shufu comments

"but permanent residents can be reluctant to relinquish their nationality for reasons of culture and identity — especially “zainichi,” many of whom were forced migrants or their descendants."

They are not forced now though, why dont they just go back to where they came from? This special permanent residence thing is a joke.

I agree with Mr Sassa in that there definitely are different kinds of foreigners, and Its time for the government to put a cap on Chinese and Korean immigrants. There are FAR too many of them in Japan now.

Frungy, I appreciate your gesture in putting that number up for all those needing help. However I think my word choice was wrong, for that I apologize, however I dont think you really should be giving me a slap on the wrist and little lectures for my comment when someone wrote that -

You dont try and kill yourself by cutting your wrists. Thats pure attention seeking on the womens part.

Surely comments like this by MasterKun - that people who try to kill themselves are simply attention seekers - are more dangerous than my bad vocabulary?

how awful for the child involved. I wonder what happened... ? Family of 5 implies there were 2 more kids in the house? My money is on the 11 year old having some kind of learning difficulties or diasbility requiring him needing extra attention...

Masterkun05 - slitting your wrists can be fatal if you sever one of the big veins. You would just bleed out. Its a perfectly accepted form of suicide.

My god she is irritating....

talentless and over-rated. I liked her best in the beginning of hannah montana - but shes heading on a path to britneydom now.

But Kobekid, there are many terrible people in the world who have done terrible things whose passion and genius I "respect" but it does not make it right.

"NationalistRE at 06:58 PM JST - 16th June could we deal in specifics here? Dolphin killed for meat, white man sad"

Thats exactly it in a nutshell NationalistRE - It is a movie designed to play on the "bad" Japanese doing terrible things to the cute little dolphins, and the goodies (The white guys) rushing in to save them.

sounds not bad, when you put it like that... but Mango and Rum are a combination that I have never come across before..... anyone tried this yet?

debitto - I saw the movie, and I just couldnt take it seriously. It was SO incredibly one sided, and I did not think it was an accurate depiction of what really happens in Taiji.

Why do you think such things should not be allowed Dibitto? What is so special about dolphins that it deserves the weight of Americas hammer coming down on Taiji? I personally think America has an awful lot of Animal rights issues they need to resolve before they come beating on Japan...

I don't like the way that this guy is going about this.

I don't necessarily agree with dolphin hunting, but getting all these hollywood "stars" on board is going to do nothing but spread anti-Japanese sentiment across America. To be honest the people influenced by these celebrities are probably not going to research about this custom, and find out their own opinions, just "I don't like it because Jennifer Aniston doesn't."

I feel that negotiation is the way to stop this, not bullying Japan via hollywood. At the moment its Japan that have my sympathies in this matter. And saying that, its not even JAPAN, its a tiny little fishing village with the whole force of America coming down on its head.

Zenny - Unfortunately Christians nowadays have very little religious "rights" in comparison to other religions who need to pray several times a day. If you go to the UK you will see it first hand - "Christmas" being changed to Winterfest etc.

But I dont understand why this boss doesn't just fire these people if he cant handle their demands. I say keep religion and work separate. Unless you are a priest of course.

I saw that too Whiskeysour - This "club" should be investigated... regardless, where were the supervisors or leaders? In my experience those in charge of these camps or groups are much more responsible in general than the parents of the kids.

Its sad for this lady, she tried to help, but perhaps she couldn't swim well herself. where I come from (an area which is surrounded by sea) learning to swim is a mandatory elementary school requirement.

who?

Bah... doesn't shock me at all.

These kinds of girls are available to clients in all layers of business in Japan. Its like offering massages or buying your lunch.

hrd - of COURSE foreigners can be criminal.

However... the "hakujins" are a very easy target to blame if you are trying to cover your backside for something. Automatically 80% of Japan is on your side, uttering about the "baka gaijins" under their breath.

If I had ¥6M for everytime a foreigner had been falsely accused I would be rich.

kirakira and cleo I am with you BOTH.

Our child was born sunny side up - meaning that she was upside down effectively, but not breech. And from the outset I had terrible back labour and they refused me pain relief... but they did give me some pitocin to speed it all it. Meaning it was so "fast" (like 15 hours is fast) but so, agonizingly painful. I told them I wanted to die.

The reason they gave was that my blood pressure was too high (but that was because of the pain, I imagined) , and that they thought I was coping well.

I Still have nightmares about the pain to this day. Lamaze, breathing, didnt do nothing... However I must say the doctors (except for this point) were absolutely wonderful. Im not a J-doc basher. I am kind pleased now they held off on the meds, but I was disappointed they didnt give me a freaking medal or something after I had finished....

And Zenny - I will not have any more children because of it.

bah.. if the doctors would actually give women pain relief in Japan there would be no need for hypnotizing and that.. Instead of just a helpful "gambarre!"

yea ... how much money do you want to bet that when they look at the bank cctv there is not a single caucasian in a blue suit.... ?

Sounds like an insurance job to me.... but if not I really hope they find this caucasian man.

we did get a krispy kreme but....

"thepro at 01:08 PM JST - 7th June there are burger kings in Japan?! where? Move outta the sticks, fella" ...

I live in Osaka... No burger king here...

sibling rivalry? I wonder where the mother was? Probably no link in this case, but teenage girls need their moms around, or at least some other trustworthy female figure.

im waiting until i hear more before i decide what i think of this.

there are burger kings in Japan?! where?

wow... I hope this poor kids parents feel happy with their choice of free childcare. Jesus ... a hoikuen is as low as 2-man a month for 2 kids.

The parents are absolute idiots for leaving their children in the care such an old dude. Our Ojisan is about the same age, however I just dont leave him alone with the kiddies unless the much younger ba-chan is there to supervise.

mikanojo - who are you exactly to decide which Japanese traditions are good or "bad"? Its very easy to say that as someone looking in from the outside.

I don't think anyone has the right to decide which traditions are good or bad that except for Japanese people. Its not so easy to separate this tradition from daily life for the people of that town. But I do agree it needs to be shown, for people to make up their own minds about it. Although most people in Japan are not going to see this as terribly negative.

To be honest I didnt like the movie, I thought it was totally biased, however I think it should be shown. Refusing to show it because of nationalist pressure sends a stronger message than if they show it but nobody went.

"what appears to be two human legs"

What appears to be? I mean... either they are or they are not right? have they checked that no shops are missing a mannequin?

sf2k - I just dont think talking about it is helping, actually, and neither is wasting money bringing in immigrants who are almost always failing. Its wonderful your friend in canada got the job using her degree, but what I was trying to say is that there are no prospects for these nurses.

If Japanese nurses (on the other hand) knew that they were throwing X amount of ¥ down the toilet to go to university and get decent, worldwide accepted training, and could work abroad if they wanted or stay in Japan and do something more rewarding than working as a highly paid Janitor, more people might be willing to enter/stay in this kind of work.

Wow. . . my english is terrible tonight. I need to study harder. Apologies for the typos and repitition and non-existing grammar... its getting near this shufus bedtime...

interesting stats sf2k.

What I find interesting is that Japanese nurses are actually incredibly under-qualified compared to their western counterparts.

For a Japanese nurse to go and work (as a nurse) in America, Canada, Australia or Europe, they need an additional 18 months academic study and on job training on average. You cant complain about them being treated like rubbish and being under paid and treated like Janitors when effectively thats what they effectively are. They are ridiculously underqualified and based on there qualifications are being paid remarkably well.

Raise the nursing bar, Japan, and then your nurses will be paid more. More pay = more people wanting to be nurses.

It seems more sensible that the foreigners who want to be nurses in Japan get a grasp of the language and come to a Japanese university to study alongside the Japanese nursing students. They can all be ill trained and under qualified together.

Sakurala and Ayesha - I totally disagree with you both, although I do understand what you are saying about the hiragana.

I feel for that people to work in Japan as a nurse, they have to be at the level of other nurses - it only seems fair. We wouldn't cut the Japanese nurses slack if they could not read and write to a level to do their job, so why should we for foreigners?

We should not let these people use hiragana, because its not really going to be helpful in the long run. These people NEED to learn the kanji if they want to work as a nurse in Japan. Its not just reading labels these nurses do - its things like writing up patient notes as well.

I do agree the Japanese government needs to give alot more time for study though. Perhaps they could introduce an extension on the visa the nurses currently get, and make that extension for exclusively studying the relevant Kanji. I mean... these Kanji are really hard. Most Japanese people are not able to read them, which is why it is so important nurses can.

excellent. Finnair is really an awesome airline, fastest by hours. I have always had a good experience flying with them.

However I would like to point out that you can get return deals from Europe to Kansai from 700 euros/500 GBP, but going from Kansai to Europe is often double the price. Please lower prices from Japan, Finnair!!! I always end up booking a return from Europe, so i can get the cheaper flights.

as a morning bento maker, I think its a good idea. I think its aimed at housewives or those with kids/husbands who are in a stress in the morning. However I like my bentos to be healthy so I dont really fry that much... but If I did, i would totally think about buying it. I wonder how sealed the sides are? Like could you effectively shallow fry something in one segment without the oil spilling into the next?