JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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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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- Assistant Language Teacher - TOKYO - late-March start
- Interac, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥230,000 ~ ¥255,000 / Month
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mnemosyne23
Hmm, could be interesting. I love Inoue Mao, and a quick google for Jonathan Sherr reveals he really is quite handsome. I'll be intrigued to see if the film is genuinely sincere about sharing the ups and downs of international marriages, or if it's just going to be a, "Look at the silly gaijin make social gaffes!" kind of film. I hope for the former, expect the latter, and imagine it will fall somewhere in between. :)
Posted in: Mao Inoue and Jonathan Sherr to star in 'My Darling is a Foreigner'
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mnemosyne23
Okay, I have to know -- WHY did the student wait almost two hours before calling the cops? I don't know about anyone else, but if some stranger came barging into my room and asked to hide in the bathroom, I'd be on the phone with the cops lickity split. But to then WAIT two hours before finally saying something? Um... what?
Posted in: Man arrested after locking himself in Kumamoto apartment toilet for two hours
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mnemosyne23
There was a time when the death of an American politician would lead to expressions of sympathy and compassion from all Americans, regardless of personal ideology or political affiliation. After all, a life has been lost. It is a testament to the vitriol and hatred that has taken root between the dominant parties in the American political system that there can be people pleased with the senator's death. I did not share Senator Kennedy's political views, and was often in direct opposition to his political agenda and personal lifestyle. But while I can't mourn him in the same way his supporters will, I also can't allow myself as a human being to rejoice that he's dead. Life is precious, and the loss of any life means that something's been taken out of the world that will never return in that same form again. Maybe that's good and maybe that's bad. It's not my place to judge him on a personal level -- I believe a higher power than me will do that, with a far steadier hand -- and I've already said that he and I were on opposite ends of the scale in ideology and politics. Beyond that, I can only say my condolences go out to his family and friends for having lost a loved one. I don't feel it's right nor appropriate for me to say anything further.
Posted in: Sen Edward Kennedy dies at 77
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mnemosyne23
When a child is four, five years old, a swat across the backside or a smack of the hand and a stern, "NO!" is usually enough to teach them right from wrong. But when a child has reached sixteen, using any kind of physical violence as a means of punishment is wrong. It's ineffective, demeaning, and unnecessary. A sixteen year old is already in the rebellious stage, and will act out against even the best, most even-handed parents. Proceeding to hit the boy in the face is just going to add fuel to that rebellious fire, and the kid may even be MORE likely to repeat the offense, just to "stick it to the man," so to speak.
Teenagers always want to be treated like adults. So treat him like an adult. Ask him, "Why did you take the car?" If he mumbles something like, "I just wanted to," then come back with, "So you just wanted to steal my car?"
"I didn't steal it! I borrowed it!"
"You borrowed it without my permission. That's called stealing."
"I didn't steal it!"
"You don't have a license either. That's car theft coupled with unlawful operation of a vehicle. You had your friend in the car. That makes him an accessory. You were in an accident. That's property damage, not to mention the potential for personal injury not only to yourself and your friend, but also pedestrians and other drivers. You might have ended up committing vehicular manslaughter and got yourself sent to prison. And for what reason? 'Because you just wanted to'? I need a better explanation than that."
The kid knows he did something wrong. He knew it was wrong before he did it. make him face up to it. Don't just get furious and start hitting him. No matter how justified the rage may be, it's just going to reinforce the kid's belief that the world is against him.
"What do you think your punishment should be?"
"I didn't do anything wrong!"
"You and I both know that's a lie. If I were a judge, you'd get X-time in prison and have to pay X-fine. So, instead of sending you in front of a judge, you're going to pay back X-yen to fix the car, pay any damages, and apologize to me for stealing the car. Then you and your friend are going to go to his parents and apologize to them, too. Then we're going to sit down and find you a solid part-time job, because if you have the energy to be joyriding illegally in cars, you obviously have too much free time on your hands. Besides, you're going to need to make money somehow to pay the costs I just told you about."
"That's not fair!" (kids love this one)
"I told you to name what you thought WOULD be fair, and you came back with a bald-faced lie and said you didn't do anything wrong. I bet you wish you'd taken a moment to think it over instead, don't you? I bet you wish you'd exercised a little more judgment. Remember that next time you think about taking my keys."
The boy in this case had absolutely no right to stab his father unless he believed himself to be in mortal peril. Judging by his comments, he sounds like he was more angry than scared, so I don't think mortal peril factored into it. He should be arrested, tried, and sentenced accordingly. Regardless of his motivation, he broke the law.
That said, the father is also to blame. The son is sixteen; sixteen year olds do incredibly stupid, boneheaded things. The father had every right to be furious with his son AND the friend, but physical violence is not the answer. Grown men get into fist fights with each other. Little boys get into fist fights with each other. But a father and son? There are other ways.
Posted in: 16-year-old Osaka boy stabs father after argument over driving car
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mnemosyne23
In discussing the term "haffu" as a way to describe someone of mixed heritage, I think we have to take into account the Japanese tendency to shorten Western words or phrases when mixing them into everyday language. "Ice cream" is shortened to "cream" (which still screws me up to this day). "Email" is shortened to "mail." "Haffu" is simply a way of saying "half-japanese," with the Japanese part implied rather than spoken. If you find it offensive, I would suggest you tell whoever you're talking to that you find it to be an offensive label, then suggest a term you find more appropriate. "I'm sorry, I'd rather not be called a half. It makes me uncomfortable. My mother was Brazilian, my father was Japanese, and I'm me." Educate the people you interact with, get them thinking about how they perceive the people around them, and you've laid the groundwork for understanding.
If you worry about your children being bullied in school, I would recommend you speak to the school principal and your child's teacher and express your concerns. Join the PTA; get to know the parents of the children who will be going to school with your son or daughter. Teach your child that having a diverse racial and ethnic lineage is something to be proud of, and send them off to school with confidence in themselves. Nothing deflates a bully faster than when the target of their teasing doesn't give a flying fig about their opinion. :) And remember, while children can be very cruel to anyone they perceive as "different," they can also be incredibly open to new thoughts, experiences, and ideas. Teach the younger generation that there's nothing wrong with "Marie," or "Manuel," or "Anna," and that's half the battle won.
As time passes and more people from other countries begin to settle in Japan, you'll see the attitude of "half = strange" start to fade. Japan was incredibly insular for thousands of years, and it's only in the last century or so that it's started to open up. The more multi-cultural residents get active in their communities, the easier that acceptance will become. You can't expect attitudes to change overnight, but you CAN expect them to change. Living through the growing pains is a hassle, and sometimes very painful, but you can look forward to a much better future as a result. :)
Posted in: Marie gives the lowdown on being 'half'
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mnemosyne23
isthistheend & KoreWaNihon both make valid points. KoreWa is 100% correct that the legal system in Japan needs to start exercising due diligence while investigating an alleged crime. This would help nullify potential false accusations, and would require Jcops to do more than pounce on the nearest foreigner with the assumption of guilt.
I also agree with isthis, though, that in this case in particular, the Jcops were grossly negligent. They had the duty to immediately arrest this man for assault when he broke this woman's rib. I find it hard to believe that it would take THAT LONG to get an arrest warrant on an aggravated assault charge. At the very least they should have kept him under observation during the course of their investigation, given the spate of recent incidents involving men kidnapping ex-girlfriends and attempting to kill them, their loved ones, or the new objects of their affection (sometimes successfully). If they'd done so, they could have saved this poor young woman and her family this kind of pain and hardship.
I sincerely hope she recovers.
Posted in: Man arrested for attempted murder after car chase and strangling ex-girlfriend in Chiba
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mnemosyne23
I agree that the Jcops need to be given training and equipment appropriate for non-lethal forms of containment to subdue an unruly, antagonistic suspect from a distance. I do NOT want Jcops to be armed with live rounds unless absolutely necessary, because frankly I don't know if I trust 90% of Jcops to use loaded firearms only when absolutely necessary. But I have no problem equipping the police with tasers and other forms of (generally) non-lethal protection. I've read enough articles here at JT where officers were injured while trying to subdue a knife-wielding subject. It's time they were given the training to defend themselves and disarm and control a suspect BEFORE moving in to physically restrain the assailant in question.
Posted in: Two police officers stabbed while trying to subdue 74-yr-old man
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mnemosyne23
120 purse snatchings, huh? Just this one guy, eh? RIGHT. Look, if the guy was able to snatch more than $700,000 just from purse grabbing, why the heck would he still be on the streets? That's more than I'd make working at my job for 20 years!
...Maybe I need to re-think my choice of employment...
Posted in: Jobless bag snatcher suspected in 120 thefts
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mnemosyne23
blink
Wow.
My question is, he did it not only multiple times, but across multiple DAYS? August 3rd, and now this? HOW was he not arrested earlier? SOMEONE must have gotten a look at him and given the cops something to look for. Yes, yes, I know -- it's the Jcops. But come on!
Posted in: Osaka construction worker arrested for throwing feces at female passersby
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mnemosyne23
Absolutely tragic. I agree with knews -- if this is a murder/suicide, it's one of the more brutal and clinical of the sort in recent memory. There is nothing fast or impartial about death by hanging. The nooses need to be tied, the ropes knotted to the tree, the heads passed through the noose, the bodies dropped...
That's not a spur-of-the-moment decision fueled by a surge of negative emotion. That's pre-meditated, planned action. I wonder how much all three members of the family knew what was going to happen? The little boy... He wouldn't have known anything, and if he did he would have been too young to understand. I don't know which is worse -- if one or both of the parents planned this tragedy. Why couldn't they have left the child with his grandparents? Why did this have to HAPPEN?
I'll echo what other posters have said -- it is past time for the government to start implementing measures to effect social change to remove the stigma from mental health counseling and discourage suicide. Centuries of social stigma won't disintegrate overnight, but SOMETHING needs to be done. How many thousands more will die before someone respected and in power finally steps up and says, "My fellow Japanese, what are we DOING?"
Until that day comes, though, I want to encourage EVERYONE to do what you can at the grassroots level to change this cultural and social mindset. Please: educate, educate, educate! Stories like this break my heart, and I know I'm not alone in wanting to change things for the better.
Posted in: Man, woman and child found dead hanging from tree in Nagano
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mnemosyne23
I'm not for censorship, but this movie certainly doesn't sound like something ANYONE should want to see. Why was it made? What purpose does it serve? Entertainment media is meant to be just that -- entertainment. Who in the world finds entertainment in brutal torture and rape? Horror movies are supposed to scare you, boost your adrenaline; not make you sick to your stomach and leave you feeling like you'll never be clean again. Movies like "Saw" and "Hostel" are bad enough; why do these things keep getting funded? These filmmakers have every right to make their films, but nobody has the obligation to fund, distribute, or publicize them.
Posted in: British film board bans sale of Japanese horror movie
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mnemosyne23
For those who want to know where the data comes from for health insurance coverage: the US Census Bureau.
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/hlthins/hlthin07/hlth07asc.html
Quoting: "Both the percentage and number of (American) people without health insurance decreased in 2007. The percentage without health insurance was 15.3 percent in 2007, down from 15.8 percent in 2006, and the number of uninsured was 45.7 million, down from 47.0 million."
That means 85% of Americans have health insurance, be it private, employer-based, or government-based (like Medicare). Contrary to popular belief, some Americans who do not have health insurance do so by choice; mostly the younger, healthier population that hasn't established enough income to justify the expense. There is certainly a problem with lack of insurance for a percentage of the population, but it is NOT something that requires complete destruction of the current system. Medicaid -- which is designed for low income families -- is an absolute joke. It's so constrictive, and the chances of a doctor being paid for the work they do for Medicaid patients are so slim, that more and more doctors are choosing NOT to accept Medicaid patients. It's not because they don't care -- it's because working with the government is like beating your head against a brick wall covered in iron spikes tipped with belladonna extract. I know -- I've worked in government for going on five years.
This whole insurance debate would be moot if the costs of medical procedures and medications were less expensive. Contrary to popular belief, the high cost of health care is less about greed on the part of medical professionals and pharmaceutical companies, and more about the cost those institutions have to shoulder in malpractice insurance to guard against potential lawsuits from a litigation-happy public. There are legitimate instances when a doctor, hospital, or pharmaceutical company should be sued for malpractice or false marketing. But it is all too often the refuge of an unhappy patient or grieving family to sue as an emotional reaction to a perceived injustice. It is to the point now where, depending on the area of the country where you live, doctors are few and far between because the cost of malpractice insurance is too high for them to pay on their income. And we're talking about DOCTORS. Not nurses (who are tragically underpaid) or healthcare administrators. DOCTORS. That lack of medical expertise then leads to overcrowding at remaining clinics and hospital emergency rooms, which in turn leads to higher costs to the patient as they jockey for a few minutes of their doctor's time.
National health care reform is NOT the answer to these problems. An overhaul of the Medicaid (and Medicare) system and an earnest and successful pursuit of tort reform are what is needed. Try pursuing THOSE avenues before destroying the existing insurance system that is currently in place and working for the vast majority of Americans.
Posted in: Obama says health care critics use 'scare tactics'
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mnemosyne23
What on EARTH would be the purpose of this? I have no idea. Short of wanting to cause harm or destruction of property. [head tilt] Yeah, I've got nothing.
Posted in: 2 sought after throwing bicycle onto tracks in front of oncoming train
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mnemosyne23
...
The mind boggles.
Okay... I get that they were using the car to power the sign and lights. I'm going to go on the record right here as saying, isn't that a fairly silly way to generate power? Could't they bring a generator, or use something else to create the light? Isn't that unnecessary wear on the car's engine, not to mention a waste of gas and unwarranted contribution to greenhouse emissions?
A clear indicator of a drunk's persepective: rather than asking the police to help him home by calling a taxi, he STEALS A POLICE CAR. Presumably he would have had to unhook some cables or other power cords to do it, too, which just speaks to how distracted the police must have been. Wow. Just WOW.
Posted in: Drunk man arrested after stealing police car in Hokkaido
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mnemosyne23
Utterly, unequivocally abhorrent and despicable! I hope this poor girl can recover from this incident, and that she has some kind of support from other family members or friends to help her. I just... words fail me. This makes me absolutely sick to my stomach.
PS -- Someone else may have already mentioned this but I haven't had a chance to read back through all the comments. How come the "younger" sister is the same age? Were they step-sisters? I'm a bit confused.
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mnemosyne23
...WTH? This story... boggles my mind. On so many levels.
1) The police arrive at the apartment because of a report of a girl screaming. They search the apartment despite the guy's claim that he knows nothing about it. Okay, good. Points to the cops.
2) They find the girl. Another good thing.
But here's where I completely lose my mind.
3) While they're finding the girl, the perp has both the time AND the opportunity to go get A SWORD, and hold it to a cop's NECK. Not a pocketknife, mind you, or even a kitchen knife. No, a SWORD. Why was no one watching him? There were three officers, weren't there? Why couldn't two search while one watched the guy?
4) It took half an hour for additional officers to arrive. I'm sorry... isn't this Osaka? Isn't it a major city? Where were they coming from, Mt Fuji?
5) In the end, it took EIGHT officers to arrest the guy. Huh? Like other posters have mentioned, why doesn't Japan let its police officers use tasers? Fine if you don't want to fire a gun, but come on -- give them SOMETHING to help them apprehend the suspect. At least they DID arrest him and didn't let him escape. That's a small miracle right there, actually. If the other officers "stormed" the apartment from the balcony, I've got to assume it's a ground floor apartment, or at least has direct access to an external exit. I'm surprised the guy didn't shout "BOO!" and hightail it out of the apartment before the cavalry could arrive.
6) I am completely at a loss to figure out why they didn't charge him with multiple violations when he was first arrested. Why hasn't he been formally charged yet? What are they trying to DO? Build a bigger case against him? He had a 19-year-old girl tied up in a storage space under the floorboards of his apartment. This same girl suffered fractures to her face, presumably when he punched her to get her to stop screaming for help and knocked her unconscious. He held a sword to a police officer's throat with malicious intent. He severely wounded another police officer with the same sword. I'm sure the girl LOVES knowing that this guy is cooling his heels in some lock-up somewhere with the potential to get released if some pencil pusher forgets to file the indictment paperwork on time.
What I'm saying is, quit dithering. Get this guy charged, tried, convicted and sentenced, THEN flit around building a case for additional charges if such a case exists. If that's not what's going on, then what the heck are they DOING?
Posted in: Man held for attempted murder of policeman after detention for confining girl expires
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mnemosyne23
I love Shizu-chan. She's hysterical and adorable, and she and Yama-san play great off each other. Japanese comedians generally leave me cold (it's that Western sense of humor, I tell ya), but I always enjoy Nankai Candies. To everyone calling her huge and ugly -- she's 6'1" tall and 180 pounds (according to Dramawiki). By Western standards that's perfectly normal. She'd barely even stand out in a crowd!
Posted in: Shizu-chan goes into 'Transporter' mode
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mnemosyne23
Six hours? Of what? Just driving around? I don't know how old this girl is (beyond the generic "junior high school" label), but unless they were cruising through some deserted, abandoned stretch of roadway for six hours, there must have been SOME opportunity to call for help. Roll down the window? Open the car door at a stop light? Bang on the window and scream for help to get the attention of others on the street? I don't want to blame the victim -- if a true victim she turns out to be -- and who can say how any of us would have reacted at her age in that situation? But still, it seems awfully strange.
Also, if she was taken at 10am, why didn't the school report her absent? Or is it vacation time? I'm woefully out of the loop in that respect. It does seem awfully convenient that she was taken for precisely the length of a school day.
Posted in: Man arrested for abducting junior high school girl in Iwate
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mnemosyne23
I feel for the poor police officer who got assaulted and the one who was trying to wrestle this guy into the cruiser on his own. I'm not usually very easy on Jcops, but in this case I think some sympathy is warranted. This potential gang member clearly had no respect for or fear of the cops, either because he was high or just arrogant. It's hard enough keeping control of a situation with someone like that when you're on your own, let alone when you're surrounded by a bunch of gawking onlookers. I wonder how many of those bystanders were busily snapping pictures with their camera phones and kept crowding in to get a better shot? Or worse, fellow gang members? As often as we get on the case of the Jcops, we also have to censure these kinds of interfering onlookers. I hope the Jcops DO find them, and that they're dealt with appropriately.
Posted in: Handcuffed gang member escapes from police in Okinawa
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mnemosyne23
The thing that's especially pathetic in this story is that the actual "transaction" was 15,000 yen, half what the girl was looking for. That's just setting the stage for a second round of "indecent behavior" to get the full amount.
Disgusting on all counts.
Posted in: Dentist held for indecent behavior with junior high school girl in Fukuoka hotel