HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: harkcom@spinach.pa.yokogawa.co.jp (Alton Harkcom)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan,soc.culture.asian.america,soc.culture.usa,misc.education
Subject: Re: education (was: Re: DOES AMERICA SAY YES TO JAPAN?)
Date: 15 Dec 92 04:34:24 GMT
	<HARKCOM.92Dec14093243@spinach.pa.yokogawa.co.jp>
	<Bz88t5.37A@news.cso.uiuc.edu>
Organization: Yokogawa Electric Corporation, Tokyo, Japan

In article <Bz88t5.37A@news.cso.uiuc.edu> irvine@uxh.cso.uiuc.edu
   (Brent Irvine) writes:

 =}I hope you are joking here, homeless/bag people who are educated, yet
 =}cannot house themselves or find jobs speaks of a social system that
 =}is not very 'supportive.'

   Let me clarify what I said for those who misunderstood it.  I was
refering to the social structure supporting education, not the social
structure over-all.  There are flaws in other portions of the social
structure which cause 'bag-people' and other social injustices...

 =}If you mean more science, yes.

   Yes, science is one aspect of it.

 =}(no additional costs if you go to a state school)

   I'm afraid I must disgree with that 'no additional costs' bit.  Even
public education is a financial hardship on the 'economically poor'...
School supplies, transportation (in some places), and access to study
materials are often neglected for lack of funds...

 =}but in application, while students *do* attend until 16 or later,

   Though it is required by law, some young people do not attend school
up to the age of 16.  Many young people are suspended for such things as
not attending school (great punishment for someone who doesn't want to
go to school, isn't it :) ...  Or they are in areas where complying
with or enforcing the law is not possible due to economic, social or
physical conditions...  These people may be rare, but they exist...
(Drop outs aren't really that rare though...)

 =}I think the quantity is there (number of people in the system), but
 =}the quality needs to be improved in some way.

   Quantity has more meaning than just the number of bodies we place
at desks.  It also has to do with the bodies that can't be placed in
desks, and the education offered the bodies which can be placed at desks...
A solution which only aims at fixing the current 'quality' aspect of
education will only further increase the educational gap between those
with money and those without...  And that does nothing to solve the
education problem...

 =}I hope Pres. Clinton addresses this issue.

   To avoid flame wars (and further abusing the S/N ratio) I won't
bother responding to that. :)
--
---

   I will be on vacation from 12/18 - 12/27 and will not be able to
read email during that time.  My company will be on vacation from
12/29 - 1/4 and our news and mail servers will be down during that time...

   Sorry for the inconvenience...
From: cheung@CAM.ORG (Shirley Cheung)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: SEXISM IN JAPANESE WORKPLACE!!!!
Date: 19 Dec 92 23:08:54 GMT
Organization: Champlain Regional College, St-Lambert QC  CANADA


Hello,

I recently have read an article regarding to the Japanese work force. I
found out that SEXISM has become less of a tradition but rather has become
a serious social disease. Japaneses have greatly underestimated the power
of the other half of the population and it is very stupid that they hold a
sexist prejudice against this very powerful work force.

I also read an article regarding to a legal case in Japan which deals with
a female employee sueing against her boss because of the sexist remarks
that he made. That was the FIRST case of its kind that gained an
international awareness. I felt very angry and frustrated when it said
LESS THAN 3 % OF THE CORPORATE PROFESSIONAL JOBS ARE HELD BY WOMEN!!!!
What kind of society is that? We are in 1992, aren't we? If the Japanese
businessmen think that this is a tradition, then I should say "it is a
tradition of Japanese to deprive womens' right!!!!<--------haha, what kind
of traditon is that????

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.

Any comments will be highly appreciated.

best regards,
shirley
From: haniff@argon.berkeley.edu (Tariq M. Haniff)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Texas Southern University marching band in To^kyo^
Date: 17 Dec 1992 15:43:53 GMT
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
NNTP-Posting-Host: argon.berkeley.edu
Keywords: A self perpetuating phenomena


I don't mean to try to justify what happened in Akihabara, but I think some
ugly behaviour of foreigners in Japan is perpetuated by the existing racism
against them.  What I mean is that there is a "damned if you do, damned if
you don't" attitude, so why not? This probably was not the case with TSU,
which sounds to me like the "opportunist" syndrome of the LA riots.

When I was in Tokyo, I saw a bunch of Navy guys jumping the rail on the 
subway. I thought to myself, "what a  bunch of a**h*les.  This is going 
to do a lot for the American rep."  But on the train, I heard them
complaining to each other about the racism they had faced there and how 
they were going to "get back at them."

When it came time to exit, they pretty much just walked right by 
the ticket puncher.  The puncher held his arm out to stop one of them,
but that fellopw merely shoved the arm out of his way and kept walking.

I thought to myself, "Well these guys are fed up with some of the BS
they have to put up with here, and this is a vent of some of that 
frustration."

The same phenomena exists in the employment of foreigners in Japanese
companies (those in the US included).  The management attitude:

"We don't want to give the gaijin too much responsibility since he/she
will just jump to another job after a little while here."

The employee attitude:

"I'm not going to kill myself for nothing.  Chances are I can't advance
here, so I better start looking somewhere else."

Flame if you wish.

-Tariq
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan,soc.culture.asian.america,soc.culture.usa,soc.culture.african.american,misc.consumers
From: strnlght@netcom.com (David Sternlight)
Subject: Re: DOES AMERICA SAY YES TO JAPAN? - Off track!!
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
Date: Sat, 19 Dec 1992 01:50:28 GMT


Tom Leylan's hypothesis is correct that the world is made up of more
than the U.S. and Japan, but his implied conclusion isn't. Many other
industrial countries have far more strict rules than we conterbalancing
Japanese unfairness, and as a consequence have far less serious trade
problems than we do.

David

Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: Olli-Jukka Paloneva <opaloneva@abo.fi>
Subject: Re: Graft/Miyazawa
Organization: Turku School of Economics
X-Useragent: Nuntius v1.1
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 92 19:23:37 GMT

In article <1992Dec18.095901.1959@lclark.edu> David Degraw,
degraw@sun.lclark.edu writes:
>	"Are Japanese politicians inherently corrupt?"
>	"Is there such a thing as an incorruptible Japanese politician?"
>	"Why does Japanese politics corrupt politicians?"
>	"Does Japanese lobbying corrupt American politicians?"
>	"Do the Japanese think Americans are easily corruptible?"

Word corruption belongs to the American market-oriented frame of
reference, where all the contacts should reflect transactional
efficiency of monetary values.

In systems where non-monetary values mean more the contacts are
based more on relations instead of separate transactions. I would
say that in that context there is no corruption, but only behaviour
which helps to build relations needed.

-olli-
From: kerkoveericj@bvc.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Texas Southern University marching band
Date: 16 Dec 92 18:19:46 CST
Organization: Buena Vista College, Storm Lake, IA




	After reading all of this news and coments about the TSU marching 
band, I felt I needed to at least put my $.02 in.  I must say, that I
was born and raised in urban Iowa, and I have not had much exposeure to 
large city shopping.  However, I can say that it bugs the hell out of me
to have "exploding ink" and "Alarm sound" tags on every artical I pick up.
Call me paranoid, but I can't stand to have clerks following me around, just
to make sure I don't do anything funny with the merchandice. 

	To be quite frank, I have never been to Japan, and I probably won't
until late next year, or later, and I turn to this Newsgroup as a source of
information to avoid any nasty suprises that I might encounter.  Most of 
what I here is bad, like the overcrowdedness, and the racism, but the one 
pleasant surprise, was that Japanese are more trusting, and rightfully so, 
of partons in their shops.  I thought it would be a real plus, to be able to 
look around in a store without eyes always on my back ( or hands, or 
pockets, etc..)  The fact that I am an American, really dosen't seem to 
help my situation just a whole lot, but because of this incident (yes, I am 
getting back to that) I wonder just how "trusted" I will be in a Japanese 
shop. White, black, or American, which ever group takes the most blame, it 
is unjustified.

	To wrap this up, those S**t H**ds (I needed to fill my quota of 
star words) who started this whole mess, should not be off the hook yet, 
just because the incident is over, doesn't mean everything is all right.  I 
think besides expulsion (if it was taken that far) they should write formal
appolgies to the both the police and the shop keepers.  Although this 
would not be a perfect solution, it might help.  I have a feeling, however 
that no one would go for it, and it's just a simple farm boys suggestion, 
but I guess you can't have them executed....right?


					Eric Kerkove -fin-
	

	Disclaimer: Some one screwed up the spelling in this post, it 
	wasn't me! Honest.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan,soc.culture.usa,soc.culture.african.american,sci.electronics,misc.consumers,misc.education,misc.entrepreneurs
From: swkim@csws5.ic.sunysb.edu (Seok W Kim)
Subject: Re: DOES AMERICA SAY YES TO JAPAN? - Off track!!
Organization: State University of New York at Stony Brook
Date: Sun, 20 Dec 1992 03:46:48 GMT

In article <BzFnn2.KFC@ulowell.ulowell.edu> cshi@cs.ulowell.edu (Chunde Shi) writes:
>I have a theory(might not be the first one point it out) that U.S. consumer 
>electrioinics industtries declined partially becasue U.S.'s defence build-up 
>that lured U.S. consumer electrionics firms to to switch to produce defense 
>related products, because that where the eassy money came from.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Rie marrying?
From: salina@oread.cc.ukans.edu
Date: 12 Dec 92 00:49:13 CST
Organization: University of Kansas Academic Computing Serces

Hi,
     
     Talking about sumos, I heard my brother said that Miazawa Rie was going
to marry a young sumo.  Is that true?  When are they getting marry?  I thought
her mother tried to persude her to become a strip star.  Did she make any
R-rated movies?  

     BTW, who are your dream girls??  According to my friends, Rie and Suzuka
are definitely on the list.

-Sal-

Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: yoichi@carson.u.washington.edu (Yoichi Ii)
Subject: Prowrestling (Was: sumo comes to America, ...)
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1992 09:06:15 GMT

In article <hit.724129598@sol> hit@sol.acs.unt.edu (Hisaharu Tanabe) writes:
>Must be one of the last idea by Uncle Verne, another one of those victims
>of the WWF's national expansion back in '84 which totally changed the pro-
>wrestling from a brutal entertainment in no-kids-allowed arena to a 
>kids-aimed total joke in non-smoking places.-- 

I don't have anything against "kids-aimed" entertainment, but I do think
American prowrestling is pretty boring. In the Japanese version, there's
much more "high-flying actions" and different "wazas" whereas the American 
wrestlers mostly flex muscles is statics fashion and growl at each other.  
Also the "acting" is worse in the US version.  Maybe things were better 
pre-'84?
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: dwwillia@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (David Williams)
Subject: Re: Texas Southern University marching band in To^kyo^
Organization: Indiana University
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 22:50:15 GMT

I am flabbergasted!  The TSU marching band must be composed of the stupidest
people on earth.  I can't believe that they would act that way in America,
not as a group anyway.  So what rationale motivates 120 people to get
off a bus in a foreign land and start stealing electronics?  They must
have been too attracted to the shiny things.  Apes!

And look at how the police reacted.  They avoided a scene and tried to
talk the students out of their pilfered items.  What would have happened in
America if a 120 foreigners went on a mass stealing spree?  There would
have been gunplay, count on it.

I wish that every last one of them would have been thrown in jail.  That would
have been their just fate in any other country that I can think of.


David Williams                      Jisei to wa            Death poems 
dwwillia@silver.ucs.indiana.edu     sunawachi mayoi        are mere delusion--
death poem by Toko, died 1795       tada shinan.           death is death.



Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: masuda@fcs280b.ncifcrf.gov (Michiaki Masuda)
Subject: Re: I'm outta here.
Organization: Frederick Cancer Research and Development Center
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1992 20:27:55 GMT

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).

  If you are not Japanese and still describing your trip to Japan as "go back,"
that's really touching. I hope that Japan will be a country that deserves your
sentiment.

>So now seems a good time to say goodbye. I feel like I am losing a lot of
>friends here.

  Hey, hey. I am still a friend if you would count me as one.

>Michiaki Masuda san: Thanks for keeping me straight on me occasions and
>defending my "image" on one occasion. Nihon de omachi shite imasu.

   No, no. Smittie-san, YOU are the one who has been keeping me straigh... 
Wait a minute. Am I ... straight?

   I'm planning to go to Japan in January and stay there (mostly in Tokyo)
for 2-3 weeks. If you could really buy me first beer, I'll buy you back first
"Koshi no Kan-bai." 8-)

>In the mean time I can be reached
>via internet email at "smittie@mci.com" and "smittie@apple.com" although I have
>no idea how frequently I will be able to check those accounts. This account
>will remain open until at least the end of January and all mail sent here will
>be forwarded.

   After I replied to your message by e-mail, I received "undelivered mail"
message from each of the two sites shown above. Is the forwarding going ok?
I'm posting this in case my e-mail somehow didn't make it. 

   We are all looking forward to hearing from you again soon.

>smittie

   Hmmmm. Yahari tada-mono deha nai....

   Have a nice one.

--Michiaki
From: robohen@ocf.berkeley.edu (Henry Robertson)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: strange beverages
Date: 12 Dec 92 04:29:45 GMT
Organization: U. C. Berkeley Open Computing Facility
NNTP-Posting-Host: headcrash.berkeley.edu

In article <Bz4Bp1.7wI@news.cso.uiuc.edu> mako@uihepa.hep.uiuc.edu writes:
>>                                                           the liqueur
>> called Midori (which means "violinist" in Japanese) is...
>
>The word "Midori" has nothing to do with the word "violinist" except
>that there is a young, and quite famous, Japanese violinist named
>Midori Gotou, or just "Midori".
>
>Midori in general means green, of course. Violinist is baiorinist,
>baiorin-sousha, or baiorin-hiki.
>						mako
Midori is a color that is recognized only in postwar Japan.  Before that,
the poor diet of Japanese caused mass color blindness between blue and
green :).  This is why they still insist that their signals are red,
yellow, and blue.  As for the case of the violin prodigy, is that her
real name, or for the green bow in her hair that brings out the hazel 
flecks in her half-ish eyes so well?

She performed here the other day, actually.  I have known several other
lesser violin-dwarves in my time, but the problem is that stage presence
has an inverse proportionality to age, an increasing factor.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: masuda@fcs280b.ncifcrf.gov (Michiaki Masuda)
Subject: Re: RIKIYA ASANO
Organization: Frederick Cancer Research and Development Center
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 19:28:59 GMT

In article <1992Dec15.211938.9621@oracle.us.oracle.com> jnlee@uucp (John Lee) writes:

>(Michiaki Masuda) writes:
>>(Mark Choi) writes:
>>>"Douglas S. Brashear" <db6j+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:
>>.....

>What a dip stick you must be.

   Are we all, eh?

>  But I don't blame you - I am sure you could
>not help it. 

   Yeah, this time, either B-).

--Michiaki
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan,soc.culture.asian.america,soc.culture.usa,misc.education
From: harkcom@spinach.pa.yokogawa.co.jp (Alton Harkcom)
Subject: Re: education (was: Re: DOES AMERICA SAY YES TO JAPAN?)
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 23:56:47 GMT
	<BzBBw2.5nu@news.cso.uiuc.edu>
	<HARKCOM.92Dec16083416@spinach.pa.yokogawa.co.jp>
	<BzD34B.I8E@news.cso.uiuc.edu>
Organization: Yokogawa Electric Corporation, Tokyo, Japan

   As this has gotten off the topic of Japan I am responding to it in
misc.education only...
--
---

   I will be on vacation from 12/18 - 12/27 and will not be able to
read email during that time.  My company will be on vacation from
12/29 - 1/4 and our news and mail servers will be down during that time...

   Sorry for the inconvenience...
Lines: 52
From: ra01+@andrew.cmu.edu (Rikiya Asano)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: RIKIYA ASANO
Date: 12 Dec 92 18:42:02 GMT
Article-I.D.: andrew.Af_fwOi00iV184SYBj
	<Dec11.070015.73031@yuma.ACNS.ColoState.EDU>
Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA

Mr. Nishimura writes:


>	Telling the truth, I sent Mr. Asano an e-mail asking not to use all 
>	those offensive language a few weeks after he appeared on the net.
>	He, to your surprise, did respond me by e-mail, saying that he would 
>	not use them any more.  And here we still have him with his favorite
>	language...  I just gave up responding him through the net.
> 
>	Well, I should not have said this here since it was personal mail
>	between him and myself...  But I just couldn't stand any more.
> 
>	Any way, I believe he is actually capable of using the communication
>	system on the net.  Why he doesn't use it correctly and properly is 
>	beyond my thought. 


You are right! When, I get excited I lose control alittle bit!   Please
excuse me! Very sorry!
From: robohen@ocf.berkeley.edu (Henry Robertson)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Miyazawa Love You Long Time
Date: 19 Dec 1992 04:05:25 GMT
Organization: U. C. Berkeley Open Computing Facility
NNTP-Posting-Host: headcrash.berkeley.edu


Again, this is all symptomatic of an isolated culture of politics.  Most 
Japanese are not very political, so there is little initiation of outsiders
into the LDP universe.  Family traditions run quite strong at all levels.
Most high-ranking LDP politicians come from the samurai caste.  Right-
wingers and yakuza both espouse the upkeeping of traditional samurai values.
So, although yakuza hoodlums come from the lowest rungs of society, they
have many samurai-esque rituals, and own traditional Japanese-style mansions.
Therefore, compared to salarymen who live in beehive apartment complexes
or some other Westernized settings, queen-bee politicians have a much more
culturally fulfilling relationship in flirting with right-wing/yakuza
drones.  These drones live off of the hive's honey, in dealing in real
estate and stock speculation.  LDP
politicians need those golf courses and rice paddies to surround their
estates, to keep away those eyesore prefab housing, and keep salarymen
proletariats in somber living conditions to make them work hard, to
attain that barely attainable dream of the suburban house.  But, 
nowadays salarymen send their best and brightest abroad, where many of them
will settle long-term, draining any elite talent from opposition at home.
Therefore, there remains little incentive for LDP to revise its entrenched
ways.  Just as bees can sting only once, Japanese rarely get angry about these
things.  Then public rage is an abberation, a temporary disequilibrium of
cosmic harmony, as with typhoons, earthquakes, or fires.  As far as the
orderly lifestyle of Japanese is concerned, public discontent is like a 
yearly ritual, along with filing for income taxes, a temporary annoyance
that is over and done with quickly.  By contrast, our wasps like Ralph
Nader will keep stinging to no end.  For better or for worse, we are a
wasp society of individualized nests, that will sting as many times as
necessary to survive.  Our larvae are left on their own to eat, grow, and 
cocoonize.  Many of them will be eaten alive by drugs, crime, AIDS, etc.,
but a few good ones will survive, angry and ready.
From: jcliu@four-lab4.Berkeley.EDU (James C. Liu)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Not a Myth at All
Date: 13 Dec 1992 18:45:36 GMT
Organization: UC Berkeley Dept. of Nuclear Engineering
NNTP-Posting-Host: four-lab4.berkeley.edu

In article <RHB.92Dec12221421@world.std.com> rhb@world.std.com 
(Robert H Brueckner) writes:

>In article <1992Dec13.005648.8260@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> 
jcliu@euler.Berkeley.EDU (James C. Liu - Nucl. Engin. UC Berkeley) writes:

>
>   >But then again, you could be right...it could be a racial thing.  You might
>   >have the perfect accent, but the wrong complexion.  That would be taihen.
>   >Anybody out there know some good cosmetic surgeons?  8-)
>
>I think you hit the nail on the head with your last point. Judging
>from your last name, I presume you're of Chinese ethnicity, which for
>many Japanese is close enough (although -- and I don't mean this in a
>racist way -- I can usually tell Japanese from Korean from Chinese

Yeah, being non-Japanese in Japan can be a drag as people have told me,
but I didn't quite have that problem.  I knew before going the 2nd time
I went to Japan, what type of facade to wear.  I had my hair cut short
and squared off in the back, I always wore a nice suit, tie, shoes, etc,
carried a colorful and trendy umbrella (that matched my tie), etc..(you
know, those little details 8-)) and I worked on accent.  My massive
115 kilogram frame might also have something to do with it...8-)  But I
definitely "fit" in with the "look" at least.

Next time, I'm thinking of going completely double breasted, then adding 
a fidora and iridium Oakley eyeshades to my wardrobe. 8-).  Maybe, I'll 
even perm my hair to get that Kitijima Saburo look.  Add a little bulge
padding to my inner jacket pockets and I have no doubts I'll get seats 
on the rush hour train, free drinks, and a clear sidewalk. 8-)

Jaa, James
=======================================================================
James C. Liu |    KARAOKE Addict!     Karaoke: You're the STAR!!!!    |
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