Hi Animal farm,

Glad to have you with us. I am looking forward your next comment.

Hi David,

Again!? You've just given another difficult topic for me :-( and this kind of topic is really not my thing. So I am not sure I could write a proper comment for it. Anyway, I had a busy day today, so I'm off to bed.

Good night,
amo

•  amo
• 2011年4月 4日 22:39

Hi Amo,

Okay, I'll do an easy topic next week :-)

Hi Animal Farm. Nice to have you with us. (Sorry I forgot to say hello before. Have I missed anyone else?)

•  David
• 2011年4月 4日 23:01

Nice to meet you , David.

this is my first comment.

it's true that "amakudari" is strange system , but some people think that "amakudari" is privilege.

because , some "amakudari" people used to work very very very hard for company , and for country.

英語でうまく言えないので日本語で…

”天下り”とは、自分の人生を懸けて、会社や国に対して真面目に一生懸命働いた人のための特権だと言う意見もあります。

なので、一概に悪いと決めつけてしまうのは良くない気もします…

bottom line , I think this topic is difficult!!

•  taku
• 2011年4月 5日 00:28

《I'm posting this from my phone because my comments are being rejected.》

Hi David,
Don't worry, you haven't missed anyone else:)
As Amo said, this is a difficult topic. I don't know much about amakudari system, so I'm not sure if I can write about it even in Japanese. One thing I know about it is that people who joined another company by amakudari can receive a retirement allowance twice. I'm not sure when and why this system started, but I think it's unfair.

Hi Animal Farm,
Glad I could be of help, and thanks for your message:) By the way, I didn't know that you have the phrase "yoroshiku" in Korean as well. It's interesting!

See you,

Tomo

•  Tomo
• 2011年4月 5日 00:33

Hi Taku,
Nice to have you with us：)

•  Tomo
• 2011年4月 5日 00:37

Hello, Everyone!
Thank you for your warm welcoming messages!
Wow, I am so happy~!♪

As I said, I am Korean, but I had lived in Japan for 22 years, and now I moved the US.
I am studying English at college now, after ESL I am going to take Academic classes.

In my life, I never vote,,, I was not allowed.
Finally I got Japanese永住権, but I moved here.
So, again I am not allowed to vote....

"Amakudari" is a difficult topic, but our opinions make a good world, our voices can improve what we need to change.

I am afraid of misunderstand my explanations, so I'd like to explain in Japanese.

天下りは、国家公務員で、非常に難関な試験をパスしてきた人たちで、一生懸命頑張れば良い仕事に付けて、良いお給料がもらえて、なおかつ、それは社会にとって良い納税者という意味では素晴らしいシステムだとは思います。

もちろん、たくさんのおっしゃるように、
「”天下り”とは、自分の人生を懸けて、会社や国に対して真面目に一生懸命働いた人」たちもたくさんいらっしゃいます。

問題はおそらく、その人たちが定年になる前に役所を辞め（もしくは辞めさされ）た場合、自分の優秀な力で仕事を探せる人は別として、天下りのシステムで、「その人が会社に向いてるかどうか関係なく」自身が以前働いてた役所と関係ある会社に再就職できるシステムだそうです。

そしてなおかつ、いきなり上司としてのポジションにつけて、高い給料をもらえます。（私たちの税金だそうです）。
「渡り」「えこひいき」「競争なしで、ある一定の会社だけに仕事を与える」事が事実上あるので、今問題になっているのだろう思います。

NHK番組でも、鳩山前総理大臣の「天下りをやめる」という発言がありましたし。
でも禁止しちゃうと、建前の「職業選択の自由」を阻害すると問われるそうです。
詳しい事は、「池上彰のニュースのぎもん」にもございます。
http://www.ewoman.co.jp/2005_news/gimon/61/05.html

池上彰の本の中で、「政治家を見る目を養う」「この国をよくできるのは他でもない私たち一人ひとりなのです」。
まさにその通りですね。

因に、"Animal Farm" はスターリンの話しです（既にご存知でしたらすみまへん）。

Thank you for reading my message!

Tomo,
Korean people also say" いただきます" and "ごちそうさまでした". In America, they don't have phrases like these , so It was a strange a bit when I moved here. Now I enjoy my new life.

Have a beautiful day!

Animal Farm

•  Animal Farm
• 2011年4月 5日 07:31

Hi, David and everyone.

I also have the same feeling as your friend. I sometimes hesitate to post my opinion if i'm not sure whether what I'm writing is correct or not.
It has been one year since I started working a company worker(社会人？) I need to use English to communicate with my colleague and customers. However, I don't think my English has been improved a lot and I know why..
Because I'm afraid of making mistakes and sometimes just keep quiet if I'm not sure how to express in English. But if I do these things, I can never improve my English.
So I've decided to try to speak up more and not to be afraid of making mistakes. This is my ambition for this year(^^)

I am grateful that I got to know David and all of you here.

Going back to the topic, it is a difficult topic to make a comment on even in Japanese and I don't know much about Amakudari.
But I think it is not good to take advantage of their power(privilege?). And I heard it causes a lot of waste of tax.
詳しく知らないので簡単に自分の意見は言えませんが、これを機に今から天下りについて調べてみます‼

Tomoyo

But I don't have a good impressions of it.

•  Tomoyo
• 2011年4月 5日 16:10

Thanks for your comments. The problem with the amakudari system is what we call in English a "conflict of interests." This expression is used to describe a situation where a person has mixed loyalties. For example, if a judge in a court case found that someone involved in that case was a friend of his or her sister's, he or she would have to remove him or herself from the case because of a conflict of interests.

The problem with amakudari is that government officials are supposed to be monitoring private industries like the power companies to make sure that they follow the rules and do not do anything to harm society. However, those companies are also going to be their (or their colleagues') future employees. This is a conflict of interests, and it would not be allowed in many countries.

I am often surprised at how much trust Japanese people have in government officials. The adjective 優秀 is often used to describe them, but in fact, the only thing many of them are good at is passing exams. I'm sure there are some who are really smart, but I'm also sure there are lots who are no use to anybody and who probably would not survive in a private company without the amakudari system. Unfortunately, amakudari ensures that even these people can get highly paid jobs after they retire from public service.

•  David
• 2011年4月 5日 23:41

Hi David and everyone,
I was a bit shocked when I read the title of this week's topic because these things aren't my things.
Still I should know about things which I'm not good at.
I don't know much about the Amakudari system, though I presume it's a very Japanese thing: other countries don't have this system. I've never noticed that Japan has many traffic signals.
I think that meritocracy is the best to make the company successful. Hiring not competent people isn't productive for the company.

Hi Animal Farm,
Nice to meet you.
What a funny name! You chose this name because of the same title book (Animal Farm)?
You are a student at an American college. That's great! Good luck with your study.

Hi Tomoyo,
Nice to meet you.
Don't be afraid of making mistakes. I do all the time, I'm afraid. Besides we can learn from our mistakes. David correct our writings and it helps us to learn correct or natural English.

Fumie

•  Fumie
• 2011年4月 6日 06:24

Hi David,

No, it’s ok. You can bring any topics up here. When it comes to politics thing, I am hopeless. It seems that you know much about Japanese politics than me!! My image of amakudari is not good, so I am a bit surprised when I read taku and Animal farm’s comments. Even so, I think they take advantage of it and I totally agree with your comment, especially the last part.

Hi taku,

Welcome to the blog.

Good night and sweet dreams,
amo

•  amo
• 2011年4月 6日 22:47

Hi all. nice to meet you. こんにちは。はじめまして。 and hello again, David san.

Let me ask one question about a phrase. What does "open to abuse" means? I guess this means "behavior for some bad purposes which must be criticized". Yet, I can not get the nuances of it.

Anyway, I suppose that Japanese bureaucrats are just living in their own manners. Amakudari may be not so special for them. Like most Japanese can't imagine other countries of a water shortage when they use tap water.

Honestly I wouldn't care about Amakudari if they did things well with their good talent or anything they can do. but the reality is to the contrary...

•  yasu
• 2011年4月 6日 23:01

Hi Yasu,

If you say that a system is "open to abuse," it means that it is very easy for people to use that system for bad purposes.

•  David
• 2011年4月 6日 23:24

Hi David and everyone,
Thanks, Animal Farm, for letting us know the useful article. I like Akira Ikegami because his explanations are easy to understand. I thought amakudari costs companies a lot of money, but I didn't know that it costs tens of millions yen per year for just one amakudari person! I heard that they also set up companies more than necessary so that they can do amakudari. I think this is also one of the old systems that should be changed.

Hi Yasu,
Nice to have you with us!

See you soon,

Tomo

•  Tomo
• 2011年4月 7日 00:24

I read this in an article in the Japan Times online edition this morning:

"Earthquakes and tsunami are unavoidable natural events, but the ongoing disaster at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant was induced by human errors stemming from cozy ties between bureaucrats and Tokyo Electric Power Co., former Gov. Eisaku Sato told the Japan Times on Wednesday.

"Sato, who served five terms from 1988 to 2006, said the inappropriate relationship between government bureaus and the utility often resulted in them burying major troubles, including cracks in reactors and safety shortcomings at Tepco's two nuclear plants in the prefecture."

Welcome to the world of amakudari!

•  David
• 2011年4月 7日 09:53

Hi David,
I just read the same article this morning !

Topics about politics and business have never been my forte, so I was not in a mood to write something about it ,same as amo. I thought to myself,"Well... just read members comments this week."
Anyway, I'd like to write something a bit later.

Hi Tomoyo,animal Farm,taku and yasu,

Nice to meet you!

>animal Farm, Thanks for the information. It helps a lot to catch the gist.

See you soon,

Anne

•  Anne
• 2011年4月 7日 11:15

Sorry,it's me again.

>"Topics about politics and business have "　should be"Talking about topics such as politics and business has."
I wonder which is better...

•  Anne
• 2011年4月 7日 11:24

Hi Anne,

You cannot say "a topic about...," but your second version is correct.

•  David
• 2011年4月 7日 13:03

Hi David and everyone,

I read the article that David mentioned this morning, and if it were all true( of course,true), it's horrible. The ongoing disasters could have been avoided if TEPCO had been doing its job faithfully.

The Japanese government has been tackling the Amakudari problem, and the law was revised in 2007,however, situation doesn't seem to have changed at all.
When the Democratic Party of Japan(DPJ) was born, the government said they would take the leadership and don't follow the ministries and agencies. But, actually, it is failing so far and Amakudari system is still alive.
Why hasn't Amakudari problem been solved?
Relationships between bureaucrats and private-sector companies are give-and-take ones. In the article, it was expressed as "cozy ties."
Another reason of this problems is, I guess, to do with Japan's seniority based nature.( Situations have been changing,though..)

Things have been changing, and the economy is tight,so companies can't afford to pay as much money to newly retired bureaucrats as they used to.
Anyway, I assume this system will exist even if the content revises.

>David, thanks for your help. The second version is correct. I see.

Bye for now,

Anne

•  Anne
• 2011年4月 8日 00:23

Hi David and everyone,

I have suffered from hay fever since last month. The pollen count is high this year! Moreover, I have had a cold since last week. I have a bad cough. Fortunately, I have no concert this month, but I have it next month, so I hope my cold gets well soon.
というわけで、あまり体調がよくないので、今回のような難しいテーマはパスさせてください。（体調がよくてもパスだったかも＾＾；）
ところで、質問です。私が書いた文の"I have suffered from hay fever since last month. "ですが、これは"I have been suffering from hay hever since last month."の方がいいのでしょうか？現在完了形と現在完了進行形の使い分けがイマイチよくわからないんです。

Hi newcomers!

Welcome to this blog, and nice to meet you!

•  Amica
• 2011年4月 8日 10:53

Hi Amica,

I hope you feel better soon. It is difficult to give a 100% rule, but in English, "-ing" forms are normally used for temporary situations, so "I have been suffering from hay fever since last month" would be more natural. If you were talking about your whole life, you could say "I have suffered from hay fever since I was a child."

Hope that helps.

•  David
• 2011年4月 8日 11:49

Hello David and everyone,

This topic is a bit tough to talk about for me. I just enjoyed reading some opinions, especially David’s. I have never thought the accident of the nuclear plant and Amakudari system at the same time. Since the earthquake, I have been interested in how other countries report this disaster on their news. There have been lots of reports that are not accurate, while many people in other countries have offered warm messages to Japan. I have learned one term “stay strong!” from them.

Hello Animal farm,
When I was a student, I wrote an essay about Animal Farm. I liked the story.

Today is my birthday. I would like to hear “Happy birthday” from as many people as possible….

Have a nice weekend!

taco

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