According to law professor Mari Matsuda, concerns like Holmes' are well-founded.

CNN: Regional accents thrive in U.S. -- but is that a good thing?

Matsuda argues that discrimination against both foreign and domestic accents, intentional or unintentional, can hurt people with a "low-status" accent when they're looking for a job.

CNN: Regional accents thrive in U.S. -- but is that a good thing?

Matsuda Kimio, a Tokyo civil servant, can only sigh.

CNN: Not so Fresh Polls

"Professional industries have expressed a desire to find optical disc solutions that enable them to transition away from magnetic media for their archiving needs, " said Victor Matsuda, Blu-ray Disc Association Global Promotions Committee chair.

ENGADGET: Blu-ray Discs expand to 128GB under new BDXL spec

Matsuda, who teaches and writes at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, penned a frequently cited paper called "Voices of America: Accent, Antidiscrimination Law, and a Jurisprudence for the Last Reconstruction" for the Yale Law Journal.

CNN: Regional accents thrive in U.S. -- but is that a good thing?

Nobumi Matsuda, who runs an eye clinic in Tokyo and is studying the eye health of airline pilots in Japan, downed three bottles of water during the Feb. 3 flight and said the 787 humidity improvement just wasn't enough.

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