CoolCali comments

Wait! Which one is the robot?

You can all suck my butt

After 6 years of English instruction, countless hours at juku and eikaiwas, most Japanese can barely utter a passable "Hello" let alone have the guts to want to work overseas.

Wasn't their a report a couple of weeks ago that said something like fewer than 20% of non-managerial employees wanted to work overseas?

I remember when I was at uni in California, every August a huge number of Japanese high school students would descend upon the campus to learn English and to experience America. When I was visiting a former English prof last xmas, he told me the students were now from China and South Korea. Maybe 1 or 2 from Japan. Go figure?

50,000 in a city of 12 million?

2 shows?

If they were truly popular, even in their own country, they could have sold out much larger venues for several days. Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Madonna, and dare I say, Billy Joel, can sell out massive venues for multiple shows in smaller cities.

3.5 hour show??? Hah! And you'll get about 45 minutes of actual music, the rest of the time will be spent on inane banter, costume changes, and videos of past concerts. BFD!

Over-rated, talentless poofs, whose longevity is due to the marketing whores that sell them to every advertiser they can.

I was in Kanagawa last month, puffing away. When some ojisan walks up and tells me to put it out. So I did. IN MY HAND. On the calluses I have from working with ceramics (my hobby). He about freaked. Then I lit up another one and walked away.

If you all are so concerned about air pollution, I hope you are all driving a Prius.

“We’ve lost respect in the world. We are going broke. The American dream is dying and our social and cultural fabric is unraveling,” said Republican Congressman Mike Pence

So, let's take them one at a time...

Lost respect: yes, Bush went to war on lies and deceit...No WMDS

Going broke: uh huh, 2 costly wars and the deregulation of the banking industry did that

American Dream: yeah right, wake up dude, the dream died a long time ago, you're just having flashbacks now

Social & Cultural fabric: these are right wing catch phrases for gay marriage, and white people in charge, respectively. Need I say more.

Too Little, Too Late should replace "Yokoso Japan."

This article fails to mention it isn't just flights on US carriers, it's flights to the US, period. My flight on JAL was transferred to Haneda, from Narita. I thought, OK, no problem. Until I saw the take off time: 12:05 am. WTF??? Thus, I had to change my car rental, meeting times, etc... I'm not the only one. Anyone else out there been bumped by JackassAirLines?

They look like guys.

You look human, I don't hear anyone complaining.... yet.

She's Russian?

Undoubtedly from Siberia or somewhere in the far eastern area, perhaps near the Chinese or Mongolian border. They don't all have fair skin and blue eyes.

I some times wonder what "Matrix" version of Japan you live in

LMAO

But seriously, I really don't care who gets elected to the revolving door show... just please have the chutzpah to serve your term.

ANOTHER Japanese baseball world champion !! USA needs to come on over and study our training set-ups,you know,get an idea...5-0 baby !!!

Obviously YOU DIDN'T READ THE ARTICLE BABY! The USA has won it 5 times in a row. Guess it was the Japanese studying OUR training techniques.

According to these statistics, Japanese teachers are the 5th highest paid in the world:

http://www.educationworld.net/teacher_salaries.html

Why should I trust a government I pay tax to but can`t vote out?

MOVE HOME

This quote wasn't directed at whiners like you.

I think the author was trying to be satirical.

Huh, I thought Chie was a Japanese name.

Laughing at a memorial for the dead IS NOT COOL. Children even know better. There is no laughing at Arlington, USS Arizona, Punch Bowl, or others. Just goes to illustrate the lack of maturity/sensibility the young have in Japan.

Terrible pic JT, get something that doesn't reflect so negatively on the Japanese.

All the dingbats that posted such inane comments as

Why don't the drivers realize they are driving a vehicle that could kill somebody, and watch where the f*** they are going?

or

if you are walking in the street pay attention.

Obviously you have no concept of how much pedestrians, drivers, and cyclists rely on sound to make decisions. We expect, as peds and cyclists, to hear vehicles approaching. It hasn't got jack t to do with paying attention. Drivers expect people to hear them coming, again, not having jack t to do with paying attention. That's how it's been for a very long time. You just don't unlearn these things.

I was saying this when the Prius debuted, what 8-9 years ago in California. People were always surprised when I said the damned things need to be noisier.

@paulinusa I wasn't referencing any reviews... I was talking about friends who have seen it. Hell, I haven't paid any attention to reviews since the "Star Wars" thrashing by reviewers.

Excellent article... too bad the "insert expletive here" xenophobes that run the show are probably equally incapable of reading your article.

Heard the movie really blows hot air. Had some friends see it in the states and their kids were bored... Really sad, considering all the money spent on this thing. Then again, M Night (what the hell does the M stand for???) wouldn't have been my first choice for directors.

the sight of some of the battleaxes unclothed would probably make me feel ill and lower productivity!

I'm sure they would feel the same toward you

Cool biz doesn't fly because if you really want to save energy in the summer just go home on time. I've heard, but don't know if it's true, that the reason DST isn't used in Japan is that the dimwit salarymen will keep working until the sun goes down. How daft is that?

Doesn't this look like something a Las Vegas hooker would wear?

Why wait for the lame rentals which will probably be vandalized. Go watch it on Bestdocumentaries.com right now.

Simple workaround that worked for me and a couple friends.

1) Make friends with an older Japanese person who has lived in the area all/most of their life. Should be easy in bigger cities, I don't know, where I live there are only about 75,000 people.

2) Live in a business hotel for a month or two while pursuing #1, and working. Most of these places have discounts for long term stays. I was paying about 55,000 a month.

3) Broach the idea of an apartment with your new found friend who then can introduce you to a landlord directly. Once this happens, the landlord loses face if he/she refuses their friend, so they are compelled to deal with the situation.

I have never paid key money, or resigning fees. I've been here 7 years and still cannot speak Japanese worth a damn. It's called being smart.

1)Too much emphasis on preserving the 'wa' and not enough stones to tackle the tough issues with the forethought that not everyone will be happy.

2)Too many backroom dealings instead of transparency or at least the illusion thereof.

3)Too many unelected, over privileged wankers in the bureaucracy.

Which is why when people ask me, I tell them "Vulcan." It pretty much ends the conversation.

The opening scene of "Saving Private Ryan."

"Wahhh! Wahhhh! I want it easy... like, like my grandparents after WWII."

What a load of crap. Images and idiots on TV are what these overprotected wimps see as success. Monster parents who don't allow their child to taste defeat or real success early on are creating children incapable of thinking and acting for themselves.

I just had some kids mother write yet another note to the school. This is the third in, you guessed it, 3 years. Each year it's the same old BS: "My son finds English difficult. He has problems speaking in front of others. He gets easily intimidated." And on & on it goes. When this kid was in first grade he still couldn't use chopsticks, let alone a spoon and fork. Why? You guessed it, right? Mommy was still feeding him.

Anyway, rant over. Off to Kamakura for the day.

Ah Pukey, you beat me to the punch.

Yeah, my friends in the states have read about the hellish ambulance experiences in Japan and just hope National Health care won't lead the USA down that path. I tell them not to worry since western doctors actually have to take AND pass (college courses in) AND practice ethics.

She wrote a book? Didn't think she could even read.

Ghostwriting in Japan is a VERY lucrative business.