HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: d-itasak@nmit.mt.nec.co.jp (Daisaku Itasaka)
Subject: Re: Cost of Living In Musashino
Organization: NEC Microcomputer Technology Ltd., Tokyo, Japan
Distribution: world 
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 04:38:46 GMT

In article <1992Sep9.004217.3493@bnr.ca>
	davev@bnr.ca writes:

>My wife, daughter, and I live in a 2LDK in Musashino-shi, just
>about 10 minutes north of Mitaka station on Chuo-sen.  
>
>We did look at different 2LDK places and found that the price
>range (quite wide) started at about 170,000/month.

Wow! That's no less than three times my rent.
Are you a company executive or something?
An average salaryman like me can never afford to pay that much.
If I got married, there should be absolutely nothing left after
paying such an extraordinary expensive rent every month,

unless we have DINKS(Double Income, No Kids). :-)
Right?

>Sometimes you also have to purchase the gas stove for the 
>apartment.

Note: Not oil.
In almost all apartment house, you can't use an oil burner.

-- 
A wrong guy in a wrong place at wrong time...
						 Daisaku Itasaka
				      d-itasak@nmit.mt.nec.co.jp
				NEC Microcomputer Technology Ltd.
From: davidg@aegis.or.jp (Dave McLane)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Followup: Chinese communists & Japanese Imperial Army
Date: 13 Sep 92 14:43:29 GMT
Organization: Aegis Society, Kyoto Japan

wohfuchi@splash.Princeton.EDU (Wataru Ohfuchi) writes:

>In article <2648@aegis.or.jp> davidg@aegis.or.jp (Dave McLane) writes:

>[some omitted]

>>Last week somebody brought in a copy of the //Sekimatsu Kara Mita
>>Daitoa Senso// (loosely translated as "The >Great East Asia War:
>>Views from the End of the Century") so I know it physically exists.
>>It would interesting to know what a non-Japanese who can read
>>Japanese would have to say it contained.

>  Perhaps it would be interesting also to know what Japanese, on this net,
>who can get the book would say about it. It was new to me what Dave
>described. [NOTE: Mr. McLane just reported about the book. He did NOT
>claim it is true.]

Right, 'truth' is pretty slippering as what seems true according to
one set of (cultural) assumptions doesn't hold true under another.

>  I checked the library here and couldn't find the book.

You might try a book store; the copy I saw looked quite new and 
still had a shiny dust-cover on it.

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
From: thomas@aic.co.jp (Thomas Johannsen)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Attractive, Wealthy Japanese Woman Sought
Date: 9 Sep 92 10:13:08 GMT
Organization: Advanced Intelligent Communication Systems Lab.,Sendai,Japan
In-reply-to: pssres12@ucs.usl.edu's message of 9 Sep 92 06:20:23 GMT

In article <1992Sep9.062023.28070@usl.edu> pssres12@ucs.usl.edu (Vignes Gerard M) writes:


 > 
 > 				WANTED
 > 
 > 	   Attractive,  independently  wealthy  Japanese woman
 > 	   for financial support and romance.    I am 35 years
 > 	   old, male heterosexual,   seeking companionship and
 > 	   financial support.  If you are interested and would
 > 	   like  to  learn  more  about  me,  please write to:
 > 	   Gerard Vignes,   USL PO Box 42709,   Lafayette,  LA
 > 	   70504 USA.   Please send picture.
 > 
 > 						   Gerard
 > 
 > PS.	I tried sending this to Radio Japan,
 > 	   but they declined to air it.
 > 	   Does anyone know what Gajin means?
 > 
 > -- 
 > 
 > pssres12@ucs.usl.edu	Gerard Vignes, USL PO Box 42709, Lafayette LA 70504 USA


PLEEEEEASE, don't let a new flame war start on that!!! I had enough
with killing all those "Japanese Pussy avail?" stuff.

Thomas

Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: smittie@beach.csulb.edu (Smittie)
Subject: Re: The Northern Islands
Organization: Cal State Long Beach
	<18udpkINNm9n@agate.berkeley.edu>
Date: Sun, 13 Sep 1992 15:52:01 GMT

>All right, so if once the Japanese acquire the Northern Islands, what are they
>going to do with them?  Turn them into tourist traps?  Watch the four rocks
>turn into four recreational complexes overnight?  Better yet, connect them
>with subways.  Turn island #1 into a parking lot, #2 into a disneyland,
>#3 into a Seibu department outlet, and #4 into a Self-Defense Force naval
>air station.

So what if they do? The islands will have become Japanese property and that
means they get to do whatever they want with it.

smittie
-- 
___________________________________________________________________________
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.
___________________________________________________________________________
From: aoki@physics.ucla.edu (ken aoki)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: O mi ai
Summary: it's not that bad
Keywords: omiai, non-trad,
Date: 10 Sep 92 16:27:27 GMT
Distribution: soc.culture.japan
Organization: UCLA Department of Physics

In article <PASCAL.92Sep10184833@ap22.apd.cpg.sony.co.jp> 
       pascal@apd.cpg.sony.co.jp (Pascal Goguey) says:
>
[some stuff deleted]
>        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 ?
>        Do I understand that o mi ai does not belong to the
>"goodness of Japanese culture" ?
>
[stuff not directly related omitted]

May be I am just getting old and conservative; but
I have nothing against omiai, at least in some of its forms.

In the most formal, conservative, old-fashioned stuff
which seem to be in some people's minds is that
a senior couple introduces the two and under their
eyes the two meet a few times and then they have to say yes or no
and there is a pressure to say yes. I obviously have
a problem with this version.

Quite a few of my contemporaries have gotten married
thru omiai and their version is different. Typically,
they get introduced by a senior person, and then after
that they meet on their own as many times as they
like and report back with an answer some time later.
They didn't have much pressure (I have friends with
two digits turned down cases.)

I don't think this is bad at all. This is just
getting introduced by somebody senior (old teacher,
boss (uhoh!), friend's parents, etc.) instead
of getting introduced by a friend. It is certainly
not any worse than using a dating service (which
I don't disapprove of either.) A lot of people
don't have the time and the opportunity to
meet opposite sex with similar interests.
(You can't hang around bars all the time,
even though Japanese bizmen drink a lot.)
Getting introduced by other people is not at all
uncommon in the US either. So all in all, omiai
might not be such an esoteric or a Japanese
thing as one might think.

Of course, there is a whole spectrum of omiai's
and the pressure could vary from nothing to a lot.
But on the other hand, you are free to ask anyone
you feel like to arrange for it, so it's your choice.

I just wanted to clarify a little here since some people
seem to have very strong preconceptions about omiai.
I am not saying that you have one; some people don't like omiai,
nothing wrong with that either.
I used to have an outdated image and used to be against it.

Totally irrelevant note; I am married but have never used omiai.

>  Pascal Goguey  Sony Corporation  ($@GC9%7Z(J  $@8d7](J)
>  Communication Products Group Audio Products Div
>  Atsugi TEC, Japan
>
>  Aucun homme n'est jamais assez fort pour ce calcul.
-- 
                        Kenichiro Aoki. (aoki@physics.ucla.edu)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: d-itasak@nmit.mt.nec.co.jp (Daisaku Itasaka)
Subject: Re: Narita airport throughput
Organization: NEC Microcomputer Technology Ltd., Tokyo, Japan
Distribution: soc.culture.japan
Date: Sat, 12 Sep 1992 06:55:30 GMT

In article <THOMAS.92Sep12143428@bass.aic.co.jp>
	thomas@aic.co.jp (Thomas Johannsen) writes:

>I've got a question for all guys who frequently use  Narita. I am just
>interested in how  long it took you from  plane touch-down to entering
>the main lobby (i.e. delay by immigration and customs).

I am not a frequent user, so that I have no idea. But....

>The reason for my question is a pretty tight  schedule which my travel
>agent draw up: I'll arrive at 20:40 (on a Sunday) and _have to_  get a
>bus in front of the airport building at 21:30. Otherwise I'll be stuck
>the night in Tokyo (loss  of time and  money :-(. Do  you think it  is
>possible to get through in less than 50  minutes? 

Who guarantees you that the plain arrives at 20:40? :-)
I guess your question should start from this possibility.

What if the weather condition was bad....
What if some troubles occured in the plain....
What if the plain was under the control of hijackers....:-)

-- 
A wrong guy in a wrong place at wrong time...
						 Daisaku Itasaka
				      d-itasak@nmit.mt.nec.co.jp
				NEC Microcomputer Technology Ltd.
From: jfriedl@omron.co.jp (Jeffrey Friedl)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Japanese immigration
Date: 10 Sep 92 08:42:04 GMT
Reply-To: jfriedl@omron.co.jp (Jeffrey Friedl)
Organization: Omron Corporation

skc@Turing.ORG (Shriram K. Chaubal) writes:
|> jfriedl@omron.co.jp (Jeffrey Friedl) writes:
|> >You sound like it's your fucking God-given right to breeze through the
|> >international airport of your choice.
|> >
|> >If you are not Japanese, and you wish to enter to Japan, IT IS YOUR
|> >PRIVLIDE, NOT YOUR RIGHT.  If, for example, the Japanese government wants
|> >to have it so that people named Henry have to cluck like a chicken to get
|> >in (unless it's Tuesday or they are wearing a blue shirt), then either put
|> >up with it or STAY OUT.
|> 
|> 
|> Hmmmm that almost sounded like David Duke at his best here in the U.S. of 
|> 'God dammit we are white and superior' A.

For what possible reason do you make such an absurd and ignorant statement?
It seems to have absolutely nothing to do with my quote you referenced.

|> Seriously though,

Oh, you were *joking*?
Ok, I'll change my question to ask for what possible reason do you make
such an absurd and ignorant "joke"?

|> If an immigration officer is rude or arrogant that
|> person is not doing their job!

An immigration officer's job (in any country) is not to make you personally
feel warm all over, but to enforce the immigration laws of the country.
Certainly, it is much nicer (for anyone, including immigration officials) to
not be rude or arrogant, and I think less of those that are rude and arrogant
(and less of myself when I act that way), but they do have a job to do.
When there are idiots out there that think everyone else on earth should step
aside to make things easier on oh most holly themselves, it can make that
job difficult.

|> Remember .. the customer is always right.
|> If I were a Japanese tourism or trade official ... I'd think every visitor
|> who tried to enter the country legally would be a 'customer'.

Most people wishing to enter Japan (or any wealty country) are certainly not
tourists. They are people wanting a better life in a more affluant country.
Were all to be let in, they would quickly overburden the social welfare
systems of the country, destroying it both for themselves and those that
have spent their lives building and contributing to it (i.e. the citizins).
This is why just about every country in the world has immigration procedures.
It's not a pretty thing... it would certainly be nice if everyone all lived
together in one big happy world, but unfortunately that's not the case.

I was allowed into the country because I was preceived to be an asset to
their country rather than a drain, and I consider myself luckey for it. 
When I go to The States, I *do* considr it my right to do so, since I am
a citizin there.

Musing about what would be nicest is great. My reply (quoted at the top
of this post) was to a post that more-than-less *dictated* that customs
must be such-and-such a way to suit his pleasures (and that if it weren't,
one could therfore justifably act like an asshole).

	*jeff*
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: u322543@twncu865.ncu.edu.tw
Subject: RE: Mr. Baseball
Organization: Computer Center, NCU, Taiwan, R.O.C.
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 16:38:30 GMT

Hi, are you calling me?
:)

--
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
- Yishao Lai                    -
= u322543@twncu865.ncu.edu.tw   =
- u328385@sparc20.ncu.edu.tw    -
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: magnus@jaist-east.ac.jp (Magnus Halldorsson)
Subject: Sumo - Day 1
Organization: School of Info Science, JAIST Hokuriku, Japan
Distribution: soc
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 07:49:38 GMT

The results of the bouts of day 1 were all as expected.
End of story.

Magnus

Oh, did you expect something more? :-)

Well...

Akebono won, fairly convincingly, Kotonishiki. Koto gave a pretty good
effort though, but I'm concerned about the way he fell in the end, if
his ankle is yet in top form.

Konishiki lost for Takahanada. Seems like if the bout last longer than
5 seconds, then Connie is bound to lose. 

Kirishima won the new komusubi Kyokudozan. The latter pulled a jumper
at tachi-ai, but was fairly easily shoved out. The ozeki seemed older,
and stiffer when warming up, but the bout didn't show it.

Mitoizumi won Takatoriki, after considerable jumping around.

Mainoumi lost for Kotonowaka. Got lifted out...

Wakahanada won Tatsuhikari.

Akinoshima won, Musashimaru won, Terao won, Kiraiho won, Kushimaumi won.

Tochinowaka lost with elbows and ankles wrapped up.
Misugisato lost, Takamisugi lost, Kirinishiki lost, Daishoho lost.

My guesses in decreasing order:
  Akebono.
  Musashimaru
  Kirishima.
  Akinoshima.
  Takahanada.
  Konishiki.
  Mitoizumi.
  Kotonishiki.
  Wakahanada.

Magnus
From: thomas@aic.co.jp (Thomas Johannsen)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Japanese immigration
Date: 9 Sep 92 10:05:59 GMT
	<1650@frf.omron.co.jp>
Organization: Advanced Intelligent Communication Systems Lab.,Sendai,Japan
In-reply-to: jfriedl@omron.co.jp's message of 9 Sep 92 05:40:02 GMT

In article <1650@frf.omron.co.jp> jfriedl@omron.co.jp (Jeffrey Friedl) writes:

 > Quick question about foreigners in the ``Japanese Passports'' line.
 > I've long been "under the assumption" (i.e. don't remember why I first thought
 > this) that the ``Japanese Passports'' line was also OK for those with
 > alian registration cards (i.e. returning residents).
 > 
 > My question to those that know: is it truely OK for those with alian
 > reg. cards to go into the Japanese Passports line, or are the immigration
 > officials just being nice in not sending me to the foreigner line.
 > 


I was told it is OK. Can anybody confirm  that? Would be  nice to have
the choice (have you?, ie. perhaps one _has to_  use the Japanese line
as foreign resident?.  I remember the  gaijin  line was  terribly long
last time I came and immigration took about 2 hours :-(


Thomas
From: blamb@rodan.hri.com (Bill Lambert)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: US Open (was Re: US Open-door policy (was: An open letter to ...) )
Date: 10 Sep 92 14:54:27 GMT
Reply-To: blamb@rodan.hri.com (Bill Lambert)
Organization: Horizon Research

In article <3871@fcs280s.ncifcrf.gov>, masuda@fcs280b.ncifcrf.gov
(Michiaki Masuda) writes:

=>   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...

Could be that the Japanese boy who could've been Michael Chang was
home studying for his Junior High School entrance examination while
Michael was playing tennis 8 hours a day. Just a thought....

- Bill
From: robohen@ocf.berkeley.edu (Henry Robertson)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Need advice on Nartia to Kawasaki
Date: 14 Sep 1992 20:05:21 GMT
Organization: U. C. Berkeley Open Computing Facility
NNTP-Posting-Host: headcrash.berkeley.edu

Kawasaki's between Tokyo & Yokohama??  Why, my apologies.  I guess seismic
shifts in Japan & California keep my spatial perception guessing.  They are
coming closer together at 5 cm per year, you know.

Since lots of Japanese tourists come through Berkeley, it's my hobby to pick
out a lost-looking one & show them around.  If one of you are planning to
come to the San Francisco area & tour here, I would request that you please
refrain from telling me that 1) Nihongo ojouzu desune; 2) Anta haafu nandesho?
3) Nihon to Amerika to docchi ga sukidesuka?
From: lindaa@sooth.Berkeley.EDU (Linda Absher)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Mr. Baseball
Date: 10 Sep 1992 16:47:01 GMT
Organization: /etc/organization
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: sooth.berkeley.edu

In article <18mp80INN9ec@agate.berkeley.edu> lindaa@omen.Berkeley.EDU (Linda Absher) writes:
>-- 
>   $  Linda Absher		$ "Jane! Get me off of this               $ 
>   $  lindaa@info.Berkeley.EDU	$      crazy thing!!!"                    $
>   $				$    -George Jetson, "The Jetsons"        $

OOPS!!  Sorry 'bout that...

I wanted to respond to Bill Lambert's comment on Hollywood's sterotypes of the 
Japanese.  I think that after some thirty-odd years of Japan's tremendous
technical and social progress, Hollywood could get beyond images of hunky
white men being bathed by fragile Japanese women.  Aren't these the same
images we saw in "Teahouse of the August Moon"?  

But then again, I know I expect *way* too much from mass media....

Linda Absher
lindaa@info.Berkeley.edu


-- 
   $  Linda Absher		$ "Jane! Get me off of this               $ 
   $  lindaa@info.Berkeley.EDU	$      crazy thing!!!"                    $
   $				$    -George Jetson, "The Jetsons"        $
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: justin@mik.uky.edu (Justin Sullivan)
Subject: Re: Japanese immigration
Organization: University Of Kentucky, Dept. of Math Sciences
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 21:06:00 GMT

Alton Harkcom writes
> In article <1650@frf.omron.co.jp> jfriedl@omron.co.jp (Jeffrey Friedl)  
writes:
>  =}(and what exactly the hell does "catch-22" mean, anyway? :-)

Pardon me, but I must correct this English (wouldn't want to look like a  
fool, would you? :)
   "What exactly the hell" makes no sense. I know.. I know.. Neither does the  
bulk of the English language, BUT.. "What in the hell" is much more fitting..  
"What in the hell does 'catch-22' mean, anyway?" would be perfect. Or, for  
the more daring, "Just what in *THE HELL* does 'catch-22' mean, anyway?"
   Notice the large emphasis on THE HELL. Actually, it would be spoken (in a  
raised, bolsterous voice) like: "Just whut in THEE HELLL does 'catch-22'  
mean, goddamnit!?" When in Rome.. :)
 
>    An excellent book (which I haven't read since high school).  If my
> memory isn't pickled yet, then the author is Kurt Vonnegut.  It is an
> excellent book and I recommend it to anyone who likes mind games.

   That is a very poor way (sorry, but it is) to express this common phrase  
to a non-native English speaker.. Catch-22, when not referring specifically  
to the book (which is never :), is more or less synonomous with the 'catch'  
in "What's the catch?" Sort of.. :) "The Catch-22 of this is.."
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: pssres12@ucs.usl.edu (Vignes Gerard M)
Subject: Re: Attractive, Wealthy Japanese Woman Sought
Organization: Univ. of Southwestern La., Lafayette
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 01:01:57 GMT

		     NOTE TO THE READER

		The "p...(beep)" was not mine.
		I am not looking for exotic sex,
		simply honest affection and support.


In article <1992Sep9.221601.13318@cs.ucla.edu> kanekawa@oahu.cs.ucla.edu (Nobuyasu Kanekawa) writes:
>I am sorry that I am not a Japanese woman.

	Perhaps you should maintain such things
	to the confidence of a personal psychologist
	rather then being so brazen as to announce them publicly.

>As you know, a man should love woman as a human being not as
>a Japanese nor as a p...(beep). And all the women would like
>to be loved as a human being.

	Yes, I have to agree with you
	about the "p...(beep)" issue.

	For a woman is special not just
	for who she is, but for what she is.
	For if she were not a Japanese woman,
	she would be an ordinary American woman.
	And if she were not a woman to begin with,
	then there would surely be nothing special
	about her at all.

>If Japanese women read your article, they will have an impression
>that you have whoever-Japanese-woman-is-OK way of thinking.
>To deny this impression, it better to add why you need 
>Japanese woman. 

	I thought it would be appropriate
	to address her as a Japanese woman
	because this is a Japanese newsgroup.

>I agree that we men tend to feel exotic attraction with "foreign"
>women.  But it is not real women's attraction. It is something like 
>attraction of rare animals.

		Yes, and yet is it not also true
	that he who catches a rare and beautiful animal
	must care for her and appreciate her uniqueness
	least that precious gift be torn from his heart
		in punishment for his arrogance?

>I hope your email address is not thieved by someone else.

	No, but your concern is truly touching.

						Sincerely,

						Gerard

-- 

pssres12@ucs.usl.edu	Gerard Vignes, USL PO Box 42709, Lafayette LA 70504 USA
From: mrc@Tomobiki-Cho.CAC.Washington.EDU (Mark Crispin)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Japanese immigration
Date: 8 Sep 92 22:24:10 GMT
Organization: University of Washington
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Mime-Version: 1.0

The last time I visited Japan was at a time when several flights had arrived
within a short period of each other.  On top of this, the clueless were in
particular abundance.  Yes, you DO get into line in this area that says
`foreigners' with the rest of us.

I had my immigration card all filled out, with my address in Japan and the
`occupation' and `reason for visiting Japan' in Japanese.  I resigned myself
to a long wait.  I took out the manga (`Itoshi no ERI-') I was reading on the
plane, opened it to where I had left off, and continued reading, shuffling
forward at the glacial pace the line was moving,...

Two episodes in my manga later, I was nearing the head of the line, when a
major commotion at the Immigration counter.  A young female (I hestitate to
use the term `lady' or `woman', as either imply maturity that was absent) was
throwing a TEMPER TANTRUM.  She was yelling in a East Coast accent at the
Immigration officer in the line she was in, then cutting into the line *I* was
in and yelling at that Immigration officer.  He merely pointed to the line in
front of him and tried to explain that there were a lot of people in line.

The little bitch wouldn't hear it.  She held up our line for 5 minutes
demanding immediate service, and the officer was just as firm in pointing to
the line waiting for him.  Finally, she stormed away, screaming `THIS REALLY
SUCKS!!!' and went to complain at one of the airport security guards.

I have no idea what her problem was, other than she was upset at having to
wait in line.

The Americans in line had been watching this little comedy with increasingly
sinking hearts.  She was obviously from the East Coast from her accent.
Another loud-mouth New Yawker making things worse for everyone else.  As she
stormed away, I caught a glimpse at her passport and passed the good news
around:

	She isn't one of us, she's Canadian!!!!!!!!!!!!

There was a noticable sigh of relief.

When my turn finally came, I asked the officer, in Japanese, `do you get a lot
of people like that female?'  He chuckled and answered, in English, `Every
day we get many'; then he stamped my passport and waved me through.

--

I think there is a lesson to be learned here.  Immigration officers are human
beings doing their job.  Everybody is having a rough time.  You'll get a lot
more doors opened with a smile and a sense of shared hassle.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan