Mixed nuts anyone?

One of the pleasures of living in Japan is the food. Japanese people are passionate about food. As it will be demonstrated; all types of food. There was an interesting story in Japan Today about a group of asexual men who served up their testicles to a group of attendees to a party.
There is no law against such practices in Japan, so you might wonder whether they should be charged. The police finally came up with a charge for 'the display of obscene objects'.
Since I lean towards the plant-variety of nuts, I was more interested in the ethical aspects of this story. It raises interesting questions about the efficacy of the law. Consider:
1. The apparent arbitrariness of laws that people can cause injury to others and seemingly get away with it because there is no historic case to draw a 'precedence' or no 'provision' for such an act, merely because there was no anticipation of the act.
2. The spectre of a police force charging a person with a dubious law merely because they are incensed by the act, or because it caused public outrage

The problem of course is that this act is indeed immoral; even if it is not illegal. The law ought to reflect legal concepts. This case illustrates the fact that there is no link. The problem with the acts of these men is clearly that they deceived the attendees of this event. Would there be so much outrage if the host had served water buffalo meat? Probably not. What if it was cow's testicles? What if the consumers were very pleased with the delicious taste of their 'mixed nuts' and only became incensed by the nature of their act, i.e. There is of course a psychological implication to their act. There is of course a difficulty defining exactly what is appropriate and what is not. Frog testicles are probably less controversial.
Certainly given the nature of the crime, the hosts intended to cause a spectacle. They did seek to determine whether their acts were illegal, but apparently they thought legality was a substitute for morality. There was no physical consequence; though there might well be a psychological impact. What punitive measure should be taken for such a deception:
1. Self-funded counselling and psychological admittance
2. Fine of Y2.5mil as indicated
3. Criminal incarceration
4. Refund for non-performance
5. Another appetizer?
I personally think the psychological counselling is an appropriate measure as well as a refund.

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Author Andrew Sheldon| Applied Critical Thinking | www.SheldonThinks.com

Longer 5-year working visa for expatriate residents of Japan

For Westerners getting a working visa in Japan, the terms are getting sweeter. It is now possible to get a 5-year visa, with an automatic multiple re-entry....well I'm assuming that is only if you have a job, but I'm not sure about that. What I can tell you is before that many people struggled to even get a 3-year visa. I had no problem, but that might be because my first visas to Japan were sponsored by two of the largest corporations in Japan - Sumitomo Group and Mitsubishi Materials. I've spoken to Americans who've said that they were only ever given 1-year visas, and that they had to go to Immigration to update them each year.
The new system will be much appreciated. Read about the revision of policy in this Japan Times article.

I fully recommend taking the opportunity to work in Japan - the most popular areas are English teaching, finance and recruitment. It is relatively hard to get a business visa. You need to set up a business, prepare a business plan, etc. Sounds reasonable, but for some the process will be too onerous.

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Author Andrew Sheldon| Applied Critical Thinking | www.SheldonThinks.com

Full circle for Japan on intellectual property

There was a time when Japan was greatly criticised for copying American and European designs in the 1960s and 1970s. Very little evidence emerged to castigate Japan's practices. So it is interesting in the modern era to observe a case where Japanese employees are being accused of selling intellectual property to Chinese competitors. One has to wonder whether these 'accused' parties learnt their moral convictions from their fathers - who plausibly sought out American engineers to pay off for American secrets. There is of course the sordid paradox for Japan to deal with. Are Japanese people guilty of doing what Chinese nationals are doing today? Would not the Chinese government feel entitled to ignore the accusations of the Japanese government, as the Japanese government did years ago? 

OR....we could accept that moral imperatives are not subjective or pragmatic; and that intellectual property serves a very important 'conceptual' value in rewarding minds; notwithstanding the flawed regime which has a tendency to protect 'monopolies' than reward ideas. 

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Author Andrew Sheldon| Applied Critical Thinking | www.SheldonThinks.com

A symbol of Japanese arrogance?

I note that Tokyo has completed the tallest tower in the world. You might ask what is the purpose of this structure? Is it a symbol of mankind's greatest; a testament to the financiers arrogance? Or simply a person's desire to make money. In fairness, I am not sure. Maybe this structure is constructed of superior high-strength tensile steels, and will ultimately advance building construction. It is questionable whether such a structure would be commercially sensible; though it might be given the cost of land in central Tokyo.

One is however left with the apparent motive of this building - a rather ambitious structure given that Japan has been struggling to get out of recession for the last 20 years? A supreme act of arrogance. We need only look at the football stadiums built for the World Cup, which are barely used. Hard to justify when the nation even shared the hosting with South Korea.

In any respect, I know someone working in this building. Personally, I think I would resign if my employer's office was in such a building. Why? The structure is untested in a severe earthquake. Now, as a conceptual thinker, I would argue that ideas help us to see around corners. The problem I have with people is that they tend to assume too much. So when you start building structures seemingly 4x taller than any other in the region, I start to wonder whether its sensible assumptions underpinning their thinking. Might this be a testament to the same type of arrogance and evasion that saw Tokyo Electric expose the Japanese people to radiation in the recent earthquake. All it takes is an engineering design flaw; notwithstanding towers will sway; minds sway too when their decision-making is governed by arrogance. All the more common in collectivist countries...which is pretty well all countries, but Japan is among the most collectivist.

One has to ask is this a befitting symbol for Japan? Might the next 'Twin Towers' scandal be an act of incompetence rather than a malicious act. Well, it might be years before we know. One would fully expect 20,000 people to die if this structure fell. This would depend on how it fell. I know nothing of its construction; and broadly I support advancement, but I would first question the underlying motives for building these structures....and nothing I hear tells me they are sound.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald

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Author Andrew Sheldon| Applied Critical Thinking | www.SheldonThinks.com