DenTok2009 comments

If this panel is anything like the committee that pondered how to disperse donations after the 3/11 earthquake tsunami, solutions and actions will be a long time coming.

@Jalapeno Do you think dim sum in San Fran or L.A. is better because of the taste? Or the variety?

I thought I'd like the "real" version of mapo tofu but, a couple of years ago, I had the authentic Chinese version of it in a Chinese restaurant in Kawasaki. I didn't like it. The first two of three spoonfuls were good but beyond that, it was much too spicy. I like the Japanese version...

Hey, he wasted no time! That sure was fast. From fooling around with Mayor Matsumoto on Twitter to booking a flight and landing here.

Honey is going nuts. If no one responsible is taking any calls then who will stop someone from rescuing Honey and the penguins?

Some employees did not feel the need to correct charges after realizing actual costs were lower than initial estimates.

I think I understand why those employees didn't feel the need to correct the charges. After all, the corporate clients could have taken their business elsewhere if they thought they were being charged an exorbitant amount. (I know, in some instances, I willingly paid a bit more for Yamato's delivery rather than go with the lower charges offered by the competition.)

@Mike Wyckoff "By Japanese law, the cops can't actively engage with bikes..."

Interesting... So, the law lets motorcyclists/scooter drivers go on their merry way while bicycle riders get scrutinized ("Excuse me, may I have your name and registration number?"). It seems to me the local police tool around the neighborhoods stopping cyclists and checking their registration number as an excuse to leave the koban and do some light policing. But, if their hands are tied per the law then they can't do diddly squat about motorcyclists/scooter drivers.

Really awful that eight teens decided it would be fun to pile up on motorcycles and go out on a spin. No-license-,-no-problem-,-I-can-drive mentality the very young and oblivious have.

"As of Aug 10, 715 people were not listed on family registries..." How do they know that?

I recall a CNN anchor (can't recall her name) reporting on the Chibi Maruko popularity. She said, "Chibi....", I laughed. Agree with Diego3, Maruko-chan and her grandpa were best buds. They enjoyed life.

So... upon finding her husband dead on the throne, she moved out? If she stayed put, where did she go to use the toilet? Where was she when the police entered her apartment? Out shopping? At work? Am I nosy or what? =p

I'm guessing those who are desperate for a paycheck will apply. "Elder" (Japlish for 50's!) and "Senior" (Japlish for 60's!) Japanese who apply for various positions and receive a polite "Good luck on your job search." Ditto for foreigners (no matter the age) whose Japanese language ability is limited. My neighbors, some of whom just arrived from Ghana and haven't studied Japanese at all, depend on their fellow Ghanaian who can speak Japanese to act as interpreter on the job. A couple of them told me if they are shown what to do then no need for an interpreter. They will do the job and stay with the employer for a long time. It's finding that employer. Someone who is willing to take a chance on a gaijin. I think the supermarket with that awful ad isn't paying much and expecting a whole lot. Abuse, abuse, abuse...

Ha, ha, ha... want to push it even further? How about "Tell us why we should hire you!"

I wonder whether the robots will be participating in other activities (cleaning the classroom, participating in extracurricular activities...) plus giving the parents a report on how their child is progressing.

Companies that are willing to hire foreigners who graduated from an university in Japan are getting people who they assume are willing to work the Japanese way (work to death, don't take holidays, make your way to work during typhoon, etc.) and have or willing to learn Japanese business manners. (...found out by accident that there are rules in place for walking into an elevator with co-workers/management and the pecking order for getting into a cab among other things)

Last summer, I spent three months in Hokkaido. I was surprised how much I loved it, weather-wise. I was very comfortable without a/c. The only downside was no internet unless I went to the city (one hour by car or ride the bus that comes only once a day).

Oh, why can't that happen to me? I would say, "Domo arigatou gozaimasu" and invite her to a home-made meal.

I used to share a house with a guy who worked for the USPS. He was taken in by the Nigerian general/surgeon e-mail. Good for him being tight-fisted. When he told me about being contacted by this guy claiming to be a general and a surgeon in the Nigerian army about a long lost relative leaving him millions, it was already a few weeks into their e-mails. I told him it was a scam. He was pretty annoyed with me and asked how could it be a scam? I told him he would have to put up some money. The general/surgeon hadn't done that yet. Apparently, the g/s was stringing him along with some song and dance about being very busy. Anyhoo. The time did come about transaction fees. My roomie kept up the correspondence in hopes of getting the money without paying a dime. At one point, they discussed meeting in Amsterdam.

Poor "Haruka". Guess it didn't occur to her to tell "Cathy" to deduct the service charge from "Aran's" account. Her hard-earned money gone. Or, a loan? I hope she didn't take a loan out to help her newfound friend.

Unemployed... I'm guessing his roomie wanted Terachi to pay rent or move out.

I don't get why Sakae was offended by Icho wrestling in front of him. What's that about? A gold medalist shouldn't be training where he can see her?

@1glenn There's the 国民年金 (kokumin nenkin which is national pension). If one is employed then it's deducted from one's wages. Unemployed? No excuse. Still forced to cough it up.

@Disillusioned I'm guessing they live together because it's the family home. Nothing in the article about her working, just that he's a "company man". Perhaps they can't come to terms about selling the house and both want the other to move out.

Hmmm... I wonder about the average Chinese consumer. They see a Japanese name on a product and no questions or research (in this case, simply take a look at where it's manufactured) and purchase it. Are they that easily fooled? If it's true that all one needs is a Japanese name on a product for it to be flying off the shelves, I think I better think of some things to create and market especially for the Chinese market.

During an interview at a temp agency, I overheard a girl being asked if she's living alone. I get that question during interviews in Japan all the time. I never got that in the states.

Years ago, one Japanese girl told me, the interviewer commented on her family. (She's from a big family down south.) He said, "O-------- have nothing better to do." I felt very angry for her.

I get:

What do your parents do?

(Even when I reply that they are dead, the interviewer wants know what they did and who they worked for.)

Are you an only child?

(When I say I am, they want to know whether my parents have siblings. I told this to a few of my Japanese co-workers and they told me that the company probably wants to know for their in case of emergency contacts record. Er... why ask in the interview? Plus, I never got hired! Nosy interviewer, methinks. Nothing to do with the job or just making small talk while thinking, "Not a viable candidate for this position but let me stretch out the interview.")

I answered an ad which was surprisingly welcoming (foreigners welcome! seniors! high pay!). First hurdle was a short paragraph as to how I would be an asset to the company. Second was CV review. Third was an invitation for a face to face interview. I don't know how many more hurdles there were. The company was looking hire around 3 to 5 people and they were swamped with applications.

If the economy was thriving like in the bubble era, employers wouldn't be inundated with applicants. Employers would be throwing in benefits like crazy; work for us and you'll get a trip to Bangkok! (ha, ha...) You'll finish at 5 on the dot! (ha, ha, ha)

Get rid of the puppet masters / Imperial Household Agency and Masako will blossom.

Read a Japan Times article of her interview way back in January of 2002. She was a busy teen, working at a life insurance company, attending night school, taking lessons in dance, tea ceremony and flower arrangement and working one night a week where her pay for the night equaled a month's salary from the life insurance company. (BTW, she was a minor when she worked as a hostess.) She is a woman who gives herself opportunities to advance and takes chances. The woman says "...everyone is given chances. Whether you have the intelligence to recognize a chance when it comes up, that’s another matter. Then you have to work hard to make the most of that opportunity to achieve success." Certainly a far cry from the first impression one forms when reading that she was a former bar hostess. I met a few girls who work as hostesses part-time. For some, the extra money is for clothes and accessories and for others, it's money needed to pay bills and then a few who say it's a way to meet guys and have boyfriends to pay for dinner and fun.

It'll be interesting to see which stores decide that paying 370,000 yen is worth staying put. I'd like the stores to stay but the new rent is ridiculous. Guess Nakamise Dori will be gone.

How did the police officer come to notice the money was missing around 8 p.m.? A routine check? Or was the door slightly ajar?

"...leave infants anonymously...", "...18 returned to their families..."

If it's anonymous then how were some returned to their families?

"...30 children had been sent to orphanages and other facilities..."

What are the other facilities? Hospitals?

I'm curious as to how the investigator(s) came to the conclusion

that 53 babies were born in a car and not in a hospital. Did they

come with an aroma of "new car smell"?

If the babies were the result of consenting adults who thought they were

capable of feeding and caring for their offspring but decided after a few days/months/years

of parenting that they just could not, do those "parents" really need to be convinced by social workers or the police or whoever that they must take back the child they left in the hatch? Any follow up as

to the welfare of the child forced back upon his or her parents? There should be a welfare check

until the child can fend for himself. (16? The age when a child can work? Or until the child graduates from high school?)

@Dan Lewis Yamato wasn't paying overtime and I think most of the drivers would for the most part rather work their shift rather than go for an extra hour or two or three for free. It's the time-for-me-to-clock-out-but-I've-still-got-to-deliver-these-parcels-and-my-work-ethic-/-conscious-won't-let-me-leave-it-for-tomorrow mentality that Yamato and other Japanese companies expect from their employees. Even with the overtime pay, I'm thinking most would rather just go home or hit the bars rather than work, work, work.