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
AI is one bright light in Japan.
Posted in: Amnesty International Tokyo English Network helps foreigners fight injustice
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jeancolmar
McCain has got to be congratulated for performing a minor miracle. He actually found someone worse than Bush. Read the following article from the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/us/politics/14palin.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&th&emc=th
Posted in: Palin says she's ready to step in as president
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jeancolmar
The question here is about what is true and what is not true. It does not matter if Palin ventured 400 meters or 400 millimeters into Iraq. The problem is that the Repubs are lying again. It is a small lie compared to the big lie that got the US into Iraq in the first place. But a lie is a lie is a lie. After 8 years of lies even a little lie is one lie too much.
Posted in: Obama camp suggests lies over Palin visit to Iraq
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jeancolmar
The 9/11 metaphor is a weak one. The Georgian assault on South Ossetia was not the work of suicidal kitchen table terrorists but by a sovereign nation under orders from its head of state. A better analogy might be Pear Harbor. Both were sneak attacks and examples of reckless mendacity. Only Russia did not take over Georgia as the US and its allies took over Japan.
It is good that within Georgia the war criminal Saakashvili is now being taken to task. Had he not decided to bomb the civilian population of South Ossetia's capital there would not have been a war.
Posted in: Medvedev likens Georgia attack to September 11
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jeancolmar
This is an unreliable article. It is based largely on anecdotes, which may be half-true or fiction. We do not know. Given the source, the Weekly Playboy, you have take the above with a very large grain of salt. This is most likely not done by a trained researcher and it is obvious that this is in no way an in-depth study. The title of this piece is light-headed and sensationalistic. No doubt there are homeless people who survive better than others but to called them "rich," even with the qualifying quotation marks, is a travesty.
Posted in: There are 'rich' homeless and 'poor' homeless
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jeancolmar
Another thing that's wrong with Palin is that she opposes sex education in schools, which is stupid given the number of American teenage girls who get pregnant, though officially instructed to abstain from sex. Here is what the BBC reports:
Palin is a religious nut who believes first, never mind the facts. Be it polar bears, global warming or teenage girls getting pregnant.
Telling teenagers don't do it until you're married does not work. It didn't work in Bristol's and Lev's case.
Posted in: Heat is on for McCain, Palin
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jeancolmar
Well D-M, thank you for updating me on Alaska's progressive (by US standards) statutory rape laws. So young Lev is off the hook there. Still you have to wonder how much pressure there was on the girl not to abort and the young man to marry. Anyway, this is not a great time to run for VP with your vulnerable 17 year-old daughter 5 months pregnant, given the publicity that was inevitable.
But there are worse things about Palin. She wants oil drilling in the protected northern Alaskan wilderness. She does not want polar bears to be named an endangered species. She does not believe that global warming is connected to human activity. She opposes abortion rights. She opposes same sex marriage. She admits to not knowing squat about the Iraq war, though she supports Bush, Rich and the rest of the liars who started it.
Posted in: Heat is on for McCain, Palin
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jeancolmar
I have a funny feeling that McCain's Hilary Clinton substitute is going to dropout. It has only been a few days and already Palin is knee-deep in poo. It's going to get worse when she starts addressing issues.
You don't hear anything about Biden. The guy's a refrigerator, the perfect pick for VP.
Posted in: McCain defends VP pick
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jeancolmar
Okay, Palin has an underage pregnant daughter and a husband who's a drunk driver, and she herself seems to be a crooked politician. Sounds like "Married with Children." I'm sure The Simpsons could have a gas with this.
What I am concerned about is not that the daughter got knocked up but whether she was intimidated into not getting an abortion by her image-conscious mommy. And I am wondering how poor Levin Johnston is feeling right now. I mean is there a shotgun aimed at him? "Hey kid, seventeen will get you twenty. You wanna go up for statutory rape? What's it going to be, sonny, wedding bells or handcuffs?" And here was this dumb kid happily playing hockey, thinking of college and worrying about his zits when he knocked up the governor's daughter. Not to worry: they're white; they'll be well looked after.
All the Christian creepoid organizations showed their understand of this situation, which is, of course, commendable (and shows that secular tolerance has penetrated even the hardcore fundies). But imagine if these were poor blacks. Then you'd hear: "Ummm. Those people have no morals. They get pregnant and live on welfare."
What strikes me is that McCain desperately wanted a Hilary Clinton substitute. Troopergate will get Palin, not her pregnant underage daughter or her husband's 20-year-old DUI conviction. Unless said duaghter bolts and hubby gets roaring drunk and starts driving around looking for her.
Posted in: Heat is on for McCain, Palin
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jeancolmar
I rather doubt that the Georgian aggression against South Ossetia was hatched in Washington. It was way too stupid. But Mikheil Saakashvili, the demento Georgian president, no doubt believed that the West would support him in his murderous assault on a peaceful civilian target. He was right, but he did not count on Russia coming to the rescue.
That the US is using this incident to get at Russia is an act of aggression, as is the placing of missile bases close to Russia's borders. Imagine how the US would react if Russia placed missiles in Canada, Mexico or Cuba. (Remember the so-called Cuba missile crisis?)
Russia has not bothered anyone since the end of the Cold War and one has to wonder why there has been all this intimidation before Mikheil Saakashvili's genocidal attack on South Ossetia. My only guess is that the U.S. war industry wants to increase profits and promotions.
Meanwhile Mikheil Saakashvili has much to answer for. My guess is that the US while openly supporting him is not altogether pleased with him. He has proven himself to be a loose canon, which makes him a potential liability. Saddam comes to mind--a former US friend who really blew it.
Anyway, the so-called Georgian conflict was started by Mikheil Saakashvili and no one else. He has a lot of innocent blood on his hands. But to borrow a phrase from Hitler, who cares about the South Ossetians?
Posted in: Putin assails U.S. over Georgia conflict
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jeancolmar
The question should be reversed. Does Japan need US bases. My answer is no. Their presence in the past only made Japan vulnerable to attack. The bases are useless now with the cold war over. Japan has no enemies. It was do far better as a neutral nation like Sweden.
Posted in: Does the U.S. need to have military bases anywhere in Japan?
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jeancolmar
SuprLib, pop queens are fairly harmless people; they hurt no one,except, as in the case of Speares and Hilton, themselves. They don't start wars or send people off to be tortured. I don't hate pop stars and I am not a fan of any, living or dead. More importantly I think anyone who uses pop stars to score political points the way McCain did is vulgar.
I do feel especially sorry for Brittany Spears, as anyone with normal human feelings should. I also feel sorry for the first Mrs. McCain. I will truly feel sorry the world at large if McCain gets elected.
Posted in: McCain offends Paris Hilton's mom
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jeancolmar
McCain is at least consistent in his jokes. They aren't funny. Singing bomb Iran to "Barbara Ann" wasn't funny. His campaign's degradation of a couple of celebrities made McCain look really dumb. Yeah, dumber than the dumbest celebrity. The fact that one of them, Spears, is in rehab made McCain look vicious--as he truly is.
The big joke is that Paris's mum was a McCain supporter who gave his campaign nearly five grand. (Can anyone tell me why Mrs. Hilton donated $4600 and not $5000; what with the odd numbers?) McCain went and stabbed a loyal supporter in the back. A little like he treated his first wife.
Posted in: McCain offends Paris Hilton's mom
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jeancolmar
That's really sick. I wonder if he was using the head for a bowling ball and puppet when he was drunk or sober. If he was stone sober then this is really really sick. And he and his friend were actually bragging about this deed? That is totally sick. I hope no Japanese sickos are reading this. We already have enough problems with copycat random knife attacks.
Posted in: Australian man gets life for decapitating teenager, bowling with head
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jeancolmar
By now a familiar story. X is angry and stabs Y for no other reason.
Posted in: Man arrested for stabbing man in Hokkaido park
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jeancolmar
And to think that this oaf who not only wants to stay in Iraq for 100 but is also eager to bomb Iran and rekindle a cold war with Russia just might get elected.
Posted in: McCain ridicules Obama over Iraq policy
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jeancolmar
I am surprised that the LDP or some ultranationalist right-wing group hasn't come up with a counter boat to the Peace Boat. Maybe in the near future we'll see a Peeve Boat which will travel to all the places where Japan has territorial disputes. I can imagine it being battleship grey and equipped with huge loudspeakers that will play Kimigayo and martial music whenever it gets near a so-called disputed territory. I am surprised, joking aside, that someone like Ishihara Shintaro hasn't suggested some like that.
The Peace Boat seems like such a throwback to an earlier time in this day and age of political apathy and fast rising Japanese militarism. Well, sail on Peace Boat. For what it is worth.
Posted in: Peace Boat encourages grassroots interaction
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jeancolmar
A good article about a worthy endeavor. The Peace Boat is a reminder of another Japan, the one committed to peace, Article 9 and against militarism.
One question someone might answer. The writer states that the Peace Boat started nearly 25 years ago. I thought it was older than that.
Posted in: Peace Boat encourages grassroots interaction
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jeancolmar
If McCain were not the ipso facto Republican presidential candidate I would tell Obama to pick on someone his own size. McCain is a Cold War relic who wants to make trouble with Russia on top of being a neocon who gave us Bush' s wars based on lies. Man has nothing to offer except an extension of Bush. McCain's agenda is totally right-wing, from denial of abortion rights down to more war and no relief for all those Americans losing their houses.
The sad thing is that the Americans may well be stupid enough to elect him.
Posted in: Obama revels in a presidential race with many contrasts
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jeancolmar
Maybe everyone has forgotten the era of the monster teacher--the sort who would beat pupils though taibatsu is against the law. In those days parents cowered before teachers because they were terrified their child would get a bad naishinsho--secret report--that could ruin his or her life.
Seems times have changed, though one must be careful to jump to conclusions after reading a report like this.
I would like more information on the schools being cited in the report. There are, for instance, general course high schools that aim at university. What you see there and in the technical schools and the private schools of last resort is usually quite large in terms of behavior.
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