Hiroshima Piano in New York
A piano that was damaged in the atomic bombing of Nagasaki was played in New York City over the weekend to commemorate the anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks:
The event, held at a church in New York to remember victims of the terrorist attacks and pray for world peace, marked the first time the A-bombed piano, which was damaged with shards of glass in the Aug. 6, 1945 attack, has been played overseas.
“I’ve organized concerts using this A-bombed piano for 10 years. I hope that through this, people will remember the victims of the terrorist attacks and that this will form a bridge between Japan and the United States,” piano tuner Mitsunori Yagawa, who restored the instrument, told the audience at the start of the performance.
[via Lost in Ube]
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Categories: General Japan
Naoto Kan Remains Prime Minister of Japan
Ichiro Ozawa’s attempt to replace Naoto Kan as leader of the Democratic Party of Japan has failed:
Kan was announced the winner of Tuesday’s nail-biting party presidential vote at 3:40 pm. He garnered a total vote of 721 compared to Ozawa’s 491. As expected, Kan won a majority of support among party staff, regional representatives and supporters. But he also won majority support of the DPJ’s 411 Diet members, which counted for about two-thirds of the overall result.
Kan’s position is secure for now, but he still has some tough work ahead of him:
The tight race among parliament members shows that, even though Mr. Kan won the vote, he now has to focus on healing party wounds from a bruising two-week campaign. Political analysts have said that unless Mr. Ozawa and his supporters are given prominent posts in the cabinet and party, they could split from the DPJ. That would further complicate Mr. Kan’s ability to pass stimulus measures and other legislation through parliament, following a setback in July elections.
“Having witnessed the shaky ground he stands on, opposition parties are licking their chops to begin their attacks on Mr. Kan,” said Koichi Nakano, associate professor of political science at Sophia University. “We are still far from regaining long-time stability in Japanese politics.”
Did you want Ichiro Ozawa to become Prime Minister?
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Categories: Politics
Yanesen: Good old Japan you can find in Tokyo.
Did you know that the “Yanesen” district in Tokyo was spotlighted on TV recently?
Yanesen is the area called Yanaka, Nezu and Sendagi in Tokyo. In Yanesen you can experience the atmosphere of old Japan. Just strolling around the area is nice, but check also out the yummy food from the Yanaka Ginza shopping street.
- “Niku no Suzuki” is a long-established butcher shop since 1933.
- “Genki menchi katsu” (fried cake of minced meat) is so popular and it’s 200 yen each.
- “Atom” (http://www.atom-bakery.com/atom/) is a popular bakery in Yanaka Ginza for its pizza baked in a melted rock oven. The pizza is 179 yen per piece. It’s usually baked around 12pm everyday.
- Nezu Shrine is 7 minutes from Tokyo Metro Nezu station. Nearby is “Nezu no taiyaki” (@140yen), which is very popular and highly rated at Tabelog.
The nearest train station to Yanaka is Nippori, where you can also explore its textile town and buy fabrics at wholesale prices. Hope you enjoy the area!
Contributor Bio: Kirin is a Japanese woman spending her life so far somewhere around Tokyo. She now works from home and is also spreading Japanese kawaii culture and etc. through her popular blog, Tokyo Kawaii,etc.
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Categories: General Japan, Japanese Food
Chinese Media Graphics vs. Japanese Media Graphics
A few days back, I posted about how a Chinese trawler had been seized by Japanese authorities after ramming two Japanese patrol vessels near the Senkaku Islands. That post contained the above image, which was created by the graphic department at TV Asahi News. It shows the Chinese trawler colliding with the side of the Japanese patrol ships.
After checking out some China Smack’s translations of anti-Japanese comments left by jingoistic Chinese netizens, I noticed that at least a couple Chinese media outlets are using graphics that report a very different kind of collision:
Look at those Japanese ships, totally ramming into that helpless Chinese trawler! If China’s state-controlled media is showing the Chinese public those kind of pictures, it’s not surprising that this incident has made a lot of people angry at Japan.
The Japanese media has included photos of the damage sustained by the Japanese patrol boats in its reports, and none of them appear to show the kind of dents one would expect from a frontal ramming. Here’s an example:
An update on this news story: The Japanese government has released the crew of the ship, but the captain remains in custody. There also seems to be a boat carrying Taiwanese ultra-nationalists that is currently heading towards the Senkaku islands in the hopes of creating another international incident.
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Categories: Anti-Japan
Takashi Murakami Art Exhibition @ Versailles
ATV visits the palace at Versailles, where an exhibition of Takashi Murakami’s bizarre art work has angered some French traditionalists:
There is definitely a mismatch between the historical works of French art and Murakami’s wacky character statues. Several people interviewed, including a Japanese tourist, are kind of confused by the Murakami’s artwork and aren’t sure why its being displayed there.
Murakami says that he is pleased with the “collision” between his style and the traditional style of Versailles. The news program didn’t get any sound bites from people who loved the idea of the exhibit, but it did get footage of young people who seemed to be amused by it.
An article in the Independent had the following about Murakami’s reaction to the groups that are outraged about the art show:
Murakami is philosophical about the controversy. “Even when someone scores a goal [in football], someone is going to be unhappy,” he said. He respects the different opinions about his work, he said, “just as long as an extremist doesn’t attack me physically.”
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Categories: Odd / Strange
Japan Issues Another Apology to Former American POWs
A group of Americans who survived Japan’s World War II POW camps has visited Tokyo at the invitation of the Japanese government. Yesterday, the Japanese government made a new apology to all former POW’s:
The six POWs, their relatives and the daughters of two men who died are the first group of U.S. POWs to visit Japan with government sponsorship, though groups from other countries have been invited previously.
“I offer my deep, heartfelt apology for the inhuman treatment you suffered,” Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada told the group.
The POW group’s leader, 90-year-old Lester Tenney, who survived the Bataan Death March in 1942, said he welcomed the government’s apology but still seeks recognition from the private companies that “used and abused” prisoners in their mines and factories, often under brutal conditions.
“At no time have we gotten from these private companies just a letter,” Tenney said. “These private companies have kept quiet for 65 years. It is an insult, because by their keeping quiet they are hoping we will die off.”
Under the terms of the San Francisco peace treaty of 1951, the United States and Japan legally settled the issue of paying compensation to former POWs: the Japanese government and private citizens paid millions of dollars to the Red Cross, which then paid reparations to surviving prisoners. The United States government signed away the right of its citizens to seek further compensation from the Japanese government or Japanese private companies, so the POWs will probably not get the recognition they expect from the companies that once used them as unpaid laborers.
The apology that Foreign Minister Okada delivered to the former prisoners was not the first of its kind. Last year, Japan’s ambassador to the United States delivered an apology to Bataan survivors. Both are re-affirmations of Japan’s previous apologies, such as the 1995 apology that contained wording that was meant to acknowledge all victims of Japan’s actions: “through its colonial rule and aggression, caused tremendous damage and suffering to the people of many countries, particularly to those of Asian nations.”
[hat tip to kobzster]
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Categories: Foreigners in Japan