Tuesday, September 6, 2011

06/09 How one Thai budget carrier keeps its flight attendants young and hot

It's all about marketing, not sexism, says Nok Air's colorful CEO

Read more: How one Thai budget carrier keeps its flight attendants young and hot | CNNGo.com http://www.cnngo.com/bangkok/life/thai-budget-carrier-young-295067#ixzz1YrF0izYL






Nok Air CEO
Nok Air CEO Patee Sarasin said the airline's flight attendants are both beautiful and nice. (File photo)
“I get older, they stay the same age.” 
That of course is a classic line by Wooderson, Matthew McConaughey’s smooth-talking character in “Dazed and Confused,” referring to high school girls. But it could very well refer to Thailand’s flight attendants too. 
report in today’s Bangkok Post looks at how budget carrier Nok Airlines is among a growing number of regional airlines that are only hiring young flight attendants on short contracts while replacing older cabin crew to rejuvenate brand image and appeal to passengers. 
According to the report, Nok Air said applicants should not be over the age of 25, while 24 is the maximum at Taiwan's EVA Air and Thai Smile Air, a regional subsidiary of Thai Airways set to start flying next year. 
"This has nothing to do with sexist attitudes, but rather marketing," said Patee Sarasin, Nok Air's chief executive, in the article. 
Nok reportedly gives its flight attendeants a three-year employment term, with three-year extensions on a case-by-case basis if they prove able to sustain their work standard and looks.
"Pretty girls who are not very nice due to maybe big egos and ugly ones who may have beautiful characters can become Nok Air cabin attendants," said Patee. "What we do is combine the best of the two -- beautiful girls with nice personalities.”
Pattee is known for his seemingly unfiltered comments. Following the election of Thailand’s first female prime minister in July, he raised eyebrows in Sydney by saying “compared to your prime minister, [Yingluck Shinawatra] is much better looking."
Click here to read the full Bangkok Post article, which also includes figures from Nok Air's recent recruitment drive. 


Read more: How one Thai budget carrier keeps its flight attendants young and hot | CNNGo.com http://www.cnngo.com/bangkok/life/thai-budget-carrier-young-295067#ixzz1YrF7YqEh

06/09 Japan-U.S. alliance must be rebuilt

The Yomiuri Shimbun

The inauguration of Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's Cabinet should lead to a halt in the erosion of Japan's diplomatic relations of recent years, which is essential for making the nation's voice better heard in the international community.

At a press conference held shortly after his appointment as prime minister, Noda stressed the need to achieve that goal, saying: "The Japan-U.S. relationship is a central pillar of our country's diplomatic and security policy at a time when the world is becoming more and more multipolar. [Bilateral relations] must be deepened and expanded."

Noda is an unknown quantity as prime minister. However, we hope he will steadfastly adhere to this fundamental principle in fulfilling his duties.

The Japan-U.S. alliance has long functioned as a public good to preserve peace and security in the Asia-Pacific basin. Many Asian countries share this perception. Unstable Japan-U.S. ties would harm relations between Japan and its Asian neighbors.

The nation's diplomatic environment has been increasingly unfavorable in recent years. The Noda administration was preceded by short-lived cabinets formed by five prime ministers. This has been compounded by the rise of China and some other newly emerging nations, a development that has undeniably resulted in a relative decline in Japan's national strength as the mainstay of its foreign relations.

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Put U.S. ties on track

This is particularly evident in the turmoil and stagnation in the Japan-U.S. relationship due to a change of administration that took place two years ago. This paralysis can be attributed to former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's unskilled diplomacy, followed by an ill-conceived attempt by his successor, Naoto Kan, to put off bilateral issues.

With this in mind, the new prime minister must work to bring the nation's tattered external relations back on track, focusing first on shoring up its alliance with the United States.

Noda is scheduled to attend a number of meetings with the leaders of other nations, including a session of the U.N. General Assembly in late September. His diplomatic itinerary for November and beyond also includes a summit meeting of the Group of 20 nations and territories, the East Asia Summit and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

The prime minister must use these diplomatic opportunities to establish trust with U.S. President Barack Obama and other national leaders. Doing so is essential to defend our national interests.

He must also take specific actions to resolve pending issues facing Japan and the United States and not just follow the steps taken by his predecessors, Hatoyama and Kan, who both had only harped on "a deepening" of the bilateral alliance.

Washington has called on Tokyo to make "concrete progress" in settling the dispute over the transfer of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture "within one year." Failure to do so could prompt the U.S. administration to drastically reconsider a plan to relocate U.S. marines in the prefecture to Guam.

Noda must do all he can to overcome the gridlock in the Futenma controversy through talks with leaders and residents in Okinawa Prefecture. This task requires the prime minister to join hands with Cabinet members related to the dispute--Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba, Defense Minister Yasuo Ichikawa and Tatsuo Kawabata, state minister for Okinawa and Northern Territories affairs.

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Promote talks with China

It is no less important for Noda to promote dialogue with China.

The collisions between a Chinese fishing boat and two Japanese vessels in waters off the Senkaku Islands in September last year strained bilateral ties. Although summit talks among Japan, China and South Korea have since taken place, Tokyo and Beijing remain caught in a standoff over natural gas field exploration in the East China Sea and other bilateral problems.

The prime minister should step up security talks between Japan and China while also increasing bilateral economic and trade cooperation. Living up to this responsibility is essential to realizing what is called a "strategically reciprocal relationship" between Tokyo and Beijing, instead of leaving the mutually avowed goal an empty slogan.

The Noda administration also must decide, as soon as possible, whether to send Self-Defense Forces personnel to South Sudan for a U.N. peacekeeping mission, another decision his predecessors put off.

We hope the Liberal Democratic Party and other opposition parties will agree to abandon the unreasonable practice established over the years of restricting visits to other countries by prime ministers and foreign ministers.

For years, opposition parties have insisted that attendance at Diet sessions by such political figures must take precedence over overseas travel on official business. The public does not even begin to understand why the country's national interests must be compromised because its prime minister and foreign minister are prevented from visiting other nations under what can only be described as a misguided rule meant to preserve "the authority of the Diet."

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Sept. 5, 2011)

(Sep. 6, 2011)

06/09 IN THE NEWS / Soprano to sing at 9/11 peace recital




Maki Mori
Waiting for her turn during a May concert to help support areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake, opera singer Maki Mori was circumspect.
"It isn't always positive living in this world. But I feel very strongly [about] and cherish music's role in reaching out to people during difficult times," she said.
Mori experienced the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on United States soil firsthand while she was rehearsing for an opera scheduled to be performed in Washington.
Immediately after the catastrophe, Mori was evacuated to a suburban area of the capital. Ultimately she had to perform in the opera three days later without proper rehearsals.
"I was worried whether it would really be okay to perform under such circumstances," she recalled.
Despite her concern, Mori's performance at the well-attended concert received rapturous applause.
Mori said this experience helped her realize music can help people to recover from distress.
The singer, 41, believes even when faced with a serious disaster, musicians will never be powerless. "Because we can pray for victims and convey the greatness of being alive through our music," she explained.
Mori will sing Mozart's Requiem and other works at her recital to be held at the Tokyo Opera City in Shinjuku, Tokyo, on Sunday.
Sept. 11 will also mark the six-month anniversary of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Mori says she will put her soul into the pieces she will sing at the concert.
"I'll be happy if I'm able to convey my thoughts [about the disaster] to the audience, and hope the performance transcends being enjoyable and beautiful," she said.
(Sep. 6, 2011)