>confront over crowding as a serious negative and do > something about their birth rates
you do know that the birthrate is so low it is almost a national emergency, don't you...?
In 2005, the birth rate was 1.2 babies/woman, rather than the 2.1 required for a stable population. (source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/5273282.stm)
>Technology should always let the light shine in even > if some people feel like an earthworm stranded >on a sidewalk on a summers day.
Folks, feel free to ignore this nonsense. Until someone proves otherwise, there's nothing different going on in Japan here. (And always, ALWAYS, treat with utmost skepticism anyone claiming out of the blue to speak for the "cultural mindset" of tens of millions of strangers, nearly all of whom wouldn't known the talker from a hole in the ground.)
But now YOU appear to be speaking for the cultural mindset of millions of strangers.... jya nai?
Additionally you ask for empirical proof - but what would constitute "empirical proof" of the standard you appear to be demanding, either for, or against the proposition? (I assume you believe that there are SOME cultural differences between Japan and -say - the UK or US? - Attitudes to nudity for example. Or to the place of religion and faith in society.
For each such "believed difference" - how would one go about "proving" it - or "disproving" it - to the standard you demand?
Japanese exceptionalism is irritating - but no worse than British, US, French or Israeli exceptionalism - and it should not blind one to the very real differences that exist amongst the cultures.
Your main objection seems to boil down to, "names are easier to remember than numbers".
This is possibly true. But numbers do have the benefit of indicating that one is CLOSE to an area.
e.g if I know I am 4 chome 12 (and area indicator signs are liberally placed in cities) and I am looking for 4 chome 13, I know I am in the general area. But if the area has a name, not a number, knowing in "placeX" does not indicate to me that I am close to "placeY"
Being hopeless at remembering both names AND numbers, I tend to write addresses down, or make a link and send it to my keitai.
Few address systems "tell you where you need to go". In this case you have added two additional pieces of knowledge that are not implicit in the address: that you have to drive north to hit 10th street and then head south on it...
You got that from local knowledge, presumably.
In fact major roads in cities DO often have names in Japan - and very major roads are numbered ("route 3") etc...
Getting around London is impossible without either local knowledge or an AtoZ or similar. Japan is no different.
I don't think they do, actually - it was all very low tech at the police station last time I gave prints (someone had pinched something from my office.)
The government has had my prints for years, for the alien registration document - but that was held by the ward office and I am not sure who else had access to it.
Now though they have prints taken when I entered Japan after Nov 2007 - I assume those are on computer somewhere central/accessible.
Sure - but they are on 24 hours shifts. They spend the first 4 hours recovering from the drugs they used to help them sleep and the last 6 hours nodding off at the wheel...
[I generally consider it polite not to awaken a taxi-driver until we have reached our destination.]
> (The only Japanese who ever get fingerprinted are criminals)
If you are burgled the police will often want to take your prints so they know which are yours. No suggestion there that you are a criminal. It may be voluntary though - I am not sure.
But then coming to Japan is, or was at some point, "voluntary". It may be inconvenient to ship partner/kids back to one's own country - but it is not impossible. In that sense you have a choice - in principle at least, however hard in practice if partner kicks up a fuss.
Few countries regard the civil liberties of their alien populations as being as important as those of their citizens. The Japanese are not alone in this respect.
I wrote a whole website to allow one to look up Japanese addresses in English: [http://diddlefinger.com] so I know of what I speak...
That said, I doubt I will be adding streetview to my maps site. People caught on it are too easily identifiable by neighbours in their area, despite the faces being fuzzed out.
I use Joker.com and have done for many years - and have not had problems with them as a registrar (though see below...). They have replied to my (very) occasional emails in a timely and rational manner.
They are $12 for a.com, but if you have a lot of domains you can set yourself up as a reseller and pay around $7.20.
They did get DDOSd a few years ago, which WAS a problem for a day or two but I guess they have better redundancy sorted out now. They don't mess you around with trying to add on loads of extras when you buy a domain and there are no hidden gotchas.
The $12 includes full use of nameserver, email forwarding, etc. They are zero hassle and I have never felt that trust has been an issue.
(I have no association with them, I am just a satisfied customer)
Another option is (Pairnic.com?) who are very reputable, but a bit more expensive. than Joker.com
Where do I get this "with a girlfriend" release?.. of course with my luck, the "girlfriend" will be the openbsd version, and ship with all ports closed by default.
I too have lost family members, and the very last thing I would have wanted was complete strangers, who did not know them, conveying their sympathies. It would have been deeply impertinent. People not in a position of intimacy should keep their "respect" to themselves - and certainly not go around demanding that others show it.
Slashdot Mirror
>confront over crowding as a serious negative and do
> something about their birth rates
you do know that the birthrate is so low it is almost a national emergency, don't you...?
In 2005, the birth rate was 1.2 babies/woman, rather than the 2.1 required for a stable population. (source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/5273282.stm)
>Technology should always let the light shine in even
> if some people feel like an earthworm stranded
>on a sidewalk on a summers day.
why?
Folks, feel free to ignore this nonsense. Until someone proves otherwise, there's nothing different going on in Japan here. (And always, ALWAYS, treat with utmost skepticism anyone claiming out of the blue to speak for the "cultural mindset" of tens of millions of strangers, nearly all of whom wouldn't known the talker from a hole in the ground.)
But now YOU appear to be speaking for the cultural mindset of millions of strangers.... jya nai?
Additionally you ask for empirical proof - but what would constitute "empirical proof" of the standard you appear to be demanding, either for, or against the proposition? (I assume you believe that there are SOME cultural differences between Japan and -say - the UK or US? - Attitudes to nudity for example. Or to the place of religion and faith in society.
For each such "believed difference" - how would one go about "proving" it - or "disproving" it - to the standard you demand?
Japanese exceptionalism is irritating - but no worse than British, US, French or Israeli exceptionalism - and it should not blind one to the very real differences that exist amongst the cultures.
Your main objection seems to boil down to, "names are easier to remember than numbers".
This is possibly true. But numbers do have the benefit of indicating that one is CLOSE to an area.
e.g if I know I am 4 chome 12 (and area indicator signs are liberally placed in cities) and I am looking for 4 chome 13, I know I am in the general area. But if the area has a name, not a number, knowing in "placeX" does not indicate to me that I am close to "placeY"
Being hopeless at remembering both names AND numbers, I tend to write addresses down, or make a link and send it to my keitai.
I've got blonde hair and blue eyes and -damn! - this never happens to me....
So I'm guessing it's your aftershave...
Few address systems "tell you where you need to go". In this case you have added two additional pieces of knowledge that are not implicit in the address: that you have to drive north to hit 10th street and then head south on it...
You got that from local knowledge, presumably.
In fact major roads in cities DO often have names in Japan - and very major roads are numbered ("route 3") etc...
Getting around London is impossible without either local knowledge or an AtoZ or similar. Japan is no different.
... yes ....
why?
"kuroddu" is another option....
One usually CONSENTS to being in pornography....
In what way?
It operates on a different principle perhaps, but it is perfectly logical and fairly easy to use.
I don't think they do, actually - it was all very low tech at the police station last time I gave prints (someone had pinched something from my office.)
The government has had my prints for years, for the alien registration document - but that was held by the ward office and I am not sure who else had access to it.
Now though they have prints taken when I entered Japan after Nov 2007 - I assume those are on computer somewhere central/accessible.
Sure - but they are on 24 hours shifts. They spend the first 4 hours recovering from the drugs they used to help them sleep and the last 6 hours nodding off at the wheel...
[I generally consider it polite not to awaken a taxi-driver until we have reached our destination.]
> (The only Japanese who ever get fingerprinted are criminals)
If you are burgled the police will often want to take your prints so they know which are yours. No suggestion there that you are a criminal. It may be voluntary though - I am not sure.
But then coming to Japan is, or was at some point, "voluntary". It may be inconvenient to ship partner/kids back to one's own country - but it is not impossible. In that sense you have a choice - in principle at least, however hard in practice if partner kicks up a fuss.
Few countries regard the civil liberties of their alien populations as being as important as those of their citizens. The Japanese are not alone in this respect.
"people"?
Some perhaps - but very few. It certainly isn't "general" amongst the population as a whole.
I do find that generally speaking (and with exceptions), Americans tend to be more disorientated by Japanese addresses than, for example, Brits.
A lot depends on what you are used to in your own country.
I have found no more difficulty getting around Japan than getting around a British city.
I doubt that: I believe (but do not know) that postcodes can cover more than one chome ...
So I think you have to specify which chome.
"baka" or "noroma" are two options....
your postcode and the numeric elements of your chome (or whatever) are probably sufficient. Just numbers and hyphens.
Actually -you COULD probably just use numerics and STILL get your mail in Japan...
e.g the string "8150083,4-8-12-303" specifies a particular apartment and is all the post office really needs.
That said, of course we have addresses - fairly logical ones at that.
That's not a "sort of address" - it's an address - and a pretty logical one too, by British standards at least.
Japan names its intersections, not its roads, and generally names "what is bounded" rather than "what bounds it" (i.e. a road.)
Of course they have addresses!
I wrote a whole website to allow one to look up Japanese addresses in English: [http://diddlefinger.com] so I know of what I speak...
That said, I doubt I will be adding streetview to my maps site. People caught on it are too easily identifiable by neighbours in their area, despite the faces being fuzzed out.
LADP? DALP? PADL? (Up shit creek without, presumably...)
Why "Drizzle"? What a damp, depressing, generally wet name....
I use Joker.com and have done for many years - and have not had problems with them as a registrar (though see below...). They have replied to my (very) occasional emails in a timely and rational manner.
They are $12 for a .com, but if you have a lot of domains you can set yourself up as a reseller and pay around $7.20.
They did get DDOSd a few years ago, which WAS a problem for a day or two but I guess they have better redundancy sorted out now. They don't mess you around with trying to add on loads of extras when you buy a domain and there are no hidden gotchas.
The $12 includes full use of nameserver, email forwarding, etc. They are zero hassle and I have never felt that trust has been an issue.
(I have no association with them, I am just a satisfied customer)
Another option is (Pairnic.com?) who are very reputable, but a bit more expensive. than Joker.com
I clicked the link and got the article fine.
I am in Japan - I wonder if they are IP sniffing... (that's like - P sniffing, but your own... )
"Misspelt" is standard British English. "Misspelled" it also acceptable - and both are used.
Have a look on the BBC website for evidence of it being in common use in the UK.
http://search.bbc.co.uk/cgi-bin/search/results.pl?uri=%2F&scope=all&go=toolbar&q=misspelt
Where do I get this "with a girlfriend" release? .. of course with my luck, the "girlfriend" will be the openbsd version, and ship with all ports closed by default.
Birds killed by non-dead, non-live cat...
I too have lost family members, and the very last thing I would have wanted was complete strangers, who did not know them, conveying their sympathies. It would have been deeply impertinent. People not in a position of intimacy should keep their "respect" to themselves - and certainly not go around demanding that others show it.