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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the_harper
This is a surprising article in terms of how negative it is about whaling. Personally, I think Japan should be allowed limited commercial whaling in their own waters (frankly I don't think anyone should be telling Japan what to do in their own waters). But the insanity of the Antartic hunt needs to stop. It's only viable because of government subsidies and serves no real scientific purpose.
Unfortunately we should be more worried about the obliteration of tuna species than most (I stress most) whale species. :(
Posted in: Future of commercial whaling ban rests with Japan
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the_harper
Congratulations JAXA! The spacecraft lasted years longer than originally planned, and the capsule still worked as designed and survived temperatures hotter than the surface of the sun!
Posted in: Space probe returns to Earth from 7-year trip to asteroid
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the_harper
arrestpaul - in case you didn't know, the Greens are not the Government in Australia. Also, from what I read in the article, there was no mention of the court case being dependent on recognition of the Australian sanctuary. I wonder how Americans would feel about this if the Japanese were whaling off the coast of California or Hawaii? It's easy to be critical when your interests are unaffected. My point of difference with the Australian Government's approach is with respect to Japanese people whaling in Japanese waters - in which I say Australia has no logical interest. I say that if whaling in the region of Japan would satisfy Japan's cultural needs, nobody should begrudge it. But "research" which has never produced any meaningful results and has no meaningful research goal other than supplying a dwindling market for mercury tainted meat in Japan from whales on the other side of the planet has no sensible link with Japanese culture.
Posted in: Australia to take Japan to int'l court over whaling
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the_harper
Buy a hybrid. Most hybrids turn off the petrol engine when stopped.
Citizen12 - that's exactly the sort of thinking which prevents incremental change from happening. Do you really believe that it wouldn't reduce the CO2 produced in Japan if none of the millions of cars of the roads spent significant amounts of time idling? For that matter, in Japan, taking reusable shopping bags will also help to reduce greenhouse gases because shopping bags are burnable rubbish in Japan. If each individual person does a little to improve the situation, it adds up to a major change over a population of 127 million. Personally I think that governments should set minimum fuel efficiency standards. It's not a question any more whether an individual can afford to pay for the fuel costs to drive a Humvee, but whether the environment can afford it.
Posted in: It’s time to penalize drivers who leave their motors running
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the_harper
Presumably this "ceremony" has nothing to do with the legal process of marriage?
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the_harper
I had ekiben on a journey from Kyoto to Nagano, and it was great! A really healthy combination of food. Much better than western style junk food.
Posted in: No train trip would be complete without an ekiben boxed lunch
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the_harper
The image is much more flattering for the models than Yukina. Yukina's pose doesn't suit the hairstyle; at least not from that angle. Personally I prefer the yukata design on the left, but then I'm neither female nor Japanese.
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the_harper
Ah - Ryoko was in Okuribito!
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the_harper
Interesting; I knew that sakura (cherry blossoms) were associated with Japanese women, but I didn't know that tsubaki (camellias) were as well.
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the_harper
I'm disgusted with the Australian government on this point. I presume that the reason Australia doesn't support a ban on Northern Bluefin tuna is that they see Southern Bluefin next on the agenda - and rightly so. I only hope we adjust consumption before we drive these species into extinction.
Posted in: Bluefin tuna tops CITES conference agenda in Doha
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the_harper
Glad I at least got a clip of video of one operating when I was there in January.
Posted in: Train fans bid farewell to Nozomi bullet train service
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the_harper
Who decides? Japan? On the basis of their "scientific" whaling? How does their whaling program give them any indication of the sustainability of killing humpbacks? The only reason they aren't hunting them right now is because of the enormous outcry when they proposed to do so recently. Have people been as upset over the killing of Fin whales or Mike whales? No, because they don't see them and they do see Humpbacks. Out of sight, out of mind.
I have yet to see any evidence for a sustainable industry out of "harvesting" whales on economic, cultural, ecological or any other grounds. Sadly, I think humans will hunt other species such as Tuna to extinction before we drive any more whales to extinction. The reduction in the genetic diversity of some whale populations is a concern however.
To your point about protection, I agree - but we need the evidence to know what constitutes "protection" and it's hard to see how killing threatened species will help to determine anything other than speeding their demise.
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the_harper
Davidattokyo - why are you making statements about Humpback, Fin and Sei whales being protected when Japan doesn't respect this protection? How does this help your case?
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the_harper
Cool! Does it go instantly from place to place like Doraemon can? :) It took me a while to notice Doraemon on the stage below the plane...
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the_harper
She's pretty, the apple is big and shiny (Japan seems to specialise in huge apples) and the image is bright and colourful. The red foreground and yellow background clash a little but really, what's to complain about? Can't JT's readers be complimentary for once?
BTW in Nagano last month you could buy a bag of 4 or 5 huge Fuji apples for only 100 yen. In the hotel where I stayed, the owner was giving apples away for free. I also experienced something my students called "apple candy" where in the middle of the apple near the core, is was much sweeter. Not to be confused with toffee apples.
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the_harper
I saw many much prettier women in Japan. I have no idea why the prettiest women aren't successful models.
Posted in: To meet the handsome prince, you must kiss a lot of frogs
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the_harper
Having "Kiss me" on panties is an interesting innovation.
Posted in: For girls who want to wear their hearts on their panties
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the_harper
I just found a listing for a 5 watt LED bulb which is similar and it is said to be the equivalent of the 30-40 watt incandescent bulb. For comparison, a fluorescent bulb of 40 watt equivalence is 9 watts, not quite as efficient. I think the point that others have made about mercury is a good one; I look forward to when I can get 60 watt equivalent LED bulbs.
PS Glad to see at least one person responding knows how to spell "fluorescent".
Posted in: LED bulbs
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the_harper
To see what it was like. It struck me as harmless - Japanese girls doing the cosplay thing and getting paid for it, customers paying a few extra yen for a bit of fun about how their order gets delivered.
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the_harper
Thanks Nigelboy - I had the same impression. Everyone seemed to jump on it here as an opporunity to bag Japanese products but as far as I can see, it's not an issue in Japan. There's no mention of Japanese made cars being faulty.
Posted in: Toyota recall spreads to 2.4 mil vehicles worldwide