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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jeancolmar
Quite right brighton. Whale meat is full of dioxins. So much for Japan's whale "research."
Posted in: Protests or not, Japanese keep eating whale
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jeancolmar
The slaughter does continue in the Gaza concentration camp while the world's leaders, led by the US, cheers Israel on. Who cares about the Palestinians? Nothing has changed except the permissible victims.
Posted in: Israeli forces pound targets, draw near Gaza City
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jeancolmar
After this remark I am wonder how many people in secular Japan are saying, "If this is the person who is going to lead us out of Japan then God save us!"
I suppose as a good Catholic (but actually an awful ignoramus) Aso has never heard on the so-called Protestant Ethic or ever read anything about it in conjunction with the rise of capitalism. Max Weber might be a good start.
I also suppose Aso hasn't visited a Japanese university lately. You'll find classrooms full of sleeping students, chatting students, texting students and manga reading students. That tells you a lot about the work ethic in Japan.
Posted in: Aso says world religions can learn from Japan
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jeancolmar
Wrong button. Third sentence should read: "In fact what does 'Iran lurks in background of Gaza fight' mean?"
Posted in: Iran lurks in background of Gaza fight
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jeancolmar
A sterling case of disinformation. Can anyone guess what this piece is about just from the title? In fact what does "Iran lurks in background of Gaza fight"? Who do you define "lurks"? And what "background." This is language for a stage play, not real life. At any rate, the writer presents absolutely no proof that Iran is "lurking" or anything else with regard to taking any action on Israel's rape of Gaza.
One can complain endlessly about Hamas, which was elected to power in Gaza, but the fact remains that Israel is committing crimes against humanity in Gaza. In doing so it is making a far better case than anyone that, like the former South Africa, it should not exist in its present form.
Posted in: Iran lurks in background of Gaza fight
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jeancolmar
I hope this latest barbarous act will finally kill the lie that Israel is simply taking out Hamas militants who shoot their mostly ineffective rockets into Israel. The Israelis are using collective punishment. As you read this innocent children are being killed by Israeli bombs. Hospitals are overflowing with wounded innocent people, many of whom will die because Israel's blockade has blocked medicines and other humanitarian aid to Gaza (it has done so before rockets were an issue). If you support Israel's rape of Gaza you should be ashamed of yourself.
Posted in: Gaza truce proposed after Israeli shell kills 30 near U.N. school
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jeancolmar
Good research into the particulars of official unemployment statistics. But please note that official underreporting of unemployment rates. If you reach the end of your benefits or stop registering with the employment bureau you stop being unemployed because officially you cease to exist statistically. You are technically not unemployed but a "discouraged" worker.
Even in good times there is an army of unemployed people who officially do not exist. Consider official unemployment statistics as a fraction of the actual number of people who do not have jobs or are "underemployed."
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jeancolmar
This is indeed the shame of Japan. But it is not as big a shame as the shame of the US where the homeless don't even have tent villages.
Homelessness is not a new problem in Japan. It has been always been a problem that got worse after the burst bubble. The LDP government mostly went out of its way to ignore the problem. Tokyo put potted plants in subways where the homeless used to sleep and kicked them out of the parks prior to the summer olympics. Now the problem is so big it cannot be ignored.
As I said elsewhere, I support whatever aid Japan can give the Palestinians, who have it a lot worse than homeless Japanese at this point. But I think Japan can help the Palestinians and the homeless and have lots of money left over,
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jeancolmar
Here is a question: Are the young people of today more ecologically minded in being disinterested in cars or are they simply more anti-social and pessimistic about their futures? Can it in some way be tired to the falling birthrate and that people are marrying later than usual?
Of course the car is a luxury unless you live in the countryside or some remote new suburb that was countryside until a few years ago. But beyond that the car is a social magnet, a home away from home, and, later, a kiddie and grocery transporter.
As a social magnet, it is (to use the vernacular) a chick magnet. It may be possible that the atomization of the Japanese has done something to the sex drive--confining it mostly to the hard drive. This may well be generated by financial concerns. There are now other places to "do it" other than love hotels, which very often require cars, or the back seat of the car (though bucket seats do have their charms I am told). There are the cheap video places for instance. So the car as extension of the sex drive may have finally lost its flavor.
As home away from home the car may not be the necessity that it has been. With smaller nuclear families more young people nowadays probably have more private space at home than before. Many do not have siblings and do not have to see their sleeping quarters turned into public space during the day, as in the benjo and tatami houses of old. Also, with housing getting marginally better, the car as a status symbol in place of a good house is not what it used to be.
These days lots of young people are not planning on having children, and if they are they are not planning on more than one. Also they are not planning to care for parents and grandparents when they finally move out. The car as transporter than ceases to be a necessity.
Above all, I am sure the economy is the major factor in this issue. The burst bubble and now the recession is not only making people cheaper but also changing how they see the world. You have a generation born now without great expectations. Being so they have become disinterested and disengaged. A car requires discipline, social engagement and paperwork. These are hassles. And young Japanese these days, if you've noticed, prefer to avoid hassles, even if that means giving up something new and exciting.
Thank heavens anyway that urban Japan has excellent public transport if you choose not to drive. But this excellent system is not why there is a suddenly drop in the interest in cars.
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jeancolmar
The point that the writer I quoted was making was that the Israeli bloodbath is a disproportionate response to whatever perceived threat the perpetrators felt from Hamas.
It is so righteous that the above poster should be indignant about the word only and have no words of contempt or even regret over the hundreds of innocent civilians Israel has slaughtered so far. Is that because they are only Palestinians?
Posted in: Defiant Hamas hits Israel with dozens of rockets
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jeancolmar
People you ought to read this: "Barack Obama on Israel's Siege of Gaza: 'No Comment'", By Joshua Frank, ZNet December 30, 2008, http://www.zmag.org/znet/
Frank says in part:
Posted in: Defiant Hamas hits Israel with dozens of rockets
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jeancolmar
Thank you for the clarification, itcher74. There probably would be no Hamas rockets were there not Israeli blockade, and there would probably be no blockage if there had been enough international pressure on Israel to end it. Israel has powerful friends, the US and the UK, who have backed its hideous treatment of the people of Gaza. As the Israelis continue their massacre all the US can do is condemn Hamas. In this evil atmosphere the Israelis can do no wrong and the Palestinians can do no right. The conditions are ripe for a holocaust.
Posted in: Defiant Hamas hits Israel with dozens of rockets
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jeancolmar
"In Monday’s attacks, Israel focused its bombing on the houses of Hamas field operatives in a campaign meant to tear at the roots of the extremist group ruling Gaza." From the above supposedly objective news report.
Consider what Hamas and Israel have in common. Just two things, politically speaking. Both of their governments were elected in fair and democratic elections. Both are equally fanatic.
That is where the things in common end.
Hamas has lousy little rockets that they have been stupidly and ineffectually launching against Israel. Israel has the best military machinery that money can buy. With that machinery Israel is committing mass murder in Gaza as you read this. Hamas's score card is not impressive as kills go.
Israel has heavy economic power which it has used against Gaza to sanction, among other things, medical and other humanitarian aid. Hamas is the government of a powerless and oppressed people.
Israel has ideological advantage over Hamas. Isreael can conjure up the Holocaust to scare away international critics of this latest misadventure. Hamas has only 60 years of Palestinian oppression to wave in the world's face. Who cares about the Armenians? said Hitler as he prepared to bomb Poland into oblivion. Hitler was off about Poland, but who cares about the Armenian genocide committed by Turkey? Likewise, who cares about the Palestinians? We've had 60 years to care about the Palestinians, and the truth is that comparatively few people and few governments care about the Palestinians.
My point is this. Israel is superior to Hamas and the people it represents in every political and economical way possible. As a superior power Israel has the power to call the shots in establishing a lasting peace if it sincerely wants to.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Hamas are terrorists, extremists, fanatics, etc. Okay, so were the people who established Israel. So was George Washington. When people come to power and establish stability they become conservatives in the sense of wanting to preserve what they have. This is particularly true of people who come to power democratically. When Hamas was elected to represent the Palestinians there should have come a sigh of relief from Israel and the US and its allies. Whew. They've joined the club. Now we can talk to them. The reverse happened. Hysteria. So welcome to another Israeli massacre.
Israel could have talked to Hamas. We give you a genuine homeland. You stop lobbing rockets at us. We recognize your right to exist. You recognize our right to exist. We'll show you how to get money out of the US so you don't have to live in refugee camps and can have something wholesome to live for.
I am simplifying things but that is about how a peace-seeking Israel would deal with Hamas and with the Palestinian question.
So what's wrong with Israel? It has nothing to do with Hamas and their stupid rockets. It is ruled by opportunists who use fanaticism to stay in power. (Fanaticism? Just read Israeli propaganda.) The current government is unpopular and the ultra-right Likhud is set to win the next election to the magic carpet of growing right-wing popular sentiment. So the current has set up the current massacre to show that it can be as blood-thirsty as the Likhudniks.
The Israeli blitzkrieg will of course guarantee not the destruction of Hamas but the creation of fresh enemies for Israel. This may be what Israel's leaders want. Peaceful Palestinians minding their own business, like a grazing herd of contented Swiss cows, might rob Israel of national purpose and high subsidies from the US, creating internal strife.
I condemn the current Israeli rape of the Gaza Strip and those who support it. It is another case of collective punishment that Israel is notorious for. Okay, I also condemn Hamas's rocket attacks before the massacre began. But condemnation for the stronger power must be more severe than the weaker power, especially considering the comparative damage the two sides have done to one another.
Anyone reading Martin Buber these days? He spent the latter part of his life trying establish reconciliation between Palestinians and Israelis. There are people like him in Israel, only they are on the margins like the chorus of a Greek Tragedy.
Posted in: Defiant Hamas hits Israel with dozens of rockets
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jeancolmar
The advice on how not to get fired is fine if you are the only one who is worried about losing job. Since you are not the only one, expect a lot of competition and back-stabbing from your fellow workers, unless your company has a strong union.
If your company does not have a strong union you and your fellow workers ought to start a union or hook up with an existing union. That is the best you can do for yourself.
Posted in: How not to get fired in a bad economy
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jeancolmar
It is an irony that in the land of intrusive personal questions this group wishes to stop photographs of not private but public space. I think Google ought to ignore these people.
Posted in: Group seeks to scrap Google's Street View
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jeancolmar
Muntadar al-Zeidi is now a folk hero because of his splendid use of metaphor. Your teacher's shoe on your head" is the supreme Arabic insult. Well, he put metaphor into practice and said what millions of people who suffered or watched the Bush gang's war crimes wanted to say to the chief monster.
This might start a trend. People will start throwing things at Bush whenever they see him.
Posted in: Bush dodges shoe protest during visit to Iraq
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jeancolmar
What can you say when confronting this vile man justifying his vile? Except that this criminal is a liar to the bitter end. In a just society he would be in prison.
Posted in: Bush defends his record of using military might
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jeancolmar
Actually, the Mr and Mrs Watanabe business does not make much sense. Were they amoungst the unemployed? Their saving would have gone if the unemployment persisted to any great length. What their actually state was is not said. They are supposed to represent average Japanese, but how?
Posted in: Remember the bubble economy years
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jeancolmar
The more I reread this article the more I think it is not only crud, but typically dangerous CEO crud. The passive voice begins to tell us that the money making system is now a money losing system. It ends with rubbish about bad, bad, bad government intervention and an amazing load about Japan learning from America. Tossed in between is the weasel word "free markets." Nothing about how this mess came about, of course, It just happened because folks stopped trusting each other? Bad vibs?
Hey, does this guy, this CEO, know what day it is? The American banks would have been belly up were it not for government intervention. Free market George Bush is trying to scrounge up taxpayer money the American auto industry.
"Free markets" for laissez-faire capitalism (the old euphemism for unregulated and destructive greed) is like "The Free Enterprise System" as a euphemism for capitalism. Euphemisms are used to to hide something that stinks. Capitalism, especially the unregulated kind, stinks of ruined lives for the sake profits for the undeserving few. These days it stinks of dry rot. The truth is that capitalists love "free markets" for as long as they suit them. Their goal is to kill the competition and get monopoly power.
The myth is that Socialists are star-eyed unrealistic idealists and people like CEOs soaked in the economics of Milton Friedman are the hard-nosed realists. But at times like this the truth comes out: it is exactly the other way around.
But you don't have to read Marx to know that because capitalism runs on greed it also runs in manic-depressive cycles. There is the period of drunken economic hubris and then there is the hangover, as is the case now, with the state dispensing economic painkillers and Prozac. And the stupid, self-deluded and overpaid CEOs still do not know what day this is because they are insulated from everyday reality by a high and thick wall made out of money and perks.
Welcome to the US auto industry which got virtual monopoly power by killing off the America's public transportation infrastructure. In most places in America your only practical alternative to driving a car is walking. Generations of CEOs have comfortably lived with their heads stuck in the 1950s. Neither the wave of imported European cars nor the more powerful wave of Japanese auto imports woke them up to the need to build cars that weren't junk and service that did not suck big time.
I love this from our silly CEO: "The next bull market will start when it becomes clear that the private animal spirits are back and the government begins to move out of the way again to let private entrepreneurs take over.]" The Next bull market?! I had to read that a few times to believe he really said it. The next round of unregulated reckless greed with things as destructive as "sub-prime" (i.e. bad) loans when the system hasn't seen the worst of the last "bull market"? Like the auto CEOs who flew into Washington to beg the government for handouts, this guy really and truly does not know what day this is.
I love the word "entrepreneurs," another euphemism taken from the French. This can mean anything from a kid with a lemonade stand to a mindlessly greedy robber baron. But I'll tell you, CEOs are not entrepreneurs in the way the hippy-geek hobbists who started Apple Computers were. They are time servers who must invent ways to bloat profits to keep the stockholders happy. They invent nothing and know nothing of production and what goes on on the shop floor.
Right, the next bull market: where government (as it were) withers away after having pumped trillions of dollars into failing industries and into the pockets of CEOs--don't you just love it?
You know what Marx said? He said capitalism contains the seeds of its own destruction. He also said that was a good thing because it would make way for socialism. Now I'll confess that when I see the stuff of bull sessions happening before my eyes--when suppressed economic theory becomes everyday news--I really and truly don't want it to happen--not just yet, anyway, without a Hollywood ending of socialism gliding in to save the day. (And I mean democratic socialism with workplace democracy, production for use and other good stuff.) That is one big reason I don't care for CEO-speak like this article. It is part of the problem that is going to make The Worst That Is Yet To Come even worse.
Marx said something else. He said that it is people's consciences that make history but history that makes people's consciences. You see where his head was at he said this. One day Bush is a disciple of Milton Friedman, the next he is a Keynesian.
I have an investment tip: be sure your broker is a Marxist. He or she may seem like a wet blanket but will have no illusions about the system.
Posted in: Remember the bubble economy years
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jeancolmar
Gosh what can the US teach Japan? How about this: Overpay a pack of stupid, reckless and lazy CEOs to drive your economy into the ground and then put money in their pockets through bailouts.
This is funny: "All over the world, governments are going to become more interventionist. So far, this has primarily been defensive, helping to restore trust among bankers and reduce fear among the people." Right, governments are now psychiatrists trying to create good vibs. I'm okay, you're okay. You want to talk about it? What governments are going is trying to keep the capitalist system from crashing.
And this guys talking about the next bull market. Yeah.
Posted in: Remember the bubble economy years