JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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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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tkoind2
Interesting timing. One of the most obvious failings of the GOP president is brought clearly back to mind on the opening day of the GOP convention.
As for what BBC and CNN showed. Let's face it. The images are what they are and the masses of poor who suffered the most in Katrina were a clear message to the world of just how far our American empire has fallen.
Third world response just doesn't quite capture just how enept brother Bush and his collection of incompetents were last time.
For the sake of the people in Gustav's path, I hope someone learned something along the way to make things better this time.
Posted in: Nearly 1.9 million flee coastal Louisiana
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tkoind2
Just one more place you cannot escape to. I love how convenient my phone is. But I frequently wish I could toss it in the nearest river or trash bin. I wonder what life was like when people had to wait for you to come home and check your messsages. Ah... the gold old days of private time.
Posted in: What's your stance on the use of cell phones aboard commercial flights?
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tkoind2
Maybe god or mother nature or some other force is trying to tell America something by washing out the GOP convention. Take the hint guys and step aside. Time for some change.
Posted in: McCain orders convention curtailed for Gustav
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tkoind2
This story is terrible. It makes being homeless sound like some kind of lifestyle choice. When in reality for most homeless people it is not a choice but a fact of life they cannot escape.
Any 1st level nation with a significant population of homeless people should be deeply ashamed. There is simply no excuse for a society to tolerate having people live on the streets. We need better social welfare safety nets and better solutions to get people back into reasonable lives.
Posted in: There are 'rich' homeless and 'poor' homeless
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tkoind2
Stop discussing and open it up. Giving into this kind of fear is idiocy. Add some barriers and have done with it.
Posted in: Officials discuss reopening Akihabara 'pedestrian paradise' after June rampage
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tkoind2
Lately at the movies the J previews could all be the same film.
Formula A: Guy and girl meet but have some barrier to getting together and being happy. When they do, she dies.
Formula B: Guy and girl meet but have some barrier to getting together and being happy. When they do, he dies.
BORING BORING BORING. Like all the 7million aweful remakes of the Ring and Juon genere. The only creativity here lately seems to be the ability to creatively blind oneself to how much outright herd following goes into J cinema these days. Where are the artist making something new and original?
Guess no one will pay to make their films.
Posted in: Movie industry enjoying 'die-and-cry' boom
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tkoind2
techall. I think a lot of people saw through Sadam's posing over having WMDs as exactly that, a means of bargaining for power and position against both Iran and the US. It was a poker bluff that backfired. But the indicators that it was a bluff were clearly there. Including the one main reason it was impossible for him to have WMDs, that being the long embargo against Iraq that would have made it impossible to obtain most of what was needed.
ColAmerica. I think the real truth is that the world sees hope of regaining a reasonable US policy position if Obama is elected and fear more of the same old GWB policies with McCain. Show me people outside the US who are fans of GWB and who think McCain is a solution. The press out here in the rest of the world is not very favorable of McCain and looking pretty interested in Obama.
The bottom line here is change. Rome faded largely due to internal self descruction. The US is in the same boat today. Change could reverse this decline. But the US has no chance if it maintains the current course of action.
Posted in: McCain says Obama's views invite trouble abroad
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tkoind2
"Sorry, but I'm not willing to trust national security to someone who does not listen to the intellegence community but goes by gut feeling."
Like George Bush who ignored all the signs that Iraq had no nukes?
References to Chaimberlain are really not relevant here. Obama has never said anything about appeasement. There is a big difference between appeasing people and engaging them in diplomacy.
Diplomacy is essential if we are to find long term solutions for problems. Sure you can bomb someone today to solve an immediate problem, but his brother or son may blow up your buildings a few years later. This is called Blowback and it is very clear that 911 was in part motivated by past US policies. So if you go off doing the same kind of things, expect to have a negative reaction at some point at the cost of innocent lives.
We need solutions that have a chance to address the root problems. Poverty, hoplessness and disenfranchisment give traction and power to extreme groups. Invested active and hopeful people don't blow themselves up. So let's make more people better off. This can be done through cooperative programs, micro-economics and micro-banking, broader education and othe opportunities to improve conditions for people in danger zones.
Do this and be seen as a benefactor nation and internal pressures from mainstream Muslims may come to bear more heavily upon the radicals. Already we are seeing this in some leaders in Iran and other nations starting to fight back against the violent tide. This can and must be encouraged.
Obama talks about cooperation with our allies. WWI and WWII would have been lost without similar thinking. If we want to win the war on terror, it will not be won by more troops or weapons. It will be won through partnerships with allies to affect changes that get at the root problems. And only by this kind of approach. War breeds more anger and will only encourage future terror.
Posted in: McCain says Obama's views invite trouble abroad
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tkoind2
ColAmerica. I see your posts are not serious so won't waste time addressing them. If you are serious then I'd like to see this world you live in.
Posted in: McCain says Obama's views invite trouble abroad
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tkoind2
Skipthesong.
I think the Islamic world was as outraged by 911 as we were. Many leaders from around the world, many of them our enemies expressed shock and dismay that something that horrific had been done in the name of their faith.
Had we engaged those individuals at that time we may have had an opportunity to work on the gulf that separates us.
I firmly believe that terrorist groups are fed by alienated people with no other opportunties and very little hope. If the money that went into these two wars had gone into programs to improve economies in these regions we could have harmed terror recruiting and helped reduce the threat.
Likewise I believe we could have demonstrated cooperation with leaders from that world to show we were not an enemy.
While Palestine and our support for ruthless leaders like the Saudi's still hurts us, we could have worked on these issues more intensly as well.
Of course going after Bin Laden was important. But it could have been done without the Iraq war. And it could have been done with the cooperation of Islamic leaders.
We paint too black and white a picture of Islam. And we lack understanding. There are solutions here and they all depend upon economic improvement to remove more of the motivations of young people to join these groups. And it involved engagement with Islamic leaders who can help turn the tide of violent thinking that threatens them as much as it does us.
Posted in: McCain says Obama's views invite trouble abroad
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tkoind2
ColAmerica.
Who pays taxes in the US? You and I do. The average working class people pay a lot of their income to taxes. Being middle class used to mean a stable job, good place to live, chance to send the kids to safe schools and maybe college afterwards. It meant being part of safe communities with good infrastructure and resources. It meant growth and prosperity.
What does it mean today? Declining job security and weakened buying power. It means having a lot of debt. It means being unable to afford or keep a home. It means schools that look more like prisons, fewer chances to send the kids to college. And debit if you do. It means bridges that are falling down and roads that are no longer safe.
See all the money we need to take care of the guy and gal next door is flooding out to keep wars that we didn't need going in other countries. Wars that have not made us more safe. And that promise to drain even more of our money.
The corporate friendly policies of the Repubicans put business first and working class people dead last.
Lavish social-welfare?!?!? Like what?!?! Proper healthcare for people? America is like a 3rd world nation in terms of access to care for most people. 1/2 the nation cant afford good care. The rest are paying way too much for it. While med companies rake in money.
Lavish programs. Like our schools with declining quality and lost competitivness with other countries?
Lavish like roads that don't fall in?
Get a clue my friend. The country is falling apart and every day people are being left behind at levels that would be seen as shameful in most European and other first tier nations. We have shameful social welfare and support programs. And it hurts every day families not just the poor.
Go fight your wars with your corporate money if you want to control pipeline access through Afghanistan and oil in Iran and Iraq. Let our boys and girls come home and take care of our local problems. And make diplomacy work for us abroad.
Posted in: McCain says Obama's views invite trouble abroad
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tkoind2
ColAmerica. On what do you base this conclusion?
What policy statement has Obama made that suggests surrender, capitulation or any other policy that would result in the deaths of thousands?
What policies does McCain offer that would prevent these and other deaths?
Obama has talked about political engagement. The iron is that this kind of diplomacy first thinking was true of Reagan, Bush Sr. and other much greater Republican leaders of the past. Since when is talking to people a weakness?
We've been dupted into thinking that the world only understand the sharp end of a stick by people who want us to be afraid and passive. Well.. doesn't fly any more. Diplomacy builds links to partnerships that can help address problems. Engagement gets people talking and working on real, lasting solutions. It costs less to talk than to deploy troops and people respond to it a lot better.
Historically we have been a nation of diplomacy. It is time we act truly conservatively and go back to that old and proven approach. Obama recommends better diplomacy backed by our economic and military power. Now that makes sense.
Stay on this Bush-ist path and you will see a lot more dead. And when the draft comes to support all these losing wars, you'll see a lot of those dead right at home in riots, economic depression and civil conflict. Just try to enact a draft today to support your wars. I promise you civil unrest at a level unseen since the 1960's and a polarizing split of the nation unmatched since the Civil War.
Just how do you think our enemies will view that?
Posted in: McCain says Obama's views invite trouble abroad
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tkoind2
correction. After 8 years of Bush. Wishing it had only been 4. ;)
Posted in: McCain says Obama's views invite trouble abroad
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tkoind2
Alphaape.
Look the fear card just does not play any more. We know that the last four years your team have played upon our fears. You draw black and white world visions of good vs. evil where we have to entrust our safety to your party or die horribly.
Well... forget it. The fear card is played out. We now fear incompetent short sighted leadership as much as we fear terror. We know that 3,000 people died on 911 but that over 4,000 of our kids have died in your idiotic wars. And to what benefit?
Are we safer after 4 years of Bush? No. On 912 the US has the sympathy of the world. A smart leader would have taken advantage of that to gain global collaboration in fighting terror. But no, we had to play the big stick card and go into two wars that failed to achieve any of their objectives. And now more of the world mistrusts and hates us. So are we more safe today? Not at all.
Had we followed the other path, we could see progress against terror, towards reconciliation of Islam and the west and greater trust. And that is just the kind of thinking we need to be following today.
Your war machine has failed to resolve anything. If Pakistan falls into fundamentalist hands where do you think Afghanistan will go? We barely have a hold on Kabul today after 6 years of pointless war. And Iraq is just waiting for us to leave for it to fall into internal civil conflict.
The world does not want a "policeman" they want a visionary leader with the resources and power to make good things happen. That is the America of WWII. The America today is seen as an imperialistic loner who will impose her will on everyone by economic or military force. It makes people fear and mistrust us. And it creates more enemies not less.
No one takes our military might seriously any more after two long dragged out neo-Vietnams in Iraq and Afghanistan. With China and Russia both competing for the global stage, we have nothing to keep either in check. Our alliances are not strong, our military is overtaxed and our economics are a mess. Where is the amazing American power you are talking about.
Look at Georgia. What can we do about that? And they have NATO protection. Protection that cannot be enforced and as such undermines NATO's validity. Were we not buried in two losing wars we could have more credibility in this case. But Russia knows a wounded and weakened animal when it sees one.
As for the 1990s balanced budgets came from Clinton not the Republicans. It was on Bush's watch that things got this bad.
Nations that deserve to lead and protect are nations with the intelligence and courage to change course when they make mistakes. There is still time to work with other nations to address the threats that face us. We need to put aside fear in favor of courage to try new options. We cannot let our fears or those you would impose upon us make us blind to the right actions.
Diplomacy is essential, new visions to solve long standing conflicts are required. Engagement with our enemies will help resolve problems. America needs to return to beging the peace broker and abandon this unwanted role of policeman. The world does not want it and it does not work for us politically or economically.
It is time for change. So put away the fear card. We don't buy into it any more. We fear McCain's out of touch policies and poor understanding of every day working Americans much more than we fear AlQaida or the Taliban. His type of policies are killing our way of life at home every single day and every family is feeling it. And we don't see that you have delivered a single thing other than a lot of dead bodies on both sides in your war on terror. Terror is still out there, still determined and still thinking about hitting us, maybe even more so. It is just covered in a lot more blood than even on 912. Time to take a new approach.
Posted in: McCain says Obama's views invite trouble abroad
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tkoind2
Wolfpack: What is it with you guys and the word "liberal"? As if has the same weight as calling someone a felon or crack head. Put down the propagandistic BS for a moment and look at reality through clear eyes.
Iraq is a little better today than a year ago. But we still see suicide bombers, now many more female bombers, groups in conflict that cannot be easily resolved and a situation that will, without doubt, collapse if our troops leave.
So what does that mean for us? A choice between a permanent presence there or having to worry about going back in. And what did we gain? So far a big bill of debt for this war. And this is all before we ask the question of if there had been other less deadly solutions.
See we like to only count our dead. But what about the 100,000s of Iraqi dead? Do you think they are happy about the whole situation? Many, and I mean many think we have made things worst for them. And they are most likely right.
And who said anything about surrender? Show me a quote! Obama wants to take another approach. When something doesn't work to achieve your goals, you try other options. That is simply rational thinking and practical execution of policy. Ever heard the phrase "beating a dead horse?" Time to try something new.
And about guilt by association. Just what group of political leaders have empowered GWB to do all that he has done? The greens? So called Liberals? No, it is the Republican party. You know it, everyone knows where that party stands on global politics. And it has been an epic nightmare of misteps and dropped opportunities.
McCain's views will have us at war with Iran soon. And I promise you that Iran will be like tossing matches in a box of explosives. It will galvanize anti-American sentiment in the Islamic world, bankrupt our nation and maybe even lead to civil unrest at home as a draft will be almost certainly required to staff the military.
We need change. If you are right or left, you have to realize that by now. The economy is a mess, international policy is a mess, we are more isolated than we have been since before WWI politically and we need change. McCain does not represent change. He represents a continuation of the same blinded policies that got us where we are today.
Posted in: McCain says Obama's views invite trouble abroad
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tkoind2
McCain will be more of the same as we've seen with the disasterous Bush administration.
How can any Republican claim to have a strong handle on international policy and global good thinking? The Taliban are resurgent, Pakistan is on the brink of falling on the wrong side in the terror equasion, Iraq is still a mess and they want to pick a fight with Iran. Where is this brilliant management and thinking McCain is talking about?
We need a president with the intelligence and courage to try something new. The big stick policy just does not carry weight any more. The enemy groups know that our heavy military power is rendered useless once they engage us in a occupation. History has seen every would be global power suffer the same problem. So it is time for something new. An approach of partnership, diplomacy and engagement just at Obama is offering.
A vote for McCain is also a vote against sorting out the economy. It is a vote against working class people who have been left behind by leadership that care more about their corporate friends than the working families of America.
McCain is out of touch with the needs of Americans. He is out of touch with the reality of the international situation. And he is out of touch with how our nation needs to be led to put us back on track and reverse our decline and make America a force for good again.
McCain must lose. And he will.
Posted in: McCain says Obama's views invite trouble abroad
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tkoind2
Street performance adds a nice flavor to a city. Even when it is terrible.
I'd like to see Japan set up a lottery for every station with a courtyard or open area to host performers in the afternoon and evenings. It would be a great chance for performers to be heard and for the public to have free nice entertainment.
All the city has to do is tape off a space and supply a single electric outlet. Performers would be left to take care of themselves for the time slots they are allowed.
It would bring people out and maybe help local business with people lingering around to see some artists and shopping or sticking around to eat.
Do it on a lottery system so that you don't have the same old thing every day. Mix it up a bit.
Posted in: Harajuku
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tkoind2
I think it is unfair to blame 2ch. It is an open forum and their model is not to prohibit speech. As such I think that people using the site must be aware of those conditions and decide to visit or not.
Blaming sites like 2CH is just a way for Japan to ignore the real reasons people go nuts and kill in Japan. And the blame for those issues rests firmly upon failures within Japanese society as a whole. The alienation, overwork and stressed life style and lonely lives that people live here are driving them to these crimes. Japan needs to address the causes, not look for scapegoats.
Posted in: 2 Channel founder says don't blame him for criminals' posts
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tkoind2
The food here is amazing. But diversity is missing. I have yet to find a truly amazing Thai place. Japanese Italian food is not in the same league as the best places in cities like Boston or NY. And there are just too few good African (Senegalese, Etheopian, Moraccan) places.
A little more diversity and a little more authentic Italian would be nice.
Posted in: Critics dispute Michelin regard for Tokyo food
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tkoind2
The real truth is that they Yakuza might as well be a government Ministry. They have as much impact and influence in Japan. And they are as influential.
I don't see them as the same as the US or Italian Mafia. And certainly not like MS13 or other global crime gangs. They are instead an unfortunate part of the fabric of Japanese society that serves some positive purposes as well as many negative ones. Much like the sitting goverment.
I'd like to see the Yakuza go away forever. But that would be the same as expecting phrases like "Shoganai" to go away forever. Just isn't likely.
Posted in: Yakuza 'misunderstood' by foreign media