missbatten's past comments

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  missbattenMay. 13, 2013 - 11:35PM JST

  I'm surprised they haven't yet held a competition to choose a cute mascot character...

  Posted in: 'Mother, help me' fraud: NPA, public select new name for bank transfer scam

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  missbattenApr. 15, 2013 - 09:04AM JST

  the “Old Fashion”, will see changes made to the sugar and flour mix of its batter in order to improve the product’s texture. The sweetness of the honey used to glaze the Honey Dip will also be increased.<<

  Sigh. "Improve texture" almost certainly means more sugar in the batter too, as sugar makes things crisper. Byebye to Japan's not-too-sweet sweet treats...

  Posted in: Mister Donut Japan to change product ingredients for first time in 42 years

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  missbattenApr. 07, 2013 - 12:54PM JST

  Japanese attitudes to smoking....there's a shop in my neighborhood that seems to be a pharmacy, but half the shop is devoted to cigarette sales, while the opposite wall is medications!

  Smoking is banned in the streets where my husband works, but not where I work or where we live. This is a bigger issue than it used to be now that more people try to keep their living-spaces smoke-free. There is only one road to my local station, and as Probie says, smokers who light up while walking make life miserable for those behind them. The smokers are breathing the nice, fresh morning air, while their cigarettes mostly dangle ignored from their hands. Meanwhile, everybody behind them gets 100% stink, no let-up, and no way to opt out.

  Posted in: Have Japan’s anti-smoking laws gone too far?

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  missbattenApr. 03, 2013 - 02:50PM JST

  Visual entertainment is taking the place imagination and original thought.<<

  You seem to be implying that it's the visual element, and not the entertainment element, that is damaging to imagination and original thought?

  Inundation by a lot of visual media is not the same thing as intelligent and discriminating understanding of visual media...which is what Scorsese is asking for.

  Since it's how you watch more than how much you watch that is the issue, simply reducing exposure to visual media isn't going to produce a flowering of imagination and original thought. That would be too easy!

  Posted in: Director Scorsese appeals for 'visual literacy'

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  missbattenMar. 30, 2013 - 12:33AM JST

  About time. Huge numbers of women teach in low-paid hijokin part-time jobs, and I have yet to see a Japanese university that can boast even 10% female faculty in full-time, tenured positions. Too much OB networking by those on the hiring end, not enough reading of CVs.

  Posted in: Japanese universities support women in the workforce

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  missbattenFeb. 28, 2013 - 08:40PM JST

  It's not just about groping...I often see women's faces crushed between the torsos of taller passengers in the regular carriages. That must be panic-inducing as well as plain uncomfortable. Although there are some tall(ish) women in the women-only carriages, generally those short people look a lot more comfortable riding with people of similar build!

  Posted in: ‘Women only’ train cars: Is it a crime for men to ride in them?

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  missbattenFeb. 27, 2013 - 09:31PM JST

  Long historical tradition? Let me see, ocean whaling in Japan started about the beginning of the twentieth century, wasn't it? Of course, politician's memories are notoriously feeble!

  Posted in: Japan will never stop whaling: minister

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  missbattenFeb. 21, 2013 - 10:18AM JST

  What the hell does this mean?<<

  Possibly means that one of the back-up systems intended to provide redundancy had instead been connected to the primary system?

  Posted in: Japan probe finds Dreamliner battery improperly wired

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  missbattenFeb. 16, 2013 - 10:40PM JST

  "international monetary independence" wot dat???????

  Posted in: Abe's adviser defends monetary independence

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  missbattenJan. 22, 2013 - 10:26PM JST

  I had a "dai-ku" the year my husband died. Beautiful poem but rather depressing postlude to the whole horrible thing.

  Posted in: Bad luck

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  missbattenJan. 07, 2013 - 11:25AM JST

  Mostly because they've booked their travel and accommodation and hate to waste their money, and/or look like wimps to other members of their group. The cancellation fees and embarrassment are here and now, the possibility of dying is still days away...

  Posted in: Why do people climb mountains in the middle of winter when there are blizzards, high risk of avalanches and poor visibility?

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  missbattenJan. 03, 2013 - 08:45PM JST

  Switzerland does actually have one of the highest rates of civilian gun ownership in the world...gun homicides may be much lower than the U.S., but they are by no means low.

  Posted in: Shooter kills 3 people, injures 2 in Swiss village

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  missbattenJan. 03, 2013 - 11:31AM JST

  Mochi now have "break lines", but it takes some strength to break them, and even more to cut them into small pieces. Elderly people and young children have long been given shiratama dumplings, but that means making a serving of them separately, and replacing the mochi under protest from the elderly person. I　went looking this year for some kind of "mochi for the elderly", but absolutely no luck. It should be easy enough to make mochi-shaped objects that are softer and less chewy, even if they do not have the shelf life of regular mochi. Why don't manufacturers take the opportunity to make a little money?

  Posted in: 2 dead, 13 hospitalized after choking on mochi in Tokyo

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  missbattenDec. 24, 2012 - 01:25PM JST

  Have committees continue to submit reports until they reach the "right" conclusion?

  Posted in: Abe to review Fukushima crisis before deciding on restarting reactors

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  missbattenOct. 24, 2012 - 09:07AM JST

  True. Try comparing White Papers on Energy from 2007-9 with those from a decade earlier.

  Posted in: Japan is now paying the price for years in which its support for nuclear power meant that Tokyo gave lip service to renewable energy but didn't give it real attention.

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  missbattenOct. 08, 2012 - 11:49AM JST

  Let's hope they will be distributing apps that work a bit better than the Android Kindle reader app!

  Posted in: Amazon opens portal for mobile app distribution in Japan

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  missbattenAug. 18, 2012 - 05:06PM JST

  My Political Diary Aug. 15 Wail about sorrow and unwisdom of war. Aug. 18 Crank up territorial dispute with well-armed neighbors one more notch...

  Posted in: Japanese nationalists set sail for disputed islands

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  missbattenAug. 17, 2012 - 10:55AM JST

  A lot of schools in Tokyo (be they international or Japanese) have good music programs

  A well-researched observation, dazzlingly specific as well, yet strangely unconvincing. Somehow, iIt seems more likely that LiVEJAM started up because Tokyo schools do NOT provide many opportunities to learn music.

  I have no idea whether " a lot" of international school in Tokyo have good music programs, but Japanese schools certainly do not. They did not set out to provide an education in the liberal arts, and they have not changed their policy. Music is not taught as an exam subject, and in some public high schools, students are only offered a choice between music and art. Public or private, some schools offer only 1 year of music or art at high school, and I rarely hear of any that allows students to continue with any non-exam subject other than PE into their 3rd year. 3rd year students are not normally allowed to participate in band or choir etc. either.

  The exceptions are the handful of schools that have a music department, or a music course. There are roughly 1 or 2 of these per province, and the music "course" schools are usually aimed at students who do not have the academic skills to cope with a general education course. The music "department" schools are extremely rare...not every province has even one. Tokyo is better off than the rest of the country, because the national University of the Arts and the larger private music colleges (around half a dozen of them) have attached high schools, but even so, the total number of Japanese schools in Tokyo and the three surrounding provinces offering music beyond the basic non-exam limit is not more a dozen.

  The extra-curricular music opportunities are limited to peer-taught groups. Those that have supervision and funding as a school "bu" still do not offer tuition, although they may provide instruments, and will at least partly sponsor trips to participate in competitions. They usually include choirs (so cheap...!), band, and occasionally orchestra. Non-orchestral instruments, whether Japanese, classical western, or pop, are usually relegated to the unofficial clubs and circles, which are simply given a place to practice, and allowed to perform at the school festival (but not usually at other school events). The situation is pretty much the same at all Japanese schools, public or private.

  Great that LiveJAM got some free publicity, but that first paragraph is a waste of space...and that's charitable.

  Posted in: LiVEJAM Music School provides more than just an outlet for Tokyo’s teenagers

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  missbattenJul. 14, 2012 - 11:09PM JST

  1) Why are school leaders who lie about crimes committed in their schools not held criminally responsible? 2) Why are children legally required to attend schools where they caused injury to other students or been injured, with no action taken to ensure any changes? 3) Why are children whose upbringing and home situations exacerbate behavioral problems to the point of lawbreaking NOT given any support and/or discipline until they need residential care?

  Posted in: What can realistically be done to stamp out bullying at schools?

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  missbattenMay. 07, 2012 - 05:21PM JST

  Japan WAS working hard on renewable energy sources through most of the '90s. And then somehow talk of such programs disappeared, and we started seeing heavy promotion of policies that depend on nuclear power (e.g. the "yakan denryoku" night rates aimed at using some of the power that nuclear power stations generate round the clock, since nuclear power is very hard to adjust to temporaryl fluctuations in demand). When we started seeing glossy pamphlets from TEPCO being handed out to 3rd graders in school science lessons, I think it was fair to assume that government policy had done an about-face. But if they can flip-flop once, I suppose they can do it again.

  Posted in: Efficiency can't replace nuclear power