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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mikekchar
I'm sure I'm unique in my view of this one, but I will look forward to hearing what they have to say. It's one thing to condemn the actions of these people. I think most people would agree that what they did was unacceptable regardless of the circumstances. There is no justification for it.
But I think we can also agree that certain environments tend to foster unacceptable behavior. For example, we all realize that slums in cities can lead to crime. Without excusing criminal behavior we can try to avoid the circumstances that lead to crime. All modern city planning has techniques for avoiding slum-like areas.
Without excusing their behavior, can we not listen to their claim that American foreign policy helped create an environment in which they felt their actions were justified? Are we so sure that there is nothing we can do to improve the environment to make these actions less probable (as wrong-headed as they are)? As abhorrent as we find the attitude of these people, are they not best placed to give us insight into what we can do better?
Posted in: Five 9/11 defendants want platform for views
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mikekchar
Actually, societymike, shipping is a ridiculously efficient mode delivering goods. Shipping does account for 4% of world CO2 emissions, which is twice that of aviation (2%). But shipping also accounts for much more volume. Air cargo costs about 1.8 lbs of CO2 per ton per mile. Shipping costs less than 0.01 lbs of CO2 per ton per mile (about 200 times less than air freight). Shipping a bottle of beer from half way around the world will use less CO2 than it will cost to make a special trip to the store in your car.
No, if you compare shipping to manufacturing (steel and concrete especially), you will find that manufacturing weighs in at 36% of world CO2 emissions. If you wish to make a large dent in CO2 emissions, one of the best ways is to not own a car. This reduces the demand for steel, and also reduces the need to resurface roads.
I haven't included links to references since I don't want to make this message too long, but everything I've listed is easy to find using your favorite search engine. I heartily recommend that people look up these kinds of facts so they can find ways to help.
Posted in: Hatoyama pledges on world stage 25% emissions cut by 2020
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mikekchar
I've never been sued in Japan, but I have been sued in Canada. Often (as was my case) an accuser doesn't have any realistic expectation of winning at all. Their intent is intimidation. In my case an ex-employer (from whom I had quit) sued me for breach of contract. They said that I had agreed not to work for one of their customers. Such a thing was never in my contract, nor had we ever discussed it. Nevertheless they sued me for $30,000. Then they said they could make the lawsuit go away for a smaller amount.
You see, defending yourself in a lawsuit is expensive and time consuming. Often while you are being sued, you are unable to find a job, since you are considered "risky". The accuser is thus able to extort money, or whatever else they want. You simply can't afford to defend yourself (or the extortion money is cheaper than defending yourself). Luckily, in my case, my new employer was a large multi-national with a huge team of lawyers. They made the accuser go away without the need to pay them...
With SLAPP the idea is to intimidate people into making certain statements, or refraining from making statements. Anti-SLAPP legislation is there to ensure that frivolous lawsuits can't be brought against people merely to silence them. Defending yourself from a frivolous lawsuit is nearly as expensive as defending yourself from a reasonable lawsuit, and so it is usually in your best interest to shut up, or say whatever the accuser wants you to say, or pay them money, or give them a lapdance... whatever.
Having said all that, there are two things that confuse me. First, I fail to see how this was a SLAPP case. The author claims not to have made the comments in the first place. He doesn't claim that he was being silenced, or that the comments weren't libelous. Thus I really don't think anti-SLAPP legislation in the US would have helped him.
Second, while anti-SLAPP is a good thing, the whole civil lawsuit situation is screwed up. The ability to use a lawsuit to extort things from people who have no protection is wrong. SLAPP is a tiny piece of the problem (anti-SLAPP wouldn't have helped me, for instance). Why focus on such an insignificant thing?
Anyway, none of this amounts to legal advice. I am not a lawyer. Etc, etc...
Posted in: SLAPP-happy: Freedom of speech under threat in Japan
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mikekchar
This may be redundant, but just to make it clear, the legal amount of alcohol in your blood when driving in Japan is 0. Everybody here knows this. The law is also perfectly clear about one other thing. If you knowingly allow others to drive when they have been drinking, you are also responsible. This is a good law in the context of Japanese culture. If your senior insists on driving home drunk, normally you wouldn't socially be able to say anything. But since the law insists it allows you the opportunity to do something (in fact, you must try).
So in this case the host is clearly responsible. As I said, everyone in Japan knows this law. It's not a surprise.
Posted in: Club host held for giving drinks to woman who caused fatal accident
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mikekchar
I've done it, so I'll be happy to share what I know. I did 20 years as a successful software developer working insane hours, but getting paid pretty big bucks. I had the big house, the fancy car, the big flat screen TV, the works. I chucked it all and moved to rural Japan to teach English. I make enough money to live. My living arrangements have been described as "containing the essential elements to sustain life". I gave up all my friends, all my possessions and my family.
But when you take something away, something will always come to fill in the void. Despite "having everything" I wasn't happy with my life(style). So I left it. It was very painful. Even now, more than 2 years later, it can still be painful. But I'm happy too -- something I wasn't before.
So to those who want to start again, here is my advice: just let go. That's all you need to do. And go with all your heart towards whatever comes to fill the void.
Posted in: There are plenty of people who want a change in lifestyle, even to quit their jobs and head into the countryside to start again, but it isn't part of Japan's corporate culture to just leave in mid-career. They don't know how to go about it.
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mikekchar
Generally, I have not been happy with the zoos in Japan. I went to the aquarium in Osaka recently and it, too, was really over stocked. It's too bad because if they decreased the number of animals and created better habitats the zoos would be vastly more interesting. I think zoos in Japan (which generally don't have much space) should specialize, only keeping a few different animals.
Culturally, I have to agree that people here have less empathy with animals. But there is still a lot of interest. I think people shouldn't underestimate the "kawaii" factor. It's a short step from there to actually caring about the well being of the animals. When I go to zoos or aquariums with my Japanese friends I point out problems with the enclosures and health issue with the animals. I find that they are usually surprised that they didn't notice it before and become very animated that it should change. Little by little it can.
I want point out that not all zoos are bad here. I have a friend who works in an excellent bird park. The animals are all in very good condition and their needs are well looked after. So if you can, be sure to help your Japanese friends learn the difference between a good zoo and a bad one. One thing about Japanese culture is when a general consensus is reached, things can change very quickly (unfortunately, nothing happens until that point). So if you open somebody's eyes, it will make a difference eventually.
Posted in: One zoo to avoid
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mikekchar
I have to agree with some of the points above. I like near beer mainly because I like the taste of hops. Sometimes I want to ride my bike or study, so it's a good idea for those occasions. However, mixing it 50-50 with ginger ale also makes a really nice drink. It's very similar in taste to a real ginger ale shandy.
Most of the near beer here in Japan isn't that great IMHO, but there's a fairly decent one called Hoppy. I've had the Holsten near bear and it's by far my favorite (haven't seen it here, though). I'll look forward to trying the Kirin. I wish someone would make a near beer with British hops sometime, though... I think fuggles hops would make a really nice near beer.
Posted in: Alcohol-free Kirin beer
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mikekchar
Perhaps a counter point to the discussion. I am teaching English, and no, I don't have a teaching degree. I came out of computer programming. I was making over $100K per anum, but working pretty much every waking second. Now, here I am working on a year to year contract for a lot less money (and I'm not young, alas). I could be let go at any time (and, frankly I expect too eventually), meaning that I'll be kicked out of the country.
But, I live in the inaka. I'm frugal. I get subsidized housing (which I'll be kicked out of if I lose my job). I have absolutely no trouble saving lots and lots of money. And I'm enjoying myself here enormously. In fact, I spend quite a lot of my time studying Japanese and my employer is quite happy to allow me to spend part of my working time doing that. I have to remind myself that I'm getting paid to do this...
I don't worry about foreigners like myself in this situation. All jobs have advantages and disadvantages. There are plenty of advantages to outweigh the disadvantages of lower pay and insecurity. If you don't think so, then this job isn't for you.
I worry about the Japanese people who will not be able to find another job. I'm sure very few of them chose to be a temp worker like I did. It wasn't a matter of tradeoffs, it was a matter of survival. I expect nothing from the Japanese government for myself. They should concentrate on the people who are from here, IMHO.
Posted in: Temp workers bear brunt of recession in Japan
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mikekchar
Coming from the IT industry in North American, when I first got here I didn't think that Japanese people worked that much. Definitely for the first 5 years or so of my career 100+ hour weeks were totally normal. Now, granted I'm working in a school now, but I don't see people working more than 60 hours a week. I considered that pretty slacker hours back in the day.
I'm not saying it's healthy, but certainly Japan doesn't have a monopoly on hard work ethic. What's funny is that I'm only supposed to work 35 hours a week at my current job and given my background I can't manage to work less than 40. I don't know what to do with myself! But luckily I absolutely love my job, and I can't wait to get back to it every day.
Posted in: Aso says world religions can learn from Japan
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mikekchar
I'm not a big fan of the gold standard, as it puts an unreasonable value on what is, after all, simply a commodity (and a fairly useless one at that). However 30061015 is correct that a sustainable economy must start with a rethinking of currency.
At the moment, money is created through debt. A bank is empowered to create cash (provided they have about 10% fractional reserve) when someone takes out a loan. But since the loan must be repaid with interest, and money is only created through debt, the end result is that we must have growth equal to or greater than the interest rate to avoid inflation.
When growth stops (or credit is limited, forcing growth to stop), the money supply shortens and there is no money to pay people. So people stop working -- leading to a downward cycle of negative growth. This means we must rethink the definition of money in our society. Either that or we can agree to work without being paid. These are the only ways to have a sustainable economy.
Posted in: Japanese recession: A time for panic or change?
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mikekchar
I guess my reaction to this article can be summed up: here in Japan, strawberries are not out of season. They are just coming into season (at least where I am in Shizuoka). I'm assuming the author is in Tokyo, which is not so far away...
My point being, if you're getting flavorless strawberries (or flavorless Christmas), then you are looking in the wrong places. The year end season in Japan is wonderful. But it is not a western Christmas. Enjoy your time here for what it is and leave your expectations of Christmas for when you aren't.
Posted in: A very Japanese Christmas
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mikekchar
Having worked with bankers before, I can tell you the problem: No credit history.
It seems strange, but even slightly bad credit history is better than no credit history to the credit card industry. They like to see a long history of you having an outstanding balance, but still somehow paying the interest. Even if you miss a few payments, as long as you eventually pay up that's what they're interested in.
Back in Canada, where I'm from, there used to be very strict guidelines about issuing new credit cards in banks. For instance, 20 years ago it was virtually impossible for a new graduate to get a credit card. What they used to do was allow you to make a "deposit" of, say, $500. Then you would get a "credit card" with a $500 limit. After a year or two of showing that you payed you bills you could get your deposit back. It's a way of getting a credit history. Maybe you could do the same in Japan, I don't know.
Actually, since coming to Japan I've stopped using my credit card. I will probably cancel it in a few months. But I do understand the desire to have one while traveling.
Posted in: Try to get a credit card in Japan
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mikekchar
Yes partisan politics is a huge part of the problem. It's not my fault, I voted democrat. Or (when a democrat has screwed things up royally), It's not my fault, I voted republican.
Have you not noticed how your media polarizes issues - left, right; good, evil? Do you not understand how you are led to accept 4 years of badness so that you can receive righteousness in the next election (regardless of which party you support)? Heads or tails, it's still the same coin.
But what can you do? You can vote! But, I'll put it to you that this is the least you could do. In fact, it's hard to understand when rubbing shoulders with the ultra-mega-rich, but you are, in fact, the rich of the world. The median salary in the world is only a few hundred dollars a year. Just enough to feed yourself -- maybe.
You've got food, clothes, shelter, heat, entertainment, luxury -- all in excess of your needs. So you are rich. And you have freedom. With your wealth you can make choices for your life. Hate your job? Get another. Don't like the scenery? Move.
But with your wealth and freedom you've got power. So why not use it? I don't mean donating money to some far away cause. I simply mean, walking down to the end of your street, noticing something that needs doing and doing it. Find someone who is suffering and help them. Notice something falling apart and fix it.
Do it now while you are rich and free. Now that you have more than you can use, just help the people around you. When things get tight, you'll be glad you did. And don't worry so much about the shining white heroes in the government who are going to save you from the evil men. You have a community right here that needs your help.
Posted in: Down and out in Tokyo
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mikekchar
In kind of wish this wasn't a commentary. Because I can't understand how someone gets arrested for sharing a movie on the internet. Yes, it's copyright infringement. But I don't understand how it became criminal copyright infringement. Did money change hands?
I'm sorry that the movie going experience is bad. But that's the way businesses work. If you don't like the service, don't go back. The real story here is how the US is pressuring countries like Japan to adopt draconian laws that even they wouldn't accept. It used to be that copyright was strictly a civil affair. Now the police are getting involved because someone uploaded a file.
Something needs to change, and it isn't the seating policy in the theaters.
Posted in: A downloaded question
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mikekchar
Having learned both an intermediate level of French and an intermediate level of Japanese (going for JLPT2) I would say the Japanese is easier. But it is much bigger. Not only do you need to learn kanji, but I think the working vocabulary is quite a bit larger.
However, I have found that learning kanji makes learning vocabulary much easier. In fact, I can learn Japanese vocabulary much faster than French, for instance. Also, the grammar is much easier. I really don't understand the comment about advanced Japanese grammar being complicated. Maybe I haven't gotten there, but I haven't run into anything complicated at all. If it exists, it can't be used much because I can understand pretty much all the grammar people use when talking around me.
One thing I think is important for beginners is to learn plain form first. The grammar can definitely seem more difficult if you start with polite form. You start to think that there are millions of exceptions. But if you get a very solid base of plain form, polite form is simply an extension (and a large amount of new vocabulary).
Also, for reading, I highly recommend reading manga with furigana. It only takes a week or two to learn kana, and then you can read (potentially with perfect pronunciation). Even if you aren't in to comic books, you might be surprised at the variety of stories that you can find even with furigana (which are usually aimed at children).
Finally, I just want to comment on the idea of a Japanese person being able to pronounce a college level paper after 1 year of study. I can tell you that this is next to impossible. Even after many years of study, Japanese students have a very hard time pronouncing English text in a way that is at all understandable. English writing is very difficult to pronounce because of all the haphazard spelling and the variety of different ways to stress syllables. My high school students find it nigh on impossible. Honestly, I'll take kanji to English spelling any day (I regularly feel incredibly happy to have learned English as my native language, thereby sparing me the task of learning it later).
Posted in: How difficult or easy is Japanese to learn, compared to other languages?
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mikekchar
Peter Schiff gave a very interesting speech to the Western Regional Mortgage Bankers Association in 2006 (I think there might be a youtube video of it). In this speech he rightly predicted that bad subprime loans would create a financial disaster.
But IIRC, at the end of his speech he indicated that he felt that the government would be forced to bail out the banks (his estimate was 1 trillion dollars, which isn't that far off). But he went on to say that he felt that this would devalue the American dollar. This would then force interest rates to climb, which would force home owner to default on their loans since a large number of them have short-term variable rate mortgages and are stretched to the limit credit-wise. This in turn would lead to real-estate markets plunging.
He was right about the sub-prime loan thing. I'm curious to see if he was right about the rest. It seems plausible to me, so its possible we haven't seen the back of this disaster yet.
Posted in: Bush seeks to assure world leaders about bailout plan
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mikekchar
I think it would be great if they paid the artists, and not the distributors. Not a lot of artists get paid royalties for music played on the radio. Due to their contracts the money goes to the labels (otherwise known as a music distributor). After "expenses" if there is any money left, some (a small portion) goes to the artist. As others have said, sometimes those "expenses" include paying the radio station to play it in the first place. In the music industry, a lot of money changes hands, but surprisingly little of it ends up in the artist's hands.
So, yes, by all means, let's start paying the artists.
Posted in: Should radio stations have to pay royalties to artists whose music they play?