Japanese police processed 7,625 tailgating incidents in 2016, including apparent cases of road rage

Abstract: Police across the nation in 2016 took action a total of 7,625 times in cases where drivers failed to keep a safe distance between their vehicles and those ahead of them, citing violations of the road traffic law, National Police Agency data showed Tuesday. Of the total, 6,690 incidents, or nearly 90 percent, occurred on expressways, according to the data. “If you are followed by a tailgater, especially when driving on expressways, you should stop your car at a safe place, such as a rest area, and call the police,” an NPA official said, adding, “You shouldn’t open the door of your car.” According to the agency, 75 accidents happened on expressways last year due to drivers’ failures to maintain sufficient distances between vehicles. In June, Yoshihisa Hagiyama, a 45-year-old self-employed man from the city of Shizuoka, and his wife, Yuka, 39, died in an accident on the Tomei Expressway in the town of Oi, Kanagawa Prefecture, in which their car was hit by a truck after it was forced to stop on a passing lane by a male tailgater. The accident also left the couple’s two daughters injured. The Kanagawa Prefectural Police last week arrested the tailgater, Kazuho Ishibashi, a 25-year-old part-time construction worker in Fukuoka Prefecture, on charges including negligent driving resulting in death and injury. Ishibashi allegedly chased the couple’s car after Hagiyama complained to the man about his inappropriate way of parking at a rest area. The incident attracted wide media coverage and raised public attention to tailgating and other reckless driving behavior. In 2009, Japan toughened penalties on drivers failing to keep a safe distance on expressways, with violators facing a prison term of up to three months or a fine of up to ¥50,000.

japan
police
tailgating
reckless driving


Research into reverse-sex genitalia deserved award

Abstract: In caves in Brazil there lives a tiny insect with the most extraordinary story. It feeds on bat droppings and chews on the dead carcasses of fallen bats. When it copulates, it does so slowly — a single sexual act takes up to 70 hours, or three full days. But that’s not even the oddest thing about it. In this species the female has developed a penis, and the male a vagina. Kazunori Yoshizawa is an entomologist at Hokkaido University in Sapporo. In 2011, he was visiting a colleague in Geneva who had collected some of the cave insects from Brazil. Yoshikawa examined preparations of the insects under a microscope and saw the female penis for the first time. “Quite immediately, I realized that not only the direction of genital insertion, but the direction of the sexual selection is also reversed in this insect,” he recalls. “The female penis has a function to hold the male coercively.” Let’s look at what this means. Sexual selection is a form of natural selection. It’s the competition that takes place between males to win mates, and it also operates when females choose between males. It’s why male deer have evolved antlers (and kabutomushi Japanese stag beetles have incredible horns) — to fight other males. And it’s why males also evolve beautiful displays, such as the opulent peacock’s tail. Females tend to be attracted to males that have the most attractive displays. That’s what usually happens. Sometimes, the situation is reversed. When males offer an edible gift to the female in return for access to mating, you sometimes get competition between females for the gift. Millions of years ago, this was probably the case in the Brazilian cave insects. The males of this insect, Neotrogla, produce a large and nutritious ejaculation. Females living on dry scraps of bat droppings are desperate for the extra food. Not only do they compete for access to the males, they have evolved an organ that grips hold of them. The female penis looks like that of many males in the animal kingdom: It swells inside the female and is spiked, both of which wedge the female inside the male. The very long duration of copulation is probably controlled by the females, the authors say, in order to extract maximum resources from the males. Last month, Yoshizawa and his colleagues won a prestigious Ig Nobel prize for their research. The spoof prizes are awarded at Harvard University each year to celebrate unusual or trivial discoveries in science. Yoshikawa’s team won the biology prize. Was he happy to receive this honor? “Of course,” he says. “I have been an Ig Nobel watcher for more than 15 years.” Neotrogla reminds me of another bizarre insect that lives in caves — the bat bug, which is found in caves in Kenya. In this insect, the males stab the female with a knife-like penis and inseminate directly into the bloodstream. The sperm then swim to the ovaries, bypassing the female reproductive tract. To try and limit the damage done by these attacks, females have evolved a counter-measure: defensive structures on their abdomens that soak up the damage. The odd thing — or even odder thing — is that the males are so keen to mate that they also stab other males and try to inseminate them as well. This seems to have had such an impact over the generations that males have evolved similar defensive abdominal structures to the females. Bed bugs — the ubiquitous pests that you find in unclean hotel beds — have a similar method of stabbing sex. Entomologists call it traumatic insemination. The Ig Nobel prizes are awarded by Marc Abrahams, who runs a magazine called the Annals of Improbable Research. They’re designed to make you laugh and then to think. In their acceptance speech (filmed from a cave in Japan), the scientists said: “Every dictionary around the world defines a penis as a male structure. Our discovery makes billions of dictionaries outdated.” As a biologist who has written about all kinds of bizarre animals, I wholeheartedly applaud the Ig Nobel prize for Neotrogla.

brazil
insects
neotrogla
ig nobel
evolution
kazunori yoshikawa


Teen sues Osaka Prefectural Government for being forced to dye hair black to attend school

Abstract: OSAKA - An 18-year-old teen has filed a suit seeking ¥2.2 million ($19,000) in damages from the Osaka Prefectural Government, alleging her public high school demanded that she dye her naturally brown hair black to continue attending classes. The prefectural government, which runs Kaifukan High School in Habikino, requested the Osaka District Court dismiss the teenager’s lawsuit at the first hearing on Friday. Her mother had informed the school before the teenager started attending that her hair was naturally brown, but teachers repeatedly ordered the student to dye it black, according to the petition the plaintiff submitted to the court. The student developed a rash and scalp pain after dyeing her hair repeatedly but her teachers continued telling her that her hair was not black enough, demanding she comply or leave the school, the petition said. During a conversation with her mother, the school said it would even demand that blond foreign students dye their hair black because that was the rule, it said. The plaintiff said in the petition the school’s conduct constituted abuse because she was forced to dye her hair so often that it damaged her health. She stopped attending school in September last year, according to the document. Her lawyer, Yoshiyuki Hayashi, said despite the teenager still being a student, her name does not appear in a classroom register for the current academic year, which began in April, and there is no seat for her. The prefectural education board said rules regarding students’ hair are set by each school and declined to comment on the case due to the ongoing lawsuit. Many Japanese high schools ban students from dyeing their hair, and some demand that those with naturally brown hair submit documents stating their hair is not black.

osaka
kaifukan high school
abuse
human rights
hair color


Secretary assault case of ex-lawmaker Mayuko Toyota handed to prosecutors

Abstract: SAITAMA - The police on Friday sent to prosecutors the case of a former lawmaker who made headlines earlier this year for verbal abuse, on suspicion of assaulting and injuring her former secretary. Former House of Representatives member Mayuko Toyota, 43, left the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in the wake of the abuse scandal and lost her Diet seat in Sunday’s general election after running as an independent. She drew attention after the weekly magazine Shukan Shincho claimed that Toyota, who was sitting in the back seat of a car driven by her then secretary, a man in his 50s, yelled at and struck him several times on the head and face last May. Shukan Shincho uploaded an audio file of the incident, claimed to have been recorded by the secretary, in which a woman can be heard hurling insults such as “baldy” and “You should die.” At a news conference in September, Toyota apologized for verbally abusing the secretary but denied assaulting him, saying, “I have never inflicted serious injury on him by being violent.” Toyota worked at the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry before entering the Lower House lawmaker in December 2012. In Sunday’s snap election, she ran for the No. 4 single-seat constituency in Saitama Prefecture, seeking a third term.

mayuko toyota
prosecutors
diet
power harassment


Japan's health ministry enlists anime hero in battle against overuse of antibiotics

Abstract: The health ministry has enlisted the help of Amuro, the protagonist of the popular anime series “Mobile Suit Gundam,” in its battle against the misuse and overuse of antibiotics — which can lead to antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Amuro Ray’s famous phrase, “Amuro ikimasu !” (“Amuro is heading out!”), used when the pilot embarks on a flight to fight the enemy, is featured prominently on the official poster for the campaign launched on Sept. 29, albeit with a twist: “AMR taisaku ikimasu !” (“AMR countermeasures are heading out!”). Ministry official Hiroshi Naruse said he came up with the idea himself as he tried to figure out how to raise public awareness of the little-known acronym for antimicrobial resistance, which has lead to the prevalence of superbugs, or bacteria resistant to antibiotics. Doctors have long dispensed antibiotics for minor ailments, including sore throats or fevers, even though the drugs, which are meant to kill or inhibit the growth of bacteria, have little effect on colds or other viral illnesses. Abuse of antibiotics and other antimicrobial drugs has led to the emergence of powerful drug-resistant pathogens worldwide. “We need to approach doctors and patients at the same time,” Naruse said by phone last week. “Antibiotics are often prescribed because of the fixed style of communication between patients and doctors. Patients expect that, by visiting a clinic, they should be prescribed medicine. Doctors prescribe to meet such expectations. If only doctors are educated, patients will not understand why they are denied access to the drugs and leave the clinic feeling unsatisfied.” In 2015, the World Health Assembly issued a global action plan to address AMR, urging member states to commit to national versions of the program. Japan adopted its own action plan in April 2016, setting measurable targets to curb domestic consumption of antibiotics, including cutting total usage by 33 percent by 2020 from 2013 levels. Yet AMR remains an obscure concept for many people here. Enter Gundam. In fact, Naruse is not afraid of using anime or jokes to get people’s attention for a public health cause. Earlier this year, he came up with the idea of calling on outbound travelers to get vaccinated for mashin (measles) beforehand, using the popular anime series “Mazinger-Z.” The measles campaign poster, featuring a humanoid robot, bears the slogan: “Mashinga Zero” (“Measles to Zero”). Naruse, however, stresses that he’s not just cracking jokes. As for the Gundam poster, he argues that the superhero story resonates with the public and syncs with the message that AMR is a huge challenge that humankind needs to overcome. Also on Sept. 29, the ministry released a pocket-size manual for doctors to help them determine when to dispense antibiotics. The manual, based on guidelines unveiled on June 1 by the ministry, discourages doctors from dispensing antibiotics to treat colds, as well as acute sinus infections, sore throats, acute bronchitis and acute diarrhea. Drug-resistant superbugs cause about 700,000 deaths each year globally, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. If no measures are taken, superbugs could kill 10 million people by 2050, according to a 2014 report commissioned by the British government. That would surpass the 8.2 million cancer-related deaths recorded globally in 2012.

health ministry
antibiotics
gundam
amr
drugs


LDP's secretary-general says election loss 'impossible,' the party is not in danger

Abstract: As Japan braces for a snap election later this month, Toshihiro Nikai, the No. 2 man of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, on Wednesday dismissed it as “impossible” that his party will lose big enough to put the leadership of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the LDP in jeopardy. Questions are mounting over the low bar Abe set for the ruling coalition’s victory, aiming to win a simple majority, or 233 seats, in the 465-member Lower House in the Oct. 22 vote. Some critics say the goal is intentionally unambitious, citing the LDP and Komeito coalition’s overwhelming pre-election strength of more than 320 seats. That margin means the LDP alone could afford to lose as many as 89 seats before the two parties hit the minimum 233-seat threshold needed to maintain a majority in the Diet. Even a loss of about 50 LDP seats would be bad enough for the party, as it means the LDP would be close to forfeiting its own majority in the chamber. That opens the question of whether Abe would have to take responsibility in a scenario where the coalition maintains a safe majority but sees a substantial loss of seats that would signal a stern public rebuke of the LDP. When asked about this, Nikai, secretary-general of the party and known for his abrupt attitude toward reporters, said it won’t be an issue. “That’s a very grim hypothetical question to ask me before the election,” Nikai said in a joint interview with local media outlets on Wednesday. “Don’t worry. Such a scenario is impossible.” The LDP’s primary opponent in the election is Kibo no To (Party of Hope), which is led by Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike. The latest polls suggest the LDP is headed for a reasonably solid win now that the initial hype for Kibo no To appears to have fizzled out. Koike, despite wide speculation, decided not to run for a Lower House seat in the upcoming poll, thereby failing to establish for her party a potential rival who could replace Abe as prime minister after his nearly five years in power. As yet Abe’s main challenger for prime ministership remains faceless since Koike still hasn’t named the candidate to succeed the incumbent if her party wins a majority. This leaves voters confused as to whom exactly Abe is pitted against for the nation’s top office. “At the risk of sounding rude, it’s almost unthinkable the next prime minister can be chosen from that party,” Nikai said, referring to Kibo no To. Koike, however, has dropped some hints as to whom she may have in mind. In what may have been an ingratiating gesture, her party refrained from fielding its own candidates in districts where some prominent “post-Abe” lawmakers — including ex-Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba, ex-Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and internal affairs minister Seiko Noda — are running. According to media speculation, should the LDP lose a majority after the election, Koike may support one of these names to become the next prime minister and seek to join forces with the LDP to form a new coalition. “I don’t care,” Nikai said when asked about this scenario. “I don’t think (a partnership with Kibo no To) is likely.”

ldp
elections
toshihiro nikai
shinzo abe
kibo no to


Golfer Matsuyama and Pikotaro to entertain Trump during Japan visit

Abstract: Japan will roll out its top golfer and the singer known for his viral hit “PPAP” to entertain U.S. President Donald Trump, as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe angles to maintain an upbeat mood during his official visit. In addition to having world No. 4 golfer Hideki Matsuyama play with the two leaders on a golf course near Tokyo, singer Pikotaro, an apparent favorite of one of Trump’s grandchildren, will attend a dinner party to be hosted by Abe, government sources said. A video showing Ivanka Trump’s daughter Arabella, singing along to “Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen” went viral in November last year. Abe was holding talks with Trump in New York at the time and told him he enjoyed the video, the sources said. Trump will visit Japan from Nov. 5 to 7 on the first leg of a five-nation tour that will constitute his first official trip to Asia. Abe and his aides think it is important to entertain the president on his visit as they believe the two leaders struck up a good relationship when they played golf in Florida in February, the sources said, adding that former U.S. President Barack Obama stuck to a business-like approach in dealing with Abe. The two leaders and Matsuyama are scheduled to play on Nov. 5 at Kasumigaseki Country Club in Kawagoe, the course scheduled to host the golfing events for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Pikotaro will join a dinner party to be held the following day after the day’s meetings are completed.

pikotaro
donald trump
shinzo abe
trump in japan


Osaka threatens San Francisco ties over sister city's 'comfort women' memorial

Abstract: OSAKA - The 60-year sister city relationship between Osaka and San Francisco looks to be heading for retirement if Osaka Mayor Hirofumi Yoshimura and his allies in the city who oppose San Francisco’s new “comfort women” memorial get their way. The memorial to the so-called comfort women, who were forced to provide sex for Japanese troops before and during World War II, was unveiled last month after the Japanese government as well as some Japanese residents in the U.S. and Japan protested. Yoshimura, a conservative with Osaka Ishin no Kai (One Osaka), a local political group, has a plurality in the city assembly, has charged that San Francisco’s erection of the comfort women memorial last month is a form of “Japan-bashing.” In a letter to San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee in late September, Yoshimura threatened to rethink the sister city relationship. Lee’s response was that the two leaders should look to the future, not the past. Yoshimura, whose handling of the issue has angered human rights activists in the U.S. and irritated some in Japan’s ruling parties who worry about the impact on bilateral relations, struck a more diplomatic tone in a follow up letter dated Oct. 23. “I once again strongly urge you to treat this issue with careful consideration. In this letter I hope you can realize the heartfelt request that I wish to convey,” the mayor said. Those in Osaka who oppose San Francisco’s comfort women monument are especially upset with the inscription on it that says hundreds of thousands of women and girls were sexually enslaved by Japanese Imperial forces in 13 Asian-Pacific countries between 1931 and 1945. “There is disagreement among historians regarding historical facts such as the number of comfort women, the degree to which the former Japanese army was involved, and the extent of the wartime harm,” Yoshimura told Lee in the September letter. Historians continue to debate the exact number, but most figures remain controversial. No detailed written records to corroborate various estimates, which range from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands, have surfaced yet, a point that Yoshimura and his allies have repeatedly stressed. But for San Francisco’s statue supporters, the larger issue is to properly memorialize — and symbolize — the suffering of women during wartime so that history does not repeat itself. On this point, the political leaders of Osaka and San Francisco are unlikely to ever see eye to eye, making a formal breakup before next year even more likely.


Japanese Communist Party says dialogue, not pressure will work on North Korea

Abstract: The leader of the Japanese Communist Party says Japan should shift from pressure to dialogue in its effort to curb North Korea’s nuclear development program. JCP chief Kazuo Shii, in an interview Monday with The Japan Times, also slammed Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s support for Washington’s policy on the North that “all options are on the table.” Abe’s “pressure-first” approach toward Pyongyang is one of the key issues the prime minister has stressed in the campaign for next Sunday’s general election. “In order to break through the current nuclear problems on the Korean Peninsula, it’s essential that Washington and Pyongyang talk directly,” Shii said. Abe has said he wants his get-tough attitude endorsed by voters before embarking on a series of much-anticipated meetings with world leaders later this year, including a visit by U.S. President Donald Trump to Tokyo in November. “Economic sanctions against the regime are necessary, but they alone wouldn’t resolve the problem,” Shii said. “They need to accompany an effort to open up dialogue.” Shii likewise expressed concern that Abe’s publicly proclaimed support for the U.S. position that “all options are on the table ” — indicating military action — suggests Japan is ready to fight alongside the U.S. in the event of a war. Sunday’s election, Shii said, is a chance to “say goodbye to Abe-led politics.” “No past administration has ridden roughshod over the pacifist Constitution or abused power like Abe,” he said, referring to allegations the prime minister gave preferential treatment to a longtime confidant in establishing a new university department. “Opposition parties and citizens must stand up and put a stop to this administration and create a new Japan,” he said. “That’s the biggest issue in the election.” Shii said the JCP is serious about forming a coalition government “in the nearest possible future.” At the same time, he said he is keenly aware that his party needs to shred its radical image, often associated with its push for revolution, and convince voters it is capable of realistic policies and action. The leftist party has long been known for urging the abolition of the Japan-U.S. security treaty and the disbandment of the Self-Defense Forces, which it argues is incompatible with the Constitution. The past two years have seen the JCP soften its image. Shii and other party executives, for example, attended the opening ceremony of a Diet session for the first time in nearly 70 years in January 2016. Its long boycott was based on the grounds that an emperor’s presence at the event recalled the prewar constitution’s principle that “sovereign power resides with the Emperor.” In another compromise, Shii said during a nationally televised debate earlier this month that a JCP government would temporarily regard the SDF as constitutional unless an overwhelming majority of the public thinks otherwise. “We need to constantly evolve our policy so that the public will feel comfortable letting us hold power. If we oppose a consumption tax hike, for instance,we need to be able to demonstrate how else we would manage fiscal policy,” he said.

jcp
kazuo shii
elections
2017 lower house election


Organ donations and transplants still face obstacles in Japan

Abstract: It has been 20 years since the government legalized organ transplants from brain-dead donors, and seven years since the law was revised to allow children to donate organs and families to approve organ donations of loved ones unilaterally. But while the transplant rate in Japan has increased sixfold since 2010, it is still relatively low. According to a May 12 article in the Yomiuri Shimbun , only 64 took place in 2016 for all organs. The Japan Organ Transplant Network (JOTN) says that as of April there were 593 patients waiting for hearts, 321 for livers and 11,965 for kidneys. In the United States, the organ donation rate is 26 transplants per million; in South Korea it is 8.4. In Japan, it’s only 0.7. On the occasion of the anniversary of the transplant law, various media have pondered their role in spreading awareness of organ donation and while there are still cultural barriers that prevent understanding, there are other, structural difficulties that have to be overcome in order to make transplants an integral part of medical treatment in Japan. Japan has the strictest organ donation law in the world. Before 1997, donations could only be made to other family members and from people whose hearts had stopped, which greatly limits the kind of organs that can be transplanted. The 1997 law made it possible for individuals to indicate their willingness to donate organs if declared brain dead, but there was no net increase in the number of possible donors, because the same people who agreed in surveys to donate organs to family members now signed up to donate to anyone. Following a revision in 2010, which widened the pool of possible donors to children under the age of 15 and individuals whose families consented to donating their organs even if they themselves hadn’t indicated such beforehand, the number of actual brain-dead donors increased, but the number of heart-dead donors decreased. JOTN estimated that most of the people who prior to the revision were willing to donate organs if their heart stopped were now instead agreeing to donate organs if they were declared brain dead. In effect, there was no appreciable increase in new donors. NHK basically made a similar point on a recent installment of its explanation program, “ Jiron Koron .” The show cited a Cabinet Office survey in which half the respondents said they would not consent to a relative’s organ donation if that relative was declared brain dead. In cases where individuals themselves agreed to donate organs if they were declared brain dead, 87 percent of their relatives said they would give consent (family consent is still necessary for removing organs from brain-dead donors). Many believe the main obstacle to donation is an uneasiness with the idea of cannibalizing one’s own body or the body of a loved one, so the media, they believe, should provide clearer examples of organ donations. But since donors are anonymous, coverage is sketchy at best. Somehow, however, attitudes are changing. NHK found that young people are much more likely to fill out donor cards, so there should be a higher number of available organs in the future. But the system as it stands may not be able to take full advantage of a greater willingness to donate. The health ministry has designated 896 hospitals as being qualified to participate in the organ donation program, but of these only 435 say they are ready. In most cases, the other facilities say they have yet to draw up proper “manuals” for procedures, so if a situation occurs where an organ is available because a consenting donor dies at one of these hospitals, they will not be able to process the organs for transplant. Over the past 20 years, 60 percent of donations took place at 62 hospitals. Another issue is that brain death is often determined in emergency rooms, which are hectic under normal circumstances. ER doctors are not sufficiently prepared to deal with donors in such situations. What is needed is full-time professional support staff who can process donations. NHK says the work of transplant coordinators requires extensive training and experience, and there is a high job turnover rate in the field. The best impetus for organ donations is showing how successful transplants have become in Japan, and some media have highlighted the work of Dr. Takahiro Oto of Okayama University Hospital, considered one of the world’s foremost lung transplant surgeons. Several years ago, Oto was the subject of an award-winning Fuji TV documentary that simultaneously showed how advanced transplant techniques are in Japan and how far the donor system needs to go in order to properly exploit such techniques. Three years ago, Oto’s patients had a five-year survival rate of more than 80 percent, whereas the average five-year survival rate worldwide for lung transplants is around 50 percent. Oto could perform many more transplants than he does now, but he doesn’t have the time because he must also screen recipients and donors, as well as provide aftercare to transplant patients. In other countries, transplant surgeons only operate. Other necessary tasks are handled by different medical professionals. At one point in the documentary, Oto is in the middle of a surgery when he receives an urgent call from a hospital about a possible donor, but he can’t address the matter until the 10-hour operation is over. With donations, especially in the case of organs that are only viable from living — meaning brain dead — donors, time is critical. Japan’s medical world needs to work on these structural obstacles, then the problem of convincing people to donate may actually take care of itself. It depends on the circumstances. A recent article in the Asahi Shimbun told the story of a woman whose husband became brain dead after a series of strokes. Although grief-stricken, she saw a poster in the hospital about organ donation and asked the doctor if she could donate her husband’s organs. The doctor said, of course she could. He just hadn’t thought to ask her if she was willing to.

transplant
yomiuri shimbun
japan organ transplant network
nhk
jiron koron
takahiro oto
okayama university hospital
asahi


Twitter Japan confronts hate speech with mixed results

Abstract: Following countless claims that Twitter has become a breeding ground for hate speech, the social networking service has started to take measures against hate speech on their platform over the past two years. After several events in September, however, it’s clear that Twitter Japan is still struggling to answer the needs of Japanese users who face harassment on it. In addition to the Hateful Conduct Policy the service introduced in December 2015 that prohibits discriminatory attacks or violent threats, Twitter made it easier for users to report abusive content in November 2016. While these efforts have shown some success in Europe, the United States and other English-speaking countries, Twitter Japan has had to review its approach when it comes to regulating hate speech following an incident with popular model and actress Kiko Mizuhara. Mizuhara, who is of American and Zainichi Korean descent, became a target of hate speech on Twitter in early September after she appeared in a series of promotional Twitter posts by Suntory’s Premium Malts account. The advertising campaign features domestic TV personalities enjoying beer, but this seemingly harmless content did not protect Mizuhara from receiving abuse online. Claiming that she is pretending to be Japanese or that she is anti-nationalistic, users on Twitter flooded the replies section with comments that are within the definition of hate speech, at least according to Twitter’s own policy. The incident was so overwhelming that Mizuhara made a statement on her personal Twitter account calling for the end of discrimination based on race and gender. “Neo-nationalists flocking to PR tweets that use Kiko Mizuhara, repeating abusive and discriminatory comments that you can’t even bear to read. This is the reality of the internet in the 21st century,” a user called @galasoku wrote. Another user called @visio1206654 pointed out that ignoring hate speech only hurts the company, saying: “Adding to the obvious point that hate speech is bad, incidents like this leads to fewer brands wanting to use Twitter.” At the same time that Mizuhara was being subjected to harassment on Twitter, volunteer anti-hate speech organization Tokyo No Hate protested in front of the Twitter Japan headquarters on Sept. 8. By displaying and distributing printouts of hateful tweets that have targeted minority groups, the group highlighted the harassment many people face on Twitter everyday. Twitter has drafted a guideline about its policy against hate speech, but enforcing such regulations seems to be the biggest challenge. On Aug. 20, a Twitter user tweeted about killing a pesky mosquito, which spurred the social networking service to suspend the account permanently. Directing a tweet at Twitter Japan under a new handle @DaydreamMatcha, they wrote: “My previous account was suspended permanently after I said I killed a mosquito. Is this a violation? Is Twitter (17th-century shogun) Tsunayoshi Tokugawa?” Many users suspected that Twitter’s algorithm picked up the threatening keywords out of context. Some believe algorithm-based support systems that aren’t monitored by native Japanese speakers are bound to fail. Yu Koseki, Buzzfeed Japan’s director of business development, provided some insight into the reason why so many Japanese accounts have recently been frozen. “The company believes users will return when the business isn’t affected economically. Twitter places a low priority on non-English language users, so they don’t think there’s a need to hire Japanese employees. In typical tech company fashion, user support is handled algorithmically,” he wrote under his Twitter handle @youkoseki. Following the incident with Mizuhara, Twitter Japan responded in a tweet posted on Sept. 6 saying that it “has been expanding its domestic response team in order to resolve problems in a timely manner.” If Twitter aims to serve as “a platform that allows people to express themselves safely,” as the service wrote in its tweet, the response team to harassment and abuse should comprise of more than just artificial intelligence. While a localized algorithm for user support could improve future incidents, human intervention appears to be the most effective solution at present.

twitter
twitter japan
hate speech
kiko mizuhara
japan pulse


'Turbocharged' sulfur component seen as pungent durian smell's driving force

Abstract: WASHINGTON - Scientists have answered one of nature’s most pungent questions: what gives the world’s smelliest fruit its distinctive aroma. Scientists in Singapore said on Monday they have mapped the genome of the durian, known throughout Southeast Asia as the “king of fruits” for its unique smell, flavor and formidable spiny appearance. They identified a group of genes responsible for odor compounds called volatile sulfur compounds, and found that these genes become highly activated as the fruit ripens, driving its unusual smell. “The durian smell has been described as a mix of an onion-like sulfury aroma with notes of sweet fruitiness and savory soup-seasoning. A key component of the durian smell are volatile sulfur compounds, or VSCs, which have been characterized as decaying, onion-like, rotten eggs, sulfury and fried shallots,” said geneticist Bin Tean Teh, deputy director of the National Cancer Center Singapore, co-leader of the study published in the journal Nature Genetics. Unlike other plant species that typically have one or two copies of these genes, this species boasted four copies, demonstrating that VSC production is, as Teh put it, “turbocharged” in durian fruits. The researchers said this odor may be important to the durian in the wild, helping to attract animals to eat it and disperse its seeds. The scientists sequenced the genome of the Musang King variety of durian, discovering it has about 46,000 genes, nearly double the number in the human genome. They were able to trace the evolution of the fruit back 65 million years, finding an ancient relationship to the cacao tree, whose seeds produce chocolate. “Most of us in Singapore have grown up with the durian, and we are very familiar with it,” said geneticist Patrick Tan, a professor at Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore. “However, even within the same family, there are individuals that love the taste, while others have learned to simply tolerate it, especially during durian season. For those who have never experienced durian before, it can indeed elicit opposing emotions of devotion and revulsion.” Durian is eaten fresh, cooked, fermented or as an ingredient in candies, baked goods and other food. The researchers said there are at least 30 other durian species, some edible, some inedible, and some with other distinctive features. Several are endangered. Durian is economically important, with imports to China last year worth $600 million to $800 million, the researchers said.


Ancient Papua New Guinea skull called oldest-known tsunami victim

Abstract: WASHINGTON - A mysterious partial skull unearthed in Papua New Guinea in 1929 — that once was thought to belong to an extinct human species — now turns out to have another unique distinction. Scientists believe it belongs to the oldest-known human tsunami victim. Researchers said on Wednesday that new examinations of the sediments where the 6,000-year-old skull was found detected hallmarks of a tsunami, with a composition remarkably similar to the remnants of a deadly 1998 tsunami that lashed the same area. The skull was discovered near the town of Aitape, about 7 miles (12 km) inland from Papua New Guinea’s northern coast. It is one of the earliest human remains from the island of New Guinea, and initially was mistaken for a species called Homo erectus that died out about 140,000 years ago. Later scientific dating revealed it was actually 6,000 years old. “As probably the oldest-known tsunami victim in the world, the Aitape skull speaks volumes about the long-term exposure of human populations along the world’s coastlines and how such events in the past will have undoubtedly had fundamental effects on human migration, settlement and culture,” said tsunami expert James Goff of the University of New South Wales in Australia. The scientists examined geological deposits at the river-bed site where the skull was found, identifying clear signs of tsunami activity. They spotted microscopic organisms from the ocean in the sediment, similar to those found in soil after the 1998 tsunami. “We also employed chemistry and examined the size of sediment grains,” finding they were indicative of a tsunami, said anthropologist-archaeologist Mark Golitko of the University of Notre Dame in Indiana and the Field Museum in Chicago. Tsunami, giant waves typically caused by underwater earthquakes or volcanic eruptions, are particularly dangerous natural disasters. The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, caused by a massive earthquake off Sumatra, killed more than 230,000 people. The 1998 Papua New Guinea tsunami killed more than 2,000 people, wiped out villages, destroyed crops and forced many survivors to relocate. The tsunami 6,000 years ago apparently was similar. “Much like the 1998 tsunami, we suspect that one or more large waves very suddenly impacted the coast, washing near-shore villages and anyone living there further back into swamps and lagoons that dot the coast,” Golitko said. The skull was found without other bones. The researchers noted that in the 1998 tsunami, many victims were washed into lagoons and their bodies scavenged by crocodiles. The research was published in the journal PLOS ONE.

papua new guinea
tsunami
earthquakes
history
archaeology


Unclaimed land to cost Japan ¥6 trillion and extend to 90% size of Hokkaido by 2040

Abstract: Accumulated economic losses due to the neglect of unclaimed land, including damage from flooding or mudslides which can be caused by poor land management, will reach ¥6 trillion ($52.9 billion) by 2040, a private-sector study group said Thursday. With inheritors allowing property to go unregistered to avoid tax burdens, land with unclear ownership is projected to total 7.2 million hectares across the nation by 2040 — an area about 90 percent of the size of Hokkaido — according to estimates by the research group which includes former internal affairs minister Hiroya Masuda. Alarmed by the predicted growth of unclaimed property, the government has been discussing ways to effectively manage the land through various measures such as giving usage rights to companies and nonprofit organizations and promoting registration by inheritors. “The area (of unclaimed land) is expected to expand very rapidly because the reasons for land usage will be lost amid accelerating population decline,” Masuda told a news conference. “The situation is very grave.” The former Iwate governor called for a change in attitudes about land inheritance and ownership, and proposed a flexible system to make use of land. In June, the study group estimated the total area of unclaimed land in Japan — including residential, agricultural and forest property — accounted for about 4.1 million hectares as of 2016, slightly bigger than the size of Kyushu. The group calculated the 2040 figure assuming no countermeasures would be taken by central and local governments. Close to 30 percent of the property available for inheritance between 2020 and 2040 could become unregistered, according to a poll surveying residents who are expected to inherit land. Land owned by aging baby boomers may also become vacated following their deaths. Such cases are also expected to increase sharply. Potential economic losses were calculated by estimating lost business opportunities on unused land with unknown owners, the costs of tracking owners down, as well as other factors. Estimated losses due to the weakening of land functions that prevent disasters accounted for around 60 percent of the total, at around ¥3.6 trillion. The group estimated annual losses from unknown ownership of land will surge to around ¥310 billion in 2040, from about ¥180 billion in 2016. When local governments plan to start public works projects they need to obtain the agreement of land owners, but finding them often costs time and money. The land ministry launched a panel in September to come up with effective measures, such as setting a time limit of around five years on the right to use land of unknown ownership for projects of public interest, including direct sales of farm products. The panel plans to wrap up discussions by the end of the year, and the ministry will submit a bill reflecting its recommendations to the ordinary Diet session to be convened next year. The Justice Ministry, which manages the land registration system, started simplifying the registration process for land beneficiaries in May to lighten their burden. It also established a study group earlier this month to encourage proper inheritance registrations. The group is expected to issue its report by 2019, possibly calling for changes to the law. In the fiscal year starting next April, the Justice Ministry and local municipalities will begin surveys to locate owners or inheritors of land that may obstruct public works projects, and urge them to register their property.


Viral dance crazes highlight a generational shift

Abstract: Japan is certainly no stranger to viral dance videos and one doesn’t have to think too far back to recall the popularity of the koi (falling in love) dance routine that took the internet by storm last year. Popularized by TV drama “Nigeru wa Hajidaga Yaku ni Tatsu” (roughly translated as “Running Away is Shameful but Useful”), the quirky routine even prompted employees at U.S. government agencies in Japan to air their own winter holiday version featuring then-U.S. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy. While such viral dance routines are nothing new, internet users have recently shown a fondness for videos that tap into cross-generational influences. Leading the charge is a dance troupe from Tomioka High School in Sakai, Osaka. The Tomioka Dance Club first caught the public’s attention when they won second place at Dance Stadium, a national high school dance competition, in August. The troupe’s hilarious routine was a throwback to Japan’s bubble era of the ’80s, featuring teenagers sporting brightly colored shoulder-padded suit jackets and wildly teased hair held aloft with copious amounts of hair spray, all dancing to Yoko Oginome’s 1985 hit “Dancing Hero (Eat You Up).” YouTube audiences were quick to spot the in-jokes that were incorporated in the exuberant dance moves, with one viewer named Mosa saying, “I was laughing and thinking ‘Wow’ at the same time.” Celebrities who were referenced in the routine were also quick to respond. Comedian Nora Hirano, whose catchphrases such as “ ottamage ” (“I’m shocked”) and “ shimo shimo ” (a wordplay on the telephone greeting “ moshi moshi “) appear in the soundtrack, tweeted her approval and ended her message by saying, “You are sickeningly fantastic.” Pop star Oginome, who provided the backing track to the routine, also sent the troupe a message , praising their energetic moves and thanking them for using her song. The troupe’s coach and choreographer later uploaded a YouTube video of the same routine titled the “ Bubbly Dance ” on Sept. 16 that was viewed more than 2.5 million times in the first two days, with another 6.5 million viewers watching it since. The slick new version features a high-energy mash-up of “Dancing Hero (Eat You Up),” Dead or Alive’s 1985 hit “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record),” Earth, Wind & Fire’s 1997 chart-buster “Fantasy” and other pop favorites from decades before any of the troupe members were born. The polished video hits all the right notes: The moves are sharp, the expressions on the dancers’ faces are faultless and the routine harks back to a period of outrageous prosperity in Japan. It’s worth just noting that interest in the dance isn’t limited to Japan, and the video has also started to attract some attention on the Chinese social media site Weibo. The young troupe from Osaka isn’t the only group who has recently won over online audiences by referencing older influences in a new setting, with viewers flocking to a YouTube video that features dancers at the other end of the age spectrum. In a video that was originally posted in November 2016, three kimono-clad “grandmothers” effortlessly pop and lock to Bruno Mars’ 2016 hit “24K Magic.” The clip has since attracted more than 1.5 million views. The three women, who are all older than 50, are well-known in dancing circles, but many viewers were surprised by their talent. Several suggested these elderly women were able to bust out dance moves that could rival any young dancer. Mars himself tweeted the trio’s video with a post that read: “This made my day!! Thank You Ladies!” Meanwhile, YouTube viewer M Saez describes the video as being “the greatest thing I have ever seen in my life.” The popularity of the two videos suggests that dancers of all ages can succeed by referencing the pop culture of another generation. Throw in a bit of astute humor for good measure and internet audiences won’t be able to resist being involved in the fun.

dancing
yoko oginome
bruno mars
japan pulse


Commercials reflect a subtle shift in traditional parenting roles

Abstract: A series of TV commercials aimed at parents in recent months has sparked intense online debate over traditional family values and the reality of modern life. Manufacturer Cow Soap is the latest advertiser to generate discussion on this issue, releasing a commercial for Father’s Day titled “Ataerumono” (“What You Pass On”). The video was first aired on June 15 and has since gained almost 1.6 million views on YouTube. A few months earlier, manufacturer Unicharm released a commercial for its Moony diapers that was targeted at new mothers. While both commercials appeared to be trying to offer parents support and encouragement, many online viewers found the messages contradictory. The Cow Soap commercial follows a seemingly ordinary man as he completes an ordinary day in his life. He takes out the trash and, as he makes his way to work, receives a phone call from his wife, who asks him to pick up a cake and birthday present for their son. The protagonist ponders the importance of a “kind, family-oriented father” who is struggling to bridge the gap between the type of figure his father once was and the role of a modern father. In one scene in which the man looks back on his childhood, his father remains faceless and distant. Even when recalling a moment of familial bonding, he remembers a respectful formality to proceedings. Returning to the present day, the man decides to “wash away” his ennui with Cow Soap and join his family for a belated birthday party. On Twitter, users such as @sociologbook expressed disbelief at the man’s dire communication skills and the “ sa, arai nagaso ” (“Wash it away”) tagline that condoned his behavior. Other users, including @deviltruck2010, mocked the father for seeming to accept a basic chore such as taking out the trash as the extent of his paternal obligations. Viewers rejected the commercial’s sympathetic tone toward the man and his detachment from his family. Unicharm’s commercial presented a different message altogether. The Moony diaper commercial shows a montage of a woman caring for her newborn child as the song from Kana Uemura’s “Moms Don’t Cry” plays in the background. Each task is seen as a burden that is eventually “worth it.” The father is largely absent from the entire video, which ends with the mother nearing a breakdown. Many viewers recalled their own experiences of loneliness in their response to the video. A Twitter user using the handle @tukino_tuki wrote: “It reminded me of the most difficult time of my life and I wanted to throw up. … The video is not encouraging in the slightest.” Indeed, the overall consensus online appears to be that mothers shouldn’t be expected or encouraged to give up everything for their children, as the commercial suggests. Around the same time the Unicharm commercial was released, Pampers aired a diapers video of its own that placed emphasis on just how many people in the community helped raise a child. In contrast to the other two commercials, the Pampers video takes a more positive approach to parenthood and stresses that the mother and father shouldn’t take on the sole responsibility of raising their child. In highlighting the collective responsibility of the community in parenthood, it’s a message that should resonate with each and every one of us — whether we have a child or not.

commercials
parenting
cow soap
soap
unicharm
pampers
japan pulse


Determined toddler with limb difference wins fans across the web

Abstract: Meet Camden Whiddon. He’s a cheerful 4-year-old boy who adores his younger sister and brother, and loves to go down slides. He was also born without any limbs. But you might know all of that already — because his videos have gone viral in the past month. When Camden’s mother, Katie Whiddon, posted an adorable video of Camden putting a pacifier in his baby brother Jaxton’s mouth on Facebook on Aug. 29, she didn’t give it a second thought. Whiddon had posted numerous photos and videos of Camden as a baby before and this was just another one of those cute moments. This time, however, it was different. The number of views just kept growing exponentially before her eyes. On her Facebook page alone, the video has 8.5 million views so far. The next video she posted, in which Camden can be seen using his whole body to climb up a set of stairs in order to go down a slide , now has more than 14.5 million views. “I’ve always wanted a nice platform to raise awareness … but I never expected things to go viral,” 23-year-old Whiddon tells The Japan Times via Skype from Texas. “An hour later, it was 100 views and as the hours went on, it doubled and tripled and quadrupled and just got more and more and I was like, ‘This is insane!'” Camden was born with Amelia-phocomelia syndrome, a birth defect that involves malformation of a baby’s limbs, which Whiddon found out when she was 18 weeks pregnant. Whiddon, who had lived in western Tokyo for a couple of years as a teenager, was only 18 years old at the time of her pregnancy. Her doctor had warned her that her baby’s brain might never develop and his organs could fail before or after birth, and she imagined all of the things he would never be able to do. She scheduled an abortion but decided not to go through with it the day before her appointment. “I thought, ‘Nobody needs to live like that’ … I felt like (the doctors) basically gave my baby a death sentence,” Whiddon says. “(However) I couldn’t do it because I am too selfish. … I needed to meet him even if it was for two seconds or two minutes. I needed to know who he is, what he looks like, hear him cry if it’s possible at all and when I finally said those words to somebody, I felt such peace.” The video of Camden going up the slide shows how independent and determined he is. His younger sister, Ryleigh, goes up and down smoothly but Camden refuses to be helped. And his face bursts with happiness as he finally achieves his goal. Camden became the focus of media attention in both the U.S. and overseas after the video he was in was shared by celebrities such as rapper Snoop Dogg and talk show host Ellen DeGeneres. Whiddon is aware of the perils that can come with becoming famous online, however, and tries to avoid reading negative comments. Despite any inconvenience the fame has caused, Whiddon says she is still happy that the world has gotten to know her son and wants people to know they shouldn’t pity him. “I know sharing Camden with the world is doing more good … he is one of the happiest kids that I know,” Whiddon says. “I don’t want anyone to be sad at all because he is able to do everything that he wants to do. Just because he is different from us doesn’t mean he can’t do those things — because he will. He will just do them differently.”

camden whiddon
katie whiddon
youtube
japan pulse


Is the response to scams criminally slow?

Abstract: One of the more cynical dictums in Japanese goes “Shōjikimono ga baka o miru” (“Honesty doesn’t pay”). In pre-modern times, neither did crime. The Osadamegaki Hyakkajo — the criminal code enforced by the Tokugawa rulers — prescribed an extensive list of severe punishments for those found guilty of fraud and trickery. Currency counterfeiters were dispatched by haritsuke (public execution by perforation with spears). The penalty for use of fraudulent scales or measures of volume was decapitation, with the head displayed on a gibbet for three days. Forgery of an official seal on a document earned the offender confiscation of his property and banishment. Merchants caught dealing in fake goods were tattooed to mark them as criminals and banished. And habitual con men lost their heads irrespective of the amount they swindled. These, however, were apparently not enough to discourage aspiring crooks. In the view of historian Haruo Okubo, the number of violations and punishments included in the laws, covered in the code’s Article 67, suggests that criminal fraud must have been rampant in pre-modern times. Well, as they say in France: Plus ca change …. According to Tokyo Metropolitan Police data, the 2,089 cases of what is termed tokushu sagi (special types of fraud) reported in the first eight months of 2017 marked an increase of 961 incidents over the same period in 2016, a startling rise of 85.2 percent. These were broken down as follows: “It’s me, send money” scams (1,204 cases); demanding payment for products or services not ordered (428); fraudulent requests for guarantor funds (33); and spurious “rebates” of taxes or other outlays (424). The scale of losses during the first eight months of this year — approximately ¥4,691,700,000 (¥4.691 billion) — was up year-on-year by 35.2 percent. This problem continues despite all sorts of proactive publicity. NHK precedes its daily evening news broadcasts with “don’t let this happen to you” stories of actual frauds. Warnings appear on bank ATM screens and on receipts issued by post offices. The reason why types of fraud are always evolving and continue to grow, in a nutshell, can be attributed to three factors. One is the low rate of arrests and prosecutions. Chances are roughly four out of five the crooks won’t get caught. Second is that penalties for fraud are light. Considering the size of the rewards, the possibility of several years imprisonment is a calculated risk. It should be obvious, but the single largest factor that enables these acts of larceny is that Japanese have been unable to wean themselves from dealing in cash. Moreover, the amount of uncirculated currency has actually increased in recent years due in part to the adoption of the “My Number” system that enables the tax office to monitor individual bank deposits. Last April, Yukan Fuji cited an estimate by the research arm of the Daiichi Insurance Company to the effect that as of the end of February 2017, the total amount of such funds stashed away in people’s homes — called tansu yokin or chest-of-drawers savings — was in the neighborhood of ¥43 trillion. Another factor has been involvement by organized crime. While it has been rare for a high-ranking syndicate member to be prosecuted, this may be changing. On Aug. 31, the Tokyo District Court ruled in favor of four women who had brought a suit against the head of the Inagawa-kai gang and three syndicate members for abetting fraud. The men were ordered to pay the plaintiffs ¥26.65 million in compensation. According to Bengoshi.com , the technique used in the four cases involved telephone fraud in which callers posing as the women’s sons had requested funds to pay off women whom they had made pregnant. Attorney Hiroshi Murakami, head of the plaintiffs’ legal team, told the media, “Fraud has become a source of revenues for gangs. … We’ll be pleased if this is effective in discouraging similar crimes in the future.” The best-known of all modern-day scams was not devised by a gangster but by a loner: an ambitious crook named Kazuo Nagano, who founded a company named Toyota Shoji. It had no connection with the automaker, although Nagano and his cohorts made little effort to dissuade their victims from making such an association. Utilizing persistent oshiuri (hard-sell) tactics to badger mostly elderly individuals into purchasing fraudulent shares in a gold ownership scheme, Nagano presided over the biggest swindling operation in history, involving 3,885 victims and ¥12.8 billion in losses. Police were slow to take action, but the law eventually caught up with Nagano, who holed himself up in his apartment in Osaka’s Kita Ward while his lawyer tried to work a deal with the prosecutor’s office. On the afternoon of June 18, 1985, over two dozen reporters and photographers, tipped off that his arrest was imminent, camped outside Nagano’s door. They certainly got more than they bargained for. Two roughnecks strutted up, proclaiming to the reporters that they were going to “teach Nagano a lesson,” and — as the members of the Fourth Estate looked on in horror — one of the toughs smashed in the kitchen window, clambered inside and slashed Nagano to death with a military bayonet. This writer happened to be watching the news from Osaka and witnessed a murder committed on live TV for the second time — the first being when Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald dead in Dallas on Nov. 24, 1963.

scam
criminals
fraud
haruo okubo
police
kazuo nagano
toyota shoji


Graffiti found at Nagano's historic Zenkoji Temple

Abstract: NAGANO - Police have launched an investigation into vandalism following the discovery of graffiti at Zenkoji Temple in the city of Nagano. Part of the temple is designated as a national treasure. Officials at the temple contacted police Sunday, and they later found at least 30 marks, mostly the letter X, written in white ink. The marks measured about 12 cm high, police said. They were written on columns and other parts of the temple’s five structures, including its main hall, which is a national treasure. It is unclear when the vandalism was carried out, but police said the marks were relatively fresh. The temple is believed to have been built in the seventh century, while the current main hall was rebuilt in 1707.

graffiti
nagano
zenkoji temple
vandalism


China close to completing first offshore nuclear reactor

Abstract: SHANGHAI - China’s first offshore nuclear reactor is set to be completed soon, engineers involved in the project said, bolstering Beijing’s maritime ambitions and stoking concerns about the potential use of atomic power in disputed island territories. Beijing hopes offshore reactors will not only help win new markets, but also support state ambitions to become a “strong maritime power” by providing reliable electricity to oil and gas rigs as well as remote South China Sea islands. Zhang Nailiang, engineer with the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC), said the technology was “mature” and the first demonstration project would be deployed soon at drilling platforms in northern China’s Bohai Sea. “We are confident we should be able to get it finished very soon,” he told Reuters at an industry meeting this month. He declined to give an exact date, saying only that it would be ready well before 2020. The demonstration project is being developed by a research team established by CSIC, China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) and two reactor builders, China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) and China General Nuclear Power (CGN). The direct use of military technology has aided progress, Zhang said, noting that other projects — including one launched by CNOOC and CGN last year — are still at the testing stage. China has urged nuclear firms to develop technologies that will help boost domestic capacity and win projects abroad. Zhang said floating reactors also served a wider political goal to strengthen China’s maritime presence, an aim reiterated by President Xi Jinping during his Communist Party Congress address this month. “We in the nuclear and shipbuilding industries have a call of duty to construct a ‘strong maritime power,’ ” Zhang said in a speech. China National Nuclear Power (CNNP), CNNC’s listed unit, launched a floating nuclear power subsidiary in August and also said the technology would help China become “a strong maritime power.” Though CNNP did not mention the South China Sea, CGN and CNOOC’s rival project will be deployed in the region, which includes islands and reefs claimed by the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam as well as China. Experts warn offshore reactors could raise safety and security questions. “The problem is the remoteness raises all kinds of questions about security, safety, economics and logistics,” said Mark Hibbs, senior fellow of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Offshore nuclear power could lead to the militarization of disputed waters, with China arguing “they have to beef up their presence” in order defend the reactors, Hibbs said. “The big picture is that the Chinese see nuclear energy as a very strategic technology and as something that China will deploy to its strategic benefit,” he added.


UNESCO adds records on Korean envoys to Japan and three monuments to Memory of the World list

Abstract: PARIS - UNESCO on Monday added 78 nominations to its Memory of the World heritage program, including diplomatic records of Korean envoys to Japan and three ancient stone monuments north of Tokyo. Meanwhile, a panel of the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization recommended postponing a decision on whether to add documents on “comfort women,” who were forced to work in wartime Japanese military brothels. UNESCO did not add the records of late Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara, who helped some 6,000 Jewish refugees escape Nazi persecution during World War II. The organization did not disclose the reason for the decision. The 333 documents on envoys sent by the Joseon Dynasty to Japan, mainly in the Edo Period between the 17th and 19th centuries, were jointly filed by Japanese and South Korean local governments and private entities. They include diplomatic papers and pictures of the envoys stored in 12 prefectures across Japan and in parts of South Korea. The three ancient stone monuments called the Three Stelae of Kozuke, in Gunma Prefecture, were built in the seventh and eighth centuries, with Korean immigrants who settled in the area assisting in their design. With their inscriptions in Chinese characters, the monuments reflect cultural interactions that existed in East Asia. One of the three, built in 681, is the oldest stone monument in Japan that exists in complete form. The addition of the documents brings the number of Japanese items on the UNESCO archive register to seven. This time around, UNESCO received around 130 applications for listing in the program. The issue of comfort women remains a thorn in diplomatic relations between Japan and other Asian countries. The International Solidarity Committee, which consists of private groups from seven countries and one region, had led the campaign to seek UNESCO registry of comfort women documents. They have demanded that the Japanese government acknowledge legal responsibility for sexual exploitation of Korean comfort women. Japan has maintained that all legal claims were resolved under a 1965 Japan-South Korea treaty that normalized bilateral diplomatic relations. Tokyo also says the possible registry would go against a deal struck by the Japanese and South Korean governments in 2015 to “finally and irreversibly” settle the comfort women issue. In a statement, the International Advisory Committee of the heritage program recommended facilitating a dialogue among the nominators of the comfort women documents and concerned parties. It also recommended “setting a place and time convenient to the parties for this dialogue, with a view to leading to a joint nomination to encompass as far as possible all relevant documents.” In 2015, Japan strongly protested UNESCO and temporarily withheld its obligatory dues to the body after documents submitted by China on the 1937 Nanking Massacre were added to the heritage list. Tokyo then called on UNESCO to improve the transparency and fairness of the screening and registration process as well as take account of opposing views. In response to such calls, on Oct. 18 UNESCO approved a plan for a new procedure that will heed the views of nations concerned with its Memory of the World heritage registration process and improve transparency. Although the new procedure will apply from the next registration screening process in 2019, UNESCO appears to have taken it into account during the current round.

unesco
korean envoys
japan
comfort women
gunma


50 years later, U.S. Vietnam War deserter aided by Japanese group returns on speaking tour

Abstract: A former U.S. seaman who deserted during the Vietnam War with the help of a Japanese pacifist group and fled to Sweden is visiting Japan for the first time in 50 years to deliver speeches nationwide. During a recent lecture at Rikkyo University in Tokyo, Craig Anderson expressed concerns over what he called Japan’s “remilitarization” as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pushes to revise the war-renouncing clause of the Constitution to establish the legality of the Self-Defense Forces. In Kyoto, Anderson, 70, also told the audience of around 50 to take actions in accordance with their consciences to secure peace. Anderson deserted from the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid with three young seamen when it docked at Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, in October 1967. They eventually smuggled themselves out of Japan to reach Stockholm via Moscow with help from the Japanese Peace for Vietnam! Committee, also known as Beheiren. The four deserters, who became known as the “Intrepid Four,” considered themselves “patriotic deserters” acting on their belief that the Vietnam War was against the interests of their country, according to Anderson. Anderson was arrested after returning to the United States in 1971 and was detained for several months before being released with a bad conduct discharge. Around 200 people gathered for his speech at Rikkyo, including Shinobu Yoshioka, chairman of the Japan P.E.N. Club. Yoshioka was actively involved in Beheiren’s activities from the late 1960s to the 1970s sheltering U.S. deserters. “I was around 20 years old at that time, and the deserters were young people of my age,” Yoshioka said. “I left college without a diploma, but I learned a lot in establishing a relationship with the deserters, who opened my eyes to the outside world. The experiences gave me the opportunity to receive the best ‘college education’ I could.” Conscientious objectors from South Korea, where military service is mandatory, joined the Rikkyo session with their supporters. Anderson will stay in Japan until early November.


UNESCO panel to back records on Korean envoys' Japan visits for Memory of the World

Abstract: SEOUL - A UNESCO panel plans to recommend adding centuries-old diplomatic records concerning visits by Korean envoys to Japan to its Memory of the World Register, Japanese and South Korean sources close to the matter said Monday. Director-General Irina Bokova of the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization will soon make the final decision on the documents, the sources said. The body’s International Advisory Committee in Paris assessed whether to list the records in a closed-door meeting last week. The 333 documents on envoys sent by the Korean Dynasty to Japan, mainly in the Edo Period between the 17th and 19th centuries, were jointly filed by Japanese and South Korean municipalities and private entities. They include diplomatic papers and pictures of the envoys stored in 12 prefectures across Japan and in parts of South Korea. From Japan, registration applications have been filed for three ancient stone monuments north of Tokyo and the records of Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara, who helped some 6,000 Jewish refugees escape Nazi persecution during World War II. So far, five sets of materials from Japan have been listed in the Memory of the World Register, which is aimed at preserving rare or ancient records and documents from around the world. The assessments are made on a biennial basis.

unesco
south korea
chiune sugihara
history


Rohingya asylum seekers face dim prospects of gaining refugee status in Japan

Abstract: The plight of Rohingya Muslims has made headlines as the Myanmar military’s escalating attacks against the ethnic group, often described in media reports as “one of the world’s most persecuted minorities,” have captured global attention. Following clashes between the country’s military and Rohingya insurgents in October 2016, the Myanmar Army began a major crackdown, prompting tens of thousands of Rohingya migrants to flee to neighboring Bangladesh and other nations. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, more than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar since Aug. 25, when renewed insurgent attacks triggered a ferocious military response. A top UNHCR official has called Myanmar’s military crackdown a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing.” Rohingyas have suffered discrimination for decades, if not centuries. Deemed illegal immigrants by the government in Myanmar, they are denied citizenship, the right to vote and freedom of travel. A small portion of Rohingya refugees have fled to Japan to seek asylum. But only a handful have been granted refugee status by the Japanese government, which is notorious for its reluctance to accept asylum seekers. The following are questions and answers on Rohingyas in Japan. How many Rohingyas are living in Japan and where are they staying? There are approximately 250 to 300 Rohingya now living in Japan. About 130 are men, 80 are women and the rest are their children, according to Zaw Min Htut, executive director of Rohingya Advocacy Network in Japan. Most of them live in Tatebayashi, Gunma Prefecture, a city located near a large number of factories where Rohingyas can work. “Many jobs are available” in Tatebayashi that do not require “experience or language ability. It’s very convenient for Rohingya people,” Zaw Min Htut said, adding that the cost of living is much cheaper in Tatebayashi than in the Tokyo metropolitan area. Other than Tatebayashi, Rohingyas also live in Saitama, Kanagawa, Shiga, Aichi and Osaka prefectures, he added. Government data only provide breakdowns based on nationality, not specific ethnic groups. The Justice Ministry’s Immigration Bureau data show that 17,775 Myanmar people lived in Japan and 650 applied for asylum in 2016. How many Rohingyas have been granted refugee status? Of the 130 Rohingyas who sought asylum in Japan, only 18 have been granted refugee status, while others were given special residence permission for humanitarian reasons, said Zaw Min Htut. In addition, there are currently about 15 Rohingyas in the country seeking asylum, including three who are being held in immigration facilities, said lawyer Shogo Watanabe, who heads the Japan Lawyers Network for Refugees and works closely with Zaw Min Htut. In 2016, 10,901 applied for refugee status, up 44 percent from the year before, according to the Justice Ministry. Despite the rise in applications, Japan accepted just 28 refugees, increasing by one person from the previous year. Justice Minister Yoko Kamikawa said in August that she has no specific plans to expand the intake of refugees. What kind of lives do Rohingyas in Japan actually lead? For one, Zaw Min Htut, 45, who fled from Myanmar to Japan in 1998, now lives in Saitama with his Rohingya wife and four children. He and his family run a recycling company. In 2002, Zaw Min Htut was the first Rohingya to be granted refugee status in Japan. Blacklisted by Myanmar’s military government for taking part in political protests, he obtained a passport on the black market and fled the country. But Zaw Min Htut’s refugee status counts him among the privileged. “They cannot work in Japan if they don’t have refugee status,” lawyer Watanabe said. Without such recognition, asylum seekers also aren’t entitled to social security and face a thorny path in Japan, he said. So Zaw Min Htut sees it as his mission to speak up about what’s happening back home. “Too many people have been killed. A thousand people have been arrested. Hundreds of Rohingya women have been raped,” Zaw Min Htut said at a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan in Tokyo on Wednesday. “One of my second cousins (has) been killed. Killed. I cannot be silent,” he said. What is the Japanese government’s stance on the Rohingya crisis? In September, Japan said it will offer $4 million in humanitarian aid to Rohingya refugees in Myanmar and Bangladesh. The United States has announced a plan to provide nearly $32 million to the refugees. Japan has also condemned the Myanmar military attacks on the Rohingya. Commenting on the Aug. 25 attacks in Myanmar, Foreign Press Secretary Norio Maruyama said in a statement in late August that they are “utterly unacceptable.” “Japan strongly expects that, with the restoration of security, the protection of civilian populations and humanitarian access is assured as soon as possible,” he said. But Zaw Min Htut believes Japan, with its ties to the Southeast Asian nation, can do more. “We, RANJ would like to appeal to Japanese Government to strongly demand the Myanmar Government and Military Chief SG. Min Aung Hlaing to immediately stop the violent attacks on innocent Rohingyas,” the Rohingya Advocacy Network in Japan wrote in a letter addressed to Foreign Minister Taro Kono, delivered to the ministry on Sept. 27. The amount of aid that Japan is offering for 600,000 refugees “is very small,” Zaw Min Htut said. “The Japanese government should show more generosity to the people who are suffering.”

rohingya refugees myanmar ethnicity discrimination racism


Emblematic Australian island stick insect not extinct after all

Abstract: WASHINGTON - When black rats invaded Lord Howe Island after the 1918 wreck of the steamship Makambo, they wiped out numerous native species on the small Australian isle in the Tasman Sea, including a big, flightless insect that resembled a stick. But the Lord Howe Island stick insect, once declared extinct, still lives. Scientists said on Thursday DNA analysis of museum specimens of the bug and a similar-looking one from an inhospitable volcanic outcrop called Ball’s Pyramid, 14 miles (23 km) away, confirmed they are the same species. The finding could help pave the way for its reintroduction in the coming years. “The Lord Howe Island stick insect has become emblematic of the fragility of island ecosystems. Unlike most stories involving extinction, this one gives us a unique second chance,” said evolutionary biologist Alexander Mikheyev of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University. The glossy-black insect, which grows up to 6 inches (15 cm) in length, is nicknamed the “land lobster.” Other stick insects are found around the world, so named because their appearance lets them blend in with trees and bushes to evade predators. As adults, the wingless Lord Howe Island stick insects shelter in trees during daytime and come out at night to eat shrubbery. The bright-green babies are active during daytime. By about 1930, they had vanished on Lord Howe Island, which was thought to be their only home. There were no land-dwelling mammals there when the rats arrived, and they also vanquished five bird species and 12 other insect species. A rock-climbing ranger made a curious discovery in 2001 on Ball’s Pyramid: a similar-looking insect. Since then, captive breeding programs have begun at the Melbourne Zoo and elsewhere. Because of certain differences between the Ball’s Pyramid insects and the Lord Howe Island insect museum specimens, there was some question about whether they were the same species. “We found what everyone hoped to find, that despite some significant morphological differences, these are indeed the same species,” said Mikheyev, who led the research published in the journal Current Biology. Officials are planning a program to eradicate the invasive rats on Lord Howe Island, which could allow the stick insects to return. “I imagine that maybe a decade from now, people will travel to Lord Howe Island and take night walks, hoping to glimpse this insect,” Mikheyev said. “In maybe 20 years, they could become a ubiquitous sight.”


Is Abe's free day care and kindergarten worth the cost?

Abstract: Sunday’s general election is over and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s gamble seems to have paid off. But politics never stops and Abe is now obliged to carry out what he promised during the campaign. One of Abe’s most notable — and probably most costly — pledges was to provide free day care services and kindergarten to children up to age 5. Details of Abe’s plan, however, remain elusive. How much exactly will it cost? What are the pros and cons of his pledge? Following are questions and answers on Abe’s ambitious, yet contentious, plan to provide free day care and early childhood education: What precisely did Abe promise during the campaign? On Sept. 25, just three days before he dissolved the Lower House for the snap election, Abe announced that he would allocate about ¥2 trillion a year for five new social security and education programs. These include free day care services and kindergarten classes for all children aged 3 through 5. Children 2 years old and under from financially strapped households would also be given free day care services. These programs would be financed through the planned consumption tax hike to 10 percent in October 2019, up from the current 8 percent. Until now, the government had been planning to use ¥4 trillion of the additional ¥5 trillion per year in revenue from the tax hike to pay down the snowballing national debt. But under Abe’s plan, only ¥2 trillion would be used for the debt. According to the Finance Ministry, the government debt amounted to 230 percent of the country’s gross domestic product as of 2016, the worst among major developed countries. How much would it cost to provide free day care and kindergarten classes? Abe’s government hasn’t revealed a detailed breakdown, and nobody seems to know the exact cost. But it will probably take nearly ¥1 trillion a year and may increase further down the road. According to a rough estimate by the Cabinet Secretariat, the central government would have needed to spend an additional ¥730 billion to provide free day care and kindergarten classes for all children aged 3 to 5 as of fiscal 2016. As for free day care for children aged up to 2 from low-income households, Abe hasn’t explained how he would define “low-income household,” making any cost estimate impossible. But according to the Cabinet Secretariat, if the annual income cap is set at ¥3.6 million, it would cost the government ¥50 billion a year, while it would cost ¥230 billion a year if the cap is set at ¥6.8 million a year. But these estimates are based on data from fiscal 2016. If preschool facilities are made free of charge, more parents are likely to apply, which could push up the total cost considerably. Free child care service sounds nice. Are families with small children happy with Abe’s plan? Not necessarily. For a vast amount of child-rearing families, getting free day care and kindergarten isn’t their priority, experts say. “Many children have been on the waiting list for day care centers, and this problem has not been solved for years. More people want (the government) to address this situation first, rather than eliminate day care center fees,” said Mika Ikemoto, a senior researcher at Japan Research Institute. Indeed, a large number of children are still on day care waiting lists. As of April 1, about 26,000 children who had applied for the service were unable to get a slot in a certified day care center due to the acute shortage of facilities and qualified workers. The number has increased three years in a row, as more women want to return to work after giving birth. Ikemoto pointed out the government has already been providing considerable help with day care costs for financially strapped families. In fact, the government exempts such costs for families living on welfare. Additionally, fees are reduced significantly based on household income. “At present, people aren’t complaining so much about money. Rather, many people are willing to pay more if they can receive education and services of better quality,” she said. But the Abe government doesn’t seem particularly interested in the quality of day care services, Ikemoto said. For example, unlike many other advanced countries, Japan lacks an official evaluation system to check the daily operations of nursery facilities, Ikemoto said. The low pay for qualified day care workers meanwhile has resulted in an acute labor shortage. The government should spend more money to address problems like this, rather than eliminating fees for nursery facilities, Ikemoto said. What are the pros and cons of the government shouldering early childhood education? Promoters of free preschool education often point to overseas studies showing that early childhood education is effective in boosting life-time income and can even help a country achieve higher economic growth. But according to data provided by the OECD, 95 percent of Japanese children at age 4 already receive some kind of education, a ratio much higher than, for example, the United States, where the level is 68 percent, according to Hideo Akabayashi, a professor of economics at Keio University. “Making early childhood education free of charge for children aged 4 and 5 in Japan would only mean that the personal spending which parents are willing to pay would be covered by taxpayers’ money,” Akabayashi wrote in an essay posted June 13 on Synodos, a website devote to academic journalism. Akabayashi argues that the government should focus on increasing day care centers for children aged 3 or younger, rather than eliminating fees for children aged around 4 or 5. How many children are currently in day care or kindergarten? As of fiscal 2013, 1.59 million children aged 3 to 5 were in kindergarten, or 49.7 percent of all children in Japan in that age bracket, according to government data. Meanwhile, 2.22 million children aged up to 5 were in day care, or about 35 percent, it said.

day care
shinzo abe
children
education
fiscal spending


After earlier ambiguous stance, Koike flatly denies Kibo no To plans to form coalition with LDP

Abstract: Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike, leader of Kibo no To (Party of Hope), has denied that her party will join a ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party after the Oct. 22 general election. Koike had left open the possibility of such a coalition, but apparently shifted her ambiguous stance in the face of recent media polls suggesting her party is unlikely to win as much support from voters as earlier expected. Asked about the possibility of her party launching a coalition government with the LDP, the popular governor told reporters Friday that there was “none at all.” Nevertheless, Koike did suggest that her party could still link up with the LDP on specific issues, including revising the pacifist Constitution and national security. “Kibo no To will examine the pros and cons of cooperation on each issue so that it can realize its policy pledges,” she said. The ruling party’s reported lead in the Lower House race is “primarily because opposition parties are divided,” Koike said. “Anyways, the campaign has only just begun, and we will promote our policies robustly,” she added.

kibo no to
ldp
yuriko koike
2017 lower house election


Osaka-Tokyo regional split seen keeping Koike's, Hashimoto's camps at arm's length

Abstract: OSAKA - The rise and — so far — fall in popularity of Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike’s Kibo no To (Party of Hope) comes as no surprise in Osaka, where her ability to govern effectively, as opposed to deal with the media, has long been in doubt. Like former Osaka Mayor and Nippon Ishin no Kai co-founder Toru Hashimoto, Koike, an ex-television announcer, knows how to speak to the camera. Unlike the bombastic Hashimoto, Koike’s measured tone made her conservative and right-wing social leanings and associations seem less threatening to some viewers. Her speech often includes English buzzwords that can sound pretentious, unlike Hashimoto, who mostly avoided English jargon in arguing his points, like the lawyer that he is. But the leaders’ different rhetorical styles should not hide the fact that, on national security, diplomacy, and constitutional revision, there is virtually no difference between Kibo no To and Nippon Ishin. Both parties are also on the same page as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his ruling Liberal Democratic Party on most issues. Although if Abe wants Nippon Ishin to support constitutional revision, he is going to have to do more to convince the party that any Diet draft would be approved in a national referendum. So regardless of what happens in the Oct. 22 election, most pundits expect that, post-election, Kibo no To will essentially function as the “Tokyo faction” to the LDP-Komeito ruling bloc and Nippon Ishin will continue to behave like its “Osaka faction,” agreeing with the LDP on major issues. This is not to say Nippon Ishin and Kibo no To will be best friends in the Diet. Many in Osaka have serious doubts that Koike or Kibo no To will pressure either the ruling coalition or the central government bureaucracy for further regionalization of the kind Nippon Ishin wants. With the Tokyo Olympics less than three years away, there are suspicions in Osaka that Kibo no To will pursue an “Only Tokyo” policy that favors those in the capital rather than one that supports the general goals that Koike, Osaka Gov. and Nippon co-leader Ichiro Matsui, and Aichi Gov. Hideaki Omura announced last month. Yet if Osaka is worried about Koike and Kibo no To being too Tokyo-centric, others worry that handing power to Nippon Ishin and Kibo no To will mean losing their political future to voters in hyper-urban areas who know nothing of, and care nothing for, issues affecting the Japan outside Tokyo and Osaka and Nagoya. “It’s inevitable to have concerns that, with the three regions coming together, city people will grab power and rural areas will be cast aside,” Hyogo Gov. Toshizo Ido said after Koike, Matsui and Omura announced their basic agreement to not field candidates directly against each other. Akita Gov. Norihisa Satake criticized the deal by saying it’s the provinces that are supporting Japan. Saga Gov. Yoshinori Yamaguchi said there’s no reason for local governments to consist only of cities. Finally, Wakayama Gov. Yoshinobu Nisaka, who views neighboring Osaka as an economic rival, criticized the deal, which fell apart last week when Omura changed his mind and refused to endorse Kibo no To, as selfish. “The (three governors’) agreement is about putting big cities first. If all you do is greedily think of yourself, Japan as a whole won’t be helped,” he said. With about 30 million people, Osaka, Tokyo and Aichi prefectures have nearly a quarter of Japan’s population and share many of the same social and economic values, which are often at odds with those living elsewhere. But so far, there is no sign Koike and her party are trusted enough outside Tokyo, or that Matsui and his party are trusted enough outside Osaka, to realize a true, urban-based populist revolt that takes over the Diet and alters Japanese society for decades to come.

osaka
yuriko koike
kibo no to
nippon ishin no kai
toru hashimoto


Urban revitalization and exposure spark interest in Shinagawa and Kichijoji

Abstract: Desirable neighborhoods Real estate and housing company Suumo released its annual ranking of the most desirable places to live in Kanto in April and, while we acknowledge this is a little late, it did produce some interesting results. 2>1: Kichijoji topped the rankings this year, regaining the top spot after losing it to Ebisu in 2016. Suumo expressed some surprise at the result, but put it down to the extra exposure it received from being mentioned in TV shows such as TV Tokyo’s “Kichijoji Dake ga Sumitai Machi Desu ka?” (“Would You Like to Live in Kichijoji City?”). 13>5: Shinagawa, meanwhile, surged up the rankings this year, coming in at a record-high fifth place. So dramatic was the increase that it was just 20 votes shy of taking fourth place off Meguro, which is a traditionally popular neighborhood owing to its local government’s beneficial tax policies. According to Suumo, Shinagawa’s popularity was directly related to the construction of a new station on the Yamanote Line between Shinagawa and Tamachi stations. Called Shin-Shinagawa, the new station is part of a development project that will turn approximately 130,000 square meters of adjacent land into a commercial hub larger than either Tokyo Midtown or Roppongi Hills. It’s also worth noting that Shinagawa will be the terminal point for a magnetic levitation train that will commence service between Tokyo and Nagoya in 2027. Shinagawa Ward also climbed the rankings for the most desirable ward in Tokyo to live in, moving up from 10th place to a respectable seventh. 4>11: Shinagawa’s rise came at the expense of Jiyugaoka in this year’s rankings, as the Meguro neighborhood dropped out of the top 10 altogether. We guess people really can get sick of endless shopping and tiny dogs.


Japan's 'way of the sword' baffles foreign observers

Abstract: All cultures present aspects that cannot but baffle the foreign observer. For example: nothing in the native tradition equips a Japanese to grasp the concept of the blood of the crucified son of the one God washing believers clean of sin. The foreign observer of Japan may be no less baffled by the Japanese “way of the sword.” Sword masters, like Zen masters — most swordsmen were Zen men, seeking, sometimes attaining, Zen enlightenment through swordsmanship — speak of “transcending life and death”; of “the sword of life” as opposed to the sword of death; of the sword killing not people but egoism, duality, illusion. The true swordsman, says Zen master Daisetsu T. Suzuki, “has no desire to do harm to anybody, but the enemy appears and makes himself a victim. It is as though the sword performs automatically its function of justice, which is the function of mercy.” With that somewhat cryptic pronouncement in mind, consider the following episode in the early life of the great swordsman Miyamoto Musashi (1584-1645). It is told by William Scott Wilson in “The Lone Samurai.” A 13-year-old child at the time, something of a delinquent, Miyamoto was on his way home from a calligraphy lesson when he noticed a placard. It had been posted by an itinerant swordsman. There were many at the time, roaming the land, engaging in matches with fellow swordsmen, honing skills, winning renown — ultimately, they hoped, to be taken on by a feudal lord as a domain instructor. The placard was a challenge to a match. Young Musashi scribbled a note on the placard accepting the challenge. His uncle and guardian, when he heard, was horrified. He begged the swordsman, whose name was Arima Kihei, to forgive the childish prank. Kihei was willing, on condition of a formal apology. At the appointed time, the boy appeared — armed with a 6-foot staff. Instead of apologizing, he charged. The boy must have possessed enormous strength. Wilson sums up blandly: “He beat Kihei to death and returned home.” It was his first of 60 bouts. He never lost and sometimes (not invariably) killed. Another casualty, years later, was the famous swordsman Sasaki Kojiro. Musashi used psychology against him, unsettling him by arriving late and matching his own calm against his opponent’s resentful impatience. We today might call it — and the surprise attack on Kihei no less — poor sportsmanship. It would be anachronistic. No such criticism emerged at the time. Musashi’s wooden sword “cracked down on (Kojiro’s) skull.” Historian Beatrice Bodart-Bailey (in “The Dog Shogun”) cuts through what to her, plainly, is religious-sentimental claptrap: “The famous swordsman Miyamoto Musashi elevated killing to a fine art, boasted that he had never lost a fight, and exhorted his followers to dedicate their lives to the practice of the sword. His famous ‘Book of Five Rings’ consists of detailed instructions on how to kill quickly and effectively.” Bodart-Bailey’s point is that early 17th-century Japan, its peace still raw and unsettled after centuries of civil war, had yet to rise above barbarism, which Musashi, as a leading exponent of the “way of the sword,” exemplifies better than anyone. One culture’s barbarism is another’s highest value. A Zen priest named Takuan Soho (1573-1645), a friend to and influence on Musashi, wrote in a famous treatise on Zen and swordsmanship: “As a martial artist, I do not fight for gain or loss, am not concerned with strength or weakness, and neither advance a step nor retreat a step. The enemy does not see me. I do not see the enemy. Penetrating to a place where heaven and earth have not yet divided … I quickly and necessarily gain effect.” Attitude is all. A mind having transcended life and death neither kills nor dies. “For then,” says Suzuki, “destruction is turned against the evil spirit. The sword comes to be identified with the annihilation of things that lie in the way of peace, justice, progress and humanity. … It is now the embodiment of life and not of death.” Baffling. Is this accessible at all, to a modern mind uninitiated into the higher mysteries of Zen? “Thou shalt not kill,” honored more in the breach than in the observance, is all the same a mainstay of Western civilization and of modern non-Western civilizations whose modernization was in effect Westernization. It has no equivalent in premodern Japan. The attitude toward death and, therefore, toward life, that evolved there may well seem to outsiders a glorification of death, a license to murder. A central theme of Musashi’s “Book of Five Rings,” the book Bodart-Bailey dismisses with disgust, is the unity of all the arts. Art and religion are one, art is a higher form of life, swordsmanship is an art — therefore swordsmanship is a religious pursuit leading to a higher life. Musashi himself was not only a master swordsman but a master painter, and to study his most famous painting, a monochrome India ink wash drawing titled “Shrike on a Withered Branch,” is to catch (however tenuously) something of what Takuan and Suzuki are talking about. Wilson puts it this way: “In the unblinking eye and the hooked beak of the shrike, one can sense the almost nonexistent border between life and death. … And yet, with a slight shift of the imagination, it is a perfect scene of nature, a bird on a branch. This is the perfect quality of Musashi’s Zen: Nothing is as it seems; nor is it otherwise.” Most wandering swordsmen of Musashi’s day wandered only as long as they had to. They were in a sense looking for a steady job, preferably, as mentioned, as resident instructor on a feudal domain. Musashi was different. He never settled, never married. His wandering was lifelong. It was his “way.” The last chapter of “The Book of Five Rings” is titled “Emptiness.” Musashi writes: “Make the heart of truth your way. … Accordingly, you will make emptiness the way and see the way as emptiness” — “emptiness” not in the Western sense of bleakness but in the Zen sense of infinite potential.

swords
miyamoto musashi
william scott wilson
daisetsu t suzuki