JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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- 秘書及び業務サポート
- 加治金属工業株式会社, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥4.0M / Year
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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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- ALT - Mie Prefecture - Yokkaichi City - June start
- NPO法人グローバル教育推進機構（GLAD), Mie
- Salary: ¥230,000 / Month For a full working month. Some months differ.
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sirgamble
Raise the taxes on the smokes... in Japan there's no tax on tobacco, so I have to pay their taxes. Health insurance is 40,000 yen a month for me, and all it does is pay for people who are sick because they smoke. Everybody in Australia gets more comprehensive insurance for free... oh and cigarettes are about $15 a packet rather than $1.50...
Posted in: Anti-smoking 'monsters' have smokers on the run
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sirgamble
Meh so the crux... I'm happy that people are calling us all "monsters." I think this is proof that the pressure is mounting, and smokers are finding that people have the guts to stand up to them.
In the past it was silence that made smoking continue. Kids in cars... mum/dad would just smoke all over them... "shut up" if they complain. Public transport, restaurants, offices... you name it, nobody said anything. Now even in Japan, it's changing. I'm proud that Japanese people are showing some guts and saying "NO, DON'T SMOKE ALL OVER ME!" They have the right to, and should be encouraged to do so rather than staying silent, in fear that they might be showing disrespect towards them. I say good! They're disrespecting you in every way... why should you show them respect?
Posted in: Anti-smoking 'monsters' have smokers on the run
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sirgamble
With regard to smoking, it's public policy that is slowly being introduced by Japanese authorities. I'm not trying to tell them what to do; they've banned smoking on trains/subways/shinkansens already. Now some prefectures are banning smoking. I'm not criticising Japan, I'm saying I like the policies that the Japanese people are introducing.
Posted in: Anti-smoking 'monsters' have smokers on the run
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sirgamble
"I wonder why smoking is demonized but not alcohol." Last time I checked, I'm not allowed to take a 10 minute break from work to go have a swig of whiskey, I'd be fired on the spot if I did so. If I drive after drinking ANY alcohol (regardless of whether I'm drunk) then I'll lose my license and possibly go to gaol.
Alcohol is already "banned" from situations where it can hurt people other than the consumer. Anti-smoking saviours are simply asking for the same rules to be applied to tobacco. No 10 minute smoke-o, no smoking in the car with kids, no smoking in family restaurants, no smoking in the park next to my kids.
I know people who have stopped smoking (or control their smoking so that they don't do it during work hours, or around other people unless it's at the smoker's pit.) It's not THAT hard, and I think regulations will simply make it clear to the people who lack the decency to restrict their smoking, that their behaviour is unacceptable. All smokers seem to claim to be victims! If the majority of you had curbed your habit, then it wouldn't have gotten to the stage where it needs to be banned... simple as that.
Moderator: Readers, please stay on topic. Alcohol is not relevant to this discussion.
Posted in: Anti-smoking 'monsters' have smokers on the run
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sirgamble
There's a BIG difference between asserting yourself and being a monster.Non-smokers have been made to put up with second hand smoke for far too long in Japan. The problem is that if you allow smoking in a venue, then everybody has to smoke if you include passive smokers. Non-smokers make up the majority of people in Japan (which has a relatively high percentage of smokers compared to most countries... 10% in Australia, 30% in Japan.) Non-smokers have the right to assert themselves... sorry if this seems like us being monsters.
Ironically when calling anti-smoking people fascists... maybe a dictionary would help? The people who have allowed smoking for so long in Japan are the right-wing parties, who have had very close relationships with big tobacco corporations (that's what fascism is all about... being in the pockets of big corporations.) So calling those who try to attack the big corporations "fascists" does have a tone of irony about it.
Posted in: Anti-smoking 'monsters' have smokers on the run
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sirgamble
I think like the rest of the world, Japan is open to criticism.
"betraying Japanese national pride"
News to you... most countries are open to attacks on their pride. I sorta like being Australian because we well uuum... lack national pride? We're not always out there saying "OUR COUNTRY IS THE BEST!!!!" "WE MAKE THE BEST QUALITY PRODUCTS IN THE WORLD!!!" "OUR HISTORY IS WAY DEEPER THAN YOUR HISTORY!!!!"
The USA is just like Australia... the only think they take pride in is making fun of themselves (e.g. The Simpsons and Southpark)... I think part of "fitting in" is having a bit of humility.
Posted in: Right-wingers vow to block release of 'The Cove' in Japan
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sirgamble
"A definition of Japan's food culture is hardly restricted solely to the whale/dolphin/tuna issue, and in fact, Japanese cuisine as a whole is highly regarded throughout much of the world."
Exactly. The GOOD stuff (AKA more popular foods) are available anywhere worldwide. They will never die.
The silly little things that conservatives and old bats try to hang onto... they only survive because they are HEAVILY government subsidised.
Posted in: Japan's food culture is an endangered species
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sirgamble
What food culture?
Posted in: Japan's food culture is an endangered species
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sirgamble
What I like is that in Japan nobody hurts people for giving it a go (even if you're old, ugly and have no skill.)
Australia (my home) is so judgemental with regard to such things... if you don't have the skill and you don't look good then you're encouraged to pack up and go home because others think you look stupid.
Japan... you can just give it a go no matter what. I like that...
Posted in: Three cheers
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sirgamble
No, not a "mouthpiece", a mouthguard!! Haven't any of you guys played contact sports before? I believe wearing a mouthguard is compulsory...
Posted in: Victory
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sirgamble
She loved the child's smile... but it was only 2 months old when she killed it... so was probably physically incapable of smiling.
Put her in gaol for a long time!
Posted in: Mother arrested for killing daughter wrote of child's death on blog
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sirgamble
Regarding the above comments, I think one thing is that most Japanese people haven't heard bad Japanese before, so when they hear it they instantly think "he's got no idea! I'm going to help out the poor fool by using 100% katakana words because that's English..."
People who have studied English tend to be more open I find because they know what it's like to not speak a language natively. Maybe your accent/grammar/word selection is a bit different, but this does not mean you're a non-speaker (as many uneducated people would assume.)
Just keep practising... I find that as you get better and get to know people; more and more of them will resort to Japanese because they realise your Japanese is better than them speaking in 100% katakana (which is Japanese! Many don't realise that... they think they're speaking English when they speak katakana...)
Posted in: Traditional approaches to Japanese language learning are changing
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sirgamble
Yeah a good chance for boys like Tomic to come through... I think that's one thing Hewitt didn't realise when he criticised Tomic's selection. When Hewitt was battling against Rafter/Scud/The Woodies for Davis Cup places we were asking "who's playing in the final?"
Now we're having to do the regional pools (because we're not as good as we used to be) so we don't need to use our best players against countries like Japan. Be great to see Tomic get some experience!
Posted in: Australia, Japan to play Davis Cup match on clay
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sirgamble
Meh... it's no secret, all tyrants love having a hot chick to back them up because it makes others jealous.
Posted in: The office: As viewed from the other side of the big desk
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sirgamble
What I find annoying is that these so much effort put into making English really childish and "fun" looking...
But when you go to learn Japanese... you just get these big thick, boring books and a line of bull about how difficult Japanese is to learn. I threw these all in the bin, found some foreign texts and did my own study... practised everything on the people around me and it worked really well.
Posted in: Traditional approaches to Japanese language learning are changing
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sirgamble
Of note, whaling (which is relevant because "The Cove" refers to dolphins as being whales) has been practised for many centuries in many other countries. I'd suggest that countries like the UK have even longer traditions because they had better boats than the Japanese historically...
That said; they seem to have had no issues abandoning whaling (which I use interchangeably with dolphin hunting as that's how "The Cove" does it.)
Posted in: Anger and defiance in Taiji after 'Cove' wins Oscar
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sirgamble
As they say in "The Cove"... it's not really culture, it's just being stubborn and saying "you white men can't tell us what to do... we don't care about what the rest of the world thinks..."
Posted in: Anger and defiance in Taiji after 'Cove' wins Oscar
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sirgamble
She's pretty hot...
Posted in: Tokyo Girls Collection
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sirgamble
"Not everyone lives near Steen and cherry blossoms do not blossom at the same time all over Japan or the World. I saw them earlier this year in OKINAWA - in February."
That and aaaaah... it's a plum blossom...
Posted in: Watch the birdie
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sirgamble
I love Mr Donut... fed up with Krispy Kreme's getting so much attention. I swear their marketing ploy is to pay about 1000 people to line up, order LOTS of donuts and then give them back later on.
Mr Donut is king!! Pon De Rings forever!!!!!
Posted in: Mister Donut spring menu