JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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To be healthy, live in the big city
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Japan's nuclear safety standards flawed, says commission chief
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Teacher nabbed for using miror to peek up girl's skirt
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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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timtak
Yes, Thank you. Ranger Miffy2, that sounds like a good way of putting it.
'Idealized syntheses of purity and sexuality' exist of course in the West too, such as in the form of the characters portrayed by (and perhaps the person of) Audrey Hepburn who is idolised in Japan, to an extent Marylyn Munroe though she was a little too sexy, and not quite pure enough for Japanese taste, and Lady Gaga who almost seems a little Japanese. Howevfer, In Japan I think that the synthesis is more extreme. In NMB48 there are thirteen year old chidren, in miniskirts, singing about sex, wearing "steel panties".
Posted in: NMB48 song tops Oricon chart
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timtak
What an extraordinary co-incidence. On my way home this evening I was trying to think of a way of explaining the lolicon phenomena and I thought to do it by using "Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes."
First of all, we must take now that both Tarzan (or James Bond, or Jesus) are mythic narratives that concern social ideals rather than normal humans. The members of NMB48 do not wear steel panties.
A big problem for human society, perhaps the biggest, is encouraging men and women to cooperate. There are two extremely effective ways of doing this. 1) Persuade all members of society that they are neutred men. 2) Persuade all members of society that they are wombless, bloodless women. The West takes the former route, Japan the latter. In each case it is imperative that the unattractive parts of the idealised sex are banished: their desire in each case is taboo. Jesus was a man in his ability to lead, be righteous, brave, and strong but there was no one iota of lewdness about him. The idealised woman in Japan is similarly, self-sacrificing and supposedly berift of desire. The Western "gentle" man, and Japanese "idol" stop at the waist, they are castrated, spayed, anemic, and perfect.
This repression however, gives rise to even greater desire for its disolution, for (in the West) a gentleman who is also an ape man; Tarzan/Earl Greystoke a combination of pure male sex and complete gentrified repression. I think that NMB48 are the Japanese equivalent of Tarzan/Greystoke, pure sex, and pure chasity rolled (often literally) into one steel pantie.
Posted in: NMB48 song tops Oricon chart
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timtak
It seems that the Asian holdings alone are worth the total equity of the company (12.596 billion according to wikipedia) so is it doing so badly?
Posted in: Yahoo faces investor mutiny as Asian asset sale talks unravel
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timtak
Having seen the video, it seems that it has been created with the intention to include as many ways as possible of allowing the viewers to feel that they can or will see the "steel panties" refered to the in the lyrics, with low camera angles, miniskirts, rotating girls, grils lying down, hanging from wires, rolling over balls, on tightropes, podia, and finally fired from a circus cannon. I think it is very inventive, but not musically, and not to my taste.
I agree with a non-sarcastic interpretation of Senseiman. Japan is just bursting at its creative seams. See Donald Richie's "The Image Factory: Fads and fashions in Japan." It is just that the myriad images that Japan makes are different, and not popular among those with Western sensitivities.
Posted in: NMB48 song tops Oricon chart
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timtak
The chorus of this song is "steel panties" refering to their collective intention not to take them off for their boyfriend until they are 20 years of age. The song's title means "Pure (i.e. non sexual) emotion or affection, and the "U19" probably means under or equal to 19, since the lyrics mention adulthood which is considered to be from 20. The boyfriends are going to have a long wait in some instances because at least one of the members is 13 years old. 13 years old.
Posted in: NMB48 song tops Oricon chart
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timtak
Underbar characters are converted into itallics here so I have created a shorter url to the first part of the source article http://tinyurl.com/shuukangendaibaka
Posted in: Job interviews - 'Fools using a foolish method to pick fools'
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timtak
@Virtuoso I think that JT articles are (at least in the large majority) based upon articles from other news outlets but they are not translations, or at least not verbatim. JT is free to choose what part of the article they wish to present. The start of the article is at the link below, and the translation above is accurate but unable to read to the end of the article it is difficult to judge whether Shukangendai gives the same overall impression. http://kodansha.cplaza.ne.jp/wgendai/article/120206/top0601.html In general I think that any prevalent way of doing things in Japan is unlikely to be particularly stupid since Japan works well as a society. If something appears stupid then it is probably because it is different. Alas Japanese people have for some time now internalised frames of reference which are not their own and even sometimes see themselves as stupid. I see Japanese interviews as being realtitvely geared towards non-verbal communication and as such no worse than Western interviews.
Posted in: Job interviews - 'Fools using a foolish method to pick fools'
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timtak
An experienced Japanese interviewer of my aquaintance, and quite a few books in Japanese on this topic, say that the interviewers are largely looking at non-linguistic cues which are spread out in space rather than time, and can be read within the first 30 seconds of the applicant coming into the room. And that does not mean that they use only 30 seconds, but if that is the method that you are using (rather than the CV, which might be bs start to finish) then that may be all you need. If Shukangendai really did write this then I think it was a case of fools using foolish methods to write foolish headlines, but my guess is that Shukangendai's article was more balanced. Does anyone have a link?
Posted in: Job interviews - 'Fools using a foolish method to pick fools'
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timtak
Dean Rogers is right and I think that this is what Sony is planning, a new computer integrated TV. But alas, I think that Sony is planny something non-standardised, as Sony always does so it may be a TV with a playstation processor built in. I hope Sony suddenly becomes good at cooperating with standards and that there new TV comes with a Linux running computer built in, with a massive OLED display. OLED displays are beautiful and Sony is the company to get it working. Then they can take back their share of TVs, and with Linux a big nitch out of Microsoft's business as well.
Posted in: Incoming Sony CEO Hirai refuses to abandon TV business
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timtak
Western psychologist, Ellen Langer, claim that people gamble, even they know that on average the establishment wins, because they think that their choices are special, luckier, better than other peoples choices; gamblers suffer from an illusion of control. They think that they can effect the outcome of their bet by making the right decision. And for this reason, Western gambling usually includes an element of control (skill) and above all, lots of choices. The roulette wheel is typical in in that it provides the gambler with lots of ways to bet, to play a hunch, to beat the odds with a certain system.
Pachinko however involves little in the way of choice and surprisingly little skill.
The Choices in Pachinko The only important choice, as far as I am aware, is the decision on which machine (dai) to use. This is important because machines are, by law, meant to be set to have a certain odds of winning which remain constant during business hours and since it is important that some people win, parlours usually set up number of winning machines. About the only useful advice I have read on this is that since the owner wants as many people as possible to be near a winning machine, the winning machines are generally fairly evenly situated roughly in a zig zag. However, it has been my impression, and that of a frequent player, that some parlours illegally control the odds in real time setting machines to win especially when they see a new face. In other words there really may be beginners luck in some Pachinko palours because the non-beginners are more likely to play anyway and having beginners luck, as experienced by the lady in the article, helps to get people hooked. Secondly newly installed machines are sometimes more likely to be set to win to give customers the impression that rich parlours with a turn over of machines are places where they can win.
Skills in Pachinko The only skill seems to be directing the balls to the best place. Once this place has been found (and there are books and magazines on where it is) punters will sometimes use a coin to keep the dial in the same position. There is some skill in getting the balls roughly in the centre, but it makes surprisingly little difference where the balls hit. If skill were important the machines could be made more like video/computer games with moving targets but this is not the case.
The Illusion of Control in Pachinko So if choice and skill are not all that important in Panchinko, why do Japanese people become addicted? They know that the parlours are making money and that on average the machines are set so that the players loose. How can they have an illusion of control, an illusion of uniquness that they will win whereas other players will not? My theory is, from talking to a few players, and from the way in which machines don't pay much then suddenly pay out big time ("reach" and then “win time”), is that players ave an illusion of having more gut, or mettle (根性/konjou) than other players. They think that they can keep their hand steady, and keep pumping the machine until it pays out when other players would have become lilly-livered and given up. This illusion of control is partially true, just as their is a partial truth to the effect of choices in Western gambling. Addicted players do play longer, and do thus stay on to "reach" the big payouts. The difference lies in what personal characteristics each culture emphasises. Westerners believe in the power of their free will, in their ability to make unique beneficial choices that others have missed. Japanese believe that they are able to persevere, suffer, grind on, fight, ganbaru longer than others, to the point of having an illusion of uniquness and an illusion of control.
This illusion of uniqueness is furthermore not, I think, an enhancement of a particular characteristic so much as the belief in the players ability to have none, no characteristics, to be come like a rock, unswayed, to become nothing. And thus pachinko resembles meditation, and pachinko machines resemble mandelas, and one of their effects is to empty the mind of the player. This makes pachinko particularly attractive, and addictive, to those that have troubles enough already.
Posted in: Pachinko addiction a growing problem for Japanese women
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timtak
I think he is talking about the (shin?) "Tachiagare Nippon" party, with members so old that when it was formed 5 years ago, punters joked that it was or should be the "tachisagare" (stand down) party.
I would like toknow why j4p4nFTW recommends Ishihara, in more detail. He is always using English originated words (gairaigo) and sounds to be of the postwar "we can be American and beat them at it" generation, rather than having a vision for Asia.
Posted in: Ishihara says he is ready to help new political party change Japan
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timtak
That does seem very lenient especialy lacking contrition. I hope that none of the children suffered permanent damage. There seems to be a great deal of sympathy towards mothers and the woman is a single mother. One can see her on youtube at the link below, where she appears to be smiling.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEAr5BfKkm
Posted in: Woman sentenced to 4 1/2 years for breaking babies' legs
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timtak
@ Crazedinjapan This may be a nice earner for the gangs. They can look threatening, provide 'deniability', and coerce business into accepting them as customers and then send a friend around "from a rival gang", who "just happend to have been bugging/watching the transaction" (or with enough evidence to overcome the 'deniability' initially provided) to blackmail the business that they know accepted their custom.
Posted in: Calling the plays on the new anti-gang law
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timtak
What with Toshiba, Honda, NEC, and other companies reporting large reductions in profits who is going to pay the tax? I am, for my sins, a public employee.
Posted in: Toshiba profit dives 70%
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timtak
I have a clean posterior.
Posted in: How foreigners’ daily lives change when they live in Japan
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timtak
Polyandry: two herbivores to one 'ogre bride'? Cheaper real estate?
Posted in: Japan's population to shrink two thirds by 2110
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timtak
I think that the tendency for Japanese leaders to "take responsibility" and the tendency for Japanese groups (including Japan itself) to not have any one person in charge are linked.
In other words Maher is contradiciting himself. On the one hand Maher wants Japanese leaders to be 'real leaders', to actually make decisions and have power. On the other hand Maher wants Japanese leaders to do the traditional Japanese thing of taking "responsibility even if it was not a mistake that they made" and, if not commiting seppuku, stepping down.
When have we seen a Western demagog take responsibility and step down? Maxwell? Clinton? They have, want, and retain power and do anything to keep it. Nixon may be an exception? Or he had not choice?
Japanese leaders are figureheads. They do not particularly want power and they do not have it since decisions are made collectively (see the research I quoted above." -11" and counting!). While Japanese leaders rarely actually make decisions, one of their major roles is to be a scapegoat and take responsibility and step down.
Maher wants Japanese leaders to be both figureheads and real power players. In your dreams Maher.
Posted in: Ex-U.S. diplomat Maher pulls no punches on Japan
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timtak
Why should anyone be in charge? We are talking about a nation, with hundreds or thousands of experts. And according to Morris & Peng (1994) http://faculty.kent.edu/updegraffj/gradsocial/readings/morris.pdf Asians are inclined to see decisions being best, normally, or appropriately made by groups with no one person in charge. Mr. Maher talks about good 'ol Japan but sounds like he has just arrived.
With regard to taking the responsibility for something even if one did not do it oneself, I don't see a change in Japan. I am not sure if it would have helped Japan if yet another prime minister had taken responsibility and resigned, for in this case a largely natural disaster.
Posted in: Ex-U.S. diplomat Maher pulls no punches on Japan
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timtak
"Stick" is one translation. The original is "muchi ga nana wari" which also means "70% whip."
Posted in: Aya Sugimoto on managing husband: '30% carrot, 70% stick'
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timtak
@MabodofulsSpicy Westerners are very good at making logical or linguistic constructions such as microprocessor architectures, software, sales systems (itunes, macdonalds), and academic theories.
There seem to be cultural factors affecting attitudes to copyright of such constructions. Some of my students clearly copy others writing more than others, especially from a certain country. I don't think that they are sociopaths and they certainly don't see themselves in that way.
One can see patents/copyright as protecting the effort and creative endevour of the developers. But one can also see it as a sort of claiming colonialism of a 'terra nullis' patch in a finite symbolic space. One illustration of this is purchasing domain names. If I purchase chugokogo.com (I did in fact) and sell it to a Chinese language school for a lot of money then how much creativity or effort would I have sold? Or have I just claimed something that no one else was using and called it mine? Patents of inventions, such as one click to buy, or of a garbage icon, contain both creative endeavour and something I call "symbolic colonialism." Westerners tend to believe that the symbolic space is infinite, and that it is okay to claim something if one gets there first. Not everyone agrees.
Posted in: Obama to protect U.S. goods globally