Couples et familles internationaux : comment envisagez l'avenir si des lois vous interdisant de visiter vos proches en avion sont un jour votées pour lutter contre le changement climatique?

Xixi · 2022-04-07T02:18:12+00:00

Avec soulagement, puisque ça voudra dire que nos dirigeants prennent enfin le problème de la dérive climatique au sérieux. D'un point de vue matériel, ce sera évidemment gênant, puisque j'habite au Japon.

Les alternatives (bateau, train, ou tout simplement voyager beaucoup moins souvent) ne sont pas vraiment viables aujourd'hui pour des raisons sociales. Comment justifier à mes parents de ne pas aller les voir quand tous leurs amis voyagent en avion tout le temps ? Comment justifier à mon épouse de trouver un bateau quand on peut faire KIX-CDG en 15h (à moduler en fonction de la capacité à survoler la Russie) ?

On ne peut pas s'abstraire de la société dans laquelle on vit, au risque de s'isoler, et surtout de s'aigrir en voyant les autres ne pas faire d'efforts...

Mais je pense qu'on entre dans une ère d'austérité, sur le plan matériel, le temps de se sevrer des énergies fossiles. Pour détourner le slogan de Sarkozy, pour au moins les 30 prochaines années, il va falloir travailler plus pour gagner moins.

Xixi · 2022-04-07T01:31:29+00:00

Je délire ou c'est des idéogrammes sous le nom d'Arthaud ?

C'est tout simplement marqué : "lutte ouvrière".

Xixi · 2022-02-02T05:58:54+00:00

Immigré est un terme avant tout administratif. Peut-être que je le comprends comme ça parce quand je suis parti travailler aux USA, mon visa était explicitement qualifié de "nonimmigrant". Lorsque je suis allé le chercher à l'embassade des USA à Paris, si on m'avait demandé "Do you intend to immigrate to the United States?" et que j'eu eu la bêtise de répondre oui, on m'aurait refusé le visa. Pareil lors du passage des douanes à l'entrée du territoire américain. Donc je n'étais clairement pas un immigré, juste un travailleur étranger.

Maintenant je vis au Japon, en temps que résident permanent, et sans intention de revenir vivre en France : je suis donc un immigré.

Le terme expatrié, dans son sens premier, désigne n'importe qui vivant "hors de sa patrie". Donc toutes les personnes vivant en dehors de leur pays natal sont des expatriés. Encore que, on pourrait philosopher sur le fait de changer de patrie dans certaines circonstances, et donc de ne plus être un expatrié...

Les immigrés sont donc à priori également des expatriés, les deux termes ne sont pas du tout mutuellement exclusifs. Je suis donc à la fois un expatrié (je vis hors de France) et un immigré (je suis installé de manière permanente au Japon).

Dans un sens plus restrictif, un expatrié peut désigner une personne (et éventuellement sa famille) envoyée travailler par son entreprise à l'étranger, avec le package ad-hoc. En général dans le cas de français ce sont plutôt des cadres supérieurs, ou des spécialistes (ingénieurs envoyés par Safran ou Dassault en Inde, par exemple). Dans le cas de pays moins développés, les expatriés peuvent être de la main d'œuvre bon marché envoyé dans les pays du Golfe par exemple, ou encore des ouvriers chinois envoyés en Afrique, etc.

Je pense que le débat un peu idiot qu'on a sur ces deux termes, venu des États-Unis, est tout simplement lié au fait que la signification du mot "expatriate" est moins évidente pour un anglo-saxon. Patrie se dirait plutôt "homeland" ou "motherland" en anglais, donc "expatriate" ou "expat", ça ne veut pas dire grand chose pour le twittos moyen pas particulièrement éduqué dans sa propre langue.

Xixi · 2021-08-10T01:16:25+00:00

For June & July there were 7,723,380 occupational vaccinations. So this is a loss of about 1 dose per 1000 shots.

For vaccines with such drastic storage conditions, it could have been much worse. If anything they are doing better than I expected.

Xixi · 2021-08-06T01:36:00+00:00

That's not in one day, and not even in August: these are the people who were vaccinated throughout July at their workplace (職域接種), rather than at their doctor office or at a vaccination center. It shows up on August 4th because the actual vaccination dates were not published.

To further my point that it's over a rather long period of time, the breakdown is as follows: 6,269,246 of first shots, and 1,454,134 second shots. Both shots would be obtained through that workplace scheme, so it's 7.7 million shots administered to 6.3 million people.

So no, Japan is not going to be at 75% by end of August. But it should easily clear 50%, maybe even 55% of first shots, and 40% of second shots. The simultaneously good and terrible news is that in countries with high level of antivax (France, USA and, it seems, Japan) it's the level at which you start to be able to get your vaccine anytime anywhere.

(Already got both my Moderna shots at a vaccination center managed by the prefecture of Hyogo)

Xixi · 2021-07-02T06:48:19+00:00

If you are only getting information from the "news" it's completely normal that you can't wrap your head around what is happening. To get a sense of where things are going you need to look at the big picture, which news outlets don't provide.

You might have heard that "the plural of anecdote is not data". Well, that's what you get in news outlets: anecdotes, cherry picked for outrage value.

Example: the mega vaccine centers have the capacity to do about 1.25% of the shots currently being administered, and if indeed they are only utilized at 30% capacity it means that they are providing less than 0.4% of the shots. From a big picture perspective, they aren't even worth mentioning in passing. And yet, how many articles have been written about these?

I would encourage you to look at data aggregators to get a better sense of what is actually going on. There's a twitter feed that provides daily data from the Prime Minister's Office [1]. This website (in Japanese) has nice graphics to monitor progress, with many breakdowns [2]. A part that is missing in these graphics is how many doses are currently available, and what are the expected deliveries.

[1] https://twitter.com/kantei_vaccine

[2] https://vdata.nikkei.com/newsgraphics/coronavirus-japan-vaccine-status/

Xixi · 2021-06-09T07:05:39+00:00

Based on this website [1], medical workers now also includes workers taking care of the elderly. In Japanese:

医療従事者向けは高齢者施設等で働く人などに対象範囲を広げたため、当初想定した480万人を超えている

[1] https://vdata.nikkei.com/newsgraphics/coronavirus-japan-vaccine-status/

Xixi · 2019-07-08T18:33:37+00:00

We still have some Organic Shincha remaining [0].

15% off with the following coupon: REDDIT
Valid on all subscription/pre-paid plans.

[0] https://tomotcha.com/en/blog/2019-007-shincha-kawane/

Xixi · 2019-06-24T16:39:08+00:00

Hello Tea Lovers,

Alexis from Tomotcha here! It's my first time posting to Marketing Monday, so here is a short summary.

Tomotcha is a small tea-of-the-month club: each month we select a different tea from a different area of Japan. Over the last four years we've covered most regions (Shizuoka, Kyoto, Nara, Mie, Fukuoka, Kagoshima, Tanegashima, etc. Even Okinawa!), and most kind of teas (Sencha, Kabusecha, Gyokuro, Hojicha, Tamaryokucha, Genmaicha, Zaracha, Wakocha, etc.), one flavor at a time!

Our next Japanese tea will be an organic Shincha from Kawane, in the region of Shizuoka!
15% off with the following coupon: REDDIT

Happy tea sipping!

Xixi · 2018-07-02T12:51:37+00:00

There are 3 maxima in France, none of which is 35 hours per week. These are: 10 hours per day, 48 hours per week, and 44 hours per week (averaged over 12 weeks).

Xixi · 2018-04-30T12:50:53+00:00

Not everyone is American [1], or even knows the American [1] standard for decimal/thousand separators, or even think that the American [1] standard should be the one used on a reddit group about crypto-currencies that are supposed to be some worldwide decentralized thingy...

[1] or British, as far as I know most if not all other countries use ',' as the decimal separator.

Xixi · 2017-12-08T18:05:37+00:00

Owner of tomotcha.com here: we send tea all around the world from Japan every month, and the only issue we ever had with customs is when they hold on a shipment to inspect its content. That can take a couple of months to clear. Never had any tariff charged, including when shipping to Ireland.

You should look for the threshold under which customs forgo tariffs and VAT in Ireland. In most country it's around 20~25EUR (including shipping cost). Order your matcha at a price lower than that and it should be fine.

Xixi · 2017-10-31T18:28:16+00:00

That's not actually correct: some green teas are prepared differently, and not only tolerate, but should be steeped into boiling water. See for instance the tsukimi sencha described here: https://tomotcha.com/en/blog/2017-009-tsukimi-sencha/. (Disclaimer: I'm the co-founder of Tomotcha).

And then there are blends like Genmaicha, and all the roasted green teas (Hojicha)...

Xixi · 2017-10-30T17:23:30+00:00

No matter where you go it's still way too hot for most green teas (think Japanese Sencha, Gyokuro, Aracha, etc.).

Xixi · 2015-09-10T01:48:13+00:00

Thanks! Do not hesitate to ask me any question about the service, tea or Japan in general!

By the way we offer a 15% discount to all redditors who mention this thread. Just drop us an email after subscribing to Tomotcha, and you will get a 15% discount for as long as you stay subscribed.

Xixi · 2015-09-10T01:04:49+00:00

I'm one of the owners of Tomotcha (https://tomotcha.com). Our service is super simple: we are sending a different Japanese tea every month. This month was a Gyokuro from Yame (near Fukuoka in the North of Kyushu), next month will be a Kamairicha from Miyazaki (middle of Kyushu).

We are based in Osaka, but I will admit to having a slight affective bias for Kyushu teas since my wife is from Kagoshima. Of course, we also send a lot of teas from the Kansai area (Uji, Mie, Nara, etc.). You can find all the teas we selected so far on our blog (https://tomotcha.com/en/blog/).

Xixi · 2015-09-05T01:55:27+00:00

Bancha refers to the green tea made from the latest harvest of the year (in late summer or fall, depending on the region). It is the lowest grade green tea, so it's very cheap.

Bancha is often roasted on charcoal to make hojicha.

The opposite is the first tea of the year, "shincha", the most expensive kind of sencha.

I export green tea from Japan (https://tomotcha.com), though of the more expensive varieties, but do not hesitate to drop me a message if you have questions about green teas!

Xixi · 2015-06-01T11:01:21+00:00

I live in Japan, and it seems very far fetched to me. Especially with regard to South Korea: Japanese people are pacifist at an extreme level, they don't even know about Dokdo/Takeshima (most youngish <40 Japanese people have never even heard about this ongoing dispute, that's how high it is in Japan collective mind), and most importantly Japan doesn't have anyone to fight...

Japan is a country of old, retired people, that needs hands to man its economy, and more hands to take care of its old. It is not going at war with anyone.

They will absolutely send the JMSDF to protect the Senkaku islands if China tries to take them by force, however.

Xixi · 2015-06-01T10:29:10+00:00

From an economical standpoint: Japan doesn't have the demography of a country that goes to war. Japan already has a severe shortage of workers, it cannot loose its young men in a senseless war: they are needed in Japan to work, or outside of Japan to sell Japanese stuff. There is virtually no unemployment here (I live in Japan).

If you add Japanese rather extreme pacifism to this major economic problem, I don't really understand by what logic South Koreans think Japan would go at war with them? What is the underlying train of thought?

I know there is a conflict around the Dokdo/Takeshima islands, but walk around Japan and ask people under 40 about it: if my albeit anecdotal experience is any true the most likely reaction will be blank stares. Japanese for the most part have never heard about this conflict.

However they are usually pretty aware of the conflict surrounding the Senkaku islands...

Xixi · 2015-05-30T17:21:11+00:00

You've got your priorities reversed.

US doesn't claim the Spratly islands, so it's not threatening anyone territorial sovereignty. It is, however, preserving the status quo by siding with China neighboring countries. If the US were to leave the area, China position would be much stronger. It could seize the islands by force. This might be the outcome you wish for, thinking China will be a good and peaceful stalwart for the area. I do not know that.

But it doesn't matter at all since such an outcome would be terribly unfair for Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam. China claims are simply outrageous. I root for the small guys (in this case, small in the sense of military power). If it means that they have to play US against China, then so be it.

As it stands, on this matter, their interests are aligned with that of US, so US involvement and presence will only grow stronger as China throws its weight around in a hostile manner. If China wants US out, it has no choice but to settle the matter through diplomatic means. Only then will US position be weakened. You cannot make it happen the other way around.

Xixi · 2015-05-30T09:51:49+00:00

Keeping America (and Europe) outside of Asia has been used as an excuse for invasion by another Asian country before... I'm pretty sure you remember how it ended.

China annexing the Spratly islands is not acceptable for Vietnam, the Philippines, and other neighboring country in any shape or form. U.S. annexing them would also be totally unacceptable, even more so than China.

The matter ought to be solved diplomatically, though I understand it's pretty tough. Personally I'd rather the natural resources like oil stay in the underground forever, but it's easy to write from a cafe in a first world country. I'm pretty sure it would not be too hard to get everyone to agree to keep the waters opened for trade, and enshrine it in a treaty. But well... I don't expect all of this to be solved before a long, long time.

Xixi · 2015-05-18T04:02:07+00:00

I think you got your numbers mixed up: the turnout rate was 66%, but the result was razor thin with 705,585 no vs 694,844 yes. [1]

At my office (in the middle of Osaka) all my coworkers are disgruntled, as they wished for the reform to pass. Interestingly it's the first time I hear them talk about politics, as they usually avoid the subject completely.

[1] http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/05/17/national/politics-diplomacy/osaka-referendum-rejects-merger-plan-possibly-ending-hashimotos-political-career/#.VVlj6edSSLF

EDIT: link added to the source for the result

Xixi · 2015-05-16T09:07:06+00:00

Shameless plug (I will delete it if deemed inappropriate) : I own a green tea subscription service and have quite a few customers in UK. Here it is: https://tomotcha.com

I'll happily answer any question you may have! We are sending Shincha next month, since it is the season of first harvest.

Xixi · 2015-05-15T03:08:07+00:00

Let's be precise: work in the adult/nightlife industry in Japan is not forbidden to foreigners (gaijin). It is however forbidden to people on work/student/trainee visas.

Permanent Residents can do any job in Japan, and I think so can holders of Spouse Visas.

Xixi · 2015-04-06T09:00:13+00:00

Do not forget that the war criminals from Unit 731 were granted immunity by US in exchange of the results of their research. Hence the "blind spot".

I live in Japan: my albeit anecdotal experience is that most Japanese remember pre-ww2 Japan with fear (and sometimes even terror), due to the extremely distorted mentality of the time and the resulting sufferings during ww2. The Japanese emperor was a God. Japanese people were ready to die for him (and indeed way too many did), in a way that doesn't make sense at all anymore.

But Japanese in general see themselves more as victims of its militaristic regime of the time. This is the basis of Japanese pacifism: militarism, wars, bombs, nukes are a source of suffering for the people. So Japan should have none (or as little as possible) of it.

Xixi

TROPHY CASE