In Japan no one wants to talk about sex education

Abstract: In Dec. 2016, Dr. Yasuhiko Onoe, a urologist, was on the TBS Radio talk show “ Session-22 ” discussing the alarming rise in sexually transmitted diseases (STD) in Japan. During his explanation, he struck an odd note whenever he referred to the male sex organ, calling it by the childish word “ ochinchin .” This reluctance to use grownup vocabulary when talking about sex is common in the media. The English “penis” — which rhymes with “Venice” in katakana — is the preferred technical term when discussing male genitalia in Japan, but even that seems to be taboo in broadcast situations. Sexual squeamishness is not unusual, but when doctors avoid certain words you know the problem goes deeper. On March 16 this year, the Liberal Democratic Party’s Toshiaki Koga, a member of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly, complained about a sex education class that was taught on March 5 at a public junior high school in Adachi Ward, which had earlier conducted a survey asking students if they thought it was all right for high schoolers to have sex. Forty-four percent answered “yes.” According to the Asahi Shimbun , based on the results, the unnamed school projected that the number of abortions would rise among students after they entered high school, and so devised the special class, which covered condom use, among other topics. Alerted by Koga, the Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education said junior high school was too early to expose children to these matters, and condemned the use of terms like seikō (sexual intercourse), hinin (contraception) and jinkō ninshin chūzetsu (artificially induced pregnancy interruption) in the class. It added that it was permissible to discuss prevention of STDs, but not intercourse, birth control or abortion. The Adachi City Board of Education replied that there was nothing improper about the class or its content, and that the purpose was to help students avoid pregnancies, not encourage sexual activity. Adachi is one of the poorest wards in Tokyo. As one official pointed out, such a curriculum is important since teen pregnancies perpetuate the cycle of poverty. Tokyo responded that if students are “suspected” of having sex or they become pregnant, then the correct action is to “provide guidance” on an individual basis, not in a classroom setting. This conflict is pertinent in light of an education ministry survey the results of which were released on March 30. In 2015 and 2016, the ministry found there were 2,098 pregnancies among high school girls. Of these, 642 dropped out on their own and 32 quit on the “advice” of their schools. The ministry has now asked schools not to press girls into dropping out and, while the majority of pregnant teens who leave school supposedly do so of their own accord or at the insistence of guardians (it’s difficult to tell how voluntary these actions really were, since the study surveyed schools and not students), schools did not try to dissuade them. Also, many schools do not have measures in place to assist pregnant girls so that they can complete their secondary education. The ministry said nothing about the role of sex education in the matter, but girls and boys who are not taught the details of intercourse and childbirth before adolescence are going to be unprepared to face sexual situations when they arise, and the education ministry report implies that high school is too late to teach these things. The Jan. 30 issue of the Mainichi Shimbun’s Okayama edition ran a feature about a local group who found that the reason pregnant high school girls drop out is that there is no support for them. Schools won’t even talk about the matter because their policy is that “students must not become pregnant.” The same newspaper on Feb. 21 reported on a forum about teen pregnancy where specific cases of girls who dropped out and girls who remained in school were discussed. The forum concluded that dropouts were much more likely to live in poverty, and that “family support” was not enough. Schools, it added, should not only persuade these girls to stay in school, but prepare for those circumstances as well. The tendency, they found, however, is that schools would rather avoid the issues, thus passing the buck to parents who are notoriously nervous about discussing sex with their kids. In that regard, Adachi Ward is at least trying to do something by offering sex education, with the purpose of preventing teen pregnancies. But the attitude that discourages some schools from devising strategies to address adolescent sexual activity also informs decisions like that of the Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education when it prohibits schools from providing sex education. It’s notable that Koga, the man who sparked Tokyo’s attack on Adachi Ward, is the same politician who in 2003 headed a campaign to stop a sex education class at a Tokyo public school for children with special needs. Nanao Yogo Gakko in Hino started the class because it was concerned that some of its students with learning disabilities would get into problematic sexual situations when they became adolescents. After discussing the matter with parents, the faculty came up with a course that relied heavily on visual aids and used words like “penis” and “vagina” openly. Koga led a raid on the school, saying the class was obscene and in doing so received a lot of publicity, especially in the Sankei Shimbun, which echoed his disgust. Teachers were punished but the school eventually sued Tokyo Prefecture and Sankei, first winning through Tokyo District Court in 2009, then winning two appeals in the High Court in 2011 and the Supreme Court in 2013. In an essay about the Nanao case at Yahoo News , Tamaka Ogawa pointed out that it is important for children to know about sexual relationships before they “develop biases.” As she notes, the age of consent in Japan is 13, which means, theoretically, someone who has sex with a 13-year-old child may not be prosecuted if the police find no evidence that the child tried to resist. But how many 13-year-olds will understand the concept of consent unless someone teaches it to them?

sex education
education
liberal democratic party
toshiaki koga
adachi
asahi shimbun
tokyo metropolitan board of education
teen pregnancies
nanao yogo gakko
sankei shimbun


What's in a tweet? Startup CEO sees endless storytelling potential

Abstract: We all know what it’s like to be captivated by a good story. Ben Watanabe, founder of 96 Problems , wants to make that experience even more accessible. “You see all these people binge-watching shows on Netflix or tearing through huge books like ‘Game of Thrones,’” Watanabe says. “All of this content is designed for sitting down for extended periods of time. But when you quickly check your phone as you get on the train or in an elevator, you aren’t going to watch Netflix for five seconds. You usually open Twitter or Facebook and see what’s going on in the world.” The Tokyo-based tech company has developed a way to capitalize on that brief moment, stemming from a philosophy that views the consumption of great stories as one of the supreme joys in life. They have created an app that allows you to bring stories with you wherever you go, but stories that are more suitable for momentary glimpses at social media. The app, called “ Everyst ,” was launched in beta in December 2016 with the goal of revolutionizing the way fiction is consumed in the digital world. Unlike existing digital mediums such as “ chat fiction ” and traditional Japanese ketai shōsetsu (cellphone novels), Everyst’s method of story delivery is distinct in that it uses the drip-fed aspect of Twitter to inject its characters into our social media lives. “You won’t follow a murderer online … but you might watch a crime show on TV about a fictional murderer and follow their dramatic story arc,” Watanabe says. “With our stories, we put these character dramas into your social media. Some characters tweet as if they’re actually using Twitter . Other characters — sometimes webs of characters — are essentially ‘publishing’ their inner monologues on Twitter . We like to say that ‘not all characters acknowledge the camera,’ so to speak. There is a wide range of possibilities to interact with our stories.” Watanabe is describing a new way of consuming fiction. Most of the user experience is within the Everyst app itself, as tweets from characters are strategically timed and sent to their phones via in-app push notifications , but users that retweet interesting moments from Everyst stories give nonusers a wholly different experience entirely. “Imagine you’re on the elevator for a moment,” Watanabe says. “You check your Twitter and see a friend has retweeted an account of a guy with an animated avatar who is tweeting about traveling through the mountains of Romania by train . You click on it, and as you read the tweet stream, you see the account tweeting about seeing wolves outside the train window, along with an illustration of that very scene. Suddenly you realize that the account is updating the life of a fictional character and that you’re on the elevator in the middle of an unfolding vampire story.” Such interactions are the sort of consumer experience that brands have been eager to merge their content with. Domestic game developers Area 35 , makers of the game TinyMetal , as well as actor Masi Oka , producer of “Death Note” on Netflix, are partnering with 96 Problems to create branded content using the Everyst story telling model. With Everyst, 96 Problems is breaking new ground in the world of graphic novel publishing. As the app is monetized by publishing branded stories, it is able to offer stories completely free to the user as well as pay independent manga creators to develop original content for its platform. “Normally a brand would pay a social media agency to tweet about their product, but that is often no better than a car salesman,” Watanabe says. “Our model allows both big brands and small content creators to reach consumers in a unique way.” Watanabe was motivated to create Everyst by a deep respect for the power of storytelling, something he gained from his American mother and Japanese father, who shared their mutual love of stories with their son. Watanabe says, “At Everyst, we are focused on keeping stories in people’s lives. By putting our stories right there on social media … more and more people can see and enjoy great stories.”

twitter
social media
everyst
manga
entrepreneurs
japan pulse


Obesity among Asia-Pacific children is a growing health crisis, researchers say

Abstract: KUALA LUMPUR - Obesity rates among children in Asia-Pacific are rising at a rapid rate, and more action is needed to encourage healthier lifestyles and ease pressure on fledgling health care systems, researchers said. The number of overweight children under five rose 38 percent between 2000 and 2016 in the region, and the problem is growing, said Sridhar Dharmapuri, a food safety and nutrition officer at the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Bangkok. “The rate of growth in obesity in Asia-Pacific is higher than in many other (regions),” Dharmapuri told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “While the United States leads the way on obesity rates, the number of overweight children in Asia-Pacific is rising rapidly, and many countries in this region are now among the most health-threatened in the world.” Adult obesity rates are highest in the United States, Mexico, New Zealand and Hungary, and lowest in Japan and South Korea, according to a report on member states by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. But the rapid rise in obesity among young people in Asia-Pacific is worrying because overweight children are at higher risk of becoming obese as adults and then developing serious health problems like type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and liver disease. Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand are among the most overweight countries in Southeast Asia, while Samoa, Tonga and Nauru are the most overweight in the Pacific. Australia also has high rates of obesity. Many of these nations are also struggling to tackle malnutrition among their citizens. The cost to the Asia-Pacific region of citizens being overweight or obese is $166 billion a year, a recent report by the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI) said. Rising wealth levels over the last 20 years have played a major role in the rise in obesity levels, researchers say. “The region has undergone economic growth, so food has become available at a relatively cheaper price,” said Matthias Helble, an economist at the ADBI in Tokyo. “For the last 20 years the economic growth has been almost uninterrupted,” said Helble, who has researched obesity levels in the region for three years. The “obesity time bomb” will be discussed by the 46 member governments attending the FAO conference for Asia and the Pacific, which starts in Fiji on Monday. In addition to consuming more, as economies have grown, people in Asia-Pacific have moved away from farming into manufacturing, and then to service sector jobs — which are more sedentary, researchers said. Cities in Asia-Pacific have also seen unprecedented growth over the last two decades; this year more than half the region’s population will for the first time be urban, the United Nations has estimated. City-dwellers in Asia-Pacific can spend hours commuting — due to poor transport systems and infrastructure — and when they finally reach home they have little time to cook. Many opt to eat out. This new lifestyle has caused a rise in the consumption of convenience and processed foods, which often contain excess fats and more salt and sugar, researchers said. People in the region also struggle to maintain a balanced diet, said Dharmapuri, with meals often lacking vegetables. “The diet is largely rice-based,” he said. “On anybody’s plate, rice takes up between 50-70 percent of the space.” When people are overweight they often suffer from other health problems, economists said, and this is likely to put pressure on public health care systems that are only just being established in many Asia-Pacific nations. Absenteeism from work is also higher among obese people, said Helble, and because overweight people often die earlier than those who lead healthy lives, they spend less time in the workforce. “The term ‘obesogenic environment’ has been used to describe an environment that promotes obesity among individuals and populations,” Elizabeth Ingram of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare — a government statistics agency — said by email. “It includes physical, economic, political, and sociocultural factors.” Fixing the problem will likely take years, and researchers said a joint effort by business and governments was needed. Better labeling on foods to promote healthier options, education about healthier diets and lifestyles, and even healthier school meals would improve the situation, analysts said. “Being obese can also be seen as a sign of prosperity, because you have enough food to show your wealth through the fact that you have a lot to eat,” said Helble. Sugar taxes, which have been introduced or are being discussed in the Philippines, Singapore and Indonesia, are also one way to change people’s mindset, he added. Building more sports facilities at schools and ensuring urban planners include recreational areas for cities and make them more walkable and less polluted, is also crucial. Governments must work with retailers to create a coordinated approach on packaging and promote a balanced diet, researchers said. Working with retailers to ban unhealthy and sweet foods from checkout areas, and pushing street vendors to switch from fried foods to healthier, more traditional options, are also key. And countries should adopt a “farm to fork” approach, which encourages farmers to diversify what they grow and be less reliant on growing just rice, said Dharmapuri. “In some Pacific island countries, it’s actually easier to buy soft drinks and processed foods than buy fruits and vegetables,” said Dharmapuri. “It’s almost a delicacy to have a vegetable in a restaurant.”

obesity asia-pacific children health food


Egyptian ambassador seeks to convey true image of his country and the Middle East to Japanese

Abstract: Egyptian Ambassador to Japan Ayman Aly Kamel says he wants to convey the true image of Egypt and the Middle East in Japan. “I would like to give a correct image, and project the true fact about the condition and development that my country and the Middle East managed to achieve during the past year,” Kamel, who assumed his post in December, said Friday during a courtesy visit to The Japan Times. Kamel has high expectations for the Japanese media to provide “fair coverage” of what is happening in the region, as some people regard it as a dangerous and unstable part of the world. “My role is not to make propaganda, but to engage in public diplomacy, meaning we have to be active with the media,” he said. Egypt has a wealth of nature and a historically significant heritage to offer as tourist attractions, Kamel said, adding that the region can be a gateway for Japan to expand in the growing African market. The ambassador said the best way to boost tourism and direct investment is to convey the actual situation in Egypt to the Japanese people, expressing hope that they will feel safe about visiting and expanding business in the Muslim country. Kamel said he feels a fondness for Japan because the two countries have many values in common, such as traditions and respect toward the elderly. He added that Japan should not be satisfied with just being an economic power and should boost its political presence in the world. He said partnering with Egypt will benefit Japan because it has a major say in the region, noting that it will also be the president of the African Union next year. “Japan can benefit from a good relationship with Egypt,” he said.


Rohingya refugees plead for UNSC help but China and Russia expected to veto tough action

Abstract: KUTUPALONG REFUGEE CAMP, BANGLADESH - Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh made emotional pleas to the U.N. Security Council on Sunday for help to return safely to their homes in neighboring Myanmar and for justice over the reason they fled — accusations of killings, rapes and arson. During a visit to an unclaimed strip of territory between the two states dubbed no-man’s land, several tearful women and girls threw themselves at British U.N. Ambassador Karen Pierce as they recounted what had happened to them. “It shows the scale of the challenge as we try as a Security Council to find some way through that enables these poor people to go home,” Pierce said. “The sad thing is there’s nothing we can do right today that will make their distress any less.” The Security Council envoys — who will travel to Myanmar on Monday and meet with its de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi — also visited a dry and dusty Kutupalong refugee camp that housed many of the nearly 700,000 Rohingya who fled Myanmar’s Rakhine state. “It’s quite overwhelming. Obviously the scale of this camp is unlike anything I’ve ever seen,” said deputy U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Kelley Currie. “It is going to be a disaster when the rains come.” United Nations officials and aid groups have voiced concern that the coming monsoon season will worsen the humanitarian situation. Hundreds of thousands of refugees are living in temporary shelters made of bamboo and tarpaulins at Kutupalong, many on steep hills and in low-lying areas likely to be flooded. Myanmar Social Welfare Minister Win Myat Aye, who visited the camps in Bangladesh earlier this month, expressed concern about “very poor conditions.” The refugee crisis exploded about eight months ago when the Myanmar military launched a crackdown over Rohingya insurgent attacks on security posts. The United States, Britain, United Nations and others described the operation as ethnic cleansing of the minority mainly Muslim Rohingya, a charge Myanmar denies. Hundreds of refugees lined a road in Kutupalong camp on Sunday with signs that read “we demand justice” and “protected return to protected homeland.” “We are standing here to demand justice as they (Myanmar military) have killed our men and tortured our women so much, so we are compelled to seek justice for those abuses,” Rohingya refugee Sajida Begum told Reuters. Several female refugees who met with council envoys accused Myanmar troops of gang-raping them, attacking their young children and killing their husbands. Myanmar has said that its operations in Rakhine were a legitimate response to attacks on security forces by Rohingya insurgents. “This is very complicated issue, and it’s related with history, with ethnicity, with religions,” Chinese Deputy U.N. Ambassador Wu Haitao told reporters, in response to a question about whether China and Russia were preventing the council from considering a resolution on Myanmar. “There is no easy answer but if we all work together I think we can find a way,” he said. However, while the Security Council is united on traveling to the region, diplomats said they expect Myanmar allies China and Russia — both veto-wielding powers on the council — to resist any push for stronger council action, such as sanctions or a referral of the situation to the International Criminal Court. “We don’t have any magic solution in the Security Council,” Deputy Russian U.N. Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy told reporters in response to a question about whether the council would consider itself responsible for failing to address the crisis. “The issue is still for us to promote bilateral ways to resolve this issue. We will try to convince both governments … to engage in constructive negotiations, discussion,” he said. The council adopted a formal statement in November — a move that requires consensus by the 15-member body — that asked Myanmar to ensure no “further excessive use of military force” and to allow “freedom of movement, equal access to basic services, and equal access to full citizenship for all.” Buddhist-majority Myanmar has for years denied Rohingya citizenship, freedom of movement and access to many basic services such as healthcare and education. They are considered illegal immigrants from mainly Muslim Bangladesh.

rohingya
unsc
russia
bangladesh
myanmar
aung san suu kyi
rakhine
u.s .
u.k .
chkna


China says Tiangong 1 space station to re-enter Earth's atmosphere on Monday

Abstract: China’s Tiangong 1 spacecraft will re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere at some point on Monday, China’s space agency said in a statement. China’s Manned Space Agency did not specify a time when it expects the craft to re-enter the atmosphere, the statement on Sunday said. No one knows for sure where debris from the spacecraft may land and many experts believe much of the craft is expected to burn up during the re-entry. Beijing said on Friday it is unlikely for any large part of the craft to reach the ground. South Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT said on Sunday it expects the Tiangong 1 to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere sometime between 7:26 a.m. and 3:26 p.m. on Monday (2226 GMT to 0626 GMT), according to the Yonhap news agency. The 10.4-meter-long (34.1-foot) Tiangong 1, or “Heavenly Palace 1,” was launched in 2011 to carry out docking and orbit experiments as part of China’s ambitious space programme, which aims to place a permanent station in orbit by 2023. The space lab was originally planned to be decommissioned in 2013, but its mission was repeatedly extended. China had said its re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere would happen in late 2017 but that process was delayed, leading some experts to suggest the space laboratory is out of control.


Trump tells trade officials to consider $100 billion more in new tariffs on China

Abstract: WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump said on Thursday he had instructed U.S. trade officials to consider $100 billion in additional tariffs on China, fueling an already heated trade dispute between the world’s two biggest economies. Trump said in a statement the further tariffs were being considered “in light of China’s unfair retaliation” against earlier U.S. trade actions that included $50 billion of tariffs on Chinese goods. He added that the U.S. Trade Representative had determined that China “has repeatedly engaged in practices to unfairly obtain America’s intellectual property.” U.S. stock index futures fell in reaction to Trump’s latest statement. Financial markets have swung wildly over the past few days in response to fears of escalating trade tensions between Washington and Beijing. “Rather than remedy its misconduct, China has chosen to harm our farmers and manufacturers,” Trump said. The tariffs are aimed at forcing changes to Chinese government policies aimed at transferring U.S. intellectual property to Chinese companies. The USTR’s “Section 301” investigation authorizing the tariffs alleges China has systematically sought to misappropriate U.S. intellectual property through joint venture requirements that often cannot be negotiated without technology transfers, something China denies. The tariffs have stirred fears that the two countries will spiral into a trade war that will crush global growth. The Trump administration this week proposed 25 percent tariffs on some 1,300 Chinese industrial and other products. China shot back with a list of similar duties on American imports including soybeans, planes, cars, beef and chemicals. The retaliatory tariffs have left Republican lawmakers from Western and Midwestern states fearful of a big hit to U.S. farming exporters.

tariffs
china
donald trump
financial markets
ustr
section 301
republicans
u.s. farmers


Rakuten Inc. gets approval to become nation's fourth major wireless carrier

Abstract: Rakuten Inc. got the green light Friday from a government panel to become the nation’s fourth major wireless carrier, granting the e-commerce giant access to a fierce competition for subscribers alongside industry heavyweights who have long dominated the cellular market. An Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry advisory board approved Rakuten’s application for a 4G mobile license, which the company had submitted in February. The decision is expected to be formally endorsed by the ministry at a later date, marking the first time a new entrant has been approved since eAccess — now a part of SoftBank Group Corp. — was granted bandwidth 13 years ago. The move threatens to disrupt Japan’s mobile phone market oligopoly of NTT Docomo Inc., KDDI Corp. and SoftBank Corp., the last of the three being the domestic arm of tech mogul Masayoshi Son’s global telecommunications and internet empire. Rakuten aims to start offering mobile services in 2019, and plans to secure up to ¥600 billion to invest in base stations. It hopes to acquire at least 15 million customers in 10 years and differentiate itself from rivals through affordable pricing and its point-based loyalty program, which spans the firm’s myriad services ranging from e-commerce to financial technology. But while the company hopes its mobile business will become a new growth engine, experts said it will likely face an uphill battle in a saturated market. “In the first place, Rakuten’s entry is a defensive strategy,” said Mitsunobu Tsuruo, an analyst at Citigroup in Tokyo. He said the company is compelled to diversify its services to fend off increased competition from rivals Amazon Japan and Yahoo Japan Corp. — the latter being part of the SoftBank group — that has been eroding Rakuten’s market share in online shopping. Rakuten aims to maintain its edge by acquiring a new customer base through its mobile business, Tsuruo said. “For that, it needs to grow relatively quickly since the mobile business is all about scalability. If Rakuten can’t beat the other three in network quality, it will need to fight with aggressive pricing,” he said. With the population graying and shrinking, Rakuten will likely have to pry subscribers from existing players to reach its target of 15 million. Plans offered by the three companies have also become identical over the years, meaning Rakuten’s entry could ignite a new price war — a welcome development for a government worried about mobile phone fees weighing on households. The cybermall operator, headed by billionaire entrepreneur Hiroshi Mikitani, already has a mobile virtual network service that rents space from companies with licenses to offer discount rates. But its customer base — 1.4 million — is a far cry from the subscriber numbers boasted by any of the big three carriers. According to the Telecommunications Carriers Association, NTT Docomo had 75.68 million subscribers as of December, followed by KDDI with 50.64 million and SoftBank at 39.5 million. But Rakuten’s advantage may be its wide range of businesses and large online user base that could sign up for its mobile service in return for other perks, said Hitoshi Sato, senior analyst at InfoCom Research. “The benefits of running a telecoms business is the steady revenue, but it requires balance since excessive discounts could make it difficult to recoup capital investment,” he said. Rakuten plans to build communications infrastructure in stages, beginning with investments in stations in urban areas with large populations. Over the past weeks, the online retailer has also announced a string of tie-ups, to cut costs, with power companies including Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc., which will allow Rakuten to use the energy firm’s facilities as transmission towers, utility poles and telecommunications towers. Rakuten has entered similar agreements with Chubu Electric Power Co. Inc. and Kansai Electric Power Co. Inc. to establish a network of base stations. Rakuten, founded by Mikitani in 1997, has been expanding its global business through acquisitions of e-commerce sites like Ebates Inc. and messaging app Viber, and by investing in ride-hailing service Lyft. In Japan, it bought Asahi Fire & Marine Insurance Co. this year to boost its portfolio of financial services and struck a partnership with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to launch an online grocery delivery service.

rakuten
softbank
phones
docomo
masayoshi son
telecoms
hiroshi mikitani
au


Aichi day care worker's apology for getting pregnant highlights labor crunch in female-dominated sectors

Abstract: A man’s claim that his wife, who worked at a day care center in Aichi Prefecture, was forced to apologize to her employer for getting pregnant ahead of senior coworkers, has highlighted how the labor crunch in female-dominated sectors can affect operators. The complaint went viral online after a major newspaper published the man’s letter in February. In the letter, the 28-year-old man said he accompanied his wife to the private nursery school in Aichi where she worked to apologize for getting pregnant ahead of her older coworkers. The man, from Nagoya, claimed the center’s head had set rules for when female workers were allowed to get married or pregnant. The man was also quoted as saying that his wife was exposed to repeated scolding “for arrogantly breaking the institution’s rules.” Experts and people familiar with the situation in the child care industry say such practices showcase the difficulties faced by service providers and the struggle to attract workers amid tough working conditions and low pay. Ikkei Ikeda, a member of the Tokyo-based Kaigohoiku Union, a labor union composed of workers in institutions providing nursing care services, said employment conditions discourage many people from entering the workforce. “Many women say that the working environment in day care centers isn’t friendly to women who want to raise children so women quit” if they think of starting a family, Ikeda said. “The situation in most day care centers doesn’t allow workers to take days off even when they get sick, not to mention a longer leave.” He added that low wages also discourage people from joining the workforce. A government survey conducted last year showed that full-time care providers with 8.8 years of experience earned an average ¥262,158 per month. “Pregnancy order and similar rules will more likely make workers quit rather than obey the rules,” Ikeda said. But another expert said the practice could actually help providers manage the labor crunch since many employees are young women. “I think it’s a likely practice in female-dominated workplaces,” said Naoki Sakasai, executive director of the Tokyo-based Hoiku Research Institute, who studies the working conditions and practices of day care centers nationwide. “Basically, day care centers are overloaded with work but fail to attract new workers,” Sakasai told The Japan Times. “When a (female employee) gets pregnant, it’s obvious she would have to take maternity leave, and nursery schools can’t afford it. He added that due to working conditions, employees quit at an early age and at a high rate. As of the end of March, the number of job vacancies in the sector stood at 463,000, according to labor ministry data. The labor shortage has resulted in an increase in the number of children on public day care waiting lists, which has been growing for the past three years along with an increase of working mothers. The number of children on the waiting list stood at 26,081 as of April 2017. Sakasai said the government’s guidelines for day care centers specify that one staffer is required to take care of up to three infants under 12 months of age. The average number of children in day care centers hovers around 100, out of which roughly six are under 1 year old, he said. “It may cause difficulties if a worker who has just gained enough experience to handle the job independently takes a break, as the operator would need to employ a new staffer with slim chances the new employee would have enough experience,” he said. Shigeki Akita, a social insurance and labor consultant who advises operators of beauty salons — another sector dominated by women — said that such businesses also face problems with the labor crunch. “The Aichi couple’s case is quite extreme, and I believe it’s not common (in beauty salons),” Akita said. “But salon operators also struggle with securing workers, and we’re still trying to find the best way to deal with it … and create an environment where women can juggle work with child-rearing. At this point, it’s hard for women to take maternity leave.”


'Men only' job ads highlight ongoing discrimination in China, rights group says

Abstract: BEIJING - A human rights group says gender discrimination is widespread in the Chinese work force, with many hiring advertisements openly calling only for male applicants and using the attractiveness of female co-workers as a draw. Human Rights Watch released the report Monday after looking at more than 36,000 job advertisements posted between 2013 and 2018 from recruiters, companies and the government. China bans discrimination in both hiring and job advertising, but enforcement is weak. Government departments are among the offenders, according to the report, with 55 percent of jobs advertised by the Ministry of Public Security last year specifying “men only.” “Four decades of rapid economic growth in China have created unprecedented economic opportunities for women, but gender discrimination in employment remains widespread,” said the report, titled “Only Men Need Apply: Gender Discrimination in Job Advertisements in China.” Sexist hiring practices further widen gaps in both female work participation and pay levels, according to official data, with urban female workers making just 67 percent of what men made in 2010, down from 78 percent in 1990 — a time when the government was loosening control over the economy. “Sexist job ads pander to the antiquated stereotypes that persist within Chinese companies,” Sophie Richardson, Human Rights Watch’s China director, said in an accompanying news release. “These companies pride themselves on being forces of modernity and progress, yet they fall back on such (old-fashioned) recruitment strategies.” It’s also a reflection of “deeply discriminatory views about women,” the report said, including that they are less capable than men, or that they are not fully committed to their jobs because some will eventually leave their positions to have a family. In examining the tech sector, the report pointed to numerous cases where the attractiveness and availability of female workers is used as an inducement for men to apply for jobs. In one case, online shopping giant Alibaba ran an ad on its official microblog in 2013 enumerating the attributes of its female workers, accompanied by photos of female employees “in sexualized poses, including one engaged in pole dancing,” the report said. An October 2016 article on the official microblog recruitment account of tech company Tencent was even more bold, quoting a male employee as saying, “The reason I joined Tencent originated from a primal impulse. It was mainly because the ladies at human resources and that interviewed me were very pretty.” Alibaba and Tencent did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Despite laws against it, demands are frequently made for physical attributes that have nothing to do with the requirements of the job, another form of sexual objectification. Those can include minimums and maximums for height and weight, “normal facial features” and particular sounding voices. One notable ad in northern China even called for “fashionable and beautiful high-speed train conductors,” the report said. The report also cited a 2014 study by the official All-China Women’s Federation in which 87 percent of female college graduates said they had faced at least one form of gender discrimination when applying for jobs. The sexism ranged from job ads stating “men only or men preferred,” “rejecting or refusing to review female applicants’ resumes,” “rejecting female applicants for second round interview opportunities,” and “having higher requirements for educational attainment from female applicants,” according to the federation’s data. In some instances, preference is shown for men in the civil service and among kindergarten and elementary school teachers to offset the large percentage of women in those fields, the report said. It quoted one unidentified kindergarten principal as saying, “The lack of males makes children prone to look at and solve problems according to the way women think and behave.” Beyond overcoming such attitudes, change is impeded by a lack of determination and enforcement mechanisms, along with obstacles linked to China’s authoritarian politics, the report said. And unlike in countries where nongovernment organizations often spearhead social change, China is generally hostile to such activity, fearful of challenges to the ruling Communist Party. “Instead of harassing and jailing women’s rights activists, the Chinese government should engage them as allies in combating gender discrimination in the job market — and beyond,” Richardson said.

jobs discrimination china rights women harrassment


Victory in nursing home deposit battle a rarity in Japan

Abstract: When her stay at the glamorous Grancreer residence turned into a nightmare of disrupted sleep and difficulties with the staff, retired harpist Yumi Makino opted out, and after a two-year legal battle got her deposit money back in a rare victory over a big real estate company. Makino’s experience reflects the challenges faced by many older Japanese in finding suitable care and accommodation in “super-aging” Japan. Many assisted-living facilities demand hefty upfront payments on top of the usual rent and other fees — payments that are customary in Japan even though they’ve been banned in other wealthy nations. Residents who are dissatisfied usually have no option but to just forfeit the money. But Makino, a 66-year-old widow, fought on and eventually got all ¥12 million ($113,000) of her money back. There’s no official data, but the National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan, a government-backed agency, reports growing problems with residents at assisted-living facilities who decide to leave but have a hard time getting their big one-time payments back. “The reasons for such payments have always been unclear,” said Kosei Ogawa, Makino’s lawyer. “It serves as an expression of gratitude.” Makino said she was unhappy with how staff at Grancreer treated her. But the strongest factor behind her win was a malfunctioning emergency alarm that kept going off at night, disturbing her rest. The management of Grancreer refused to fix it despite repeated requests, dismissing her as senile, she said. “Why do we have to be treated as inferior when we are paying all this money?” asked Makino, who spent much of her career on the move, including stays in Colombia and Mexico. “The appearance may be that of a gorgeous hotel, but the staff’s behavior was low-grade.” Tokyu Land Corp., which runs Grancreer and other similar facilities around Tokyo, refused to comment on the case. Five million of Japan’s 35 million people aged 65 and older are estimated to live in special-care facilities, according to the health ministry. Given the shrinking size of families as the birthrate declines, the need for group homes, hospices and assisted-living accommodations is skyrocketing. Shigenobu Ueoka, a consultant who advises families about nursing homes, said most facilities tend to focus more on pleasing government bureaucrats, who dole out aid, than about satisfying their customers. Monitoring of quality and safety tends to be inadequate, with the worst facilities charging residents for food and adult diapers on top of regular fees, or restricting family members’ visits as a nuisance, said Ueoka, who has visited hundreds of homes in Japan and dozens in Europe and the United States. He said the system’s troubles are partly related to Japan’s relatively generous support for its elderly, which limits the burden for those qualifying for government help to only 10-20 percent of the total costs. The rest is covered by the government, with the level of aid depending on an individual’s health and income. Typically, a resident might pay just ¥50,000 ($470) out of the total ¥400,000 ($3,700) monthly cost for food, housing and care. Facilities with a good reputation aren’t cheap. “The best homes never have to advertise,” and they have long waiting lists, Ueoka said. Silver Villa Koyama, a home in Tokyo that Ueoka has ranked as among the best, charges ¥8.3 million ($78,000) for those who are aged 94 or older. For those 75 years or older, the upfront payment is ¥23 million ($215,000), with an additional monthly fee of ¥145,800 ($1,360). Makino’s win over Tokyu Land Corp. was the equivalent of an out-of-court settlement in the West. The one-time insurance-like payment that she managed to get back, called an ichijikin , is standard in Japan — renters often have to pay a similar fee, called a reikin , for a new or renewed lease. Such onerous payments are honoraria of sorts that symbolize an expression of gratitude toward one’s higher-ups. The government is phasing out such payments, but many places still demand them. Still physically active and busy with her hobbies of knitting and Western-style calligraphy, Makino opted to move back into an apartment. Many older Japanese stay in their own homes well into their 80s and sometimes beyond, getting relatively generous, government-subsidized help with cleaning, cooking and deliveries. Makino’s solution was to sign up for daily lunch deliveries from a nearby convenience store, not because she needs the lunch, she said, but to minimize the risk of dying alone and being found weeks later — a common and realistic concern among many who live alone. For dinner, to save trouble, she just has chocolate. She has no children but adopted a huge black and white stray cat for company. She said she’s enjoying her peaceful life, but sort of misses her legal battle. “It was fun,” Makino said. “How to pass your time is the biggest challenge of growing old.”


Nagoya shop offers unique handbags made by workers with disabilities from recycled obi

Abstract: The souvenir shop Nagomya in Kinshachi Yokocho, a shopping area that opened right outside the grounds of Nagoya Castle late last month, is selling handbags made by people with developmental disorders using recycled Nagoya obi. “Try our light but durable handbags made of Nagoya obi,” the sales clerk suggests. The bags are made by three women in their 20s working in Hotto Hitoiki, an establishment in Nagoya’s Naka Ward that provides work for people with disabilities. The Nagoya-based firm involved in planning the product selection for the souvenir shop, Oike Co., approached Hotto Hitoiki, which was already creating bags from the broad sashes, typically worn with a kimono. The second-hand obi are purchased from stores in the city or donated by individuals. They come in a variety of patterns, such as gold fans printed on an orange sash or orange butterflies on olive green. The handbags are made by cutting out the part typically used for the otaiko drum knot and sewing it onto the bags’ inner lining fabric with a sewing machine. The colorful patterns of Nagoya obi make the bags distinctive. “Because of the beautiful patterns, (workers say) it is more fun to work with than handling plain cloth,” said Kazuyo Hibino, 66, who instructs the women at Hotto Hitoiki. The bags are available in A4 and B4 sizes, priced at ¥10,800 and ¥8,640, respectively. “We made the bags with varying colors and patterns to meet the needs of people of different ages and tastes,” Hibino said. “I hope people can find their favorite design.”

nagoya
bags
disability
nagoya castle
kimono


Tourists, take note: As drones multiply in Japan, so do rules governing where they can be flown

Abstract: Make a trip to any major electronics store today and you’re bound to find a section selling drones. Once little more than toys for enthusiasts, today’s commercially available drones come in all shapes and sizes and are used for all sorts of purposes, with prices ranging from thousands to hundreds of thousands of yen. But the proliferation of drone technology has brought with it questions about security, and invasions of privacy. The central government and many localities around Japan have put into place a number of ordinances in recent years limiting and forbidding drones near certain locations. Last year the National Police Agency said there had been 68 cases of illegal drone flights, almost double the previous year’s 36. While a few years ago it was possible to fly a drone in a broad range of areas, that is no longer the case. Those who want to fly drones to get one-of-a-kind photos or video footage of a tourist site need to know the rules. There are many kinds of unmanned vehicles, but what defines a “drone” in Japan? A drone is defined by the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Industry, the agency in charge of drone regulations, as an airplane, rotorcraft, glider or airship weighing over 200 grams that cannot accommodate any person on board and can be remotely or automatically piloted. What are the restrictions on flying drones? There are three classifications of prohibited airspace for flying drones. The first is any airspace more than 150 meters above ground level. The second is the airspace around airports, including the airspace used for approach and above runways. The third covers areas around the country that have been officially designated by the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry as Densely Inhabited Districts (DIDs). A DID is defined by the government as an area with a population density of 4,000 people per 1 square kilometer, according to Eikei Toyokawa, chief operating officer of Osaka-based Drone Nest — a school that offers courses in safe drone piloting. One does not need to be licensed by the government to operate a drone that can be bought at an electronics store. Drones are only allowed to be flown during the day. How would one know if a specific area has restrictions or prohibitions on drone use? The government has published maps of DIDs throughout the country, as well as the airspace around airports where drone flying is not allowed without special permission. In addition, various local governments have passed ordinances over the years restricting drone flying. What are some restricted or prohibited areas for drone flying around Japan? In Tokyo, drones may not be flown without permission over or near the Diet building, central government ministries, the Supreme Court, the Imperial Household Agency or the National Police Agency. In Tokyo, as of last year, there were also 81 locations, including city parks and gardens, where flying drones was prohibited. In addition, drones are not allowed to fly above nuclear power plants in Hokkaido, Aomori, Miyagi, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Niigata, Shizuoka, Ishikawa, Fukui, Shimane, Ehime, Saga or Kagoshima prefectures. In February, the NPA, the transport ministry, the Defense Ministry and the Foreign Ministry jointly issued a warning urging people to refrain from flying drones above U.S. military facilities in the country, although they are not explicitly mentioned in the law as restricted areas. What kind of local ordinances are there on drones outside of Tokyo? In the city of Osaka there were, as of 2017, 981 places — including all city parks — where flying drones is prohibited, according to Drone Nest. Those who wish to take photos or videos of outdoor events in Osaka must first apply for permission. In Sapporo, flying drones is prohibited at nine city parks. In Aichi Prefecture, 12 public parks currently prohibit drones, although there is talk of revising the rules to allow people to apply for permission. At Himeji Castle in Hyogo Prefecture, those who fly drones on the castle grounds will be asked to cease by the staff, but it’s not quite illegal to fly them. The Kyoto Municipal Government says drones are prohibited almost everywhere in the city and violators will be fined. So where is it relatively easy to fly drones? Areas of Japan that are not densely populated tend to have loose ordinances, or none at all. These include all of Shikoku, much of western Honshu and parts of Kyushu, as well as northern Tohoku. Are restrictions, especially local ordinances, on flying drones expected to become tougher? Between international events like next year’s Group of 20 summit in Osaka and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, along with worries about people — especially tourists — flying drones in order to take photos, the legal environment is likely to get tougher in the coming years. Toyokawa believes the next few years will likely see more local governments in particular debating drone ordinances. This means whoever wishes to fly a drone, be they a local enthusiast or a foreign tourist, needs to confirm where in Japan they can, and cannot, do so.


'I am gay' protests as China bans 'homosexual' content on Weibo

Abstract: BEIJING - China’s Sina Weibo said it would remove “homosexual” content from the popular microblogging platform, prompting a storm of online protests Saturday under the hashtag “I am gay.” Weibo said in a statement Friday it had begun a “clean-up campaign” to remove “illegal” content, including “manga and videos with pornographic implications, promoting violence or (related to) homosexuality.” It is the latest sign in a crackdown by the ruling Communist Party to purge the internet of any content deviating from its “core values of socialism” while stifling criticism of social norms and established policies. The three-month campaign will also tackle “violent video games, like ‘Grand Theft Auto,’ ” Weibo said on the official account of its administrators. The popular Twitter-like platform, which boasts 400 million active monthly users, said it was implementing China’s new cybersecurity law and had already removed some 56,240 items by Friday evening. The announcement provoked a flood of reaction from stunned or outraged Chinese internet users, with protesters rallying behind the hashtag “I am gay.” By midday Saturday, it had been used by some 170,000 Weibo users, before it was apparently banned by the platform. “There can be no homosexuality under socialism? It is unbelievable that China progresses economically and militarily but returns to the feudal era in terms of ideas,” one angry commenter said. “How is it that public opinion has narrowed so much in the last two years?” said another. China only decriminalized homosexuality in 1997, but conservative attitudes remain widespread. “It’s simply discriminatory! Many manga removed were not pornographic,” observed a third. The large online community of funu (deviant girls), heterosexual women who are avid fans of male gay romances and share comics or stories, was particularly critical. Many messages protesting at the content crackdown were deleted. Authorities closely monitor the internet to purge any content deemed sensitive, such as political criticism or pornography, and require websites to have their own censors. China has seen a tightening wave of censorship under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, who advocates a stronger promotion of socialist ideology in society. One of its latest victims was Toutiao, one of China’s most popular news aggregator apps, which was punished this week for allowing users to share ribald jokes or videos and has promised to increase its censorship staff to 10,000.

china
internet
rights
social media
sexuality


Doubts cloud Minamisoma robotics project as Fukushima attempts to revive tsunami-hit city

Abstract: A coastal area in Fukushima Prefecture’s Minamisoma, which seven years ago was overtaken by tsunami debris, is set to be resurrected as a major robotics research site. The Fukushima Robot Test Field, a 50-hectare site being built by the Fukushima Prefectural Government, is meant to be used by both domestic and foreign companies to develop robotics technologies. The site will be the central facility for the Innovation Coast project, the aim of which is to create new industries in tsunami-hit areas. But some of the participants are still waiting for the project to show signs of life. At the site, large fields for drone tests and a telecommunications tower are scheduled to be completed by June. Along with a runway for the drones, submerged towns and mudslide sites will be re-created to test the ability of robots to distribute goods and engage in disaster-relief activities, a need amplified by the national labor shortage. The prefectural government has invested about ¥15.5 million in the test site, which will be built within Minamisoma Reconstruction Industrial Park. The project is scheduled to be completed by spring 2020, just before Japan hosts the Olympics. The central and prefectural governments hope to use the facility as a driving force to revitalize the area, which was heavily damaged by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and subsequent tsunami. Though local expectations are high, the reality is that some companies are struggling to find success with the new endeavor. Koki Watanabe, a 36-year-old board director at precision machinery manufacturer Takawa Seimitsu Co., is hoping to use the test field to increase business. The Minamisoma-based company decided to move into robotics after learning about the research site around 2014, when it was seeking new sources of revenue. Takawa Seimitsu initially invested about ¥10 million to develop two robots. One can be used to study radioactive material on the seabed and the other to conduct rescue missions in maritime debris fields. It recently completed a third that it hopes will be used to help decommission the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant managed by Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. The firm has been promoting its robots in Fukushima and beyond, but the effort hasn’t paid off yet. Four years on, it has yet to win a single contract. Government officials say cooperation between major and local companies will increase with time, but Watanabe said his has yet to receive any requests for collaboration. “If it continues to be like this, we can’t foresee a future,” Watanabe said. The Minamisoma Municipal Government hasn’t been able to respond clearly when such doubts are raised. “We are aware of companies’ concerns about new industries,” said Minamisoma official Yoshihiro Kamisawa, 38, who is in charge of promoting robotics. “We would like to send out information about the facility in and out of Fukushima through seminars.”

minamisoma robots fukushima tsunami 3.11


Accused Toronto serial killer faces seventh murder count after remains of Muslim family man are found

Abstract: TORONTO - AP Alleged serial killer Bruce McArthur is now facing a seventh murder charge involving a missing man whose family initially thought he had abandoned his wife and two daughters. The prosecution said in the courthouse Wednesday that the 66-year-old landscaper has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Abdulbasir Faizi. McArthur appeared by video during the session. Detective Sgt. Hank Idsinga said a press conference later that the remains of three men, Selim Esen, Dean Lisowick and Faizi, have now been identified. McArthur had already been charged with the murders of Esen and Lisowick. Police have been trying to identify the remains of at least seven men found at a property McArthur used as storage for his landscaping business and say he targeted men he met through dating apps that cater to gay men, meeting them at bars in the “Gay Village” area of Toronto, as well as male prostitutes. Investigators have identified six sets of remains so far — 49-year-old Andrew Kinsman, 50-year-old Soroush Mahmudi, 40-year-old Skandaraj Navaratnam and now 44-year-old Esen, Faizi and Lisowick. Idsinga said they are looking into another 15 other cold cases dating back to the 1975 but have not found a connection. “We really don’t know how deep this is going to go,” Idsinga said. Idsinga said 75 properties linked to the landscaper are under investigation. They plan to search them once the weather warms in early May. A relative, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to a lack of permission from the family to speak publicly, said she is relieved Faizi’s remains have been found. “For me at least there’s a sense of relief because he didn’t abandon anyone. He didn’t run away,” she said. An assistant machine operator at a printing company, Faizi went missing on Dec. 29, 2010. Trying to determine why, his Muslim family accessed his computer and was shocked to discover he had been secretly going to bathhouses in the Gay Village and was on gay dating apps for older and large men. When they then went to police, officers suggested he had probably just left, the relative said. Faizi’s wife divorced him, thinking he abandoned her and their two young daughters. “She didn’t know. He wasn’t out. As far as she knows they were married and they were happy and he abandoned her and the daughters,” she said. But she said she always knew he didn’t run away. “It didn’t make sense. He didn’t take his passport and he didn’t take any money. It didn’t make sense that police had this theory that he ran away,” she said. “I feel very guilty now because I didn’t do enough.” Police set up a task force, Project Houston, in 2012 after Skandaraj Navaratnam, Majeed Kayhan and Faizi, an Afghan who immigrated to Canada from Iran, went missing. The three are South Asian or Middle Eastern and frequented gay bars in Toronto’s Gay Village. McArthur was interviewed by police during that project but it was closed in 2014. McArthur is now charged with their murders and the murders of four other men. Faizi’s car was found a short distance from the house McArthur used as storage. Police believe Faizi knew McArthur prior to his death. McArthur, who appeared wearing an orange jumpsuit, spoke in court only to say his name and acknowledge that he understood the charges against him. McArthur has not entered a plea. Edward Royle, a lawyer for McArthur, has previously declined to comment on the case and didn’t immediately respond to messages for comment on Wednesday. Police also released new photos of an unknown man they are trying to identify. They initially released a photo of the dead man last month and are working on tips they have received from the public. Lisowick, a homeless prostitute who struggled with drugs, who was in his mid-40s, hadn’t even been reported missing when police announced he was one of victims. Police believe he was killed in April, 2016. Police previously seized planters from houses McArthur worked at from around Toronto but found no remains in those planters. About 20 investigators are working the case full time. Forensics officers continue to work at McArthur’s apartment.


Hiroshima hibakusha turns to tanka for anti-nuclear message

Abstract: For Sachiko Tanaka, her battered Japanese dictionary, the Kojirin, is not just any other lexicon. It was something Tanaka read in her bed under the covers during blackouts throughout World War II, something she had in her hands when the atomic bomb hit Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, and something she turned to when she wrote tanka poetry, her hobby, after the war. More than 70 years after the war, Tanaka, 89, donated the precious Kojirin to the Peace Memorial Museum last summer, believing it should be preserved. “It survived the flames and lived with me for so long,” she said. Tanaka was a 16-year-old student at Yasuda Girls’ High School on the day of the atomic bombing, studying at home in what is now Hiroshima’s Naka Ward, because she was sick. A strong, white-blue light flashed on that day all of a sudden, and before she knew it, she became unconscious. When she came to a while later, she found herself crouched under the desk with the dictionary in her hand. The house — about 1.8 km from ground zero — had collapsed. When she stuck her head up through the roof and called for help, a man walking by pulled her out, along with the dictionary. Tanaka stood there, stunned. Kikuyo, Tanaka’s mother, who had been hanging laundry, was covered with burns on the upper half of her body. With the houses all around also destroyed and nothing to block the view, Hijiyama Hill looked larger than ever. Then a man with a burned face, naked to his waist, came near. “It’s me,” he said. Tanaka recognized the voice. It was her father, Tamaichi, who had left for work that morning. With the family reunited, they sought shelter at Hiroshima University of Literature and Science (now Hiroshima University). When they went to check their home in the evening, they found that their toppled home had escaped the flames and that her uncle was waiting there. The body of Tanaka’s cousin, who was a year younger, was on the ground. “She’s dead. We have to cremate her,” the uncle said. As they cremated the body, Tanaka, for a split second, thought it shuddered in the fire. “Uncle, she’s still alive!” Tanaka yelled. “No, she’s dead,” he replied. She was strangely convinced by his words, and the family gathered up her ashes the next day. Treating her parents’ burns was also an urgent task. Tanaka took her parents to Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital for treatment, but all the doctors could do was apply antiseptics. Around Aug. 9, another cousin of hers came searching for them. Tanaka put her parents on a two-wheeled handcart and brought them to the village of Kujima, now part of the city of Hatsukaichi, where her maternal grandparents lived. Tanaka’s parents had acute radiation sickness that caused them to develop bruises on their bodies. But they managed to survive and their condition improved. What was most shocking for Tanaka was that all of her hair fell out in just one day. Her cousin tried to cheer her up, wrapping her head in a traditional Japanese wrapping cloth. About six months later, her hair began to grow again, which Tanaka described later as “one of the happiest moments of my life.” Tanaka went on to college and became an elementary school teacher. After being turned down when her family tried to arrange a marriage for her, she married Inagi Tanaka, another A-bomb survivor, at the age of 26. When she became pregnant with their first child, the couple worried about the baby’s health and were torn over whether to have it. Fortunately, the girl was born without any concerns and they were also blessed with a son four years later. Decades on, Tanaka still can’t help blaming herself for surviving that day while so many others died. She suffers from nightmares about the cremation of her cousin, at times murmuring “I’m sorry” in her dreams. After her husband died in 1984, Tanaka devoted herself to composing tanka, a short form of Japanese poem that consists of 31 syllables. Her companion was the Kojirin her father bought for her, published in 1941, the year the Pacific War broke out. As she perused it, she discovered new words and came to write down tanka in more than 100 notebooks. Her passion for composing the poems hasn’t diminished, even after the left side of her body became paralyzed by Parkinson’s disease. When the government took a stand against the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons adopted at the United Nations in July, Tanaka wrote the following poem to express her indignation: Atomic bombing might not be a big deal Since Japan isn’t opposed to producing nuclear arms “I want to see the war and nuclear weapons eliminated from the planet. I’m still alive because it’s not achieved yet,” Tanaka said.

sachiko tanaka
atomic bombing
history
chugoku shimbun


Okinawa angling to become cruise liner hub, not just waypoint

Abstract: Okinawa has unveiled a road map to develop the southern island prefecture into a major hub for international cruise ships in East Asia. With the three-phase scheme, starting this year, the prefectural government is trying to achieve its goal of drawing 2 million cruise tourists from abroad in fiscal 2021 as part of a broader attempt to stimulate the local economy. “Together with our plan to build a hub for international logistics and other initiatives, I want Okinawa to become a place where people, goods and information from home and abroad accumulate, and make that serve as a growth engine for its economic development,” Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga said at a news conference on March 30 to announce a set of measures to promote cruising. The project aims to make Okinawa what the prefectural government calls the “Caribbean of Asia,” and will center on improving facilities to expand capacity for receiving cruise ships and passengers, including piers and port terminals, and creating new and attractive tour products. Starting in 2018, local government officials will more frequently attend conventions and visit cruise ship firms, as well as travel agencies, to collect up-to-date information and at the same time market Okinawa’s charms. The prefecture will also set up a system to help facilitate communications and networking among companies and organizations engaged in the cruise business within the prefecture. From 2019, Okinawa — known for its subtropical beauty — will make efforts to host Seatrade Cruise Asia Pacific, the biggest convention for the cruising industry in the region. Other goals include making Okinawa a so-called turnaround port, which involves cruise ships sailing from and coming back later to the prefecture, instead of just being a waypoint, and thereby increasing the amount of time and money tourists spend during their stays. The last stage of the road map, covering a period from 2021 onward, will focus on pulling in investment from cruise lines and other enterprises in the private sector, and preparing for the goal of constructing a resort complex that houses a cruise terminal, a hotel and shops. While planning to develop the second cruise ship berth at Naha port, the prefectural government is also seeking to have foreign cruise firms set up offices in Okinawa. Demand for cruise trips is rising in tandem with economic growth in Asia. In 2017, 888,300 cruise liner travelers from abroad visited Okinawa, registering a sixfold increase from 2012, according to local officials. Last year, cruise ships made 515 port calls in Okinawa, the highest number in Japan, the officials said, adding that the number is expected to reach 662 in 2018. Reflecting the upbeat trend, World Dream, a 151,300-ton mega cruise ship, arrived in Okinawa for the first time on April 3, bringing in about 4,600 visitors. The 18-deck ocean liner, operated by Hong Kong-headquartered Dream Cruises, is scheduled in principle to drop off passengers in the prefectural capital of Naha every Tuesday and at Miyakojima the following day through October.


Japan calls for 'emergency measure' blocking access to websites that pirate manga and anime

Abstract: Amid a spike in copyright infringement, the government on Friday compiled a report calling for an “emergency measure” that would block access to websites that pirate anime and manga. The Cabinet Office’s Intellectual Property Strategy Headquarters plans to encourage internet service providers to restrict access to such “malicious” websites “on a voluntary basis” in order to protect the nation’s famed manga and anime industries from free-riders. The report named three major piracy websites — Mangamura, Anitube and Miomio — as targets of the blocking measure. Online, speculation has been rife that Mangamura, one of the most notorious manga piracy websites, has been shut down, as it has been inaccessible since around Tuesday. The site had over 174 million visitors in March, making it the 25th busiest website in Japan, according to the analysis tool SimilarWeb. Piracy websites have presented a major headache for manga creators as royalties aren’t paid for content that’s distributed without the consent of the copyright holders. The increasing prevalence of comic book piracy prompted some manga creators’ groups to publish statements warning of the issue. Tokyo-based Manga Japan claimed that the manga industry may “eventually perish” if the situation continues. But blocking individual sites may not be a stable solution, as a Mangamura copycat has already been launched. The government regards the move as a temporary measure until it establishes a law to crack down on piracy, including banning so-called leech sites, which aggregate links to illegal copies of manga, music, videos and other files uploaded to other websites. Current copyright law bans the uploading of illegal copies, but leech sites often claim they aren’t violating the law because they neither upload the files themselves nor have illegal copies on their own computer servers. The government will also seek to develop a legal basis in 2019 to restrict access to piracy websites. Critics have expressed concern that blocking certain websites violates Article 21 of the Constitution, which states: “No censorship shall be maintained, nor shall the secrecy of any means of communication be violated.” The Internet Content Safety Association, an industry organization consisting of internet service providers and IT companies, said Wednesday that piracy websites should be regulated by law rather than by blocking tactics, which the group fears could be used for the censorship of information such as anti-government protests. Between September and February, the three major piracy websites mentioned by the government have attracted over 938 million visitors combined and may have caused damage totaling more than ¥400 billion to the manga and anime sectors, according to the Content Overseas Distribution Association. Internet service providers have already blocked their customers from accessing child pornography websites, a decision that was made in 2011.

manga
copyrights
intellectual property
internet
piracy


SDF logs on Iraq mission contain several references to 'combat': defense official

Abstract: The activity logs from the Ground Self-Defense Force’s controversial 2004-2006 mission in Iraq may contain information suggesting Japanese troops faced dangerous situations, a senior Defense Ministry official suggested Friday. According to the official, the word “combat” appears multiple times in the logs, which recorded the GSDF’s activities. The mission was controversial because it was the first time Japan had sent the SDF, whose role is restricted by the pacifist Constitution, to a country where fighting was taking place. The ministry recently acknowledged the existence of the logs and is set to disclose them soon. About a year ago, the ministry told the Diet none of the Iraq logs remained. That has fueled suspicions of a cover-up because such documents could be politically sensitive. Japan sent roughly 5,500 troops to Iraq between January 2004 and July 2006 to provide medical aid, water and infrastructure repairs in Samawah. The logs found at the GSDF comprise about 14,000 pages covering 435 days, or about three-fourths of the deployment. The ministry has been preparing them for disclosure, which could take place next week. An internal GSDF report that was fully disclosed in 2015 said the troops faced mortar fire and rockets while conducting the reconstruction and humanitarian work, with the unit chief describing the mission as a “purely military operation.” No Japanese troops were ever killed or injured in Iraq.

iraq
military
conflict
self defense forces
scandals


Handbag hashtag turns tables on misogynist social media conversation

Abstract: When does posting a photo on social media of something you use on a daily basis represent more than simply sharing a slice of your life with your followers? It’s a question that took on new relevance last week as hundreds of social media users posted images of their handbags alongside a hashtag titled “女の価値を決めるバッグ” (“ Onna no kachi o kimeru baggu ,” or “Bags that determine a woman’s value”) in an attempt to mock a disparaging comment someone had posted online. The hashtag proved extremely popular on Twitter last week. Click on it and you’ll find pictures of handbags galore, from bags shaped like owls to lemons and frogs . Others celebrated pioneering German synth-pop groups , dinosaurs or sports teams . Nobody would blame you if you stumbled across the hashtag and jumped to the conclusion that it was Japanese netizens showing off their bags — plenty did . Yet the hashtag was intended as a response to a comment a somewhat well-known Twitter user made, claiming that the quality of a woman’s handbag defined her value. In response, women celebrated their own bags regardless of where they came from or how they looked, showing that they aren’t hesitant to kick back in creative and funny ways at men presenting problematic views. The catalyst for all of this was Yuhei Umeki, a freelance marketer who runs a blog called The Startup and organizes something called Umeki Salon , which connects people who have internet and start-up culture in mind together on a monthly basis — for a price. More than 20,000 people follow him on Twitter , among them some pretty famous names. On April 7, he tweeted that he thought the type of brand bag a woman owned was correlated to her value, especially women who are older than 30 (he personally sets the starting line at luxury goods brand Celine). Egged on by Tabata Shintaro at online retailer Zozotown, he elaborated, even posting a price breakdown of major bag brands . Initially some agreed with him, expressing relief that they owned high-end goods . However, the support didn’t last long. Soon enough, Umeki’s tweet spread beyond his bubble of tech gurus and upper-class folks to more regular users taken back by his argument. The conversation online spread, with some pointing out how problematic this notion is or simply hurling insults his way — for example, calling him a virgin or speculating that he wrote such a thing because of his face . Others were just happy they weren’t in a relationship with anyone like him. Anyone who has used Twitter in the past four years knows such tactics can only go so far. A far better way to criticize someone is to mock them by getting something trending, showing that the offending person exists in their own secluded world. Enter the hashtag, which started gaining traction on April 9. It appears to have started — or at least blow up — via user @merec0 , who first talked about her own bag, which featured a bug design, before sharing it with the hashtag . Hundreds more joined her over the next few days, sharing photos of their bags, none of which were bank-breaking designer items. Most looked unique , including one resembling a green payphone and another made from a bag of rice . Plenty took the chance to poke fun at Umeki, including Twitter user @fuwante_0x0_, who showed off his or her “Louis Vuitton” — a brown paper bag with the logo markered on . Aggregator sites around Japan collected the best pictures, offering one-stop spots for people to see a wide variety of bags. Men joined in, launching a similar hashtag , although it never trended or came close to overshadowing the original. Inevitably, brands smelled an opportunity . Corny, yes, but one has to wonder what Umeki started to think when potato chip producer Calbee started to get in on the action . Not surprisingly, Umeki remained mostly silent following the hashtag’s ascendance, although he wrote a post on the site Note in its wake. Without addressing the hashtag directly, he said he had learned about many new brands and even attempted humor, arguing that lots of people were too sensitive about his idea ( “I’m not owned, I’m not owned!!” ). He then offered an article doing the same thing, but with men’s wristwatches — if one is willing to pay ¥1,480 for access. Hashtags have been used as a way to mobilize people for political causes in Japan before, but this bag-centric tag felt different. It felt like a way to strike back at an individual’s elitist notion, but one that also reflects an underlying idea — that women older than 30 are expected to live a specific way — that is still prevalent. This Twitter trend reveled in the sheer diversity of bags women used in Japan, serving as a kiss-off to the notion that they need to own a certain item to prove their worth.


Japan struggles to fashion casino guidelines that satisfy the public

Abstract: On April 3, the ruling coalition adopted a plan for integrated resorts featuring casino gambling that it will submit for Diet approval during the current session , although some media organizations think that won’t happen. The public still isn’t comfortable with the idea of casinos and the coalition’s compromises may make the bill less effective in terms of stimulating the economy, which is the whole point of legalizing casinos. The media itself is divided into predictable camps, with dailies who generally support the ruling coalition also supporting the plan, centrists such as the Asahi Shimbun opposed to it and television stations remaining neutral except when it comes to variety shows, which enjoy sending celebrity reporters to existing casinos to see what all the excitement is about. In an April 6 editorial, the liberal Tokyo Shimbun was practically puritanical in its condemnation of the plan , stating that “growing the economy” through promotion of gambling could lead to the “collapse” of Japan’s “beautiful customs” ( bifū ). It argued that gamblers are people who make money without application of effort or skill, and think that using casinos to lure foreign tourists corrupts the meaning of travel. They also think the plan’s limits for Japanese and foreign residents — a ¥6,000 admission fee and weekly and monthly restrictions on casino visits — will do nothing to curb gambling excesses. This last point was discussed thoroughly on the Agora blog site by Noriko Tanaka , who heads a foundation that addresses gambling addiction . The admission fee is pointless, she says, because it will discourage Japanese who enjoy gambling as an occasional pastime and do nothing to affect the betting behavior of compulsive gamblers, to whom ¥6,000 is “nothing.” Moreover, the draft’s restrictions on casino visits — no more than three a week or 10 a month — are meaningless since casinos are open 24 hours a day and addicts tend to stay until they run out of money, or worse. The regulations are based on the Singapore model, which Tanaka says has already proven to be unsuccessful at curbing compulsive behavior in the city-state. Although the Japanese politicians who devised these rules give a lot of lip service to addiction, they did not talk to people such as Tanaka who work on the front lines of the problem. They only talked to casino operators in Singapore. But even in terms of financial impact, the Tokyo Shimbun finds the plan unconvincing, questioning the coalition’s pledge to limit the number of casino locations to three. Such a small number means nothing economically, so the number will probably be increased somewhere along the line. They also see little in the plan that’s in the public’s interest. Some profits from horse racing and other legal public gambling now go to central and local governments, but taxes on casino profits will be only 30 percent. The opinion that economic effectiveness is not assured by the plan is shared by reporter Yasuhiro Idei. In an article in the March 19 online edition of business magazine President, Idei reviewed the history of the pro-casino movement , pointing out that while former Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara couldn’t get approval for casinos on the waterfront in the early 2000s, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has managed to get the central government to legalize them, the reason being that the casinos that opened in Macau and Singapore in the past decade or so are making tons of money, mostly from Chinese visitors, so why shouldn’t Japan exploit this Asian potential as well? Idei dismisses the kind of moralistic rationale put forth by the Tokyo Shimbun, saying that the public’s opposition to casinos — a Kyodo survey recently found that 65 percent of respondents don’t want them — is merely reflexive, and scare tactics using the specter of gambling addiction are “trite.” Gambling has always been popular in Japan and the country has not gone bankrupt as a result. However, he also disagrees with the direction of the pending legislation. He understands the government’s envy of Singapore and Macau. By 2013, Macau’s casino revenues were six times those of Las Vegas. Around the same time, the two casinos that had been opened in Singapore were making as much money as all the casinos in Vegas. However, revenues have been dropping ever since the Chinese government launched its anticorruption campaign — many rich Chinese laundered their money in Macau — and started limiting how much cash its citizens could take out of the country. Japan wants to be the new destination for Chinese high rollers, but there may not be enough to go around. Casino employees in Singapore and Macau at least speak Mandarin. Besides, the foreign casino operators who have pledged ¥1 trillion in investment when Japan approves casinos want local customers, because they think Japanese have lots of money and the opportunity for profit is huge owing to the belief that the pachinko industry rakes in more than ¥25 trillion a year . It means nothing to them that the government doesn’t recognize pachinko as a gambling activity . Consequently, time limitations and admission fees could be more discouraging to these operators than to potential gambling addicts. Another disincentive may be the rule that only 3 percent of an integrated resort’s floor area can be used for the casino. Integrated resort operators don’t make nearly as much money on hotels, shopping, conventions and entertainment as they do on gambling, so limited casino space could mean less return on their investment than expected. The plan was formulated to placate casino skeptics, but nobody on either side of the argument seems satisfied with it, which says more about politicians’ priorities than anything else. As international affairs expert Nobuhiko Suto explained during an April 7 discussion of the issue on web channel DemocraTV , integrated resort promotion, like most economic stimulus plans in Japan, is really about pleasing lawmakers’ construction industry buddies. What comes later is anybody’s guess.


Ando Shoeki: He who dared anger the gods

Abstract: Human beings are thinkers by nature. We think, therefore we are not mere beasts. Unusually intense thinkers among us are known as philosophers. A very few among them outlive themselves, shaping minds and institutions beyond, sometimes far beyond, their own time. Most do not, and are soon forgotten. Who today remembers the name Ando Shoeki? Historian Hiroshi Watanabe does, which is fortunate for us, because, relevant or not, influential or not, a mind like Ando’s — bold, mischievous, unconventional, borderline crackpot, one might almost say — is worth probing, if only for those qualities, let alone for his ideas, which leave the mainstream so far behind that the word “evil” has been attached to him. “There was a doctor named Shoeki hanging about this village in recent years,” commented a government official shortly after his death, “assiduously practicing evil teachings and deluding the villagers.” He must have been a forceful personality. A Shinto priest said of him, “Shoeki came to this place some years back, and within five years’ time had every household disbelieving in and ceasing to practice all their daily and monthly prayers.” This is the man Watanabe resurrects for us in an essay titled “Anti-urban Utopianism,” included in his book “A History of Japanese Political Thought, 1600-1901” (English edition, 2012). Shoeki was born in 1703 in Niida village in what is now Akita Prefecture, the son of the hereditary village headman. Little is known of his childhood. He became a doctor and moved to the nearby castle town Hachinohe, in today’s Aomori Prefecture. Famines were dreadful in that part of the country. Chill winds blew in from the Pacific, devastating the rice crop. It happened year after year. Peasant life at best was a tooth-and-claw struggle with death. Watanabe quotes the shocked description of an urban visitor, not to Hachinohe but to rural Shinano, today’s Nagano Prefecture: “In those parts everyone, men and women, look like monkeys. … All they ever eat is stuff like cattle feed. … As for the toilet, it’s no more than a hole in the ground.” This is normality, not catastrophe — luxury, compared to famine. Shoeki, grappling with famine as a physician, emerged from the struggle a philosopher. What, he asked, was wrong with the world? Everything, he decided. Who was to blame? The ancient sages: Confucius, the Buddha. They misunderstood the nature of the world. They sowed disaster by dividing the world, destroying its fundamental oneness. Heaven and earth, ruler and ruled, rich and poor, high and low — these are the fatal cracks in the wholeness of the world which, restored to its original state and “rightly cultivated,” would yield in its natural abundance the “five grains” on which all humankind could live. Out with debilitating luxury, out with starvation. Why should rulers rule? Are they any more human than the rest of us? “What are called lords,” Watanabe quotes Shoeki as writing, “came into being only after the sages appeared to steal heaven-and-earth, invent self-serving laws, and set themselves above everyone else. It is merely another word for bandit.” “Under heaven, all people are one,” he asserted. “As they are a single being, who can say this one should be the lord above, these the vassals below? Or who can decide that this one is a sage, this one a fool?” Heaven and earth are one, and form a “self-acting world”: “In summer, heaven-and-earth cause the myriad things to grow and ripen; accordingly weeding is done so that the produce may grow to its greatest capacity. In autumn, the myriad things are at their most robust; it is at this time that the grains and vegetables bear fruit and can be harvested.” Simple — astonishingly simple; how can mankind have gone astray? We never would have, had the sages not come along to trample our primeval innocence with their “clever language.” “Right cultivation,” Shoeki’s core concept, is natural to us; it needs no philosopher to teach it; in our oneness with heaven and earth we know, or are taught as children, everything we need to know for life and happiness. Shoeki sees himself as the last philosopher, his message a kind of anti-philosophy, an undoing of the corrupt philosophy that has ensnared man in civilization, with its rules, its hierarchies, its high culture enjoyed by the idle rich robbers of the toiling poor. Let all men be farmers. Let all men cultivate the “five grains” — meaning cereals generally — and feed themselves as abundantly as life and health require, no more. Grains only. Animal food is for animals, not humans. Tobacco and alcohol are fruits of “civilization.” Out with them. “With no ruler above there is no one who desires to intimidate and rob those below. With no subjects below there is no one to flatter or challenge those above. Accordingly there is neither resentment nor dispute, and thus no reason for fielding armies. … Men till and women weave, secure in food and clothing, harmonious as husband and wife, loving as parents and children.” Merchants? Out with them too: “They have a lust for gain, and while they flatter those above them, they cheat the masses who make their living through Right Cultivation. … They do not know the Way of the Living Truth.” “Most splendid of all,” comments Watanabe, “was that, according to Shoeki, in all the ‘self-acting world’ there would be no such thing as famine. … How his words must have stirred the hearts of the simple, hardworking peasants resentfully gazing from afar at the glittering, bustling prosperity of the cities!” Yes, they would have — and when he died in 1762, having returned to Niida four years earlier, the villagers erected a stone monument in his honor. Soon afterwards it was destroyed under pressure from the local Shinto and Buddhist establishment. Recipes for universal happiness are all very well, but dangerous thinking angers the gods, and gods, when angered, wreak terrible revenge. Trembling, the peasants uprooted their memorial and dumbly resumed their toil.

ando shoeki
hiroshi watanabe
anti-urban utopianism
history of japanese political thought
1600-1901
philosophy


Security issues worry Osaka residents ahead of 2019 G-20 summit

Abstract: OSAKA - Beginning this month, both the city of Osaka and the prefecture began preparations to host next year’s Group of Twenty leaders’ summit, with political and business leaders forming task forces to help with local assistance and promotional efforts prior to the event. But worries about heavy security in and around the venue and the luxury hotels of northern Osaka, where many world leaders and their delegations are expected to stay, has residents concerned, while neighboring cities like Kyoto wonder if they will also be handed a piece of the G-20 action. On June 28 and 29, 2019, leaders from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union will descend upon Osaka. In addition, the heads of five or six other countries might be invited by the Japanese government as observers. Some 30,000 delegates are expected for what will be the first G-20 summit ever held in Japan. The leaders will be meeting at Intex Osaka, a convention center close to the Osaka waterfront that will have to be slightly renovated for the event. One aspect of the renovations will include, as Osaka’s tabloid media have reported in considerable detail, modernizing the restrooms. Osaka residents, though, are more worried about which roads will be blocked off and how many police officers will be in town. Over 20,000 officers were mobilized in Aichi and Mie prefectures for the 2016 Group of Seven (G-7) leaders’ summit at Ise, a gathering of only seven world leaders that took place far away from a major urban center. The Osaka summit will bring in more than 20 world leaders to a city with a population of about 2.7 million. “There will likely be various restrictions on traffic, making it inconvenient for Osaka residents. There are also a variety of security restrictions that have to be put into place, especially in the area where Intex Osaka is located,” Osaka Mayor Hirofumi Yoshimura said earlier this month, replying to questions about how the summit will affect daily life. How the Umeda area in northern Osaka, about 30 minutes by train from Intex Osaka, might handle security is still unknown. Many of the luxury hotels where world leaders are expected to stay are in and around Umeda. Umeda is also the main transportation hub, with three subway lines to all other parts of Osaka and train lines to Kyoto, Nara, Kobe and Kansai International Airport. Tens of thousands of police in the streets closing down one of the main boulevards in Umeda when presidential motorcades go through could prove to be a headache. In the days leading up to the summit, it’s likely trash cans and coin lockers in train stations will be sealed off or removed. Other Kansai cities are hoping to benefit from the summit as well. Kyoto could become the scene for quick visits by the leaders, who could hold bilateral meetings at its state guesthouse, witness a maiko (apprentice geisha) or tea ceremony performance, or enjoy gourmet cuisine at one of Kyoto’s traditional restaurants. Or in the case of one world leader, a cheeseburger at a well-known American fast-food restaurant. Finally, there is the question of what the major themes will be. Summits focus on long-term international issues as well as topical political and economic problems, while bilateral meetings on the side deal with country-specific topics. The large themes at this year’s G-20 summit in Buenos Aires include the future of work and labor, sustainable development and food security. Osaka Prefecture has suggested that support for health and medicine in an aging society, the focus of its 2025 World Expo bid, can help realize the United Nations’ 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, part of the G-7 and G-20 discussions. So it’s possible Japan will make health and medical issues for the elderly one of the agenda items next year. In the meantime, Japanese NGOs involved with environmental and sustainable development issues, and expected to help coordinate international NGO activities related to the Osaka summit, met in neighboring Nishinomiya on Saturday to begin talks on what to expect next year and their role in helping the G-20 contribute to the SDGs. The Osaka Prefectural Government also set up a new division April 1 to see what local governments can do to help achieve the 2030 goals. “Efforts to expand healthy lives in a rapidly aging society contribute to realizing the SDGs. Small and midsize Japanese firms developing medical technologies are contributing to the SDGs,” Osaka Gov. Ichiro Matsui said earlier this month.