HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Is this offensive?
From: larryg@batpad.lgb.ca.us (Larry Greenfield)
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 93 21:41:31 PST
Organization: The Batchelor Pad

A derogatory word is a derogatory word.  It doesn't matter if it's 
used in a sentence that is not necessarily derogatory. The use of 
such words MAKES it so.  Whether it be nip, chink, honkey, what hae 
you.
:::::Larry:::::

:::::larryg@batpad.lgb.ca.us::::: // :::::Larry Greenfield:::::
:::::::::::Using a 6809-based Tandy Color Computer 3:::::::::::
::::::::Just your average modeming Classical Violinist:::::::::
Xref: sparky soc.culture.japan:14136 soc.culture.hongkong:17417
From: robohen@ocf.berkeley.edu (Henry Robertson)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan,soc.culture.hongkong
Subject: Re: Yaohan...
Date: 24 Jan 1993 00:17:47 GMT
Organization: U. C. Berkeley Open Computing Facility
NNTP-Posting-Host: headcrash.berkeley.edu

In article <1johin$21t@agate.berkeley.edu> bhchan@soda.berkeley.edu (Billy H. Chan) writes:
>In article <1993Jan22.055329.17532@leland.Stanford.EDU> underdog@leland.Stanford.EDU (Dwight Joe) writes:
>
>>Sounds like too much Monosodium Glutamate.  Try some Japanese, Korean, or
>>American food, for a change.
>>
>>MSG is nasty stuff; only shifty people use that.
>
But Dwight, do you assume I never eat Japanese, Korean, or American food?
Anyway, plenty of those foods are laced with MSG.  A warning to people going
to Japan, most of the small-bottle "power" drinks sold for Y300-Y600 is
*loaded* with MSG.  My brother drinks it because he claims he gets highs off of
the MSg in them.

Mexican food, I don't know of any that uses MSG.  Save for American-made
salsas.  Which means, Mexicans are God's chosen naturalistic people.










Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: rhb@world.std.com (Robert H Brueckner)
Subject: Re: Miyazawa Comment (was Re: Honda vs Ford (+ Chrysler now))
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
	<C1HGts.M2L@news.cso.uiuc.edu>
Distribution: na
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1993 11:16:37 GMT

In article <C1HGts.M2L@news.cso.uiuc.edu> aijuin@ux4.cso.uiuc.edu (Akira Ijuin) writes:

   Now I'm not sure if the author of this article actually heard what 
   Prime Minister Miyazawa said, in Japanese.  And I'm not sure if this author
   understands Japanese, as used by politicians.  In case you did not know, 
   Japanese politicians have this way of saying things without ever giving out
   their true intentions.  Some (how much, I do not know) native Japanese
   speakers have trouble understanding this, so I have little reason to think
   that Prime Minister Miyazawa's comments were correctly understood,
   or correctly translated into English.  The latter is especially a problem,
   since Japanese as used by politicians are very hard to translate correctly.
   Translating the superficial meaning does not suffice when dealing with
   Japanese politicians.

OK, Akira, what is the deeper meaning behind Miyazawa's laughter when
he said (quoted in The Economist) that American servicemen (who,
incidentally, are protectiong *your* country at *our* expense) can't
afford to take shore leave in Japan anymore so they'll have to stay
aboard ship and give each other AIDS?

Please note that when an American citizen says "Fuck you and the horse
you rode in on," this is only the *superficial* meaning, which is very
difficult to translate into Japanese and therefore is likely not to be
correctly understood by people of your nationality. A good working
translation, for your purposes, would read something like, "Kyou wa ii
tenki desu ne." You can see how easily this might be misconstrued.

(Please also note that the above is not an actual flame, although I
couldn't resist a sarcastic response to your bending-over-backwards
appologia of Japanese politicians.)

No hard feelings :-)

RB


-- 
|"The truth is cruel, but it can be loved, and it makes free those who  |
| have loved it." -- George Santayana  // Opinions expressed here, when |
| clear and persuasive, are my own. --Rob Brueckner (rhb@world.std.com) |
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: 24 Jan 93 20:13:07 GMT

In article <1993Jan24.085238.7282@gibdo.engr.washington.edu> tvp@gibdo.engr.washington.edu (Tad Perry) writes:
>In article <93Jan23.224811est.47602@neat.cs.toronto.edu> tlai@cs.toronto.edu (Tony W H Lai) writes:
>>I would agree that future EDTV systems are likely to hinder the popularity
>>of HDTV in Japan, though.  I don't really mean to be so picky, but all the
>>talk about HDTV happens to touch a nerve with me.
>
>Well, okay, I'll buy your assessment that 3 to 3.5 H is the ideal
>viewing distance for HDTV. It wouldn't be the first time Nomura, or I,
>was wrong. But what nerve does HDTV touch for you? That might make for
>a more interesting discussion. Is it that Japan's analog HDTV isn't
>being viewed favorably, or something else? It's impressive technology,
>but, for my purposes, my main points were:
>
>1. An HDTV set is currently quite large.
>2. Also, quite expensive.
>3. Analog, and already scheduled for replacement by a digital standard.
>4. Neither analog HDTV nor its replacement is NTSC compatible, and
>   the replacement won't even be HDTV-compatible.
>
>That's all. To the best of my knowledge the above is completely factual.

Well, when I first starting reading about HDTV, I was quite hopeful about
HDTV's prospects, but since then, I've become very cynical about HDTV.
I get annoyed at all the misinformation that is floating around, and it
seems that many people and organizations with vested interests are happy to
spout all sorts of nonsense.  One thing I found particularly annoying was
the pre-recession talk on what I call the HDTV domino theory: if a country
"lost" HDTV, its entire economy would be destroyed.  Such talk seemed to
always be accompanied by wildly optimistic projections for HDTV and pleas
for government money.

Anyway, as I result, I like to pick apart false information when I find it.
From: kaygee@hardy.u.washington.edu (Kevin Giansante)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Japanese names & Finnish names
Date: 27 Jan 93 00:15:43 GMT
Article-I.D.: shelley.1k4k7fINNkif
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
NNTP-Posting-Host: hardy.u.washington.edu

In article 22228, robohen@ocf.berkeley.edu (Henry Robertson)
writes:

>Bulgarian is a Turkic tongue, as far as last week's lecture on Japanese
>linguistics went.  The steppe does extend geographically and culturally
>into Bulgaria.  On the other hand, since just about every town in
>Eastern Europe speaks a different language, there could be dozens of
>Bulgarian languages each belonging to separate language classes, with
>interactions between every single dialect reflecting historically
>pulsating borders & 12-dimensional political/economic interactions.     
                   (etc.)

What?  Bulgarian is a Turkic language?  You should post this to
s.c.bulgaria and see what they have to say about this.

Bulgarian is south Slavonic, the direct descendant of Old Church
Slavonic.  There is a variety of Turkish (Osman) spoken by the Turkish
minority in BG, but their language bears little similarity to Bulgarian
or to any other Indo-European language.

Let's take this to s.c.b. or e-mail if you want to pursue it further.
From: kazu@trl.ibm.co.jp ((Ms.)Kazu YASUDA)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Recipe for Okonomiyaki?
Date: 21 Jan 93 07:54:46 GMT
Organization: IBM Research, Tokyo Research Laboratory
In-reply-to: kt12+@andrew.cmu.edu's message of 15 Jan 93 12:05:11 GMT


'Okonomi' literally means 'As you like'.
'Yaki' literally means 'Bake'.
That is, 'Bake as you like!'

>>Flour, water, egg "mixed to the right consistency" - slightly thicker than
>>pancakes...a little salt or kagakucho miryu (msg?) then the usual goodies

 > Which would the above okonomiyaki be?  I've never heard of putting eggs
 > in the actual batter (though people do drop eggs on the okonomiyaki as
 > it's cooking).  We've always used just flour and water at home.
 > 
 > I also just asked a Japanese friend who's sitting in the room and he
 > also says you don't use eggs.  Oh well.

Actually Okonomiyaki has a great variety of recipes 
even in a same area in Japan.

Try both of the above, and you will find which you like.
--
====================================================
Kazu Yasuda(Ms.)@IBM Japan, Tokyo Research Laboratory
(e-mail: kazu@trl.vnet.ibm.com, kazu@trl.ibm.co.jp)
From: robohen@ocf.berkeley.edu (Henry Robertson)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Japanese names & Finnish names
Date: 24 Jan 1993 19:34:58 GMT
Organization: U.C. Berkeley Open Computing Facility
NNTP-Posting-Host: locusts.berkeley.edu

I must say, Mari which most likely comes from Maria, Mika which most likely
comes from Michael, has no correspondence with the Japanese cases which are
on-yomi of Chinese characters.  It is the Chinese characters' meaning that
gives rise to the name, not the sounds, which are incidental; Mari is
something like "True Reason" and Mika, "Beauty more".  There are some 
arguments that Ainu language is a branch of Finno-Ugric languages, but few
people have proven a decisive connection between Japanese and Ainu, beyond the
borrowing of a few words.  Japanese is currently thought to be basically
an Altaic language that borrowed pronunciations from Malayo-Polynesian
tongues, hence the simplified 5-vowel structure, distinct from other Altaic
languages that have lots of vowels & vowel harmony.  It's thought that words
like sakana are a remnant of ancient vowel harmony, though the ancient form
would have had several ways to say a.  There is a theoretical connection
Finno-Ugric and Altaic languages, but for Finnish and Japanese to converge,
one would have to go so far back in time, that they are no more related than
Japanese and Bulgarian, where Bulgarian is the Westernmost branch of Altaic
languages.  Granted, if Bulgaria was a richer country & more people were
learning Bulgarian in Japan, we may hear more romantic notions about connections
between Bulgarian and Japanese.  But Korean, which is a more authentically
Altaic language, would lay better claim to such a romantic connection.

C
between 
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: harkcom@spinach.pa.yokogawa.co.jp (Alton Harkcom)
Subject: Re: Youth hostels
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 09:25:43 GMT
	<w0wsXB8w165w@batpad.lgb.ca.us>
Organization: Yokogawa Electric Corporation, Tokyo, Japan

In article <w0wsXB8w165w@batpad.lgb.ca.us> larryg@batpad.lgb.ca.us
   (Larry Greenfield) writes:

 =}   Youth Hosteling in Japan is cheap(est), and best of all, a LOT of 
 =}fun!

   Youth Hosteling is one of the cheapest forms of sacking out in Japan.
But make sure you get a Japanese Youth Hostel card.  Many (all?) Youth
Hostels don't accept other Youth Hostel cards... (or perhaps this has
changed now...)
Organization: Masters student, Civil Engineering, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1993 21:22:38 -0500 
From: Rikiya Asano <ra01+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: Ultraman (Re: How about a new newsgroup here?)

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!
Then, the original! So, that makes it stooopidd. But, I think overall,
its a good attempt.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: radikkio@sissa.it
Subject: Japanese Writers (a bit late...)
Organization: Intnl School for Adv Studies
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 15:58:33 GMT

	A little bit late (but I was on holiday;-).

	For those asking me about the female writers, I can tell a few 
words concerning them.
	Enchi Fumiko (1905-1986) writes about female conditions in the 
first part of this century (in Japan).
	In the novel "Onnazaka", Mrs. Enchi tells the story of a woman, 
Tomo, married to an important man, who has to suffer the pain of seeing 
other women in her husband's life (and bed ...she has also to choose a
 concubine for him ...). During her whole life Tomom will stifle her own 
feelings and fears, but at the point of her death, she will show him all 
her suffering and contempt. At the end, all the female figures of this 
novel are, in a way or another, wounded by traditions, patriarcal laws (
even unwritten) and everyday misfortunes. For this novel she won the 
literary prize "Noma Bungei" in 1957.
	Hayashi Fumiko (please note I'read only two short novels from 
Hooroki) tells about the common (and poor) people.
	It is difficult to write about their style because I read them 
translated into Italian (fortunately directly from Japanese and not from 
American like sometimes happens). I can say their style is quite similar, 
direct, with no frills, linear but very involving.

	This is all I can say about them.

	There is another female writer, Banana Yoshimoto, but I haven't 
read anything of her. Next week I'll begin to read her last novel (I don't 
think it's been translated in English) "N.P.". It seems to be a strange 
story, so if someone wants to know about it, feel free to contact me.

	Bye,   Riccardo.
From: yoichi@carson.u.washington.edu (Yoichi Ii)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Japanese names & Finnish names
Date: 25 Jan 1993 08:43:35 GMT
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
NNTP-Posting-Host: carson.u.washington.edu

robohen@ocf.berkeley.edu (Henry Robertson) writes:
>I must say, Mari which most likely comes from Maria, Mika which most likely
>comes from Michael, has no correspondence with the Japanese cases which are
>on-yomi of Chinese characters.  It is the Chinese characters' meaning that
>gives rise to the name, not the sounds, which are incidental; Mari is
>something like "True Reason" and Mika, "Beauty more".  [...]

Didn't someone discuss a while back about the origin
of the name Mari?  As I recall, it had something to
do with a famous 19-20th century Japanese author Mori 
Ougai, who had lived in Europe for many years (also
translated some German literature to Japanese).  He 
named one of his daughters Mari (from Mary, I guess).  
Supposedly this became popularized.  This seems somewhat
far fetched, but when you consider the fact that names 
of pop celebrities are popular among some parents, maybe 
it's not. :-)

As for Mari meaning "true reason" or whatever, one can
attach several so-called "ategi" to fit the phonetics.

Weirdest Japanese female name I've heard: Kaoru-ko.
Tame, I suppose.
From: keis@psy.uwa.oz.au (Keis Ohtsuka)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Where's the Beef ... From? (Was: honda: america's choice!)
Date: 25 Jan 1993 05:41:25 GMT
Organization: The University of Western Australia
NNTP-Posting-Host: wapsy.psy.uwa.oz.au

yoichi@carson.u.washington.edu (Yoichi Ii) writes:

>So, is there a difference in taste among Australian, American
>(Kansas,Nebraska,etc), and Canadian beef?  I know Japanese
>beef (wagyuu) is somewhat different.  Washington state is trying
>to raise some wagyuus to sell back to Japan.

I heard that the type of cattle feed and the amount of cattle
exercise influence the overall quality of beef. 

Kobe Wagyu is so tender as they are raised in a small confined
pen. You're eating flabby couch potatoes of cattledom with beer
stomach. I won't be surprised if Kobe Wagyu cannot chew cud
and walk at the same time. It is too fatty and soft for my taste.

Is Wagyu generically different from American/Canadian/Australian
cattle?  It must be a "unique" kind of cattle that can be easily
digested by digestively-challenged people.

I bet Wagyu raised in Washington State will soon become
more like American cousins by eating similar cattle feed, roaming
freely in a spacious ranch, etc. They will refuse to go back to
a rabbit-hatch and demand Olympia Beer instead Kirin or Suntory.
 
Xref: sparky soc.culture.japan:14439 rec.puzzles:8623
From: grabiner@math.harvard.edu (David Grabiner)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan,rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: 3-way decision (was: Re: AKEBONO MAKES YOKOZUNA)
Date: 27 Jan 93 20:49:17 GMT
Article-I.D.: boucher.GRABINER.93Jan27155040
Followup-To: rec.puzzles
Organization: /etc/organization
In-reply-to: hiraga@Csli.Stanford.EDU's message of Wed, 27 Jan 1993 06:43:01 GMT

In article <1993Jan27.064301.14383@Csli.Stanford.EDU>, Yuzuru Hiraga writes:

> The basic idea is that with 3 contestants, A,B,C; the first one who
> wins two in a row becomes the winner.
> Suppose in the first bout A faces B and A wins.
> Then A faces C, and if A wins then A is the champion,
> otherwise C faces B, and so on.

> In the actual sumo, there was some upper limit to the number of bouts,
> but here let's take the theoretical case that the competition goes on
> until the champion is decided.

> The question (for rec.puzzles) is:
> supposing A,B,C have equal probability of winning over each other;
> is this a fair competition?
> Said otherwise, what is the probability of A,B,C winning the championship?

Spoiler...

After matches have been played but before there is a decision, A can be
in three different positions:

1. Having just won a match.
2. Having just lost a match, and thus not playing the next one.
3. Having sat out a match, but now getting another chance.

Let P1, P2, and P3 be the probabilities he will win in these three
situations.

If A is in position 1, he has a 1/2 chance of winning, and a 1/2 chance
of going to 2.  If he is in 2, he has a 1/2 chance of losing (if the
wrestler who beat him wins again), and a 1/2 chance of going to 3.  If
he is in 3, he has a 1/2 chance of losing, and a 1/2 chance of going to
1.

Thus, if A is in position 1, he has a 1/2 chance of winning outright,
and a 1/8 chance that he will get back to position 1 after three more
bouts.  Thus P1=1/2+(P1)/8, which gives P1=4/7.  Likewise, P3 is half of
P1, which is 2/7, and P2 is half of P3, which is 1/7.

Since A's first match is equally likely to get him to 1 or 2, his chance
of winning is (4/7 + 1/7)/2, which is 5/14.  Likewise, B's chance is
5/14, and C's chance is 2/7, since the first match will put him is
position 3.  This isn't quite fair.

To get a fair method, play a full round-robin.  If anyone wins both
of his matches, he is the winner; otherwise, go back and play another
round-robin.

The difference between this procedure and the official procedure is that
C is not placed at a disadvantage if each player wins one of the first
three matches.  In the official procedure, if A beats B, C beats A, and
B beats C, B has the advantage.




--
David Grabiner, grabiner@zariski.harvard.edu
"We are sorry, but the number you have dialed is imaginary."
"Please rotate your phone 90 degrees and try again."
Disclaimer: I speak for no one and no one speaks for me.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: kimura@namiko.ec.kyushu-u.ac.jp (Seiichi Kimura)
Subject: Re: Loong list of Japanese BBSs
Reply-To: kimura@sachiko.ec.kyushu-u.ac.jp
Organization: Educational Center for Information Processing, Kyushu Univ., 
    Fukuoka, Japan
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1993 07:21:38 GMT
X-Bytes: 245

Hello.

Please change the telephone number in the list as below.

      03-???-????   ---> 03-3???-????

Do not forget to add number 3!

And ...
  Mapletown Network        03-5684-4833 (300/1200/2400bps MNP4,3lines)

--
kimura@ec.kyushu-u.ac.jp
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: hiraga@Csli.Stanford.EDU (Yuzuru Hiraga)
Subject: Re: Where's the Beef ... From? (Was: honda: america's choice!)
Organization: Stanford University CSLI
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 23:01:55 GMT

In article <7661@bigbird.hri.com.hri.com> blamb@hri.com (Bill Lambert) writes:
>I can't agree that Kobe, Matsusaka, or Yonezawa beef is tasteless
>at all. The "cheap beef that ain't cheap" in Japan is not very
>good, but the stuff that you pay "obscene" amounts for is often
>very good quality... almost fork tender and very savory.

Agreed, except that I haven't got that much experience as you do
trying the "obscene" ones.   ;-)

The beef that you mentioned have inhibitive prices because tremendous
amount of investment goes into them -- eg. their diet is quite gorgeous,
including a regular dose of beer (no kidding).

>In Sukiyaki or Yakiniku you might not notice so much, but for
>a Filet Mignon or sirloin steak, some of the best you'll find
>is from cattle raised in Japan. My opinion, anyway.

One can notice an even distribution of spots of fat,
resembling a texture of small polka dots (called SHIMOFURI).
This definitely won't please the diet-conscious Americans (et al.)
that more prefer lean meat,
but is considered in Japan as the indicator of highest grade.

-YH
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: cmort@NCoast.ORG (Christopher Morton)
Subject: Re: Speaking of Y. MIshima
Reply-To: cmort@ncoast.org (Christopher Morton)
Organization: North Coast Public Access *NIX, Cleveland, OH
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 02:08:05 GMT
Followup-To: soc.culture.japan

As quoted from <gfN3Yg600Vp808Nkdx@andrew.cmu.edu> by ra01+@andrew.cmu.edu (Rikiya Asano):

> Mr. CMorton Writes: (in responses to me)
> 
> .
> 
> > Do you know that you may have committed the unforgivable sin? By
> 
> >>"Sin"?  What's that...?
> 
> When that fire and brimstone hits yo' Black ass you'll know what sin is
> then.  I bet you that!

You've already threatened to KILL my "Black ass" Zippy.  I'm no more worried 
about your hypothetical "god" than I am about a schizophrenic, learning 
disabled buffoon who would screw sheep if he wasn't impotent.

> >>As an agnostic I consider it irrelevant.  You should consider that
> your utter academic failure in Japan was a message.  I'm sure you won't
> though.
> 
> Really! Another one! What's going on here? Well, since you were in the
> rice patties of Hunguk then maybe I can talk to you more frankly. God is
> not a science. I can imagine how stoooooppidd you look when you say I 'm
> an Agnostic. I'm an Agnostic.  A religion where man's own understanding 
> is  God. No wonder you feel that if the Law doesn't catch you when you
> do wrong there is no consecquence.  There is no such thing. There is a

I don't HAVE a religion Rikiko.  I suppose that if YOU did, you wouldn't be
trying to screw crack addicted sheep.

> singer. And you'll sing ,  Lawd, Lawdy, Lawd, lawd! Plessse git mah
> Black ass out o' dis fire! I ma sorry Lawd! I ma sorry! Plessse git mah
> Black ass  o' dis fire! But,  it'll be too late! So,  you should start
> to re-eamine your ideas about this issue and be kind and considerate to
> others.  
> 
Well, if there was ever any doubt that you were in addition to an impotent, 
illiterate in two languages, academic failure, an imbecilic racist, this
certainly dispels it.

> Well,  I have to go now. But, I be back!

Herpes usually DOES come back.


-- 
------------------------------------------------------------------  
"Read my lips, no new Haitians.  Ack!" - Bill the Prez
------------------------------------------------------------------ 
Christopher Morton