HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: cmr@world.std.com (Charles M Richmond)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Taxes
Date: 16 Nov 92 06:12:26 GMT
Article-I.D.: world.Bxsp8r.7Jo
Organization: Integrated International Systems Corp. One Longfellow Place, Suite 3309, Boston, Ma.


It does seem smart to buy an umbrella when you see the storm coming, the
price is always higher after the rain starts... (-;

Charlie

P.S. This might be a repeat... 

	TOKYO (UPI) -- Japan's top home-electronics maker Tuesday announced
plans to work with U.S. tax agents to determine fair-market values for
its products -- an apparent response to charges from Bill Clinton and
others that foreign companies evade U.S. taxes.
	Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., which makes Panasonic and
Technics products, said it signed an Advanced Pricing Agreement with the
U.S. Internal Revevue Service aimed at ending so-called ``transfer-
pricing'' schemes.
	The IRS claims some Japanese firms charge their U.S. subsidiaries
inflated prices for imported goods, thus allowing the subsidiaries to
record lower profits -- and pay less taxes -- when they re-sell the items
to U.S. consumers.
	Experts estimate such ``transfer-pricing'' abuses costs the United
States billions of dollars each year in lost revenue.
	Last year, the IRS found Matsushita had inflated prices on video-
cassette recorders, ordering the firm to pay some $3 million in
additional taxes.
	But Monday, Matsushita said its Advanced Pricing Agreement will allow
the IRS to determine fair-import prices ahead of time, thus avoiding
such problems.
	``With this this agreement...we believe that the risk of double
taxation will be eliminated,'' the company said in a statement.
	Matsushita said the pact would cover products imported in fiscal
years 1991 and 1992, with fair-market prices jointly determined in
advance by both nations' tax authorities, using an unspecified 
``mutually agreeable method.''
	The daily Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper Tuesday reported other Japanese
companies are following Matsushita's lead in negotiating similar deals
with the IRS.

-- 
*****************************************************************************
*  Charles Richmond 	Integrated International Systems Corporation        *
*  cmr@world.std.com	(Temporary) cmr@koneko.shr.dec.com		    *
*  Specializing in UNIX, X, Image Processing, and Communications.           *
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: a7657@mindlink.bc.ca (Stephen H. Kawamoto)
Subject: Re: CLDF: Crispin Legal Defense Fund
Organization: MIND LINK! - British Columbia, Canada
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 20:23:55 GMT

Will mr. Crispin's lawyer be taking Master card, Amex or Visa?

--
Stephen Kawamoto <a7657@mindlink.bc.ca>
    "It is the very mind itself
     That leads the mind astray;
     Of the mind,
     Do not be mindless."
     (an old Japanese folk song)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: hiraga@Csli.Stanford.EDU (Yuzuru Hiraga)
Subject: Re: historical fiction
Organization: Stanford University CSLI
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 07:03:21 GMT

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

"Chinmoku" (Silence?).

-YH
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: harkcom@spinach.pa.yokogawa.co.jp (Alton Harkcom)
Subject: Juveniles
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 00:29:23 GMT
Organization: Yokogawa Electric Corporation, Tokyo, Japan

Another spot from the morning news:

	3 juveniles (Junior high school students) broke into a CoOp
store to steal software for a video game.  They were caught by an
employee of the store.  They beat the employee until police arrived
to arrest the youths.  I was so shocked at the estimated cost of
the stolen goods that I don't remember the estimated cost... :(

BTW: Good job Mr. Richmond!
Xref: sparky soc.culture.japan:10914 sci.lang.japan:4722
From: robohen@ocf.berkeley.edu (Henry Robertson)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan,sci.lang.japan
Subject: Re: "Otoko kotoba" and "On-na kotoba" (Male language and female language)
Date: 17 Nov 1992 05:34:06 GMT
Organization: U. C. Berkeley Open Computing Facility
NNTP-Posting-Host: headcrash.berkeley.edu

The gender separation of Japanese language dates at least to the introduction
of writing.  With the new Chinese script that was difficult to learn,
men kept mundane journals (kanbun) and occasional Chinese-style poetry.
Women "cheated" by using a set of 50 characters as phonetic symbols
(unrelated to the meaning of the character itself).  These characters
eventually simplified into hiragana as we know them today.  In the Heian
era, there was a dichotomy between kanbun poetry that men wrote & 
wabun authentic-Japanese poetry that women wrote.  Tied into all of this,
perhaps from a stone-age tradition, is the notion of "kotodama," that
words have power in and of themselves.  It has some parallels to 
contemporary pools of intellectual thought in the West such as
phonocentrism and deconstructionism, that the spoken word is superior to
the written word, because it conveys more precisely the intent of the
speaker.  Perhaps this kotodama deal has something to do with invasion
of Japanese language by Chinese written language, a self-defense   
mechanism.  OK, crackpot theory as it sounds, as a matter of fact people
like Nakasone produce funding for language centers that produce these kind
of theories.  So, it may seem bizzare to US but they take it seriously.
The kotodama prnciple seems apparent in postwar youth culture where any
word derived from Western languages has coolness value.

Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: underdog@leland.Stanford.EDU (Dwight Joe)
Subject: Re: Fingerprinting Gaikokujin
Organization: Miners for a Heart of Gold
Date: Sun, 22 Nov 92 03:05:18 GMT

In article <By3509.E2B@world.std.com> cmr@world.std.com (Charles M Richmond)
writes:
>underdog@leland.Stanford.EDU (Dwight Joe) writes:
>>Returning to the original issue, is it appropriate for Japan to 
>>fingerprint foreigners even though Japanese citizens are not fingerprinted?
>>Yes, it is appropriate.  Even the USA does not treat its citizens in
>>the same way that it treats foreigners or even permanent residents.
>As I understand it, the problem is not so much that resident aliens get
>fingerprinted.  It is rather that they get fingerprinted again each year
>and that the humiliation of this process has become a symbol of the

Like I said, the rules for citizens and non-citizens are different.
I see nothing wrong with that.

The term "humiliation" is subjective.  A permanent resident in the USA
could say, "It's damn humiliating that I can't vote."  So what?  He 
isn't a citizen; he doesn't get the right to vote.
 
>discrimmination felt (in particular) by the Koreans whose ancestors were 
>forcibly transported to Japan as slaves (what else does one call forced 
>labor and forced prostitution).

Then, those Koreans should get Japanese citizenship right away; my Taiwanese
co-worker got Japanese citizenship.  Then, they should sue to obtain
compensation for discrimination on the basis of ethnic backgroud.

However, I don't see the relevance of "such and such happened to my ancestors,
so...".  Koreans demand that because of this historial tidbit, they
should then be entitled to all the rights of citizenship even though
they don't obtain it.

That would be like an African-American, refusing American citizenship,
but demanding that she be granted all the rights of citizenship.  Well,
tough.  Note that all African-Americans who protest discrimination
in the USA have citizenship.

The same is not true of Koreans in Japan.

If the Koreans in Japan don't want Japanese citizenship via the same laws
under which all other foreigners are subjected and don't like living
in Japan, then they can move to Korea.  It is much easier for a Korean
from anywhere (Korean-American, Korean-German, Korean-Japanese, etc.)
to emigrate to Korea than for a non-Korean (Chinese-American, German,
Taiwanese, Irish-American, etc).

> Other nationalities also feel that the 
>process is used to humiliate and that is its primary purpose.

And the USA also has different rules for citizens and non-citizens.
So, what?

------------------------------------------------------------------+------------
Jinsei no imi wa nan desu ka.                Sister, can you      |   \|  |`
Shitte itara oshiete kuremasen ka.           spare a coin?        |    | -+-
                                                                  |   /| / \
Copyright 1992.  Disclaimer:  1 + 1 = 3                           |
------------------------------------------------------------------+------------
From: robohen@ocf.berkeley.edu (Henry Robertson)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Juveniles
Date: 19 Nov 1992 05:10:53 GMT
Organization: U. C. Berkeley Open Computing Facility
NNTP-Posting-Host: headcrash.berkeley.edu

In article <HARKCOM.92Nov19092923@spinach.pa.yokogawa.co.jp> harkcom@spinach.pa.yokogawa.co.jp (Alton Harkcom) writes:
>Another spot from the morning news:
>
>	3 juveniles (Junior high school students) broke into a CoOp
>store to steal software for a video game.  They were caught by an
>employee of the store.  They beat the employee until police arrived
>to arrest the youths.  I was so shocked at the estimated cost of
>the stolen goods that I don't remember the estimated cost... :(
>
Shock??  Buddy, shock is when the three juveniles would have stabbed the owner
to death, set fire to the store, rape his wife & 3-year-old daughter, then
use the chainsaw sold in the store to massacre innocent pedestrians.
Come on, Alton, you can't be THAT acclimated to Japan already.









Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan,talk.politics.guns
From: wwarf@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Wayne J. Warf)
Subject: Re: Yoshi Hattori
Organization: Indiana University
Distribution: usa
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 07:57:44 GMT


CNN had Peairs on tonight as well as his defense attorney and the
prosecutor in the case. CNN did a "it's the gun's fault" morality
play. The real information was not in the commentary but in the 
interviews of Peairs and the attorneys on both sides. It was 
Peairs wife who answered the door and encountered the two 
teens who, apparently, were boisterous and peculiarly dressed 
enough to frighten her badly. She urged Peairs to arm himself.
He did and went to investigate before calling the police.
When he went to the door, Hattori, apparently taking it for 
joke ran toward him and ignored two orders to stop. Peairs,
who described himself as being more frightened then ever
before in his life by the strange behavior of the rapidly
closing teen fired his revolver, wounding Hattori fatally,
in a perceived need to protect his life as well as his wife
and 3 children <11 and under>. The prosecutor seemed 
sympathetic, noting that homeowners have a right to
self defense. He did not seen happy or hopeful about the
case. Peairs was very grieved, as were all involved. 
-- 
 +--------------------------------------------------------------------+
 | Wayne J. Warf -- WWARF@ucs.indiana.edu -- I speak for myself only  |
 | Midterm Countdown-Bill and the Congress have to '94 to screw it up |
 +--------------------------------------------------------------------+
From: tooka@train.EBay.Sun.COM (Tony Ooka)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Movie "Rikyu"
Date: 16 Nov 1992 21:10:09 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Distribution: world
Reply-To: tooka@train.EBay.Sun.COM
NNTP-Posting-Host: train.ebay.sun.com

Hello,

Two years ago I saw the last half of a historical
drama titled "Rikyu". I am not exactly sure of the
historical context the film is taken from but I 
believe the plot is centered around a revered Buddhist 
priest named Rikyu whose opposition to his temporal
ruler's plans to invade the Asian mainland earns
him many enemies and the contempt of the ruler.

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 film's epilogue states that the invasion policy
which Rikyu opposed would later prove a military
disaster for the Japanese. In addition to the beautiful
scenery with wonderful shots of a Japanese tea chamber
of the Period and a meaningful plot, the movie also
had a tasteful 17th Century Baroque soundtrack.

I really miss this film. Would anyone be helpful
enough to give me an accurate explanation of the
historical background of Rikyu's Japan--who was/were
the ruler or rulers of the time in Japan? Also, would
anyone happen to know where the film might be available
with English subtitles on videocassette or in a movie
theatre engagement? It would be easier to reach me via
direct e-mail.

Thanks,

Tony Ooka
Sun Microsystems
From: sakai@csa.bu.edu (Tsutomu Sakai)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Who started all this gaijin myth?! (was Re: Genitals in Japan)
Date: 23 Nov 92 21:32:42 GMT
Organization: Computer Science Department, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA

In article <RHB.92Nov23134346@world.std.com> rhb@world.std.com (Robert H
Brueckner) writes:
[my article deleted]
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>How about referring to them by their country of national origin? In my case I  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."
>
>RB

     It seems to me that I don't have any skill to identify a particular
person's nationality by just looking at him/her.  It first amazed me how
people here can do it, like saying "oh, he's a Puerto Rican.  Can't you
tell?"  I know many other Japanese can't do that either.
     I do agree with you that calling someone by his/her nationality is
more preferable than just calling all of them by one word "gaijin".  But
how could we know?  Are they gonna wear a T-shirt saying "Watashi wa
America jin desu" (I'm an American) ?  Isn't that absurd?  Anyway, I saw a
guy in Boston wearing a T-shirt with "I'm a foreigner" written in German.
     And why do you think many Japanese can't tell European from American?

						----- sakai@csa.bu.edu
From: iane@cc.aoyama.ac.jp (Ian Elliott)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: <None>
Date: 17 Nov 92 01:21:31 GMT
Organization: Aoyama Gakuin Univ., Tokyo, Japan.

credit card-could anyone tell me of a easy Japanese credit card to
	get?
Please email me...I appreciate all help anyone would give...

Also, there is a library here in Tokyo, Amerika Bunka Sentaa (America
Culture Center) that will not give library cards to nonJapanese!
How can I stop this nonsense?
Thanks.


-- 
iane@cc.aoyama.ac.jp

Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: kig9584@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Kyoko Inoue )
Subject: Pets immigration procedure
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 22:32:38 GMT
Keywords: pets



Going through the immigration procedure at Narita Airport is
tough enough for the non-Japanese people.  What if he had a pet
for company?

An American friend of mine hoping to get a job in Japan as 
an English teacher has cats with him.  They are just like his
own kids (so he says).  

Do any of you have information regarding what kind of torture
awaits his kids (actually kittens, to be precise)?

Kyoko Inoue
From: tygar+@cs.cmu.edu (Doug Tygar)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: _o_
Date: 17 Nov 92 16:51:14 GMT
Article-I.D.: cs.BxvDHn.Hpu.1
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon

In article <1992Nov17.070346.5166@Csli.Stanford.EDU> hiraga@Csli.Stanford.EDU (Yuzuru Hiraga) writes:
>In article <1992Nov16.223945.1@sscl.uwo.ca> sakimura@sscl.uwo.ca writes:
>>>                         _____
>>                         |  o/ |
>>I'm very sad ;_;)        | <|  | Let's go!
>>Oops! :-p  Just joking!  | / > |
>>                          -----
>>
>>BTW, are these expressions originated in Japan? or US? or Else?
>>I'm interested, because if it is "From Japan," it may be an 
>>interesting sub-culture to talk about in s.c.j. I see a lot of 
>>these in networks in Japan. I don't see as many these expressions
>>in North America.
>
>It may be that the OJIGI form (_o_) may have originated in Japan,
>but these smileys (or "emoticons") in general have originated in the US --
>or should I say, network culture as a whole.

The Wall Street Journal attributes the first use of a smiley to my colleague
Scott Fahlman, another faculty member here at CMU.  He regrets inventing the
smiley.
Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1992 01:57:26 -0500 
From: Rikiya Asano <ra01+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: Social Democratic Party
	<1992Nov20.100413.7917@Csli.Stanford.EDU>

Friends, 

            I like to Social Democratic Party!

Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 21:06:23 -0500 
From: Rikiya Asano <ra01+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: otoko-rashii Riki-chan

Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
From: galler@hunter.cs.mcgill.ca (Michael Galler)
Subject: Re: otoko-rashii Riki-chan
Organization: SOCS, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 20:02:36 GMT

>                      In 1987 or 86, I came to America. Although I had a
> big fantasy about entering into a school like Wasada, Hokkaido, Kyoto,
> or others I couldn't. Went I was in Nippon, I did Actually try to enter
> Wasada for as a major in physics. After not being accepted, I change my
> plans and tried to

I find it odd that a Japanese would misspell Waseda the same way
twice within the same paragraph. The whole tone of these posts
seem very unlike a Japanese, no matter how ill-adjusted.

I suggest someone is having us on.

		-mg
Xref: sparky soc.culture.japan:11008 talk.politics.guns:24267
From: bd@fluent@dartmouth.EDU (Brice Dowaliby)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan,talk.politics.guns
Subject: Re: Yoshi Hattori
Date: 18 Nov 92 18:30:22 GMT
Reply-To: bd%fluent@dartmouth.EDU
Distribution: usa
Organization: Fluent Inc., Lebanon NH

pngai@adobe.com (Phil Ngai) writes:

>In article <BD.92Nov16075725@fluent.UUCP> bd%fluent@dartmouth.EDU writes:
>>In light of all this hassle, maybe it's not too smart
>>to kill unarmed people who are not making any actual threats
>>to your life?
>
>An apparently unarmed person is approaching you despite the fact
>that you have a gun pointed at him and told him to stop. What
>are the consequences of allowing him to get close enough to use
>a hidden knife on you? Of allowing him to grab your gun, take
>it away, and shoot you with it?

Phil, do you have a window at work that faces toward the street?  If
you do, please go take a look at it.  See that woman driving down
the street?  What are the consequences of her taking a grenade launcher
out of her car and launching a grenade at your window?  Better shoot 
her now while you have the chance, eh?

If an unarmed Asian was walking toward me (wearing a tux, I heard?)
I wouldn't be pointing my gun at him and telling him to stop, I would
ask him how I could help him.

But that's beside the point.  I'll grant that we don't have all
the facts, but from the facts we do have the guy acted incredibly
irresponsibly.  If someone was breaking into my house I would 
leave by the back door and go to the neighboor's house where I 
would call the cops.

I would not shoot him, despite the fact that I have the gun and 
know how to properly use it.  None of my possesions are worth 
killing over.

From what we know so far, the shooter had no reason to think a
life was in jeopardy, and that is the only condition on which
it is justified to kill an intruder.
-- 
   Brice Dowaliby, Fluent Inc., 10 Cavendish Court, Lebanon, NH  03766
                         bd%fluent@dartmouth.edu        
             I don't speak for them, they don't speak for me
                              DoD # 0698
From: hiraga@Csli.Stanford.EDU (Yuzuru Hiraga)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: _o_
Date: 17 Nov 92 07:03:46 GMT
Organization: Stanford University CSLI

In article <1992Nov16.223945.1@sscl.uwo.ca> sakimura@sscl.uwo.ca writes:
>>                         _____
>                         |  o/ |
>I'm very sad ;_;)        | <|  | Let's go!
>Oops! :-p  Just joking!  | / > |
>                          -----
>
>BTW, are these expressions originated in Japan? or US? or Else?
>I'm interested, because if it is "From Japan," it may be an 
>interesting sub-culture to talk about in s.c.j. I see a lot of 
>these in networks in Japan. I don't see as many these expressions
>in North America.

It may be that the OJIGI form (_o_) may have originated in Japan,
but these smileys (or "emoticons") in general have originated in the US --
or should I say, network culture as a whole.

Look into newsgroups like rec.humor and you'll find a huge list of
smileys (or requests for them) posted every now and then
(I have a copy of it myself).  There also is an ftp site for them,
but I don't have the information right now.

For background and further information, see Eric Raymond (ed.):
"The New Hacker's Dictionary" (MIT Press 1991; BN 0-262-68069-6 (Paperback)).
I highly recommend this book to all the netters because it is not only
humorous and entertaining, but also contains many practical knowledge
that is useful in understanding network culture.

# And I believe that people like Mark Crispin and Eugene Miya
# would certainly agree  :-)

-YH
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan