JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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1
Why do Japanese change their attitude when they communicate with foreigners?
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2
Confrontation
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3
U.S. Navy investigating how parts fell off aircraft near Atsugi
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4
California court to decide if SeaWorld whales are illegal 'slaves'
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5
Kuroki reported pregnant 2 weeks after denying relationship with Akanishi
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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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taiko666
That's fine if you're already lying in the bed you've made for yourself (and your family...) Wherever one ends up, one should make the best of it.
However Mrs Taiko and I want to explore this 'haafu' issue fully before we make our next important life-decision.
Posted in: Half and haafu
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taiko666
I think discrimination was the last thing Mr Gaskins was looking for.
Posted in: Half and haafu
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taiko666
Actually, as I ruminate more on your post, it seems you're suggesting a sort of pecking order. You think as a 'haafu' you're more acceptable to the Japanese than a mere 'gaijin' (who, since they're just gaijin, obviously can't speak a word of Japanese can they?) I'm glad for you that you're happy in this grand, racial scheme of things, and that you have somebody (ie gaijins) to look down upon.
Posted in: Half and haafu
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taiko666
So you're assuming that 'gaijins' aren't 'accepted' to the level that 'haafus' are? Just proves the OP's point about non-acceptance of outsiders.
Posted in: Half and haafu
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taiko666
Of course. We all know that.
Posted in: Which side is more disdainful of the other: Vegetarians or non-vegetarians?
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taiko666
aikisako: is anybody asking you to give up fish?
Nobody's asking you to do anything.
Why do you feel threatened by the fact that other people say they don't want to eat fish? It seems to be a typical irrational non-veggie reaction, and probably explains the poll result.
Posted in: Which side is more disdainful of the other: Vegetarians or non-vegetarians?
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taiko666
It does trip off the tongue nicely doesn't it?
I think we have to thank OssanAmerica for adding to the veggie lexicon.
Posted in: Which side is more disdainful of the other: Vegetarians or non-vegetarians?
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taiko666
GilaMonster: this thread is bound to throw up some tough talking (although it follows the same routine of meat-eater baits veggie, veggie responds, meat-eater is full of righteous indignance.) But in the 'real world', vegetarians just want to eat their meal without being interrogated / insulted along the lines I mentioned in an earlier post. Think about it. Try some empathy (you say you have none for animals, but what about people?) Why would veggies routinely criticise meat-eaters? It would mean every meal time is a war. Whereas meat-eaters only rarely encounter veggies at mealtimes, and so seem happy to wade in with a whole load of totally unnecessary and destructive comments.
What do you mean ignore? Are you suggesting that vegetarians think they're physically unable to eat meat? Your digestive tract is perfectly capable of processing slugs, so why aren't you a slug-eater? This line of argument is in the 'screaming lettuce' category, the last refuge of those who are unwilling or unable to discuss the real issues.
If only that were the case. But unfortunately, a veggie eating with a roup of meat-eaters is almost certain to be 'questioned'- and then accused of 'damning' hyper-sensitive meat-eaters by simply answering those questions.
Posted in: Which side is more disdainful of the other: Vegetarians or non-vegetarians?
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taiko666
OssanAmerica: your comments are perhaps the most disdainful of any comments in this thread thus far. Yet you claim that vegetarians are more disdainful.
If you've bothered to read the thread, you'll understand that this is not what vegetarians do. How exactly have vegetarians forced their beliefs on to you? By responding to your questions / interrogations / insults when you've attacked them for being vegetarians?
Insulting rubbish. An argument equally as pathetic as "vegetarians are hypocrites because they may have stepped on an ant in their lives." which I've heard before. People like you aggressively pontificate on issues like this from an 'all or nothing' standpoint- your own choice being of course 'nothing'. I assume you've given some money to charity? Hey, but you've still lots more money you can give surely? Hypocrite! If everybody adopted your thinking, they'd be no charity work, no striving for improvement, no progress at all in the world.
Complete tosh. A ludicrous and completely irrelevant generalisation. And try telling that to the millions of Hindu vegetarians living in tiny villages in rural parts of India.
So what? Are you saying you never make food choices? Do you choose what you eat? Do you make choices between steak or ham? Do you have your own favourite brand of sausgage?
Your post is hypocritical to the point of farce.
Ah, but by responding to your insulting comments, you'll probably say I'm 'forcing my beliefs on to you.'
Posted in: Which side is more disdainful of the other: Vegetarians or non-vegetarians?
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taiko666
Whenever it becomes apparent to other diners that I'm a vegetarian, the questions / accusations come flying. "Why don't you eat meat?" "Do you wear leather?" "Don't you realise that plants are living things too?" "Would you kill to eat on a desert island?" "How about eggs?" "The animal was reared to eaten, so it's ok" "The animal is already dead, you should respect it by eating it so that its life was not in vain" (heard the last two several times in Japan!)
I try to answer politely, while attempting to nudge the conversation away from my personal choices. But for some reason, the meat-eaters just can't leave the subject alone, and the conversation often ends up along the line of "Well, I love meat, so don't push your beliefs onto me" at which point I sigh and check the beer menu.
I've never interrogated a meat-eater on their choices, nor have I seen any other vegetarians do so (at mealtimes at least...)
So the answering this survey was pretty straightforward for me.
Posted in: Which side is more disdainful of the other: Vegetarians or non-vegetarians?
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taiko666
She's right about Paris. Tiptoe through through the dog-do. Reminds me of a JT story a couple of years back about how some Japanese tourists were so shocked by the condition of Paris and the rudeness of the French that they required psychiatric care.
Still, in works in the opposite direction. Before I came to Japan I thought it would be full of beautiful architecture, amazing technology and wonderfully polite people. The only way to discover the true nature of a place is to go there. Or preferably, live there. An added bonus is that it gives you a sharper perspective of good and bad aspects of your own country.
Posted in: Beyond a world of stereotypes
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taiko666
jonnyboy:
Point taken. Lowlifes are everywhere, and always have been. And incidentally, I don't regard the fact that this boy has a child at 13 as conclusive evidence that he's a lowlife at all. After all, if girl has a child at 13 she's regarded as more of a victim. But the rise of the chav/casual uncaring criminal does seem relentless, even to Guardian readers. At least rags like the Sun operate without the PC strait jacket that everybody else seems to be wearing.
That said, whenever I go back to England I love it (my vintage motorcycle having recently been stolen and burnt to a cinder in a local park notwithstanding...)
I'll be moving back soon! Just hope the government will have been changed by then.
Posted in: Baby-faced dad, 13, raises 'broken Britain' fears
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taiko666
Interesting article.
As soon as I came to Japan I tried to join a small sukashu club in Suginami, but for some reason they wouldn't have me...!
Posted in: Squash poised for a breakthrough in Japan
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taiko666
＞Kabuki cho is yakuza controlled. No sane person goes anywhere near the place
You obviously live a very sheltered life. There's more to Kabukicho than yak-run massage parlours.
Posted in: Kabukicho street child subject of new photo book
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taiko666
cleo: re mining villages. I stayed with a Welsh friend in the ex-mining village of Resolven. It was one of the most depressing places I've ever been to, and the only place where I've seen a full-on bar-ruccus. When Maggie closed the mines and heavy industry all over the UK (including England) she should've put something else in place that would benefit more than just the champagne and red-braces brigade in the City.
Alf: I mostly agree. I used to loathe the Tories, and Maggie in particular. But I'd be happy for the Tories to win a landslide in the next election if they'd promise to begin to rollback toxic political correctness. If only the Tories had tackled crime and social depravation in 80s/90s with the same vigour that they applied to defeating the unions and closing down most of the UK's manufacturing.
Posted in: Baby-faced dad, 13, raises 'broken Britain' fears
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taiko666
Takeda: when schools started to ban competitive sport and introduce 'child centred learning' in the 80s I thought it was the beginning of the end. Now those kids have grown into chavs and chav parents. For my sins, I was a primary school teacher for around 6 months 18 years ago (I couldn't stand it and baled out.) One of my most vivid memories of that time was a young, trendy female teacher yelling literally as hard as she could with a crimson, contorted face at some poor 10 year-old boy who'd been 'evil' enough to hold the door open for a girl and say "ladies first." I never saw the kid smile again.
Posted in: Baby-faced dad, 13, raises 'broken Britain' fears
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taiko666
Spanishwoman: I lived in London till I was 19, and then off and on for the next 20 years until I came to Japan, and I've never even seen a so much as a bar punch-up, let alone been the victim of violence. In fact, I've never felt in the least threatened in London, even in the more down-to-earth non-touristy places.
However, I've had a car stolen in London, a motorcycle stolen in Essex, another one in Stoke, and my parents had their car stolen and used in a ram-raid in Leeds. Ah, and my brother-in-law had his motorcycle stolen.
These sorts of opportuninst crimes have long gone unpunished in PC-at-all costs Britain, so the chav cancer has grown.
Posted in: Baby-faced dad, 13, raises 'broken Britain' fears
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taiko666
archiebald: whereabouts in the UK are/were you from then? Your experience is extreme.
Bushlover: don't start on that Hollywood Victorian Evil Empire rubbish. Do all Americans get their 'history' from Hollywood? The UK never had a military capable of establishing an empire; it was mostly achieved by exploration, bravado and wide-boy wheeler-dealing. And even at the height of Empire in the Victorian age, most of Britain (including the 'rich' SE of England) languished in squalid poverty, and crime was far worse than it is now. But the politicians, landed gentry and rich industrialists didn't care because the poor didn't matter. Now, the main problem is that the only thing that matters to politicians is toxic political correctness. There are signs that things are changing. I predict a landslide for the Tories at the next election. I used to loathe the Tories, but Labour has totally disappeared up its own rear end, dragging much of Britain with it, in its zeal to be politically correct no matter what the cost. And the cost has become unbearable.
Posted in: Baby-faced dad, 13, raises 'broken Britain' fears
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taiko666
Which symbols are those then? No written Japanese in known to exist before the Chinese introduced kanji around the 4thC AD. So I think you're barking up the wrong tree there.
re: MIRUKU. I've too often wondered why Japanese words are so often replaced by bastardised versions of foreign words.
re: pronunciation: Even Britons, whose foreign language ability is famously poor, are taught to at least make an effort to pronounce French/German etc correctly. And French accent marks/Germans letters etc are used from day one. It seems in Japanese schools, correct pronunciation is completely unimportant and not even attempted. Therefore children can't improve by listening to 'real' English being spoken, since they are in fact learning a different language (Engurishu.)
Posted in: What's wrong with the way English is taught in Japan?
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taiko666
The music scene in Japan is one of the reasons I stay here. Excellent rehearsal studios, thousands of 'live houses', street busking, thousands of dedicated, talented and down-to-earth musicians... I love it. It's a shame the mainstream media ignores all that entirely and just excretes J-Pop.
Posted in: J-pop industry taking the music out of music business