Spouses await court ruling on retaining maiden name in marriage

Abstract: Tears welled up in Kaori Oguni’s eyes as she recalled the heartache she felt at what was supposed to be one of the happiest moments of her life — that is, when she and her husband registered their marriage at a Tokyo ward office in 2006. “As I was completing my paperwork, all I could think of was, ‘OK, that’s it then. This is officially goodbye to my family name,’ ” Oguni, a 41-year-old mother of one, said in a recent interview. “A family name is an important part of my identity. Losing it was painful.” Oguni is one of five people suing the government over what they call a “sexist” civil code that has traditionally resulted in Japanese women changing their surnames upon marriage. It requires Japanese couples to register their marriage under a single surname. The plaintiffs are now awaiting the Supreme Court’s first-ever judgment on the matter, slated for Wednesday, in which a judge will rule on the constitutionality of the law. Should the top court declare it unconstitutional, it would put strong pressure on the government to pursue a swift legal revision, ending a century-old tradition that has at times disadvantaged women at the workplace. It would also be a slap in the face for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration, which has pushed for gender equality but opposes the idea of allowing married couples to retain separate names — on the grounds that doing so would hurt the family bond. Oguni and other plaintiffs filed the lawsuit in 2011 after being fed up with years of inaction by the Diet. Being forced to choose one surname upon marriage, they say, infringes on their right to individual dignity and freedom of marriage. Oguni also deems the law sexist. Although the law technically does not specify which surname couples should adopt, studies in the past 40 years show that more than 95 percent of newlyweds have opted for the husband’s name. Critics say this amounts to discrimination against women. The U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has repeatedly called on the government to “take immediate action” to amend the law. Ahead of the Supreme Court ruling, Oguni was upbeat. “My hopes are high,” she said, although both district and high courts have ruled against the plaintiffs. “For years, our government has upheld a law that has cemented the conservative notion in our society that women are supposed to change their names if they want to get married. The revision of the law would change that and empower women like us.” Oguni, who uses her maiden name, plans to reinstate the name to her family registration document if the law is amended. She asked that her current legal surname — that of her husband’s family — be withheld for privacy. Now a mother, Oguni remembers being shocked when, as a teenager, she first detected society’s male-chauvinist traditions. As a junior high school student, she overheard a remark her mother made while scanning a list of names of female friends she was going to meet at a reunion of university alumni. “Oh my. I don’t recognize any of them because they’ve all changed their family names after marriage,” her mother said. It was nearly two decades later, when Oguni decided to get married at age 32, that her childhood dismay revisited her: It was now her turn, she thought, to relinquish her family name. Despondent, Oguni asked her fiance which surname he wanted to adopt. He thought about it for days, and answered that he didn’t want to lose his name, either. At one point, it almost looked like the two had to do what couples with the same dilemma usually do: live together, but remain legally unmarried. That option, known as jijitsukon (de facto marriage), ultimately did not suit her, and Oguni begrudgingly decided to register her marriage under her husband’s surname. “Leaving your marriage unregistered means you will find yourself at a significant disadvantage in emergency situations, such as when your partner is hurt in an accident and needs surgery. I was scared that I wouldn’t be treated as a family member at times like that,” Oguni said. Today, Oguni, an administrative scrivener in Tokyo, continues to introduce herself to clients using her maiden name, Kaori Oguni. Using her maiden name at the workplace, she said, poses little inconvenience except on the occasions when she needs to sign notary documents using her legal name. “Being able to go by my maiden name at work has truly been helpful to maintain my sanity. I’m sure I would’ve lost it if I was with one of those Japanese companies where your boss uses your married name against your will, or forces you to use it, once you’re married.” A mother of a 6-year-old daughter, Oguni dismisses as “improbable” the possibility that children whose parents have different surnames would become a target of bullying at school or get “confused” — as long as, she said, children adopt either of their father or mother’s surname and no inconsistency exists in the names of siblings.

civil code
marriage
supreme court
surnames
constitutionality


Investors see big returns as Airbnb takes off in Japan

Abstract: Last month, the manager of Airbnb Japan told Bloomberg News that Japan is the accommodation service’s fastest-growing market, and that he hoped to work with local governments to make regulations more amenable to Airbnb’s concept of property owners renting out residences to visitors. Although the number of travelers using the service in Japan increased in the past year by more than 500 percent, and the number of listings by more than 370 percent, Japan is still behind other countries where Airbnb is available, with only 21,000 rooms listed. Consequently the service, which allows members to connect directly with people who want to let rooms on a short-term basis, is seen as being a possible solution to two ongoing problems in Japan: the shortage of hotel rooms in the face of a startling rise in foreign tourist numbers, and the steady increase in vacant houses and apartments. The trouble is that the shortage of accommodations is mainly in large cities where vacant housing isn’t as prevalent as it is elsewhere in Japan. If you look up some of those 21,000 Japanese properties currently listed on Airbnb, many are in places that few tourists visit. Technically Airbnb is illegal, since the Hotel Business Act ( ryokan gyōhō ) sets conditions for commercial activities related to overnight stays, and most Airbnb properties don’t follow these conditions. For instance, commercial accommodations are supposed to have front desks. However, that obviously hasn’t stopped people from renting out their rooms to strangers, and for the most part the authorities have looked the other way. It’s not just that they see it as a convenient, perhaps temporary solution to the above-mentioned problems; it also offers investment possibilities. A recent feature in Harbor Business Online described a 36-year-old man called, pseudonymously, Mr. Tanaka, who owns five condominium units in Tokyo. One is a 38-year-old, 30-sq.-meter one-room apartment in Shinjuku that he purchased for ¥10 million. The market rate for the unit as a rental is ¥80,000 a month, but he rents it out to Airbnb members and makes an average of ¥410,000 a month. After subtracting expenses and loan payments, he enjoys a return on investment of 25 percent a year. As with many businesses, success is all about location. Hotels in Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto are regularly operating now at 90 percent occupancy rates, and since they charge premium prices, Airbnb units are becoming extremely popular, especially among Asian visitors who aren’t necessarily into amenities. All they care about is a room that is centrally located so that they can shop and sightsee at their leisure. Tanaka told the website that the nearest hotel to the aforementioned apartment charges ¥18,000 a night per person. He charges ¥10,000 for the first person and ¥2,500 for each additional guest, so five people could theoretically stay there for the price of one person in the city hotel, though obviously it would be pretty cramped. Tanaka is in it for the investment, and understands that there is an inherent risk in sinking all his money into Japanese properties. Though the central government seems to be leaning toward more liberalized regulations regarding minpaku (private residences that take lodgers) by allowing them to operate within “special districts,” such as Ota Ward near Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, local governments may be under pressure from residents and conventional commercial lodgings. In Kyoto, for instance, travel agents who offer minpaku services have been put on notice by the authorities, who say they are in danger of being cited and penalized. Tanaka is reducing his risk by investing in properties in Thailand, where the occupancy rates are even higher than those in central Tokyo. He has bought several apartments in Bangkok. In one building, in fact, he isn’t the only Japanese landlord. The return on investment is less than it is for the Shinjuku apartment — between 3 and 8 percent — but it’s more guaranteed for the long term. As a tourist destination, Thailand has always been reliable. Tokyo is only a sure thing up until the Olympics in 2020. After that, it may be time to sell — if, in fact, he can find a buyer. Moreover, there are no property taxes in Thailand and property values are steadily rising, at about 3 percent a year. So even if revenues fall, he can always sell the apartment for a profit. And just as Tanaka is expanding his business to Thailand, there are many non-Japanese investing in Japanese properties to take advantage of the popularity of Airbnb. An article in the weekly magazine Aera describes another apartment building in Shinjuku with about a dozen units, several of which are rented by a Chinese man who told the real-estate agent that he was going to use them as company housing for employees from Hong Kong on temporary transfer to Tokyo. However, the owner of the building increasingly noticed a variety of foreigners on the premises and once ran into a non-Japanese person who had come to clean some rooms. Eventually, the owner discovered that the Chinese gentleman, or the person he represented, was renting out the rooms to travelers via Airbnb. The other tenants were alarmed and threatened to move, and it took the owner and the real estate company months to have the rental agreements changed. This sort of money-making scheme is increasingly common. Consequently, condominium owners associations are now incorporating rules in their charters that specifically prohibit Airbnb-style sublets. There are even real-estate firms that specialize in finding such rental properties for investors. Some tack on a surcharge for rental properties where owners allows sublets — the lessee pays 10 percent extra for the rental and can list it on Airbnb, and the landlord thus makes a little more. But if other condo owners or residents in the building object, it can still cause problems. More ambitious realtors, like Best One, which specializes in selling Japanese properties to Asian investors, are steering customers with means toward the purchase of entire apartment buildings or even single-family homes. Though Japanese people may think Tokyo properties are overpriced, with the low yen factored in they’re cheaper for foreign buyers than similar-size properties in Hong Kong, Taipei or Shanghai. Some are buying luxury condo units on the Tokyo waterfront to use as high-end Airbnb rentals in the short term. For the long-term they plan on selling the units at a substantial profit — before the Olympics, that is. After the Olympics, all bets are off.

housing
tourism
hotels
real estate
investments
airbnb


Body left for science slips out of van on Texas road

Abstract: DALLAS - An elderly woman’s body donated to a medical research lab was discovered on the side of a north Texas road after falling through the back window of a transport van, police said on Friday. The mortuary van carrying the body of Nell Joseph, 79, was headed to a Science Care facility in Colorado on Tuesday when a rear window broke and the cadaver slid out onto the highway without the driver noticing, said police in Denton, north of Dallas. An officer found the black body bag with Joseph’s remains packed in medical-grade ice during a routine patrol. The van’s cargo and passenger areas are separated by a metal barrier, which could have prevented the driver from noticing that the cadaver fell out, police said in a statement. Joseph died from a lung disease in a Fort Worth hospital on Thanksgiving Day. Her remains were donated for the study of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, her family told local broadcaster WFAA-TV. Melinda Ellsworth, a spokeswoman for Science Care, said the van was carrying multiple donors but only Joseph’s body fell off the vehicle. The company has suspended services with the transportation provider. “The family still wants to go forward with the donation,” she said.


Choking on smog, Rome and Milan issue no-car day edicts

Abstract: ROME - Rome and Milan have ordered no-car days next week to combat pollution, which has hit unhealthy levels for weeks mainly because no rain has fallen to wash away the smog. A six-hour ban on cars this Monday and Tuesday was announced by Rome on Thursday, while Milan’s antipollution measure sees six-hour bans daily from Monday to Wednesday. In Rome, home heating is blamed along with heavy traffic for the eye-stinging, throat-irritating air. Until air quality improves, thermostat settings in Rome’s homes and offices cannot exceed 18 degrees Celsius (64 degrees Fahrenheit.) The total daily hours that furnaces can run is being reduced from 12 to eight, except for schools and hospitals. But many Romans ignore the rules and leave the heat on all day. Warm, dry weather is worsening pollution.


Companies connect with free mobile apps

Abstract: Enticing smartphone users with high-tech functions and original content, Japanese businesses have begun engaging customers by releasing custom mobile apps for free download. In the process, they’re managing to slip in a strong marketing messages into the pockets of loyal fans and potential customers. On Jan. 24, Doutor, a national chain of coffee shops. launched their Doutor AR app. Made to be used in conjunction with the free magazine It’s My Times, the app displays animation and text on the user’s smartphone via augmented-reality technology. Users simply hover their phone’s camera over special points on the magazine to view these extra features. The magazine, available only in Doutor shops, is designed to be read while customers relax with a cup of coffee. This app, available only until the end of February, is a clever way to attract more readers while also boosting brand profile. One of the attractions of downloading the app for readers of the magazine is the opportunity to watch and listen to a song performed by cover star Lisa Ono. Another brand that is creatively engaging with smartphone app technology, is Wego. On Jan. 10 the second-hand clothes chain launched its own branded app, which offers free wallpaper, a GPS-aware store locator, staff blogs and photos of staff with information on how they coordinated their look. The app also seems to be yet another mutation of the charismatic shop assistant cult (shop assistants gaining near celebrity status). Of course not everyone desires style tips from super trendy shop assistants. Dechau Pachinko parlor is targeting a slightly different user (predominantly male perhaps?) with its Dechau Girls Calendar 2012 , a free Android app that utilizes the ever-popular beach babe. In case you didn’t know, the Dechau Girls, who have been touring pachinko parlors since 2007, cheer on players and hand out candies and hot towels. While they’re usually dressed in bright skintight outfits, this free calendar app gives fans a chance to see the girls relaxing at the beach in itsy bitsy bikinis. The final app on our list also has a straightforward, unsophisticated appeal. Chiyoda , a company that owns over 1,100 shoe stores nationwide, has launched an app that provides users with discount coupons. Once users enter their personal info (date of birth, sex, location of the store they’re visiting), they can then receive coupons tailored to their needs. Nothing fancy — you scratch our back, we’ll scratch yours — but for a country that’s obsessed with customer point cards and coupons, this is an app that’s bound to stick.

apps
augmented reality
japan pulse
iphone app
mobile apps
android app
dechau
doutor


Mismatch: Universities on rise but students in decline

Abstract: Education minister Makiko Tanaka drew immediate flak in early November when she outright refused her advisory panel’s recommendation to approve three new universities. The outspoken Tanaka justified her decision by asserting that higher education is in decline because there are too many universities. As the criticism increased, however, she reversed herself and approved the three schools a week later. Experts praised Tanaka’s initial decision to reject the schools and confirmed that while universities are indeed growing in number, the quality of education appeared to be deteriorating. Following are questions and answers about the nation’s universities: How many universities are there? As of May 1, there were 783 universities nationwide, compared with 523 in 1992. Of the total, 86 are state-run, 92 are public and the remaining 605 are private. While the total has climbed, the number of state-run universities has been in decline, falling to 86 from 100 in 2003. The increase in universities ultimately pushed up the percentage of people going on to higher education, from 26 percent in 1992 to 51 percent in 2010, according to ministry data. What is the college-age population? The nation’s low birthrate has dented the population of young people. The number of 18-year-olds peaked in 1992 at about 2.05 million, according to the education ministry. By 2010, however, they had dwindled to 1.22 million, down 40 percent. Do all universities have full enrollment? No. Out of 577 private universities, 264, or 46 percent, were underenrolled as of May 1, according to The Promotion and Mutual Aid Corporation for Private Schools of Japan, including 18 that were below 50 percent capacity. Aya Yoshida, a professor of education at Waseda University, said most of the underenrolled universities are small, newly established schools in rural areas. Some struggling universities, to fill their classrooms, will accept anyone regardless of academic ability. Some accept foreign students, mostly from China, as “fillers,” according to writer Taiji Yamauchi, who visited every university in Japan in 2009 and has penned several books on higher education. But in the future this may not be an option because universities are on the rise in China and elsewhere in Asia, and their quality is improving, Yamauchi said. Today anyone can effectively enter a four-year university if they aren’t too choosy, he said. “There are university students who don’t know how to multiply. People need to know this reality,” Yamauchi said. Why are universities proliferating if youth is in decline? Experts say this mismatch is rooted in the relaxed standards for establishing universities. The government began trying to curb the opening of new private universities in the latter half of the 1970s, according to the education ministry. But things changed in 2003, when then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi relaxed the rules to make them easier to set up, experts say. For example, the government abolished a regulation that made foreign language study and physical education compulsory subjects. Experts also point out that local-level governments, which are striving to retain their young people, are providing financial support to private organizations to build new universities. “Elite high school students in rural areas leave their hometowns and go to top universities in the cities. To stop that, municipalities sometimes persuade local top private high schools into establishing universities,” Yamauchi said. “But in reality, no top-notch students go to newly established schools because most such institutions have low educational rankings.” In addition, the waning popularity of junior colleges, or “tanki daigaku,” are forcing such institutions to transform into four-year universities to attract students, experts say. Most junior college students used to be women who were not career-oriented. However, as more women seek real careers, they tend to favor universities, experts say. “Nowadays, they go to four-year universities, leaving the two-year college no option but to convert into a university in order to survive,” Yoshida of Waseda University said. According to education ministry data, while the number of universities rose to 783 in 2012 from 523 in 1992, junior colleges slid to 591 from 372 in the same period. Of the 32 new universities opened since fiscal 2009 — including the three Tanaka ultimately approved in November — 15, or 47 percent, were former two-year colleges, the ministry said. “I believe the biggest reason behind the growing number of universities is jobs,” Yamauchi said. “When you think of your future and getting a job, it’s better to show you’ve been to a four-year university.” How does the approval process work? The final decision is in the hands of the education minister. But before that, an applicant school must be examined by two advisory panels under the ministry. The advisory panels check an applicant’s documents, conduct interviews and carry out on-site assessments to gauge whether the wannabe schools meet government standards for curriculum, faculty, financial status and physical requirements. The entire process takes about eight months, the ministry said. The panels consist of 29 members, including 21 university officials. Yamauchi said that the criteria are quite easy to meet, and that if an applicant satisfies them, the panels cannot say no. According to ministry data, no request to establish a new university has been rejected in the past 15 years. Has the ministry taken any new steps since November? Yes. The ministry set up a study group in November to discuss the addition of new criteria to the approval process. The group plans to reach a conclusion by the end of the year, with enforcement to begin as early as next year. However, Yoshida of Waseda University said the mere addition of new criteria won’t improve the quality of higher education, because there are fewer applications to establish new universities and this trend is expected to continue. “This year, there were only three applications. So the important thing is to have a system to thoroughly check quality of the existing universities,” Yoshida said. In fiscal 2004, following the relaxation of standards for establishing universities, the education ministry instituted an accreditation system to check the quality of education at existing universities once every seven years. Yoshida said the system is now, at least part of it, just a show. “There are more than 700 universities and their quality varies. So there should be a decent system to check (their quality) as long as those schools exist as universities,” he said.

fyi : cultural/society
university exceeding needs i


Club crowd uses salsa to slam archaic law

Abstract: Earlier this month, several people were seen salsa dancing in frigid weather outside bustling Shibuya Station. They weren’t there to show off, but to protest what they say is an outdated law that is being used to indiscriminately crack down on their favorite dancing spots. “I feel my joy for life is being threatened by this obsolete law,” said Risa Suzuki, a senior at Waseda University who is part of a group calling for the 64-year-old Entertainment Business Control and Improvement Law to be revised so nightclubs can operate unhampered. While the government recently made dance part of the public education curriculum, the dance halls and nightclubs responsible for making it popular are being told to close by 1 a.m. or add more floor space under a code that was originally drafted to regulate Japan’s bustling sex and entertainment industries. This has had the effect of curtailing their business or forcing closure. Because the dance scene is now a completely different animal from what it was in 1948, a Kyoto-based group called Let’s Dance began a petition drive in May to revise the so-called “fueiho” law with the aim of collecting at least 100,000 signatures by the end of the month. They reached the target on Dec. 27 and plan to pressure lawmakers to revise the law to exclude dance venues when the Diet convenes in January. “I think Japanese authorities are two-faced. While they introduce dance in the school curriculum, they regulate salsa dancing with an obsolete law by saying it’s lascivious,” said Saiko Nakatani, 32, who came to sign the petition in Shibuya because she loves the club music. Fueiho is an abbreviation of “fuzoku eigyo-to no kisei oyobi gyomu no tekiseika-to ni kansuru horitsu,” as the law is known in Japanese. It is used to broadly regulate a wide range of business. Although the word fuzoku is often used to refer to the sex industry, the 1948 law covers everything from love hotels, strip clubs and brothels to restaurants, mah-jongg parlors and dance halls. This is because the postwar authorities believed dance clubs posed a danger to public morals and fostered prostitution. Thus any establishment that allows customers to dance must obtain a license — even if it’s a dance school. The license imposes several requirements on dance establishments. The main room must have at least 66 sq. meters of unobstructed floor space and the venue must close by midnight if situated in a residential area or by 1 a.m. if in a commercial district. Although the law has been revised dozens of times, the restrictions on dance clubs have only grown over the years. The most recent revision, which added the operating hours and size requirements, was made in 1984 to keep youths out of discos and video arcades after teenagers were victimized in the 1982 Kabukicho Disco murder. The high-profile case involved two 14-year-old junior high school girls who went for a drive with a man they met at a disco in Shinjuku. One ended up being murdered and the other wounded, supposedly by the same man, who escaped arrest. Following the crackdown on discos in the 1980s, police eased off and focused on noise complaints and drug-linked crimes at clubs. This all changed in 2010 with the massive raid on America Mura, a popular commercial district in Osaka where several dance and nightclub owners were arrested for not having licenses. Takahiro Saito, a lawyer who supports the Let’s Dance petition campaign, says the problem lies in the fact that the law was drafted with a built-in assumption that all styles of dance, from ballroom to hip-hop, are excessively hedonistic activities that can harm public morals and corrupt youth. Even formal dancing competitions or parties can be targeted with indecency or other allegations unless certified instructors are present. “Even the police officers I’ve talked with said it would make their jobs easier if they had a clear definition of ‘dance’ to regulate,” Saito said. Salsa clubs are one of the latest victims. Last July, Salsa Sudada, the capital’s oldest salsa club, closed after manager Katsuhiko Ikeda was arrested for operating without a license. Salsa Sudada was a pioneer in Tokyo’s salsa scene, offering both lessons and dancing time. But it had been operating without a license since it opened in 1992 because it couldn’t afford to be as large as the law requires it to be. Salsa Sudada’s closure galvanized salsa lovers and club owners in Tokyo, who view the fueiho law as an anachronistic ordinance that’s doing more harm than good. “It’s the 21st century and salsa is an art form,” said Oscar Arias, 33, who regularly hosts dancing events that attract crowds of more than 100 people. “Local politicians should know that salsa is good for the economy, as well.” Critics of the law argue that nightclubs are doing their part to boost the stagnant economy and estimate the industry generates about ¥1 billion a night. They have also invigorated the music industry with their own brand of music and influenced pop music as well, they say. But the public’s general image of clubs, especially their association with yakuza and other underworld elements, has sullied the image of law-abiding establishments. “Club owners also have to make efforts to convey to society that clubs are problem-free and win their trust if they want to revise the law,” Saito said.


Man goes on stabbing rampage outside mall in Ibaraki Prefecture, killing one and injuring seven

Abstract: MITO, Ibaraki Pref. - A man wanted by police for murder went on a stabbing spree outside a shopping mall in Tsuchiura, Ibaraki Prefecture, on Sunday, killing one man and injuring seven other people, police said. Ibaraki Prefectural Police arrested Masahiro Kanagawa, 24, near the scene shortly after the attack. Kanagawa had been placed on the wanted list Friday on suspicion of fatally stabbing 72-year-old Tsuchiura resident Yoshikazu Miura on Wednesday. Kanagawa was initially arrested on suspicion of murdering Miura. The police said they will pursue charges of murder and attempted murder in connection with the eight stabbings, which took place in the area around JR Arakawaoki Station on the Joban Line. Among the victims of Sunday’s rampage was 27-year-old Takahiro Yamakami of Ami, who died after being taken to a hospital. The other seven include a 62-year-old woman and an 18-year-old male student who were seriously wounded, and three other men and a woman between 16 and 60, including a 29-year-old police officer from Tsuchiura police station, whose wounds are not life-threatening. The police received a call about the stabbing spree at around 11 a.m. and another one from Kanagawa himself, who was calling from an unmanned police box. “I did it,” he told them. Officers overpowered Kanagawa in front of the police box, which is about 200 meters from the train station. He was armed with a kitchen knife and a survival knife. The suspect told investigators after his arrest that he “wanted to kill people,” and that he didn’t care who they were. The rampage took place even though eight police officers had been posted around the station following Wednesday’s murder, the police said, expressing regret for failing to prevent the attack. According to police and witnesses, Kanagawa stabbed five people near the station’s ticket gate while walking from the west exit to the east exit, which leads to a narrow corridor to the mall. He then attacked two more on the path before fatally stabbing Yamakami just outside the entrance. “I saw a young man collapsed, with a pool of blood around his head,” said the manager of a nearby cell phone shop “I can’t believe this is happening in such a quiet town,” he said. A female employee at a nearby beauty salon said: “Four or five ambulances were here. I don’t know what’s going on here.” In Wednesday’s slaying, Miura was allegedly stabbed once in the neck in front his house and died later in a hospital, the police said. The police put Kanagawa on the wanted list Friday after discovering his bicycle at the crime scene and traces of Miura’s blood on clothes seized from his home. Police described Kanagawa as an lonely, unemployed man who likes games and is not good at communicating with others. The day after he was put on the wanted list, Kanagawa made a trip to Tokyo’s electronics and game mecca of Akihabara, police said. He lives with his parents, two sisters and a brother in Tsuchiura, they said. One of his schoolmates said Kanagawa didn’t have many friends and did not go out very often and would suddenly get angry after losing games. He worked at a local convenience store sometimes, but didn’t have many other jobs, he said.

murder
ibaraki
stabbings
masahiro kanagawa
tsuchiura


Witness to War: War trauma leads to efforts to reconcile

Abstract: Free-falling from approximately 27,000 feet after his B-29 was critically damaged while flying over the Kanto region, Raymond “Hap” Halloran was all but certain his fate had been sealed. The navigator-bombardier was parachuting down behind enemy lines, more than 2,400 km from his base on Saipan. It was January 1945. “It was a quiet fall,” Halloran, 86, said at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan in Tokyo earlier this month. After hitting the ground, “I put my hands in the air and surrendered,” he said. Although the then 22-year-old Ohio native survived the fall, he was roughed up by locals in Chiba Prefecture before being taken to a POW camp. He endured degrading torture, including being displayed naked inside a cage in a zoo, and lived through the Great Tokyo Air Raid of March 10, 1945. Halloran suffered for seven months, leaving him with trauma that continued well after the war. But Halloran has returned to Japan 11 times since 1984. “Maybe if I go back and see these people and judge them for who they really are, they are entitled to my judgment rather than hatred and misjudgment,” Halloran said as he explained his reasons for revisiting his former enemies. “So I said, ‘I’ve got to go back.’ “ Born in Cincinnati in February 1922, Halloran volunteered for the U.S. Army Air Corps after learning of Japan’s 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. Following the completion of his training, his team was dispatched to Saipan, where the 73rd Wing Base staged missions targeting mainland Japan. “The brand-new B-29 was a thing of beauty,” he said, recalling the day he saw his plane. Beginning in December 1944, Halloran boarded the bomber with 10 other crewmen on assignments to attack Iwo Jima, Nagoya and the Kobe area. The missions were successful, but that “doesn’t mean you get delighted,” the veteran said, because the war “could have gone on for years” had the United States taken a less aggressive approach. On his fourth mission, which targeted the Nakajima aircraft factory in western Tokyo, his plane was shot down by Japanese twin-engine fighters. During that mission on Jan. 27, 1945, three of the plane’s engines caught fire and the Ohioan evacuated through the front bomb bay. His hands grew numb as he was exposed to the freezing outside temperature, but he managed to control the parachute during the descent. “Only five of the crewmen evacuated the plane. That’s all I want to say” about the crash, Halloran said. Held by the military police at a prison in Tokyo for 67 days in solitary confinement, Halloran was given small rice balls for meals and quickly lost more than 30 kg. His skin had rashes from lice and flea bites. No medical care was provided. Then, in April 1945, he was told to leave his cell and follow the guards while they put a blindfold and tied his hands with rope. “They told me to take my shoes, which meant it was my final day,” Halloran said of his fears of being executed. But instead of being sent to the gallows, he was taken to Ueno Zoo in Taito Ward and put on display, naked, in a tiger cage. Despite the attempt by the Japanese military to humiliate him, Halloran remembers observing different reactions from the crowd. “I thought I saw compassion (in the eyes of onlookers.) It was maybe because I wanted to see it,” he recalled. “I needed somebody on my side” to give a little hope. Halloran, who spent more than two months in a military torture prison near the Imperial Palace, also survived the massive air raids on Tokyo by his countrymen. On March 10, 1945, during what later came to be known as the Great Tokyo Air Raid, he witnessed the spreading fires and heard the screaming children outside his cell. “It was a terrible night. Terrible,” he said, recalling the incident in which 100,000 people were killed overnight. Although Halloran was released from prison after Japan’s surrender in August 1945, he was physically unfit to immediately return home. It took him about a year to be released from a hospital in West Virginia and leave the service. But the traumatic experiences lingered for nearly four decades, taking hold of his life. Although he attempted to bury his past, he endured nightmares for years afterward. In 1984, the veteran finally felt that instead of avoiding his former enemy, he had to face his demons and attempt some kind of reconciliation with his past. Since 1984, Halloran has visited Japan for tours in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and to meet his former enemies, including the pilot who took down his B-29. In 1998 he published a book — “Hap’s War” — in which he chronicled his wartime experiences. Today, Halloran donates annual checks to the Center of the Tokyo Raid and War Damages in Koto Ward. He has given so many speeches on his wartime experiences that he can even joke about his confinement in Japan. “One guard would come up to (his cell) and tell me ‘ohayo’ (good morning),” during the imprisonment, Halloran said. “I thought he was trying to make me homesick for Cincinnati, Ohio,” he chuckled. But asked what it would take for peace to prevail for future generations, Halloran thought for a moment and replied in a low tone. “I do not have the answer to that,” he said, adding only that there are no winners in war.


Donald Richie offers history lesson

Abstract: 18th in a serie s On Dec. 7, 1941, a 17-year-old high school student named Donald Richie was fixing the fence at his house in Lima, Ohio, when his mother ran out on the porch to tell him and his father that she just heard over the radio that Japanese forces had attacked Pearl Harbor. That afternoon, Richie’s relatives came over. His uncles, aunts, mother and father started talking about the attack. He could see their anger grow, particularly when they learned how many Americans were killed. They started looking at the back of their tableware. When they found anything that had “Made in Japan” on it, they smashed it. “I don’t remember doing it. But I must have done it, too,” Richie said in an interview last month in Tokyo. Now 84, Richie went on to live more than 60 years in Japan and become one of the most noted American authors on Japanese culture. But he knew nothing about the country back then. As a writer, film critic, historian and author, whose books include “The Films of Akira Kurosawa,” “One Hundred Years of Japanese Film” and “The Japan Journals: 1947-2004,” Richie was named by Time magazine during the early 1990s as “the dean of Japan’s art critics.” In 1942, Richie joined the merchant marine. He served aboard Liberty Ships that carried anything ranging from high explosives to toilet paper and chocolates across the Atlantic to supply the U.S. Army and Navy. As purser, Richie handled the payrolls and official papers. As medical officer, he was responsible for the health of some 70 fellow crew members. Richie voyaged mainly to Europe, and a number of the ships on which he served were lost. In Bari, Italy, a German bombing raid not only destroyed his ship, but the whole convoy as well as the city. Richie was not onboard his vessel and wasn’t hurt. In 1945, Richie was sent to China with forces transporting explosives and other materials to the Allied forces. The Japanese were fleeing Shanghai as the war drew to a close. En route back to America, Richie heard about the Japanese surrender on the ship’s radio. He wasn’t surprised. After the war, the U.S. government sought people to work in Germany and Japan. Wishing to go to Germany, since he had visited Europe and was familiar with it, Richie took and passed the test in 1946. He instead was sent to Japan, where his typewriting skills were in high demand. On New Year’s Day 1947, Richie’s boat docked at Yokohama and he boarded a bus to Tokyo. Although 1 1/2 years had passed since the surrender, the destruction of war was everywhere to be seen, Richie recalled. Yokohama and Tokyo were in rubble. Between the two cities was just a charred plain, he said. There may have been rich people, but Richie doesn’t recall seeing any. Men still wore their military uniforms, and children were in school uniforms. But he also saw enormous energy in the people. Even though they lived in poverty, they were out working and trying hard to make a new and better life. They were spontaneous, honest and admirable. “I would have thought the Japanese people at their best, in their present poverty, and yet to find them so resilient, so optimistic, so looking forward into the future.” The people’s optimism was surprising and inspiring. Richie initially worked as a typist for the Occupation forces in Tokyo’s Nihonbashi district. But wishing to switch professions, he became a staff writer for the U.S. forces newspaper, Stars and Stripes. Richie has been interested in culture since his childhood. He likes literature, painting, music and films. When he came to Japan, it was just a natural outcome that he became immersed in learning and reporting on the local culture. And because there were so few articles about Japanese culture in Stars and Stripes, he began writing about anything he could think of: ikebana, Japanese gardens, kabuki and noh. Every day was a discovery for Richie. “I knew nothing about Japan. But by reading a lot, talking a lot and seeing people a lot, I stayed about a week ahead of my readers.” The more Richie learned about the culture of “ma” (space) and “mu” (emptiness), minimalism, or respect for old things and people, the more he became determined to stay on in Japan and find out more about it. Until around 1948, however, Richie did not know much about the 1945 U.S. atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. “When I came here to work, we were told nothing about the bomb. . . . We were not allowed to go to Hiroshima . . . right until the end of the Occupation,” he said. Richie read the New Yorker magazine’s publication of John Hersey’s “Hiroshima.” “I still could not believe how horrible it had been,” Richie recalled. “We realized not only that Hiroshima and Nagasaki were unnecessary, also that it was barbaric.” Richie believes people all over the world will continue to repeat the same mistakes over and over again if they learn nothing about history. The new generation never pays attention to the older generation. Richie believes this is human nature — impossible to change. He said his perspective is not pessimistic or optimistic, just realistic. And in Japan, students read government-censored textbooks, so they are not taught about what the war did to everyone and what happened to Japan and other countries, he says. Despite his realism, Richie urges younger generations to learn history to avoid repeating the war. “They should be more careful about themselves, more careful about their politicians.”


Seven killed and 10 injured in Akihabara stabbing spree

Abstract: Seven people died and 10 others were injured after a man hit pedestrians with a truck and then stabbed passersby Sunday in broad daylight on a street in Tokyo’s busy Akihabara district. Police arrested the man, Tomohiro Kato from Susono, Shizuoka Prefecture, on the street and seized a survival knife he was carrying. The 25-year-old temp staffer at an auto component factory in the prefecture admitted to stabbing people with the knife, which had a 13-cm blade, from around 12:30 p.m., the police said. “I came to Akihabara to kill people,” investigative sources quoted Kato as telling the police. “I am tired of the world. Anyone was OK. I came alone.” According to the police and hospital officials, six of the seven who died were males and aged from 19 to 74. The other was a 21-year-old female. In addition to the seven, 11 people were taken to hospital after the stabbing rampage. Of these, eight were male, including a 53-year-old traffic police officer who was stabbed in the back while helping people hit by the truck, and two women. The remaining male had sustained no injuries but had blood on his clothing. Of the seven, at least six had been stabbed and two had been hit by the truck, which was rented in Shizuoka Prefecture. According to eyewitnesses, a police officer at a nearby police box who noticed the incident hurried to the scene and found Kato wielding the knife. The officer initially failed to get hold of the suspect after hitting him with a baton a few times. But Kato put the knife down after the officer drew a handgun and issued a warning, leading to his arrest, the eyewitnesses said. The Akihabara area was crowded with shoppers as Chuo-dori was vehicle-free for pedestrians. The scene was near the intersection of Chuo-dori and Kanda Myojin-dori streets, only a stone’s throw from JR Akihabara Station. A 19-year-old man from Tokyo’s Ota Ward said, “The man (Kato) jumped on top of a man he had hit with his vehicle and stabbed him with a knife many times. Walking toward Akihabara Station, he slashed nearby people at random.” Shunichi Jingu, a 26-year-old self-employed man from Gunma Prefecture, who witnessed the incident, said, “It seemed that a traffic accident had happened. Then a man got out of a vehicle and began to brandish a knife.” Akihabara is a district of Tokyo known for its electronics shops and as a center of modern culture, including manga and animations, and attracts many visitors from both Japan and abroad. There were similar street stabbing rampages earlier this year. In January, a 16-year-old boy attacked five people and injured two of them with kitchen knives on a shopping street in Tokyo’s Shinagawa Ward. A man wanted by police on suspicion of murder stabbed passersby with a knife at an entrance to a shopping mall in Tsuchiura, Ibaraki Prefecture, in March, leaving eight people injured, one of whom died later in hospital. The Akihabara rampage also occurred on the seventh anniversary of a stabbing spree by a man at Ikeda Elementary School in Osaka Prefecture on June 8, 2001. The attacker, Mamoru Takuma, was executed for killing eight children and injuring 15 others in that case.

tokyo
murder
akihabara
stabbings
mass murder
chiyoda ward
tomohiro kato
akihabara attack


Japan's magazines get misty-eyed over Showa Era brothels

Abstract: Commencing with the death of Emperor Taisho on Christmas Day, 1926, the Showa Era ran for 62 years and two weeks, ending with the death of Emperor Hirohito (posthumously referred to as Emperor Showa) at the age of 87 on Jan. 7, 1989. Thanks to the latter monarch’s longevity, roughly 3 out of every 4 Japanese living today — more than 90 million people — call themselves Showa -umare (Showa-born). The oldest are now in their 90s; the youngest, approaching 30. It’s a huge demographic, and one that’s been displaying an enormous appetite for reading matter that reflects on the era in which they were born. To cater to that appetite, the media have been serving up a variety of materials that touch upon people, places and events of the Showa years. One of the most conspicuous forms this nostalgia has taken recently has been a spate of books and articles idolizing the late Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka. Although Tanaka was convicted in court of receiving bribes from Lockheed Aircraft Corp., most of the books recall him as a man of the people and a practical, no-nonsense politician who got things done. Even Showa-era crimes are by no means immune to nostalgia. In mid-February, Shukan Jitsuwa’s publisher came out with a special edition titled “Hanko Seimei” (meaning a letter admitting responsibility for a crime), which cataloged the previous era’s most infamous crimes and criminals. This surge in interest about the recent past has also extended to the world’s oldest profession, which was openly practiced until outlawed by the Anti- Prostitution Law. Prior to April 1, 1958, contemporary versions of the pre-modern yūkaku (licensed brothel quarters) operated throughout the country. To give some idea of the scale with which the sex industry contributed to the nation’s gross domestic product, a guidebook titled “Zenkoku Yukaku Annai” (“Nationwide Guide to Yukaku”) published in 1930 listed over 500 such comfort zones, or an average of more than 10 in each of Japan’s 47 prefectures. The book included those in Japan’s prewar overseas possessions such as Karafuto (Sakhalin), Korea, Manchuria and Taiwan. In the tabloid press, a series in Shukan Jitsuwa magazine titled “The golden age of the sex trade” features rare old photos. A reporter for Aera (Feb. 20) visited the city of Hanno in Saitama Prefecture, about 50 minutes from central Tokyo via the Seibu Ikebukuro Line express. In pre-modern times, the town was a shukuba (post station) where travelers to and from Edo spent the night. Social critic Atsushi Miura, serving as guide, points out vestiges of the town’s past, including a building that was used as a brothel. How does he know? Because, he explains, the front entrance, rather than being parallel with the street, is set back from the facade and angled diagonally, so as to keep outsiders from peering in. Another dead giveaway is the circular windows on its second floor. Another aspect of the curiosity toward the past is the fascination with visiting and photographing so-called haikyo , abandoned derelicts of old military bases, factories, hospitals and mines, such as Nagasaki’s Hashima Island, more popularly known as Gunkanjima due to its resemblance to a battleship. Its undersea coal mine was in operation from 1886 to 1974, spanning the Meiji, Taisho and Showa eras. Named a World Heritage site in 2015, it even served as a location for scenes from the 2012 James Bond film “Skyfall.” In a recently published “mook” (magazine-book) from Million Shuppan titled “101 strange things about the Showa Era,” a two-page article introduces the three brothels on Gunkanjima that no doubt kept the island’s miners from going stir crazy. Two years from now, Tokyo’s famous Yoshiwara Yukaku will observe its 400th anniversary. Located in Senzoku Yon-chome in Taito Ward, the district is today, somewhat remarkably, being utilized for its original purpose. What were formerly brothels are now erotic bathhouses, referred to since 1984 as “soaplands.” The Hanamachi@Yoshiwara website ( www.hanamachi.co/data/index ) lists 140 erotic bathhouses in the district playing host to 6,870 sex workers, with an average 30 percent of that number on duty on any given day or 66 percent during any given week. At least two “respectable” businesses currently cater to the revival of interest in Yoshiwara. One is a mail-order gift shop named Shin-Yoshiwara, which sells tasteful wall decorations and a variety of other “Yoshiwara goods” ( shin-yoshiwara.stores.jp ). Since last September, Yoshiwara also became home to a bookstore specializing in its history. Kasutori Shobo (www. kastoribookstore.blogspot.jp ), just off a main thoroughfare, is open seven days a week. Proprietor Go Watanabe, 40, has obtained the rights to re-issue an assortment of out-of print books — the aforementioned “Nationwide Guide to Yukaku” being one example — which he sells from a tiny shop close to the Yoshiwara Omon, the former gateway to the district. He’s also keen on publishing new manuscripts on similarly near and dear topics. Watanabe told me he was delighted by the coverage he’s been receiving since his opening, in Asahi Geino, Nikkan Gendai and other publications. Having established himself as an authority on Yoshiwara history, he also serves as a useful source of local information. When I asked him if any buildings in Yoshiwara still remained from the bad old days prior to 1958, he pointed down the street and said, “That one on the right, just across the street from the massage clinic, used to be one.” An enthusiastic photographer, Watanabe has also published his own book titled “Yukaku: Koto no Gaiku” (“Yukaku: Red-light Districts”), which contains 386 pages of color photographs of ornate old former brothels from all over Japan. The full-size, limited-edition version is priced at ¥100,000. A smaller version, with pages about the size of postcards, can be purchased for ¥25,000. A great — and legal — gift for the man who has everything.

prostitution
brothels
showa era
yoshiwara


No free ride for U.S. auto manufacturers

Abstract: Anyone who was around in the 1980s will remember the turmoil caused by the U.S.-Japan trade imbalance, especially in the automotive field. In order to maintain their growing position in the American market, Japanese car manufacturers knew they would have to move some of their operations to the United States. So they did, and they’ve never looked back. The turmoil eventually subsided. Americans have come to accept the dominance of Japanese automobiles. But now there’s U.S. President Donald Trump and, as many have pointed out, he seems to think it’s still 1986 and that Japan unfairly protects its own market from imports — otherwise why aren’t any American cars sold in Japan ? It’s not an opinion that’s widely circulated anymore, though it actually isn’t really off the mark. The standard Japanese media reply to Trump’s accusation is that there are no tariffs on American cars sold in Japan, a position that freelance journalist Tetsuo Jimbo refers to as the “Japan innocence theory.” More to the point, American carmakers have demonstrated they can’t be bothered to design vehicles in accordance with Japanese needs. During a recent interview on videonews.com, the web channel Jimbo hosts, motor journalist Mitsuhiro Kunisawa told him that the media is simply following the government’s lead, but if they were doing their jobs they would explain the interrelationship between the automobile markets in Japan and the U.S. He thinks that Japan is protectionist, and while the foreign media takes that notion for granted, the Japanese public doesn’t believe it; which isn’t to say the situation as it stands is inherently unfair, only that the world is a complicated place. “No one can complain about lack of fairness in (automobile) trade,” Kunisawa says. Japan suffered those accusations a long time ago, “but now it knows how to play the game perfectly.” Japan won the car wars. What’s missing from this triumphal story is that the vehicles Japan sells in the U.S. aren’t really Japanese anymore. For all intents and purposes, they’re American, since most are manufactured and sold in North America by subsidiaries of Japanese companies. It’s just that some of the profits come back to Japan. “Everyone in Japan thinks we make these cars here and then send them overseas,” Kunisawa says. “But that’s not the case.” In that regard, Japan has done what the U.S. demanded it do 30 years ago — or, at least, partly. The other part of the demand, which was to make Japanese people somehow buy American cars, has mostly been ignored because, as Kunisawa points out, “There has never been any serious intention to sell American cars in Japan.” The contours of this trade dynamic have been shaped by national preferences over the years. Up until the mid-1970s, American cars were valued in Japan and better made than Japanese cars. Only well-off Japanese could buy American cars and because there was no realistic competition they were imported without much alteration. They were large and had big engines. Japanese automobiles were made to appeal to everyone else. They were small and cheap, and the engine displacement was never more than 2 liters. One way the government protected domestic automakers was to peg car taxes to engine size and claim it was an emissions standard. Larger engines meant more emissions and higher taxes. As time went on, Japanese makers started selling a lot of small cars in the United States. Domestic consumers, including wealthier Japanese, also ignored American imports, and American makers complained about the taxes. Their most protectionist aspect, according to the U.S., was the very low levy on Japanese minicars ( kei jidōsha ), whose engine displacement is only 660 cubic centimeters, a size American companies don’t make. Several years ago, the government finally raised the tax on minicars in order to placate foreign car manufacturers, but it made no difference. Japanese companies have become so good at manufacturing compact cars for the American market that Detroit stopped trying to compete. In their hearts, the American manufacturers want to sell large cars and pickup trucks, since those provide higher profit margins and, as long as they can afford the gasoline, Americans prefer them. The top three selling models in America are pickups . Though Japanese automakers do make pickups for the U.S. market, sales are much lower than they are for American models. With their larger bodies, pickups don’t make sense in cramped Japan, but in any case the engine displacement would render them more expensive than a high-end Mercedes. The annual tax on a vehicle with a 4-liter engine — normal for an American pickup — is ¥76,500. Japan is the only developed country in the world with such a tax, so over a 10-year period it would add up to the equivalent of a 12 percent import tariff. As for luxury cars, Japanese drivers prefer German vehicles , which, Kunisawa insists, are of better quality than either American or Japanese equivalents. American makers know that they themselves doesn’t make superior small cars for their own consumers, so what’s the point in trying to make them for such a resistant market like Japan’s? Just to be safe, however, the Japanese government maintains inspection rules that make it difficult for American cars to enter the country despite the fact that even the Japanese media concedes that American safety and environmental standards are stricter than Japan’s. In addition, the car tax is the same for used cars, so people who normally buy used cars would be put off by the high tax on American vehicles, which means they have no trade-in value. Trump has said he prefers bilateral trade deals to multilateral free trade agreements like TPP, and in such a situation Kunisawa thinks the U.S. would do better to concentrate on getting rid of Japan’s engine-based car tax, but that still wouldn’t solve the image problem. As Kunisawa sees it, “There’s a premise that American cars are not sellable in Japan,” and no amount of negotiation is going to turn that opinion around.

manufacturing
economics
automobiles
donald trump
tetsuo jimbo
mitsuhiro kunisawa


Abstract: How much time does it take to save a life? Five hours? Five minutes? Five seconds? According to a government white paper on karōshi (death from overwork) in October 2016, more than 20 percent of companies said monthly overtime per employee exceeded 80 hours, a threshold believed to increase the risk of death. Working more than 100 hours of overtime a month significantly raises that risk. Matsuri Takahashi, a 24-year-old employee at advertising agency Dentsu Inc., worked 105 hours in a one-month period before jumping to her death from a company dormitory. According to media reports, a labor standards inspection office in Tokyo’s Minato Ward determined that overwork pushed Takahashi to take her own life after she suffered a mental breakdown. In December, the labor ministry referred Dentsu and one of its executives to prosecutors on suspicion of forcing Takahashi to work illegally long hours. Japan’s Labor Standards Law stipulates that working hours must, in principle, not exceed 40 hours per week, or eight hours per day. For employees to work longer, a labor-management agreement must be concluded beforehand. In an attempt put an end to excessive overtime, a government panel is now proposing to cap overtime at 100 hours per month — just five hours less than the overtime Takahashi clocked before her death. It’s clear, however, that this does little to solve the problem — just ask anyone who has ever held down a regular job. It’s easy to see why there’s such a disconnect between appearance and reality. For a start, there’s only one labor expert on the government panel that has been tasked with labor reform. What’s more, constitutional scholar Setsu Kobayashi believes the Liberal Democratic Party’s proposed package of reforms will also remove paid overtime in some occupations altogether. Hiroshi Kawahito, an expert on death from overwork who has represented the families of victims against Dentsu on two occasions, says about 200 cases are recognized every year. “The Dentsu case is just the tip of the iceberg,” Kawahito says, adding that it’s likely that another 10,000 cases go unreported. In order to prevent such cases in future, Kawahito believes employers need to recognize that working long hours is both inefficient and deadly. Kawahito also believes the government has to put a realistic cap on labor hours and enforce them, and urges employees to understand their labor rights. Haruki Kono, a representative of POSSE, a nonprofit organization that provides advice and support to workers facing unethical or illegal treatment at the hands of employers, has little faith in patchwork solutions changing much. “Companies aren’t severely punished for overworking their employees. In fact, almost any written contract between an employee and employer can nullify the legal eight-hour working day,” Kono says. “There aren’t enough labor inspectors. There are no penalties for faking the work logs or forcing the employees to fake them. It makes proving a case of death from overwork extremely difficult.” I couldn’t have said that better myself. Recently, however, labor inspectors have been stepping up to the plate. They raided the headquarters of Dentsu in Tokyo as well as branch offices nationwide in November last year, suspecting the company of committing other labor violations. It was a slap in the face to a company that has long thought of itself as untouchable. Labor inspectors have the power to make arrests. According to a report in the Asahi Shimbun in March 2012, a labor standards inspection office in Ishikawa Prefecture arrested the former chief executive officer of a transportation company for failing to pay minimum wages worth ¥370,000 to three employees. The CEO had initially refused to discuss the matter with the labor inspectors. The arrest certainly got his attention. Maybe it’s time for labor inspectors to use their powers of investigation and arrest more often. The humiliation of an arrest and punishment for labor violations might make other companies think twice about working their employees to death. It’s time for Japan to take action to end death from overwork. It’s certainly going to need more than the introduction of Premium Friday, a new campaign in which employees are encouraged to clock out a few hours early on the last Friday of the month. It’s time to identify and punish companies that run their employees into the ground. The clock is ticking.


Japan Times 1942: 'Abolish or continue study of English?'

Abstract: 100 YEARS AGO Saturday, March 31 1917 Hundreds of snakes found in Tokyo park | THE JAPAN TIMES About 300 snakes and adders of various descriptions and color which were, as previously reported, captured by coolies near the sluice-gate at Inokashira, a suburb, some time ago have been set free in the hills near by. The coolies intended to kill them, but superstitious inhabitants in the neighborhood have strongly agitated against this, crying in sober earnest that these snakes are messengers from kannon , or the goddess of fortune, and that woes would befall them should the snakes be dispatched. The coolies, it is said, have been thus obliged to give the snakes freedom in the hills. 75 YEARS AGO Wednesday, March 4, 1942 Abolish or continue study of English? | THE JAPAN TIMES Because it is spoken by Japan’s enemy nations, the English language has fallen into discredit in this country, and there is even an outcry for its abolition. At the recent Conference of the Presidents of the High Schools throughout the country, the question of reducing the hours devoted to the study of foreign languages at these educational institutions was taken up and the decision was reached in favor of reduction. While regarding this decision as inevitable in view of Japan’s present position, Sanki Ichikawa, a professor of Tokyo Imperial University, denounces as superficial the view which is finding vigorous expression in some Japanese quarters in support of the abolition of foreign languages. As quoted by the Nichi Nichi, Ichikawa says that as the English language is spoken in China, Thailand, French Indo-China and the southern islands, the need for its study will rather increase as the work of constructing the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere progresses. From the point of view of cultural war also, the professor says, he cannot endorse the abolition of the study of foreign languages. To study a foreign language is one thing, and to become “foreignized” is quite another, he stresses. Some people urge that the Government should establish a Translation Bureau and that the translation of foreign books and the publication of such translations should be undertaken by this bureau. This idea may be practicable insofar as the translation of popular or standard books is concerned, but it will be well-nigh impossible to expect such a Government bureau to translate foreign books in specialized or technical lines. For such circumstances the need for the study of foreign languages will remain. 50 YEARS AGO Thursday, March 9, 1967 The future of nuclear energy looking bright | THE JAPAN TIMES Japan is steadily entering an age of full-scale commercial development of nuclear energy for electric power generation, expecting a total supply of 5,240,000 kilowatts of power from 11 power reactors in the next eight years. However, there is one big problem — the adequate supply of fuel, according to informed circles. As far as nuclear energy facilities for power generation are concerned, the nation already has a record of a decade of research and experimentation. Japan’s delay behind Western nations in this respect has been inevitable due to its postwar circumstances, it was reported Monday. Japan’s first commercial nuclear electric power plant of 166,000 kilowatts in capacity was put into operation May 4, 1965 at Tokai-mura, Ibaraki Prefecture, by Japan Atomic Power Co. of Tokyo, a joint venture of Japanese electric power companies and various electrical machinery makers concerned. Its Calder Hall-type reactor imported from Britain, has so far proved to be far from economical, they added. But, in the past few years, there has been remarkable progress in Japan’s development of commercial nuclear power plants, with at least three new stations scheduled to be completed in the next three years, these circles said. Citing a recent long-range electric power supply and demand program of the electric power industry’s central electric power council in Tokyo, informants said by 1975, Japan will have at least 11 nuclear power houses with a combined output of 5,240,000 kilowatts. They attributed the remarkable progress in Japan’s efforts to supply itself with nuclear energy-generated electricity to the steadily improving performance of the first commercial reactor at Tokai-mura. Although not yet effective enough, the reactor has testified to the certainty that the next power plant of the kind to be built will pay off in the long run. 25 YEARS AGO Saturday, March 28, 1992 Government acts to cut public workers’ hours | THE JAPAN TIMES The government has begun revisiting the shift system for its employees following the Diet’s passage Friday of four bills guaranteeing public servants a five-day workweek, officials said. The new system is expected to begin June 1 following Cabinet approval, officials said. Under the new regulations, public servants will be required to work 40 hours a week, or two hours less than at present. In principle, the nation’s public offices will close on Saturdays because national government employees will no longer be required to work Saturdays. An estimate by the Management and Coordination Agency shows that public servants will work 100 hours less than the current official annual 2,060 hours. Shift workers at post offices patronized on weekends, state-run hospitals that are part of the national health system, customs offices and immigration offices, as well as museums and art galleries, will continue to work on Saturdays using a rotating shift system, but will work just 40 hours a week. The exceptions to the new regulations include workers in the postal service, printing facilities, the Mint and forestry offices. The government has been trying to cut overtime in recent months after a young woman committed suicide due to overwork at Dentsu in December 2015.

nuclear energy
inokashira park
overtime
snakes


Entrepreneur taps theatrical skills to coach Japanese leaders in the art of the speech

Abstract: From John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address in 1961 to Barack Obama’s “Yes We Can” speech in 2008, history has been colored by powerful rhetoric that is never forgotten. But behind the epoch-making speeches have been strategists who construct memorable phrases, coach the speakers’ stage actions and dream up scenarios that motivate people to take action. Yosuke Kageyama, 36, makes his living as a speechwriter — a profession that, although widely known in the West, has only recently drawn attention in Japan. “The demand for the skills to deliver a good speech has increased steeply in the past two or three years, especially among people in high-ranking positions,” said Kageyama, a lecturer and public speaking instructor who runs a Tokyo-based consultancy called Communis Co. Kageyama has written hundreds of speeches for executives, politicians and other leaders to deliver at shareholder meetings, inaugural ceremonies and even wedding receptions, though he doesn’t reveal their names out of respect for their privacy. Japanese companies traditionally use in-house staff to write their executives’ speeches, he said, while those given by politicians are largely prepared by bureaucrats, with journalists, playwrights and copywriters sometimes getting a shot. But when it comes to the professional speechwriter, a specialist paid to take charge of a client’s speech as an outsourcing business, Kageyama said there is “ less than 10″ nationwide because there is no clear career path to the profession. His job is not just to write a script, he said. “The most important thing for a professional speechwriter is whether you can be a good communicator yourself,” he said, adding that the key to writing a good script is to understand what your clients want to say — even though they sometimes can’t express their ideas in words — while not hewing too closely to their orders. “Anyone can write a good speech if trained properly. But if you are deemed incompetent by first-class clients, then the game is over,” he said. “You need to stand on even ground with them, otherwise your script will be boring.” For Kageyama, what led him to embark on one of the most underrepresented careers in Japan was his immersion in theater at a young age. Born in June 1980 in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, Kageyama described himself as a “cheerful and pleasant” kid who, under the influence of his older brother, became fascinated by the world of performing arts. “My brother graduated from university and became a theater director. So I, too, wanted to pursue the same profession,” he said. So Kageyama joined a theater club in high school in which he had the chance to both act and direct. His love of theater continued after he entered Kanazawa Institute of Technology, where he studied robotics among other disciplines like psychology and brain science. “I think people who have been involved in any kind of artistic work have all sought answers to the question, ‘What is humanity?’ I thought these disciplines would help me get closer to the answer,” he said. While enrolled in a master’s course in Kanazawa, Kageyama used the school’s exchange program in 2003 to enter the University of Illinois, where he studied acting methodology, theater history and speech science — a field involving the anatomic, physiological analyses of how utterances are made and perceived. But while continuing a career as a professional stage writer, he said he wasn’t sure his knowledge of theater would translate into a viable livelihood. After returning from a year of study in the U.S., Kageyama decided to start his own business teaching people how to deliver speeches, using his knowledge of theater and acting methodology. In 2004, he drafted a business plan for entry into the Campus Venture Grand Prix, a business competition for college entrepreneurs hosted by business daily Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun with backing from major Japanese companies. After clearing the regional selection process, his submission won the Most Valuable Plan prize in the competition in 2005. Brimming with confidence, he established his public speaking consultancy Communis Co. in 2006. But everything didn’t go according to plan. “I started it by targeting young businesspeople. But I realized young people had few opportunities to express their opinion in front of people,” he said. “So I changed my strategy and shifted the target to company executives and the business gradually began to bear fruit.” Kageyama began to call himself a speechwriter in 2009 after U.S. speechwriter Jonathan E. Favreau — famed for writing Obama’s speeches in 2008 at the age of 27 — began making headlines in Japan. “It was groundbreaking in the sense that the personality of a speechwriter, including his age, was brought under the spotlight in Japan,” especially given that Japan had usually paid little attention to the importance of speeches, Kageyama said. “This is because Japan has long valued tight, vertical relationships among people — similar to the one between a parent and a child,” he said. In such a society, many people didn’t need to express their own opinion because, unlike in the United States, where speech is considered an essential skill that directly affects one’s success, people in Japan can earn a decent living simply by quietly obeying their bosses, he said. But Kageyama says that close-knit relationship collapsed after Japan’s bubble economy imploded in 1991. He now sees society moving toward an “age of individualism,” where people need to polish their own skills to succeed rather than depend on the traditional system of lifetime employment. “The change going on in our society today is irreversible, and I believe speeches will be an indispensable skill to live in this ever more volatile society,” he said. “People can no longer survive without expressing their opinions.” Key events in Kageyama’s life 1980 — Born in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture 1996 — Joins a high school theater club 1999 — Enters Kanazawa Institute of Technology 2003 — Goes to the University of Illinois as an exchange student 2005 — Wins a “Most Valuable Plan” award at the Campus Venture Grand Prix 2006 — Launches public speaking consultancy Communis Co.

speechwriter
public speaking
yosuke kageyama


How much urine is in a swimming pool? Canadian study finds the answer

Abstract: CALGARY, ALBERTA - Canadian researchers studying urine levels in swimming pools have discovered just how high the levels are, and the results are not pretty, according to an article published on Wednesday. Researchers at the University of Alberta developed a test to measure the amount of urine and took more than 250 samples from 31 pools and hot tubs in two Canadian cities. The results showed one 830,000-liter (220,000-gallon) pool, which is about one-third of an Olympic-sized pool, had 75 liters of urine while another smaller pool had 30 liters. Humans introduce “a variety of chemicals” into recreational waters through bodily fluids, and the separate news of an overnight water color change in the 2016 Rio Olympic pools highlight the need to monitor water quality, according to the study, published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology Letters. Although urine itself is sterile, its presence in swimming pools is a public health concern because urine can mix with pool chemicals to harm swimmers’ health, according to the study. When asked about the study, the Alberta Health provincial ministry said it will be taking a “close look” at it. “Under the Public Health Act, the ministry has a regulation that provides standards,” spokesman Tim Kulak said in an email. “Pools that don’t meet the standards may be closed for remediation.” According to the study, researchers measured for the substance acesulfame-K (ACE), an artificial sweetener that passes through the body completely and is “an ideal urinary marker.” It found concentrations of ACE in the pools and tubs, which were not named, that were up to 570-fold greater than in normal tap water. Researchers then used the ACE concentration of the two pools over three weeks to estimate their levels of urine, according to the study.


Darwin specimens showcase evolution for first time in Tokyo exhibition

Abstract: Charles Darwin certainly did not consider it a sin to kill a mockingbird. The 19th-century English biologist killed many of the birds whilst on board the HMS Beagle survey ship as he traveled around the world. The specimens are more important than you might think and you can see a number of them at “Treasures of the Natural World,” a new exhibition at the National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo. Before he became a world-renowned scientist, Darwin was in training to join the clergy before accepting a position on the Beagle at the age of 22. Darwin collected thousands of specimens of plants and animals during his voyage, including mockingbirds. When he started examining mockingbird specimens from the islands of the Galapagos, he noticed that the birds were different, depending on which island they’d come from. It’s easy to take evolution for granted these days but, back in the 19th century, most people in the West believed that the Earth was 6,000 years old and that all life on the planet had been created by God. As such, it was sacrilege to imagine that species could change over time. However, Darwin’s observations of mockingbirds — and not so much the finches that later became associated with his theory of natural selection — furnished him with some of the earliest evidence that evolution occurred. He developed his theory of natural selection and, in doing so, built one of the most influential scientific theories of all time. It therefore goes without saying that Darwin’s mockingbirds are arguably some of the most important scientific specimens ever collected. The exhibition in Tokyo gives visitors a chance to view the actual birds Darwin studied. On display through June 11, the exhibits are part of a trove of some 300 historically important specimens on loan from the Natural History Museum in London. Other specimens on display include a tortoise Darwin once owned himself and a pigeon skeleton from one of the many pigeons he bred. Darwin bred pigeons to test his ideas about selection, although in this case he was actually studying artificial selection — when traits and characteristics of a species are chosen by a human breeder — rather than natural selection, which can only be found in the wild. There are also some wonderful Ceroglossus beetles that were collected by Darwin when he was still a young man during a stopover in Chile. Darwin became famous for his observations on birds, which are credited with inspiring his theory of evolution by natural selection, but his first passion was one common in certain kinds of young British gentlemen of his time: beetling, or the collection of beetles. Yoshihiro Hayashi, director of the National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo, was pleased to announce the collaboration with the Natural History Museum. “Many Japanese people know the museum’s collection has excellent stories in scientific, cultural and historical aspects,” he says, “and hope to visit and to see these treasures in our museum as soon as possible.” As well as the Darwin-related items, the National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo is borrowing dozens of other treasures, including one of the most famous fossils of all time — the Archaeopteryx. I remember seeing this for the first time and being surprised at its size. I think I expected such a famous fossil to be bigger, but Archaeopteryx, which lived 147 million years ago, is only the size of a crow. It has an incredible mix of features common in both dinosaurs and birds, including teeth and fingers ending in claws, but also wings and feathers. The fossil, which demonstrates that birds descended from meat-eating dinosaurs, is an absolute must-see. Another specimen from the Natural History Museum on display in Japan tells a darker story, but one arguably more relevant to today. The museum is sending a specimen of the Japanese sea lion (called nihon ashika in Japanese), which was hunted to extinction in the 1970s. This species was hunted not only for food (sea lion doesn’t taste so good), but also for blubber to make oil for lamps. Parts were also used in traditional medicine. Thousands of animals were slaughtered, and the destruction of many parts of its habitat due to submarine warfare in World War II didn’t help. The animal is a reminder that human-driven extinction has been ramping up over the past few decades. We are now driving such widespread habitat destruction that species are going extinct at 1,000 times the natural background rate. Darwin never visited Japan, nor even, as far as I’ve heard, had much correspondence with scientists in Japan. This is slightly odd, as Darwin was famous for his voluminous correspondence with scientists from around the world. However, given the cultural gap between feudal Japan and Victorian England, it is perhaps not that surprising. Yet he would have been fascinated by these islands. As the exhibits at the the National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo demonstrate, the Japanese archipelago has an extraordinary richness of geology, topography and ecology. The isolation of the islands from the Asian continent has meant that an extraordinary variety of different species have evolved in Japan — it’s one of the reasons that first brought me to Japan as a biologist. Darwin would have been fascinated by Japan (and he would have appreciated how popular beetle-collecting is here, too). He didn’t quite make it, but many of the items from his collection — including a first edition copy of his book that changed the world, “On the Origin of Species” — are now in Japan.


Moritomo scandal delivers an education in Japanese politics

Abstract: “Our subjects ever united in loyalty and filial piety have from generation to generation illustrated the beauty thereof. This is the glory of the fundamental character of Our Empire, and herein also lies the source of Our education.” — The Meiji Imperial Rescript on Education If news were to break that political loudmouths with a record of extreme right-wing views that outsiders consider racist and xenophobic were suddenly found to have been involved in an Osaka land deal gone bad, cynical wags might offer a weary smile at the poetic justice or shrug their shoulders and ask “So what else is new?” But when the deal involves children, what they are being taught, and features politicians and educators who come across on TV as excessively arrogant, petulant and untrustworthy, we have — despite the best efforts of the ruling parties to put a lid on the stink — an unprecedented scandal that presents Prime Minister Shinzo Abe with his most serious political challenge yet. Nearly a month has passed since local media revealed Osaka-based Moritomo Gakuen, a private educational firm with a nationalist bent, secured a huge — and suspicious — discount on land for a new elementary school. While local journalists long suspected there was something rotten at Moritomo besides garbage buried on the site, a letter from the school’s vice-principal to one child’s parents expressing hatred of Chinese and Koreans, combined with the realization the prime minister’s wife, Akie, was involved, turned a complex local story of alleged fraud into a national scandal involving the highest levels of government, revisionist history and educational theories. In fact, it was the shocking letter, which led to allegations of hate speech on the part of angry parents and human rights groups, that arguably first turned the Osaka media against Moritomo Gakuen and its heads, Yasunori and Junko Kagoike. Osaka, with its large and vocal Korean and Chinese communities and proud of its historical reputation of good relations with Asia, has traditionally had a low tolerance for such attacks compared to certain other major cities that shall not be named. How and when the scandal will end is unclear. But Akie, promoted by foreign and Japanese commentators as a “progressive,” has seen her judgment questioned and her reputation sullied, especially after a video of her praising the school surfaced, and despite the fact she resigned as honorary principal when the scandal broke. A long-overdue debate is now beginning as to what, exactly, should be the legal status and the political duties of a prime minister’s spouse. Then there is Defense Minister Tomomi Inada. As I write this, the pressure on her to resign is immense. An extreme and unapologetic nationalist and staunch Abe loyalist, Inada was a controversial figure well before the Moritomo scandal. Foreign diplomats have described her as polite but seemingly ill-prepared in meetings, yet never failing to spout her personal beliefs in a strident voice. Revelations Inada and her Osaka-based lawyer husband once represented Moritomo Gakuen forced her to apologize for mistaken Diet testimony, creating widespread doubt she should remain in her post. And finally, the prime minister. On Thursday, Kagoike is expected to explain to the Diet his claim that Abe donated to his school. This story is far from over. However, what is most disturbing about this whole sordid affair is what angers many people, especially parents, in Osaka: the moral vacuity or embrace on the part of Japan’s leaders of an educational philosophy that encourages children to hate outsiders and bully those who don’t share the views of the nationalists. In an ideal world, Moritomo Gakuen would have been shut down long ago. In the real world, decent Osakans will settle for seeing it replaced with a school that teaches pupils to respect, tolerate and empathize with others and to think for themselves. One real goal of a good education, they understand, should be to raise children to become compassionate citizens of a great country, and of the world, not thuggish, obedient subjects of an arrogant state.

shinzo abe
osaka
tomomi inada
akie abe
moritomo gakuen


Asking the tough questions on Fukushima

Abstract: In January, regional newspaper Fukushima Minpo interviewed Yosuke Takagi , state minister of economy, trade and industry. While talking about reconstruction plans for areas near the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, Takagi mentioned resurrecting Dash-mura (Dash Village), a farm created from scratch by boy band Tokio for its Nippon TV series “The Tetsuwan Dash.” The location of Dash-mura was always secret, lest Tokio’s fans descend on the project and destroy its rustic purity. But following the reactor accident caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake, it was revealed that the farm was in an area declared off-limits due to its proximity to the plant. It was promptly abandoned. A different news outlet, Fukushima Minyu , clarified that the revival of Dash-mura is “nothing more than a personal idea of Takagi’s,” but that he intends to discuss it with related parties. An 80-year-old farmer who once worked with Tokio on the project told Minyu that bringing back the farm would be a great PR boost for the area’s agriculture, which is obviously Takagi’s aim. The show’s producer, however, after hearing of Takagi’s comment, tweeted that he knew nothing about the news, adding cryptically that “Dash-mura is no one’s thing.” The Huffington Post called the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to ask if it had any intention of reviving Dash-mura. A representative only “confirmed” that Takagi had “made such a comment” and said METI had no “definite plan” to that end but might “study it.” Nevertheless, the idea fits in with the government’s goal of getting former residents to move back to the area. Last week, authorities announced they would further reduce the evacuation zone at the end of the month, which means it will have shrunk by 70 percent since April 2014. The concern is that few people want to return. Some have already made lives for themselves elsewhere and see a lack of opportunity in their old communities. Many also remain suspicious of the government’s assurances that radioactivity has dropped to a safe level. There is still debate among experts as to whether or not the radiation in the area is dangerous. The government says that the problems caused by the accident are now “under control,” and affected residents can soon go back to their old lives. One media outlet who has challenged this assumption is TV Asahi’s “Hodo Station.” On March 9, the nightly news show sent its main announcer, Yuta Tomikawa, to Iitate, a village located about 40 km from the crippled nuclear facility. All 6,000 residents were eventually evacuated after the accident. Standing in front of rows of black plastic bags, Tomikawa reported that, according to the government, decontamination efforts have been a success. A safe annual radiation level is 1 millisievert, but a local dairy farmer told Tomikawa that his own readings showed five times that level, adding that 70 percent of Iitate is wooded and forest land had not been decontaminated yet. Moreover, the government is lifting the evacuation order for any areas where annual radiation levels are “no more than” 20 mSv. The International Commission on Radiological Protection told the government that once the situation had stabilized in the affected areas, people could return if radiation dropped to between 1 and 20 mSv, but the lower the better. Exposure to 20 mSv for a short period may not be a problem, but it could have harmful effects in the long run. Tomikawa did not say that people who returned to Iitate would be in danger, but he did imply that the government is manipulating numbers in an attempt to persuade evacuees to return to their homes. The web magazine Litera wrote that TV Asahi is the only mainstream media outlet to question the government line in this regard. Actually, Nippon TV did something similar, albeit indirectly. Last month, it rebroadcasted an episode of its “ NNN Document ” series about the married manzai (stand-up comedy) duo Oshidori Mako-Ken’s efforts to come to terms with the Fukushima meltdowns and their aftermath. The couple belongs to the large Osaka-based entertainment company Yoshimoto Kogyo, but ever since the disaster Mako has attended about 500 related news conferences, making a nuisance of herself by plying Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings employees and government officials with questions the mainstream media don’t usually ask. In order to gain access to the news conferences, she offered stories to the weekly magazine Spa! Her editor there told Nippon TV that Mako is now respected or resented by a lot of full-time journalists, partly because she’s a geinojin (entertainer) who has proved her mettle as a reporter, but mainly because of her hard-line queries , which put her interlocutors on the spot. Following the disaster, Mako became suspicious when she saw people fleeing Tokyo in large numbers but heard nothing about it on the news. In order to make sense of the situation she’d watch unfiltered news conferences about the disaster on the internet. She realized only independent reporters asked tough questions, so she started attending them herself as a proxy for average people who didn’t understand what was going on. The more officials obfuscated, the more she studied. She’s now recognized by some foreign press as one of the most informed persons on the subject — she even received a letter of encouragement from Pope Francis — and yet she’s shunned by the Japanese press. Nevertheless, she has dedicated followers, including workers cleaning up the reactor who often feed her questions to ask of officials. She’s won awards for her work, but from citizens groups, not media groups. Nowadays, Mako and Ken do more free lectures on Fukushima No. 1 than they do comedy shows. One of their main themes is that media reports tend to confuse the public rather than inform them, but that’s really the fault of the government, which would like nothing better than for people to feel as if nothing ever happened.

fukushima
dash-mura
dash village
oshidori mako-ken


The Japan tabloid guide to health and happiness

Abstract: Aside from political scandals and rumors of celebrity dalliances — which are pretty much tabloid fare wherever there are tabloids — an alien first encountering Japan’s weekly tabloid magazines might conclude he has come to Earth in a nation of inquisitive hypochondriacs. With a blizzard of feature stories, advice and exposes covering everything from the temperature of water in your bath to dealing with toe fungus, it is no exaggeration to say that stories on health and prevention are a major magazine standby, and the appetite for such fare shows no sign of abating. While the topics covered are kaleidoscopic, in a nutshell, the most basic articles adhere to a standard formula: either “Eating/drinking/taking X is good for you” or “Eating/drinking/taking X is bad for you.” These can then be further divided into various categories depending on the season and so on. This time of year, for example, a proliferation of articles for those who suffer from hay fever — an estimated 25 percent of the population — can be found. And we’ll soon be seeing sage advice on how to pace yourself when drinking at the inevitable company cherry blossom-viewing gatherings, along with the most effective treatments for nursing a post-party hangover. Leading the pack on the medical front is Shukan Gendai, which this spring is celebrating its 58th anniversary. Since last year, it has been running a potpourri of health advice, with a series of articles chanting the mantra “__ _-tte wa ikenai ” (“___ is of no use”/”You shouldn’t ___”). This includes advice not only for humans but their pets as well. One such article lists 50 drugs people are advised not to take. (No. 21 is Viagra, use of which, Shukan Gendai warns, may add to strain on the heart.) That was followed by 30 surgical procedures, including eight for types of cancers, that are best avoided. The worst is surgery for gastric fistula; third is prostate cancer (reduces quality of life). Also discouraged were elective procedures such as Lasik treatment to correct myopia, dental implants and bunion surgery. Shukan Gendai’s March 18 issue introduced the gluten-free diet and then went on to address problems of incontinence: “Here is how to resolve urination and elimination troubles.” The lead sub-headline — “Concerns for which there is nobody to consult with” — pretty much tells it all. “Many middle-aged and elderly men have difficulties with urination,” it reports. “But because their numbers are fewer than females, many are reluctant to discuss this with someone. Or, as the head of their family, their reluctance to reveal an embarrassing episode of incontinence is understandable.” Shukan Gendai’s March 25-April 1 issue noted that some 70 million people in Japan at some time in their lives suffer from discomfort or pain in their neck and shoulders: “ Momu no wa iryō de wa nai!” (“Massaging is not medical treatment!”), it warns. Last week, Shukan Bunshun (March 16) accused NHK’s venerable Wednesday evening program “Gatten” (formerly “Tameshite Gatten”) of playing loose with the facts on health. Over the past year, it alleged, at least four programs related misinformation. One was that skin condition improved following a colonoscopy; another was that sleep medication had favorable effects on diabetes; and yet another suggested that consumption of collagen promoted healing of bedsores. A fourth, broadcast on May 11 of last year, was really off the wall: It suggested that getting a scare while visiting a spook house at a theme park could cause blood clots to form. The same issue of Shukan Bunshun devotes three pages to extolling the health benefits of nattō . For the uninitiated, nattō is soybeans that have been boiled and sprayed with a bacteria naturally present in rice straw that causes fermentation, endowing them with more protein and other beneficial properties. Consumed mostly in eastern Japan, the primary reason why nattō has not become popular in other parts of the country, or overseas, is due to its slimy consistency and strong ammonia-like odor. The article cites a study involving 30,000 adult men and women that started in the city of Takayama, Gifu Prefecture, in 1992. Sixteen years later, 677 had died as a result of stroke. According to professor Chisato Nagata of Gifu University School of Medicine, the test subjects were divided into four groups related to their consumption of nattō. People who ate the gooey beans regularly had a 32 percent lower incidence of stroke than those who seldom or never ate them. The former group also had a 25 percent lower incidence of mortality from circulatory-related ailments. Nattō is also said to be effective against certain types of cancer, including those of the breast and prostate. Noting that strokes most commonly occur during the morning hours, professor Takafumi Hamaoka, sports medicine specialist at Tokyo Medical University, advises, “Since the benefits of the nattokinase bacteria last about eight hours, you should eat it in the evening.” Shukan Post (March 24-31) devoted eight pages to the subject of erectile dysfunction (E.D.). The latter section of the article warns against habits that can affect men’s performance. One is sitting down to urinate. Others include drinking beer and sweetened coffee beverages and engaging in prolonged bicycle rides. (Cyclists are said to suffer 1.7 times more than those who don’t ride.) Good dental hygiene (brushing one’s teeth regularly) also has benefits in this area. And since briefs help the groin maintain a higher temperature, they’re preferred over boxer shorts. Also, gents, don’t sit with your legs crossed. And, oh yes, nicotine causes blood vessels to constrict, so smoking is to be avoided. Another means of prevention — try not to laugh — is laughing. Physicians at Osaka’s Moriguchi Keijinkai Hospital tested 36 male volunteers. After dividing them into two groups, one was shown Charlie Chaplin and “Mr. Bean” comedies, while the other watched weather reports. The testosterone generated by the former appears to not only have helped migitate their E.D. problem, but the reduction in stress is also believed to have beneficial effects on those with cases of atopic dermatitis. Substituting one type of itch for another, one might say….