[continued from previous message]   
      
   But Indian recruits, he said, offer the independent, out-of-the-box   
   thinking that Japanese companies need to kick-start their innovation   
   efforts. “They do whatever they want, but sometimes that randomness and   
   out-of-control aspect of Indian talent nicely works,” Professor Kataoka   
   said.   
      
   Many Japanese argue that it’s a tall order for a country with historically   
   low levels of immigration to match the flexibility and diversity of   
   countries in North America or Western Europe.   
      
   Big-name American tech companies have recruited aggressively in India,   
   offering immigrant-friendly work environments, surging compensation   
   packages and sky’s-the-limit career advancement opportunities. Google,   
   Twitter, Microsoft and Adobe have all had Indian-born chief executives.   
      
   Still, there are efforts to bridge the gaps in Edogawa. Mr. Puranik runs   
   an Indian cultural center in his home where Japanese students take yoga   
   lessons, and Indian and Japanese students gather for percussion lessons on   
   the Indian tabla from a Japanese teacher. Mr. Puranik often hosts Japanese   
   college students for talks on Indian culture or immigration.   
      
   Japanese officials also provide venues and assistance for Indian cultural   
   festivals attended by the wider community. Mr. Puranik said that such   
   symbolic gestures were nice, but that it was more important to provide   
   expanded Japanese language training and cultural instruction.   
      
   “There has to be more interaction,” he said. “Summer festival and Diwali   
   festival, yes, one-off in a year you can have that, that’s a bonus. But   
   you cannot say that bonus is your salary.”   
      
   At the same time, many Indians in Edogawa say that newcomers could do more   
   to fit into Japanese life.   
      
   Mr. Date, the technology head at Franklin Templeton, said he and a few   
   friends wanted to counter the growing reputation of Indians as being noisy   
   — a pet peeve in a crowded city of thin-walled apartments — and a   
   widespread belief that they are reluctant to conform to Japanese ways.   
      
   So their running group, the Desi Runners of Tokyo, decided to have members   
   donate 10 yen for every kilometer they run. Last year, they donated   
   400,000 yen, about $3,000, to a charity in Edogawa, he said.   
      
   “We all agreed: We are living here, we are earning money,” Mr. Date said.   
   “Maybe it’s time to give back to Japan.”   
      
   Comments:   
      
   Andrew   
   Cali   
   Dec. 12   
   Japan needs Indian tech workers the same way the U.S. needs Indian tech   
   workers: they don’t. Japan has a significant youth unemployment problem.   
   Train and hire Japanese workers and Japan will be better off.   
      
   AJ   
   Sacramento   
   Dec. 12   
   Comparisons are being made to the US, but it's important to remember that   
   the US has no comparison. Interracial marriages have hit 20% in America   
   according to a Pew Research poll. Nothing like that is happening anywhere   
   else in the world.   
      
   Japan is changing but you'd have to live here for 30 years to see the   
   difference. English-speaking ability is increasing and with it a   
   willingness to integrate more with the rest of the world. Exchange   
   programs are more common. My son will travel to Australia next year as   
   part of a cultural exchange his public school does annually.   
      
   Outside of Tokyo, foreigners do integrate - mainly because they have   
   little choice but to. You will struggle to perform daily tasks if you   
   cannot communicate in Japanese. And the international schools described in   
   the article are quite expensive versus the mostly free public school   
   system and therefore out of reach for most folks.   
      
   The bigger challenge is the tight grip the ruling elite have on the   
   political and media infrastructure which affects Japanese and foreigners   
   alike. Change is unlikely to happen when politicians don't change. Japan's   
   ruling party has been in power for nearly every year of the postwar   
   period. As long as they remain in control Japan will continue it's slow   
   backslide.   
      
   Sandstorm   
   Vancouver, Canada   
   Dec. 12   
   @AJ   
      
   Britain had a higher proportion of interracial marriages three decades   
   ago. France has a pretty high rate too. So does Brazil.   
      
   One has to be very careful before making overarching generalizations.   
      
      
   BayArea101   
   Midwest   
   Dec. 12   
   "Japan, which has long been ambivalent about the presence of foreigners,   
   lacks an established system to integrate them into Japanese life."   
      
   A review of the racial supremacy underpinning East Asian countries offers   
   a useful perspective on that societal ill as it exists in our country.   
   Were there a measure for the issue, East Asia would peg the meter, and the   
   U.S. wouldn't come anywhere close to that level of racism.   
      
      
   Expat in Japan   
   Tokyo, Japan   
   Dec. 12   
   @BayArea101   
      
   I agree with you but should point out that Japan is very bad in this   
   regards even by East Asian standards, since it lags other countries like   
   South Korea in its treatment of immigrants and foreign workers.   
      
   The Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX) is the definitive measure of   
   the how well countries integrate immigrants. It gives a score of only   
   47/100 to Japan.   
      
   In the MIPEX report, Japan’s approach to integration is categorised as   
   Immigration without Integration. According to it, Japan’s current policies   
   encourage the public to see immigrants as subordinates and not their   
   neighbors.   
      
   Furthermore, the report underscores how Japan is one of the only countries   
   still without a dedicated anti-discrimination law and body. It goes on to   
   say that Japan is in the bottom three countries for anti-discrimination   
   policies, critically lagging behind the standards in South Korea, Europe   
   and many other countries.   
      
   While other East Asian countries have been making some progress recently,   
   Japan has been standing still.   
      
      
   --   
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   No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.   
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   Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden   
   fiasco, President Trump.   
      
   Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the   
   The World According To Garp.  Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood   
   queer liberal democrat donors.   
      
   President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed   
   dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)