HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: hiraga@Csli.Stanford.EDU (Yuzuru Hiraga)
Subject: Re: What's REALLY wrong with you guys.
Organization: Stanford University CSLI
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 13:11:28 GMT

In article <2412@usna.NAVY.MIL> wdw@math2.sma.usna.navy.MIL (Wm. Douglas Withers) writes:
>I've watched Japanese weddings, both real and fictional, on video several
>times.  I've never been to one in person (I remind myself of this fact
>whenever I'm tempted to believe I have nothing to be thankful for).  No
>matter how many times I see it, the shock never wears off.  What a parade
>of speakers! Every third cousin and every former roommate has to make a speech
>congratulating the happy couple.  Meanwhile a roomful of wedding guests
>sits stiffly with eyes glazed over as their beers slowly flatten.

Weddings aren't that bad -- actually, they're quite fun.
That is, if you're not obliged to do something like giving a speech,
or not the father of the bride :-)

The normal procedure is that first, the NAKOUDO (matchmaker? mediator?)
introduces the couple, followed by speeches by the main guest of
each side.  Rigid formality ends at this point (lapse 20-30 min.).
Then a toast is given, and the dishes get brought in.
After that, you're free to eat/drink and talk with your company.
The speeches may go on endlessly, but not everyone pays much attention.

In my experience, the main guests are generally experienced good speakers,
and their speech are enjoyable (of course, this is not always the case --
there are the types that go on and on advertising their company).
And the food is good, if not superb, with unlimited supply of drinks
(places like the Imperial Hotel give you as many servings of roast beef
as you want!).  At the end, you receive souvenirs with some fancy stuff
and chunks of cake and cookies.

Of course, this requires some "investment"; either given as a gift
or by money.  But IMHO you get back more than you give.
This can be attested by the fact that weddings never pay --
the expenditure always exceeds the income.  This is in contrast with
funerals, where you can always make a "profit" (the expenses are far
less than the condolence money).  I've been through several of both,
including my own (wedding, that is).

And weddings are a good occasion to meet old friends, as well as
some unexpected celebrities.  Singles find it a good chance to
meet a mate -- it's also an opportunity resembling a blind date.
I know of several couples that came to know each other that way.

The most dreadful of the speakers are ALWAYS the friends of the bride,
who think it cute to disclose some mishaps in the past, give compliments
that makes you wriggle, or sing a song (fixed repertory) in a, err...
quite avant-garde manner.

What I really miss is the TAMAHIMEDEN-type weddings which I've never
been to before -- where the couple is showed-up with dry-ice smoke,
coming down from a suspended gondola, with all the fancy candle-services...

-YH
From: masuda@fcs280b.ncifcrf.gov (Michiaki Masuda)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: More on "gaijin" (was Re: Please give your opinions...)
Date: 22 Nov 92 22:59:56 GMT
Organization: Frederick Cancer Research and Development Center

In article <By3pCn.8IH@world.std.com> rhb@world.std.com (Robert H Brueckner) writes:

>There's another word for this that has nothing to do with language, but a
>lot to do with imagination. It's called "paranoia." I sometimes think it
>must be the national disease of Japan. 

    From our "paranoid" point of view, many gaijin who are offended by the
word "gaijin" or "hakujin" by itself seem to be very much of paranoia.

--Michiaki
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: rhb@world.std.com (Robert H Brueckner)
Subject: Re: More on "gaijin" (was Re: Please give your opinions...)
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1992 04:48:22 GMT

lindaa@sooth.Berkeley.EDU (Linda Absher) writes:

>In article <7456@bigbird.hri.com.hri.com> blamb@hri.com (Bill Lambert) writes:
>>In article <BxtuDJ.Jt3@ncifcrf.gov>, masuda@fcs280b.ncifcrf.gov
>>(Michiaki Masuda) writes:
>>
>>=> .................................................  Japanese culture
>>=> requires the receiver of the information to be highly imaginative, and
>>=> the American culture requires the sender of the information to be
>>=> highly specific.
>>
>>This is cool. This explains why, when American says something specific,
>>Japanese imagine that they meant something else, and when Japanese
>>say something vague, Americans assume they said something specific.
>>

>As someone raised by a Japanese women, the result of such differences
>In language approach has resulted in the fact that I'm great
>at reading meanings (true or false) into what most people say.  Many
>of my friends chide me for being wishy-washy, but I break into a
>Cold sweat if I have to state unequivocately what I think.  Needless to
>say, I find working in the corporate world confusing.

There's another word for this that has nothing to do with language, but a
lot to do with imagination. It's called "paranoia." I sometimes think it
must be the national disease of Japan. 
-- 
===============================================================================
  "The truth is cruel, but it can be loved, and it makes free those who have
  loved it." -- George Santayana                 Reply to: rhb@world.std.com
===============================================================================
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: jonathan@psych.psy.uq.oz.au (Jonathan Dwyer)
Subject: Re: More on "gaijin" (was Re: Please give your opinions...)
Followup-To: soc.culture.japan
Organization: Psychology Department, University of Queensland
Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1992 01:59:11 GMT

In article <By3pCn.8IH@world.std.com>, rhb@world.std.com (Robert H Brueckner) writes:
|> 
|> lindaa@sooth.Berkeley.EDU (Linda Absher) writes:
|> >................. I break into a
|> >Cold sweat if I have to state unequivocately what I think.  Needless to
|> >say, I find working in the corporate world confusing.
|> 
|> There's another word for this that has nothing to do with language, but a
|> lot to do with imagination. It's called "paranoia." I sometimes think it
|> must be the national disease of Japan. 

We don't have paranoia about US society because we have grown up in the
western style.  Why not cut some slack to people who are not as well versed
as we are in the intricacies of western ideas and communication?

Jon.
 
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: smittie@csulb.edu (Smittie)
Subject: Re: Fingerprinting Gaikokujin
Organization: Cal State Long Beach
	<1992Nov22.232505.6399@news.acns.nwu.edu>
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 19:58:06 GMT

>It is not the equalness under the law I am argueing about.  But,
>the right/wrongness of the rule itself.  I suppose you will be
>blindly willing to abide by all the rules that America is willing to
>make into law.

My own cursory search indicates that the majority of industrialized nations
require that non-citizen residents provide at least one finger print. If I
remember my wife's processing correctly she was required to give a print of all
ten fingers. In light of this it seems to me that we cannot single out Japan.
If finger printing is wrong that we should/must put the pressure on ALL
countries to abolish the practice.
----------------------------------
In a conversation with my Brother-in-laws girlfriend, she stated that JBK
(Japan Born Korean) are not protesting Japanese immigration laws but rather the
fact that those laws are applied to them. When America freed the slaves we also
allowed them citizenship (well, sort of, it was a rather long and drawn out
process).  JBK are asking for the same thing which seems completely reasonable
to me.

smittie
-- 
                             Tada mono de ha nai
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
GEnie, MCI, AOL:Smittie   All of these accounts except MCI will die on or
smittie@beach.csulb.edu   about Dec 31. UNIX will be forwarded for 2 weeks.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: underdog@leland.Stanford.EDU (Dwight Joe)
Subject: Re: Fingerprinting Gaijin
Organization: Miners for a Heart of Gold
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 92 06:03:08 GMT

In article <Bxw8Ip.8zr@world.std.com> cmr@world.std.com (Charles M Richmond)
writes:
>	TOKYO (UPI) -- Japan's Supreme Court on Monday upheld the government's
>authority to fingerprint alien residents of Japan in a case that has
>kept an American woman living in the nation from traveling abroad for
>10n years.
>	The court rejected the appeal of Kathleen Morikawa, 42, a columnist
>who had demanded the justice ministry's decision denying her a re-entry
>permit because she refused to allow the fingerprinting be declared null
>and void. ...

Excellent.

I won't comment on the morality of finger printing, but I wish to point
out the following.  The Japanese gov't has been, in general, fairly unbiased
in its treatment of foreigners, regardless of ethnicity.

(Note that Kathleen Morikawa is a Japanese by ethnicity but is an
American citizen.  I applaud UPI for referring to her as an American.)

Most Koreans have made a huge issue out of fingerprinting and
citizenship.  For years (and very loudly) they have complained and whined
about how the Japanese gov't is discriminating against them specifically.
That was and continues to be a lie.  Koreans who do not have Japanese
citizenship are treated in just the same way that other foreigners have
been treated.

In particular regard to citizenship, most Koreans do not want citizenship
but do want the rights that are associated with it.  The Koreans have never
once presented a case of a specific person who was denied citizenship by
the Japanese gov't and who (1) wanted citizenship and (2) met the terms of
citizenship.

The Koreans have to meet the same requirements for citizenship and residency
that all the other foreigners must meet.  It's too bad that they can
not bear to pledge allegiance to Japan and not Korea.  (Even in the USA,
a person with permanent residency cannot vote for political candidates,
regardless of the whining.)

By contrast, Korean immigration laws explicitly favor ethnic Koreans,
regardless of nationality.  They explicitly favor a Korean-American over either
a Japanese-American or a Taiwanese-America.  It's much easier for a
Korean-Japanese to become a Korean citizen than for a Taiwanese-Japanese.

------------------------------------------------------------------+------------
Jinsei no imi wa nan desu ka.                Sister, can you      |   \|  |`
Shitte itara oshiete kuremasen ka.           spare a coin?        |    | -+-
                                                                  |   /| / \
Copyright 1992.  Disclaimer:  1 + 1 = 3                           |
------------------------------------------------------------------+------------
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: robohen@ocf.berkeley.edu (Henry Robertson)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Fusion (was RE:  Plutonium)
Date: 19 Nov 1992 23:22:47 GMT
Organization: U. C. Berkeley Open Computing Facility
NNTP-Posting-Host: headcrash.berkeley.edu
Keywords: cold fusion?

The current notion with cold fusion is that OK, you can't get  a sustained
chain reaction merely by attracting deuterium atoms inside palladium 
electrodes.  However, when trillions of closely packed D atoms are there,
some of them will fuse to form Helium-4 and other heavier elements.  Some
researchers claim to have created crystals of matter made out of the
first twenty elements this way....some fellow in Hokkaido University....
the difficulty of calorimetric measurements is you never know if the heat
released is due to a nuclear reaction or a chemical reaction, as in 
the deuterium simply igniting.     

There is some research being done on "warm" fusion, seeking for small-scale
reactions without the hellish temperatures of hot fusion.  This may help
explain why the Earth's core radiates so much heat, which is unaccountable
by conventional theories of hot fusion, radioactive decay, and heat transfer.
By the established thoery of radioactive decay, to have so much volcanic activity
the Earth would have to be an extremely radioactive place.  It has been noted
that some fissures & hot springs & volcanoes emit high amounts of helium-3
& other products obtainable from cold fusion reactions, as opposed to
radioactive decay.  There are probably many different kinds of fusion reactions
possible in diferent conditions between the elements, so the inside of the
Earth may be one giant cold/hot fusion vat.

It's one of those sidestreams of science that borders between acceptance and
gimmick, like ether research, spontaneous combustion, U-waves, bizzare
sea creatures (like giant octopus), lightning storms that shoot multicolored
spherical plasma at people on sunny days.  They've all been observed by reliable
sources, they're just too difficult to reproduce, impeding acceptance by
mainstream scientology.  In Los Alamos, abandoned atomic submarine batteries
were making plasma emissions some time back in the '50s, inspiring local
ghost/red scares.  Avalanches sometimes do the same thing also, suddenly
zapping nearby people out of thin air.  The simple phenomenon of static
electricity is still poorly understood.  
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: underdog@leland.Stanford.EDU (Dwight Joe)
Subject: Re: Fingerprinting Gaijin
Organization: Miners for a Heart of Gold
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 92 21:03:06 GMT

In article <SMITTIE.92Nov17222658@beach.csulb.edu> smittie@csulb.edu
(Smittie) writes:
>>(Note that Kathleen Morikawa is a Japanese by ethnicity but is an
>>American citizen.  I applaud UPI for referring to her as an American.)
>Pretty big assumption on your part, mate. It may well be Mrs. Morikawa and not
>Miss Morikawa.

Good point.

I apologize if I've overstepped on this one.

------------------------------------------------------------------+------------
Jinsei no imi wa nan desu ka.                Sister, can you      |   \|  |`
Shitte itara oshiete kuremasen ka.           spare a coin?        |    | -+-
                                                                  |   /| / \
Copyright 1992.  Disclaimer:  1 + 1 = 3                           |
------------------------------------------------------------------+------------
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: sakimura@sscl.uwo.ca
Subject: Re: _o_
Organization: Social Science Computing Laboratory
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 00:44:03 GMT

In article <1992Nov17.233255.6092@u.washington.edu>, yoichi@carson.u.washington.edu (Yoichi Ii) writes:
> ee152fdm@sdcc15.ucsd.edu (Maiko Covington) writes:
>>;_; (crying face)
>>*^_^* (ringo no hoppe no Maiko?)
> 
> \o/   banzai!
> 
> (^_^;)   I saw this in fj.* but don't know what it means. Big ear? I'm all
>          ears?

I suppose ; express the perspiration. Not because he or she is
feeling hot, though.

 _____
|  o/ | Natsu Sakimura
| <|  | sakimura@sscl.uwo.ca
| / > | University of Western Ontario
 -----


Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: jwb@capek.rdt.monash.edu.au (Jim Breen)
Subject: Re: More on "gaijin" (was Re: Please give your opinions...)
Organization: Monash University, Melb., Australia.
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 02:20:59 GMT

masuda@fcs280b.ncifcrf.gov (Michiaki Masuda) writes:

>    From our "paranoid" point of view, many gaijin who are offended by the
>word "gaijin" or "hakujin" by itself seem to be very much of paranoia.

Gosh, I don't mind the "gaijin". It's sort of part of being in Japan to 
followed by a pack of elementary school kids shouting "Hurro, Byebye, Gaijin,
(giggle, giggle...)" 

What really brings out my paranoia, though, is when they stray beyond
the limits of basic human dignity, and shout out "Amerikajin". 

-- 
Jim Breen                           JIS:$B%8%`!!%V%j!<%s(J
Department of Robotics & Digital Technology. Monash University. 
PO Box 197 Caulfield East VIC 3145 Australia (ph) +61 3 573 2552 
(fax) +61 3 573 2345  AARNet/Internet:jwb@capek.rdt.monash.edu.au
From: keis@psy.uwa.oz.au (Keis Ohtsuka)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Social Democratic Party
Date: 23 Nov 1992 03:00:01 GMT
Organization: The University of Western Australia
NNTP-Posting-Host: wapsy.psy.uwa.oz.au

aki@bnlux1.bnl.gov (akihiro yamashita) kindly responds to my
question: 

>>What is Social Democratic Party?  When was it established?
>>Did Japanese Socialist Party changed its official name
>>recently?  

>Yes , they changed their official English name a few years ago.
>Japanese name is still 'Nippon Shakai Tou'.  

Are they nuts? How can anyone trust a political party that
delibarately mistranslates its name for international 
consumption?
From: tom@dingo.imagen.com (tom lowdermilk)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Movie "Rikyu"
Date: 17 Nov 92 00:44:51 GMT
Reply-To: tom@dingo.imagen.com (tom lowdermilk)
Organization: imagen

In article <1e92niINNojp@male.EBay.Sun.COM>, tooka@train.EBay.Sun.COM (Tony Ooka) writes:

|> At the end, the wise, humble Rikyu is assassinated 
|> of course. Raised a Catholic (though I am no longer)
|> I found many parallels between Rikyu and the Catholic
|> martyrs like Thomas More, Thomas a Becket, and other
|> historical figures who chose to follow their consciences
|> rather than submit to what they felt was a corrupt
|> or misled leadership.
|>

The video IS available in a sub-titled version!

I shy away from making too strong a parallel between Rikyu-no-sho
and Thomas More; one of the differences is the background of the 
rulers; in terms of upbringing and refinement, Toyotomi Hashiba (ur,
Hideyoshi) and King Hal just don't match very well, and I think that
one of the major distinction between Rikyu and Hideyoshi is this 
insurmountable gulf of aesthetics. I just can't describe it very well
but the idea is one of refined culture which goes beyond training or
manners. The one scene which perfectly illustrates this is when
Rikyu is given a branch full of blossoms to arrange; he strips a handfull
of petals and scatters them on the water and ground beside the vase;
to me it's the most powerful scene in the whole movie!

tjl

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Love Mankind, Revere Heaven   :-{
From: robohen@ocf.berkeley.edu (Henry Robertson)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Tojo's granddaughter
Date: 19 Nov 1992 06:25:29 GMT
Organization: U. C. Berkeley Open Computing Facility
NNTP-Posting-Host: headcrash.berkeley.edu

Does anyone know Tojo's granddaughter's whereabouts?  I heard she married 
a U.S. military officer and went off into the States.



===========================================
Disclaimer:  By posting this article, I am costing the net hundreds, if not
thousands of dollars.

o boy!
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: I WANT TO WORK IN JAPAN : Need help
From: Larry E. Cravetz <RSAYLC@rohvm1.rohmhaas.com>
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 08:07:01 EST
Organization: Rohm and Haas Company

In article <168A2F395.R3PG@VM1.CC.UAKRON.EDU>, R3PG@VM1.CC.UAKRON.EDU says:
>
>   I also want to work in Japan, circa Summer 1993 and beyond.  I'd like to

Me Too! Me Too!!

Many of us would really like this type of opportunity, so please POST ANY
REPLIES ON THIS TOPIC!!!
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
of course, you could sent me the info too....I think I'd like that.

--Larry E. Cravetz - rsaylc at rohvm1
From: robohen@ocf.berkeley.edu (Henry Robertson)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Does anyone have news on Judo?
Date: 16 Nov 1992 21:32:56 GMT
Organization: U. C. Berkeley Open Computing Facility
NNTP-Posting-Host: headcrash.berkeley.edu

Last I know of Judo @ Barcelona, the Japanese mass-commie did a total
personality cult of some 15-year-old girl contestant, Taeko or Tomoko or
whatever her name was.  For whatever reason, she captured the soul of the
nation, with video cameras showing every single moment of her training &
school life & home life, following her to the athelete's dorms in Barcelona.
Not surprisingly, Tomoko "seemed unusually tense" before the olympics,
and lost the finals round to a tall blond French chick.  So this 
strong-loricon model finished her media career in a most tragiomelodramatic
war against hikyou na hakujin.  Anyway, as she was wearing a walkman &
basking in the sun after the finals, a complete mascot-complex written
all over her, she replied to reporters that "originally, i had planned to
go on vacation, [but now since I have the silver medal] but I think I 
will go straight home and go back into training."  So away she will go back
into the obscurity of post-loricon female athlete.....while also a
Watanabe disappointed the nation with a silver by losing to archrival 
Kim Sejong of SK.  

There was some TV anime show about a super-judo girl, but I don't know
if this was in response to real-life Tomoko or that Tomoko coincided with
the popular show.


Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: sakimura@sscl.uwo.ca
Subject: Re: Who started all this gaijin myth?! (was Re: Genitals in Japan)
Organization: Social Science Computing Laboratory
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 19:18:31 GMT

In article <RHB.92Nov23134346@world.std.com>, rhb@world.std.com (Robert H Brueckner) writes:
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> How about referring to them by their country of national origin? In my case 
>  would not mind being called "Amerikajin" or even "Beikokujin." Similarly,
> I don't think other nationalities would have a problem with "Doitsujin" 
> "Huransujin" and so on. It is certainly preferable to a word meaning, 
> in essence, "foreigners."
> 
When I was travelling with a French friend, she was often
referred to as "America-jin" or "America-no-kata." 
It seems that Japanese refer to a "Hakujin" as "Gaijin" or "America-jin"
when his /her nationality is not clear. Some people take 
care to not-to-misidentify the person's nationality (thinking that
it might be insulting) and use "Gaijin" instead.
I suppose if you were from Bosnia (SP?), you would not like to be 
mistaken as a Serv (SP?), and vice versa. 

Anyway, when I was travelling with her, we almost always got 
a very warm welcome and good treatment; much more than when
I was travelling with a Japanese friend. What makes me sad 
is the fact that I wouldn't get such good treatment if I was
travelling with a friend from Kenya...

--
Natsu Sakimura












Lines: 23
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 92 16:57:18 MST
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: historical fiction
Distribution: world
Organization: Brigham Young University, Provo UT USA
From: luke@newt.ee.byu.edu (David Luke)

In article <15138.9211211404@csparc2.scs.leeds.ac.uk> ross-c@scs.leeds.ac.uk writes:

>Shusaku Endo IMHO does a good job of this sort of thing.

>The best one is historical fiction, and describes a priest who comes to 
>Japan during the time Christianity is banned. Most of the book describes
>the way he is broken, and made to serve "Mudswamp Japan" (* - "Mudswamp
>Japan" is a favourite term of Endo's, it may or may not be actually used
>in this book, but the concept is there). I can't remember the exact title
>of this book, could someone post, or I'll look it up if anyone's interested.

This one is "Silence" ("Chinmoku").  Very good.  Another kind of along the
same lines, but not quite as deep, perhaps, is "The Samurai" ("Samurai").

>Many of Endo's books are available as translations (I haven't been able to
>obtain the originals) published by Penguin.

My only literary claim to fame is to know Endo's translator... :)
-- 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|  David Luke                      "There's nothing worse than a brilliant     |
|  luke@wombat.ee.byu.edu           image of a fuzzy concept."                 |
|                                                               -- Ansel Adams |
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: malaiya@CS.ColoState.EDU (Y. Malaiya)
Subject: Information on Mr. HONDA
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 16:53:10 GMT
Organization: Colorado State University, Computer Science Department

Help needed: Information/references on Mr. Honda

My daughter, as part of her homework is writing a peper on Mr. Honda, 
the founder of HONDA. If you have any information about him, or know any 
articles/books, I will appreciate that.

-Y.K. Malaiya
malaiya@cs.colostate.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan