JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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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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- Assistant Language Teacher - TOKYO - late-March start
- Interac, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥230,000 ~ ¥255,000 / Month
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- Assistant Language Teacher - Kanagawa Prefecture - late-March start
- Interac, Kanagawa
- Salary: ¥230,000 ~ ¥255,000 / Month
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One recent extension of the tendency of Japanese to socially isolate themselves--especially women--is the wearing of huge face masks with a big brimmed hat pulled way down so you can see only the persons' eyes. Geez, some of these women would be right at home in Saudi Arabia. Some say this is protection against sun and cold germs; others say it is more of a psychological problem. I think it is the latter.
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Costco's coming to Japan must have been a terrible blow to FBC's business. However, you have to appreciate what they have done. I get stuff that I can't get at Costco for about the same as or just a little more than the US price, delivered to my door for 400 yen. How can you complain about that? Congratultions to FBC on 20 years of making life in Japan more comfortable for foreign residents.
Posted in: Foreign Buyers' Club going strong after 20 years
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And how many billion dollars $$$$$ continue to be spent in Iraq and Afghanastan? What is more ironic, many of those suffering probably voted for Bush, the man who wrecked the economy and gave us two wars.
Posted in: America feels ready to snap
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Although the service is a bit robotic and inflexible*, it is the best in the world in my opinion--and I have eaten in restaurants around the world. Comparing the three countries I have eaten in the most, Japan,China, and the U.S.A., Japan is head and shoulders above the other two. In China they often almost throw the food on the table and never smile. The U.S. service is similar, plus you have to pay a 15% tip for it, which forces the waitresses to fein friendliness. In all aspects, service in Japan is in comparable. *Example: One man went to McDonalds to get 15 hamburgers for a group. Following the manual, the waitress asked, "Eat in or take out?"
Posted in: What are some differences you have observed between waiters and waitresses in restaurants and cafes in Japan and other countries and also the way in which customers treat them?
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I could never understand why anyone--excluding the rich--would want to pay $200 just to sleep. That would buy quite a lot of food and other necessry things. If your company is footing the bill that is another story.
Posted in: Grand designs
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The way the program was set up failure on the exams was obvious from the beginning. Why do they need kanji to change bed bans and the other menial jobs Japanese don't want to do? It reminds me of the way many foreign teachers have been treated--keep'em rotating, a new, fresh face every two or three years.
Due to the "sakoku" (isolationist) mentality that the Japanese are still struggling with, barriers that keep foreigners from integrating into Japanese society will remain into the far future. This country needs another Perry with his black ships?!
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Japan desperatly need a "disturbing the peace" law to stop these fanatics from intimidating people with their loudspeakers and marital music. Both publishers and film distributors have been cowed into not publishing or not showing films because of these thugs.
Posted in: Right-wingers vow to block release of 'The Cove' in Japan
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I doubt if this will be shown in Japan. The theaters all fear intimidation by the right-wingers and their sound trucks. It happens with publishers, too. Poor excuse for a democracy.
Posted in: New film has Japan vets confessing to Nanjing rape, massacre
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Thank you Dean for sticking your neck out and attempting to analyse the present state of the Eikaiwa industry in Japan. Your insights are informative, although you stirred up a hornet's nest. All those self-rightous critics out there hiding behind their JT pen names should submit their own analysis to JT for publication.
Posted in: Managing gaijin teachers
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I agree with the first post that the American Embassy is not helful when it comes to the rights of Americans in Japan. For example,when Japan started fingerprinting and photographing all permanent residents entering the country a few years ago, I wrote to the Embassy complaining that this is not fair since the U.S. does NOT fingerprint permanent U.S. residents returning from outside the country. They should have stood up for us, I thought. In response to my letter, I got a terse reply that it was a matter for the Japanese govt to decide, and there was nothing they could do about it. Of course, those diplomats working in the Embassy with their diplomatic passports don't get fingerprinted, so they don't know how it feels to be treated like a criminal. Poor representation, I think.
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I agree with the readers who say Japan should put up (with the bases)and shut up or just kick the US out--there is no good middle ground. The latter is what the Philippines did, and I don't think they regret it. The bases are more of a relic from WWII than a defense for Japan. What country would be foolish enough to attack Japan, anyway? We don't need bases and 40,000 troops in the second richest country in the world.
Posted in: Japan balks at $2 billion bill to host U.S. troops
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I was wondering why the newspapers here, especially the Daily Yomiuri, are so against the DPJ. I figured it had something to do with money, and this article partly answers the question: they are against the DPJ's idea of allowing Internet campaigning as it will cause them to lose revenue. They are also against competition in the industry--they love their "one price fits all" status. The LDP protected the newspapers here, just like they did NHK, while the DPJ is is less inclined to do so. Speaking of NHK being protected (by having laws that make it difficult to open new TV stations) that is one reason there are so few channels here. May they both go the way of JAL!
Posted in: Japanese newspapers look for new ways to survive
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Some friends of mine from the U.S. visited and went to a large supermarket. They asked, "How do you shop for food in Japan?" because all labels are in Japanese. You would think the govt. could pass a law that each food/drink item have AT LEAST the name of the item in English. Just one little thing to make this country more foreigner-friendly.
Of course, they were turned off by the high prices here. Why for example, does a Chinese-made item cost more here than the same item in the U.S.? Isn't Japan next to China? Why don't the Japanese ever demand answers to these kind of questions? I love living here, but I hate the rip-off prices.
Posted in: Visit Japan Campaign launched
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People should respect the customs and traditions of the country they are living in or visiting. I would do so if I went to the Middle East. However, when I was teaching ESL in a program in the U.S. that offered free classes to students/immigrants, the Saudi women demanded a female teacher, which I am not. Some of them covered themselves completely, which was a bit hard for their female teacher to deal with. I also noted that many of the women drove in the US, while they could not in their own country. Some Saudi men drank alcohol and enjoyed porno movies, which I would say is hypocritical.
Posted in: In some countries, there is a ban on adults and children wearing religious clothing and symbols such as burqas, veils, head scarves, skullcaps, turbans and crucifixes in public places like schools, recreational facilities and so on. What's your stance?
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From what I have heard, the DPJ is less "anti foreigner" in their views than the LDP. For this reason, I will urge my J. wife and son to vote for them.
Posted in: Are there any crumbs of comfort for Mr Aso?
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If it were my two daughters that were murdered, I am sure I would feel a sense of justice and closure. That in itself is enough reason for the punishment. Some people just don't deserve to live.
Posted in: Silent execution of Osaka sisters' killer
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Thank you Bermadoo for the advice. I live in Kyushu, so an auction site in Fukuoka area would be most suitable for me. Any ideas?
Posted in: Going, going, sold! - A glimpse into world of car auctions
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How do you find a dealer in your area? And, what is meant by "dealer?" Are these special "dealers" that are different from ordinary car dealers? The author uses words like "you choose," but how can one choose if entry to the public is forbidden? What is the process a novice foreigner should follow to get a car through auction? This article was really frustrating because it lacks practical advice.
Posted in: Going, going, sold! - A glimpse into world of car auctions
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No "Remember Pearl Harbor" on this visit. Seems a bit "sneaky" to me that they sidestep the most significant war memorial in Hawaii, where Japan's forces--in his father's name--began the Pacific War with the attack on the U.S.
Why can't the Japanese just face up to history?
Posted in: Emperor, empress to participate in wreath-laying ceremony in Hawaii
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I don't know what Japanese think of their own police, but having read about them and having observed them for thirty years, I feel they are not much more than a big joke. They will set up speed traps on little used roads--where they target mainly mini-cars while big trucks go speeding by--yet drive right by cars parked in one lane of busy 2-lane highways, etc. etc. The list is too long.... People in this country just don't know how to demand accountability; everything is "shigata ga nai."
Posted in: Family of nurse killed in car accident in Yokohama speak of sorrow at press conference