bobby12
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Posts posted by bobby12
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I went with Windows 7 Home in the end, you can install the Japanese IME no problem and it seems to display/input Japanese text fine so far.
The only problem I had was installing a driver for a Japanese-bought webcam, the installer software was in Japanese but it displayed garbled. I managed to install the drivers though.
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Another update....
Kobe City tax office just went into my Japanese bank account and took the money out!!!
I checked my balance and noticed some strange withdrawal, it was city tax!
Is that even legal to just take money directly out of someones account without warning? I doubt very much you can do that in the UK unless there has been legal proceedings. Outrageous!!!
Let this be a warning to all gaijin - if you plan to dodge the city tax make sure you empty your account as soon as possible!
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The problem is I always buy Dell, but they seem not to let you customize the laptops these days. So it comes with Win7 Home or Professional and you cant upgrade it to ultimate at the point of purchase.
After purchase, you can use Anytime Upgrade to upgrade to Ultimate but it costs 100 quid.
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I am upgrading my PC to Windows 7, but I see that M$ are forcing people to pay extra to use multiple languages and the 'Ultimate' version of Win7 is required.
I wonder if there is anyone on here who has got non-ultimate version of Windows 7 and is able to read/write Japanese characters?
I think it should be possible to input Japanese by using an online text converter that simulates the Japanese IME, then just copy/paste the text into Outlook/Word etc. But I imagine that it will then not be able to display any Japanese characters at all without the language pack installed.
My other idea is to install Win7 with Japanese as the locale / default language. I would expect that to allow both Japanese/English to work fully, with the possible drawback that the OS language changes to Japanese.
(please no comments like 'buy Mac OS' as I require windows for various reasons)
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Nope.
But, I expect them to chase me for it when I apply for the pension refund.
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Just an update, I went in and out of Japan no problem as a tourist. They hadn't flagged me up as oweing* money.
* according to their definition. I don't think I owe them anything.
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You may be joking but that's actually quite a good argument that I may call and try to use (would prefer to get some closure on it).
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So that means if you move out of Japan on Jan 2nd 2011, you have to pay city tax for the financial year June 2011 to June 2012?
Seems crazy.
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yes, my wife is more likely to go back. she is going in april for example. but i told her that in the worst case scenario that they nab us at the airport, we just say 'what letter? we didnt get no letter!' and then just give them the money.
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The bill is for the financial year which I think is June-June or so.
I actually think the owe me money because the total amount was 300,000 for the financial year, and I have paid 200,000 (2/3) already despite only being in Japan for 1/2 the year. So they should owe ME 50,000 yen according to my logic.
Japan has already got 2 years of non-refundable pension payments out of me so I am tempted to just ignore them now but I wonder what the consequences would be should I return to Japan. I doubt they are clued up enough to nab me at the airport coming in but you never know!
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So I moved back to the UK in early Dec 2011, but I have started getting letters from Kobe City tax office saying that I need to pay them 100,000 yen (yes, 10man) city tax for the period Jan to June 2012. I contacted them to say "but I am not living in Japan anymore" but they insist that I have to pay it anyway.
I have never heard of this before from friends moving home, and it didn't happen to me when I left JET.
Has anyone else come across this one?
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I am speaking as a Japanese person but I think in many Japanese mind, it is impossible for a 'gaijin' to be 'Japanese'. It is perhaps a concept that people just won't understand.
Even if your nationality is officially changed to Japanese, you'll still be a gaijin in most pretty much everyones minds - gaijin being 'white'/caucasian.
What I have come realise is that to be considered 'truly Japanese' you have to
- have gone through the Japanese school system. (even with 2 Japanese parents, if you grew up overseas you are not Japanese - e.g. Kazuo Ichiguro)
- not spent more than a few years outside Japan (e.g. Yoko Ono isn't truly Japanese)
- look Japanese (e.g. 'half' is not Japanese)
In other words, both skin color + values are key.
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I like that you threw out the sidebar on the forum indexes and threads, that is a big improvement. But there is still a lot of noise at the top of the screen ("above the fold"), 7 rows of navigation menus actually.
I was not exag. about the view new posts function. When I come to the forum, what I want to know is if there are any new comments/threads, and then to click a link to be taken right to the new content. When you added that 'X new comments' function to the old forum I thought it was really kickass. I guess I can bookmark the 'view new content' link and use that instead of the standard forum index, although it includes content from forums that I dont read so it is not ideal.
This is not criticism just comments for your consideration as clearly you are aiming high with this forum design. (If it is not welcome I will just be quiet or offer woos and high fives, but as a developer myself I always prefer to hear the more negative opinions.)
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The best thing about the old forum was the 'X unread posts' hyperlink. I am hoping you have carried that feature over to this new forum.
At first glace my feeling is something like "looks flashy (which I don't care about) and I cant find anything any more (annoying)" but hopefully I will be able to post again in a week or so after getting used to it and say how much I love this new design.
Anyway, otsukaresama.
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When this issue comes up I always remember the USA Mens 100M team when they won gold at the olympics about 6 years ago or whenever it was, they were running around literally banging their chests and shouting things like 'we beat yo ass' etc and generally telling everyone who great they are in interviews etc. Truly despicable behaviour. There must be a youtube video of that somewhere.
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OK Japanese really doesnt work on here huh.
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Code:
カレロッグ
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Its just business. Some people love McDs and may call me a hater for not going there often enough or not treating it with the reverance it deserves, when in fact it is just a difference of opinion. I will go there if it has value to offer me, but I have no obligation to disguise my contempt if I am comfortable with that.
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Its not really fair to criticise them, these guys didnt want to come to Japan they got sent here by the company. They are just career-heads usually and will go anywhere so long as the money is good. I think that is OK and they do not need to share our love of Japan to spend a year or so here.
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I thought it was this xmas but not much hype so far...
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Simple solution is just to not eat J-rice, I am sick to the back teeth of it anyway.
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Ezorisu: Yes there has been a general trend to move to asia for a long time, but quite a few companies had very close scares in this earthquake and I think it has brought their heads out of the sand and they are starting to make more concrete steps to move production away to less risky climes.
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Often these execs dont actually want to come here, hence the high salaries etc, but now they have a valid reason to refuse to come here. Therefore I would imagine there is some difficulty getting/keeping the talent here.
The bigger problem for Japan is relocation of factories to mainland asia (to reduce risk from tsunami etc), this will take a few years to kick in but it is going to lead to a lot of unemployment, and also make it hard for factories that stay in Japan to compete due to reduced availability of shipping and raw materials etc.
It just seems like one problem after another for Japans economy, is there ever any good news?
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The last 6 months or so I have listened to nothing but Mark Kozelek (AKA: Red House Painters / Sun Kil Moon).
If you like Neil Young you might want to check him out, but be prepared that it takes a bit of time to get used to his sound.
Stung for city tax after leaving japan?
in General off-topic discussions
Posted
It was 100,000 yen, and if you remember it was for the period Jan-July 2012 despite the fact I had already left Japan and handed in my gaijin card in December 2011!
Anyway, I would have had to pay it when I claim the pension refund probably which eases the sting.
I realise its debatable, but I think I can argue of being mugged of a fair whack of money by the Japanese government: 10man city tax despite not being in the country, and 2 years of unrefundable (why not?) pension payments which is another 50 to 100man or so.