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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kirakira25
Aha! So maybe THIS explains mother in laws 4am garbage sorting when she came to visit last week! The noise was unbelievable!
Posted in: Last train blues
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kirakira25
I should just add that I am NOT against working mums or stay at home mums at all - I am just against people not being allowed a choice.
Posted in: Kyoko Uchida announces she's pregnant
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kirakira25
A lot of it is jealousy. A lot of it is also because, even though some people make these personal choices, they are not convinced they have made the right choice for them (or haven`t been able to make a choice at all) and feel the need to dress down someone who makes a different choice in order to make themselves feel better.
My Mum actually admitted to this quite recently. She was very vocal against working mothers, but admitted to me recently she felt resentful of these women who DID have a career. She felt they had a more fulfilling life than she did. I wasn`t remotely offended - I understand how she feels now being a mum myself.
I am not a Japanese mum, but I am a working foreign mum, married to a Japanese, living a very Japanese life, here for 7 years now, with a lot of working and non-working mum friends. The one thing that absolutely EVERYONE has in common, regardless of what side of the fence they sit on, is that they all seem to think the grass is greener on the other side, me included!
Some of my friends tell me they really want to work but their mother in laws or mothers forbid them! Others are technically "forced" out - a very intelligent, experienced friend returned to work after maternity leave to find herself making coffee and typing reports (she ran the department before her pregnancy). On the other hand, I have met people who have told me their only ambition in life is to "get married/get pregnant so I can give up work".
Virtually all my western mum friends are working. Virtually none of my Japanese friends are. I think there are three things at play - culture, attitude, and opportunity. If I had 1000 yen for every Japanese woman I met coming to me for English practice because she was forced out of her job when she got pregnant and thinks learning English will help her get a leg up back into the workforce one day, I wouldn`t have to work at all!
Posted in: Kyoko Uchida announces she's pregnant
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kirakira25
Actually I am also being very judgemental here - I apologise. The girl may have medical issues we don`t know about, or appalling morning sickness. Please ignore my over-opinionated rantings!
Posted in: Kyoko Uchida announces she's pregnant
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kirakira25
Ah, you could have a point there terebiko! When you have your first, you feel like a "precious vessel" - delicate and entirely ready to sacrifice everything for your firstborn. By the time you are on your second or third, things are somewhat different!
I think even with beautiful, intelligent, professional working women, the soon-to-be obaasan also has a lot more influence over them than many would care to admit! Maybe her mother ordered her to give up work?!
Posted in: Kyoko Uchida announces she's pregnant
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kirakira25
And yet it is realy so simple - be who you are and be proud of that, NOT who the magazines tell you you should be. But in a society such as Japan where the group dynamic is still so important and standing out is frowned upon, it is so difficult to think that way.
All my Japanese friends complain about how un-manly Japanese guys are, and how they all like western guys because they are more "danseiteki" - but then these same girls all have pictures of Kat-tun style pretty boys adorning their cellphones. No wonder the poor guys are confused!
Posted in: The age of listless, wary, anxiety-ridden and insecure young men
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kirakira25
@tkoind2 - why on earth would you be attacked for that? Another excellent perspective in my opinion!
What is WITH me today???! It must be the late pregnancy hormones!!!
Posted in: The age of listless, wary, anxiety-ridden and insecure young men
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kirakira25
marushka: agreed too, but in my experience and that of my Japanese friends it is generally not a personal choice. I was fired from my job when I first got pregnant (training) because - no joke - "it doesn
t look professional, a pregnant woman giving training courses in a business environment". Up to that point I had had rave reviews from customers, bonuses and thank you letters - but suddenly (when I contested it) the "real" reason was given: my work wasnt "up to scratch". They know they can fire you for that but not for being pregnant.Posted in: Kyoko Uchida announces she's pregnant
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kirakira25
OK! Stop! Starting to sound dangerously attractive now!!!! (S`OK, you are safe as houses with me - I am married and 9 months pregnant!!!) but you make some valid points - it has taken a long time to even get to this point with my (Japanese) husband. And in fact, everything you just said, my female friends and I often say the same thing about Japanese women. We just think completely differently.
I actually feel really sorry for Japanese as a whole sometimes, especially the younger generation. They are caught between knowing what they need to become, and yet because of the strength of societies influence on them are unable to find the courage (in a lot of cases but not all) to actually make that break and be different.
My husband struggled with this issue over a number of years and it nearly spelled the death of our marriage on several occasions. He made "the break" by marrying me (you can`t imagine the shock waves that that caused!) but struggled for years to come to terms with his persona as "a Japanese" and as "a mixed marriage". Thankfully now he is comfortable with himself and even his own mother said to me just yesterday how happy he looks compared to his friends and brothers - he looks "free" (her words, not mine!)
I`ve just told my best friend about your post and SHE wants your number too now!!!
Posted in: The age of listless, wary, anxiety-ridden and insecure young men
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kirakira25
@ben4short - a brilliant summary of a not-so-complex problem. And so early in the morning too! Obviously not a listless, wary, anxiety-ridden and insecure specimen. Can we have your phone number.....??!
Posted in: The age of listless, wary, anxiety-ridden and insecure young men
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kirakira25
Yep, I remember (vaguely) the days I could look down and see some of that (as opposed to the giant watermelon belly I am looking down at right now!)
I am going to print this of and stick it to the fridge door, firstly becaue that is just the kind of giving, selfless wife I am, and secondly to give me something to aim for after this kid comes out next month!
Watch out for me on the podium winning this award next year boys! ;-)
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kirakira25
This really annoys me actually - why in the world do you feel the need to leave your job just because you are pregnant? My sister in law did this at 2 months and she didn
t have any morning sickness or anything. I cant stand this Japanese attitude towards pregnant women - they shouldn`t be seen on TV, in the office, nothing.Posted in: Kyoko Uchida announces she's pregnant
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kirakira25
I can understand the UK`s anger when it comes to immigration. It has gone on unchecked for so long and it is not as if we are a big place, unlike the US!
HOWEVER - I think that supporting the BNP is absolutely the wrong way to go about changing things. If they had their way, my Japanese husband and half-Japanese children would be "voluntarily re-patriated" back to Japan - without me. I have even been told on a forum before by a BNP supporter that "people like you have betrayed your UK roots" by marrying outside the UK, to which I responded that "quite frankly given the picking in the UK these days is it any wonder that decent British people are looking further afield for future life partners!"
I would also say that, yes, whilst immigration is a huge problem and is causing increases in crime and social unrest, one of the UK`s single biggest issues is all the lazy "indigenous" scroungers on benefits and drinking themselves into a stupor. Many indigenous Brits are causing far more social problems than the immigrants and it breaks my heart every time I go home to see what my country is turning into!
Posted in: White-supremacist fringe party invited to take part in BBC program
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kirakira25
She really is a seriously beautiful woman, and the love in his face says it all. Great picture and a really nice end to the day.
Whenever I see an elderly couple like this, still so in love, it gives me hope for the future.
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kirakira25
I for one am glad to see a Japanese first lady who actually appears to have a pulse. Far from sinking her husbands success I think she might just be someone to get people interested in politics who never were before and maybe, just maybe, provide something of a role model to certain Japanese ladies to actually take an interest in what their husbands actually do.
Posted in: Miyuki Hatoyama named Best Jeanist for 2009
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kirakira25
@Alan - everything you say I think is great, sound advice. I would have followed it to the letter had I not got drunk with my new hubby one month after our marriage one fateful summer night! 3 kids later.....
Kids have rights. Parents have duties. Absolutely 100% agree with this.
Posted in: 8 ambassadors urge Japan to solve global child custody disputes
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kirakira25
Normally these "adverts" just annoy me but this is a great idea! She should definitely market this towards pregnant women because almost everyone I know has terrible posture, back aches and neck problems during pregnancy and after the baby is born.
I will be contacting her as soon as our latest arrival in out in about 6 weeks. Christmas present to myself! Hope she can fix my twitching fingers, frozen neck, back pain and inability to walk!
Posted in: Chin up, shoulders back
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kirakira25
What a way to go about getting one.
Posted in: Man slashes woman because he 'can't get a girlfriend'
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kirakira25
Lets wait and see the results but I wouldn`t mind betting everyone gets a clean bill of health and that THAT is announced in the full media spotlight - regardless of what might actually be the case.
Posted in: Japanese town with dolphin hunt tests for mercury
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kirakira25
Quite honestly, even if Japan does sign the Hague Convention as everyone is demanding, enforcing it is going to be another matter entirely. There are similar cases between signatories - Italy and the UK is one such case I read about - where the "enforcement" is taking years and by the time it is completed the child will be virtually an adult anyway. What is needed is a fundamental change in policy, law and culture when it comes to dealng with international marriage break-ups and the rights of children to have access to both parents - that is going to be far harder to have happen. The Hague Convention is a start, but I wouldn`t expect overnight change even if Japan does sign.
As for the "protection from foreign husband violence" thing - yes, that makes me boggle too! In THIS country???!
Posted in: 8 ambassadors urge Japan to solve global child custody disputes