sirgamble comments

She loved the child's smile... but it was only 2 months old when she killed it... so was probably physically incapable of smiling.

Put her in gaol for a long time!

Regarding the above comments, I think one thing is that most Japanese people haven't heard bad Japanese before, so when they hear it they instantly think "he's got no idea! I'm going to help out the poor fool by using 100% katakana words because that's English..."

People who have studied English tend to be more open I find because they know what it's like to not speak a language natively. Maybe your accent/grammar/word selection is a bit different, but this does not mean you're a non-speaker (as many uneducated people would assume.)

Just keep practising... I find that as you get better and get to know people; more and more of them will resort to Japanese because they realise your Japanese is better than them speaking in 100% katakana (which is Japanese! Many don't realise that... they think they're speaking English when they speak katakana...)

Yeah a good chance for boys like Tomic to come through... I think that's one thing Hewitt didn't realise when he criticised Tomic's selection. When Hewitt was battling against Rafter/Scud/The Woodies for Davis Cup places we were asking "who's playing in the final?"

Now we're having to do the regional pools (because we're not as good as we used to be) so we don't need to use our best players against countries like Japan. Be great to see Tomic get some experience!

Meh... it's no secret, all tyrants love having a hot chick to back them up because it makes others jealous.

What I find annoying is that these so much effort put into making English really childish and "fun" looking...

But when you go to learn Japanese... you just get these big thick, boring books and a line of bull about how difficult Japanese is to learn. I threw these all in the bin, found some foreign texts and did my own study... practised everything on the people around me and it worked really well.

Of note, whaling (which is relevant because "The Cove" refers to dolphins as being whales) has been practised for many centuries in many other countries. I'd suggest that countries like the UK have even longer traditions because they had better boats than the Japanese historically...

That said; they seem to have had no issues abandoning whaling (which I use interchangeably with dolphin hunting as that's how "The Cove" does it.)

As they say in "The Cove"... it's not really culture, it's just being stubborn and saying "you white men can't tell us what to do... we don't care about what the rest of the world thinks..."

She's pretty hot...

"Not everyone lives near Steen and cherry blossoms do not blossom at the same time all over Japan or the World. I saw them earlier this year in OKINAWA - in February."

That and aaaaah... it's a plum blossom...

I love Mr Donut... fed up with Krispy Kreme's getting so much attention. I swear their marketing ploy is to pay about 1000 people to line up, order LOTS of donuts and then give them back later on.

Mr Donut is king!! Pon De Rings forever!!!!!

Meh lots of businesses make people work Tuesday to Saturday to avoid these holidays anyway... I say lump them all together and give us a week off instead (and punish companies who work during this time.)

Develop over time... don't try to get a date, people can pick it if you're on the prowl/desperate...

I think the biggest problem is people dividing Japanese and non-Japanese staff.

I think this clouds the hierarchy because Japanese people don't take orders from gaijins and gaijins don't take orders from Japanese people. In eikaiwa environments it often leads to in-fighting.

How do such hierarchy's work? Ages ago I was the only full-time member of staff at an eikaiwa, and on the top worker's salary by a mile (the Japanese staff were part-time and on 1/2 what I was, if lucky.) A number of part-time Japanese workers (including a bus driver) decided that because they were Japanese, they were my boss. The senpai rule didn't seem to exist to them when it came to gaijins... they then proceeded to call me lazy and bark orders at me. Needless to say I quit, and got a sensible job.

I think the current generation is starting to wake up to the fact that they're no-longer a completely broken country that has just lost a war. The country is relatively wealthy, and putting in 80 hours of overtime a month (that's 2 extra weeks of work!!!) will not do anything.

The labour laws are there... if all people just leave the job once their schedule's up then there's nothing the boss can do, because they're fulfilling their legal obligation.

Of note, English teachers are treated the same (if you're Japanese.) Companies like Peppy only pay Japanese staff for the lessons they teach (and they pay something like 1200 yen an hour.) Teachers are then required to come 4 hours early and leave 4 hours late... so often they work a 14 hour day... 4 hours of paper-shuffling in the morning, 6 hours of back-to-back lessons with no rest, then 4 more hours of paper-shuffling.

There's no punishment if they just go home (and no promotion prospects if they put in the extra hours.) My question is why they bother...

And yes, kids get abused everywhere, but only in Japan is it justified as punishment

It's legal in most countries to discipline your child with reasonable force (or something along those lines.) That said... beating the bejesus out of your kid is not acceptable.

In my books, striking a child is unacceptable in any circumstances.

PS - I doubt I know who the girl is (or care.) Why do this?

caffeinebuzz... The hamburger/fries is seasonal; they get rid of it at the end of every winter! I feel for you too... it's called the King Burger! Awesome burger... best in Japan I think.

It's not a conspiracy, but I think it's clear the US media's making this out to be a lot worse than it actually is. I've heard similar complaints regarding other car companies, but never heard of recalls... that was Toyota's decision (and they're being criticised?)

I say good on them... and I don't usually back the Japanese!

hahahaha funny to see all the proud Americans on here insulting how proud the Japanese are...

Pull your head in guys ;)

I reckon it is... US media's trying to make Toyota bad.

Ford had issues in Australia... a guy nearly died because his car was stuck in cruise control at 100km/h!!! He rang Ford during this drive and said "guys... I'm gonna die! What can I do?" They said "it's not our problem..."

So he called the police. Eventually he flipped the car and was lucky to come out alive. Ford refused to accept that this was an issue (they said it's a car in mass-production and it's okay for 0.5% of cars to have faults as this is relatively low.) This was swept under the carpet, and Ford didn't even do a recall!!

Here we have Toyota with an issue that hasn't even been exposed in the public (TOYOTA IDENTIFIED IT AND DEMANDED A RECALL!!!) Why is the US media slamming them so hard for it?

Because all their car companies are BROKE and Toyota's raking in the clams...

A few things that I'd say degrade the market in Japan:

A lack of freedom regarding teaching practices. A lack of desire for trained teachers (at home a TESOL certificate is a bare minimum... here... many schools will frown upon teaching qualifications because they're a threat to their model.) A lack of certification for schools. No offence to the author, but he boldly admits he's an IT guy who just decided he'd teach English one day! Surely a school principal should have at minimum a master's in TESOL, and 10+ years experience in the profession? There's no regulations here, so anybody can teach. A lack of ANY promotion system within most schools (you either own the shop or you're on around about 250 000 yen, which isn't enough for a family.)

I think teaching in Japan is a good gig... if you're young and want to have fun in Japan for a couple of years. Alternatively if you have the skills/patience to setup your own school then good on you.

If you're a trained teacher and want to teach here because you have some good methods you want to implement & teaching is your chosen profession, then it's a bit of a joke (you're better off going home with your qualifications/experience because all eikaiwa teachers get paid the same.)

Much better than fluorescents... Most Japanese people don't seem to understand that fluorescent bulbs use a LOT of energy to turn on, and then use pretty well no energy while running. Consequently at work the fluorescent bulbs are constantly being turned on and off to save energy (which is a funny paradox.)

Yes the Japanese have a simple way of dealing with this... "Thank you for your opinion Mr Obama, we will think about it..."

It is spring though... My image is that Japan's simply cold and wet all through winter up until August/September, so they fiddle the seasons to go with the cherry blossoms (although plum blossoms look the same and last longer.)

Man I just feel like swearing my head off!!!! What a **** no good words for them!!! This is about the worst form of murder I can think of, to an innocent child who needed to be loved by his mother...

Yes I'm guessing soaplands are booming? If people are going to drop 5-man+ they want sex, not a beer and a chat! You can get that for free...

PepinGalarga A wireless mouse for 100 yen? Show me where and I'll get one...

44,000 yen a day!

2 rooms with breakfast, lunch and dinner every day... pretty easy, and not all that expensive.

Meh she's in trouble... the hotel are fools for letting it happen, but such is life... H1N1 hysteria in there... that made me laugh haha

"Gee, I'd love to work for a company that gave me 30,000yen for lunches & after-work drinks!! I didn't know that some employees even got an allowance from their companies."

haha... no... that's their salary! After they've paid rent + rates...etc they have 30 000 yen left in their pockets to feed themselves... Given I spend about 20 000 yen a week on food, I don't think I want to be in this position.

It's been said... don't leave your baby in the car... it's just dumb. In Australia you would be charged (they have guys inspecting the parking lots.)

My guess is (like many Japanese people)... she left the keys in the ignition with the engine running so that the aircon would make her baby warm enough (it's freezing in Nagoya!!!!) I see that all the time (with or without babies)... often I'm tempted to take the car for the joyride or something... what would the charge be? I haven't broken into the car and I haven't stolen it (if I give it back.) Probably a pretty minimal charge (if anything.)