JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
-
- 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
-
- 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*
-
- Translator
- ZAIHON, Inc. (日本財務翻訳株式会社), Tokyo
- Salary: ¥6.0M / Year Negotiable
-2
sf2k
Nobody told Sony that 3D is dead.
Posted in: Sony shows wearable 3-D personal theater
0
sf2k
...and its intention
Posted in: Digital shift killing Japan's best English books
0
sf2k
Human Target
Actually that helps real books when e-books become ad filled and unreliable scams/spam. At this point they are popular so there is a challenge. However for readers like myself and I'm even technical, I see both uses everyday. They are even available at local libraries in Toronto.
Personally I prefer print. I notice that articles I read are mostly online, so it's really the newspapers and magazines that have suffered. Books on the otherhand last much longer so it comes down to the shelf life of the item.
Posted in: Digital shift killing Japan's best English books
0
sf2k
Huh??? First day on the job and he's already labelled himself an idiot. Can't Japanese people just be happy with themselves and give it their all? Have a little confidence y'know? Be yourself.
Posted in: Noda, likening himself to loach fish, says charisma isn't everything
-1
sf2k
before commenting maybe mention how many books you read a month, or even in a year. If the number fits into the palm of your hand then how can we comment from knowledge? Maybe there are not enough readers.
I had thought that the statistics on reading were higher in Japan. It would have been a useful comparison
Posted in: Digital shift killing Japan's best English books
0
sf2k
@globalwatcher
Japan is a corporate oligarchy. What "democracy" were you talking about?
Posted in: 5 candidates for PM promise to resolve nuclear crisis, revive economy
1
sf2k
@skroknog
I can understand your comment regarding voter apathy. But for the average Japanese, I believe they don't know anything different. There can be no connection for them when the majority do not vote or even know why they should care to. This conformist society will not allow change or even the idea of change. What are Japanese waiting for? To wait for a crisis larger than Fukushima is surely a sign that nothing can ever change it.
Months have gone by and their fellow citizens have been abandoned. Even with Katrina and the gov't paralysis in the USA eventually something happened. Japan isn't even at that level.
It's a fine argument to suggest that Japanese need to wake up but that would only work in a country used to change, even periodically.
But they're not waking up. They never learned to be awake to being with.
Many years ago while talking to a friend over news about some other PM comments I learned that even the perception of news reports taking a common critical analysis of a speech was not acceptable to an average Japanese. Is it any wonder then that the smallest slight results in total resignation? Being 100% right is not humanly possible, and things must mature with mistakes and recovery from those mistakes. Reminds me of the failure to teach English.
This continues to be a failure on many levels, but politics is only a symptom. It's foundations lie in education and understanding the give and take of civility. With no correction in the future, this can only get worse. A revolving door of PMs doesn't a country make.
They want things done magically, like the gentleman wanting his land back, but it takes actual work. It may in fact not be possible and this man doesn't know that. No one has bothered to tell him. This gentleman needs serious counselling, the gov't needs a program to relocate people, and communities need to be willing to accept anyone with open arms.
None of this has occurred. This saddens me greatly
Posted in: Anger mounts in tsunami-hit areas over political power games
0
sf2k
secede from Japan and make Northern Japan. Other continually left out regions should do the same like Okinawa. Then reform like Switzerland as a federation of states.
The only way to improve accountability is to actually have it.
Posted in: Anger mounts in tsunami-hit areas over political power games
0
sf2k
Do this all in 6 months before the next crop of officials declare them incapable then another PM then another... It's a self-fulfilling impossibility to do anything in such a short time. Even elections effectively become meaningless.
Most elected officials need more than a year to figure it all out just to get started. Most democracies on the planet have their governments last in the years, not months. Kan was on the right track at least.
Given the financial situation in Japan as well, I wouldn't be surprised if S&P/Moody's downgraded Japan even further than the recent downgrade, a continual sign of no confidence in the country's ability to meet its obligations.
There is a way out, but it involves making decisions and having a government last at least 4 yours. Such a comment however is about as alien to Japan as the rest of the world is to Japan.
Why contribute to a country that it basically waiting for even more disasters and then to ignore them as well? If not to come together as a nation in the reality of dealing with Fukushima, then when??? In a world of opportunity and optimism this is widely pessimistic. But months of inaction and without change only become the proof.
I feel sad for my friends. Any one of which are better than these "choices".
Posted in: 5 candidates for PM promise to resolve nuclear crisis, revive economy
2
sf2k
@gogogo
that explains it. Must have been sitting on this bit of information for months.
Posted in: Fukushima cesium leaks 'equal 168 Hiroshima bombs,' says report
0
sf2k
radiation is dangerous. Claiming otherwise ensures inflictions and birth defects. Kids can't avoid it in their lunches. Foods for sale plus foods used in processing will have it. It's ubiquitous when no one cares.
Nothing to see here, carry on
Get out of there. Just get out.
Posted in: Fukushima cesium leaks 'equal 168 Hiroshima bombs,' says report
0
sf2k
Red Cross is mostly sitting on the money. It's the local aid groups that bother to go shop for things, load up a truck, and go out there. I'm still utterly stunned at the abandonment between citizens and the country in general. It appears to be state policy. You'd think the kids would be moved out of harms way at least. But no. Not even their own children. Why??????
Posted in: American Red Cross contributions to Japan's tsunami recovery reach $260 million
0
sf2k
I'll look it up later. But I'm sure someone can correct how this differs in Japan
Posted in: Kan farewells cabinet; tells them to get ready to resign
0
sf2k
@John Becker
I'm going to guess it's like my Canadian Parliament. Like most Parliaments like the Diet, if the leader of a ruling party steps down, then someone else in the ruling party who becomes the leader then becomes the PM. It doesn't mean the DPJ has to step down for an election. True, often one is called to legitimize the changeover, but it's technically not required.
There would be a by-election in the riding for Kan if he totally leaves office, and if so the new winner goes to Parliament. But not as PM. Just representing the area seat.
Control of the government is based on the number of seats in the Diet, not who is leading. This is why Japan can have a dozen PM's a week and the government wouldn't fall.
Posted in: Kan farewells cabinet; tells them to get ready to resign
0
sf2k
It would be best if all candidates refused the ballot until Ozawa leaves.
Posted in: Maehara's candidacy shakes up PM contest
0
sf2k
1) they haven't drained them yet. They're waiting on word from Tokyo on what to do. Their options costly chemicals to remove the harmful particles, dump to sewage, dump to farmland. Decisions need to be made.
Posted in: American Red Cross contributions to Japan's tsunami recovery reach $260 million
2
sf2k
According to an aid worker friend directly involved, they don't want to go to temp housing because they are immediately cut off from food aid and left to fend for themselves. Gov't is also consolidating shelters but people in the older ones don't want to leave, so again, they divert food aid to only the new shelters. The volunteer groups are the ones helping the previous shelters. "Help" from gov't amounts to wasting everyone's time for five months (and counting). Note that the grants mentioned in the article are not being distributed as noted in another article
If you want to help, help the groups that are actually doing something right now.
Government to do list (among hundreds)
1) drain 695 radioactive JHS/HS swimming pools without going into the sewage system or farm land as is currently the case.
2) remove land from 3000 hectares to reduce hotspots
3) draw a map of the affected areas, as due to topography, radiation didn't fall in perfect concentric circles
4) develop a plan to save the water supply from run off of #1 from farms crops and such
5) fine TEPCO for the disaster and put the leaders in jail, putting the company out of business. Create a public utility.
6) Do nothing. Everyone watch talento. That's it.
7) decide to create an exploratory committee to discuss the issues.
Which one do you think is happening now? (answer: #6 and #7. That's it. ) It has been reported openly that nothing is being done. Japanese are effectively letting themselves suffer
Where is the media? I live in Canada and am millions of km away. How can the media not care about their own people who are suffering?
It defies reason. What's going on?
Posted in: American Red Cross contributions to Japan's tsunami recovery reach $260 million
0
sf2k
(demographics)
Posted in: Fire!
-1
sf2k
All China has to do is wait another 10-20 years and walk in.
Posted in: Fire!
0
sf2k
RIP Jack
Posted in: Canadian opposition leader Jack Layton dies of cancer