JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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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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- 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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wanderlust
This is not approving to join the Hague Convention, it is only approving the plan to join. Lots of excuses for not joining can be made during the next phase...
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wanderlust
Bit of a disconnect here between the title and the story text: helping children bake cakes and sweets is not the same as preparing meals for evacuees...
Posted in: Naomi Kawashima and patissier husband prepare meals for evacuees
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wanderlust
The bureaucrats are just annoyed that they could not take their cut and administrative costs off the top. Whilst they are still holding discussion meetings, these people took immediate action and gave it out. And of any complaints of unfairness, from past events with pensions and healthcare reform, the government and local administration do not exactly have a reputation for fairness themselves...
Posted in: Donors hand envelopes with cash to evacuees in Ishinomaki
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wanderlust
An airport does not operate alone. The lack of transportation in the night and early morning is a major factor, as people do not want to hang around an airport for hours waiting for a flight, and then arrive in US or Europe when it is a similar situation over there. Unless Keikyu Railway. JR and some of the subway lines start 24 hour services, it will just be hardcore travellers going out there. The facilities at night are pretty poor, compared to those available during daytime hours.
And providing radiation information in a few foreign languages is hardly a compelling reason to fly to or from there.
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wanderlust
His quick opening of the summer residence in Nasushiobara to evacuees was also a very magnanimous gesture, that must have horrified his minders at the Imperial Household Agency. Like the revered Thai King Bhumibol, Japan's emperor is showing that he actually cares for his people, unlike 99% of the politicians, industrialists and bureaucrats here...
Posted in: Showing support
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wanderlust
Two of the whistle blowers have spoken and written in detail on TEPCO activities, including forging test data, covering up the malformation of a reactor containment vessel, editing damage/ fault videos, falsifying welding tests, etc.. One admitted to taking part in the covering up.
The problem is that many of these activities occurred up to 40 years ago, and the people involved are probably dead or out of TEPCO, and much of the documentation is gone. Charges would rely on hearsay or depositions, and long-termers here would have little faith in the Japanese Justice system accepting material that would disrupt their own establishment.
A criminal prosecution, though satisfying to a growing public clamour for punishment, would achieve little, other than to prevent the same mistakes happening again (hopefully) gaining greater regulatory oversight of the power industry (possibly), splitting of regulatory functions from production and promotion functions (if amakudari is really stopped), and revealing both the advantages and disadvantages of nuclear power to this island.
But this is Japan, and the government and bureaucrats are not accustomed to real change, nor listening to the will of an increasingly apathetic people. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose - the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Posted in: Once the nuclear crisis is brought under control, should TEPCO executives face criminal charges at some point in the future?
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wanderlust
The live concert industry uses a lot of power for audio and lighting system, video projection, cameras, production equipment and other special effects. A 50,000 watt sound system is run at relatively low levels to reduce noise and reproduce the studio environment. A power cut in the middle of a concert can cause internal fans to stop, causing a great deal of damage to equipment containing lamps and components that require intense cooling. Recently LEDs have helped reduce power consumption, but that led to just more LEDs being used!
Maybe it is time for a return to simpler sets, and focus on the music and performers, and use less of the bally-hoo used to market and disguise poor talent?
Posted in: Catharsis amid crisis for Japan's entertainment biz
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wanderlust
Wow, a real live centenarian pension claimant! Hope he manages a few more birthdays too...
Posted in: Happy 114th birthday
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wanderlust
The plan seems to involve a lot of concrete, and even high portion of "hope it works..."
Posted in: Gov't under fire for disaster response; TEPCO chief heckled in Diet
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wanderlust
@ foxie - please read my earlier post - the original 'fly-jin' article was just an opinion piece by Mariko Sanchanta in the on-line Wall Street Journal on March 23rd, entitled "Expatriates Tiptoe Back to the Office" that got picked by some of the foreigners' forums in Japan, and then went viral? It sounded like she made up the word herself. I've never heard a Japanese use the expression.
Posted in: Why did those foreigners who decided to leave Japan in the aftermath of the March 11 disaster come in for so much derision from some people who labeled them with words like 'flyjin?'
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wanderlust
@seawolf - embassies act in their National Interests, not their nationals' interest.
Posted in: Why did those foreigners who decided to leave Japan in the aftermath of the March 11 disaster come in for so much derision from some people who labeled them with words like 'flyjin?'
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wanderlust
@okapake - that's the triangle of life philosophy! Look for the small spaces next to solid objects that will not compress and will protect you, e.g. get out of your car and curl up by the engine block, in the office by the pile of papers, in your home by the appliances or bed frame. It's not taught in schools here, but unofficially it is known.
Posted in: Earthquake, tsunami drills may have been counter-productive
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wanderlust
I'd be concerned for the under-empowered seasonal contract workers of companies like Kajima and Taisei who will have to do the actual work on the ground, and who will be pressurised to complete the work according to this dream schedule. Let's hope that they have enough dosimeters to monitor radiation, and that their supervisors' keep a close eye on their time on site.
Posted in: TEPCO announces it will take 6-9 months to end nuclear crisis
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wanderlust
Wasn't the original 'fly-jin' article just an opinion piece by Mariko Sanchanta in the on-line Wall Street Journal on March 23rd, entitled "Expatriates Tiptoe Back to the Office" that got picked by some of the foreigners' forums in Japan, and then went viral? It sounded like she made up the word herself. I've never heard a Japanese use the expression.
Posted in: Why did those foreigners who decided to leave Japan in the aftermath of the March 11 disaster come in for so much derision from some people who labeled them with words like 'flyjin?'
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wanderlust
Potential material for the ELITE prosecutors squad - just don't forget the video tapes!
Posted in: Assistant prosecutor arrested for allegedly groping woman on train
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wanderlust
I think the UK are more concerned with first by-passing Prince Charles and Camilla, to give William the throne earlier. He has the most potential and acceptability of the current batch of inbred misfits...
Posted in: UK mulling royal succession rule change
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wanderlust
Quite allowable - Empress Michiko was a commoner who married 'up', the Emperor was always ... the Emperor.
Posted in: Hi Hillary
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wanderlust
Terrorists?
Does anyone know from which country, religious group or political faction they come from?
The only terrorists who have ever operated in Japan have been Japanese themselves.
Posted in: Erika Toda and canine friend tackle terrorists in new movie
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wanderlust
Good yakuiwaribuntan in Japanese terms. Let Edano be a spokesperson, reading a script prepared by bureaucrats, and allow Kan do the decision making in the background. Two totally different jobs that can't be compared. Dread to think what people like Aso and Hatoyama would have done...
Posted in: How would you compare the roles of Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano in terms of showing leadership ability during the crisis of the past five weeks?
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wanderlust
Most of the drills are advanced well ahead of time, highly orchestrated, immaculately rehearsed, with start lines, officials with white gloves and whistles, local politicians looking on, and everything timed to the second. More realistic drills are not done that way, but sprung on people at any time of the day or night; highly disruptive to the people, institution or organisation, but a much better test.
At the same time, with the rise in personal audio systems, and large in-car stereo systems, how many people could not hear warnings, as their ears were full of the latest pop music? Additionally, with daily life in Japan, there is a stream of constant warnings on platform stations, public crossings, buildings, escalators; people have learned to tune out, so when real danger is announced, it is just shrugged off as yet another warning.
Posted in: Earthquake, tsunami drills may have been counter-productive