It’s Just Be Cause time again, and Mr Arudou tackles what he labels "microagression", but what I would call "making small talk". It’s difficult for me to find any stand-out nonsense, but I think my readers more versed in the social sciences may be able to fight their way through verbiage like "since NJ subordination [...]
Tag Archives: just be cause
Microaggression: the new scapegoat for our ills
Posted by Ken Y-N (aka Tepido Naruhodo) on May 1, 2012
103 comments
A twice emigrant speaks on immigration
Posted by Ken Y-N (aka Tepido Naruhodo) on March 6, 2012
211 comments
Yes, it’s Just Be Cause time again. No, it’s not the hoped-for wrap-up. Yes, it’s poor, even more poor than usual. About the new special immigration scheme: You must get 70 points on the Justice Ministry’s qualifying scale (see www.moj.go.jp/content/000083223.pdf) And it’s tough, really tough. Take the test and see if you qualify (I don’t). [...]
An Unhappy New Year from Mr Arudou
Posted by Ken Y-N (aka Tepido Naruhodo) on January 2, 2012
126 comments
And here we have this month’s moan annual roundup of the top 10 human rights events that affected Japan’s non-Japanese (NJ) residents last year: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fl20120103ad.html (BTW, is anyone else finding the JT site slow? The smrtlnks.com site seems to be holding things up) Number 10: Kim Jong Il dies Umm, that’s reaching a bit. Number [...]
Fairness in Mr Arudou’s Japan
Posted by Ken Y-N (aka Tepido Naruhodo) on December 5, 2011
97 comments
The latest Just Be Cause is out! I actually rate this one as "fair", with only a couple of and no , thankfully free of Fukushima and, wonders never cease, he uses foreigner throughout instead of NJ. Two discrepancies I noticed were: "Now that you are a Japanese citizen, we (want to protect your human [...]
Just Be Cause… I Hate Japan
Posted by Ken Y-N (aka Tepido Naruhodo) on November 1, 2011
145 comments
This month’s Just Be Cause is a spew of hate and, quite frankly, racism: That is precisely what tatemae does to Japanese society. It makes everyone into a politician, changing the truth to suit their audience, garner support or deflect criticism and responsibility. One point I find interesting is that he appears to blame the [...]
‘Libertylessness’ wrecks marriages, threatens nation’s future
Posted by Ken Y-N (aka Tepido Naruhodo) on September 10, 2011
70 comments
I am proud to translate an article from a well-known newspaper in the US for Japanese ex-pats, written by the naturalised ethnic Japanese 田中花子. By Flowerchild MIDFIELD, reprinted with permission from the Mainichi Beikoku First, an axiom: Healthy adults are at liberty throughout their lives, and this should not necessarily change just because people get [...]
The predictable money shot
Posted by Ken Y-N (aka Tepido Naruhodo) on September 6, 2011
91 comments
In this month’s Just Be Case, Mr Arudou goes on the search for poon tang, in an article that comes to a predictable climax. I suspect we all know the statistics that are rehashed in Mr Arudou’s column (but why is he quoting 2005 and 2006 articles?), but it’s when he tries to draw his [...]
Nae mates Arudou
Posted by Ken Y-N (aka Tepido Naruhodo) on August 2, 2011
165 comments
Noting that it’s easy to stalk guess the URL for this month’s Just Be Cause, here is The loneliness of the long-distance foreigner a little ahead of the official publication time. Most of the article is a rehash of a previous blog post, but I did find the disclaimers at the bottom laugh out loud [...]
A eulogy for flyjin?
Posted by Ken Y-N (aka Tepido Naruhodo) on July 4, 2011
65 comments
As a place-holder for our favourite monthly event (fellow editors, please feel free to add the URL when it appears!), I’m posting about this month’s Just Be Cause, which when I read the first half of Mr Arudou’s preview seemed to be quite a serious look at issues relating to a friend who died, but [...]