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Archive for the ‘News about Japan’ CategoryTo: Japan Times From: General Union, General Secretary, Dennis Tesolat Date: 25 September 2007 Regarding the Japan Times article which appeared in your Community Section on 25 September under the headline ‘Advice for Teachers’, I would like to add a few comments regarding the accuracy of this article. The article states, “The general union and Nambu decided on a policy that we won’t take new members if NOVA goes bankrupt.” This statement is not an accurate reflection of the General Union’s policy. The General Union has no special policy regarding NOVA teachers joining our union at this time or in the future regardless of whether or not NOVA falls into bankruptcy. We will accept all applications from NOVA teachers and staff for membership in the regular manner. We are even going so far as to have an information session on 30 September, 8.15 p.m. at our Osaka office for NOVA teachers who would like more information and of course we will encourage those who attend to join. Stating this, I would also like to add that even though we will accept new members, teachers and staff have to understand that we will not be able to offer the level of support regarding, for example, unemployment insurance procedures, Shakai Hoken and other health insurance, visas and apartments that we have during past bankruptcies. Why? Simply because we cannot do so for many people all at once and continue to take care of our other non-NOVA members, but we will offer whatever advice we can. In fact, we will still offer general advice to ALL NOVA teachers and staff regardless of whether they join the union. I hope NOVA teachers and staff who are considering joining the union will take the above into consideration and still join the union. If everyone joined with an urgent problem expecting instant service our union would not be here at this moment offering whatever help we have to offer. Regardless of the exact level of support we will be able to offer each individual, we hope that NOVA teachers who are planning on remaining in Japan will join our union and help us help everyone in our struggle to reform the language industry, especially so that these current problems are not relived at other workplaces. Sincerely, Dennis Tesolat General Union, General Secretary
I kind of knew this would happen. Can you believe it? Looks like Abe was bullied one too many times. How do you think this will bode for the image of Japan; the leader stepping down because the Cabinet doesn’t like him? Can you imagine the coach of a major sports team stepping down because the players don’t like him? What will the world think? Who’s the leader of this country? Who should the rest of the world call in order to get foreign diplomacy taken care of?
This decision by Abe REALLY hurts what little confidence I had in this country. It looks to me that Japan will have an image of simply being a money tree with an admission charge for the next 30 years. Can there ever be a true leader in this country? When will the time come when one “nail” sticks out and grabs the “hammer” by two hands? As you can see, on the right side of the site there are links to other blogs and podcasts. I’m thinking of changing them because, well, some are doing well, some have changed for the worse and others are not listed that really should be listed. I’m hoping you will help to make this list useful. If you know of a good site out there related to Japan - a podcast or any other, please let me know. Otherwise I’ll, well, have to spend hours looking. I figure you all already know the good ones. Help if you can. This is the best beer in Japan at the moment…bar none (according to me). Suntory is cornering the market. They must have made a deal with some other country to share some kind of technology in exchange for the recipe…or…Japanese just drink A LOT of beer and have figured it out. KANPAAAIIIIII!!!! PS: Maybe not Mac friendly file. August 17th at 11:00AM JST. Officially this will be a recorded Skypecast of gaijin babbling about their thoughts on Japan. This will be a highly intellectual conversation. If your IQ is under 80 you should probably consider joining another podcast (hehe… I won’t link to another podcast). If you would like to join then just say so in the little chat box. I’ll tell you what to do. PS: We need some topics. Any ideas? Tokyo taxis put smoke-ban plan into high gear 08/03/2007 THE ASAHI SHIMBUN Jumping on the no-smoking bandwagon, taxi companies in Tokyo plan to make their fleets completely smoke-free, despite a deluge of requests from customers seeking a nicotine fix over long distances. All taxis in the capital could become smoke-free as early as January. ======= I can’t tell you how many smelly taxis I’ve jumped into only to hold my breath until I finally get home. The stench gets into my clothes and sticks. I hate it eventhough I’ve been known to light up on many occasion. I just think a place as confined as a taxi makes it so the rider has to smell the byproduct of the drivers addiction. If I want to walk into a bar to have a drink and the clientèle’s smoke, I have a choice to walk out. With a taxi it’s different. Can’t taxi drivers smoke outside of their cabs? Or at least can they keep the cigarette outside the window? |
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A leader is someone who can step in and get things done. If the Cabinet is not happy and a majority had voted him into office (71% approval rating), then fire the ones making problems and hire new members who will put their differences aside for the betterment of the majority. Ijime (bullying) is no reason to step down.
it was still good 
:?:
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