Eric Takabayashi wrote:
> Declan Murphy wrote:
> 
>>As a general rule a company would only tender for a) what they were
>>actually capable of doing, b) what was worth doing. Put two and two
>>together and there are usually ample (different) opportunities for firms
>>of all sizes.
> 
> Not the same opportunity or same level of opportunity. That's part of being exclusionary.

Good grief.

>>>It's practical for them, not people or companies like you and yours, who joke about your
>>>financial situation, or Kajima before they grew.
>>
>>They are the customer, its their money and a competitive tender.
> 
> And if they want the best work for "their" money, they should be open to the idea that a non
> Japanese speaker halfway around the world might be the one to provide it.

Given the lack of time remaining (the whole expo set up was a complete
and utter ballsup until Toyota got on board), is personal view is this:
As far as the overall expo and the oz pavilion organisers are concerned,
they should specify that the only language permitted at all until March
next year is Japanese in the case of the expo and English in the case of
the pavilion. There is *no* time left for translation.

>>The impracticalities for me are irrelevant.
> 
> Is your financial situation which you joke about, also irrelevant?

Absolutely.

>>White elephant though the site
>>will probably become, the expo itself isn't a welfare system.
> 
> How is this relevant? I say nothing about a welfare system. It's about opportunity. Who says
> the best company for the job is capable of communicating in Japanese, and only those who can
> communicate in Japanese should even be allowed to ASK about the work, when it is the Japanese
> who already went so far to write or translate that website?

That website is basically window dressing, apparently by some low life
hammock dwelling gaigin who left Japan after loosing at least 2 nickels.

The specs have to be in Japanese, the vast number of people who the
winning tender will need to communicate with will almost all be
Japanese, and the bloody thing starts in less than 15 months. Apart from
Toyota's pavilion (lots of cool French dudes) there will be hardly a
gaigin anywhere until immediately before the event (kind of like the
number of non-Germans on site in Hanover prior to the last expo).

(And try doing business with Toyota in Japan without Japanese.....)

>>>>The company can tender for the Australian pavilion because it is invited
>>>>to do so.
>>>
>>>Seems odd. Does it have anything to do with your citizenship or can anyone invited try?
>>
>>I believe it is open to any company regardless of the location of its
>>registration. What matters (I hope) is what quality of service is
>>provided and at what price.
> 
> Precisely. Why do they have to be able to communicate in Japanese from the very beginning, to
> even inquire about the work? They could save themselves a lot of time and trouble responding
> to inquiries (Japanese only) if they released more information to the public.

They could have saved themselves a lot of time and trouble not hosting
the damn thing in the first place. There used to be a nice little forest
up there.


-- 
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.