hurryharry comments

My guess is that she is a HS sweetheart from his neck of the woods...the dude doesn't get out much and probably relied on mom and dad for recommendations...I will further predict that she is pretty bland, low key and probably involved in education or healthcare.

Chicken and egg thing...too busy and too tired to take on a 2nd gig...need a 2nd gig, but too tired and busy to even look for one...a friend makes over 9m in HR and works at a restaurant evenings and weekends to be able to afford an apartment...in Saitama....

Wall Street economists with major firms in Tokyo have been saying this for over 20 years and not much has been done. They even went as far as to say that a relaxed Japan Inc. workplace would not even need foreign labor. I just can't imagine how many billions of gallons of green tea have been consumed at bureaucrat meetings to arrive at the same conclusion and just do nothing.

Two examples: 1. A relative manned his own small accounting office until age 86 or so, married, no kids, no one to take over, so he had to close doors after his wife became bedridden. 2. Our family doctor is about 90 and still seeing patients despite being half paralyzed and on a wheelchair after a stroke. His daughter is a doctor and works with him at their clinic. He used to travel, play golf and drive a Porsche.  

Both say they just couldn't let their loyal customers down.  But that makes you wonder why work for 60 plus years and not enjoy the fruits of your labor?  Why hold on? I don't see any of my relative's customers visiting him or helping him or his wife now that both are bedridden.  I just scratch my head.

I remember a manager at a Japanese company where I worked actually showing up at my colleague's home on a Saturday night, bottle of wine and flowers in hand, to convince her and her parents not to quit. Pathetic, way out of line and a clear example of power harassment.

I remember my manager, who was pretty IT savvy, saying 70% of internet contents were trash. This is over 20 years ago. I feel AI will end up the same way.

Just look at Kishida's cabinet...mostly geezers....with hardly 2-3 women in the mix...

My mom looked after kids in the neighborhood and made extra money that way. My brothers and sisters and I literally grew up with 1-2 other kids from the neigbohood....but those were the times when you actually knew your neighbor. God forbid a kid get a scraped knee in Japan while being looked after by a non-registered caretaker..the police would raid the place and the caretaker would get arrested for sure. There is just no flexibility in this culture and society for new services to be created.

I wonder if the good ole times of the 'token gaijin' will make a comeback....back in my day, honorable gaijin with very specific eye and hair color were hired to serve as office decorations and make the company look international...obviously my brown skin does not go a long way here....

It Soka Gakai, most likely; therefore, it is not named openly.

Why is it that Japanese people think doctors are infallible beings?

He's a foreigner allegedly committing a crime at a high visibility event...they'll throw the book at him for sure regardless.

This guy (I will not name him on purpose) was good at kicking a ball... that's all...never mind he was a drug addict, racist, womanizing wife beater..... sad to see he's considered a hero by many....

Women have the right to dress any way your want at any time. I once asked a J-mom why she went from vixen to nun after having a kid, though. She replied that she was just too tired to dress up, apply make up while juggling a kid, house work and lazy husband (which counts as 1 more kid) which makes total sense. My friend's wife, no kids, totally lost the high skills, mini-skirts and make up after marriage...go figure.....

Lock him up!!!

The is a Minister of Justice!!! lol......

I felt very sorry for the 'gaijin' members of the Japan Rugby team who had to sit through that old and tried display of "Japan-ness." It brought back bad memories of my first and and most pathetic first New Year's eve in Japan ever: Nowhere to go in a dead neighborhood, cold as a witch's butt and under a kotatsu eating mikan and trying to make sense of Morning Musume lyrics with limited hiragana....fast forward to 2019 and thank God for Youtube, Amazon and Netflix!!!

Once I jokingly said Carlos Ghosn, with his wealth, would be able to pull a Houdini and he did! Looking forward to the Netflix documentary...too bad it won´t be shown in Japan... lol....

Editing mistake, just that. That was probably a practice take.

When is the movie coming out? ;)

....he was teaching English to kids at Happy Happy Big Bear English school in Yokosuka....

Let's face it: Japanese women have ZERO support from government agencies or any other organization whatsoever. Most Japanese men's house work is limited to a nightly bath with the kids and a trip to the local park on the weekend. Who wouldn't go nuts like this?

I once saw something bizarre at an athetic meet. A young male runner was about to faint when crossing the finish line. The runner was about to hit the ground and this fat hairy guy grabs him still standing up and starts kissing him in the mouth. He was sort of French kissing the runner. The red cross interferred and the fat guy alleged he was trying to revive the runner (standing up?) by giving him "mouth to mouth"....After recovering, the young runner looked grosssed out and keep wiping his mouth.

Aamazon is a business, not a charity. Apple, Google and Microsoft are way nastier and few people seem to care.

Excuse the directness, but Japanese people have such thin skins these days......'left the pitch crying'....the wimp should have ignored them; instead he won himself a new nickname that will haunt him as long as he plays in Europe....

I've said it many times before and say it again: Working in Japan involves putting up with absurdity that would probably be considered a violation of human rights in other countries, especially at small family owned companies.

I've heard and seen TV reports on companies where the owners or founders are no different from cult leader with employees having to bow to their pictures every morning, run work-unrelated errands for their children, serve tea or coffee at a determined time or otherwise risk a cut in payment or public humiliation or abuse.

One of most stupid examples I saw on TV once was that of a ramen chain owner in Osaka who had this obsession with Rambo and made all employees undergo compulsory military-like training at 5:00am every morning at no extra pay...of curse, he was 'the commander' of the ramen forces....utterly stupid....

But I dearly remember the truck driver who was fired from a small family cult-like company, so, pissed off, he stole a cistern truck full of human waste and emptied the contents in the company's main office....revenge is sweet.....

I've always had a hard time reading Japanese people despite my 20 years of living and working with them. Back in college, when a girl said 'teach me English' it mostly meant take me, I'm yours.' Other times and spoken by an old dude or lady who wants to 'take you under their wing,' it could mean 'teach me English 'cause that's the only thing you're good at or the only thing you can do for me since you're a leach feeding on my country's resources.'

I've always found it hard to make Japanese friends because there is always an assumption, at least in the part of the Japanese that, something has to be exchanged for the relationship to work....

...I feel sorry for the trees cut down to make the paper the book was printed on...what a waste...

Truly horrible. Something's gotta be done about suicide in this country. Back home, my neighbor's teenage son attempted suicide a few times..he was a messed up kid with the self-esteem of a garbage can...but my real shock came here in Japan when someone jumped in front of the train I was riding on...I was petrified. That was the most horrible feeling I have experienced...a life lost so close to me...and that happens about 8 times a day in this country...

There is no wa they'll let her...they'll throw her back in the slammer in no time or out of the country (if she is lucky)....