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Well here we are in spring, with the 'Golden Week' bunch of holidays now within sight. Most office workers will be getting about 6 days off in a row, but a recent Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare survey showed that some lucky dogs will be getting 10 days off, with the really jammy few getting a 14-day break! Me? I'm a freelance, so even though I will get a few days off, when my clients are not working, no work means no pay, so 'Golden Week' is a bit tarnished for yours truly! But what the hell! This is my last GW in Japan, so let's make the most of it. To start, let's take a look at what's been filling the news here in Japan . . .

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One recent item of news that came as no surprise to anyone living here was the announcement by the Economist Intelligence Unit that Tokyo has retained its place as world's most expensive city in terms of cost of living. However, don't go thinking that Tokyo is an island of high prices, for the #2 city on the list was Osaka! The criteria used to compile this list was the cost of a basket of goods and services in dollar terms from 124 cities worldwide. However, when looking at this fact, it is well to bear in mind two important considerations. Firstly, if you try to live like a foreigner here, eating only foreign food and maintaining a western lifestyle, then this place is indeed sky-high expensive, whereas if you adapt and live at least a little like the locals do, it's not so bad. Secondly, take a look at the cities at the other end of the list. Officially, the cheapest city in the world is Tehran. So if it's all the same to you, I'll stick with Tokyo -- albeit, just a while longer! 

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The main news item here, of course, has been the recent Chinese attacks on Japanese properties and businesses, all because Japan has decided to re-write history yet again. Now remembering that it was Japan's censorship of history and incredible insensitivity that started the trouble, you really have to admire their cahones when they call in the Chinese ambassador to complain! The best means of defence is attack, I suppose. China responded by calling the anti-Japanese violence an "overreaction" by the Chinese people to an issue whose ultimate blame rests with Japan. They also claimed that they were doing all they should to protect Japanese interests in China. However, putting aside the cause of this dispute, you have to doubt whether China really has done all it could. Take a look at what's been going on. 
*  Between 10,000 and 20,000Chinese protestors marched en masse through Beijing's streets and threw rocks at the Japanese Embassy and the Japanese ambassador's residence Saturday.
* More than 3,000 demonstrators surrounded a hotel that houses the Japanese Consulate General in the southern city of Guangzhou.
* 2 Japanese students were badly beaten with a beer mug and an ashtray by an unknown number of Chinese at a restaurant in Shanghai.
* A Japanese restaurant suffered many broken windows were broken when demonstrators threw stones. A branch of a Japanese bank was also pelted with rocks. 
* In Chengdu, demonstrators vandalized a shopping mall operated by Ito-Yokado.
* In Shenzhen, an outlet in run by Aeon was attacked.
Now in a country where one can easily get arrested and quickly disappear for belching in the wrong direction, it doesn't seem exactly believable to me that the large and well equipped police and secret police could do nothing to stop those incidents. What's more, remembering China's recent history, it's hard to believe thousands of people could gather for any reason without the government's consent. OK, Japan deserves a lot for being so stupid and stubborn, but at least admit whose behind it, rather than blaming the poor citizenry!

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It has often been said that religion is the best business there is, and some American 'evangelists' seem to be living proof of this. However, don't go thinking that America has a monopoly of religious money-makers, for Japan has its share. One of the largest, most powerful and worrying is a allegedly Buddhist group called Soka Gakkai, which even has its own political party. The wealth and power of this group is, or should be, well known here, but one aspect of its business empire that is less well known is its involvement with the entertainment industry. So what's the difference between making money out of entertainment and other business areas? Well, making money is just one reason for the group's interest in TV. Its main motivation seems to be recruiting more suckers -- I mean, members. Amongst the 'TV talent' who belong to Soka Gakkai are Masami Hisamoto (considered one of NHK's "favourite talent" for three years in a row), actress Satomi Ishihara, and comedians Hidekazu Nagai and Hanawa. Not only are these people members of Soka Gakkai -- they work for it, belonging to the arts department of the groups Culture Headquarters. Sounds very pious, doesn't it? However, you have to (grudgingly) admire the acumen behind this. In the old days, Soka Gakkai's TV members used to perform at the group's rallies, before crowds of up to 2,000 people. However, it makes much more sense, both recruiting-wise and economically, to use TV, with its millions of viewers. But Soka Gakkai doesn't limit itself to using TV -- or even to only using its members. It seems that many entertainment agencies welcome the chance to make their clients available to Soka Gakkai media, with many non-members even appearing on the cover of one of its magazines, thus helping to improve its image. However, not all entertainers remain permanently fooled by the group's propaganda. A former Soka Gakkai chief secretary, who left the organization in 1987, recently revealed that a number of celebrities have quit the group and refuse to appear in Soka Gakkai media or publications, but are reluctant to speak about the group for fear of reprisals. The 'Japanese inquisition', ah? So although this disturbing group is managing to recruit many young fools, it is also losing a lot of older, disenchanted members -- hence the need for its version of the inquisition! One reason members are leaving is the group's political ambitions, and these are not just limited to its 'Komei Party'. The group, unsurprisingly, has its own university (= indoctrination centre), whose alumni  have joined the Justice, Foreign and other ministries. Comforting, ah? As the former chief secretary observed, "Soka Gakkai is a group that cannot tolerate dissenting views and thoughts and will try its hardest to eliminate competition. If their revolution actually succeeded, society would lose a lot of freedoms." And people ask why I'm planning to leave!

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Remember Dr Johnson's famously non-PC quotation comparing a woman preaching with a dog walking on its hind legs: "it is not done well, but one is surprised to find it done at all"? Well, it is as well to bear that quote in mind when reading the news that the Osaka District Court recently ordered Sumitomo Metal Industries to pay ¥63 million (US$580,000) in compensation to 4 current and former female employees who suffered sexual discrimination in wages and promotions. Here, where a guy considered a male chauvinist pig in the west seems like a gentleman of the old school, it isn't surprising that the verdict took 9½ years, or to discover that the ladies in this case were part of a total of 9 female employees who sued various Sumitomo companies in August 1995, or even that this is the first ruling among the 3 cases to go in favour of the employees. No, the part where Dr Johnson's comment fits is that any of the ladies won. Slow, yes; inadequate, yes; less than satisfying, certainly. However, it is hopeful that maybe Japan's previously exceedingly underused sex discrimination laws might actually be taken seriously and put into effect. Call me a crazy optimist if you like, but I found it propitious!

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I really don't know how such people can be so blind, but there might be a few Japanese out there who doubt just how unpopular their country is in China. Well, if they need proof of Japan's disapproval, the Internet has it. You may have read that Japan is striving to get a Permanent Seat on the UN Security Council, yes? Well, they really should have considered the views of the existing Permanent Members, such as China. Since Japan started to beef up its efforts to get this much sought after seat, 19 Chinese websites have sprung up collecting signatures to oppose Japan's bid, and they seem to have been remarkably successful in so doing. As of the time of writing this, they had collected more than 16 million signatures. However, don't go thinking its just China (which has crimes of its own that need atonement), for the US-based Alliance for Preserving the Truth of Sino-Japanese War, together with 7 other organizations around the Pacific Rim, recently launched a drive for 1 million signatures. The really surprising thing about this is the way the Japanese Government seems shocked by such signs of its low esteem, at the way it acting so hard-done-by. After stubbornly seeking the disapproval of its neighbours in so many ways, how could they not know? Polish-born Victorian writer Joseph Conrad once said that "You shall judge a man by his foes as well as by his friends." So what do you say about a nation with so many vocal enemies as this?
Footnote: Just in case you think it is just nasty ol' dictatorial China that is anti-Japan, it isn't. You see, South Korea recently announced that it will strive to block Japan's bid to win permanent membership in the UN Security Council, according to a Yonhap News Agency dispatch from New York. The South Korean Ambassador to the UN,  Kim Sam Hoon, said: "There are difficulties for a country that does not have the trust of its neighbouring countries because of its lack of reflection on the past to play the role of a world leader. We do not think Japan has the qualifications to become a U.N. Security Council member, and we will try to make sure it does not become one." What's more, in a display of naivety that approaches the realms of self-delusion, this statement was followed by a plea from Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi for South Korea to support Japan's bid for permanent membership. Can you believe that? That's a bit like one of Saddam Hussein's supporters asking for Kuwaiti citizenship!

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Japan's eagerness to copy all things American can and often does reach ludicrous proportions. After all, there are few more ridiculous sights than seeing an average Japanese young man playing American Football, wearing armour that is almost bigger than he is! However, it isn't just this distinctively American sport that Japan has imported -- it seems to have imported the caveman behaviour of some of its players as well. I am prompted to observe this by the arrest of the 182cm tall, 74kg quarterback (Dan Marino (193cm/101kg), he isn't!) for the Onward Skylarks American football team for raping a 21-year-old university student. When first arrested, the story didn't get much attention -- who cares what a restaurant employee (his official job) gets up to? However, when his sporting role became known, he made the headlines. It was then revealed that he is alleged to have committed at least 10 sexual assaults. Indeed, a police spokesman reported that "He said that assaulting a woman is the only way for him to satisfy his sexual needs." However, his vicious attacks not only satisfy his sexual needs. It seems that after attacking, binding and raping these poor ladies, he goes onto steal whatever cash he can find. What's more, he sometimes even sets up a video camera to tape the assault! This, as my regular readers will know, is just the latest and possibly most shocking of a long string of sexual crimes by Japanese athletes, and this appalling behaviour was explained by a local sports journalist, who pointed out that Japanese high schools and universities seem only interested in creating elite players, and completely neglect to educate these 'stars' to be better men. The Roman poet Juvenal wrote of the ideal, a " healthy mind in a healthy body". Sadly, too many in authority over youth seem to remember only the latter part of that sage advice. 

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As I have mentioned before, censorship is forbidden by Japan's seemingly often elastic constitution. However, one of this nation's leading newspapers, the Asahi Shimbun,  recently tried its hand at censoring an advertisement! The ad in question was for the weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun. However, rather cheekily, the ad promotes the magazine's article that accuses the Asahi Shimbun of having received "backdoor" money from consumer loan company Takefuji Corp. In a fine example of tit-for-tat, the Asahi partially blacked-out the advertisement. The quarter-page ad lists the headlines of the latest issue's major articles, with the headline of the top story reading, "People call it black journalism, 50 million (US$465,679) which Asahi Shimbun received from Takefuji in 'backdoor ad fee'." The Asahi seems to have blacked out the part saying "People call it black journalism." Not surprisingly, the newspaper protested against the article, saying it contains many parts that are not based on facts. In response, the Shukan Bunshun said: "It is inevitable for us to call it black journalism as long as the Asahi cannot make a distinction between news and advertisement. The attitude of rejecting reports of facts that are unfavourable to the company could lead to the suppression of the freedom of speech and expression." The facts behind the case are as follows. The Asahi Shimbun has acknowledged that it received ¥50 million from Takefuji as what it calls "editorial assistance". It also admits to publishing a yearlong series of articles in its weekly magazine whilst somehow omitting to mention that they were sponsored publications. I don't know about you but it sounds as if Shukan Bunshun might have some justification for its headline. However, Japanese journalism often seems to cross the line between news and advertisement. The allegedly number 1 English language newspaper, the Japan Times ('all the news without flair or flavour' as one parody wittily claimed), is often filled with pages claiming to celebrate the national day of various countries, said pages being filled with ads from companies doing business in those nations. I don't know if newspaper readership is going down, as it generally deserves to, but I know I haven't bought a paper for years, relying instead on the Internet. However, bearing in mind the amazingly low level of computer literacy here, I doubt if that's an option for most salarymen!

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I don't know about your part of the world but TV here has recently been filled with pictures of angry Chinese attacking Japanese shops and businesses because of Tokyo's ridiculously stubborn refusal to accept that history isn't always convenient! Possibly mindful of these attacks, the Japanese Government has asked North Korea to guarantee the safety of Japanese football players and fans when Japan travels to Pyongyang to play a World Cup qualifier against North Korea on June 8th. The omens are not good, however, for angry North Korean fans reacted violently when their team lost to Iran in a recent World Cup qualifier. Now if that's the way the NKs react when they're beaten by a team like Iran, which has no historical links with the peninsula, I can't help feeling less than confident that they will react like gentlemen when they are beaten by their former brutal colonial masters! I say when, and not if, for although Japan is no Brazil, the result of the NK game does seem to be fairly predictable -- always supposing the game is allowed to be fair. Memories of Japan's past cruelty run long in Korea, and they have also been upset by Tokyo's bending the truth when revising history textbooks. So my advice to any Japanese contemplating going to Pyongyang is -- don't!  As for the players and official who have no choice, I would recommend upgrading your medical insurance and putting your affairs in order before travelling!   

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Crime File

• Many men complain about their wives cooking ability, but to kill a woman because she cooks too much must be a novelty! However, that's what happened with an 73-year-old woman in Sapporo recently. Her husband said that he had killed his wife in a fit of rage by strangling her with a towel after an argument caused by his complaint that she had cooked "too many dishes" for him! What's more, he wasn't exactly remorseful, as the killing was only discovered when he visited a local municipal office to ask about cremating her body!

• You know, when an official risks arrest to help a disadvantaged foreigner, it is so touching. So many might have felt when they read about the arrest of Yasuharu Majima, a 59-year-old employee of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. He was charged with allowing a Thai he knew to be an illegal resident to live at his home for almost a year. Really gets you, right? Of course, I am sure that the fact that the offending Thai was a 19-year-old girl made no difference to his charitable impulses, of course!

• I have always considered suicide to be a somewhat cowardly and selfish act, but one recent attempted suicide here recently pushed the envelope when it comes to selfishness! Back in early April, a 38-year-old man soaked himself in paraffin and then drove a rented truck through a shopping arcade in Sendai, northern Japan. His stupidity killed two people and injured four others. He was arrested on suspicion of negligence resulting in death and injury, as well as a hit-and-run charge, after he turned himself in at a police box and said he had run the people down, police said. Police quoted this scumbag as saying, "I arrived in Sendai a few days ago from Chiba Prefecture. I ran the people down because I wanted to die. I poured kerosene over myself inside the car and set myself alight." He initially fled from the scene on foot, and was naked from the waist up when he turned himself.

• Talking of dangerous suicide attempts, how about the 46-year-old man in Aichi Prefecture who, with his younger brother, strangled his parents, his wife and their 2 children  before attempting to commit suicide. Police said the man, who was hospitalized with cuts to the abdomen and neck, told them he and his younger brother strangled the 5 at their parents' apartment before attempting to kill themselves. His younger brother died, but police plan to charge the surviving man with murder. It might sound culturally imperialistic to say that it is regrettable that suicide is considered so normal and acceptable here, but if it was treated with the same social stigma as in the West, a lot of people might still be alive!

• It's often a problem knowing what to bring with you when you visit someone in hospital. However, that wasn't a problem for Kyoji Onishi. He just took a metal baseball bat -- and then beat the man to death! Yes indeed, police recently arrested this unfriendly visitor, a former gangster, for killing Hisao Omori, 56, while he was undergoing dialysis at a hospital in Kagawa Prefecture. It seems the 2 men were from different groups but both affiliated to Japan's largest bunch of hoodlums, the Yamaguchi-gumi. Shows how afraid these scumbags are of the law, huh?

• Update time: Some of you regular masochists might recall reading here about a Yakuza gangster who went on a shooting spree at a bar in Gunma Prefecture in 2003, killing 3 customers and seriously wounding his target and another person. Well, just to keep you up to date, the Maebashi District Court recently sentenced the 35-year-old hoodlum to death. Now it is unlikely that he will hang in the very near future, as there is doubtless a long and hopefully pointless appeals procedure to go through. However, it is to be hoped that sooner or later, this senior member of the Yano Mutsumi-kai crime syndicate will get a taste of his own medicine.

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Japan's education system often seems to be crying out for a major overhaul, and it isn't only me who thinks so. The system, which was basically designed to provide fodder for the big corporations, has failed dismally to keep up with the times, and this is reflected in declining academic abilities  However, in a recent article in Chuo Koron, a researcher at the Hakuhodo Institute of Life and Living came up with the claim that young people are still managing to acquire the skills needed for modern life, not from school but via their mobile phones! Yohei Harada wrote that more and more young people are concentrating on developing practical skills rather than simply pursuing academic achievement as their parents did. One positive side of this is that young Japanese often have "communicative skills beyond their years", far in advance of the skills previous generations had in their own youth. Harada-san credits this to the mobile phone, of all things. However, when you bear in mind that virtually every urban youth has one, and that the average age when they first get one is under 15 years, you can begin to see just how important they are nowadays. The average youth's mobile phone contains the contact details of about 70 people stored in their memory, meaning they are often in regular communication with far more people than previous generations. What's more, the very nature of phoning and emailing means that one has to develop swift communication skills, something the letter-writers of the old days had less need for. If this means more individualism and more freedom of choice for young people, then it must be good. If it means the days of a child being pressured into joining what his parents consider to be a prestigious company rather than being allowed to follow a career of choice, then I for one am all for it, and so even though the amazingly varied ring tones of mobile phones do often seem to be a blight on daily life, at least the mobile phone does seem to be having one positive side effect.

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Drivers here often seem to belong more on the country lane of a third-world nation than on a busy road in a modern industrialised nation, partly due to the almost complete lack of any real traffic police. However, there was recently a spate of unusual accidents and it seems that it might not have been the drivers' fault! All of Japan's expressways are toll-charging, but to reduce queues at the tollgates, the authorities introduced an electronic charge card that supposedly allows the owner to drive right through specially equipped tollgates. That's the theory, anyway. In reality, things have been going a bit differently. You see, more than 2,000 vehicles with a special discount card meant for large-lot users have recently crashed into the barriers at the special toll gates. Why? Because despite their having the card, the barrier didn't rise. Sounds like something from a comedy film, right? But, I hear you cry, why didn't the barrier rise? Simple. The aforementioned discount card was abolished at the start of FY2005 -- April 1st. So why were these cars still using them? Because it seems that a large number of users were not told that cards were no longer valid! Can you believe that? The Japan Highway Public Corporation said that news of the cards cancellation was apparently not disseminated to all drivers. I'd guess that more than 2,000 drivers were not told. I'll bet this does wonders for the sale of electronic toll cards, don't you?

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Thanks to the sexist nature of the local gendarmes and the often masochistically subdued nature of many local females, riding the train here has often been an unpleasant experience for many ladies, who are seen as fair game by the perverted creeps who share the trains with them. These men grope and molest with little hindrance, but at long last, someone in Tokyo has accepted the fact that there is a problem! Back on April 4th, women-only cars were launched for the first time in Tokyo in morning rush-hour trains. Some other, less head-in-the-sand regions have already been using women-only cars, but Tokyo was slower to adopt them. These news carriages were introduced on the Saikyo Line, which links Saitam and Tokyo, and the Rinkai Line, which serves Odaiba island and parts of Chiba. Other lines, both private and otherwise, plan to launch women-only cars on May 9th. Now this move must be welcomed, not just by female travellers but by anyone who detests the slime who mistreat fellow passengers, but like so many other measures here, its success will depend on how well it is enforced. It was reported that on the first day of operation, some apparently unaware men were seen dashing into the new cars. Were they told to leave? Were they punished if they didn't leave? The reports I saw didn't mention this but I can foresee a time when station staff will grow lazy and some men, probably the wrong kind, will be able to sneak into these carriages unhindered. What's more, knowing the painfully submissive nature of some (not all) Japanese women, taught from birth by their idiotic mothers that men are boss, these trespassers will most likely not be reported. However, Japanese women are changing, and so it is to be hoped that future gropers will end up with a knee where they least want it!

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British news is often filled with the inhumane way condemned prisoners in the US spend so long on 'Death Row'. However, let's not forget Japan, which I believe still holds the record for keeping a prisoner thus confined. This fact was underlined recently when I read that the Nagoya High Court had decided to allow a retrial for a 79-year-old man named Okunishi who has been on death row since 1972, when he was convicted of murdering 5 women in a wine poisoning case in Mie Prefecture in 1961. The court made the decision in response to new evidence that could prove his innocence. "The court has serious doubts about the credibility of the confessions of the defendant, so that he cannot be assumed as the culprit," Presiding Judge Junichi Koide said in handing down the decision. You mean the Japanese Police cheated a confession? Surely not!! To provide some background to this story, 5 women, including the condemned man's wife and his lover, died after drinking poisoned wine at a party held at a community centre on March 28, 1961. Okunishi initially confessed to putting pesticide in the wine in an attempt to terminate the love triangle but later retracted his confession. He was originally acquitted by the Tsu District Court in 1964 but this was reversed by the Nagoya High Court in 1969, when he was sentenced to death, a verdict upheld by the Supreme Court in 1972. Now that a man should have to wait so long for a fair hearing is shameful, but what is truly appalling is that this is the 5th time a court has decided to allow a retrial for a death row inmate, the last time being in 1986 in Shizuoka. And do you want to know the really interesting part? In every one of those 4 other cases, the arrested person was eventually acquitted. Really gives you faith in the constabulary, doesn't it?

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Say That Again . . .

Speaking as an ex-policeman (albeit for a short time), there are three things I consider it crazy to outlaw -- drinking, gambling and sex! By the latter, I mean prostitution, for just like the other two 'crimes', making it illegal will not do anything to lessen it. Quite the opposite. A local 'sex worker' recently supported my view when her place of work was shut down by the authorities -- who obviously frequent one of her competitors! She said:
"If they shut down places like mine, you watch the number of girls that will end up working underground and getting raped."
This 19-year-old plies her trade in Saitama, just north of Tokyo, and even though you might consider her biased, few but the most ridiculously naive can doubt the wisdom of her words.

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It is often said that Americans truly want to be liked, but just in case any US citizen still thinks that they are, a visit to the over-publicised Expo in Aichi Prefecture might disillusion them. You see, the US pavilion at the Aichi Expo not only has metal detectors but also separate security screening for all visitors, which prompted one Yale University student to say:  
"As an American, I found it embarrassing, upsetting, disappointing and a really ironic but true statement of what it means to be welcomed by America today."
 Myself, I don't really care if other races hate or love my nation. I prefer to think along the lines of the great Roman poet Lucius Accius, who famously said "Oderint Dum Metuant" =  "Let them hate so long as they fear"!

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The Japanese people must be amongst the most ill-informed folk on Earth when it comes to outside races, and it seems to have been this way for a long time. Recently, an 85-year-old survivor of the US landings on Zamami Island in 1945 recounted how she and her kind were criminally misled by the authorities, saying: 
"We were told they would cut off our noses and ears, and rape us." 
She added that she couldn't believe her eyes when she saw the American soldiers treating those who had failed to commit suicide. I wonder if such unexpected kindness is mentioned in the controversial new history textbooks? I sincerely doubt it!

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Talking of Japan's shameful revision of history, I wasn't surprised to see senior officials rushing to defend the new textbook's white-wash of recent history. Believe it or not, no less a person than the Senior vice education minister defended the decision not to mention Japan's WW2 sex slaves, euphemistically called 'comfort women' in text material. He said:
"Considering the children's growth and development stage, it is not appropriate to include the words 'comfort women' in junior high school textbooks."  
It's OK to sell sick pornography in convenience stores and even vending machines where kids can readily access, but let's not talk about what our brave boys did in the war! Censorship is one thing, but expecting me to be grateful for it? With people like that in control of education, thank God no child of mine will be educated here!

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As reported on this page a few issues back, Japan is planning to introduce something akin to the jury system in the future. However, many doubt whether the system will be utilised as it should here. Take, for example, the opinion of a man whose 6-year-old daughter was struck and killed by a truck at a Tokyo traffic light in 2003: 
Officials say juries will mean shorter trials. But it sounds to me like judges will shorten trials to let jurors get back to their lives and not do what's right for victims and their families. 
Of course, many officials are doubtless hoping that the jury experiment will fail, so that they can use this as an excuse to keep out other such dangerous liberal ideas. Sadly, if enough officials want an idea to fail, it will!

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This page has often carried tales of how some fascist-inclined local authorities have hounded and punished teachers who refuse to accept the national anthem and flag ceremony as part of the school day. However, it is sadly rare to read of a teacher getting punished for mistreating a pupil, and this has forced at least one girl to seek his own justice. The story so far: A 16-year-old girl entered a Miyagi prefectural high school in April last year. She had chestnut-coloured hair and this seemed to really upset one of the teaching staff, who repeatedly told her to dye her hair black. This, she refused to do and so what did this fine educator do? The teacher sprayed her with dye and later suggested she should drop out! What a fine example of someone with a vocation. A vocation for what, apart from Gulag guard, I don't know, but such is Japan. Now whereas teachers who upset the nationalist creed were swiftly punished, all the this teacher's employer would say was "We recognize that the teacher reacted excessively, but we didn't force her to drop out." Nonetheless, the girl is suing the prefectural government for ¥5.5 million (US$51,224). Now I am not a great fan of schoolgirls dying their hair, but there are ways to deal with such things, like showing her which rule her behaviour breaks and dealing with it in a manner laid down in the regulations. What if the teacher hadn't liked her clothes -- would they have been forcibly removed? All this sad case brings to light is the sad mix-up so many Japanese authorities have with their priorities, making mountains out of molehills and, as in this case, the opposite as well! 

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Remember the old sage advice about when you find yourself deep in a hole, stop digging? Well, that appears to be one Western thing that Japan has not taken to heart, at least not the government. Not content with alienating their neighbouring nations, they then decided to try hard to alienate the rest. How? Let me count the ways:
First off,, whaling. You see, the government has announced that it intends to expand the scope of its 'research whaling' catch in the Antarctic Ocean to humpbacks and fin whales from late this year as well as nearly double its catch of minke whales. (It should be explained for those unfamiliar with this story that 'research whaling' means hunting and killing whales, with the meat ending up on restaurant menus and shop shelves.) Now why Japan maintains this farcical pretence that it only kills whales for scientific reasons is beyond my imagination, as no-one outside this place believes a word of it. Whatever the government calls it, everyone else calls it commercial whaling!
Then, of course, we have the brilliant decision to allow drilling for gas and oil in disputed waters in the East China Sea. It seems that the government has decided to grant Japanese companies concessions to conduct test drilling in the disputed area which, according to a 1999 Japanese survey, has a massive 200 billion cubic meters of gas. However, it must be remembered that China began drilling at the disputed site in the East China Sea in 2003, and has rejected Japanese efforts to mark a maritime border in the disputed part of the East China Sea, which may also hold oil along with gas. So although Japan gets zero for tact and diplomacy, it does have some justification. Anyway, it seems that it could take a few months before the companies were authorized to explore, let alone begin drilling, and the government could decide to halt the activity. 
All in all, Japan's report card might well deserve the comment 'could do better'. Then again, if I had a pound (or a euro or whatever) for every time that's been true, I'd be living a lot nicer than I am now!

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People reading this page might well think that the Japanese are unusually susceptible to weird religious cults, and they wouldn't be far wrong! Previously, you read about the worryingly powerful Soka Gakkai group, and now another, albeit smaller and less powerful bunch of weirdoes has come to light. This particular bunch is called the Seishin Chuo Kyokai, or Central Church of Holy God, based in Kyoto. This bunch is led by a 61-year-old named Tamotsu Kin, and in early April, he was arrested for what he called a test of religious devotion, but which police called sexually molesting a 12-year-old girl. When arrested, he was just about to fly to the USA -- doubtless first class! According to the media, it was in January 2002 when he invited the girl to his room by telling her: "I would like to test your faith." He then molested her, saying "this is a celebration." Now due to her incredibly gullible parents, the girl had believed that Kin was almost godlike for as long as she could remember, and so she was reluctant to tell anyone what happened. To underline this, Kin said to her: "If you talk about this to anyone, you will go to hell." Since this 'god's' arrest, Kyoto police have received nearly 10 complaints from young girls who also said they were molested, and they suspect that the actual number of molestations may be more than 100. So who is this divine being with a liking for young girls? Well, according to the police, he is a South Korean national (another country with more than a few religious weirdoes) who studied theology in Korea for 4 years from 1982. On returning to Japan, he went on to form his 'church' in 1987 and in 2000, he established the headquarters for his church in the city of Yawata, Kyoto. It seems that some of his neighbours thought the group were Aum Shinrikyo (an understandable mistake), but despite local misgivings, his sect thrived and established about 20 branches in cities such as Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, Kanazawa, Tottori and so on. At its peak, the cult had around 3,000 believers. But how did he pay for this growth? Simple, he arranged seminars and charged his suckers (sorry, followers)  ¥30,000-50,000 to attend. Some weren't satisfied with this con -- they got into debt with loan sharks so that they could contribute up to ¥7 million to the group! As Calvera, the bandit leader in the 'Magnificent Seven' said, "If God hadn't meant for them to be sheared, he wouldn't have made them sheep." He had a point! However, if he gets the sort of sentence he deserves, he might find his new 'flock' behind bars a lot less religious -- though some of them might also be interested in molestation!

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You know, what with computers that create even more paperwork and mobile phones that won't let you take a break, it is easy to get very disillusioned with science and technology. However, I recently read about a very practical and useful product that involves some very high technology -- at least it seems high to a caveman like me! Here in Japan, the school uniform maker Ogo-Sangyo has just released a range of school blazers. So what's the big deal, you ask? Well, these are no ordinary blazers -- these ones contain a global positioning device so that the parents of school pupils can keep track of their children's wherever they go. See what I mean? Parents will  be able to keep a watchful eye on their children's wanderings using their personal computers. What's more, if the parent thinks the child might be facing an emergency situation, they can have summon a security agent to help out by simply pushing a button on the terminal. Now that is a good idea. Mind you, I'm damn glad they have such stuff around when I was at school, but now that I have crossed over from poacher to gamekeeper, so to speak, things are very different. I'll bet those blazers are rather pricey but with the sort of scumbags around (as reported sadly often in this very site), they're worth it!

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Regular readers will recall a story about some walkers who found a whole load of cash beside a path here in Japan. Well, the luck of some people (not me, I hasten to add) continues to be unbelievably good! Consider the case of the building workers at a condominium construction site in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture. They were digging away in a residential district about 500 meters south of Musashi-Shinjo railway station when they found a  vinyl bag. Inside were 25 bundles of cash, about 2,500 old ¥10,000 bills, adding up to a grand total of ¥25 million (US$231,225). I kid you not! Turns out the site used to be part of a private house belonging to an elderly married couple. I suppose they didn't like banks, ah? Anyway, as things stand, the 25 million will be split between the workers and the current owner of the land if nobody claims the cash within half a year. So next time you see a Kanagawa construction worker driving a Cadillac, you'll know why. Always supposing an army of the old couple's relations don't come crawling out of the woodwork!

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Not so long ago, the official line seemed to be that Japan didn't have an organised crime problem, that the Yakuza were just in the films and novels, not real life. Well, if that was true (and it sure as hell wasn't), then they have come a long way from being fictitious! I mean, take a look at just one statistic. In a recent report, the National Police Agency said that around 40% of Japanese companies nationwide have experienced some form of extortion from gangsters and racketeers. Sounds more like Sicily in the bad old days! The NPA gleaned this information by sending out a questionnaire of some sort, which resulted in replies from 1,724 companies, 690 of which said they had experienced demands from "sokaiya," hecklers and troublemakers who threaten to make life tough for businesses if they don't pay up, a sort of Japanese style protection racket. Other methods used to extort money from businesses include threats from groups claiming to be activists for "burakumin" (Japan's 'untouchables', social outcasts who rarely if ever get mentioned), right-wingers who demand that firms subscribe to their newsletters,  or 'agencies' who control subcontractors and casual labourers. In the 14+ years I've been here, life has become a little less easy for the Yakuza, but it has to be said that they still enjoy more freedom than, say, the New York Mafia 'families'. Sadly, the chances of Japan getting a gangbuster like Rudolph Giuliani are VERY slim!

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Talking of the Police, many Western police forces must often feel a little envious about the incredibly high 'clear-up' rate enjoyed by Japan's gendarmes. However, the ways they get such a high figure is a less enviable matter. Take, for example, the case of Javier Pariasca, a 39-year-old Peruvian dance instructor who lived and worked in Kurume city , Fukuoka Prefecture. He was arrested for allegedly raping a woman student and has just been sentenced to 30 months in prison. However, here comes the clincher. Although his Japanese is doubtless less than perfect, he was interrogated (and in Japan, that is not nice at all) WITHOUT an interpreter, which is in direct violation of international human rights charters. Not surprisingly, he ended up confessing to the charge. Now even the judge at the Kurume branch of Fukuoka District Court admitted that this was out of line, and rejected the confession as evidence. However, he still sentenced him -- though as the prosecutors had demanded 42 months in prison, maybe he should be grateful! Now the truly disturbing thing about this is not that he was still sent to jail, as he just might have done it -- even though he'd have walked in most Western courts. No, the disturbing thing is the way no mention was made in the news reports of the police having done anything wrong. No words of criticism from the bench or the press, which suggests that such things are routine here. Now you know why I tried so hard to study Japanese! 

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Gaijin's Tip:

'If you try speaking Japanese and it doesn't seem to be working, don't worry. The Japanese are too polite to tell you you're speaking gibberish, so just try using simple, slow English. This may often do the trick, especially in seeking directions, etc.!'
(For more like this, please visit the 'Gaijin's Guide to Living in Japan')

&

Gaijin's Where-to-Go

'Now that (hopefully) the good weather is with us, you might want to visit one of Tokyo's nicer parks. If so, why not try the Nezu Institute of Fine Arts Gardens, which has 4 tea houses and a beautiful pond. It's open from 9.30-4.30pm, but closed on Mondays. Admission is free and the nearest Metro station is Omotesando. For more information, call 03-3400-2536.'

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