Archive for June, 2009

Basura – a documentary about trash scavengers

The preview for “Basura,” a new documentary film by director Hiroshi Shinomiya:

Named after the Tagalog word for “garbage,” the film is a sequel to the 51-year-old filmmaker’s two earlier documentary films on the impoverished residents of the “Smoky Mountain,” the huge garbage dump in the Philippines also called Asia’s largest slum. In the latest movie, Shinomiya follows the later life of the people he covered in his first work.

“We need the cooperation of young people to eliminate poverty and hunger,” the director says.

The film will be screened from June 27 to July 24 at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography. Admission is free for those aged 18 and under.

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Kim Jong-nam comments on the latest DPRK news

Kim Jong-nam, eldest son of Kim Jong-il, talks to a Japanese reporter in Macau:

Kim Jong-nam, when asked by Japanese broadcaster NTV about whether Kim Jong-un would succeed his father, said: “I think so. I hear this news by media”.

Kim Jong-nam, who denied reports he had defected, said he could not remember the last time he spoke to his father.

South Korean media last week said Kim Jong-un had been designated to succeed.

In the interview, which NTV said was conducted in Macau, Kim Jong-nam, 37, said in English: “The appointment of a successor is totally my father’s decision.

“He makes his decisions so he doesn’t need to talk to me or talk to another person.”

Questioned about whether he had been notified by the North Korean government about succession plans, Kim Jong-nam hesitated before saying: “Very sensitive question. I cannot answer.”

Video of the interview is available at the BBC.

[via the Marmot's Hole]

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Rare Japanese ptarmigan

A rare sight:

A female ptarmigan has been found in Ishikawa Prefecture for the first time in about 65 years, the prefectural government said Friday. The adult bird was found on Mount Hakusan, about 70 kilometers from the closest ptarmigan habitat, at Mount Kitanomatadake on the border of Toyama and Gifu prefectures.

Ptarmigans are an endangered species designated by the Japanese government as a special natural “monument.”

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2009 Kashima Gatalympic

The 25th Kashima Gatalympic was held over the weekend at the Kashima mudflats in Saga Prefecture:

About 1700 contestants participated in a variety of mud sports. Alongside the Japanese mud-loving athletes were 120 foreigners from 12 countries. (A delegation from South Korea was also supposed to attend, but they canceled because of the swine flu panic going on in their country.)

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Farm ministry hid 90% of food mislabeling cases

Are you afraid that you may be buying food products that have been intentionally mislabeled? Don’t worry, the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry is hard at work making sure you never find out:

The farm ministry uncovered 879 cases of mislabeled food products last year but only disclosed 110 of them in order to protect the companies responsible, according to documents obtained from the ministry Saturday.

[...]

A ministry official said it decided not to announce all of the cases because it might deliver “a big social blow” to firms that got caught up in mislabeling through simple negligence or temporary law-infringement cases. It therefore decided only to announce cases it considered “malicious” or requiring orders to take corrective measures.

Some of the cases involved selling Chinese imports as “made in Japan” food, deceptive packages that described old food as “newly harvested,” and improper use of the term “organic.”

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Daryl Cagle in Tokyo

American political cartoonist Daryl Cagle will be giving a talk in Tokyo this weekend at the Hara Museum:

I’m pretty reclusive and enigmatic, but you can spot me at a rare public appearance in Tokyo at the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art on Saturday, June 13th from 3:00 to 4:30pm. I’ll be giving a talk on The Evolving Role of Political Cartoons with Japanese translation.

If you’re passing through Tokyo, come on by. A reservation is required. Please make your reservation by phone at TEL: 03-3445-0669 or E-mail: info@haramuseum.or.jp with your name, contact phone number and number of people attending. I’m told there is an interesting exhibition there: “The Exploration of the Micropop Imagination in Contemporary Japanese Art.”

[via Our Man in Abiko]

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