Job Discussion Forums

[spiral78]

[Shimokitazawa]

[Cool Teacher]

[RustyShackleford]

Despite not living in Japan at the moment, I really didn't support it out of simple NIMBYism. Didn't want yet more people flooding the streets.

Now that it's coming like it or not and I'm out of country and don't care about the Olympics as a whole, I'm indifferent to it outside of the aforementioned further neglect of Tohoku it will lead to.

Two outcomes I see: it will be successful for Japan, the economy and show that the country isn't a nuclear wasteland. It will lead to better international ties as people re-discover the large supply of good Japan has had and can continue to offer.

OR

It will be a reality check as Japan finds that it needs to do more to catch up to be taken seriously internationally as the first-world nation it unquestionably is.

Really, it may be some odd combination of the two, but I hope for the former more than the latter, obviously.

[spiral78]

[Cool Teacher]

I like you r posts spiral!

Keep it up1

[Maitoshi]

Don't worry about what others have to say, Spiral. Go ahead and post all you want. If this forum was limited to those who actually live in Japan, it'd be even more lonely than it already is. So many have moved on to other places or different things that very few active posters remain. We are left to amuse ourselves trolling one another about antiques and such. I get the feeling that some of us are getting a bit stir crazy, myself not excluded.

[RM1983]

[Black_Beer_Man]

One industry that had better hurry up and enter the 21st century for The 2020 Tokyo Olympics is the banking industry.

Last week, I used a bank machine belonging to the Bank of Yokohama and it was not bilingual.

How expensive is it for the bank to hire some computer programmers to add a bilingual option to the screen? Relative to the wealth of banks, almost nothing. Not only English should be added, but Mandarin and Korean too.

I guess the rationale is that very few foreigners use that bank because travelers from foreign countries can only withdraw money from their home countries from three banks in Japan.

1) Japan Post Bank

2) Seven Bank (7/11 convenience stores)

3) CITI Bank Japan.

Maybe The Bank of Yokohama (and others like it) is so rich that they can snub foreign travelers and not offer them services in English nor the chance to withdraw money from their home countries.

Frankly, I don't understand this thinking among many Japanese banks. In Thailand, there are bank machines on practically every block in business areas of Bangkok and they all accept foreign cards.

[Shimokitazawa]

The Yakuza are going to make a ton of money off of the Olympics.

[Black_Beer_Man]

[rxk22]

[timothypfox]

Yes. Money will be (is being) wasted putting up street signs that literally translate Japanese into English - thereby confusing everyone including taxi drivers. There will be a big rush to try to improve English, and then after it finishes this will quickly fade and everything will go back to the way it was.

[stumptowny]

Yes.

But this has nothing to do with Japan or Tokyo.

Historically speaking, countries rarely make a profit (ROI) and most go in the red, sometimes big losses with little reuse value (Sochi, Athens, Bejing). Brazil 2016 will likely be the worst money dump of all time. Worse than Athens. The last games to really profit was LA in 84'

It is with the best intentions that Tokyo landed the games after receiving the charity nod from the IOC (because of 3/11). But chances are high that these games will be a smashing success because of the population in the immediate vicinity. This means a very high re-use value of the facilities for years after the games. Even if tickets go unsold, this re-use value could eventually break even for this Tokyo games after the normal, huge initial expenditures.

The failure that most are overlooking for the next Tokyo games are the dates of competition. Because for some reason the dates of competition are in late August / early September, the heat will be crushing. This games will have one of the worst performance outcomes (time wise / and world record wise) for any standardized distance competitions being held outdoors.

They made a HUGE mistake in choosing the dates for competition. Really couldn't have picked a worse time. Everyone competes in the same conditions on the day but the performances will be from pathetic to can-we-sue-the-IOC-for subjecting-athletes-to-these-conditions torrid.

[Shimokitazawa]