JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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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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- Translator
- ZAIHON, Inc. (日本財務翻訳株式会社), Tokyo
- Salary: ¥6.0M / Year Negotiable
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kanoe81
It would certainly help this article if the author were to illustrate what made her so different in Japan. Was it personality, a physical feature, a harelip? I honestly have no idea. Truthfully, any of these things could make one a target of derision in a Western country as well. This article almost just feels like a blog rant rather than a full article. Some examples of why she feels the way she does would make this far more interesting rather than some sweeping generalizations of Japan vs the US. Most of us are on the site because we have some knowledge or interest in Japan but are also familiar with the West (i.e., this site is in English, English is spoken mostly in Western countries), so details would be helpful.
Posted in: Why are you trying so hard to fit in, when you were born to stand out?
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kanoe81
Like others have said, it's great they're happy. But promoting this type of relationship as ideal by a dating website seems completely irresponsible in a country where marriage and birth rates are on the decline. Women are quickly considered too old for marriage but the double standard apparently sets no upper limit for men. Does this website intend to promote March-December romances? Men of middle age, why spend the time and money pursuing a woman with some emotional maturity (ok, I know that's debatable at any age but still) when you can have yourselves a nubile teen? I thought child brides were a third-world phenomenon, ugh. I'm never using this site, at 30 they'll probably match me to a 78-year old.
By the way, those who mentioned the actor in the US who married a 16-year old--not sure if you've really been paying attention but no one thinks this is ideal. All the media attention this couple's received is because they're regarded as a train wreck, not as a good example of anything.
Posted in: Joji Takahashi, Mika Mifune chosen as 'Partners of the Year'
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kanoe81
Meh. This guy is a loser and all his movies are terrible anyways. The Oscars are better off without him.
Posted in: Oscars show producer resigns over gay slur
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kanoe81
China will say nothing. APEC is about to start and their man is in the wrong here.
Posted in: No China protest yet over fishing boat captain's arrest
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kanoe81
I've been putting off my family ancestral trip to Wakayama due to the huge exchange rate disparity. Radiation is not an issue (and certainly not in Wakayama). That being said, I wonder if being a US Nikkei would put me at the bottom of the list?
Otherwise, sign me up.
Oh, and:
I've seen a few spots on the international free channels here starring the Arashi guys. Pretty sad stuff though. They could certainly do a lot better.
Posted in: Japan to offer 10,000 free trips to foreigners to boost tourism industry
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kanoe81
Where do you get these stats? Sorry, but most women working full-time today do not have five children. I don't have stats to support this either, but if the average fertility rate in Japan is about 1.3 (and around 2 for the US and UK), I don't think there are a lot of women who have five children headed back to work because there aren't so many of them at all. Also, most women who are career-focused do make some choices regarding how many children they can have and still be able to work (before you go into the subject of abortion, I'm speaking purely at a level of family planning where non-abortative measures may be practiced to discourage the birth of more children than they are able to financially support).
Is your measurement of being less useful to the company based on their time away on maternity leave, the use of their time while they are actually at work, or having to leave early to drive the school bus to pick up her numerous children from school and activities? Does the man work so much more because he doesn't take paternity leave or just stays later hours?
Actually, no, they're not. At least where I work (in California), sexism is sexism and is not tolerated in the workplace. Anyone who insists that women have the right to trash men based on their gender in the workplace is wrong.
Posted in: Working toward gender equality in language and society
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kanoe81
@Steve@CPFC, I know you think you're doing the best for yourself and your family, and that's wonderful. But please, please don't tell other people what to do. Each couple should evaluate what works best for their situation and their family, period. You sound a bit like a nightmare mother-in-law from a TV drama in your assertions about the roles of men and women, and your tendency to lump women together as some sort of different breed of creature with predictable behavior patterns does truly sound like a throwback to the 1950's.
Unless you're creating a new term out of "indewpendent", the fact that you're even adding quotes around 'independent' and 'career' at all when talking about working women shows that you don't even really believe these terms are correct. As an independent, working woman, I find your assertions that women's finances need to be supervised by their husbands, that they are mentally different from men and that they should enjoy waking up before the dawn to bake sweets to be consumed over idle gossip with the neighborhood ladies to be almost absurd.
These sorts of attitudes breed the ideas that women are not fit for the workplace (why, do we naturally suffer from a dearth of intelligence required for a job in business, finance or technology?), that they should not receive equal pay or consideration for promotions because men are supposed to be the primary breadwinners (equal work should result in equal pay and equal potential for gain), and that they should quit work for good to have children. This seems to describe the glass ceiling that women worldwide but especially in Japan have struggled to overcome for some time.
As young, overindulged men start to drop out from or never enter the workforce (looking at you, otaku), or decide they'd rather open nail salons than become engineers or doctors, it seems there'd be a logical gap in employment that can be filled by smart, ambitious women. I realize that may not be what the article is talking about, since the issue at hand are those who've already been absent from the workforce for some time and may or may not have many relevant job skills, but I feel the need to address these attitudes since they contribute to the difficulty of Japan to catch up to other nations when it comes to equality in the workforce.
I am not saying there is anything wrong with taking time off to have children. BlueWitch seems to have achieved an excellent work-life balance that will benefit her children and her husband, while keeping her happy as well. All in all, that is what is most important.
If Japan truly wants to succeed in the next generation, men AND women need to focus on hard work and raise their children to think ambitiously, not to just pass the next test to get into the next school, so once you've gotten into college you don't have to do anything in life.
Posted in: Honey, do you mind going back to work?
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kanoe81
I just realized "Wild Speed: Mega Max" is the unecessarily translated title for "Fast Five". Didn't think that title could get any worse, but I was wrong.
Posted in: Emi Takei has her sights set on Hollywood
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kanoe81
Well that's terrible. I've been to that McDonald's a few times and never felt any danger. I guess you're never too far from anything in Hawaii though.
Posted in: Japanese tourist stabbed in Honolulu neighborhood
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kanoe81
I wonder what juku attendance is like these days.
Posted in: The dumbing down of Japanese students
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kanoe81
Christoph Waltz was amazing but most of the rest of cast of Inglourious was pretty awful. Brad Pitt was practically a cartoon.
Posted in: 'Inglourious Basterds' wins SAG film award
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kanoe81
Uh, after the war most of the business owners tried to reclaim their businesses. Some were successful, some weren't. The influx of Koreans to the area is fairly recent, probably around the mid-90's or so.
Assimilation is a major part of postwar JA culture, but the drift from downtown has little to do with being easy targets.
Posted in: Hotel murder shakes LA's Little Tokyo neighborhood
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kanoe81
There are some new condo developments right off Japanese Village Plaza but anything outside that general 2-block radius isn't that safe. The Chetwood is off 4th, so that's already on the edge of J-town. In that area, I'd guess that cash transactions are common because many people don't have regular bank accounts.
As bdiego said, Skid Row is on 5th, and some nasty stuff goes down there.
Posted in: Hotel murder shakes LA's Little Tokyo neighborhood
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kanoe81
Of course not, but lately good movies are almost certainly overlooked if they become box office successes. Expanding the number of nominees to 10 may help include some movies that would otherwise be shunned by the high art crowd.
Posted in: With 10 nominees, Oscar outlook is up in the air