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
This cannot be simplified into some crazed comic book fan. This is a symptom of very deep societal disfunctions that must be urgently addressed. If not this will happen again and again.
Japan has a growing number of alienated, hopeless people who are detached from society around them and no longer capable of empathy or compassion. We see it in the increasing incidents of conflicts on trains, raging suicide rate, frequency of strange murders and attacks and more. In many cases the culprits talk as if what they did had no moral or ethnical context or consequence. And in the end they dehumanize their victims into objects for whatever self gratification they were after.
We need a rational approach to reverse this problem. An execution will do nothing to achieve that and may even contribute to more dehumanization in this society.
Posted in: Akihabara
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tkoind2
The worst thing to do is to overreact and start calling for some kind of knee jerk police state with cops ready to taser anyone who looks a bit risky.
The problems are societal and will not go away until addressed. Enforcement will more likely just make life worst for the general population and may compromise the fragile freedoms in this nation.
Posted in: Suspect says he decided to stage Akihabara attack a few days before
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tkoind2
This cop did a good job stopping this guy and taking him alive. But the reality remains that cops here are very ill prepared to deal with real threats. That simple.
Posted in: Suspect says he decided to stage Akihabara attack a few days before
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tkoind2
Hughgarse, exactly the point. Why?
If they have direct flights, aren't they afraid the locals will all escape and leave the place with no one to turn out the lights?
Posted in: Denver lobbies for direct flights to Tokyo
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tkoind2
There needs to be consumer protection for airline surcharge structures. It should be included in the advertised price of tickets and not an add on. This is just their way of hiding it until it is too late. A bait and switch plan to say "Hey Hong Kong is only 19,000yen this weekend." Then they add in the other 19,000 yen. This should be illegal.
We get that fuel costs more. But your profits on are on the rise. I smell a rip off. Again normal working class people suffer so fat corporates get even fatter.
Posted in: As fuel prices continue to rise, the fuel surcharge on airfares is also increasing. What's your view on the issue?
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tkoind2
The nomination does indeed look sealed. It is now time to turn our attention to the utter destruction of the Republican reign of terror.
I am not a democrat. My politics are complicated and not terribly mainstream. I can say this. I believe strongly in rational foreign policy, working class centered domestic policy, universal health care and safety nets for the less fortunate in our society. I believe these things to be humanitarian and a moral responsiblity of any developed society.
That said, Obama is the most likely option to make some of this into reality. And I hope Clinton joins him as a running mate to fully unify the party.
Now the real work begins. Working class people need to get out and vote this time. The Republicans have demonstrated very little concern for us for a very long time. They are willing to send us to die in pointless wars but unwilling to assure that we can work, get healthcare and send our kids to college. This is unacceptable.
It is time for working class people to take control of how our nation runs. It starts with someone like Obama and an willingness for change. But it equally requires removal of congress members who stand in the way of change. And we must also keep who we do elect honest and accountable. Change is possible. Let's assure it happens.
Posted in: Obama seals Democratic nomination; Clinton seeks VP slot
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tkoind2
Can we melt it down and give the proceeds to someone who needs some of that 10mil to eat tonight? I'm sure there are a lot of elderly here in Japan who would be happy to snap off a piece of Mickey and transform it into a bag of groceries.
I truly hate this "wow look a piece of pointless stuff for Xmillion yen." In a city with a lot of people who need money for basics and in a world with many more who have nothing to eat this kind of conspicuous wealth and waste is obscene.
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tkoind2
China was the worst choice for the Olympics. Their civil rights and liberties record, repression of religious and political freedom, occupation of Tibet and Uyghur territories, continued threats against Taiwan, increasing repression in Hong Kong and horrific environmental record should have ruled them out.
China's increased repression after winning the nomination further underlines the reasons it should have been denied the ability to host the games. Add to this the hardship and burden that Olympic preparation have had on ordinary Chinese (farmers robbed of water diverted to the games etc...) and it is no wonder people are staying away.
I will boycott the Olympics. I will not attend, not watch, not buy products supporting it. I do so for the sake of Tibet and in protest over the exploitation and abuse of working class Chinese who have suffered considerably for an event that will not benefit them. I will not support the small percentage of Chinese who stand to benefit while the vast majority of Chinese bear the burden, hardship and cost of the games.
Posted in: Hotel rooms still available for Beijing Olympics
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tkoind2
Very incomplete story. There is no way that a single "die" message led to a girl killing herself.
Posted in: 16-year-old girl hangs herself after message on blog tells her to die
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tkoind2
Yet another validation of the increasingly unhealthy psychology of many in Japan. I'll say it again, Japan had best get moving with some plans to encourage people to accept and seek psychological care. The alternatives are getting more and more twisted every day.
Posted in: Flasher pushes woman onto railway tracks in Tokyo
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tkoind2
Agreed. Bush is "the idiot" and history will most certainly remember him as one of the most incompetent leaders in American history. I am convinced that without 911 he would not have been remembered at all. He and his handlers have clearly leveraged this tragedy in a failed effort to cover up the short comings of a man who should never have been elected to town council let alone president.
I'm still ashamed that my country re-elected him in 2004. Simply shameful.
Posted in: Bush once again compares postwar Japan, Germany to Iraq, Afghanistan
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tkoind2
Don't know who is more frightening. The 20 year old in the school uniform or the teacher who had to notice the shoes to realize that something was wrong. And he is teaching the next generation. Wow, not confidence inspiring.
Posted in: Man disguised as schoolgirl arrested for trespassing in Ibaraki school
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tkoind2
Idiots at it again. What is he forgot and the police picked this passenger up? Unforgivable. Fire the moron and his boss who should have been monitoring this test properly.
Posted in: Unsuspecting passenger returns cannabis after sniffer dog test botched at Narita
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tkoind2
The problem is that this word underlines the attitude that Japan has about foreign residents and visitors. Many Japanese still actively discriminates against people who are living here. They refuse to rent apartments based on our being from another country no matter how good our company and job are. They restict things we can be involved in and use the word as a wall to separate us from them. In any other place this would be seen as discrimination.
In Seattle we didn't call our Japanese student friends "foreigner" for us only redneck stereotypes from bad movies refer to people in that manner. Same should apply here.
We protect the rights of foreign residents equally under the law. Japan should try the same.
Why not just call us Ted, or Mary or that nice girl from down the street? We already have cards that call us Aliens. At least that tag has some humor to it. I say swap gaijin for Alien. At least we can have a laugh when we hear it, despite the alienation behind the world.
Posted in: Do you consider the word "gaijin" racist?
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tkoind2
Suicide is sad in any case. Especially for someone with so much to live for. But in Japan I am not surprised that life here leads a lot of people to choose an exit. Too much work, no work life balance, poor social networks, absence of real psychological help, restrictive social structures and unreasonable expectations. Add that to crowds, tiny dull homes to live in and the stress of living in such a busy place and it is a wonder that suicides are not even higher. People need to rethink things and try to make life better for living not just for working and stressing.
Posted in: TV announcer Ako Kawada found dead in car in apparent suicide
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tkoind2
Many causes. 1. Fuel prices, 2. Diversion of grain to other uses. 3. Speculation in the market. 4. Under-investment in African and other agricultural development e.g. 90+% of African farms still using rain only with no irrigation to develop stronger more reliable crops. 5. Increasing demand.
Solutions. 1. Specualation and profit making are key issues. We are far too subject to the whim of investment bankers and whatever panic or opportunity they are focused on. Their world view is short sighted and driven only by a desire for profit. Therefore they will never have the interests of ordinary people in mind. Control prices and take it out of their hands.
Invest in agriculture in Africa and other nations. Bring technology, science and education to maximize potenital development.
Do #2 and you can start to invest more in bio-fuels without the resulting impact to food prices. Lower oil dependency will help.
Accept that Peak Oil is reality and start taking steps to make the world less dependent upon oil. More local production means less cost to deliver. More local production means jobs. More local production means less carbon footprint resulting from high prices to bring things to market.
Posted in: What is causing the global food price spike and what should be done about it?
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tkoind2
Brilliant. Why don't you buy supplies for the nut cases while you are at it? There are plenty of people eager to get some bit of fame or try out something wrong. So you print a great idea for them. Sheer genius.
That said, I know some day I will die. Can't choose how since I don't believe in suicide and enjoy living. So no matter what I do, some day, something will take me out of this life. Maybe one of those things is being too stressed out worrying about what that thing will be. So I can't be bothered to worry about terrorists any more. If it happens, it happens.
Why don't we start doing something positive instead. Let's make cleaners and such that don't require highly toxic ingredients that can be used to kill people? Stop selling the environmentally evil stuff and replace it with organic stuff that doesn't kill and can't be made to kill. Problem solved. At least they'll have to work harder at harming anyone.
Posted in: Hydrogen sulfide gas suicides raise specter of terrorist attacks
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tkoind2
I'm lucky, my partner and I are both pretty good cooks. So we are lucky. But even though we both like cooking and make decent dishes, we rarely have time to cook thanks to work. If we were living alone I suspect our diets would suck as they do on busy days. Still we manage to eat something reasonable every day.
I have met a lot of people here who get by on beer and bar snacks or just rice balls every day. Can't imagine why they don't just drop dead one day as a result.
Posted in: The appalling cooking habits of young single women
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tkoind2
I have mixed feelings about hostesses. I've met women in Japan who hostess to raise money for school or living abroad and who keep very grounded about what they are doing. They move on to better things later having made extra money and with little damage to who they are. This works for them and seems fine.
On the other hand I've met women who became spoiled beyond the ability to have normal relationships with men. A combination of excessive expectations from anyone they date about gifts, being "paid for" and generally disfunctional behavior. They end up holding higher value for material love (money, glamorous lifestyle) over emotional attributes (love, stability and partnership) in their relationships with men. For a couple aquaintances this seems to have left them lonely and disillusioned and unable to find happiness once they leave the profession. Not very positive.
The fact that I've never been to a hostess bar and yet know several from normal music, art and work social circles is an indication of just how common a job hostessing has become. Seems a bit sad that women would rate this so high when there are so many smart women with so much potential to do much more with their careers.
Posted in: Hostessing an honorable profession, young women say
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tkoind2
One thing about oil. We are lucky in Tokyo that we can use trains and bikes to get around. But most of us have family in places where no such infrastructure exist. For them driving is like water in being essential to their lives. The have to drive for work, to take kids to school and to shop. And many cities have no money or plans for proper public transport.
One way we can fight the oil companies is to demand more public transportation in places that don't have it. Sadly this is a long and often losing proposition.
Maybe government price controls on an international level are required to reign in oil prices. And all nations should be looking to viable alternative solutions.
Posted in: Oil executives defend profits before irate U.S. senators