JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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- Financial Advisor
- Select Asset Management KK, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥100,000 ~ ¥999,999 Paid Training Commission Based
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- Corporate Business English Trainers
- ACT Systems, Inc.（株式会社アクト・システムズ）, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥269,500 ~ ¥280,000 / Month
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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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Firstly, putting Christopher Savoie up as a post child for this issue might not be the best. As was widely reported at the time, the gentleman in question possibly had Japanese citizenship in addition to any US citizenship. As such, at least in Japan, he would have been treated as a Japanese national.
Looking at this issue in a broader sense, however, the US (and other countries) should take a more aggressive attitude with Japan. Indeed, due to the lack of cooperation from Tokyo in the past (just visit the FBI parental kidnapping homepage to see the tip of the iceberg), foreign countries need to coordinate their efforts to get Japan to change. For example, what about flagging the passports of all Japanese nationals who are married to US citizens in the US. Another option might be surveillance using ankle bands (as are used with prisoners on parole). Anyway, the basic idea would be to keep tabs on these people and intercede on behalf of the children in instances where attempts at flight from prosecution/court orders were attempted. Indeed, if any politician in the US had the gumption to try such a daring plan, half of the bureaucrats in Tokyo would suffer whiplash as their necks snapped back so quick.
Posted in: Japan, U.S. discuss ways to resolve custody disputes
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Come on. This is not Chief Wiggum cracking nuts with the butt of a loaded gun!
I beg to disagree. Having grown up with firearms and having served in the military, I am fully aware of what weapons discipline means. It does not mean skiving off and just storing the weapon in a location that is convenient. It means maintaining the weapon to a suitable standard and also ensuring that such items are kept away from sticky little fingers.
Actually, I remember the case a couple of years ago of the doctor who left his shotgun (and ammunition) in the same location, allowing one of his kids to do something similar. Despite the tragedy, the cops in that case banged up the father for negligence, what is the difference here? If weapons are to be kept in the home (during periods of down time), then guidelines have to be obeyed to the letter.
Posted in: Okayama boy dead after shooting himself with police pistol
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I disagree. The father needs to carry the can for this one. He is the police officer to whom this weapon was entrusted. The youth in question got access to this weapon through the negligence of his father. As such, dad needs to go down for negligence resulting in death.
Posted in: Okayama boy dead after shooting himself with police pistol
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Here we go, weapons discipline at its worst. If it is not stressed out members of the police force who are knocking themselves off at police boxes, then it is their family members. Really, between fitting up suspects and letting the kids into the gun locker, police in this country cannot be trusted with anything more dangerous than a copy of the yellow pages. Indeed, when the dead kid's father gets over the shock of junior having coated the walls with cranial matter, lets hope his comrades in arms arrest him for negligence resulting in death.
Posted in: Okayama boy dead after shooting himself with police pistol
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Change you can believe it. Well, it looks like a certain percentage of the electorate no longer believes (if it ever did), as such, being the good politician, Obama is scaling back his ambitions for reasons of political expediency.
Posted in: Obama, allies plan to scale back health care overhaul
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It is too bad the signs were all in Japanese because all the so-called drug crazed foreigners in the area couldn't read them.
Well the signs could well have been in the Japanese version of a certain international language. If so, however, the language was probably so mangled that readers would wonder if the authors of such signs were on drugs.
Posted in: Roppongi police hold anti-drug event
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Kiss and makeup? Have nothing against John McCain, however, are things really so bad that he has to again call on Sarah Palin?
Posted in: Palin will campaign for McCain's Senate bid
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Thanks mom, when she gets finished with the police, this woman sounds like a prime candidate as a guest speaker at her kid's school. Moral education anyone?
Posted in: Miyagi woman arrested for selling porn DVD of 14-year-old daughter
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I wonder why Roppongi was chosen, maybe a not-to-subtle hint to a certain section of the population. No prizes for guessing who I am talking about.
Also a good call by Altria regarding these hip-hop Nigerian touts who seem to assault anybody and everybody. Don't what the situation is like down in Roppongi, but out here on the fringes of Tokyo these chaps target school kids, trying to sell their gansta fashion, etc. I actually had to manhandle a couple of them after they were a little too persistent in trying to get my son's attention (a junior high school student).
Also, it is good to see that the Japanese police are actually using drug dogs which despite all the changes in technology still offer the best nose in the business.
Posted in: Roppongi police hold anti-drug event
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The Iraqis received assistance in making chemical weapons from the United States, the Netherlands, France, China, the U.K. and West Germany. I hope that being able to distribute the blame makes you feel a little better.
Yep, the blame for this should be shared around equally. In their total ignorance of what the revolution in Iran actually meant (at that time - not now), these leading countries got into bed with the devil incarnate in the form of Saddam. It was only when people realized how unsavory he was that they started to distance themselves from "our man in Baghdad." Not the first time though, Manuel Noriega was everybody's favorite dictator until he tried to bite the hand that fed him.
Posted in: Iraq's 'Chemical Ali' to hang for 1988 gas attack
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Those who were opposed to the liberation of Iraq favored letting this monster continue his atrocities.
And that is the only argument you can come up with? I for one am not that keen on the invasion of Iraq, not because I have any great love for Saddam or any great affinity with soft, cuddly wildlife, but rather because the whole Iraq screw up represented a prime example of intelligence failure. Moreover, I did not and do not like the idea of putting (US) kids on the street to act as targets for every fundi and his mates.
Posted in: Iraq's 'Chemical Ali' to hang for 1988 gas attack
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And you wonder why so many people in this country have a perverted view of women. Let's just hope that this "show" is put on the schedule of visiting foreign dignitaries the next time they come to Japan. Can't you just imagine a US President (other than Clinton) or the Pontiff taking in this sort of entertainment.
Posted in: Miniskirt Police to open their own theater in Tokyo
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Bit of a reactionary our current Pope. This is at least the 2nd time that his mouth has got him into trouble.
Posted in: Pope defends Pius XII against Jewish critics
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Good. This chap is well past his use-by date. The process of justice having been served, it is now time to pay the piper. Lets just hope that the Iraqis can handle this themselves without some idiot taunting the prisoner before he swings (like happened when Saddam cast off his mortal coil).
Posted in: Iraq's 'Chemical Ali' to hang for 1988 gas attack
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Yes and No.
Yes because Obama actually comes across as somebody who has a brain which is quite a refreshing change (compared to GW - sorry if I offend anybody). He seems to be well spoken and he does not resort to a cheesy shxt-eating grin when trying to connect with people.
No because he is still too long on words and not long enough on action. There have been times when his verbal talents have resulted in nothing being done. Indeed, I am rather tired of him assuming the roll of a human teleprompter.
Posted in: Do you think U.S. President Barack Obama is doing a good job as he finishes his first year in office?
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Politics and scandal go hand-in-hand in this country. Furthermore, this current case has some hallmarks of a political witch-hunt. The Prosecutors Office was set on Ozawa when the LDP were still in power. Interestingly, however, some of the other names that popped up in the course of this investigation were buried (certain LDP politicians including at least one former minister). As such, while I am inclined to believe that Ozawa is guilty (possibly of a whole lot more than is being discussed), I also believe that there is a certain sense of this whole case being a bit of political payback, with many of the less-talented manipulators of the LDP (those who did not ditch the party when Ozawa did many years ago) now lining up to put in the boot.
As an aside, it might also be beneficial to consider this whole scandal in terms of the establishment (the LDP and the bureaucracy) settling scores with the forces of reform (if indeed there are any such forces in this country).
Posted in: Do you think Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa is a liability for Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama?
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So much for supporting freedom of speech. Anyway, Turkey obviously needs to get its act together, Israel has spoken. The Turks should withdraw their ambassador and close down the embassy. Using the money they save, they should launch a communications satellite dedicated to beaming these dramas into Israel (and around the region 24 hours a day).
Posted in: Israel threatens to expel Turkish ambassador
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A news "commentator" can become rich and famous merely by behaving in an utterly obnoxious manner.
Pretty sad really, maybe a symptom of a sick society? Irrespective of where such people fit on the political spectrum, whatever happened to news commentary that you could actually listen to? I am not an American, but I got a fair exposure to Rush years ago while serving on exchange with the US army (via AFN). I remember that some of the stuff he used to espouse bordered on racist, xenophobic dogma, designed to appeal to the unwashed (and uneducated) masses of the American populace (do such people really exist?). At the same time, however, I have to say that I was greatly heartened by the fact that most of my US colleagues accepted Rush's arguments as being little more than verbal manure, Limbaugh being seen as chicken hawk blowhard.
Indeed, wouldn't it be wonderful if both sides of the political spectrum could actually come up with commentators who were able to see beyond "their own magnificence," rather than using the airwaves as a tool by which to pleasure themselves with their own voices.
Posted in: Limbaugh's Haiti comments 'really stupid,' says White House
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Atrocious. By the way, did anybody see the NHK news yesterday morning, it showed various international search teams arriving in Haiti. It also showed them working on the ground. Where were they working? They were trying to pull UN employees out of their collapsed accommodation blocks!
It seems that even if help turns up, the rescue of UN bureaucrats is more important than Haitian civilians.
Posted in: What do you think of the international response so far to the Haiti earthquake?
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Japan cannot be trusted when it comes to issues of tuna fishing, as the South Bluefin Tuna scandal makes abundantly clear. Until such time that the Japanese can prove that they are willing to participate at an international level in good faith regarding tuna resource stocks, there should be a compete and total ban on the exporting of tuna to Japan.
Let them eat grass....
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