JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
-
- Financial Advisor
- Select Asset Management KK, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥100,000 ~ ¥999,999 Paid Training Commission Based
-
- 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
-
- 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
0
nandakandamanda
SuperLib, you've asked the question twice here now. What are you wanting to know? I am not aware of any new initiative by the European or Canadian governments. (Or the Australian govt for that matter.)
There is some news here that the CIA spokesman Michael Hayden has prepared to speak at the Atlantic Council, but his remarks seem to be a sort of general running summary of the ever present danger to the United States, and a world overview, containing nothing new that we haven't read in the general media.
The headline of the article, however, gives the impression that things are now really beginning in earnest. "The hunt is on!!!" (When if you read the article, it isn't really)
Posted in: CIA says hunt for bin Laden is on
0
nandakandamanda
Japanese law takes a clear stand against it. The authorities are pretty inflexible and tend to believe the official line quite anally. You get caught, you get paraded and vilified by the press. Not as bad as some SE Asian countries where you can face the death penalty. Here it is a prison sentence, and a regime of re-education where you will have to show contrition, and a criminal record. You are wrong. Point blank. Almost no middle ground. The populace follows the official line, and there is absolutely no understanding of the differences in the various drugs. Mayaku is mayaku. Narcotic drugs and all the value judgements and baggage that come with the concept.
Some of the readers here are calling for legalization. Er... dream on.
Even in Britain, where they are years ahead in toleration of marijuana, the issue has not been compeltely resolved. There is an uneasy wavy line and the classification, and laws, on possession, smoking, selling cannabis, keep changing backwards and forwards. How many years will it take Japan to arrive there? Not in my lifetime...
Posted in: Is Japan becoming a 'drug heaven?'
0
nandakandamanda
"On-going"... possibly.
Posted in: CIA says hunt for bin Laden is on
0
nandakandamanda
Micahel Hayden doesn't say it's on. He comes out with same old generalizations.
"It remains at the top of their list," according to the article above.
Oh, right! Nothing has changed, in other words.
Posted in: CIA says hunt for bin Laden is on
0
nandakandamanda
The last comment in the above article, by "Farhan Abdi Abdulle, a 19-year-old student" was interesting and thought-provoking, coming as it does from the ground in Somalia.
Put another way, when religion and politics become intertwined you get an unholy mess.
Areas under Sharia law in Somalia will undoubtedly be more regulated than the vacuum and the no-go areas they have now under the UN. Some law is better than no law.
The differences between these areas will lie in the interpretation, the zealotry and the amount of politics.
But some of the bitterest fighting is often between different factions within the Islamist movement. Pity the people trying to live there...
Posted in: Somali Islamists seize town, impose Islamic law
0
nandakandamanda
Illegal charcoal? Just using my imagination here, but if everyone slashes down the jungle and burns the trees to make charcoal, the forests would dwindle pretty fast. Probably Congo govt. policy to outlaw unregistered jungle felling and charcoal manufacture.
Posted in: Congo rebels make roadblock out of bodies
0
nandakandamanda
Just watched a video clip of the news. It's a four-lane highway. She was in the middle of the left of the four lanes, in a regular non-motorized push-type folding canvas and aluminum/aluminium wheelchair and the car 'hit her from behind'. Dunno whether she was crossing the four lanes diagonally, or just going in a straight line, but it does seem very odd.
Posted in: Woman in wheelchair dies after being hit by drunk driver in Gifu
0
nandakandamanda
Disillusioned, what do you expect the government to do? The WHO has asked the J govt to clear 75,000 psychiatric beds, so there will be more and more of these people out and around, being taken care of by the community.
Posted in: Man attacks schoolgirl with knife in Nagasaki
0
nandakandamanda
Those with business to do just drove around them.
Sick, yes. Lack of respect, yes.
A sign of something? Probably.
Posted in: Congo rebels make roadblock out of bodies
0
nandakandamanda
Er, genocide? It's only two bodies of soldiers. Probably the idea of one rebel soldier. More like a simple aberration. Not even a war crime.
Posted in: Congo rebels make roadblock out of bodies
0
nandakandamanda
And everyone will be pronouncing it "Sam-your-eye". Jeez, gimme a break...
Posted in: Japan to be known as 'Samurai Japan' at WBC
0
nandakandamanda
The magnetic strip on the back of Western cards is broader than Japanese ones. Japanese bank cash dispensers simply reject them. Not sure about chips, though.
Things are gradually getting better, but there's a long way to go. I remember meeting two women in Hiroshima who were crying with frustration becuase they couldn't get cash out with their cards, and there was no information to help them in any way. (Pointed them towards the Post Office as it was still, luckily, within working hours.)
Posted in: Visa publishes expats guide to living in Japan
0
nandakandamanda
Ah, thank you Mods. That means that our answers may be very different depending upon which country and legal system we come from. Although I am from a Western country, having now lived here for well over 30 years, I posted above about how I would feel being called up here in Japan.
Posted in: How would you feel about being called up for jury duty?
0
nandakandamanda
ptolemy, it may be a duty, but you are allowed to have feelings about it. That's the question above that we are all trying to answer, after all.
(Although the question does not make clear what country we are discussing.)
Moderator: Any country that has a jury system.
Posted in: How would you feel about being called up for jury duty?
0
nandakandamanda
Every time a layer is peeled off in this country, and the story behind comes out, I am astonished. My pre-conceived notions generally tend to turn out to have been completely off-target. Another thing that bothers me after sitting in countless meetings is the Japanese consensus. Very rarely has my feeling or voice made a difference to what everyone has already decided. People around me seem to be disagreeing, but no-one speaks. Occasionally an utterance from me will swing things, but very, very rarely.
For these reasons I would not like to have to be in a position to judge someone else's guilt or innocence.
Posted in: How would you feel about being called up for jury duty?
0
nandakandamanda
They were already maryrs in prison anyway with a group of dedicated fans. No doubt that they would have been broken out in due course by force, or by bribery, or they would have been pardoned at some point, none of which alternatives would have been satisfactory for the majority.
God may be great, but I doubt that he has a place like a super Jerusalem, with separate Heavens for Muslims, Jews, Christians, Buddhists, etc... Hahahaha.... It is we ignorant humans who create such foolish differences. No, if God is truly great, they will definitely not be in Paradise.
Posted in: 3 Bali bombers executed
0
nandakandamanda
Eliot Spitzer. Max Mosley too, not only got off the hook but decided to sue. Whatever you want to do in your private life must be OK then. 5 hookers in Nazi uniforms, mmmmm....
Spitzer, "on multiple occasions he arranged for women to travel from one state to another state to engage in prostitution."
Why have I been holding back all these years?
Posted in: No charges for ex-N.Y. governor in prostitution case
0
nandakandamanda
Takahashi was such a light and wonderful person. The corporate climate in Japan can be seriously nerve wrecking. Hard, cruel, and soul-sucking. Even that bitchy comment in paragraph 2 contains a trace of it.
I feel very sorry for her and I wish her the best with whatever else she tries. Fly, little bird!
Posted in: Pressure takes its toll on marathon runner Takahashi
0
nandakandamanda
Is that 1 meter tall when walking on all fours? That could be a pretty large bear.
Posted in: Woman attacked by bear in Karuizawa
0
nandakandamanda
This guy should be shot.
Posted in: Man arrested after shooting himself with home-made gun in Ibaraki