On Being a Teacher at Public Schools in Japan

"Is it any wonder there is a teacher shortage, when teachers are forced to teach lies and half-truths by the government? And why are teachers forced to attend school during the holidays? Daft rules, low pay and government meddling combine to make teaching an unnatractive career to many."
-SJG at Japan Today Forum

The Truth about AEON

A former Aeon teacher has compiled some articles on his experiences of teaching there:

http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=2189

On the Blacklist of English Schools

by John Foster

I`m not in favor of blacklists. I think Senator McCarthy showed clearly how they can be abused. Moreover, you will find that invariably, the people who engage in blacklisting on the internet, will not tell you their name. They don`t have the guts to stand up for what they believe by even telling you who they are. So it is difficult to trust what they state.

Arudo Debito (Dave Aldwinkle) is one of the exceptions. He tells you who he is and stands by what he says. I respect him for that. He has a blacklist of Japanese universities. He points out some of the problems at this site.

I think if you are going to have a zine, you need to have the courage to tell others
who you are and what you stand for. Anyone can hide behind an internet nickname.
By telling people your real name, you lend credibility to your site.

There is a blacklist of English schools in Japan, but predictably, the owner doesn`t list his or her name. He or she uses a pseudonym. It is difficult to believe what is said at such a list.

Who are you? What are your credentials? How are you going
about blacklisting schools?

Chinese and Japanese

"I feel that a lot of the time, generation after generation — for us and for Japanese young people too, we seem to have a hard time understanding each other. It's like we don't want to understand each other because of this history, so we stay on the superficial level."
--Violet Du Feng, a Chinese co-producer of "Nanking," a U.S. documentary about the 1937 Japanese occupation of the city, now known as Nanjing. She said she hopes that the film, which uses only firsthand accounts to tell its story, can help jump-start stalled communication between young Japanese and Chinese. (Kyodo)