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Ocean11

SnowJapan Member
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Posts posted by Ocean11

  1. I investigated the possibility of getting a cheque for 12 quid paid into my UK bank. I knew the hopeless bastards wouldn't be able to do it, but the first thing the hopeless young woman did was to make two copies of it. Then she showed her hopeless boss the copy and the cheque, and the hopeless bastard spent several long moments comparing the cheque with the copy, even though he had been eyeballing the whole procedure with a look of constipated anxiety the whole time and ought to have known they were the same. You should have seen the hopeless bastard jump when I said loudly "MATTAKU ONAJI DESSSSSSSSS!"

     

    Naturally there were excellent reasons why a Japanese bank can't cash or bank a cheque. Even if they could, the fees would have eaten up the sum anyway.

  2. Originally Posted By: Go Native
    I believe there is also something powerful about becoming a citizen of a country. Especially when it's your choice rather than just being born somewhere. I don't believe that's vague at all. I think gaijin would gain a lot more respect in Japan if more became citizens and participated actively at all levels of Japanese society


    Powerful in what way specifically? That's just an empty expression. I participate in everything my neighbours do except voting. Some of my neighbours even seem to think I have citizenship already. Perhaps they're respecting me for that, all unaware of how wrong they are?

    Originally Posted By: Go Native

    It certainly doesn't harm anything does it? Or can you just not see how any gaijin could possibly love Japan so much that they'd be willing to become a Japanese citizen? confused


    Well, with the non-transparent way that it's set up now, you could say that it is harmful to comply with it. Why submit to such unreasonableness? Having this tyrannical admission procedure doesn't actually make the country of Japan more 'loveable'. If it were easier and transparent, I would do it for the sake of convenience, not because I love Japan but because I don't give a toss about nationality.

    As Little Tubby Beaver says, you would still face discrimination. That Debito fellow in Hokkers up there seems to have become Japanese just so he can make the point ad nauseam.
  3. Originally Posted By: Go Native
    It's a bit like saying what kind of vague bullshit is marriage.


    Not at all. You can make a real commitment to a person, which generally works better within some sort of formalized framework. With something as big and amorphous as a country, it's just ... vague bullshit. (Sarah Palin is a good example of where that sort of thing leads.)

    When you make this 'commitment' to Japan, what does that mean? Are you going to fight for the country? Spy for it? Throw your electoral weight behind some politician? Pay taxes? What would you do as a citizen that you wouldn't otherwise do?
  4. Originally Posted By: Go Native
    I think the real question is why wouldn't you? What is stopping you if you are committed to living out the rest of your life in Japan? It shows a strong commitment to the country you have decided to live in and you are rewarded with every right that a native Japanese has.
    So if you are intending on living in Japan for the rest of your life why wouldn't you become a Japanese citizen?
    Although you are meant to give up your birth countrys' citizenship, from what I've read it appears pretty easy to get around this. Certainly I think if the Japanese allowed dual citizenship you'd see a lot more people naturalizing.


    Why would you want to 'show commitment to the country'? What sort of vague bullshit sentiment is that? And unless you kept waving it in people's faces, how on earth would they be aware of your commitment anyway?

    I would do it if it were more convenient than my current status, but convenience would be the only factor.
  5. From Wikipedia;

     

    The Minister of Justice must approve any application for naturalization in order for it to occur. Review of an application generally takes about one year.

     

    The criteria for naturalization are provided in Article 5 of the Nationality Act:[5]

     

    Continuous residence in Japan for five years or more

    At least 21 years old and otherwise legally competent

    History of good behavior generally, and no past history of seditious behavior

    Sufficient capital or skills, either personally or within family, to support oneself

    Stateless or willing to renounce foreign citizenship

     

    The Minister of Justice may waive the age and residence requirements if the applicant has a special relationship to Japan (for example, a Japanese parent).

     

    The Nationality Act also provides that the Diet of Japan may confer Japanese nationality by special resolution to a person who has provided extraordinary service to Japan. However, this provision has never been invoked.

     

    For many years naturalized citizens were required to adopt a Japanese family name.[6] This requirement was abolished in the late 1980s.

     

    --------------------

     

    The good behaviour clause means that if you've taken more than three umbrellas that weren't yours from in front of shops, you can't become Japanese. I'm eligible because I've still only taken two.

  6. You have to be prepared to go about with a video camera and inject yourself into situations where petty officials are likely to ask to see your ID. You have to have a little patter ready that tends to elicit slightly cringe-worthy behaviour from the official. And you have to have quite a bit of gall and a burning conviction that what you're doing is important in the big scheme of things.

     

    Also if you have another talent like football or sumo, it used to be the done thing.

  7. I had my first UK curry in years when I went back in the summer, and although it was imperative that I wake up refreshed the next morning, I didn't get a wink of sleep from going to the toilet and rearranging the bed covers when the farts kept blowing them off.

  8. Originally Posted By: pie-eater
    I'm a bit disappointed at Terakawa san doing this rather explicit sex scene - she seemed to be such a nice lady.
    Warning, very explicit.


    Grrrrr! You made me install malware by goading me into finding an actual scurrilous video! Caused me 10 minutes of desperate work as I scrambled to remove a very eye-catching porn ad floating on my desktop.

    (And there I was thinking I was too smart to fall for that sort of thing. I really really wanted to see that vid purporting to be Terakawa-san in a changing room at NHK, even though I knew it couldn't possibly be.)
  9. The blow-by-blow details of Fukushima may not be on the news so much, but the knock-on effects to the rest of the nuclear industry are still filling up a good number of slots.

     

    Today we had Shikoku Denryoku regretting that the public down here haven't been bombarded with sufficient propaganda to permit them to turn on their Number 3 reactor as planned for tomorrow. They're going to do everything they can to explain in more detail why its safe, in order to win my understanding.

     

    Good luck with that. I already hate them from when we got our solar panels put on and the solar panel salesman seemed to think Yonden was the customer.

  10. Originally Posted By: TubbyBeaverinho
    no. I have particular nasty memories, like Pie-Eater, of a concoction that my Granny used to make......vile shit!


    Perhaps truer than you know. I've asked around about your Granny, and there's talk that she had a coprophile streak a mile wide.
  11. middle_1301553211.jpg

     

    This just goes to show that while NHK has a stunning talent for achieving the most boring openings to entertainment shows imaginable, they're also capable of taking any old plain jane off the street and pimping her up into the hottest weather forecasting phenomenon anywhere.

  12. Originally Posted By: BagOfCrisps

    She looks well pleased with herself.


    Doesn't she just?

    That's because she's already made up her mind to shake society to its roots by fornicating with a British businessman instead of the typical Japanese baseball player.
  13. Originally Posted By: Chriselle
    She's quite the bobble head, too.


    Whatchit. That's my future furin-aite you're talking about. I've always tried to maintain good relations with people from the Commonwealth, but you're pushing it a bit there old son.
  14. Seiko-chan just melted every time Hiromi pulled his jacket off his shoulders and whipped it back on. "Go, go, go! Do that again you crazy little man!" she cooed, as she flashed him that Dracula smile that would have given any normal man the urge to pull down his trousers instead (and not pull them straight back up again).

     

    Fact: Sting wrote the song "Don't Stand So Colostomy" when he learned of Sir Cliff's debility in the pooing department.

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