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I'm conducting a somewhat interesting (to me) experiment. I have often been heard to say (or read to write?) that Japanese seem not to have an opinion on current events, be they local or global. I don't hear people discussing current events at work, nor do they seem to have formed an opinion of any sort if I ask them about their opinion in either English class (in English), or during work. Now of course their English skill level may not be (IS NOT) high enough to express what they are thinking beyond a very rudimentary response, which is why I often attempt to engage them in their own native tongue.

One woman at work (she is in a different building now, so I never see her anymore) studied in England, loves England, and speaks English very well with no Japanese accent. She told me that when she first went to study, she was amazed how all the other non-Japanese foreigners nearly killed each other to get the chance to try and express themselves whenever the teacher would ask "What do you think?" Even though they could barely speak English, it didn't matter. The thing was that they ALL seemed to have their own opinion about topics and news. All but the Japanese students, that is, who sat there quietly. It was at that time that my coworker decided that she needed to start to form her own opinions about world events.

As I said, I have noted a very similar occurrence during my 20 years here. And so, these past two months, since I am much busier at my new job and don't have a quiet (private) spot to access news, have barely had the chance to look at what is going on. This is where the experiment comes in. I believe that were I anywhere else but Japan, global (and local) topics of importance would come to me via other people looking for my thoughts and/or opinions on the events. 

But guess what? Right! That doesn't happen here. It didn't happen in my old office, either. 

Let me give you a good example, or two.

Runner Up Example: I had no idea of the torrential flooding that occurred in Japan due to this most recent bicycle-speed typhoon that passed through until Charles posted a few articles and photos on his Facebook. Nobody talked about it. "Thousands stranded after typhoon; death toll at 41, over 50 missing"

http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/thousands-stranded-after-typhoon-death-toll-at-41-over-50-missing

First prize: I just happened to have a free minute yesterday and turned to the japantoday.com site to quickly skim the topics and see what had happened over the past few days. And guess what? I found out that we now have a NEW Prime Minister, and his popularity rating is 63%! Can you believe it? Not one single person in my office, or even in my building of probably over 500 people has even mentioned this BIG event! Total silence. Absolute and utter silence on this topic.

"Japan's new leadership wins solid backing in more polls"
http://www.japantoday.com/category/politics/view/japans-new-leadership-wins-solid-backing-in-more-polls

Blows me away.

I will continue with this experiment for a while because, in truth, not knowing the news really isn't going to kill me, though knowing it allows one to have some world knowledge, and have interesting conversations when one gets tired about talking about how hot it is, or how humid it is, or (soon to be) how cold it is. Usually.

I love you!
Cam

P.S. 
"Apple’s iOS 5 to adopt earthquake early warning function"
http://www.japantoday.com/category/technology/view/apple%E2%80%99s-ios-5-to-adopt-earthquake-early-warning-function

How We Kill Each Other In Japan

On my friend Jen's blog, there was a discussion regarding the recent shooting of a civil servant and several others who died a very recent gun-related shooting incident in Arizona.

There are those who are in favour of restricting gun ownership (me), and there are those who feel that they should have the right to own a handgun "for protection" because it is in the constitution. I guess America still is the Wild Wild West where gunslingers abound, and you need a projectile weapon to protect your loved ones and property.

Anyway, be that as it may, Jen was asking how we do it here in Japan if we don't have guns to shoot each other in the head, and blow innocent children away at the pull of a trigger.

I have no idea if this blog will show up because everything in my Multiply has been wiped out, but if it is visible, well...

Maybe this will give you an idea how we kill each other in Japan:

Man dies, wife injured in knife and sickle attack in Tokyo home
Tuesday 11th January, 06:46 AM JST
http://www.japantoday.com/category/crime/view/man-dies-wife-injured-in-knife-and-sickle-attack-in-tokyo-home

 

Osaka restaurant employee arrested over murder of Hyogo couple
Tuesday 11th January, 09:00 AM JST
http://www.japantoday.com/category/crime/view/osaka-restaurant-employee-arrested-over-murder-of-hyogo-couple

 

Two homeless men wanted after man stabbed outside Ikebukuro Station
Monday 10th January, 09:28 AM JST
http://www.japantoday.com/category/crime/view/two-homeless-men-wanted-after-man-stabbed-outside-ikebukuro-station

 

And on a happier note, just so you know that good things come out of Japan, too:

 

Japanese-style customer service winning hearts in Europe
http://www.japantoday.com/category/lifestyle/view/japanese-style-customer-service-winning-hearts-in-europe

Global Blah Blah Blah...

The jury is still out* on whether or not I want to keep reading this stuff. It seems like a blend of both liberal and conservative propaganda "news", and I'm not too fond of "conspiracy theory" conjecturs myself.

Here are a few that I culled from today's TVNewsLies.org (the rest I deleted):

FDA CENSORSHIP OF NUTRITIONAL SCIENCE THREATENS HEALTH OF ALL AMERICANS <-- This one, unfortunately, I believe...

Nutritional cures exist for nearly every major disease, but the FDA doesn't want you to know about them. So it has censored truthful, scientifically-proven information about these substances in order to keep you ignorant about nutritional cures. At the same time the FDA is attacking health foods, it openly allows ridiculous health claims on processed dead junk foods. Frito-Lay potato chips, for example, are allowed to carry claims that they are "heart healthy."

FIDEL CASTRO SAYS CUBAN ECONOMIC MODEL NO LONGER WORKS <-- Castro (and Chavez, too) is well-known for his (very very) long-winded speeches. This is priceless!

Fidel Castro said Cuba's economic model no longer works, a U.S.-based journalist reported on Wednesday following interviews with the former president last week. Jeffrey Goldberg, a writer for the Atlantic Monthly magazine, wrote in a blog that he asked Castro, 84, if Cuba's model -- Soviet-style communism -- was still worth exporting to other countries and he replied, "The Cuban model doesn't even work for us anymore."

TRANSOCEAN, HALLIBURTON BLAST BP REPORT ON CAUSE OF BLOWOUT, OIL SPILL <-- Pass the buck BP & Halliburton, you motherfuckers...

Transocean and Halliburtion, BP's partners on the blown-out well that led to the massive Gulf oil spill, reject findings in a new BP report that finds their workers partly to blame for the rig accident. Former partners with BP in the drilling operation that led to a blowout aboard the Deepwater Horizon drill rig – and a massive oil spill – are striking back at a report they say unfairly paints them as equally responsible for the disaster. In its four-month study by 50 analysts, BP details "a complex and interlinked series of mechanical failures, human judgments, engineering design, operational implementation and team interfaces."

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* "The Jury is out"... This is a new phrase I am teaching my managers here at work. It is a foreign concept to Japanese in general because until just very recently there was no jury system in Japan. When I say "very recently" I mean one or two years.

I love you!
Cam

Quit Yer Wining!

Ah.... you gotta love those snobby French who will go to no ends to destroy their good name!

Do you like Pinot Noir? Have you ever enjoyed the brand, Red Bicyclette? If so, what do you think?

Here is what the law in France thinks about Red Bicyclette sold in the USA by E. & J. Gallo...

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Feb 17 2010 5:14pm EDT
A Note of Fraud, With a Sour Aftertaste
The outrage.

French authorities have cracked down on 12 wine producers and traders who pulled the old switcheroo on American wine company E. & J. Gallo, labeling the local swill as 18 million bottles of pinot noir, a more expensive varietal. The BBC said a judge said the group had repeatedly and deliberately misidentified the wine, which was sold in the U.S. under the Red Bicyclette label.

Authorities became suspicious because the volume of the groups sold as pinot noir exceeded the pinot noir output of the Langedoc region. Some producers who participated in the scam weren't even pinot producers. Their defense: They substituted wine with pinot-like properties.

The judge in Carcassonne, in the southwest of France, handed down suspended prison sentences and issued fines ranging from $1,500 to $247,050. He said the scam had severely damaged the reputation of the Langedoc region.

That may be true, but no one in the U.S. seemed to notice. There were no complaints from consumers of Red Bicyclette, a popular U.S. brand.

Twice as Fucking Fast

The exciting sex-for-profit news never ends...

Believe it or not I'm not looking for this stuff; I get a finance newsletter with topics and today's first topic discusses an erectile dysfunction drug that works twice as fast as Viagra... meaning men can now have an erection in less than 30 minutes! Talk about lightning a quick response!

I'm sure women will be dancing in the streets, the bars and the bedrooms over THIS news!

Cam

P.S. Now if this meant that men could have twice the amount of orgasms in the same amount of time, bedroom life might be a little more exciting!

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Faster Than Viagra
Nov 18 2009 12:40pm EDT

Viva Avanafil isn't a very catchy marketing slogan.

But a little company called Vivus Inc. says its impotence drug works twice as fast as Viagra in a study: Erections in half an hour or less.

Pfizer Inc.'s Viagra is the original and dominant player in the so-called erectile-dysfunction drug market, controlling about half of the $3.8 billion in annual sales. Eli Lilly & Co.'s rival drug Cialis makes up 40 percent of the market, and Bayer AG's Levitra has 10 percent.

Vivus, a money-losing biotech company in Mountain View, California, figures it can gain share because of its speedy results. By late next year or early 2011, it will apply for U.S. approval to sell Avanafil.

“Patients want on-demand therapy because when the mood is right, the mood is right,” CEO Leland Wilson tells Bloomberg News. “We’ve shown efficacy in 30 minutes, and no one else has done that.”

But it's going to be tough going up against the marketing machines of Pfizer, Lilly, and Bayer. Vivus lost $21 million in the third quarter and had only $226.9 million in cash as of September 30. Pfizer spent $9.5 billion through nine months this year on marketing and administrative costs alone, and that's a reduction from last year.

What's more, there are signs of a softening market, so to speak. Viagra sales fell 6 percent through nine months this year to $1.34 billion.

Vivus sells an older impotence treatment called Muse that was approved in the late '90s just before Viagra was approved. But unlike the little blue pill, Muse is a medicated pellet inserted through the urethra. Bad timing for a breakthrough product.

And speaking of timing, it's not great for Avanafil, either, says J.P. Morgan analyst Cory Kasimov.

Viagra's patent protection runs out in 2012, meaning Avanafil and all branded drugs will have cheap competitors. For a new entrant, it "could prove challenging in a market poised to go generic," Kasimov says in a note to investors.