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Archive-name: japan/references Posting-Frequency: monthly Last-modified: April 27, 1995 (1.0) Table of Contents + (2.0) Copyright and Redistribution (2.1) Credits (2.2) Any mailing list for soc.culture.japan? (2.3) How to obtain the latest version of this FAQ (3.0) About soc.culture.japan (3.1) What topics are appropriate for discussion here? (3.1.1) Binary posts (3.1.2) Commercial posts (3.1.3) Spamming (3.2) What to do before posting (3.3) How to use kill files (3.4) Some frequently argued topics (3.4.1) Japan's involvement in World War II (3.4.2) Is "Gaijin" a derogatory term? (4.0) Bibliography (5.0) Japanese culture and customs (5.1) Japanese Films and TV Programs (5.1.1) Japanese pop culture FTP site (5.2) Language (5.3) Sumo (6.0) Traveling and living in Japan (6.1) Finding a job (for non-Japanese) (6.1.1) JET + (6.1.2) Other English teaching jobs (6.2) Travel Info (6.3) Gifts to and from Japan (6.4) Taking electronics to Japan (6.5) Lodging (6.5.1) Homestays (6.6) Money (6.6.1) Bank accounts and services for foreigners (6.6.2) Credit cards for foreigners (6.6.3) Currency exchange; sending cash to/from Japan (6.7) What are the laws for Japanese citizenship at birth? (7.0) Japanese information processing (7.1) Internet Access (7.2) Finding an email address for XXX in Japan + (7.3) How can I read or write Japanese on my computer? (7.3.1) Japanese on the Macintosh (7.3.2) Japanese on MS-DOS and Windows (6.3.3) Japanese on UNIX, X-Windows (7.4) Internet resources on Japan (7.4.1) FTP/gopher sites + (7.4.2) WWW sites (8.0) Japanese media + (8.1) Japanese short-wave radio (8.2) Overseas subscriptions to Japan Times (99.0) Miscellaneous topics [+] revised entry [!] new entry This list is maintained by Shimpei Yamashita <mailto:shimpei@leland.stanford.edu> --- (2.0) Copyright and Redistribution [copyright(left, really) notice under construction] The document may be quoted freely, provided proper credit is given. "From the soc.culture.japan FAQ" will suffice. In interest of net bandwidth, please do not post this FAQ back to soc.culture.japan or to any mailing list/BBS that is linked to s.c.j. This FAQ is posted monthly to s.c.j, news.answers, and soc.answers. If you find that the FAQ expires too quickly at your site, or if you feel that it should be reposted more frequently, please let me know. --- (2.1) Credits As the editor, I have attempted to credit original authors wherever possible. Please inform me if you see any errors in the credits. Also, most sections credited to an author (like 7.3.3) have gone through editing and additions as the maintainer(s) caught mistakes, out-of-date materials, or just bad grammar. So be aware that the original authors may not be the ones who wrote the particular text you're confused about. :-) --- (2.2) Is there any mailing list for soc.culture.japan? I get a fair number of emails asking me if there is any way to "subscribe" to soc.culture.japan through a mailing list. To the best of my knowledge, no such mailing list exists (the fact that the group gets nearly 100 posts a day doesn't really help). If there is one, I'd love to hear about it. Meanwhile, the only suggestion I can give to these people is to get an account with an Internet provider that gives access to Usenet. If you can telnet from another account, nyx.net will give you a free account (albeit a severely limited one in terms of resources and capability) that can be used to read news. --- (2.3) How to obtain the latest version of this FAQ This FAQ is posted on the 4th of every month to soc.culture.japan, news.answers and soc.answers. It is available via anonymous FTP from rtfm.mit.edu in /pub/usenet/soc.culture.japan/ and via WWW from <http://www-leland.stanford.edu/~shimpei/scjfaq.txt> Those with access to AFS can also obtain it from /afs/ir.stanford.edu/users/s/shimpei/WWW/scjfaq.txt In addition, many Japanese-oriented Web pages have links to the FAQ. The web page and the AFS link are maintained by me and will stay current until at least June '96 (which is when I am slated to leave Stanford). For those who have already read the FAQ and just want to keep up with the changes, I began posting the summary of changes to s.c.j along with the FAQ which you may want to skim. --- (3.0) About soc.culture.japan --- (3.1) What topics are appropriate for discussion here? Soc.culture.japan started out as a BITNET mailing list that was administered from one of the machines at MIT. Sometime in or around 1987, the newsgroup soc.culture.japan was created, and the articles between s.c.j and the mailing list were gated back and forth for quite a while. The mailing list apparently no longer exists, and the audience for s.c.j has grown much wider since. At my site, s.c.j. is described as "Everything Japanese, except the Japanese language." What is meant by "Everything Japanese" is not entirely clear. Please use your judgment when posting. Like most other big newsgroups, s.c.j. has its share of regular flame fodders. These are discussed in more detail in section 3.4. If you would like to voice your opinion on these subjects, you would do well to lurk for a while to hear what others have to say about it. (This is a sound advice for any topic in any newsgroup, but people tend to forget it.) Customarily, posts to s.c.j. are in English. Many readers outside Japan have trouble reading posts written in kana (in fact, some readers have complained because their terminals go crazy when dealing with 8-bit characters), so it is advisable to post strictly with ASCII characters if you want everyone to read what your wrote. Many Japanese-literate posters circumvent this problem by writing in romaji when necessary. If you do not understand Japanese and would like to know what a particular post was saying, most posters would be happy to translate the passage for you if you email them and ask. Lastly, remember that many of the posts to s.c.j. are written by people who use English as their second language. As such, misunderstandings due to language difficulties are very likely. If you feel compelled to fix grammatical mistakes, please email the poster and save the rest of the net the agony of reading cheap grammar flames. --- (3.1.1) Binary posts In interest of people with small news spools, please refrain from posting binaries to this group. If you feel you have binaries worth sharing with us, please post them to alt.binaries.pictures.misc and post a pointer to scj. --- (3.1.2) Commercial posts Commercial posts are generally discouraged unless it has specifically to do with Japan and there is no other newsgroup more appropriate for the subject. Those posting about job opportunities in Japan are encouraged to add the string "Jobs offered" in the title so that those who are not looking for jobs can run killfiles on them --- (3.1.3) Spamming Two words: NO SPAMMING! (See the FAQ for alt.current-events.net-abuse for the definition of spamming.) It is a highly disliked activity on the Usenet, as well as an effective way to lose your account really fast. --- (3.2) What to do before posting Read news.announce.newusers. Read the rest of this FAQ. Read up on Japan, and the issue you wish to discuss, before posting. Nothing kills a good discussion faster than ignorant generalizations by someone who has strong opinions about an issue with no facts behind them. Keep an open mind when reading the sources. Do the same when reading this newsgroup. The bibliography included in this FAQ should get you started. None of us like political correctness more than you do, but you should nevertheless refrain from using derogatory terms. "Jap" is a very strong derogatory term for "Japanese," and using "Gaijin" for "foreigner" is offensive to many foreigners. I included a short discussion about this in section 3.4. Is soc.culture.japan the most appropriate group for posting? Below is a list of other newsgroups that may better fit what you want to talk about: soc.culture.asian.american soc.culture.korean soc.culture.china soc.culture.taiwan soc.culture.hongkong soc.culture.usa soc.culture.europe ... soc.history.world-war-ii sci.lang.japan rec.arts.manga rec.arts.anime comp.research.japan alt.japanese.text The fj hierarchy comes to some sites outside Japan, but you need to have a Japanese-capable terminal to read it. See section 8 for details. An exception is fj.life.in-japan, which is mainly in English. Lastly, read section 3.1 one more time. This group represents a cross section of many different cultures with different attitudes toward Usenet. Remembering that not everyone is like you will go a long way toward preventing unnecessary quibbles. --- (3.3) Kill files Kill files are great for shutting out posts you do not wish to read in a high-noise group like s.c.j. This instruction is for rn and trn only. If you use another newsreader, check the manuals for instructions. In all of the examples below, strings for searches, those inside slash (/) characters may be regular expressions like those used in ed(1). Searches are generally NOT case sensitive. When reading articles from any newsgroup, control-K allows you to edit the KILL file for that newsgroup (note: that's control-SHIFT-k.) To discard articles with subject lines matching a string, add a line like /unwanted topic/:j the string within the slash characters is searched for on all article subject lines, and when found, the command 'j' (junk the article) is executed. If you add a ':=' to the end of the command it will print that subject line so you can go back and read it anyway if you like. /unwanted topic/:j:= To discard articles cross posted to a particular newsgroup, add a line like /Newsgroups:.*bad.group.name/h:j:= to be strictly correct, you would add a backslash (\) before the dots in the group name, but this is usually OK. To discard articles from a particular author, add a line like /From:.*Author Name/h:j:= or this works in my version of trn /Author Name/f:j:= This looks for the author's name as it's reported in the article header. The name can be either the real name or e-mail address. More detailed information can be found in the man page on rn or trn. --- (3.4) Some frequently argued topics --- (3.4.1) Japan's involvement in World War II This is a sticky issue that pops up periodically in this newsgroup and inevitably causes considerable flamage. I have attempted several times to write an objective overview of the issue, but it is simply too hard to write anything substantial on the issue without offending somebody. If you wish to discuss this topic, please make an effort to maintain constructive discussions (as opposed to finger-pointings and blanket accusations, which is prone to happen during heated debates). If you want a more controlled atmosphere, you may also want to try soc.history. world-war-ii, a moderated newsgroup. --- (3.4.2) Is "Gaijin" a derogatory term? This issue crops up occasionally as a heated debate in this newsgroup. Gaijin is a contraction of the word gaikokujin, and literally means "foreigner". The Japanese language has several cases of using "gai" (outside) with a noun to indicate one of <noun> from another country. Gaisha for foreign cars, gaijin for foreign people, gaika for foreign currencies. Some people are deeply offended by the word, saying that "gaijin" refers to outsiders rife with undesirable characteristics. There is no doubt that is one meaning of the word. "Gaijin" is also used in many cases where it is probably not intended as a negative statement. Consider that it is common in the Japanese language to address people whose names are not known, or even if names are known, by titles: omawari san, Mr. Policeman; sushiya san, Mr. Sushi Shop. It is not unusual for a Japanese speaker to call a non Japanese who is otherwise not known, "gaijin san". It should be noted that: The language also has much stronger words for cases where a speaker wants to discriminate or insult. and Non-asian foreigners _will_ be called "gaijin" by many Japanese. --- (4.0) Bibliography There is a lot of material written about many aspects of Japanese culture, and available from many more authoritative sources than a computer news group. This bibliography lists a few widely available titles that are aimed toward general readers, not sociologists. Some of the books listed have their own bibliographies for further study. A search of any good library's catalog will list many more. Note: for sake of consistency, all Japanese names in this FAQ are written given names first. Japanese Society and Culture: The Japanese Mind; Robert C. Christopher A general introduction to Japanese society. Widely available. Includes a bibliography. Learning to Bow; Bruce Feiler An American teaching English at public jr. high schools in rural Japan. Describes the educational system, relations between Japanese and foreigners, and other aspects of current culture. Japanese Things; Basil Hall Chamberlain Describes Japan at the beginning of the Meiji era (from 1868). Some parts are dated, and therefore more of a historical reference, others still apply. The Book of Tea; Kakuzo (Tenshin) Okakura The book that made tea ceremony famous around the world. The book itself is rather old, but it is an overview of the tea culture that is insightful even to native Japanese. History: Japan; Edwin O. Reischaur A brief introduction to the long history of Japan. Not great, but widely available. A History of Japan; Sir George B. Sansom A considerably more extensive history. 3 volumes. Literature: Yasunari Kawabata Snow Country Thousand Cranes _Snow_Country_ is one of the most famous novels in Japan. It describes the relationship of a teacher from Tokyo and a geisha at a small hot spring resort. Soseki Natsume Botchan Kokoro Sorekara Soseki is considered by many to be Japan's greatest author, and _Kokoro_ is often considered his most important novel. Botchan is earlier in his career, a much more lighthearted story. Yukio Mishima Temple of the Golden Pavillion Mishima is perhaps, as famous for his 1970 storming of the Japan Self Defense Forces headquarters and subsequent suicide as for his writing. Many of his novels have been translated to English. Mishima is probably more popular outside Japan than at home. Junichiro Tanizaki The Makioka Sisters The Key Some Prefer Nettles Tanizaki lived through approximately the same time as Mishima, but was much more popular in Japan than Mishima. "The Makioka Sisters" and "Some Prefer Nettles" have the transition from traditional to modern (westernized) Japan. Widely available in English. The following authors and collections represent modern Japan. They may never reach the stature as the authors listed above, but some are popular and all represent to some degree what's happening in Japan now. Kobo Abe The Woman of the Dunes Around the Curve (short stories) Abe is sometimes called the Edgar Allen Poe of Japan. Similar macabre or twisted type stories. Died in January 1993. Kenzaburo Oe Man-ei Gannen no Futtoboru (English title: The Silent Cry) Kojinteki na Taiken (English title: A Personal Matter) Winner of the 1994 Nobel Prize in literature, Oe is said to be heavily influenced by Western writings; his bold style contrasts with the sensitive style pursued by Kawabata and others. Haruki Murakami A Wild Sheep Chase The Hard Boiled Wonderland at the End of the World Murakami is a current best selling author in Japan. These two novels are (sometimes wild) fantasy adventures. The Showa Anthology; Van C. Gessel * Tomone Matsumoto Ed. vol 1 1929-1961 vol 2 1961-1984 Volume 1 especially includes stories by some of Japan's most respected authors. New Japanese Voices; Helen Mistios Ed. More recent than _The_Showa_Anthology_. Monkey Brain Sushi; ??? Ed. Also very recent. Short story collection. Banana Yoshimoto Kitchen A popular female author. Economics and Business: Made In Japan ; Akio Morita Widely available in the U.S. Morita is the founder of Sony. Describes where Japan went right, and others. The Political Economy of Japan; K. Yamamura and A. Y. Yasuba, eds. Covers many aspects of Japanese economics and Politics, easy for non-specialists to read. Religion: On Understanding Japanese Religion; Joseph M. Kitagawa A collection of essays, on topics ranging from prehistoric background of Japanese religion, cross-cultural influences, folk religion, Shinto, Buddhism and Kobo Daishi, Confusiansim, and New Religions. The following are OK, but not great references. Shinto, The Kami Way Tuttle publishing. A brief overview of Shinto organization and practices. Japanese Pilgrimage; Oliver Statler Partly historical fiction, partly Statler's writing about walking a pilgrimage to 88 temples in Shikoku. Computing: Understanding Japanese Information Processing; Ken Lunde The author has been a frequent SCJ contributer in the area of Japanese text processing. It comes highly recommended from several sources. --- (5.0) Japanese culture and customs --- (5.1) Japanese Films and TV Programs There are a number of books on Japanese film. The following is an introduction. Beverley Bare Buehrer, Japanese Films: A Filmography and Commentary, 1921-1989 Contains credits, plot synopsis and comments on a number of Japanese films that are available dubbed or with English subtitles. Akira Kurosawa and Kenji Mizoguchi are considered by many film critics to be the greatest of Japan's directors. Kurosawa's "The Seven Samurai" and Mizoguchi's "Ugetsu Monogatari" along with Yasujiro Ozu's "Tokyo Story" have at times appeared on the Sight and Sound magazine's once every ten years poll of film critics. Kon Ichikawa has directed a few movies that have made it to the U.S. and Juzo Itami has been popular for "Tampopo" and "A Taxing Woman". The following companies are sources of Japanese movies, some on film, some on video. Sony Video Software, 1700 Broadway, N.Y., NY 10019 Balzac Video, 1253 Tanager Lane, West Chester, PA 19382 Embassy Home Entertainment, 1901 Avenue of the Starts, L.A., CA 90067 Connoisseur Video Collection, 8455 Beverly Blvd., Suite 302, L.A., CA 90048 Video Yesteryear, PO Box C, Sandy Hook, Conn. 06482 New Yorker Films, 16 W. 61 St., N.Y., NY 10023 Historical Films, PO Box 29035, Chicago, IL 60629 Media Home Entertainment, 5730 Buckingham Parkway, Culver City, CA 90230 Pacific Arts, 50 N. La Cienega Blvd., Suite 210, Beverly Hills, CA 90211 Corinth Films, 34 Gransevoort St., N.Y., NY 10014 Republic Pictures Home Video, 12636 Beatrice St., L.A., CA 90066 In many larger cities, especially on the west coast of the United States, there are Video stores that rent tapes of movies and TV programs directly from Japan. These tapes are generally NOT subtitled, and TV programs have commercials and everything. Some of these rental outlets are in grocery or book stores that carry a lot of Japanese goods. --- (5.1.1) Japanese pop culture ftp site Try ftp.cdrom.com. --- (5.2) Language Language issues come up regularly in this newsgroup. Even though language and culture are directly linked, the newsgroup sci.lang.japan is preferred for discussions about the language. The newsgroup is also linked to the NIHONGO mailing list. The FAQ for sci.lang.japan is posted from time to time. To subscribe to the list, send an e-mail message to: Listserv@mitvma.mit.edu or Listserv@mitvma.bitnet with no subject and the line SUB Nihongo <your REAL name> Please don't send messages for subscription or unsubscription to the addresses for posting on the list. To post an article or question, just send it as normal e-mail to: Nihongo@mitvma.mit.edu or Nihongo@mitvma.bitnet The article will be distributed to all the readers of the list and posted automatically in the newsgroup sci.lang.japan. Please don't send articles to the addresses of subscription and unsubscription. To do other things, send an e-mail message to: Listserv@mitvma.mit.edu or Listserv@mitvma.bitnet with no subject and the line HELP as the message The FAQ file has info on computer programs for learning Japanese, other Japanese-study information, and information about text processing on various computers that may or may not be more up to date than this FAQ. The sci.lang.japan FAQ is available at <ftp://ftp.uwtc.washington.edu/pub/Japanese/Misc/FAQ.sci.lang.japan.txt> The site also holds many Japanese language-related documents and programs. --- (5.3) Sumo The following WWW site may be of interest to sumo fans: <http://akebono.stanford.edu/~jerry/sumo/> [The sumo winning moves formerly included here has been deleted out of space considerations, since there is a much better list on the akebono site. The old list is available for the time being via WWW from <http://www-leland.stanford.edu/~shimpei/sumomove.txt> ] --- (6.0) Traveling and living in Japan --- (6.1) Finding a job (for non-Japanese) From: mikef@medicus.com (Mike Fester) Getting a job in Japan involves some lag time and effort, but is not really that difficult, especially if you have a technical degree and speak some Japanese. The hard part is knowing where/how to look. And, as in the rest of the world, the better your qualifications, the easier it is. If you can speak, read, and write Japanese (you need not be fluent), pick up a copy of the magazine _Shuushoku Jouhou_ ("Job Hunting Information") at a Japanese bookstore. It comes out 3 times a year, and it contains company descriptions, benefits explanations, etc, from companies who are actively recruiting new employees. In Japan, the magazine is (or was) free, but overseas it costs about $2. It also has lots of postcards to fill out (1 per company) which you send in to those companies in which you have an interest. If you have work experience in addition to the technical degree, don't pay too much attention to the salaries listed, as those are for absolute beginners. Note: there are other magazines for such job-hunting info, but _Shuushoku_ is one of the more expensive. Companies advertising in it are, in general, better able to come to terms with employing a foreigner who does not have exposure to the Japanese system. Kokusaiha No Tame No Shushoku Joho (International Recruit Magazine) is published by: International Career Information, Inc 111 Pavonia Ave. Jersey City, NJ 07310 USA (201) 216-0600 Tokyo Office 7-3-5 Ginza Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104 JAPAN (03) 3575-6347 There is another magazine of the same sort called _Adapt_. [Editor: the old number given in the previous versions of the FAQ, 1-800-344-7241, is no longer functioning. I'd appreciate it if anyone can tell me what their current number is.] If you do not speak Japanese, it becomes more difficult, but not impossible. Get ahold of the daily edition of _The Japan Times_, particularly the Monday and Thursday issues. They contain job offers (usually in English, but often in French, German, Italian, etc). Many of these are targetted specifically for foreigners. See the following section of this FAQ list for subscription info. If you have a non-technical degree, but speak Japanese, again, it is a bit more difficult, but not impossible. The _Shuushoku_ route works well there. If none of those applies to you, you really have to hustle. Probably, you will have to actually visit Japan (read: Tokyo) and personally answer those ads for English teachers. There are a lot of jobs available, but there is also a lot of competition. You'll have to hustle, but it can be done. If you take the _Shuushoku_ route, expect to send about 45 - 60 cards in for every 3 or for positive responses. Many of the companies will show an interest, and will await your arrival in Japan for an interview. Some may fly you out at their expense (I got 3 such flights). ONCE I'VE GOT AN OFFER, THEN WHAT? Once you've got an offer, you'll have to negotiate on salary and moving expenses. The company will have to then offer you a contract, which you must sign. They or you then apply for your visa. This can take about 3 - 4 months. One thing you need to remember in this negotiation procedure is that things are different in Japan than here. In the larger cities especially, getting an apartment is EXPENSIVE. Frequently (almost always) you will have to pay an honorarium to your landlord/lady equivalent to about 2 months' rent (non refundable). If you use a rental agency to find your place (you almost certainly will) you will pay them about 1 - 2 months' rent as a fee. There are excep- tions of course, but these are not the rule. Also, remember that many apart- ments will NOT rent to foreigners. Nothing you can do about it, really, so keep looking. Someone will take you. Also, getting a phone in Japan is expensive: you will have to buy a 'phone line' from NTT for about $600-680, depending on exchange rate. Sometimes these are available "used" for less. This entitles you to phone service. Then you have to pay for the phone and installation itself (about another $100+). Use all this info in negotiating your moving expenses. Contrary to popular belief, not all (in fact, not most) companies have living quarters for their employees. You will also pay a cleaning deposit and usually a monthly 'management fee' for cleaning the whole apartment, garbage collection, etc. You can be accepted as a 'shain' (real-live employee) or 'keiyakusha' (contractor). There are advantages to each. As a 'shain', you will receive the various 'teate' that the company offers its employees. These are 'allowances' and are NOT included in your wages (they are NOT taxable). These frequently include FULL payment of your train fee (can easily be over $100 a month) which is a pass along one or more train lines from your apartment to work. There is also a payment for your residence; this is NOT a full payment of rent, but is frequently about 50% of the rent. Also, if you have a family, you get an additional allowance for each child and for your spouse. You will receive full coverage under the Japanese national medical plan, and also get the company bonuses. These bonuses can be up to 3 months salary. HOWEVER, they are not always "bonuses". Some companies include them in the yearly salary package they offer their employees, and they withhold part of your salary from each paycheck in order to pay it. Check to be sure which procedure your company follows. As a keiyakusha, you will have to provide for all your expenses, including insurance, etc, and you do not receive bonuses. However, it usually pays a lot better, usually enough to MORE THAN compensate for the loss of the teate's. Also, some companies may not allow you to work outside their company on your own time (eg, as a translator). As a keiyakysha, you can make a LOT of money in your spare time. Once everyone has agreed to the conditions of employment, the company will apply for your visa. They will probably act as your guarantors for your con- duct in Japan (if, however, you have relatives there, you can ask them to do so). If you are married to a Japanese national, however, you can apply for a spouse visa. In either event, you will need the contract, and a guarantor. If you can, get the spouse visa; you will have more flexibility in getting another job, assuming things do not work out with your new company as you expected. Also, they can be granted for longer periods of time, though in practice, only a single year is granted for first-time entrants into Japan (and sometimes for people who have been there for years). You will also need lots of documentation, including college transcripts, proper identification, etc. Once you have made the application, you must wait. I have had embassy people tell me the process would take "3 weeks", but 2 - 3 months is about right. BE VERY POLITE TO EVERYONE YOU DEAL WITH AT THE CONSULATE OR AT IMMIGRATION! THEY CAN KEEP YOU OUT OF THE COUNTRY ON A WHIM AND THERE WILL BE NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT! Not fair, of course, but that's life. Once you have gotten your visa, you can go to Japan and begin your new career/life/adventure. You must register at the local city hall (and they aparently will no longer fingerprint you). You will have to pay a residence tax (which can range from several hundred to several thousand dollars) each year. You will have to pay Japanese income tax (usually MUCH lower than US tax). If you make less than $70,000 a year, you can get an exemption from US taxes, though you still have to file. WHAT IF I AM LOOKING FOR A LANGUAGE TEACHING/TRANSLATION JOB? I will address the spouse situation first, as many people seem concerned about finding a job when they move with their spouse to Japan. Note: whether or not you speak Japanese, the suggestions for language teaching apply. My advice is to learn the language as quickly as possible, once you're there. This opens the translation / interpretation jobs to you; MUCH more lucrative, and in many cases, more interesting. If you are married to a Japanese, and have, or can get, a spouse visa (as above) you should have no problems once you get to Japan, if you are willing to hustle. Most jobs are not full-time, however. It is MUCH easier to find these part-time jobs than full-time jobs. You can get quite a few of them. Standard pay, through an agency, is Y3,000-Y4,500/hour. These jobs are often advertised in the Monday and Thursday edition of the _Japan Times_. After you get some experience, it becomes a bit easier to get a full-time lecturer job at a university. The competition is much tougher for these, but the longer you're in Japan, the better your chances. And once you have some experience, it is much easier to keep getting these part-time jobs, if you so desire. Also, your name will become known in the teaching circles, and you'll have more access to better information on full-time positions. If you are not married, you will need to find a sponsor in one of the companies you will be working for. Many companies are unwilling to do this. My advice is to keep plugging. If you can make it to Tokyo, you CAN find such a job, IF you answer every ad that you see. If you are outside of Japan, then it becomes much more difficult, about like finding a job in any country without being there. What few hints I have are above. Part-time jobs offer transportation costs, period. Only full-time jobs will provide benefits (usually). However, you can very nicely supplement your income with translation jobs. This would enable you to work at home. (It assumes, of course, that you will speak/read some Japanese.) These jobs are also advertised in the J Times. Get a FAX and a computer capable of handling Japanese language and you really can make a lot of money. It is, however, a constant hustle. Note: most J-E translation jobs pay about Y5,000 a page, E-J pays about Y3,000. I did get one translation job that paid Y10,000 a page, but those are rare. Many of these translation companies also offer the occasional interpretation job as well. These can be real plums; my wife and I got paid Y100,000 EACH for a one-day outing to the beach at Chiba with a couple of foreign models. If you stay in Japan long enough to learn the language even moderately well, you will find a larger and larger number of translation/interpretation jobs coming your way, as there is a very high turnover among employees of these these smaller translation/interpretation companies. WHAT IF I JUST WANT A JOB FOR A COUPLE OF MONTHS? Some countries, eg, Great Britain, have reciprocity agreements with Japan, allowing people to work for a couple months under various restrictions with nothing more than tourist visas. The US (last I checked, 1991) was not such a country. It IS possible to get a part-time teaching job or two, and some translation jobs if you hustle. It is illegal, and if you get caught, you'd better do some sincere apologizing to avoid getting kicked out of the country. As noted above, Japanese authorities can be much more forgiving if you give them reason to be (no guarantees of course.) Many companies will not ask you too many questions about your visa status, if you don't volunteer anything, or "misrepresent" your status. So, it CAN be done, and if you get caught, most likely the worst that will happen is you will get kicked out of Japan. There are also some internship programs available for specific areas, but these are very competitive, and Japanese authorities sometimes have problems getting intern visas run through immigration (sounds strange, but it is true.) Consult your local program for more info. So, have fun, work hard, and enjoy the land of the rising Yen! (some information here courtesy of Ray Tang) --- (6.1.1) JET From: jer@gol.com (Jerry Blanton) JET stands for the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program, a program sponsored by the Japanese Ministries of Education, Home Affairs and Foreign Affairs. The program began in 1987 and was designed to bring young, native English speakers to Japan to assist English teachers in public junior high, high schools and college/universities as well as to help bring 'internationalization' (the 1980's buzzword) to Japan. These goals has now been expanded to include German and French speakers as well. Currently (1994), participating countries are: USA, Canada, UK, Germany, France, Australia and New Zealand. This year there are over 3,000 participants (hereafter referred to as 'JETs') spread across the entirety of Japan. There are two types of JET positions: 1) ALT (Assistant Language Teacher). The ALT goes to junior/high/colleges and 'team-teaches' with a native Japanese teacher. Until 1989 there were only English instructors on the program but then it was expanded to include German and French teachers as well (big cities only). ALTs work in a wide range of situations and some ALTs teach in only one school while others never visit the same school twice. 2) CIR (Coordinator for International Relations) The CIR position helps to fulfill the lofty internationalization goal. CIRs work in prefectural offices or in large cities (or sometimes not so big) doing anything from tourism to helping the city deal with the influx of foreign workers. The CIR position is much less defined than the ALT. The vast majority of JETs fall into the ALT category while only a few hundred are CIRs. Where Do I Sign Up? All hiring for the JET program is done in the home countries of respondents. Generally, the initial applications have to be received by mid-December and then notification of interviews is made in late January or early Februrary with the interviews being held in Feb. Most interviews are conducted at the Japanese embassy or consulates in each country. To be an ALT you DO NOT need to speak Japanese, nor do you need any special knowledge about Japan. You do need to have an interest in Japan and a willingness to help the Japanese improve their English skills. Because CIRs tend to work more with larger government offices, they need more Japanese skills from the outset, although this is NOT always the case. In all cases, you must have at least a bachelors degree by the time that you are to departfor Japan (end of July). The JET year is from August 1 to July 31. JETs are pretty well paid considering that the majority of participants are fresh out of college and have no experience. As of this writing, the JET salary is 3,600,000 yen which is about US$30,000. This is TAX FREE so your monthly salary is 300,000 yen wihich is more than enough to live on, and then some. Big city JETs often complain that they make less due to higher cost of living, but they are no where near poverty level. Besides, the JET program isn't about making money, it's about a great opportunity to live in Japan, learn Japanese, and work. If you are interested in finding out more about applying for the JET Program, contact you closest Japanese Embassy or consulate. You can also e-mail me, Jerry Blanton (jer@twics.com) for general questions, however, I left the JET program three years ago so I cannot answer questions about specific matters. --- (6.1.2) Other English teaching jobs [look back at the main section 5.2 - it's got a little on this] ohayo@calon.com (Lynn Cullivan) writes a semiweekly electronic newsletter called Ohayo-Sensei dealing with English teaching jobs in Japan. It includes job listings, guidelines on job applications and resumes, and even cheapest airfare to Japan. You may want to go through the newsgroup for the latest posting. Japan is known for being relatively easy to find good paying English teaching jobs with few qualifications. That's the reputation, but it's not nearly as true now as it was several years ago. There are many English schools in Japan, and many of them still hire native English speakers, but the good ones--and "good" means both the quality of their teaching and how they treat their employees--are much more likely to require that their employees have experience or even some credential in teaching ESL. Freelancing is possible, but getting established is difficult. Note that freelancing on a tourist visa is illegal, and to get a working visa, you need a sponsor--usually an employer, but friends or relatives are possible. The bottom line is that it's not as easy as it once was. --- (6.2) Travel Info One way to get exposure to Japanese culture is to actually travel to Japan. Unfortunately Japan's reputation, in the U.S. at least, is that it's horrendously expensive. In reality, it can be expensive, but doesn't have to be. A rather lengthy file of general travel hints gets posted to s.c.j from time to time. It is not included in this FAQ list due to its size. It is available by anonymous FTP from neutrino.nuc.berkeley.edu (128.32.142.191) in the directory pub/Japanese/travel. Another set of files from neutrino.nuc.berkeley.edu that may be of interest is James Liu's Tokyo Off Time, a record of a postdoc's experience in and out of Tokyo from a foreigner's point of view. --- (6.3) Gifts to and from Japan To Japan: Don't expect to find anything that your recipient can't get in Japan; these days you can get almost anything from any part of the world in Japan, provided that you're willing to pay for it. Having said that, there are still many items not commonly found in Japan that would make perfect gifts: Calendars--"Cute" or "artsy" calendars are rare in Japan, where most households and businesses keep track of dates using boring, generic calendars with corporate logos imprinted, handed out by businesses for promotions. My mother always used to ask for a Peter Rabbit calendar for Christmas. (And then she found a store that sold Peter Rabbit calendars in Tokyo. But let's not get into that.) Mugs and T-shirts--Creative patterns are not as common in Japan. For T-shirts, take into consideration that Japanese people do not wear T-shirts too often and, when they do, they generally like to avoid flashier-colored clothes. Alcohol--Up to 3 bottles of spirits are duty-free upon entering Japan. Just remember that, if you need to travel before meeting your recipient, you're going to lug 3 liters of water with you during those legs of your trip. These are just a few examples. Email me if you have any other wildly popular/successful ideas. From Japan: The great thing about Japan is that practically every region has some unique product to offer. Consult your travel guides for appropriate gifts from wherever you travelled. In general, I find that room decorations, accessories, etc., are more convenient for you (and more appreciated by the recipient) than food. --- (6.3) Taking electronics to Japan The Japanese TV standard is NTSC, the same as used in the North America and a few other places, so videotapes and laserDiscs from Japan are compatable with North American equipment. Channel assignments are somewhat different, so a North American TV set won't necessarily work if you take it to Japan. SECAM or PAL equipment won't be much use in Japan, but reportedly can be purchased in Japan if you want to take something home. Because of the channel assignment differences, a TV set and a VCR or laserdisc player need to be connected by the RCA type video cables (or S-video), not the coaxial "signal modulated onto channel 3 or 4" cables. There are probably exceptions to this statement, but in general, this is so. Electricity is 100 volts 50hz in Eastern Japan, 60hz in western Japan. The dividing line is the Oi river in Shizuoka prefecture about half way between Tokyo and Nagoya. Aparently, Tokyo and Osaka, being the first cities in Japan to elictrify, ordered their equipment from different European (or US?) sources, thus the frequency difference. The outlets fit US standard two prong plugs with two parallel flat blades. There are many houses that don't have the third wire ground hole in their outlets, so she three prong grounded plugs common on PCs in the US may have a problem with the ground pin. Power supplies on many computers can handle a wide range of voltages. The MAC IIvx nearby says 100-240V, 50-60 Hz. So with the correct line cord, it will be happy in Japan, but I don't know that to do if there's no ground connection. Some devices with motors depend on the line frequency for their speed and will run slow in eastern Japan. With the lower voltage, devices with heating elements will run cooler. --- (6.4) Lodging --- (6.4.1) Homestays The following was received by a reader from the Japanese Consulate whos address follows. There have been no reports on what any of these organizations are really like. Consulate General of Japan 250 East First Street, Suite 1507 Los Angeles, CA 90012 Telephone (213) 624-8305 Thank you for your interest in finding a host family in Japan. The following organizations will assist you in your homestay search: 1) The Japan Foundation 244 South San Pedro Street, #508 Los Angeles, CA 90012 (213) 617-1159 2) LEX America 68 Leonard Street Belmont, MA 02178 (617) 489-5898 3) Nihon Kokusai Seikatsu Taiken Kyoukai 4-5 Kojimachi, Tachibana Building Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan 120 4) Tokyo WMCA 1-8 Kanda Surugadai Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan 101 5) International Friendship Association 1-10 Chiyoda Building, Nanpei-dai Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan 150 6) Japan Junior Chamber, Inc. International Exchange Committee 2-14-3 Hirakawa Cho Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan 102 --- (6.5) Money --- (6.5.1) Bank accounts and services for foreigners Citibank is the only foreign bank known to do *consumer* banking in Japan. (There are a number of foreign banks that do commercial banking. Email the FAQ moderator if you know of another foreign bank that handles personal accounts.) A branch manager for a major Japanese bank told me that they need to check personal identification for foreigners because of money laundering problems; however, he added that passports should suffice as an ID for most foreigners. This, of course, does not guarantee anything for *your* case, and there have been complaints against Japanese banks not servicing foreigners. --- (6.5.2) Credit cards for foreigners Credit cards are not nearly as popular in Japan as they are in some other developed countries. Most stores that handle large transactions (like, say, electronics outlets) will accept credit cards, but don't expect to pay for your lunch at the ramen joint with a credit card. Note: personal checks are practically unheard of in Japan. Nevertheless, credit cards are very convenient to have. Citibank reportedly offers them to foreigners; there have not been any reports about Japanese providers, but many credit card vendors in other countries do limit/deny cards to foreigners, so it may also be the case in Japan. VISA is probably the most popular credit card. AmEx is also frequently seen, and Diner's Club is more common in Japan than in, say, US. Strangely, MasterCard is not seen often in Japan. A similar-looking card called Million Card is not compatible with MasterCard to the best of my knowledge. --- (6.5.3) Currency exchange; sending cash to/from Japan by Norman Diamond In buying and selling US$, if M is the market fixing (at around 10:00 a.m.), then banks and large department stores and some hotels set the rates as: cash buying US$1 = M - 3 yen traveller's cheque buying US$1 = M - ??? yen (around 1.7; I don't recall) telegraphic transfer buying US$1 = M - 1 yen (maybe minus some fee?) telegraphic transfer selling US$1 = M + 1 yen (plus 4,500 yen plus *) traveller's cheque selling US$1 = (M + 1 yen) x 1.01 cash selling US$1 = M + 3 yen postal money order US$1 = prior day's M + 1 (plus 500 to 2,500 yen) * U.S. banks charge about US$10 to receive a telegraphic transfer in US$. In buying and selling German marks, the rates differ from the market fixings by about the same amounts as for US$. In buying and selling other major currencies, telegraphic transfers still differ from market fixings by about 1 or 2 yen (or maybe 3 yen for British pounds, just guessing), and rates for traveller's cheques are almost reasonable, but rates for cash get really bad. For example, the buying and selling rates for Canadian cash differ by about 20%, and the buying and selling rates for Hong Kong cash differ by about 30%. For minor currencies, it is even worse. Postal money orders to other countries also use the prior day's bank selling rate. The fee is usually 1,000 to 3,000 yen (500 yen higher than for US$) but the post office sends the money orders themselves through some system, instead of making (or letting) the buyer send or carry the money orders as to the US. Postal money orders to some countries can be sent by telegraphic transfer (giro) instead of the post office's paper money order system. The cost is intermediate between ordinary money orders and Japanese bank telegraphic transfers. But some Japanese postal employees don't understand the word "giro" even when it's painted on the signboard in front of them. Some Japanese banks will also sell demand drafts for a rate equivalent to telegraphic transfer with a fee of 2,500 yen instead of 4,500. But the buyer has to return the next day to pick up the draft and still has to send or carry it to the destination country. If you are sending a telegraphic transfer from another country, you might find it cheaper to send the transfer in yen, so that you pay the conversion rate set by your bank instead of the Japanese bank. But again, I don't know if a Japanese bank might charge a fee to receive a telegraphic transfer even in yen. Do not send or bring a bank draft payable in yen, from another country. Even if the draft is payable by a Japanese bank, and even if the recipient (or your own bank, after you open an account) understands the draft, they will charge very high fees. Also do not send or bring a bank draft payable in any other currency; the fees are even higher. Only traveller's cheques have reasonable fees, along with telegraphic transfers and US$ cash. --- (6.6) What are the laws for Japanese citizenship at birth? [disclaimer] The following was written by an individual who is not an expert, nor a lawyer in the matter in question. The information is believed to be correct, but don't say you weren't warned if it's wrong. 0. If both parents are Japanese citizens then the child is a Japanese citizen; though if the child is known to have a second citizenship for some reason (such as being born in a country that grants citizenship due to place of birth) then rules for dual citizens apply. 1. If one parent is a Japanese citizen and one parent is a non-Japanese citizen, then the child is a Japanese citizen, but must choose by age 22 whether to keep Japanese citizenship or the other citizenship. The child's choice is recognized legally by Japan. The child's choice might or might not be recognized by the other country, so the child might choose Japan and still be a dual citizen when in the other country or maybe third countries. Until recently, this was the rule only if the father was the Japanese citizen -- if the mother was the Japanese citizen, the child might become stateless as a result. But the law no longer discriminates by parent's sex. 2. If both parents are non-Japanese, then the child is not a Japanese citizen. Status depends only on the laws of the countries of the parents' citizenships, and maybe of the country where the child was born. 3. If the parents are not married but both recognize the child as theirs, the above rules still apply. 4. If the parents are not married and the father does not recognize the child as his, then only the mother's citizenship (and possibly the child's place of birth) determine the child's citizenship(s). 5. If both parents are unknown and the child was born in Japan, then the law says that the child is a Japanese citizen. This case has probably not been tested recently in the courts or otherwise, so the status of such a child will probably in reality, be stateless. --- Subject: (7.0) Japanese Information Processing Look back to the bibliography section of this file, and note a book by Ken Lunde. It's a good start to answering many questions in this area. The sci.lang.japan FAQ file is also a good reference. --- Subject: (7.1) How to get internet access in Japan The Japanese Internet Providers FAQ is posted irregularly in sci.lang.japan. It is much too long to be included in its entirety here. I extracted the entries of some of the better-known (not necessarily better!) providers. The full, updated version is available via WWW at <http://nobunaga.unm.edu:8001/internet.html>. #Access Provider: Compuserve Services/cost: PC Information Service provider with Internet E-mail gateway. No active marketing in Japan but provide access point(s) at least in Tokyo area. POS: The following are unverified access points for Tokyo area: (Tokyo) 03-5471-4790 The above is a direct number but has no no E-mail or electronic forum section. The next numbers may actually be part of Fujitsu "Fenics" network (see Nifty-Serve): (Tachikawa) 0425-29-5491 7E1 (Tokyo) 0337-39-9968 7E1 (Yokohama) 0453-16-6325 7E1 (Yokosuka) 0468-25-7697 7E1 Can also be acccessed via Nifty-Serve, sprintnet. Contact: Get an account in your home country or sign up using one of the introductory offers which often come with (US) modems. Notes: Compuserve policy is, er, fluid. The Japan access point(s) exist but they apparently do no publicize it/them. #Access Provider: Fidonet Services/cost: BBS with a Fidonet gateway can be used to send and recieve Internet E-mail via Fidonet. For example john smith at 1:2/3.4 can be reached at john.smith@p4.f3.n2.z1.fidonet.org POS: National though concentrated around Kanto, Kansai and Okinawa Contact: There are about 80 Japan located BBS's listed in regular (copyrighted) FidoNet Region 63 Nodelist put out by Bill English of BillBoard BBS 6:731/16. I hope to put in an editted version of this list if the author agrees. Meanwhile try Tokyo PC BBS (as listed) or the following to get started: FidoNet-Japan BillBoard BBS 0427-77-0847, 8N1 #Access Provider: Global On-Line Japan (beta testing as of 94-6-8) Services/cost: Subscription BBS with as yet unspecified Internet services POS: Tokyo 03-5310-5143 (verified) , 03-5310-5142, 8N1 Contact: - Dial POS for on-line registration Interface: English (will have Japanese) #Access Provider: Nifty-Serve, Fujitsu Services/cost: No. 2 Compuserve-like PC Information Service provider with Internet E-mail gateway. [ Costs were obtained off-hand from a user and need corroboration ] Basic cost: zero flat rate + 10 Yen/minute connect time (?) Cost for sending/receiving Internet email: Free (?) POS: National via FENICS Frame Relay network dial-in points 300 - 9600bps Examples: Tokyo 03-3739-9120 (verified) 2400bps Tokyo 03-5703-0222 03-5710-5300 Osaka 06-949-2573 06-941-7006 06-947-5936 Akita 0188-31-4120 0188-31-6640 Contact: - "Nifty-Serve Guide Book" available at book stores and LAOX computer in Akihabara (Tokyo electronics shops district) - Nifty-Serve is "presently offering" (94-6-14) free English-language startup kits for "Nifty-Serve ES, the English language version of Nifty-Serve." To get one, call their customer service department at (03) 5471-5806. - On-line sign up in English via POS Log in is not intuitively obvious and according to the number that you dial. Here is example for 03-3739-9120 : Prompt What you enter ---------------------------------------------------------- (none) .00+ (Do not press RETURN!!) COM Enter Connection-ID---> SGE (press RETURN) Enter Serial#---> NIF00777 Enter Agreement#---> NIFTYSGN ---------------------------------------------------------- Note - It is the first line which varies, try also "C NIF" (no quotes, press return) - Member Service Department (toll-free) 0120-22-1200 and 03-5471-5806. Fax: 03-5471-5890 Interface: Japanese ("SVC" Connection ID) or English ("SVE" Connection ID) #Access Provider: TWICS Last updated: early 1994 Services/cost: BBS, Internet Email, TELNET/rlogin , FTP, Archie, whois, talk, irc "5000 yen/month includes access to all facilities for up to 20 hours each month. A 200-500 yen per hour charge (pro-rated) is added for additional time, depending on the time of day." A 2000 Yen/month, 25 Yen/minute UUCP only service was available and may still be. POS: Tokyo direct dial-in or via ?? Contact: address: TWICS IEC (NichiBei Kaiwa Gakuin) Bldg. 1-21 Yotsuya, Shinjuku-ku Tokyo 160 JAPAN phone: (+81 3) 351 5977 FAX: (+81 3) 353 8908 internet: info@twics.com or Tim Burress <burress@tanuki.twics.co.jp> Interface: English (Japanese??) Notes: Until very recently, this was the only commercial Internet provider. #Access Provider: Global OnLine Japan Services cost: Personal/Individual Services : All personal services available at up to 28.8k v.34 speeds Email-only access: Full Internet e-mail access, with software for Mac or PC (Windows) included for 25,000 yen for one year. Shell access; including email, Telnet, FTP, Archie, Netnews (Usenet, etc. 4,800 yen/mth or 48,000yen/year for up to 20 hours a month. Additional time available. SLIP/PPP: Full SLIP or PPP access including use of POPmail, FTP, telnet, Mosaic and other graphical web browsers 4,500 yen/mth for 5 hours a month (price will be lowered 1st quarter of 95 ISDN dial-up from Jan., 1995 Currently offering 3 week trial accounts with SLIP and full shell services. Corporate Services : Group accounts, multiple accounts available. Call or send mail to sales@gol.com UUCP services: Full UUCP services for companies, BBSs etc. Including NetNews, email,etc. 9,000 yen/mth Lan Dedicated Line services: Flat rate pricing for speeds from 14.4k to 28.8k analog, 38 to 64k digital. Modems/TAs and one phone line dedicated to your organization so there is never a busy signal. Prices from 80,000 to 185,000 yen/mth Leased Line services : Flat rate pricing for speeds, currently from 9600 to 64k, 128k from January, 1995 Prices from 150,000 to 320,000 yen/mth POS: Tokyo direct dial 03-5330-9385 Contact: address: Global OnLine Japan Oshima Building, # 302 1-56-1 Higashi-Nakano Nakano-ku, Tokyo Japan 164 phone: (+81 3) 5330-9380 FAX: (+81 3) 5330-9381 internet: info@gol.com (auto-reply) sales@gol.com or Roger Boisvert <rjb@gol.com> Interface: English with bilingual under construction Notes: The founder created the first licenced commercial Internet supplier in Japan. The system is designed for high throughput, with offline mail/news readers for shell users to enable them get on and off quickly. Lines are all ISDN to reduce chance of line noise. User base from all across Japan seeking faster access and throughput. Solid user support. --- Subject: (7.2) E-Mail address for xxx in Japan One of the most frequent asked questions (FAQ) in this group has been: "Does anybody know the e-mail address to xxx in Japan?" One of the questions I often get asked concerns how to contact specific sites or people in Japan by email. While there's no foolproof way, oftentimes you can guess an email address from the recipient's affiliation. The translation from affiliation to email domain can be made with the help of the standard list of active domains in Japan. As an example, to contact someone at Akita University, you might try loginname@akita-u.ac.jp where "loginname" is something reasonable like the person's last name, their first initial followed by last name, etc. If that doesn't work and you know the person is in, say, the CS department, you might try loginname@cs.akita-u.ac.jp A list of active domains is also available for anonymous FTP from cs.arizona.edu [192.12.69.5] as file "japan/email.domains. THIS CAN BE VERY USEFUL if you're trying to guess at an address. Another service you may want to try out is Netfind. Netfind tries to locate a host and login name based on the name and the location of the person. Telnet to bruno.cs.colorado.edu, login as netfind, and follow the directions. While there aren't all that many posters from Japan, if you find a poster at a probable site, you may want to email the person and ask for help. Of course, this may or may not bring about anything. If all else fails, sending a query to the loginname "postmaster" at that site will usually elicit a response. Do not abuse this option, as postmasters tend to be very overworked sysadmins. --- Subject: (7.3) How can I read or write Japanese on my computer? Note: This FAQ is not meant to be an exhaustive guide. For a more comprehensive treatment of this topic, see <http://www.uwtc.washington.edu/Computing/Japanese/> This question is broken down into three subsections, Macintosh, IBM (PC and compatables), and Unix. Unix means mostly X-windows software. Reading Japanese on a computer requires a terminal emulator or text editor program that 1) handles the two byte character set(s) which are used for transmitting kanji electronically; and 2) Displays the text in a readable form, at least one kanji font is generally required. Writing Japanese requires an input system, which may or may not be built in to a text editor. The input system takes keyboard input, usually romaji, converts to kana, and then converts words or phrases to kanji. An article from Ken Lunde which describes character encoding and other aspects of Japanese language on computers is available at several FTP sites. There are several FTP sites which cary Japanese related software. Try one near you first before trying one on the other side of an ocean. North America ftp.uwtc.washington.edu /pub/Japanese Lots of stuff for all platforms mindseye.berkeley.edu [128.32.232.19] /pub/kanji A few MS-DOS utilities Japan azabu.tkl.iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp [130.69.16.7] Japanese related programs for PCs utsun.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp [133.11.7.250] jTeX scslwide.sony.co.jp [133.138.199.1] a few MS-DOS utilities ftp.cs.titech.ac.jp [131.112.16.39] ftp.tohoku.ac.jp lots of good stuff Australia ftp.cc.monash.edu.au pub/nihongo A few MS-Dos and Mac utilities many language references including kanjidic and edict dictionary files Europe kuso.shef.ac.uk pub/japanese, pub/news/fj Mirrors ftp.cc.monash.edu.au as well as other things nic.funet.fi pub/cluture/japan lots of stuff --- Subject: (7.3.1) Japanese on the Macintosh Parts due to Ken Matsuda (matsuda@mtholyoke.edu) Apple sells the "Japanese Language Kit" to run on system 7.1. It has true type Kanji fonts, an input conversion system and dictionary. It also costs a bunch of money. It lists for something like US$250, and is reportedly available from some of the discount software places for about US$190.00. Those at academic institutions may find it for as low as US$150.00. Version 7.1 and later of the macintosh operating system is called "World Script Ready". Different modules for different languages can be installed and input methods switched from language to language with a manu or control panel choice. The current release of JLK is not compatible with System 7.5 out of the box (some did report that it worked if you use the extensions from JLK, not those that came with 7.5). There is an updater for version 1.1.1 available at ftp.support.apple.com that alleviates this problem. JLK 1.2 is supposed to come out in a few months, but that has been delayed several times. There is gomTalk, which takes a U.S. system 7.0 or so and a 6.n version of Kanji talk and produces a Japanese system 7. Don't expect true type fonts, or any support. More details not available here. Once a Japanese OS is installed, you can run many applications on a U.S. mac and use Japanese input to create Japanese text. However, many U.S. applications make assumptions about single byte characters, so you will be disapointed. You can use the following: [terminal emulators] -ASLEdit an english/kanji text editor, simple terminal emulator -NinjaTerm terminal emulator -ActiveTalk cheap(3800 yen) commercial terminal emulator -NCSA Telnet-J Japanese-compatible port of the freeware Telnet client -MacBlue Telnet Chinese, Korean and Japanese-capable telnet client (allegedly operates without JLK, but I have not found the right supporting files to make Japanese work--ed.) [web browsers] -Netscape claims to support Japanese as of 1.1N release. -MacWeb the author has no experience with MacWeb's Japanese capability. [wordprocessing and text editing] -Nisus Writer: This is a neat program. Its interface is unique, and some people may find it awkward at first. Nonetheless, it is a well-thought-out program. One problem that I heard is that it slows down when you work on large documents. This may have to do with the fact that Nisus saves documents in text files, and all formatting information is stored in the resource fork. Current version: 4.06. -WordPerfect 3.1: It works very well with Japanese. 3.0 had some bugs: Japanese subtitles and footnotes were problematic. However, these problems are fixed in the current version: 3.1. -Edit 7: The author of the freeware claims that he is attempting to create a multi-lingual text editor. This software is not complete yet, but you can select a text string, and drag & drop it for pasting and deleting. I find this feature useful. [spreadsheet] -Lotus 1-2-3: You can paste Japanese characters in the cells. Someone told me that you can do the same thing with MS Excel, but I don't know for sure. In any case, since Excel is the only commerical spreadsheet still under development for the Mac, you may have to settle for buying the Japanese version of Excel, which can be expensive. [database] -4th Dimension: I heard that the international edition of 4th Dimension is WorldScript-savvy. I have not seen this myself. Unfortunately, FileMaker Pro does not work with Japanese Language Kit. [presentation] -Astound: Astound accepts Japanese characters without much trouble. Persuasion does not. [graphics] -MacFlow: This is a chart drawing tool, and it accepts Japanese characters without much trouble. DeltaGraph3 does not. [others] -StorySpace: This hypertext tool accepts Japanese characters without much trouble. -FullContact 2.0: This contact manager does accept Japanese characters in some fields, but I have not used the product extensively, and I cannot say much about this. -MacX: Well, OK, this falls more into the UNIX category than Macs. The kanji font k14.bdf will work with MacX 1.2, but not with 1.1.7. This font will work with or without JLK. Microsoft and Claris, and probably others produce Japanese versions of their software, but for various reasons, aren't sold in the U.S. You can bring them back from Japan. Much commercial software in Japan is very expensive. Many programs that won't work correctly for creating text do fine when reading only. Most U.S. word processing programs fit this category. You may need to select all text in your document and change it to a font that contains kanji - look for font names like "Kyoto" or "Osaka". --- Subject: (7.3.2) Japanese on MS-DOS and Windows The optimal solution to Japanese processing on a PC is to install Linux/X11R5 (get the relevant HOWTO file from comp.os.linux.announce). This not only gives you Kanji fonts, but also Chinese, Hangul, Hebrew, etc. etc. All this is free with X11R5. Of course, by installing Linux you get fullblown UNIX, UNIX networking, etc. as well. DOS/V is the Japanese version of MS-DOS for PC ATs. It was released in Japan in 1991, now it's in version 5.0. There are already many commercial programs for this OS, including text editors. The V of DOS/V is from VGA (It only works on VGA), and it is fully compatible with MS-DOS for IBM-PCs. Actually it's the MS-DOS with some device drivers for processing fonts and input. It also has commands to switch quickly between Japanese and English. As an example of commercial text editor, there is a DOS/V version of Ichitaro the best-selling editor in Japan. The Dash version which has less functions than the complete one costs about US$200. There are also many Japanese version of English programs for PCs such as Windows 3.0, Lotus 1-2-3, MS-Works, etc. Moke 1.1 is a shareware text editor runs on more basic systems than jwp or njstar. Moke 2.0 is a commercial product and is available from J.J. Edwards, KiCompware, 1812 N. Erb St., Appleton, WI 54911, or Mark Edwards, #405 Konya manshon 4-12-6 Gono kami, Hamura-cho, Nishitamagun, Tokyo, Japan 190 Hterm - A communication program for MS-DOS which will display ASCII, JASCII, JIS1, and JIS2. From most of the FTP sites mentioned. KD (Kanji Driver) by Izumi Ohzawa Kanji viewer/ front-end-processor for Kermit. FTP from mindseye at berkeley. Mr. Ohzawa recommends hterm. There is also a high-end word processor called EW+ (about like WordPerfect?) for the IBM PC available from: Information Technology Laboratory 415 Madison Ave. 19th Floor New York, NY 10017 Tel: 212-832-5300 (Yuki Maruyama) Fax: 212-832-6677 Price: $850.00 ($499.00 for Universities). There is also a lower-end word-processor called JWP which has gotten a lot of usenet notice lately. from several FTP sites. Definitely at ftp.uwtc.washington.edu. Something called njstar exists also... YKH is a freeware Japanese terminal emulator for MS-DOS computers with VGA. It has the following features: o VT320 terminal emulation o ASCII, JIS, NEW-JIS, SHIFT-JIS, EUC formats o even when "stripped" by newsreaders, Japanese displayed correctly o com1 and com2 to 9600 baud o DECNET LAT, DECNET CTERM network terminal protocols o roumaji-kana translation from wuarchive.wustl.edu in mirrors/msdos/modem/ykh.zip --- Subject: (7.3.3) Japanese on Unix, X-windows by Masataka KASEGAWA (kagesawa@wing2.iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp) The standard X-windows distribution contains kanji fonts, Look in the contrib area of your copy of X-windows. Kinput, kterm (terminal program) etc. Nemacs is a version of Gnu emacs modified to handle double byte characters. It interfaces to a kanji conversion server that's distributed as part of the Wnn package. Get Nemacs and Wnn from ftp.uwtc.washington.edu The full nemacs distribution is available at crl.nmsu.edu in pub/misc/nemacs-3.3.2.tar.Z Nemacs is not supported anymore. The new program is MULE, Multilingual Enhancement to GNU Emacs, currently version 2.1 -- available at least on etlport.etl.go.jp or sh.wide.ad.jp (faster), and ftp.funet.fi. MULE is larger and more complex than nemacs. If you only want Japanese and no other languages, you may want to stick with nemacs. [General] You usually cannot display kanji on the console of an UNIX machine. So when you need to read or write Japanese on an UNIX machine, you usually need to be in X-windows. The standard X-windows distribution, Relese 4? or later, contains kanji fonts, but some PC-based packages do not include them because thier size is large and they are rarely used. It is explained later how to check whether your machine has Japanese fonts or not. But if you use an UNIX machine as a 'Japanese server', which means that the machine just serves Japanese utilities mentioned below, then you don't need the X-window system. Instead, you must connect to an UNIX machine from your Japanese terminal (PC or Mac) with a modem or direct connection via serial port. You don't have to get Japanese localization on your UNIX OS. In fact, many administrators of SunOS 4.x machines in Japan hate JLE (Japanese Language Environment? Extension?) kit, which presents your machine Japanese locale, so they won't install JLE. (Just for users who are interested in localization) It is recommended that X must be compiled with option -DX_LOCALE if you need Japanese localization on X. Remark that you can read and write Japanese on X which is compiled WITHOUT this option. This option makes X overload the setlocale() function. [PC-UNIX] In recent years, many commercial or free UNIX like OSs on PC have become available. One of the most popular OS is linux. In slackware, there is a package named JE (Japanese Extension) which include almost all Japanese softwares that you usually need. Others, especially those who like BSD UNIX, prefer NetBSD, FreeBSD or BSD/OS. There is no package like JE, but still some useful packages like mule and wnn are available (at least on FreeBSD). Japanese version of BSD/OS offers Japanese environment but I don't know how to get it from outside of Japan. [How to Read and/or Write Japanese text on UNIX machines] There are two methods in order to read and/or write Japanese on UNIX machines. One is to create whole Japanese environment on an UNIX machine, and the other is to access UNIX machines from a Japanese terminal. The difference of the methods is just whether you need Japanese input system on UNIX. It is usually very complicated 'server' program (see below) so you might hesitate to install it on the machines if you are not root. Anyway, if you like to use Japanese input system on PC or Mac to write Japanese on UNIX, then you can use your PC or Mac just as a Japanese terminal for UNIX machines. You don't need any Japanese input system on UNIX machines. Of course you need programs which understand Japanese such as NEmacs, mule, jvi on the UNIX machines. See also [Connection to UNIX from PC or Mac]. [Japanese Fonts on X window system] You need at least one Japanese font to read or write Japanese on X. You can check with xlsfonts command whether your X server has Japanese fonts or not: % xlsfonts | grep jisx0208 If you get some output like -jis-fixed-medium-r-normal--0-0-75-75-c-0-jisx0208.1983-0 -jis-fixed-medium-r-normal--16-110-100-100-c-160-jisx0208.1983-0, then your machine does have Japanese fonts (The name of fonts, especially 0208, might be changed in future release). If you do not get any output, then it means that ether your system does not have any Japanese fonts or your font-path is wrong. Consult an expert of X window system at hand. [Japanese Terminal on X window system] Look in the contrib area of your copy of X-window system. You can see kterm or mterm(terminal program). Kterm is the most popular terminal program in Japan. Don't forget to install application default (resource) file named KTerm.ad or your kterm will behave the same as xterm. [Japanese input system on UNIX] The most common Japanese input system in UNIX is probably Wnn. Its latest version is 4.2. In order to compile Wnn 4.2, you need the X window system environment. Moreover, you need the source tree of X if you are under X11R5. If you are under X11R6, you don't need the source tree. Another common Japanese input system is Canna. Canna 3.2 is included in contrib of X11R6 but you need a patch in order to compile it under X11R6 (but don't need under X11R5). In order to compile Canna, you need imake of X11R5 or later, but don't need any library of X. In any case, Japanese input system is designed as server-client system, which means that many people can access via LAN, so it is recommended for you to be able to become root. But, if you can not become root, don't worry. The whole input system works just for you :-) and will work fine except that any other user can not use the system. [Front End for Japanese input system] Japanese input system usually offers a very primitive front end such as uum, canuum. So I think that few Japanese people use it. Many Japanese people prefer Nemacs and/or Mule, which are extension of GNU Emacs. The final version of Nemacs is 3.3.2, which is based on Emacs 18.55. Yes, Nemacs is not supported any more. Mule, whose latest version is 2.2.2, is based on Emacs 19.28 (the announcement of new Mule version is going to be posted to soc.culture.japan). Mule is very huge program but its compilation is easier than that of nemacs, I think. Make sure that japanese server is running before you start Nemacs or Mule. Some people like kinput2, which is a front end under the X window system. In paticular, if you prefer vi rather than emacs, then you should use kinput2. Kterm supports kinput2 protocol, so you can input Japanese on command line of kterm with kinput2. Kinput2 is also in contrib of X11R[56]. There are some Japanese vi-clones: jstevie, jelvis and so on. That is, you can edit Japanese articles with the combination of X+kterm+jvi+kinput2+(japanese input system). Kinput2 protocol is ported to some drawing tools (idraw, tgif) to make them input Japanese. Remark that you must have at least one kind of Japanese input system before the compilation of a front end program. [Japanese Editors and Viewers] As mentioned above, there are many Japanese editors on UNIX. I'm not sure but almost all the editors on UNIX have Japanese localizations. The names of other editors are ng (from eg), kemacs. The viewer 'less' also has a Japanese localization whose latest version is 2.3.7. It is offered as a patch for original less and its name is less-237-iso2022-patch* or so. [Kanji code] In UNIX machines, there are three major kinds of kanji code: JIS, SJIS, EUC. JIS coding system use only 7 bits so it is used for internet news and mail while SJIS is standard for PC and Mac. But it seems that the standard of UNIX in Japan is EUC. (In JIS coding system, there are some special escape sequences which distinguish US-ASCII environment and that of kanji) There are some kinds of kanji-code-converters, one of which is nkf (Network Kanji Filter). Since Mule and NEmacs convert kanji-code of input files to suitable one, so you don't care about kanji code if you use only Mule and/or NEmacs (with correct settings). [Japanese Mail and News on UNIX] The easiest way is to install mule and use RMAIL and GNUS on mule for Mail and News respectively. For settings, read Mule.FAQ, which is distributed with mule. If you like to read Japanese on mail and news with the same tool as you are using now, such as MH, tin, rn or so, then you should get Japanese localizations of the tools and install them because the original tools cannot understand escape sequences for JIS kanji-code, which is used on Internet. The names of Japanese localizations for MH and tin are mh-6.8.3-JP* (mh_version-patch_level-JP) and ktin1.5-1.22* (ktin-ktin_version-tin_version) respectively. If you use rn or trn, you can get the English versions to display Japanese in kterm by calling them with the -j flag, but you will experience problems with "moji-bake," caused by improper treatment of the end-of-lines. [Japanese WWW browser on UNIX] NCSA Mosaic has cjk (chinese-japanese-korean) localization whose archive names are Mosaic-2.4-l10n-* or so. On Emacs, there is a WWW client named w3, which is available also on Mule (and NEmacs) and can display Japanese texts. Netscape claims to support Japanese, but I have not tested their implementations on X. [Connection to UNIX from PC or Mac] You need Japanese terminal emulation programs on PCs or Macs, which are mentioned in (7.3.1) and (7.3.2). The points of setting up are as follows: 1. Check the setting of both your modem and the modem of a connecting UNIX machine. The parameters charactor size, parity, stop bit are important to communicate in Japanese kanji (2byte chars.), and the following setting is recommended: non parity, charactor size=8 and do not strip 8th bit. (In the words of UNIX stty: np, ms=cs8, -istrip) 2. If you have direct connection with a serial port, then just check the setting of the serial port. 3. If charactor size is 7 and the setting can not be changed, then you can use only JIS kanji-code for communication between the machines. Make sure that your terminal program can handle JIS code. 4. If the setting recommended in 1 is realized, then you can (and must) select suitable kanji-code among JIS, SJIS and EUC. Make sure which kanji-code your terminal program can handle. --- Subject: (7.4) Internet resources on Japan --- Subject: (7.4.1) FTP/gopher sites soc.culture.japan FAQ, along with the FAQ of many other newsgroups, is available via anonymous ftp at rtfm.mit.edu in /pub/usenet directory. Other ftp sites that have Japan-related materials are ftp.uwtc.washington.edu , file /pub/Japanese/ ftp.cc.monash.edu.au , file /pub/nihongo/ ftp.funet.fi , file /pub/culture/japan/info/ ftp.cdrom.com (mirrors other sites, too) kuso.shef.ac.uk, file /pub/ --- Subject: (7.4.2) WWW sites (I will not discuss what WWW is here because of space considerations. See the FAQ for comp.infosystems.www.users for details.) http://fuji.stanford.edu/ Home of US-Japan Technology Management Center, this is one of the largest WWW sites on Japan that I know of. Features a "Guide to Japan Information Resources", and other technologically-related sources that makes this site a good place to start your information hunt. http://www.ntt.jp/ A comprehensive site operated by Nippon Telephone and Telegraph. Contains links to just about any Japanese WWW site imaginable. http://www.its.newnham.utas.edu.au/bonsai/ The site contains links to many sites in Japan, Japan(ese) related sites in the US and elsewhere, and mirrors James Liu's Tokyo Off Time Server. It also contains information on Japanese Pop music, links to Anime sites, and links to FTP servers where Japanese related programs such as Edict etc are stored. Contact: Byron Kidd (Byron.Kidd@its.utas.edu.au) http://www.omron.co.jp/cgi-bin/j-e An online Japanese-English dictionary. Contact Jeffrey Friedl (jfriedl@omron.co.jp). http://www-leland.stanford.edu/~december/japan.html A new site that is trying to put together links about Japan. http://www.mickey.ai.kyutech.ac.jp/user/santos/FAQ/FAQSLJ.index.html The canonical sci.lang.japan FAQ site. --- (8.0) Japanese Media --- (8.1) Japanese short-wave radio Satoru Miyazaki, Michigan State Univesity <miyazaki@pilot.msu.edu> April 21, 1995 The frequency schedules of Radio Japan (NHK) for East Coast/Midwest of North America via Sackville, Canada are : Frequency EDT Language 5960kHz 21:00-22:00 English 22:00-23:00 Japanese 6110kHz 00:00-01:00 Japanese 01:00-02:00 English 6120kHz 06:00-07:00 Japanese 07:00-08:00 English 11705kHz 09:00-10:00 Japanese 10:00-11:00 English Also, the reception conditions are good at 11865KHz* (1700-1800 EDT)(English) and 9685KHz**(1800-1900EDT)(Japanese). *Moyabi, Gabon relay **Montsinery, French Guiana relay The above schedules are effective April 1, 1995 - September 23, 1995. The program and frequency schedules for other regions are available via WWW at http://www.ntt.jp:80/japan/NHK/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Free Japanese Lessons on Radio Japan Radio Japan made regular frequency changes for relay transimissions from Sackville, Canada when the daylight saving time was started. For the east coast/mid west of North American listeners, the relay transmissions on 5960KHz 2100 EDT (0100 UTC) is the best. Sackville, Canada relay for East and Midwest of North America Frequency Time (EDT) (KHz) Let's Learn Japanese (for Beginners) Sunday 5960 2110 - 2125 Enjoy Japanese (for Beginners and Intermediates) Tuesday 5960 2125 - 2155 Enjoy Japanese (for Beginners and Intermediates) Thursday 5960 2125 - 2155 (repeat of Tuesday program) For West Coast of North America Frequency Time (PDT) (KHz) Let's Learn Japanese (for Beginners) Sunday 9535 0810 - 0825 Sunday 9535 1010 - 1025 Sunday 9535 1210 - 1225 Enjoy Japanese (for Beginners and Intermediates) Tuesday 9535 0825 - 0855 Tuesday 9535 1025 - 1055 Tuesday 9535 1225 - 1255 Enjoy Japanese (for Beginners and Intermediates) Thursday 9535 0825 - 0855 (repeat of Tuesday program) Thursday 9535 1025 - 1055 Thursday 9535 1225 - 1255 BBC Skelton and Moyabi, Gabon* relays for Europe Frequency Time (UTC) (KHz) Let's Learn Japanese (for Beginners) Sunday 5965,6155 2310 - 2325 Sunday *11865 2110 - 2125 Enjoy Japanese (for Beginners and Intermediates) Tuesday 5965,6155 2325 - 2355 Tuesday *11865 2125 - 2155 Enjoy Japanese (for Beginners and Intermediates) Thursday5965,6155 2325 - 2355 (repeat of Tuesday program) Thursday *11865 2125 - 2155 --- Subject: (8.2) Overseas subscriptions to the Japan Times From: Ray Tang via Mike Fester [this info is from approximately April of 1993] The Japan Times is a daily newspaper, published in English. Japan Times Daily order Info Monthly Subscription Rates Overseas (airmail rates) [various countries in Europe and South East Asia but not Canada] USA(Washington D.C., Illinois, Washington, california) 11,380 yen All other areas in USA 12,480 yen For overseas subscription and inquiries contact: Oversea Courier Service Co., Ltd. (Subscription Dept.) 9 Shibaura 2-chome, Minato-ku Tokyo 108 Tel (03) 5476-8131 or Circulation Dept., The Japan Times, Ltd. Monthly Bound Volume: Japan 6,180 yen (Consumption tax included) overseas rates available upon request Canadian Orders: Oversea Courier Service (Canada) Ltd. Toronto Office 480 Carlingview Drive Rexdale, Ontario M9W-6M8 Tel (416) 675-9066 675-9067 Fax: (41) 675-6897 Telex: 6989593 (SHIBUN TOR) Manager: Mr. J. Colton ---- Subject: (99.0) Misc. ---- Subject: (99.1) How can I get copies of Japanese research papers? info from: Lawrence Garfield gwjapan@hamlet.umd.edu lg76@umail.umd.edu An academic or non-profit researcher can obtain internet access to NACSIS (Japan's National Center for Science Information Systems) by contacting: User Support Section II User Support Division Administrative Department National Center for Science Information Systems 3-29-1, Otsuka, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 112 Japan fax: +81-3-3942-6797 Their databases include information about research projects sponsored by Japan's Ministry of Education, Science, and Culture; papers presented at electronics and chemistry society conferences; doctoral theses; and Japanese- and foreign-language holdings of periodicals and books in the libraries of 1100 Japanese universities. Translation is fairly expensive running at this time (1990) at $50-80 per page of text. Double that for 1994.