[CLOSED] Another newbie reporter "discovers" Japan

[Mulboyne]

Bella Online: Cheap Eats in Japan - Hot Udon Noodles
Bella Online: Cheap Eats in Japan - Cold Udon Noodles

A bowl of hot udon noodles is the Japanese comfort food. All travelers to Japan must try this inexpensive, delicious meal. Udon noodles are a combination of water, salt and wheat flour. The noodles are white, thick and chewy. Hot udon noodles are boiled and served with hot broth. Vegetarian broth is available. The hot broth keeps the noodles warm. This dish provides warmth and comfort on frosty days in Japan.

A vegetarian option probably is available somewhere but it is hardly a standard offering. This site's sponsored links offers a nice suggestion:

Watch a film while enjoying your bowl of noodles. Netflix will mail videos of your choice to your home.

In case these two articles don't give you enough options, you can always try
Bella Online: Cheap Eats in Japan - Cold Soba Noodles

[Mulboyne]

[Bean]

Just go to http://caffeinesociety.com/kboo/ and "rediscover" what's cool about America...

[Mulboyne]

I'm posting this here because I can't believe this is true...

Businessweek: Japan: Crazy For Cramming
...Many in Japan blame the problems on falling standards in schools and a slow disintegration of adult authority in the classroom and at home. A key concern is a government decision three years ago to ease the workload for elementary and junior high school children by 30%. This "relaxed education" policy was supposed to help schoolchildren become more well-rounded, but so far it seems to have succeeded only in causing a public outcry. One example: Junior high school students are now taught to use "around 3" rather than 3.14 for pi when calculating the diameter of a circle.

[dimwit]

I'm posting this here because I can't believe this is true...

One example: Junior high school students are now taught to use "around 3" rather than 3.14 for pi when calculating the diameter of a circle.

Yep it's true. Let's hope they don't end up being Engineers. This happened about a year ago as far as I remember.

It is shame since the record holders of Pi memorization is (or was) Japanese

17) The old memory champion was Hideaki Tomoyori, born Sep. 30, 1932. In Yokohama, Japan, Hideaki recited pi from memoryto 40,000 places in 17 hrs. 21 min. including breaks totaling 4 hrs. 15min. on 9-10 of March in 1987 at the Tsukuba University Club House.

18) The Pi memory champion is Hiroyoki Gotu, who memorised an amasing 42,000 digits

link here



Hideaki Tomoyori pictured above.

[Captain Japan]

I'm posting this here because I can't believe this is true...

One example: Junior high school students are now taught to use "around 3" rather than 3.14 for pi when calculating the diameter of a circle.

Yep it's true. Let's hope they don't end up being Engineers. This happened about a year ago as far as I remember.

If this idea stays within the schools I think it is a great idea. It might be to de-emphasize using calculators (or other electronic devices) in class. Preventing cheating with mobile phones (or whatever) and getting people to think might be the reason. There'd be serious problems if the construciton companies started adopting a similar policy, however.

[FG Lurker]

If this idea stays within the schools I think it is a great idea. It might be to de-emphasize using calculators (or other electronic devices) in class. Preventing cheating with mobile phones (or whatever) and getting people to think might be the reason. There'd be serious problems if the construciton companies started adopting a similar policy, however.

Judging by the quality of some of the construction I've seen in Japan I'd say they already have...

[bunchoffuckinggoofs]

Too right. Unrelated, but scary for sure is that I have also seen people who had broken bones set improperly. It's become the "who really gives a damn?" society from about the middle down in terms of age. Strange. Very strange. It must be hell for the elderly who actually worked damn hard to make better lives not only for themselves, but for their families and neighbors and so on.

[Buraku]

[FG Lurker]

Student is at home in Japan for a year
The Herald-Mail Online, May 17, 2005

Busy. That sums up my first two weeks in Japan rather nicely. After an overnight orientation in Los Angeles, and a 15-hour flight, I landed in Narita Airport and stayed in a nearby hotel. Morning came, and we were bused to the N.Y.C. Center in the middle of Tokyo. There I spent three days in an orientation program, complete with two theme songs.

I made many friends, including some who are now in Obihiro with me. Afterward, the 20 or so people, myself included, going to Hokkaido - the northernmost of Japan's four main islands - were taken to Haneda Airport, a domestic airport in Tokyo. Two hours later, six of us landed at Tokachi Obihiro Airport.

After a small ceremony in which pronunciation of our names was lovingly attempted, I was greeted by my host parents, two students and three English teachers from my host school, one of whom is an American named Daniel, a 25-year-old man from Wisconsin.

[...]

My uniform for school is a skirt, vest and blazer ensemble, all in navy with a blue plaid pattern. The blouse is collared and white. I also wear a thin green tie. Since the largest size available in Japan is equivalent to an American size 10, my skirt had to be altered, and the blazer needed to have the sleeves lengthened. (They're still a little short.)

(Full Story)

Wasn't quite sure where to post this, but I guess this thread fits best. I wonder what surprises Japan has for Amanda over the next year.

[Socratesabroad]

Wasn't quite sure where to post this, but I guess this thread fits best. I wonder what surprises Japan has for Amanda over the next year.

And for the curious, here's a photo of Amanda:

[FG Lurker]

Wasn't quite sure where to post this, but I guess this thread fits best. I wonder what surprises Japan has for Amanda over the next year.

And for the curious, here's a photo of Amanda:

Seems that server blocks direct linking.

Here it is from the FG site:



[Edit:]
Weird, now it shows up for me in your message too, Socratesabroad. Perhaps that's cause it's in my browser cache now though...

Anyway, not too surprisingly Amanda is the only memeber of the Hagerstownian Japanese Speakers.. or Learners! club!

[Papa-Lazarou]

Fuckedgaijin poster Mahoobley goes to Japan, finds spelling difficult, doesnt do anything very interesting, but tells the world all about it


http://jezjapan.blog.co.uk/main/

[Mulboyne]

Fuckedgaijin poster Mahoobley goes to Japan, finds spelling difficult, doesnt do anything very interesting, but tells the world all about it

He's nice to us:

To...the guys on the...fuckedgaijin forum I salute you.

[FG Lurker]

Fuckedgaijin poster Mahoobley goes to Japan, finds spelling difficult, doesnt do anything very interesting, but tells the world all about it

http://jezjapan.blog.co.uk/main/

That's some pretty funny shit. He managed to get on the wrong plane and ended up in Milan instead of Tokyo. How the hell do you manage that?? If nothing else you'd think the complete lack of Japanese people on the plane would be a hint.

[Papa-Lazarou]

Fuckedgaijin poster Mahoobley goes to Japan, finds spelling difficult, doesnt do anything very interesting, but tells the world all about it

http://jezjapan.blog.co.uk/main/

That's some pretty funny shit. He managed to get on the wrong plane and ended up in Milan instead of Tokyo. How the hell do you manage that?? If nothing else you'd think the complete lack of Japanese people on the plane would be a hint. ]

Reminds me of that Colombian woman who lived in London for 18 years by mistake. She got on the wrong plane in the 70's and thought she was living in San Diego. She wondered why her son hadnt contacted her like he was suposed to.

[emperor]

That's some pretty funny shit. He managed to get on the wrong plane and ended up in Milan instead of Tokyo. How the hell do you manage that?? If nothing else you'd think the complete lack of Japanese people on the plane would be a hint. ]
Reminds me of that Colombian woman who lived in London for 18 years by mistake. She got on the wrong plane in the 70's and thought she was living in San Diego. She wondered why her son hadnt contacted her like he was suposed to.

I might have already mentioned this but a Nigerian guy came to Ireland 3 years ago at 15 and somehow managed to stay here to live by himself, claim benefits, work and go to school. He was deported, but then let back in after his classmates and a couple of tabloids got behind him... thing is he was supposed to have gone from Lagos to America to live with his mother... he claims he thought Dublin was New York

[Buraku]

[Mulboyne]

[Taro Toporific]

[Blah Pete]

John Morlu ran and is running again a campaign in his quest for the Liberian presidency.

I heard the George Weah (famous soccer player frm Liberia) is running for president of Liberia. I guess that this is what he is up against.
Would promising a World Cup berth off beat out Japanese style economics for votes?

[Taro Toporific]

[Samurai_Jerk]

It could be the first known case of human trafficking in Japan involving a non-Japanese girl, police officials said.

That is quite possibly the most amazingly ridiculous statement I've ever heard.

[Taro Toporific]

It could be the first known case of human trafficking in Japan involving a non-Japanese girl, police officials said.

That is quite possibly the most amazingly ridiculous statement I've ever heard.

This ridiculous statement really needs to be officially corrected.
The Reuters' reporter needed to help the absurd statement of "police officials" with the right context. The BBC's Chris Hogg gets it right by stating that, "It is the first arrest under a new law which Japan introduced in June to combat human trafficking."

Japan makes trafficking arrests
BBC News correspondent in Tokyo-- Monday, 4 July, 2005, 12:46 GMT 13:46 UK
Human traffickers now face 10 years jail in Japan
Police in Japan have arrested a Thai bar hostess and a Japanese businessman suspected of forcing a teenage Thai girl into prostitution.
It is the first arrest under a new law which Japan introduced in June to combat human trafficking.
The police say they believe the girl was bought in Thailand and taken to Japan when she was just 13.
Human trafficking is a serious problem throughout Asia, but Japan has only belatedly tightened up its laws.
The Thai girl was allegedly brought to Tokyo by the bar hostess and sold on to a prostitution agency for about $20,000.....more...

[Taro Toporific]

This killer mixtape software, The Music Genome Project, sounds great, and I'm looking forward to trying the beta system....but the phrase Japan "where the music is the same" is just fuckqued.

The Madonna Code - Searching for the perfect music recommendation system.
SLATE magazine, July 5, 2005 --- by Martin Edlund
.....CEO Tim Westergren's words, "have a full music genome conversation on the web": query it, input songs, and listen to music....
.... During our interview, Westergren spoke enthusiastically about a recent visit to Japan, where he encountered a local band that sounded like Counting Crows. "It would be awesome to be able to connect someone in America with a Japanese band where the music is the same," he said. Ironically, this is precisely what Lomax feared most: a day when America turns its ears to the world and hears only echoes of itself....

[maraboutslim]

Speaking of westerners writing on the Japanese music scene...In 1996 I was a newbie Tokyo reporter of sorts. From my story on the end of Hokoten for Raygun magazine:

Starting at end of paragraph 3...
"More than a representation of the true essence of "Tokyo youth", Hokoten was a tourist attraction.

But not all tourist attractions are without merit. Hokoten's importance was a kind of living museum: on a good sunny summer Sunday you could find at least one band from every single rock-and-roll genre from the 50's to the 90's -- rockabilly, Beatles pop, late 60's psychedelic scene, Black Sabbath/Led Zeppelin wannabes, '77 Kings Road puck rock, death rock and neo-romantic, speed metal, grunge, sing along bubble-gum pop for young girls, and the occasional blues or jazz. All these bands playing at the same place, at the same time, was unlike anything else in the world. Though few of the bands were any good, it was definitely worth the trip just to see that rock genres you had previously imagined dead and gone were in fact still alive, at least in a wonderful, slightly mutated Japanese form: "Wow, a death rock band, with giggling fans !", "That's the hugest pompadour I've ever seen!", "Reagan must still be president, 'cause I just saw breakdancers!"

and several paragraphs later...

"Of course the bands of Hokoten never were a reflection of what was going on in the real Tokyo music scene -- for that you'd have to spend a little time, (and a lot of money) in the 'live houses', discos, and independent record shops. And it was rare that you'd get the feeling that a band was playing the music they were because they loved it. Most were just posing, living out fantasies of rock-and-roll eras gone by, a kind of karaoke with homemade accompaniment. But Hokoten did satisfy the curious tourist, providing them an image of Japan to take home. Even for those who knew better, Hokoten was nearly always a heck of a lot of fun. So while most Tokyoites might not realize it, Hokoten will be missed."


You can read it all here. It's not the best piece in the world but I'm not too terribly embarassed about it. (whether I should be or not is another question!)

[Charles]

...Hokoten's importance was a kind of living museum: on a good sunny summer Sunday you could find at least one band from every single rock-and-roll genre from the 50's to the 90's -- rockabilly, Beatles pop, late 60's psychedelic scene, Black Sabbath/Led Zeppelin wannabes, '77 Kings Road puck rock...

[Greji]

So which is more pathetic: The Reuters' report or the Japanese police claim that is is the first foreign girl they found being forced?

I thought about Taro's post for a while and decided it could actually be true about her being the first actually found. Several years ago one of the networks had an extensive documentary (among many) about a women's group in Thailand working with prostitutes. Part of it included interviews with a couple of pro's who had made several trips to Japan. They were all from the countryside and had nice homes and were living in relative luxury compared with their neighbors. They insinuated that they assisted girls who wanted to go to Japan (who knew they would be going for prostitution) by "introducing" them. The women's group was fighting a losing battle, essentially telling the young girls that they should remain in poverty and train for a low-paying "honest", when the "pros" were right there in front of them living in their nice homes, supporting their entire families on the interest accrued from their business trips to Nippon.

There have been, to my knowledge, Thai, Philippina and Taiwan hookers coming to Japan on a regular basis since the 1960's (the Russians and main-land Chinese are late-comers). Must of them that I have had a chance to talk to say that when they get busted here, the standard story is to claim that they have been forced, abducted and otherwise nefariously drafted into prostitution by the Yakuza. This, they believe from what their friends have told them, will make the authorities go easier on them and draw attention of support groups. All of which, they also believe, will not cause as much problem for them to return to Japan in the future.

I am not saying that there are not girls forced into the business, but a hell of a lot of them that claim so, will do their very utmost to get back into Japan as soon as they arrive home after being deported from the land of the rising sun.

[Socratesabroad]

I thought about Taro's post for a while and decided it could actually be true about her being the first actually found.

I seriously doubt it.

Trafficking Blots Nations Reputation
Jake Adelstein Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

The recently completed International Labor Organization report on the plight of foreigners victimized in the Japanese sex industry was a scathing indictment of the government's antitrafficking efforts, pointing out that Japan is hard on victims and easy on perpetrators and brokers.

Titled "Human Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation in Japan," the report states bluntly, "Victims should receive proper protection and rehabilitation--in practice they are often arrested, detained and deported--(they) frequently bear all the costs of the deception they have undergone, while the traffickers retain their profits and are rarely prosecuted."

The ILO is not the only organization critical of Japan's measures. Earlier this year the U.S. State Department, in its annual report on "Trafficking in Persons 2004," considered ranking Japan among the worst offending countries, along with North Korea.

As Japan tries to gain a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council, this report from a U.N. body can be taken as both an admonition and a warning.

Human trafficking can be defined in several ways. It is thought to encompass the trade in African slaves once conducted in the United States, and it covers the selling of children by their parents for financial gain.

According to the Palermo Protocol, trafficking in persons includes cases where victims are threatened, deceived or coerced into working as prostitutes or unpaid workers. The term "modern-day slavery" also is used.

The ILO report focuses on the plight of foreign women who came to Japan, regardless of their original intentions, and were forced to work in the sex trade. These women are identified as human trafficking victims, and the report devotes much space to case studies of them. It said, "The Japanese government's efforts to tackle the problem of trafficking have not been sufficient."

The State Department released its report on human trafficking in June. It ranked nations in four categories. Japan was severely criticized in the report and placed on the watch list, the second-to-worst category.

John Miller, ambassador of the State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, spoke with The Yomiuri Shimbun earlier this month and revealed that earlier in the year, Japan was being considered for the worst rank possible, together with such countries as North Korea.

"When I visited Japan in February of this year, I indicated that there was a possibility that Japan might be ranked in the lowest tier. I came in February and I was very blunt and I said that the gap between the size of the problem and the amount of resources being devoted to the problem was huge. There was a very quick response," Miller said.

The government pledged to strengthen a crackdown on traffickers, revise the Penal Code and examine the misuse of entertainment visas, among other things. In response to the government's newfound enthusiasm and promises to deal with the problem, Japan was put on the watch list, and not on the bottom tier.

"In the last year Japan has done a lot preparing the foundations for punishing the traffickers," Miller said. "Unfortunately, there's been very little done to protect the victims or set up a system to do so. That's an essential part of fighting this despicable crime. The three P's of fighting trafficking are prevention, prosecution and protection. There's got to be protection, too."

The ILO report asserts the protection and rescue of victims are important challenges for Japan.

Even police officers on the streets support that viewpoint.

A Metropolitan Police Department detective lamented: "The protection of trafficking victims isn't enshrined in Japanese law. It's one reason they fear for themselves, their families, and their friends, and they won't talk to us. Even if they do, they're usually forcibly deported and can't be witnesses for a trial, if an arrest has been made in the first place."

In reality, the majority of cases successfully investigated by the police begin with tip-offs from the embassies of the victims. Most women do not escape to the police, they escape to the Tokyo embassies of their homeland.

According to the ILO report, the Immigration Bureau did a study of 3,157 deportees in February. Based on those hearings, 53 people were found to be victims as defined in the Palermo Protocol. That same month, the number of victims given provisional permission to remain in Japan numbered only 10.

The report touched on the illegal profits made by organized crime groups involved in the trade, pointing out that "the development of antitrafficking legislation would include appropriately severe penalties that might include lengthy jail terms, fines and the confiscation of traffickers' assets, for example, the profits of crime, as outlined in the Palermo Protocol."

Yoko Yoshida, a lawyer and representative of the nongovernmental group Japan Network Against Trafficking in Persons, also believes that stripping the criminals of their profits is important in preventing this crime.

"The Anti-Organized Crime Law wasn't meant to deal with human trafficking. Therefore, it's hard to use that law to seize profits from the traders and the employers," Yoshida said. "If they're going to make a new law, there should be a provision to allow the ill-gotten gains of those involved to be seized by the government. But perhaps the most important things are rescuing and protecting the victims, and setting up a witness protection system."

Many Japanese take a harsh view of the victims of trafficking. "They get in trouble because they came here trying to make money" is a refrain often heard.

The ILO noted: "An enormous number of individual government officials from various agencies may come into contact with perpetrators and/or victims of human trafficking. At times it may be possible to underestimate the criminal nature of the actions of traffickers and employers, and to misconceive a victim of trafficking simply as an illegal migrant. It is vital that all officials are fully equipped with the training and resources necessary to deal appropriately with this complex matter."

In short, the ILO points out that there needs to be revolution in the way the government and Japanese people look at this problem. The world is paying attention to just how Japan realizes that "revolution."

Japan blasted over human trafficking
Yomiuri Shimbun

Victims of human trafficking in Japan are not protected and are treated like criminals, according to a special report compiled by the International Labor Organization.

The organization's Tokyo office has begun distributing copies of the report to relevant government and nonprofit organizations.

The report is the second to criticize Japan's handling of human trafficking, following the U.S. State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons Report, released in June.

The ILO report highlights the lack of antitrafficking measures in the country to protect foreign women forced to work in the sex industry, and ministries and agencies are likely to respond quickly.

Titled "Human Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation in Japan," the report apportioned about 20 percent of its 81 pages to victims in this country.

The report cited case studies compiled by ILO staffers and others who interviewed female victims and says many women did not come to Japan aiming to become prostitutes, but were forced to do so.

According to the report, a 20-year-old Colombian woman came to Japan because she had been told she could work at a personal computer shop, but on her arrival, gangsters took her passport and forced her to work as a prostitute in Tokyo.

A Thai woman who had been promised a job at a Thai restaurant was told by a Japanese man that she owed him 4.8 million yen for travel costs, among other expenses, the report says.

She was forced to work at a bar in a provincial area and have sex with three to four men a day, the report says.

A Filipina who refused to cooperate was beaten and raped by her employer in front of his male employees, according to the report.

Women from Southeast Asia, South America and Eastern Europe have become victims of human trafficking, but Japanese bureaucrats seem to be blind to the issue, regarding them as illegal residents who entered the country of their own will, the report says.

In Japan, "victims of trafficking may be perceived to be voluntary participants in illegal immigration, which thereby removes their right to protection," the report added.

The report points out that "traffickers retain their profits and are rarely prosecuted. When they are, it is not necessarily in proportion to their crimes."

But the report praises the government's attempts to "address human trafficking since the beginning of 2004."

In the U.S. State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons Report places, Japan was the only industrially developed country to be included in the Tier 2 List for Trafficking. Countries on the list do not meet minimum U.S. standards for combating trafficking, but are making efforts to comply.

[Mulboyne]

The Scotsman: Radical departure
...The chap who shoved me inside an already crammed carriage did an excellent job. With my nose pressed against the automatic door, I knew that if I could just hold my breath for ten minutes then I would make it to Tsukiji, one of the world's largest fish markets, and Tokyo's rawest experience...True, the Tokyo transport map makes the same sense if you stand on your head to study it, and there's little language concession for non-natives...You'll still get lost, but scratch your head or frown long enough and a benevolent citizen, usually elderly, will, with broken English or unorthodox sign language, have you striding purposefully in the right direction again...My neighbour pours my beer from my bottle into my glass since you are not supposed to pour your own in Japan. When I'd tried three customers ran from the darkness to stop me...You can walk an entire day in Tokyo without seeing another western face, though I think that sticking out like a sore gaijin magnifies the Tokyo experience - and for the better...Random images remain in my mind: the blue tarpaulin in Ueno Park, where Tokyo's homeless sleep; men on trains reading manga comics the size of phonebooks; a Harajuku girl dressed as a Labrador; ravens tearing at a discarded coat on a gravestone; a mother and child whirring past on a bicycle. Whatever you see, Tokyo's worth seeing.