Dead Gaijins

[Coligny]

Walcome to zee gigolo club...

[yanpa]

Well I hope she knows how to put them to better use that he did.

Congratulations. Always a good move to have your right to remain in the country not linked to your workplace.

There are arguments for and against, I suppose... It should be a quicker way to PR and getting my balls back...

[wagyl]

It should be a quicker way to PR and getting my balls back...

If you are ready to hear the truth..... it just means that the Japanese Government gets a nice firm grip.

• Right to remain in the country not linked to the whims of your employer... feels fantastic.
• Right to remain in the country not linked to that ring on your finger... nice one mate!
• Right to remain in the country reliant on you maintaining an address here and which you have invested a number of years in qualifying for so that you feel it would be a lot to give up and you wouldn't like your chances of attaining it again if you lost it for any reason... it starts to psychologically limit your options and skew the way you look at going back home or on to a third country. Then again, you did sign up for permanent residency, even if you thought of it at the time as a pragmatic move to reduce long term paperwork and give you freedoms.

[Coligny]

You forgot bulletpoint #4:

Your cat shitter is here, therefore home is here... (dere's no coming back...)

In 10 years I went back once (around ma grand'pa's death) And I don't consider the place even as a vacation destination anymore... Like went you stop renting a flat... when it's over... it's over...
(even if it's mighty fun to play the frog card here... )

[wangta]

Sorry to change the subject but I noticed that the young vlogger Roger Swan who died in early 2010 is mentioned on this thread. I was looking at some videos on youtube, not much there re vloggers, too many immature attention seekers, but I noticed his names Tokyo Swan and Iwate Swan.

I looked at a few of his videos and the last one, Iwate Swan 25, had me just about in tears at the end. I'm a kind of vet of teaching in Asia, hopefully will be returning to Japan soon if I get all my paperwork approved, I am a good deal older than Roger Swan was when he died but the end of that video 25 (the last one) with the poignant music and that young man full of hope and plans for the future, choked me up.

It was strange seeing one of the last videos of him in Sendai with his friend Luke. After the tsunami, Luke was featured in an article I read about the people in Sendai, especially the foreign English teachers there. He and Roger would never have thought that day in Sendai, that not so long after Roger would be dead and disaster would bring death to where Luke was working. He's still alive, thankfully, from what I have read.

[wangta]

:?: Anybody know him?

Patrick Bommarito: Where is the love?
http://m2tokyo.com/blog/2013/04/20/patrick-bommarito/
This week I heard of the death of Patrick Bommarito, DJ, and long-term Tokyo resident. I had met Patrick only a few times over the years. The first time his reputation as an abrasive, highly outspoken AIDS activist preceded him. He had contracted AIDS in the early 90s and, after coming to Japan and seeing a lack of knowledge here, had decided to educate the country about the disease. It is little consolation that Patrick outlasted AIDS – he did not die of the disease.
Continues...

P.Bommarito-on-Twitter.jpg

https://twitter.com/Patrickintokyo

Just saw that - really sad,too. Not defending the worst of Japanese bureaucracy but I will say as somebody who worked in Korea, at least Patrick was permitted to stay in Japan as an AIDS activist with AIDS.

Non prostitute foreigners, non 3D foreigners in Korea don't get forcibly tested for HIV, nor do foreigners working for certain kinds of companies. But native English speaker teachers have been made to have an HIV test since 2007 as well as a drugs test and a medical that is increasingly invasive.

When I did my first medical test in Korea AFTER getting the visa to work there and being in Korea working, I was told that if I tested positive for HIV or drugs or anything extra, I would be deported. Pronto. You have to pass this test to get your Korean vesion of the gaijin card.

I passed every medical-drugs test in Korea but the first year I was there, a few male British teachers tested HIV positive and were given a few days to pack and get themselves out of Korea. Despite Ban Ki Mun waffling on as head of the UN and telling other countries what to do, typically Korea is exempt from UN standards.

The last medical test I did in Korea, the doctor informed me that I would be subjected to a whole range of tests including for my weight despite the fact that Korean Immigration only requires a standard chest x ray, HIV test and drug test to give foreign teachers their 'alien' card.

I said no on principle to the weight (I am not fat) part, eye test and colonoscopy they wanted to do. Never agree to anything beyond the call of duty in Korea - boundaries will continually be crossed if you let them do so. It wasn't the kind of company test that employers can do if you work for a certain no. of yrs with the same employer, it was the test for your resident foreigner card, completely different.

Regardless of what visa he was on, if Patrick had been in Korea he would have been deported the minute he admitted to having AIDS to a doctor or any other authority or if he had been public about his status. I am not sure what would have happened if he had been on a spouse visa in Korea but it's a safe bet pressure would have been put on him to leave Korea in that case. Japan is more humane and open minded than Korea, but yes, it's shocking how his last months were in Japan.

What happened re the people who were among his networks? Why wasn't there a fundraising night or something? It seems odd that somebody who had such a high profile and was prominent in the music community was so neglected. Maybe the poor man had burned some bridges with people.

I can't understand this, from my experiences in Japan before and Korea relatively recently (esp in Korea) the foreigner communities rally around their own. It happened in Korea when I was there, cases like teachers with heart trouble, burns, other bad injuries unable to pay their hospital bills and many of us who didn't know them contributed assistance. Then again, as the society there is so callous in some ways towards foreigners, we have to rally round and help each other more in Korea.

[yanpa]

Regardless of what visa he was on, if Patrick had been in Korea he would have been deported the minute he admitted to having AIDS to a doctor or any other authority or if he had been public about his status. I am not sure what would have happened if he had been on a spouse visa in Korea but it's a safe bet pressure would have been put on him to leave Korea in that case. Japan is more humane and open minded than Korea, but yes, it's shocking how his last months were in Japan.

Korea always strikes me as the place which is like some of the more Debito-esque imagine Japan to be...

What happened re the people who were among his networks? Why wasn't there a fundraising night or something? It seems odd that somebody who had such a high profile and was prominent in the music community was so neglected. Maybe the poor man had burned some bridges with people.

It has been going through my head a bit... I never had any connection with him beyond writing for the same magazine, and I don't think I've heard anything of him since the late 90's, but it does strike me as odd that someone so apparently established could end in such dire straits.

From an era when paper still reigned supreme:

patrick-alien.jpg

[Samurai_Jerk]

Without knowing Bommarito's mental state or how many people from the old days who really cared about him are still around, it's hard to pass judgement. Not that I am or have been a figure in Japan's club, AIDS activist, or gay scenes, but I never heard of the guy till I saw the post about his death on here. Very sad though.

[Yokohammer]

Just looking at this Bommarito thing, and something ain't right.

His Facebook page has been removed, as has the ameblo page the James Hadfield tweet points to.

But what's weird is that in all the quotes from his last days, when he's asking for help, he always refers to "we" rather than "I." "We" need money until "we" can move to Chigasaki ... etc. So who's "we"? Did "we" die too? If it was just a matter of money and/or nutrition, couldn't "we" help?

I'd never even heard of the guy before this came up.

[Coligny]

Just looking at this Bommarito thing, and something ain't right.

His Facebook page has been removed, as has the ameblo page the James Hadfield tweet points to.

But what's weird is that in all the quotes from his last days, when he's asking for help, he always refers to "we" rather than "I." "We" need money until "we" can move to Chigasaki ... etc. So who's "we"? Did "we" die too? If it was just a matter of money and/or nutrition, couldn't "we" help?

I'd never even heard of the guy before this came up.

Yup, strike me as odd at first but I assumed it was for him and his significant other.

Still a lot of questions around the situation for now.

[wangta]

Regardless of what visa he was on, if Patrick had been in Korea he would have been deported the minute he admitted to having AIDS to a doctor or any other authority or if he had been public about his status. I am not sure what would have happened if he had been on a spouse visa in Korea but it's a safe bet pressure would have been put on him to leave Korea in that case. Japan is more humane and open minded than Korea, but yes, it's shocking how his last months were in Japan.

Korea always strikes me as the place which is like some of the more Debito-esque imagine Japan to be...

Yes, it is. The fact that I had a fairly good time there doesn't change the reality of a general lack of compassion and empathy in Korean society. Don't get me wrong, I'm not excusing a lot of the ridiculous ranting and whingeing that too many foreigner teachers do on the net re Korea.

A significant percentage of this is based on the fact that most of the native English speaking teachers have zero or not much work experience at a full time job as much of the recruitment is focused on fresh grads who look good in a photograph. These whingeing waygugs also aren't prepared for the big step outside their home comfort zone.

But I lived in Japan for longer than I lived in Korea and I confidently say that generally Koreans are more aggressively anti western foreigner in terms of what is acceptable to do and say against us as cheerled by the mainstream media and politicians of all backgrounds. Generally Koreans are also more aggressively anti foreigner per se, more censorious of views that look at Korea and Koreans critically than are the Japanese about their country and culture. There is also a lack of civil behaviour that is more common in Korea and more utilitarianism as far seeing people not part of your family or inner circle as only worthy of being used up for material advantages.

Having said that, Korea does suck for many Koreans and they tend to put some quite harsh pressure on each other to compete for material success as well as play all sorts of hierarchical games with each other.

[Coligny]

Yes, it is. The fact that I had a fairly good time there doesn't change the reality of a general lack of compassion and empathy in Korean society.

understatement of the century... just look north

[legion]

It has been going through my head a bit... I never had any connection with him beyond writing for the same magazine, and I don't think I've heard anything of him since the late 90's, but it does strike me as odd that someone so apparently established could end in such dire straits.

From an era when paper still reigned supreme:

patrick-alien.jpg

Didn't make the connection when I saw the wild bearded man but now I recall hearing his name in the 90s when I used to do the visuals in nightclubs, different crowd to the people I knew.

Thing about clubland is everyone is your best friend til the drugs run out.

[yanpa]

Looking through his Twitter feed, it looks like he was still DJing actively through most of 2012, but things started falling apart towards the end of the year; Club Loop in Aoyama, which he seemed to associated with, closed in January, and in February he (they) had to move from Meguro to Chigasaki, which is quite a leap into the boonies. One of the Twitter posts indicates his partner left him around that time.

[yanpa]

Just looking at this Bommarito thing, and something ain't right.

His Facebook page has been removed, as has the ameblo page the James Hadfield tweet points to.

I think the link in that tweet was broken. Probably this page was the one meant: http://ameblo.jp/junnakayama/entry-11512907423.html

[wangta]

It's such a sad end for a man who beat the odds in other ways. What I find especially horrible is how a foreigner in their late 40s could end up so broke and desperate, as if all doors had been slammed shut and locked.

From search engineing it seems he was part of a fairly big family and possibly some family member could have booked him a flight back to the US - the 2nd is just what I think. But I bet we all have known other expats in our nomadic lives who'd have never gone home no matter how bad their circumstances in their chosen country. It can be seen from that Tokyo blog entry by the person writing about his death and asking what happened (quoted on this thread earlier) that there was a significant attempt to fundraise for him - click on the link in that blog article.

Some good man was trying to get utilities set up for him and his then-partner in Saitama, and trying to make a home of some structure for them. Obviously the contributors to the funds were not numerous despite Patrick's fairly numerous followers on the net, but who knows what went on? I saw his tweet about needing a car, perhaps people who knew him thought they wouldn't get into giving him money or giving him more money because it might never have ended. What about his then-partner Yamato who belonged to that UP group? Was Yamato that broke that he couldn't contribute or couldn't get any financial help from his family?

Horrible, just horrible, all of it. RIP.

[legion]

Apparently Patrick's health issues had been limiting the amount of work he could do, so he ran out of money to pay for his treatment, and as he couldn't get treatment he couldn't work ........

So the moral of the story is get health insurance before you have any pre-existing conditions.

[DudeAbides]

Couldn't afford treatment? Thats effed up.

[wagyl]

Not to drag domestic politics of a foreign country into this, but that only means that there is a populous country across the Pacific where a large proportion of the population is fucked up and is being kept in that state.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

Not to drag domestic politics of a foreign country into this, but that only means that there is a populous country across the Pacific where a large proportion of the population is fucked up and is being kept in that state.

That's freedom in action, mate...

[TennoChinko]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/ ... 7W20130805

U.S. military helicopter crashes inside base on Japan's Okinawa

TOKYO | Mon Aug 5, 2013 4:50am EDT

(Reuters) - A U.S. military helicopter crashed on Japan's southern island of Okinawa on Monday, Japanese officials said, an incident that could add to anger over the concentration of U.S. military bases on the island.

The crash took place at a maneuvering ground inside the U.S. Marine's Camp Hansen in central Okinawa, an official said, adding that there were no casualties among local residents but that he had no information about the military crew.

Video footage showed smoke rising from a fire on a remote mountainside and the local official said fire fighters had been dispatched.

Private broadcaster NTV said that the aircraft was a CH-46 helicopter. A spokesperson for the U.S. military in Japan could not immediately comment on the report.

Residents of Okinawa, host to the bulk of U.S. military forces in Japan, have long resented bearing what many feel is an unfair share of the burden for the U.S.-Japan military alliance. Many associate the U.S. bases with accidents, crime and pollution.

(Reporting by Tokyo bureau; Editing by Nick Macfie)

[Coligny]

Old helos supposed to be phased out and replaced by Ospreys that are feared like demons by the locals fall from the sky... News at eleven...
WE japanese serfs only accept danger and irresponsible behaviour from japanese corporate masters...

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

Imagine the fun and games if it was an Osprey crash...

[Coligny]

Imagine the fun and games if it was an Osprey crash...

lose-lose situation... except every passing day the '46 are getting closer to their limit... Ask any stripper... at some point to body can't handle the b00tyshaking anymore...

[Mike Oxlong]

Imagine the fun and games if it was an Osprey crash...

lose-lose situation... except every passing day the '46 are getting closer to their limit... Ask any stripper... at some point to body can't handle the b00tyshaking anymore...

Some sources report an HH-60, others a CH-46. 3 of 4 crew escaped, 1 unaccounted for.

Stars & Stripes and the Marine Times both report it as a Pave Hawk.

[Coligny]

Sooo easy to mistake one for another...

ch46_sea_knight.jpg

1753958.jpg

not even serving in the same branch and one has a dick ffs...

(but sure, when it's just a puddle of smokey bits and dongs on the ground... harder to see...)

[Russell]

Crew Member Missing from Crash Confirmed Dead

Japan on Tuesday asked the U.S. military not to fly its Japan-based HH-60 helicopters until it determines why one crashed at a U.S. base on the southern island of Okinawa, as the U.S. Air Force said it had ended the search for a missing crew member after finding remains.

Three of the helicopter’s four crew members ejected from the aircraft and were in stable condition, the U.S. Air Force said in a statement. It said the remains found near the crash site were not yet identified.

Japan formally complained to the U.S. over the crash, which occurred at a time of intense local opposition to the U.S. Marine Corps’ additional deployment of 12 MV-22 Osprey transport aircraft on Okinawa, where anti-U.S. military sentiment is a longstanding issue.

“We have asked the U.S. not to fly the same aircraft until they find out the cause of the accident and take preventive steps,” Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera told reporters Tuesday.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Japan had also asked Washington to postpone a planned additional deployment of a dozen Ospreys to Okinawa until the latest problem is resolved.

The HH-60 rescue helicopter, which belongs to Okinawa’s Kadena Air Base, was on an unspecified training mission when it crashed at Camp Hansen.

Local media said the crash revived memories of an accident in 2004, when a CH-53 helicopter from Marine Corps Air Station Futenma crashed into a university building, triggering a huge anti-base uproar although there were no civilian injuries and the crew survived.

“We knew it was going to happen sooner or later,” said Kadena Mayor Hiroshi Toyama, referring to Monday’s crash.

The U.S. military has so far denied Japanese authorities access to the crash site.

Anybody know how that works, ejecting from a chopper?

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

Anybody know how that works, ejecting from a chopper?

I'm sure this bloke can help....

[Coligny]

Simulated rendition sincecyou though smart to make that 8th grader joke:

For the Kamov KA-50 Blackshark
http://vimeo.com/9106439

No, the HH60 don't have this,but with big doors, you jump out when you can... Even if usually, staying strapped on tight is considered a better option.

[matsuki]

So basically it's an old beater heli that went down and the J-Gov are making a bunch of demands to the US over it and the Osprey until the issue is "resolved" when the Osprey is the resolution??