Disguised Unemployment
thegoons
- three men waving flags on a highway to indicate a lane closure
- five policemen standing at the pedestrian crossing outside Lumine in
Shinjuku to direct pedestrians across a street that maybe 1 car in 5 minutes
uses
- five security guards directing traffic/pedestrinas at a quiet intersection
outside JRA betting-hall in Shirahama, Fukushima-ken
- the seemingly pointless lone flag-waver/whistle-blower directing buses
into/out of the bus terminal at Nagoya Station
Is this disguised unemployment on the downturn or still a "necessity" of
Japan? I am not totally against it, as it keeps people off (living on) the
streets in a country with such a poor social welfare system.
John W.
> We have all seen it:
>
> - three men waving flags on a highway to indicate a lane closure
>
> - five policemen standing at the pedestrian crossing outside Lumine in
> Shinjuku to direct pedestrians across a street that maybe 1 car in 5 minutes
> uses
>
> - five security guards directing traffic/pedestrinas at a quiet intersection
> outside JRA betting-hall in Shirahama, Fukushima-ken
>
> - the seemingly pointless lone flag-waver/whistle-blower directing buses
> into/out of the bus terminal at Nagoya Station
>
district in the mornings. Nary a car in sight; probably less than a
dozen total for the entire morning (he was outside my office window and
the street was rarely used).
> Is this disguised unemployment on the downturn or still a "necessity" of
> Japan? I am not totally against it, as it keeps people off (living on) the
> streets in a country with such a poor social welfare system.
>
What about their social welfare system don't you like?
John W.
Elbow
there is a huge friggin hole with barries flashing lights etc already on
display.
why do I need to be told this when I can see it with my own eyes? Are they
there because perhaps there are blind people around?
I think its all about controlling the masses.
Isnt it odd that most people here will not cross the road when the lights
are red but seem to deliberately run every red light they find whilst
driving.
rant over
wheres my noodles
"John W." <worth...@yahoo.komm> wrote in message
news:4004AD01...@yahoo.komm...
thegoons
"John W." <worth...@yahoo.komm> wrote in message
news:4004AD01...@yahoo.komm...
I guess Australia is a bit too lenient as far as social welfare goes; just
basically even if you have no family to support you, you still get some form
of basic income from the government to keep you off the street (mainly only
those with mental problems on the streets here), whereas in Japan, based on
the number of people living on the streets and stations, I am just
"assuming" the social welfare system there is not generous enough to provide
even basic cover?? Please correct me if I am wrong.
Brett Robson
>
>Is this disguised unemployment on the downturn or still a "necessity" of
>Japan? I am not totally against it, as it keeps people off (living on) the
>streets in a country with such a poor social welfare system.
>
Declan is going to flesh out some details here.
The worst example I have seen is the annual maintenance on the Tomei between
Okazaki and whatever the exit to the north of Nagoya is which is a distance of
xxx Km.
They book one lane for the entire distance even though they are working on one
or two kilometers at a time. The whole distance has witches caps and they have
pace trucks driving at 40km/h to prevent speeding.
.
----
someone who wants junk mail
in...@jpat.jp
Declan Murphy
> On Tue, 13 Jan 2004 10:44:14 GMT, thegoons ...
>
>>Is this disguised unemployment on the downturn or still a "necessity" of
>>Japan? I am not totally against it, as it keeps people off (living on) the
>>streets in a country with such a poor social welfare system.
>
> Declan is going to flesh out some details here.
I'll pass on this one - its guinness time.
> The worst example I have seen is the annual maintenance on the Tomei between
> Okazaki and whatever the exit to the north of Nagoya is which is a distance of
> xxx Km.
>
> They book one lane for the entire distance even though they are working on one
> or two kilometers at a time. The whole distance has witches caps and they have
> pace trucks driving at 40km/h to prevent speeding.
Ooooooh my blood pressure rises at the thought of it.
--
I am not who I think I am
I am not who you think I am
I am who I think you think I am
...or some such shite.
Jason Cormier
<jet...@deja.com> wrote:
> The worst example I have seen is the annual maintenance on the Tomei between
> Okazaki and whatever the exit to the north of Nagoya is which is a distance of
> xxx Km.
It was from Okazaki to somewhere between the Nagoya and Kasugai exits. It
was twice a year.
> They book one lane for the entire distance even though they are working on one
> or two kilometers at a time. The whole distance has witches caps and they have
> pace trucks driving at 40km/h to prevent speeding.
There was no need for pace trucks much of the day since the massive traffic
snarls prevented you from going more than 5-10 km/h.
ggull
> We have all seen it:
>
> - three men waving flags on a highway to indicate a lane closure
>
> - five policemen standing at the pedestrian crossing outside Lumine in
> Shinjuku to direct pedestrians across a street that maybe 1 car in 5
minutes
> uses
<further examples snipped>
The Japanese have nothing on us here in Taxa ... er, Massachusetts.
Here we are required to have uniformed police officers attending every time
so much as a manhole cover is popped, even if it's an emergency on a
dead-end street at 2 in the morning. The difference is that you seem to be
saying that in Japan they actually at least make the motions of directing
traffic, even where not needed -- here, they spend their time watching the
hole in the ground for some dangerous subterranean creature to emerge
(Mothra, perhaps ;-), or keeping the workers entertained by chatting with
them, when they're not sleeping in their car or having coffee in a local
shop. The traffic, of course, is left to duke it out on their own, without
assistance or direction.
These are called "paid details", and the lucrative pay is above and beyond
the officers' regular salary. For many, this raises their pay to yuppie
levels, over $100,000 in a year. A better term than paid detail would be
"protection racket", since someone failing to work with a detail (even if
they tried and were unable to get one) faces being hauled off to jail.
John W.
just about anyplace. I think a couple of major issues in Japan is that
pride gets in the way of people taking advantage of what social welfare
is available; also I wonder if some of the people don't 'enjoy' (so to
speak) belonging to at least some sort of social group.
John W.
Ian J Cottee
You forgot the lady in the car park who either passes the ticket from
the machine to you at the entrance or takes the ticket from you and puts
it in the machine at the exit - just in case you are so moronic that you
might dribble into the slot. Before then there's usually somebody to
help you pay for your ticket at the payment machines in most department
stores as even that level of technology is thought to be beyond your
average department store shopper. And that day in the month when
everyone helps you across the road but who then leave you to fend for
your very life for the other 30. Just how the hell do we survive? And
the elevator ladies who train for upto 10 years in the secret and arcane
world of the elevator control panel. And the rubbish collection for the
bottles and cans even though the homeless pick it all up about five
hours earlier.
Anyway, the flag wavers can't just be for the sake of employment as they
have those model ones they use on highways as well. Many people aspire
to become a flag waver but for sheer machismo I believe you can't beat a
whistle and luminous baton.
--
Ian J Cottee
Nagoya, Japan
thegoons
"Brett Robson" <jet...@deja.com> wrote in message
news:bu3ah...@drn.newsguy.com...
> On Tue, 13 Jan 2004 10:44:14 GMT, thegoons ...
> >
> >Is this disguised unemployment on the downturn or still a "necessity" of
> >Japan? I am not totally against it, as it keeps people off (living on)
the
> >streets in a country with such a poor social welfare system.
> >
>
> Declan is going to flesh out some details here.
>
> The worst example I have seen is the annual maintenance on the Tomei
between
> Okazaki and whatever the exit to the north of Nagoya is which is a
distance of
> xxx Km.
Oh shit yeah I recall a few years ago driving along there and wondering why
the lane was closed for miles with seemingly no work. Japan Inc.
Mad Dan
When I grow up I want to hand out the baskets to shoppers at the
supermarket. I wonder if I'll need to go on a course?
albertbarnabe
bow to the senpais of the group. Yoroshiku.
Talking about the old guard men with the luminous batons, I always
can't help thinking (silly me) that I am seeing a bunch of venerable
Jedis with their light sabers: "This is not the empty space you are
looking for", "Parking front first you can not", etc.
Ian J Cottee <i...@cottee.org> wrote in message news:<864quxy...@littledevil.internal.zobbo.org>...
> "thegoons" <theg...@bigpond.com> writes:
[...]
Brett Robson
>
>First post to the group after years of lurking from time to time. Deep
>bow to the senpais of the group. Yoroshiku.
>
>Talking about the old guard men with the luminous batons, I always
>can't help thinking (silly me) that I am seeing a bunch of venerable
>Jedis with their light sabers: "This is not the empty space you are
>looking for", "Parking front first you can not", etc.
>
Unfortunately they don't get the joke.