Archive for June, 2009

Former POW wants an apology from Taro Aso

It’s an established fact that allied prisoners of war were forced to labor in coal mines operated Aso Mining Company, a firm that was owned by the family of Japan’s current Prime Minister, Taro Aso. Prisoners who survived the war have been seeking an apology and compensation from the Prime Minister and the successor company to Aso Mining.

One surviving POW, Joe Coombs, is in Japan this week to bring attention to the issue:

“I’m hoping for an apology and compensation, but I don’t hold out great hopes for the compensation part,” Coombs told Reuters on Friday.

He was with Australian Army and fought in Malaya and Singapore, before being taken prisoner at the fall of Singapore in 1942. He arrived in Japan on December 7, 1942, the anniversary of pearl harbor.

Coombs, who has not been back to Japan since World War Two, has been campaigning for more than 60 years for Japan to recognize its treatment of prisoners of war.

In September 2007 he unsuccessfully sought a meeting with former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe during the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group’s summit in Sydney.

The issue gathered new momentum when Aso became prime minister in September 2008, with opposition lawmaker Yukihisa Fujita pursuing the issue in the Japanese parliament.

“The fact the prime minister’s family owned the coal mine we worked in has brought it all to light,” Coombs said.

It seems doubtful that Coombs will get what he is seeking. Because the issue of compensation for allied POWs was settled in the Treaty of San Francisco, the successor companies to Aso Mining probably have no legal obligation to pay compensation. The Prime Minister, who was only 5-years-old when the war ended, has stated that he was too young to have any knowledge of what was happening at the time.

The Nishi-Nippon, Mainichi, and Asahi newspapers have reported on Coombs’ trip to Japan. His story will probably also pop up all over the international media following the press conference Coombs will be giving Friday at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Tokyo.

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
• Kirainet.com – A geek in Japan (Subscribe)

A “horrible shark riding stereotype”

Craig, who blogs at anothershittyblogbysomedouche.wordpress.com , has written a blog post about the shock he felt encountering a “horrible shark riding stereotype” on sale at a glass shop:

In the end, I bought one. I’d like to say I did it to rid the shelves of xenophobic ignorance…but I also just wanted to be one of the few people on earth to own the dude from the Bamboozled poster riding on a shark…

[via JapanSoc]

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
• Kirainet.com – A geek in Japan (Subscribe)

Seoul Commercial

An official Seoul tourism commercial aimed at Japanese viewers:

It shows three of the things about Korea that Japanese women would probably find most appealing: shopping, food, and boy bands. The slogan used in Japanese is “No limit to the fun.” Quite effective. (One can’t really say the same thing about their English language commercial and its terrible “infinitely yours” slogan , however.)

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
• Kirainet.com – A geek in Japan (Subscribe)

Foreign scholars support plan to build 11.7 billion yen Manga museum

The Asahi has been coming down hard on the government’s plan to build an 11.7 billion yen (121 million USD) national media arts center (aka “Manga Museum”), but the Japan Times has interviewed several Western scholars, all of whom seem to think it’s a great idea. Here’s a sample of some of the quotes they included in its article:

“Given their mass audience, their spread globally, and their influence on Japanese culture today, the question is why shouldn’t there be a center dedicated to their study, conservation and exhibition?”
[...]
“The long-term effects of such a center would be useful. Japanese contemporary media arts are renowned for their dynamism and creativity. Having a kind of national clearinghouse, where people could learn about the latest cultural products in that area, would benefit artists and audiences. The center would not only inform audiences and be a useful avenue to promote contemporary Japanese culture, but it would also inspire new creativity in manga and anime artists for generations to come.”
[...]
“I think the kind of research on manga and anime that the center could facilitate will have a great scholarly and critical impact.”

As most of the scholars in question are pop culture experts who study anime and manga, it would be pretty hard for them to bash a plan that would likely bring greater attention to their field of research.

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
• Kirainet.com – A geek in Japan (Subscribe)

How to get your kid ready for school in less than 5 minutes

Tomoko Murakami shows us how to get a kid dressed, fed, and out the door in less than 5 minutes:

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
• Kirainet.com – A geek in Japan (Subscribe)

High tech conveyor belt sushi

A look at some of the high tech tricks being used by one conveyor belt sushi restaurant chain:

• Used plates are put into a slot, tallying the price of what you ate and sending the dish back for cleaning. For every 5 plates eaten, a little slot machine game is played. Kids love winning prizes.
• Each plate has an IC chip. When a plate has been going around the conveyor belt for too long, it is automatically classified as old sushi and dumped.
• When there are only a few customers at the restaurant, the length of the conveyor belt can be adjusted.
• A computer system keeps track of how many customers enter the restaurant, and it calculates the amount of sushi that chefs must make at any given time.
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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
• Kirainet.com – A geek in Japan (Subscribe)