JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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- Full-time English Teacher - Osaka
- Epion English Language Schools, Osaka
- Salary: ¥200,000 ~ ¥250,000 / Month Depending on your ability and experience
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- Part-time English Teacher - Osaka
- Epion English Language Schools, Osaka
- Salary: ¥10,000 ~ ¥15,000 / Day Depending on how many days a week are worked
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- Core Developer - コアディベロッパー
- Midokura Japan K.K. - ミドクラジャパン株式会社, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥4.0M ~ ¥10.0M / Year Negotiable
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notimpressed
sounds like he was not a very nice person according to the accounts of his former employees. Old mean scrooge died alone, and without his money in the end. Thats poetic justice for you.
Posted in: Police baffled by Y360 million that disappeared from backyard
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notimpressed
Japanese teachers of english do not care whether thier students become able to use Engslih or not. They themselves only studied English so that they could get a job teaching it. Borscht is correct about reviewing. Anything that takes time or effort is overlooked. Noone cares that a language is a living thing capable of expressing so much more than the text books show. It takes personal dedication to learn a language to any kind of fluency. We can't only blame the teachers, but it should be thier job to be fluent, and to tell the truth of how they became fluent. most kids would probably give up right then unfortunately. Because unlike other subjects, you will never understand it beyond choosing the correct multiple choice answerin a test unless you are committed to putting in the time neccessary. The JHS curriculum has actually lowered the amount of required vocabulary, thinking that its just too hard for the students. No, they are just too lazy, as are the teachers, and there is not enough time dedicated to it. Please don't make it compulsory anymore, you can't force someone to learn a language. It requires interest and effort. Have it as an optional subject after a preliminary compulsory period, so then you will have just the kids who want to learn it. I can speak pretty good Japanese, but I'm still far from fluent. I know that just going to classes or studying form a text book will never make any difference. Its what I do in my spare time, reviewing, searching for and inputing new material,and finally using what I have learned, to make itreal not just an abstract concept. Any successful language learner has been self motivated and took the task seriously. NOt to mention they have the guts to take the risk of making a mistake, and the chance of meeting new and different people.
So I want to make that one point clear. You can't learn a language from a book or classes, or teachers. Those are only tools to aid in YOUR learning. Its a long road to fluency in a second language, and it can't be just a subject in school, a hobby, or a line on a resume if you are going to take it seriously. Make contact with media in the target language and see how much great stuff there is for you. MAke a personal connection with it and get some passion. Language learning is not done in a classroom, it takes place in the individual. You will never meet a single person who can attribute thier second language proficiency to thier teacher/classes/ or text books. It is always best attributed to the level of effort and interest they had in thier learning. The BOE, theteachers, and the studenst alike, all only show a token interest and effort. It's not enough. Show enough interest, and the katakansa problems etc etc will disappear, you only have to care about the language, to know that correct pronunciation is important.
So Japanese don't really care about English. Some do, most couldn't give a Rats. The BOE should just lay off and let it die. Admit defeat in the public sector, and let those who can speak English well, and who enjoy it, demonstrate the benefits and show how they really did it. English education here is like whipping a dead horse. We need to show students how to learn for themselves. Actually, that is a problem within the rote learning style of Japanese education. No thinking out side of the box, repeat after me. Does anyone have the feeling that perhaps the problem is not ionly in English education, but the education system in general?
Posted in: What's wrong with the way English is taught in Japan?
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notimpressed
please everyone, give Japans music more credit than the jpop steals. Try to ignore the mass media and find some live stuff, or go online and look for something that suits you, rather than being blinded and deAfened by jpop
Posted in: J-pop industry taking the music out of music business
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notimpressed
GW. Respect to you for your reply and for being self employed, I have been self employed in the past, and am in Japan now, with a view at doing it again here. I don't want to be another foreigner trappped under the thumb of yearly contracts with no promise of stability. At least as your own boss you only have yourself to blame if it doesnt work out. Hopefuly the tight times in Japan can create some entrepeneurs out of people who have the imagination to make lemonade when life hands them lemons. Thats what it means to make a living, rather than trying to live at the whim of an employer who does not care in the long run.
Posted in: Temp workers bear brunt of recession in Japan
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notimpressed
jericho8 forgot to read every post that he summed up. Either that or he just really loves pop music and is staring at his backstreet boys poster as we speak.
Posted in: J-pop industry taking the music out of music business
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notimpressed
GW, I believe you may have missed the point, which is not english teachrs, but the state of contract workers, which includes almost all english teachers whetehr they are qualified teachers or not. Yor over-reaction to the whole teacher thing just proves you have some superiority trip over people teaching in Japan. Don't get too cozy on your own year by year contract either. And try not to be to quick to assume that people who might defend English teachers in Japan, are necessarily teachers themselves. Anyway, like I said, english teachers are not the point.
Posted in: Temp workers bear brunt of recession in Japan
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notimpressed
Ultradude, I believe the workers pay for thier own insurance. Pensions are not compulsory for Foreigners on temporary contracts and visas. English instruction dispatch companies really do rob the workers, if not all such dispatch companies. They provide a service to the companies looking for staff, and bleed the worker dry the whole time that they do the actual job.
Posted in: Temp workers bear brunt of recession in Japan
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notimpressed
j-pop is vapid and image oriented and cookie cutter boring. But there are a lot of underground scenes in Japan, and alot of live stuff. planty of crazy and original bands with the most bizarre band names on the planet. Its a pit the people marketing pop the world over are so good at thier job in selling to kids what they are supposed to like. the biggest market is always teens who dont have other concerns for thier money, and who do not even earn it themselves. Hopefuly, as they get older, a large enough percentage of them will discover some originality in thier own tastes and move onto some of the cool stuff that is bubbling up from teh underground. There iss o much good music here, but its outshined by the sparkly clearasil comercial faces of pop. POwer to the ugly folks with tattoos and a chip on thier shoulder writing and performing real songs out there. Video really did kill the radio star. Even American rock and metal is getting filled up with pretty boys in makeup playing the same formulaic "woe is me coz my mom made me clean my room" songs.
Posted in: J-pop industry taking the music out of music business
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notimpressed
jumped in a 90s model rx7 highway patrol car at a festival a while back, nice fast patrol car, but I could hardly fit in it. I hope they didnt plan on arresting anyone with it, you couldnt fit a body in the back if you cut it into tiny peices.
Posted in: A roundup of Japan’s police vehicle fleet
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notimpressed
definately not a sub-culture in Japan though. There are more hostess/ snack bars around than actual bars and nightclubs where you might meet a stranger. I would rather see it scaled down, so that Japanese men don"t rely on it so heavily and be forced into a little bit of natural social settings.
Posted in: Men come here for different reasons, mainly because they want to be listened to.
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notimpressed
all of your replies are very valid, but I still thank my stars that i have never had to pay to find someone to talk to, and I guess that makes it seem very odd to me. Natural and spontaneous human interaction is lovely, and if you have the right attitude you can make friends wherever you go, for free.
Posted in: Men come here for different reasons, mainly because they want to be listened to.
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notimpressed
MOst men go to thoses places because they lack the necessary social skills to meet and converse with real peopleThey can only handle interaction with paid robo-girls who agree with everything they say and giggle as programmed. I swear this is gonna be the first country to have robo-sex dolls and robotic girlfriends, and watch how the population drops then!! Honestly, paying someone to listen to you? Maybe its what you're saying.
Posted in: Men come here for different reasons, mainly because they want to be listened to.
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notimpressed
This subject has been done before in a book(if not many books), and the title is not much different either. The issue that the reviewer is grinding his axe on, but atthe wrong angle, is basically this: Japan claimed back in the eighties to the UN that they have no minorities, and to please leave them out of the conversation because 'we are a homoegenous society'. This caused a stir especially from people who know anything about Japan and its undeniable minorities.
Both social and ethnic minorities have existed in Japan from the distant past into the present. That is undeniable, except to the Japanese, hence the occurance of such books as this. It is rare that a Japanese person would investigate this themselves, when it would blow apart the myth they hold onto of purity and homogeneity( are these not the same idea?).
There is no real such thing as homogeneity in a nation these days( If ever), only degrees of it. As other posters have said, homogenous is a definitive term, it needs to be qualified with another word to denote the degree. ie. largely, fairly, almost totally. In reality, I think the best way to put it could be, "Japan is not as homogenous as it claims to be." The denial of minorities is an insult to them because they exist, if Japan could ever admit to any wrong-doing, or even correct its outlandish statements then there would be no place for these books.
Furthermore, the Human race is the only one that is Homogenous, all our other so called races are just cocktails of past pockets of slightly less jumbled genetic material. I think(hope) these books get written by people offended by the seperation of people into categories, who wish to take down the opposers of human unity down a peg or two. BUt it focuses on a small issue instead of the big one.
SOrry Japan, I love you but you are still human like the rest of us, and thats all that matters. Being largely homogenous does not make you any more special than another group of humans. It may make a unique history and culture, but it is your loss to lose the benefits of loving a person for thier humanity, and of the ability to see past our beautiful variations, while you try to stay pure.
Purity is what? there are few examples of real purity in anything, it is also a definitive term, and usually needs to be stated in percentages and parts, or relative amounts. We are not base chemicals, we are living organisms which are inescapably complex and varied. Trying to hold on to ideas of racial/ethnic purity ( homogeneity) does nothing for the development of our race( the Human one,you belong to it too don't you?). Arguing the point of Japan in a book does little good unfortunatley, as it attempts to set Japanese apart from the rest of us likewise. WHy not write a book that focuses on our human race as a whole, and how we are so full of it, because we are. Oh thats right, its better to pick on a point and start a debate over something which skirts the big picture, and sell sell sell copies, than to actually put into words something that might help the human race. I think maybe some people have tried before and failed probably. BUt please dont quote the bible, or any such religeous text, because those books have done more to divide us than any drop of tainted blood... trees for the forest, trees for the forest.
Posted in: Japan’s Minorities: The Illusion of Homogeneity
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notimpressed
Its a good idea and those who naysay it are just haters. If you are in japan for a long enough stretch I'm sure you could and should learn some Japanese, but people on a company exchange may not have that sort of time, and tourists almost never speak the language of the countries they visit. Seeing as English is currently lingua franca in this world, actually being able to use it is beneficial for businesses anywhere in the world. Japans record at english failure, compared to other Asian nations just goes to show that the " learn japanese or dont come here/ go home" attitude is rubbish. Its about making an effort to make the place accessable to more people, as well as more welcoming, not just for the people who think they are special because they are obsesed with japan and its language and culture. SOme of us do speak japanese and do not lord it over those who dont. We also have the talent of empathy, where we can see that some peope will struggle,especially when they first get here. This is a good idea, and will hopefuly prevent those store clerks who can speak english from lying, and saying that they can't. ITs a usuable and valuable skill in the world today, and this, I repeat, is a good idea, weather it works or not. Too many people with tickets on themselves, who shout down anything positive, and whine about all the negative things, whose cup will always be all empty with an attitude like that. Good on the students, we should always encourage young people to take initiative and try new ideas. If even a little good comes of it, then its worth it. More power to them.
Posted in: Students help foreign tourists in Akihabara
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notimpressed
So was it not out of line when I got annoyed at people taking photos with professional camera equipment of me and my girl while in an onsen, which was vaguely visible from a lookout? It was in thier field of vision, but it was too far for details, lucky for them they had big lennses with which to zoom in on me and my girl, even luckier for them they were on the other side of the river where i couldnt throw a rock at thier camera or head.
Even if legs are not that big a deal, it is a problem in Japan, where sad pervs take pic of strangers to take home and beat the meat to. Its rude, offensive,and insensitive. If its of the general area/ scenery and someone happens to be in the shot thats one thing,unavaoidable, but there has to be a limit to whats ok. for example, taking specific pictures of a specific person or persons body parts.
I have had kids taking my photo with thier cellphone while on the train. How rude!! I could see them do it, and hear the camera noise go off, Im a guy, I was not wearing leather pants withthe butt cutt outt, they were taking pictures of my foreign face, and it was a nuisance, and an invasion of my privacy. Damn, Im not even famous.Just a person trying to get the train home.
In this case the limit was set by the guy sitting with the girl. Good on him. People who want to take a picture of random stranger legs/panties/face without permission, just to make thier little fantasy last longer, should try getting a life and taking pictures of that instead.
Posted in: Cop arrested for taking picture of woman’s legs on train in Kanagawa
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notimpressed
Its a joke to have either of thsoe "guys" to play Musashi. Unless they are only getting bit parts for playing him in his youth. Its a pity Japan has developed this obsession for effeminate wafy girly boys, and that young males of Japan try to model themselevs after them. This movie has to be a crapper if they cant even get someone who looks the least bit tough to play all time Japanese tough guy Musashi. Obviously they choose actors who are pretty to fulfill an image, but why not try to fulfill the image of musashi faithfuly. I hope someone does make the movie again and properly.
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notimpressed
that seems to be right Mz, I had to read it twice once you pointed that out. The whole family lived there with th edead rotten body lying under a kotatsu for three years, collecting pension payments, then did a runner and left on eof thier sons behind. All in all its pretty sick. Ive never heard of people doing this kind of thing untill I moved here to Japan...
Posted in: 80-yr-old woman found dead in Shizuoka apartment; grandson says she died 3 years ago
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notimpressed
David
Have a look at the recognised territories of antarctica too on a map, Japan has no recognised claim, even though they try to claim one. why not recognised?~ because it is ridiculous for them to have territory there.
Why do they have a base? It is allowed for non-whale-related scientific research on another countries territory by that countries permission. They do not have permission to be whaling in the area, but rather there is no solid law yet to ban them from such activities, so they just do it out of spite and beligerance.
You are trumpeting a cause against a landslide of disapproval for what may I ask? Why do you want them to whale in the southern oceans?
As for not considering the antarctic to be our backyard, NZ has a few small islands very close to the continent under our durisdiction, we are very close to the area, and it is indeed our backyard. NZ has a long history of research and exploration in the area. Japan has no history with that area other than the recent one of poaching whales, and their land based research by permission of other countries.
Get a different soapbox and a different battle to fight. I fear you are one of those people in an argument for the sheer joy of being a total... I sincerely doubt you care about these issues in any way unless it is to gain personal financial benefit. Otherwise, why in your right mind do you champion yourself to the cause of Japan killing whales on the other side of the world, in your ( alleged) own countries backyard. Yes it is our back yard, if it isnt yours, then too bad, stay out of the argument then, because you also have no right to hunt whales there, if you could even heft a harpoon that is ;0 Now theres an idea, if Japanese want to hunt whale so bad, make it a sport and put yourself face to face with these huge and majestic animals. Study about how intelligent and altruistic they can be, then look one close in the eye, and take it out yourself.
Posted in: Japan wants anti-whalers barred from Australian, NZ and Chile ports
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notimpressed
On the other hand: stealing land is not ok. Killing people is not ok. Oppression is not OK. So everyones in teh wrong but all psychotically fascinated with a dream of bloody revenge. And around and around it goes. Any ceasefire will be temporary, noone will ever be happy. I pity everyone who really doesnt have murder in thier hearts who are stuck in that god forsaken area, because that is what its become. No matter how much they try to use religeon as a crutch to justify thier actions. If you need an excuse, then you dont have a good reason in the first place.
Posted in: Israel demands monitors as part of a Gaza truce
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notimpressed
send a live feed of being chased by youth gangs through Otara or a convoy of MongrelMob members cruising by on their Motorbikes, or skinheads in Christchurch throwing eggs at asians. Tourism never quite reflects the 100% pure of any country. But dont tell that to all the Japanese Tourists who go to NZ, and spend the whole time getting off a bus, taking a thousand pictures in 5 minutes, and getting back on the bus, and going by bus to the next destination and repeating the process. Yup, 100% pure experience of a place like that. Check out the good the bad and the ugly if you want to know a place. Stop dreaming of meeting hobbits and sheep and humpback whales, in a field of green grass and crystal clear air, when you could find yourself in the real world. I would love to see some of those videos.
Posted in: Tourism New Zealand launches innovative marketing campaign