JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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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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- Translator
- ZAIHON, Inc. (日本財務翻訳株式会社), Tokyo
- Salary: ¥6.0M / Year Negotiable
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- Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) in Kanto region
- RCS (RCSコーポレーション), Kanto
- Salary: ¥180,000 ~ ¥250,000 / Month includes performance bonus
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plasticmonkey
Yeah. Whodathunk something so idiotic would become a national obsession...
Er, on second thought...
Posted in: AKB48 members to appear on stamps
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plasticmonkey
Never mind that the chandelier in no way matches the hideous architecture. Like putting a pearl necklace on a pig. But I guess the point is the ooh and ahh factor.
Posted in: Eternal lights
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plasticmonkey
Seems to me the somebody (the Japanese govt? news media?) is hoping to build a story/issue out of this incident. Why compare this to last year's confrontation? That took place in disputed waters, this did not. Of course China isn't acting up. Why would they in this case?
Using the words "plays down" in the title is inaccurate and misleading. This incident is a non-issue to begin with.
Posted in: China plays down Japan's arrest of fishing boat captain
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plasticmonkey
Wolfpack, do you mean that denying a person their innate aspirations to wage war is a declaration of war? Bizarre.
War and destruction may be a natural and unfortunate part of human nature, but I didn't know liberals or socialists deny this. I know there have been failed and sometimes monstrously ugly attempts at social utopianism (initiated by a desire to improve on human shortcomings and brought down by those very same shortcomings), but that shouldn't disqualify efforts to progress. Applying the label "liberal" is meaningless to me in this context. What exactly do you mean by that? Do not conservatives also make efforts to grow?
In any case, what is wrong with someone waking up in the morning and imagining a world free of fear, pain, hunger, and suffering? Children do it all the time. Are they silly liberals? Do they deserve your cynical anger?
Posted in: Yoko Ono: 'Imagine' tune is bigger than expected
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plasticmonkey
There is no wait anymore at Krispy Kreme. The company figured their novelty would win over Japanese consumers forever. At this point everyone knows it's just another donut, nothing special.
Posted in: Krispy Kreme Doughnuts ties up with Oreo
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plasticmonkey
ridiculous sentence
forces kid to come up with ridiculous story
encourages parents to make a few bucks
Posted in: Six-figure media deal for Australian drug teen on trial in Indonesia
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plasticmonkey
@Wolfpack
I wonder if conservatives such as yourself aim the same criticism at this:
But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
Apply that to laissez-faire capitalism and American exceptionalism in foreign policy. Yeah, Jesus was such a hippie. Musta been zonked out of his mind.
Posted in: Yoko Ono: 'Imagine' tune is bigger than expected
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plasticmonkey
@Txbullnettle:
I know that's not going to happen. Quite the opposite. Along with all the other sickness generated by the AKB machine, this gimmick only reinforces a juvenile fantasy-world mentality toward relationships and parenting, a mindset that in this country too often carries over into adulthood. People are not just commodities to fulfill your wishes.
Posted in: If you had a baby with an AKB48 member, what would your child look like?
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plasticmonkey
Funny one, Lieberman, you're a true original.
Anyway, regardless of Obama's limitations as a debater (teleprompter or not), he is generally eager and able to make a cogent case and speak as a reasonable and literate human. Rick Perry is the rhetorical equivalent of a bacon chili cheeseburger, i.e. satisfies the belly, which might go down well among a certain breed of American simpleton.
Posted in: Perry to GOP: I could handle Obama in debate
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plasticmonkey
@Johannes: some good comments you made, but again I disagree on some important points.
If you are a physicist, then you should know better about Einstein: that his use of the word "God" (generally in the context of what "God" can and cannot do) referred to yet imperfectly understood laws of the universe. Here are a couple of quotes:
I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it.
and
The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge.
So we can use the word "religion" or "God" for many different things, but they are not equal in their qualities. You may call atheism a religion because of the zeal by which many atheists assert their opinions, but that is not equal in character to Christianity. Likewise, just because science cannot conclusively answer all of life's mysteries does not by necessity legitimize adopting mythology as a stand-in. All people conjecture or predict or theorize in times of uncertainty, but to claim an old Middle-Eastern narrative (written when there was little rational explanation for the world) as a certainty is preposterous. This is not a mature response to uncertainty.
Atheism does not claim to have all the answers. It simply seeks to clear the debris that clouds people's abilities to discuss our situation constructively. That atheists think this is important does not make it a religion or a faith.
@donkusai
Atheism is not a fundamental basis for totalitarian Communism, Maoism, or Fascism. All of those movements adopted atheism because they saw (some) organized religion as a threat to state power. Stalin did not murder his enemies in the name of atheism.
Posted in: Atheists to attend pope's talks with religious leaders
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plasticmonkey
I assume this happens while the rats are under the influence of the drug. That is no surprise. The article is unclear (deliberately?) as to whether THC causes brain regions to be out of sync after exposure, or for how long. The headline suggests long-term damage, but the conclusion of the researchers seems to focus on what they have learned about psychiatric diseases.
Posted in: Reefer madness: Marijuana throws brain regions out of sync
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plasticmonkey
This makes little or no sense. It is philosophical word play, and bad word play at that. I do not expect Christians to prove anything, but considering the power Christianity has in the world, I would hope that they go about their business based on something more than blind assumption or fantasy. 40% of Americans believe that the earth is only 6,000 years old and that evolution is a dubious theory. That is not an inconsequential belief, considering the military and economic clout of the US. And when a sizeable percent of the population believing prophesies about imminent end times is mixed with a nuclear arsenal . . .
Attempting to see the world in all its complexity, and with as much balance, objectivity, humility, and compassion as possible. At least without basing one's worldview on bronze-age writings (and then laminating them with meaningless philosophical "proofs").
Amen. Tell that to the pope. If he compares atheism to Nazi tyranny, he's got a few screws loose. Name atrocities committed in the name of atheism (and don't tell me totalitarian communism). Then name atrocities committed in the name of Christ or Mohammad (where should we begin).
Posted in: Atheists to attend pope's talks with religious leaders
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plasticmonkey
Should be interesting, but ultimately a waste of time.
Christianity in essence is not capable of discarding the a priori assertion that its basic tenets are true, and that faith picks up when the path of reason runs dead. Atheism asserts that such belief is a human construct and demands empirical evidence for why a person should put their faith in an inconsistent scripture that was written long ago.
@Johannes: I agree that one cannot prove the existence or non-existence of anything (including Peter Pan). However, if Christianity (or any other religion) is expected to be taken seriously as a stairway to heaven or a positive moral force-- politically, socially, or personally--the burden of proof should be on the adherents to make some efforts to explain why their beliefs are true. Atheists may tend toward overconfident shrillness, but at least they make such efforts. Christians usually just put it all down to faith and then clam up.
Posted in: Atheists to attend pope's talks with religious leaders
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plasticmonkey
The poses for this cover are practically identical to Queen's Sheer Heart Attack album. As for the musical talent . . .
It's a sad day for pop culture when the point of comparison is AKB48.
Posted in: KARA's new album to go on sale Nov 23
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plasticmonkey
It's a practice that goes back as far the mid 1970s. Another commercially invented tradition fed to the insatiable monster of Japanese materialism.
Posted in: Haruka Ayase kicks off KFC's Christmas campaign
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plasticmonkey
These are good people. They have been gracious, respectful, and compassionate toward the Japanese people, patient in dealing with the position and duties artificially and sometimes cruelly imposed on them, and relatively outspoken (given their position) in countering the inhuman forces of both kunaicho and the rightists. I am not a supporter of monarchies, but I wish the good woman who is the Empress a happy birthday.
Posted in: Empress marks 77th birthday
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plasticmonkey
So it's a bunch of AKB48 girls vying to perform in an animated story about a bunch of girls vying to join a group like AKB48.
Yasushi Akimoto certainly does have some sort of "brains" to have figured out how to make a fortune off this shlock.
I have another idea for him. How about a nationwide rock-paper-scissors contest to determine which AKB48 girl will get to host a reality TV show about AKB48 girls vying to perform in an animated story about a bunch of girls vying to join a group like AKB48. The possibilities are endless . . .
Posted in: Auditions held for AKB48's anime debut
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plasticmonkey
tmarie, I agree: This is one of those countless shows designed to inculcate the notion that anything the Japanese do as a matter of course requires superhuman dedication and training for foreigners to achieve.
There it is again. If anything in the "free" world can be called propaganda, this country has it down to a fine art . . . or maybe again it just comes naturally . . .
Posted in: Foreigners show their Japanese singing skills on 'Nodo Jiman Za! World'
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plasticmonkey
RomeoR--It may be true that many hard drug users smoked pot before they injected heroin, but that in no way proves a cause and effect relationship. This has been studied in depth and no reputable research has been able to verify this "gateway" theory. First of all, most people who have tried weed do not "go on" to harder stuff. Secondly, one could make the same argument about cigarettes and alcohol. Most heroine addicts "started out" on cancer sticks and booze. Shall we criminalize them? We're talking about pop sociology and loaded terms: "gateway", "started out", "moved on to".
It's about time modern societies started looking a bit more realistically at this issue rather than lumping all drug use together into one category of evil. 850,000 arrests in one year is simply a stupid waste of money and manpower.
Posted in: 50% of Americans support legalizing marijuana: poll
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plasticmonkey
Masato is on the right track. The SDF sets up their flag to "earn the respect of the international community" and later turns over operations to Japanese construction companies, paid for unbeknownst by taxpayers of Japan. And Noda gets to keep his tight relationships with the bureaucracy. Same crap with JICA.
Posted in: Noda confirms Japan will send SDF engineering team to South Sudan