Wednesday February 15, 2012

pathat's past comments

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    pathat

    What a joke! Ive been hospitalized twice in Japan and both were bad experiences. While there are some great doctors here, there are also plenty of bad ones, and their treatment and wierd practices are from another world.

    You got that right. Clueless doctors and insufficient hospital care forced me out of the country after 10 years.

    This one hospital might be on to something, but few other Japanese medical facilities and care providers want to have their business hinge on foreigners getting their medical needs attended to in Japan.

    Japan will be lucky to even provide a modicum of care for its own, especially the elderly, in the coming years.

    Posted in: Japan slow to embrace medical tourism

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    pathat

    Quite the hero. Good on him.

    Posted in: Man saves woman from train after she falls onto tracks

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    pathat

    costs in Japan are roughly a 10th what they are in the U.S.

    Perhaps there is some truth to this generalized statement, but the simple fact of the matter is that so many Japanese go to the U.S. for much-needed surgeries anyway-from the common subject to the most famous ones.

    Posted in: Japan slow to embrace medical tourism

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    pathat

    **Okada under pressure to improve soccer team's form **

    His solution will be more of the same drills, with an eye towards a complete debacle in South Africa.

    "Japan has had trouble scoring and only found the net three times in the East Asian Championship."

    This never changes except when they play some trumped-up match at home against a country that is near the bottom of the world rankings.

    Posted in: Okada under pressure to improve soccer team's form

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    pathat

    Somewhere along the line Kim Jong-Il found a new barber.

    Article Unavailable

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    pathat

    Starting a weeklong tour in Japan and Guam, Sen Jim Webb also called Toyota’s recent recall problems—the subject of two congressional hearings next week—a “business issue” that wouldn’t affect political ties between Japan and the United States.

    Let's see how people feel later this month after Toyota executives have to undergo grilling during congressional hearings.

    Toyota's problems, the JAL fiasco, probably another poor Winter Olympics for Japan, and Japan's dithering on the base issue-things could actually get pretty bad soon with U.S.-Japan relations.

    Posted in: U.S. senator open to options on Japan base dispute

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    pathat

    Here are some excerpts from *The Japan Times *two years ago that the writer of this article should have at least paraphrased to make a more informative story:

    "Presiding Judge Iwao Saito ruled that Hiroshi Takano, 46, who manages a McDonald's outlet in Saitama Prefecture, does not qualify as a manager under the Labor Standards Law and thus deserves overtime pay.

    The law stipulates that employers must pay overtime allowances to employees who work more than eight hours a day and 40 hours a week. However, the regulation does not apply to people in managerial positions.

    Saito said employees in management positions must be able to wield significant authority and receive privileged treatment, including higher pay. Takano neither played such an important role for the company nor received better pay, he said.

    According to the court, the average annual salary of McDonald's shop managers stood at ¥7.07 million in 2005. But the salaries varied, with some 10 percent of managers receiving only ¥5.79 million, a level lower than the average annual salary of assistant shop managers, based on evaluations. Assistant shop managers meanwhile qualify for overtime pay.

    After Takano was promoted to shop manager in October 1999, his salary dropped because he was not allowed to claim overtime allowances. As a result, his annual wage fell by 17 percent in 2005, compared with the ¥7.59 million he earned in 1999."

    http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20080129a3.html

    I'm sure we discussed this at length on JT two years ago, but I guess it doesn't hurt to go back over some of the reasons why people in so-called managerial positions can get even less money for more working hours.

    Having labor standards laws on the books and getting them enforced properly are often two different things, especially in Japan.

    Posted in: Unpaid overtime is killing McDonald's managers

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    pathat

    Taliban militants dig in as Marines occupy Afghan town

    Some will fight it out to the bitter end in the face of overwhelming firepower, but most will hightail it to safer places and regroup to fight elsewhere. Losses will be offset by new recruits. Any wins will be temporary by the U.S.-led forces, and any sort of victory will be illusory.

    Posted in: Taliban militants dig in as Marines occupy Afghan town

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    pathat

    This'll get 'em back on top.

    Article Unavailable

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    pathat

    Ossan wrote:

    If Japan wants to pay less, then they need to change article 9 and let the SDF put in some real effort and gain some real combat experience in the process. Then we can be equal partners with a collective defense agreement.

    USNInJapan2 wrote:

    Let's put things into perspective. With the extra $2 billion Japan would be able to theoretically buy themselves one solitary B-2 stealth bomber or 14 F-22 fighters or less than half of an aircraft carrier (just the ship, no planes or crew), or 1.25 Aegis destroyers. Not all of these things, just one of them. That's all. $2 billion is peanuts for the defense capabilities they get with US military presence in Japan.

    Right again.

    Posted in: Japan balks at $2 billion bill to host U.S. troops

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    pathat

    "Japan covers much of the cost for supporting American troops, including utilities, maintenance and physical upgrades plus the wages of tens of thousands of Japanese civilians working on the bases."

    At least half of the "omoiyari yosan" covers the costs of Japanese working on the bases and elsewhere helping the Americans. It is social welfare spending that wouldn't necessarily be money saved without the U.S. military in Japan. Somehow this simple fact eludes the understanding of most Japanese and U.S. bashers on this site.

    Posted in: Japan balks at $2 billion bill to host U.S. troops

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    pathat

    Bill Clinton: A great president. Get well soon.

    Posted in: Ex-President Clinton undergoes heart procedure

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    pathat

    BOTH

    Posted in: Asashoryu's retirement: Did he fall or was he pushed?

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    pathat

    It's great for foreign guys because they can give chocolate to the woman of their dreams a month early according to the Japanese way.

    A heartfelt(not that damn "heartful" Japanese English) expression of feeling toward a Japanese woman while custom dictates the Japanese men scuffle in the background. Sounds pretty smart to me.

    Article Unavailable

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    pathat

    Is Ozawa heading for the slammer?

    No, there will be some convenient fall-guy secretaries to do the hard time, while Ichiro Ozawa gets a fine and a suspended sentence for much lesser offenses than what he really committed.

    Posted in: Is Ozawa heading for the slammer?

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    pathat

    The age difference stands out more when you realize that Anna Umemiya did a special photo book with then-boyfriend Kenji Haga when Yu Nakajima was in junior high school.

    Time passes fast. Just think that if they get married, Anna will hit the big 50 before Nakajima-san hits middle age.

    Anyway, the best of luck to the happy couple!

    Posted in: Anna Umemiya declares love for footballer

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    pathat

    Somehow I just can't find it in my heart to feel much sympathy for the Ginza hostesses and their hard times.

    Posted in: Ginza's hostesses feel the economic pinch

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    pathat

    George Bush gave Tony Blair the Presidential Medal of Freedom-our nation's highest civilian honor-a year ago, so of course Blair did the right thing by supporting the U.S. in its invasion of Iraq.

    Posted in: Blair fights for his legacy as he defends Iraq war

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    pathat

    For years, Okinawa residents have complained about base-related noise, pollution and crime, and many want the U.S. military presence on the island reduced....

    All of these things will happen by implementing the base realignment agreement over the next 5 years.

    Hatoyama can't just pull a different location out of his arse and say that it's acceptable to replace Futenma. He doesn't know anything about the military and the needs of those who would still be on Okinawa to do their jobs, and the contigency plans that require certain facilities in case of conflict.

    Hatoyama will bow to the inevitable in the spring by saying it's regrettable but the facility must be located in the originally agreed-upon location, and will leave it to his successor soon afterwards to deal with a largely unhappy Okinawan populace.

    Posted in: U.S. ambassador: U.S.-Japan pact critical for peace

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    pathat

    Some 30 waitresses from maid cafes greeted passersby in a campaign to boost worker’s spirits and the cafes’ sales.

    This is definitely a sign that a sustained recovery for the economy is just around the corner.

    Article Unavailable

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