Tetrapod

Abstract: Dear Alice, I have always wondered about the curious cement structures you see up and down the coast of Japan, the ones that look like the toy jacks I played with as a child, except that they’re massive in size. I assume they are placed to protect the coast from weather and waves, but what are they called? Who makes them? And how the heck are they transported to the shore? Even more perplexing is that I recently I saw a pile of them inland, in a peaceful canal in Tokyo where I can’t imagine waves are an issue. So, why the heck are they there? Galen S., Tokyo Dear Galen, Let’s start with the first part of your question. Those crazy jack-like structures are called tetrapods, from the Greek meaning “four-legged.” “Tetrapod” is actually a trade name registered to Fudo Tetra Corporation, a major supplier, but people tend to use the term generically. The proper generic nomenclature, for readers who like to know that kind of thing, is shōha block (wave-dissipation block) in Japanese and armor unit in English. Armor units are used all over the world — not just in Japan — to protect man-made constructions that get in the way of moving water, such as seawalls, breakwaters and land-reclamation projects like Kansai International Airport, which was built completely out in the water. Whether placed only on the open-sea side of a construction or all around it, armor units break the force of incoming waves and redirect the water so it doesn’t crash full-force against the construction. Tetrapods work particularly well as armor units because when arranged in lines or heaps, the legs lock together to create a stable, porous barrier that holds up well under even extreme conditions. To find out more, I paid a visit to Fudo Tetra’s Tokyo office, where public relations manager Takatoshi Matsubuchi explained that the tetrapod was invented in France in 1949. Up until then, coastal engineers typically used piles of stones or rubble to protect marine constructions, but the problem with that method is that loose pieces are easily scattered or washed away. The advantages of the tetrapod were obvious, particularly in Japan, which had 33,000 km of coast and more than 4,000 harbors and fishing ports to protect. In fact, Japanese engineers were so excited about the tetrapod that they didn’t wait for such niceties as contracts or licensing agreements. A patent dispute ensued and the Japanese government, eager to protect the country from kaigan shinshoku (coastal erosion), helped broker a swift settlement. In the following decades, and especially during Japan’s period of high economic growth, tetrapods and other concrete armor units were widely adopted. If you look up tetrapods online, you’ll see the widely repeated assertion that a full half of the coastline of Japan has been artificially altered with cement constructions. That’s a pretty shocking claim if true, but unfortunately none of the sites posting it provided a source. I did search for primary data but did not turn up statistics that could support or dispute it. But it’s safe to say that tetrapods are a common sight near the water in Japan and that supplying them is big business. You were right to wonder how tetrapods are transported. I looked up the specs, and even a small tetrapod weighs nearly half a ton, while the big boys can top 80 tons. This is obviously not the sort of product that can be shipped around the country. So what happens is that companies such as Fudo Tetra lease steel molds to local contractors which pour the concrete on-site where the tetrapods are to be used. Even the molds are huge — far too big to be transported intact on Japan’s narrow roads — so they are delivered in pieces and assembled before the pouring work begins. When the cement is dry, the molds are removed and the tetrapods are lifted into place with cranes. Matsubuchi couldn’t speak specifically about your inland tetrapods, so I set off to find out who manages the canal where you saw them. You couldn’t remember the exact location but the photograph you sent contained a critical clue: a bridge with visible writing. As loyal readers know (because this was the subject of a “What the Heck” in May 2011), all bridges in Japan have names. Using the bridge name, I was able to pinpoint the location to the Takahama Canal, which is managed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s Bureau of Sewerage. A spokesman explained that treated water is released into the canal at regular periods. The tetrapods were placed near the release points to lessen the impact of waves on small boats. Tetrapods surfaced on television last year, making an appearance during the theme-song opening of NHK’s hit morning drama “Ama-chan.” The tetrapod shots were taken at the Kosode fishing port in Kuji, Iwate Prefecture, a location used throughout the show. When you consider that the theme-song footage aired six mornings a week from April until September, on a show that enjoyed over 20 percent national viewership, that’s the sort of exposure marketers would kill for. But Matsubuchi said it didn’t have a big impact on business. “We are of course very pleased that tetrapods were featured so prominently on such a popular show,” he told me. “And the city of Kuji did order more tetrapods to repair the damage sustained during the 2011 tsunami. But it’s not like the average television viewer buys tetrapods.” True, but there are a surprising number of people who think tetrapods are oddly beautiful, and other companies that can cater to their tastes. A company called Maniapparel, for example, makes T-shirts and sweatshirts with tetrapod designs, as well as grey felt stuffed-toy versions to strew around your sofa to bolster you from the shock waves of life.


Empress-Dowager Shoken laid to rest; crackdown in Shanghai's foreign quarters; Olympic preparations; Lebanese businessman Japan's top tax-payer

Abstract: 100 YEARS AGO Tuesday, May 26, 1914 Nation bids farewell to late Empress-Dowager One of the notable landmarks in the modern history of Japan was the funeral ceremony held Saturday night for Her Majesty, the late Empress-Dowager (Shoken, empress consort of Emperor Meiji), who passed away on April 9. The augury of fine weather that was afforded by the afternoon’s sunshine was belied by a slight rainfall at night. At about six o’clock the searchlights began to play on the Yoyogi parade ground, which was also surrounded by electric illuminations; while the large black and white paper lanterns appropriate to such occasions, bearing the imperial crest, were freely interspersed. Ambassadors and Ministers began to arrive at half past seven, in Imperial Household carriages with military escorts. Their Imperial Majesties arrived at 8:40, and at once retired to the rest-rooms behind the Imperial pavilion. A bugle fanfare at 9:25 announced the approach of the funeral cortege. Their Imperial Majesties met the procession at the second torii (gate). The coffin being deposited in the center of the Sanctuary, in the pavilion especially erected, the curtain was withdrawn, revealing a blaze of light. The Ritualists made the traditional offerings, the Chief Ritualist reading the appointed address. His Imperial Majesty (Yoshihito, now known as Taisho) then paid homage, and read an address as follows: “I, Yoshihito, reverently address the Spirit of the late Emperor-Mother. Only a year and a half has elapsed since the conclusion of the national mourning for His Majesty the late Emperor, and our tears are barely dry when, alas, We again suffer a great loss. How unpitying, alas, is Heaven to Yoshihito! We have in person performed ceremonies while Her Late Majesty lay in state, sanctified, in a temporary shrine for several days past; and we are now about to lay the August Remains beside those of the late Imperial Father. We have now come to say farewell. Alas! At this moment Our sorrow is unbelievable.” 75 YEARS AGO Saturday, May 13, 1939 Political activities in Shanghai banned The following joint proclamation was issued this afternoon by the French Concession and the Shanghai Municipal Council, stressing their neutrality and banning associations of political nature: “From the beginning of the hostilities (between China and Japan), the authorities of the French Concession and the International Settlement have striven continuously to preserve their neutrality in the areas under their control so that the law-abiding residents may continue with security to carry on their lawful occupations and that the safety of life and property might be preserved for all persons irrespective of their nationality. “The activities of political nature, though they may be regarded by those participating as being of patriotic character, cannot legitimately be carried on in the neutral areas. Associations of a political nature accordingly cannot be allowed to operate in the areas under the control of the authorities of the French Concession and the International Settlement. Such activities would, in the opinion of the authorities concerned, be inconsistent with absolute neutrality which, it is their common object to preserve. It is accordingly, hereby, proclaimed that any person participating in activities of such association either directly or indirectly may be denied the sanctuary of the concession and the settlement and be liable to expulsion.” Shanghai had fallen under Japanese control in 1937 after the Battle of Shanghai. 50 YEARS AGO Sunday, May 3, 1964 Goodwill on show in buildup to Olympics At 10 a.m. Saturday, a small but important signboard was added to Tokyo’s jungle of glaring signs. The new sign, put up in front of 22 department stores of the Japanese capital shows three initials, IGS, which stand for International Goodwill Shop. It symbolizes a campaign to give a good and lasting impression to visitors from abroad to the Tokyo Olympic Games. The drive, initiated by the Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry, is symbolic of the current nationwide movement to enhance the international reputation of Japan at the grass-roots level by making the Olympic visitors’ stay in Japan comfortable. The IGS signs will be distributed to all retail shops, restaurants, coffee shops, bars, hotels, barbers and beauty shops and laundries which meet the required standard. The standard differs according to the business establishment. Common to all are that prices must be written in Arabic figures, the shop must be sanitary and no undue price increase is to be practiced to take advantage of temporary visitors. A spokesman for the chamber said that the chamber hoped to have some 2,000 IGS shops in Tokyo and about 3,000 more elsewhere in Japan. 25 YEARS AGO Tuesday, May 2, 1989 Tokyo land sale hands trader top earnings title Abdel Hadi Debs, a Lebanese national, topped the tax agency’s list of income earners in Japan last year after selling a tract of land in Tokyo. Debs, 70, a trading company representative in Japan, earned an estimated ¥43 billion after selling an 8,600-sq.-meter plot of land in Oyama, Shibuya Ward, an official of the National Tax Administration Agency said Monday. Debs paid ¥6.854 billion in tax, Japan’s all-time record for income tax paid by an individual. Debs was followed in the list of biggest taxpayers by Mitsuo Akiyama, 51, owner of a gasoline station in Fukuzawa, Setagaya Ward, Tokyo. Akiyama sold a 4,000-sq.-meter plot of land in Tokyo for about ¥12 billion and paid about ¥3.358 billion in tax. Mitsuo Sakaguchi, 60, was ranked third. He sold a 900-sq.-meter plot of land in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward for about ¥9 billion.

tokyo
funerals
income
shanghai
real estate
1964 tokyo olympics


Fashionable Shibuya is a magnet for youths

Abstract: Known as the town for young people, Tokyo’s Shibuya district is the capital’s center of youth fashion and culture. It also attracts crowds of tourists from home and abroad. Shibuya is best known for its “scramble crossing” near the north exit of JR Shibuya Station, where as many as 3,000 pedestrians coming from mainly four different directions calmly dodge each other in the large intersection when the crossing lights turn green. Around 500,000 people cross the intersection every day. Nearby stands the statue of Hachiko, the faithful dog praised for its loyalty to its master. The plaza around the statue is a popular meeting point and photo spot for tourists. Last year, a tourist information booth was set up near the statue to dispense information on the area’s shops and restaurants, including the famous Shibuya 109 fashion complex. Shibuya literally means “Shibu valley,” suggesting it was once low-lying land. Indeed, Shibuya Station stands where the Shibuya and Uda rivers formerly converged. However, due to urban development, the landscape has changed significantly in recent decades. Tokyu railway led Shibuya’s postwar development, opening Tokyu Department Store and other key facilities in the 1950s. Then, in the 1970s, Seibu railway established a foothold with its own department store and the Parco fashion complex, bringing a fresh vibe to the town. Those who see Shibuya merely as the center of youth fashion and culture may be surprised if they venture into Nonbei Yokocho, an alley lined with small “izakaya” (pubs) and yakitori eateries beside the JR Yamanote Line. Most of the bars are so small they only hold four to six people, and the seats are usually taken by those seeking a break from the hustle and bustle of the streets. People visiting the alley often feel nostalgic for the Showa Period. But the redevelopment of Shibuya never stops. In 2008, Tokyo Metro’s Fukutoshin Line reached Shibuya, and the 2012 opening of the Shibuya Hikarie commercial complex linked the Tokyu Toyoko Line with the Fukutoshin, making the already busy hub station even larger. Next on the horizon is the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. A 230-meter-tall hotel is scheduled to open in time for the event, and a major office complex is to be built by 2027.


Australian billionaire Packer in Bondi Beach street brawl with longtime friend

Abstract: SYDNEY - Billionaire Australian gaming mogul James Packer was seen brawling on a Bondi Beach street with a fellow businessman, David Gyngell, a lifelong friend, former best man and chief executive of the Nine Entertainment Group, media reported on Monday. At least 50 photos of Packer, owner of Australia’s Crown Resorts Ltd., and Gyngell viciously fighting outside Packer’s home on Sunday are circulating for sale, the Sydney Morning Herald said. Packer and Gyngell released a joint statement on Monday, which did not confirm the fight, but said they remained friends. A Facebook page purportedly belonging to a neighbor of Packer’s, whose name is given as Chris Walker, provided an unconfirmed but detailed report of the fight. Walker did not respond to attempts by Reuters to verify his posting. “Holy crap, big street fight outside my house … Not thugs, James Packer … And some other angry bloke going toe to toe — total brawl .. Wow,” he wrote on the social networking site. “Packer packed a punch but copped a couple of hits straight to the jaw… Then they all fell on the concrete fence and I think the other guy broke his face … They were looking for teeth after he left.” Packer is one of Australia’s richest men, with Forbes recently estimating his net worth at $6.4 billion, and he has aggressively sought to expand his casino business into Asia and the United States. “We have been friends for 35 years and still are,” Gyngell and Packer said in a joint statement released by Nine Entertainment and Crown. “In that time we have had our fair share of ups and downs. We respect each other and neither of us will be commenting further.” Nine Entertainment Co. Holdings is the owner of Australia’s Nine TV network, one of the nation’s largest broadcasters. Packer has a stake in rival Ten Network Holdings, although the fight was not believed to be connected to their entertainment holdings. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that 50 photos exist showing the two men squaring off, pulling at each other’s shirts and grappling before falling and wrestling on the ground before other men, possibly Packer’s bodyguards, intervened. The newspaper said that the pair’s long-term friendship had soured after Gyngell tried to intervene on behalf of Packer’s second wife, Erica, from whom he announced his separation around six months ago.


Icho's ethnic vitality poses future model for Japan

Abstract: If Japan throws its doors open to immigrants it might start looking like a certain neighborhood in Yokohama with multilingual street signs, ethnic eateries, and a babel of languages spoken in the streets. At the heart of this unconventional neighborhood is the so-called Icho housing complex less than 1 km east of Koza Shibuya Station on the Odakyu Enoshima Line. Roughly 20 percent of the 3,500 or so households here have foreign backgrounds, many having arrived in the past few decades from Vietnam, China and Cambodia. “One good thing about this area is that people are ethnically very diverse. Here, it’s normal for you to be different from others,” said Hoang Ha Nguyen Phan, a 28-year-old Vietnamese who came to Japan with her family in 1995 to seek political asylum. Experts say the neighborhood epitomizes the idea of interculturalism, which could be essential to Japan’s survival as an economic power at a time when its birthrate and labor force are in decline. The Icho complex, run by the Kanagawa Prefectural Government, became a magnet for foreigners after the establishment in 1980 of a reception center in the neighborhood for refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Many decided to live in the complex because of its proximity to the reception center, which closed in 1997. Other residents include factory workers from Brazil and Japanese orphans who were left behind in China after World War II and began to be repatriated in the 1980s. The Cabinet Office in February released figures projecting that Japan’s population of 120 million will fall to 87 million by 2060, and to 43 million by 2110. “The biggest problem we have around here is that residents, especially the Japanese ones, are getting older and older,” said Hideki Hayakawa, who runs a volunteer organization that helps local foreign residents with daily tasks. Hayakawa said that while foreigners continue to move into the Icho complex, Japanese tend to balk at the tiny apartments and inconvenient location. As a result, there is an odd demographic gap: The Japanese residents are graying and the foreigners are providing the dynamism. “A neighborhood faces a crisis if there are few kids. So I believe foreign families with children will play an important role in keeping this area alive,” Hayakawa said. Hayakawa’s group, Tabunka Machizukuri Kobo, or Studio to Create a Multicultural Neighborhood, organizes Japanese lessons, arranges interpreters for a nominal fee and runs errands for foreigners who don’t understand Japanese well. He set up the group in 2000. Hayakawa has watched the complex’s fortunes evolve for longer than that. He said there were problems in the 1990s, when some Japanese residents came to resent the rapid influx of foreigners. Some complained that the newcomers ignored rules on taking out the garbage, for example, or that they would disturb the block with karaoke bouts late at night. In 1999, the frustrations resulted in some Japanese petitioning the Kanagawa government to bar more foreigners from moving in. But their animosity subsided in time, thanks to the immigrants’ own children. Raised in Japanese schools, when the youngsters grew up they taught their parents how to go local. More than a decade later, the neighborhood could be facing yet another crossroads. In April, the nearby Icho Elementary School, where many immigrants used to send their children, merged with the neighboring Iida-kita School because the Icho school had suffered a decline in enrollment. At its peak, it boasted a staggering 75 percent of pupils with foreign roots. The merged and rebranded Iida-kita Icho School now has equal numbers of foreign and Japanese pupils, said Satoshi Kikuchi, a teacher in charge of intercultural education. But not everyone is happy. Kikuchi said some Japanese parents from the Iida-kita school are worried that foreign children from the Icho school might be disruptive and force staff to pay them more attention than the Japanese pupils. “We can’t give those foreign children the same amount of attention that the teachers at the old Icho school did,” Kikuchi said. “For now, we are focusing on educating both kids and parents on the need for interculturalism and asking for their understanding.” One way the school may do this is by asking politicians or immigration experts to speak to parents about the values foreign residents bring to the community, and to explain that without them Japan will no longer be able to function as a strong economy, Kikuchi said. “We’re no longer doing foreigners a favor by accepting them. We’re living in an age when we rely on them to maintain our economy,” he said. The government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, it appears, shares Kikuchi’s view — at least partially. Last month, it announced it will expand the controversial foreign trainee program by granting participants longer stays, extending their visa terms from three to five years. Although Japan rejects unskilled laborers from abroad under current government policy, unscrupulous employers often exploit the trainees as cheap labor. The program is being extended to lure more foreigners to bolster Japan’s shrinking workforce at a time when the nation is gearing up to build new facilities and infrastructure for the 2020 Olympics. But speaking on television in April, Abe denied that Japan would ease its immigration policies soon, saying foreign countries have found that it causes friction with local residents. Open-door policies have led to “many unfortunate incidents,” he said. Abe conceded, however, that there is a need for more foreigner workers to meet strong demand for labor in the construction industry. Keizo Yamawaki, a professor at Meiji University who specializes in immigration policy, said that while he himself is not opposed to expanding immigration, Abe’s plan to admit more foreigners merely to meet a labor shortage is shortsighted. He said it is almost inevitable, judging from Europe’s experience with so-called guest workers, that some trainees will end up staying in Japan semi-permanently by overstaying their visas or that some may marry Japanese citizens and automatically acquire the right to stay. Therefore, he said, Abe may be opening the door to immigration anyway. “Japan’s shrinking population is a problem that will persist even after 2020. In fact, the pace of the population decline will only accelerate. So admitting foreigners merely as a temporary, stopgap labor force misses the point,” he said.

immigration
war orphans
icho
indochina refugees


Abe moves to boost control of bureaucrats

Abstract: The government formally decided Tuesday to launch the Cabinet Bureau of Personnel Affairs on Friday and Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato will serve as its director general, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said. The creation of the new bureau and the appointment of Kato, one of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s the closest aides, is seen as another political maneuver by Abe to tighten his grip on powerful government bureaucrats. The bureau will serve as the secretariat for the prime minister to decide the appointments of about 600 elite bureaucrats at ministries and agencies of the central government, including vice ministers and bureau chiefs. Under the current system, the prime minister and chief Cabinet secretary have overseen appointments of about 200 elite bureaucrats. The new personnel bureau will greatly expand the clout of politicians in power. “We’d like to establish a system to cope with various issues quickly and in a united manner” through “strategic appointments of personnel,” Suga told a news conference. Suga announced that Tomomi Inada, now minister in charge of administrative reforms, will also oversee the bureau. But Abe and Suga himself will be directly in charge of screening and appointing those senior bureaucrats, while Inada will oversee other aspects of the bureau’s work, Suga said. Since Abe’s inauguration in December 2012, the prime minister and Suga have interfered in the appointments of a number of key elite officials to strengthen their power base, while past Cabinets have largely avoided doing that to maintain political neutrality over the autonomy of the powerful bureaucratic system. For example, last August Abe tapped Ichiro Komatsu, a former Foreign Ministry official, as director general of the Cabinet Legislation Bureau, to push for his drive to reinterpret the war-renouncing Constitution to allow Japan to exercise the right of collective self-defense. Under the long-held government custom, a senior official of the bureau has been promoted to the director general’s post, but Abe broke this tacit arrangement to push for his ambition to change the interpretation of the Constitution. Then, last fall, Abe appointed four right-leaning people whose political interests are close to his to the 12-member board of governors of NHK, the country’s influential public broadcasting organization. The four then helped appoint Katsuto Momii as NHK’s new chairman, who later caused a big stir by saying he will not challenge government policies as far as territorial issues are concerned and by defending Japan’s wartime “comfort women” brothel system. Suga, a former internal affairs minister and Abe’s right-hand man, is known for his keen interest in controlling bureaucrats by meddling in personnel affairs. In June last year, Suga forced Atsuo Saka, a former top Finance Ministry official, to step down as president and CEO of Japan Post Holdings Co. Suga’s move was seen as his drive to strengthen his control over the giant government-owned Japan Post conglomerate.

bureaucrats
tomomi inada
katsunobu kato
cabinet bureau of personnel affairs


City of Chiba aims to be Japan's Muslim center

Abstract: CHIBA - The city of Chiba is seeking to become the center of Muslim culture in Japan, aiming to attract Southeast Asian tourists to visit and stay in the city. The municipal government has been prompting businesses in the city to attain the status of “Japan’s first Muslim-friendly facility” in a variety of fields. In January, Japan’s first halal-certified food-processing facility opened in the Makuhari area in central Chiba. The operator, Sato Chohachi-Shoji Co., a Tokyo-based food trading firm, said the plant is working on research and development, with commercial production to begin in July. A few hundred meters away, the private Kanda University of International Studies opened a Muslim-friendly cafeteria earlier this month as the first of its kind among Japanese colleges, while retail giant Aeon Co.’s new flagship mall, which opened last December at a nearby site, has a prayer room for Muslim shoppers — the first such facility in its domestic network of 135 outlets. The efforts by the private sector follow last September’s relocation of the headquarters of the certifying organization Nippon Asia Halal Association from Tokyo to the city. The Chiba Municipal Government in November invited a representative from the nonprofit group to participate in a city committee on inbound tourism, where members agreed to designate travelers from Asia and Muslims as top promotion targets. The Muslim-friendly initiative was proposed by Mayor Toshihito Kumagai in line with the city’s efforts to host more international conventions at its huge Makuhari Messe convention complex. A spokesman for Sato Chohachi-Shoji said the company will promote its Chiba-made halal products to enter the Middle East and Southeast Asia markets after expanding business with Japanese hotels that accommodate Muslim tourists. “We would like to promote ‘Made in Japan’ as a brand in the global halal market,” he added.


Alien invasion threatening native species

Abstract: An invasion has been going on under our noses. It is multipronged, ruthless and very difficult to repel. It has been called an “ecological apocalypse.” If you look out your window you may be able to see evidence of it. That pigeon flying past? An invader. Likewise, the cat by the garbage. Most are so familiar we don’t even think of them as invaders, but they are not native to Japan. There are many more, and most are far less obvious. “Non-native invasive species have been popularly described as one of the four horsemen of the ecological apocalypse,” says Nisha Owen, a conservation biologist at the Zoological Society of London. “They are a real and pressing danger to biodiversity and ecosystems.” Outside of my window in London I can see two ring-necked parakeets in a tree in my garden. Their bright-green plumage and raucous squawking call are not typical of the English garden — these birds are native to Africa and South Asia — but they live now in large numbers in southeastern England, and in the rest of Europe. The parakeets of London nest early in the year and occupy holes in trees that native species such as woodpeckers would use. Pretty though they are, there are thousands in London alone and they are now classified as a pest. In Japan, alien species are widespread and well-established. Some of the native species threatened by invaders are well-known. There is the Amami rabbit, an extremely unusual species of rabbit sometimes called a living fossil as it is so different from other species of rabbit and hare. Carnivores that have been introduced by humans — sometimes deliberately, sometimes accidentally — now threaten the very existence of the Amami rabbit. “The Amami rabbit is one of the most evolutionarily distinct and globally endangered mammals in the world,” says Owen, who works on the EDGE of Existence Program ( www.edgeofexistence.org ), which highlights and conserves evolutionarily distinct and globally endangered animals in the world. “Although declared a Japanese national monument, this species is under threat from the introduced small Asian mongoose — one of the world’s most invasive species — which has killed large numbers of rabbits since their introduction in 1979 to control snakes,” she says. OK, you might be thinking, but the establishment of parakeets in England and Asian mongooses in Japan is hardly enough to qualify as an “apocalyptic” invasion. Even if you add pigeons and cats, it’s not the end of the world. However, there are many thousands more invasive species and, added together, you start to see the scale of the problem. For example, in Europe there are more than 13,000 non-European species that live in the wild. There are hundreds of non-native insects, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals breeding regularly in Japan — so many that I couldn’t count them all in the database. For anyone interested, Dr. Koichi Goka of the Invasive Species Research Team at the National Institute for Environmental Studies in Tsukuba (my old research institute) has put together a great online resource in English: www.nies.go.jp/biodiversity/invasive/index_en.html . Here are a few of the invaders Japanese biologists are most concerned about. They are classed as “100J” species, the list of Japan’s top 100 worst invasive pests. In Wakayama and Aomori prefectures, Taiwanese macaques have established themselves. They hybridize with native Japanese macaques, so “contaminating” the gene pool of the native species. In Tokyo and Chiba Prefecture, there are populations of snapping turtles, released by people who purchased them as pets. These turtles attack and eat native freshwater animals. There is a moth — the fall webworm — the caterpillars of which devastate native trees. There is even a cane toad. Notorious as one of the worst invasive species in Australia, there are cane toad populations on some Okinawa and Ogasawara islands. The invasion situation is so bad that biologists are proposing a new way of tackling the problem: create a “Black List” of invasive species — the opposite of the Red List of endangered species that is collated by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. It’s not a simple problem to solve. Even if it was easy to catch or kill all the individuals in the wild of the species you were interested in, sometimes a species that is an invader to Japan may be rare elsewhere. This is best illustrated by an exotic and dramatic-looking species that has established itself in Kamogawa and part of the Katsuragawa river network in Kyoto, the Chinese giant salamander. You’ll know it if you see it — they are monsters, growing up to 1.8 meters long. “The Chinese giant salamander (is) another evolutionarily distinct and globally endangered species that is desperately in need of conservation attention in China,” Owen says. “Unfortunately, this species happens to be a major problem in Japan, threatening the native Japanese giant salamander through competition and hybridization.” The biologists proposing the creation of a Black List of invasive species say it can be used to prioritize species for action, as required by international policies on biological invasions. The Convention on Biological Diversity was signed in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and requires that “By 2020, invasive alien species and pathways are identified and prioritized, priority species are controlled or eradicated, and measures are in place to manage pathways to prevent their introduction and establishment.” The paper about the Black List is published in PLOS Biology. Humans are, of course, the most dangerous of all species, and could easily be given the No. 1 spot on the Black List. Many scientists are in agreement that the sheer impact of humans on the planet means we have initiated a new geological era: the Anthropocene — the age of human impact. For more on this, I recommend “Adventures in the Anthropocene,” by Gaia Vince (published by Chatto and Windus), an epic, global account of our impact on the biosphere.

ecology
amami rabbits
snakes
taiwanese macaques
snapping turtles
fall webworms
cane toads
chinese giant salamanders
small asian mongooses


Pop duo's Aska held on drug possession charge

Abstract: Singer-songwriter Aska, half of the famous pop duo Chage and Aska, was arrested Saturday on suspicion of possessing stimulants, the police said. Aska, 56, denied the allegations, saying, “I have never used kakuseizai.” According to the police, Aska, whose real name is Shigeaki Miyazaki, is suspected of having been in possession of a small amount of “kakuseizai” (stimulants) in April. Also arrested Thursday was Kasumi Tochinai, 37, an acquaintance. The two are suspected of having the drug in Tochinai’s apartment. The powerful drug’s main ingredient is usually amphetamine or methamphetamine. Later in the day, police sources said stimulants had been detected in Aska’s urine. They also found what appear to be illegal drugs in his apartment, the sources said. After debuting in 1979, Chage and Aska produced several hit songs from the 1980s through the 1990s before taking a break in 2009. Their hits, also popular in China and other countries, include “Banri no Kawa,” “Say Yes,”and “Yah Yah Yah.” Aska also launched a solo career in the midst of the duo’s stardom. After suspending their activities in 2009, the pair reunited in January last year only to withdraw from the spotlight in October after a weekly magazine reported Aska had allegedly used illegal drugs, which he denied.


Shocking baths of Japan

Abstract: Dear Alice, On my first trip to Japan, my host took me to an up-market hot-springs resort on the island of Awajishima. There I was introduced to a small tiled “box” within the large soaking tub. I noticed there were small panels along the sides, but didn’t think anything of it until I entered the water and felt as if I’d been zapped with a cattle prod — an electric current was running through the water! After my initial horror, I discovered the sensation was tolerable as long as I remained in the middle of the space. I have since seen a similar bath in Kyoto. So, what the heck is this and what is its purpose? Ross L., South Australia Dear Ross, I have to say, I’m a little horrified too. Where I grew up, we were taught that water and electricity don’t mix. As a child, I distinctly remember feeling uneasy whenever I took a bath, painfully aware that a total stranger might burst in at any moment, toss a radio or hair dryer into my bath water, and I’d be toast. Bath-time electrocutions were reported regularly in the police-blotter in my hometown newspaper, and were a staple of television throughout my impressionable years. It wasn’t easy to shake such images from my mind as I went to work on your question, but the topic was so electrifying that I was soon fully immersed. I established that the baths you described are called “ denkiburo ” (“electricity baths”) and are also found in public baths, saunas and sports clubs throughout Japan. It’s a wonder I evaded them all these years. Here’s how a denkiburo works: a low-level electric current runs between electrode plates installed below the water surface on either side of the bath. The bather experiences the electric current as a pins-and-needles tingling, expressed in Japanese as piri piri . Some people seem to find this sensation relaxing, while others describe it as downright frightening. Either way, the supposed benefit is relief from katakori (stiff shoulders) and back pain. There’s no scientific proof for this, as far as I could determine, and manufacturers and bath owners are careful not to make health claims. There’s also a rumor that denkiburo reduces sperm count, but I couldn’t find evidence to support that either. So how much electricity actually passes through the body? That depends on many factors, including the mineral composition of the water and how close you get to the electrodes, but it’s less than you can expect from a stun gun. The denkiburo at the Kintoki-yu in Nagoya, according to that bathhouse’s website, delivers “less than 2 volts and 1 ampere, for moderate numbness.” Stay clear of denkiburo if you’ve got a pacemaker installed; even a small jolt of electricity can cause it to malfunction. They’re also not recommended for people with heart murmurs and any of a number of other medical conditions. The history of denkiburo is a bit murky, but they’ve clearly been around since at least 1928, the year mystery writer Juza Unno published a story called “Denkiburo no Kaishi Jiken” (“The Case of the Suspicious Death in the Electricity Bath”). Early denkiburo were crude devices, and completely unregulated, but as far as I can tell, in real life no one has ever kicked the bucket in a denkiburo. As a general rule, I keep my clothes on when I’m working on a column, but if there was ever a question that demanded I get naked, watt the heck, this was it. I couldn’t, in good conscience, write about denkiburo without experiencing one for myself. So I went on the Internet and discovered there was a denkiburo not 10 minutes from my apartment in Tokyo. (And all this time I thought our neighborhood was safe.) I paid my ¥450, left my clothes in a locker and opened the sliding glass door into the baths. After a good wash at the faucets, I wandered through the tub area until I located the denkiburo in a corner of the soaking bath. It was a U-shape partition, open at the front. This allowed me to sit just outside it, water up to my neck, while I gingerly extended one hand into the denkiburo, as far from the side-wall electrodes as possible. I didn’t feel much of anything, so I inched forward, putting all four extremities into range. I felt an unpleasant prickling sensation, but it was bearable, so I turned around and began to back my whole body into the space. I got halfway in, enduring maybe three seconds of exposure, when my entire chest contracted painfully and I was sure death was imminent. I shot the heck out of there. As soon as I vacated an elderly lady moved in, and stayed a good long while with no apparent ill effect. Bath owners install denkiburo as an “attraction,” according to a sales representative at Osaka-based Konishi Electric Co. Ltd., the main supplier of such systems. That’s because people today patronize public baths to relax rather than to get clean. “Until the mid 1950s, having a bathroom in one’s home was a luxury few Japanese could afford,” Norihide Watanabe of the National Federation of Public Baths told me. “In those days, there were tens of thousands of public baths. Today, nearly every Japanese home has a private bath and there are fewer than 5,000 public baths left. There is almost no new bath construction, and as aging owners retire, we’re losing 200 to 300 baths every year. People who continue to patronize public baths are particularly interested in the health benefits of bathing, so it’s important to give them what they want.” I had to wonder, however, if a numbness-inducing, skin-prickling bath truly serves as an attraction. So I went back to the bath near my apartment and posed that very question to the lady at the front desk. Does anyone — other than morbidly curious folks like me — turn up just for the denkiburo? “ Sukina hito wa totemo suki desu yo, ” she assured me. People who like them really like them.


Secrets law far too wide-reaching: U.S. expert

Abstract: The new state secrets law is so broad that it’s self-defeating and must be amended before it comes into force in December or it will have a chilling effect on free speech, according to U.S. national security and civil liberties expert Morton Halperin. Halperin said in an interview Thursday in Tokyo that the legislation, passed by the Diet last December, is “far out of step with the rest of the world” and should be amended immediately to provide protections for journalists, other private citizens and government whistleblowers. The law’s penalties of up to 10 years in prison for revealing classified information, which applies to private citizens, including journalists, are “dangerous,” and repealing them should be the government’s highest priority, Halperin said. Halperin worked on defense policy and national security in the administrations of Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton, and is now a senior adviser at the Open Society Foundations in Washington. The secrets law is part of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s policy of creating a framework to protect intelligence sharing with allies, particularly the United States. Halperin said that although the law is largely modeled after that of the United States, the U.S. legislation is not used to file criminal charges against journalists. But the new Japanese law could be used in this way unless it is amended to be made clearer. “The danger is the effect it has on people’s behavior. Even if nobody’s ever indicted, people worry about being indicted, and therefore they say, ‘I’d better not write this story because I may be indicted,’ ” he said. Every country is entitled to keep some secrets for limited periods of time, but laws as broad as Japan’s actually inhibit the protection of genuine secrets because they allow officials to become complacent, Halperin said. “The notion that the way to protect real secrets is to make much more information secret is just wrong,” he said. “If the Japanese government thinks that there’s some operational information about how to work with the American military that needs to be protected, they should protect that information, not pass a statute which would lead to so much information being kept secret that the real secrets will seem trivial.” The law should, in line with those of comparable countries, require the government to more specifically show the harm classified information would cause if released, and consider whether the public value of the information outweighs that harm, he said. The independent secrets review body, which can make classified information public, can only work if it is made up of people from outside government instead of officials, as under the present law, he said. “People who are committed to public debate when they’re outside the government often lose that commitment when they’re in the government, and so you can’t really trust people in the government to have sound judgments on these issues,” he said. The body should consist of “people who are seen by society to have a genuine commitment to openness as well as to classification,” Halperin said. The Abe administration owes it to the public to engage in further dialogue on the law, he said. “I think what the government should do is what it should have done before it passed the law, which is to consult more widely with experts in Japan, but also with international experts, and look at what international standards are, and consider once again whether it can meet those international standards,” he said.


Japan called lackadaisical; simple-living laws introduced; tourist recommendations questioned; China's use of force deplored

Abstract: 100 YEARS AGO Tuesday, June 9, 1914 ‘Tokyo is dull, muggy and uninteresting’ “Of course it may be all that you say it is, and all that the guide books assure that it is, but to me Tokyo is insufferably dull, very muggy and generally uninteresting!” This is the opinion of Mr. Fredrick Williams, of Portsmouth, England, who is in Japan for a short time in the interests of a British Electrical concern. The representative of The Japan Times further gathered that Mr. Williams wishes he were almost anywhere but in Tokyo — but for preference he would choose a cottage on the Isle of Wight. “The trouble with the Far East, saving of course at the British ports, is that it is too lackadaisical. I have been trying for nearly three weeks to conclude a very simple little business matter about some motors, and would you believe me, I understand that I may have to stay until the first of August? I mean to say the whole method of conducting business matters here seems to me to be mere child’s play, and a waste of time! No one seems very inclined to make up their minds.” Mr. Williams did admit of the uniform courtesy of the Japanese. “They are too polite, confound it! I am dined and motored about to my heart’s content, but if I even hint at the things that are uppermost in my mind a vaguely distressed expression comes across the faces of my hosts as if to say: ‘Oh dear! Now you have spoiled a very pleasant afternoon — or evening as the case may be.'” Mr. Williams finished the conversation in a typically British way by saying: “I can jolly well assure you that if I ever get home I intend to stay there!” 75 YEARS AGO Thursday, June 15, 1939 Seasonal gifts, long hair for males banned Further curtailment of business hours at cafes and bars, simplification of wedding and funeral ceremonies and abolition of banquets are among the proposals which were adopted Tuesday afternoon by the subsidiary committee of the National Spirit Mobilization Committee. Others adopted were abolition of seasonal presents, prohibition of long hair for male students and serving of alcoholic drinks on trains. The code in question will stipulate early rising, punctuality, economic living and particular assiduity at work. 50 YEARS AGO Saturday, June 27, 1964 Recommended tourist spots questioned The Japan Tourist Bureau (JTB) has been working very hard over the years, and is working even harder this year in view of the Olympic Games. I am not at all reluctant to pay tribute to the fine work being done by JTB. Yet, it seems that as far as JTB’s idea of “the places worth seeing” for foreign tourists is concerned, it is firmly fixed into a narrow, conventional mold. I cannot but feel that it is a pity their “places to show foreigners” are limited in most cases to just Hakone, Atami, Nikko, Kyoto, Kyoto, Osaka, Nara and a bit of Kyushu. A friend of mine, an American, was quite disappointed at the program mapped out for him; he went to Kyushu, but Kyushu in his case was Beppu — that noisy uncomfortable place, overcrowd with buses and cars — and Takasaki-yama, famous for its hundreds of monkeys. Takasaki-yama and its monkeys, indeed, mean something to us Japanese because it is the backdrop of one of the masterpieces of postwar literature, “Tadaima Zerohiki” written by the late Ashihei Hino. But for one who has never heard of the novel, it is not an interesting place to see. Instead, he could have visited Kijima-Kogen, which is just one-hour drive from Beppu and is, in my opinion, one of the most restful places Japan can offer today. Surrounded by the graceful Hyuga mountains and facing the black valley created by a stream of lava from Tsurumidake, Kijima lies silently as an oasis. I travel often. And I wonder why the Hokuriku district — the main city of which is Kanazawa — is not considered “officially” by the JTB as a major tourist spot. Also, I have just returned from the Noto Peninsula in Hokuriku and am going again soon for the third time. I have fallen in love with this peninsular, so rich with legends, folklore and epics. The Noto scenery is not spoiled by television towers and antennas; people are not aware as yet of the nature of commercialization. They receive travelers as they did 50 years ago. The quiet beauty of Hiraizumi of Tohoku, the serenity of Teramachi of Yamagata, and the dignity of Kanazawa, famed for its silk and kutani pottery, are among the many places where a foreign visitor may taste something of the richness of this small island nation. (Michiko Inukai) 25 YEARS AGO Thursday, June 8, 1989 Uno deplores use of force in China protests Prime Minister Sousuke Uno, referring to the armed suppression of pro-democracy demonstrators in Beijing, told the Diet on Wednesday it was extremely regrettable that troops had fired on their fellow citizens. However, he stopped short of openly condemning the Chinese leadership for taking military action. “As the situation of the country is in a state of confusion, with the government, troops and students involved, I’d rather avoid making a black and white judgment,” he said. To justify his reticence, he cited the special nature of Sino-Japanese relations, which are still overshadowed by the war. Because of Japan’s military aggression against China during World War II, government leaders often avoid making remarks that may be seen by the Chinese as interference in their internal affairs, a government source explained. Uno made the remarks in response to a question posed by the Japan Socialist Party’s chairwoman, Takako Doi, in a plenary session of the House of Representatives.


UTme!: Want your own Uniqlo T-shirt? There's an app for that!

Abstract: httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4VBfwMwxSE Fast-fashion titan Uniqlo had already ventured into the domain of smartphones applications with not-so-exciting Uniqlo Calendar , fashion-style browsing Uniqlooks or again Uniqlo Wake Up applications. However, the Japan-based brand has finally released something that speaks directly to its target customers with UTme! , an application that lets smartphone users design their own T-shirts. The idea is simple, and all you need is an iPhone or Android device. You input text, a picture or draw some shapes on your screen to make the design to be printed on your T-shirt to-be. But before finalizing, you can add cool effects such as mosaics, splashes and glitches just by shaking your phone to create the final touch. An easy and fun way to give customers more choice in what they wear and attract potential buyers. Be aware, however, that if you’re aiming to become the next fashion phenomenon, UTme! might not be the right place to experiment as all the uploaded designs belong to Uniqlo, and are then available on utme.uniqlo.com for purchase by anyone.

uniqlo
fashion
smartphone
app
japan pulse
utme !


Abbott apologizes for 'winking' at Aussie sex worker

Abstract: CANBERRA - Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott acknowledged Thursday that he made a mistake by winking with a smile in a talk radio studio while listening to a phone sex worker complain on the air about welfare cutbacks. The gesture, captured Wednesday by a television camera and broadcast prominently in national news bulletins, has proved an unwelcome distraction for Abbott, who is selling unpopular budget cutbacks criticized as betraying his conservative government’s lack of empathy for the poor. A woman who identified herself as Gloria, a chronically ill 67-year-old grandmother, called Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio in Melbourne on Wednesday to ask Abbott how she was supposed to pay an extra 850 Australian dollars ($785) a year in medical expenses that she estimated the budget measures would cost her. Abbott winked and smiled after she told him that she survived on a pension and worked for a phone sex service “to make ends meet.” He later explained that he had been reacting to a smile from the show’s host, Jon Faine, varying from the prime minister’s office’s explanation that Abbott had been signaling to a producer that he was willing to answer the question rather than have the call cut short. “Obviously it was an interesting call from someone who had an interesting story,” Abbott told Perth radio station 6PR later Wednesday. But after a storm of criticism on social media and from political opponents, Abbott conceded on Thursday that he had erred. “I shouldn’t have done it. I should have been more focused on the caller and less focused on the interviewer,” Abbott told the Nine Network television. “Mistakes are always regrettable . . . and I will do my best having made a mistake yesterday to make none today.” A woman identifying herself as Gloria called ABC again on Thursday, condemning Abbott’s wink as “slimy” and “sleazy.” It was a sentiment shared by Sarah Hanson-Young, a senator for the minor Greens party, which has vowed to block some of the government toughest budget measures. “Rather than taking seriously her concerns of poverty and illness, he gave a wink and a smirk, and all I have to say to the prime minister on this is: What a creep. What a total creep,” she said Wednesday. After Abbott acknowledged his mistake, Hanson-Young on Thursday called for Abbott to step down. The criticisms come as opinion polls showed this week that Abbott’s 8-month-old coalition government is now less popular among voters than the center-left Labor Party opposition, after the release last week of the least popular deficit-cutting budget Australia has seen in at least 18 years.

australia
sex
women
sex crimes
discrimination
tony abbott


Mobile-fixated girls easy prey for photo-snapping pervs

Abstract: KYOTO - With more than 167,000 students studying at 49 universities, junior colleges and technical schools, and with large numbers of high school students visiting on trips, it’s no surprise that Kyoto Prefecture can feel like a giant campus. Downtown Kyoto and neighborhoods near major universities draw huge numbers of young men and women out for a good time, while train and bus stations disgorge teenagers and young adults, sometimes chattering, sometimes sleepy, on their way to or from class or a sightseeing spot with classmates. But as Kyoto police have warned, it’s teenagers who are most at risk from perverts with a camera. The Kyoto Prefectural Police said 51 percent of the victims of illicit photography reported last year were their teens. In 38 percent of the cases, they were photographed on commercial premises, especially shopping malls, while 35 percent were snapped in train and bus stations. In 57 percent of the cases, the alleged perpetrators were charged with illegally taking photos with smartphones. A further 20 percent used regular cell phones and 13 percent used digital cameras. Just over two-thirds of the accused perpetrators were in their 20s and 30s, while one in five was over 40. Only eight percent of the perpetrators were 50 or older. Prefectural governments and police departments, including Kyoto, suggest practical steps high school or college-aged females can take to minimize the chance of becoming an unwitting victim of a pervert with a camera. These include pressing down their skirts when on elevators and staircases, but also being more aware of their surroundings while shopping or using their smartphone while standing. It’s advice so simple some might think it a waste of government time and money to be posting on official government websites. However, a March survey of more than 1,200 teenagers and parents by Digital Arts, a Tokyo-based IT security firm, showed 95 percent of high school girls had mobile devices, and that nearly 30 percent of all high school students were using them between three and six hours a day, checking e-mail, sending text messages, playing games, and so absorbed that they are unaware of their surroundings or what other shoppers, passengers, or people walking or standing behind them might be doing with a smart phone camera.

smartphones
digital camera
illicit photography


Kyoto law puts 'upskirt' photography in focus

Abstract: Each spring, Kyoto is at its busiest. The cherry blossoms bring in multitudes of tourists, and the start of the new academic year means not only thousands of local students returning to the classroom, but also busloads of junior high and high school students from around the country arriving at hotels and taking the obligatory tour of Kyoto’s historical and cultural landmarks. At this time in particular, no visitor can fail to escape the clicking of cameras. Be they the semi-professional photographer, with his Canon EOS ID X, Nest Traveller NT-6294AK tripod and telephoto lens longer than your arm, posed on the banks of the Kamo River waiting for the right mix of light and shadow, or the hordes of tourists prowling the backstreets of Gion with their iPhone cameras, searching for Kyoto “geiko” or, really, anything “Kyotoesque” to quickly snap to prove they were there. Everybody is a shutterbug. But in recent years, the Kyoto police have warned, another kind of photography has become a public nuisance: “Upskirting.” Surreptitious filming or taking of pictures up the skirts of high school females has long made headlines throughout Japan. A whole subgenre of magazines exists for Peeping Toms who earn their living by taking photos on the sly, while the Internet has created unprecedented opportunities for getting photos and video out to the peeping public. In an attempt to crack down on sleazy photographers, Kyoto Prefecture has revised an ordinance that expands the scope of protection. Ordinances forbidding covert filming do exist for public places such as shopping centers, railway stations, trains and buses, which fall under the definition of public buildings and transport systems. The problem, however, is that their scope has traditionally been limited, tying the hands of local governments in preventing perverts from shooting illicit pictures or video, while the punishments have been deemed by police and legal experts as often insufficient to deter perpetrators even if they do get caught. In October 2012, a male teacher at a Kyoto city junior high school was caught taking pictures under girls’ skirts. Kyoto police could not make an arrest for illegally filming and had to arrest him on another charge. But the incident sparked local interest in expanding the definition of the ordinance, which had been limited to “public places and transport.” Expanding the definition beyond “public places,” it had long been felt, ran the risk of violating Article 35 of the Constitution, which states that “the right of all persons to be secure in their homes, papers and effects against entries, searches and seizures shall not be impaired.” But police and law enforcement authorities had long complained that “public places” meant limited protection in quasi-public areas. A Kyoto prefectural survey last year of 1,700 people said 63 percent did not know that schools and private workplaces fall outside the definition of a “public place”. A total of 89 percent favored extending the reach of the ordinance. The newly revised ordinance, approved by the assembly in March, now forbids surreptitious filming at “places likely to come under the public eye.” This means public schools, workplaces, and hospitals are now included in places forbidding such filming or photography. In addition, the revision strengthens the penalty for hidden cameras used at public hot spring bathing areas, changing rooms, and public toilets. Moreover, in an effort to discourage illicit photographers everywhere, it creates stricter penalties for those who are caught doing all surreptitious filming. Previously, punishment was up to six months in jail or a ¥500,000 fine. The new penalty is up to one year in prison or a fine of up to ¥1 million. The change in Kyoto has drawn interest from other local governments. Ishikawa Prefecture plans to propose similar revisions at next month’s assembly, and other governments in the Kansai region have contacted Kyoto Prefecture expressing an interest in adopting something similar. “It’s not just Kyoto. Other prefectures also think that their ordinances are insufficient. Twenty-seven prefectures are now considering similar revisions,” said Tokyo-based lawyer Hiromasa Hasegawa in a recent blog on Kyoto’s revisions. The revision also comes amidst growing concern in Kyoto about crime in general, and violent crimes that may result from taking illicit photos or video, in particular. A separate prefectural survey on safety conducted last year showed that fears of home break-ins accounted for the largest share of concern, with 58.4 percent of the 1,957 residents surveyed in June 2013 saying this is what they feared most. However, some 23 percent said that being filmed illicitly was also on their minds, reflecting increased awareness in Kyoto of the problem. In 2008, Kyoto police sent 32 incidents of illegal filming to the prosecutors, but that figure had increased to 84 cases by 2013. With the new revisions now in place, however, Kyoto has stronger weapons to go after those who would use their cameras for illicit purposes.

kyoto
illicit photography
ordinances
public places


Ultra Hawai’i: Even superheroes need a vacation

Abstract: In a stroke of genius, travel-deal website TravelZoo , in collaboration with the Hawaii Tourism Authority and tokustasu pioneers Tsuburaya Productions, has enlisted serious star power to promote its current Hawaii travel packages. Targeting a wide range of would-be travelers, the “Ultra Hawai’i ” campaign follows the well-loved characters from the generation-spanning Ultra series as they engage in classic tourist activities on the main Hawaiian islands of Maui, O’ahu, Kaua’i and Hawai’i. For a look at how the Ultra family spends its time off, click over to the campaign site and travel along with Ultra Dad, Ultra Mom (yes, they really do exist in the series), Ultraman Taro and even their alien cohorts — the friendly, spindly-fingered creature Pigmon and the pincer-handed Alien Baltan . Best of all, their special moments have been chronicled on their YouTube channel and set to the Ultraman theme song, played on ukelele no less. In true Japanese fashion, they pack a lot into their vacation, which includes surfing lessons, hula dancing , poolside yoga , a friendly game of golf and a side trip to the volcanic terrain of Kīlauea, which surely must feel like a home away from their extraterrestrial home. The campaign is both hilarious and touching in the way it humanizes the superheroes as they shoot selfies in a gelato shop and are moved by an afternoon of whale watching . In rare moments away from the universe-saving day jobs, the family take in romantic sunsets and even Baltan Seijin, one of Ultraman’s archenemies, can put aside their differences to attend an intimate Ultra wedding on O’ahu. The beauty of Hawaii clearly brings people together. The Ultra Hawai’i campaign runs until July 18. Oh, and there’s an island-hopping stamp rally. Collect ’em all and get a special campaign souvenir . Schwatch! httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVo1SPNd7MY


Whaling fleet being harassed, Japan says

Abstract: The government on Monday slammed the conservation group Sea Shepherd Conservation Society for employing dangerous tactics to obstruct the operations of Japanese whaling vessels in the Antarctic Ocean over the weekend, causing one of them to suffer damage to its stern. “It was a very dangerous act and can never be condoned,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press conference. Japan has asked the Netherlands to prevent a recurrence, as the Sea Shepherd group’s vessels fly under Dutch flags, he said. According to a statement released by the Japanese fleet engaged in so-called research whaling, the Japanese harpoon vessels Yushin Maru, Yushin Maru No. 2 and Yushin Maru No. 3 “were subject to sabotage” by the Sea Shepherd ships Steve Irwin and Bob Barker. It said inflatable boats sent from the Sea Shepherd vessels deployed ropes in front of the bows of the Japanese vessels, one of which became entangled in the Yushin Maru’s propeller, while the Bob Barker collided with the stern of the Yushin Maru No. 3, bending its rail and denting the hull. Sea Shepherd called Japan’s account of what happened “an absolute lie” and released footage it said shows an “unprovoked, ruthless and premeditated” attack by the Japanese vessels on the Sea Shepherd ships that lasted for nine hours Sunday morning. It said the Japanese vessels crossed the bows of the Sea Shepherd ships dozens of times, towing 300 meter-long steel cables intended to ensnare and damage their propellers.


Transformational Akihabara has its finger on the pulse of pop culture

Abstract: Tokyo’s Akihabara district is always transforming itself. Once promoted as the nation’s largest shopping area for home electronics and computers, where vendors thrived in line with Japan’s postwar surge in prosperity, Akihabara — or “Akiba” for short — is now the center of the nation’s pop culture as well, as typified by pop idol music groups such as AKB48. The groups regularly perform shows at a special “live house” in an entertainment complex called Pasela Resorts Akiba, where an outlet of major electronics vendor Ishimaru Denki once stood. In stark contrast with the chilling cold outside, there was a fiery scene inside earlier this month as young men waving penlights cheered on their favorite idols as they danced to blasting music on a smoky stage bathed in colorful lights. Indeed, the areas around what is now Akihabara, home to lower-ranking samurai warriors in the Edo Period, were prone to fires back then. “Fires and fights are common scenes of Edo,” an old saying goes. After a fire swept through in 1869, the Meiji government built a shrine, later known as Akiba Shrine, to a fire-fighting god. A train station built in 1890 was named Akihabara. Akihabara’s rise to the center of pop culture today, however, has its downsides. The main street was the scene of a tragic killing spree in June 2008, when a truck driven by Tomohiro Kato plowed into a crowded intersection on a busy Sunday. Kato, then 25 years old, got out of the vehicle and began stabbing pedestrians, killing seven and injuring 10 others. Kato, whose death sentence is still pending at the Supreme Court, is said to have nurtured a grudge against his company and society and targeted Akihabara because young people flock there to have fun. After the incident, the vehicle-free “pedestrians’ paradise” on Sundays was suspended, and didn’t resume until 2011. But the closed-off streets where visitors are free to stroll are becoming popular again, according to local merchants. With the help of the nationwide “Cool Japan” campaign to promote anime, “cosplay” (large-scale costume parties) and other things peculiar to Japanese pop culture, Akihabara is drawing the attention not only of young people in Japan, but also overseas. Local residents hope that the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics will provide a platform to promote Akihabara to the world.


Bitcoin exchange's chief still in Japan

Abstract: The head of troubled bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox said in a web post that he is still in Japan and “working very hard” to find a solution to the Tokyo-based organization’s problems. The exchange has suspended trading amid accusations it suffered a catastrophic theft, and its website went blank Tuesday, sparking speculation it has collapsed. Bitcoin, created in 2009, is an online currency that allows people to make transactions across borders without involving such third parties as banks or credit card issuers. Tokyo-based Mt. Gox was one of the world’s biggest exchanges for bitcoins. CEO Mark Karpeles, who has disappeared from the public eye, said in a two-paragraph post on the Mt. Gox website dated Wednesday that he has the support of different parties in finding a “solution to our recent issues.” He did not say who they were, what the solution might be or when trading might resume. Some bitcoin investors have traveled to Tokyo from abroad to try and reclaim money tied up in bitcoins at Mt. Gox.


Mt. Gox bitcoin clients lack options

Abstract: NEW YORK - What can you do if you deposited bitcoins at Mt. Gox, which shuttered on Tuesday with little explanation? Probably not much. Customers of the bitcoin exchange may have little chance of recovering their funds if they prove to be missing, legal and regulatory experts said. Clients could file lawsuits, claiming negligence or breach of contract, but the virtual currency is subject to very little regulatory oversight and no government guarantees. Japan-based Mt. Gox went dark on Tuesday, weeks after a spate of cyberattacks, leaving customers unable to access their accounts and underscoring the risks associated with bitcoins. Bitcoins, which exist in electronic form, depend on a network of computers to solve complex mathematical problems in order to verify and record every transaction. Investors deposit their bitcoins in digital “wallets” at various exchanges; Mt. Gox had been the largest as recently as Feb. 7, when it and other exchanges were forced to halt withdrawals following several cyberattacks. Unlike bank accounts in the United States, bitcoin deposits have no government-backed insurance. Instead, customers would have the same avenues of legal redress as anyone who entrusted property to an institution that failed to keep it protected, such as negligence, breach of contract or even fraud, said James Grimmelmann, a professor at the University of Maryland who focuses on Internet law. “To me, the first really important conceptual hurdle to get over is that these things really are property,” he said. “When you take money from the public and store it somewhere you claim is secure, you put property law in play.” If Mt. Gox has no assets, however, individual claims would fail to recover any funds, said Daniel Friedberg, a lawyer with Riddell Williams in Seattle who specializes in financial regulatory matters. “The practical reality is, even if you do get a judgment against Mt. Gox, do they have the ability to pay?” Friedberg said. A document circulating online that purports to be a crisis plan for Mt. Gox indicated that the exchange had $174 million in liabilities against $32.75 million in assets, though its veracity could not be confirmed. Tokyo-based Mt. Gox could also file for bankruptcy in Japan, leaving it up to a court to distribute any remaining assets to its creditors. Several regulatory and legal experts said they think the Mt. Gox shutdown could spur regulators to take more immediate steps to protect future customers. Jeffrey Matsuura, a lawyer at Alliance Law Group in Virginia who specializes in online commerce issues, said he wouldn’t be surprised if state or federal consumer protection agencies eventually take some kind of action regarding Mt. Gox and other exchanges. But Jerry Brito, a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, said people who deposited bitcoins with Mt. Gox knew that the exchange had experienced problems in recent months. “At this point, bitcoin is speculative,” he said. “People are going in with eyes wide open.” Thus far, the only U.S. regulatory agency with specific oversight on Mt. Gox is the U.S. Treasury Department’s anti-money laundering unit, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN. This came about after the exchange agreed to register as a money services business last summer.


Local startup SoftBank on course to become global player

Abstract: In 2010, three decades after founding telecom giant SoftBank Corp., CEO Masayoshi Son took the stage at the company’s June shareholders’ meeting and made what he thought would be “the most important speech in my life.” The subject? His 30-year vision for the company. As grand as that sounds, SoftBank’s recent moves indicate that the firm is on course, as it spreads its wings and takes flight in the global telecommunications market. Son’s vision included expanding the number of group firms to 5,000 from 800, and breaching the top 10 list of the world’s most valuable companies with a market value of at least ¥200 trillion. The bold acquisition of Sprint Nextel Corp., the third-biggest mobile phone company in the United States, best represents Son’s global ambitions. The deal turned SoftBank, long known as Japan’s No. 3 cellphone company, into a behemoth with about 100 million subscribers worldwide. This means SoftBank is no longer No. 3 in Japan, but in the world. “The domestic market won’t grow as much as it has, so (SoftBank) is making a pre-emptive move to secure growth opportunities,” said Naoki Yokota, chief analyst at SMBC Friend Research Center. Ever since it bought Vodafone’s Japan unit in 2006 and became a cellphone carrier, SoftBank has been on the rise, capitalizing on an almighty lift from the iPhone in 2008 to kick off the smartphone boom in Japan while rival carriers NTT Docomo Inc. and KDDI Corp. dallied before jumping on the bandwagon. SoftBank led in annual subscriber gains for six years in a row and hiked its market share to 22 percent in 2013 from 16 percent in 2006. Its sales and operating profit are constantly on the rise. Yet competition remains tough in Japan, with both Docomo and KDDI both selling Apple’s iPhones, making it difficult for the carriers to differentiate themselves to consumers. Son said there is a risk in sticking to the shrinking Japanese market but admitted competing in the U.S. will also be tough. “We are not sure if our experiences in Japan will work in a different market with different cultures. It’s like a challenge where we are going to have to start from zero,” he said at a news conference for the Spring acquisition in October 2012. “But we may be courting a bigger risk by not challenging” ourselves and staying in Japan, he said. SoftBank’s mission in the U.S. is quite clear: replicate what it did with Vodafone, the struggling third-place carrier SoftBank rebuilt. Since Sprint is far behind top rivals Verizon and AT&T, Son said his firm can re-create the Vodafone scenario in the U.S. as well. Verizon has 32 percent of the U.S. market in terms of subscribers, while AT&T has 30 percent and Sprint just 16 percent. But SoftBank’s prospects for a Sprint turnaround remain unclear as the trio’s handset lineups differ little and all sell the iPhone. Last October, Son said it will take another year to get Sprint ready to compete because its communications networks are weak, and SoftBank needs to provide it with new sales and marketing strategies. SoftBank is also reportedly in talks to acquire T-Mobile, the fourth-biggest U.S. carrier, to further bolster its position. But a Sprint-T-Mobile merger will face scrutiny from the U.S. government over fair competition issues. Son declined to comment on T-Mobile during a news conference last week. “The only thing I can say is that the competition among carriers in the U.S. is not that intense” in terms of networks and prices, said Son. “It is in a state of duopoly under the top two companies (Verizon and AT&T),” he said. While SoftBank is betting big on the U.S. market, this is actually not the first time it has entered America. Back in 1995, it acquired the Comdex computer trade show and Ziff-Davis Publishing, the largest publisher of computer-related magazines, with ambitions for global expansion. But the foray flopped. When SoftBank buys or invests in foreign companies, management is left largely untouched, as was the case with Comdex and Ziff-Davis. Son admitted that approach failed and said he intends to get more involved with Sprint’s management as chairman. “I won’t be just sitting in a chair. . . . I plan to be actively involved with the management,” Son said in October 2012. Last September, SoftBank even built an office in Silicon Valley where executives from both SoftBank and Sprint hold a monthly meeting. The California office is expected be the SoftBank group’s technology hub and have a staff of 1,000. While Sprint is a major part of SoftBank’s overseas strategy, it has been investing and teaming up with other foreign companies as well, such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., which runs China’s largest e-commerce site, Ustream Inc., a major video streaming service, and PayPal, the world’s top online payment service. Yet recent investments show that SoftBank is apparently making bid to secure an advantage in the global smartphone arena. For instance, SoftBank spent ¥151 billion in October to buy Supercell, a Finland-based game maker that has produced major smartphone hits, and ¥123 billion to acquire Brightstar, the world’s largest cellphone distributor. Experts say SoftBank is not only aiming to become a global mega-carrier that provides basic communications infrastructure, but a controller of content and distribution networks as well. With smartphones in wide use in developed countries, the handset market has little upside, but the content market will continue to expand, said Yokota of SMBC. The landscape of the communications industry changes so quickly it is hard to project what it will look like in a few years. But Takenobu Miki, who used to head the president’s office at SoftBank and worked side by side with Son, said Softbank’s global strategy seems to be right on track. “For a long time, Son has believed that everything will eventually be communicated through wireless technology,” Miki said. As technology keeps evolving, people are likely to have extremely small but powerful devices that will allow them to communicate wirelessly, said Miki, who now runs Tokyo-based consultancy Japan Flagship Project Co. “If that’s the case, it is natural to secure wireless communication infrastructure and content. Radio waves are limited. It’s a real good investment to secure the best radio waves,” Miki said.


Coastal shipping

Abstract: Dear Alice, I spotted what I think must be a very unusual ship while riding my bike along the Tokyo waterfront near Wakasu Park. It was like a ferry, in that trucks were driving up a ramp right into the boat. But at the same time a crane was loading shipping containers onto the deck, like a cargo ship. The ship was sizeable but didn’t seem big enough for cross-ocean travel. So where the heck does it go? And what the heck does it carry? Are goods transported within Japan by ship? That would make sense, when you consider this country’s geography, but I admit I’ve never thought about it before. Richard M., Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture Dear Richard, It took a little sleuthing to find out what ships call at Wakasu, and then to narrow the list down to a vessel meeting that description, but I can now say definitively that the ship you saw was the Himawari 1, which travels twice a week between Tokyo and Hokkaido. On a typical voyage, the ship departs Tokyo at 9 p.m. with a mixed load of daily necessities, beverages and old newspapers bound for recycling. It arrives two days later in the port of Tomakomai. By evening, it’s ready to head back to Tokyo with a new cargo of agricultural goods and paper products made from the recycled newspapers. This kind of shipping, in which cargo is moved by water without crossing a major ocean, is called “coastal shipping” in English and “ naikō kaiun ” in Japanese. To find out more, I paid a visit to the Japan Federation of Coastal Shipping Associations (JFCSA) headquarters in Tokyo, where I learned that coastal shipping accounts for about 40 percent of Japan’s domestic cargo transportation. That’s on what’s called a “tonnage kilometer” basis, which means you factor in both weight and distance. About 80 percent of the raw materials used by Japanese industry, including petroleum products, iron, steel, cement and limestone are transported by coastal shipping, according to JFCSA. Japan’s geography does indeed seem to favor coastal shipping, since it is long and narrow and surrounded by ocean. The center of the country is mountainous, which makes land travel difficult, and most of the population lives near coastal ports. During the Edo Period (1603-1868), the Tokugawa shogunate set up sophisticated systems for moving large quantities of goods by boats that sailed up and down the coasts. But in the 19th and 20th centuries, coastal shipping gradually lost ground to railroads and trucks. Currently, more goods are moved within Japan by trucks than any other method, accounting for about 55 percent of shipments on that same tonnage kilometer basis, and more when calculated in other ways. Shipments by rail and air make up only a small percentage of shipments within Japan. Trucking is convenient because goods can be delivered door-to-door, without the need to load and unload at intermediate points along the way. But Japan’s highways are congested and the trucking industry suffers from a severe shortage of drivers, as experienced drivers age and young people shun the work as too difficult. To help ensure the smooth movement of goods, the government is now encouraging a “modal shift” to move a portion of the freight carried by trucks to coastal shipping. That would not only ease the pressure on the trucking industry, but would also help the country meet its goals for reduction of carbon-dioxide emissions, because coastal shipping is more energy efficient. Moving one ton of freight by sea creates one-fifth the CO₂ emissions produced by moving the same weight by truck. But let me steer us back to the specific ship you saw, which is operated by Nippon Express, a major player in domestic and international logistics. Shigenori Makino of the company’s coastal shipping group confirmed that the Himawari 1 is an unusual combination of a container ship and what’s called a “roll on/roll off” (RORO) ship, or roro-sen in Japanese. RORO ships are designed to carry cargo vehicles that are driven on and off the ship. This is in contrast to lift-on/lift-off (LOLO) vessels, which use a crane to load and unload cargo. Small ferries that operate across short distances also have built-in ramps, but the term RORO is generally reserved for larger, ocean-going vessels. “Himawari 1 can accommodate 50 12-meter truck trailers in a section we call the ‘chassis hold,’ but it can also carry 400 shipping containers in the container holds toward the front of the ship,” Makino told me. The other special feature that distinguishes this ship, he said, is that it has an onboard gantry crane. “Normally, containers are loaded on and off ships with cranes that are built as part of the port facilities. But because the Himawari 1 has its own crane on board, it has more flexibility in loading and unloading and can call at ports that don’t have cranes.” This flexibility was a saving grace immediately after the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011, when the Himawari 1 was sent to Tohoku on a special relief mission to carry emergency supplies of heating fuel to the disaster area. At the time, it was difficult for trucks to reach the area because of massive damage to the road systems, and it was unclear what damage the facilities in the port of Sendai had suffered. “There were many lessons learned as a result of the Great East Japan Earthquake, but one of those was the importance of maintaining a healthy coastal shipping network so that goods can be moved by sea when a disaster interrupts other modes of transportation,” Hideo Fujii of the JFCSA told me. “We in the industry are preparing for future disasters, and will work with national and local governments to ensure that food, fuel and supplies can be transported quickly and safely to affected areas.”


Bandai's projection-mapping candy toy: Hako Vision

Abstract: httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5817g-2szzk Bandai’s Candy Toy division is known for those inexpensive character-driven toys packaged with just enough sugar to score shelf space where food is sold so that parents can use them to reward kids for being good at the grocery store. Their anime tie-up rosters includes Kamen Rider, Pokémon, Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger, One Piece, Yokai Watch and more. With the initial round of Hako Vision releases, however, they’re doing something a little different. Did you ever imagine you’d be watching recreations of popular projection-mapping shows rigged up with your smartphone and a cardboard box? While chewing grape-flavored gum?! You can think of it as the latest evolution of shokugan (“candy toy”) culture that supposedly has its roots in Meiji Era collectible cards that came packed in cigarettes (definitely not for kids), or a new direction in diorama construction for the 21st century. As of Jan. 27, there are two kits available for ¥500 each: Tokyo Michiterasu 2012 “Tokyo Hikari Vision” and the Tokyo National Museum’s “Karakuri” (2013). The package itself is the stage for the miniaturized versions of these special events (“hako” means “box”), so don’t go tearing it up to get inside. Once you set up the scale model of the building to be projected on and the reflecting panel, all you need is the lighting, which you provide by pulling up a specially made video on your smartphone and laying it on top like a roof to your cardboard theater. Projection-mapping itself seems to be all over the place lately. Even just in the past several months The Japan Times has noted Tower of the Sun Beam Painting, Art Aquarium 2013 , “live” Hatsune Miku shows presented by NTT Docomo, and Yokohama Odyssey . On the horizon, Disney (pioneering projection-mapping tech for years — since building the Haunted Mansion ride in 1969 according to Projection Mapping Central ) is debuting a new show mapped to Cinderella’s Castle at Tokyo Disneyland May 29th . As for the future of Hako Vision itself, Bandai already has big plans. Instead of just continuing to reproduce shows people have already seen life size, they’re creating original videos to go with Mobile Suit Gundam figures. Giant mecha familiar to fans of the anime, Gundam and Zaku II, each get their own video helmed by creative director Ryotaro Muromatsu of Naked Inc., the same company that produced the video for “Tokyo Hikari Vision.” The new kits go on sale April 14. Needless to say, if Hako Vision catches on, the licensing possibilities at Bandai are nearly endless. And now that the kits are out in the wild it’s not hard to imagine fans of the tech creating their own models and fantastic videos to go with them.

bandai
disney
gundam
hako vision
japan pulse


Female scientists push for breakthrough in equality

Abstract: Recent news that Haruko Obokata of Riken’s Center for Developmental Biology found a new way to generate pluripotent cells cast a spotlight on women in the male-dominant field of science. While figures show they are still a minority, Nagoya University is actively hiring women with hidden talents, and its efforts are bearing fruit. The Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry conducted a survey in 2012 and found that women constitute a mere 14 percent of all researchers in Japan. By comparison, more than 30 percent of the researchers in the United States and United Kingdom are women. In Japan, women’s numbers are particularly low in the physical sciences, engineering and agriculture. Nagoya University, which has gained a reputation for scientific research, is no exception. These fields are largely dominated by men at the university, which has only 45 female professors, excluding contract faculty. This translates into a ratio of around 4.8 percent. “You aren’t actually thinking of becoming a professor, are you?’ That’s what some of us have been asked just because we are women,” said Ikue Mori, who was promoted to professor in the biological science division at Nagoya University in 2004. “I hope that Haruko Obokata and her research work can improve the tough situation for women here,” she said. The general lack of understanding of what a woman goes through during pregnancy or when giving birth is another reason women tend to avoid careers in research. One female researcher had to be hospitalized suddenly because she was at risk of premature delivery. When she came back to the laboratory, she allegedly found all her research equipment left outside in the corridor and her desk gone. To help change attitudes in this male-dominant workplace, Nagoya University launched a program in 2010 to train female researchers in the sciences. It also set a quota for female researchers and publicly advertised for them. It also started to offer support for female professors and associate professors, such as research grants and personnel expenses to hire assistants for those who are pregnant or have children. As a result, as of July 2012, the number of female researchers in the science, technology and agriculture fields has climbed to 6.2 percent, and two women in their 30s were promoted to professors. One of them is Azusa Kamikochi, a researcher from Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences who gained attention for her work in brain research. She is also the mother of a 3-year-old daughter. “Obokata’s research has produced brilliant results. I hope the time will come when she will be recognized for her astounding work and not because she is a young female researcher,” said Kamikochi. The program was originally scheduled to end in 2015, but Nagoya University has decided to continue it. “Female researches have great potential for growth. Their talents have remained overshadowed by male researchers, but I think it’s their time to shine now,” said President Michinari Hamaguchi.

nagoya university
haruko obokata
female researchers


Russian poachers plaguing parks as Moscow goes nuts for squirrels

Abstract: MOSCOW - One by one, the bushy-tailed residents of Moscow’s parks have been disappearing. The problem: Russians have gone nuts for pet squirrels. Moscow authorities bolstered security early this month for all of the city’s green areas after city official Alexei Gorelov said he had received multiple reports of squirrel poaching. Gorelov, who heads an Ecological Control unit, said more police patrols are being dispatched to fend off the poachers, who can be fined up to 20,000 rubles ($573). Noting that squirrels are of little use for their meat or their fur, he said that most of the poached park squirrels were resold to people as pets for 5,000 rubles ($144) each. “(Wild) animals have to be enjoyed from a distance,” said Gorelov as he scrolled through a Russian website selling squirrel pets. Despite the website’s claims that squirrels are a “friendly and gentle” animal that can be kept around the house, they can bite and are not domesticated. Some animal lovers were outraged at the poaching. “The fine should not be 5,000 rubles, it should be 500,000 rubles for this kind of poaching,” said Alexandra Mishenko, a retiree who feeds the squirrels in Moscow’s parks. “We should gather people together and pelt the person who does that with snow,” she said, her eyes welling with tears.


Steamer surveys new island; Forces land on Hainan Island; Kyu Sakamoto profiled; Leftists suspected in shrine bombing

Abstract: Steamer discovers newly formed island 100 YEARS AGO THURSDAY, FEB. 26 1914 — The N.Y.K. Bonin liner Chefoo, which returned to Yokohama yesterday, gave an interesting account of her exploration of the newly formed island near Minami Iwojima. On its northeastern side, the island, which has been created by a recent volcanic eruption, has precipices that have collapsed or washed away at places. From the crumpled earth in the sea shot up smoke, and the scene presents a most entertaining spectacle. On the western side of the island is a flat beach. The crew landed by canoe and stayed ashore one hour, then came to the southeast of the island whence they could plainly see the crater. Ash, pumice-stones and steam were being sent up in immense volume to a height of some 500 feet (150 meters). The new island is located two miles and a half to the south of Minami Iwojima. It stands 590 feet (180 meters) above sea level, and extends three quarters of a mile (1.2 km) from south to north. The water in the sea surrounding the new island is tepidly warm. The heap of ash on the island is knee-deep. The island described here has since disappeared. 75 YEARS AGO Saturday, Feb. 11, 1939 Japanese forces land on Hainan Island Japanese Army and Navy forces, operating in close collaboration, at daybreak yesterday succeeded in making a surprise landing on Hainan Island off the South China coast, and have been continuing an advance, an official communique by the Imperial Headquarters revealed. The occupation of Hainan Island, it is believed, will further strengthen the naval blockade now enforced all over China’s water by the Japanese Navy, and will simultaneously cause a heavy blow to munitions transportation by various routes in south China. Tatsuo Kawai, spokesman of the Foreign Office, told journalists the operation does not violate the Franco-Japanese Agreement of 1907. “The present Japanese operation is for the purpose of exterminating the Chinese military forces in the island and is therefore an affair which has nothing to do with the question of assuring peace and security envisaged by the Japanese-French Agreement.” 50 YEARS AGO Tuesday, Feb. 25, 1964 Personality profile: Kyu Sakamoto The coffee shop in the neon-lit Shibuya alley shook with the flamboyant jazz of the five-piece band. Every seat on two floors was taken, and the teenage audience tapped its toes while waiters whisked around with ice cream and red and green sodas. Desultory applause changed to enthusiasm when the idol stepped forward to the microphone, the one-of-their-kind, Kyu Sakamoto. Kyu-chan, 22 years old, international star with fan mail from across the world, smiled his natural impish smile. He has the gift all right. “Good-bye, Joe,” he sang in his breathy voice, and his rhythm was infectious and irresistible. But back-stage, Kyu-chan looked wan. His life keeps him on the run between rehearsals, recording studios, TV studios. “I love fast cars,” he said. “But — no time.” Kyu, ninth and last child in his family, is the son of a Kawasaki restaurateur. “I was a very naughty little boy,” he volunteered. Six years ago, inspired by Elvis Presley, he decided to be a singer, and his efforts filled his life to the extent that his high school education remained uncompleted. His rendition of the song that became known overseas as “Sukiyaki” put him at the top of the American hit parade, the first Japanese ever to win such distinction. “Then,” he said, “my mother was happy, so I was happy.” He is happier still now that he has built a new house for his mother, and lives with her in it. During a half-hour break before going on stage again, he recalled his trips abroad. “Rome is like Tokyo, but Hollywood — wonderful! I flew over Hollywood in a helicopter. Wonderful!” In the late spring he is scheduled to go to America again for a series of appearances. He then explained that he hopes to build a steady future as an actor in moving pictures. And marriage? “Later,” said Kyu-chan seriously. “Much, much later.” Modern young people come in for a lot of criticism in one way and another. A boy like Kyu-chan makes you feel that the generation is not a lost one. To have known his success and to have come through unspoiled and likeable says a lot for the stuff of which he is made. 25 YEARS AGO Saturday, Feb. 4, 1989 Anti-Emperor leftists suspected in bombing An explosion rocked the main building of Togo Shrine in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward early Friday morning, causing damage to the front door and ceiling. Police are investigating the incident as a suspected bomb attack by leftist anti-establishment radicals aiming to obstruct the Feb. 24 funeral for Emperor Showa. The explosion occurred shortly after 4 a.m. Police officers dispatched to the shrine found the front door to the main building shattered and part of the ceiling collapsed. The explosion triggered a fire that scorched the pillars of an outdoor passage connecting the main building and a room for the tea ceremony. The shrine was established in 1940 in memory of Adm. Heihachiro Togo, the victor of the sea Battle of Tsushima over a tsarist Russian armada in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05. Togo served in the 1920s as chief tutor to the late monarch, who was then the Crown Prince. There have been seven similar incidents. Police believe all are linked to organizations that have voiced opposition to the emperor system since the Jan. 7 death of Emperor Showa. In this feature, which appears on the first Sunday of each month, we delve into The Japan Times’ 117-year archive to present a selection of stories from the past. Stories may be edited for brevity. Readers may be interested to know that The Japan Times’ entire archive is now available on Blu-ray Disc. For more details, see jtimes.jp/de .

kyu sakamoto
sukiyaki
emperor hirohito
togo shrine
hainan