JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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- Financial Advisor
- Select Asset Management KK, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥100,000 ~ ¥999,999 Paid Training Negotiable Commission Based
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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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moonbeams
I was a vegetarian for 8 years before I came to Japan.
I voted "non-vegetarians." There are militant vegans. But most vegetarians understand what it's like to be a non-vegetarian, because 99% of us made the choice to give up meat.
There would always be someone who felt threatened by this, as if vegetarians would take their meat away. I could never understand how insecure someone must be to fear that the vegetarian movement will change their diet.
Posted in: Which side is more disdainful of the other: Vegetarians or non-vegetarians?
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moonbeams
here's a solution, though a bit of an eyesore, it will save a lot of lives. paint all elevator car interiors green. paint the shafts red. if you see red, don't enter.
Posted in: Woman dies after falling down elevator shaft in Hyogo
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moonbeams
Gaijinocchio,
It is believed that NK has brainwashed millions of it's citizens, since birth, to fight and die for the state.
If this is true, then the government cannot simply be removed. It would be a holocaust. No reasonable people want that. I don't.
Posted in: N Korea says it is preparing satellite launch
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moonbeams
I'm happy that money is being provided for Afghanistan's security. I don't mind at all that it's from my taxes.
Posted in: Japan to pay 80,000 Afghanistan police salaries
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moonbeams
This just illustrates the foolishness of the opposition.
Do they really, really want to lose??
Aso is their golden ticket to power. Getting rid of him will risk everything. Ugh..
Posted in: Opposition steps up pressure on Aso to resign
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moonbeams
I saw the cartoon and it was in terrible taste.
I don't think it's racist. I think it's obvious that they were referring to Obama.
Posted in: U.S. tabloid cartoon appears to link Obama to chimp
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moonbeams
And that's why you don't get a say.
Posted in: U.S., Japan sign pact to move Marines to Guam
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moonbeams
this thread takes the cake for silly comments on JT.
Let her do her job, or did you forget that she's a diplomat?
Posted in: Clinton visits Meiji Shrine
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moonbeams
No, this is a good move.
Okinawa, has, I could be wrong, a 15-25% unemployment rate. The bases occupy 25% of the main island. The bases are a major part of Okinawa's economy as locals work their. Of course it would be nice if there was no military presence, but now is not the best time to put most of thousands of people out of work.
Posted in: Clinton begins Japan visit with warning to North Korea on nuclear programs
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moonbeams
I'm a Jew and I say no, people should have the freedom to believe what they want.
Posted in: Should Holocaust denial be a crime?
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moonbeams
That's interesting. A rape victim once said to me, "If I had to choose the option of being raped or murdered, I would go with murdered because then I don't have to live with the memory of it."
Posted in: Amazon yanks Japanese rape simulation computer game
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moonbeams
Oh, come on. A 27 year old police officer posing as a college student choose to have sex with a child. Developed physically or not, at 14 you're still a kid and a 27 year old police sergeant should have the skills to know that he has influence over someone so young. Just as guilty??
Posted in: 27-yr-old police sergeant arrested for having sex with 14-yr-old girl
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moonbeams
when it's over and too late/
Posted in: How do you know when you are really in love?
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moonbeams
Dillusioned,
I mean no disrespect, but I have to disagree with most of your points in this discussion.
Well.. that's like saying that spoken Japanese developed from English.
Many natives are unaware, but Japanese comes Korean which comes from Turkish. They are all part of the same language family.
Chinese is foriegn to Japanese. However, do to cultural relationships, written chinese along with their idioms 熟語 flooded into Japanese. Just in the same way that KATAKANA words from non-Chinese languages have been adopted into Japanese. Japanese is like a melting pot of languages. There are original Japanese words and thousands and thousands of words derived from other languages.
Now to tie this into the discussion, as a poster noted above, for us to speak Japanese from romaji is the same for us when Japanese speak English from Katakana. In learning a language, we have to step outside our box of comfort and into an alien world. This is one of the many challenges to Japanese students of English, is that their comfort box is not fully removed from beneath their feet.
Posted in: What's wrong with the way English is taught in Japan?
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moonbeams
Kids don't learn KATAKANA words as English. KATAKANA words are Japanese words derived from non-Chinese languages. They are essential to the modern Japanese language and cannot be done away with.
The problem is that students try to spell in Romaji. This is natural for Japanese, because their brains aren't developed to pick out the differences in sounds, such as "work" and "walk."
The only way to get pass this is to teach pronunciation as early as possible.
Posted in: What's wrong with the way English is taught in Japan?
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moonbeams
blvtzpk, realist,
Thanks for saving me time :)
With respect to what everyone has said, I think these points are the core of the problem. Not all teachers, but too many, present English as a subject, not a language.
Becuase the way it's taught is so painful, I don't blame students for disliking the language.
If Japan wants to get serious about English proficiency, teach it from as early on as possible. In the long run, this approach will not only lead to better speakers, but it will also shave off tons of stress for junior and senior high school students struggling to memorize thousands of words that should have been absorbed before puberty set in.
Posted in: What's wrong with the way English is taught in Japan?
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moonbeams
one, it's for aesthetics.
two, after reading JT for 3 years, yes, yes it does.
Posted in: Tokyo Metro
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moonbeams
Why do people feel the need to jump into every story and divide things between left and right? Who are these people to say what others believe?
That said, this is one of the saddest stories I've ever read. Recruit by rape. 80 recruits. These people are sick.
Posted in: 'Mother' of Iraqi women bomber network arrested
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moonbeams
This news is fresh air.
"War on Terror" was a stupid idea. It's like "War on Fire" by throwing more fire at the fire.
Can't wage war against an idea.
Posted in: Under Obama, 'war on terror' catchphrase fading
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moonbeams
Might as well tattoo "kick me" on your kid's forehead.
Posted in: Dad who named kids after Nazis decries removal