HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: harkcom@spinach.pa.yokogawa.co.jp (Alton Harkcom)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Regarding Japanese T.V...
Date: 17 Aug 92 03:59:39 GMT
	<1992Aug10.094019.7036@tokyo07.info.com> <2266@aegis.or.jp>
Organization: Yokogawa Electric Corporation, Tokyo, Japan
In-reply-to: morihiro@aegis.or.jp's message of 11 Aug 92 13:50:24 GMT

In article <2266@aegis.or.jp> morihiro@aegis.or.jp (Morihiro Kubo) writes:

 =}Japanese think the direct position system is
 =}more convenient than direct tuning system.

   More convenient?  For the manufacturer, yes.  For the consumer, no.

 =}In fact, direct tuning system is cheaper than direct position system,
 =}because later system have to have EEPROM in order to memorize real
 =}positions corresponding position numbers.

   They don't have to have EEPROMs or there would not have been any
such TV's before EEPROMs...  Even under a strangely ordered system
the manufacturer can tune a set before shipping it (or allow the
distributer to)...
From: harkcom@spinach.pa.yokogawa.co.jp (Alton Harkcom)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Regarding Japanese T.V...
Date: 16 Aug 92 23:30:18 GMT
	<1992Aug07.034708.92821@cs.cmu.edu>
	<1992Aug10.094019.7036@tokyo07.info.com>
Organization: Yokogawa Electric Corporation, Tokyo, Japan
In-reply-to: jimmy@tokyo07.info.com's message of 10 Aug 92 09:40:19 GMT


   I do not know the Japanese standard, but I'm pretty sure that there
is some form of ***Hz = *** Channel...  I think the problem that TV
manufacturers face is that TV stations have very short broadcast areas
in Japan so the availability of a certain channel can't be guaranteed.
Thus a TV which can be set to tune in only the available channels...

In article <1992Aug10.094019.7036@tokyo07.info.com> jimmy@tokyo07.info.com (Jim
   Gottlieb) writes:

 =}My guess as to why they do this is that it must save them money.  And
 =}with so few channels in Japan (and cable TV virtually nonexistant), 
 =}it's not _that_ much of a bother to set the presets (and the locals
 =}don't know any better).

   But it can be a pain to set the channels because you have to wait for
a station identification to set the channels on an older set...

 =}In the U.S., we often have 40 channels or more to choose from.  So
 =}they'd have to give us 50 presets and then imagine having to set each
 =}one manually by scanning the band, as is done here.  It just wouldn't
 =}work.  So we get to just key in the channel number and forget about
 =}messy presets, while the Japanese (and me here in Japan) are playing
 =}the preset game.

   The newer machines in Japan have an easy setup method.  The machine
automatically searches the TV band for any broadcasts.  This gives all
of the local stations in order.  Each station is labelled as the channel
it claims to be (thus my belief that ***Hz => *** Ch).  The viewer can
then flip through the channels and "deselect" any that aren't wanted.
The result is a full set of all desired local stations in seconds...

   Does anybody in this group have the frequency ranges for US and
Japanese TV.  It would interesting to see them.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan,soc.culture.china,soc.culture.hongkong,soc.culture.taiwan
From: wohfuchi@splash.Princeton.EDU (Wataru Ohfuchi)
Subject: Re: What do most of Japanese think of Korean (Re: An open letter..)
Originator: news@nimaster
Organization: Princeton University
Date: Sun, 23 Aug 1992 06:02:30 GMT

In article <Aug23.042415.34564@yuma.ACNS.ColoState.EDU> ntetsuya@lamar.ColoState.EDU (Nishimura) writes:

[stuff deleted]

>	Anyway, "Chosenjin" in Japanese has NO secondary meaning unless a 
>	person wants to use with humiliation and insulting tone of voice.

  Recently, a Japanese friend of mine pointed out a word I was using
should be an anti-Korean word. It's "baka-chon" as, almost excusively,
in "a baka-chon camera" = a very friendly camera which even a person, who
is very ignorant of the mechanics of a camera, would find it very easy
to use. Since the word is so attached to cameras, I hadn't been aware that
"chon" might be "Chosen"'s "cho(n)". Then "baka-chon" would mean
literally "stupid = baka" "Korean = chon (Chosen{jin}). I was so ashamed
of my ignorance. I apologyze.
  While "Chosen" does not have any derogatory meaning, there may be
some offending words against the Koreans, that include "chon". I just
don't come up with any other.
  Now my questions are:
  1) Does "baka-chon"'s "chon" really mean Korean?
  2) Are there any other offending Japanese words against the Koreans?

[stuff deleted]

>					Tetsuya Nishimura

...Wataru
-- 
  ...Wataru Ohfuchi
     Program in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Princeton University
     w1o@gfdl.gov _or_ wohfuchi@splash.princeton.edu
From: davidg@aegis.or.jp (Dave McLane)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: On Japanese apologies
Date: 20 Aug 92 00:32:57 GMT
Organization: Aegis Society, Kyoto Japan

smittie@beach.csulb.edu (Smittie) writes:

>It is easy, in the heat of the moment, to lose sight of one's on perspective on
>a given issue. Such is the case with the current discussion regarding Japan's
>apology to China for atrocities committed during WWII.

I think so.

[* Long, well-thought-out summary omitted *]

>In short I understand and even agree with Chinese protests of Japan's
>consensureship of history. I question whether there can be any reasonable
>outcome in the Chinese demand for an apology. I think it is largely
>unreasonable for the Chinese to demand compensation, though my thoughts on that
>could be swayed depending on whether Japan has paid any kind of compensation to
>date.

I agree on this as well. If there had been a long-standing demand
for compensation, perhaps, but I don't know who is in a position to
award such compensation nowadays. 

>Whenever this issue is brought to the fore there always follows the posts
>containing senseless hatred and contempt for the Japanese themselves. Calling
>them "Japs," and all the other inflammatory and derogatory actions are
>repulsive. They detract from any validity that sensible arguments might have.
>They make it very difficult for those outside the issue to intelligently assess
>the arguments. The Chinese who seek signatures on that open letter which was
>the beginning of this whole flame war realize the need and advantage of allies.
>But many will be hesistant to show themselves in your ranks when such ranks
>include blatant racists and open hatred.

Compensation and apologies are physical events. From the wording of
the open letter, I suspect that this is an emotional issue and IMHO
the intent behind the acions of others are always suspect when
you're pissed off at them. 

As an old friend used to say, "They have their shit sandwich maker
turned on." Oh well ...

>My apologies for contributing to the flame-fest which, as yet, has resulted in
>a lot of animosity and little else.

I would hardly call your post a contribution to the flame-fest. More like
oil on troubled waters. Thanks for taking the time to write such a long
an well thoughtout article.

While there sure have been a lot of flames, there have been some
postings from what look like Japanese nationals and that's a Good
Thing for s.c.j don't you think?

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
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: yoichi@milton.u.washington.edu (Yoichi Ii)
Subject: Re: Godzilla vs Charles Barkely
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 1992 16:57:28 GMT

ken@uxc.cso.uiuc.edu (Ken Primer) writes:
> .... Can you see the possible conclusions being drawn by the choice??? 
> Japan vs US? Maybe maybe not...I just thought this belonged on this 
> message base. 

In previous posts there was a question regarding Godzilla's gender.
But what about its nationality?  Is it Japanese?  Having seen him/her
go around stomping on Tokyo, I'm not sure Godzilla is a Nihon-lizard.
In fact, wasn't he/she from the South Pacific (consequence of H-bomb 
test or something)?

I've also heard that the popularity of Godzilla in post-war Japan was
due to its comparison to US air raid. People were sufficiently scared
(and entertained) as they recalled the uncontested US attack, but at 
the same time they did not have to re-experience the humiliation of 
the war defeat, as they might have from a war movie.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: jwb@capek.rdt.monash.edu.au (Jim Breen)
Subject: Death of Admiral Yamamoto
Organization: Monash University, Melb., Australia.
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1992 22:55:18 GMT

Someone asked recently, in response to a posting of mine about the battle of
Gaudalcanal, whether Bouginville was the place where Yamamoto was killed.

Well I checked up last night, and it was. As many know, his "Betty"
bomber was ambushed by 17 P-38 Lightnings and shot down. [It took 34
days for the Japanese to recover his body from the jungle. It was cremated and 
the ashes returned to Japan for a state funeral.]

As a quick reference, I looked this up in Bergamini's "Japan's 
Imperial Conspiracy". As I have commented before, Bergamini's book abounds 
with factual errors. One jumped out at me last night:

In his description of the power of the Japanese Zero fighter, Bergamini
describes how it "flew circles around" the famous British Spitfire
in the fall of Singapore, shooting down 17 of the Battle of Britain veterans.

A fine story, but totally devoid of fact. There were *no* Spitfires at
Singapore. The Japanese pilots might have thought it was Spitfires they
were shooting down (Bergamini, being a journalist, never revealed his
sources) but the few RAF planes in Singapore were obsolete Brewster
Buffaloes and Vickers Wildebeestes.

The first appearance of the Spitfire in the Pacific war occurred in March
1943, when the 452 Squadron of the RAAF returned to Darwin with its
(Mark III?) Spitfires after service in Britain. The Spitfires, which
were by far the most manoeuverable Allied fighter, had no trouble
flying circles around the Zeros they encountered.

-- 
Jim Breen                           JIS:$B%8%`!!%V%j!<%s(J
Department of Robotics & Digital Technology. Monash University. 
PO Box 197 Caulfield East VIC 3145 Australia (ph) +61 3 573 2552 
(fax) +61 3 573 2345  AARNet/Internet:jwb@capek.rdt.monash.edu.au  
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: kimi@newsance.att.com (Kimiye Tipton;ball of confusion;net nemesis;407-660-6472)
Subject: Re: Japanese Things
Organization: AT&T IMS, Maitland, FL
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 14:36:38 GMT

In article <7080@bigbird.hri.com.hri.com> blamb@rodan.hri.com (Bill Lambert) writes:
>Thanks Mike.... very interesting. I always wondered about the lack
>of discounts for quantity purchases and how it affects Japanese
>
>Even retail sales for such everyday items such as liquor, toiletries,
>foodstuffs, etc. lack any discount price break. These days though,
>retail merchants often give extra "prizes" for volume puchases, such
>as packets of tissue, hankies, cigarette lighters or discount coupons,
>so the concept may finally be catching on.

Yeah, this happened all the time to me, less in Tokyo than in Kyushu.  
My cousin translated one instance as the store owner wanting to "give me
a gift".  Later, she tried to tell me it was not really a gift, just 
something extra for buying so much.  I said, "Oh, a premium!", and she
was happy I understood.  That time, the lady had given me a box with
three little lidded ceramic pots in it.  Not bad, especially after I found
out her prices for bento boxes and chopsticks were less than those in
Tokyo.  Other places gave us handkerchiefs, plastic wrapped disposable
wet towels, and of course, the ubiquitous fans, for which we were very
grateful (we brought our Florida weather with us).  

I don't know how much of this had to do with the fact that
we were relatives of well-liked residents (gift-getting is hard enough
in Japan without getting all fouled up in people doing things for you
because of who you're related to!), or if they were just being nice 
to the fairly rare gaijin tourists.  

Whew!  It was a nice visit, but I'm glad to be back where I know what's
expected of me.  It was a relief to watch someone being rude and 
obnoxious on the plane home, just to know that we could be rude if we
wanted to...


Kimiye Tipton  kimi@kokomo.att.com or kimi@newsance.att.com  Maitland, FL
"You're gonna run out that door, down Main Street out to Highway 1,
in front of God and everybody, in near-freezing temperatures, with
absolutely nothing on?"
From: yoichi@milton.u.washington.edu (Yoichi Ii)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Japanese Things
Date: 19 Aug 92 16:56:46 GMT
Article-I.D.: u.1992Aug19.165646.27054
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle

blamb@rodan.hri.com (Bill Lambert) writes:
>[about quantity discounts]
>Even retail sales for such everyday items such as liquor, toiletries,
>foodstuffs, etc. lack any discount price break.

Well, if you go to Daiei (or any other supermarkets in Japan),
you'll see a lot of "6 for Y100" deals, where if the items are bought 
singly it costs, say, Y20.  But I guess this is more of a "special sale"
deal than a quantity discount.

If you want things in mass quantity, you can go to "oroshi-ya" type 
establishment and get a good discount. But again, this is a bit different.

If you buy a BIG bottle of beer, it's probably cheaper (per litre) :-)
  +----------\
  |           ----*        Tumetai no, douzo ippai
  |  Sa**oro  ----*~~~
  +----------/      ~~~             ~~~~~        Netto no mina-san, shotyuu
                    |~~|     /---o=<~~~~~        omimai moushi agemasu (minami
                    |  |     \---o=<~~~~~        hankyuu no kata ha nozoku).
                    |__|            ~~~~~        Mou, zansho nano ka naa?
                              surume desu
From: doi@jrd.dec.com (Hitoshi Doi)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Working in Japan (relocation, tax issues)
Date: 18 Aug 92 02:38:31 GMT
Organization: DEC Japan Research and Development Center

In article <1992Aug17.232133.1188@natinst.com>, neilf@natinst.com (Neil Feiereisel) writes:

[lots of stuff deleted]

# Paying Taxes In Japan Rather Than In The States
# -----------------------------------------------
#    I thought that paying taxes in Japan would be favorable compared to paying
#    them in the states.  However, I'm having second thoughts.  While working in
#    Japan in 1988, my take home pay was 88% of my gross taxable income of 7.5
#    million yen.  But this was before I started paying significant amounts of
#    local tax (it seems that the first year you don't have to pay any local
#    tax), and did not include my health insurance, which I was paying
#    separately.  If I adjust for those, I was really taking home only 75%.  At
#    that rate, perhaps paying U.S. income tax wouldn't be all that different.
# 
#    1.)  Does anybody have any ideas on whether it would be better to pay taxes
#         in Japan or in the U.S.?

If you're a US citizen or resident alien you have to file (and pay) your
income taxes in the US anyways.  Of course if you qualify for the
exemptions, you can get exemptions up to $70,000.  This is calculated
by taking the number of days you are physically outside of the US,
dividing by 365 and multiplying to $70k.

#    1.)  What kind of benefits are not considered taxable income (besides
#         transportation allowance)?  Namely, when a Japanese company pays for
#         your housing, or at least gives you a partial housing allowance, is
#         that considered taxable income?  How about a yearly "home leave," where
#         the company pays for my family's plane tickets for a trip back to the
#         States?

Since I don't get a transportation allowance (I walk to work) everything
is taxable.  The housing allowance, the family allowance, etc are all
added up for the total income and taxed.
At our company, overtime snack allowances are not taxed.  (Doesn't matter
to me because I don't work late enough to qualify for it.)

--
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 Japan: doi@dec-j.co.jp]
From: kitagawa@will.ntt.jp (Masahiro Kitagawa)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: English Language Services in Japan (Osaka)i
Date: 15 Aug 92 09:16:34 GMT
	<GyJyE@reseau.macrofield.or.jp> <2344@aegis.or.jp>
Distribution: soc
Organization: NTT Basic Research Labs., Tokyo, Japan

In article <2344@aegis.or.jp> davidg@aegis.or.jp (Dave McLane) writes:

 |Also, for the more adventurous, there was an article (Daily
 |Yomiuri?) about some guy in Nara who sells dish antennas that will
 |pick up stuff from a Chinese satellite.

I haven't mentioned other satellites since six months would be too
short to try them. But those who stay longer in Japan and miss
American TVs might be interested in them.

Some shops sell the satellite equipment such as dish, LNB, feed-horn,
tuner, and even caption decoder. In Osaka area, the following shops in
"Nipponbasi" would be interesting;

Chevron Electronics (Seburon Densi)	phone 06-631-0781
Rabbit Electronics (Rabitto Densi)	phone 06-646-1391
ABLE					phone 06-633-2678

Nipponbasi is a Kansai counterpart of Akihabara.
The nearest subway station is "Ebisu-cho" of Sakai-suji line,
NOT "Nipponbasi-suji 3-chome".
--
MaSa					*--- **** ***-- *--* *-* *-*
Masahiro Kitagawa			$@KL@n(J $@>!9@(J	NTT$@4pAC8&5f=j(J
NTT Basic Research Labs.		kitagawa@will.NTT.JP
From: blamb@rodan.hri.com (Bill Lambert)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: USA vs Japan Men's Volleyball in Olympics
Date: 12 Aug 92 21:52:26 GMT
Reply-To: blamb@rodan.hri.com (Bill Lambert)
Organization: Horizon Research

In article <1992Aug11.23003.23148@ms.uky.edu>, borders@ms.uky.edu
(Johnny Borders) writes:

(Note: I share much of J. Borders' displeasure with the Olympic
Games, and especially the Men's.... err.... Boy's Volleyball
team and the "Wet Dream" team's commercialism. I don't think I
would generalize quite so much though, as many athletes did
display grace and sportsmanship in both winning and losing. Those
two teams do stand out by their poor example, though.)

> But juvenile, macho behavior is enormously popular. After all, we're talking
> about a country who sits down in front of the damn TV to be entertained
> with gratuitous sex and violence, day in, day out.

Just a comment, and my apologies as the topic isn't quite related to this
group:

Many people speak of the low quality and content of the popular media
as if it were an effect or offshoot of a disintegrating society, and
a mirror of popular mores and ethic. I take a somewhat different view,
and see the media and the way it operates, it's motivations and economic
structure, not as an effect, but a contributor of immense importance, and
a key link in one very significant negative feedback path. The power of
media is misunderstood and underestimated to a very large degree. To me,
it usually drives rather than rides.

"Art is the mirror of society" was the old catch phrase, but that was
in the days when only a few had access to artform. When the mirror
distorts the image grotesquely, those who look into it react to the
distorted image in distorted ways, and in turn try to fit the image
by their own self-distortion. It's all done by mirrors, folks. The 
"moving picture" media is powerful beyond belief, and we had better
bring it under control for more positive purposes, or suffer the
dire consequences, as we are doing now.... even after only 50 years
or so of widespread exposure. Direct human contact has become a
secondary source of influence, subservient to a wantonly created
and misguided "image". Never before in History has this happened.

> Anyone want to trade places? I'd rather move to Japan (if only I
> could work harder on learning the language.. :)

You might find new sets of problems, inconsistencies, and frustrations
that will be entertaining for a while, but perhaps when your inate
cynicism homes in on those things, you may have the capability to be
just as incensed with societal structures that you can't accept as you
were here. The  forces at work in our society are at work in Japanese
society as well. The bubbles that are ready to burst appear in different
places and at different times is all. Some things are better, some things
are worse. But yes.... almost everything is different. Escape from this
set of problems you can get, but Eden you will never find.

Anyway.... I will encourage Mr.Borders to positively use his discontent,
wherever he may decide to live. Give 'em hell!

- Bill Lambert
From: smittie@beach.csulb.edu (Smittie)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Regarding Japanese T.V...
Date: 17 Aug 92 01:43:57 GMT
	036@tokyo07.info.com>
	<36693@sdcc12.ucsd.edu><SMITTIE.92Aug10160135@lark.csulb.edu>
	<HARKCOM.92Aug17091515@spinach.pa.yokogawa.co.jp>
Organization: Cal State Long Beach

I was hoping Al (or somebody) would jump in and fill in the blanks. Thanks Al.

smittie
-- 
___________________________________________________________________________
GEnie, MCI, AOL:Smittie | If all of us were as smart as we think we are the
smittie@beach.csulb.edu |  current world problems would be yesterday's news.
________________________|___________________________________________________
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: wtangel@well.sf.ca.us (William Thomas Angel)
Subject: Where Have All Japan's Scientists Gone?
Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1992 13:20:18 GMT


There was an interesting article in the February 7th issue of SCIENCE
magazine titled "Where Have all Japan's Scientists Gone?"; the answer
the article supplied was to the stock market and other high paying
jobs.  Quoting the author:
      
      "Japan's research enterprise is now coming down with a bad case
      of 'advanced nations disease'. The symptoms are familiar: The
      number of applicants for university science and engineering 
      courses is falling and bright graduates are fleeing to securities
      companies,banks,and anywhere else that boasts...a fat salary."

   The reason I bring this up now is that, as most stock market watchers
are aware, the decline in the Japanese stock market shows no sign of
abating, and even the credit-worthiness of some of the big Japanese
securities firms has been downgraded.  Also, there was a news report on
Aug 18th that Japan's "Big Four" securities houses are likely to post
huge pretax losses for the first half of the current business year. 
   With this climate in the financial markets, perhaps Japanese science
graduates will reassess their career choices and stay in science and
engineering? Perhaps this could be an unexpected benefit to Japanese
society of the stock market decline:science and engineering students
deciding to be productive in the fields they were trained for, rather
than just attempting to chase the "big bucks" in the declining financial
services industry.
-- Bill Angel
   wtangel@well.sf.ca.us