Jim Breen wrote:
> CL wrote:
> 
>>> Where is this Japan Research ng? Do I need a news server for it?
>>  
>> It's an e-mail forum ... and it seems to have run itself into complete 
>> silence by changing posting rules recently.  http://www.nbr.org and look 
>> for the links to Japan Forum.  You can read on line or you can subscribe.
> 
> I had a look at it. Looks suspiciously like a business-funded "think
> tank".

More education funded.  Check out some of the articles they've published
and there is a decidedly economic bent that doesn't always come of as
pro-business.

>>> I hadn't met him before and haven't read any of his books. Apart from
>>> a more or less complete absence of language skills he seemed like a
>>> quite normal old fella. The revision history of his wikipedia entry is
>>> umm, interesting.
> 
> Who exactly are you talking about?

Why, the subject of Declan's previous post, of course.  Who did you think?

>> Yeah ... there are a whole big bunch of "old fellahs" who are considered 
>> experts on Wa who can't speak a single word and who fuck things up for 
>> major wads of cash.
> 
> Getting back to the Japan Forum ML, I see a few familar names. One is
> Earl Kinmonth, who was an SLJ regular back in the 90s. He lives in
> Japan, is absolutely fluent, and is someone whose views I respect.
> Another is Minoru Mochizuki who is well-known on the Honyaku list. He
> is a US-based EJ translator. Other well-known public figures like Gregory
> Clark too.

Mochizuki has been living in Japan for at least six months.  Somewhere
down around Hamamatsu.  Some of his comments make me think it is around
Iwata, where some of the subassembly plants for Honda and Yamaha are
located.  Some of his views are unique, to be sure.  Even some of the
Japanese members of the list say the same.

Lots of educators, journalists, and people who write op-ed pieces for
major newspapers and magazines, too.  When it is running well, there is
a lot of information on economics, politics, and history flying around.

If you look carefully, there are many names from Fukuzawa and several of
the other old Japan lists, as well.

-- 
CL