Zed Phillips comments

Posted in: Foreign tourists spend record ¥4.5 tril in Japan in 2018 See in context

“By far the largest spend was from Chinese tourists” - who from my own experience of Tokyo in 2018 were loud, obnoxious and mostly responsible for a 20% rise in prices as Japanese merchants cashed in. There was a noticeable downturn in Japanese hospitality and gaijin curiosity too, as if the population were gaijin weary and simply doing their best to endure the gaijin hoard for the sake of the Japanese economy. In many Tokyo neighbourhoods I thought Chinese had replaced Japanese as the national language and an extra 9 million per year to 2020 will make things unbearable for many of the local population.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Posted in: Insider Trump resisters are not heroes See in context

You gotta love the Trumpster. The elite often decry the working man as being resistant to change but when they are forced into change by Trump they scream like adolescent teens who have just had their cell phones confiscated. Trump is a challenger politician, shaking up old thinking and obsolete ways. The elite don’t like change or any threat to their cushy lives. Trump delivers the threat of change in bucket loads.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Posted in: Japan's abandoned goods find second homes in Philippines See in context

Visit any flea market in Tokyo and you will see the Chinese buying up all sorts of stuff to ship back to China. They would rather buy used Japanese stuff than buy new Chinese made domestic market rubbish.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: Probe into foreigners' health insurance abuse stirs controversy See in context

In the UK point of issue treatment is free (we pay through the nose for it in taxation though and the service is cr@p) and the system is heavily abused. However as a diabetic in Japan I find that Japanese healthcare is superb. As Macv says not ALL employers offer healthcare and I personally prefer to pay for my own private insurance for the major stuff. They will not cover pre existing conditions like my diabetes, so I pay 125 gbp cash per month which covers Japanese doctor visits where the wait to see him in less than 20 minutes, no appointment required. (In the UK doctor’s appointments are regularly 20 plus minutes late and that’s IF you can get one within two weeks!)  - monthly blood test, prescription cost and medication. So in terms of quality, value for money and efficiency I give Japan 4 out of 5 and the UK 2 out of five.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Posted in: Europe's new data law upends global online advertising See in context

The amount of data collected by Internet giants like FB, Google and all the others needs strict regulation. Content providers argue that they cannot provide free content without selling you to advertisers as product.

Trouble is, much of the free content is absolute dross that everyone can do without. Put it this way. Bloke walks up to you in the street and says “you can have this rubber chicken if you allow me to follow you everywhere you go, look at everything you buy and get to know everyone you interact with” – Would you take the deal? NO! Would you fcuk as like. Well, the rubber chicken represents some click bait on the internet. So do you still want all the “free” dross out there?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Trump says there will be 'big price to pay' for Syria chemical attack See in context

As international officials worked to try to confirm the chemical attack - From the article - so it is not even known for sure there was an attack let alone who caused it. It would be far better if Assad just nuked all resistance and then said to the West keep your noses out of Syria and the middle east or suck on my nuke. Works for Kim Jong Un.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Posted in: Some women selling nude selfies online for easy money See in context

This article fails to mention that she was 19 when she started so she was in fact under age. Also, it is illegal to distribute porn electronically without a licence and censorship. Whether it was her body or someone else’s is not relevant.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Posted in: Britain pushes for united EU front on Russia after poison attack See in context

This is all just a dog and pony show to distract the public from matters like Brexit, lawlessness on the streets of London in the form of moped gangs and violent crime and the hostile takeover of engineering firm GKN.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

Posted in: Japan Inc's safety failures point to deeper malaise See in context

Some years ago I worked for a large Japanese printer manufacturer. The factory was not meeting production targets so a new Japanese MD was shipped in. One by one he went around the assembled managers asking what was needed to meet production targets and got the same B/S answers as his predecessor. So, having worked on the shop floor I piped up with suggestions – More end of line scanners to scan the barcodes of finished goods. Printer pools to print off shipping and tracking paperwork as the single EOL printers were hammered and often jammed and a number of other suggestions much to the horrified look of more senior managers in the room. At this point the new MD leaped to his feet and stormed out of the room heading towards the factory floor. Managers hurriedly followed. The MD went line by line asking each team leader what they needed to increase production and one by one they confirmed what I had said. The lines got their extra scanners and more allowing production to exceed target. That MD had a simple philosophy – “go to the real place, see the real problem, find the real solution” In all the years since I have never seen this applied and yet, for a business to thrive the grass roots, the workforce, the working practice and pride in the job has to be fully supported by management and that cannot be done if management never leave their ivory towers.

10 ( +11 / -1 )

Posted in: Questions and answers on proposed ban on laptops in luggage See in context

Why ban laptops but allow smartphones, iPads, electric shavers etc? If laptops are such a huge concern why not just insist that their batteries be removed? That way you could buy a new battery when you arrive at your destination.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Scandal-hit Nissan suspends production for Japanese market See in context

Could go deeper. Maybe the plants do not have enough trained and qualified inspectors due to not wanting to pay the extra money that a qualified inspectors job would pay. Could be their existing inspectors cannot cope with the volume of inspections per shift, thus being over worked and finding shortcuts. Obviously three plants have a deep seated culture of operating like this. Management heads of those plants need to roll.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Cairo named most dangerous megacity for women; London, Tokyo best: poll See in context

This is London: Man stabbed in heart by moped thieves who stole his iPhone 7. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4988420/Charity-worker-stabbed-death-iPhone.html

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Posted in: Ruling bloc heading for big election win despite voter distaste for Abe: poll See in context

Japan has the biggest population of sheepeople anywhere in the World. Abe and his clowns have achieved nothing for Japan and yet they will be voted back in? Abe will bring US nuclear weapons to Japanese soil under the NK threat.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Posted in: Sexual abuse stories from around the world pour out on social media See in context

What I find really pathetic is all these women who claim they were assaulted by Weinstein never came forward before putting their fame, fortune and careers before their morals. They disgust me.

-5 ( +5 / -10 )

Posted in: Cairo named most dangerous megacity for women; London, Tokyo best: poll See in context

The NHS is total rubbish. It is only free at point of issue, the British pay dearly for it via compulsory deductions from their salary. Waiting lists for both GP and hospital appointments are often so long you will either die or be cured before you ever get to see a medical practitioner and then they often fob you off with pills without investigation the underlying issue. London is a sh1t hole where gangs riding mopeds rule the streets with both petty and major crimes committed. As a female you do not want to be on the streets alone after 11pm in London.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Posted in: F-35 stealth fighter data stolen in Australia defense hack See in context

To work in the defence industry an individual has to pass all sorts of probing questions about their background, family ties, political views, financial situation and even sexual preferences. How is it then that a defence contractor can get away with internet facing systems where the default password and username have not been securely set? All defence contractors should have to submit to a government penetration test, how is it that this common sense measure is not implemented?

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Posted in: Kobe Steel's data fabrication affects Toyota, M'bishi Regional Jet See in context

This is the sort of B/S you expect to hear about China manufacturing, not Japan. 10 years of faking data, where is the QC? Where is the management oversight? Heads in high places need to roll because this is an endemic failure of management.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Anti-Assad nations say no to Syria reconstruction until political process on track See in context

The West are all too happy to keep interfering in Syria while a mad man in NK does as he pleases and is a far bigger threat to World peace, but the West do not dare upset China the cheap manufacturing base that enables Western companies to make fat profit from cheap labour.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Posted in: To shoot down or not? N Korean launch brings up intercept issues See in context

Perhaps the west should test fire a number of ICBMs from the Sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea simultaneously flying over NK to show them that their total destruction awaits if they continue their quest for weapons of mass destruction. The West tolerated Hitler for too long, look where that got us.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Posted in: China's ties with North Korea fray See in context

With the West showing an exceptionally weak response to the NK nuclear threat China will become emboldened over its ambitions in the South China Sea. After all, this is not about NK but how far the West can be pushed before we risk upsetting China.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Posted in: Growing dilemma: Automated jobs meet social consciousness See in context

I can just see how that will go down in London. Where lawless moped riding gangs routinely use sledge hammers and crowbars to smash shop windows and steal goods. They will have a field day smashing the thing up unless it is fitted with multi directional high powered tasers.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Sexism and culture: Japan’s obsession with 'kawaii' See in context

I hate that the West is so obsessed with stamping our morals and standards on every nook and cranny in the World. PC liberal idiots seek to remove areas of culture that they do not approve of, like Morris dancers blacking their faces in the UK. Life in Japan can be really tough so what not let them have their kawaii escapism and keep our often hypocritical cultural criticisms to ourselves.

1 ( +9 / -8 )

Posted in: China says Japan shouldn't slap N Korea with sanctions See in context

China allows the fat man to push the International community to see how far he can go. From that they can gauge the likely resistance from the West to their plans to exploit the mineral rich South China Sea. This has gone far enough now, The US is the only country with a military big enough to pull it off needs to flatten NK with conventional weapons and tell China that if they interfere the nuclear option is on the table. It is only because NK hides beneath China’s skirt that this has been tolerated. Both NK and China need a lesson to kerb their ambitions.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Posted in: N Korea says hydrogen bomb test was 'perfect success' See in context

China allows the fat man to push the International community to see how far he can go. From that they can gauge the likely resistance from the West to their plans to exploit the mineral rich South China Sea. This has gone far enough now, The US is the only country with a military big enough to pull it off needs to flatten NK with conventional weapons and tell China that if they interfere the nuclear option is on the table. It is only because NK hides beneath China’s skirt that this has been tolerated. Both NK and China need a lesson to kerb their ambitions.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Posted in: Brexit negotiators trade barbs See in context

The UK should abandon talks with the EU and seek trade agreements with the rest of the World. Then when the EU see that we are doing very well without them, they will come crawling back. EU exports to the UK are worth far more than UK exports to the EU so we should tell them to shove the so called divorce payment and just walk away.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: How big are the benefits for bilingual speakers? See in context

It is a point Kullengren echoed. “Compensation in the world of international business seems to be, at least from my own experience, based heavily on performance”. - But that is certainly not the case. Many CEOs have presided over companies that have made losses but they never get penalized.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Posted in: Is North Korea winning deterrence war with U.S.? See in context

China is happy for NK to push the boundaries of a weak willed international community. By seeing how far the West allows the Fat Man to go, China can assess the international appetite for conflict over the resource rich South China Sea. This is a clear power play and Trump should put it down hard or surrender American dominance in Asia to the Chinese.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Posted in: Aso retracts Hitler comment after criticism See in context

Nazi Germany did profit economically from Hitler’s early leadership and that is a historical fact. He also restored national pride, gave the people unity and hope for a better future. Then went totally mad.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: Banking, train services hit by internet disruption See in context

NK does not need to nuke a county; it simply needs to target the unprotected and undefended transpacific communications pipelines. When 21st society cannot access its digital money to pay for food, fuel etc it will turn nasty very quickly and those nations who rely heavily on technology will be severely damaged. Japan will not escape this even though at consumer level it is a cash society, that cash is digital at some point, from the employers bank account to the employees it is digital.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Trump to send more troops to Afghanistan as part of new strategy See in context

Afghanistan's opium poppy production goes into more than 90% of heroin worldwide. Unless Trump starts to napalm the fields you will never stop terrorists there because this is a major source of the income that funds them.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

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