JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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- Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) in Kanto region
- RCS (RCSコーポレーション), Kanto
- Salary: ¥180,000 ~ ¥250,000 / Month includes performance bonus
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- Assistant Language Teacher - TOKYO - late-March start
- Interac, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥230,000 ~ ¥255,000 / Month
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- Assistant Language Teacher - Kanagawa Prefecture - late-March start
- Interac, Kanagawa
- Salary: ¥230,000 ~ ¥255,000 / Month
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jhk
Well the only thing the government, or we, or society needs to monitor is the income gap problem.
Solve this, and solve most of the problems we read about in the newspapers.
Does anybody have a problem with what Bill Gates or Warren Buffet did? Who was number three, and what is he doing with billions of dollars? You would think anyone that hordes that much money would carry antisocial behaviors characteristic of a sociopath.
Any Mental Health Professionals or Lawyers looking for something to do?
Posted in: Republicans accuse Obama of socialism
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jhk
If you read the definition of Totalitarianism, it is more likely that we are living in it now. Not from an Obama/Government perspective, but from a Corporate perspective, in terms of regulation (Rent, Interest, Fees, Commissions, on almost everything we do), in terms of political power (Advertising, corporate regulatory bodies/associations/clubs, Media), the level of fear in losing work. I would call it Corporate Totalitarianism, of which for most, there's no way out but to join it.
The weak links as mentioned in the article are not the multiple regulatory bodies, it is the corporations behaviors themselves. Most of which have proven to be predatory psychopaths that profit for the sake of profit, so long as there are no snags with the legal system that would prove costly to themselves. Nothing so new here.
The rules should be simple, a corporation and its administrators whos actions are solely for the sake of profit, should be deemed psychopathic, and therefore not mentally capable of making business decisions, in light of its impact on society.
How do we do this, simple, starting with the largest and most profitable companies, begin investigating their affairs over the past five to ten years, in terms of the number of employees terminated (If excessive, then clearly antisocial), how much profits where channeled through offshore entities (If excessive, then clearly antisocial), what percentage was allocated to community or philanthropic causes (if minimal, then clearly antisocial).
Below is a small list of some of the largest companies in the world. There is quite a bit of evidence over the past ten years on the behavior of some of these entities, it is just a matter of proving sociopathic behaviors, and determining mental incompetence through this, which would have to be of course assessed by a professional health organization such as the American Psychological Association (APA), or Australian Psychological Society (APS), etc:
Wal Mart - United States (retail) ExxonMobil Corporation - United States (oil) Royal Dutch Shell - Netherlands [2] (oil) BP - United Kingdom (oil) Toyota Motor - Japan (automobiles) Chevron - United States (oil) ING Group - Netherlands (banking) Total - France (oil) General Motors - United States (automobiles) ConocoPhillips - United States (oil)
Of course some would worry about the employees and perhaps shareholders of these related to these companies, however, it is not the companies themselves, at risk, it is simply their behavior, particularly in terms of the level of unemployment caused, the lack of contribution to society in terms of taxes, community, and philanthropy, and generally where resources are spent, which is separate from the contributions and efforts of the individuals themselves.
In terms of individuals, another group of potential psychopaths could be in the following list of billionaires, of which Sociopathy can be determined generally by what or what is not being spent annually in more or less the same criteria as above:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:American_billionaires
Many Psychologists claim that Psychopathy or Sociopathy is incurable, however, it is the behavior of such mental incompetents, whether corporate entities or persons, that can actually be controlled and monitored.
Many would claim that then psychopathy is widespread and would include mnay people, however, we wouldn't propose investigation of an entire population, which would clearly make this a totalitarian regime, we would only be talking about the 1st percentile or perhaps 5th percentile of individuals and corporations, and determining what would be considered excessive or unreasonable towards society, especially when compared to the bottom 1st or 5th percentile of society.
Posted in: Obama unveils biggest financial rules overhaul since 1930s
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jhk
I agree with you on many respects, particularily in the sense that North Korea is not wealthy (hell hole), that its leaders are probably better off (priviledged), and especially that they have nukes (threat), and hear what is being said.
Consider in the western world, that poverty, crime, and perhaps prisons (hell holes) also exist, in addition to widening income gaps, billionaires, and consequently Air Force One (priviledged), and of course the number of nukes held (threat).
More importanly consider, if the world were a country, that the Northern Hemisphere (western world) is the priviledged, and through its sanctions, policies, trade deals, etc, may be playing dictator to countries where people live on less than a dollar a day
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Percentagepopulationlivingonlessthan1dollarday_2007-2008.png
The western world lives higher on the hog than the entire southern hemisphere, including the hell hole Africa, where most of the 26,000 kids under 5 die of poverty. Ironically Nigeria, with a life expectancy lower than 50, per capita of about $1,000, and predominantly sunni muslim, was ranked one of the happiest countries in the world.
So, I don't know the right answer or what is going to happen, but it appears that the US (per capita 46k) has declared war on North Korea (per capita 2k), in a time when the US is on the brink of bankruptcy, and needs more resources. Sounds like axis of evil doublespeak (in biblical proportions) to me.
Posted in: Obama labels nuclear-armed N Korea 'grave threat'
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jhk
North Korea has been making defensive preparations under the assumption that its sovereign territory will be breached by the Western world if not physically then culturally, of which the only plausible physical defense, given their resources, is nuclear.
Obama, by declaring North Korea a threat, and authorizing the boarding of North Korean vessels, has effectively declared war on North Korea.
The North Korean idealogy is based on a classless society following the direction of one leader. On a practical basis, this leader happens to be a real person, but on a theoretical basis, is based on one idealized leader, hence the term ideology, and theoretically happens once the physical leader dies.
On a theological basis, this structure is tantamount to following the will of God, a striking parallel to the political structure of Iran, another deeply religious country making the exact same assumptions that their country is under the threat of Western influence and needs to build the bomb.
What's wrong with freedom, pursuit of happiness, fulfillment, etc. Nothing is wrong with it theoretically, however practically speaking, as we read everyday in the news, there are horror stories, that we can't even imagine going on in this world, most of which can be traced back to the Western world, not North Korea or Iran.
In any theological system, freedom, pursuit of happiness, and fulfillment, are not conducive to this world (because it is selfish, ignorant, and incompassionate while there are others suffering), and we have a standoff.
One side saying live life to the fullest or die trying, and the other side saying live life to the fullest after you die. Take your pick, choose wisely.
Posted in: Obama labels nuclear-armed N Korea 'grave threat'
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jhk
Wrongful act, perhaps, but this was clearly poverty related.
Posted in: Father, 3 children die in apparent murder-suicide in Hiroshima
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jhk
The population of Iran is more than 70,000,000, of which even hundreds of thousands of protestors represents about one percent of the population.
Western media is intentionally blowing this out of proportion.
Everyday the equivalent of 100 airliners crash everyday containing children under the age of 5 who have died of poverty related causes.
Statistically speaking, the first thing the Western world does when it faces financial difficulty is fire their "maids" per se, and we have at least ten percent of our own population that is unemployed (Try to imagine what would happen if 10% of the population started protesting).
Lets worry about what we are doing wrong in our own countries before we start messing with others.
If you want to make references to "evil", try looking it up in Biblical, Islamic, or even Buddhist terms and you might see yourselves along this very axis.
Posted in: Iran's Guardian Council ready to do limited recount of ballot boxes
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jhk
Mousavi led Iran into a war with Iraq which led to many Persians fleeing the country. I have not read much about Ahmadinejad doing anything violent. He does seem to represent strong Islamic sentiments, and deeply opposes Israel's attacks on Palestine, Israel more or less being a non-religious population although most would presume that they are.
Ahmadinejad comments controversially on the Holocaust, in response to Israel's pounding on Palestine, with the point that the Holocaust, while clearly a historical and shocking event, is being used today as tool to persecute, in much the same way that it uses small provocations by Palestine, to retaliate, and for that matter the persecution he faced when visiting the University in the US with his rather imperfect English, and inability to fully communicate in two clearly different cultures, as well as the persecution he faced at one of the more recent summit meetings in which he attempted, again to communicate his point on Israel's attack on Palestine, and his perhaps, not so well taken comments on the Holocaust. It was Israel which sent bulldozers into Palestine and cleared the homes of families, which would obvious provoke anyone who would lose their home. And it was Israel which used this to pound Palestine.
Consider, the point of view, the Holocaust was an un-kosher event which persecuted religious Jews, Israel becomes a non-religious state and claims land, which biblically, is not supposed to exist until a later stage in time, and was actually opposed by core Jews, and uses the Holocaust as an excuse to persecute Palestinians, as defended by Ahmadinejad, who is now being accused of rigging elections by Mousavi, a non-religious proponent, who was involved in a war with Iraq.
Perhaps it could be the non-religious that incite violence, war, and noise against the religious. By definition, religion is intended for the betterment of people and always incites helping the oppressed, and is diametrically opposed to evil which incites violence, confusion, and noise in attempt oppress the religious, of which many still do.
When David Letterman or Jay Leno poll everyday Americans on basic questions involving America, it would not be hard to presume that everyday Americans would have a very difficult time understanding someone like Ahmadinejad or Islam, or matters outside of America, and would automatically presume, after reading an article as the one above, that someone is a wacko, as indicated in our comments above.
More than 80% of Americans believe in God, why would Iranians (Persians) who are 89% Shia Muslim, not vote for Ahmadinejad, clearly a more religious person than Mousavi, who incited a war with Iraq, and sells his movement as a "green" movement as opposed to a religious one.
Posted in: Tehran calm after vote fraud claims trigger clashes
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jhk
Executives of the largest foreign companies in Japan, many of which are members of the Tokyo American Club, are responsible for the firing of millions of people in Tokyo, who only have a 10% chance of getting back into the workforce.
As the unemployed only represent less than 10% of the workforce, you would think that a 10% reduction in salaries at each company, most of which goes to these senior management anyways would prevent such an abrupt change in the lives of millions of people. But you continue to send people out on the street anyways.
This is a crime against the people of Tokyo.
You will not get away with this.
There are 20,000 children dying of poverty around the world, while you busy yourself with your wealth and prosperity, control the lives of millions of employees, mislead them, have them pay you fees, have them pay you interest, have them pay you rent, have them buy your products, bring you coffee, clean your house, take care of your kids, throw away your garbage.
This is a crime against humanity. YOU WILL NOT GET AWAY WITH THIS.
Posted in: Obama promises more than 600,000 jobs this summer
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jhk
Well then we will see in a few months time how well Australia fares, of which we could attribute your efforts and intentions, and I will continue to impart into the psyche of our readers in this forum that the aspirations of prosperity amongst the already wealthy is the sole cause of unemployment, poverty, lower consumption, less economic growth, a further widening of the income gap, and the beginnings of the "economic valley of death" that they are inadvertently creating for themselves.
Posted in: Japan can do without preaching on how to fix its economy
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jhk
JoeBigs, your link doesn't seem to be working. Here is another that links the Qu'ran to the Bible:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qu%27ran#TheTorahandtheBible
Teleprompter, An Abrahmic Religion includes Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, so your comment seems to be just "noise".
Nurse13, I am sure that there are some of us that share your controversial opinion.
Obama calls for a new beginning between U.S.,Muslims.
There is no controversy between true Christians and true Muslims, the only true controversy is between the religious and non-religious, of which the former is trying to reach the latter, in a time when corporate giants are crashing, the world is in its deepest recession ever, and 20,000 children continue to die of poverty everyday.
So, although I have been an Atheist for most of my life, I will drop to my knees, and put my hands together, in hopes that anyone reading this, might be thinking the same. I don't think it matters what religion because they are all basically the same, and without them, you could be hopelessly lost without it, even if you have your partner, kids, ride, and pad today, it may not be there tomorrow.
Posted in: Obama calls for new beginning between U.S., Muslims
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jhk
Brunobear, well lets see where Australias unemployment will be next month, if there are any hardworking homeless collecting bottles, and figure out this income gap thing, of which I would think is as basic as we can get.
So as you sit "at the top of the ladder", what kind of things can you do today, given your leadership position, UI benefits, and prosperous nation for the remaining countries, which are bleeding employees, other than to tout how you guys are ok, but busy worrying about yourselves, on a Japanese newsite, in an article that is saying we don't need any preaching on how to fix its economy.
Unemployment is going up in all countries, including Australia, there is a widening income gap, and those at the "top of the ladder", including foreigners and members at the Tokyo American Club, American Chamber of Commerce, Australian Chamber of Commerce, and any other organization that is "members only" and "high fees", as I will say once again, are the problem and the solution.
You "decision makers" and ones who control employees, land, assets, cashflow, make us pay rent, interest, fees, and buy your products, are the ones who are making the decisions to fire more employees, while the "bottom of the ladder", temp workers, homeless, unemployed, freeters, and the 20,000 children who die every day, are praying to a God, who is probably preparing a blowtorch for all of the things that you have done or not done, and especially, as you selfishly quote about yourself "we have other things to do, like working hard and making it more prosperous than it is".
Posted in: Japan can do without preaching on how to fix its economy
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jhk
I do recall many Japanese saying this is a US only problem about a year ago, and Canadians likewise six months ago, and I hear similar from you about Australia. I think unemployment in Australia, although lower than most, has gone from about 3% to 6% over the last year. And I maintain that unemployment is the best indicator because it is real people.
Analagous to blood, the solution to the problem seems to lie first in stopping the bleeding. For example, there seem to be many homeless working hard at collecting cans and bottles if this is not working hard enough for you.
There is a saying in Japan, the nail that sticks up gets hammered down. I've never made sense of this quote until recently, but anyone who touts prosperity, working hard, and being at the top of the ladder to me, is the problem and the solution.
For example, a good percentage of readers are members of TAC, Chambers of Commerce, and other clubs. They are also very familiar with performance indicators and KPIs. Perhaps you, or anyone who prides themselves in sitting on these boards, can stick unemployment at the top of the dashboard, or the percentage of their wealth usefully spent on eradicating poverty, and not just tax deductions. This command center of business decisions, access to information, flow of money, allocation of resources, policymaking, and jobs, frankly, is the problem and the solution.
To get back to the heart of this article and its message to foreigners in Japan, particularly ones that make more than 50k per year or hold management positions, don't worry about what we should be doing, worry about what you should be doing, particluarly in terms of this income gap problem. Don't worry, we will be knocking on you door to follow up on this.
Lets nail these facts down also.
Posted in: Japan can do without preaching on how to fix its economy
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jhk
Perhaps Australia is trailing Canada, is trailing Japan, is trailing the UK, is trailing the US in Real Estate, Securities, Banking, Airlines, Manufacturing, Tourism, Commodities, Resources, Environment, Consumption, Unemployment (Any others?).
What good is anything if unemployment keeps rising. It is sad and perhaps irritating to some that there are bums and people on UI, but the reality is that they used to sit beside you, perhaps you contributed to them losing their job, and ironically you could be next.
In the developing world, the average annual salary does not even compare to one month's spending of a freeter.
So to get back to the article, and its message to us foreigners, lets focus on fixing our own problems, perhaps at the individual level, because, apparently we are all in this together.
Posted in: Japan can do without preaching on how to fix its economy
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jhk
Based on what I have studied, Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and most religions are have one basic theme, which is basically the concept of One God, or in simple terms One Goal.
As per the heading of this article, in lay terms, lets not fight or argue and try to work things out. So the question becomes, "What can you do or what are you doing to make things work out?"
Most religions speak of things that are not good, (bad things), of which the question simply becomes, "What are you doing that is not good?"
If you've ever read the Qu'ran, you would come to the realization that it basically overlaps with the Christian Bible, and for that matter with most other religions, particularily in terms of basic principles.
One of the core principles is the concept of equality and distribution of wealth (ie. "good" things and not "bad" things)
So with this in mind, you can filter out the noise, and focus on what is important, such as what is happening to this world, and what can be done about it.
Posted in: Obama calls for new beginning between U.S., Muslims
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jhk
If you think back to the fall of Rome, the colloseum was one of the distractions. In the case of today, unemployment is the problem, and everything else is distraction. Unemployment drives reduced consumption, less taxes, and all the bad things we read about in the newspaper today. Everything else, represents the cliff that we are collectively heading towards, and like it or not, Japan, Europe, Canada, and Australia are following the US. Forget about stock indexes, oil, arbitrage, currencies, commodities, and just look at unemployment. It is the KPI de jour.
So when Obama says 600,000, and talks jobs, whether they will happen or not, at least he is trying to focus on what is most important, and not trying to create some type of colloseum. He also alludes to JC many times, whether it clicks with you or not. But perhaps we could pitch in for a change and follow suit.
Posted in: Obama promises more than 600,000 jobs this summer
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jhk
I have an alternative solution, cut the white collar salary in half, and use it to employ the homeless, unemployed, haken workers, freeters, and developing countries. Reconsider barriers to employment such as certifications, which tend to drive up educational costs, drive up salaries, and limits diversity in the workforce. Reconsider commission rates like 20-30% for recruiting fees, 3% for Real Estate, etc. Reconsider the entire realm of hedge funds and institutional investments. The markets are drying up and we are bleeding employees. Perhaps we would have less social costs if we just reduced our salaries instead.
I would guess that, given the nature of most individuals, institutions & politics, this won't happen, so instead, we will continue with this income gap problem, increased social costs, reduced consumption, increased crime, more borrowing from taxpayers, until what we collectively reap what we are sowing.
Obama is one guy. The guys that can do the most for this world sit in cubicles or offices and have access to the most important corporate decisions.
Einstein says "Insanity (is) doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." So if you are still sitting in your cubicle or driving in your car or cab next month wondering whats wrong with the world, try to think outside the box per se and remind yourself that the homeless guy sleeping in the park could be you or your family tomorrow.
This is the best that I can think of, but I still think governments, corporations, institutions, and organizations, are under such pressure, and so used to high margins, inefficiency, and corporate procedure, that we will witness them all imploding and this is what will threaten our very infrastructure, after which, as I have mentioned previously...
Money and Gold will be useless if 20% of the population is unemployed and trying to make a living, so think carefully before pushing the fire button. Its insane.
Posted in: Obama pitches pay-as-you-go plan for US Congress
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jhk
The global economy is faced with "layered compression", and possibly soon to be followed by "modular infrastructural conversion", of which the most institutionalized of us, may have the most difficulty adjusting to such a change. For any of those that may intuitively know what I am talking about, I would recommend your intrinsic theological abilities, and perhaps we can rendezvous or reconvene somewhere in that area.
Posted in: Japan can do without preaching on how to fix its economy
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jhk
I think another 20,000 died again today. Its kind of sad n'est pas?
Posted in: Recession a good opportunity to return to Japan's core virtues
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jhk
Values/Virtues are fixed, timeless, and don't change. Someone dedicated a statue to Ryokan, he appears in articles years later. He kind of has hero status for living in a hut. Funny that there are still blue and orange huts out there today and funny that there are so many of us that are so against this article. What could we be struggling with? There are still 20,000 kids, mostly in Africa, dying of poverty everyday, while we write comments about how Ryokan's article is rubbish. Keep it up guys. www.world-vision.org
Posted in: Recession a good opportunity to return to Japan's core virtues
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jhk
In a global economy, with an estimated worldwide GDP of $66 Trillion USD roughly at $11,000 USD per world capita, but instead, mostly going to folks from America, the UK, maybe South Africa, Australia, and other developed and presumably contemporary, family oriented countries/regions, there are 20,000 Children, who die EVERYDAY at less than about $1 USD a day. Perhaps Ryokan's message is that he would rather live in a Grass Hut, and beg for 3 Sho of rice (perhaps from YOU and YOUR kids), rather than associate himself with YOUR money. I hope this helps in helping you understand the term Seihin, although I did think it was explained well enough in the article.
Posted in: Recession a good opportunity to return to Japan's core virtues