Wednesday February 15, 2012

JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION

zaichik's past comments

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zaichikSep. 15, 2009 - 06:39AM JST

What's with the negativity about NZ, anjinsanjpnz? Looking at your posting history, you appear only to be here looking for opportunities to knock NZ. What's wrong? Did a kiwi peck you once?

Posted in: Air New Zealand targets Japanese travelers with special charter flights
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zaichikSep. 08, 2009 - 07:17AM JST

Ah, the last train of the day from Kakizaki to Naoetsu, and the cheapest way to get from Niigata to Kyoto - I've taken this train quite a few times. Fortunately I was never assailed by a knicker nicker, though.

Posted in: Saitama cop arrested for trying to steal woman’s underwear on Twilight Express
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zaichikJul. 13, 2009 - 05:31PM JST

Mr Zaichik was buying natto in an Asian grocery store here in Auckland the other day. Looking rather taken aback, the cashier said to him, "Do you know what that is?" Mr Zaichik answered in the affirmative. The cashier said, "I guess your wife must be Japanese." Mr Zaichik replied, "No, she isn't - we just lived in Japan and got to like natto a lot."

After all, it smells no worse than some cheeses. Natto omelette is really good!

Posted in: Girls of Natto Angel express their love for natto
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zaichikJul. 07, 2009 - 06:40AM JST

Yes, he was on our third year reading list (Vogel was there too). Not that I ever read the books on the reading list....

Posted in: Takeo Doi, scholar on Japanese psyche, dies
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zaichikJul. 03, 2009 - 06:02AM JST

[pedant]The Manic Street Preachers are Welsh, not English.[/pedant]

Thanks, Ersby - you've saved me having to write that. I saw the Manics at Fuji Rock 9 years ago....

Gogol Bordello are bluddy brilliant and I'm told they're particularly good live.

Posted in: Japan's summer music juggernaut rolls on
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zaichikJul. 01, 2009 - 06:42AM JST

can only bereave

I think the word you're looking for is grieve rather than bereave.....

Posted in: Arson-murder case shrouded in mystery
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zaichikJun. 18, 2009 - 06:17PM JST

Very sad indeed.

It's not only children that this can happen to - we had a case at work a few months ago where a man managed to reverse over his adult daughter while backing out of his drive. She survived, but she was in hospital for ages....

Posted in: 1-year-old girl killed after father backs car over her
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zaichikJun. 02, 2009 - 09:32AM JST

That's nice dear. How do you find time for anything else?

Methinks she exaggerates slightly....

Posted in: Marie, at AIDS awareness concert, says she has sex five times a day
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zaichikJun. 02, 2009 - 09:14AM JST

Another murder in Nagano - bit disconcerted to find that Nagano's turning into Saitama.....

Posted in: Strange phone call directs police to Nagano crime scene
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zaichikMay. 27, 2009 - 08:31PM JST

I would pay **millions **to see someone say "mazui!!!")

Me too - could be fun to make a satirical program taking the p out of these shows.

I was rather fond of a J-drama called Let's Go Nagatacho, which was taking the p out of the government of the day (Koizumi, Tanaka Makiko, etc.), but it got poor ratings and was pulled before the end of the run. Proof that Japan isn't ready for political satire, sadly....

Posted in: Idiocy versus intelligence on Japanese quiz shows
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zaichikMay. 27, 2009 - 02:41PM JST

I can't see the point of Japanese quiz shows, because it's only ever tarento on them and they don't exactly need the prizes - better to go to some average member of the public.

And making their voices sound squeaky and abnormal

True, but that is perhaps because they get a better reception from J-males that way. I'm naturally an alto, but when I call Japanese hospitals in the course of my work, I always get a far better reception if I use my "high-pitched ultra-feminine Japanese" voice than my normal lower pitch. It's still not in the ultrasonic "kawaiiiiiiii" range, mind :-)

Posted in: Idiocy versus intelligence on Japanese quiz shows
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zaichikMay. 25, 2009 - 12:49PM JST

Funnily enough, something similar happened to a Japanese friend of mine here in NZ - an elderly lady drove through the window of the McDonalds where my friend was having lunch. Fortunately my friend only suffered minor injuries....

Posted in: Woman crashes car into Saitama convenience store
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zaichikMay. 19, 2009 - 08:07AM JST

But we're just as broke... lol

In that case, my dear, you must be a very nice chap.

Posted in: Downtown's Matsumoto announces shotgun marriage to ex-weathergirl
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zaichikMay. 18, 2009 - 08:52PM JST

The rate, if it is a good job, is 250,000. It hasn't changed in 10 years. And now lets do the math. 250,000 base -25,000 national tax at 10% -15,000 local tax -2,000 yen unemployment + the new two taxes -25,000 for health -15,000 for pension 168,000 take home.

My point was that I was making around 250,000 yen and my take-home pay was in the region of 200,000 yen, so I think your figures are inaccurate. Or is it down to the difference between shakai hoken contributions and kokumin hoken contributions?

Posted in: Proposed resident registry card for foreigners creates Big Brother concerns
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zaichikMay. 18, 2009 - 06:54AM JST

So, after deductions on tax, who is going to work for 150,000 yen a month? That is what the tax home is going to be for full time teachers

Are you seriously telling me that teachers only get paid 200,000 yen a month before tax? I was a shokutaku-shain on single year contracts, getting paid in the range of 24-26 man a month and paying into shakai-hoken (which my company provided even to non-seishain), kokumin-nenkin and koyo-hoken, and my take-home pay only dropped below 200,000 a month when I was earning good money from freelance translations and my jiminzei contributions went up accordingly.

What interests me now, as someone who no longer lives in Japan but who does work with InterGlobal, is how the requirement to enrol in social insurance would affect those who currently have private medical insurance. Would they be allowed to continue with this (based on my own experience, I don't think many of the hospitals like it, because it makes extra work for them) or would they be forced to pay the back payments (a form of double taxation)?

Posted in: Proposed resident registry card for foreigners creates Big Brother concerns
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zaichikMay. 09, 2009 - 09:40AM JST

How many 32-year-olds can claim to have been mistaken for a minor?

I regularly get carded when buying booze in NZ. Makes my day :-)

Posted in: Aki Hoshino mistaken for minor at Macau casino
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zaichikApr. 29, 2009 - 06:24AM JST

I'm surprised that nobody's taken the "Hadaka no O-sama" angle. Perhaps the media isn't sufficiently familiar with SMAP's oeuvre....

Posted in: Media continues to smirk over SMAP member's Roppongi impropriety
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zaichikApr. 28, 2009 - 06:08AM JST

We believe it to be an effect of SMAP’s Tsuyoshi Kusanagi getting arrested

Oh FFS! I'm sure there have been incidents like this in the past (even if not in Akita).

I do quite like the term "totally SMAPped", though!

Posted in: Akita man arrested after falling asleep drunk in stranger's house
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zaichikApr. 23, 2009 - 07:40AM JST

Origins is actually pulling out of the Aus & NZ markets, and I wouldn't be surprised if the economic downturn in Japan doesn't lead Estee Lauder to withdraw from that market as well.

Posted in: Beauty and the best
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zaichikApr. 15, 2009 - 07:00AM JST

More about Ryokan, and a picture of his hut, here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ry%C5%8Dkan

There are a number of monuments and commemorative sites associated with him in the Chuetsu region of Niigata.

Posted in: Recession a good opportunity to return to Japan's core virtues