kininaru news — July 12, 2007
Posted by Matt Dioguardi on July 12th, 2007
Kininaru News is an irregular feature of this blog in which I comment on some of the headlines in the news.
Blowing off a bit more steam today …
Punishments planned for firms that leak data about residents
Comment: It’s about time that private companies be punished. However, if you read the article this seems to be partially about passing the buck. The main problem is the government sub-contracting out work for things like juki-net, and then the relevant data being leaked. You literally have cases of people at these subcontractors taking data home so they can “work” on it, and then the information getting sucked onto the internet via a virus and winny.
Just hopeless control methods. A complete absence of control. Structural changes would be far more effective than promised jail time.
Study of Chinese, Korean increasing / High schools lead the way in hope of deepening friendship with neighbors
Comment: Well, it’s about time. According to this article in the past after English, French and German were the most offered languages. Talk about western-hemisphere-envy. In a perfect world, English would be optional alongside Chinese and Korean. Also, get rid of the mind numbing study of old Japanese — this will give students more time to study Chinese or Korean …
Govt won’t seek A-bomb apology from U.S.
Comment: Some lawmakers requested to Abe’s cabinet that it request an apology from America for the atomic bombs. An official response was given as follows:
“More than 60 years have passed since the end of World War II and it is at present more important to continue realistic and steady efforts to realize a peaceful and safe world without nuclear arms, than to seek an apology from the United States.”
Reasonable enough.
Upper house campaigning to officially begin
Comment: Great, there will be cars and trucks to no end driving through my neighborhood doing nothing but shouting the name of their candidate with ear piercing intensity. I’ve often fantasized about getting a baseball bat and … never mind …
Mystery cash found in 16 more pref
Comment: There is somebody or someone leaving envelopes with ¥10,000 in public restrooms across Japan. These restrooms are always in city offices.
Could it be part of the missing pension funds? I wonder how many people actually just pocket the money without reporting it? Maybe I’ll go by city hall for lunch today …
Govt to push collection of all back pension dues
Comment: Some companies don’t pay premiums to the government for their employees like they are supposed to. The government can take legal action but only up to about two years. If after two years the government hasn’t done anything a statue of limitations kicks in.
Now the government wants to get rid of this statue of limitations. Sound like an act of desperation.
Is there any movement, no matter how small, that wants to end the pension funds altogether?
Child abuse consultations at record high
Comment: The number is up to 37,343. This is 34 times higher than it was in 1990. That’s pretty sad. However, numbers like this often represent changes in a willingness to seek help in abuse cases. So there might be a positive aspect to this. I don’t understand how the system works, but this might be the case of parents seeking help. If so, then an increase is not the worse thing in the world.
Children 10 times safer buckled in
Comment: The statistics used to generate this headline are really poor. In general, the statistics would seem to suggest that most children, in general, don’t die in traffic accidents. A more interesting statistic is the one for people who don’t use child safety seats in Japan, 46.9%
I regularly see ludicrous things, such as a little girl sitting in her father’s lap while he drives, children standing in cars and so on. However, in America I often did similar things as a child. So there you go.