HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: hiraga@Csli.Stanford.EDU (Yuzuru Hiraga)
Subject: Re: Question on Dates?
Organization: Stanford University CSLI
Date: Sat, 3 Oct 1992 01:04:49 GMT

In article <1992Oct2.003917.3500@nmit.mt.nec.co.jp> d-itasak@nmit.mt.nec.co.jp (Daisaku Itasaka) writes:
>In article <1992Oct1.203606.21976@u.washington.edu>
>	tvp@gibdo.engr.washington.edu writes:
>
>>>Could someone please tell me the exact date that
>>>Hirohito died, or more specifically, the last date
>>>of the Showa era and the first date of the Heisei
>>>era?
>>
>>My recollection, which will be corrected if wrong, is that Jan.6, 1989
>>was the last day of Showa and Jan.7 was the first day of Heisei. I
>>remember this because:
>>
>>#1 I thought it was weird that Showa 64 was less than a week long.
>>#2 I bought a train ticket on the morning of the 7th that said
>>   64-01-07, a date that never really existed.
>
>I think that the last date of Shouwa is 7th and the first date of
>Heisei is 8th. So it is true that the date 64-01-07 really existed.
>
>I remember the 7th was Saturday. The emperor died in that morning.
>I heard about that in the morning news show on TV. In that afternoon
>the government announced that we'd call our new era "Heisei".

I, too, believe that Jan.7th is the correct date.  Though the announced
dates may be different eg. in USA because of timezone difference.
However, my impression is that Heisei was announced the following day
(8th?), though I'm not quite sure about that.  In any case, the
announcement of the new GENGOU (English?) will be in effect on the
following day, and SHOUWA will be valid till then.

Some personal recollections.
That morning, I woke up unusually early (maybe some calling?) and
was watching NHK TV.  Sometime before 7:00am, a special news sequence
broke in announcing the death of the TENNOU (I personally think that
"emperor" is an inappropriate translation: comparing its use for
Napoleon, Holy Roman Empire, etc.).
It was the first and only time I heard the chime call sign of
the special news in live, which goes do--mi sol do-- (sol in the lower
octave).  The other time I heard it was in historical recordings
announcing the attack on Pearl Harbor.

For those of you that are not familiar with the system,
it may seem weird that the same year (1989) has different callings
(Shouwa 64/Heisei gannen(=1nen)).  If one lives in it, one gets
quite used to it.  Not to say that it's simple -- It has been used
as a source of puzzles, etc. (eg.: Why can't there be a New Year's
greeting card (Nengajou) dated "XX gannen"?).

-Yuzuru Hiraga
From: tvp@gibdo.engr.washington.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Question on Dates?
Date: 1 Oct 92 20:36:06 GMT
Article-I.D.: u.1992Oct1.203606.21976
Organization: clearer than blir

In article <7309@bigbird.hri.com.hri.com> blamb@hri.com (Bill Lambert) writes:
>
>Could someone please tell me the exact date that
>Hirohito died, or more specifically, the last date
>of the Showa era and the first date of the Heisei
>era?
>
>Thanks in advance. email is OK.
>
>- Bill Lambert

My recollection, which will be corrected if wrong, is that Jan.6, 1989
was the last day of Showa and Jan.7 was the first day of Heisei. I
remember this because:

#1 I thought it was weird that Showa 64 was less than a week long.
#2 I bought a train ticket on the morning of the 7th that said
   64-01-07, a date that never really existed.

-- Tad Perry   Internet:    tvp@gibdo.engr.washington.edu
               CompuServe:  70402,3020
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: hiraga@Csli.Stanford.EDU (Yuzuru Hiraga)
Subject: Re: The Northern Islands
Organization: Stanford University CSLI
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 13:01:35 GMT

I think that we're having serious communications trouble...

[line order changed: >> are my words]
In article <1992Sep28.151151.2117@island.COM> fester@island.COM (Mike Fester) writes:
>>I thought we were talking about Yeltsin's political attitude.
>
>Actually, we were talking about Japan's relations with her neighbors.

No we "were"n't.  This thread started by my reply to your praising
Yeltsin's maneuvers using words like "I really admire ..." seen
three or four times [sorry, I can't recall the exact words:
I don't have the posts anymore].  This should have been a distinct topic
(Ah! I should have changed the Subject: line), which for some unknown
reason you have inflated into the whole issue of northern islands
and now "Japan's relations with her neighbors."

Thus:
>>Surely, Mike, you're dodging the issue...
and then:
>??Hardly. Unless you mean that in your opinion, Japan has some sort of
>moral claim to the islands, in which case I have made it quite clear that they
>have none.

No you didn't.
As a matter of fact, you failed.
And I suggest you refrain from "moral" issues because the sad truth is
that it's not the decisive factor in territorial issues (need I bring up
Hawaii, or native American rights?  and what moral claim does Russia
have anyway?)

And what's this twist anyway?
I've said (in the later lines, brought up above) that you're
dodging from the topic of Yeltsin's attitude.

Taking another example:

>>>Investment almost anywhere is risky.
>
>>Why this overgeneralization?
>>Investment to RUSSIA is considered as relatively risky,
>>be it with or without OED, compared with other locations on equal grounds.
>
>Investment almost anywhere is risky, as indicated by the US and Japanese 
>banking difficulties, though they were investing heavily in their own
>economies.

Again, you are slipping away.
Can this in any sense be regarded as a response to my lines?
If you don't agree, DENY AND REFUTE IT.
If you concede or don't feel like replying, JUST KEEP IT OUT.
But please don't try covering up or twisting things.  PLEASE!


I'm not sure anymore whether it is worthwhile to making replies, but then:

>And giving them[=islands] back would not make any money for them[=Russians]

Why not?

>If they Japanese want them[=islands] back, they are going to have
>to be a lot more clever and a lot more flexible. That is, actually, rather 
>simple.

Now, THIS is interesting!  What in the world can be so simple,
while Japan is not clever enough to recognize it?
Provided, that is, that Russia could expect no money for the islands,
and also Japan having no "moral claim" for them?

-Yuzuru Hiraga
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: fester@island.COM (Mike Fester)
Subject: Re: girl that dies in school gate
Organization: /usr/local/rn/organization
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 16:01:07 GMT

In article <Bv9vIz.JMJ@jrd.dec.com> doi@jrd.dec.com (Hitoshi Doi) writes:
>In article <1992Sep28.001407.27460@bnr.ca>, davev@bnr.ca (David Villeneuve) writes:
># In article <1992Sep26.212655.7100@iscsvax.uni.edu>, wilson0189@iscsvax.uni.edu writes:
># |> 
>#    I recall hearing about this from a JET Teacher around September
>#    of 1989.  The story I heard was that the girl was late for school,
>#    and the teachers were thought to have shoved the gate/door against
>#    her to teach her a lesson.  

>I don't remember all the details, but the teacher did not do it
>on purpose.  The teacher did not even see that the girl was
>getting smashed.  That's why she died.  It was a large, heavy
>sliding gate that he had to use his all of his force to push.
>He was so busy pushing it that he didn't notice that the girl
>got caught.

>#    Hmmm. I hope this is not indicative of discipline in the Japanese
>#    school system....
>
>I don't necessarily feel that the teachers should kill the students
>who don't follow directions in school, but I think the Japanese
>schools now are too lenient.
>The news reported that many students were always late to class.
>They didn't care about following rules.  So they started to close
>the gate when it was time for school to begin.  This was after many
>other attempts to try to make the students come to school on time.

Not a flame, but this points out a HUGE difference in the outlook of the
"typical" Japanese and "typical" American in handling student discipline
problems. I was in Japan when the incident happened, and I remember the
papers running articles on that and other incidents where teachers used
extreme methods to "correct" bad behavior. One incident in particular; in
Kyushu (sorry, don't remember the exact city) 4 unruly boys were taken to
the nearby beach by a group of teachers and buried up to their necks near
the middle of the low-high tide mark! Tide started coming in, the boys got
several mouthfuls of saltwater and were then dug up by the teachers. At the
equivalent of the PTA meeting to discuss the situation, the parents of 3 of
the boys got up and formally thanked the teachers for taking such an interest
in the boys' behavior, and apologized for the offending behavior. The parents
of the 4th boy wondered if this may have been too severe, and asked that the
teachers take care that no harm come to any such student next time.

Mike
-- 
Disclaimer - I'm only doing what the little voices tell me to do. 
Lines: 19
Date: Mon,  5 Oct 92 11:37:36 MDT
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Japanese Income Tax
Organization: Brigham Young University, Provo UT USA
From: luke@newt.ee.byu.edu (David Luke)

To all those of you working in Japan (both "native" and "gaijin"):

What is the Japanese income tax rate for those working in Japan on a 
permanent/semi-permanent basis?  How is it calculated (flat rate, progressive,
regressive, etc.)?

Is there a "local" income tax as well as the national tax?  I know there is
a "residence tax", levied by the ku/shi/mura/(ken?) where you live -- about
how much is this, and how is it calculated (is it based on age, or income, or
value of your dwelling, or number of people living there, etc.)?

Please answer by e-mail, and I will summarize to the net.

Thanks!
-- 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|  David Luke                      "There's nothing worse than a brilliant     |
|  luke@wombat.ee.byu.edu           image of a fuzzy concept."                 |
|                                                               -- Ansel Adams |
From: masuda@fcs280b.ncifcrf.gov (Michiaki Masuda)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Violence against women....
Date: 6 Oct 92 02:21:32 GMT
Organization: Frederick Cancer Research and Development Center

Al Harkcom-san wrote:
AH>   But if one looks at the current situation, attitudes and practices in
AH>Japanese society then one would see that the chances of a Japanese Mike
AH>Tyson raping a young woman "are about the same"/"are not as great" as in
AH>the US, but the chances of that woman reporting the rape aproach zero.
AH>The chances that the woman would take the cur to court over it get even
AH>closer to zero.  And the chances of her actually winning the case are
AH>zero.

I wrote:
MM>   If this is true, a non-Japanese Mike Tyson would be encouraged to come to 
MM>Japan. (Tyson is not Japanese, anyway 8-).)

Then, Charles Richmond-san wrote:
CR>...doesn't kowa gaijin $BX530?M(J  refer to exactly that kind of 
CR>person. Doesn't the existance the phrase add weight to the arguments
CR>even in the absence of quantifying data?

   Although I don't have a software to decipher "$BX530?M(J", I guess that
Richmond-san means "kowai" (scary) gaijin. 

   I don't think that the phrase "kowai gaijin" tells much about the 
attitude of (female) Japanese. At least, not more than the presence of
"kowai Nihon-jin" like me in the US tells about the attitude of (female)
Americans. If the phrase implies that gaijin are more "kowai" than Nihon-jin,
it might indicate that some Japanese have an impression that (male) gaijin 
have a stronger tendency towards date rape than (male) Nihon-jin under a same
situation.

Michiaki Masuda
From: harkcom@spinach.pa.yokogawa.co.jp (Alton Harkcom)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Violence against women....
Date: 5 Oct 92 03:33:33 GMT
	<3969@fcs280s.ncifcrf.gov>
	<HARKCOM.92Sep28095311@spinach.pa.yokogawa.co.jp>
	<4014@fcs280s.ncifcrf.gov>
Organization: Yokogawa Electric Corporation, Tokyo, Japan
In-reply-to: masuda@fcs280b.ncifcrf.gov's message of 2 Oct 92 00:42:44 GMT

In article <4014@fcs280s.ncifcrf.gov> masuda@fcs280b.ncifcrf.gov
   (Michiaki Masuda) writes:

 =}   If this is true, a non-Japanese Mike Tyson would be encouraged to come to
 =}Japan. (Tyson is not Japanese, anyway 8-).)

   If prostitutes were more expensive than round trip airfare then that
might be the case...

 =}   If Harkcom-san means to say, "The chances of date rape in Japan are
 =}measurable with reliable accuracy even though date rape cases are not
 =}reported,"

   The phrase "are about the same"/"are not as great" was used to indicate
that I was not addressing that issue...

   The issue that I was addressing was that statistics with regard to
rape are not useful for comparison when dealing with the US and Japan.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: elezhouh@nuscc.nus.sg (Zhou Hong (Dr))
Subject: Japanese word processer software need
Organization: National University of Singapore
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1992 01:27:18 GMT

Could someone tell me where I can retrieve via ftp Japanese word
processer software used on IBM-PC.           

Thank you in advance.

Zhou
At NUS
From: htakeda@Bonnie.ICS.UCI.EDU
Subject: Maiko-san
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Date: 5 Oct 92 21:46:08 GMT

Well after I posted J.School I I had a substantial
response to continue posting.  I also had a question
on who is 'Maiko-san'.  Well she is a student at UCSD
that posted some post similar to mine but about
middle school and high school.  Her posts were in
similar fashion to mine (actually she started first
so I must say I went along with her style) and
the Union of our posts seemed to give a good explanation
of 1-12 education in Japan.  I had experience in
Japanese education in 1,3-7.  Then Maiko-san had
been there in something like 7-pre-University.
The last time I saw her post something was about
a month ago, but she hasn't replyed to my messages
lately so I presume she's busy.
===============================================================
htakeda@bonnie.ics.uci.edu

HIRO "The HAB" Takeda
GO Montreal Canadiens, Kokudo Keikaku Bunnies, Taiyo Whales,
Montreal Expos, and the Dallas Cowboys.
UC Irvine, Electrical and Comp. Engin., Info. and Comp. Science.
"What good is a used up world and how can it be worth having?"
ALL THIS TIME - STING
===============================================================
From: tyf@ocf.berkeley.edu (Tin Yau Fung)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Japanese Language Proficiency Test
Date: 4 Oct 1992 03:10:39 GMT
Organization: U.C. Berkeley Open Computing Facility
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: sandstorm.berkeley.edu

	I did not follow the thread exactly, but I guess there was a request for info on the Japanese Language Proficiency Test.  There is a book named
 "ABC's of Study in Japan 1991" publised by the Association of International Education, Japan.  I got my copy in San Francisco Kinokuniya.
	I would just like to add to what has already been mentioned.

- The JLPT is not offered in Canada either.  It is, however, available in most
  Asian countries  (and in Japan, of course).  The test is administered in Mexico, Mexico City.

- Yes.  You need to pass Level 1 to study in Japanese universities as a foreign
  student.  The level 1 test is divided into 3 parts:

  1	Writing, Vocabulary	45 min		100 Pts
  2	Hearing			45 min		100 Pts
  3	Reading, Grammar	90 min	   	200 Pts

	The book said you should know about 2000 Kanji, 10000 vocabulary words,
	and an integrated command of the language.  This level should be
	reached after 900 hrs. of studying Japanese.

	From the statics in the book, only 33% of Level 1 applicants passed in
	1991.

	Good Luck to whoever is going to take the test.


Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: smittie@beach.csulb.edu (Smittie)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Question on Dates?
Date: 1 Oct 92 22:51:52 GMT
Organization: Cal State Long Beach

But it is my understanding that Showa 64 won't be recorded. Rather Heisei 1
will go retroactive to Jan. 1. Am I wrong again??

smittie
-- 
___________________________________________________________________________
GEnie, MCI, AOL:Smittie   All of these accounts except MCI will die on or
smittie@beach.csulb.edu   about Dec 31. UNIX will be forwarded for 2 weeks.
___________________________________________________________________________
From: peterp@yang.earlham.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: RE: Treatment of Koreans in Japan/thanks
Date: 4 Oct 92 18:50:17 GMT
Organization: Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana


 Regarding info on treatment of koreans in Japan
   thanks alot for the info, it will be a big help, if you hear of anything
more, drop me a line.  once again thanks.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: fester@etorofu.island.COM ()
Subject: Northern Islands (revisited)
Originator: fester@etorofu
Organization: Island Graphics, Marin County, California
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 15:34:44 GMT

Regarding a previous post, Mr Keis Ohtsuka (keis@psy.uwa.edu.au) emailed me, 
and we have been carrying on a very friendly debate on the issue. He has 
indicated that he would like me to post this portion of our private communica-
tions. At his request, I have editted portions of it that seemed to him to be 
irrelevant to the discussion. We agree that many Japanese seem unaware to the 
late 30's attacks by Japan on Soviet positions, and as such, may find this to 
be of interest.

Any misrepresentation of the views presented here are entirely my fault.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> I am a bit confused after reading your post in soc.culture.japan regarding
> when exactly the Nomonhan Incident (the crash between the Japanese army
> and Russian army at the outer-Mongolian borders) happened. (The event
> might be referred in a different name but that's the Japanese pre-emptive
> attack later replused by General Zukhov, which you're talking about.)
> Having learnt that the attack was a complete fiasco, the Japanese government
> apologized for the incident and the matter was settled.
> After the incident was resolved, the USSR and Japan signed the USSR-Japan
> non-aggression pact in 1940.  If so, the USSR abruptly attacked Japan
> failing to notify cancellation of the USSR-Japan non-aggression pact.

Actually, I believe the Soviets DID formally cancel all ties before the attack.

> Could you look up a history book to see if my recollection of time line is
> correct?  (I don't have a reference book near me.)

Your recollection is basically correct. However, don't you notice what you've 
said here? The attack was hardly "pre-emptive"; I find no one has ever 
mentioned that Japan was being threatened by the USSR at the time. Plain and
simple, they attacked because they thought they could get away with it, same as
they did in Korea, China, etc.

In any event, most Japanese are unaware that they in fact attacked the Soviet 
Union in the late 30's, and because of this, feel some sort of emotional/moral
superiority to the "sneaky" Russians (ignoring at the same time their attacks).
When confronted with this information, the Japanese usually refuse to believe
it, and then when confirmed, they seem to lose confidence in their moral 
superiority on the issue.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mike



-- 
Disclaimer - I'm only doing what the little voices tell me to do. 
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: fester@island.COM (Mike Fester)
Subject: Re: Violence against women....
Organization: /usr/local/rn/organization
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1992 15:17:35 GMT

In article <HARKCOM.92Oct5123333@spinach.pa.yokogawa.co.jp> harkcom@spinach.pa.yokogawa.co.jp (Alton Harkcom) writes:
>In article <4014@fcs280s.ncifcrf.gov> masuda@fcs280b.ncifcrf.gov
>   (Michiaki Masuda) writes:
>
> =}   If this is true, a non-Japanese Mike Tyson would be encouraged to come to
> =}Japan. (Tyson is not Japanese, anyway 8-).)
>
>   If prostitutes were more expensive than round trip airfare then that
>might be the case...
>
> =}   If Harkcom-san means to say, "The chances of date rape in Japan are
> =}measurable with reliable accuracy even though date rape cases are not
> =}reported,"
>
>   The phrase "are about the same"/"are not as great" was used to indicate
>that I was not addressing that issue...
>
>   The issue that I was addressing was that statistics with regard to
>rape are not useful for comparison when dealing with the US and Japan.

Probably true. When I was in Japan, the Tokyo lawyers' association with 
occassionally have a volunteer "hotline" for complaints about rape, or sexual
harrassment on the job. They always claimed that they would get too many calls
to process properly, and one of the most common complaints was being raped 
by the boss on business trips. When asked why they didn't report it, the 
answer was always "I don't want to lose my job".

Mike
-- 
Disclaimer - I'm only doing what the little voices tell me to do. 
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: jmoon@bcm.tmc.edu (Jon Kenneth Moon)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Looking for Minshuku Recommendations
Keywords: minshuku, pension, nishi Nippon
Date: 28 Sep 1992 20:25:35 GMT

We are looking for recommendations of minshuku or pensions
in the following cities for a trip in Nov.:
	Hagi
	Kyoto
	Takayama and Shirakawa-gou (Gifu Pref.)
	Kiso-fukushima (Nagano Pref.)

Please include an address or phone number if available.
Please e-mail suggestions to: jmoon@bcm.tmc.edu (Jon Moon
at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston).

Thank you.
From: masuda@fcs280b.ncifcrf.gov (Michiaki Masuda)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Violence against women....
Date: 2 Oct 92 00:42:44 GMT
Organization: Frederick Cancer Research and Development Center

In article <HARKCOM.92Sep28095311@spinach.pa.yokogawa.co.jp> harkcom@spinach.pa.yokogawa.co.jp (Alton Harkcom) writes:

>   But if one looks at the current situation, attitudes and practices in
>Japanese society then one would see that the chances of a Japanese Mike
>Tyson raping a young woman "are about the same"/"are not as great" as in
>the US, but the chances of that woman reporting the rape aproach zero.
>The chances that the woman would take the cur to court over it get even
>closer to zero.  And the chances of her actually winning the case are
>zero.

   If this is true, a non-Japanese Mike Tyson would be encouraged to come to 
Japan. (Tyson is not Japanese, anyway 8-).)

   If Harkcom-san means to say, "The chances of date rape in Japan are
measurable with reliable accuracy even though date rape cases are not
reported," I'd wonder if he has some special source of information.
   It is pretty difficult to know how many percents of women would visit a 
man's bedroom by herself, how many of them understand the possibility
of having a physical relationship, and how many of them regard the unexpected
or semi-expected relationship as rape. I don't think we can estimate the 
number easily only by "looking" at something. If one has substantial 
"experimental" data, that's another story.

>   This is what this thread was initially about.  The situations behind
>the statistics are so vastly different that one could not make a useful
>comparison in this area (regardless of ones biases as to the morals
>of either nation)...

   If the chanses of date rape in Japan "are about the same" as in the US,
the "social" situation behind the statistics are not so different. We can
just add the putative number of date rape cases to the statistical data in
Japan and can compare it with the American data. Of course, we would be
asked to show a back-up data which proves that the assumption of "being
about the same" is a valid one.
   
Michiaki Masuda