JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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- Core Developer - コアディベロッパー
- Midokura Japan K.K. - ミドクラジャパン株式会社, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥4.0M ~ ¥10.0M / Year Negotiable
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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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- 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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kirakira25
OK, well first of all Koji Kato for Prime Minister please! Joint with that Takahashi guy. And Eiiji Tajita for retirement! "Education has become too child-centered"??! What the hell?! Who on earth should it be centered on then? The government ministry? Oh, ok, don`t answer that.
Why is it here that whenever they want to do something better, they just do exactly what they have been doing, just even harder. Does it ever occur to anyone to actually change anything??!
I agree with Alladin - quality not quantity is the key here. Fattening up textbooks with more useless facts and figures they simply need to recall in exams is not going to change anything.
So why is the "pressure-free" education system not working? First of all "pressure-free" is a joke - if this is pressure-free then god knows what it must have been like before.
Second the questions are often set with ridiculous arbitrary rules. Case in point: a recent English grammar question. "Mike is ____ the library" - fill in the blank. If you answered "at" - you will have been marked wrong. The ONLY correct answer (apparently) is "in".
Finally the teachers have no idea HOW to teach the kids to think for themselves - because THEY have no idea how to think for themselves. They were educated themselves in the old-fashioned system. You can`t tell these teachers "teach the kids to think for themselves. Off you go now." and expect them to be able to do it.
3 hours a week of allowing kids to ask why a bird doesn`t fall off a perch is hardly going to produce innovative creative thinkers. It needs to be woven into the very fabric of everything they do. And here that just seems to be an impossibility.
My husband and I had this conversation recently. He said when the Japanese education model was first developed in the 50`s, it took "best practice" from around the world, and was the model everyone emulated. Problem is, over the last 60 years, those models that copied Japan have developed themselves and moved on, whereas the Japanese model has stayed stagnant and not reacted to what is required in the new modern world. THAT is why they are lagging behind.
I agree with Takahashi - the WHOLE system needs re-thinking. But hey, that
S way too much work, and an admission of failure. LetS just throw more pages at the kids and see what happens in another 10 years. My money is on "not very much".Posted in: Japan fattens textbooks to reverse sliding rank
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kirakira25
No you can
t, but you can make having certain sexual tastes socially acceptable. The amount of kiddie porn available in socially acceptable situations here (combinis, bookshops etc) makes it appear socially acceptable to these people to behave the way they do.There is a disproportionately large amount of material here available in "normal" places sexualising young girls compared to the west. And a disproportionately large number of leery Japanese men reading it/watching it/clamouring to take pictures of it in full public view compared to the west. That is not just pure coincidence.
Imagine the reaction overseas among the general public if we had an AKB-style band dressed in school uniform with a huge following of middle-aged balding men at their every appearance. Now look at the reaction here - oh wait, there isn`t one.
It is socially acceptable here for grown men to idolise schoolgirls. That needs to change. They can start by banning the sexualisation of schoolgirls.
Posted in: 38-year-old man admits to groping 100 girls
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kirakira25
I agree with Tkoind1 - as usual. Stop sexualisation of young girls and that will go a long way to stopping this behaviour. And yes to the person who said it must be scary having a daughter in Japan - it is scary as hell and I have had to CHASE guys away from my daughter before when they were taking photos. She was 5 YEARS OLD. What 50 year old male creep takes a picture of a 5 year old girl unknown to him on the street?
Posted in: 38-year-old man admits to groping 100 girls
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kirakira25
16 years old and out at 4am? Obviously they don`t come from particularly caring stable homes in the first place. No excuse - but I blame the parents for kids bad behaviour.
Posted in: Two boys arrested for shooting fireworks at homeless man
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kirakira25
Do they even have social workers in Japan? I have never heard of any. I hear about local government offices but not about social workers themselves.
Posted in: Mother murders her 2 children; then tries to kill herself
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kirakira25
I have been researching the phenomenon of "soushokukei" (herbivorous men) recently for a friend of mine who is counselling couples and notices that often the male partner is soshokukei - the idea behnd the label, amongst other thigns, is that they are lacking in ambition. This label applies specifically to males, but maybe I can furnish you with some stats Borscht:
60% of men aged 20-30 are considered to be soshokukei They are generally content with reasonable salaries and working hours, and shun professional competition. 51% say they would rather work fixed hours than overtime Their interests include fashion, desserts, cosmetics. They often have very close relationships with their mothers They are not interested in overseas travel, designer brands, expensive cars. They are very careful with money and usually carry many retailers "points" cards The average annual pay of men in their 20
s is 3.25 million yen 25-34 year olds making more than 6 million yen constitute 3.5% of the total They feel like the older generation (now in their 50s) got screwed with the collapse of the economic bubble, they have watched the next generation (30s and 40s) struggling and working like crazy just to keep a crappy job, never mind get promoted, and now they feel a sense of "why bother at all" They are more comfortable with setting their own values, rather than what society tells them they should do.I could go on, but there is a ton of quantitative and qualitative data. Most of this comes from research by Megumi Ushikubo, CEO of Infinity Marketing.
Personally, I think the types of youngsters coming into adulthood now are exactly what this country needs. It will breed more equality, afford women more opportunities, and lets be honest, the aggressive salarymen of times soon-to-be-past haven`t exactly done a great job for the country have they?
I commend Yui on a well-written and thoughtful article, and if she is reading this, I wish her every success in graduate school. She is absolutely right that happiness should not be measured by the "3K"`s and I only wish I had had her insight at 24!
Posted in: We youngsters lack passion and ambition? Hardly
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kirakira25
At 71, and with two misdemeanours under his belt (no pun intended) since July, I think it is a pretty safe bet to say these are just the ones he got caught over.
Posted in: Former principal rearrested for committing lewd acts with primary school girls
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kirakira25
Or they could simply sack the incompetent, overpaid executive idiots who have run the thing into the ground in the first place.
Posted in: JAL to slash 30% of global workforce as part of restructuring
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kirakira25
Forget about MistWizard, I think Laguna`s comment (above) is the most disturbing! "At least they were girls"???! What the hell?!
I agree with MistWizard that there are no facts here as such, but people like Santa generally don
t get arrested for sitting children on their lap. So I would guess the pictures found on the camera were a little more than that. Plus he "warned his victims to keep quiet" - about what? Must have been something he didnt want other people to know about. It`s not hard from the story to figure out this is more than a misunderstanding.Posted in: Former principal rearrested for committing lewd acts with primary school girls
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kirakira25
Seriously???! You honestly think these girls are fat??!
I love Kurara but only because she is a really lovely person, very friendly and kind, intelligent and an excellent role model for young girls in a country that is sadly lacking in them.
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kirakira25
Can
t say I disagree with this. Husbands-of-a-certain-age often do behave like jerks. A woman I know has a husband who just chucks stuff on the floor, or drops something and doesnt even bother to pick it up - SHE gets up and scurries around for him - then complains to hell about it. But you know, SHE created this monster.These women never did have to live like this. They were happy to take the cash when it was flowing. Japanese men can and do behave like jerks and they need to change - but why should they when that is all they know, and no-one is telling them it is not acceptable?
Posted in: Centenarians aren't the only ones disappearing
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kirakira25
Responsible, socially aware porn - well I like it!
Posted in: Japanese porn stars fight AIDS with 24-hour telethon
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kirakira25
Yeuch!16-17 and already slept with 70 people! Way to start your adult life off!
Posted in: Osaka man arrested for employing 50 high school girls as prostitutes
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kirakira25
Yep, but no choice I
m afraid. My Mum back in the UK is widowed, these are her only grandchildren, and of course my J hubby cant get enough time off of work to come with us.What Shufu says is pretty much right - you take on board whatever it takes to get the little darlings through the ordeal. It is no time to start negotiating whether they can have candy or not - give them whatever it takes to keep them quiet. Luckily my 6 year old is getting easier now so she can help a little, but the 4 year old - oh boy, that
s gonna be tough! And I was hoping the baby wouldnt be walking by the time we go, but he is showing signs that he will be, and as anyone with a 1 year old knows, once they discover the delights of walking they are off and don`t understand the need to be confined to a seat when the seatbelt light is on. This raises two issues - the screaming until the light goes off, and then a wobbly 1 year old tottering off down the aisle with associated elbows, bags, small items etc at head height.Posted in: Don't jump! Ways to fly without wanting to scream
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kirakira25
I woulod add to the list don`t fly to the UK any time this October. You might be unlucky enough to get on a flight with me and my 3 kids aged 6 4 and 10 months!
Posted in: Don't jump! Ways to fly without wanting to scream
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kirakira25
Brand bags and sweet things - like her marriage - quite possibly the most sickly-sweet staged soundbite (given the circumstances) she could ever have come up with - although she almost certainly didn`t all by herself.
I think she
s a pretty girl, but pretty damned vacuous as well. But then, I have a grudge against her - a few years ago I used to have to waddle past her smiling face every morning promoting the ebi-burger at McDs on my way to work at 6,7,8,9 months pregnant. Never have I wanted to whip out a black market and draw a moustache so badly!I can
t believe Im even commenting on this....!Posted in: Married life for Ebi-chan is 'sweet'
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kirakira25
Oh God, if this guy gets off on any kind of lesser charge there is going to be hell to pay. If he killed her because she was creating a ruckus and he was trying to calm her down, surely that is still murder? He was trying to calm her down by beating the crap out of her and strangling her for gods sake! And why was she making a ruckus??? Don`t even answer that.
I was under the impression that she went to his apartment because he hadn`t brought the money to pay her for the lesson? She said to the taxi driver that dropped them off to wait, and she would just be a minute, but when she never came back he drove off to another call.
I can totally understand why she got involved with this guy, even if he was creepy. She was very young, not in Japan long, was under the misguded impression that it is a totally safe country, and it sounds like she was a nice girl with a good heart that wanted to help him. Wrong person, wrong place, wrong time, and I think that there but for the grace of god go many of us. I know I have had male students alone in my apartment and didn`t think twice about it before this happened.
Posted in: Lindsay Hawker's accused killer appears determined to fight murder charge
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kirakira25
These bullying men make me sick - and not just the ones that beat up on little girls, but the ones who try to intimidate women, mothers with children, in fact anyone smaller than they are. I would LOVE to see this guys ass whipped - hell, I`d PAY for the privilege! What a great way to put money back into the Japanese governments coffers!
Posted in: Man arrested for beating 5-year-old daughter in Wakayama
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kirakira25
I think service here is like service everywhere - hit and miss, and it is kind of inflexible but on the whole not bad. How they are treated on the other hand - I always HATE the way my husband is so snooty with the waiting staff, never saying please or thank you and generally treating them like crap. Who the hell does he think he is? I wouldn`t blame them if they spat in his kare udon.
Posted in: What are some differences you have observed between waiters and waitresses in restaurants and cafes in Japan and other countries and also the way in which customers treat them?
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kirakira25
So how long do we give them? That guy is never gonna be able to keep it in his pants. Sorry to be crass but it`s true.
Posted in: Ebizo-Mao wedding gets average 18.7% viewer rating