Adding a language requirement to the visa application

[arbalest71]

AJBryant wrote:
Great -- I don't even know what a gum tree looks like. I'll need an encyclopedia if I ever make it to Oz.

You can often recognise them by the large number of large fallen bears- I mean, branches, around their base. This is why you shouldn't camp under them .

[AJBryant]

chikara wrote:
"What gum trees?"
"Oh, sorry I mean eucalyptus"

Well, heck. Why didn't ya SAY so?



Tony

[Mike Cash]

chikara wrote:


IIRC when I was living in the USA a bear got into the tent of some children camped up in the north woods and one of the children was killed.

It is a commonly recognized fact that the single greatest measure one can take to ensure safety from bear attack while camping is to surreptitiously smear one's fellow campers with bacon grease after they have gone to sleep.

[two_heads_talking]

it is also a common fact that you don't need to be the fastest to get away either. you just need to be faster than the slowest.

[AJBryant]

I'd be willing to trip someone to get a few extra yards clearance....


Tony

[Wakannai]

Just throw something heavy to your neighbor. Human instinct is to catch it. While they stand there holding my backpack, I'd jet.

[keatonatron]

Why not just throw it at the bear?

[Wakannai]

Bears don't have the instinct to catch something thrown to them. they dodge.

Or if they don't dodge. The backpack hits the bear in the face, and makes it mad at you.

[arbalest71]

Wakannai wrote:
Just throw something heavy to your neighbor. Human instinct is to catch it. While they stand there holding my backpack, I'd jet.

My mother used to know a man who once lost a girlfriend to bear attack. Well, actually... they were camping and he awoke to some animal coming into the tent. His instinct was to thrust her into slavering jaws of the beast and effect his escape. It turned out to be their (large) dog. I would really have liked to have been a fly on the wall for the conversation that followed. The drive home must have been awkward. Still, better safe than sorry, I guess.

I spent some time in grizzly country as a kid, and the advice I got was to play dead. I actually met a man who had done just that and survived. The bear flipped him over a few times. He had serious scars, and liked showing them off to impressionable children. It must take quite a bit of composure to keep playing dead at that point.

[two_heads_talking]

only good grizzly is the ones I put down each year for my food storage. so, unfortunately for me, I would probably stop, and try to put the bear down.

I have seen a bear take 14 arrows before dropping. I have also seen a bear take 3 shots for a 44-40, 3 shots from a 30-06 and 1 shot from a 7mm japanese sniper rifle. stupid bear didn't know he should have stayed down after the first shot.

My dad let my brother and I take the first shots. His of course was the one kill shot and it would have been that way had he been the only one to shoot. at 13 i wasn't exactly the best shot in the world. And I found out that shooting a bear in the head (especially teh front) will just piss it off. their sloped, thick skull makes a head shot very difficult.

[keatonatron]

I'm surprised your father didn't mention something about aiming for the heart and not for the head before going out. I've never been hunting, but I've heard that before about deer.

[AJBryant]

I always thought you aim for the heart instead of the head so you don't mess up the trophy.


Tony

[Wakannai]

My mother used to know a man who once lost a girlfriend to bear attack. Well, actually... they were camping and he awoke to some animal coming into the tent. His instinct was to thrust her into slavering jaws of the beast and effect his escape. It turned out to be their (large) dog. I would really have liked to have been a fly on the wall for the conversation that followed. The drive home must have been awkward. Still, better safe than sorry, I guess.

Wow,

Just

Wow.

Joking is one thing, doing it alltogether different.

[coco]

It seems that the language requirement is withdrawn.

Mr. Koumura said at the press conference on May 1st that the language requirement isn't an essential condition, but he said it would be a preferential condition to obtain a residence qualification valid for 5 years.

The press conference report is here, English version is here.
--
I think arbalest71-san's tale has a larger impact than a language requirement.
Thank you, arbalest71-san, for sharing the story. It was really