Category: Ranting

Ranting

More on the Aso Speech

There was a very interesting part of Aso’s speech calling for the emperor to visit Yasukuni that didn’t make it into English reporting so far:

“Japan is treated like a nouveau-riche child because it has no military power but does have economic power. All the G8 countries are White, and Japan is the only Yellow Race country there. So we teamed up with the best fighter, America. This should be obvious!” (Source: NTV News 24, paraphrased from memory)

The statement repeats a theme emphasized in Aso’s most recent essay on his official website:

If you analyze the current situation, unrelated to the anti-American feelings of left-leaning Japanese and the mass media, isn’t it Japan who has no choice but to take a basic national policy attitude of relying on America? Even children know the everyday wisdom that if there’s a dangerous person in the seat next to you, protection, if you can’t provide it yourself, become friends with the best fighter. This is a little too simplistic, but please consider this one “differing opinion.”　

Unfortunately, the video has already been taken down. If anyone can find me the full text of his speech I would really appreciate it!

Japanese Only?! Outraged over location discrimination

Some of you may have heard about all the great Internet media content sites popping up in Japan recently. I sure have. They’re offering hit shows and the latest music for a small fee, so I couldn’t happier to finally be able to access Japanese TV/music easily from my home in the Washington, DC area. Let’s try these wonderful new services, shall we?

Second Nippon TV: “You can only access this site from within Japan.” Crap!

iTunes Japan: Yes, you CAN access iTunes Japan if you buy a special card from the infamous jlist.com (Thanks to Wikipedia for the tip). Unfortunately, people overseas can NOT access iTunes Japan without giving J-List (or J-Box) a cut.

Yahoo!Japan Music: “Q: Can I download if I live overseas? A: Yahoo! Music Download is not compatible for purchasing songs from overseas. We are using a system that does not allow downloads from people connected from overseas (from IP addresses outside Japan). Based on the policy of the content providers, the distribution of the content outside Japan is not permitted, so we are using this system. Please understand. Hint: If you cannot download, no charges will accrue.” Huh? Now I’m rejected AND my intelligence is insulted!

Final Fantasy XI (MMORPG): OK, This I can use and play along with thousands of Japanese otaku. Um, thanks but no thanks guys!

Just a small but representative example. Listen up, Japan: I would gladly PAY for a lot of this stuff! PAY! MONEY! And I know there are thousands if not millions of Japanese and non-Japanese people who would similarly pony up. So what’s the deal?

I don’t know for sure, but here are a couple guesses based on what I know about the Japan situation:

1. I don’t know the ins and outs of Japanese copyright law, but I DO know that it is arcane and essentially designed to screw the consumer at every turn. One example: There is no general concept of fair use in Japan, making your run-of-the-mill Ultraman clip a possible lawsuit target! Copy protection on CDs is commonplace, criminal charges were filed against the creator of Winny (a P2P file sharing program in Japan) and of course let’s not forget about Sony’s mistaken belief that they could pull the same crap in the US that they get away with in Japan.

Of course, the recording industry in Japan has had mixed results in its efforts to clamp down on piracy. They made something of a compromise in the 90s to allow CD rental to take hold in Japan (for copying to cassettes and later MiniDiscs) by first making sure they got a percentage of each rental.

Nevertheless, the Japanese content providers, not to mention their consumers, are notorious copyright Nazis (see this iTunes forum post to see what I mean if you can read Japanese). The government, who would of course never miss a chance to suck up to big business, has gone so far as to run train ads featuring celebrities against consumer unauthorized downloads and use of pirated DVDs/designer bags etc. This may have something to do with it.

2. iTunes, for its part, had a hell of a time convincing record companies to go along with its business model (especially since some of them (Avex and Sony) run their own digital services). Not allowing songs (or dramas et cetera) to be distributed abroad could in some way shape of form protect the interests of labels who might have ditribution deals in Asia, where Japanese content is hugely popular. Another worry for the content masters may be that allowing the Chinese, for instance, to download high-quality video of their precious content would only lead to more pirated DVDs.

3. Avex’s service apparently suffered an attack from Turkish hackers in August 2005 (check here to see what it looked like — contains the F word!). Banning foreign IP addresses might be a convenient way to protect oneself from some of the less initiated loser 13-year-old hackers out there.

4. In the end, this is most likely the same logic that is applied to DVD region codes and blocking Japanese video games in the American market and vice-versa. Controlling when and where the goods are sold makes it possible to coordinate marketing efforts (and of course set prices). But, at least in this case, what’s the point if the vast majority of the content offered is a) In a language most people overseas do not understand, and b) Not intended for export? As ADV films has found, the type of people who would seek out your product without the help of a coordinated marketing effort are the same people who will build a market for your product for free.

I haven’t seen too much discussion on this topic (but then I don’t frequent tech forums). So why is this? Does anyone know for sure?

TSA to Offer Shorter Lines if You Bare it All for them: MF Has a Suggestion

The TSA (Transportation Security Agency or as some people call them “Thugs Standing Around”) has officially announced its Registered Traveler Program:

New travel plan would require in-depth checks

Beyond shorter lines for airline passengers, benefits are vague.

WASHINGTON – The government is asking airline travelers to give up potentially a huge amount of personal information for what, at this point at least, could be little more than shorter waits at airport security checkpoints.

The Transportation Security Administration announced details of the Registered Traveler Program on Friday, but officials said the benefits for travelers were still being worked out and might not include an exemption from security searches.

Under the voluntary program, which begins in June, travelers would have to submit fingerprints and allow officials to conduct in-depth background checks, including in some cases providing access to personal and financial histories, to prove they aren’t terrorists.

No incentive, you say? Why not integrate this new background check with the government’s security clearance process? If I could put government clearance on my resume without actually having to work for the government, that would be more than enough reason to give up my personal information.

Thoughts?

Alternative Memorial for War Dead Left Out of 2006 Budget

The “Group to Consider a National [War] Memorial” is a rare ruling-opposition (LDP, Komeito, and DPJ) caucus of lawmakers that is campaigning for the Japanese government to establish an alternative to Yasukuni shrine. The idea, proposed by a 2002 advisory panel and supported by South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, is popular among those in the Japan Policy Community (including influential types in Washington) who would prefer to see a speedy, concrete solution to the Yasukuni issue rather than all of Koizumi’s useless (and possibly dangerous) saber-rattling.

Well, don’t count on it this year, based on this year’s budget requests. This was covered in slightly less detail in the Japan Times, but you can enjoy my abstract of the Yomiuri:

Memorial Facility Survey Funds Left Out, PM Firms Stance: “Public opinion not ripe”

PM Koizumi has firmed his stance not to include funds to survey the possibility of a national war memorial in the national budget draft, a move seen to be caused by a lack of public interest.

Government sources explained that the “environment has not been prepared to include survey funds in next year’s budget,” which will be formally decided on Dec. 22. The funds were not included in the MOF’s budget recommendations, released the same day.

Another part of the decision, say government officials, was that including the funds would not likely have contributed to repairing relations with China and South Korea.

The govt plans to continue deliberating on the merits of including the funds while “carefully watching public opinion.” There is momentum within the “Group to Consider a National [War] Memorial,” which crosses party lines to include members from the ruling LDP and New Komeito as well as the main opposition DPJ, to demand the inclusion of such funding in next fiscal year’s revised budget or reserve funds. However, it is unlikely to be included in a budget during Koizumi’s tenure.

When SK President Roh Moo-hyun asked that Koizumi consider the establishment of a national war memorial during the Korea-Japan summit on June 20, the Japanese leader accepted, saying he would “consider it taking into consideration circumstances including public opinion.” However, the PM’s October 17 visit to Yasukuni Shrine is quickly becoming a diplomatic problem due to China and SK’s strong protests. It seems as if the PM thought that it would look like he would be giving in to their pressure if he included such funds in this year’s budget.

According to a November poll conducted by Nikkei, 49% of Japanese people would approve, while 31% would disapprove of a national war memorial. I guess in the Land of Consensus even clear numbers in favor of such a memorial smack of “divided public opinion.” Of course, Koizumi didn’t let a little thing like internal division stop him from pushing through postal privatization, did he?
Continue reading Alternative Memorial for War Dead Left Out of 2006 Budget

Xmas should be more commercial — Some Perspective from the Founder of the Ayn Rand Institute

There is little that I can add to the “War on Christmas” debate other than to say that I place myself among the segment of the population that (aptly put by “Ross” from Andrewsullivan.com) “thought we were past all that Christianity stuff.” Wasn’t the whole idea behind changing “Merry Xmas” to “Happy Holidays” to make it the first step in the eventual phasing out of the holiday altogether?

Anyway, I am just posting to wish you all a very merry Ayn Rand Christmas:

“It is time to take the Christ out of Christmas, and turn the holiday into a guiltlessly egoistic, pro-reason, this-worldly, commercial celebration.”

Amen!

Adam Richards makes the high honor roll YESSSSSSSSSS


Way to go!

Honor Roll

Waubonsie Valley High School

The following senior and junior students have been named to the honor roll for the first quarter of the 2005-06 school year at Waubonsie Valley High School in Aurora. Sophomore and freshman honor rolls will be published later.

Seniors

High honors: Mohamed Abdelati, Christie Alekna, Nicole Andrade, Rachel Andrews, Asma Ashraf, Maryam Askia, Matthew Asuan, Kristyn Atkins, Kyla Bachtell, Andrew Baginski, Nicholas Baier, Christen Baillie, Samantha Barber, Jillian Battaglia, Amanda Batterson, Steven Berger, Vikas Bhala, Markie Bitter, Joseph Blanco, Victoria Blanco, Jacqueline Boatman, Jacob Boerema, Ryan Bolwin, Andrew Bosco, Michael Brancheau, Deborah Bridgett, Jennifer Brown, Kelly Brummel, Kimmerly Buchholz, Zachary Buckley, Kevin Burns, Nathan Caldwell, Samuel Carpenter, Nivedita Chandrasekharan, Brendan Chaves, Winnie Cheung.

Priya Chopra, Timothy Clark, Chase Clarke, Bernadette Close, Bridget Close, Mallery Clouse, Abby Cox, Jamie Custer, Melissa Davis, Cory Deking, Vanessa Delaney, Jessica Dennin, Colleen Densmore, Ananya Dev, Carolyn Dick, Lindsay Dileo, Matthew Dixon, Christina Dracopoulos, Erika Drane, Jacquelyn Duke, Alysia Eberly, Jeremy Enright, Karissa Erber, Kristen Erickson, Steven Fekety, Tamara Fetzer, Katie Fick, Benjamin Finfrock, Daniel Fisher, Dustin Fix, Erica Foley, Jennifer Fowler, Rashad Franklin, Monica Freeman, Ashton Frierson, Divya Gantla, Alissa Gigler, Clarissa Glassett, Kriti Goel, Michael Goetz.

Lily Gonzalez, Nehal Gosalia, Scott Graczyk, Jacquelyn Graham, Rachel Greenspan, Brittany Gregus, Andrew Gross, Grant Gucinski, Bennett Gulling, Ameera Haamid, Jennifer Haick, Paul Happ III, Meagan Heim, Emily Hendricks, Griffin Henricks, Ryan Herdegen, Coryn Hess, Dana Higgins, Laura Horan, Emily Hynes, Don Idio, Ashley Inches, Aryka Ishmon, Andrew Israelsen, Hariharan Iyer, Michael Jacobs, Bryan James, Nicole Jeewek, Cullen Johnson, Meaghan Johnson, Jill Jozefowicz, Alex Kahler, Nicholas Kasmar, Shivani Katyal, Alan Keefe, Shefali Khanna, Sa Kim, Sung Kim.

Brian Kirchner, Bethany Kirkenir, Daniel Kirschbaum, Darius Kizys, Kirsten Knapton, Sandeep Kola, Kyle Koster, Vasiliy Kosynkin, Karthik Kotha, Michael Kozak, Matthew Krafczyk, Katharine Krause, Uma Krishnan, Kyle Krivacek, Jennifer Lackey, Anne Lacy, David Lakhani, Patricia Lakoma, Sara Laney, Rachael Lastres, Brittany Lawler, Zachary Lawson, Alexander Leasenby, Arnold Lee, Joanna Leggett, Eden Lenk, Kyle Lennox, Jordan Lints, Dominic Loney, Leigh Loosbrock, Lauren Lucas, Micaela Luna, Stephanie Lund, Amy Lustro, Samantha Lyons, Andrew Macdonald, John Mackey, Jayesh Madrecha, Leanne Maksin, Mark Mankivsky, Sarah Mann, Scott Markham, Bojana Martinic, Johnathan Maurer, Laura Maxwell, Arlen Mccann, Catherine Mcgath, Alethea Merelos, Ashley Mills, Rachel Montes, Morgen Moore.

Danielle Moores, Matthew Mores, Michael Morice, Stephanie Murphy, Tracy Murphy, Lauren Musarra, Autumn Myatt, Joshua Myers, Elizabeth Nelson, Catherine Neuman, Amanda Nielsen, Ann Nowak, Philip O’donnell, Caren Oliver, Robert Olson, Samuel Olson, Maggie O’malley, John Ossyra, Timothy Otto, Alan Ouska, Jessica Palmerin, Neil Pandya, Brittany Panicola, Heather Parchman, Lina Park, Raj Patel, Vanessa Pegram, Lenen Pellegrino, Andrea Perez, Anthony Pisciotto, Chelsea Potts, Amanda Regan, Rachel Reitemeier, Adam Richards, Steven Robinson, Mercedes Roca, Madeline Rodriguez, Alexis Royce, Lisa Rudolph, Ashley Rymer, Manu Sabu, Jessica Sappington.
Continue reading Adam Richards makes the high honor roll YESSSSSSSSSS

Too tall for Tokyo: a reaction

This story was sent to me by my friend Mateo. Woman lives in Tokyo for 5 years with her husband on the expat package, leaves with bitter taste in her mouth. Her sentiments can be summed up rather well by the following passage:

When we left New York, I was a working mom dressed in power suits, having business lunches, serving on the board of directors of my kids’ school. When we arrived in Japan, everything I was, or thought I was, crumpled before one undeniable defining characteristic: I was different.

My heart goes out to Ms. Gandel and all those enduring the rude Japanese gawkers. I’ve gone through most of the experiences she describes. Especially, being ignored even when I know I was speaking good-enough Japanese was a constant source of frustration that I don’t miss in the slightest.

And any White American who has spent time in Japan has undoubtedly thought at one time or another that they can finally relate to the minority groups in America after their experiences with the Japanese, who insist on judging us — pigeon-holing us — just for being different.

But you have to admit, even though it’s rude and annoying to be singled out for being who you are, White People in Japan have it easy. In many Japanese minds, White People are actually racially superior thanks to the popular survival of Nazi-era racial hierarchies. The many non-Japanese Asians, South Asians, Africans, etc often face subhuman treatment. The cold rejection of Africans, for instance, comes when Japanese mothers warn their internationally-minded daughters: marrying a White Man is OK, but never ever bring home a black man.

But since we’re on the topic, Ms. Gandel has an eye-opening account of public bathing:

As I sat on the little plastic stool and turned on the wall tap to start the prewash cycle, I became aware of sidelong looks, gasps, muted giggles and a sudden exodus of the Japanese women and children. I must have resembled a gorilla in the mist, or the repulsive creature that was Sigourney Weaver’s nemesis in another of her movies. After all, that’s what I was to these women: an alien, a gaijin.

This is a reaction one might expect from a hermit kingdom such as North Korea, but not the second largest economy in the world, right? Sadly, this is all too common.

I haven’t had the experience of living in another so-called “homogeneous” society, but I expect that the experience would be largely the same as what she describes. Except in other countries, expats seem to accept being left out of the mainstream society as a matter of course. Why the complaining about Japan (and sometimes Korea)?
Continue reading Too tall for Tokyo: a reaction

Japundit gets it wrong on MOAG

Japundit is celebrating its comment-generating post about the “controversy” over the Memoirs of a Geisha movie with a victory lap. But really, who cares? The blog, I assure you, is just playing into marketers’ hands.

What no one seems to be mentioning is that putting a Chinese woman in a Japanese role was more than likely an intentional decision by the filmmakers to generate buzz. Or even if the initial casting decision wasn’t made specifically to ruffle feathers, the race mix-up angle has been played up way out of proportion for that reason. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that the race-sensitive Asians and their apologists (at Japundit, MutantFrog.com, or other public forums) would get their panties in a bundle if those ignoramuses in Hollywood confused Japanese and Chinese people, so why not exploit that to get people talking about a movie that would otherwise not be very appealing to an uninitiated audience?

Because realistically, a movie about a “geisha” probably couldn’t sell itself. Enough people in the States are vaguely aware of what a geisha is to the point of it showing up in the dictionary, but are Americans dying to see a tragic tale of star-crossed love between two stiff, unemotional Asians? Most people would understandably say, “Geesha what?” And as we all know, Japan isn’t nearly as sexy as it once was, and with Japan-China tensions being the hot-button issue that they are, a good bit of controversy never hurt anyone.

So when you go see this movie, enjoy — but just remember that your thoughts on race relations, your expectations of artistic authenticity, and all else you hold dear are all being carefully manipulated by well-paid and savvy hucksters.

No Such Thing as a Free Lunch, or Don’t Teach English in Japan

This story from Japundit was pathetic enough to finally end any illusions I had as to whether teaching English in Japan is “real” work. It is the best argument I’ve yet seen against ever considering English teaching in Japan as a career option.

There are thousands of people like David who come to Japan expecting a free lunch. This guy did even worse than most, starting close to the bottom because of some sort of hipster condemnation of “the man” and working his way down from there.

Of course, he learns his lesson at the end of the story, right?

Then why is he still in Japan working as an underqualified “teacher” of English?

Let’s get one thing straight: Eikaiwa is not teaching in any meaningful sense of the word. Since Japanese society has a backwards, racist view of language learning the vast majority of people are convinced that the best way to learn a language is to sit in a room with any random native speaker of that language. This is WRONG. The eikaiwa schools’ “learn-language-quick” approach to something that always requires motivation and years of patient hard work is nothing less than a scam. And just because the suckers are all too happy to part with their money that doesn’t make it right! Doesn’t it make you sick to your stomach to know you’re a fraud? David’s bad attitude toward the students speaks volumes:

I’ve been teaching English to children from ages three to 10, or at least trying to do so. Ah, children! They’re not just our hope and future, they’re also gaseous balls of snot and flatulence filled with demonic energy out to leech the very life from our bones. No, seriously, this experience has taught me to love kids, especially in lemon and butter sauce. Accompanied with a light Chianti, they can’t be beat.

Now, I don’t mean to pick on David. There are tons of other eikaiwa teachers out there who are bitter at their lot in life but are too chickenshit to do anything about it. It can’t feel good to be approaching 30 and still not have any marketable skills under your belt.

(On a side note, I don’t get why he doesn’t seem to have a problem when small-timers scam people out of their money but chafes at “the system” if a business is successful and grows large. Jealousy perhaps?)