DiscoJ_2 comments

Posted in: As more companies shift to 4-day work week, new complexities arise See in context

I think Fast Retailing is the only company mentioned here that is really commiting to the idea.

Mizuho's scheme involving reduced pay probably means many/most just do 5-days weeks and anyway any company that allows for unpaid days off in effect has a 4-day (or less) work week already. It's nothing special.

And I can find no evidence that Microsoft actually did permanently implement a 4-day work week. There was the trial they ran and then misreported as PR for teams, but as far as I could find online, they have been back to 5 days since. I could see a few mentions on Twitter from randoms, but nothing verifiable. Happy to be corrected on this if anyone has solid proof, but as it stands I don't think the thrust of the article can be trusted.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: 120-year-old condom found in Ishikawa Prefecture See in context

@Chibakun

Is it the reusable type?

I think this happened awhile ago and was picked up by Monday Late Show: Getsuyou kara Yofukashi. If I remember correctly.. yes, yes it was intended to reusuable. In fact, it was meant to be shared.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Posted in: Which Japanese city is gaining interest among families and renters? Hint: it’s not in Tokyo See in context

Hint: it’s not in Tokyo

Yeah, technically it's not in Tokyo, no. But it does border the 23-ku and Wako-shi Station is not even 1km from that border. It's practically just an extension of Tokyo. Please save these headlines for when places like Zushi, Oyama, etc. suddenly shoot to the top of such lists.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Posted in: Japan's national park facilities upgraded with 'workation' in mind See in context

Yeah, seems like most commenters are assuming this means you'll have to work on your vacation days.

I've been lucky enough while working in Japan to be given permission to do 'workations' a couple of times when I needed to be in the UK for 2 weeks+ and didn't want to use up all my PTO to do so. It was pretty damn good being able to work early morning/afternoon and then having my evenings free to do whatever.

Imagine this 'workation' idea applied to the ski season. You could travel up one weekend, stay through to the next weekend, do some skiing or go to an onsen or whatever every single day and still not make a dent in your PTO. It's clearly advantageous for the worker, not some nefarious scheme to make people work harder.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Posted in: As sports embraces activism, what should Tokyo Olympics permit? See in context

She should've been disqualified for refusing to play in that match. It's set a precedent that the WTA is obviously not going to follow in future and opens them up to all kinds of accusations of favouritism and not giving a crap about the integrity of the game. One player, no matter who and no matter the reason, should be allowed to disrupt a tournament for unrelated political reasons as much as Osaka just did. It's crazy how much they pandered to her (and her deep-pocketed sponsors).

I think wearing masks, wearing t-shirts, displaying banners, etc. should be permissable in most cases, but intentional disruption of the whole event should be met with disqualification.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Posted in: As bosses embrace tech to monitor remote workers, can privacy endure? See in context

What PCs are these workers using? If they're being compelled to access company networks using personal devices, then clearly such tracking software will almost certianly violate reasonable expectations of privacy. However, for company-owned devices, some degree of tracking is perfectly reasonable in my opinion.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Prosecutors decide not to indict man for killing homeless woman in Ueno Park See in context

Am I reading the same article as the rest of you?

Do you know of any evidence other than the surveillance footage mentioned in the current version of the article? Footage that may only place him in the general vicinity of the crime scene?

You just know that someone died and someone was accused of the murder. That's it. It's not an open and shut miscarriage of justice by any means.

8 ( +8 / -0 )

Posted in: Rally against racism, in support of Black Lives Matter held in Tokyo See in context

none of this is relevant to Japan.

Where is the protest to give permanent residents the right to return to their home/work in Japan instead of being blocked at the airport?

The ability of foreigners to be able to get a loan and a bank account?

The ability of foreigners to have real employment with actual rights that Japanese have.

Ability to rent a house or apartment without discrimination.

Foreigners sure could use that kind of support from Japanese, instead of the trendy BLM stuff they saw online.

dont know what to think about this. Lots of buzzwords today like "white privilege, systemic racism, food deserts?" etc Denying somebody housing, work, and harassed for being a gaijin, seems systemic to me, and Ive experienced it all.

Agree with these two points more than anything else. It's totally meaningless gesture coming from the Japanese. Even the foreigners bringing it up here aren't doing anything useful (yeah yeah, neither am I), but I guess I can understand the motivation of solidarity with what's happening in the US. The Japanese should 'peacefully march' against the day-to-day discrimination foreigners face, or they should continue to be silent.

5 ( +8 / -3 )

Posted in: New subway station opens at Toranomon Hills in Tokyo See in context

@stickman1760

I agree it's a waste, but it has no real relation with the Tokyo Olympics. It's not like it was meant to be a key transport hub for any of the venues. Just seems to be a way to increase the value of MORI's multi-building development.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Posted in: How long do you think it will be until the TV streaming service bubble bursts? See in context

I can see the market getting oversaturated and some kind of 'subscription fatigue' settling in amongst consumers eventually. Companies will start (continue) to fail to reach their growth/profit targets and their stock prices might take a hit as a result. I'm not envisioning a 'bubble bursting' as such, but I do think the growth will stop somewhere soon and of course not every service will survive.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: New station on Tokyo Metro line to be called Toranomon Hills See in context

I guess MORI does own like half the office buildings in that area (not just Hills, but the whole district), it's 'fitting' for them want to build a new station and for them to name it.

But I wish they'd quit with the charade over the station being at all relevant to the Olympics. And no, I also don't believe his name was the 'will of the people' at all.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Posted in: Diet panel OKs bill to ban ticket scalping ahead of 2020 Olympics See in context

It sounds consumer-friendly.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Posted in: Halloween's impact not as big as some media make it out to be See in context

The results of the survey are basically meaningless without a clear geographic context. Halloween remains relatively 'new' to Japan and celebration of it started, and remains localised in, built up areas with western/US connections. It's not so hard to avoid Halloween completely once you're away from such places.

if this is a nationwide survey, the conclusion being drawn is very misleading.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: What are some of the weirdest examples of English used for product, brand or company names that you have seen in Japan? See in context

"The Pungency" was a short-lived bottled tea product that was available for a time 5 years ago. The funny thing was, it was actually a very appropriate name given the use of the word 'pungent' amongst professional tea tasters. But I can't see a brand in the UK naming a mass-market product in that way.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Posted in: Japan gov't launches 1st survey on 'overtourism' See in context

Yeah, I have to question Kyodo's slant on this article. It's not specifically stated anywhere that the survey will focus only on foreign tourists, but the repeated editorial references to the increasing number of foreign tourists certainly make it sound like that will be the case.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Posted in: Tokyo's new Toyosu fish market opens doors to public See in context

The real victim in all of this is Shijomae Station on the Yurikamome Line. It used to have the honour of being the least used station in Tokyo's 23 wards. Between this and the IHI Stage Around Tokyo that opened last year, it's going to lose that position for sure.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Posted in: Tokyo's new Toyosu fish market opens; public tours to begin Saturday See in context

'Character' is both largely meaningless and a biased comparison. Do you think tsukiji had 'character' when it first opened? Maybe in 83 years, this new place will have 'character' too.

5 ( +9 / -4 )

Posted in: 88-year-old woman in coma after being hit by cyclist See in context

The sidewalk 'rule' doesn't apply to children 14 and below.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Posted in: Relocation of Tokyo fish market to Toyosu begins See in context

One-time event? The move has been in the works for over a decade and would've been completed years ago if not for the contamination/political issues. The Olympics being around the corner just forced them to 'hurry' things up.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Posted in: Tokyo 2020 organizers say transport plan proceeding despite fish market issues See in context

mmwkdw:

Isn't the ban on bikes on the rainbow bridge for the riders' (and other pedestrians') safety? It gets super windy up there. Easily enough for a cyclist to be blown off-course.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Ad asks why new graduates in Japan are forced to look the same when job hunting See in context

Pantene needs to release some photos of their own new grad starters if they want to make real waves with this.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

Posted in: Disney goes back to drawing board after 'whitewashing' complaint See in context

@commanteer

I take it you have no awareness of the wider issue if you would say that.

Here is a quick primer: https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-44229236

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Posted in: 2 drivers arrested over hit-and run death of British man See in context

@ClippetyClop

"I agree on the whole. I'd be interested to know if the priority rule is the same as in the UK. At Zebra Crossings there drivers MUST stop when someone has moved onto the crossing. Here I've seen one lane stop whilst cars in the other lane keep whizzing through."

The 'rule' in Japan is actually stricter. Drivers are obligated to stop if a pedestrian simply looks like they intend to cross.

http://qa.jaf.or.jp/accident/rule/04.htm

And speaking of the UK, they recently introduced harsher penalties for drivers who cause death by dangerous/careless driving. Up to life (25 years) in prison for the worst offenders.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Posted in: The old and enduring mutual dislike between people of Kansai and Kanto See in context

@gokai_wo_maneku

I think this kind of 'rivalry' is mostly nonsense driven simply by the fact that Tokyo is Japan's preeminent city/region, just as the article describes.

You see the same kind of nonsense in reference to London vs. Manchester or the South vs. the North in England. It's little more than a manifestation of an inferiority complex (or the love of the supposed underdog). 'London/The South/Tokyo/Kanto may have the money/opportunity, but Manchester/The North/Osaka/Kansai has all the heart'. If Osaka was the economic capital of the country, what people currently describe as endearing directness and 'honesty' would start to be considered as rudeness and disrespect. Tokyo's supposed aloofness/coldness would be spoke of as 'consideration for others'.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Posted in: Japanese ad showing mom doing all the housework and childcare has people steamed at dad See in context

Yeah, the ads tend to reflect the target market of the product and it's the client that sets that target. Most producers of household goods continue intentionally target women/housewives specifically as their core consumers. They expect other groups (men, single women, working mothers, etc.) to accept the same messages/pick up whatever is cheap or popular, but they're somehow not 'worth' targeting directly.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: Too much 'Star Wars'? Disney CEO says it will slow down releases See in context

The negative fan reaction to The Last Jedi combined with the 'early' release of Solo: A Star Wars Story was probably more at fault than any kind of meaningful 'franchise fatigue'. Solo probably should've been released in December, like all the other Disney-era films. They would've had more time to build anticipation while fan's emotions towards The Last Jedi were not as raw. Solo's proximity to other big sci-fi films such as Avengers and Deadpool 2 probably didn't help its case either.

I'm sure that if the core Star Wars fans had behaved in the same way they normally do (i.e. watching the film multiple times and dragging their friends/family along with them), then the box office performance would've at least been 'acceptable', if not amazing.

This article is a little worrying because it sounds like Disney is drawing the wrong conclusions from Solo's 'poor' performance, effectively blaming the market instead of admitting to the missteps they've made.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Posted in: Five reasons there’s no tipping at restaurants in Japan See in context

macv, that's generally the 'otooshi' that the article refers to. It's still true that American-style tipping is uncommon, but as the article notes, the 500JPY service charge can easily be as much as 25-33% of your food/drink cost if you're just having a simple meal at an izakaya.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Japan driver's license to start showing expiration with Western date See in context

I hope the article is not accurate. 'Because there are more foreigners' is a ridiculous reason for the change and smells like a way for them to avoid admitting that they can't be bothered to reinvent everything for the upcoming new era.

1 ( +6 / -5 )

Posted in: Man arrested for raping woman in Tokyo; admits to similar crimes from 4 years ago See in context

I had ladies at my place without ever being aggressive to them... for sure you pick up the sign when they are interested in something more than a glass of wine...

Yeah but that's the actual strange thing about this piece and is why the discussion about a woman's 'obligations' are not necessarily relevant here.

From the article, it sounds like she didn't even get the opportunity to say yes or no. The man was just set on raping her from the beginning. The fact that she went to his apartment in the first place, suggesting she 'may' have been up for it anyway, just makes the man's deviance even more worrying.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Posted in: Belgium beats Japan 3-2 in injury time to reach World Cup quarterfinals See in context

Howaito-san, football may be the greatest game and the World Cup may be the greatest stage, but none of that robs me of my freedom of opinion and expression. If you enjoyed the Japan team's performance and conduct, congratulations, but you have 0 right to tell me or anyone else how to feel about it. Yeah, their achievement was 'great', but it still amounts to nothing more than playing a game and being good at it. I'll save my unconditional praise for people actually striving to make a positive difference in the world, not glory-chasing footballers that this country will go back to forgetting about in two weeks time.

And this thread has anyway been 90% positive towards Japan and you're still coming in to whine about the few of us that had something negative to say. Just enjoy your party and don't worry about us.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

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