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Free English conversation topics and resources -- Tokyo Talk 101 -- http://tokyotalk101.blogspot.com/

complain

I am going to miss living in Japan. There is so much to complain about here.

There’s a lot to complain about in Canada, the land of fat, stupid, knuckle-dragging doughnut eaters, but it’s just not the same.

Japan Election Special

Sangenjaya 1-chome
Monday, April 18
Around 5pm

It is election time. If you live in Japan, you know what that means: vans with loud speakers
Quiet side street
Van with candidate, noisy – as usual – destroying the silence
Me – walking. Annoyed. An opportunity to chat with the candidate
I do
With fingers in my ears I announce my distaste for the noise, in English, of course:
“No one is listening to you? You are too noisy! Go away. Its all a waste of time.”
They stop driving
They stop their announcements
I don’t stop
Though I continue to walk
After several seconds, with speakers still off, they drive past me a little more quickly than the usual slow crawl.
As the van drives past, the candidate, Candidate Oba, with head down, didn’t look at me, didn’t face me, says: “This is Japan”
He didn’t instil feelings of great leadership.
Thought it was (more than) a bit of a racist statement.
“This is Japan”?
Yeah, I know, and that’s the problem.

I am going to miss elections in Japan...

Japan’s economic ripple effect

It is only just starting. A ripple effect will be felt for the next couple of years. I am not negative, just realistic. it is not like the economy was moving at a healthy clip, plenty of orgs were teetering prior to the quake. Many countries are at the ready to absorb production, and Japanese companies will have to abide. If this quake had occurred 20 years ago, Japan would have had a better chance. Now in a globalized world where production, jobs and capital can move, China and others are in a very good position to eat Japan's lunch. Those (high paying) jobs are not coming back. In the middle, we have scored of unproductive white collar workers - who'd have been made redundant years ago in other G7 countries - who will be cut and join the ranks of other mid-career types who will struggle with no skills and no opportunity. Some have been cut. More are surely to follow. College grads have struggled for the past few years. The "factory" approach: high school -> uni -> job for life had been crumbling for the past several years. This, too will only unravel more resulting in masses of college grads with no job. What happens in other countries with high youth unemployment? At the lower end, I was shocked to learn about so many import workers - not "entertainment" visas but "guest" workers from China who worked on farms and who abandoned the country after the quake. Imported health care workers from Indonesia and Philippines have backed out, too. (always amazes me - a country with a labour shortage and at the same time a country that uses only half of its labour force). They may be back. But for now, all this puts a strain on farming and health care. Is the country bright enough to reallocate the unemployed students and salary men to farm work and health care? No.
People's lives have been turned upside down. This will never show up in government statistics.

Can you see any similarity?

.
One is highly talented and much beloved and the other is a politician.
On the top, Martin Short's character Ed Grimly. On the bottom, Yujiro, some poor schlep with bad hair. He's an actor, too. He is pretending to care. He is pretending that he will do something to make your life better. Yes, he's a politician in a campaign.



Change for Tokyo? He's a Japanese politician. Nothing's going to change. Not for the better, anyway. "You are being lied to, I must say!"

a tipping point?

“The only time you can get things done is in moments of genuine crisis and catastrophes -- there’s a small opportunity to do an extraordinary amount,” Malcolm Gladwell, author of “The Tipping Point,” who writes for New Yorker magazine, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “Japan -- a country whose politics were in deadlock and sluggish for many, many years -- I hope they can seize this moment and accomplish a lot.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-30/japan-urged-to-seize-this-moment-or-risk-another-lost-decade.html

How come gladwell shows up everywhere?
i agree with his statements, but, there will be no tipping point in japan.
there is no leadership and no on really cares. coastal communities in the north west were impacted. some factories have been affected.
the only catalyst: a bunch of soccer players shouting "gambatte nippon" on television and an endless stream of j-pop clones doing benefit concerts.
the wealth (and wealthy) of this country is unaffected. it didnt hit kanto, kansai or aichi, just some farmers and fishermen.
the event is equivalent to hurricane katrina (new orleans) and three-mile island. were there "tipping points" as a result of either of these incidents? different country, different culture i realize.

Japan is an aging salaryman - a heavy drinker and a heavy smoker who's now being treated for lung cancer. the tohoku quake is just an added case of appendicitis.

Every day and every yen spent away from truly addressing the real issues is another day that korea, china, taiwan, singapore, US, Brazil, India, Germany eat Japan's lunch just a little more.

kan and gladwell can hope all they want.

Let's Gambling - Japan's great gamble

From the Japan Times. An indication that the end is nigh.


Japan's great gamble | The Japan Times Online: "Shozo Azuma, a lawmaker member of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan and a member of the pro-casino Diet league, outlined his reasoning in a speech last week.

'What this country needs is a way of stimulating the economy that won't use tax money. The only way left to do that is casinos,' he said.

'In order for this country to develop energetically in the future, then I think the casino industry has potential worth exploring.'

Of course, it's not just the central government that stands to gain through tax revenues from casinos. Regional governments, which are suffering from drastically reduced revenues as their residents age and decrease in number, are desperate to host what they see as potential gold mines."

Elderly woman arrested for beating youth sitting in priority seat of bus › Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion

Elderly woman arrested for beating youth sitting in priority seat of bus › Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion: "Elderly woman arrested for beating youth sitting in priority seat of bus
Friday 09th July, 09:00 AM JST

NAGASAKI —
A 66-year-old woman was arrested for assault Thursday after using her umbrella to beat the face of a male high school student who was sitting in the priority seat on a local bus, breaking the youth’s nose and causing other injuries.

According to police, the woman, identified as condominium manager Tamiko Masuta, yelled at the 18-year-old youth because he wouldn’t get up and vacate the silver seat. When he refused to move, she began to kick him and hit him in the face with her umbrella, according to witnesses. The youth suffered a broken nose.

Police said that Masuta has neither admitted to nor denied the charges, and that she has been warned before by police for hitting middle and high school students."

Japan - on the bullet train to irrelevance

Here in communist Japan - labour laws make it very difficult to layoff anyone, there are no strikes and the government just keeps spending money on useless road work.

The Japanese have "adopted" the American style - upper house [senate] and lower house [congress]. this month there is an election of (half) the upper house (every 3 yrs); the PM's are so spineless that they dare not say or do anything to upset anyone and, can't do anything as there is always an election around the corner in this country.

Now there are many "new religions" that have launched political parties and attract many sheep-like followers. These parties are winning the votes of the burgeoning naive as the supporter of the old guard begin to die off (literally). These “New Religions” are winning seats and upsetting (controlling) the balance of power. Now the two party system is rapidly proliferating into a sea of milquetoast gridlock.

Check out this photo from a former election: http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01472/japan-election2_1472012c.jpg

There is an election every other year, and leadership that changes more frequently than the fashion (I have seen 5 prime ministers in just 3 years), no strong leadership, no strong vision, no majority, and a population more likely to vote for a small dog than for needed change.

Japan is on the bullet train to irrelevance.

But remember, on July 11th: “Let’s Voting!”

An Internet Kill Switch

Manufacturing consent for internet security

Within the next twelve months there will be a major internet outage in an important region of the United States.

The Internet will go down in this region. No email, no YouTube, no iTunes, no Facebook, no Twitter, no e-commerce, no virtual meetings, no online gambling and no internet porn. The outage will occur for a short time – a day or so – long enough to attract national attention. The media will be all over this story: “The Internet, struck down by hackers”. No, by “terrorists”. The media will report that it was caused by rogue or terrorist elements from Russia or China or an “enemy state”.

Lots of discussion: “How dependent on the Internet are we?” and “How vulnerable are we?” “This is vital to our national security”.

And, there will be lots speculation as to who and how. An array of conspiracy theories will bubble up.

This event will be instigated by the US - the government, the CIA, the military. We will never know. But, blame will be placed squarely on “rogue elements”. You will never know for sure and the media will not investigate. They will go along with what the government says.

The media will discuss how important the internet has now become not only for social media but for news, information, and commerce. Corporations rely on and are deeply dependent upon the internet. They will talk about how it is important for government and politicians and how it is critical to national security. That it was originally created by the US military etc.

This temporary event will set the stage for the US government to manufacture the consent it needs to launch some sort of internet security initiative. This will spiral into a new program and the launch of a new kind of internet.

The outage might occur in August or back-to-school time in the US, though not during 9/11. Maybe this time it will be Silicon Valley or Dallas. In Atlanta or Chicago. Perhaps after thanksgiving but before Christmas.

The feeling of Internet withdraw will be palpable.

So, why is this happening? Money, of course. Power, control and any other conspiracy theories you may wish to throw into the pot. How will bankers and Wall Street make untold millions off this? That's the key. And how will the US government control us?

Here’s the plan:
US Government: “Let’s get everyone online, wired and totally dependent on the internet, and then...control and monitor them.”

Here's how:
Politicians: "We are at risk of terror attacks online that threaten our freedom. We need a better and safer Internet. The new internet will track all traffic for foreign intrusions and rogue elements."
Public: “Mmmm….yeah…mmm….ok, sure.”
Politicians: “You want to be safe and secure, right? You want to be able to continue to use the Internet in safety are freedom, right? You don’t want to be exposed to the risk of foreign terrorist groups infiltrating the Internet and compromising your freedom, right?”
Public: “Yes! You are right. Please help us!”
At this point scads of government money appears and goes to the Telco’s, and network infrastructure R&D community, universities, the US military and Halliburton, of course.

Much money is spent. More money is spent after it was originally deemed to be not enough. After sometime a new and improved Internet emerges.

Then it is announced that all users of the new internet will need to be registered. They will need to register all of their devices – computers, laptops, cell phones and all web devices.

Government: “Now, you want to get on this newer and much better, faster and safer internet, don’t you?”
Public: “Yes! Yes, we do! Tell us how!”
Government: “Well, you will need to register yourself and all your electronic devices so that we can ensure that you are not a terrorist...”
Public: “Hey, that sounds like an intrusion on our personal freedom!”
Politicians: “It will be easy, small chips software will be embedded into every device sold. You won’t even notice.”
Public: ”what about our privacy?”
Politicians: ”everything will be in accordance with the homeland security act. It’s just like going through security at the airport. And, you want the internet grid to be safe from foreign terrorist who could infiltrate and bring down the Internet or a power grid or worse, don’t you?”
Public: “Mmm…yeah, I guess. Anyway, we can’t live without email, Twitter and Facebook, so we’ll do it.”
Politicians: “It is a small price to pay for our freedom.”
Public: “Mmm…I guess.”

Likely it will be legislated that there will be a required chip installed to activate and monitor the activities from all connected devices from now till the end of time. Exactly how? We will find out soon.

As we get more and more digital, including appliances and wearable tech, and with the coming singularity...who will control you? The Bilderbergs and any other conspiracy theories that fit: insert here.
Imagine: all individuals, all companies, all schools, all hospitals, and all airports. All data tracked all the time.

The current commercial (public) version of the Internet pre-dates 9/11. There are no controls or means of monitoring (that we know of) and no "registration". The government, officially, does not know who is coming and going on line. This, they will tell us, is an issue of national security and if we want to continue to live in digital freedom, we’ll need to adhere to monitoring. Otherwise, to channel Dubya, “the terrorists win”. Don’t worry; you won’t even know it is there. And, if you are not doing anything wrong, you’ve got nothing to worry about, right?

======
This posting was inspired by the following story and many recent like articles.
Obama internet 'kill switch' proposed ASHER MOSES
June 18, 2010 - 2:43PM

Tuna's End

Tuna's End is a VERY long article in the New York Times, written by Paul Greenberg, on the eventual extinction of blue fin tuna. It is adapted from his book “Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food”

Japan unapologetically consumes 80% of the world's blue fin tuna, so have to be included in the "who to blame" list.

The usually reserved and polite Japanese take on a smug and ignorant tone when this issue of over fishing of blue fin is brought up - as if they are all-seeing and all-knowing. They are likely to throw a tantrum like a three year old, or better, a thirteen year old who feels victimized by a mother that just doesn't understand her need to have her tongue pierced.

What used to be very rare and expensive is now on every corner and in every grocery store. The same for beef and dairy - used to be special. Now it is everywhere. No halos over the heads of the beef industry - but that's a story for another time.

So, just a reminder to the Japanese, remember to take your "ECO" bag when you buy your bluefin tuna at the supermarket, you wouldn't want to hurt the planet by using one more plastic bag. Though, you should note that the sashimi they will buy from the grocery store is housed in plastic and then placed in a small plastic bag before it is placed in their ECO shopping bag.

Read the NY Times article: Tuna's End

It is interesting to read the comments written by readers of the NY Times - compared with other publications. Seems that knuckle draggers are less likely to read the NYT and wouldn't read such a long article. The comments tend to be quite long - takes a long time to write - and informed.


I live in Japan. It is an insulated world here. While people are outwardly humble, there is an underlying smugness.
I would love to hear people in government in Japan stand up and support what the countries of the world are saying. They won't. It is a pompous and greedy place. The world won't tell Japan what to do.

The future is so easy to see. The shock that is coming to the Japanese will be just like their penalty kick loss in the world cup - from let's happy, happy to a bitter wake up to reality.

Let's Ignorance!

What does the world think about Canada's role in the world?
According to the Japanese: not much.

Ipsos-Reid conducted a survey in advance of the G20 summit in Toronto. It polled over 18,000 people in 24 countries asking them a dozen questions on Canada's role in world affairs, peacekeeping and human rights, international aid, economy and economic power, the safety of the banking system, and healthcare.

It is pretty easy to see that the Japanese have a very low image, likely based on little knowledge and awareness [read: ignorance], of Canada in comparison to the other countries in the survey. Most of the 24 countries has a positive image, especially the up-and-coming BRIC nations. Sweden, too, seems to have a low image of Canada. Perhaps for them it is jealousy? Likely the Japanese would have ranked Canada high if asked to respond to the statement: Canada is a global leader in maple syrup.

As a Canadian, it is an interesting report with some very surprising results. Take a look for yourself.

Read the results here:
What the World thinks of Canada: Canada and the World in 2010
International Affairs, Economy & Business