X-Subject:      JAPANESE NEWS
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.words-l
Date:         Wed, 8 Apr 1992 10:14:55 EST
Reply-To:     "Information list about Japan"
 <JPINFO-L%JPNSUT00.bitnet@VTVM2.CC.VT.EDU>
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Comments:     Please Acknowledge Reception,Delivered Rcpt Requested
Comments:     Resent-From: Karen Kay <LL23@NEMOMUS>
Comments:     Originally-From: WILLIAM MONROE <WMONROE@USMCP6.BITNET>
From:         Karen Kay <LL23%NEMOMUS.bitnet@VTVM2.CC.VT.EDU>
Subject:      JAPANESE NEWS

Just trying to keep you guys up-to-date...

Karen

------------------------------- Original Message -------------------------------
Konbanwa minasan,

I saw these news items on another list.  I cleaned them up to
post here.  I hope you find them of some intrest.  Enjoy!

Bill Monroe
Owner of NIHONGO@MITVMA

Subject:   Japan's Sex Tourists

   AP, Tokyo, Mari Yamagichi, April 2 - A popular Japanese publisher is coming
under attack from feminist groups for offering tour books that tell where
to find prostitutes and strip shows in Asian nations.
   The feminists claim the publisher, K.K. Bestsellers, already has
promised to withdraw "Southeast Asia for Men Traveling Alone."
   On Thursday, they also demanded that Bestsellers donate profits from
its guidebook to groups that promote sexual equality.
   "Even though they've removed the books from bookstore shelves, the
human rights of women, which they have walked all over, will remain
damaged," said Asayo Aoki, a representative of the Osaka-based Woman
Against Sexual Violence, which has about 120 members.
   Aoki said the guidebook reflects a sexism prevalent in Japanese
society. Although there is an increased awareness of sexual harassment,
many Japanese men read pornographic comic books and magazines while they
commute on subways. Tabloids and sports newspapers carrying pornography
are also popular among businessmen.
   The guidebook is filled with pictures of scantily dressed women,
recommended night clubs and massage parlors.
   "Make your hot night in Manila even hotter. ... So many spots for
lovemaking," says the section on the Philippines.
   In the Thailand section, the book, written by freelance writer Toshio
Shoji, says, "Many young girls, and cheap too."
   "There is no fixed price here, so the appropriate price is about half
of what they say. Bargaining is normal," says a chapter on the
Indonesian island of Bali.
   Local newspapers say Bestsellers has sold about 50,000 copies of the
edition on Asia, and another 30,000 copies of a guide to Europe.
   "Our purpose was to introduce foreign countries the way they are, and
we have no intention to promote prostitution," Japan's largest
newspaper, Yomiuri, quoted a Bestsellers editor as saying.
   The publisher refused to discuss the book with The Associated Press.


Subject:  Japan's Yazuka Exports

    Reuter, Tokyo, Seigo, Sakamoto, April 3 - Few tourists are more welcome
anywhere than camera-toting Japanese in designer sportswear with deep purses
and big budgets.
    But among the 10 million Japanese who travel abroad each year are
more sinister figures -- yakuza or organised gangsters who trade in guns
and drugs, run brothels, invest in property and buy travel agencies.
    Yutaka Takehana, the head of Japan's National Police Agency's (NPA)
organised crime office, said the United States, Australia and Southeast
Asia were now major destinations for overseas yakuza operations.
    The U.S. government says there are between 100 and 500 yakuza there
involved in real estate, including resort hotels, operating travel
agencies and firing ranges for tourists, and running prostitution, drug
and gun-running rackets.
    Last November, U.S. Assistant Attorney General Robert S. Mueller
told a Senate panel the United States was a prime site for yakuza
investment and their drug and gun operations.
    He said they were known to operate in New York, San Francisco, Los
Angeles, Hawaii, where there is a large ethnic Japanese community, and
Nevada -- where the gambling centres of Reno and Las Vegas attract many
Japanese tourists.
    Guns are strictly controlled in Japan so yakuza are forced to buy
them abroad. One Japanese police official said yakuza depended mostly on
China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Philippines and the United States for
firearms.
    Yakuza often relied on foreign associates for their supplies of guns
and drugs, only occasionally travelling abroad themselves because of
language and other problems, police say.
    There are an estimated 90,000 yakuza in Japan.
    Japanese media reports say an estimated 10,000 of them go abroad
each year for business and pleasure.
    Yakuza are identifiable by their tattoos, short curly hair and --
sometimes -- missing fingers which they have chopped off themselves in
ritual ceremonies.
    In 1989, police interviewed about 2,300 yakuza at Tokyo's
international airport about where they were going and why. Most
maintained they were tourists, travelling abroad for golf, sex, gambling
or target practice.
    Half were going to South Korea, followed by the Philippines,
Thailand, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Only 35 said they were headed for the
United States. Many reportedly found it difficult to obtain U.S. visas.
    Takaji Kunimatsu, head of the NPA's Criminal Bureau, said yakuza
activity abroad was tarnishing Japan's image.
    "Some people in foreign countries say that first we flooded foreign
markets with Sony appliances and Toyota cars -- and now we are exporting
yakuza."


Subject:  New game, Japan bashing

New Computer Game aiming to capitalize on "Japan Bashing"

Associated Press,- TOKYO - Who says Japan bashing can't be fun and games?
        In a new computer game, players can choose one of 400 ways to slam
Japan as they try to onfluence troubled U.S.-Japan relations.
        The game, no surprise is called Japan Bashing and is scheduled to
hit stores in Japan on March 27. There are no plans now for an English
version or U.S. sales.
        The game's maker, SystemSoft Corp., says it is meant to get
Japanese thinking about U.S.-Japan relations, not inflame hostility between
the longtime allies.
        Still, thanks to real-life U.S.-Japan frictions, the software company
hopes the $66 game is a hit.
        "No one predicted there was going to be such a rise in Japan bashing,"
said Seika Kinoshita, a spokesman for SystemSoft. "We are expecting
favorable sales,"as many as 50,000 this year.
        The game is played on a screen with images of fictional leaders
of the United States and Japan. The Player is always the American, pitting
himself against the computer, which plays the part of the Tokyo government.
        As the game begins, the player chooses a degree and type of
"bashing" from a selection of on the screen, such as: "The Japanese
government should stop driving whales into extinction."


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