammatical use, from Bob Marley, to Italiana English it runs the gamut because it is as idealist above mentions considered a so-called "international language". Now, Chinese and Spanish are qualifying also in this category. Eego on the other hand, is the purely Japanese phenomenon to talk about things foreign. I wonder how many of the writers/readers of this paper have experienced what I do virtually daily here. People suddenly start to talk about "eego" (b-san speaks Eego well, she spent some time in England, but I don't understand it at all" one will say to the other in their native language) when they stand by you on the trains for example. And also, people will suddenly take to smoking more cigarettes and talking about anything when they see you on the golf practice range. Oblvious to the fact that you would appreciate silence when practicing. In other words, Eego and foreigners are a stress reliever, or battery ram depending on which angle you look at it from. And as I've said before, those who learn to speak it abroad come back here and have to pretend "NOT" to be able to speak it. Now THIS is a very serious problem, or reason why people don't speak better. Is it the cart before the horse or what? And then theres the person who has lived abroad, speaks a smattering of English, comes back here and refuses to acknowledge or communicate with us in Japanese, wanting to prove that their ability is far superior to whatever level of language mastery we've attained. In my case, I speak the native language better than they speak English in 7 out of 10 cases. I certainly don't lord it over them, and usually play the game their way, but when it becomes overbearing, I'll answer in japanese, and likewise be frowned at, and the conversation will end abruptly and unsatisfactorily. My point is, its not only the ability to speak English, but more a point of mental flexibility to really engage on a 50-50 horizontal level with another human being, and not in the I'm above you vertical society type of way. Thanks and bless you all.
Posted in: Why don't Japanese speak English better than they do?
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isthistheend
One viewwpoint overlooked in all these 68 comments is the potential issue that the Japanese teachers themselves do such a poor job of teaching in general. Everybody knows about the problems and power of the teachers union in confusing issues on varioius matters, English being only one of them. I once visited with a group of Japanese H.S. English teachers and was surprised at their extremely low level, not only concerning English, but concerning many things. It was almost like they were, well, just pushing the pencil, rather than having any spark of creative imagination.
Posted in: Why don't Japanese speak English better than they do?
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isthistheend
Just don't have the means? That's the least of the problems. The means are substantial, the books are plentiful, the learning devices are all in place, even overflowing in number. What's lacking is the desire, make that willingness to buck the system of "down with anything not ware-ware".
Posted in: Why don't Japanese speak English better than they do?
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isthistheend
English or "Eego" is just a diversion, not the only diversion, but a monumentally huge one, which centers on the subconsious recognition that Japan needs to maintain business relations with the outside world for their survival. Same as before the black boat.
Inferiority complexes/ Superiority complexes, two sides of the same coin. I can't believe Idealists comments made it through to the reader. But the comment about them "making a pop culture full of playful nonsense words designed to make light of the value of English as a serious thing" (SMAP, Kalpis etc.) is right on the money. They treat you kindly till anything displeases them about whatever (not only you), then they cut you down as the foreign trouble maker (hello Tokyo Gov.?) and everything gets lumped together, English, foreigner, trouble. I repeat, those that really want to improve do. And one more thing, which hasn't been mentioned and I'm the 74th listing already. How many encounter the person who knows MORE about your country, culture, than you do? Or so they make you think by the way they carry on? That's what I mean about inferiority/superiority complex. I myself became an "expert" in one form of Japanese culture and when I made it on TV repeatedly for it, everyone I met after that couldn't resist saying "He's more Japanese than I am". meaning," I'm more xxxxxxx than he is", which I totally object to. I specialized in a certain part of the culture, based on my hard work through the language, because I wanted to communicate and contribute the wealth of that specific culture to my own Western culture. I wasn't trying to become more Japanese than them. And they never can get over it....though in fact, they soon forget that the foreigner REALLY can understand or retain the merits of whatever they learned about the culture. This too is relative to the discussion of why Japanese aren't better at English. You have to stay with what you learn to keep getting better. Its not like learning once and you keep it a part of you without continual practice. Any top level technician in any field all over the world must contually practice, review and forge new avenues of their chosen endeavors to keep it in working, functional and relavant order.
Posted in: Why don't Japanese speak English better than they do?
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isthistheend
About what MisterM writes, its getting close to what I've been trying to say. Yes, they are Asian, and as Asians they love to be among themselves. So when they can use you to speak English fine. But don't expect inclusion into the "wa"of things just because you can speak the language. Yet once long ago, I read some article written by a Japanese person who said, "people who can speak Japanese (or any language like English, Korean etc.) ARE Japanese (English, Korean). The point being that the brain and body and soul go into learning a language, or you just can become good at it. Like Jiro, the enka singer. He learned from his Japanese Grandmother when he was young. His heart and soul went into the music because not only did he love it, but he also recognized it created great pleasure for his beloved grandmother. I don't mean to become all mushy about it, but love for something (language, art, science, whatever) is a major reason why people sacrifice hours and dedicate their passion to learn something, no? So if someone gives his heart and soul to learn a language, they gradually learn a new way of thinking, living, and appreciating the world. This is all a part of learning a language, I believe. So when the old salary man refuses to acknowledge that I have sacrificed to learn the language of my adapted country, it enters into really bizarre territory, where we have to just recall why we started to learn about these things in the first place. ie. our love for the culture, and different view of the world it afforded. But in the end, everything that has a front has a back, and we realize there is no golden rainbow forever and ever. So we have to enjoy our life journey, with and without all the troubles which language learning also brings..i.e. undying predjudice along with visions of a different way.
Posted in: Why don't Japanese speak English better than they do?
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isthistheend
Zen Builder, they treat you favourably when you perform your job as and English lackey, but then they refuse to acknowledge that you can understand anything of their culture. That's my point of double jeopardy. We speak and teach English, but a damn few of us bust our butts to learn the native language so we can improve and speed up our language barriers, but they don't want to acknowledge that we can go half way. In other words, they want to carry on in Donald Duck mentality mold, speak to you only in English, even when your Japanese is much better than their English.
Say on a company sporting event. At these weekends, the old guy whos lived in L.A. or some other cushy post for 3 years feins his knowledge to speak English in front of others for fear of jealousy (previously mentioned), but then will insult you openly in the native language thinking you can't understand it. thinking I don't know what he's saying, because I am now and will forever be only the "English speaking expert". This even though I've know the guy for 5 years! Didn't this ever happen to you?!
Posted in: Why don't Japanese speak English better than they do?
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isthistheend
I must be living in some kind of vacuum here in Tokyo for 30 years. No, English speaking isn't necessary or important for the daily details of living because, yes, this is Japan. But as I tried to emphasize previously, English speaking and Eego are two different things. Eego is what people use to advance themselves among their peers for a better job, or a chance to go abroad. But the mind set very seldom changes. I don't know about you, but when I studied Japanese, and lived here over the years, I've been humbled and often just plain dumbfounded by the double jeaopardy of English and being a foreigner here. O.K. so we get a job, a good job. But if you go out into say a weekend with company members, you'll see, they quickly pigeon hole you as not being part of the group, only because hey, you aren't Japanese. If you are going to live here, get used to it. The Japanese who really speak great, learned it primarily (though not exculsively) abroad. But to make a long story short, those who want to improve will study hard and improve, and those whoo don't won't. That is the bottom line, in my opinion.
Posted in: Why don't Japanese speak English better than they do?
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isthistheend
Let's be honest. Not speaking English in front of others, who can't speak English is a way to avoid being ostracized from the group. I've been told by highly educated, elite natives, that even though they go to attain MBA's at prestigious Universities abroad, which requires a prodigious amount of English study (and ability), when they return to these shores, if they show their ability at a meeting with other natives (many times in higher positions), they fear being hated by these people, and worry that it might affect their promotions. So even those who can speak well, pretend not to be able to in such situations. At another No. 1 ranked company, I was invited to help the employees with their e-mails with overseas clients. Then he asked me to make a presentation for new comers who might like to study in the future. When I made the test up, he called me into a private room and very angrily insisted, "We don't want to speak the English of foreigners!"
Being surprised by his comment, I asked some other people at the company about it, and they mentioned as I've written above. In short, not speaking "Eego" is politically correct among the masses, and used only at "International conferences" or other non-politically charged situations.
Posted in: Why don't Japanese speak English better than they do?
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isthistheend
Me too! And can we drive around in a Super luxury car to go shopping and to Disney land (additional charges can't be helped of course) when we get bored hanging around the hotel?
Posted in: Conrad Tokyo hotel to offer Y3.33 mil 3-day luxury plan