Killer Klowns & War "buddhists"
Soka Gakkai, a Nichiren sect that counts some 7.5 million members in Japan. Japan's Komeito Party which is the political wing of Soka Gakkai voted for the Fools War in Iraq against the wishes of its own memembership and the Buddha.

Nichiren, utimately the orginal founder of Soka Gakkai, was insistant on eliminating other Buddhist sects, warning that Japan would be punished if they didn't make his brand of Buddhism the universal one. He even took credit for the Mongol invasion as proof that he was the true religious leader of Japan. Theologically speaking, Soka Gakkai is a pyramid business selling newspapers. Soka Gakkai use wild presure and can resort to strong arm tactics to convert people.

SGI is worse than Mormons and appeal to same wannabe, upward-aspiring l0sers. The Victims of Soka Gakkai Association has a website including the expose in Time magazine:
http://www.toride.org/eindex.html

Counterpoint (typical problem that SGI is "buddhism" to the Western world and the only Japanese religion that "exports".).
http://joi.ito.com/archives/2003/08/20/meeting_with_kenji_yoshigo_of_soka_gakkai.html

BOO! Today is Halloween.
Topic: Japanese life
Did you light a lantern at Yasukuni Shrine?

The 13th of July is first day of traditional OBON when the Japanese light a fire to welcome the spirits of family ancestors back. Ever serious about their religion, the Japanese moved OBON to next month so the travel industry could make more money selling tickets for two OBON periods.
---refer to O-bon - Japan's Halloween

An authentic Mexican restaurant in Ebisu???
Topic: adviceS
There maybe an authentic Mexican restaurant called Salsita about 5 minutes' walk from Ebisu station. It faces the Yamanote Line tracks --west of the tracks-- just north of Ebisu Statio, (left hand side as the train goes from Ebisu to Shibuya).

Yen 2,500 to Yen 4,000 per person depending on how much you drink. Most dishes are in the Yen 900 to Yen 1,500 range.

Hours: 18:00 to 24:00, closed Sundays.
Address: Shibuya-ku, Ebisu-Nishi 1-3-2 1F
Phone: 03-5489-9020
http://homepage3.nifty.com/salsita/INFO&MAP.htm
http://homepage3.nifty.com/salsita/My%20Pictures/mapa.jpg

200,000yen/m is the minimum wage in Japan for an alien
Topic: adviceS
JOBS IN JAPAN
"TERRIE'S JOB TIPS"
Tips and advice on finding jobs in Japan.
http://www.japan.com/jobs/jobtips/96.php

No 96. JPY200,000 is the Magic Number

....Frankly, even if they really scrimped, it would be hard to imagine a couple surviving on much less than JPY4,000 per day for food and transport, which would total JPY120,000 a month.
In giving her this advice, I also expressed the opinion (yes, I told her to get professional advice as backup) that her daughter would be well served coming to Japan on a spouse visa and then attempt to switch to a work visa as soon as possible. As I understand it, you're normally not supposed to work when you're the spouse of a foreigner.
Hearing what a low salary the prospective groom was receiving started me wondering what Japan's minimum wage is. I've heard various stories about whether there really is a minimum wage in Japan. Theoretically there is one, but given that someone can be classed as a "part-time" worker for up to a year, it's anybody's guess as to whether minimum pay rules really get enforced.
The ILO web site (http://www2.mhlw.go.jp/english/outline/04-10.htm) says that the minimum wage varies between professions and prefectures, but for laboring work in Tokyo, it is JPY5,465 per day, which works out to about JPY121,000 per month.

---------------------------------------
---- Terrie Lloyd is the founder of DaiJob Inc. He also publishs JapanInc magazine and writes a weekly newsletter for entrepreneurs and business people, about business and political opportunities in Japan. You can find the newsletter at www.terrie.com.


MANY More Job Tips

"Hello Kitty Robo(tm)"
Topic: Japanese Tech

AFP 12 Jul 2004 12:00 AM
TOKYO, JAPAN: Japan's computer giant NEC and robotic venture Business Design Laboratory unveils in Tokyo, 12 July 2004 the prototype model of communication robot "Hello Kitty Robo", which is able to recognize human voices, faces, and to speak thousands of phrases. The 52cm, 6kg robot will go on sale from 01 November...

Whale of Winners

PHOTO LEFT AFP / 12 Jul 2004 12:00 AM
TOKYO, JAPAN: Campaign girl Luri Sasaki shows a mock ticket of the 300 million yen (2.65 million USD) Summer Jumbo Lottery next to a Tokyo ticket booth, 12 July 2004. Thousands of people queued up for tickets in the hope of becoming a millionaire.
PHOTO RIGHT AFP / 12 Jul 2004 12:01 AM
WADA, JAPAN: A fishermen takes away meat of a whale at the Wada port in Chiba prefecture, east of Tokyo 12 July 2004, while students (R) from a local elementary school observe.

Japan is Asia's laziest country

Japan Is Asia Pacific's `Laziest' Nation, ACNielsen Survey Says

July 12 (Bloomberg) -- Japan is the `laziest' nation in the Asia-Pacific region, with almost half the population saying they never exercise, a survey showed. ..
----------------------
>Via the forrestino blog, copied from the
Wall Street Journal --July 1
MORIOKA, Japan -- Nothing was going right for the residents of northern Iwate prefecture. Try as they might, the people of Iwate seemed stuck in a poor backwater, with factories closing, shaky state finances and few prospects. So, three years ago, Gov. Hiroya Masuda sent out a bold new message: Just give up.
"We don't make an effort in Iwate," Mr. Masuda declared in a nationwide ad campaign that has run annually since 2001. ... ...more...
頑張らない宣言(ganbaranai sengen = ganbaranai declaration).
Inside story from the translator
http://www.livejournal.com/users/forrestino/116719.html#cutid1

It's 38C/100F in Tokyo (Why do people live here?)
38C = 100.4 F

Four die as heat wave hits Japan
Sydney Morning Herald,
A heat wave in Japan has killed four people, most of them elderly, and left at least 10 others in serious condition in hospital, officials said Friday. ...

Torrential rains flood buildings in Saitama Prefecture
Mainichi wrote:
SAITAMA -- Torrential rains hit northern Saitama Prefecture late Thursday, flooding seven buildings, police and a meteorological observatory said Friday.

WOT?! Campaign posters for Sunday's election in Japan

Campaign posters leave room for revision
Vox Populi, Vox Dei -- Herald Tribune/Asahi; July 9, 2004
The Liberal Democratic Party's poster reads: ``Konokuni-wo omoi/ Konokuni-wo tsukuru'' (Caring for this country/ Creating this country)
Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan) ``Massugu-ni, hitamuki-ni'' (Going straight ahead with devotion)
New Komeito... ``Jitsugen-ryoku'' (Ability to get things done)
Social Democratic Party is brief: ``Ima koso `min'-ism'' (Now is the time for the people's will).
The Japanese Communist Party ...: ``Kaiaku nenkinho-no jisshi-wo yamesaseyo'' (Let us stop the government from implementing its poorly revised pension laws). Evidently, the party thinks the wordiness will induce voters to read its campaign poster, but it remains to be seen whether voters will stop to read it.

Posted by trek/taro at 12:22 PM KDT
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Japanese love-of-nature at their garbage beaches
Topic: Concrete Japan
Long ago during my first Endoshima (aka Garbage Island) swim, I managed to get a mouthful of dead cat as well as being covered with green oily dioxin film.

Losing battle being fought to keep Kanagawa beaches clean
The Japan Times: July 2, 2004
FUJISAWA, Kanagawa Pref. -- It's almost 5 a.m. and the sky is warming as the sun rolls up to burst open the horizon. The pacific rhythm of the ocean waves dominates the soundscape of the virtually deserted beach.
For Atsuko Sakurai, a local surfer, this is the best time of day to pursue her passion. She strides excitedly onto the beach, but her glee fades quickly into quiet dismay as she steps around the minefield of cracked bottles, smashed cans and other assorted trash.
Seeing such a messy beach, Sakurai can only sigh.
Summer is officially here and it's the season when piles of trash from weekend parties at the beach welcome early morning surfers and trouble the residents. The ocean debris is a serious environmental issue for Kanagawa Prefecture's popular beaches, and the condition gets only worse as summer wears on....
_________________
モ?ベッタ...DEATH for DUMBO!

Dinner of Death VS death for dinner
Topic: Me
Quicktime movie of my "fugu" poisonous blowfish for dinner this evening in Kannai Yokohama.

A "while" back I wrote this about my first encounter with THE FISH OF DEATH, FUGU...

Fugued!
It?s another gray day at Japan Inc. It?s a gray Monday morning for moaning, stretching and staring at battleship gray metal desks and concrete walls .
Ah, but last night ...
I was thrashing in the middle of Roppongi crossing baying at the moon. Two hundred and fifty thousand yen flopped out of my back pocket and whirled about in the wind as my date was hobbling about in her red miniskirt trying to fetch the bills. I was howling - laying flat on my back I could see her see-through pink lace panties. I definitely had found a friend in fugu.
An interesting fish, the fugu ...
The CIA uses its poison for dartguns. Japanese girls feed it to their men to get them "inspired". The blowfish, which is what fugu is called in English, was sliced up to be eaten raw at a neighborhood bar. The terribly charming Emiko had taken me there for a little hot sake and English conversation. Between her giggles and my gropes, she ordered the night's adventure, fugu, from a knife wheedling cook who had full control over my life. If I died from the little rubbery fish hors d'oeuvres, it's the cook's legal right under Japanese law to commit suicide. It seemed like a fair deal to me.
After fugu, she poured four bottles of hot sake into me , poured me into her husband's 4x4 pickup and sported me down to Six Trees, Roppongi, Tokyo's partyland. We were snarfing a couple of cheeseburgers while watching a Hamasaki Ayumi video when the fugu took hold. I felt hot flashes and then full-blown menopause followed by metamorphosis and a big blur that eventually dumped me at my desk at Japan Inc.
Fugu! Who needs drugs when you can eat little slices of raw death? But sitting here in my gray uniform, sprawled prone on my gray desk top, surrounded by gray walls and my gray job,
Well there you have it. I've only a few hours here to catch some sleep at my desk.... I?ll have to prepare myself for the evening's meal of more sake and something safe like. shirokarai, fermented raw squid guts.

Post subject: Crash college classes for 'classroom collapse' in Japan
学級崩壊 gakkyu hokai = 'classroom collapse'

Shiga Univ. to train teachers to fight classroom chaos
Kyodo / July 07
Shiga University will offer four new courses next spring designed to train would-be teachers to resolve pervasive school-related problems such as classroom chaos and truancy....
Education expert Naoki Ogi said existing programs to train teachers generally put excessive emphasis on teaching subjects even though bullying, truancy, severe disruptions and other serious problems are becoming prevalent.
--Also refer to the education research here and here.

"Far-Out Far East Rickshaw Rally Race"

"Far-Out Far East Rickshaw Rally Race" will have children participating in a simulated race through Japan... "We call it racing to meet Jesus. The ultimate prize of the race is becoming closer to him...Kids come and participate in music and arts and crafts. They learn about the Bible but also about other cultures."

A different Vacation Bible School theme package every year!

Posted by trek/taro at 3:22 PM KDT
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Big Mother is Watching You
Topic: Japanese Tech
Japan Firm's Chip Tells Mom if Kids Out of School
Tue Jul 6, 8:58 AM ET
TOKYO (Reuters) - Forget the notebook and the multicolored pen, a Japanese firm has developed the latest in school supplies -- chip-embedded student ID cards.... make it easier for parents to keep tabs on their youngsters, said Toru Hasegawa, a spokesman for software firm NAJ Corp, based in western Japan.... Students scan ID cards on passing through the school entrance and the time is recorded and sent via email to their parents' mobile phones or computers, he said. Parents are also alerted if their child fails to arrive at school... when school is over, so parents know when to expect their children to arrive home.
Despite safety worries, many education-obsessed parents send small children to late-night cram schools. It is not unusual for primary or junior high school students to be returning home at 10 p.m.

Posted by trek/taro at 1:56 PM KDT
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Tokyo takes 9 years to 'find' their nat'l police chief's hitman, A COP
Mystery shrouds gunman in police chief attack
MDN / Tue, Jul. 06, 2004
Mystery continues to shroud the actions of the gunman who shot and injured former National Police Agency chief Takaji Kunimatsu in 1995, despite Wednesday's arrest of a former AUM Shinrikyo suspect who has admitted pulling the trigger.
Police said Toshiyuki Kosugi, 39, a former AUM cultist and senior officer at the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) who was arrested Wednesday in connection with the shooting, told police he had carried out the attack.
But because of inconsistencies in his statements to police, his actual role in the crime, including whether he even shot the director general, remains unclear.
In 1996, Kosugi told police, "The first to third shots (I fired at Kunimatsu) hit him, but the fourth one missed." He also said, "After the shooting, I nearly lost my way" -- things that only the person who committed the crime would know....
Most likely it took 9 years to fake all the evidence since it was impossible that AUM did it.
Four Japan Cultists Arrested in Shooting
Associated Press / Tue, Jul. 06, 2004
TOKYO - Four members of a Japanese doomsday cult were arrested Wednesday in connection with the shooting of the national police chief nine years ago, authorities said.
Takaji Kunimatsu was shot and seriously wounded while investigating Aum Shinrikyo, the cult later held responsible for the nerve gas attack on Japan's subway system that killed 12 people, injured thousands and crushed the country's sense of safety. He was shot 10 days after the subway attack in March 1995.

Posted by trek/taro at 1:03 PM KDT
Updated: Wednesday, July 7, 2004 4:51 PM KDT
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Traitor & moron, Charles DUMBO Jenkins is getting Japanese protection
Mood:  incredulous

DEATH for DUMBO!

Gov't to invite abductee's family to live in Japan
Mainichi Shimbun, Japan, July 6, 2004
The Japanese government will invite the husband and two daughters of former North Korea abductee Hitomi Soga to live permanently in Japan when the four meet in Jakarta on Friday, officials said.The Japanese government will invite the husband and two daughters of former North Korea abductee Hitomi Soga to live permanently in Japan when the four meet in Jakarta on Friday, officials said.....
The husband, Charles Jenkins, is reportedly reluctant to come to Japan because he is afraid of being handed over to the United States for his 1965 desertion of the U.S. military in South Korea when he went to North Korea.
Japanese officials are discussing how to persuade the U.S. to abandon its plans to detain Jenkins, while at the same time trying to convince him to settle in Japan with Soga and their two daughters

How I came to Japan by mistake
Topic: Me
I studied Chinese not Japanese in grad school and when I graduated I landed a post in Shanghai Teachers College to teach linguistics. This is in the dark ages, 1983, when it was unheard of for a Lao Wai to be doing this. Nevertheless, I had a valid job contract with cash advance, assistant professorship slot, a rare ?Western" apartment and a paid R/T airfare with a short stopover in Tokyo to do couple lectures and to collect my work visa from the Chinese pseudo-Embassy in south Roppongi.
To make a long story short, I waited for my Chinese work visa one week, two weeks, three weeks*?. On the third week, Seiko-Epson asked me why I was still waiting and offered me twice my US wages. I smiled. Japan Inc. slapped me on my back and declared me their ?computer expert.? I?ve been here ?by mistake? ever since.



*It turns out that back in the early 80s, a ?parasite of society? like me (gimp) was not eligible for a Chinese work visa but nobody at the pseudo-Embassy was brave enough to tell me that to my face.


That's why I'm cadillacin' nowadayz! 8)

Lil' Kim's a-hole....
Kim Jong-il is a Bragging Golf Emperor
Donga, South Korea - 06 July---... The North Korean press once reported that in his first round of golf in 1994, Kim scored an eagle on his first hole and hit a hole-in-one on the next ...
----------------------------
Teeing Off With the 'Dear Duffer'
NYTimes.com > Week in Review > July 4, 2004. **vile free registration required** By CHARLES McGRATH
.... North Korea, on the other hand, does not have much of a golf heritage, though it does boast of having possibly the best player in the world. That golfer is none other than Kim Jong Il, North Korea's dictator, who in addition to all his other duties, according to reports in the North Korean news media, plays regularly and routinely scores three or four holes in one a round.
Mr. Kim took up the game in 1994, and on his very first outing at the Pyongyang course he eagled the opening hole, according to the North Korean media. He then proceeded to ace five holes (or 11, according to some reports) on the way to shooting a 34 - or 38 under par. (The lowest recorded score in P.G.A. history is 59, and that has been attained only three times: by Al Geiberger in 1977, Chip Beck in 1991 and David Duval in 1999.)
Mr. Kim's score was so low that some disbelievers (though not in North Korea) at first suggested that it must have been for nine holes, not 18, but the 18-hole total was later verified not only by the club pro but by 17 bodyguards who accompanied the dictator on his round....

Did you see 640 million yen lying around anywhere?
SLOPPY OR OVERWORKED: Harried post clerks misplace millions
Asahi Shimbun, Japan -July 6
Careless, overburdened clerks at post offices nationwide lost track of about 640 million yen in cash in fiscal 2003, according to a Japan Post internal review ...

Sony screws up, AGAIN! The electronic book reader from hell, the Sony Librie
Mood:  don't ask
Topic: Japanese Tech

Sony's new Librie electronic book reader

REVIEW: Sony E-Book a Revolution for Eyes apnews.excite.com
COMMMENT
Would it hurt Sony so much to have put WiFi in it?
They can disable the cut-&-paste function to protect their damn holy DRM....but... Oh Buddha, the E-Book has got the screen and the keyboard so why not make it a huge value to traveling biz people by giving the Librie electronic book reader the functionality of email and/or web browsing via WiFi? Sheesh.
But wait... you can't copy and paste passages to another computer or device. And copy protection built into the software garbles your books into useless data after two months.