I know this's silly, but how is HIV situation in Japan?

[MMM]

Originally Posted by tsurezure

i would like to point out that the number of HIV carrier　acquired the AIDS virus through intravenous drug use is so small.From 2003~2006,only 7 people.UK 203,GERMANY 219.Infection from mothers to infants　is also rare in Japan.

But Japan is the only one first world country in which the number of new HIV carrier is increasing.Someday, might catch up with other "advanced"countries.
The condom and avoiding intravenous drug use are common precaution all over the world.Too overrate sex tendency is a little misleading.

Illegal intravenous drug use is very rare in Japan, so it is easy to see why that is hardly a factor. I am not sure what you mean by "overrate sex tendency" but if people in Japan are going to transmit HIV, chances are it is going to be through sexual contact. Geographically, Japan is an island nation, which gives it an extra layer of protection. When I moved to Japan my employer required I take a physical exam, which included an HIV test.

I think it is safe to say legal foreign residents are more likely to engage in relationships with Japanese natives than tourists will, so if my employer is the norm, then the reason there is so little HIV in Japan is not the conservative nature of society, but because the access for HIV infected individuals is limited.

[Suki]

Originally Posted by MMM

so if my employer is the norm, then the reason there is so little HIV in Japan is not the conservative nature of society, but because the access for HIV infected individuals is limited.

What, really??? So an extremely competent professional is going to have trouble getting a job in Japan if he's found to have AIDS? Even if he openly declares it and proves he's able to do the job right? Cause I know people who are HIV carriers and haven't developed the disease and they lead perfectly normal lives. I would definitely sue a company if I was thrown out for having AIDS. That is really bad on Japan.

[MMM]

Originally Posted by Suki

What, really??? So an extremely competent professional is going to have trouble getting a job in Japan if he's found to have AIDS? Even if he openly declares it and proves he's able to do the job right? Cause I know people who are HIV carriers and haven't developed the disease and they lead perfectly normal lives. I would definitely sue a company if I was thrown out for having AIDS. That is really bad on Japan.

I would not have been thrown out for having HIV, it was a part of the hiring process. Along with a criminal background check, and many other tests.

I am not sure this is so surprising. I was hired to teach high school students English, so I would interacting with potentially hundreds of people in a day. Considering the high application rate, it would be very easy to find someone just as qualified who wasn't HIV positive.

[RickOShay]

Originally Posted by Qayin

Thank you for every comment.

For me (only in my opinion) Japan is quite not relatively conservative. Japanese tend to follow social norms and culture but in the other hand they have very great creativity too. And eventhough Japanese people tend to follow general social culture, they still are divided into many sub groups that have their unique social value.

What I like to describe Japanese people is "Cutting edge prople with discipline"

I don't know how to describe, but normally cutting edge people tend to be more rebellious, but for Japan, they're edgy yet they still follow social rules. That's amazing.

I am sorry what exactly do you mean by "cutting edge people"? Like Japan is some sort of technological utopia? This is a common stereotype people who have never lived here (Japan) tend to have, you should give this article a read: BBC News - Revealing Japan's low-tech belly

[MMM]

Originally Posted by RickOShay

I am sorry what exactly do you mean by "cutting edge people"? Like Japan is some sort of technological utopia? This is a common stereotype people who have never lived here (Japan) tend to have, you should give this article a read: BBC News - Revealing Japan's low-tech belly

This article just emphasizes the point I was making above. the CULTURE leads the technology, not the other way around. For everything I see in Japan that makes my jaw drop in terms of technological advance I don't have at home, there is something that shocks me because it doesn't exist.

Again, culture leads the technology. If people wanted central heat, they could have it. But the public in Japan seems to prefer localized heat, rather then centralized heat. (More than one Japanese person has said to me "Why are you heating rooms no one is in?") So the shocker is cold houses in winter, but that led to heated toilet seats, which are as about as close to heaven as you are going to get on earth.

Just because a technology we take for granted in our home country doesn't exist in Japan does not make Japan backwards or behind the times. If they don't need it, they don't need it.

[GoNative]

Rick that story is very much my experience of living in Japan.

This following quotes from the article completely describe my experiences here in Hokkaido

One government poll shows that although 44% of Japanese use the internet at least once or twice a month, the rest responded that they use it "hardly at all" or "not at all".

I've have never met so many people who virtually never use the internet. I have worked with many Japanese people who had never used an internet search site like Google before coming to work at our company. Amazing!

Peep into the offices in Tokyo's administration district and you find out why. Here PCs are rare and work carries on in the slow lane.

"Japanese banks, post offices, government offices, all are staffed with three to five times the employees because they must do every process once on paper and then again on computer," says Taro Hitachi a technical editor and patent reader at Hitachi.

"Do you see the pattern here? Japanese aren't all that happy about spiteful machines and distrust automation."

Probably the funniest low tech thing I've ever experienced here was when my wife and I got our Japanese drivers licences. The women at the cashiers desk added up our bill on an abacus!! Japan a high tech nation?

[GoNative]

The most frustrating thing of all has to be ATM's closing on public holidays (periods when you are mostly likely to want to get money out!). Why on earth does an ATM need a holiday??

[MMM]

Originally Posted by GoNative

The most frustrating thing of all has to be ATM's closing on public holidays (periods when you are mostly likely to want to get money out!). Why on earth does an ATM need a holiday??

It took me one holiday to learn to plan ahead.

[MMM]

Originally Posted by GoNative

Probably the funniest low tech thing I've ever experienced here was when my wife and I got our Japanese drivers licences. The women at the cashiers desk added up our bill on an abacus!! Japan a high tech nation?

Surely you have lived there long enough to see where they show TV shows where people can add up figures faster using a abacus than a calculator, and tend to be more accurate.

"Low tech" does not mean worse.

The abacus has been in use for over 4000 years. If it ain't broke, why fix it? Just because it isn't used in the West doesn't mean it is bad.

[GoNative]

Of course you have to plan ahead but isn't it a little ridiculous you should have to?? What possible rational reason is there for an electronic banking service like an ATM ever having to close? They don't get tired and need a break as far as I can tell!