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- Research Officer (Trade and Economic)
- Australian Embassy / オーストラリア大使館, 東京都
- Salary: 月給 51万9167円 ~ 51万9167円
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- ERP Consultant, System Engineer
- Nakamoto & Associates, 東京都
- Salary: 月給 25万円 ~ 70万円 相談可 インターンシップ
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- Restaurant Service Attendant
- Mandarin Oriental, Tokyo - マンダリン オリエンタル東京, 東京都
- Salary: 給与についての記載なし
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- In Room Dining Ordertaker
- Mandarin Oriental, Tokyo - マンダリン オリエンタル東京, 東京都
- Salary: 給与についての記載なし
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- Housekeeping Coordinator
- Mandarin Oriental, Tokyo - マンダリン オリエンタル東京, 東京都
- Salary: 給与についての記載なし
2
kchoze
It's important to follow the rules, yes, but when pedestrians are forced to share wide streets with vehicles that go very fast, they are reasonable scared and will be afraid to walk for any length on them. The end result isn't that you increase safety, it's that you discourage walking as a mode of transport and increase the use of cars, the message given is "If you want to be safe, drive a car!". Drivers also start believing that the road is for them, and exclusively for them, and the result is a much more aggressive and dangerous driving style.
Also, actually it's the Japanese pedestrians and cyclists who respect best the rules of right-of-way. American and Canadian pedestrians and cyclists are so (reasonably) scared of the aggressive drivers in their own countries that they act excessively defensively and do not demand that rules of right-of-way that give them priority be respected. North American tourists in Japan will almost inevitably face a situation where they are at a crosswalk and hesitate to go even though cars are stopping to let them pass, because they are so used to drivers ignoring them or even honking at them if they try to cross.
All driving laws in industrialized countries say basically the same thing: the bigger the vehicle you drive, the more you are responsible for everyone else's safety and have to be careful. Car drivers need to watch out for cyclists and pedestrians, and cyclists must watch out for pedestrians. But in North America, it's the opposite that happens in real life because of bad street design and urban planning: pedestrians are forced to watch out for cyclists and cars because cyclists and drivers don't watch out for them and aren't careful. And that's not a good thing, at all. Japan has it right, we have it wrong (speaking as a Canadian).
Posted in: Driver arrested after car hits mother, daughter on bike, killing girl
2
kchoze
Alphaape
The only way to widen most streets in Japan would be to destroy the buildings on either side. Very expensive for no good reason.
The big arterial roads from what I've seen do have sidewalks and are pretty wide, it's residential streets that are very narrow with doors giving directly on the street. And you know what? It's better that way. Countries that make systemically wide streets even in residential areas aren't any safer than Japan in terms of traffic deaths, they're generally worse. Wide streets give an illusion of safety, but make drivers drive too fast and not pay attention to pedestrians and cyclists. The narrow Japanese streets in residential areas make drivers realize that they share the road, the whole road, with other people and to drive more carefully. Because they are perceived as less safe... they are actually safer. It's called risk compensation.
Wide streets make sense on highways, NOT in residential areas.
Furthermore, widening streets and adding sidewalks would just make walking and biking harder in Japan by increasing distances and clearly giving the road to cars instead of signaling that residential streets are shared streets where pedestrians and bikes have just as much right to be there as cars. Of all the things Japan can import from overseas, a car-centric urbanism and culture is pretty much the biggest one to never, EVER import.
Posted in: Driver arrested after car hits mother, daughter on bike, killing girl
3
kchoze
To those complaining of Japan's narrow roads and blaming them for these deaths, please remember that Japan has fewer traffic deaths than the US, Australia and Canada, the countries with the widest streets. Wide streets are not necessarily all that safer because they incite drivers to drive faster and to ignore pedestrians. Narrow streets like those in Japan force drivers to be more careful and wary of pedestrians, this realization of risks and dangers paradoxically lead to more safety.
Even in the US, studies have shown that "skinny" streets are safer than typical wide residential streets. An unsafe street perceived as unsafe may be in practice safer than a safe street perceived as safe.
Posted in: Driver arrested after car hits mother, daughter on bike, killing girl
1
kchoze
Open-Minded
Considering that the stock market has risen by 50% in the past 6 months, it seems that some people do believe in it, and are ready to put their money where their mouth is.
Posted in: Abe, Aso defend economic policies as markets settle
0
kchoze
I have a theory about Die Hard 5: they actually had a generic spy flick set in Russia with a young actor as lead (Jai Courtney). They were all set to start filming when someone had a flash: this was gonna bomb, the script was terrible, the actors didn't have enough recognition, it was just all-around bad.
So they panicked, but they knew that they were too far ahead to just stop. They decided to rewrite the script, added Bruce Willis as John McClane tagging along like a sad puppy, spouting one-liners reminiscent of much better movies, and called it Die Hard.
Bang! Mucho dinero. Marketing wins, the art of cinema cries itself to sleep.
Posted in: Next 'Die Hard' movie rumored to be set in Tokyo
1
kchoze
I think a precision needs to be made. Inflation is often calculated as the increase in consumer prices, but the reality is that the monetary phenomenon of inflation implies that both prices and wages increase because of more money being in circulation. After all, one man's spending is another's revenue, so if prices increase, revenues and incomes should increase similarly.
So for the people who fear that higher inflation means lower wages and higher prices, calm down. Higher inflation, if generated from monetary inflation, means both high wages and higher prices. You might ask: what's the point then? Well, the point of increasing inflation is to reduce the burden of debts strangles the economy, and hopefully get liquidities moving around a bit more, perhaps creating economic opportunities.
Posted in: BOJ to double money supply to get Japan out of slump
0
kchoze
Can one make art based on human beings without objectifying them? Art takes people and uses their likeness to create objects to be admired for their beauty or the thoughts they inspire.
So isn't art in itself objectification?
Posted in: School girls - The Aida Makoto interview
5
kchoze
I think they should keep them. Showing damaged objects only in my opinion dehumanizes the tragedy and makes it too easy to be awed at the destructive power of the bomb and to forget that the bomb actually affected human beings. These mannequins help to evoke in visitors all the pain and suffering that the bomb caused.
Yes, they are disturbing and frightening, but that is the POINT. The should be, because what happened there was disturbing and frightening. Just showing the impact on objects actually runs a risk of people finding it "cool" to see melted roof tiles and the like. This is not what the museum should be about.
Posted in: Opinions split on whether or not to remove mannequins from Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum
1
kchoze
That's incorrect. New Zealand produces most of its energy through hydroelectric dams. Though they have invested a lot in geothermal power, geothermal electricity represents only 13,6% of the electricity it produces. 52% comes from hydroelectricity, 28,4% from fossil sources (oil and gas mainly).
New Zealand has about 750 MW of installed capacity in geothermal energy, Japan has a bit over 500 MW. The problem is that Japan is much more populous than New Zealand and has a much larger industrial sector. Plus, geothermal plants in Japan would need to be installed mainly in national parks, which creates a lot of tensions with environmentalists and tourism businesses (what do you think hot springs are?). 80% of Japan's geothermal potential is situated in national parks or monuments.
By all means, it should be developed, but it has its drawbacks.
Posted in: Thousands across Japan rally against nuclear power
1
kchoze
With scientists warning that global warming is progressing faster than expected, with the thresholds for major negative consequences on the world, scrapping completely nuclear power isn't simply economically foolhardy, but amazingly irresponsible for the environment. there are other green sources of energy, but none offers the reliability and affordability of nuclear power.
What people should ask for is the end of government-corporation collusion in Japan that allowed power companies running nuclear plants to be lax around safety and to under-design plants with regards to major natural disasters. The nuclear industry can be safe, but you need an independent public watchdog to make sure that those who run the plants follow the rules adequately, especially if they're for-profit companies that would be tempted to cut corners to save money. Japan should copy the French model on this.
Posted in: Thousands across Japan rally against nuclear power
1
kchoze
How many tons of TNT would it take to blast the damned rock to smithereens? It would save everyone a lot of time and trouble.
Posted in: 'Dokdo' island classes to become mandatory for S Korean children
2
kchoze
Kabukilover
You've got it wrong. Speculators made an assault on the world monetary system to benefit from the changes. Big investors know it, to make a lot of money, you need change, whether booms or crises, a smart investor can make as much money either way. It's when economic growth is stable and predictable that opportunities for the big buck disappear.
The Japanese Yen's value increased by about 60% from 2007 to 2011, causing a massive readjustment with terrible economic consequences for Japan. Nothing justifies such a massive variation in the value of the Yen.
You want Japan to take it lying down? Japan is not making an assault on monetary systems, it is defending itself against the assaults of speculators hoping to make a quick buck on their back. And the reason why bankers like this guy whine is because their precious little strategies to make money off of other people's misery are getting short-circuited. Now they may have to gasp WORK for a living.
Posted in: No censure of Japan means they will be off to the money printing presses.
0
kchoze
I don't see my opinion here. I'm personally in favor of something like a second Bretton-Woods, sans gold. Meaning countries would try to keep their exchange rates stable with one another, but allowing for fluctuations to take into account major trade deficits or surpluses and differing inflation rates. Hard exchange rate fixing would be disastrous in the long-term, as it always is, look at what pegging the Argentinian Peso to the US Dollar did to Argentina, for instance.
Hard currency pegs are always terrible, economies are dynamic, not static. So as they grow and fluctuate, the currencies must be able to fluctuate with them, otherwise a static fixed currency on a changing economy risks provoking major financial crises which are completely unnecessary. If currencies cannot bend, then they must break, or break the economy.
As to the gold standard... it's the worst idea ever. It's delegating the control of a currency from governments and central banks to mining companies, because inflation would be controlled by how much of this mostly useless metal we can get out of the ground. If you find a big gold vein, you can swamp the world markets with a lot more gold, and thus cause inflation for everyone. It's insane.
I know some are anti-government, but let's be reasonable.
1- A fixed currency supply causes distortion on a dynamic economy, which eventually creates needless crises (financial panics were common in the 19th century, and inflation was less stable than after WWII with big inflationary and deflationary periods) 2- A currency must then be controlled by someone to try to match its growth to the needs of the economy. 3- If we leave currency in the hands of private interests, it is likely that a cabal of a few influential and rich people will take control of the sector, thus biasing this vital economic lever towards their private interests and not the interests of the economy as a whole. 4- Therefore, the government, being accountable to the people and having one of its main interest being the health of the economy at large (if the economy goes bad, the government gets replaced), is the only institution that we can trust for controlling a currency, even if it is not perfect.
Posted in: Amid all the talk about currency wars, do you think exchange rates should be fixed?
1
kchoze
I'm not one of those who think that constitutions are sacred documents handed down by God and that they should never be changed, ever. But making it easy to change the constitution makes the constitution no better than a typical law that one party adopts, then another reverses when they get power.
A constitution is about the "rules of the game", the principles on which a country bases its economic and political systems on. It should be allowed to change if enough people want it, because countries evolve and principles change, but such change shouldn't be easy nor trivial. So I am extremely wary of making constitutional changes easier.
As to the article on the army, that's a decision for the Japanese, but I like the present article renouncing war and I fail to see what getting rid of it could bring of good to the world and to Japan.
Posted in: Abe says he intends to change constitution
1
kchoze
Abe is giving the impression that he is doing something. I think a lot of people don't know the details of what he is doing, but the feeling was that Japan was doing poorly and that the previous government was just doing some internal bickering and rearranging the chairs on the deck of the Titanic with minor policy changes. Abe is doing something, and something major.
Will it succeed, will it fail? At that point, people will make up their minds on whether he did good or bad. But for now, he is doing something and they credit him for trying.
Posted in: Support for Abe rises to 66.7%
-1
kchoze
Very appropriate... he already turned the Star Trek reboot into a new wannabe Star Wars full of action and playing extra-loose with science. It only makes sense that he gets to make a movie in the series he actually wanted to do it in.
Posted in: JJ Abrams to direct next 'Star Wars' film
5
kchoze
The policies Merkel is shoving through Europe's throat is causing untold suffering and Great Depression-level unemployment and misery in many countries, all to benefit her country and her dogmas. And Europe is getting back into recession thanks to them... but NO, Merkel is not worried about that, she's worried about JAPAN.
Merkel is the one leader in the western world I hope daily gets thrown out of power ASAP.
I will also point out Merkel's utter hypocrisy. Germany has been using the Euro to have a competitively devaluated currency for ten years or so. If the Germans still had the Deutsche Mark, it would be worth much more than the Euro is presently worth, but since countries that are net importers are also on the Euro, it bring the value of the currency down relative to what it would be had Germany been the only country on it. In fact, before the Euro, Germany had a roughly balanced balance of trade (no major trade deficit or surplus). Since the Euro, Germany has obtained a massive trade surplus worth around 5% of their GDP.
So Germany is one of the worst countries in the world for currency manipulation, along with China... and Brazil.
Hmm.... I guess the way you notice which country is manipulating its currency is by how loud they yell when they think another country is doing it. If they yell really hard that manipulating a currency to competitively devaluate it is bad, then they are doing it MASSIVELY, they just don't want other countries to counter their attempts to keep their own currency low.
Posted in: Yen manipulation claims completely off the mark: Aso
0
kchoze
I think the investors have a saying: you know that it's time to sell when even your taxi driver recommends buying.
When people who don't follow financial news nor have any expertise want to buy a stock, it creates a bubble, these people don't know the fundamentals of the markets and create excessive demand. They base their decisions on an irrational but popular belief: "the stock's value has grown a lot in the recent past, so it will likely grow just as fast in the future."
I think Apple has just gone through that phase, people who knew nothing about the market heard good things about the stock and went to buy it, driving the price up. But Apple's fundamentals don't justify a price that high, so after the vast inflow of cash is gone, the fundamentals reassert themselves and the price is doomed to fall to a more reasonable value. Analysts predicting Apple's meteoric rise to slow down just hastened the process.
Posted in: Weak outlook tarnishes Apple's record results
0
kchoze
zichi
If you meant that to say that Apple's stock is doing better and a better future than what people think, you don't understand stock options. Stock options mean that someone has the right to buy a certain number of shares at a fixed price, they usually have an expiration date.
For example, someone who works for company X can have the option to buy 100 of its actions at 1$, whatever the actual price of the stocks on the market. So if the stock is worth 3$ and he exercises his options, he get 300$ worth of actions for 100$. On the other hand, if the stock is worth 0,50$, then he would get only 50$ worth of actions in exchange for his 100$.
Anyway, what it means is that if the stock is climbing, you have no reason to buy them, unless the expiration date is coming. It's better to use the money elsewhere, in other investments. However, when the stock value has peaked and that you foresee its coming decline, then that is the moment you should exercise your options, buying the stocks at the peak price then trying to sell them before the price comes down.
TL;DR version: Al Gore exercised his Apple stock options because he foresees that Apple's stock is just going down, not because he thinks that it will start growing again. If you posted your comment as evidence of Apple's bright future, you got it wrong.
Posted in: Weak outlook tarnishes Apple's record results
1
kchoze
With Steve Jobs gone, Apple has lost the Reality Distortion Field generator and it is slowly weakening. This means that less and less people look at Apple products as if they were sacred items and they look at them for what they are: simple consumer products.
When that is done, people can't but compare Apple's offerings to the competition... and despite the mockeriesnfrom Apple's high-ups, they see that the competition isn't that bad. In fact, Apple focused on offering a smooth but simple user experience from the get-go, but its competitors now offer many more features and get smoother and better with each new release, while Apple's products receive only incremental changes, and not all for the best (Apple maps, anyone?), some outright ripped off of the competition (notification center). The iPhone 5 was finally an admission by Apple that the competition for the past two years had it right, bigger screens and faster connections to wireless networks are the future.
Apple's offering is still high-quality, but it's just not as cool anymore, it's just mostly the same products that were released 3 or 4 years ago, just faster and with a better display... and more expensive than the top-end of the competition.
Posted in: Apple cuts orders for iPhone 5 parts on weak demand