Mercury hits 44 as Pakistan heatwave kills 65 in Karachi, welfare group reports

Abstract: ISLAMABAD - A heatwave has killed 65 people in Pakistan’s southern city of Karachi over the past three days, a social welfare organization said on Tuesday, amid fears the death toll could climb as the high temperatures persist. The heatwave has coincided with power outages and the holy month of Ramadan, when most Muslims do not eat or drink during daylight hours. Temperatures hit 44 degrees Celsius (111 Fahrenheit) on Monday, local media reported. Faisal Edhi, who runs the Edhi Foundation that operates morgues and an ambulance service in Pakistan’s biggest city, said the deaths occurred mostly in the poor areas of Karachi. “Sixty-five people have died over the last three days,” Edhi told Reuters. “We have the bodies in our cold storage facilities and their neighborhood doctors have said they died of heat-stroke.” A government spokesperson could not be reached for comment. But Sindh province’s Health Secretary Fazlullah Pechuho told the English-language Dawn newspaper that no one has died from heat-stroke. “Only doctors and hospitals can decide whether the cause of death was heatstroke or not. I categorically reject that people have died due to heat-stroke in Karachi,” Pechuho was quoted as saying. Nonetheless, reports of heat stroke deaths in Karachi will stir unease amid fears of a repeat of a heatwave in of 2015, when morgues and hospitals were overwhelmed and at least 1,300 mostly elderly and sick people died from the searing heat. In 2015, the Edhi morgue ran out of freezer space after about 650 bodies were brought in the space of a few days. Ambulances left decaying corpses outside in sweltering heat. The provincial government has assured residents that there would be no repeat of 2015 and was working on ensuring those in need of care receive rapid treatment. Edhi said most of the dead brought to the morgue were working class factory workers who came from the low-income Landhi and Korangi areas of Karachi. “They work around heaters and boilers in textile factories and there is eight to nine hours of (scheduled power outages) in these areas,” he said. Temperatures are expected to stay above 40 until Thursday, local media reported.

pakistan ramadan heatwave heatstroke karachi


Female journalists in Japan report being victims of sexual misconduct: poll

Abstract: A survey of women working for Japanese newspapers and TV networks has found 156 cases of alleged sexual misconduct reported by 35 women, about one-third of which involved lawmakers, government officials and law enforcers, according to a researcher at Osaka International University. Professor Mayumi Taniguchi, a gender studies expert, said Monday that the survey was prompted by a recent widely publicized case of alleged sexual mistreatment of a journalist by a senior Finance Ministry official. She said another 40 percent of the cases reportedly occurred at the journalists’ workplaces and that the remainder had involved their news sources and others. The April 21-30 survey was conducted shortly after the top Finance Ministry bureaucrat resigned after being accused of making sexually suggestive remarks to a reporter, which he denied. The survey found the alleged harassers tended to choose victims who were more vulnerable and likely to be intimidated. In one case, Taniguchi said, a female reporter in her 30s at a national newspaper reported that the police chief at the location where she was assigned repeatedly made lewd remarks to her, and that fellow reporters were aware but tolerated them. She said a younger reporter at another newspaper developed depression and quit her job. She said that in another case a national newspaper reporter in her 30s was forcibly kissed and had her breasts touched by a source in a local election she was covering, who was supposed to give her vote counts. She called a male reporter from another newspaper for help. Taniguchi said the survey shows some women are beginning to speak out, indicating growth in the Me Too movement in Japan, but that others are still hesitant because of pressure from supervisors or fear of losing their sources. Gender equality in Japan has lagged behind most advanced countries, and victims of sexual misconduct can be criticized for speaking out and embarrassing influential men. Many of the women who contributed to the survey said they did so hoping to prevent younger reporters from having to suffer the same mistreatment. “I believe this is their sisterhood, and this is what the #MeToo movement is about,” Taniguchi said. Awareness about sexual misconduct has been slow to develop in Japan. Taniguchi said recent high-profile sexual harassment cases have helped, but that further efforts are needed to nurture a sense of human rights in the population.

women
survey
journalists
japan
sexual misconduct
# metoo


Sexual harassment policies unchanged at most firms in Japan, despite growing awareness amid global Me Too movement: poll

Abstract: Three-quarters of Japanese companies have made no changes to sexual harassment policies over the last year and don’t plan to do so, a recent poll found, though awareness of harassment is on the rise. The survey results come after a high-level bureaucrat was toppled in the nation over a harassment scandal, and amid the global #MeToo movement that has forced workplace sexual harassment into national focus. In the poll, conducted May 9-21, 78 percent of companies said they hadn’t strengthened measures to deal with sexual harassment during the last year. A further 77 percent said they weren’t even considering changes. “We’ve put in place measures in the past, and haven’t added anything in particular,” wrote a manager at a chemical products firm. Companies responded anonymously to the survey, which is conducted monthly for Reuters by Nikkei Research. Of the 541 large and midsize nonfinancial firms polled, 232 answered questions on sexual harassment policies. Japan lags far behind other developed countries on gender equality, ranking 114th out of 144 countries in the World Economic Forum’s latest Global Gender Gap report. The divide is especially pronounced in the workplace. Women make up only 3.7 percent of board members at listed Japanese firms, compared with 16.4 in the United States and 27 percent in Germany. It is difficult to accurately gauge how common sexual harassment is at Japanese companies. Lawyers and activists say victims are often wary of speaking out for fear of being blamed or damage to their career. But data points to the depth of the problem. More than 42 percent of women have experienced or witnessed harassment at work according to a survey last year by Rengo, Japan’s biggest trade union confederation. Former Finance Ministry top bureaucrat Junichi Fukuda resigned last month after accusations he sexually harassed a female reporter. Fukuda denied the allegation, but the ministry later said he had harassed the reporter and docked his pay. Protests and fierce debate followed the scandal, with a Cabinet minister calling for a law to strengthen relief and protection for victims of sexual harassment. Others hoped Japan might be at a turning point in attitudes towards harassment. The May survey shows awareness of sexual harassment has grown over the last year. Thirty-nine percent of firms noted a shift in culture and awareness on the issue, with 7 percent citing a major change. Companies said they have expanded education, through improved e-learning and training of workers and executives. “For senior staff, an old-fashioned attitude remains,” wrote a manager at a service sector company. “But recently consciousness has greatly increased, and they are becoming more aware of their actions.” The Labor Ministry has also seen an uptick in the number of companies seeking government advice on sexual harassment policies since the Fukuda scandal, said Ryouko Awayama, who oversees policy on workplace harassment. Since 1999, companies in Japan have been obliged by law to prevent and deal with sexual harassment via training, consultation channels and swift action after complaints. Still, specialist lawyers have said that many companies, although meeting their legal obligations, are too slow to respond to complaints and have failed to create environments where women who experience harassment feel able to speak out. Only 14 percent of companies said they had received complaints of sexual harassment in the last year, the poll found. Ikumi Sato, a lawyer who has trained companies on sexual harassment, said that concrete action following complaints was rare, and that there was a often a lack of redress for victims. That could discourage them from doing anything at all, she said. “Even if there’s a system in place, they don’t make complaints,” Sato said. “Many claims simply don’t surface.”

sexual harassment
reuters
japan
# metoo
junichi fukuda


China detained 21 Japanese in May, reportedly over religious activities: sources

Abstract: BEIJING - Chinese authorities detained 21 Japanese nationals in the southwestern city of Chongqing and elsewhere this month, a source close to Japanese-Chinese relations said Friday. The Japanese are said to have been members of a Christian group and their detention may have been part of efforts by authorities to suppress missionary work. The 21 were detained between May 5 and 15 in Chongqing and in five provinces — Hebei, Henan, Guizhou, Shanxi and Liaoning — as well as the autonomous region of Ningxia, according to the source. Of them, three have already been expelled from China, while the rest are likely to remain in detention.

china
japanese
detention
missionary work


Finnish broadcaster targets youth vote with anime-inspired video

Abstract: On Jan. 27, the day before Finland’s presidential election, a Finnish social media news and current affairs service called Kioski released an election video that caused a stir online, receiving over 700,000 views since its release. While President Sauli Niinisto’s landslide victory with 62.7 percent of the vote may have little correlation to the video’s popularity, the video proved so effective at engaging younger voters that it caught the attention of Japanese internet users. What makes the video so entertaining? Kioski — a subsidiary of national Finnish broadcaster YLE — created a video inspired by Japanese anime that features cartoon superhero versions of the Finnish candidates , a villain who introduces himself as the “apathy of the voters” and a giant Transformer-like robot emblazoned with the Finnish word for democracy. The kicker is the comic Japanese title cards and voiceovers. Following the video’s release, the Embassy of Finland in Tokyo posted the two-minute-long video on their official Twitter account . Accompanying comments from the embassy noted that the current generation of young voters was brought up surrounded by Japanese anime such as “Dragon Ball.” The embassy said: “ This video was originally made during the Finish local election in April last year and has been revamped and re-released (for the presidential election). Japanese anime is popular in Finland, so (the creators) included various spoofs and gimmicks on purpose. ” The reaction from the embassy’s Japanese audience was swift and the initial tweet, posted on Jan. 27, has received more than 15,000 retweets and 18,000 likes. Japanese Youtuber Gen Takagi , who creates videos related to Finland, uploaded a reaction video that racked up 14,000 views in 12 hours when shared on Kioski’s Facebook account . The quirky animation’s popularity may be attributed to Japan and Finland’s affinity for each other’s cultures. In recent news, a Japanese college entrance exam question involving the setting and language of Finnish author Tove Jansson’s loveable Moomin characters caused an uproar on Twitter feeds . The controversy over a baffling multiple-choice question sparked a trending hashtag that roughly translates to “ unforgivable Moomin .” While the public’s frustration was directed at the fact that the setting of the Moomins is never made clear in the stories, the inclusion of the comic series in a national exam indicates the characters’ widespread recognition in Japan. The unveiling of Japan’s very own Moominworld Park in 2019 is a case in point of Japan’s love of the Moomins . Finland and Japan have a long history of appreciation for each other’s culture. More recently, Japanese fashion has demonstrated a recognizable increase in Nordic designs and products and t here are currently around 40 Finnish organizations in Japan that operate across a variety of industries. The Finnish design house Marimekko has high brand recognition in Japan and attributes some of its beloved prints to Japanese designers . Meanwhile, in response to increasing attraction to Nordic design in Japan, researchers from Aalto University, the University of Turku and the University of Tokyo conducted an online survey in April 2016 to determine Japanese views on Finland, Sweden and Denmark. The survey drew 1,600 responses and revealed that, while the image of all three countries was positive, Finland was conclusively the most attractive travel destination: Almost 50 percent of the respondents said they were “likely or very likely to travel to Finland within the next 12 months.” (Sweden was 33 percent and Denmark was 28 percent.) While the links between the two countries will no doubt strengthen in the long-term, perhaps Kioski’s amusing video will convince even more Japanese to visit Finland in the near future.


Scrutiny on initial coin offerings rises in wake of Coincheck theft

Abstract: Crime involving cryptocurrencies appears to be on the rise at a time when the total number of reported crimes in Japan is falling. The theft of 523 million NEM coins from Tokyo-based cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck Inc. on Jan. 26 has brought this issue to a head in recent weeks, with the company claiming to have lost a total of ¥58 billion in the heist. The theft will have the knock-on effect of lowering public trust in virtual currencies, and it’s worth noting that the country’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) had warned Coincheck to address security concerns regarding the way it manages customer assets before the event. Japan has been central to the establishment of virtual currencies exchanges worldwide. An unknown person (or persons) named Satoshi Nakamoto created Bitcoin, while Tokyo was home to the first major bitcoin exchange, Mt. Gox, which also collapsed after losing nearly ¥50 billion worth of virtual currency in 2014. The government recognized bitcoin as legal tender in April 2017 and the FSA now recognizes 16 companies as registered virtual currency exchanges. (Coincheck wasn’t among those listed.) More than 30 percent of the world’s bitcoin trade volume is conducted in yen, according to a report on TBS last month. On Jan. 12, a cryptocurrency themed idol group — the Virtual Currency Girls — made its debut. On the surface, therefore, it looks as if Japan loves cryptocurrencies. However, the virtual currency world also has a seedy side to it, as has quickly become clear. Last year, the Metropolitan Police Department arrested the founder of a firm operating Ripple, a lightning-fast virtual currency exchange, for allegedly defrauding a client of around $12,000. Meanwhile, computer viruses loaded with ransomware target people searching for cryptocurrencies. Users who fall for this kind of scam find their computers to be infected and they must pay the creator of the virus in virtual currency to recover their data. The latest scam to attract the attention of the Japanese authorities involves initial coin offerings (ICOs). An ICO is essentially a form of crowdfunding centered around a cryptocurrency that can be a source of capital for startup firms. In the ICO, some set quantity of the crowdfunded cryptocurrency is pre-allocated to investors in the form of “tokens.” Those tokens may later become actual units of currency if or when the ICO’s funding goal is met and the virtual currency is launched. On Oct. 27, the FSA presciently issued an advisory warning to users and business operators about the risks of such enterprises. The FSA warns investors that digital tokens issued in an ICO are subject to rapid price fluctuations and that there is a huge potential for fraud. For example, the price of a token may decline or lose all value rapidly. It also notes that depending on the scheme of the ICO, the firm handling them may be required to register with the government. At this point, however, ICOs are still basically operating in unknown territory in Japan. No one is quite sure how to regulate them. Consumers are warned to proceed at their own risk. Meanwhile, Facebook announced on Jan. 30 that it would no longer allow ads for ICOs to appear on its pages. Facebook Product Management Director Rob Leathern wrote in a blog post that the social media service would unilaterally prohibit ads that promote ICOs and others “that are frequently associated with misleading or deceptive promotional practices.” On Jan. 25, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which functions like the FSA in Japan, filed a court order halting an allegedly fraudulent ICO that targeted retail investors to fund what was supposed to be the world’s first “decentralized bank.” The ICO had already collected nearly $600 million. It represents the start of a serious crackdown. Japan may do this in the near future but, for now at least, consumers are on their own. And there’s genuine concern here: An investment in virtual currency can cost naive consumers cold hard cash.

bitcoin
virtual currencies
cryptocurrencies
initial coin offerings
icos


Has Christel Takigawa cursed Japan with her 2020 Olympics omotenashi pitch?

Abstract: “One thing made clear from (our) survey is that the wholehearted looking after guests is not necessarily appreciated.” — From “The lie of omotenashi ,” cover story, Nikkei Business magazine In its 18-page cover story on Jan. 22, Nikkei Business magazine sent reporters to interview bosses at two vastly different parts of the nation’s vaunted service industry: the Kagaya inn in Ishikawa Prefecture — rated the nation’s top ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) for 36 consecutive years — and the Yoshino beef-over-rice snack chain favored by salarymen, which has been experimenting with further ways to cut operating costs by adding self-service coffee dispensers. While nearly half — 48.7 percent — of the 1,036 non-Japanese surveyed by Nikkei Business stated the level of service in Japan was superior to other countries, and another 35.3 percent agreed it was “probably better,” large percentages of customers were nevertheless not impressed, and sometimes irritated, by various aspects of service. These included employees standing in the doorway when department stores open to bow greetings to guests; room entry by maids at ryokan while guests are in the midst of taking a meal in the room; trivial gossip by hairdressers and barbers; and self-introductions by taxi drivers, among others. Foreign nationals especially disliked being asked personal questions, such as where they came from, while they were in the process of shopping, since such questions were seen as “irrelevant.” We almost certainly wouldn’t be having this conversation about omotenashi if it weren’t for the speech by French-Japanese TV announcer Christel Takigawa to the 125th Session of the International Olympic Committee in Buenos Aires on Sept. 8, 2013. Using a dazzling smile and graceful gestures, Takigawa precisely spelled out O-MO-TE-NA-SHI as the core attribute of Japan’s legendary hospitality, and won the day, so to speak. Tokyo was picked to host the 2020 Olympic Games. “You know, it’s widely believed that Tokyo won the bid way before her speech anyway, largely by default, because of issues with the other candidates,” Chicago-born TV personality Dave Spector — who was interviewed in the aforementioned Nikkei Business article — remarked in an email. “She could have just read from the phone book and it wouldn’t have mattered much. Still, I think it was brilliant to feature omotenashi, as well as her well-rehearsed hand gestures added for emphasis.” Did Takigawa’s successful presentation put omotenashi — a somewhat obscure term prior to that episode — on the travel map, so to speak? “Absolutely,” Spector says. “I wish I had a ¥5 coin for every time I heard it used from that time. “I do see Takigawa from time to time and kid her about omotenashi by scolding her, saying: ‘Look at what you’ve done! Now we all have to behave ourselves!'” Spector’s also convinced that everyone accepts that the soaring numbers of foreign tourists are not only invigorating businesses, but are even helping save some from failure. “What’s more,” he says, “that’s been happening for the last few years, and has nothing to do with the Olympics. In fact, Olympics are known for not attracting more tourists; people stay away unless they have a connection to the athletes or sports in general.” Like virtually every other business, the hospitality industry is facing a labor shortage. The lead article atop page 1 in the Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Jan. 13) noted that dependence on foreign workers in Japan’s service sector increased fourfold over the previous four years, accounting for as much as 3.7 percent of the workers in such occupations as waste recycling and security services, and more than 3 percent in hotels and restaurants. As Japan’s service sector goes global, what’s in store for its hallowed traditions? Spector also wonders if most tourists (Asian or otherwise) are even familiar with the term omotenashi. “They enjoy visiting Japan because of the excellent service and kindness,” Spector says. “That’s always what gets mentioned — attentive service and politeness. Even the crudest lowbrow tourist can figure that out. Well-moneyed super-rich types like to spend their money at exclusive high-end stores in Ginza, etc., primarily because the shops are trustworthy and you never run into an attitude problem. Linked to all these, of course, is the overall safety factor of low crime.” The media has mostly taken a positive stance on the omotenashi issue. For instance, on Jan. 30, the “Asa-chan” program on TBS and affiliates broadcast a list of the 10 most popular restaurants in Japan, based on a survey of visitors from overseas. While awkwardly wielding her chopsticks, a visitor from Europe raved over succulent wagyu beef steak. At an Italian restaurant in Nara, the Japanese proprietor emerged from the kitchen to shake hands with his foreign customers, apologetically telling them he couldn’t speak English. Not that any of the diners seemed to care. Later the same morning, however, TV news broadcast scenes from a mini-riot at the LCC terminal at Narita Airport, when some 170 Chinese — enraged over the unannounced cancellation of their flight to Shanghai on the evening of Jan. 24 due to poor weather conditions — pushed and screamed at a phalanx of airport policemen. One man was placed under arrest during the brawl. Two days after the incident, the South China Morning Post reported that the man was still being treated to Japanese penal omotenashi.

dave spector
omotenashi
2020 tokyo olympics
christel takigawa


NHK tries to clear up LGBT misconceptions

Abstract: Last month, publisher Iwanami Shoten was criticized for its definition of “LGBT” in the newest edition of Kojien, which is considered to be the most authoritative dictionary of the Japanese language. The complaint was specifically about the meaning of the acronym’s “T” portion, which stands for “transgender.” Kojien lumped “transgender” in with “lesbian,” “gay” and “bisexual” as describing persons “whose sexual orientations are different from the majority.” In fact, transgender describes a person whose gender identity differs from the one they were assigned at birth. Iwanami Shoten admitted the mistake and last week corrected the entry , but media reports have tended to point out that the inaccuracy reflected misconceptions that are widespread in Japanese society. The four-part weekly NHK drama, “Joshiteki Seikatsu” (“Life as a Girl”) , which ended Jan. 26, was designed to help clear up such misconceptions. Based on a novel by Tsukasa Sakaki, the story centers on a young transgender woman named Miki Ogawa (Jun Shison), who works for an apparel maker in Kobe. Miki’s colleagues and boss know she is a transgender woman and while they may have been surprised when they first found out, they accept her for who she is. Miki doesn’t hide her trans identity, and on those occasions when people ask her if she’s a man, she puts up with it but is clearly annoyed. A Jan. 17 Asahi Shimbun article focused on two recent TV drama series , “Joshiteki” and a Fuji TV show called “ Tonari no Kazoku wa Aoku Mieru ,” in which LGBT characters are portrayed in a more diverse way. Japanese TV dramas have featured LGBT characters as far back as the late 1960s , but they tended to be included either for comic relief or as tragic figures . As the producer of the Fuji series told Asahi, neither partner of the same-sex couple on the show is “feminine” in the received sense of the word, and one is out about his homosexuality while the other is not. What the producer wanted to show was that everyone has their own way of addressing their “nature.” But the same-sex couple in “Tonari” are not the protagonists. Miki is very much the center of “Joshiteki” and the director has come up with a clever device to reveal her thoughts: Hashtags that appear on the screen indicating how she is sizing up another person. As someone whose identity is wrapped up in appearances — Miki is very serious about her fashion choices — she takes others’ appearance at face value and judges accordingly. She is no different from anyone else in that she has prejudices that are difficult to shake, so while she resents it when people initially see her as a curiosity, she understands where they’re coming from and just hopes they can get to somewhere else. Asahi says that the mission of “Joshiteki” is to “show the main character’s everyday life” and not necessarily to “explain” sexual identity or orientation. However, the writing is didactic. In the first episode, Tadaomi Goto (Keita Machida), a former classmate of Miki’s, is stranded in Kobe and looks her up, hoping for a place to spend the night. Back in their coastal hometown, Goto knew her from a distance as Mikio, another boy at his high school, so he is shocked to see the transformation. Goto is essentially the viewer’s proxy, and Miki in no uncertain terms schools him in the particulars of life as a transgender woman, at least as it pertains to her. Miki wants to transition physically but hasn’t gotten to that point yet, and as far as orientation goes she is interested in women (“which, I guess, makes me a lesbian”). It’s later revealed that her former roommate, another transgender woman (Satsuki Nishihara, who is also listed in the credits as the series’ “transgender coach”), left Miki for a man. These seeming contradictions never fail to baffle Goto, whose exaggerated male clumsiness provides the show with its comic element, but they have a purpose, which is to show, as Miki herself says, that life is “complicated.” The Asahi article describes this aspect of the show as a breakthrough for Japanese TV . It mentions a recent Fuji TV variety show starring the comedy duo Tunnels that revived a notorious character from more than 20 years ago — a stereotyped gay man who hasn’t come out. The network formally apologized, but the onee-kei tarento — ultrafeminine male TV personality — remains a fixture on variety shows. A professor of gender studies tells Asahi that this model has represented the LGBT spectrum on TV for so long that viewers “are only comfortable with people who act that way, thus reinforcing the stereotype.” Japanese TV has always strived to uncomplicate matters, to make them easy to understand and digest. Another LGBT scholar told the newspaper that producers use onee-kei celebrity because people watch TV “to forget about their everyday lives.” They don’t want complexity, but she insists it’s the media’s job to promote understanding. In that regard, NHK is doing what it should do, but in dramatic terms “Joshiteki” is almost as two-dimensional as those problematic variety shows. LGBT characters have been incorporated into foreign TV series for decades, and if they promote understanding it’s because all the characters should be complex, not just the LGBT ones. Although the difficulties of adjusting to being a transgender woman in late middle age is the basic plot impetus of the Amazon series “Transparent,” those difficulties are integrated into a larger story about a middle-class California Jewish family in which everyone is going through an identity crisis. Miki’s is the only three-dimensional personality on display in “Joshiteki.” NHK will have another chance to address LGBT issues in March, when it airs a three-episode adaptation of Gengoroh Tagame’s manga “My Brother’s Husband ,” about a Japanese man’s relationship with his late gay twin’s Canadian husband. Given that Tagame is a strong advocate of same-sex marriage, which is not legal in Japan, it will be interesting to see how the public broadcaster handles the story.


Japan Times 1993: Female workers don't like to drink with boss

Abstract: 100 YEARS AGO Wednesday, FEB. 27 1918 Man held after taking photo of Imperial Villa A dispatch from Yokosuka states that a certain British resident of Yamashitacho, Yokohama, was recently arrested by the Yokosuka gendarmerie authorities at Hayama on the charge of having photographed the garden of the Imperial Villa when the Crown Prince returned there from Tokyo. The negative was seized but the foreigner was afterwards released, it having been proved that he had no wrong intention. As photographing the Imperial Villa, which is inside the fortified zone of the Yokosuka admiralty, is a violation of the military law, the foreigner was summoned by the Yokosuka gendarmerie station on the 25th and examined. Lt. Hamaguchi, chief of the gendarmerie station, is quoted as stating that after further examination the offender should be sent to the Yokohama district court for trial as his act constitutes an infringement of the military law though it is apparent he had no malicious intention whatever in doing so. The gendarmerie authorities refrain from making public his name having respect for his social station and respectable personality. 75 YEARS AGO Friday, Feb. 19, 1943 Pupils vote to destroy U.S. ‘goodwill dolls’ The “blue-eyed” sleeping dolls that were presented to numerous primary schools in Japan by the United States approximately 15 years ago to promote international good will, now can only be thought of as devilish messengers masquerading as “saintly ambassadors of good will.” The disposal of these dolls was brought up by the Education department of Nishi Tsugaru-gun, Aomori Prefecture, at the meeting of the Central Teachers’ Training Association which was held at the Ajikazawa Primary School, where the issue was seriously handled as “not only the problem of Nishi Tsugaru-gun, but that of the entire nation,” according to a report in the Mainichi. The children of Ajikazawa Primary School who are in classes above the fifth grade were told of the origin of the dolls on Tuesday, and later, a poll was taken among them to seek means of disposing of the dolls. The results of the poll showed the sentiments in the minds of the school children under pressure of the war, as revealed in the results below: • To break the dolls: 89 votes; • To burn the dolls: 133 votes; • To send it back to America: 44 votes; and • To conspicuously display the dolls and torment it every day: 31 votes. 50 YEARS AGO Saturday, Feb. 10, 1968 Spitball ban causes furor among pitchers The Japan Professional Baseball Commission’s recent announcement that spitballs will be banned has caused a furor among quite a few saliva-happy hurlers. According to the revised rule, a hurler is prohibited from taking his pitching hand to his mouth before he throws a ball. If the hurler repeats the act despite an umpire warning, the offender will be evicted. The new ruling will cut deep into the pack of pitchers who have a deep-ingrained habit of spitting before pitching. The pack includes Chikara Morinaka of the Taiyo Whales, Tsuneo Horiuchi of the Yomiuri Giants, Gene Bacque of the Hanshin Tigers and Eiji Bando of the Chunichi Dragons. Morinaka who won 18 games last year, eight of which were from the Yomiuri Giants has come out openly against the new ruling. “I’d say the new rule has been made just against me. I’ve been licking my fingers over the last 10 years and I don’t think it easy for me to get out of the habit,” Morinaka said. “Just licking a finger doesn’t mean a spitball as such.” Coach Noboru Akiyama chimed in to say that the rule that requires eviction in a second offense is too severe. Motoji Fujita, pitching coach of the Giants said although Horiuchi has a habit of causing his right index finger to come into contact with his lips before pitching, he always wipes out whatever saliva is left on the finger before he pitches. Batters, however, are welcoming the new rule with outstretched arms. “What a relief will it be for us if pitchers cease to use spitballs,” said Shigeo Nagashima of Yomiuri. “Batters are kept on the strain whenever pitchers uncork spitballs. We never know when we would be hit.” His opinion is shared by Taiyo’s Kazuhiko Kondo and Chunichi’s Shinichi Eto who all consider it a great boon to batters who no longer may have to fear being hit by a pitched ball as much as they used to. The members of the rules committee under the Japan Professional Baseball Commision are now roving from one camp to another so that each club may have a thorough understanding of the revision in the rule. 25 YEARS AGO Monday, Feb. 8, 1993 Female workers don’t like to drink with boss Japanese women love to drink with friends — provided they are not office colleagues — and hate to drink with their bosses, according to a survey released Sunday. The survey, sponsored by Daiichi Seiyaku Co., a pharmaceutical firm of Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, as a public relations tactic, showed female employees don’t like to mix work with their social life. Covering 300 men and 300 women — drinkers all — who worked in large corporations, the survey was titled “White Paper on Drunk Modern OL.” OL is Japanese-English for office ladies, or female office workers. Asked to pick their first choice of companion at a bar, 64.7 percent of the women said female friends from outside the company. The last choice was the boss. Half of the women said they would not want to drink with him, even though drinking with the boss is common among Japanese employees, with the boss often picking up the tab.

wwii
women
yomiuri giants
world war ii
imperial family


Israel to legalize settlement outpost deep in West Bank, razes Bedouin school

Abstract: JERUSALEM - Israel on Sunday said it plans to legalize an isolated West Bank outpost in response to the murder of one of its residents in a shooting attack last month. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his weekly Cabinet meeting that his government will legalize Havat Gilad to “allow the continuing of normal life there.” “Whoever thought that through the reprehensible murder of a resident of Havat Gilad, a father of six, that our spirit can be broken and we can be weakened, is making a bitter mistake,” Netanyahu said. Last month, Rabbi Raziel Shevah, 35, was shot dead from a passing vehicle as he drove near his home in the unauthorized settlement outpost near the Palestinian city of Nablus. The Israeli military is still searching the area for suspects. Israel captured the West Bank, along with the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war, areas the Palestinians want for a future state. Israel has established about 120 West Bank settlements, which it considers legal. In addition, about 100 settlement outposts have been erected without official approval but Israel generally tolerates them. Most of the international community considers all Jewish West Bank settlements illegal. Havat Gilad, a community of a few hundred Israelis, is among these rogue outposts and is located deep inside the West Bank, away from areas Israel expects to keep under any peace deal with the Palestinians. Critics see their expansion as complicating peace efforts. The anti-settlement group Peace Now called the effort to legalize the outpost a “cynical exploitation of the murder.” Meanwhile, Israel on Sunday demolished a two-classroom school in a Bedouin community in the West Bank, saying the EU-funded structure was built illegally without proper permits and that it was in a precarious condition. The school served nearly 30 third- and fourth-grade students who were moved to a nearby guesthouse and barbershop to continue classes. A statement from Cogat, the Israeli defense body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs, said the demolition came after a challenge in Israel’s Supreme Court was overruled. Roberto Valent, an official with the U.N. humanitarian agency OCHA, said he was “deeply concerned” by the demolition. In a statement, he said the Israeli-issued permits were “nearly impossible to obtain” and that demolitions such as Sunday’s, among other Israeli policies, “have created a coercive environment that violates the human rights of residents and generates a risk of forcible transfer.” The demolition took place near the settlement of Maaleh Adumim, in the 60 percent of the West Bank known as Area C that remains under full Israeli control. Israel has imposed severe restrictions on Palestinian development in this area, home to dozens of Israeli settlements. The EU funds the construction of many homes, schools and other structures in the area and says the projects are needed for humanitarian reasons and economic development. Israel says that any assistance to Palestinians in Area C must be coordinated with authorities.

israel
benjamin netanyahu
palestinians
settlements
west bank


Sado rice farmers get contact lens solution to crested ibis dilemma

Abstract: The habitat of the Japanese crested ibis, one of the nation’s special natural treasures, is improving on Sado Island thanks to new technology for cleaning contact lenses. To let the birds feed on water creatures, farmers on the island in Niigata Prefecture have been leaving their rice fields submerged even during winter. However, this means they cannot clear out leftover rice straw, which subsequently interferes with rice cultivation. To address this problem, Nagoya-based contact lens maker Menicon Co. used its stain removal technology to create a substance to accelerate the decomposition of rice straw. Since the substance can simply be sprinkled on rice fields, it encourages more farmers to leave them flooded after harvest. This in turn has helped revive the wild population of the crested ibis, which had been extinct outside of captivity for decades. More than 300 of the birds now live on the island together with Sado’s residents. Menicon has devoted many years to researching an enzyme that can break down and remove stains that adhere to contact lenses. During its research, the firm discovered an enzyme that can cut through plant fiber such as rice straw and commercialized it as an agricultural material in 2003. “At first, we marketed it as an alternative to burning rice fields, which is how farmers typically dispose of rice straw after harvest,” said 54-year-old Yutaka Matano, the chief researcher at Menicon who developed the product. On Sado, however, they found a different purpose for it. In an effort to restore the bird’s habitat, farmers recently adopted the practice of reflooding their rice fields each November after the annual harvest. This helps loaches and other creatures survive the winter, thereby providing food for the ibis. But the leftover rice straw cannot be decomposed by microorganisms and is left underwater to rot at the bottom of the fields, inhibiting the growth of seeds for the following year’s harvest. Upon learning of the problem, Menicon suggested sprinkling its decomposition accelerator on the fields to help farmers who were keeping their paddies flooded. The firm claimed that one sprinkling is enough to produce results. The powder costs about ¥3,000 per 2-kg bag. According to a local agricultural cooperative, about 4,000 bags were sold in 2017, up from 150 in 2006 when they first went on sale. A quarter of the bags were used to treat the reflooded rice paddies. “Because it can reduce the impact on the following year’s harvest, I think it gives farmers peace of mind,” a cooperative official said. In the past decade, the area covered by paddies flooded during winter has expanded by 300 hectares to roughly 675 hectares. “It’s an honor to be able to contribute to improving the habitat of the crested ibis,” said Matano, the Menicon researcher, who happens to be from Niigata. Menicon has been applying its lens cleaning know-how to agriculture since the 2000s.

niigata
nagoya
sado island
menicon co .
japanese crested ibis


Fidel Castro's son commits suicide, Cuban state-run media report

Abstract: HAVANA - The eldest son of late Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart, committed suicide Thursday at age 68 after being treated for months for depression, Cuban state-run media reported. Castro Diaz-Balart, also known as “Fidelito” because of how much he looked like his father, had initially been hospitalized for depression and then continued treatment as an outpatient. “Castro Diaz-Balart, who had been attended by a group of doctors for several months due to a state of profound depression, committed suicide this morning,” said website Cubadebate. Fidelito was born in 1949 out of his father’s brief marriage to Mirta Diaz-Balart before he went on to topple a U.S.-backed dictator and build a communist-run state on the doorstep of the United States during the Cold War. Castro died just over a year ago, on Nov. 26, 2016, age 90. A nuclear physicist who studied in the former Soviet Union, Castro Diaz-Balart had been working as a scientific counselor to the Cuban Council of State and vice president of the Cuban Academy of Sciences at the time of his death. Previously, from 1980 to 1992, he was head of Cuba’s national nuclear program, and spearheaded the development of a nuclear plant on the Caribbean’s largest island. After Cuba halted those plans in 1992, which was due to a lack of funding after the collapse of Cuba’s trade and aid ties with the ex-Soviet bloc, Castro Diaz-Balart largely disappeared from public view.

suicide
cuba
fidel castro
nuclear energy
depression
mental health
fidel castro diaz-balart


Japanese drone service provider Terra taps Indian market

Abstract: NEW DELHI - Tokyo-based drone service and solution provider Terra Drone Corp. will launch operations in India this year to apply unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) tech within the industry field of Asia’s third-largest economy. Terra Drone India Pvt., a local unit of the firm, was incorporated last month to focus on “data acquisition services,” Terra Drone India Managing Director Kota Kandori said in an email interview with NNA. With an initial investment of $1 million (about ¥106 million), Terra Drone India will develop drones, supply materials and create related software, as well as provide survey data analysis with the focus on “industry areas like construction, mining, railway, power lines, etc.,” he said. Drones have been used in India for aerial surveys and other purposes over the past few years, citing advantages such as low mobilization costs and efficient use of time, as well as the ability to conduct surveys in urban, forestry, mining and disaster-affected areas, according to a 2017 report by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry. The Ministry of Mines has separately issued a memo regarding mining sector drones to all state governments and public sector undertakings such as National Aluminum Co. and Hindustan Copper Ltd. Terra Drone opened branches in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne last year as part of its overseas expansion strategy, counting on the demand for drone-related services within Australia’s construction industry. In the Japanese market, the company has forged partnerships with major mining and construction firms like Hitachi Construction Machinery Co. to provide fully automated UAV surveying and data analysis of construction sites.

india
drone
mining
surveys
construction industry
terra drone corp .


Online test aims to educate Japanese teen girls about sexual violence

Abstract: Question: “Someone I’ve met on the internet asked me to send them a picture of myself. What should I do?” Answer A: “It might be OK to send it if it’s a shot of you with a friend.” Answer B: “Forget about it.” The correct answer is B, according to SHE Kentei (Sexual Health Education Test), a 10-question web-based quiz aimed at teaching teenagers the basics on how to avoid falling prey to sexual crimes and violence. The Japanese-language test, which was released last week and can be found at she.shiawasenamida.org , was developed jointly by Shiawase Namida (Happy Tears), a Tokyo-based nonprofit organization that supports sex crime victims, and the Life and Birth Studies Association, which offers birth education at schools. The idea for creating the online quiz came out of the groups’ desire to reach out to and empower teenage girls, many of whom are not armed with the knowledge to protect themselves before starting sexual relationships and have often suffered some form of damage already, Hiromi Nakano, head of Shiawase Namida, said at a recent event in Tokyo. “Sexual education tools available so far have been geared toward prevention (of unwanted sexual advances and pregnancies),” she said. “But some of the girls have already been raped and got pregnant, or have already had sex.” The groups’ members spent two years crafting the questions on the sensitive issue of sex and sexuality, which isn’t often taught in schools in detail. After each question, regardless of whether the test-takers answer correctly or not, they are led to an explanation of do’s and don’ts in simple, jargon-free language (the main target users are seventh-grade girls). For example, the website cautions against mailing a private photo to someone you have never met in person, whether it be of your face, body or even one showing you with a friend, noting that such acts can lead to trouble. And if the photo has already been sent, the site urges the sender to ask the recipient to delete it, and if that proves difficult, to consult reliable adults, such as family members, public health teachers, school counselors or the police. The test covers not only outright offenses such as rape and assault but also what might appear to be minor transgressions, and encourages users to stand firm. “My boyfriend checks on my mobile phone without my permission. Is that OK?” The correct answer is no, the site instructs, noting that checking on a date’s cellphone is a form of “date DV.” Date DV is the Japanese term for dating violence. Touching your body against your will, becoming irrationally angry with you and demanding money from you are also considered forms of abuse, the site explains and provides a link to a hotline ( ddv110.org ) run by a Kanagawa Prefecture-based nonprofit. Going through the test helps correct common misconceptions, for instance that the typical rapist is a stranger to the victim. In reality, 75 percent of all sexual assaults are committed by acquaintances, including family members and schoolteachers, according to a 2014 Cabinet Office survey covering 1,811 women, in which 6.5 percent said they had been victimized. After completing the quiz, people can get a certificate by typing in their name, sex and age. This helps the test creators compile statistics on the users’ ages and their level of knowledge. The creators said they are looking for feedback on the test and will update it before developing a smartphone app version.

sexuality
sex crimes
child abuse
domestic abuse


'Japanized' ethnic minority in Taiwan struggling to restore their own language

Abstract: TAIPEI - At a general store in a thickly forested mountain valley in eastern Taiwan, villagers are not speaking Mandarin Chinese nor Taiwanese but, surprisingly, a variant form of Japanese. Aohua village in Nanao township in Yilan County is home to indigenous Atayal people, whose language stems from the days when Japan pushed thorough Japanese-language education and promoted “Japanization” during its 50-year colonial rule of the island up to 1945. “My father repeatedly told us before he died that Japanese people did us two good things and two bad things,” said 55-year-old store manager Sicyang Isaw. “They helped us make our life better by introducing agriculture and taught us to be hardworking. On the other hand, their tight rein and forcing us to speak Japanese were bad,” she said. The Atayal people originally lived by hunting in the mountains and were known as fierce fighters. “Even after Japan left Taiwan, our parents raised us using familiar Japanese,” Sicyang said. “So our common language in the hamlet is still Japanese.” The Japanese language has continued to be covertly used for more than half a century and has evolved into a unique variant, with particles frequently omitted. During her high school years in an urban area, Sicyang was asked by one of her Han Chinese friends if she could speak the Atayal language. She answered “yes” and spoke some. But the friend denied that she spoke an ethnic language and pointed out to her that she was using Japanese. Her four children can’t speak the Atayal language. Her grandchildren started taking an ethnic-language class at school while speaking Chinese in their daily conversation. Sicyang herself regularly studies the Atayal language in an adult education class. The ethnic-language education started during the administration of Lee Teng-hui, Taiwan’s first directly elected leader and who promoted democratization, and progressed largely under the following 2000-2008 Democratic Progressive Party presidency of Chen Shui-bian. Indigenous people account for about 2 percent of Taiwan’s estimated population of 23.6 million. Among them, the Atayal are quite numerous, scattered across many parts of Taiwan. They include Vivian Hsu, a TV personality active in Japan whose mother is a native Atayal. Indigenous people face not only the language barrier but also environmental issues. At a community center, a gathering of Aohua villagers discussed development plans for another stone pit on the upper side of the hamlet. They voiced concerns about the plans, with one saying “it may further the destruction of the environment” and another saying that “it might have adverse effects on the younger generation.” There are numerous quarries on the nearby mountain and many men from the village make their living as truck drivers, transporting the stone quarried from the pits. When Sicyang was a child, crabs could be caught in a mountain stream, but they are now long gone as sediment deposits have increased due to the quarrying. Sicyang has launched a group to protect the Atayal ethnic identity, and to try to conserve the environment of the hamlet and revitalize their traditional culture. “I believe there are similar problems around the world. The strong foist what they do not want on the ethnic minority’s land,” Hayung Noqan, a 47-year-old elementary school teacher, said after the briefing at the center. Born in Aohua, Hayung has studied the hamlet’s history. Aohua and its vicinity once became a candidate for a final disposal site for radioactive waste from a nuclear power station in 2014. The Aohua elementary school, where Hayung teaches, is the only primary school in the hamlet, which has a population of 1,000 people and 77 students in total. In a classroom of first-graders, a 69-year-old female teacher wearing traditional costume teaches the Atayal language. The teacher, who is from another hamlet, said she grew up speaking the language at home. She also speaks Japanese. Sicyang’s grandchild, Toli Iban, 9, is a third-grader at the school. At her store, Toli was asked to say something in Atayal and bashfully tried, quickly drawing loud laughter from the people around — because what he said was Japanese for “Where are you going?” The environment these days for learning the Atayal language in schools has improved from years gone by, but Sicyang said that “taking a class once a week is too little.” “We grew up hearing the Atayal language our parents and grandparents spoke in conversation. But our grandchildren have little opportunity to listen to the language in everyday life, so it’s the same as a foreign language,” she said while weaving an ethnic-patterned cloth. “We have a sense of crisis that our own language may disappear. I hope we all will talk in Atayal, not in Japanese, in the future.”

history japanese taiwan ethnicity atayal


Cryptoprofits are taxable — have you filed?

Abstract: Many people probably gambled on the cryptocurrency investment boom last year, and some might even have been lucky enough to earn a fortune. But any profits come at a price. In December, ahead of the annual tax return season from Feb. 16 to March 15, the National Tax Agency released guidance on how it taxes cryptocurrency profits. Here are some questions and answers about how virtual currency is being taxed in Japan. Who is obligated to pay tax on virtual-currency investments? Basically, if you earn ¥200,000 or more from cryptocurrency trading, you must pay tax. Such profits are considered miscellaneous income. One’s total income is taxed in seven bands, depending on the amount. The lowest band, covering those who earn ¥1.95 million or less, is taxed at 5 percent. The highest band, for those who earn more than ¥40 million, is taxed at 45 percent. Your income is also subject to a residential tax of 10 percent. Together, the maximum tax rate is 55 percent. Do I have to pay tax even if I am only holding coins and not trading them? According to current tax agency rules, no. What if I buy something with virtual currency? You still have to pay tax. Bitcoin is accepted by some stores in Japan and is most likely to be the currency of choice for purchasing products. For instance, if you buy a bitcoin for ¥200,000 and then use it to purchase a ¥1 million item after the coin itself becomes worth ¥1 million, the tax rate is calculated by subtracting the price of the bitcoin when it was acquired, from the price of the product when it was purchased. So the amount of income you would need to report is ¥1 million minus ¥200,000, or ¥800,000. How about trading one kind of virtual currency for another? This scenario, too, is subject to taxation, and the calculation used is basically the same one that would apply if you had purchased a real product. Yasuhiko Sugiyama, a tax accountant knowledgeable in tech-related tax matters, said this is something many people are unaware of because this kind of transaction does not involve real money. I lost money on a cryptocurrency investment. Can I deduct any losses? No. Under the current rules, only losses from real estate, business, asset transfers and forestry income can be deducted from income. What will happen if I don’t pay tax? This will result in penalty taxes other than what is usually assessed when tax payers refuse to pay. These penalties could add as much as 20 percent to what you were originally supposed to pay, plus a penalty for the delay. Sugiyama warned that those who profit from cryptocurrency investments should not think they can get away without paying tax because regulation has enabled the tax agency to identify account holders from reports compiled by the exchanges. Even if you don’t keep records of any transactions, a rough profit figure can be calculated simply by subtracting the amount you invested from your total at the end of December.


Fukushima fruit exports to Southeast Asia peachy as contamination fears dissipate

Abstract: Among peaches Japan exported to Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia last year, those produced in Fukushima Prefecture led the way, retaining their No. 1 status for two years in a row. According to the prefectural government, 48 tons of Fukushima peaches were shipped to the three countries in 2017, up 57 percent from the previous year, thanks to efforts by local producers and distributors to acquire new customers. With bans from the Fukushima nuclear disaster still in place around Asia, however, Fukushima officials said they will continue calling on the central government to negotiate with biggest customers of Japanese peaches, Hong Kong and Taiwan, to encourage them to lift bans on produce from the prefecture. According to data compiled by the prefectural government based on Finance Ministry trade statistics and transaction data from local farm co-ops, Thailand topped the list of Fukushima peaches importers for two years in a row, with shipments in 2017 totaling 31.1 tons, or 1.5 times higher than the previous year. Fukushima peaches accounted for 94.8 percent of its peach imports from Japan. Exports to Malaysia reached 15 tons, making up 72.5 percent of its Japanese peach imports, while exports to Indonesia totaled 1.5 tons, or 51.7 percent of its Japanese peach imports. Both amounts more than doubled from a year ago. In Thailand, the number of stores selling Fukushima peaches rose to 70 from roughly 50, mainly in Bangkok, after the prefectural government entrusted a local importer to take steps to bolster sales, such as by dispatching staff to the stores when the peaches are in season. Fukushima Gov. Masao Uchibori visited Malaysia in August to promote the fruit, resulting in a deal to export 15 tons to the nation last year. Produce other than peaches has been making headway in Southeast Asia as well, especially in nations with high economic development and relatively fewer negative rumors about Fukushima. Fukushima exported 77 tons of rice to Malaysia in 2017, up from none a year before, and 16.3 tons of persimmons to Thailand. To accelerate exports of local produce, the prefectural government will put together a new strategy before the end of March. It plans to analyze different preferences and consumers’ purchasing power by nation and region and set target markets for each item. It will then draw up measures to create production systems that meet the needs of those markets and find ways to promote the products. “The efforts of people involved, including producers, farm co-ops and importers, have produced good results,” an official with Fukushima’s division for promoting local produce said. “We will continue working on developing effective sales channels to win the support of overseas consumers.”

fukushima
southeast asia
exports
peaches


Kind act sprouts into grass-roots movement to feed kids

Abstract: Hiroko Kondo is credited with coining the term kodomo shokudō : makeshift eateries for disadvantaged kids that morphed into a national grass-roots movement to address the growth of poverty in Japan. But when the 58-year-old first opened her humble “children’s cafeteria” in a residential backstreet in Tokyo’s Ota Ward in 2012, she did not imagine the concept would take on a life of its own and spawn hundreds of similar diners. The idea was conceived from what she heard back in 2010 from the vice principal of a local elementary school who stopped by Kondo’s organic grocery store to pick up some vegetables. The teacher described how one of her pupils wasn’t eating properly. Her mother was mentally ill and unable to cook, so the child spent a typical day subsisting on her school lunch and a banana. “I couldn’t understand how something like that could be happening in Japan, where you see food everywhere,” Kondo said. “Just imagining that child peeling a banana alone at home tore me up,” the mother of three told The Japan Times in a recent interview. In October 2009, the labor ministry disclosed in a report that 15.7 percent of the population, or almost one in six people, were living in relative poverty in 2007. The report also listed a child poverty rate of 14.2 percent — one of the worst in the industrialized world. The revelation forced the nation to accept the fact that the gap between rich and poor was widening as a result of years of economic stagnation and the slow demise of the lifetime employment system, leading to a surge in lowly paid, temporary workers. Around that time, Kondo had begun selling organic produce after quitting her two-decade stint as a dental hygienist at a Tokyo clinic. She also ran a community space called Dandan at a former izakaya (traditional pub) she was able to rent for a bargain. She figured she could use the venue to serve healthy dinners to poor or lonely children at a discount. But it took nearly two years for the project to take off. By then, the student whose story had moved Kondo had been sent to an orphanage. “I couldn’t do anything and felt pathetic,” she recounted. The diner, which Kondo named Kodomo Shokudo, opened its doors in August 2012. Kondo distributed handwritten leaflets advertising the initiative to mothers who visited her store to buy groceries. “Through word of mouth, around 17 or 18 kids showed up for dinner cooked by volunteers on the very first occasion,” she said. Back then, Kodomo Shokudo operated on a bimonthly basis and Kondo charged ¥300 for children and ¥500 for adults. She used leftover vegetables from her store and cooked meals using organic seasoning and rice sold in her shop. Her cafeteria is now open every Thursday night and kids can enjoy a meal for one coin: ¥5, ¥10, ¥50 or any coin for that matter — even foreign currencies or arcade tokens — that doesn’t exceed ¥100. Kondo could have offered the meals for free — she receives food donations from sympathizers — but decided against it. “I didn’t want kids to feel they are accepting charity. Paying something — anything — helps maintain their dignity,” she said. Her diner is also not necessarily limited to children. Elderly folks, those with disabilities and adults having a hard time getting by, all come in to chat and sit down for a cheap meal. A slightly built sprightly woman, Kondo grew up in a family of farmers in Yasugi, Shimane Prefecture. She recalled how her community made efforts to support people in need. “We were by no means well-off, but we had rice and vegetables that we could offer in exchange for some favors,” she said. “That experience is central to my identity.” Soon after Kondo’s cafeteria opened its doors, similar eateries began sprouting up elsewhere in the capital. Inspired by Kondo, a nonprofit organization in Toshima Ward called Wakuwaku Network opened its own version of Kodomo Shokudo in 2012. The NGO, headed by Chieko Kuribayashi, also runs learning centers and a park for children. In 2016, Kuribayashi, a vocal proponent of community service, spearheaded a nationwide promotional campaign with Kondo to spread the word on how to run so-called children’s cafeterias. Yutaka Kamaike of the Kodomo Shokudo Network, a loosely knit association aimed at sharing information among cafeteria organizers, said the number of these temporary eateries — many of which operate in community centers, restaurants and homes — has grown substantially in the past few years thanks to media coverage and heightened public awareness. “When we launched our network in 2015, we had seven registered Kodomo Shokudo,” he said. “We now have 290 across the nation.” The popularity of the cafeterias also reflects how policymakers are struggling to address the issue of child poverty. As traditional communities hollow out and family ties erode, many disadvantaged people are left to struggle on their own. The government passed a child poverty law in 2013 to address disparities in financial resources and educational opportunities among children, but critics say it lacks specific numerical targets and that the programs organized by the government are underfunded. Grass-roots initiatives like Kodomo Shokudo essentially exist to fill some of that void. The signs of poverty, however, are largely hidden from view, Kondo said, noting that it’s difficult to identify children from struggling households merely by their appearance. She said some kids dine alone because their parents are working late. Some come from single-parent households prone to financial hardships. The health ministry released a report last year that said just over half of such families are under the poverty line. Official statistics also illustrate how children from poor families often find it difficult to achieve higher education and are more likely to end up in low-paying jobs. Kondo’s aim is to present underprivileged kids with alternative role models for the future. “I want them to understand that money is important, but that it’s not everything.” Since late last year, she has been hosting workshops at Dandan in which adults with unique occupations, such as a lumberjack who moonlights as a Christian minister, talk about what they do for a living. She wants to see others who share her vision take part in organizing similar sessions across the nation. “This is one way we can take part in education, outside of school,” she said.

children
poverty
kodomo shokudo
hiroko kondo


Japan's next ambassador to U.S. firm on stance against North Korea

Abstract: Shinsuke Sugiyama, the next Japanese ambassador to the United States, said Thursday that he will do all he can to resolve issues pertaining to North Korea’s nuclear arms and missile programs and its abductions of Japanese nationals. “I’ll make my utmost effort to resolve the North Korean nuclear, missile and abduction issues, under strong cooperation between Japan and the United States, and among the two plus South Korea,” Sugiyama, who will arrive in the United States next month, said in an interview with news organizations. The North Korean situation is “far from improving, … even worsening,” the former vice foreign minister pointed out. The current situation “can be called the biggest crisis for Japan’s security since World War II,” he said. “With the maximum pressure policy against North Korea, we’ll continue efforts to convince North Korea that it has no future unless it changes its policy,” Sugiyama said. Sugiyama said the Japanese-U.S. alliance will remain firm on North Korean issues, noting that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. President Donald Trump have a “very close and firm personal relationship of trust.” “The prime minister and the president completely share the stance of rejecting any dialogue (with North Korea) unless its denuclearization is a precondition,” he said. “There shouldn’t be disagreements between Japan and the United States, and among Japan, the United States and South Korea,” he said. “My duty will be to regularly confirm this position with the U.S. government and strengthen our ties.” Sugiyama added that there would be a need for talks if North Korea becomes serious about abandoning its nuclear arms and missile programs and resolving the abduction issue. Besides the North Korean issues, the incoming ambassador underscored the need to deepen bilateral economic talks under a scheme led by Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso, who doubles as finance minister, and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence. Sugiyama also said he will work hard to gain acceptance of Japan’s position against statues built in the United States, as well as other countries, that symbolize the “comfort women,” or Korean and other females who were forced to sexually serve wartime Japanese soldiers.

shinzo abe
u.s .
north korea
south korea
comfort women
nuclear arms
abductions
japan
shinsuke sugiyama
donald trump


Blackface in Chinese Lunar New Year sketch draws criticism

Abstract: BEIJING - A comedy sketch that featured a Chinese woman in blackface has drawn accusations of racism after being broadcast on Chinese state television’s Lunar New Year variety show, although some people in Beijing were left wondering why it would be considered offensive. The skit was shown Thursday night on CCTV and depicted the opening of a Chinese-built high-speed railway in Kenya. It featured actors in monkey and giraffe costumes, while the actress in blackface wore an exaggerated false bottom and carried a basket of fruit on her head. The segment was meant to celebrate Sino-African relations, but many viewers blasted it online for cultural insensitivity. The performance was part of CCTV’s annual Lunar New Year gala, which draws an audience of up to 800 million and is said to be one of the most watched programs in the world. The 13-minute segment opened with a dance sequence set to Colombian singer Shakira’s “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)” featuring Africans dressed in zebra, lion and gazelle costumes, and actresses playing attendants on Kenya’s new Chinese-built high-speed rail line. The skit then began with a black woman asking the show’s host to pose as her husband when meeting her mother in order to avoid being set up on a blind date. A Chinese actress playing her mother then strides in made up in blackface followed by an actor in a monkey costume. The host’s Chinese wife then appears, ending the deception. But the African mother says she can’t be angry because “China has done so much for Africa.” “I love Chinese people! I love China,” the actress in blackface exclaims. Although the skit, titled “Same Joy, Same Happiness,” was meant to celebrate Sino-African relations, many viewers condemned it online, with some calling it “cringe-worthy” and “completely racist.” But the reaction on the streets of Beijing on Friday was muted, with some saying the criticism was overblown. “It’s normal for Chinese actors to dress up like foreigners when performing a foreign play,” said Zhou Hengshan, 80. “This wasn’t meant to demean any specific ethnic group.” Xue Lixia, 20, said she trusted CCTV’s judgment in assessing whether the skit was racist. “After all, this is a sketch that was broadcast on the Lunar New Year gala. If there was any racism, then it would have already been cut,” Liu said. Chinese society is overwhelmingly dominated by the Han ethnic majority and racial sensitivities are generally much less pronounced than in the West. Blackface is considered especially offensive in the United States because of its strong connections to slavery and bigotry against blacks. This isn’t the first time CCTV’s Lunar New Year gala has come under fire. The show is laden with praise for the ruling Communist Party and its policies, especially on culture and ethnic relations, and its portrayals of China’s own ethnic minorities, particularly Muslim Uighurs from the northwestern region of Xinjiang, have sometimes been derided as crude.

china rights tv ethnicity discrimination


Kansai executives offer advice on improving nation's diplomacy

Abstract: OSAKA - ‘Track II diplomacy” is the official neutral-sounding phrase used to refer to diplomatic efforts by “nonstate” actors. In thriller films and books, it’s usually portrayed as a game of shadows between powerful but mysterious groups and individuals who may, or may not, be working to save the world. Hollywood-style drama aside, Track II diplomacy, at its most transparent, plays a vital role in a country’s international relations, and involves businesses, NGOs, academic experts, and others. Certainly corporations in Japan are not shy about Track II diplomacy and The Kansai Association of Corporate Executives is particularly vocal, sending missions abroad to discuss Japan’s diplomacy and security. In a report released last month, the association showed it was capable of outside-the-box thinking. The Kansai region has long had stronger trade relations with East and Southeast Asia than the Tokyo region. Kansai’s political and economic leaders have never made their “Asia First” worldview a secret. Such views are reflected in the report when they worry Japanese diplomacy may be too America-centric. A potentially dangerous policy, given uncertainties about the mercurial U.S. President Donald Trump and what Kansai (and much of Japan) sees as a more isolationist U.S. Time to put more emphasis on Asia, is the advice. If the report had stopped there, it would have been dismissed, rightly, as the usual thinking from Kansai. This time, however, the corporate executives offered specific suggestions for more fundamental improvements of the nation’s diplomatic structure as it faces the reality of a rapidly aging society, declining birthrate and the prospect of a shrinking traditional diplomatic corps. The first proposal is to revamp the current national examination system in order to allow more people in the private sector with overseas knowledge and language skills to become involved with formal diplomacy. Their second proposal is to establish a national graduate school that specializes in training students to think more effectively about diplomatic and security issues, with the hope that graduates go on to a career as diplomatic specialists. The Kansai business leaders envision classes attended by Japanese with backgrounds in politics and international relations and being tutored by Japanese and international diplomatic and security experts while networking with foreign scholars from international universities and think tanks. The new graduate school would also offer high-level foreign language training, with an emphasis on the kinds of language and communication skills needed in modern diplomatic negotiations. The proposal is to be welcomed for offering sincere answers to very difficult questions about what, exactly, the structure of diplomacy in 21st century should be, and not only in Japan. Nobody would disagree that diplomats everywhere need all the help they can get. Or that Japanese diplomats, notoriously reticent at international conferences and often quite poor at dealing with the international media, would benefit from increased language and communication training. But the private sector is ultimately responsible only to the needs of a narrow group of shareholders, not the country. Business is about making a profit this quarter. Diplomacy is, ultimately, about the art of preventing war. A corps of professional diplomats who don’t also have complex financial ties and personal loyalties to private firms is a good thing, not a bad thing. In an age where corporations exercise more influence over our lives than ever, it’s easy to assume business types playing a bigger role in official diplomacy is desirable, natural and inevitable. The proposals of the Kansai executives will sound good to many. But attempts by those heretofore involved in Track II diplomacy to jump onto Track I diplomacy without first establishing clear lines of responsibility, high standards of transparency, and strict legal accountability risks running Japan’s diplomatic efforts off the rails.

kansai association of corporate executives


Media reports de-romanticize the cleanup work on the Fukushima nuclear power plant

Abstract: Most of the reliable reporting about the clean-up of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant since it suffered three meltdowns in March 2011 has been from on-site workers. Even when articles appear in major media outlets about the situation at the crippled reactor, it’s usually presented through the anonymous or pseudonymous firsthand experiences of the men on the front lines. Some have become famous. The public would not know much about the situation without Kazuto Tatsuta’s manga series , “Ichiefu” (or “1F” — shorthand for “Fukushima No. 1”), the writings of former letter carrier and cleanup worker Minoru Ikeda , or the books and tweets of a man known as “Happy” who has been working as an employee at the plant. Because these individuals directly address what they and their colleagues have gone through on a daily basis, the work they do has been de-romanticized. It’s not as heroic as initial foreign media reports made it out to be . If anything, it’s tedious and uncomplicated. Workers are concerned about those matters that all blue-collar laborers worry about — pay and benefits — which isn’t to suggest they don’t think about the possible health risks of radiation exposure. Last October , Ikeda talked to the comedy duo-cum-nuclear power reporters Oshidori Mako & Ken on the web channel Jiyu-na Radio about potential false reports on radiation levels around Fukushima , although also touching on health issues that have not been reported by the mainstream media. His main point was that serious illnesses may not manifest themselves until years after workers quit the site and thus no longer qualify for worker’s compensation. In other words, the workers understand the risk. They just want to be fairly compensated for it. In that regard, one of the most common gripes from on-site reporters is the “hazard compensation” ( kiken teate ) workers are supposed to receive. Recently, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. (Tepco), which is both responsible for the accident and in charge of the cleanup, announced a reduction in outlay associated with the hazard compensation, which is paid as a supplement to wages. This compensation can add as much as ¥20,000 a day to a worker’s pay, but now that Tepco says radiation levels have dropped, they will no longer provide the compensation, or, at least, not as much as they have been paying. A special report in the Jan. 22 Tokyo Shimbun attempted to explain how this change will affect workers and the work itself . In March 2016, Tepco divided the work area into three zones: red, for high radiation levels; yellow, for some radioactivity; and green, for areas that had no appreciable radioactivity. Workers interviewed by Tokyo Shimbun say they’ve never liked this system because they feel it “has no meaning.” Rubble from the red zone is routinely transferred to the green zone, where heavy machinery kicks up a lot of dust, so there’s no physical delineation between zones when it comes to radiation levels. On the ground, this reality is addressed by subcontractors who make their employees in the green zone — which constitutes 95 percent of the work site — wear extra protective gear, even though Tepco doesn’t require it. But the workers’ main gripe about the zone system is that most of them ended up being paid less and, as on-site workers have often explained, they weren’t getting paid as much as people thought they were . Contractors advertise high wages to attract workers, but then subtract things like room and board, utility fees, clothing and equipment. And it’s been known for years that the hazard compensation was more or less a racket gamed by the contractors standing between Tepco, which distributes the compensation, and the workers, who are supposed to be the beneficiaries. There can be up to six layers of contractors between Tepco and a worker, and each layer may take a cut of the compensation. In 2014, four workers sued Tepco for ¥62 million , saying they worked at the site but received none of the promised hazard compensation. That situation still seems to be in play, according to Tokyo Shimbun. Several subcontractors told the newspaper they receive the compensation for their workers not from Tepco directly but from the contractor that hired them, and in most cases the compensation has been reduced, sometimes by more than half. One subcontractor said that a company above them actually apologized for the paucity of the compensation they were handing down because their “revenues had decreased.” The man known as Happy told Tokyo Shimbun that Tepco is ordering less work at the site, which means existing subcontractors may cut wages in order to compete for these dwindling jobs. Some contractors have even invested in the robots that are used to inspect the reactor, because they want the work to continue without interruption. It was common practice to rotate out workers toiling in the highly radioactive areas regularly and quickly and then re-assign them to low-radiation areas. After some time they may have been rotated back into the high-radiation area, where pay is more. The man known as Happy says this sort of system now seems to be on the way out, and that makes sense if radiation is actually decreasing. However, he’s afraid that if there is another emergency that requires a sudden influx of workers, they won’t be available. Tepco is obviously thinking of its bottom line, and the man known as Happy thinks the work should be managed by the government, which is contributing tax money to the cleanup . However, it seems only the Japan Communist Party is reading the dispatches from the plant. Last May, Japanese Communist Party lawmaker Taku Yamazoe questioned Tepco President Naomi Hirose about the hazard compensation in the Diet , and why the structure of payments to workers wasn’t clear. Hirose said that while his company intends that the money goes to workers, he cannot say for sure that is the case because of the circumstances surrounding Tepco’s relationships with contractors. With work on the wane, it seems unlikely that those workers will see any of the money that’s owed to them, retroactively or otherwise.

employment
fukushima nuclear power plant
fukushima nuclear accident


The face of immigration is rapidly changing in Japan

Abstract: Over the past half decade, major changes have taken place in the demographics of foreign residents in Japan. Weekly Playboy’s Dec. 18 issue devoted a four-page article to “Research into Vietnamese.” Why Vietnamese? And why now? “Their numbers in Japan have drastically increased,” the magazine rationalizes. Up fourfold from five years ago, they grew by a remarkable 36.1 percent between 2015 and 2016. The Vietnamese population of 232,562 (as of end June 2017) has shot past Brazil to make them the fourth-largest nationality, and they may soon overtake the Philippines (251,934) for third place. Take, for example, the city of Matsudo, a bed town of about 484,000 in Chiba Prefecture served by the JR Joban commuter line, about 21 minutes from Tokyo’s Ueno Station. It currently boasts 15,058 foreign residents, including a growing community of Vietnamese. “Matsudo has lots of Japanese-language schools,” the chef at a local Vietnamese restaurant tells the reporter. “Spread by word of mouth among Vietnamese, the number of foreign students has increased. Still, they don’t stand out much. It’s probably because only a few of them do business around here.” Weekly Playboy’s reporter then traveled to Hiroshima Prefecture, which last year was ranked fourth nationwide in terms of the number of technical trainees from Vietnam. Enough on a proportional basis, he writes with some exaggeration, to make Hiroshima a “province of Vietnam.” Duan, a 32-year-old housewife originally from Hanoi, tells the reporter: “The Japanese I work with are devious. They scare me and I don’t care for them much.” Duan arrived four years ago as a language student, and wound up marrying a Japanese 18 years her senior. The language school where Duan first studied operated a side-business of farming out its students to part-time jobs, and initially Duan labored at a demanding job in a shipping depot for refrigerated items. “One day I dropped a heavy box on my foot,” she relates bitterly. “I could barely walk and had to seek medical attention. Even the day I went to the hospital the company made me work.” To make matters worse, she said, the school arranged with the depot to report her injury as having occurred during her commute to work, thereby making her ineligible for worker’s compensation. Conditions at her second job, at a restaurant, proved no better. Still, she expressed deep affection for her Japanese husband, a “sweet old guy” whom she describes as caring and generous. While not dwelling on negative aspects of immigration, Weekly Playboy doesn’t pull any punches, noting that Vietnamese are already the Japan’s top minority in one unenviable statistic: During 2015, their 2,556 violations of the criminal code exceeded the 2,390 cases by Chinese. A police interpreter working in the Chubu region says roughly half of Vietnamese trainees and students are unable to keep up their school tuition payments and drop out; many turn to crime. According to government figures, the number of legal foreign residents in Japan last year reached 2.47 million, or 1.95 percent of the total population. On a proportional basis that might not seem like a lot, compared to, say, Switzerland, where non-citizens make up 29 percent, or Australia (28 percent). The 34-page cover story in Weekly Toyo Keizai (Feb. 3) titled “Japan, the major nation of hidden immigrants” views the issue from a variety of macro- and micro-perspectives. The issue starts by noting that the total number of foreign residents in the country presently outstrips the 2.31 million population of Nagoya — Japan’s third-largest city — by more than 100,000. So if that’s the case, why does Toyo Keizai use the word kakure (hidden) in its headline to describe immigration? “Depending on the perspective, Japan is already a major nation of immigrants,” declares chief economist Koichi Fujishiro of the Dai-ichi Mutual Life Insurance Co. It seems that while the government maintains the position that Japan is not open to immigration, according to definitions in use by some organizations, an immigrant is simply “a person who has resided in a foreign country for one year or longer.” If that’s the case, then according to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, during 2015 Japan admitted approximately 400,000 immigrants — in substance if not in name — placing it fourth overall among advanced economies, behind Germany, the U.S. and the U.K. The cities with the highest foreign population are listed as Yokohama, with 92,117; Nagoya with 77,668; Kobe (46,831); Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward (which is treated as a separate municipality, with 43,354); and Kawasaki (38,651). While Weekly Playboy focused on Vietnamese, Toyo Keizai played guide to the Chinatown that has sprung up in the vicinity of Nishi Kawaguchi Station, situated on the JR Keihin-Tohoku Line in Saitama Prefecture just across the Arakawa River from Tokyo’s Kita Ward. Inside the station building one can indulge in a Chinese-style breakfast of doujiang (hot soya milk) and youtiao (deep-fried dough crullers). Ethnic groceries sell live turtles and frogs. Roughly half the businesses patronized mostly by Chinese are food and beverage establishments. Within the Chinese community, people from different provinces tend to dominate different types of business areas. While food services are run largely by arrivals from the northeastern provinces, mizu shōbai (bars and related “adult” businesses) tend to be managed by people from Fujian province on China’s southeastern coast. A color-coded map of Nishi Kawaguchi’s Chinatown identifies 28 Chinese-operated businesses, including three retail stores, 20 restaurants and five service businesses — a billiard parlor, two internet cafes, a karaoke outlet and a real estate agency. And where are the accusatory cries complaining of new arrivals taking jobs away from Japanese? Forced to confront a serious and worsening labor shortage, Japan’s politicians and bureaucrats are clearly much less inclined to quibble over the downsides to immigration. That makes it practically the diametric opposite of the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. Which also raises the question: Will some of those deported from the United States possibly wind up in Japan?

immigration
foreign residents
vietnamese residents


'Because I'm a Mom' children's song sends vexed mothers the wrong message

Abstract: What was meant to be a much-needed pat on the back for mothers has done more harm than good. In Hulu’s original children’s program “Dai! Dai! Daisuke Onisan!!,” hosted by ex-NHK talent Daisuke Yokoyama, Daisuke Onisan performed a new song titled “Atashi Okasan Dakara” (“Because I’m a Mom”). Written by popular children’s book author Nobumi, the lyrics go like this: “I was living alone before I became a mom/ I wore heels, I painted my nails/ I tried to act strong and tried to prove I could work. Today I cut my nails to play with my kids/ I wear clothes I can run in so I can go to my part-time job/ Because I’m a mom/ Because I’m a mom. I wake up at 5 a.m. feeling sleepy/ Because I’m a mom/ I let you eat my favorite food/ Because I’m a mom/ I memorize names of trains/ Because I’m a mom. It’s always about you, not me. Because I’m a mom/ Because I’m a mom. I used to be thin before I was a mom/ I did what I liked and I bought what I liked/ All I thought about was myself. … If I could go back to before I was a mom, I would go out at night/ I would go to a concert and buy clothes for myself/ But I’ve quit all of that and now I’m a mom/ I’d rather be a mom over all of that. According to the writer, the song is meant to support mothers across Japan and the lyrics were based on stories he heard from real mothers. The song is not about what mothers have to sacrifice for their children, but what they are able to experience because of them, he says. Despite his best intentions, the song went viral across the internet — not for its uplifting message, but instead for placing a “curse” on mothers. “About the ‘Because I’m a Mom’ lyrics that everyone is talking about — if a mother sees this after giving birth, they probably would feel depressed,” Twitter user @ke315 says. “It reminded me of how I developed postpartum depression when I had my firstborn because I tried too hard. … Everyone is saying the song feels like a curse, but it really is true.” The repetitive phrase “Because I’m a Mom” implies that mothers face a burden, furthering the idea that women are expected to give up their lives in order to raise their children. This mentality isn’t just harmful for mothers, it also affects their children, @iroiro_niji says. “As a kid, the most painful thing to hear from your mother is stuff such as ‘I gave up things in my life because I’m a mom, because I have kids, because I care so much about you,’” @iroiro_niji says. “You start thinking, ‘Well, I should never have been born.’” To dispel the belief that mothers are all self-sacrificing saints, Twitter users began using the hashtag “#あたしお母さんだけど,” or “But I’m a Mom” in order to illustrate how women don’t need to give up who they are when they become mothers. “I’m a mom but I sleep in until 9 a.m., I paint my nails, I wear what I like, I want to lose weight and I love to eat spicy food,” says @mrc_0826 . Twitter user @moet_csf suggests going a step further. “It warms my heart that the ‘But I’m a Mom’ hashtag happened so quickly as a rebuttal to ‘Because I’m a Mom.’ Still, we shouldn’t even need to include the ‘But.’ Being a mom and enjoying your life are never at odds.” The “Because I’m a Mom” incident recalls the recent backlash diaper brand Moony received for their commercial portraying a mother struggling to raise her child without much help from her husband. It’s becoming increasingly clear that what Japanese mothers need isn’t praise for the pain they go through but removing the burden placed on them. While creating more day care centers would arguably be a better way of achieving this, it helps when the message presented by the media is “Mothers can take a break as well” instead of “You’re a mother, so it’s your job to endure.”

japan pulse
daisuke oniisan
nobumi
because i 'm a mom


Did press reports of a lawsuit spur an amendment to the welfare ministry's policy on benefits?

Abstract: On Jan. 16, the Fukushima District Court ruled in favor of a woman and her daughter who had sued the city of Fukushima for cutting their welfare benefits . When the woman’s daughter was in high school, the woman received a grant scholarship to help her child prepare for university by covering expenses for things such as cram schools. The city office deemed the scholarship to be “income” and subtracted the amount from her family’s government assistance, because children in low-income households that receive benefits are expected to leave the household and find a job after they turn 18 or graduate high school. The court said the city could not deny the benefits and told it to compensate the family. According to the Tokyo Shimbun, initial press coverage of the suit prompted the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, which administers government assistance, to issue a directive in August 2015 and instruct the city of Fukushima to pull back from reducing the family’s benefits . On Jan. 19, after the district court ruling, welfare minister Katsunobu Kato said he would instruct welfare offices nationwide to avoid such problems in the future. Kato’s announcement would seem to indicate a change in policy, but until the Public Assistance Law is amended, local governments can still withhold benefits for children who plan to attend university. One of the conditions of the law is that welfare recipients take advantage of their capabilities in order to maintain a minimum standard of living. In other words, if anyone in a household can work, they must. A child who wishes to continue on an educational path beyond high school forfeits their share of the household’s benefits. The Fukushima District Court decision implies that the government’s condition effectively prevents children of low-income families from getting out of the poverty cycle by means of higher education. The Tokyo Shimbun says a government panel in December recommended that the welfare system be revised so that it doesn’t deny young people the chance to attend university. The government, which plans to revise its welfare policy sometime this year, has taken the panel’s recommendation to heart. It does not plan to change the main structure of the law, but the government announced last week it would provide aid to qualified impoverished students (as opposed to welfare recipients) who wish to continue on to higher education starting this April. In the Feb. 1 installment of its “Jiron Koron” series, NHK explained how “livelihood assistance” (seikatsu fujo) for low-income households is determined . Since 1984, the government has pegged these benefits to the expenditures of the bottom 10 percent of income-earning households in Japan. Presently, the money that a low-income household consisting of a married couple and one child spends to get by (not counting housing) is about ¥136,000 a month, so families that qualify for livelihood assistance are in principle given an equivalent amount in benefits, adjusted for age, location of residence and other factors. The idea is that in order to achieve “balance,” the welfare family should not be given more money than an income-earning family needs to survive. The problem with this system, as NHK pointed out, is that financial circumstances are constantly changing. In 2004, the average annual income for the poorest 10 percent of households in Japan was ¥1.32 million. In 2014, it was ¥1.16 million. Since it follows that the less income a family has, the less it spends, livelihood assistance is constantly being reduced in order to achieve “balance.” This protocol is also used to adjust assistance for housing, education and other specific needs. So when the government carries out welfare reform this year, 67 percent of families who receive benefits at present will have them either reduced or terminated. The plan put forward will save the government ¥16 billion over the next three years, a 1.8 percent reduction in the overall welfare budget. Initially, the government estimated that 10 percent of all welfare households would be taken off the rolls after the revision, but when these households protested, the government said it would limit the eliminations to 5 percent. NHK says that 80 percent of welfare households contain only one person. A Jan. 25 Tokyo Shimbun article reported that about 40 percent of welfare households with children — about 150,000 — will see their benefits either reduced or terminated under the proposed revision . Benefits for the other 60 percent will likely increase. Critics of the system say that it is not fair or balanced because many households that are eligible for benefits don’t actually apply for them. An article in the Yomiuri Shimbun last June said that only 15.5 percent of people designated as being “poor” by the welfare ministry received government assistance of any kind in 2012 . In addition to income, applicants must submit information about assets. If an applicant has savings of more than a month’s worth of benefits, they can be turned down. If the applicant has a car, officials say it must be used for essential travel (driving to job interviews or visiting a hospital, for example). For people living in large cities that is not a problem, but for those living in rural areas, especially applicants with children, a car is often a necessity, but welfare officials may think otherwise. According to columnist Eiji Oguma in the Jan. 25 Asahi Shimbun, surveys show that the majority of low-income earners say they don’t “support” higher welfare benefits because they think it will increase their taxes and social security payments, which are already a considerable burden — this despite the fact that many probably qualify for assistance . Oguma finds this reaction “paradoxical,” and blames the media for spreading the “suspicion” that people who receive benefits don’t deserve them. Coverage of the Fukushima woman’s lawsuit seems to refute that charge, but maybe it’s an exceptional case.