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Japan's Universities Are Failing

foreignaffairs.com

191–200 of 202 posts

Re: Japan's Universities Are Failing

#191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There is such a huge gap between your incredibly bleak image of Japan and the lively, optimistic and impressive Japan that I live in. Yet you manage to tackle not a single one of those criticisms head on. Of course, nobody read anything into that. And revenge? For what? For someone not liking you? That right there points directly to what I don't find particularly sexy about lots of Asia but Japan especially, the ob…

The graph in the article you've linked to [1] shows that suicide rate in Japan is comparable to Switzerland and New Zealand. Maybe this problem in Japan just gets more media attention? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_in_Japan#/media/File:S...

It does get more attention because liberals have been trying to crack Japan for a long time through propaganda, trying to insist that Japan NEEDs to change. Of course these liberals are racist and hate cultural and tradition and always want to create upheaval and are rightly disregarded by Japan BECAUSE it has strong tradition.

Re: Japan's Universities Are Failing

#192
post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

countries In europe with massive immigration levels are not doIng extremely well. Lets not pretend immigration solves everything please.

I assume you are referring to the refugee crisis. Nobody claims that refugees help with the economy. Nobody is saying immigration solves everything.

Actually there are people in this thread who think that destroying culture is a positive thing, so people are in fact saying that and sometimes they are pushing for it whether they say it outright, or they do it without knowing it will be the consequence.

And as far as the places that have refugees where people are not happy about it, many people are insisting that refugees "help the economy" as a reason it should continue of course it's a narrow assessment and totally invalidates citizens concerns and that's the problem. Not to mention those pushing for refugees never seem to live in the neighborhoods where the burden or problems will need shouldered. It's always some moral stance rather than an empirical one and frankly a citizens preference to not have to deal with the trouble should be the first consideration but lately it hasn't been.

Re: Japan's Universities Are Failing

#194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So called 'target' schools for CS are largely not elite. People will be impressed by a degree from Harvard or MIT but I doubt you'd ever get a reaction for UIUC or the University of Texas.

(as someone who went to a CS target school) I would disagree with this, I would argue what you did also matters and who you're trying to impress

Yes, I would agree with your statement that what matters is who you're trying to impress. If you want to impress a graduate admissions committee, they are going to prefer certain schools for various reasons. When I think of an "elite" school, I am thinking in a more traditional sense. You aren't networking with the offspring of the people who are running countries and industries, the overall reputation and the type of students who attend are what separates "target" and "elite" schools. Outside of job interviews you don't really have the option to go through your CV and explain your research and related publications. Telling someone that you went to school in New Haven is much more impressive than telling them you went to CMU for this reason. I doubt Mark Zuckerberg would have met an Eduardo Saverin at CMU or UIUC.

Re: Japan's Universities Are Failing

#195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I have heard of cases where students join a company and end up working on projects not remotely related to their research interests. This is normal worldwide - they hire you for your problem-solving skills, not for your tiny research niche

I would have to disagree with "normal"-- many phd students at top (CS) univs in Europe and US can get hired for research-relevant work - e.g. off the top of my head Goog Research, MSR, FAIR, Uber, Snapchat, AirBnB hire a non-trivial # of Phd researchers for relevant fields -- that said some fields are better fits, e.g. a typical exmaple being stochastic modeling tends to align well /w finance.

Then apply to those companies. If they're willing to apply for visas for Indian and Chinese grads, there's no reason they'd have a problem doing the same for Japanese grads.

Re: Japan's Universities Are Failing

#196

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" So much of modern Japanese life has been molded by the American occupation." Very true. But it's also fundamentally different than if the American influence were to have come from 10 or 20 million actual Americans living in Japan. "Have they not accepted American culture?" America does not have a culture in the classical sense of the term, or to be more fair - it's a new kind of culture . Ergo - there is a 'lot les…

> no cuisine I dunno. Poutine is pretty tasty.

Poutine is Junk Food sold at McDonalds and CostCo. I would not call it "Canadian Cuisine".

If you go to any food court in Canada what you will find is a myriad of ethnic foods: Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese, Mexican, Italian, Lebanese, etc.

Re: Japan's Universities Are Failing

#197
post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll indulge your request but I doubt it matters. My experience is mine and yours is different. The point I make above is that the relentless doomsaying about Japan is totally outside my experience and has no reality in my daily life. Am I just lucky? Yes and no. First, I'm not an authority on Japan. I've lived here for three years about but have a history of spending long stretches of time here that goes back over a…

Thank you for your response. It has made clearer to me the view of Japan from a newer generation of Americans (small, but definitely non-zero). Some comments: - Japan, as you see it now and to a large extent as I saw it when I most recently lived there, has a lot of quality of life (QoL) benefits that are common. Things like safety, nice people, high attention to detail, relative lack of poverty, etc. are so common i…

Thank you, too, for a civilized back-and-forth. In the end, we all carry the perspective of whatever personal gauntlet we've run. To say that one man's trash is another man's treasure is not much a condemnation of garbage lovers as a celebration of our ability to keep things alive, I think.

Re: Japan's Universities Are Failing

#198
post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> no cuisine I dunno. Poutine is pretty tasty.

Poutine is Junk Food sold at McDonalds and CostCo. I would not call it "Canadian Cuisine". If you go to any food court in Canada what you will find is a myriad of ethnic foods: Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese, Mexican, Italian, Lebanese, etc.

that's the same everywhere. Tokyo's department store restaurants contain a bit of everything. Paris is filled with ethnic food.

Re: Japan's Universities Are Failing

#199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(as someone who went to a CS target school) I would disagree with this, I would argue what you did also matters and who you're trying to impress

Yes, I would agree with your statement that what matters is who you're trying to impress. If you want to impress a graduate admissions committee, they are going to prefer certain schools for various reasons. When I think of an "elite" school, I am thinking in a more traditional sense. You aren't networking with the offspring of the people who are running countries and industries, the overall reputation and the type o…

Ah I apologize for misunderstanding -- I agree with this point quite well

Re: Japan's Universities Are Failing

#200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Modern Japan was founded in 1868 and then destroyed and rebuilt again in WW2. The people have been there that long, but the country and culture haven't.

i dont even know where to begin with how wrong this is. what culture is something like Todai-Ji a part of? since japan was apparently invented in 1868

Modern Japan isn't building Shinto shrines, they're making ugly concrete towers and those houses that seem to be made out of bathroom tile.
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