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How Japanese black companies oppress workers (2014)

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Re: How Japanese black companies oppress workers (2014)

#221
post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Shinzo Abe getting shot Assassinated, you mean.

Typically when a sitting leader of a country gets shot it's not by their own accord.

1. Wasn’t the sitting leader 2. Assassination is predicated on politics/religion/“impetus greater than oneself.” The murder in this case was personal

Re: How Japanese black companies oppress workers (2014)

#222
post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Most people" are not dependent on health insurance for their average needs, except in the long-term or unexpectedly. Then of course, being unemployed, you have the option of COBRA (you probably don't want that though), and if it does not make you immediately eligible for Medicaid in your state (40 of 50 have Medicaid expansion), it would make you eligible for the ACA subsidized plans. NB: more than one-third of empl…

My wife was once a day light on her birth control. Nine months later, she delivered a boy. For most women of child bearing age, between birth control and annual visits, healthcare is pretty important.

Birth control is available over the counter in the US. If you have specific need, it’s very cheap and your doctor will almost always just call in refills without charging you. The meds themselves are not expensive.

Annual visits are also not actually that important. They’re perfunctory. They can certainly be put off for a few months in a ok except a few one in a million cases.

And at any rate, as I said, losing your job in the US means your insurance is disrupted, not that you are now uninsured. Pregnancy even in states without Medicaid expansion will get the mother and child on Medicaid.

Of course, at the risk of being silly, it’s also true that missing a day of birth control is not what got your wife pregnant. ;) it’s pretty surprising to me how many people (now with children) thought birth control meant they wouldn’t get pregnant. There definitely needs to be better education on this. Taking birth control, even regularly, even with an IUD, is more like a backstop and should not be relied on for your primary protection. The odds are low but when you play them a few times a week for ten years…

Re: How Japanese black companies oppress workers (2014)

#223
post #205

The term "black", etimologicaly speaking, is racist and should not be used. Japanese culture seems also to be racist, so not a surprise. Instead of "black companies", kindly use "evil companies" instead.

I suppose that's also why Japanese martial artists work their way toward a black belt.

I don't think this is related to what I mentioned. I'm truly surprised that this subject is not relevant to you or, treated like if I was joking. I am just saying the term has indeed the connotation of "what is black is wrong". I failed in providing an article to corroborate with my position. I will try to find something.

Re: How Japanese black companies oppress workers (2014)

#224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The main issue for foreigners is that the pay is low. The culture can be bad (especially around tech) but it's not that bad. If you're really good, as I'd hope the people on here are, you can get into a foreign company and get paid… more than the average native.

The pay is low, but the cost of living is also surprisingly low. It doesn’t take much to get by, so long as you’re not living in the most desirable areas in Tokyo.

Sure, but unless you're going to stay forever you have more reason to care about costs wherever you came from. Might want to buy a house back there, or pay off student loans.

Re: How Japanese black companies oppress workers (2014)

#225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're going to be this pedantic, I'll point out that specifying it was a shooting is both more accurate and, given the gun laws, more significant politically.

This may be the most absurd thing ive read on HN. To be clear, are you really suggesting someone breaking gun laws was more significant than the murder of the head of state?

I feel that some clarification is warranted, because the wording in your various replies can be misleading. Although the term "assassinated" is not invalid in this case, based on what you seem to imply, your arguments for why it should be preferred in this instance are moot. You might not be wrong, but maybe choose different arguments.

1. Abe was not in power at the time he was shot. He was giving a campaign speech in support of a running member of his party.

2. Abe was not specifically targeted for his political views or policies. He was a victim of convenience. That is, the real target was the Unification Church. An organization deeply entrenched in the Japanese political sphere and which the killer had a clear personal vendetta against. Abe was a visible public figure with ties to the UC. He was also more accessible to the shooter.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Shinzo_Abe

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetsuya_Yamagami

From the first link:

Abe's killing has been described as one of the most effective and successful political assassinations in recent history due to the backlash against the UC that it provoked. The Economist remarked that "... Yamagami's political violence has proved stunningly effective ... Political violence seldom fulfils so many of its perpetrator's aims." Writing for The Atlantic, Robert F. Worth described Yamagami as "among the most successful assassins in history."

The success spoken of here has nothing to do with Abe or his policies. It's rather about the subsequent rise in public awareness and purge of UC's members from Japanese politics.

Re: How Japanese black companies oppress workers (2014)

#226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least in IT, it's not even necessary to emigrate- foreign owned companies offer significantly better salaries and working conditions. The sticking point is English ability. It's genuinely a very difficult thing to learn a second language to the point of being workplace-functional in it, and an additional level of daily stress and mental effort to do everything in your non-native language. The culture here doesn't…

But isn't it kinda mandatory for any IT person to speak usable English, worldwide? Even if super closed societies where language education sucks beyond imagination, like Russia, they mostly do.

Well, it's true that most my my colleagues can read English well enough to get the gist of docs and Stack Overflow, but when it comes to speaking, they don't know how to pronounce a lot of the words, to the point of being very difficult for the listener to understand, and struggle to put together a coherent sentence (particularly in the short timeframe needed to have a smooth conversation). They also find speaking English to be highly stressful and generally avoid it as much as they can.

Re: How Japanese black companies oppress workers (2014)

#227
post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This may be the most absurd thing ive read on HN. To be clear, are you really suggesting someone breaking gun laws was more significant than the murder of the head of state?

I feel that some clarification is warranted, because the wording in your various replies can be misleading. Although the term "assassinated" is not invalid in this case, based on what you seem to imply, your arguments for why it should be preferred in this instance are moot. You might not be wrong, but maybe choose different arguments. 1. Abe was not in power at the time he was shot. He was giving a campaign speech i…

This is the exact reason I wrote "shot" instead of "assassinated".

Re: How Japanese black companies oppress workers (2014)

#228
post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This may be the most absurd thing ive read on HN. To be clear, are you really suggesting someone breaking gun laws was more significant than the murder of the head of state?

I feel that some clarification is warranted, because the wording in your various replies can be misleading. Although the term "assassinated" is not invalid in this case, based on what you seem to imply, your arguments for why it should be preferred in this instance are moot. You might not be wrong, but maybe choose different arguments. 1. Abe was not in power at the time he was shot. He was giving a campaign speech i…

I'm not following the least bit. I said it's more accurate to say Abe was assassinated than simply "was shooted at", you say no and then proceed to use three sources which promptly talk about how Abe was assassinated. I presume we are talking of different things at this point.

Re: How Japanese black companies oppress workers (2014)

#229
post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually live in the Japanese countryside, so let me tell you that there are two reasons why those houses are so cheap: 1. The construction quality of the average Japanese house is absolute garbage. Most likely you will need to demolish it and rebuild from scratch. 2. Outside of the big cities, Japan sucks hard. The average small city or village is just a bunch of big box stores and houses scattered everywhere. Man…

>The average small city or village is just a bunch of big box stores and houses scattered everywhere. This sounds much like rural America. Houses scattered everywhere, and a super Walmart. The big difference I've noticed here in Japan (I live in Tokyo), at least from my window on the train going through rural areas, is that the houses tend to be clustered together much more closely. In rural America, everyone wants m…

I understand what you mean, and perhaps "a collection of hamlets" is a more accurate description.

In my experience, your perception depends heavily on your personal background. The city where I live (Misawa) hosts an American military base, and when talking with them nobody ever complaints about the urban sprawl, I guess it is normal for them.

However, I am from Spain, a country where even small villages are very compact (we prefer to build all the houses together, and keep the farms outside), so for me Japanese villages feel very sparse. Another big difference is that in Spain we value public areas (the third space), and here public spaces range between infrequent and not-existent.

Re: How Japanese black companies oppress workers (2014)

#230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

US healthcare is a market but not for patients. Insurance, employers and hospitals negotiate a lot. But people who get employer based insurance just have to accept what they are given. Pretty crazy.

Don’t most large employers essentially self insure? They only outsource the administration to insurance companies, not the float.

Sure. The point is that the employer does all the selecting of options and the patient/employer has to take what the employer chose. No market for the patient.
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