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Well Chinese New Year is gone and Lent is getting closer -- the year's already disappearing fast! However, we are seeing the sun more nowadays and even though we may yet get some more snow, one can really start believing spring is on the way. The day before this issue of the 'Empty Seat' went online was 'Valentine's Day. However, they celebrate this day rather differently over here in 'pagan' Japan. You see, in Japan, it's the women who give chocolates to the men on Valentine's Day and not just their boyfriends either. Such is the absence of sex equality here that ladies are obliged to give chocs to their bosses and male colleagues as well. The world turned upside down, right? Of course, not wishing to lose a sales opportunity, the confectionary industry came up with 'White Day', March 14th, when the men are supposed to reciprocate. Anyway, as I lick my lips in anticipation of the deluge of chocolate I should (but probably won't) receive tomorrow, let's take a look at what's been happening over here during the last month . . .

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I remember once reading that the Bangkok chief of police claimed there were no prostitutes in his city. Well, many Japanese seem to have an equally laughable blindspot when it comes to teenage prostitution here. For those of you who haven't heard, Japan has been troubled for many years by this phenomenon, which is euphemistically called "compensated dating". The Japanese use the term rori-kon, for Lolita Complex, to describe the widespread obsession with schoolgirls among the country's male population, who pay over $350 for sex with an underage girl. Just 3 years ago, the country was shocked when a 12-year-old girl died after jumping from the moving car of a man who had picked her up for sex. So why do they do it? Simple. The girls need the money to buy Burberry scarves and Louis Vuitton handbags. The problem is extra serious here in Tokyo because girls from across Japan gather in the fashion centres like Shibuya, including many who do what is known as a puchi iede, or little runaway, meaning they stay away for several days before returning home. Not surprisingly, they quickly run out of money but finance their adventures with "compensated dating" or by selling their underwear. So why don't their parents stop them? A very good question. If I caught my school-age daughter in a place like Shibuya, she wouldn't be in a hurry to repeat the mistake! Anyway, the allegedly good news is the Tokyo authorities plan to introduce by-laws that will prohibit sex shops from buying underwear and other clothing from girls under 16 for resale to men. The shops, which also sell gym knickers and schoolgirl uniforms, charge about $45 for used underwear. The new laws will also mean that men who meet girls aged under 16 between 11pm and 4am without the approval of the child's parents may be fined. However, my response to this, cynical as it may be, is twofold. (a), the men & their 'dates' will just change tactics and try some 'afternoon delight', and (b) Japan has many of good and noble laws, but unless they are enforced (as many are not), they don't mean a damn'd thing! Unless you do your illegal 'dating' inside the police box, of course!

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The Japanese recently seemed forced to reconsider their daily meal, due to the recent scares over BSE and avian flu. One of the cheapest meals you can have here is a bowl of beef and rice, known surprisingly as beef bowls. What's more, one of the cheapest places to eat this delicacy is one of the chain known as Yoshinoya. However, Yoshinoya gets its beef from the USA and back on Boxing Day (Dec 26th), the Japanese government announced it would halt imports of beef from the US. Now as Yoshinoya serves only beef and only US beef at that, this is not good news. Thanks to bulk buying, the company has enough to keep its frugal clients happy until the end of February, but after that? Ah, don't give up on them yet. That old innovation spirit that save Japan after WW2 is still there, and so Yoshinoya has started serving 'curry bowls'', and is planning to introduce salmon caviar bowls and grilled chicken bowls (though these might disappear due to the avian flu). Quick thinking, ah? Now you may not think this is all very news worthy but Yoshinoya is a big part of Japan's social scene, and is even mentioned in song lyrics. For example, Pop singer Miyuki Nakajima, a well known beef bowls addict (she is reported to own a Yoshinoya uniform), sang a song that included the line "Sleeping at Yoshinoya before dawn are city girls in smudged makeup and wolves with baby faces."  However, as the old proverb says, "It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good" and so while America's beef farmers groan, beef farmers down under can smile. The Australian Ambassador to Japan was recently quoted by Kyodo News as saying that Australia could increase its annual beef exports to Japan by about 80% to help it cope with the current situation, meaning an additional 200,000 tons of beef. Now I have to admit that I have never tried Yoshinoya, though I pass some their many, many branches almost every day. However, any place that can give you lunch for a little over ¥500 (US$4.72) can't be all bad and if my luck turns south as it often has in the past, I might need such a cut-price restaurant, so good luck to them and whoever supplies them!

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A Japanese lady friend of mine once explained why she, a property-owning, highly intelligent career woman, voted Communist. The reason was twofold -- they had more female candidates and had no corruption scandals. Now that says a lot about Japanese politics, when the criteria is which one hasn't done anything bad -- or at least hasn't been caught doing so! However, it also reveals the sorry state of the Japanese Communist Party, which can only attract voters be what it doesn't do, rather than what it does. Unlike many of its European counterparts, Japan's reds have yet to change their name or improve their PR, although some might say it recently headed in that direction. You see, on the final day of its recent party convention, the Japanese Communist Party adopted a new platform whereby it dropped its stated aim of bringing about a "socialist revolution" in Japan, and even went so far as to stop opposing the emperor. Yes, that's right. The Party finally decided that the emperor system is a "system based upon the Constitution" and so they agreed to accept it for the time being. I am sure that made the Emperor feel so good. However, apart from accepting the obvious, the party did actually drop some of its old slogans such as "move forward" to socialism and communism. So who knows -- maybe they will get real eventually. However, I rate Japan's chances of ending up as a people's republic as being roughly equal to me marrying into the Imperial family. Then again, with the lack of male babies in that family, who knows!

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Crime File

• Kidnapping a young lady is bad enough but a chap in Shizuoka Prefecture went even further. You see, he abducted a 19-year-old college student in January 2002 and kept her in his car. However, he then poured paraffin on her and setting it alight with a cigarette lighter. Now this sick sod was given life imprisonment rather than the death penalty. Why? Well, try to believe this -- his lawyers said he did not intend to kill the woman. No, he was just lighting her cigarette when his hand slipped. I can't say whether he truly deserved to hang (though it seems pretty clear he does) but his lawyers sure do!

• In another example of how many sick people manage to become parents, an Osaka truck driver and his live-in girlfriend were  recently arrested for trying to kill the man's 15-year-old son by starving him off and on for a year and a half. The poor boy eventually fell into a coma and was hospitalised; he remains unconscious. At the time of his hospitalisation, the boy weighed just 24kg and had symptoms of hypoglycaemia and brain atrophy caused by starvation. However, his mistreatment was not limited to his diet, as he was regularly beaten by the couple, who have denied the allegations. The boy's ordeal began in the spring of 2001 after his father divorced his mother, when his 14 year old brother also began living with them. A few months later, the couple began beating the two children, burning them with cigarette butts and putting their heads into dirty bath water. The younger brother fled to his mother's home in June 2003, when they started starving the elder boy. The mother tried to take her elder son back but the father prevented her and increased the beatings, police said. When the poor boy grew too weak to walk, they confined him to his room and completely stopped giving him food, police said. When teachers visited them in September 2002 after they'd stopped going to school, the couple refused to let them see the boys, claiming that bullying was keeping them at home. The trial continues but let's hope that this evil duo gets a chance to die in jail. 

• In a similar example of nature giving children to the wrong people, arrest warrants have been issued for a 26-year-old woman and her live-in partner for leaving her sick 5-year-old son to die on a mountain in Yamagata Prefecture last June. This came after her boyfriend had repeatedly assaulted the sick boy. The couple had previously been indicted on charges of abandoning the dead boy's body but police later found out that the poor lad was alive when they dumped him. Leaving them on the same mountain, suitably handicapped, would seem to be a very apt punishment but sadly unlikely.

• Travelling on Japanese trains and subways can often be an unpleasant experience for ladies, although the way they timidly accept the groping and harassment doesn't exactly deter would-be perverts. An example of this slimy sub-strata reached the news recently when a 47-year-old man was jailed for taking a photograph with the camera in his cell phone up the skirt of a woman sitting opposite him on a subway train. However, to show where the judge's sympathy lies, he was only given a six months sentence -- and even that was suspended for four years. Nice to know the law is so eager to protect women!

• It often seems that Japan's police don't care about traffic behaviour, with the rather toy-soldier-like motorcycle cops being rarely seen when needed. However, they do care after all, for Tokyo police have decided to prosecute a 42-year-old import company president for, believe it or not, using a U.S.-made Segway scooter vehicle on a public road. It seems that this novelty vehicle is officially classified as a motorcycle, but driving it on public roads is illegal as it is not sufficiently equipped with parts such as brakes, lights and direction indicators. Makes one feel a whole lot safer on the road, don't it?

• Talk about being saved by delay! Back in 1985, a HIV expert named Takeshi Abe ordered a subordinate to administer unheated blood-clotting agents to a patient 3 times at Teikyo University's hospital. The patient died in 1991. Not surprisingly, he was prosecuted for causing the patient's death. However, after being acquitted, prosecutors appealed but that appeal is about to be halted. Why? Because a psychiatric examination has found that Abe, 87, has become mentally incompetent and "does not have the ability to discern good from bad," his lawyer said. At least he had the chance to become senile, which is more than his poor damn'd patient had!

• Graffiti is a recent phenomenon here but it is getting almost as bad as some Western cities. However, unlike the West, where some pea-brained liberals consider it an art form (so long as it's not in their neighbourhood), the 'artists' are punished here. Take, for example, the case of a 25-year-old bookstore employee who drew antiwar graffiti in a public toilet in a park in Tokyo's Suginami Ward last year. He has been sentenced to 14 months in prison, suspended for 3 years. The presiding Judge said that "the defendant damaged the external appearance of the restroom. He could adopt other ways of expression, but he resorted to something illegal and has not expressed remorse for what he did." His lawyers, who seem to have been reading too many hare-brained western art magazines, argued the indictment was political, and that the graffiti did not make it difficult for people to use the restroom. So I can take a spray can to their condo wall? Yeah, sure!

• However, before these stories give you the wrong idea, let me report on the recent news that Japan's crime rate in 2003 was down for the first time in 8 years, with criminal cases falling 2.2% from a record 2,853,739 the year before, according to the National Police Agency (NPA). The drop in the overall number of cases was attributed to there being fewer street crimes. There was a 12.4% drop in purse-snatchings and a 22% decrease in motorbike thefts. However, murders jumped 4% to 1,452 cases and robberies of houses or shops were up 27.6%.

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Doctor Johnson is often quoted as having said that "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." However, I wonder what he would have said about enforced patriotism. I am referring to certain people being forced to act patriotic. Who? Well, not long ago, the city government of Naha, administrative centre of Okinawa Prefecture, issued an instruction that all city employees HAD to wave Japan's national flag when Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko visit the prefecture . However, this ridiculous and meaningless bureaucratic dictate was later withdrawn in response to a seemingly justified protest from a labour union. Following the union's complaint, the city government changed its wording to 'request' its employees voluntarily wave the flags. Real nice of them, don't you think? Now if this order had been given anywhere in Japan, it would have been ludicrous, but in Okinawa, it is ridiculously tactless. Let's not forget that it was during the reign of one of the Emperor's ancestors, the 102nd Emperor, Go-Hanazono (後花園天皇), that Okinawa lost its independence. It was in the year 1441, when Ashikaga Yoshinori, the Shogun or military dictator who claimed to rule in the emperor's name, conferred the rights of jurisdiction over the Ryukyu Kingdom to the Lord of Satsuma, Shimazu Tadakuni, a well known pirate. Later on, Japanese troops invaded the islands and much later, in 1879, Japan annexed the Ryukyus, during the reign of the present emperor's great-grandfather. One of the heirs to the Okinawa throne currently runs a noodle restaurant, and although he wisely claims he bears no grudge, the differences between Okinawans and mainland Japanese are quite striking. So to force these people to show fake patriotism is not exactly tactful, and I hope that the emperor feels insulted by such a stupid move!

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Trust Japan to come up with a suitably capitalist solution to the problem of security in Iraq . In a classic example of the old "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes" problem, it has been reported that the Japanese government is paying approximately ¥10 billion (approx. US$94 million) to Iraqi tribal leaders to provide bodyguards for the Self-Defense Forces in Iraq. This move follows earlier reports that Japan had asked other nation's armies to help guard the SDF, a move that led to some ridicule. According to a spokesman for the Prime Minister's Office, this move is "rather cheap if we can buy security for our soldiers with that amount of money." He added that this scheme "will help their local economy and benefit Japan's foreign policy toward new Iraq." The scheme followed a visit to Japan last year by a powerful Iraqi tribal leader, Abdul Amir Rikaabi, during which it was agreed that Japan would pay for protection. It seems Mr Rikaabi agreed to organize 200 to 300 guards to protect Japan's first contingent of soldiers until the main unit arrived. The Iraqi guards will provide 24-hour patrols and in the event of a terrorist attack, it seems that Dutch troops have agreed to help out, although whether or not they will be paid for this service isn't clear. What's more, these Iraqi guards won't just get a salary -- their families will receive compensation in the event of their dying 'on duty'. The Japanese government has donated US$1 million in advance for such compensation. For a country that has often been accused of 'chequebook diplomacy', this scheme seems to make a lot of sense to me, and perhaps the Americans should consider making deals with the tribes around Baghdad. Many of the terrorists are jobless and so maybe their hatred of the Westerners would be diluted by a suitable sum!

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Maybe those Iraqi guards can help them with another problem facing the SDF boys in Iraq. You see, Japanese journalists always seem to be looking for new celebrities to chase, to cover every single aspect of their life, no matter how trivial. But the latest group to receive this unwelcome and highly intrusive attention is not sports or music related -- it's the army! According to the Kuwait Times, Japanese reporters are making a difficult mission even more so by hounding the members of the Ground-Self-Defense Force (GSDF), presently just conducting a survey mission in southern Iraq, like paparazzi chasing celebrities. The newspaper reported that herds of Japanese reporters are following the team wherever it goes in what it described as a "car chase," like "paparazzi" following movie stars. In what must have been like a scene from the Keystone Kops, some of the cars even collided with each other. However, there is a more serious side to this farcical situation. A Kuwaiti military official reported that one of the media cars almost ran over a child in Iraq shortly after the GSDF team arrived from Kuwait. Now as anyone who has watched Japanese TV knows, hard news is not considered very important here, with the viewing public preferring paparazzi-style coverage of TV star love affairs to coverage of what's happening in the gaijin world, and I should add that this story received scant coverage on TV or in the papers here. One of the problems is that Japan's so-called 'reporters' seem to be expecting certain privileges (including protection), in return for agreeing to the self-imposed censorship requested by the government, which fears that if Japanese TV stations air scenes showing SDF camps or soldiers being attacked by terrorists, the Koizumi cabinet could collapse. For Japanese journalists, such censorship is a way of life, part of the 'Press club' system, whereby journalists who report on government organisations unfavourably are denied access to press conferences. Some folk who have a western idea of journalism have long claimed that as long as Japan's newspapers and TV stations continue to use this system, they cannot be called news organizations. However, like many aspects of life here, change is improbable, especially as it is highly unlikely that Mr Average Japanese Viewer's reluctance to watch proper or less parochial news will improve or change. The government here can proudly claim that censorship is against the constitution, but then, why should the government perform the role of censor when the media companies do the job for them! 

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Another example of Japan's lack of serious journalism is the fate of lady newsreaders. Believe it or not, it seems to be an unwritten rule within the Japanese TV industry that any anchorwoman who reaches 30 is "over the hill" and must be transferred off camera to make way for a younger, prettier face. Sex equality at its finest, ah? This means that for most anchorwomen ("joshi-ana" as they are known here) face an unpleasant choice when they hit the big three-zero: gracefully move behind the scenes or quit to become freelance anchors. A recent example concerned the 31-year-old Rie Uozumi of NTV, the presenter of a popular afternoon program who announced her retirement after getting married. It seems that she was upset when she heard that she was to be moved to the public relations office, and so she decided to turn freelance. Not everyone shares NTV's dinosaur attitude towards female presenters, however, and it seems that she will soon be hosting a new program co-hosted by Hiroshi Kume who was declared too old to be useful by TV Asahi. What's more, even before being declared senile, anchorwomen here are treated like office workers, being expected to serve tea, etc, even though many are as popular as regular TV stars. What's more, it is often difficult for them to find freelance work (due to this blatantly sexist attitude being the norm within the industry) and so often become entertainers. Believe it or not, it seems that seven years is about the limit for most female anchorwomen here. Now this might reflect very badly on the old farts who run the TV companies here, but let's not forget market forces. Their audience consists of many men who think a woman's place is either in the home or in a hostess bar, plus far too many women who tolerate this attitude. Only when Japanese women stand up for themselves will such Victorian attitudes change, but so long as even Japanese mothers encourage their sons to feel superior to their female siblings, such a change seems sadly unlikely.

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Say That Again . . .

In a rare example (in Japan) of sexual equality, Japan's hostesses seem to have acquired some male counterparts, though not competitors. However, the young men deny any carnal activity, for as one 23-year-old host with Oshare Kizoku (Trendy Nobles) claimed:
"We don't do anything sexual. We just go out with somebody when they're shopping, or something. It's a totally wholesome date."
These 'wholesome dates', often with housewives, cost around ¥10,000 an hour. That's  a pretty damn expensive shopping trip!

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As you can read further on, Japan's courts are beginning to recognise the rights of inventive employees to the patent rights of their creations, rather than just letting the company exploit them at will. However, in an effort to gain public sympathy, which surely deserves to fail, a Hitachi executive was recently quoted as complaining that:
"It's like a time bomb ticking away. Frequent lawsuits will foment conflict between the employer and the employee." 
Heartbreaking, isn't it? 

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I know it's often said that beauty is only skin deep but they still matter to some folk. So if you're looking for a Japanese girlfriend, check your mirror carefully, for as one 30-year-old lady who regularly attends matchmaking parties in Tokyo recently said:
"Looks are absolutely vital. You can tell a lot about a guy's character by the way he presents himself."
Well at least that let's me off! (?)

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It's not easy being in the insurance business in Japan, especially when the economy takes a dip. Bear in mind that suicide is viewed very differently here and can lead to an insurance payout. As one major insurance company spokesman recently said: "Companies are extending the period of immunity on policies for paying on suicides to three years." 
Seems the skyrocketing suicide rate has prompted life insurance companies to tighten their purse strings. Then again, they don't usually need much of an excuse for doing that, right?

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When reading about the plight of sex industry workers, one might easily believe that they are all reluctant slaves, forced into a life of sin. Such is not the case, for as one American woman working within this lucrative sector recently said:
"I'm willing to work illegally to make a lot of money. I don't have a pimp or an agent and am not forced to do this." 
Seems that not all women working in Japan's sex industry are forced to do so, which goes against everything you hear from the 'do-gooders' who oppose legalising this unavoidable business.

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A bizarre story that has received a lot (= too much) coverage here has concerned a politician's academic claims. Now whereas many British MPs have no college experience (not exactly necessary to do the job), Japanese voters seems to think that a candidate's academic record is highly important. As a result, the reports that a candidate who claimed to have graduated from an American college hadn't has been filling the TV and printed news. The background to the story is that Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) legislator Junichiro Koga, who beat the vice president of the governing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and a close ally of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in the November general election, claimed to have graduated from UCLA in California. He then claimed that he had made a mistake and really meant Pepperdine University. Then, after returning from a 6 day trip to the United States, the university reported that he had studied there but never graduated. Following this highly embarrassing statement, Mr Koga said that he will attend classes at the university when the Diet is closed to obtain the credits he needs to graduate. What next -- admission that he failed to graduate high school? Now although this chap does deserve some censure for lying to the voters (although the criticism he has received might be linked to his having upset the PM), I for one really don't think a college education makes one a better politician -- a bit of real life experience would surely be more useful! However, not everyone is screaming for his blood. As one local political science professor said, in a very reasonable spirit of clemency, " I believe he should step down and start again after obtaining the credits,". But would he be elected after such a move? In Japan, where even the prime minister 'inherited' his seat from his father, anything is possible. 

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Just when you think Japan's previous talent for innovation has died, they prove otherwise. I mean, ask yourself -- what can a fax machine do apart from sending faxes and maybe photocopying stuff? Well the Nagoya-based company Brother Industries has decided that it can do a lot more, and has announced the launch of a line of fax machines with an optional infrared sensor that can set off an alarm to scare off intruders. What's more, these wondrous machines can even help you keep in touch with a child or dog left at home alone. I'm not kidding! The sensor, which can be placed up to 40 meters from the fax machine, can sense an approaching human or animal, and then automatically make a phone call in 30 seconds to numbers registered in the machine. A trip to Tokyo's main electrical retail area, Akihabara (otherwise known as 'Electric City'), can often be a shocking experience for visiting gaijin, as they see gadgets and devices they had never even imagined might be available, and so Brother is just furthering this tradition of making machines even more useful. So what's next? Well there's an old joke about impressive machines that they can do everything but make a pot of tea, so maybe a tea-making fax machine is already on the drawing board somewhere in Nagoya!

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The Japanese belief in team spirit is well known, but until recently, this extended to the payment of patent fees, with companies claiming patent rights for the inventions of their employees. However, like so much else in the job market, this is changing. The latest example of these changes is Mr Seiji Yonezawa, a 65 year old former employee of Hitachi, who did the unthinkable by taking the company to court  over the transfer of patent rights related to optical disks. Don't underestimate the courage such a move took, as I am sure many around him did their best to deter him. However, sue them he did and what's more,  the Tokyo District Court awarded him ¥34.8 million, which some might see as equally shocking. However, Hitachi then made a big mistake, underestimating the force of the 'winds of change'. They appealed against the November 2002 ruling and in January, the Tokyo High Court gave them another shock. They ordered them to pay ¥163 million, more than quadrupling the lower court's award!  Now it is still true that the Japanese government and it's associates rarely lose a court case, but for a major company like Hitachi to lose in such a big way is truly impressive. What's more, Hitachio isn't alone. Tokyo District Court has also ordered Nichia Corp to pay an unprecedented ¥20 billion (the largest ever such payment in Japan)  to the inventor of a key semiconductor device for the transfer of patent rights. This inventor now works as a professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara, but he developed the blue-colour light-emitting diode (LED) while working at Nichia. Now this does not mean that the judiciary here is finally as impartial as it should be, but it is a giant step in the right direction. It is to be hoped that every inventive genius who has been denied his patent rights by his employer will now follow these gentlemen's bold example, and so teach Japanese companies that employees are not serfs, and must be treated with respect and fairness.

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I know certain tactless French politicians have derided the sport of Sumo but I for one find it quite enjoyable. One of my favourite sumotori when I used to watch it regularly was a Hawaiian-born wrestler whose chosen 'ring name' was Musashimaru. This popular sportsman won 12 Emperor's cups, Sumo highest trophy, retired last November and I am pleased to read that unlike some of his fellow retirees, he is enjoying himself. One other Hawaiian-born sumo champion retiree recently made a complete ass of himself in an embarrassing 'K-1' fight but Musashimaru took care of his money and so is able to enjoy his new leisure time. As he told the folks at Tokyo's Foreign Correspondents' Club, "I like to cruise in my truck around the beaches at Enoshima, Kamakura, Chiba and Ibaragi". However, he may not be fighting professionally anymore but he hasn't yet had his topknot officially cut (the ceremonial end of a sumotori's career). He is still keeping his hand in and is active in amateur Sumo in the United States, where tournaments are held each year in Los Angeles and Washington. Not surprisingly, the big man predicted that Sumo will be increasingly dominated by non-Japanese wrestlers, including the latest foreign contenders from Mongolia, which is bound to upset the ultra-conservative nationalists who run the sport. This might lead to a decline in its popularity but he, like many others, just couldn't see many potential champions amongst the current bunch. Maybe gaijin fighters are hungrier -- after all, Mongolia's economy is a bit less prosperous than Japan's! However, the jovial retired Yokozuna (Grand Champion) still enjoys getting on stage, but now he does so to sing karaoke! What's more, in line with his good humoured image, he ended the press conference by asking "Anybody here want to date me?" 

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Now anyone who thinks Japan isn't a racist country should try talking with the ethnic Koreans living here. They might also talk to the UN Committee on Rights of the Child. This body recently issued a report calling on Japan to eliminate discrimination against children of minorities. To be exact, they said Japan should "undertake all necessary proactive measures to combat societal discrimination and ensure access to basic services" for children of Korean residents of Japan and other minority groups. Anyone who knows Japan knows that Koreans in Japan (usually born here, descendants of people brought here for forced labour in WW2) often face discrimination particularly in employment and marriages. At Japanese schools, there have been many reports of bullying against Koreans. However, the report also highlighted discrimination against children of the indigenous Ainu people and the so-called Buraku people, Japan's own 'untouchables'. However, the Committee didn't overlook the problems of Japanese youth, expressing concerns about the increasing rate of youth suicide in Japan and mentioning the need to relieve the competitive nature of the education system which it said "has a negative effect on the children's physical and mental health." Ain't that the truth! So it seems that far from protecting the rights of minority children, Japan's government can't even look after its own! Something radical needs to be done to the education system and administration in Japan -- a mass purge is one idea that comes to mind!

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Japan's rather narrow-minded pride in being a 'homogenous' society are gradually being diluted by the number of Japanese folk who prefer gaijin rather than local spouses, producing pleasingly Eurasian children entitled to Japanese citizenship. What's more, according to the prestigious Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the number of marriages between Japanese and foreign nationals, as a percentage of all marriages in Japan, has more than doubled since the late 1980s, representing 5% in 2001, a total 39,700 cases. That must really irritate the hell out of some folk here! Surprisingly, 80% of these mixed marriages are between Japanese men and foreign women, of whom 90% are from other Asian countries. One factor encouraging this trend is the record number of foreigners legally residing in Japan, 1.78 million in 2001, or 1.4% of the total population. However, don't go thinking Japan is becoming cosmopolitan, as that 1.4% is among the lowest in the 30-member OECD and compares with 37.5% for Luxembourg, 19.7% for Switzerland and 8.9% for Germany. However, it is higher than 0.5% for South Korea and 0.1% for Poland. However, returning to the subject of marriages, Japanese women are much more willing to mix with and talk with gaijins, and the 'Empty Seat' from which this page gains its name, is often occupied by a female, and what with the lack of sexual equality here (often illustrated herein) makes it easy to understand why a Japanese lady should prefer a man who treats her reasonably like a human being, and why gaijins should prefer a lady who doesn't consider marriage a competition. Japanese males & Western females, heal thyselves!

 



Gaijin's Tip:

'With Valentine's Day upon us, it might be timely to talk about receiving gifts in the Japanese way. Gifts are traditionally presented and received with a sense of humility and respect. Use both hands to give/receive a gift and bow, even ever so slightly. Remember that gifts are not usually opened when they are received.'
(Taken from the 'Gaijin's Guide to Living in Japan')

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Gaijin's Where-to-Go

'If the lady in your life showered you with chocolate on the 14th, maybe you should take her to the cinema in return. What's more, you can do so for free at the Ginza Sony Building High-Vision Theatre. This is a 47- seat cinema that shows free movies at 4.30pm every Saturday and Sunday. You need to apply beforehand by phoning 3573-5234. Located right above Ginza subway station at one of the busiest crossroads in Tokyo.'

(For more suggestions, check out the 'Gaijin's Guide to Enjoying Tokyo')