ScottDRad comments

The teacher did wrong. No excuses.

In the future the teacher must identify positives as well as offer constructive feedback that enables the student to improve their competency with a skill set. This teacher failed to achieve this. In this case the criticism was not constructive and could be born out of the frustration of a devalued industry.

The school should be acknowledged for being open minded enough to have a conversation class. For languages to be learned they need to be lived and the best motivator and experience is human interaction. That is a step in the right direction, just need to educate this educator on how to get the best out of their students.

Japanese Manga and anime is not good for a language teaching tool because it is difficult to find school age appropriate content. While the level of engagement is high for some students especially with anime, most want to watch in their native tongue not Japanese.

An odd news article. Two grafs about household assets and then - without any transition - it spends the rest of the article talking about the BOJ's bond buying program.

Is this article trying to argue that the household assets are tied up in government bonds? I wouldn't have thought that was a wise investmest since the government is deliberately trying to keep yeilds low. It is also highly unlikely as most Japanese like cash savings as a means of security.

This normalisation of far right views in Japan is very concerning. This is pretense to advocate for autocracy and facism which is never good for the people who have to go and fight the wars for the vane leaders who do not care about them. Whether it is in Germany, Russia or Japan, autocracy is never good for any of us.

Since he is learning from Buddha he has a very wise teacher who should be able to guide him on the correct path :)

This situation where old houses are being torn down is sad for the heritage and history of these areas, but it is better to recycle the products in the houses than simply leave them to go to ruin. I hope this business model can be replicated in other parts of the country where remote owners have no interest in maintaining these properties anymore.

"Ganbatte", the only way to bring about change is to challenge the existing order. The harassment and other behaviours of these 'men' is unconscionable. Japan will change because of the hard work of ground breakers such as Umeko Saito. I have enormous respect for all of Saito Sans effort to progress Japan and no respect for the actions of those politicians.

It is excellent to see people express their culture and maintain traditions that will enable young people to connect to their cultural identity. I'm very impressed! The world is a richer place when we can learn from the past.

Japan has long promoted the interest of business over the interest of people and the loss of public green space is totally unacceptable. Sure, knock the stadium down if it is unsafe, but replace it was public facilities not hotels and more exclusive Tokyo apartments.

If the question was: Is the cost of living crisis going to abate in Japan anytime soon, the answer would be no. Companies will be profitable but the standard of living will decline

I voted yes for three reasons

The rebirth of foreign tourism in Japan will bring in much needed foreign capital

Japanese brands are still incredible positive around the world and people will pay a premium to access them

Japanese technology companies are world class and will lead Japan into a positive economic future, this includes investments by companies like Toyota and many others into electric, hybrid and hydrogen powered vehicles

Good advice, relationships can be messy in Japan just like anywhere else. Fellow Canadian is better off finding a new partner.

The world is going crazy, what are the Russians concerned about? The US seizing their oil reserves because Russa has attacked the territorial integrity of a UN Member? Next craziness we will read about is that Trump will accuse the Russians of having Weapons of Mass Destruction. The World is going Crazy!!! I hope you understand sarcasm, before you tear my comment apart, please read it as thought provoking Joke. I wonder if those missile launch systems actually have missiles, isnt Russia meant to be running out of them?

ZorotoToday  05:08 pm JST

That's what happens in response to warmongering Japan.

You are about 86 years to late for that comment, so it is very strange. While Japan does have an advanced self defence force, Japan has only participated in peace keeping operations for over 77 years.

I applaud the Japanese Metropolitan government for introducing a speaking test as part of the High School entrance pathway. Developing speaking skills is the most beneficial outcome of a learning a language. It creates connections and life opportunities.

Im a little dissapointed that they have outsourced the test to a private contractor. There is plenty of experience with language teaching methodology within Japan itself and within the Tokyo Metropolitan government. This includes within Tokyo itself at the Tokyo Foreign Language University where Professor Yukio Tono has been promoting a standards based approach to teaching, learning and assessing English language. I'm sure he could have consulted for the Tokyo Metro government and they could have designed an in-house test that would have guaranteed fairness.

These standards are based on world class teaching methodology and you will note in the link below a clear focus on understanding-listening and speaking.

https://tufspods.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/cefr-j-english-version.pdf

I have set in on a few of his professional development sessions and he knows his pedagogy.

The only other observation I make is that it should not be compulsory, but an elective where students who wish to go in certain directions in their life or apply to certain schools would sit the test. If you want to technical high school, taking an English speaking test is not relevant to your future life goals.

A higher US dollar will increase the cost of energy which will cause short term pain for consumers but encourage them to move towards renewable energy sources. This increase in the cost of energy can be good for the environment. It will also be good for the Japanese export sector as the price of their iterms becomes cheaper in a key market. This will include Japanese automakers especially those with elecrtic vehicles and green technology such as pumped hydro electricity. However, there will be short term pain for the average consumer.

It is possible some of the abductees are alive. I can think of two possible reasons.

Some abductees dont want to return to Japan because of the family they have created in North Korea and dont want to be separated from them. If they have a family with a North Korean, it would be very complicated.

It is also plauisble (but unlikely) that there could be a few Japanese abductees who have trained high level Korean spies in Japanese language, that are unable to return because these spies are embedded into important positions in Japanese society. For example this reasons has been raised to explain Megumi Yokota's non return to Japan in the Koizumi era.

However, as time passes it become more unlikely.

According to the Fortune 500 ranking, the top 10 Japanese companies made over 85 billion US dollars in profit last financial year. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_Japanese_companies

The minimum wage should be higher in Japan. For some reason, people keep voting in people who are not representing their economic interests. It is only when the Japanese people make change at the ballot box and become more active political will wages go up. Stronger unions would also be effective to increase pressure on government and companies to increase minimum wages.

What I have never understood about Japan is that people have to pay social unemployment insurance. They already pay tax why do you have to pay extra just to have your basic human rights met.

It's called chancing your arm. If you just try and market your property at an inflated price and a foreign investor pays up because it still seems cheap given the exchange rates, there's your market.

The sellor sets the market only if the buyer is willing to pay that price ;). You might get lucky with an overseas buyer who is cashed up and doesnt know the local market intimately, a good time to highball the market. It has been happening in Australia, people keep putting the prices up and the buyer keeps paying.

Im not sure its possible to make the unification church illegal, unless they are engaging in illegal activity. However, there should be stronger disclosure laws including cash donations or other services provided where politicians and political groups keep a record of all these donations in a public manner.

Just a little bit silly

How does this movie fit into the Predator franchise?

Its a prequel, set over 200 years before the first predator movie.

Take an advanced, high tech alien from a warrior society and pit him against indigenous people in the 1800[s armed with bows, arrows, and spears. So we're going to get a debilitated predator who'll use primitive weapons to fight the indigenous girls and lose to them. It's woke.

Can you at least watch the movie first before you past judgement, it might not be great. But how do you know?

I'm interested in seeing some different faces on screen, I love the Tomb Raiders movies (strong female lead in an action movie), and as father of two daughters the more powerful female role models the better.

Looking forward to watching it, I hope the young heroine give the predator a run for its money. It will have to be a strong example of asymmetric warfare for her to even survive.

ToshihiroAug. 1  08:14 am JST

It is because governments and the people tend to politicize everything and use a lot of soft power in retaliation. I think the toxic culmination of this would be cancel culture. If something offends you, you discredit it and encourage others to do so. We push inclusivity in society, but we exclude those that harbor different values to us. The dichotomy of our time really is something.

I totally agree, the beauty of democracy is the multiplicity of views that enrich all our lives

Yes, leftists, BLM justice warriors and all those who encourage them have driven a wedge down the middle of society and caused more harm and racial tension. It's much worse than it was 20 years ago before they were born.

Im not sure if speaking uo for what you believe in is driving a wedge or just expressing your rights to self determination and expression, as long as people can have differences of opinion in a respectful manner, that is liberal democracy in action.

Over the last 20 years, the rich have gotten richer and the poor poorer. The politicians have failed the people.

Well the people have elected those politicians, some because they wanted to get richer at the expense of others.

Critical literacy and reasoning skills have never been more important

It would be better for Japan to recognise dual citizenship. It really isnt an issue anymore, most countries have extradition treaties with Japan if you commit a crime. The only time it really becomes an issue is if someone wants to be elected to the national diet because then they really shouldnt have any allegiance to another country. I hope the Japanese government recognises this in the near future, it would encourae many young Japanese dual nationals to return to Japan to work at least for a period of time thereby benefiting the Japanese economy. However, having lived in Japan for several years and been an avid spectator of Japanese politics for two decads I cannot see any politician bothering to bring this change to the diet.

PFLP official Marwan Abdul-Aal told The Associated Press that Palestinians have always faced a double standard because when they resist Israeli occupation forces they are called terrorists. Meanwhile, Western countries now support Ukrainian resistance against invading Russian troops, he said.

"The world is not fair and this is what those people used to say," Abdul-Aal said about Japanese fighters who supported the Palestinians.

You cant compare Ukraine and the Palestinian Independence movements. The Ukranians have not engaged in indiscriminate terrorist acts outside their borders. Attacking innocent unarmed civilians is not resistance fighting, it is murder.

The main problem the Japanese universities have is that as soon as a reseacher is on to something they are poached by a high performing university overseas where the employment conditions are much better in terms of income, prestige and work life balance. Until Japanese work culture changes then the brain drain will contine. This policy looks more like bureaucrats looking for soft landing post retirement in the Amakudari system*. *So nothing will change except the Japanese tax payer has ever more debt to pay on behalf of supporting the elites.

It is a really interestingstory of how two people with a passon for Japanese culture have established themselves in Japan working in their area of passion. I did note that both individuals decided to start their own business as the next step. This is a brash step in a field with centuries of tradition. These are the examples of individuals who will helptransform traditional Japan to meld with the modern world.