JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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- Financial Advisor
- Select Asset Management KK, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥100,000 ~ ¥999,999 Paid Training 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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plasticmonkey
What planet is this?
Posted in: K-POP
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plasticmonkey
Doesn't matter how many dumb things Ishihara says, people will keep electing him.
Posted in: Ishihara recommends World Cup team captain Sawa for PM's job
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plasticmonkey
How can a person born in Japan or raised in Japan,not be Japanese? Is being Japanese contingent upon belief in the opinions of the majority? In an unspoken but mythologized consensus? In the coerced and ready worldview of a bullying minority?
Ishihara is a sophomoric and bigoted disgrace as the governor of the largest city on earth.g
Ishihara's message is that Japanese-ness is a matter of belief in and within the system. That even if Japan has done wrong, the Japanese should maintain pride in whatever the evil, as it is a product of a common lifeblood.
Posted in: Ishihara calls Kan, cabinet 'not Japanese' for not visiting Yasukuni Shrine
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plasticmonkey
@YuriOtani
I'm not talking about constitutionality. Of course there is freedom of expression. I support it, and I am practicing it now. The priests at Yasukuni can do what they please; I am sure their consciences have been conditioned to be empty enough that they can sleep well at night despite anybody's protests. I am heartened that the current DPJ government has refrained from using state Shinto for political goals. I find it reprehensible that these LDP politicians want to steer public discourse into a fantasy world where the Japanese spirit (i.e. the will of a certain Japanese holdout on reason) transcends universal concerns or values. I do not deny these radicals their voice. I wonder, though, how the thugs in the black trucks feel about other people's freedom of expression. Is it not a problem in this so-called democracy that those who dissent on imperial/war issues find themselves concerned with being harassed or beaten up?
@yasukuni -- by your name I can safely assume what your position is and your purpose for being on this thread. Yes, I do know a great deal about Yasukuni and what it is about. The difference between A, B, or C war criminals and their appropriate burden of guilt is not relevant here. I am not Dante. The point is, as you know it is, revolves around political figures attending memorials at Yasukuni to play the game of celebrating the most conceited, jingoistic, and barbaric aspects of Japanese identity (for political gain) while pretending that they're just paying respects to the (Japanese) sacrificial lambs of Japanese wars of aggression. You know full well that Yasukuni is set up to enshrine and institutionalize this silly charade. A country that can exert such economic force can surely muster consensual strength to acknowledge the follies of its past. Isn't it obvious by now?
Posted in: LDP leader Tanigaki, former PM Abe among 50 politicians to visit Yasukuni Shrine
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plasticmonkey
Without which I would lose my purpose for living.
Posted in: AKB48's Tomomi Itano sings for 1,700 fans
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plasticmonkey
I'm so glad JT decided to report these inspiring words. They will live in my heart always. It is wonderful to know that there are young artists in this world who are brave enough to get up on stage and perform utterly predictable, bland, and vacuous music. And a big thank you to Yasushi Akimoto for marketing it all so brilliantly!
Looking forward to the next AKB story soon!
Posted in: AKB48's Tomomi Itano sings for 1,700 fans
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plasticmonkey
@Fadamor--it doesn't matter that the majority of souls enshrined at Yasukuni are not war criminals. The reason these politicians are visiting has nothing to do with honoring the innocent who were dragged into the war and lost their lives. Their visit is pure political theater. It is a statement of denial that Japan did wrong in their campaign to subjugate Asia, and, simultaneously, of justification for those atrocities. The former message is a nose-thumbing at Korea and China (e.g. Nanjing never happened). The latter is consolation to the forces of the right and the cultural status quo (i.e. whatever is Japanese is good), represented most vividly by the uyoku gangsters in their black trucks.
As for "dissing" the entire Shinto religion, I believe Shinto priests nationwide deserve blame for not speaking out against the travesty of Yasukuni. Instead, what you will find in Shinto shrines across the country are posters demanding people respect the emperor and the Hinomaru flag. The national Association of Shinto Shrines has come out denouncing the mention of Japanese atrocities in textbooks. Since the Meiji era, Shinto has essentially been just a propagation of chauvinistic and bigoted theories of Japanese-ness, coupled with profiteering from superstitions and empty tradition. Shinto gives people nothing else.
Shinto mourns the loss of its status as state religion. This sentiment is shared these LDP goons because they feel the religion and culture cards will trump criticism from the outside.
Posted in: LDP leader Tanigaki, former PM Abe among 50 politicians to visit Yasukuni Shrine
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plasticmonkey
@Breitbart
Yeah, let the market decide.
Perhaps you can be willing to take responsibility for your comments. Let me repeat, please explain to me how race-baiting will now hamstring the liberals and progressives, and how it relates to Obama trying to regain momentum after losing much public support.
Posted in: Obama begins political counteroffensive in Midwest
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plasticmonkey
Kan expressed remorse. These LDP jerks go to Yasukuni to obstinately justify and celebrate the mistakes of Japan's past. Shame on them and on the priests at Yasukuni.
Posted in: LDP leader Tanigaki, former PM Abe among 50 politicians to visit Yasukuni Shrine
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plasticmonkey
@Breitbart -- That wasn't in the story and it hasn't been in any posts except yours. Explain to me how race-baiting will now hamstring the liberals and progressives, and how it relates to Obama trying to regain momentum after losing much public support.
Posted in: Obama begins political counteroffensive in Midwest
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plasticmonkey
So now they're using their Yasukuni visit not only to please their yakuza/uyoku uberlords and to piss off China and the Koreas, but to delineate what little differences now remain between them and the DPJ. What moral integrity and courage. I wouldn't let these creeps pet my dog.
Posted in: LDP leader Tanigaki, former PM Abe among 50 politicians to visit Yasukuni Shrine
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plasticmonkey
@Molenir
That is not without question, except in the alternate universe you inhabit. You (and Glen Beck, from whom you are getting your info) are selectively distorting the facts. For one thing, 'czar' is not an official title, it is applied (usually by the media) to a wide range of positions which may or may not be appointed directly by the president, with or without senate confirmation, and counting depends on how favorably you view the position. I guess you must be using different counting methods for Obama than you use for Bush.
By any reasonable count, Obama and G.W. Bush have about the same number of 'czars' total (Bush 33, Obama 37), created about the same number, and had about the same percentage confirmed by the Senate. Both presidents created positions based on the circumstances of America at the time. Bush was actually mocked by the press during his time in office for his appointment of czars (e.g. the 'abstinence czar').
So how do you arrive at the absurd conclusion that Obama is trying to circumvent the Senate? Is this part of Obama's conspiracy to implement his 'far left' ideology?
The point is that the virulently anti-Obama crowd will find patterns in almost any data to paint Obama as either hell-bent on turning the US into a socialist/communist/fascist/totalitarian/Islamist state, or ineffective as a real American leader. I can understand political opposition to anyone; that is natural. What sickens me is the degree to which Obama has been demonized as an uber-liberal; any potential for accomplishment and bipartisan progress has been written off by the fringe elements of the Republican party before it can begin.
@Breitbart -- you still haven't clarified what you meant by Obama dying by the "race card". Or is it the "class warfare card"? Or do you simply hate Obama for whatever he may be or do?
Posted in: Obama begins political counteroffensive in Midwest
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plasticmonkey
@Breitbart
Your figures are simply false. Do a simple check on that yourself instead of letting Hannity and Beck selectively arrange data for you.
Posted in: Obama begins political counteroffensive in Midwest
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plasticmonkey
@Breitbart-- Oh, do you mean you don't like the idea that there are so many 'czars', or that they are under Obama? G.W. appointed more of them than Obama has.Do you have a problem with the 'faith-based initiative' czars? What about the drug czars?
As for National Peoples Action, I did not realize that they are openly anti-capitalist, unless your sources of information are extreme right websites who view fairness and safety in the workplace as evil. Is your vision of a working America a place where, unshackled by govt oversight, employers can pay whatever they want? How about a dollar an hour? The Republican party sure has devolved since Teddy Roosevelt.
Posted in: Obama begins political counteroffensive in Midwest
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plasticmonkey
The DPJ is basically becoming the LDP. Screw the ordinary people, all hail the bureaucrats and construction bosses!
Posted in: PM contender Noda urges national unity government
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plasticmonkey
I'm assuming the translator's use of "sportsman" means "athlete". A sportsman is someone who likes hunting and fishing.
Posted in: Fuji TV announcer Reiko Endo announces upcoming wedding
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plasticmonkey
Sorry, but I don't know what this means on its own. But I guess if you mix in the words "neo-socialist", "Big Labor", and "Keynsian spending" it will make the angry and delusional right start frothing at the mouth. The Pavlovian stimulus sounds something like this: the economy has been in a mess and Obama has not been able to turn it around immediately because he has not cut taxes on America's wealthy and magnanimous job creators, he has not allowed big business to pay employees at the bottom whatever they can get away with, and he has not cut social spending on the poor lazy slobs who supposedly pay no taxes.
Posted in: Obama begins political counteroffensive in Midwest
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plasticmonkey
Goodbye T-Paw. Perhaps you can become a "great president" in an alternate universe.
Posted in: Republican Tim Pawlenty ends White House bid
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plasticmonkey
@Breitbart--is there anything in this article about race? Wanna clarify? Or is this another of your drive-by comments?
Posted in: Obama begins political counteroffensive in Midwest
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plasticmonkey
It serves a purpose, this is not bad. But it will pass quickly, like Lenny Bruce's thing about getting all our racist slurs out into the open so we can get past them. Did we?
Posted in: SlutWalk comes to Washington