HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: burke@tss.com (Jim Burke)
Subject: Re: DOES AMERICA SAY YES TO JAPAN? - Off track!!
Reply-To: burke@tss.com (Jim Burke)
Organization: Teknekron Software Systems. Inc.
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 17:39:18 GMT

In article <gmkyVB3w165w@student.business.uwo.ca>, k3amichi@student.business.uwo.ca (Kentaro Nakamichi) writes:

|> Although it's possible to see Japan as Japan, Inc., plotting to destroy 
|> the US, when one looks at the situation from a micro-level, US 
|> manufacturers could have done a lot to keep up with the Japanese.  

Okay, let's consider a micro-level classic situation.  Many of you already
know about the catalytic converter issue, but I'll relate it for those of
you who don't know about it.

The U.S. government decided that it was necessary to reduce auto emissions
so it passed laws forcing car makers to reduce emissions.  The only way
to reduce them sufficiently was to invent the catalytic converter.  This,
combined with "de-tuning" the cars, was just able to reduce emissions to
within the legal requirement.  However, did the government allow the car
makers to collaborate on the development of this socially-mandated
technology?  A technology that would benefit our entier society, and which
would offer no particular automaker any competitive advantage over the
others?  No.  The government said that allowing auto makers to co-operate
would violate anti-trust laws.  So, each auto maker had to do the basic
research independently, spending about $1billion each.  What a waste.
Would Japan ever force Japanese companies into such a situation?  Hardly.
Did each Japanese auto maker have to independently develop similar technology?
Hardly.  Japanese companies combined forces to not only invent the 
technology, but to figure out how to salvage performance and efficiency
in the process - something that hurt our auto industry very badly since
the American cars ran poorly (remember driving 1975 - 1984 models?).

This is not Japan bashing.  It is U.S. government policy bashing.  There
are many ways our government could help our industries to compete without
creating abusive monopolies.  Did anyone here benefit from the AT&T
break-up?  How much farther along might we be in high-tech digital communications
if one company was running the show?  How much cheaper might our phone bills
be?  


-- 
***********************************************************************
 Jim Burke	"Life is uncertain - eat dessert first!"
 Teknekron Software Systems		... burke@tss.com
 phone:(415) 617-2432			... uunet!tekbspa!burke
From: worth@mic.ucla.edu (Don Worth)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: DOES AMERICA SAY YES TO JAPAN?
Date: 14 Dec 92 17:43:07 GMT
Followup-To: soc.culture.japan,soc.culture.asian.america,soc.culture.usa,misc.education
Organization: UCLA - MSO

In article <Bz95KB.1qw@news.cso.uiuc.edu>, irvine@uxh.cso.uiuc.edu (Brent
Irvine) wrote:
> In case no one has tuned you into American History and Culture, this net
> is not representative of culture:  Americans have NEVER enjoyed education,
> and have been as a whole, less educated than the foreign immigrants who
> tend to become professors and such.  Do not confuse this non-scholastic
> nature with laziness, it is a common mistake among those not willing or
> intellectually unable to examine the 'problems.'  Time and time again it
> has been shown that education does not equate with success in buisiness,
> for one instance, Bill Gates, dropped out of College after 1 semester and
> founded Microsoft.  He is, by all definitions successful, worth $1billion
> by 30, yet quit school.  The superficial analysis would pin him as lazy
> (how can he quit school?  How lazy!), but he built one of the most powerful
> Software companies in the world!  One would be tempted to say he was an 
> exception, until you look at all the enterpeneurs and CEOs of buisinesses,
> and there seems to be a common thread:  they all did poorly in school, and
> most enterpeneurs didn't graduate from college.  
> 
> You are totally incorrect in stating that American students are lazy, they
> aren't at all.  The education system, however, does have problems, for
> one, teachers are low-paid.  This is a real problem, as many highly qualified
> potential teachers choose not to teach because there is more $$ elsewhere.
> Second, there is a HUGE disparity between districts in a city:  A city
> school has half the tax base of a county school to work with (or less!), 
> anyone who dismisses this as a 'problem' is stupid or lazy.  Also, in
> many families, parents do not help instill good study habits in their
> children, who, in their formative years, should develop better study
> habits.  
> 
I agree with your first paragraph but I think the solution is not in fixing
the current system but in devising a new one. Obviously, students like Bill
Gates are not motivated to learn within the existing system because they
see no relevancy in what they are learning. Unless the motivation to learn
something comes from the student, rather than force-feeding him/her,
nothing's going to stick with them. The only way that can happen is for the
student to have a hand in designing his/her own course of study.
Personally, the things I remember best were the things I had a use for at
the time I was learning them. It's my opinion that the current system
doesn't recognize or encourage a child's native curiosity by forcing
him/her to learn what it has prepared when it is ready to present it.

Don D. Worth
UCLA Microcomputer Support Office
worth@mic.ucla.edu
From: jcliu@four-lab4.Berkeley.EDU (James C. Liu)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: strange beverages
Date: 11 Dec 1992 22:12:48 GMT
Organization: UC Berkeley Dept. of Nuclear Engineering
NNTP-Posting-Host: four-lab4.berkeley.edu

In article <1992Dec11.203759.6805@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> PAPAI@kcgl1.
eng.ohio-state.edu (Jonathan Papai) writes:

>...............................................................
>from: f67700241@violet.ccit.arizona.edu (Greg Franklin)
>Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
>>
>> |>	That's why I drink Midori!  Midori, for this who don't know is a
>> |>very tasty melon liqueur (sp?), in an astounding nuclear bright-GREEN color

Just to clarify, Cerenkov (spelling?) radiation due to streaming of
relativistic electrons from radioactive decay in water radiates in the 
BLUE spectrum.  Perhaps the addition of alcohol changes the frequency of
emission. :-)

Jaa, James
=======================================================================
James C. Liu |    nuclear engineering KARAOKE Addict!                 |
=======================================================================
From: ken@moncol.monmouth.edu (KEN GUILFOYLE)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Top 10 Excuses by the TSU band for Shoplifting in Akihabara.
Summary: well
Date: 17 Dec 92 21:10:44 GMT

In article <1992Dec16.022506.1225@leland.Stanford.EDU>, underdog@leland.Stanford.EDU (Dwight Joe) writes:
> In article <hit.724465319@sol> hit@sol.acs.unt.edu (Hisaharu Tanabe) writes:
> >How can they think of more than two or three excuses?
> >You know, Texas is ranked "47th" in 50 states for the educational 
> >standard(seriously), and TSU is....., well, where in the hell is TSU?
> 
> TSU is "Texas Southern University".  It's student population is
> predominantly African-American--close to 100%.
                ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  SO what are you trying to say?
   


> 
> Among educational institutions, it is ranked close to last in academics.
> On the other hand, it is also one of the poorest universities in the USA.
                                           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
                                       So, finish your argument so
                                       we can all flame your racist
                                       ass!

 


Xref: sparky soc.culture.japan:12228 alt.sex:39421 soc.culture.usa:9143 soc.culture.african.american:12809 sci.electronics:20576 misc.consumers:20540 misc.education:5174 misc.entrepreneurs:3579
From: J105270@LMSC5.IS.LMSC.LOCKHEED.COM
Subject: High School in Japan
Organization: Lockheed Missiles & Space Company, Inc.
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 92 16:58:47 GMT

Instead of e-mailing, pls consider a post or two explaining why not impressed.
Comparison of subject matter? Subject proficiency?

Probably more than a few of us are interested.

MJG
------------------------- Original Article -------------------------
Subject: Re: D O E S A M E R I C A S A Y Y E S T O J A P A N ?

     I attended a Japanese high school for a year.  I wasn't impressed.

     Drop me some e-mail if you'd like to talk.

     -- Chris
        chawley@andy.bgsu.edu
From: tylerh@cco.caltech.edu (Tyler R. Holcomb)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: DOES AMERICA SAY YES TO JAPAN?
Date: 13 Dec 1992 22:46:29 GMT
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
NNTP-Posting-Host: punisher.caltech.edu

irvine@uxh.cso.uiuc.edu (Brent Irvine) writes:

>>I would think that "America is not going anywhere" is a apt description
>>of the problem at hand.  If we aren't moving forward, we're falling behind.

> I think this cultural angst is due to
>the Puritan/Calvinist culture of the original European settlers (Puritans),
>and their pessimistic predestination.)

 I agree with Brent on this point.  A major turning point in my view
of America was the reading of Cotton Mather's  _grandfather_'s sermons.
In this, we have documented that the leading lights of the day thought
AMerica was on the fast track tothe dustbin in 1635!

To me, what has made America is that national ideology stresses that
it is up to the individual to do someting about 
(how many times have you hear "if you're not part of the solution,
you're part of the problem," or some similar aphorism?).

To my (inexperienced and ill-informed) view, the Japanese strength
is putting the communal good ahead of the individual ("the nail that
sticks out is hit by the hammer"), while the American strength is
individualism ("Don't be a square peg in a round hole").  Neither
is 'better;'  both have their benfits.

Which brings me back to my point - for American (and American education)
Americans do not need to be more like the Japanese - Americans  need to be more
"american," heed Cotton Mather's exhortation to work hard, and each
try to do our own *individual* part to improve things a little.

As the Scots say, "many mickles make a muckle."

-- 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tyler Holcomb   *   "Remember, one treats others with courtesy and repsect *
tylerh@juliet   *   not because they are gentlemen or gentlewomen, but     *
  caltech.edu   *   because you are."  - paraphrased from Garth Henrichs   *
Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 19:41:07 -0500 
From: Rikiya Asano <ra01+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: Good-bye IBM
	<hit.724466439@sol>

Good-bye IBM,
                      
                                         You will join the great ones
Pam Am,  U. S. Steel, Saks  Fifth Ave., ect.,  ect., and ect. but don't
us{Asians} for your death! Blame Reaganomical!  Soon it will be
Westinghouse,  GM, Alcoa, Pittsburgh Plate and Glass . No wait- Alcoa is
doing something in Kobe and PPG in building a plant in China. So, they
are the smart ones.

Even through I think that the IBM computer is a piece of trash!
(altough, I like Hewlett Packard and Mac's I dedicate this song to you:


   Good-bye the yellow brickroad
    on the top of...........(Sorry, you don't mind if I skip do you)
     you can't stop being my....... back to the..........
    on perticular beyond the yellowbrink road...

Well that wasn't a good one. May be this one:

Tie a yellow ribbon round that old oak tree.....
if you still want me. If  I don't see a yellow ribbon round that old oak tree
I'll stay on the bus forget about us and put the blame on me. 
If on don't see a yellow ribbon round that old oak tree.

That wan't a good one either. How about this one: 

Yellow haze inside my mind,
'Cuse me while I kiss the sky!
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: "joe kuroda" <joe.kuroda@canrem.com>
Subject: sumo
Reply-To: "joe kuroda" <joe.kuroda@canrem.com>
Organization: Canada Remote Systems
Distribution: soc
Date: 11 Dec 92 23:53:13 EST

<< On 12-11-92 20:12, Hisaharu Tanabe wrote :>>
 
HTIt was reported on Asahi Shinbun, one of three major papers in Japan, that
  American Wrestling Association, an almost-non-existing wrestling organization
  owned by a former wrestler Verne Gagne, will form the American Sumo Association
  with using NFL players as sumo wrestlers. Of course they won't wear the

Hi Hisaharu (the same HT who frequents FANS on CI$ ??).

Can anyone start up a sumo association ?  Isn't there some type of 
copywrite on *SUMO* ?  

I can't believe this guy is serious - at least that whole ritual 
before those matches probably will be completely incomprehensible to 
non-Japanese and I can't possible think any ex-NFLers will be able to 
do it right anyway.  
 
But then I may not mind seeing Earthquake and Yokozuna do a sumo match 
in WWF...
 
from : joe.kuroda@canrem.com      

               Joe

 * 1st 1.01 #930 * 1stReader: On the cutting edge of software evolution.
--
Canada Remote Systems  - Toronto, Ontario
World's Largest PCBOARD System - 416-629-7000/629-7044
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan,soc.culture.asian.america,alt.sex,soc.culture.usa,soc.culture.african.american,sci.electronics,misc.consumers,misc.education,misc.entrepreneurs
From: irvine@uxh.cso.uiuc.edu (Brent Irvine)
Subject: Re: DOES AMERICA SAY YES TO JAPAN? - Off track!!
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Distribution: na
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 23:20:11 GMT

In article <1992Dec18.201909.18344@pegasus.com> tleylan@pegasus.com (Tom Leylan) writes:
>irvine@uxh.cso.uiuc.edu (Brent Irvine) writes:
>
>>[Note I am not BLAMING Japan for manufacturing desirable goods, just the
>>practices that the economic policies encourage are not in the best interests
>>of Japanese Economic health nor are they in her trading partners]
>
>Brent: Surely the powers that control Japanese economics should hear about
>what you've figured out.  Failure to show them your charts and graphs and
>keen insight into their long-term economic "best-interests" would border
>on criminal... I mean you might save hundreds of thousands of lives and
>the world would be a better place.

Nice sarcasm tom [BTW- can i count on you to reply to my every post?], pick
up a Macroeconomics book, and look under Trade.  That's where I got it.

>
>You're probably aware (since you know so much) that some Japanese companies
>have 200 and 400 year business plans.  Not 5 year plans, not 20 year plans
>so if your graph doesn't extend out that far you had better rethink it.

Thats kinda cool.  A 200 year plan!  I wonder how often it changes [probably
monthly].  


-- 
+-------------------------+--------------------------------+-----------------+
| Brent L. Irvine         | For a mere $50 these personal  | I will be gone: |
| irvine@uxh.cso.uiuc.edu | opinions can also be yours!    | 20 Dec - 4 Jan  |
+-------------------------+--------------------------------+-----------------+
From: 92siddiqui@gw.wmich.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Information about Toshiba Carporation needed
Date: 20 Dec 92 01:56:08 EST
Organization: Western Michigan University

Hello friends,

Can someone kindly send me the e-mail address of

Toshiba Carporation
1, Komukai Toshiba-cho
Saiwai-ku
Kawasaki 210 Japan.

Address can be of any person who can provide me some information 
about the company.

I will be very thankful to you.

With best wishes for happy new year,
                                   Zafer.

E-MAIL ADDRESS: 92siddiqui@wmich.edu
From: hseung@anat3d1.anatomy.upenn.edu (Hyunsuk Seung)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: RIKIYA ASANO
Date: 13 Dec 92 21:27:37 GMT
Organization: University of Pennsylvania

ra01+@andrew.cmu.edu (Rikiya Asano) writes:
> Mr. Seung,
> 
> I remember you! I'm so happy to here from you! 

Thank you Rikiya.  If you don't mind my asking, have we met?

> I don't worry about these
> people too much. Most of them see the world through pyschodelic
> glass(you know those glass from the 70's "facet glass" where you can see
> a hundred 0f the same things at one time. 

I am tempted to agree with you.  

> Well, anyway, I learned about
> a new University in Ko-ryu it is YOUSEI University. Do you know about
> ]this school?

You are a psychic!  My younger brother goes to Yonsei University right
now.  You can be a good palm reader, but let's not get into those
things.  I would rather not know about my future, but work towards in
shaping the unknown.

Hyunsuk Seung
hseung@anat3d1.anatomy.upenn.edu
Xref: sparky soc.culture.japan:12532 soc.culture.usa:9263 sci.electronics:20982 misc.consumers:20825
From: yoichi@carson.u.washington.edu (Yoichi Ii)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan,soc.culture.usa,sci.electronics,misc.consumers
Subject: Re: DOES AMERICA SAY YES TO JAPAN? - Off track!!
Date: 17 Dec 92 19:04:53 GMT
Article-I.D.: u.1992Dec17.190453.4180
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle

In article <BzExLy.7IH@news.cso.uiuc.edu> irvine@uxh.cso.uiuc.edu (Brent Irvine) writes:
>In article <23078@venera.isi.edu> jlacoss@paddington.isi.edu (Jeff LaCoss) writes:
>> Americans probably buy most Japanese products because there no longer
>>is any choice. TV? VCR? CD? STEREO? Are there any of these made in the
>>US?  No.
>
>RCA TVs 19" and larger are designed and made in the US.

What about products made in other countries?

>>>in the US have to spend less to buy the same thing, or they can spend
>>>the same and get better quality.  This means that consumers in the US
>
>Ah, but now that a virtual monopoly exists in Consumer electronics for
>Japanese firms, watch how those prices creep up slightly ahead of
>inflation [or a favorite Japanese tactic, introduce new designs -
>add a feature and do a different button layout - and double the price]
>{this tactic is used in Japan to hide the inflation there}

Again, what about a country like South Korea?  I have Samsung TV; it's
been working just fine.
Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan,talk.politics.guns
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 02:11:33 -0500 
From: Rikiya Asano <ra01+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: Rubbish!
	<1992Dec13.231623.21162@mtu.edu>
Distribution: usa

Mr Scripter writes:

> 
>If you are from Japan, then you know what your duty is; You are an
>embarrasment to yourself, your family, and your country.  If necessary,
>there are several people on the network that are skilled with a Katana,
>and can assist you in seppuku.  Try posting a request on rec.martial-arts
>for an assistant.

I could never embarass my family from the likes of you!
Xref: sparky soc.culture.japan:12260 talk.politics.guns:25141
From: ra01+@andrew.cmu.edu (Rikiya Asano)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan,talk.politics.guns
Subject: Re: Yoshi Hattori
Date: 12 Dec 92 17:54:41 GMT
Article-I.D.: andrew.Ef_fE1i00iV144SjxH
	<Bz2IyM.4x3@NCoast.ORG>
Distribution: usa
Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA

Mr morton writes:

>Does anybody know if it's legal for this slug to collect foodstamps?  Could he
>be deported as the parasite he truly is...? :)

Yes, it is legal for me to collect food stamps. I never said I collected
them. Actually, An old lady asked me to go to the store for her. Why
don't you come to CMU and try to take me back yourself. Put your heart
where your mouth is! You've 
walked though Ko-ryuan rice patties, right. You killed  N. Koreans for
the foundamental theories  of the whiteman. Didn't you learn anything
from Mohommad Ali motherf*cker! Don't fuck with me man! You should
chill, dude! You should ask
somebody who your fuckin' with! Why don't you come and do a personal
"deportation"! I'll send you back to OHIO in a bodybag! Now, you
misunderstood me in alot of s things that I said. But, let me say this,
KEEP F**KIN' ME!
From: yoichi@carson.u.washington.edu (Yoichi Ii)
Subject: Re: Emiko Omagura (missing bride) found safely in Sydney
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1992 16:38:02 GMT

mikef@dph1.health.su.oz.au writes:
>As it eventuated last night, Ms Omagura was found by Police in a holiday
>unit, where she had been secretly hiding. It was reported in the local
>press that she and a work colleague had booked the unit in Japan, and 
>that the estrangement had been planned prior to the couple's arrival in
>Australia. At a press conference last night, Ms Omagura apologised for
>the trouble caused and said that her action was prompted by "doubts"
>about her marriage.
>
>My friend's hunch was correct! I can only presume that Japanese brides
>have resorted to this kind of overseas estrangement on other occaisons.
>Has it happened in other countries? Anyway, I'm just glad she was found
>safely.

I've heard of Narita Syndrome (or something close to that) wherein
a couple promptly gets divorced as they return from their honeymoon
overseas (Narita is an international airport near Tokyo), but this
is getting ridiculous!  Hey, let's get divorced while *on* honeymoon;
no point waiting till you return to Japan!  No, wait! Get started
*before* you go!  :-(

# "Try our new virtual, simulated marriage, and save money spent on 
  unnecessary marriage ceremony and honeymoon." (C)
						-- Tamahige Den --








Xref: sparky soc.culture.japan:12269 soc.culture.usa:9163 misc.entrepreneurs:3590
From: mike@pacsoft.com (Mike Stefanik)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan,soc.culture.usa,misc.entrepreneurs
Subject: Re: D O E S   A M E R I C A   S A Y   Y E S   T O   J A P A N ?
Date: 12 Dec 92 20:53:55 GMT
Followup-To: soc.culture.japan
Organization: Pacific Software Group, Riverside, CA

In an article, irvine@uxh.cso.uiuc.edu (Brent Irvine) writes:
>[...] It is too bad that our lifespans aren't longer (to see 5 or so
>'bogeyman nations' rise and fall) so we learn that while we have problems,
>America is not going anywhere, not in the gutter or otherwise!

I would think that "America is not going anywhere" is a apt description
of the problem at hand.  If we aren't moving forward, we're falling behind.

-- 
Mike Stefanik  mike@pacsoft.com  ...!uunet!pacsoft!mike  (909) 681-2623
Pacific Software Group, Riverside, CA
From: davidg@aegis.or.jp (Dave McLane)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Telephones in Japan
Date: 20 Dec 92 23:42:35 GMT

lpoza@sfsuvax1.sfsu.edu (Luis Poza) writes:

> > What does it cost to get a phone installed in Japan?

>I believe it's around Y70,000 to Y80,000; much of this is the deposit,
>and you can either sell it back to NTT or you can sell it to someone
>else, transferring ownership.

I've never heard of anybody selling a line back to NTT but the going
rate for transferred ownership is about 60,000 to 65,000 yen (there
are often ads in the English papers). However, to effect the
transfer you have to go down to an NTT office with the other person
and this can be a hassle unless they live close by.... 

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