blendover comments

Posted in: Abe tells Obama Japan will join child abduction treaty See in context

This is a relatively low cost concession for Abe to make and one which will give some appearance (illusion) of Japan keeping up with modern mores. In monetary terms it may increase the number of non Japanese speaking children moving to Japan as adults a little. However, it will also decrease the number of solo mums claiming state benefits in Japan.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Couple claims child care allowance for dead daughter over 6 years See in context

You would have thought that they would have spent the six years cooking up some sort of a plan to deal with the inevitable questions that would come up when school started. How could they have imagined that they could keep this up indefinitely? Obviously pretty socially alienated low intelligence types with mental issues.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Posted in: Japan cast as villain in global currency war drama See in context

The politicians can say what they like. Everyone knows that they are in the business of driving down the value of the yen. However, everyone also knows that the yen is still substantially overvaluedby the market in relation to the state of the Japanese economy. There is nothing ethically wrong with policies aimed at prodding the market into putting a more reasonable value on the yen. If the markets really believed the yen was inherently worth more, then the valuation of the yen would not have moved as quickly as it has.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Posted in: AKB48 singer shaves her head as act of contrition for dating See in context

This certainly makes a big spash in terms of publicity. Having your head publiicly shaved, or suffering other indiginities, for engaging in illicit sex is an ancient practice and triggers a strong reaction. But it is hardly the kind of publicity that the AKB48 managers are looking for. What are they going to do with her now that she has no hair? It makes no sense unless this girl has already decided that her career with these people is over.

If that is the case, then presumably she wants to get money talking to chat shows etc. etc. about her terrible life. Not a great career choice. Although I suppose she could write a book giving the inside scoop or something.

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Posted in: Former nuclear safety chief questioned over Fukushima negligence See in context

Corrumption starts at the top. You want to end it, you don't throw up your hands in despair and blame the whole of society. You nail the top people - plenty of them, and put in regulartory controls with bite. That's not going to happen of course.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Posted in: 'Abenomics' kicking average wage-earner in teeth See in context

Current policies are basically austerity measures in disguise. The reality will start to kick in soon for most families.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Posted in: 2nd suspect in murder of couple arrested after trying to commit suicide See in context

I see no evidence of a mastermind in this affair. It looks decidedly amateur.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Posted in: Man arrested for beating 84-year-old mother to death over breakfast dispute See in context

Well, he won't be collecting on his Mum's pension anymore, so the cruellest punishment of all would be to send him back home to look after himself into old age.

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Posted in: In Japan, gun ownership is a privilege, not a right See in context

This right versus privilige stuff is all theoretical. In NZ they say that driving is a privilige and not a right as well. It all boils down to much the same thing - whether doing or having something like a gun or a car is defined as a right or a privilige there are regulations surrounding it and if you don't follow them then you don't get to have or use that thing. The real debate should be about what the regulations are.

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Posted in: Japan presses Algeria for answers as hostage death toll reaches 9 See in context

The reason for demarche is that the contents of the conversation cannot be published. The Algerians get one version which can later be denied and the general public another.

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Posted in: Students forced to drink diluted acid as punishment at Aichi school See in context

Problem 1

Who is most likely to get an experiment of that nature wrong? Your weakest kids in terms of being able to follow procedures in a concentrated way. In the more severe of cases, kids who might be labelled ADHD and in your less severe cases, kids who get labelled either dumb, troublemakers or both.

The worst possible treatment to give kids of that nature is public attention to their failings. Whether it is done in a severe or a light hearted fashion, it will only add to their behavioural difficulties and not improve them.

Problem 2

Who is most likely to take the wrong message from this event in terms of how to deal with substances, and think that it is OK to just down whatever? The very same kids who you picked on and a few others in the class besides. They might easily try something daft of that nature in other circumstances with disastrous results.

These are things that teachers should know about as a result of their training, and if they don't then they need re-training in a big way. Personally, I don't think this teacher should necessarily be prosecuted or fired. The latter would depend on his overal performance aside from this incident. But I certainly do think that he should get some serious supervision of his work in the future.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Posted in: Got something you don't want your relatives to find after you die? See in context

I found out a few things about some family members that I didn't know after they died. I was a bit shocked and disappointed, but over time I realised that it was probably a good thing that I knew. The truth sets you free.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: Hashimoto pressures school to cancel some entrance exams See in context

The real solution to these types of problems would require the revamping of sports and other programs in all schools. Major changes in the ministry, major changes in teacher education, the insititution of mandatory licencing of non teaching sports coaches, major changes in school practices generally, changes to the senpai/kohai system - I could go on.

This is the kind of money that Hashimoto absolutely does not want to spend. He is a cost cutter, so he has opted for a cheapskate, cost cutting method to make it look like he is taking the problem seriously and to generate publicity as one of the actors rather than talkers on the policital scene. This makes him dangerous because short term. low budget solutions to long term problems generally lead to things getting worse, not better.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Posted in: Japan considers 6-day school week; teachers not enthusiastic See in context

You could increase the hours of tuition by cutitng back on testing by about 70 percent. There is little evidence to suggest that massive testing of the kind that is currently used in Japan and is now being adopted in the US also leads to significant improvements in long term learning.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Posted in: Aso says elderly should be allowed to 'hurry up and die' See in context

The solution to the aging problem is to make people more unhealthy. This is happening right now in all kinds of ways. Succeeding generations will die off faster than this one.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Japanese dating site busted for using fake profiles See in context

The site fees are not always where the big money is scored. The big money comes from one or multiple fake personalities starting off cyber 'relationships' with the mark and then bulding a profile on them to determine what kind of hard luck story from one of the personalities will lead them into sending cash.

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Posted in: Subcontractors reportedly ripping off Fukushima nuclear accident workers See in context

I'm not surprised, but continue to be amazed:

Right side of mouth: You can be sure we are going to fix all the problems with this industry up so that the safety of nuclear failities never becomes an issue again.

Left side of mouth: Oh deary me. Well yes we know about this umm situation, but well we continue to send out letters and remind them of thier umm obligations.':

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Posted in: Police to investigate former AKB48 singer's 'child porn' picture See in context

In foriegn media, and even in the case of some Japanese celebrities, it would be normal for journalists to do all they could to try to contact Ms Kasai and try to prise a comment from her. In the event that no comment was available then she would be quoted as refusing comment. In this case however, the invisible lady act seems to be totally OK. Are they really planning to still release that book and let her carry on with her modelling, or whatever, career as if nothing had happened? Are people really going to let her get away with having nothing at all to say for herself?

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Posted in: 30 hostages reported killed after siege ends in Algeria See in context

Algeria takes the public flak for not succeeding, but also the credit for not being soft on terrorism. World industrial powers get to wring their hands and say it's not our fault. They all save themselves time and a bundle of money. Nice outcome.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Posted in: HMV suspends share trading, seeks rescue See in context

In the original idea, the gramaphone was the company (the master) and the dog was the public (optimistic and obedient). Seems like the 'table' has turned now. The public is the gramaphone and the dog is company. Only trouble is that the gramophone is silent and the dog is still there optimisticlally waiting.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: NRA slams 'elitist hypocrite' Obama See in context

NRA must have known the way this approach would make them look, but they went ahead anyway in spite of an earlier promise at being constructive. The only reason for doing that which I can see is that they see their membership and corporate sponsorship as being under threat. Less members and money = lower number of jobs and lower salaries in admin.

When it comes to the bottom line, they don't care how dumb they look to the majority. They appeal to their core redneck base to keep those subscriptions and manufacturer dolleros coming in.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Posted in: French woman who fled Japan after 3/11 sues NHK for unfair dismissal See in context

Since other people were allowed back, it follows that for whatever reason NHK wanted rid of her anyway. Whether those reasons were valid or not, who knows?

There are two possibilities re the legal case: either the lawyers on her side have a real case to make in respect of the illegality of the firing, as they claim, or they are just trying it on in the hope of embarassing NHK.

I suspect the latter is the case, and if that is so, it won't work for her monetarily - assuming money is her real objective as opposed to making waves as a form of vengeance. I feel a little sympathetic to her, given that she has kids. However, that sympathy is more than a little reduced by the fact that there is no obvious reason why she could not give longer notice than 3 hours (ie about one hour before she left for the airport) or why she couldn't have held off to complete the upcoming show before leaving.

All this talk about getting clearance is nonsense. She was waving the ticket under their noses and had no intention of staying. Whoever talked to her was polite at the time, but anything they said would not have been an official position given the haste involved.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: Softbank offers employees Y1 mil incentive to master English See in context

As a constructive suggestion, how about a reading/writing test where the student has to read emails, memos and letters and then has to write replies according to instructions. If they can do that they will be useful to a company on the reading, writing side. If they can't, then they shouldn't bother to take the test and do some form of relevant study first.

On the listening/speaking side, listening skill without speaking skill is pointless in most situations. A separate listening test has some point in an academic setting but not enough in business to warrant a full section. Therefore you could scrap the listening side of the test and add this component to a new listening/speaking test which can be taken if companies want more than just reading/writing skills. This test would be made up of practical tasks in business settings.

A test set up like that would give you a cheap option: reading/writing only to keep the cheapskates happy and an expensive one listening/speaking for those who really want all round skills.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: Softbank offers employees Y1 mil incentive to master English See in context

I think I will say more on this topic. What is it that companies actually want? They want employees who can read and answer emails, letters, write reports, make presentations and people who can talk over the phone, conduct face to face conversations, negotiations and so on.

The problem with the TOEIC test is that study of it does not develop these skills to anything more than a marginal extent and it does not discriminate beetween people who can do these things and people who can't either, let alone make judgements as to level of competance. That being said, people who can in fact do these things generally score well on the test. So using TOEIC test scores as a hiring tool makes some sense. You can choose to interview people with only high scores and then find out at the interview stage what they can and can't do according to the needs of your company.

However, telling people that you have aleady hired to study for better scores on the TOEIC test, when you could instead be encouraging them to develop usable skills that the company actually wants makes no sense at all to me.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Posted in: Softbank offers employees Y1 mil incentive to master English See in context

The practical result of this incentive for Softbank will be a fair proportion of thier more motivated but less common sense employees spending inordinate amounts of time studying English in the wrong way (ie in amanner that is directly focused on the TOEIC test rather than on improving thier English) for many hours a week often wasting huge amounts of money and personal energy that could have been directed more profitably elsewhere. The final result of which will be - failure and frustration for the vast majority. A lose lose initiative by the company, I'm afraid.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Posted in: Lottery booth employee arrested for lying to customer about winning ticket See in context

Some oddly sympathetic remarks made here about the poor lottery clerk who sees people winning money all the time (actually they see people lose money far more than win it). What about the poor bank clerks, or anyone else who handles money for that matter? Theft is theft.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Posted in: Gov't eyes tighter rules for online drug vendors after losing Supreme Court case See in context

I agree of course that there is no reason to restrict the online sales of over the counter drugs. I also think that purchase of overseas drugs is overly restricted.

Of course, it is important to stop inferior products from being marketed in this country. However, if I want to buy supplements that I like from overseas which are produced by perfectly reputable suppliers and are not available in Japan, I can only buy a single month's supply at one time. When you add on the cost of delivery, these products that are reasonably priced if you buy a 3 month, 6 month or 1 year supply suddenly become prohibitively expensive.

There is an awful lot done in the name of public safety which in fact limits the public's choice in order to protect the local industry. The same goes for many other products as well, such as rice.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Posted in: Police recruiters eye polygraph tests to weed out possible sex offenders See in context

@frungy

Yes, I see what you mean. However, I was thinking of the the questions on pedophilia and sexual molestation that were going to be asked, as opposed to sexual offenses in general. Most convictions for pedophilia, for example, involve people in their 30s (although sometimes late 20s) and upwards into the later years. Questions along lines involving secretive anti social desires would not necessarily uncover anything of significance.

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Posted in: Student commits suicide after being beaten by school basketball coach See in context

"The teacher was questioned by school officials and has admitted slapping the boy in the face several times/"

What is a little unclear to me is whether this occurred on a single occasioin or on a number of occasions. If it was part of an ongoing situation involving high levels of psychological pressure as well, then it is a little more understandable.

Training for sports coaches (and teachers in general) in Japan needs to be more extensive and ongoing and should especially include the sociological side.

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Posted in: Police recruiters eye polygraph tests to weed out possible sex offenders See in context

There are of course exceptions, but generally speaking younger recruits will not at the time of takiing a test of this nature have developed the kind of proclivities that the test is seeking to weed out. It is something that develops for the most part in mature adults. If there is a greater incidence of this kind of thing in the police force than in other professions, then they should be looking at aspects of police culture that might exacerbate such tendencies and try to make changes to police culture. If they are looking for early signs in potential recruits that such proclivities might possibly develop, then this kind of thing should be included in an indirect way in an interview rather than by a physical test.

One thing that introducing such a test would do, of course, is make everyone in the police force much more worried about how they expressed themselves and how they acted. There might be some positives in that but it would also not weed out the worst cases and make a lot of other people uneccesarily paranoid.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

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