Path: news.ccsf.jp!norn-news!news.mcu.or.jp!tomockey.ddo.jp!border1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!nx01.iad01.newshosting.com!newshosting.com!post01.iad01!news.shared-secrets.com!not-for-mail Date: Mon, 10 Dec 2007 09:29:15 +0900 From: CL User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.8.1.8pre) Gecko/20071022 Thunderbird/2.0.0.6 Mnenhy/0.7.5.666 MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: fj.life.in-japan Subject: Re: Tired of Nihon. References: <1f44614b-172a-4ab6-94bb-d76164552ad6@s8g2000prg.googlegroups.com> <25978ec0-3491-4f7e-bd39-cc116ef43fe0@b40g2000prf.googlegroups.com> <5d267306-f0a1-4301-97fc-27b59c5ef43a@y43g2000hsy.googlegroups.com> <2812efe4-56a1-44fe-b1bb-9a6cb2d655cf@e23g2000prf.googlegroups.com> <1i8v3fa.1rj4nsg3e9ox1N%trap_for_junk_mail@yahoo.com> In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Lines: 28 Message-ID: <475c81eb$0$22517$8f2e0ebb@news.shared-secrets.com> Organization: Unknown X-Complaints-To: abuse@shared-secrets.com Xref: news.ccsf.jp fj.life.in-japan:166466 John W. wrote: > On Dec 9, 1:08 am, trap_for_junk_m...@yahoo.com (Louise Bremner) > wrote: >> I think that, if I'd've been faced with such a choice, I'd've gone >> freeter myself.... > > Even though the term wasn't really in use when I was working full time > in Japan, I figure that's what I was as an Eikaiwa teacher, with semi- > full time hours and a very free and easy life. Freeters don't necessarily have a "free and easy life." They just don't have an income of a certain size and guarantees that the income they have will be regular. Maybe this is one of those "how many angels can dance on the head of a pin " types of nitpicks, but you never were a freeter. I am pretty sure that the term embodies the concept that the person who is one has some skill set that would make them immediately employable in a regular straitjacket job at a major Japanese Corp. Unless you are able to take and pass a regular employment test for a mid-to-large size company, that would not be you ... or me, for that matter ... although I have managed to be a qualified local hire for special assignments a number of times during my career. I never expected to be shacho or hon-bucho and was never given any reason to believe I'd be considered. -- CL