HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: hit@sol.acs.unt.edu (Hisaharu Tanabe)
Subject: Re: Forgive me for asking, but...
Organization: University of North Texas
Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1993 19:34:52 GMT

eph@ukc.ac.uk (Genki) writes:

>Why, with a name like soc.culture.japan, does this newsgroup have
>to be a forum for all manner of racist and prejudiced attacks 
>against one group or another. As far as I can see, it should be
>devoted to discussing Japanese culture, not slanging matches or
>Japan bashing.

I guess we can't help it since it says "Everything Japanese, except
the Japanese language."  I just hope they're gonna split this
group into three or four. For example...

soc.cutlure.japan
soc.discrimination.those.rice-eyed.moneymaking.raw.fish.eaters
soc.culture.asia.ww2.we.still.hate.japs
rec.sport.sumo

Just examples, you know...?

>P.S If you want to flame me, or argue, please at least have the
>decency to stay civil. I don't know you, you don't know me, but
>that does not give you a free passport to abuse.

That's the problem here.  If I tell you "f*** off," would you come to my
apartment to beat me up?  Some people would say anything as long as they are
far away and can hide behind the keyboard and monitor.  I have had some
harassment calls for what I was talking about on the net.  
Shame, sad, but we can't help it.

Sure, I'll get flamed via email again talking like this...

-- 
Hisaharu Tanabe                 E-Mail : hit@sol.acs.unt.edu
University of North Texas                htanabe@world.std.com (if in Japanese)
Denton,Texas
$@EDJU>08<!wKL%F%-%5%9=#N)Bg(J
From: hiraga@Csli.Stanford.EDU (Yuzuru Hiraga)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Japanese transliteration of the United States of America
Date: 28 Jan 93 08:17:05 GMT
Organization: Stanford University CSLI

In article <1k7nm6INNipv@uniwa.uwa.edu.au> keis@psy.uwa.oz.au (Keis Ohtsuka) writes:
>Have you noticed that the Japanese transliteration of the United States of
>America is uncannily correct ("Amerika Gasshukoku" note "shu" is "people"
>not "state") and orthdox "Unionist" interpretation that the union is
>that of people not of the individual states. I am watching a re-run of
>Ken Burn's "The Civil War" on SBS (in Australia) and start wondering 
>when Japanese settled on to the current transliteration: before or after
>the Civil War?  Does anybody know?

I believe I saw "shu" for "people" used in the lines of the 1854 treaty
(deja-vu all over again).  If so, then it was coined in the late Edo era
(and before the Civil War).... though this needs checking out.

Anyway, there's another person who had the same doubt --
namely, the famous (should we say notorious) reporter/writer,
HONDA Katsuichi.  Honda used to work as an Asahi-shimbun reporter,
and I think he is currently either free, or a free-lance executive
of Asahi (Henshuu-iin).  His known works include reports from Cambodia
during the Viet-Nam war, and also reports on the Japanese atrocity
in China during WWII ("Chuugoku eno Tabi"), the latter being highly
controvertial.

Honda's point is that "shu" for "state" should be used as that is
the literal translation of "United States of America"; and that
the use of "shu" for "people" is a misnomer, considering racial
discrimination in the US.  He persistently uses the former "shu";
and in the title of one of his books, even highlights it using red ink
to make his point.  IMHO going that far seems quite fanatic.

I may be harsh on Honda because I'm far more fond of one of his
archenemies, late YAMAMOTO Shichihei.  Yamamoto has a christian
background, and convincingly disputes that Honda's reports, in
particular some reports in "Chuugoku eno Tabi", are hearsay-based
fabrication.
Yamamoto has a wide range of writings seeking for the fundamentals
of Japanese mentality.  His works, especially those on "Nihon-kyou",
are highly recommended as providing a deep, convincing perspective
on the issue.
Here, "-kyou" is a suffix for "religion", meaning that there exist
an implicit, unrecognized understanding that spans the Japanese
mind and forms the basis of Japanese culture, ranging from at least
as old as 16C. to modern Japan.

-Yuzuru Hiraga
From: andym@bvc.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Help Needed...
Date: 21 Jan 93 08:44:40 CST
Organization: Buena Vista College, Storm Lake, IA

In article <1993Jan20.023529.26594@til.til.com>, tanaka@til.til.com (Yokichi Tanaka) writes:
> In article <1j2461INNdv4@aurora.engr.LaTech.edu>, yyy@engr.LaTech.edu (Yan Y. Yu) writes:
> [....]
> One place you might try, (for information if for nothing else) is JUNET.
> My 1990 Directory of Electronic Mail lists ...
> 
>    JUNET
>    * Electronic mail
>    * USENET news
>    Contact:
>      Jun Murai
>      WIDE Project
>      Keio University
>      5322 Endo, Fujisawa City
>      Kanagawa, Japan
> 
>      telephone: +81 466 47 5111 extension 3336
>      e-mail:    jun@wide.ad.jp
> 
> Hope this helps.
> 


Good one.  I have tried to write Mr. Murai-kamisama on a number of 
occassions asking for help; never, NEVER have I ever received any sort of 
reply.

Maybe he was just on an extended kampa!?!?!?!??!

Andy Mumma

Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: fester@etorofu.island.COM ()
Subject: Author of JAPANYES
Originator: fester@etorofu
Organization: Island Graphics, Marin County, California
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1993 16:08:59 GMT

Credit where credit is due time. 

I responded to the author of JAPANYES' call for comments on his article. Those
of you who remember my opinion of it will have some idea of what my response
was. For what it's worth, he was very polite in response, and indicated that,
at least partially as a result of my comments, he will make some revisions in
his second version of it. Not the least of these revisions will be that it
will not be so one-sided. Of course, we'll judge it when it's released (I
hope he takes at least a couple months to do it, and references things more
thoroughly this time), but it's a step in the right direction.

Mike
-- 
Disclaimer - These opinions are not so much opinions, as pearls of wisdom. Any-
one disagreeing is obviously either a) a snivelling, whining, mentally-
deficient, weak-willed, inconsequential, namby-pamby tool of some vague but
conveniently defined conspiracy, or b) my wife.
From: mrc@Tomobiki-Cho.CAC.Washington.EDU (Mark Crispin)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: TSU band members' suspension lifted
Date: 28 Jan 93 06:20:00 GMT
Organization: University of Washington
NNTP-Posting-Host: tomobiki-cho.cac.washington.edu
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

Well, it appears that the 12 TSU band members who were suspended from school
as a result of their jolly little shoplifting jaunt through Akihabara are back
in class.  All they have to do is take an ``ethics class'' and all is
forgotten, by orders of TSU Deam Joseph L. Williams.

I'm sure the next bit of news will be the reinstatement of the ``Ocean of
Soul'' marching band in time for next fall's football games.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: tlai@cs.toronto.edu (Tony W H Lai)
Subject: Re: HDTV in Japan
Organization: Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto
Date: 22 Jan 93 19:57:12 GMT

In article <1993Jan22.153358.24617@gibdo.engr.washington.edu> tvp@gibdo.engr.washington.edu (Tad Perry) writes:
[lots of stuff deleted]
>Current Japanese HDTV is very nice but the equipment is huge (at least a
>meter deep and two meters wide) and even given size reductions, a viewing
>distance of 5+ meters is recommended for best effect. Just how many
>Japanese homes are big enough for that?

I remember reading in the JEE that some companies built a 5-chip MUSE
decoder.  Also, the ideal viewing distance depends on the height H of the
screen.  The ideal viewing distance of NTSC is more than 6.5H.  An HDTV
system is supposed to have an ideal viewing distance of less than 3.5H.
From: davidg@aegis.or.jp (Dave McLane)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Forgive me for asking, but...
Date: 25 Jan 93 00:06:15 GMT

hit@sol.acs.unt.edu (Hisaharu Tanabe) writes:

>eph@ukc.ac.uk (Genki) writes:

>>Why, with a name like soc.culture.japan, does this newsgroup have
>>to be a forum for all manner of racist and prejudiced attacks 
>>against one group or another. As far as I can see, it should be
>>devoted to discussing Japanese culture, not slanging matches or
>>Japan bashing.

Perhaps but who are you (or anybody else) to say what "should be"?

>I guess we can't help it since it says "Everything Japanese, except
>the Japanese language."  I just hope they're gonna split this
>group into three or four. For example...

But what would that do except multiple the phenomena. It would take
a vote and that in itself would provide yet another opportunity for
people to flame and yammer at each other. And even if it passed,
things could be crossposted... 

IMHO there really isn't a problem. If you don't like flamers or
flamers of flamers put them or their topics in your kill file.  Once
you do, and assuming you're using something like nn which allows you
to define a minimal-line window to preview, the most you get is a
hint of what's to come when you check out new threads. 

This way it becomes an exercise in separating process from the
content, a skill I find very useful in all aspects of life :-)

Dave

--
Dave McLane 
JUNET: davidg@aegis.or.jp (ONLY within Japan: post otherwise)
Nagaokakyoshi, Kyoto Japan Tel: +81-75-951-1168 Fax: +81-75-957-1087
From: ra01+@andrew.cmu.edu (Rikiya Asano)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Akutagawa Ryuunosuke
Date: 23 Jan 93 17:42:48 GMT
Article-I.D.: andrew.4fMV0si00iV204l49J
	<1993Jan21.215737.27965@Csli.Stanford.EDU>
Organization: Masters student, Civil Engineering, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA

Mr.YHiraga writes: (I feel very peaceful ya'),


. 

>Well, you can look that up in any encyclopedia.
>(There is, eg., the physics winner's list in the sci.physics FAQ;
>is there one for literature?)

I believe you my friend. There no need to go though such needless
troubles. Thank you for your input it was very enlightening and pleasure
to be corected. Thank you!! :)))))))

>Sorry again, but Stockholm, Sweden.
>The Peace Prize is given at Oslo, though.

Yes! I look as if I was very, very wrong! Although, I knew that Oslo
have a great deal to do with it. But, as they say in this beautiful
land, with it's beautiful people, Ain't no half steppin'(actually, this
is a song by Heat Wave an old Rod Templeton group- I collect these old
records. They made: Super Soul Sister; Always and Forever; grooveline(my
favorite). Best Album: Central Heating

>BTW: what's the difference between a "prize" and an "award"?
 
Maybe the idea behind this is since its a competition= Prize. After you
win the Prize its an Award!! Simple- commonsense works all the time!!
From: warkent@ltisun14.epfl.ch (Ken Warkentyne)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Speaking of R. Asano
Date: 27 Jan 93 12:39:16 GMT
Organization: Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne---Laboratoire de
	Teleinformatique
In-reply-to: ra01+@andrew.cmu.edu's message of 26 Jan 93 19:10:08 GMT

In article <kfNMmES00UhWI3xlA=@andrew.cmu.edu> ra01+@andrew.cmu.edu (Rikiya Asano) wrote:
    [An amazing post directed to Mr. Morton in which Mr. Asano writes a
     strongly emotional paragraph that Mr. Morton might find objectionable,
     followed by an invitation to this same Mr. Morton to stay at Mr. Asano's
     and have dinner there. The article concludes with the line: ]

  > I hope that you will forgive me if I caused you any embarassment and I
  > say this from my heart.

First let me acknowledge that I have not been following this discussion closely,
nor am I greatly familiar with Mr. Asano's articles, having developed the
unfortunate habit of skipping a great deal of material in this newsgroup.
However, after reading the above cited post, I think that Mr. Asano
must be a quite likeable chap with a great sense of humour.
--
Ken Warkentyne - warkent@ltisun.epfl.ch
                 Laboratoire de Teleinformatique, EPFL, Suisse.
From: dirceu@taurus.cse.kyutech.ac.jp (Dirceu G. Cavendish Jr.)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: In (partial) defense of Rikiya Asano
Date: 26 Jan 93 11:36:12 GMT
Organization: Kyushu Institute of Tech., Iizuka, JAPAN.
	<RHB.93Jan22220041@world.std.com>
	<1993Jan23.072522.11639@Csli.Stanford.EDU>
	<7663@bigbird.hri.com.hri.com>
NNTP-Posting-Host: mikan.taurus.cse.kyutech.ac.jp
In-reply-to: blamb@hri.com's message of 25 Jan 93 16:05:14 GMT

In article <7663@bigbird.hri.com.hri.com> blamb@hri.com (Bill Lambert) writes:


 >=> In article <RHB.93Jan22220041@world.std.com> 
 >=> rhb@world.std.com (Robert H Brueckner) writes:
 >=>
 >=> >I think if he was a Caucasian spouting racist
 >=> >invective against Nihonjin, you would be screaming for his head too.
 >
 >In article <1993Jan23.072522.11639@Csli.Stanford.EDU>, 
 >hiraga@Csli.Stanford.EDU (Yuzuru Hiraga) writes:
 >=> No, no -- you simply don't understand!
 >=> And there's no need to try me with such a hypothetical (I hope :-)
 >=> character to see that.
 >=> Just observe the way others react to him, that with decency and restraint
 >=> (Bill Lambert immediately comes to mind, but of course there are many more).
 >
 >Thanks for your kind words, but sometimes apathy might look like
 >decency and restraint. I decently restrain myself from getting
 >involved in Rikiya's world whenever possible. 
 >
 >- Bill 

Very sensible. Me too. This is the best way to avoid increasing noise (ops,
I'm better shut up...)
From: tobac@ub-tky.UBSPD.CO.JP (Bach Frederic)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Japanese names & Finnish names
Date: 25 Jan 93 05:27:45 GMT
Organization: UBS Phillips & Drew Int'l Ltd., Tokyo

In article <1jur12$pdl@agate.berkeley.edu> robohen@ocf.berkeley.edu (Henry Robertson) writes:

>	It is the Chinese characters' meaning that
>gives rise to the name, not the sounds,

I am afraid this might be wrong. The names existed first, and the characters 
were added on top, just like all the kun-yomi. This is why you can write
first names in so many different ways : about 40 different Akira, as many 
Minoru, tons of Toshi and Aki to make even more Toshiaki, add the Kazu
and the Masa, multiply by Yoshi and Nori, boy! As long as you can find
a character that has a meaning of quality, just glue virtually any
reading to it and add -ko/-mi/-e/-ro/-o et voila ! Japanese first name.
It is true that more people are getting away from the -ko stuff. So they use
-e/-ki/-mi, or even kana-ized foreign names. Erika, Mari (though not 
pronounced MEH-ri) and Naomi are great classics, complete with kanji and
all.(also Risa=Lisa, Eri=Ellie,etc...)
-- 
    __  _    
** ||_ /_| **   Fred "I'll be" Bach   (kddlab!ubspd.co.jp!tobac@uunet.uu.net)
** || /__| **   [Je suis athee, Dieu merci.]          Tel. 813-3597-1595
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: tlai@cs.toronto.edu (Tony W H Lai)
Subject: Re: HDTV in Japan
Organization: Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto
Date: 25 Jan 93 22:31:32 GMT

In article <MERRITT.93Jan25151731@macro.bu.edu> merritt@macro.bu.edu (Sean Merritt) writes:
>In article <93Jan25.141548est.47651@neat.cs.toronto.edu> tlai@cs.toronto.edu (Tony W H Lai) writes:
># HDTV isn't a single technology, but involves a variety of technologies, and
># there are many different issues that relate to HDTV, such as display
># technology, signal processing, media, production standards, broadcast
># standards, software, applications, and so forth.
>
>Nor is there a single HDTV technology. The US has chosen to leap-frog
>the Europeans and the Japanese by adopting/developing the worlds first
>HDDTV(the extra D is digital). The quality of a digital system
>will be better than an analog system, period.

Ah, but a digital system is not necessarily better than an analog or hybrid
system.  "Digital" is not synonymous with "perfect", especially once one
uses compression.  Also, MUSE and HDMAC already use digital source coding.
Furthermore, digital transmission of HDTV has already been done in Japan.  
The major differences between the US digital proposals and older systems is
that the proposals are designed for terrestrial broadcast to homes (as
opposed to satellite transmission to networks), and the proposals use a lot
more compression.

Also, according to the _New Scientist_, Britain vetoed some subsidy plan
for HDMAC, so HDMAC will probably be abandoned in favor of a digital system
in Europe.  It seems that all the major industrialized countries will have
some type of digital TV standard by 2000.

># Some people argue that HDTV will drive many technologies and will provide
># economies of scale, but I suspect that a lot of their projections are too
># optimistic and that there are other ways of providing economies of scale
># for new technologies.  I think it might be better right now to focus on the
># various underlying technologies than to look at the whole.
>
>It will definatly drive technologies. Any one who wnats to import(really
>even manufacture HDDTV's) for the US market will have to pay, for now
>HDDTV is a proprietery technology. 
>
>Oh, development time was about 2 years.

Several companies will benefit from the patent royalties for the US HDTV
standard, but because of the complexity of HDTV receivers, many companies
may hold important patents in VLSI, display technology, and the like, so
proprietary standards aren't as helpful as in the conventional TV market.
From: tanaka@til.til.com (Yokichi Tanaka)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: AKEBONO MAKES YOKOZUNA!!!
Date: 26 Jan 93 19:21:44 GMT
Organization: Togai InfraLogic, Inc.

Awesome!  I watched "Ozumou Digest" at 11:30 last night to catch
the bouts.  Akebono-Takahanada was wild.  Akebono totally over-
powered Takahanada.  Takahanada didn't even have a chance.

I am glad Akebono became yokozuna.  His 2 losses were to low ranked
wrestlers, and he beat all the top ranked ones.  He will make a 
great yokozuna (grand champion).

There was one thing that bothered me.  When Akebono pushed Takahanada
out, in the back was a wildly cheering Japanese lady ... probably in
her 50's.  But when they panned out for a shot of the entire arena,
it was really quiet.  I know Japanese fans are well-behaved.  I know
Takahanada is the most popular sumo wrestler I've seen in a long, long
time.  But why wasn't everyone applauding?  Isn't that appropriate?
Was I witnessing sour-grapes from Takahanada fans and pro-Japan fans?
I bet had Takahanada won, the place would have been roaring.

Sumo fans in Japan, tell us.
-- 
Yoke Tanaka                Togai InfraLogic, Inc.       "fuzzy"
tanaka@til.com             5 Vanderbilt, Irvine, Calif 92718, USA
gordius!til!tanaka         714-975-8522
Xref: sparky soc.culture.japan:14368 sci.econ:9891 soc.culture.usa:10172
From: haynes@cats.ucsc.edu (Jim Haynes)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan,sci.econ,soc.culture.usa
Subject: Re: Lawyers: US vs. Rest of World (Myth broken)
Date: 26 Jan 1993 19:38:23 GMT
Organization: University of California; Santa Cruz
NNTP-Posting-Host: hobbes.ucsc.edu


In article <1993Jan25.211022.11869@acuson.com> miklg@acuson.com (Michael Goldman ) writes:
>
>	One of the supposed reasons for the US's supposed decline is
>	that the US has many more lawyers than eg, Japan.  The
>	...
>	One reason Japan has fewer trial lawyers, is that they have a
>	very well-defined set of rules as to how much a particular
>	injury or misdeed can be decided for, so most people go to
>	arbitration, since going to court would be more expensive, and
>	would still be decided on the basis of these rules.

I saw an article in the paper some time back about the criminal syndicates
of Japan.  It remarked that lots of people use them for civil actions
such as loan collections and evictions because it takes too long to
go through legal means.
-- 
haynes@cats.ucsc.edu
haynes@cats.bitnet

"Ya can talk all ya wanna, but it's dif'rent than it was!"
"No it aint!  But ya gotta know the territory!"
        Meredith Willson: "The Music Man"
From: ccavers@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca (Cam Cavers)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Car Quality? (was: Honda vs....
Date: Sun, 24 Jan 93 20:19:02 MST
Organization: Edmonton Remote Systems #1, Edmonton, AB, Canada

larryg@batpad.lgb.ca.us (Larry Greenfield) writes:

- RE: Dodge Dynasty. You know, from the outside, style-wise, it was the
- only car for a while I'd even look at from Chrysler (I guess I like thte
- traditional look). Sorry to hear it was such junk.

(I love Japanese cars, so don't take this the wrong way...)
My dad drives a 1988 Dynasty, and it is a great car...it has a lot of miles
on it and it continues to run fine. (just lucky, maybe?) From what I've read,
the major problem with the Dynasty model is oil leakage from the Mitsubishi
3.0l V6. Maybe a japanese engine is rebelling against being put in a souped-up
K-car? :)

!   *  *  * *    *    ! Cam Cavers: ccavers@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca !SakeSake
!   *   *      ****** ! **************************************** !SakeSake
!  *     *      *   * ! Member of B.A.K.A.: Banzai Anime         !SakeSake
! *      *     *   *  !                     Klub of Alberta      !SakeSake!
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: underdog@leland.Stanford.EDU (Dwight Joe)
Subject: Re: Ultraman (Re: How about a new newsgroup here?)
Organization: Miners for a Heart of Gold
Date: Sun, 24 Jan 93 23:26:33 GMT

I wrote:  The new "Ultraman" sucks.

>Now wait as second dwjoe,
>I did see this. Wow! I thought that I was going crazy. It was a Sunday
>morning and I thought I saw a "new" Ultraman in (now get this)
>Austrailia. The star is Japanese/White. It's corny! But, less corny!

No.  The star is Japanese-American.  I will never get used to seeing "Ultraman"
without a completely Japanese cast (born and raised in Japan) with English
dubbed over the Japanese; I just gotta have that 10-second phase shift
between mouth motions and the utterance of English words.

>Then, the original!

No.  The original was much better.  This is probably just a prejudice
due to "first exposure"; it's probably the same reason that I think the
original Star Trek better than Star Trek:  The Next Degradation.

> So, that makes it stooopidd. But, I think overall,
>its a good attempt.

No.  Not really.

------------------------------------------------------------------+------------
Jinsei no imi wa nan desu ka.                Sister, can you      |   \|  |`
Shitte itara oshiete kuremasen ka.           spare a coin?        |    | -+-
                                                                  |   /| / \
Copyright 1992, 1993    Disclaimer:  1 + 1 = 3                    |
------------------------------------------------------------------+------------
From: arromdee@jyusenkyou.cs.jhu.edu (Ken Arromdee)
Subject: Re: Racial Discrimination in Hiring English Teachers
Organization: Johns Hopkins University CS Dept.
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1993 06:09:29 GMT

In article <1k7hk4INNd25@uniwa.uwa.edu.au> keis@psy.uwa.oz.au (Keis Ohtsuka) writes:
>>But I dare say, pinup-girl type of women can attract more students
>>than non-pinup-girl type of women can do. ...
>There are two confounding issues here: 
>On general level,
>please think again about it substituting "pinup-girl type of women"
>with your favorite majority group label, "non pinup-girl type of
>women" with a label of a minority group to see if your comment make
>sense.      

He was stating facts, not agreeing that they're a good thing.
--
"On the first day after Christmas my truelove served to me...  Leftover Turkey!
On the second day after Christmas my truelove served to me...  Turkey Casserole
    that she made from Leftover Turkey.
[days 3-4 deleted] ...  Flaming Turkey Wings! ...
   -- Pizza Hut commercial (and M*tlu/A*gic bait)

Ken Arromdee (arromdee@jyusenkyou.cs.jhu.edu, arromdee@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan,rec.puzzles