scary thought

and following :)

Bye Jack

I think there's a sushi joint down the street from me called Takata. The California maki is to die for.

It is almost guaranteed that more than 50% of all univerity-educated Japanese will understand English VERY well! However, if they speak English with you, you can assume they don't understand all you have said, but they will NEVER indicate they didn't understand that last sentence. So, figuring out what they didn't "get" can be REALLY tough.

It's funny. Some Japanese speak PERFECLY pronounced English but couldn't give instructions on how to find the bathroom down the hall, others speak with an accent so strong you have trouble understanding them, but can debate the finest points of Shakespeare, indicating they have read VASTLY in English.

Jon

I've owned several Japanese-built Toyotas and Hondas. The reliability of those cars is pretty legendary. The attention to INSANE levels of life- cycle testing to achieve that has to be remarkable. We've also had some US- built Toyotas, and there was a definite difference in reliability. A couple things I can mention. One is the Japanese plastic headlights NEVER got hazy, the US-built ones developed the typical haze after some years. Also, the windshield fluid tank on the US one crazed and eventually crumbled and had to be replaced. Never seen that on the Japanese-built ones. This is the kind of problem that you can't test once for. You have to have materials in the lab for YEARS to know if they will hold up over the long haul.

Jon

If you assume the original owner only keeps a car for 2 years, you can think a lot of this stuff doesn't matter. But, of course, resale value of a car DOES matter, even to that guy who sells his car at 2 years. Just compare the percentage resale value of a Honda or Toyota against a US-label car, at perhaps 5 years old. It is a REALLY huge difference. And, new car buyers are certainly aware of it.

I converted over to Toyota years ago, now keeping Toyotas and Hondas. But, my wife convinced me to buy a 15-passenger Dodge van in 1990, I think. It got about $3000 in warranty work while we had it. Unbelievable stuff constantly went wrong with it. After the warranty ran out, I had to fix it, and that was a lot. The refrigerant lines to the rear A/C were aluminum, and held in rubber clamps. These exuded sulfuric fumes or something and ate the aluminum tubes. They would last less than 2 years before needing to be replaced. I can understand a mindset where anything that lasted as long as the warranty was fine, and we don't care what breaks after. But, it is totally insane to design a vehicle so badly that THOUSANDS of dollars of stuff is breaking DURING the warranty.

Jon

I'm fond of Dragon Rolls, which are fried something inside rice topped with avacado and unagi.

When I was in Japan, our host took us to an unagi restaurant. Some of the eel portions looked like steaks. They said that they couldn't afford it except as a business expense.

That is not a matter of testing I don't think. It is a question of materials. It would seem the US cars are made with different materials. Headlight lens can be made of glass, perhaps the overseas made Toyota cars use glass lenses? I have a 19 year old T100 with no problem from materials other than the headlights. The washer tank is still doing fine.

They did use plastic covers on the steering stops which fall off well within the warranty period. They never changed the design that I know of and they were replaced twice under warranty.

sh

ing

ate

I've been to a lot of conferences in the US and Europe. Some presenters wit h very interesting ideas, and quite a lot with PhDs presenting new ideas th at really does not amount to anything (easy to spot it by the paper title, usually starting with "Novel")

I see a trend of quite a lot of Chinese presenters the last 10 years, some completely impossible to understand what they are saying even if the paper is flawless. Some with perfect presentations, but when asked a question the y are clueless. (they learn the sound of the English words, but don't know what they are saying)

Granted, some are impressive, really good work ethics, putting long hours a nd have very deep knowledge of the field

Very few US presenters (not counting Chinese and India imports). Funny thin g about manors. The Asians keep it low key, the same with the Europeans. Th e US guys like to talk loud like they are smart, but it's just for show. So me US guys even like to stand in the back of the room when several hundred people are listening to a presentation, yapping on a cell phone (I might ju st be unlucky to have those experiences)

Cheers

Klaus

It's on my list of places to visit before I'm 40. Last year I think JAL started direct flights between Boston and Narita - apparently getting a 787 to use on that route was the only way they could make the numbers work.

lish

hey

uring

't

ak

ebate

ith very interesting ideas, and quite a lot with PhDs presenting new ideas that really does not amount to anything (easy to spot it by the paper title , usually starting with "Novel")

e completely impossible to understand what they are saying even if the pape r is flawless. Some with perfect presentations, but when asked a question t hey are clueless. (they learn the sound of the English words, but don't kno w what they are saying)

and have very deep knowledge of the field

ing about manors. The Asians keep it low key, the same with the Europeans. The US guys like to talk loud like they are smart, but it's just for show. Some US guys even like to stand in the back of the room when several hundre d people are listening to a presentation, yapping on a cell phone (I might just be unlucky to have those experiences)

Not at all, there are lots of us "US guys" with terrible manors. We don't do hierarchy well either, maybe that's related.

George H.

Can't afford a terrible castle.

ote:

English

t they

figuring

ldn't

speak

n debate

s with very interesting ideas, and quite a lot with PhDs presenting new ide as that really does not amount to anything (easy to spot it by the paper ti tle, usually starting with "Novel")

some completely impossible to understand what they are saying even if the p aper is flawless. Some with perfect presentations, but when asked a questio n they are clueless. (they learn the sound of the English words, but don't know what they are saying)

urs and have very deep knowledge of the field

thing about manors. The Asians keep it low key, the same with the European s. The US guys like to talk loud like they are smart, but it's just for sho w. Some US guys even like to stand in the back of the room when several hun dred people are listening to a presentation, yapping on a cell phone (I mig ht just be unlucky to have those experiences)

Chuckle, if we all had terrible castles this place would be in ruins.

George H.

I don't, personally, have a terrible manor but the cow farm 'bout a half mile down the road does. Fortunately, it's northeast of me so the only time the fumes come my way is during a coastal storm when the winds move too fast to pick up a significant concentration of terrible.

Oh I live with many more cows in my county than people. Every spring, every field gets a good coating of old cow excrement. To me that's part of the smells of spring, perhaps not the best smell, but there it is. (better than skunk) Down in the valley I've driven by fields with big tanker trucks and sprayers... enough ammonia (or whatever) to make your eyes water.... But that's why the fields are in the valleys and home's up on the valley sides.

George H.

No, I'm sure they are all using plastic lenses for weight reduction.

Jon

It isn't all that different from bankers LIBOR and exchange rate fixing or insiders using knowledge of customer orders to spike share prices.

Likewise there is a high profile German engineering scandal of fiddling the CO2 emissions by detecting being on test. I reckon to some extent that is fair game the emission tests should have been more realistic!

All compilers game the benchmarks to some extent.

Business expenses restaurants can be insanely expensive but there are backstreet unagi (and other delicacy snack bars) in central Tokyo that are cheap and cater for the ordinary worker if you know where to look. .

Plenty of places in between and street food too. I had a reputation of eating anything after taking a liking to nattou (think fermented baked beans in Evo-stick smelling of dustbin and you are not far off). Closest thing I came to in Japan to a strong blue cheese.

Out in the sticks this would win my hosts a bottle of whisky from some unsuspecting local. I actually really liked uni (sea urchin eggs) too. Most of the other "local delicacies" I would eat quite happily though the odd one I would not be keen to repeat (a rancid Bombay duck like dried fish speciality of the Ise peninsular springs to mind).

Sashimi is the thing to try in Japan where the fish will be very fresh.

If you get homesick their French restaurants are quite convincing imitations of proper high class French food (expensive) and they learnt their excellent chocolate making skills from the Portuguese. Failing that there is always Disneyland - though we never got that desperate.

McDonalds, Wendys, Shakeys and KFC are there too.

Wandering round the food level of a big department store on a weekend is one way to sample random snippets of Japanese food for free.

Save up plenty of spending money then - Japan is very expensive compared to the USA or the UK if you are on the tourist track. Buy Japan rail rover tickets in advance as overseas tourists.

Rough Guide to Japan will have current tips on where to stay.

I wouldn't rate it quite that high but certainly 30% of graduates can follow most of what English people are saying. But you are right that they will never let on if they didn't understand something important.

It is very dangerous in negotiations in Japan when Westerners do not realise quite how much of what they say is being understood. Towards the end of my time in Japan I could play that game back on them.

My Japanese overtook the English of the dimmest of our native Japanese engineers after about 3 years in the country. It is amazing how far you can get with a few key phrases (spoken with an Ibaraki accent).

Our language teachers took great pride in arming us with a few phrases that implied a deeper knowledge than we had and set piece responses.

Our manual translators were very good at understanding written English but particularly shy about speaking it. I was prepared to murder the language, draw diagrams or point at things to get things done.

We used to have the curious job of correcting the Japanese CEO's presentations in English for a European audience. We would leave tiny Japaneseisms in to show the audience that it was not native speaker written. We did one initially that was perfect and it didn't work since he found the correct native English speaker phrasing un-natural.

It's apparently become easier now with crowdsourced rental places like AirBNB.

If you want to stay in Ryokan and 3-4 star hotels in Tokyo, eat at flash restaurants and hit up all the hot nightlife, then sure the sky is the limit.

If you're OK with staying in someone's spare bedroom, eating bento and at izakaya, and seeing mostly free/cheap sights, it can probably be pulled off on a hundred bucks a day.

I wonder if super-thin 'gorilla glass' type lenses couldn't be even lighter.

--sp