The 2-Belo wrote:
> Declan Murphy and fj.life.in-japan is a baaaaaaaaaaad combination:
> 
>>The 2-Belo wrote:
<snippity>
>>>He was, no doubt, the Filipino chicks' handler.
>>
>>Certainly someone's handler.
>  
> I suddenly have the urge, when I go there next month to renew my reentry permit
> (*coughcough*GAIGIN TAX*mumblecough*), to dress myself up in full Secret Service
> splendor, complete with Frankenstein earphone radio. See if they smile *then*.

Smile? Pffffffft. If they had any sense they'd laugh at you.

BTW if your last visit there was '99, and you are going in for a 
re-entry-thingee, how long was it for? You have a PR visa?

>>>>2 or 3 lost looking eikaiwa type gaigins
>>>
>>>I think they're all the same two or three who were there the last time I visited
>>>the place in 1999. They like to hang around that little nursery room, right?
>>
>>Yeah, or in front of the mysteriously appearing/disappearing tv with 
>>bloody cnn on it.
> 
> Hmm. They always had NHK ("Programming with No Sharp Edges") on when I was
> there. I want to see them blasting Fox News one time. That would be a sight to
> see.

Come to think of it, I don't remember noticing the TV this time. I 
wasn't there long enuff for my laptop battery to cark it on me, and it 
took a fair bit of time to confirm that the 20 cute Filipinos were all 
in fact cute and Filipino. Last time I went in was a few months earlier 
getting a visa for a Hong Kong graphic designer now working for me. I 
had a flat battery. He was frustrated as hell - so I practically made 
him watch tv.

>>>I dunno. OCR technology getting better?
>>
>>ditto dunno. Don't know much about OCR to be honest.
> 
> Optical Character Recognition. Maybe the computer's reading that chicken scratch
> you're turning in on your forms.

Yes yes yes. I know OCR is Optical Character Recognition and that it can 
(sometimes) read the scratchings of a deranged chook that passes for my 
handwriting. What I don't know is if its getting any better. (The OCR 
that is)




-- 
"All sepponians are loud, round, overweight, fat bastards who think 
their opinions are facts" (except the Raj, who seems to be having an 
identity crisis). All good Germans like beer. The Koreans are the French 
of Asia. Pommies are good at rugby" - Me

"And I'll tell ya something, mate. Anti-wrinkle cream there may be, but 
anti-fat-bastard cream, there is none." The Full Monty