Is anything real here?

[wuchan]

Fake accounting, fake emissions and airbag tests, fake French products, faker construction data, fake nuke data, fake olympic bidding and now...

Fake PhD's at the BOJ.

(sorry no quote, i hit the paywall)
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/05/10/business/economy-business/boj-qualifies-website-policy-board-pair-completed-todai-phd-programs/#.VzPPYTapGRs

[kurogane]

Ooook. More fakery!!! Even if it's fake to call it fakery, they seem to be ducking and faking to get out of this round still standing

Anyhoo, got it: Full Article

BOJ qualifies on website only that Policy Board pair ‘completed’ Todai PhD programs

Kyodo
May 10, 2016
The Bank of Japan said Monday its website states that two of its Policy Board members “completed a PhD program in economics” at the University of Tokyo graduate school, not that they held doctoral degrees.

The brief website biographies for BOJ Deputy Gov. Kikuo Iwata and Policy Board member Makoto Sakurai show they completed all the necessary course work for doctorates at the university, known as Todai.

Under the education ministry’s criteria, a student finishes a PhD program when the person passes both the thesis review and the examination. Situations like those of the two BOJ policymakers are described as having “left (a school) after earning credits,” the ministry says.

The BOJ was responding to a weekly news magazine report that said Sakurai may have fabricated details of his academic record.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, the top government spokesman, told a press conference on Monday that the matter is about “accuracy of expression,” but defended the members as having “top expertise in economic and financial policy at home and abroad.”

The central bank declined comment on whether it may change the expression.

As long as they don't call themselves Doctor Creditto or Doctor Debbito or use the title PhD they aren't being dishonest, but I find it as misleading and improper as I did when the real Doktor D%bito started using the title before he had passed his viva/oral defence. When you snatch the pebble from their hands it is time to be called Doctor. This is the way it has worked since even before Kwai Chang Caine lifted the urns of molten rocks and became a Shaolin Monk.

Good find, WooWoo. One more nail in the coffin. Or should I say arrow in the back?

[wagyl]

Paywall solution

[kurogane]

Private Browsing Reporting for Duty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[inflames]

Ha. Was always wondering how stuff like this would get handled - what they did is basically called 満期退学 or 単位取得退学, which is some weird thing in Japan where you have the credits, but don't finish your dissertation (this is something you get to put on your resume as a consolation prize, kind of like dropping out of a Ph.D program in the US but being given a master's degree).

Apparently the page in Japanese said 「博士課程修了」 which is a pretty obvious lie.

[kurogane]

Well, that last one could also be seen as an equivalent to the N.Merkin term ABD, though ABD suggests one is still progressing rather than having already given up, but plenty of people that either failed or dropped out before full completion use ABD. I think it's misleading but within context it's not mendacious, unless they were claiming the title or achievement, which gets even harder to prove because being called Sensei in that position is a general social custom as much as anything. So, yet another rather trivial example of a rather widespread issue. Perhaps there is a media feeding frenzy following the unmasking of that weird pseudo-half Jpn guy with the extra nose?

At any rate, what I was taught and told was that 博士号取得　is unambiguous and not to be abused, in the same way as writing Chester I. Molester, PhD. I think it might constitute a proper legal fraud in Japan under one of those weird Face/Reputation laws they have if you fib or flubber

[Coligny]

il_340x270.565135774_ijqm.jpg

[Takechanpoo]

your guys comments just are showing you arrogant gaijin dudes dont read written-by-japanese books or articles written by japanese scholars. its just a customary way of writing career. no more than it. to be exact it should be written that 単位取得退学, actually. but anyone who are university guys and usually read written-by-japanese books or articles take it for granted. i dont know the accurate backgroud how the custom was made, though. (my guess is that the reason is the negative word 退学 is not appropriate to career.)
untill recently, in human sciences j-universities seldom had given 博士号. just look at the end of the page of several written-by-japanese books. you will find that its not rare at all about the career of the generation japanese who finished doctoral course in j-univs. its just recently that j-universities easily give a doctor in human sciences.

if someone actually has 博士号, his/her career is written 社会学博士, 法学博士 or 学術博士 etc
after____博士課程終了. but actually the BOJ guys career is just written _____博士課程終了.
there are 2 patterns which are having a doctor and not having it even after finishing doctoral course of j-univs. and the BOJ guy is the latter one.

this is just a faultfinding as always which is favorite subject by leftwing or "liberal" j-journalism(asahi, mainichi or kyodo etc).
and also as always you gaijijn guys, who always are looking for the reason to denounce japan which never accept you aliens, recklessly follow it.
shame on it.

[Samurai_Jerk]

your guys comments just are showing you arrogant gaijin dudes dont read written-by-japanese books or articles written by japanese scholars. its just a customary way of writing career. no more than it. to be exact it should be written that 単位取得退学, actually. but anyone who are university guys and usually read written-by-japanese books or articles take it for granted. i dont know the accurate backgroud how the custom was made, though. (my guess is that the reason is the negative word 退学 is not appropriate to career.)
untill recently, in human sciences j-universities seldom had given 博士号. just look at the end of the page of several written-by-japanese books. you will find that its not rare at all about the career of the generation japanese who finished doctoral course. its just recently that j-universities easily give a doctor in human sciences.

if someone actually has 博士号, his/her career is written 社会学博士, 法学博士 or 学術博士 etc
after____博士課程終了. but actually the BOJ guys career is just written _____博士課程終了.

this is just a faultfinding as always which is favorite subject by leftwing or "liberal" j-journalism(asahi, mainichi or kyodo etc).
and also as always you gaijijn guys, who always are looking for the reason to denounce japan which never accept you aliens, recklessly follow it.
shame on it.

Bullshit. 終了 implies graduation. Maybe that wasn't always the case but it certainly is now.

[Takechanpoo]

your guys comments just are showing you arrogant gaijin dudes dont read written-by-japanese books or articles written by japanese scholars. its just a customary way of writing career. no more than it. to be exact it should be written that 単位取得退学, actually. but anyone who are university guys and usually read written-by-japanese books or articles take it for granted. i dont know the accurate backgroud how the custom was made, though. (my guess is that the reason is the negative word 退学 is not appropriate to career.)
untill recently, in human sciences j-universities seldom had given 博士号. just look at the end of the page of several written-by-japanese books. you will find that its not rare at all about the career of the generation japanese who finished doctoral course. its just recently that j-universities easily give a doctor in human sciences.

if someone actually has 博士号, his/her career is written 社会学博士, 法学博士 or 学術博士 etc
after____博士課程終了. but actually the BOJ guys career is just written _____博士課程終了.

this is just a faultfinding as always which is favorite subject by leftwing or "liberal" j-journalism(asahi, mainichi or kyodo etc).
and also as always you gaijijn guys, who always are looking for the reason to denounce japan which never accept you aliens, recklessly follow it.
shame on it.

Bullshit. 終了 implies graduation. Maybe that wasn't always the case but it certainly is now.

you wanna-be japanologist even dont know there are 2 patterns which are having a doctor and not having it even after finishing doctoral course of j-universities, in spite of long-time dwelling here in japan.

[Isle of View]

What a joke.

This in a place that calls lawyers and politicians 先生 (sensei),
but where even supposedly well educated people address someone with a Ph.D. on their 名刺 (name card) as ～さん (Mr.).

[wuchan]

I just don't understand how they could "complete all credits" then not take the test or submit a thesis. Most of the last two years of credit are spent writing the thesis. Did they pay someone to get the credits?

This is like playing for the Portland Seadogs (AA team) and calming to be on main roster for the Boston Red Sox.

[Samurai_Jerk]

I just don't understand how they could "complete all credits" then not take the test or submit a thesis. Most of the last two years of credit are spent writing the thesis.

It's not unusual to be unsuccessful in defending your thesis and feel like it's not worthwhile to keep trying.

Anyway, what this is about is weasels playing a game of semantics: 終了 vs. 修了.

[kurogane]

What a joke.

This in a place that calls lawyers and politicians 先生 (sensei),
but where even supposedly well educated people address someone with a Ph.D. on their 名刺 (name card) as ～さん (Mr.).

Yes. As I referred to above. Well put.

I just don't understand how they could "complete all credits" then not take the test or submit a thesis. Most of the last two years of credit are spent writing the thesis. Did they pay someone to get the credits?
This is like playing for the Portland Seadogs (AA team) and calming to be on main roster for the Boston Red Sox.

Not so much. This is more of a problem of your understanding than it is one of accepted practice. Postgrad work is far more complicated than it would seem. I liked the Seadogs reference, though. Even though Portland is an inland city...........

So, anyhoo, what Take wrote is utter BS. Imagine that. Having said that I would never feel the need to use 終了 when all I need to do is write 取得. The former is a strategically intended vaguity. The latter isn't. The really sad part, as usual, was that Take almost had a point: knowing what it means when it's written in Japanese isn't the same as fully grasping that they use Japanese the way they want to, when they want to, how they want to. They're Japanese. A Gomer Pyle moment maybe, but that is the way it works. Unless the accused purported to be PhDs they haven't done much wrong. This is a media driven tempest. Misleading maybe, but not wrong or menadacious. Except on the part of the media. Who should be beaten. Much as I despise the new Neo-con suppression of the media, most journalists are douchebags, and you can never beat enough douchebags, even if you agree with them politically, as I do here. Taking a beating should be a job requirement for a media scum.

[Takechanpoo]

regardless of whatever you pretend to know, its a custom which has been going on for over half a century in this island.
for example, the career of 野矢茂樹(noya shigeki), one of my favorite philosophers, is written 博士課程単位取得退学 in wikipedia but 博士課程修了 in his several books i have. another ones are too numerous to enumerate in especially human sciences.
are there another countries where finishing of doctor course and doctor degree is not necessarily a set?

[wagyl]

Take, look up ABD, All but Dissertation.

[legion]

What a joke.

This in a place that calls lawyers and politicians 先生 (sensei),
but where even supposedly well educated people address someone with a Ph.D. on their 名刺 (name card) as ～さん (Mr.).

yeah, but generally calling someone "sensei" means "I know you are a grumpy fuck but I need a freebie"

[legion]

regardless of whatever you pretend to know, its a custom which has been going on for over half a century in this island.
for example, the career of 野矢茂樹(noya shigeki), one of my favorite philosophers, is written 博士課程単位取得退学 in wikipedia but 博士課程修了 in his several books i have. another ones are too numerous to enumerate in especially human sciences.
are there another countries where finishing of doctor course and doctor degree is not necessarily a set?

so your favourite philosopher is a fake too?

that's gotta burn

[Takechanpoo]

you mean judge the capacity of scholars based on their career rather than their assertion itself?
"hes great coz he got a doctor in Harvard! yay!" i wholeheartedly respect your judgement. great.

in the first place why the hell does j-universities need to has the same style with westerns? japan has its own style. no problem with it.

and in japan, generally the master and doctor degree of human sciences of j-universities are almost regarded as up-graded version of eiken(英検), which means its almost meaningless if you have it. so anybody almost dont care whether some scholar have the master/doctor degree of j-univs.

[Coligny]

"hes great coz he got a doctor in Harvard! yay!" i wholeheartedly respect your judgement. great.
.

INB4 sumbuddy get their panties inabunch, Takechimp is not my sock puppet...

Unless it can get him banned, then YES I am in fact Takechimp and have been trollzoring youze since before Jeebus was riding dinausors to die for our sins over some apple and a snake dildo.

[Coligny]

Take almost had a point: knowing what it means when it's written in Japanese isn't the same as fully grasping that they use Japanese the way they want to, when they want to, how they want to. They're Japanese. A Gomer Pyle moment maybe, but that is the way it works.

Did you just aknowledge that japanjingo is then de-facto not a language but instead barely arcane, specious and utterly unfit pidgin ?

[wuchan]

in the first place why the hell does j-universities need to has the same style with westerns? japan has its own style. no problem with it.

There are shit tons of problems caused by Japan's unwillingness to comply to global standards. The Japanese way seems to be "make it look good and we'll just make up the rest".

[Takechanpoo]

The Japanese way seems to be "make it look good and we'll just make up the rest".

its just your personal japan assembled by the combination of begging the question, selective ababstraction and fallacy of composition inside your brain or 坊主憎けりゃ袈裟まで憎い, which is a one of primitive thinking habit that you and your family line have inherited since it were a mouse.
here is a book recommendation to get over it which is far better than mcgraw hill's one.
no need to thank me for it.

[Tsuru]

There's a lot of different factors which determine the merit of one's qualifications, this is why things like accreditation and ranking exist. An arse in Berlin is a professor in Rome after all.

But this is very simple. If you haven't done your dissertation you don't get to call yourself a PhD or Dr. In the west academic titles are protected by very specific laws, and if you are caught using them without having the right to you are usually in for a world of hurt, especially so if you are in public office. Deservedly so, I would say.

In the eyes of the international scientific community (and not just the west) this kind of improper shit puts Japan on par with China. I know you can do better than that.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

The pads in the bras are real.

[Isle of View]

The pads in the bras are real.

+1

[Isle of View]

. . .

But this is very simple. If you haven't done your dissertation you don't get to call yourself a PhD or Dr. In the west academic titles are protected by very specific laws, and if you are caught using them without having the right to you are usually in for a world of hurt, especially so if you are in public office. Deservedly so, I would say.

Bingo.

In the eyes of the international scientific community (and not just the west) this kind of improper shit puts Japan on par with China. I know you can do better than that.

Lower, actually.

The local supposed top university, University of Tokyo, is only ranked 43rd globally* and dropping, just below rapidly up and coming Peking University. That is what inbred insularity in the international world of academia gets one.

*The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2015-2016

[kurogane]

But this is very simple. If you haven't done your dissertation you don't get to call yourself a PhD or Dr. In the west academic titles are protected by very specific laws, and if you are caught using them without having the right to you are usually in for a world of hurt, especially so if you are in public office. Deservedly so, I would say.

Well put. Japan has similar laws and customs that I mentioned above. It's reputation fraud, for want of a better term. Or just fraud. Also, as a polite quibble, it's not doing your dissertation so much as successfully defending it, however that is adjudicated. By custom, once your examiners sign off on it you are HERR DOKTOR. But if they did complete the course as they claimed and unless they have claimed the degree or title they aren't guilty of anything except a misleading pretence, which is a shame but not a crime. It also shows just how badly a lot of people grasp the differences between degree, title, and qualification. Not to mention how much too many commoners hate formal education and betitled expertise with a vicious petulance at which most rabid weasels would flinch.

Wuchan,
Those International Standards you referred to don't exist in academia: the German system is more different from the UK system than the latter is from the Japanese system. That is why we have those silly international accreditation agencies and services. In Japanese terms I would be in a similar state to Take's favourite philosopher because I never did a dissertation or got a degree, but in the UK or Canada it wouldn't make any sense, unless I resorted to the ABD ruse, as many do in North America. I agree that their fudging and quibbling can be a problem, but not in this instance, and they are certainly not alone in doing it. I think we all know the problems with qualification inflation and fraud all over the world.
Tempest + Teacup = Nothing to see here, folks，please move along.

And on a sadder note, Take was righterer than he was wrongerer, even if his logic is muddled and his arguments petty. Unless they have been claiming to be a PhD or a Doctor. Then we might have a bit of fun.

[dimwit]

Ahem. Sensei, I have a question. Why would anyone go to all the trouble of completing all the course work for a PhD and not do a dissertation? I get people who drop out halfway through. My thinking is that the only reason one would do this is because their dissertation is such a mess that they would get plowed during any defence, and therefore their advisors don't allow them to proceed.

If that is the case, there is a hell of a difference between a PhD and a ABD.

[Russell]

Ahem. Sensei, I have a question. Why would anyone go to all the trouble of completing all the course work for a PhD and not do a dissertation? I get people who drop out halfway through. My thinking is that the only reason one would do this is because their dissertation is such a mess that they would get plowed during any defence, and therefore their advisors don't allow them to proceed.

If that is the case, there is a hell of a difference between a PhD and a ABD.

If you can't produce and defend a Ph.D. thesis, that indicates you are unable to produce scientific results on your own. That's what it boils down to. Doing the coursework is not much different than what undergraduate students do.