Reader`s letters should be sent to letters@go-fubar.com or faxed to 092 735 7933. See end for more details

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Polite Police Please

Sir,

I visited the police to transfer my driver`s license and get a parking sticker. A policeman informed me in brusque Japanese of what I needed. He wasn`t using polite language; he was talking down to me, and to Japanese visitors, too. I was quite unimpressed with not only the lack of politeness - which is what keeps wheels greased here - but also the lack of eye contact and his total disinterest.

I asked what I needed for the Ministry of Transport, to transfer my registration. He handed me an illegible map, but never mentioned my parking sticker... When I got to the Transport office, they demanded it.

I don`t expect the police to have English materials. This is Japan. But police are paid out of public tax money to serve the public, and it strikes me as just arrogant to speak impolitely to everyone (not just furriners like me), and to provide incomplete information.

Why can`t they treat visitors with the same common courtesy that you might expect at your local bank or restaurant? Why can`t they provide legible maps and reliable information on vehicle reg-istration? They must be asked a dozen times every day...

Edward Lipsett, Ohashi

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Babysitting

Sir,

Have you noticed that for each 10 students added to an English class, the I.Q. of the whole group seems to go down by about 20 points!? In a class of more than 30, some students barely seem to know their own names! Put those same students in groups of 10 and they can sometimes communicate quite well.

I think we teachers have a responsibility to speak out about classes that are too large. To your Japanese readers I say: you just can`t learn a foreign language well in big classes. If the class is too big, it`s not teaching - it`s babysitting or at rough schools, crowd-control!

Pippa W. Ohashi

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Stamps For Animal Welfare

Dear Sir,

Thank you for putting my cat in the Sept issue. She agrees with the article. It`s a problem that people use animals and get rid of them in the street. It is a good thing to do an article so that many people will consider the issues.

By the way, the Japan Animal Welfare Society collects used stamps. The money raised from the stamps is spent on helping animals, so please send them your used stamps. Their homepage is http://www.jaws.or.jp.

Inoue, Munakata.

Foreign stamps are worth more to them than domestic stamps, apparently, so how about it readers? We gather they want to be sent stamps in bulk, not dribs and drabs, so it is probably best you send them through us: see the address on page 3. We will pass them on if/when we get a sufficient number. They should be cut with a 5mm border of paper.
Editor

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Reader`s letters should be sent to letters@go-fubar.com or faxed to 092 735 7933.

We will print a selection of them in the magazine and online. We reserve the right to edit letters for brevity and spelling. Deadline: 5th of the month.

Although we will withold your name if requested (there are occasions when this is justified) - the highest priority will be given to succinct letters which carry a name. If you feel you can`t have your name printed with your letter, please send a clear explanation as to why. (Of course: avoid mere "gaijin whinging" - yes, "they do things differently here".)®