HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: peters@cs.city.ac.uk (Peter Smith)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Troublesome words (was Re: Mythology Gods)
Date: 15 Sep 92 14:57:57 GMT
Organization: City University

In <Sep12.061149.7144@yuma.ACNS.ColoState.EDU> ntetsuya@lamar.ColoState.EDU (Nishimura) writes:
First of all: Japanese/Portuguese. Sakana means fish in Japanese, apparently
in Portuguese it is a mild expletive spelt sacana.

Second: Years ago, I was at London zoo with my then Japanese girlfriend.
Naturally enough, she wanted to see the Pandas, one of which was called
chin-chin . She fell about laughing when she saw that, it must mean something
pretty amusing in Japanese, but she never told me.

Third: Years ago, when I was learning Japanese, a flatmate asked me what the
Britain was in Japanese, Eikoku, I replied, pronouncing it with a barely
discernable "u" at the end. Unfortunately it sounds like - a cock, slang for
the male genital organ. So if any British person asks what the Japanese for
their country is - just say igirisu instead.

Peter Smith
Department of Computer Science
City UNiversity
London
  

>	Besides Yebi** in Russian, I heard that "katsuo (= bonito)" in Japanese
>	is also troublesome in Italian (meaning a "male chicken" in English).

>	Any other example of strange words that share the similar sounds in two
>	langauges, i.e. between Japanese and English or whatever?

>	For example:
>		the name of the actress who was starring in "Flashdance"
>		Jennifer Beals 
>			 ^^^^^in Japanese reading "Bi^rusu" which is also the 
>			      reading of an English word "virus" in Japanese.
>			      (waa bi^rusu datte, byo^ki ni nariso^ :my friend)
> 	
>	I am a half curious and a half careful not to make someone embarassed.
>	(Well, it might be 99% of curiousity??)  :->

>					Tetsuya Nishimura
>					(hope this does not offend anyone)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: d-itasak@nmit.mt.nec.co.jp (Daisaku Itasaka)
Subject: Re: Tokyo to Fukushima
Organization: NEC Microcomputer Technology Ltd., Tokyo, Japan
Distribution: world 
Date: Mon, 7 Sep 1992 01:47:31 GMT

In article <db4S02VE20g101@JUTS.ccc.amdahl.com>
	pfk00@DUTS.ccc.amdahl.com () writes:

>Yo!
>I am travelling to Japan fairly soon.

That sounds nice. So what!

>What I need is idiot proof instructions on how to:
>	a) Get from Narita to downtown Tokyo.

 | trans.|  cost(yen)  |min.|   dest.    | company
---------------------------------------------------------------------
1| train |  2890       | 55 | Tokyo Sta. | JR, NEX(Narita EXpress)
2| train |  1740       | 60 | Ueno Sta.  | Keisei, SkyLiner
3| bus   |  2800       | 75 | Tokyo Sta. | Tokyo Limo
4| cab   | 17000~18000 | 90 | Tokyo Sta. | Tokyo Musen

Traffic jam is one of what Tokyo is famous for. When you get a cab or bus
if you came across the terrible situation, you wouldn't know how many hours
it takes you to get downtown. So you don't wanna do that.

>	b) Get from Narita to Fukushima.

No transportation takes you directly from Narita to Fukushima,
besides you walk for over a couple of days. :-)
The most recommendable way to get there is:

	airport -( bus )-> Oomiya -( Touhoku Shinkansen ) -> Fukushima

Shinkansen is a bullet train, that costs you 8020yen(Oomiya->Fukushima).

>                       c) Any info on travelling in Tokyo
>                          i.e. buses,subway etc.

Subways are good and cheap. 12 lines widespread to every directions
underground of Tokyo will take you anywhere you want to go,
for only a dollar or 2. One-day-free-pass is good either.



So what! :-)

-- 
A wrong guy in a wrong place at wrong time...
						 Daisaku Itasaka
				      d-itasak@nmit.mt.nec.co.jp
				NEC Microcomputer Technology Ltd.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: anonymous
Subject: test
Keywords: test
Organization: anonymous
Distribution: usa
Date: Sat, 5 Sep 1992 18:36:54 GMT

Howdy, just a test.
From: davidg@aegis.or.jp (Dave McLane)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: cause of US participation in WWII
Date: 13 Sep 92 23:45:40 GMT
Organization: Aegis Society, Kyoto Japan

mrc@Tomobiki-Cho.CAC.Washington.EDU (Mark Crispin) writes:

>Dave McLane suffers from a serious case of miscomprehension when he makes the
>statement that `Pearl Harbor was not a minor incident, but was certainly not
>solely responsible for America going to war in the Pacific.'

Perhaps so, but I've got company. In case you missed my quote the
idea was supported by Life magazine in their "Pearl Harbor" article
in the issue of September 24th, 1945. 

>McLane evidentally suffers from the bizarre reasoning that says that in some
>way subsequent US participation in WWII was voluntary.

Sorry, but I didn't say that. I only said that Pearl Harbor wasn't
solely responsible for America going to war in the Pacific. That is, 
there were other factors involved as well.

If you want to put up your own ideas, great, but please respond to
what I actually say. 

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: PAPAI@kcgl1.eng.ohio-state.edu (Jonathan Papai)
Subject: Re: Troublesome words
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Sun, 13 Sep 1992 05:32:10 GMT

From: hiraga@Csli.Stanford.EDU (Yuzuru Hiraga)

>* In the 50/60's, there was this notorious pro-wrestler "Bobo Brazil" (sp?),
>who brings up the "Yebisu" theme for those speaking the Kyuushuu dialect...
>
>-Yuzuru

	Bobo Brazil still fights every once in a while.  He has
fought Dick the Bruiser twice in the past year in our city.  It
was a sad thing to see such ancient warriors beating up
each other.

-Jon
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: pssres12@ucs.usl.edu (Vignes Gerard M)
Subject: Women's Movement in Japan
Organization: Univ. of Southwestern La., Lafayette
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 22:40:13 GMT

	Declining birthrates and marriages delayed
	are only the beginnings of a Womens Movement
	that will radically reorganize Japanese society
	and help further define Japan's role in the world.


-- 

pssres12@ucs.usl.edu	Gerard Vignes, USL PO Box 42709, Lafayette LA 70504 USA

Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: hmano@ilix.cs.uoregon.edu (Hiroko Mano)
Subject: benefits of going to graduate school
Organization: University of Oregon Computer and Information Sciences Dept.
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 92 05:21:26 GMT


I am a Japanese and am currently a senior in Computer Science,
expecting B.S. degree next June. I would like to know whether I would
benefit from going to graduate school or not (by "benefit," I mean
"enhance my marketability in employment when I go back to Japan").


Here are a few stats about me:

* female (!)
* in the early thirties (!!)
* no connections (kone) in the Japanese computer industry (!!!)
* no college degree in Japan 
  (a graduate of junior college in Japan)
* 10 years of work experience 
  (not "OL"-type of job, but unrelated to computers)
* have earned a very good GPA so far (So?)
* I am "theory"-oriented, rather than "practice"-oriented

Any comments will be appreciated. Please send e-mail to:

  hmano@cs.uoregon.edu

Thank you very much.
From: masuda@fcs280b.ncifcrf.gov (Michiaki Masuda)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: US Open (was Re: US Open-door policy (was: An open letter to ...) )
Date: 9 Sep 92 21:08:51 GMT
Organization: Frederick Cancer Research and Development Center


   The subject title made me think of the US Open tennis tournament.

  I know Matsuoka was defeated, but I don't know if there were any other
Japanese players there.

  I also wonder why Japanese tennis players are so, ah, unimpressive.
I don't think there has been any Japanese player who played even a quarterfinal
game in a Grand Slam tournament for the last 10 years or so.
Being Asian may not be a good reason; look at Michael Chang and Patricia Hy.
 
 I wonder why. I just wonder...

Michiaki Masuda
From: robohen@ocf.berkeley.edu (Henry Robertson)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Japanese immigration
Date: 10 Sep 1992 05:24:40 GMT
Organization: U. C. Berkeley Open Computing Facility
NNTP-Posting-Host: headcrash.berkeley.edu

Jeff said:

If you are not Japanese, and you wish to enter to Japan, IT IS YOUR
PRIVLIDE, NOT YOUR RIGHT.

Sure, let's all be nationalists.  After all, during the summer the Pinatubo
erupted, Japanese could care less about hundreds of Philippinos that died,
compared to their dozen sacred subsidy-drenched farmers around Unzen.

When negotiations fail, demands are the only alternative.  As an 
American, which I presume you are, you must be familiar with that notion.
From: N.Ahmad@cs.ucl.ac.uk (Nesar Ahmad)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: email address of M.Mizumoto Osaka.
Date: 10 Sep 92 11:54:27 GMT

Dear fellow netters,

Can any one please let me know the email address
of Dr. MASAHARU MIZUMOTO, Dept of Management Engg,
Osaka Electro-Communication University, Neyagawa, 

I wanted to get in touch with him regarding some
of his papers on fuzzy logic.

Please reply on this email : N.Ahmad@uk.ac.ucl.cs


Nesar Ahmad
Dept of Computer Science,
University College London
From: blamb@rodan.hri.com (Bill Lambert)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: The Northern Islands
Date: 14 Sep 92 21:01:40 GMT
Reply-To: blamb@rodan.hri.com (Bill Lambert)
Organization: Horizon Research

In article <192sfbINNa83@agate.berkeley.edu>, robohen@ocf.berkeley.edu
(Henry Robertson) writes:
=> The northern islands were not anybody's territory, until Ainu came to 
=> inhabit the islands a few thousand years ago.  Since then, southern
=> Japanese civilization, with its northern expansion campaign, fought
=> guerilla wars with the Ainu for several centuries, until during the Tokugawa
=> regime, they assasinated all the leaders of the Ainu confederation during a
=> staged peace treaty.  Thereafter, a systematic program of economic genocide
=> was instituted to wipe out the Ainu through starvation.  By the Meiji era,
=> Ainu were forcibly settled in farms of Hokkaido, away from the traditional
=> fishing activities on the coast.  Only in the Taisho era did Japanese
=> fishermen begin consistently fishing in the Northern waters, amid
=> inhuman working conditions of the day (consult Kanikousen 1928.3.15, written
=> by Kobayashi Takini).  Hence, Japanese legitimacy for claim of the Northern
=> Islands is no more justified than Japanese claim for Hawaii, which was
=> settled sooner by Japanese immigrants.  Japnese American culture has a
=> longer history than Northern territory Japanese community, which is 
=> assimilated to Soviet culture and is divided about returning to Japan
or not.

My god! I did not know this. This means that most of the midwest and
everything west of the Mississippi will have to be returned to Native
American control, as we don't have any legitimate claim to that land,
and anyway we didn't consistently kill the buffalo until the Taisho
Era.

I did not know that. Geeze.
From: pfk00@DUTS.ccc.amdahl.com
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Tokyo to Fukushima
Date: 5 Sep 92 18:13:04 GMT
Reply-To: pfk00@DUTS.ccc.amdahl.com ()
Organization: Amdahl Corporation, Sunnyvale CA

Yo!
I am travelling to Japan fairly soon.  What I need is idiot proof
instructions on how to:
                       a) Get from Narita to downtown Tokyo.
                       b) Get from Narita to Fukushima.
                       c) Any info on travelling in Tokyo

                          i.e. buses,subway etc.
Information on approximate fares etc would also be useful.
                            Thanks and G'luck,
                                                Peat.
From: Manjit_Bedi@mindlink.bc.ca (Manjit Bedi)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: video/tv
Date: 15 Sep 92 02:47:33 GMT
Organization: MIND LINK! - British Columbia, Canada
Distribution: world

You might not have to look to far.  When I was in Osaka, you could rent Twin
Peaks and Start Trek the Next Generation on video everywhere.  Selection is
varied.  There are probably some specailiy store catering to more varied
tastes.

Manjit
--
        Manjit Bedi
                ( Manjit_Bedi@mindlink.bc.ca or manjit@inde.bc.ca )

Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: sakai@csa.bu.edu (Tsutomu Sakai)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: savings accounts
Date: 7 Sep 92 08:24:35 GMT
Organization: Computer Science Department, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA

In article <HARKCOM.92Sep7080051@spinach.pa.yokogawa.co.jp> harkcom@spinach.pa.yokogawa.co.jp (Alton Harkcom) writes:

>   Citibank now has an account that can be accessed in the US in dollars
>and in Japan in yen...  I heard many good things about it from a friend
>(who works at Citibank) but I haven't tried it yet.

     I heard this news a year ago, during summer vacation, and went to
Citibank in Akihabara to open an account.  The bank teller I talked with
said:

     1.  The exchange rate is usually worse than the other means (ie
	transfer, T/C, etc), and there's some amount of commissioning fee
	for each $, regardless of the amount of withdrawal.
     2.  There are not so many Citibank ATM in Boston, and the money in the
	mentioned account is not accessible from non-Citibank ATM.

     For the reason 1, she explained, the account is not recommended for
those who are supposed to stay in the U.S. for a fairly long time and hence
have an account in the U.S.; $/Yen combined account might be best for
people who frequently travel to and stay in the U.S. for a short period of
time.  The information may not be up-to-date, so please correct me if I'm
wrong.

						----- sakai@csa.bu.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: An open letter to the Emperor Akihito of Japa
From: briand@anasaz (Brian Douglass)
Date: 2 Sep 92 05:43:33 GMT
Organization: Anasazi, Inc.  Phoenix, Az

In article <3810@fcs280s.ncifcrf.gov> masuda@fcs280b.ncifcrf.gov (Michiaki Masuda) writes:
>In article <1992Sep1.154906.2273@island.COM> fester@island.COM (Mike Fester) writes:
>>In article <1992Aug31.013550.27483@tamsun.tamu.edu> x0y3510@tamuts.tamu.edu (Xuejun Yang) writes:
>>>In article <1992Aug30.153704.6253@acuson.com> miklg@acuson.com (Michael Goldman ) writes:
>>>>smittie@beach.csulb.edu (Smittie) writes:
>.....
>>>>     If Japan could get terrtorial
>>>>	concessions from China in the 1890s certainly the US could have as well
>>>>	had she wanted them.  That she chose not to could be due to a number
>>>>	of reasons, but military inability seems hard to credit.
>
>>>You forgot the most important factor:logistics. What is the distance between
>>>the US and China and Japan and China. I am sure the U.S. was even
>>>stronger after WWII and what happened to the U.S. in Korea and Vietnam.
>
>>What did distance have to do with it? We did fairly well in Japan and Europe,
>>we got what we set out for in Korea, and recently did rather well in the 
>>middle east.
>
>   Wouldn't it be possible that the success (?) in Korea and the Middle East
>is partly due to the fact that the US was able to use Japan and Saudi Arabia
>as a stepping stone, respectively? IMHO, the distance could be a significant
>factor to decide the military strategy especially in 1890s. 

"He who gets there with the mostest, firstest, usually wins."
		Old military proverb
-- 
"... For I have sworn upon the alter of god, eternal hostility against
every form of tyranny over the mind of man."  Thomas Jefferson
Brian Douglass		briand@anasazi.com 	602-870-3330 X657
From: blamb@rodan.hri.com (Bill Lambert)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: O mi ai
Date: 10 Sep 92 19:30:28 GMT
Reply-To: blamb@rodan.hri.com (Bill Lambert)
Distribution: soc.culture.japan
Organization: Horizon Research

In article <PASCAL.92Sep10184833@ap22.apd.cpg.sony.co.jp>,
pascal@apd.cpg.sony.co.jp (Pascal Goguey) writes:

=>         In that case, the only difference with o mi ai is that
=> Mr Vignes arranges himself the o mi ai with a person fitting his
=> description. Obviously, Mr KANEKAWA does not agree with that kind
=> of practice. Neither do I. But if Mr Vignes and a girl reading this
=> newsgroup do agree, why not ? Would there have had so much comments
=> if he was looking for a pen friend ?

Ok.... I'll bite.

		Wanted

	Attractive Wealthy Japanese female pen pal to provide
	financial support. 

Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: Mark Crispin <mrc@Tomobiki-Cho.CAC.Washington.EDU>
Subject: Re: Question about TV Channel Systems in USA, Brazil, Japan [English] 
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Organization: University of Washington
Mime-Version: 1.0
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 06:37:56 GMT

Truett Smith -

     I don't know where you got your statement:
>Brazil is the only NTSC system in the world
>which uses 25 fps
but you certainly did not get it from the World Radio TV Handbook (and
I just checked mine to be sure).

     Brazil is not an NTSC country; Brazil is a PAL country.  However,
Brazil uses television System M.  A US TV can receive Brazilian
programs, but only in black&white.

     `NTSC', `PAL', and `SECAM' refer to the method of encoding color.
`Television system' refers to the number of lines/frame, number of
frames/second, channel bandwidth, video bandwidth, audio/video
separation, vestigal sideband, video modulation, audio modulation.

     System M is particularly important; it is the 525 line system
used in most of the Americas, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan,
and the Philippines.  With the exception of Japan, *all* System M
countries use the same channel frequency allocations for VHF (Japan
uses the same UHF frequencies, but numbers them 13-62 rather than
14-63).

     Most System M countries use NTSC color; the exceptions that I am
aware of are Brazil (PAL), Kampuchea (SECAM), Laos (PAL), northern
Vietnam (SECAM -- southern Vietnam is NTSC), portions of Thailand
(PAL; Thailand also uses System D).

     Although System M is widely criticized for `poor resolution' and
NTSC is criticized for `unstable color', it is much closer to an
international standard than any of its competitors.  Many of the
criticisms ring rather hollow given the Japanese innovations in
improving NTSC System M in the past 20 years.  The common set of
frequencies used by System M (with Japan standing out as being
incompatible) is a major win.

     Other important systems are System B (usually used with PAL) in
Europe, System D (eastern Europe, usually SECAM; and Red China, PAL),
System I (Ireland, South Africa, PAL), System L (France), and System N
(a few South American countries, generally PAL).  The differences
don't show up on videotape, otherwise it would be impossible to have
`PAL' or `SECAM' videotapes.  Multi-system TV's are common in Europe,
generally between Systems B/D/I/L and PAL/SECAM which are all fairly
similar.  Compatibility between these and System M NTSC is a different
matter....  ;-(
From: mitch@lsil.com (Mitch Sako)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Toto Washolet
Date: 4 Sep 92 20:38:28 GMT
Reply-To: mitch@lsil.com
Organization: LSI Computing Systems

In article 14473@u.washington.edu, yoichi@milton.u.washington.edu (Yoichi Ii) writes:
>In article <1992Sep3.213103.21602@lsil.com> mitch@dc49.dc writes:
>> ... The Japanese quest for hygene and ...
>                   ^^^^^
>I didn't realize it was a "QUEST!, Quest, quest ... (add echo)" :)
>
> Motto: To bowl-edly go where no one has "gone" before ...
>
>>lack of inhibition regarding disgarding human waste is probably
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^c?^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>why they are so popular there and yet virtually unheard of here in the US.
>
>You mean like "tachi-shon"? ... but then it seems contradictory ...

Actually, here in the puritanical US, using the bathroom is somehow
"nasty" or "dirty."  Unisex toilets are unheard of and in most cases
are probably illegal.  The presence of women cleaners in men's toilets
in Japan is commonplace and not embarrassing at all.  Here in the US
it would probably be a crime, at least if it were a man cleaner in a
women's toilet.

For some reason, Americans, especially American women, seem to be
quite modest when it comes to "disposing of one's waste."  Most men,
especially out in the wilderness will simply go whenever nature calls.
Modesty gets thrown out when in the wild.  It's a rare sight to see
a woman squatting somewhere, though.  Most will go far out in the
middle of nowhere to "do their thing" while many men will just go
to the nearest tree or rock, turn their back to the crowd and do it.

Basically, Americans seem to be hung up on these types of things.



---
====================================================================
Mitch Sako	LSI Logic Corporation	OFFICE	408-433-4187
local:		mitch@dcs4
internet:	msako@lsil.com		FAX	408-433-8796
uucp:		lsil!msako
RIME:		->REDBARON, conference=POLITICS
Disclaimer:	Opinions expressed are mine and only mine
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: fester@island.COM (Mike Fester)
Subject: Re: Tofu Sushi ?
Organization: /usr/local/rn/organization
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1992 16:38:32 GMT

In article <1992Sep3.173330.29679@u.washington.edu> yoichi@milton.u.washington.edu (Yoichi Ii) writes:
>me:
>>>Didn't your mom tell you to try everything at least once?
>>>"How would you know you don't like it if you never ... blah blah."
>
>fester@island.COM (Mike Fester) writes:
>>Sorry, Yoichi. As apparantly the only person on the net to have tried the
>>stuff (or, at least, the only one to admit it) Bill has the right idea on
>>this one. 
>
>Big hands to the intrepid Mr. Fester (pachi-pachi) :-).  Now that you've 
>tried, it you can legitimately say to your Mom: "I've tried it and it
>"hurls" big time, Mom".

I wouldn't DARE say that to my Mom; she'd ask me why I was crazy enough to
try it in the first place.

>>Excuse me, now. I feel a bit ill just thinking about the stuff.
>>PS - Someone else posted something about fried grubs. I've eaten them. 
>>Believe me, it's better than tofu-sushi ...
>                  ^^^^^^
>That bad, eh?

Look at it this way; you can find sushi bars all over the US. You can find 
fried grubs all over the world (you might have to look a little, but they're
there). But even in Japan, I know of only one place that serves tofu-sushi.

Mike
-- 
Disclaimer - I'm only doing what the little voices tell me to do.
From: jfriedl@othello.Berkeley.EDU (Jeffrey Friedl)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Japanese immigration
Date: 10 Sep 92 01:05:18 GMT
Reply-To: jfriedl@othello.Berkeley.EDU (Jeffrey Friedl)
Organization: Omron Corporation

keis@psy.uwa.oz.au (Keis Ohtsuka) writes:
|> Yes, any foreign nationals with Japanese alien registration cards
|> can line up for "Japanese" sign. I confess that I made a fairly
|> embarrassing mistake of reminding a caucasian woman standing right
   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|> in front that a sign appeared to say "Japanese." A big mistake.

When standing in the "Japanese Passports Only" line holding my American
passport and someone kindly points out the sign, I take it as an act
if kindness (trying to save me from wasting my time in the wrong line).
If one would start using "ketou" or other such words, that's different...

However, after reading your (Keis') previous reply on the subject,
I can imagine you're not being so kindly (after all, you're stuffed to
the gills with airline food and all -- apparently that makes it OK to
be a jerk, so went your previous reply). Sorry for such sarcasim, but
the ideas expressed in your previous reply were really poor. You sounded
like you've spent too much time in New York.

Addition for Jim Breen:
     4c53 4562 [ketou] /dirty bastard foreigner (used by old people)/

  *jeff*

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Jeffrey Eric Francis Friedl                          jfriedl@omron.co.jp
Omron Electronics, Central R&D Lab, RZE     Nagaokakyo, Kyoto 617, Japan
Fax: 011-81-75-955-2442                        Phone: 011-81-75-951-5111

Currently visiting scientist to the Mach Project, Carnegie Mellon University.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan