HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: hes@unity.ncsu.edu (Henry E. Schaffer)
Subject: Re: Yoshi Hattori
Organization: North Carolina State University
Distribution: usa
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 21:54:36 GMT

In article <BzH2J3.Ku@ncifcrf.gov> masuda@fcs280b.ncifcrf.gov (Michiaki Masuda) writes:
> ...
>   Based on my experience, stepping into someone else's property itself could
>happen as frequently in some areas in the US as in Japan. At least, I've
>done that twice in the US: when the party host's bad handwriting led me to
>his neighbor's house and when I lost my way in the rural area and decided to
>ask a local resident for a help. The house owners' attitude towards me was
>not so different from what I would have experienced in Japan.
>
>   It's my impression that the situation is not so different in most areas
>in Japan and some (or many?) areas in the US. A stranger is just a stranger
>and not more than that. Neither a friend nor an enemy. However, wouldn't it
>be possible that some people in some areas in the US regard a stranger as 
>an enemy who deserves an unconditional expulsion from their property? 

  In my experience this would be *very* uncommon - but yes, among the
1/4 billion people in the U.S. I'm sure that there is someone who would
do this.

>What
>some newscasts reported seemed to me to suggest that it was the case for 
>Mrs. Peairs who encountered unexpected young visitors and who told her husband
>to be prepared with a gun. Probably, a high crime rate in that area is
>one reason for her reaction, but I wonder if there are any other cultural
>backgrounds for this.

  The reports I read said that she screamed and closed the front
door.  The young visitors didn't leave, but instead continued around
on the property towards another door (through the carport?) 
>
>   There are, of course, some Japanese who regard a stranger as an enemy,
>but they would not be prepared with a firearm. Therefore, even in the
>worst case scenario, stepping into another's property should not be fatal.
                      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  But this is not the entire description of what happened.

>It might be true that this fact makes Japanese take it easier to enter
>someone's property uninvitedly or by mistake.

  As I said, this isn't the correct description - however it might
be true that this situation made it easier for a Japanese to 
continue to try to enter a house even if someone tries to chase him
away or to lock him out.

--henry schaffer
From: blamb@hri.com (Bill Lambert)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: DOES AMERICA SAY YES TO JAPAN? - Off track!!
Date: 16 Dec 92 00:15:59 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: Horizon Research, Inc.

In article <1992Dec15.214210.19181@oakhill.sps.mot.com>, 
rvkl60@aus18a25.sps.mot.com (Tom Mathes) writes:
=> I've been following the evolution of this thread, and man, has
=> it gotten off course.  Education in Japan was only a small bit
=> of the original post.
=> 
=> Let's get this discussion back on the REAL message of the
=> original post: the Japanese coordinated attack on industry
=> in the US, and the mercantilistic trading practices of Japan.
=> 
=> Those are the real issues the paper discusses, not educational
=> differences between the two countries.

What you call the REAL message has already been discussed at length
quite a bit here. I suppose people got bored with that, and the
thread drifted onto less covered ground (this year, anyway).

- Bill Lambert
From: blamb@hri.com (Bill Lambert)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: I'm outta here.
Date: 11 Dec 92 19:59:46 GMT
Organization: Horizon Research, Inc.

In article <SMITTIE.92Dec10122957@tui.csulb.edu>, smittie@csulb.edu 
(Smittie) writes:
=> Well, the time has finally come for me and my family to go back to Japan (I and
=> my wife are both elated about this). We move out of our apt on Sunday, I begin
=> finals on Monday and we will be leaving the US on the 27th. Access to Internet
=> in Japan is still an open question. I will be going to work for Kawasaki Steel
=> on January 4 and I am fairly sure that I will be able to get an account there.
=> What I will actually have access to remains to be seen.
=> 
=> So now seems a good time to say goodbye. I feel like I am losing a lot of
=> friends here. scj has contributed a lot to my education. Many of the
=> participants here are very knowledge and I thank them for having the patience
=> to influence my hard head.

You take good care Smittie. I was in Japan last week, and I *almost*
met another famous net.personality. Well... a miss is as good as a
mile. But next time I hope I can meet you and that other person,
who still remains "faceless".

Thanks for sharing many insights with us, and for being a reasonable
and interesting correspondent.

Good luck!

- Bill
Xref: sparky soc.culture.japan:12521 talk.politics.guns:25346
From: blamb@hri.com (Bill Lambert)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan,talk.politics.guns
Subject: Re: Yoshi Hattori
Date: 17 Dec 92 15:02:21 GMT
Followup-To: soc.culture.japan
Distribution: usa
Organization: Horizon Research, Inc.

In article <viking.724571001@vincent1.iastate.edu>, viking@iastate.edu 
(Dan Sorenson) writes:
 
=> 	The department I am in here at Iowa State has created a "mentor"
=> program whereby our fairly large number of foreign students and even faculty
=> work with a "native" American faculty member or student in order to more
=> quickly adapt to the culture.  These mentorships are generally done on a
=> volunteer basis, with the two people generally becoming rather fast friends
=> and spending a fair amount of time together.  Discussion times with both
=> mentors and classes are encouraged.

Nice idea! I hope more organizations would take such a constructive
and welcoming viewpoint.

- Bill Lambert
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: jcliu@euler.Berkeley.EDU (James C. Liu - Nucl. Engin. UC Berkeley)
Subject: Re: SEXUALITY?
Organization: University of California at Berkeley
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1992 20:55:15 GMT

In article <1992Dec12.115840.3000@bvc.edu> kerkoveericj@bvc.edu writes:

>	What I am more interested in knowing, would be perhaps how women, 
>as apposed to Japanese men, look at dating/marying of people of 
>different cultures or races, for example, an American (like me) or a 
>Chinese.  Also, is virginity more or less sacred than it is in America, or
>Canada (I am asuming US and Can are simmilar in this aspect)  I know that 
>nudity is not taking so seriousely, but actaul phisical contact is still a 
>question in my mind, for example, kissing is a no no on the first date, 
>etc... (By the way, I know America is a bad compairison to make because 
>values are more or less family related than culturally related.)

You're asking for generalizations, and IMHO, every gal is different.
A good place to start is at karaoke. 8-) (here I go again, espousing 
the virtues of karaoke!)

First, we can examine differences in word usage between guy songs and 
girl songs.  This gives us a starting point.  Standard vocabulary common
to both are words like: kokoro, mune, ude, koi, ai, kanashii, kirei, 
(etc...you get the picture...you could almost write your own Nihongo 
"rabu songu" with these few words...

Guys songs differ in construction.  I notice a lot of verb-tai or
verb-takunai.  Just look at the title of a typical "Guy" song like
"Hanashitaku wa nai"  (T-Bolan 1991), which implies the desire not
to separate (from his lover).  Guy songs basically express desire and
feeling but not request. 

Girl songs often have the verb-te form, that is they are issuing a command.
Examples like kiss o shite, ubatte (sieze me!), dakishimete, wasurenaide,
nado.  Girl songs express want and command for attention.  However, 
this is only a generalization and there are always exceptions to 
the rule where artistic license is involved.

The next step is to observe interaction at karaoke between guys and girls.
The guys usually sing more.  Some girls really love to sing, but usually,
they listen more to what the guys "want."  A sign of intimacy or approval
by a gal is if she sits close and eats off your plate, but rarely does one
touch in public although I'm observing a changing trend.  Notice also that
they leave when SHE says so.  He does what SHE tells him to do (in public).

Once a couple is alone (i.e. once she CONSENTS to being alone with a guy)
I would only suppose it's up to the guy to make the moves.  But how would
I know? 8-) Roles are reversed, and every gal is different.  My only 
comment is: Buckle up. Use a seat belt. Use protection. Anzen Dai-ichi.  

Jaa, James
========================================================================
James C. Liu    |       I learned everything from Karaoke. :-)         |
========================================================================
From: acosta@smaug.Eng.Sun.COM (Joe Acosta)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Texas Southern University marching band in To^kyo^
Date: 16 Dec 1992 19:32:31 GMT
Organization: SunSoft Los Angeles
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: smaug

In article <1992Dec16.080806.13652@nmit.mt.nec.co.jp> d-itasak@nmit.mt.nec.co.jp (Daisaku Itasaka) writes:
>In article <1992Dec16.045427.5078@leland.Stanford.EDU>
>	underdog@leland.Stanford.EDU (Dwight Joe) writes:
>
>>The shops in Japan do not yet have the incredible array of anti-theft
>>devices with which American stores are armed.
>
>I hear you can't see even one single pair of shoes in any shoe-shop
>in the US, they always show a shoe without the pair. That's because 
>if you put a shoe right beside the pair, they are bound to be stolen.
>Is this true? I have never seen such a shoe-shop in Japan. And I am
>proud of it if this is true.

Most stores in the US have theft detection devices but I have never
had this expierence before in any shoe store.  I live in Los Angeles
and if any stores were to do this sort of thing I would suspect LA
stores would be the first.  Fortunatly, this hasn't been the case 
for me or the stores that I have frequented.
>
>						 Daisaku Itasaka
>				      d-itasak@nmit.mt.nec.co.jp
>				NEC Microcomputer Technology Ltd.

			Joe Acosta
			SunSoft South

Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: doi@jrd.dec.com (Hitoshi Doi)
Subject: Re: SEXISM IN JAPANESE WORKPLACE!!!!
Organization: DEC Japan Research and Development Center
Date: Sun, 20 Dec 1992 22:48:05 GMT

In article <BzJ4Av.353@CAM.ORG>, cheung@CAM.ORG (Shirley Cheung) writes:
# Anyway, I wonder how long will it take to eliminate all the sexist
# prejudice held by the corporate society in Japan---> at least to the same 
#  degree in North American. Well, although we still have prejudice in North
# Amercia, we have moved quick fast recenty toward sex-equality. For
# instance, most of the managers are now females; we have 50% of female
# students in Medical and law schook; 25% in engineering...etc. I wonder how
# long will the Japanse society take to match the same level of equality as
# in North America.

Who says equality is good?
Who says Japanese women want to be equal..
--
Hitoshi Doi, International Open Systems Engineering        doi@jrd.dec.com
Japan Research and Development Center               decwrl!jrd.dec.com!doi
Digital Equipment Corporation Japan      [from JUNET: doi@jrd.dec-j.co.jp]
From: ra01+@andrew.cmu.edu (Rikiya Asano)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Congradulations Mr. Ron Brown
Date: 14 Dec 92 00:38:44 GMT
Article-I.D.: andrew.Qf=6EoK00iUy40eL5C
Distribution: soc
Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA

Friends,

          Again, America in is greatness has done what fear and insecurity
told it not to do. The appointment of Democractic Natinal Chairman Ron Brown
to the Secretary of Commerce will be the cornerstone of America future.
I have no doubt that this Man will be America's first African American
President. I wish that I live to see this day. It will be a great day in
America. President Bill Clinton couldn't have picked a better man for
this position. The Secretary
of Commmerse is a very big and important position in American government. This
is a deep appointment. I like it! 


Good luck Secretary of Commerce Brown. Alot of people thought that it
was a joke when you were elected as National Party Chairman of the
Democractic Party. But, as it turned out you were the one who
orchstrated the rise of the Democrartic Party. You were the leader who
put the principles Democrartic party back into the American heart. I
salute you, Sir. The history of America as well as the history of the
Black American will be enlighten by the knowledge and grace with
which you serve your land and your people- The American People!

Ps. I wish that Nippon had a few good men like you in it government!
From: tvp@gibdo.engr.washington.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: some questions
Date: 15 Dec 92 23:44:38 GMT
Article-I.D.: u.1992Dec15.234438.28088
Organization: clearer than blir

In article <1gl7egINNc7a@agate.berkeley.edu> jcliu@four-lab4.Berkeley.EDU (James C. Liu) writes:
>>>4)  Mrs. Farmer grunted that Mary broke the window.
>>      (seems ok)
>
>Yeah, this is okay.  But on a stylistic point...If somebody "grunts",
>then you might rephase as "Mrs. Farmer grunted something about Mary
>*breaking* the window."  This provides more atmosphere and description
>to the sentence.  The use of "grunt" seems to imply irritation bordering
>on the unintelligible.  You might rather use, "Mrs. Farmer complained
>that..." or "Mrs. Farmer said..."

I told the guy that "grunting" was the act of making a certain kind of
sound, not of producing language. I thought there was some semantic
problems with grunting anything of meaning. If it was meaningful it
wouldn't be a grunt. I could be wrong though. I thought there was some
semantic problems with "He mumbled that he was a genius" in that if he
was mumbling how would you know exactly what he was saying?  I think
using the "something about" approach works better with mumbled ("He
mumbled something about being a genius") and that there was nothing,
in my mind, that could save the sentence that used "grunt". I think
using "*grumble* [not grunt] something about" is what the author was
looking for.

>>>5)  I didn't know that cooking requires this much of time and energy!
>>      (seems ok)
>
>Superfluous and incorrect preposition.  Also parallelism in the tense of
>"requires."  It should be, "I didn't know that cooking REQUIRED this
>much time and energy."

Incorrect preposition, yes. But I don't think the verb parallelism is
a problem if the speaker is, say, learning to cook from someone (on
a daily basis perhaps) and begins to see how difficult it is. In short,
I don't care which way the "require" gets tensed in this case given
the correct situation.

>>>6)  I didn't know you have 3 kids.
>>>     (seems ok)
>
>Again, to have should match the past tense "DIDN'T"  It should read...
>"I didn't know you HAD 3 kids."  Nothing wrong with the original
>sentence except fluency.  She may still HAVE 3 kids, alive and well, BUT
>in American English, the parallel construction is more fluent.

Seems to me it depends on whether you're just being introduced to the
kids or walking away from the situation in which you found out about
them. Anyway, there are cases where the sentence as presented is
perfectly "fluent".

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tad Perry      Internet:    tvp@gibdo.engr.washington.edu
               CompuServe:  70402,3020
               NIFTY-Serve: GBG01266
------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: rsrodger@wam.umd.edu (Yamanari)
Subject: Re: D O E S   A M E R I C A   S A Y   Y E S   T O   J A P A N ?
Organization: University of Maryland, College Park
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1992 13:36:53 GMT

In article <Bz4wow.2DK@news.cs.andrews.edu> maierj@edmund.cs.andrews.edu (Joey Maier) writes:
>>Well, how do you define literacy?  The Japanese define it by recognition of
>>2000 Kanji characters (like being able to point out/ read 2000 words - no
>>big deal)...[stuff deleted]...
>
>I know that it is not a reasonable comparison since English is my first
>language and I have only been trying to learn Japanese for one year, but
>2000 kanji seems like a hell of alot of literacy to me!


	Why is this crossposted to alt.sex??

	Anyways, the thing about Japanese literacy is this. 

	The Joyo kanji (~1950?) are the recommended standard for 
	media--this does not mean that there are not others used
	(when you get into physics or chemistry or whatever, the number
	grows pretty quickly--the more scientific field, the more kanji.
	Not that they're necessary, but.. [they look academic and
	impressive]).

	Japan get it's 99% literacy by defining *illiteracy* as
	failing *every single question on the test*.  Anyone else
	is counted as literate.  (I.e. it's a big myth).  See
	DeFrancis ("The Chinese Language") for a discussion on
	literacy in East Asia.

	Very few Japanese retain the ability to write any more than
	a small percentage of the kanji on the whole (and many don't
	bother because it's quicker to write the kana).
	

-- 
 Snout: O Bottom, thou art chang'd!  What do I see on thee?          
 Bottom: What do you see?  You see an ass-head of your own, do you?  
 ---"I despise mystics, they fancy themselves so deep, when they----
 ----aren't even superficial"    --Nietzsche   ---------------------
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: pankow@yoda.fsl.noaa.gov (glen pankow)
Subject: Re: Texas Southern University marching band in To^kyo^
Organization: Forecast Systems Lab, NOAA, Boulder CO, USA
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 03:02:03 GMT

Many appologies -- bitten by the pnews program again.  Here's what should
have gone out:

In article <1gnrgqINNqr4@agate.berkeley.edu> jcliu@four-lab4.Berkeley.EDU
(James C. Liu) writes:
>
>In article <1992Dec16.045427.5078@leland.Stanford.EDU> underdog@leland.
>Stanford.EDU (Dwight Joe) writes:
>>
>>I want those *ssh*l*s to know that, in some parts of the world, you can't
>>sucker people as badly as you can sucker people in America. 
>
>Yooo, Dwight-san, we can always sic Rikiya-san on these guys once they
>get back.  Then subject them to my caustic rendition of "SAY YES" 100
>times over! :-)

Sorry!  Remember that we've already determined that those involved were
probably not white.  Hence Mr. Asano will be most impressed with their
actions.  And supposing they read this newsgroup (or the zillions of
other newsgroups inundated with that "SAY YES" rot) (and further assuming
they can read at all), the reading of that twaddle may well have been what
inspired them in the first place.

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

Glen Pankow                       If any of my opinions should be caught or
pankow@fsl.noaa.gov               killed, the Secretary will disavow any
glen@boulder.colorado.edu         knowledge of my actions.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: yoichi@carson.u.washington.edu (Yoichi Ii)
Subject: Re: Sexuality of Japanese Girls
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 14:57:56 GMT

>In article <8055@skye.ed.ac.uk> T.Duncan@ed.ac.uk writes:
>>This reminds me of a survey I saw a while back (I think it was on shopping
>>preferences), where in the personal details section, from a representative
>>sample of 100 Japanese teenagers, to the question "Sex?" 56 replied female, 
>>43 male, and one who replied "Once, in Yamaguchi-ken".

tvp@gibdo.engr.washington.edu () writes:
>This is a Japanese Urban Legend.

More likely it started out as an American Urban Legend. An American high school
teacher told us about a student (in US class room) who responded with
"Once, in Texas".  S-e-x in Japan is still almost exlusively about the "other
thing", not gender.  So if you're a survey person, don't use sex, use seibetu.
:-)
From: cb522@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Cathy Atwood)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: What would you want as souvenir from Japan?
Date: 17 Dec 1992 02:35:57 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA)
NNTP-Posting-Host: hela.ins.cwru.edu


This may be a strange choice for a gift, but Japanese toothpicks
(which have unusual carved shape at one end, point at the other)
have proved to be popular when I've brought them from Japan.
They are also inexpensive, and light and small for carrying!
Cathy
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From:  ()
Subject: Re: D O E S   A M E R I C A   S A Y   Y E S   T O   J A P A N ?
Distribution: usa
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 92 19:30:24 GMT

> >We constantly hear that the "japenese" are smarter than Americans based 
> >on their test scores.  Has anyone ever compared the tests?
> 
> Actually, I've never heard this.  I have heard, however, that the Japanese
> do a better job of educating their students. Study after study has shown 
> this to be true.  
> 
> I can't see any good reason to doubt this - USA does a pitiful 
> job of educating the majority of its people.
> 

I, for one, don't think we should envy the Japanese education system too much.
Although it was originally designed to allow the best and brightest an education
without regard to the wealth of the child's parents this system is beginning to
fall apart.  As intended students went through school learning as much as
possible, after which entrance exams were taken and the best students 
went to the best university (Tokyo University).  However, cram schools soon
developed and students started going to school after school, and of course
these cram schools are not free so the children of the rich go to the best
cram schools.  These cram schools are designed for one purpose, passing the 
entrance exams (now at each level of education).  Similar to the situation 
in the USA if every student started studying for the SAT's in grade school. 
(Although the subject tested is different).  Additionally, to do well
on the final tests for the university one basically has to already have what
we would consider a pretty good undergraduate education.  Thus making the 
university education largely a review.  Additionally, by the time a student 
gets to the university he is almost plugged into a job after the university, 
so the university becomes four years of parties before the student graduates, 
and is trained to do the job the company has choosen for him/her (Longer
term, lifetime, loyalty to company makes this up front investment
in the new employee's education pay off).  

I have simplified the situation in order to make my points, but:

The Japanese education system which was designed to be totally blind to the 
child's economic background is now almost the opposite.  (Not that we do much 
better).

The system is heavily dependent on the results of a few tests rather than 
long term performance.

The university structure is weakened due to the social climate at the 
universities which is to party now as we are worker bees tomorrow.

The graduate school situation is even poorer as professors are not allowed to
recieve outside funding, submit research proposals, etc., in the manner 
they are here.

Finally, one can make all sorts of noises about the cramming of information
into the student without understanding.  Claims are made that US students
are more creative, etc., with all sorts of statistics to back this up.
However, this always strikes me as a more than a little wishful thinking.

So when it comes to the Japanese education system, be careful what you wish
for, you may get it.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan