Archive for March, 2010

A few updates: North Korean schools, foreign sumo wrestlers, and voting rights for non-citizens

A few updates on topics covered by previous posts:

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Prime Minister Hatoyama is still not sure if his party’s plan to help subsidize high school tuition should be applied to people who send their children to private Pro-Pyonyang High Schools that teach students loyalty to North Korea and hatred of Japan:

“I suppose it will take a certain amount of time as after we clear the school waiver bill, the education minister decides on it under a ministry ordinance,” Hatoyama told reporters in the evening.

Hatoyama also said again, “It is necessary to set objective criteria” to determine eligible schools. “I think we need to comprehensively assess” the curricula at the pro-Pyongyang schools.

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Several weeks ago, I posted about the Japan Sumo Association making a new rule that placed a limit on the number of “foreign-born” wrestlers allowed in the sport. The Mainichi Shimbun ran an editorial arguing against the discriminatory rule. Here’s an excerpt (in Japanese, hat tip to LB):

数々の乱行がもとで引退に追いやられた元横綱・朝青龍や、薬物汚染で相撲界を追われた力士など、ここ数年、外国出身力士の問題が相次いだ。これらは本人以上に師匠や協会の教育の問題であって、外国人力士の増加が直接の問題ではない。

　相撲界は「通訳のいない社会」である。モンゴルだろうが東欧諸国であろうが、相撲を志して入門した外国出身の若者に対し、協会や相撲部屋が通訳をつけたためしはない。外国人力士は必死に日本語を覚え、慣れない日本のしきたりに合わせてけいこに励んでいる。

　短期間で日本語を習得し、日本社会に適応できる力士を数多く育ててきた相撲界のシステムは、実は高く評価されるべきだ。苦労の末、晴れて日本国籍を取得した力士を、出身を理由に差別するなど許されない。

It basically stresses how unfair it is to discriminate against wrestlers not born in Japan. Many foreign-born sumo wrestlers show great commitment to learning the Japanese language and following Japanese customs and manners. Some might claim that recent problems with the behavior of a few foreign wrestlers has to do with their own inability to adapt to the way things are done in Japan, but the editorial’s author believes that the JSA should also look at how poorly its stable masters have succeeded when it comes to teaching proper conduct to wrestlers.

In a related story, former Yokozuna Asashoryu gave a press conference in Mongolia yesterday. The reports of him having assaulted somebody were apparently enough to force his retirement from sumo, but he denies any such wrongdoing took place:

“I didn’t commit any violent act,” Asashoryu said, referring to Japanese magazine reports in January that said he became extremely drunk before striking and seriously injuring a man outside a nightclub in Tokyo in the early hours of Jan. 16.

He said that some people within the JSA were trying to push him out of sumo, an allegation that will probably encourage conspiracy theorists.

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The DPJ plan to pass a bill granting voting rights to non-citizens has been postponed. It would seem that their coalition partners do not share their views on the issue.

The Daily Yomiuri has translated a very good editorial about non-citizen voting rights by Professor Tei Taikin (Chung Daekyun) of Tokyo Metropolitan University. He believes that granting voting rights to Zainichi Koreans would only preserve their identity as a perpetual “foreign” community of Japanese-born people.

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

Crested Ibises killed in their cages

Sado Island’s program of raising Japanese crested ibises and releasing them into the wild has suffered a serious setback after a marten slipped into the breeding center and killed several birds. The intruder was caught on camera:

Two male birds born in 2009 and seven female birds born between 2004 and 2008 were reportedly killed. At around 8 a.m. on Wednesday, a center employee noticed that ibises were not visible in surveillance camera footage of the cage, and found eight of the 11 birds in training for release dead, including one with animal bites. Two other birds were seriously injured, one of which died later. The remaining ibis was unhurt.

According to the ministry, loud ibis calls were also recorded by the surveillance camera 10 times between 8 p.m. on Tuesday and 6 a.m. on Wednesday. The ministry says the birds were probably attacked during that span.

The center will stop training other ibises in the cage until it finds out how the marten entered and takes steps to prevent similar accidents in the future. The ministry was planning to release 21 ibises into the wild this autumn, including the nine that died, but will discuss responses to the matter at an experts’ meeting next Tuesday.

Workers are now trying to plug any holes in the protective fencing around the enclosure, so that future animal attacks will not occur.

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

Spring Snacks in Japan

“Mezamashi TV” takes a look at some of the new snacks hitting convenience stores and supermarkets:

Snacks that appear in the video:

• Banana Milk/Cereal Crunky
• Strawberry Cake Toppo
• Kinako and Brown Sugar Kinoko no Yama
• Matcha Milk Takenoko no Sato
• Sakura Matcha Kit Kat
• Fuwamaki Milk Cake made to look like a cow
• Milk Tea Cakes

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

Marijuana farm inside Japanese apartment

Japanese police raid an apartment being used to grow marijuana:

Mr. Park, the man who was caught inside the apartment with 78 plants, was arrested. He insisted that the plants were not being grown for business purposes.

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• Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

Animal Planet to launch Dolphin Wars TV series

Prepare to see Ric O’Barry and other animal rights activists harass and annoy the residents of Taiji, Japan in their own TV series:

A new television series about the controversial dolphin trade in Japan, tentatively titled “Dolphin Warriors,” has been greenlit by Animal Planet.

The series picks up where the movie leaves off and, like the film, stars animal activist Ric O’Barry. Two episodes of the series — which is being executive produced by O’Barry’s son, Lincoln — have already been completed, although a premiere date has yet to be announced, Ric O’Barry said.

Animal Planet says the series may premiere in the fall, after “The Cove” debuts on the channel this summer.

Now Animal Planet will have two shows about how animal rights activists are trying to save cute animals from the cruel Japanese.

[via JapanSoc]

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• Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

Chiaki Kuriyama interview

MTV interviews Japanese actress Chiaki Kuriyama [whose name is apparently now written as "CHiAKi KURiYAMA"]:

The interview is about how she is trying to launch a successful music career. You can view her new music video here.

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• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)