Grab 'em by the blog again!

Welp, this blog petered out after the 2008 election, Facebook, and a number of other things. Now, with the ascension of the Tangerine Caudillo, it's time to find somewhere to let loose the rage, and my poor officemates have probably had enough.

Oddly enough, because I'll be sharing these to Facebook, I've had enough of seeing some of the BS put up there. There's a real surfeit of crap "news" stories out there, and they need to be covered. Additionally, I would like to find an outlet to post some work-related stuff, particularly because this past year my lessons have been rather scattershot and disjointed, and I would like to develop a clearer blueprint to developing my lessons. There will probably be a lot of interesting stuff in them, touching on culture and life in Japan, as well as topics that have become important to me like the environment, work-life balance, consumer consumption, and how the things we buy in one place affect people all over the world.

I will also probably be doing it will heavily intoxicated, since that's about the only way I'll make it through the next 4 to 8(god forbid, because my liver probably can't take that long) years. Cheers!

from email

testing 1,2,3

Testing

Round 2

KL Int'l airport, 6:30am

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should've smuggled more booze into Malaysia. Only brought a decent bottle of port since the limit is 1L of anything. But customs didn't even pretend to check, they just sit at empty, roped-off check stations. I totally could've brought in 6 or 8 bottles. As it is, a lovely cabin attendant gave me flasks of cointreau, rum & cognac because we chatted during the flight. Oh, and she gave me a bottle of white wine after I told her I couldn't sleep during flights.

In other airport news, I can tolerate the French -- they're like Americans who can't speak English. But I can't abide by CDG airport security making me throw out an empty water bottle. That is only second to the lunacy of KL and Singapore, who do the security check at the gate, so you can't fill up your water bottle before boarding (and you can't put liquor in storage outside customs, hence my hesitancy to buy lots of wine only to have it confiscated at KL customs).

Ticker with live video feed of how much oil is going into the Gulf

eVolo, an architecture and design journal, had it's 2010 skyscraper competition recently. I'm rather disturbed by the winners, they created a prison in the sky (really, guys? Is this what we've come to?)

Besides that, we get some more interesting entries, such as a skyscraper that purifies polluted rivers, or underwater 'skyscrapers'.

I'd recommend Inhabit's other articles, they have more underwater buildings, among other interesting, fantastical designs.

New National Insurance rules

A year ago, the Japanese government published revised rules for work visa renewal. The most prominent change was the requirement that people show proof of national insurance when they renew. The problem is, most foreigners aren't on national insurance. Despite there being a law requiring EVERYONE to enroll, most eikaiwa (English conversation schools) did not -- and still do not -- enroll their employees. Instead, they changed the work hours to 29.5 hrs/week (by changing what counted as 'work' and what counted as unpaid 'preparation time', like walking to the classroom) to skirt these laws. Now, despite the fact that the companies who brought people in neglected to inform them of their responsibilities, workers would be punished by having to enroll in national insurance AND pay back dues on all the time they were in Japan. So, for myself, I've been in Japan 6 years and could potentially owe more than $10,000 in back insurance payments that I will have to pay if I want to continue working, despite being covered under private insurance that I was told was sufficient (my first employer, NOVA, had me enrolled in their company plan, JMA. After I changed jobs to Interac, I was covered under Interglobal, where I remain to this day). Now, I wouldn't be opposed to enrolling in Japan's national plan. what I object to is being told that I must back pay thousands of dollars because I was misinformed.

Well, since my visa expires April 8th, and the new guidelines take effect April 1st, I've been paralyzed by the fear of having to enroll. Not to mention, little to nothing was said on this topic after the initial announcement. Now, it seems, proof of enrollment will not be grounds for visa denial. At least, that's what the Japan Times says. But then again, somebody in the immigration office has it out for me (I've had 2 consecutive 1 year visas, despite having had a 3 yr one before and everyone else getting 3 yrs), so I'm sure I'll be the one who gets denied and deported.

The Legality of ALTs

Here's an interesting read on the legality of ALTs in Japan being employed by dispatch companies. It seems most things about ALTs are illegal. We'll see if things change with the new insurance rules for visa renewal (NOTE: see my next post for more on that).

Hire Bernie Madoff

After reading this interview, perhaps Madoff should be used like Frank Abagnale, Jr. and he can go to work for the SEC, since they evidently don't know what the hell they were doing. Remember, Madoff only got caught because his sons turned him in after he confessed to them.

Secondary lesson: don't teach your children to be honest if you're going to break the law.