Posts by Jim Cathcart
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Even stuffy NHK (Japan national broadcaster) fits in Al Jaz before the BBC from 7:20-7:30 on their morning international news slot. I notice that it's always dubbed directly from the Arabic as opposed to the English version. Without wanting to pump sclerotic NHK too much, I've always found their documentaries on the Middle East to be closer to the pulse than what I have seen in English.
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What's up with the cops? Is this just another case of institutional racism towards Chinese women?
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I think it's bleeding obvious why she was she nicknamed "Pumpkin," and can't really work out why it was (or is) an issue.
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The RWC on Mediazone is not available in UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Greece, and Cyprus. Mind you, even in in Japan, we're getting wonderful coverage through cable TV. Also ealizing that a cable package installation includes broadcasting, internet service and IP telephone services for $100 a month makes it all tast pretty sweet.
Following the cricket world cup through the internet was much easier. And the previous limited overseas series amongst Aust, NZ and England was an excellent deal through the ABC.
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Peter,
It's one battle won and marginal 0n a global scale (not making it any less important though). I don't think the links I posted are that "dull." In fact, I think they both pose different perspectives on bigotry in media. Sure, it it's all about sticking it to well-known white racontuers in the NZ media....
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From today's Japan Times, an interesting article on the issue of the Western media and racism in the reporting of the murders of two white females (an English teacher and a bar hostess) in Japan.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20070612zg.html
The JT also gives voice to the protest against a vile publication wholly focused crime and foreigners. This charming expose was widely available in your local convenience store until a bunch of English teachers and activists took them on.
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I remember the days of $13 per week in the old workers dwellings at the back of Greggs Coffee factory in Dunedin. I since hear that the flats have been snapped up by a marketing guy from Shotover Jet who reams the poor scarfies.
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Living in Japan has some disturbing realities about property. It is generally believed that property and land prices have depreciated by 80% since their peak. Along with that, the $15 coffees in Tokyo have disappeared and you'll get a good cup of Japanese bitter for around $2.50. Oh, and I can even suck on a Heineken for $3.20 or a Hoegaarden for $5:50 in downtown Osaka on a Friday night. A colleague has recently bought a lodge that sleeps 30-40 people with a view of the Nagano Winter Olympics downhill course for less than the median price of a house in Otara. You can get a solid 70-square-meter apartment for around $1000 a month in a nice, leafy (OK, relatively) part of Osaka. Why so cheap? Because the economy is driven on actual production and exchange not asset inflation and debt.
You will also see the Japanese houswives beaming at the posters hanging in bank windows offering term deposits in NZ dollars offering at least 20 times the interest they would earn on a yen savings account. Obviously, the exchange rate risk is there but most of them have probably also enjoyed another 10% as the Kiwi dollar shoots for the stars. I wonder how much of this property boom is funded by the noble, tight-stringed Japanese housewife.
It is a particularly Anglo-Saxon notion that property appreciates forever. Go ask the Germans. Sure, Australia and NZ are unique in that this property bubble is driven on the supply side, but to think that it couldn't slowly deflate over time is a little naive.