Japan's celebrities are using social media to turn criticism on its head

Abstract: Social media present a tightrope for celebrities in Japan. An increasing number of high-profile people are becoming savvy with platforms such as Instagram and Twitter, helping them to develop an online fan base. However, the internet also opens them up to criticism, and the past couple of weeks have highlighted how confusing the conversation about celebrities in Japan can get. The biggest celebrity story online over the past two weeks has revolved around Ryuji Higa, who is better known as Ryucheru . The fashionable influencer-turned-TV-presence-turned- performer welcomed a son into the world earlier this summer . To celebrate, the 22-year-old celebrity got tattoos with the name of his progeny, Link, and one of his wife, fellow celebrity Peco . (He also released a pop song about his baby but, er, let’s ignore that.) Many reacted negatively to his ink. According to articles on Cyzo and J-Cast , some responded to images of Higa’s tattoo with criticism. Some suggested that he was bound to feel bad about being unable to take his child to a pool or hot spring one day, while others went as far as to argue he would end up regretting getting tattooed altogether. Others described the move as being selfish, with some arguing that he now couldn’t donate blood (although in general, Higa would probably have to wait a year ). Fans defended him, while plenty also had more reasonable pro-and-con discussions . Higa responded on Instagram , posting a familiar kind of celebrity response to social media-born criticism that mixed earnest positivity about family life with “haters gonna hate” posturing. Nestled near the end was a line about how he wants to fight prejudice against those with tattoos in Japan. いろんな意見を、ありがとうございます。 言いたいこと、きちんと書くね!! まず、今まで応援してくれていた方が、冷たいコメントだけを残し、ぼくのことを一瞬で嫌いになるのが本当ならおどろきです。 それなりに予想はしてたけど、こんなにも偏見されるのかと思いました。 こんなに偏見のある社会 どうなんだろう。仕方ないよね。ではなく、僕は変えていきたい。 優しい言葉を投げかけてくれる人が好きと言うわけではなく、本当に僕のことを応援してくれている方と、そうでない方のコメント、言葉の違いくらい僕にも分かります。 結婚して、子供がいつかできたら、 家族の名前を身体に刻もう。と結婚する前、３年前から決めてました。 その３年でたくさん考えて、それなりの覚悟で入れました。 ぼくたちは、日本の温泉や、プールには行かないとおもいます。 その理由は名前を刻んだということとは関係ありません。 ぼくたちは、子供の顔を出していないので 子供の写真を盗撮されると困るし、子供がびっくりしたり、怖くなってしまうことが、あるかもしれないので、大勢の人が集まる場所には なかなか行かないと思います。 でも、そんな僕たちのお家を選んで生まれてきてくれたんだから、僕たちだからこそしてあげられることもたくさんあるし、僕の身勝手な行動で 大切な子供の楽しい思い出作り、人生を邪魔することは絶対しません。 そして僕のお父さんも、僕が生まれたとき 背中に 龍 (ドラゴンの絵) を入れました。僕は一度も嫌な思いをしたことがないし 嬉しかったです。 不自由をしたこともないし、ママからも パパからも たくさんの愛をもらい、育ててくれました。 だから、僕自身、偏見もなにもありませんでした。それも大きいかもしれません。 この体で、僕は大切な家族の笑顔を守るのです。なので、この体に、大切な家族の名前を刻みました。隠すつもりもありません。でも意地でも出したいわけでもありません。自然に生きていきたいです。偏見が無くなりますように。 そして最後に!!! 僕も色々こうしてSNSで発信することが怖いときもあります。またどんな風に どんな見出しで ネットニュースにされてしまうのか 怖いです。だけど何かにおびえて何もせずに生きててもこの社会は変わりません。世の中への思いや、変えていきたいことを どんどん発言、発信していかないと何も変わらないんです。だから、今回も勇気を振り絞りました。共感してくれる方がもしいれば、自分らしく、そして社会を変えようという強い気持ちで一緒に明日も頑張ろうね。こんなに長分なのにここまで読んでくれて、どうもありがとうございました ????✨ A post shared by Prince Ryuchell (@ryuzi33world929) on Aug 21, 2018 at 5:34am PDT Intentionally or not, Higa managed to flip the conversation about his personal choices to a broader discussion about Japan. It prompted tweets about sexism in the country, but above all else pushed the topic of tattoos to the forefront . This had been bubbling up in relation to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics , but carried over domestically. Buzzfeed Japan looked into the onsen issue, while no shortage of others used the news to defend tats . AKB48 member Rino Sashihara scored online cheers thanks to a nuanced take on TV that found her saying Higa should do what he wants, but understand as an online personality he will face criticism — and that it isn’t really prejudice . Others showed off their own tattoos, including one that was just a part of the Constitution that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants to change. You know things have taken a turn when the discourse goes from “Harajuku model” to “Article 13.” Thankfully, someone brought the tension down with a joke about Russian pop duo t.A.T.u. It’s important to note Higa’s online reputation before this tattoo snafu. While having a large fanbase of young folks built around social media, he’s also always been made fun of, mainly for all the same reasons people trying to be an influencer get mocked for ( plus his terrible music ). Social media networks develop their own heroes and villains — not restricted to Japan; just look at Taylor Swift’s transformation from “critical darling” to “ snake ” — and Higa has long been an easy target to mock. Some have pointed out that other Japanese entertainers have tattoos as well, but only Higa is criticized for it. But Higa showed he can also use social media to fight back, rally fans and change the narrative. Another case involves model Rola , who has at times been embraced online but recently lost appeal after moving to Los Angeles and … becoming pretty LA in the process (a whole other can of worms there). She recently donated a large sum of money to UNICEF, and was criticized by some for just being “celebrity pretension .” Again, part of the judgment came from her claims of wanting to change the world for the better . 今回UNICEFのイベントに参加しました。わたしはいま頭の中が子供達や動物の幸せと地球をまもることでいっぱいです。それと調べるほど許せないこともたくさんあり、悲しい気持ちになります。今回は自分ができる事として1000万円を寄付する事にしました。まだまだ足りないです。何をするために生きているか何をしないといけないか冷静に考えて自分の感情を信じて生きて行こうと思います。リスクがあっても嘘のない、人にとっても地球にとっても幸せが続くことに精一杯力を注いで頑張っていきたいです。 I attended a UNICEF event! I've had the welfare and happiness of children and animals, as well as ideas about how to protect our planet on my mind a lot lately. There's a lot of sad feelings and actions I just can't forgive on my mind as well. Therefor, I've made a $100,000 donation to UNICEF, because I really believe they're working to improve these conditions that really need to change. It's still not nearly enough, though. I've been thinking lately, "What is my purpose in life?" and "What do I have to accomplish during my time here?" and I've decided to follow my heart from this point forward. No lies, finding ways to make people happy and save our planet are the things I've made up my mind to put my energy into. I've gotta try my best! A post shared by ROLA (@rolaofficial) on Aug 11, 2018 at 8:50pm PDT Yet many defended Rola, criticizing the article above and arguing that her move should be praised regardless of the optics of it. It became a celebration of earnestness , with some netizens pointing to the similarities with Higa’s situation . The discussion evolved because the celebrities themselves were able to speak for themselves — both Higa and Rola can connect with people and get them on their side. Compare their cases with what’s happening to Arashi member Sho Sakurai. Shukan Bunshun reported that the J-pop star is having a tryst with a 21-year-old college student. This allegation made many online feel uncomfortable about Sakurai , leading to more criticism of him . Sakurai doesn’t have any social media presence — as is normal with Johnny & Associates entertainers — and while some do defend him, he doesn’t have a chance to steer the discussion in another direction in the same way as Higa and Rola have done. As a result, it’s all criticism for this celebrity, which is rare in Japan’s online environment in 2018.


Japan Times 1993: Fatherhood courses to meet children's needs

Abstract: 100 YEARS AGO Friday, Sept. 20 1918 Prince Yamagata’s residence disturbed THE JAPAN TIMES An intoxicated man about 30 years old wearing plain cotton clothes on a kuruma (motor vehicle) drove straight to the porch of Prince Yamagata’s residence at Goban-cho, Kojimachi, on the evening of Sept. 18 and demanded an interview with Prince Yamagata on some very important question of state but the man was soothed and taken to Kojimachi Police Station by a policeman on guard at the gate. The intoxicated man is now being examined. 75 YEARS AGO Thursday, Sept. 23, 1943 Tales of ‘Momotaro’ thrill Indonesian kids THE JAPAN TIMES The gallant adventures of the legendary “Momotaro,” intrepid boy-hero of one of the most famous of all Japanese folk tales, thrilled Indonesian children of the Taman Siswa School in Djogjakarta today when Joji Tsubota, a well-known Japanese author of children’s stories, on visit to the school vividly related the favorite story of Japanese children. After watching the eager attention given by the Indonesian children as he unfolded the details of the popular story, Tsubota told the newspapermen that he had found many points of similarity between Japanese and Indonesian children. Tsubota said that this was especially noticeable in Indonesian children’s games and plays that were performed for his benefit. 50 YEARS AGO Sunday, Sept. 1, 1968 Our Times: Student violence again THE JAPAN TIMES Student violence at Tokyo University last week has heralded the end of the summer vacation period and the beginning of the fall semester. For the collegians of more than 50 universities in the country, it will mean a return to violence and strikes as the radical students, although only a minority, have promised to take up where they left off at the end of June. It is naturally hoped that the incidents at Tokyo University during the past week are not a forerunner of events to come. At that venerable seat of learning, student gangsters occupied the main building of the medical school, in addition to the university’s administrative offices. They also subjected the medical faculty dean to a kangaroo court and assaulted a reporter of a leading newspaper. This display of sheer brutality has much in common with the Soviet rape of Czechoslovakia. In both instances, brute strength and violence were called upon to work their will on others. We were especially reminded of this day by a photo of a “mass bargaining” session between the lone medical school dean and more than 100 students. The students, if they can be called that, wore helmets in military fashion and had their faces covered with towels with only their eyes showing in the manner of robbers or hoodlums. Incredibly, they claimed to be “negotiating.” The student lock-up of the medical faculty building is causing a serious disruption of valuable research being carried on, with months of painstaking work going down the drain. Being medical students, they should know the seriousness of their action, but they consider their “struggle” much more important. And, of course, no sane person can ever condone the criminal assault on the reporter by the student thugs. Yet, these are presumably students who will go out into society as doctors to save human lives? What makes their action even more reprehensible is that almost all of their demands are being met. Key faculty members have been dismissed, reforms have been promised and the reprimand meted out previously to erring students will be reviewed. Their continuing rebellion is clearly opposition for the sake of opposition. The student hoodlums obviously have no intention of compromising on anything. Thus, agreement is impossible. In Tokyo University, as in other beleaguered colleges, a very small radical minority is at the core of the dissent. It is, of course, encouraging that a number of Tokyo U. medical students have reportedly “defected.” But the time has surely come for the majority of the student body to rise up against the gangster elements in their midst. In any event it must be made adequately clear that the violence will not be tolerated anywhere, not excluding the campus. It must be understood that university autonomy and academic freedom are being threatened, not by the police but by the student thugs. The school authorities are, of course, called upon to make reforms where necessary. But it must also be realized that reforms cannot come all at once, and more important, that they cannot be carried out under duress. The tax-paying public has a direct interest in what is going on at the 37 state-operated universities where law and order are being flouted. It is not our intent that the taxes from our hard-earned money should be subsidizing the “education” of thugs and gangsters. An op-ed contribution on page 1 from Masaru Ogawa, a former editor of The Japan Times. 25 YEARS AGO Sunday, Sept. 5, 1993 Fatherhood courses to meet children’s needs THE JAPAN TIMES The Education Ministry has appropriated funds to send lecturers to work on fatherhood because men have become too busy with their jobs to maintain adequate contact with their children, ministry sources said Saturday. According to the results of a survey conducted in 1990 by the Prime Minister’s Office, fathers spend an average of 36 minutes a day with their children, except during the holidays. In the survey, 84 percent of fathers who responded said it is the responsibility of their wives to teach their children manners. The survey results showed 46 percent of the responding fathers felt they are only needed when their children get into trouble or when they are deciding the course of the child’s education. The ministry hit upon the idea of the program for fatherhood courses because it feels Japanese fathers are not responsive enough to their children’s needs, the sources said. Under the program, municipal education boards will select lecturers and themes for the courses, then send them to companies on request, they said. Lecturers are expected to take up such topics as problems children face today, when children need their fathers and how to decipher children’s distress signals, they said.

prince yamagata
momotaro
parenting
student riots


Guinness World Records celebrates new achievements in latest edition, including those of 83-year-old Japanese DJ

Abstract: LONDON - An 83-year-old Japanese disc jockey, an elderly flying trapeze artist, the owner of the world’s fastest jet-propelled go-kart and a dog named Feather with a flair for jumping are among the record-breaking stars to win a place in the latest edition of Guinness World Records. Others to feature in the 2019 edition of the book, which went on sale on Thursday, include the creator of the world’s largest knitting needles and an Irish butcher, Barry John Crowe, who has produced the most sausages — 78 — in one minute. Sumiko Iwamura, an 83-year-old owner of a Tokyo gyoza restaurant who in the evening turns into DJ Sumirock, was honored in the book as the world’s oldest professional club disc jockey. Another octogenarian honored in the book is Californian Betty Goedhart, who has been named the world’s oldest trapeze artist at 85 and attributes her success to “doing things I enjoy doing.” “I’m hoping I encourage people, women, to not think that when they hit the age of 55, they are old. We have got a lot more on our journey,” said Goedhart, who only began trapeze classes at the age of 78 but looks as though she has spent a lifetime swinging through the air upside down. British art student Elizabeth Bond, 31, decided to draw attention to her exhibitions by creating knitting needles that measure some 4.42 meters (14 feet 5 inches) in length. Another Briton, Tom Bagnall, 26, racked up a record speed of 112.29 mph (181 kph) for a jet-propelled go-kart. Animals also feature among the latest world record-breakers. Dog owner Samantha Valle from the U.S. state of Maryland trained Feather, whom she adopted from a rescue center, to jump over ever higher hurdles until she set a new canine record at 191.7 cm (6.3 feet).

guinness world records
records
contests
stunts


India's top court decriminalizes homosexual acts

Abstract: NEW DELHI - India’s top court has struck down a colonial-era law that makes homosexual acts punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The court gave its ruling Thursday on a petition filed by five people who challenged the law, saying they are living in fear of being harassed and prosecuted by police. In 2009, a New Delhi High Court declared unconstitutional Section 377 of the law, which says “carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal” — the first two parts of which are widely interpreted to refer to homosexual sex. That decision was overturned in a ruling by three Supreme Court justices in 2013 on the grounds that amending or repealing the law should be left to Parliament. But lawmakers failed to take action, and in July the government told the Supreme Court to give a ruling in the case. “The law had become a weapon for harassment for the LGBT community,” Chief Justice Dipak Misra said as he announced the landmark verdict. Activists had been fighting the ban since the 1990s. Thursday’s verdict sparked celebrations among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender groups across the vast nation. Members of the LGBT community hugged each other and cried as news of the verdict spread. “I am speechless! It’s taken a long time to come but finally I can say I am free and I have equal rights as others,” said Rama Vij, a college student who wore a rainbow scarf. Gay sex has long been taboo in conservative India, particularly in rural areas, where homophobia is widespread. According to official data, 2,187 cases under Section 377 were registered in 2016 under the category of “unnatural offenses.” Seven people were convicted and 16 acquitted.

india courts sex lgbt rights sexuality discrimination


In world first, Japan study 'grows' skin from tissue to heal wounds

Abstract: In a world first, Japanese researchers have transformed tissue cells into skin cells to help heal serious wounds, a technique that could revolutionize care for victims of burns and other severe injuries. The research is the culmination of a decade of work and holds promise for a variety of patients, including those with serious burns or elderly patients with bedsores and other recurring lesions. The study, published Thursday in the journal Nature, involves a technology called “cell reprogramming” in which genes are inserted into cells to change them from one form to another. “This is the first description of reprogramming of tissue cells to skin cells,” said lead author Masakazu Kurita. “I’m really excited about the results.” Kurita, a plastic surgeon and professor at the University of Tokyo, began working on the technique 10 years ago. It has been a laborious and painstaking process since then. The first stage involved identifying genes present in skin cells but not in tissue cells, which could be isolated and then inserted into tissue cells to transform them. “We picked around 80 candidate genes featured in skin cells, then we tried combinations,” Kurita said. His breakthrough came in 2014, when he successfully reprogrammed tissue cells into skin cells in a culture dish using a combination of 28 genes. In 2015, he moved to the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in California to collaborate with a team of specialists from around the world. In all, he and his colleagues conducted around 2,000 trials with different combinations of genes, looking for the most efficient way to transform cells. Eventually, they hit upon a four-gene combination and began testing it in wounds on mice. They sealed the wounds off from the surrounding skin to replicate the difficult conditions at the center of a large burn or similar injury, with no adjacent skin to promote healing. Using the technology, along with existing drug treatments, they were able to heal a lesion 1 cm in diameter in around two weeks. “Our data suggests the feasibility of a completely new therapy which could be used for the closure of wounds from various causes,” Kurita said. The most obvious application would be severe burns covering large parts of the body, which are usually treated with skin grafts, he added. “When the areas involved in burns are extremely broad and no skin is available for the patients, no one could offer the patient a way to survive … our technique could offer a way.” But he cautioned that the research was still far from being available to patients, with perhaps another decade of work needed before then. He wants to see research done on better ways to deliver the four-gene combination that transforms the tissue into skin. For the study, the researchers used a virus that has been used in other work transforming cells as the delivery system for the four-gene combination. But future research could develop a potentially more efficient delivery system specifically designed for their technique. And, Kurita said, more work could be done on the types of drugs used to support healing. This study used existing drug combinations, but “if we could make other combinations, other drugs, everything will be optimized exclusively for our purpose. “Probably the efficiency could be far better and shorten the period of time for healing.” There are also risks to consider. The study monitored the newly transformed skin cells in test mice for eight months, and found they remained intact in their new form throughout that period. But longer monitoring would be needed to make sure the transformation was permanent. And any process of transforming cells with genes carries the risk of mutations, including cancer formation. “We didn’t find any of those signs so far but this is really short-term,” Kurita said. “For the future, we have to work with the greatest caution to eliminate these kind of side effects.”

skin
cells
burns
genes
university of tokyo


Thai junta scandals and political angst provide material for new wave of spray-can satirists

Abstract: BANGKOK - Thailand’s junta chief caricatured as a “lucky cat” with a paw raised to rake in money, or his face crossed out by a thick, red line — daring graffiti is cropping up across Bangkok as the city’s walls become a canvas for rare political scorn. The pioneer of the new wave of street artists is Headache Stencil, whose spray cans satirize the powerful in a country where free expression has been muted since a 2014 coup. Dubbed Thailand’s Banksy after the famous British graffiti artist, Headache — whose nickname alludes to the pain he hopes to inflict on the mighty — catapulted to fame in January with a piece skewering junta No. 2 Prawit Wongsuwan, who was struggling to explain his collection of undeclared luxury watches. The stencil art showing Prawit’s face inside an alarm clock was a jab at the lack of financial transparency by generals who seized power claiming that only they could save the country from untrammeled graft. It was a bold move in a tightly-controlled country where simply reading George Orwell’s “1984” novel in public is deemed defiant and whose well-connected elite are quick to file criminal defamation charges. Speaking at his Bangkok studio, Headache is unrepentant. “The root of street art is that people have no rights, no voice,” he said, his face masked as much for a dramatic flourish as protection from authorities. “The aim is to spread the words we want to say but cannot. So we paint them for those who walk by … for officials or the general public to understand.” After the clock image went viral, police attempted to monitor the artist and city officials hit the streets to paint over subversive graffiti. Prawit insists the watches were borrowed from friends, but nine months later Thailand’s anti-graft body has yet to finish its investigation into the issue. Headache again stole the spotlight in March — this time with graffiti showing a black panther crying tears of blood. It was a reference to the case of a Thai construction magnate who was later charged with poaching one of the protected cats during an illegal safari hunt in a national park. Once again, the artwork was a hit online, cheered for its brazen lampooning of another wealthy target. Much like Banksy, the graffiti artist-turned-multimillionaire art auction darling, Headache’s carefully maintained mystique adds to the allure of his work. And it has caught the imagination of a country where an increasing number of people are looking to art to dissect the anti-junta angst that lurks below the surface. “Street art has a fast life … you can cover it with paint but once it is on social media, it stays,” said Apinan Poshyananda, artistic director of the Bangkok Art Biennale which debuts next month and will feature other street artists. Headache now holds workshops across the country including in the northeastern provinces, the political heartland of the toppled civilian government. Meanwhile a mushrooming number of galleries and studios are hosting dance and art performances addressing the kingdom’s political culture and complex social issues in subtle ways that dodge censure. Among the Thai artists is Kawita Vatanajyankur, 31, whose video installations allude to the notoriously poor working conditions in Thailand’s factories and fishing industry. “It’s such a major issue and it’s something that we need to fix,” she said. Kawita is part of a wider artistic awakening in Thailand, whose highly skilled painters, sculptors and performers traditionally took inspiration from the conservative establishment, but who are now confronting different themes. The launch of the biennale will display work by headline names such as Marina Abramovic and the late Jean-Michel Basquiat, bolstering Bangkok’s claim to being the art capital of Southeast Asia. Meanwhile the political winds are slowly changing. Last week, Thailand’s junta partially lifted a ban on politics, with a long-delayed election next year promising to pit army-aligned and civilian politicians against each other. That collision of values could provide ample material for street artist rebels like Headache. His latest work tackles the impact of military spending — which has risen each year since the coup — on Thai society. It depicts a soldier on the heavy end of a see-saw, a young schoolgirl suspended in the air at the other. “We put more budget towards weapons than brains,” he said.


Aussie filmmaker freed from Cambodia prison for spying arrives in Sydney

Abstract: MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - An Australian filmmaker arrived in Sydney on Sunday after a pardon by Cambodia’s king released him from a six-year jail sentence for espionage that he received after flying a drone over an opposition rally. James Ricketson, 69, was last month found guilty of spying and collecting information harmful to the nation following a trial that was criticized by rights activists. His arrest in June 2017, after he flew the drone above a rally by the now-dissolved opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), came amid a wider crackdown on freedom of expression by the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen. Ricketson, who spent more than a year behind bars, denied the charges and sought a pardon from King Norodom Sihamoni. On Friday, he was released from Phnom Penh’s Prey Sar prison. Greeted by family and friends at Sydney airport, he told reporters he planned to return to Cambodia. “I’ll be going back as soon as I can but I’ll need to recover obviously,” Ricketson said. His family thanked the king for bringing their “nightmare” to an end. Australia’s foreign ministry also thanked Cambodia for the release of Ricketson, who has been visiting Cambodia for more than 20 years. In a letter to Hun Sen last month, the filmmaker apologized for statements to media that were disrespectful to the long-serving prime minister. In July, Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) claimed victory following a general election in which it was largely unopposed. Rights groups said the vote was neither free nor fair given the absence of a significant challenger to Hun Sen, who has ruled for 33 years.

cambodia
spying
australia
james ricketson
hun sen


Fujifilm plans iPS-based trials to treat complications from bone marrow transplants

Abstract: Fujifilm Corp. aims to start clinical trials with artificially derived stem cells next year to prevent serious complications from bone marrow transplants used to treat leukemia, company officials say. The camera and medical equipment maker, which has been expanding its pharmaceuticals business, will apply for government permission for the trials by the end of March. It would be the first Japanese company to conduct such trials, which could help accelerate the use of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. In the trials, Fujifilm plans to inject mesenchymal stem cells generated from iPS cells into individuals with acute graft-versus-host disease to prevent immune cells in transplanted marrow from attacking their bodies. About 1,000 people develop the disease every year in Japan. Cynata Therapeutics Ltd., an Australian medical venture in which Fujifilm holds a stake, has started similar trials in Britain, and some of the patients have fully recovered, they said. Fujifilm will apply Cynata Therapeutics’ techniques to the clinical trials in Japan and aim to start selling products made from iPS cells in 2022 at the earliest, the officials said Sunday.

ips
disease
medicine
health
fujifilm corp .


Aichi couple sets up phone booth for people seeking to connect with loved ones they have lost

Abstract: A red, wooden telephone booth stands on a hill in Tahara, Aichi Prefecture, overlooking Mikawa Bay. Inside sits a disconnected black telephone. The booth was set up in June by a married couple who run a free school in the city as a spiritual way to connect with a student who took her own life in 2009 at age 18. Tomohiko Kutsuna, 66, and his wife Kazuko, 69, named the booth Shiokaze no Denwa (phone of the sea breeze) after Kaze no Denwa (phone of the wind), a similar booth built on a hill in Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, that was hit by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. The booth in Otsuchi, created by garden designer Itaru Sasaki in his garden overlooking the ocean, has attracted about 30,000 people from Japan and abroad seeking to “talk” to those they have lost. “We hope our telephone booth will also be used by people who lost their loved ones, just like us, in any way they want,” Tomohiko said. In 2001, Kazuko, a schoolteacher, had been concerned about the limits placed on children with diverse needs and abilities by the uniform education system. She quit her job and, along with Tomohiko, a painter, opened a free school called Yuzuriha Gakuen. Three years later, a girl from the prefecture, then a second-year junior high school student, started attending the free school. She had stopped going to classes when she was in elementary school because she did not get along with her teacher. She had difficulty sharing her feelings with others, and amid her struggle, she repeatedly attempted suicide, saying she couldn’t think of a reason to live. The couple continued to offer support, letting her stay at their house and giving counseling. But in January 2009, she took her own life at her home, leaving a note that said she would live if she failed to die this time. “Deep in her heart, she wanted to live,” Kazuko said. “It is our responsibility as adults, having made this society a place difficult for her to live. We are the ones who made her die.” Kazuko said she considered closing the free school, but she decided not to because the girl’s parents asked her to keep going. The girl did not have a grave — due to her own preference expressed prior to her death — and the couple had a difficult time sorting out their feelings during the grieving process. This was when they learned about the telephone booth in Otsuchi. In June, nearly a decade after the girl’s death, the couple took possession of a telephone booth, gave it a fresh paint job and set it up on their school’s grounds. When they first picked up the telephone, they said they felt like they could understand the girl’s true feelings. They finally had peace of mind by creating a place to talk to her. Every now and then, they go into the booth and speak to the girl, sometimes apologizing for not having been able to save her. “I feel like she is always there,” Kazuko said, explaining that she was a kind girl who liked to bake bread. The couple has so far supported more than 3,000 parents and children through their school, looking out for children who ran away from home or exchanging messages with troubled parents. “We could continue our activities because of her. I never want such a sad thing to happen again,” Tomohiko said.


Wild boar carcasses found in Gifu dull prospects for declaring containment of swine fever

Abstract: An outbreak of swine fever on a farm in Gifu Prefecture earlier this month seemed to come to an end after the culling of hundreds of pigs and the disinfection of all related facilities. But the prospects of officially declaring next month the containment of the classical swine fever look increasingly dim after the virus was detected in local wild boar carcasses after the prefectural government completed the disinfection of the farm. By Sunday, six dead wild boars that were found within a radius of 10 km from the farm tested positive for the disease. The following are some questions and answers regarding swine fever: What is swine fever ? Also known as hog cholera, the viral disease is highly contagious, affecting pigs and wild boars. It does not affect humans. Pigs can be infected by direct contact with infected swine or anything contaminated with the virus, such as vehicles and clothes. Infected pigs spread the virus via saliva, mucus, urine and feces. Symptoms include fever, loss of appetite, discoloration of skin and constipation followed by diarrhea. Infected pigs often stay together. Many die within 10 to 30 days, according to the website of the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO). There is no treatment. Thus to control the spread of the disease, entire herds are usually culled when an infected pig is found on a farm. The virus can survive in pork and processed pork products for months when meat is refrigerated and for years when it is frozen, according to the World Organisation for Animal Health, or OIE. The disease found in Gifu is called classical swine fever, which is different from the African swine fever virus that broke out in China over the summer. Has the disease hit Japan before? Yes. According to the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry, swine fever was first seen in Hokkaido in 1888. Since then, Japan has seen repeated outbreaks. But after the introduction of a vaccine in 1969, the number of swine fever cases declined sharply. The last outbreak was in Kumamoto Prefecture in 1992. Aiming to eradicate the disease without the use of vaccinations, the government reduced the use of shots in stages until it finally terminated them in 2006. The following year, Japan was recognized as a classical swine fever-free country by the OIE. Where did the pigs and wild boars get the virus from? What happened at the pig farm? The answer remains unclear. But according to NARO’s genetic analysis, it is highly likely to have come from overseas, because the detected virus was a type of classical swine fever that was never found in Japan before. The Gifu Prefectural Government received a report from the farm that many pigs were getting weak and dying in August, but they were diagnosed as being victims of heatstroke. But after a positive hit resulted from genetic testing conducted on Sept. 7, the agriculture ministry conducted blood tests and confirmed there was an outbreak of swine fever on Sept. 9. About 140 pigs died at the farm, and the remaining 546 were slaughtered and buried to control the spread of the disease. Since the outbreak, the prefectural government asked all pig farms to give a daily report regarding any hog that could be infected with the disease. So far, no cases of infection occurred within other farms in the prefecture. Will the outbreak have a significant impact on the nation’s pork industry? The influence is widely considered to be limited because of Gifu’s small-scale pork industry. According to prefectural government data as of February last year, there were only 40 pig farms in Gifu, which accounted for less than 1 percent of the nation’s total. Pork production in Gifu in 2016 amounted to about ¥7.9 billion, the 21st-largest of Japan’s 47 prefectures. The government halted pork exports across Japan following confirmation of the first case of swine fever on Sept. 9. But given that no case has been detected from other prefectures, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Macau resumed importing pork from Japan, excluding Gifu. Japan exported about ¥1 billion worth of pork products in 2017. Hong Kong was the top importer of Japanese pork, accounting for roughly 60 percent of total exports, followed by Macau and Singapore, according to the agricultural ministry. What’s the situation overseas? Although Japan was listed as a classical swine fever-free country by the OIE until the recent outbreak, the disease has been endemic in Asia. A total of 34 countries are currently recognized as classical swine fever-free by the OIE, including the U.S., U.K., Australia and New Zealand. In the past, however, many countries that were free of the disease suffered from swine fever outbreaks, including the Netherlands in 1997, resulting in the culling of about 11 million pigs at a cost of about $2.3 billion, according to the OIE. Apart from classical swine fever, a clinically similar African swine fever made headlines this summer as it spread rapidly in China, the world’s largest pork producer. Given the outbreak, which resulted in the slaughtering of thousands of pigs in China, the Food and the Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) warned last month that the deadly pig virus may spread elsewhere in Asia at any time.

swine fever
gifu prefecture
infections
animals


Needle found in Australian strawberries sold in New Zealand

Abstract: WELLINGTON - The Australian strawberry scare has spread to New Zealand with a supermarket chain announcing Sunday that needles were found in a box of the fruit sourced from the neighboring country. The Countdown supermarket chain said it had taken a brand of Australian strawberries off the shelves after a sabotaged punnet — a plastic box — was sold in an Auckland store. The strawberries, from Western Australia state, were sold in Countdown stores nationwide last week and only one incident of tampering was reported. “We take food safety very seriously,” the company said in a statement, adding it was in touch with authorities investigating incidents of needles found in strawberries in Australia in recent weeks. “Customers can return any Choice brand of strawberries they may have at home to Countdown for peace of mind and a full refund.” Countdown advised customers to cut up any Australian strawberries before eating them. The statement said there have been no reports of any illness or injury in New Zealand. It added that the brand of strawberries affected by this withdrawal “have not previously had any issues of this nature reported and had not been withdrawn from sale in Australia.” In Australia, more than 100 alleged incidents of pins and needles found in fruit have been reported since the scare began in Queensland state earlier this month. Most are thought to be pranks or jokes on social media, but at least two minors have been questioned by police for carrying out hoaxes. Woolworths Australia, Countdown’s parent company, has withdrawn needles from sale as a “precautionary step” as police hunt for the original culprit amid a spate of copycat episodes. The Australian government last week raised the maximum prison sentence for fruit tampering from 10 to 15 years.


Australian filmmaker returns home after receiving royal pardon in Cambodia

Abstract: SYDNEY - An Australian filmmaker freed from jail after receiving a royal pardon in Cambodia returned home Sunday as his family spoke of being “overwhelmed with happiness” at his release. James Ricketson was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment last month after being convicted of espionage. He had been in detention since June last year after he flew a drone over an opposition rally. He was given a royal pardon Friday after strongman Prime Minister Hun Sen requested it. The 69-year-old landed in Sydney late Sunday after being deported Saturday. “The Ricketson family are overwhelmed with happiness to have James home safely in Australia,” they said in a statement reported by on a commercial TV station. “James still deeply loves Cambodia and its people and remains committed to helping however he can.” The family thanked supporters for campaigning for his release, as well as King Norodom Sihamoni for “bringing this nightmare to an end.” They added that the 16-month term of imprisonment took a huge physical and emotional toll on Ricketson’s health. Ricketson’s pardon came a few days before Hun Sen — who has held power for more than 33 years — is scheduled to travel to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly. It also followed the freeing of activists and opposition lawmakers in the weeks after July’s national election, which critics said was neither free nor fair. Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne thanked her Cambodian counterpart, Prak Sokhonn, and said the pardon ended a “distressing time” for Ricketson and his family. Ricketson was detained after footage emerged of him using a drone to film a rally of the now-defunct opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP). His six-day trial — which rights groups slammed as a farce — showed him to be defiant and combative. It featured a surprise appearance by Hollywood director Peter Weir, who served as a character witness for his friend. The prosecution accused Ricketson of working as a filmmaker in Cambodia as a front for spying activities, but the verdict failed to name which country he was allegedly spying for. The CNRP, the sole legitimate opposition force to Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party, was dissolved in the lead-up to the controversial election — clearing the path for his party to take all 125 parliament seats.

australia
cambodia
sydney
james ricketson
hun sen


Need to back up sinking Kansai airport stymies region ahead of G20, elections

Abstract: OSAKA - When Kansai airport in Osaka Prefecture was shut down earlier this month after Typhoon Jebi flooded the main runway and terminal building — and caused a tanker to break loose and crash into the only bridge to the mainland — there were fears the damage meant the region’s largest and only international airport would be closed for a long time and cripple the local economy. Instead, nearly three weeks later, the sinking offshore airport’s runway and terminal building are back in operation and all passenger flights have resumed. Train service across the bridge was restored on Tuesday. The speed of Kansai International Airport’s recovery surprised a lot of people, including Osaka officials. “Wow, that was quick,” Osaka Mayor Hirofumi Yoshimura tweeted on Sept. 15 when it was announced that the trains were resuming operations. “That’s only about two weeks since the tanker rammed the bridge.” The faster-than-predicted recovery now leaves questions about what happens to plans for Kobe and Itami airports to accept up to 35 round-trip international flights rerouted from Kansai airport. At present, only two flights — an arrival from and a departure to Hong Kong next month via Japan Airlines at Itami airport — have been announced. Yet, local business leaders and Osaka Gov. Ichiro Matsui remain committed to having the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry grant temporary international routes to both airports. On Sept. 18 Kansai Economic Federation Chairman Masayoshi Matsumoto called for relaxing restrictions on international flights, telling reporters it was time to seriously discuss how to divide the international routes among Kansai’s three airports. “Recognition of the damage done by Typhoon Jebi offers a fresh opportunity for local governments and the Kansai business community to discuss what needs to be done,” he said. Matsumoto added, however, that there’s no point in quickly having lots of international flights take off from Kobe and Itami. He said the priority should be to ensure that additional flights from the three airports will not create noise pollution concerns or safety issues regarding air space. The remarks came a day after transport minister Keiichi Ishii toured Kansai airport and told reporters that local approval for new flights was critical. “A new agreement by local governments and the business community is needed,” Ishii said. Kansai faces short- and long-term questions over international operations at its three airports. In the short term, customs, immigration and quarantine operations must be established along with other temporary logistical operations and services to handle international passengers. The more difficult questions are the longer-term ones. Especially if, as Matsui and the business community want, Kobe and Itami are remodeled to serve as “backup” international airports in case something happens to Kansai airport again. Or even if they continue to offer permanent, regularly scheduled flights abroad. The possibility starts with demand at each airport. The operator of all three airports, Kansai Airports Co. Ltd., says that no airlines based overseas have applied to have international flights depart from Itami or Kobe airports. If operational costs at both become much cheaper than at Kansai airport, that would draw interest from low-cost carriers from East Asia, in particular. On the other hand, further lowering landing fees to attract new routes or keep current ones at any one airport could lead to less revenue at the other two. But such questions are taking a back seat to more immediate concerns about losing business to other regional competitors. That might seem strange, given that flights have resumed and most train and bus services to Kansai airport from Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Kobe and other parts of the region are back to normal. The repair work on the bridge is ongoing, but it hasn’t created any major transport delays so far. Yet Kansai officials still fear that international passengers will be slow to return, noting they could decide to use Chubu Centrair in Nagoya or book a flight from Itami airport to Narita instead. The transport ministry aims to complete the bridge repairs by the end of April 2019. That’s not only in time for the Golden Week holidays, it’s also two months before Osaka hosts the Group of 20 summit, which is expected to bring world leaders and 30,000 others to the region. Security and logistical concerns had been raised in the wake of the typhoon about what the various G20 delegations will do if transport to Kansai airport remains problematic during their preparatory visits to Osaka prior to the summit. Now, however, the bigger concerns are less about technical and logistical problems and more about politics and marketing. For Kansai’s leaders, this means convincing the central government and the airlines to continue with plans to have Kobe and Itami serve as international airports despite the fact that Kansai’s flights are back to normal and despite the fact that the airlines appear uninterested in offering lots of regular flights at either. With local elections in April 2019, Kansai-area politicians who want the region to have three international airports will have to convince voters in the coming months that it’s still possible, a task that seems harder now than it did just a few weeks ago.

airports
osaka
typhoon jebi
transportation
disasters


Japan urged to up ranks of female politicians to reach U.N. sustainable development goals

Abstract: OSAKA - To help meet the United Nations’ 2030 sustainable development goal for gender equality and empowering all women and girls, Japan needs more female politicians, especially at the local level. That was one of the recommendations civil society leaders and residents in the Kansai region discussed at the first Kansai Sustainable Development Goals Citizens Agenda meeting in Osaka earlier this month. When world leaders gather in Osaka for the Group of 20 summit in June 2019, discussions will include the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has hinted that one of the 17 development goals, women’s empowerment, may be on the official agenda, which is expected to be formalized after the G20 summit in Buenos Aires in December. Recommendations from civil society groups in Japan, including some of those who participated in the Sept. 11 meeting, will form part of Japan’s approach to the summit and broader domestic policies to achieve the SDGs as a whole. “One of the issues that can lead to gender equality is a system that promotes the participation of women in politics, and Japan has been insufficient in this regard,” says Atsuko Miwa, director of the Osaka-based Asia-Pacific Human Rights Information Center. Miwa is closely involved with civil society preparations for the G20 summit . Statistics compiled by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications show that as of Dec. 31, only 264 of 2,614 prefectural assembly members, or 10.1 percent, were women. While 28.6 percent of Tokyo’s assembly members were women, the figure in second place Kyoto was only 19 percent. In 28 of the 47 prefectures, the ratio was under 10 percent. In Osaka Prefecture, ranked 40th nationwide, only four of the 86 members are women. The figure is only slightly better at the municipal and ward assembly level, where 2,855 out of the 19,103 members, or 14.9 percent, were women. Tokyo again held the top spot, with women holding 28.1 percent of the seats. Saitama Prefecture was in second place, with female assembly members in its cities and wards accounting for 21.3 percent of the total. Osaka, poorly represented in the prefectural assembly, finished third, with 163 of its 804 city and ward assembly members, or 20.3 percent, women. At the national level, only 10.1 percent of the Diet members were women as of the end of 2017, according to data from the Inter-Parliamentary Union, a global organization of national parliaments that is based in Geneva. Japan was ranked 165th among 193 countries. With a round of nationwide local elections scheduled just two months before the G20 summit, the timing appears right for Japan to show the world in Osaka that it’s making progress on gender equality. Not only in the urban economic arena, where much government, media, and corporate attention is focused, but in prefectures, towns and villages facing rapidly aging, declining populations, and wondering whether they will be extinct when the world meets in 2030 to judge which SDGs were met.

politicians
sustainable development goals
osaka
united nations
women
g20


Japanese supply ship Kounotori heads to International Space Station after delays

Abstract: An unmanned Japanese space capsule is headed to the International Space Station filled with cargo including food, experiments and new batteries. The craft was launched Sunday at 2:52 a.m. from Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture and will take 4½ days to reach the space station. The launch was delayed for about two weeks because of bad weather and a mechanical problem. The delay led NASA to postpone two space walks to install six new lithium-ion batteries until new crew members arrive next month. They will replace the aging nickel-hydrogen batteries that provide the station’s electrical power, enabling it to extend operations. The supply ship is a 9-meter-long (30-foot) cylinder that will be retrieved by the space station’s robotic arm. It is named Kounotori, which means white stork. The 5,500 kg (12,000 lbs.) of cargo includes racks and equipment for experiments and an experimental re-entry capsule to try to demonstrate a novel technology to bring back samples from the space station. Once it is unloaded, the supply craft will be filled with trash and sent Earth-ward. It will be destroyed when it re-enters the atmosphere.


Monument to chief of WWI POW camp, known for humanitarian treatment of POWs, unveiled in Fukushima

Abstract: AIZUWAKAMATSU, FUKUSHIMA PREF. - A monument commemorating the Japanese head of a World War I camp who was known for his humanitarian treatment of German prisoners of war was unveiled in his hometown of Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima Prefecture, on Saturday. During his tenure as head of the Bando Furyo Shuyojo camp in Naruto, Tokushima Prefecture, Toyohisa Matsue (1872-1956) created opportunities for the POWs to interact with residents on Shikoku. The POWs were also allowed to perform Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, believed to be the first performance of the symphony in Asia. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the performance. “POWs are patriots, not criminals,” he had said. After serving as the camp’s head, Matsue became mayor of Aizuwakamatsu and contributed to the development of the city. His achievements are inscribed in Japanese, German and English on the monument, which is about 2 meters tall. Among those present at Saturday’s unveiling ceremony were his relatives: Aizuwakamatsu Mayor Shohei Muroi and Naruto Mayor Michihiko Izumi. “I’d like to show my respect to Matsue, who laid the foundation of Aizuwakamatsu,” Muroi said. “We hope to further deepen our friendship with Naruto,” he added. Izumi said Matsue created “strong bonds” between the two cities. “I’m happy that my grandfather’s deeds are praised and remain in people’s minds,” said Yukihiko Matsue, 72, Matsue’s grandson.

wwi
pows
fukushima
tokushima
toyohisa matsue
history
germany


Chinese A-list actress Fan Bingbing last seen in June amid culture crackdown

Abstract: BEIJING/SHANGHAI - Fan Bingbing, an A-list Chinese movie star who has appeared in the “X-Men” and “Iron Man” film franchises, has more than 62 million followers online in China and fronted campaigns for Montblanc watches and De Beers diamonds, has disappeared. The star’s vanishing act — she dropped off the radar in June when reports started to swirl that she was involved in a probe into tax evasion in the film industry — has sparked wild speculation in China about her fate, including reports the actress had been detained. Reuters was unable to contact Fan and calls to her agent went unanswered. When asked about Fan, a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry replied: “Do you think this is a question of diplomacy?” The Beijing Public Security Bureau declined to comment. The real-life drama has been playing out at a time when Beijing is tightening the reins on popular culture, looking to stamp out behavior seen as going against the ruling Communist Party’s ideological line and co-opting movie stars, pop bands and online celebrities to endorse socialist values. “It is written in our new movie promotion law that entertainers need to pursue both professional excellence and moral integrity,” said Si Ruo, a researcher at the School of Journalism and Communication at China’s prestigious Tsinghua University. “In the unbridled growth of the industry in the past few years, we might have overlooked the need for positive energy, so the government’s intervention is reasonable.” Fan Bingbing is the most prominent example. The actress, 36, is China’s equivalent of Hollywood star Jennifer Lawrence. She topped Forbes’ China celebrity rich list last year with earnings of 300 million yuan ($43.78 million). A Chinese TV anchor in May was widely reported to have posted tax-dodging pay agreements online known as “yin-yang” contracts — one setting out the real agreed payment terms and a second with a lower figure for the tax authorities — that appeared to implicate Fan. Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post reported that Fan’s studio denied she had ever signed separate contracts for a single job. China’s tax bureau said in June it was launching a tax evasion investigation into the film and television industry. But the culture clean-up is more widespread, snaring video games, online bloggers and rap artists. Critics say it threatens to stifle creativity in some sectors, and is hitting the bottom lines of firms such as tech and gaming giant Tencent. State-run media have begun using phrases such as “tainted artists,” with official bodies pledging to ban stars who behave badly, including drug taking, gambling or visiting prostitutes. An open letter earlier this month from members of the Beijing Trade Association for Performances said the body would “purify” the city’s entertainment and performance sector and guide artists towards “core socialist values.” “Celebrities are seen as a weapon in the Party’s ideological battle, which is fought across all sectors all the time,” said Jonathan Sullivan, Director of China Programmes at the University of Nottingham. China has long sought to control the creative arts, from censoring movies to literature. However, a boom in online media has prompted a new push to cleanse the arts world, as President Xi Jinping looks to tighten his grip over a huge and diverse cultural scene popular with China’s youth. That drive has created a dragnet that has swept over the creative arts, leaving few unaffected. Fangu, a grunge band from Beijing, which has toured across China, said it had hit an issue with its name, which translates literally as “anti-bone,” though means something closer to “rebellious spirit.” The band was forced to change its name this week ahead of a concert in Shanghai. “The relevant bodies do not allow the word ‘anti’ so we have to change the name temporarily,” said Qi Tian, an assistant to the band. Game-makers have had to tweak their offerings to add patriotic Chinese elements. Others have simply seen approvals withheld. Big media platforms have been rapped for not censoring their content enough and some have had to take sites offline. A report this month from a state university and circulated in official media, ranked Chinese stars in order of their social responsibility, including their moral conduct — underscoring an increasingly puritanical focus on good behavior. Fan came in last place with zero points. The ongoing shake-up is also hitting China’s burgeoning movie and entertainment industry hard. Share prices of related companies tanked after the government probe was announced and many are conducting self-checks on their tax situations. Claire Dong, partner and attorney at Beijing-based Tiantai law firm, said there has been a surge of consulting requests since Fan got into hot water. New policies are swiftly eroding the favorable tax treatment that actors and artists once enjoyed. “This is what the government needed to do,” Dong said. “The government needed to guide the actors to be more focused on acting, not money making.”

film china taxes celebrities rights police


Cancer cases projected to dip amid decline in smoking, stomach infections

Abstract: An estimated 1,013,600 people in Japan will be diagnosed with cancer this year, down 400 from last year, the National Cancer Center said Saturday. The center said the estimated number of patients topped 1 million in 2016 amid the aging of the population and has remained high but not increased significantly. This year’s slight decrease is partly due to a decline in stomach cancer as helicobacter pylori infection rates fall among the younger generations and as fewer men smoke. For women, the cancer rate is increasing, but at a slower pace. The estimated number of new male patients is 574,800, and female patients were put at 438,700. The center estimates the number of patients with colon cancer at 152,100, stomach cancer at 128,700, lung caner at 125,100 and female breast cancer at 86,500. “It is necessary to lower smoking rates further,” said Fumihiko Wakao, director at the national institute’s Center for Cancer Control and Information Services. “We have to enhance the accuracy of medical examinations and participation rates.” The center also said the number of diagnoses came to 867,408 in 2014. The center used to release only an estimated nationwide number of patients, based on data from prefectures whose statistical methods were considered accurate. As the accuracy of such methods has improved nationwide, the center released the actual figure for the first time.


Swine fever virus in Gifu found to be variant new to Japan

Abstract: The type of swine fever virus recently detected at a pig farm in the city of Gifu had not been found before in Japan, the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization said. The variant, seen elsewhere in Asia and in Europe, was confirmed through genetic analysis, the institute said Friday, adding that it is highly likely it came from abroad. Also on Friday, the Gifu Prefectural Government said the carcass of a wild boar found about 8 km from the farm Thursday also tested positive for swine fever, which is also known as hog cholera. The infection was confirmed by a detailed examination at the institute and may be spreading through the boar population, the prefectural government said Saturday. The farm ministry urged all prefectures to carry out swine fever tests if any more dead boars turn up. The prefectural governments were also instructed to inspect all pig farms within 10 km of places where dead boars are found. Hog cholera is endemic in Asia but does not affect humans even if an infected animal is consumed. The disease, which only affects pigs and wild boars, has a fatality rate of nearly 100 percent. It is the first time since 1992 that a hog cholera infection has been confirmed in Japan. The government declared the virus eradicated in 2007.

food
gifu prefecture
animals
diseases
health


JAXA launch of ISS supply ship delayed again, this time by equipment flaw

Abstract: TANEGASHIMA, KAGOSHIMA PREF. - A rocket launch to resupply the International Space Station was delayed again on Saturday by a “serious” equipment problem, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. said. “We faced a rather serious issue,” Koki Nimura, senior chief engineer at MHI, which developed the rocket, told a news conference. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) was scheduled to launch the H-IIB rocket with the Kounotori7 cargo ship from Tanegashima Space Center, Kagoshima Prefecture, early in the morning following a delay on Tuesday caused by bad weather. The decision follows a problem in the valve used to adjust pressure in a fuel tank. It may take more than a week to fix the flaw, JAXA said. The cargo ship will carry food and other necessities to the ISS. The delay will not immediately affect the space station, JAXA said.


Japan on brink of IWC pullout after losing vote on commercial whaling plan

Abstract: FLORIANOPOLIS, BRAZIL - Japan’s determined bid to return to commercial whale hunting has been rejected by the International Whaling Commission in a tense vote that left the 72-year old organization at a crossroads. Masaaki Taniai, vice minister for fisheries, said he “regretted” the vote’s outcome Friday and threatened Tokyo’s withdrawal from the 89-member body if progress cannot be made toward a return to commercial whaling. “If scientific evidence and diversity is not respected, if commercial whaling is completely denied … Japan will be pressed to undertake a fundamental reassessment of its position as a member of the IWC,” he said. Joji Morishita, Japan’s IWC commissioner, declined to comment when asked if this was Japan’s last appearance at the IWC, an organization he has chaired for the past two years. His term ended Friday. Minutes after the meeting, he said that the differences with anti-whaling nations were “very clear” and that Japan will now plan its “next steps.” Anti-whaling nations led by Australia, the European Union and the United States defeated Japan’s “Way Forward” proposal in a 41-27 vote. Japan had sought consensus for its plan but had been forced to push the proposal to a vote “to demonstrate the resounding voices of support” for a return to sustainable whaling for profit, Taniai said. Pacific and Caribbean island nations as well as Nicaragua and several African countries, including Morocco, Kenya and Tanzania, voted with Japan, as did Laos and Cambodia. South Korea abstained. The body’s identity crisis was clear in a week of often robust exchanges between pro- and anti-whaling nations. Morishita said a decision lies ahead over whether whaling can be managed in the future by “a different organization or a combination of different organizations.” The large Japanese delegation sent to the event will “assess the result of this meeting very carefully back in Japan,” Morishita said. The IWC was set up in 1946 to conserve and manage the world’s whale and cetacean population. It introduced a moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986 after some species had been fished to near extinction. Tokyo currently observes the moratorium but exploits a loophole to kill hundreds of whales every year for “scientific purposes” as well as to sell the meat. A Japanese withdrawal would have far-reaching consequences for the organization, given support from a growing number of developing states in the IWC. They say the IWC’s mandate is both to conserve and manage — meaning to sustainably hunt — recovering whale stocks, but that the emphasis within the organization has leaned too far toward conservation, leaving pro-whaling nations without a voice. To add insult to injury from Japan’s point of view, the IWC adopted Brazil’s “Florianopolis Declaration,” which envisages whale protection in perpetuity. That agreement is nonbinding but anti-whaling states championed it as an important indicator of the IWC’s future direction. Taniai said the result of the vote on the Japanese proposal was a “denial of the possibility for governments with different views to coexist with mutual understanding and respect within the IWC.” Australian Commissioner Nick Gales rejected “the narrative of underlying dysfunction and intolerance” suggested by Japan. He urged Tokyo to remain in the organization “to continue to argue for its view and work constructively with all members.” Japan’s “Way Forward” included the establishment of a “Sustainable Whaling Committee” within the IWC, and a conference to amend the body’s voting rules, changing them from requiring a two-thirds majority to a simple majority. Anti-whaling NGOs cheered the result, but it seems clear from the weeklong meeting in Florianopolis that Japan’s impatience with its fellow members is growing. Kitty Block, head of the animal charity Humane Society International, said “the IWC’s moral compass” had led it to reject Japan’s proposal. “It’s clear from exchanges this week that those countries here fighting for the protection of whales are not prepared to have the IWC’s progressive conservation agenda held hostage to Japan’s unreasonable whaling demands.” Glenn Inwood, of Opes Oceani, a company that analyses developments in the use of ocean resources, says there is no longer much of an economic or political case for Japan remaining in the body. “Japan invests tens of millions of dollars each year into its whaling activities but gains very little from the IWC despite being its biggest benefactor,” said Inwood, a former spokesman for the Japanese delegation.


Does Kansai need three international airports?

Abstract: Twenty-four years after Kansai airport’s opening, Typhoon Jebi roared through, flooding the main runway, parts of the main terminal building and dislodging a tanker in the adjacent bay that drifted into the facility’s connecting bridge. By the end of Tuesday, Sept. 4, leaders in the Kansai region finally understood that their international manufacturing and tourism sectors were reliant on an airport just a few meters above sea level, reachable mostly via a structurally vulnerable bridge. Over the next few days, they rushed to restore whatever domestic and international flights they could at undamaged Terminal 2 and Runway B, despite questions about whether economic concerns over a closed airport were taking priority over safety questions about the bridge. Kansai airport now aims to restore all passenger flights by Sept. 21. International and domestic flights are slowly returning, and about 30 percent of the total number of pre-typhoon flights are back in operation. But getting there from Osaka, Kyoto or Kobe takes longer than usual due to limited bus service and the fact that, as of last week, the trains were still not running. Many Kansai visitors thus switched to Nagoya’s Chubu airport (about an hour and a half by train from Kyoto Station) or booked international flights out of Narita and Haneda airports via Osaka’s Itami airport. Flights were leaving Kansai airport last week about half full. Despite Kansai airport’s quicker than expected recovery, efforts are underway to turn Kobe airport (over an hour from Kansai airport by bus and train, or a high-speed ferry across Osaka Bay) and Itami airport (30 minutes from Osaka Station) into “temporary” international airports and operate 35 round-trip international and domestic flights total. How long it might be until those airports are ready to accept international flights is unclear. There are the obvious preparations needed at both airports, including the installation of customs, quarantine and immigration facilities. Discussion is also needed with the airlines, especially the international airlines. Local news reports give the impression that Kansai’s leaders are worried mostly about Japanese airlines getting domestic and international slots at Itami and Kobe and not whether major international airlines could, and would, quickly agree to use either airport. Many international airlines at Kansai airport are East Asian low-cost carriers. If landing fees at Itami or Kobe are cheaper, would they return to Kansai airport and its higher landing fees? And as international cargo flights are rerouting elsewhere, how easily, and cheaply, can they return to Kansai? Especially if other airports offer, as they surely will, enticements for them to remain. And what about Kobe and Itami airports? One finds it difficult to believe they will happily relinquish the extra flights once Kansai airport is back to 100 percent operations. Especially Kobe airport, where Kobe officials feel somewhat left out of the tourism boom benefitting other parts of the Kansai region. It’s no secret many Kansai leaders have always wanted Kobe and Itami to be permanent international airports. If that happens, Kansai would be the only place in Japan with three international airports, a potential competitive advantage over all other regions, including Tokyo and its two international airports. With the Group of 20 Leaders’ Summit in Osaka next year, plus — so they hope — the 2025 World Expo, as well as plans for a casino resort aimed at foreign visitors, one can easily envision Kansai’s leaders in the smoke-filled backrooms of the Diet and the transport ministry arguing that the time is right for three permanent Kansai international airports, a form of regional revitalization that would assert benefits not only for Kansai in the short and medium term, but all of Japan in the long term. Possibly. But the transport ministry would be wise to first ensure three international airports are truly needed. Not only during the current tourist boom and for one-time international events, but in the future, when the population of the Kansai region is much older and smaller. View from Osaka is a monthly column that examines the latest news from a Kansai perspective.

airports
kansai airport
typhoon jebi
osaka
disasters


Japanese media face hostility in disaster coverage on social media

Abstract: Typhoon Jebi caused all sorts of damage when the storm — the most powerful in 25 years to hit the country — tore through western Japan earlier this month. The typhoon wreaked havoc wherever it went, even damaging the roof of Kyoto Station, sending shards of glass raining down on people below . Many on Twitter expressed shock at the footage. However, among the responses were messages from media organizations. Japanese TV programs (and some international journalists) reached out to the user who uploaded the video, @CRAZY904kaz, asking to use the footage on television or get in touch via direct message. The response from other netizens ranged from condemnation of their desire for sensational imagery over people’s safety , amusing images and simple utterances of “ Dame ” (“Stop”). This reaction played out on all kinds of social media posts during Typhoon Jebi, and it happened again following the 6.7 magnitude earthquake in Hokkaido. It’s been a recurring occurrence in a year where the biggest stories in Japan have involved extreme weather, and it happens any time people post photos or videos from where a major story unfolds. It captures people creating memes based on the news, but it also reflects how a large number of Japanese netizens distrust traditional media. As social media sites such as Twitter have become the go-to destination for news in the digital age, they have also become destinations for journalists and media companies looking for sources. It’s also common in the United States, and can be a bit more macabre — a prominent example coming when media members tried to get information from students stuck at Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida during the shooting in February. Embedding tweets or other content such as photos and videos into an online article is also slippery territory , but in Japan it generally doesn’t receive much criticism from netizens when, say, Buzzfeed (or, heck, The Japan Times ) posts stories built around social media posts. When traditional media come in, however, the situation changes. Let’s focus on the recent typhoon again, as it generated the most interaction online. Whenever someone posted a viral video — of, say, scaffolding falling off a building — a TV channel would wade in to try to connect with the user. Then other Twitter users would swoop in to lecture the station , telling the network to “ stop ” its approach or share a meme . As many on message boards pointed out in threads focused on the reaction , it doesn’t appear to matter if the original poster agreed with the request, third parties would just jump in and speak for them. At their most altruistic, users urged people — including reporters — not to go out in dangerous conditions, even if they did so in somewhat condescending ways . Or they shared a chart that apparently shows how much one should be paid for content that appears in media. Others highlighted the myriad rules that TV stations follow. Watching dozens of users make fun of whomever had to manage the news program’s Twitter account for the day feels like the sort of irreverent trolling that dominates many corners of social media. Yet it also leads to plenty of other griping about the media, ranging from people criticizing them for flying helicopters over areas in Hokkaido that had been hit by landslides to getting angry at the people and institutions the media tends to criticize in these situations. And then there’s images of Osaka Station being empty — save for camera people . It was a reminder of how many netizens approach the Japanese media with hostility, dubbing them “masu gomi” (a slang phrase that means “trash”). That term has been around long before the web became central to discourse, but it has since taken off digitally. Anytime a natural disaster happens, examples of the media acting badly appear, whether it’s a camera crew being shooed away from a school following this year’s Osaka earthquake to news reports happening on top of rubble in Fukushima Prefecture. The actions can turn political pretty quickly — masu gomi was basically “fake news” before U.S. President Donald Trump even opened his Twitter account — but it also tends to be deployed by both sides of the spectrum. Whether motivated by ideology or good old-fashioned trolling, expect to see this interaction between media and netizens play out again and again for the foreseeable future. However, if the whole thing makes you roll your eyes, you aren’t alone. Plenty of online observers see this back-and-forth and just find it annoying. They just want the news.

disasters
typhoons
earthquakes
japan pulse


Japanese athletes under fire after Asian Games scandal

Abstract: When four members of Japan’s national basketball team were sent home from the Asian Games last month for patronizing prostitutes, the resulting scandal capped almost a year’s worth of bad publicity for sports in Japan. Over this time we’ve had allegations of “power harassment” raised against the Japan Wrestling Federation, the premeditated dangerous tackle by a member of the Nihon University American football team, accusations of misuse of funds by the Japan Amateur Boxing Federation, and charges of physical abuse and harassment in gymnastics. As media critic Minako Saito wrote in her Sept. 5 Tokyo Shimbun column, these stories are like something out of a comic book where good and evil are clearly delineated. Real life is never so Manichean, but the media play it out that way, and sometimes it’s difficult to get a sense of what’s really going on. In a Sept. 1 Tokyo Shimbun column about online media, Junichiro Nakagawa claimed that TV has led the charge against the miscreants in these scandals because they work in amateur sports, which “don’t have a deep relationship with television,” or, at least, not as deep as professional baseball does. TV reporters can cover the scandals any way they want without worrying about repercussions. It’s easy to make Japan Amateur Boxing Federation President Akira Yamane into a villain because of his gangster-like appearance and demeanor. Nakagawa repeatedly uses the term “ nōkin ,” an abbreviation of the phrase “ nō miso ga kinniku ,” which means “the brain is a muscle,” an insult commonly directed at people in sports, especially administrators who were once athletes themselves. The feeling is that they run things based on entrenched tradition without ever questioning that tradition, so when a scandal erupts they appear clueless. The basketball scandal is no different, though the focus on sex makes it more problematic for the mainstream media. The tabloid media has no problem at all, and while that gives them an advantage in terms of ethical guidelines — they aren’t expected to follow any — it also highlights their culpability in sustaining the attitudes that give rise to such scandals. The weekly Shincho’s coverage of the basketball story was typical. Describing the news conference with the four disgraced athletes after their return from Jakarta as a “public execution,” the magazine revealed its stance, which is that the matter was blown out of proportion by the mainstream press, who kept demanding the players apologize to the nation in humiliating fashion. These young men’s lives, and not just their careers, have been destroyed. “They were treated like the worst criminals,” said the writer, who proceeded to explain their crime from the standpoint of someone who might have done the same thing if he had been in their situation — although he would have been smarter about it. According to Shincho, the scandal was a confluence of three factors: too much beer after a preliminary victory in the tournament, a team rule obligating the players to wear their uniforms when there were out in public and the players’ naivete. When they left the drinking establishment after midnight, the players were approached by prostitutes and followed them to a hotel. An Asahi Shimbun photographer was hanging around and saw the initial exchange. The photographer even took pictures. Shincho reinforces its position with quotes from sources whose take on the scandal is not sports-related. A Japanese reporter who lives in Jakarta explains how the neighborhood where the players drank has become more amenable to prostitution in recent years. The editor of a magazine about the Asian sex trade compared Indonesian prostitutes to those from other countries (“more polite than Thais or Filipinos,” “more service for less money”). A sociologist lamented “society’s demand” that athletes be saintlier than “regular people.” And media maven Dave Spector commented about the ridiculousness of holding athletes to higher moral standards when “all they want to do is play sports.” Shincho questioned the Asahi Shimbun’s decision to report the players’ late night rendezvous, implying that the newspaper, acting out of a smug sense of journalistic professionalism, not only ruined these players’ lives but brought attention to this area of Jakarta and, at least temporarily, scared away business. The reporter added that South Korea was probably happy about the scandal. Shincho wasn’t alone. Twitter and other social media were filled with complaints about the Asahi Shimbun, whom some accused of purposely wrecking Japan’s basketball chances at the Asian Games, although most of these critics hate the media organization to begin with. The newspaper declined to comment on the record for Shincho, although if they had they could have pointed out that athletes participating in international competitions can be disqualified for buying prostitutes. As reporter Yuko Shimazawa asked in an Aug. 22 article in Business Insider Japan, Didn’t these four players know about the campaigns, supported by numerous world athletic bodies, to prevent trafficking at international sports events? Probably not, she assumed. The U.S. State Department issued a report in June in which Japan was ranked among the worst tier one countries in the world in terms of prostitution and trafficking and has no effective penalties in place. (Governments in tier one countries fully comply with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s minimum standards.) This lack of accountability is an outcome of Japan’s poor comprehension of human rights, Shimazawa says. Bolstering this attitude are the twin beliefs that nothing can be done about men’s desire for sex and that male athletes need sex to relieve the tension generated by competition. The mainstream press crucifies players for revealing that Japanese athletes can’t transcend these impulses, while the tabloid press dismisses the scandal as merely a boys-will-be-boys thing. Both implicitly blame the prostitutes, because male athletes don’t know any better. That’s as good an illustration of “muscles for brains” as you’re going to get.

asian games
basketball
sports
japan wrestling federation
nihon university


The long struggle to become international

Abstract: Sea-girt Japan and sea-girt Britain responded differently to the sea’s challenge. The sea that drew Britain outward hemmed Japan in. The Japanese, by and large, are an inward people. Exceptions only prove the rule. Two major ones, centuries apart, are priests and pirates. Eighth-century Japan was an infant civilization. Its prehistory had been long. Awakened at last, Japan drank eagerly from the source: China, then at its creative peak. Its capital, Chang’an, was to the East what Jerusalem was to the Christian West — the center of the world. The 800 kilometers of stormy sea separating Japan from China barred rather than opened the way. The Japanese were neither seafarers nor shipbuilders. But Buddhist priests and scholars needed texts; they needed instruction. The books to be studied, the masters to study under, were in China. Between 607 and 838 Japan dispatched 19 missions to China — in boats that were “a mere assembly of planks and poles,” as historical novelist Ryotaro Shiba (1923-96) put it. A third of those who set out never returned. Those who did — sometimes after 30 years of study and religious austerities — returned laden with books, knowledge and administrative skills. To them, Japan owes the main outlines of its early civilization. Abruptly in 838 the missions broke off. Japan had matured. It could now stand on its own, and was determined to. It became a “closed country” long before its more famous withdrawal in the 17th century. In between, we find Japan known abroad mainly for its pirates. “During the 15th century,” writes historian George Bailey Sansom (1883-1965), “the Japanese were known and feared as corsairs along all the shores of eastern Asia. … Thus when Europeans first entered the Pacific, the Japanese had already emerged from a seclusion which geography rather than temperament had imposed upon them.” But geography shapes temperament, at least to some degree, and the 220-year seclusion that ended with an incursion by the American navy in the 1850s was not generally felt as a prison, though it was one — leaving the country and entering it were capital offenses. Only toward the end, as the system broke down, did the cage seem confining. Otherwise, culture flourished, commerce thrived, and the “great peace” that characterized the Edo Period (1603-1868) was by any standards a remarkable achievement. A revolution — the Meiji Restoration of 1868 — brought a modernizing government to power, and slowly the prison walls came down. Emigration was legalized in 1885 and was in fact officially encouraged; Japan had too many mouths to feed. Hawaii was the first major destination. The sugar plantations there needed laborers. So did California fruit farms. A commonplace of world civilization at last penetrated Japan: migration. Migrants en masse competing with native laborers for wages are rarely popular. By 1900 there were some 100,000 Japanese in the U.S., 24,000 of them in California. Rising tensions came to be known on the American side as the “yellow peril.” Jingoists ranted; cooler heads prevailed. An informal binational Gentlemen’s Agreement in 1907 obliged Japan to voluntarily suspend emigration to the U.S. The U.S., in return, quashed a San Francisco school board plan to force Japanese and other Asian children into segregated schools. In 1903 a young Japanese writer named Kafu Nagai (Sokichi Nagai, 1879-1959) arrived in Seattle. He was neither farmer nor laborer. His father was a bureaucrat-turned-businessman, a Confucian scholar of the old school who intended his son to follow in his footsteps. Kafu wanted to write novels. America would knock that nonsense out of him, thought his father. It didn’t, and the novels and stories Kafu went on to write, over a long and distinguished career, remain literary landmarks to this day. “Amerika Monogatari” (“American Stories”) was published on his return to Japan in 1908. It was enthusiastically received. Here was America served raw — a young, feverish, enterprising, lusty country, a mirror image, in a sense, of Meiji Era (1868-1912) Japan, minus the anchor and fetters of an ancient past. Kafu roamed restlessly, studying English here, bank-clerking there, dabbling in Christianity, reading, writing, observing — always observing. Some of his stories feature Japanese migrants. The reader gets the idea: The “better life” aspired to is sometimes attained, but more often is not. Either way, the price is high. In one story, Kafu and a friend, cycling around Tacoma, Washington, pass an insane asylum. There are Japanese patients there, says the friend. Tell me about them, says Kafu. I’ll tell you about one of them, says the friend — and the story unfolds, of a farmer from Hiroshima Prefecture, seduced by tales of boundless riches across the ocean: “Three years’ hard work, 10 years’ wealth and happiness.” He and his wife make the crossing. Landing in Seattle, they are set upon by lodging touts, labor brokers, who knows who — thieving riffraff preying on helpless newcomers, demanding outrageous commissions. The woman gets a job in a laundry; the man is taken to a lumber camp deep in the mountains to join three Japanese loggers. The loggers are friendly and helpful. They know what the newcomer is going through. They’ve been through it themselves. “What? You left your wife alone in Seattle?” Greenhorn! Innocent! They’ll rape her, sell her into white slavery, you’ll never see her again. What to do? Bring her here, she’ll cook for all of us, and you can have your wife by your side where she belongs. No sooner said than done. All goes well for a time, until, late one rainy night, someone says, “I want to borrow your old woman for the night.” The husband laughs, thinking the man is joking. He is not. The others chime in. Aren’t they all brothers? One woman among four men — is only one man to enjoy her? The husband, having fallen into a faint, “regained consciousness,” the narrator tells Kafu, “but he had lost his mind and was never the same person again. So he ended up being taken to the insane asylum.”


Melbourne's Herald Sun reprints 'racist' cartoon of Serena Williams

Abstract: MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - An Australian newspaper republished a controversial cartoon of tennis star Serena Williams on its front-page Wednesday, dismissing as “politically correct” accusations that the drawing was racist and sexist. Melbourne’s Herald Sun cartoonist Mark Knight’s caricature of Williams throwing a tantrum at the U.S. Open was originally printed on Monday, attracting widespread condemnation from around the world. Under the front-page headline “WELCOME TO PC WORLD,” the newspaper wrote Wednesday that “if the self-appointed censors of Mark Knight get their way on his Serena Williams cartoon, our new politically correct life will be very dull indeed.” The cover included caricatures of other Australian and foreign political leaders drawn by Knight. The veteran cartoonist added Wednesday he had suspended his Twitter account to protect his family and friends. Prior to disabling his account, his tweet of the cartoon had attracted more than 22,000 comments, most of them critical. Knight’s caricature showed a butch and fat-lipped Williams jumping up and down on her broken racquet, having spat out a dummy. Osaka was portrayed as petite and feminine with jet blonde straight hair — in real life she has dark curly hair with blonde streaks and is taller than Williams. Knight labelled the outcry against his cartoon as a sign that the “world has just gone crazy.” “I drew this cartoon Sunday night after seeing the U.S. Open final, and seeing the world’s best tennis player have a tantrum and thought that was interesting,” he said in quotes published on the News Corp. Australia paper’s website Wednesday. “The cartoon about Serena is about her poor behavior on the day, not about race.” The caricature has also sparked renewed debate in Australia about racist and sexist discourse in the highly multicultural nation. Serena, a 23-time Grand Slam champion, smashed her racquet and called the umpire a “thief” and a “liar” while she was losing Saturday’s final to Haitian-Japanese Naomi Osaka. She was she given three code violations by Carlos Ramos, which cost her a point penalty and then a game penalty. Williams, who was fined $17,000 for the three code violations, said after the match male players were held to a lower standard for court conduct. “I’m here fighting for women’s rights and women’s equality,” Williams told a post-match news conference. That sparked a debate about whether she was treated more harshly than male tennis stars like John McEnroe, who was famous for his angry outbursts. Knight’s detractors included author JK Rowling, who said: “Well done on reducing one of the greatest sportswomen alive to racist and sexist tropes and turning a second great sportswoman into a faceless prop.”

serena williams
tennis
naomi osaka
women
rights
media
censorship
ethnicity


South Korea students gain weight 'to dodge military service'

Abstract: SEOUL - Twelve inventive South Korean college students deliberately made themselves overweight to dodge mandatory military service, a branch of the armed forces in Seoul has said. The students — all classical music majors at the same university in the capital — took protein powder and drank a large amount of juice on the day of their physical examination, the Military Manpower Administration said Tuesday. “The classmates shared tips on how to gain weight on an online chat room,” it said, adding they drank an especially large amount of juice containing aloe vera pulp — considered to stay in the body longer than other food. Nearly every able-bodied South Korean man is required to enrol in the military by age 28, for a minimum of 21 months. Those deemed too overweight or underweight, or diagnosed with certain diseases or disabilities, are exempted and usually assigned to positions in places like courts or public libraries. The 12 wily students were judged too overweight for conscription and were ordered to work for government services instead. Two have already finished their public service, while four are currently doing it and six are waiting to be assigned to positions at state offices. The military said it had used “digital forensic technology” to uncover the ruse, suggesting it may have seen messages from the chat room used by the students. Officials have sent the case to prosecutors who will decide whether to charge the group. If the students are later found guilty, they will have to undergo the physical examination again — and may have to serve their time in the military after all, the army warned. Attempts to dodge conscription are not uncommon, with efforts including deliberately dislocating arms or shoulders. Celebrities are not exempted, although the government rewards Asian Games gold medals and Olympic medals of any color with an exemption. Tottenham Hotspur star footballer Son Heung-min recently avoided being called for military service by leading South Korea to a gold medal in the recent Asian Games in Jakarta.


Organizers to start accepting applications from prospective Tokyo Games volunteers this month

Abstract: Organizers for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics said Wednesday they will start accepting applications from prospective volunteers this month, with a goal of recruiting 110,000 people by the end of the year. The Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games is seeking 80,000 volunteers who are expected to provide services for spectators and support event operations at games-related facilities and the Olympic Village. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government, meanwhile, plans to recruit 30,000 volunteers of its own who will mainly provide transport information for tourists and visitors at airports, major railways stations, sightseeing spots in Tokyo and at areas hosting the events. Applications will be accepted from Sept. 26 through early December, the organizers announced at a news conference at the Toranomon Hills complex, where the organizing committee has its office. “The volunteers will play a big role in the games’ success and we’re seeking people willing to support the athletes and spectators, and help liven up the events,” Tokyo 2020 Vice Director-General Yusuke Sakaue said. “We’ve held many events including those at universities, to lure potential volunteers and personally I feel that many people are interested (in volunteering),” he said of his hopes to recruit 80,000 volunteers by the end of this year. With an aim to embrace diversity at the games, the applications will be open to all people, including those with disabilities, regardless of their nationality, Sakaue said. Those who want to participate, however, must have been born on or before April 1, 2002 and need to possess either Japanese nationality or are residing in Japan legally. “We’re not demanding language abilities and a lack of foreign language skills won’t ruin applicants’ chances but such skills will be a plus,” Sakaue added, explaining that foreign residents of Japan will only need to have basic communication skills in Japanese. Akira Tanaka, senior director for games operations at the metropolitan government’s Tokyo 2020 preparations bureau, also stressed the role of the city’s volunteers in displaying Tokyo’s hospitality. “It will be a good opportunity for many people to visit Tokyo … and volunteers (providing support for visitors around the city) will share the responsibility to promote Tokyo’s charm,” he said. The city’s government hopes to recruit some of those who will be volunteering during next year’s Rugby World Cup as well as students at universities in the capital. Tokyo’s “city volunteers” are required to participate in the program for at least five days, while games volunteers will need to sacrifice at least 10 days in total. Applications for the city volunteering program will be accepted by email, fax and online at www.city-volunteer.metro.tokyo.jp/, while those who want to volunteer for the organizing committee can apply online at tokyo2020.org/jp/special/volunteer/ . The results will be announced around September 2019. A training program for volunteers will start the following month.

volunteers
olympics
tokyo 2020
tokyo metropolian government