JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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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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- FT English Teachers for Kids - Osaka
- Kohgakusha Co., Ltd. （株式会社興学社）, Osaka
- Salary: ¥255,000 ~ ¥275,000 / Month Travel Expenses, Encouragement of Japanese learning*
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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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pathat
sarge says:
"public health insurance scheme"
"Scheme" implies fraud."
You got that right, sarge. I went back on the "kenko hoken" a couple of years ago and got screwed by the system when I really needed help about a year ago.
U.S. media outlets can run all the glowing reports on Japan's health care system they want, but the reality is something quite different all too often, and not just for foreigners. Japan has its quality medical facilites and dedicated care providers to be sure, but far too few in both cases.
Good luck to any and all of you who choose to make Japan your permanent home as the years pass and you need health care from the Japanese. You're going to need all the luck you can get.
Posted in: Health insurance gets more complicated with new visa law
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pathat
I applied to the above group a few years ago looking for something cheaper than the private insurance I had at the time and was turned down simply because I take blood pressure medicine. (I was on no other medications and hadn't had any other health problems.) So good luck to any of you who think it's a great deal. Perhaps if you're in your 20s and staying in Japan for a year or two it might make sense, but real coverage for a long-term expat in the country, no way.
Posted in: Health insurance gets more complicated with new visa law
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pathat
Wasn't Osamu Higashio quite the playboy himself during his playing days?
If I remember correctly, Riko's mother was Osamu's lover, not wife, when she became pregnant with Riko.
It's interesting how little time Riko seems to spend in Japan.
Posted in: Father unhappy over golfer Riko Higashio's engagement to actor Junichi Ishida
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pathat
Now this sordid issue will finally get the mainstream media attention it merits.
Posted in: American arrested in Fukuoka for kidnapping own kids from ex-wife
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pathat
**Tokyo readies for final 2016 Olympic pitch **
It will come up short, just as Prime Minister Hatoyama's did in Pittsburgh today.
Posted in: Tokyo readies for final 2016 Olympic pitch
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pathat
DS wrote:
Nice comments, DS.
Yukio Hatoyama will always be a flip-flopping(party loyalty/party platforms), spineless, son-of-privilege(albeit not the only one at/near the top) to me. He and Ichiro Ozawa, Naoto Kan and the rest of the DPJ are in power for the time being simply because there weren't any other real alternatives.
They are making a lot of promises they can't keep, and some others they will but will do even greater damage to Japan's long-term financial health and the social fabric of the nation.
Posted in: Beware Japan’s new political beast
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pathat
"For what? For not having to go back there in 5-10 years when they start building suicide camps again. Or, for when they move into Pakistan and start taking over.
And for those who say leave please provide an alternative? head in sand approach? not sure if you remember but this is where the suicide camps were located."
Dano202: The Bush administration never made but a fraction of the commitment they needed to in Afghanistan, with predictable results 8 years later. Afghanistan was somewhat of a forgotten war after the initial "thrill of victory," and the later invasion of Iraq.
There was a time many years ago when I thought we could've done some good in Afghanistan, if we had focused our military and economic efforts on the country, instead of the misguided invasion of Iraq and waste of great amounts of treasure and human lives.
But then again, we have a long history from the second half of the 20th century of sticking our noses into things we don't understand, and coming out of them bloodied.
We never learn.
How can you think that we have the resources/public support to commit to what would be required to subdue the enemy in Afghanistan/Pakistan and rebuild Afghanistan?
Give me a ballpark figure of troops and time that would be required to achieve that elusive "victory?" And how does it end, Dano?
We're already on the way to being an occupying force, with all the negatives that entails.
Obama campaigned under the promise that the drawdown in Iraq over the next couple of years would save us billions of dollars each month. How would that be possible with a concurrent drastic increase in troop strength in Afghanistan? He won't be able to go back on such a promise, especially considering the ongoing dire economic situation in the U.S., and the reality that he would like to be re-elected in Nov. 2012.
We can no more win in Afghanistan than the British or the Soviets did.
Posted in: Dozens of Taliban killed after U.S. deaths
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pathat
timorborder wrote:
The enemy can always recruit new members into its ranks, as they well have over the past 8 years.
The U.S. could never come up with the number of troops that you must envision to obliterate all enemy fighters in Afghansitan and Pakistan.
What would it take-200,000? More? And for how long?
History proves this is an unwinnable conflict, i.e. we should have learned from the British, Soviets and other attempts of yesteryear to dominate Afghanistan.
No amount of aid money, propping up of Kabul Mayor Kharzai as a national leader, and searching for "moderate Taliban leaders" etc. will make any lasting difference.
After the health care debates/votes are finished in the U.S. Congress, the public's attention will be increasingly turned to the Afghanistan War and the surging casualties there.
President Obama's honeymoon is over.
It was easy to drive the Taliban out of major cities from eight years ago and send them high-tailing it for the mountains and safe havens in Pakistan. And then what?
Just listen to the Americans and do it our way-one size fits all!
There is no road map to any definable sort of "victory" in Afghanistan.
There never was.
More troops, more money, more lives lost...for what?
Posted in: Dozens of Taliban killed after U.S. deaths
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pathat
As long as Tokyo loses, I'm fine with any of the other finalists hosting the 2016 Olympic Games, but I guess I would prefer Rio de Janeiro. Let's spread the fun around!
Posted in: Michelle Obama to help Chicago's Olympic bid
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pathat
Talk is cheap. President Obama has been so obsessed with health care and the economy during his first eight months in office that he hasn't given the military situations in Iraq and Afghanistan but a fraction of the time and effort he should, aided and abetted for the most part til very recently by a fawning media that didn't pursue the issues.
But then again, since President Obama knows virtually nothing about military matters, I guess we shouldn't be overly surprised by his inattention and inaction.
It's easier just to continue pretending that you're on the campaign trail where everything seemed so easy....
Posted in: Obama: U.S. 'will never falter' in pursuit of al-Qaida
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pathat
Give it at least a year before trying to analyze in detail its merits/demerits.
Posted in: What do you think of the lay jury system in Japan so far?
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pathat
It was probably his connection to the criminals that control so much of the entertainment world that got Noriko Sakai into the idol business, especially without having to do anything related to porn first.
A stink has been raised, the harmony flow has been disrupted, so it's time to bring her all the way down. Then, after she's been punished by the legal system, she be able to rehabilitate herself through a tear-jerker apology on TV sometime down the road, followed by a book and a gradual reinsertion into the entertainment world. Cry me a river, sweetie!
Posted in: Noriko Sakai's yakuza upbringing in spotlight
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pathat
Memo to all new Cabinet appointees: Don't get too comfortable with your new digs. You'll be shuffled out the door within a year of the DPJ taking control of the Japanese government.
Posted in: DPJ postpones cabinet picks
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pathat
If the panda can laugh at the LDP's downfall, then I guess we all should join in the fun.
Posted in: Out with the old
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pathat
Peace, Freedom, and Democracy will reign in Iraq one day! We will win! This spate of horrific violence in Baghdad is just a temporary bump along the road map to victory.
Posted in: Wave of Baghdad blasts kills at least 95
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pathat
"gokiburi tempura"
I suddenly feel very ill..."
Here's wishing you a speedy recovery, davy. What would JT have done over the years without all your efforts to enlighten and entertain us?
Posted in: 'Eeeek, gokiburi!' How gallant guys can score points with damsels in distress
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pathat
Well, another clean win for Usain Bolt, to be sure. Something to proud of back in the homeland.
Posted in: Bolt wins 100 in world record time of 9.58 seconds
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pathat
There are two solid S. Korean male golfers in K.J. Choi and Y.E. Yang who've won on the PGA Tour now. There are many outstanding S. Korean women who've reached the top of the LPGA Tour-including 7 different women winning majors. S. Korea has much to be proud of and I hope Y.E. Yang motivates even more young people in the country to take up the game.
I wouldn't bet on Ryo Ishikawa being a winner on the PGA Tour at any time in the future. He's not strong enough and probably never will be. The Japanese people should look more to the several promising young women playing more tournaments overseas in recent years to cheer for, and not the "Bashful Prince." He just doesn't measure up, and the cute novelty will wear off in a few years.
Posted in: Yang topples Tiger in PGA Championship
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pathat
We had eight years of "dangerous politics" under Bush and Cheney, much to the detriment of the United States of America.
Posted in: CIA head suggests Cheney almost wishing U.S. will be attacked
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pathat
Dick Cheney does want to see the U.S. suffer another major terrorist attack. It is the only way for Cheney, and his former boss, George W. Bush, to at least partially escape the condemnation of all reasonable historians for their eight years of utterly mismanaging the domestic and foreign policies of the U.S.
Bush and Cheney want the history of September 11, 2001 to January 20, 2009 to be written from the standpoint that they had no choice but to take all the measures they did for nearly eight years to protect the U.S. and its interests worldwide.
If the economy went belly-up in the meantime, for example, too bad so sad, as George and Dick were out to save the world from the evildoers.
Unfortunately, many Americans belatedly came to the correct view that the choices of Bush and Cheney, from the economy to the Iraq War were totally wrong, but George and Dick will stop at nothing while trying to get a favorable write-up in the annals of history.
As with the economy and the Iraq War, though, they will ultimately fail.
Posted in: CIA head suggests Cheney almost wishing U.S. will be attacked