JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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1
Teacher nabbed for using miror to peek up girl's skirt
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Japan's nuclear safety standards flawed, says commission chief
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3
To be healthy, live in the big city
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4
From carnivores to herbivores: how men are defined in Japan
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Why do Japanese change their attitude when they communicate with foreigners?
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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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- 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*
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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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skyguym42
Parse, people, parse...
“We have not monitored any abnormality such as any change in radiation gauges,” could mean "We have not looked at the radiation gauges". That is, after all, the proven Japanese way of dealing with problems...don't look for them and you won't see them. I hope the crowdsource radiation monitoring network is checking to see what's really happening.
Posted in: Genkai nuclear reactor shut down in Saga; cause unknown
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skyguym42
Obviously nuts. If he just pleads guilty he'll serve a maximum of 21 years (look it up, that's the max he gets if not declared insane)...and in a Norwegian prison which is nicer than most apartments in Japan. Free internet, big-screen tv, unlimited communication with the outside, weekends off to see family (these are all considered basic human rights in Norway and cannot be infringed upon even for security reasons).
If he was sane, he'd realize that a Norwegian prison would be like a tenured professorship in Crackpot Political Studies, allowing him to write, organize, and plot with others to his heart's content.
Posted in: Norwegian gunman wants to see Japanese psychiatrist
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skyguym42
tkoind2, don't misunderstand, I don' think it's a good thing, but that it is inevitable. I do not believe there is really anything we can do about the Chinese. They have the military and economic power to do what they want in Asia, and the cultural confidence to motivate their population to want those muscles flexed. China is a vibrant (and scary) country in its ascendance.
What do we have to push back with?
A stagnant, shrinking, demoralized Japan that believes in its heart of hearts that the future is bleak and "nothing can be done"?
A demoralized, divided, financially shattered US (with a military worn down by endless wars) that cannot get its utterly broken political system to work without crisis forcing the issue.
The parallels are pretty scary between this and the 1930s. But in the 1930s the war actually spurred people to come together and fight. We no longer have either the fire in the belly or the leadership to do anything but watch. So Japan had better figure out how to survive as a client state.
Posted in: China calls Japan defense comments irresponsible
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skyguym42
Anglootaku, I agree. Never said there weren't good things in the Arab culture, just that western-style democracy does not work well there. It doesn't.
I mention it because so many people seem to think that because Assad is a bastard, the opposition is obviously better. We are about to find out, and the cheerleaders will quietly slink away when it turns into something worse. The most organized opposition is far more anti-Israel and far more religiously-driven. The western-educated anti-Assad Syrians you hear on NPR speaking from Washington DC are not the man in the street. They are likely to be just as horrified as the westernized Egyptians are now at what emerges from their (quite understandable) revolution.
Posted in: Clinton: More than 2,000 dead in Syrian crackdown
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skyguym42
I'll feel some outrage when I can rent an apartment without hassle, visit any bar or sento I wish, and ride past a cop without getting a bike registration check.
Posted in: S Korean ferry operator bans Japanese passengers: Yonhap
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skyguym42
We will soon realize that Assad was the best among bad options. He was secular and afraid of a war with Israel. The people likely to take over next will be neither. Not saying he was a nice guy, but Arab cultures are too tribal to support democracy. The human rights violations are pretty much par for the course in the region, and will likely be worse under whoever replaces him.
Posted in: Clinton: More than 2,000 dead in Syrian crackdown
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skyguym42
Japan will be a vassal state of China before long and needs to start cutting the best deal it can. The US is a dying country, the rest of the West is just as weak, and Japan refused to arm itself properly when it had the money and the chance...leaving no other options. China is the future whether we like it or not. But Japan will keep it's head in the sand, play tough until it gets some MSDF ships sunk trying to force a superpower out of its Lenensraum and realizes it has no one to rely on. By that time the Chinese terms will not be so good. The future for Japan is not a bright one.
Posted in: China calls Japan defense comments irresponsible
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skyguym42
It did make me grin a little that they now know just what kind of person admires the society they have built. I've already pointed it out to a few people here at work when they mentioned how awful the massacre was.
But the posters above are right, this will have no effect. It will make no difference to most Japanese...they simply aren't capable of making substantive changes without being forced to. Japanese who are capable of independent thought leave Japan for real cultures.
Posted in: Norway killer's manifesto praises Japan for not adopting multiculturalism
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skyguym42
Chances are the boss was passing on complaints about his hair from clients...and he's been here long enough that he did it indirectly, as a Japanese would. He just might possibly have a touch more experience than you, and while you must judge for yourself, you might find it useful not to ignore him automatically, Trenton, m'lad. Even if he is a crotchety old dodderer of 45 or more years.
And as for the "mixed-race children" comment...don't let me hear you say that within earshot. You will acquire a quiet and discreet injury which no one will notice happening. And I presume you would not marry a Japanese woman for fear of miscegenation. No letting native blood pollute a good English bloodline like the Truitts'.
Posted in: If a longtime expat starts offering you advice, walk the other way
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skyguym42
The question is not about whether food is cheaper but waitstaff. They don't actually control the food preparation or the coordination of cooking in Japan, so don't expect it. Those are other issues.
I'll take the slightly robotic but fast and polite Japanese waitstaff any day. I don't feel the need to design my own meal (and the occasional time I've wanted something removed, I've said I have an allergy and it was done with no fuss).
I don't go to restaurants to have a fake chat with someone who is only doing it to increase their tip, who will not let me get a word in edgewise as he spiels off the most expensive dishes the restaurant offers (or the ones the chef is pushing because they bought to much shrimp and it's going off). And once he reluctantly takes your order, annoyed that you have not ordered the $15.00 appetizers, will then magically appear every 7 minutes to break into your dinner conversation to ask if everything is ok (or worse yet, "How's that workin' out for you?"), and "wouldn't you like to try this great new wine no one's ever heard of" and "I'll be right back with the dessert menu and a laundry basket for you to put my tip in so I don't scowl at you on the way out".
I do three things that most foreigners here seem not to do: I speak Japanese (quickly) to let them know they don't have to dredge up their high school English, and I SMILE. That works wonders. And although "Thank you" may not be expected here, but it's never gotten me anything but better service. Expectations or no, people respond when you acknowledge them as human beings, which Japanese customers rarely do.
In Japan when I have a pleasant conversation with a waiter or waitress, I know it's not because they expect to be paid for it.
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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skyguym42
The poor family...the fact that they should have been more careful will make it all the worse for them.
Posted in: 10-year-old boy drowns trying to save younger sibling in Saga
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skyguym42
What the heck, it's at least interesting...and as far as those saying he's not enough of a man, I point to Freddie Mercury... a gay man who no one can say wasn't macho.
Posted in: Gackt to hold concert just for men
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skyguym42
I do not support a ban, because it will be an unenforceable waste of resources, but make everyone feel that "something was done".
With modern techniques, poacher ships can avoid detection. The Japanese will simply illegally fish them to extinction while claiming innocence.
So eat a piece today so you can tell your kids what they tasted like.
Posted in: Japan leading charge against bluefin ban
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skyguym42
To answer the question, I do not support a ban, because it will be an unenforceable waste of resources, but make everyone feel that "something was done".
With modern techniques, poacher ships can avoid detection. The Japanese will simply illegally fish them to extinction while claiming innocence.
So eat a piece today so you can tell your kids what they tasted like.
Posted in: Do you support a ban on the trade of bluefin tuna?
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skyguym42
---And tuna are too big for baileen whales and too fast for toothed whales.---
That fact will be conveniently left out of the newscasts. Japan's sheeple will accept it as gospel the second some paid-off professor says it's true. I've never been in a country where facts mean so little.
Posted in: Do you support a ban on the trade of bluefin tuna?
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skyguym42
Modern Japanese architecture is not really so bad, but the fact that Japanese do not maintain or clean or repaint anything makes it look worse. I see so many new buildings filthy and rusty within 10 years that I decided not to buy a mansion...it would just fall apart under me. I built a house that I maintain and repair.
Posted in: Architecture in Japan
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skyguym42
It's a simple choice....take a break to let the population recover and enjoy bluefin for the long haul, or eat all you want now for a few more years and then never again. Seems simple, but the Japanese will simply pretend there is no problem and poach them to extinction. Then they will blame Antarctic whales for eating them all.
Posted in: Do you support a ban on the trade of bluefin tuna?
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skyguym42
Let's see the recall and safety records of all the other carmakers before deciding that Toyota has more or worse problems than other carmakers.
Am I the only one that remembers that the US govt owns GM, which will be the big winner from this...conflict of interest much?
Posted in: Japan worried that Toyota's problems could hurt U.S. ties
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skyguym42
Good thing knives are banned....
Posted in: Man arrested after stabbing high school boy at train station
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skyguym42
So I get the impression the car was left behind...so it shouldn't be too hard to find the driver at least. Although the Japanese police don;t have the best record in catching fugitives. Fortunately he'll probably turn himself in after the hangover wears off.
Posted in: 3 pedestrians killed by car in Nagoya; driver, passengers flee