Posts from — August 2008

20 years after the last successful artificial insemination in Japan, Tantan (12), the giant female panda in Kobe Oji Zoo gave birth last Monday (August 26) to a healthy cub through the same reproductive method. Weighing around 100 grams and about 25 centimeters in length, the baby panda’s sex is still unknown. It will take 3 more months before the zoo let the public see the cub openly. In the meantime the zoo plans to get the public’s help in naming the little giant panda. Hmmn, let me see… How does “Lily” sound to you guys?

After the kidnapping and murder of Kazuya Ito, a member of Japan NGO based in Peshawar-kai, Japan support groups have decided to pack their bags and suspend mission in Afghanistan, reports Asahi Shimbun: 

The Basic Human Needs Association, which offers support in the telecommunications field, has scrapped plans to dispatch two Japanese engineers to Afghanistan in October to help set up wireless equipment in 50 locations in the northern Balkh Province by spring next year.

The decision was made after Kazuya Ito, 31, a member of Japanese nongovernmental organization Peshawar-kai, was found slain Wednesday. He was snatched by gunmen in a suburb of Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday.

The Basic Human Needs Association has already limited travel by its members in Afghanistan to between hotels and their offices due to the deteriorating security situation. It has also urged them to refrain from going out to eat.

“If the situation becomes more dangerous, we will have to stop all dispatches of our members,” said the group’s secretary-general, Masaharu Nonaka. 

Although the unfortunate incident is really a blow for all the help groups active in Afghanistan and so too for those are intending to volunteer to help the country, it is still very important these organizations to be vigilant and continue their valuable work. Being realistic about the state of security in Afghanistan is the key to safety. More security measures would inhibit help groups’ flexibility to work effectively - that’s for sure - but that should not mean pull out from the country. Pulling out of Afghanistan would virtually mean that the international society is powerless in the face of terrorism. 

Another unfortunate dispute occurred between “foreign trainees” and their employer, this time concerning six Chinese trainees after they requested a pay rise from their “trainer”. According to an article in Mainichi Daily News, the 6 Chinese were allegedly being underpaid and forced to work for long hours usually from 8:30 AM. until midnight with only 50,000 Yen a month and 350 Yen per hour worth of overtime pay as remuneration. 

The six workers submitted a written request for their wages to be revised on Aug. 20. The company’s president, Masafumi Uchida, promised that he would reply two days later. However, at about 7:30 a.m. on Aug. 22, the president joined about 10 people including company employees and tried to force the six workers, who were sleeping in a company dormitory, to get into a minibus he had prepared to take them to Narita Airport.

The trainees resisted, and plans to take them to the airport were abandoned, but one of the trainees was left with a broken leg after jumping out of a window on the second floor of the dormitory. Two others suffered bruises and scratches during the row.

The three injured workers were later taken into the custody of the Zentoitsu Workers Union, which supports foreign trainees and apprentices. The remaining three were taken to Narita Airport by company officials and returned home. Uchida visited the union on Monday and offered an apology. ”If they were Japanese I wouldn’t have done it (tried to force them to leave). I was asked for a high amount of unpaid cash and thought I couldn’t negotiate. I’m sorry for their injuries.” A Justice Ministry official said there was a possibility the company could be punished.

A possibility? Didn’t the company’s president admit already to the abuse and injustice they inflicted against the 6 Chinese workers? Shouldn’t the Ministry say, “there will be a full investigation about this matter to determine the extent of the company’s duplicity and punish it accordingly”? So this is what it means when the Japanese Government claimed before the United Nations that “Japan has taken every conceivable measure to fight against racial discrimination“ - a “possibility”. 

For those who understand Japanese, here is a passionate testaments of two foreign trainees talking about their experience in and anger towards the trainee business. 

  Statement on being a foreign trainee in Japan

Now that the Olympics hysteria has ended, it’s time to look back and ponder what the Games have showed the world about China. Most of the opinions have been good so far, although there are a few contrary views here and there. An opinion piece in Japan Times has an interesting take on the opening ceremony in Beijing:

What I found particularly disquieting about the opening ceremony in Beijing was the mass sublimation of individuality in the service of the state. The conformity to script and attention to stage direction by a cast of thousands, while awe inspiring, also represents a negation of the creativity of self-expression. Of course, there is choreographed order in Western dance and music as well. But there was something about the Chinese government’s ability to stage-manage so many thousands so precisely that set this show apart from anything undertaken even by Cecil B. DeMille or Las Vegas.

Read the rest here.

There is another brewing discourse, or maybe more appropriately another hot debate, circulating among net web blogs and news sources, especially of Korean and Japanese authors, this time about the usage of a map depicting the body of water in between Korea and Japan as the “Sea of Japan” in globally televised Beijing Olympic closing ceremony. See the map above. As you may know, Koreans are quite touchy when you call that sea in between, “Sea of Japan.”

South Korea claims that that name was a colonial heritage of the Imperial Japan, and proposes to rename the sea with “East Sea”, reffering of course to the sea east of Korea. On the other hand, North Korea, which is more bullish on the matter, wants the sea to be called “East Sea of Korea”. Now, South Korea seems set to protest this event to China, thereby politicizing a normal Olympic relay and inflaming nationalist sentiments among citizens of both Koreans and Japanese once more, as if there is not much flame going on already between the two countries.

It seems the ordinary round watermelon is getting boring these days. Not satisfied with the square-shaped watermelons that are in the news every summer since several years ago, a few enterprising watermelon growers are out with some weirdly shaped inventions.

(If you’re wondering how it’s done, molds are put around the growing fruits for it to assume whatever shape they want it to be.)

Pyramid-shaped Watermelon

And as if the 10,000 yen price tag of the square-shaped watermelons are not yet pricey enough, the pyramid-shaped watermelons sell for as much as a hundred thousand yen! This must be the height of Japanese decadence. If you didn’t know better you’d think this is 1989, the height of the bubble economy.

The seller’s page says:

In 2005, we shipped all 5 pieces of these fruits and by 2006 we have increased the number to 15, so the price really went down. However, in 2007 we only sold 6 pieces so the price went back to the original. In 2008, we made 20 but the quality was bad so we decided not to sell any.

Triangle- and Heart-shaped Watermelons

“Cute!” is the description of these curious watermelons, which sell for 25,000 yen each.

A cute, palm-sized watermelon! Don’t you think this is the best present that you can give?

Making a heart-shaped watermelon is very hard. You have to make its bottom narrow and the stem part indented; from the perspective of the watermelon, that’s not a reasonable thing to do.

But, it’s cute! It’s not a cheap heart; it’s plump and will calm the heart of those who see it.

I feel like reaching for my credit card already.

Face-shaped Watermelon

This weirdest of watermelons was featured in a TBS TV show but it’s anything but likable. It’s kind of spooky if you ask me, like a Jack o’ lantern.

Are they the kind of watermelons you want?

I guess not, because all these watermelons are only for decorative purposes. They’re cute, yes, but the taste isn’t that good (according to the seller’s web page itself.) If you want the real mouth-watering, thirst-quenching watermelon, you are better off picking one of those ordinary round ones that sell for around 1,000 yen at your local supermarket.

By they way, if you’re thinking of different watermelon art, you should see this:

{via tofugu.com}

According to a 2006 survey of couples with children compiled by the Ministry of Public Management (and reported here), husbands work an average of 8 hours 50 minutes while their wives work for 9 hours 14 minutes daily. If only household chores and child-rearing hours are considered, then wives work 4 hours 7 minutes while the husbands work a measly 31 minutes.

Even with working couples, the husbands leave household work to their wives.

Daily working hours of husbands and wives (in minutes)

About 14,000 working couples were surveyed for the project. The men generally work longer hours (8 hours 19 minutes) outside the home while the women’s work is shorter (5 hours 7 minutes). The free time for childless couples or those who have grown children is about 4 hours for both husband and wife, while for those couples who have a child less than 3 years old, the husbands have 3 hours 10 minutes while the wives only have 2 hours 17 minutes.

Two Japanese companies, Senyo Kogyo Co Ltd and Senyo Kiko Senyo Kiko Co Ltd announced their plan to build a test line for their “Eco Ride,” an energy-saving urban transportation system. The test line is a joint project with the Institure of Industrial Science of Tokyo University and will be constructed in Chiba Prefecture near Tokyo.

Using the basic principle of the roller-coaster which moves by gravity and momentum, drive units to pull the cars up are installed at various points on the railway giving the Eco Ride energy to run on its own. Also, because the Eco Ride won’t have a need for power units installed on the cars, its overall size and weight will be reduced, including the supporting railway and station.

The new transportation system operates using the height difference on the railway. Drive units to pull the cars up are installed at various points on the railway so that the Eco Ride can obtain the potential energy to run. This is the same principle as a roller coaster.

From Tech-On:

Senyo Kogyo and Senyo Kiko specialize in the construction and sale of amusement facilities, etc. They installed and managed similar light transportation systems at the Tsukuba Science Expo (in Ibaraki Prefecture), the Nagoya World Design Expo (in Aichi Prefecture), Expoland (in Osaka) and other places.

The target construction cost per kilometer is reportedly about ¥2-2.5 billion (approx US$18.2-22.7 million). This is about 1/10 of the cost of a small-size subway, or 1/5 of that of a monorail or a new transit system in Japan, according to the companies. In addition, the light cars consume less energy.

According to the companies, the land acquisition cost can also be minimized because the line can be built by utilizing the median strips of expressways and highways or part of the sidewalks. In urban areas, it is possible to use parts of existing buildings for stations because the system is light and quiet, the companies said.

As a medium-scale transportation system that is positioned between the mass transit system like subways, and the light and local transport system such as microbuses and taxis, the research group intends to investigate the marketability of Eco Ride.

Eco Ride is expected to be used as the automated short-distance transportation system with a total railway length of up to 10km. For example, it is intended for use on commuter lines connecting the stations of the trunk lines and those in large-scale development regions, loop lines in large-scale development regions and lines connecting the stations of nearby railroads.

A nihonzaru or a Japanese monkey - incidentally the name of this blog - appeared unexpected out of nowhere to display itself to curious commuters at Tokyu Toyoko Line’s Shibuya Station, Wednesday. There after it slip pass the police who were called in to help on the matter. Lately, there has been many sightings of nihonzaru around Tokyo area, one in Setagaya-ku while the other in Koganei-shi, all of which were thought to be the same monkey that appeared today in Shibuya. Luckily, no one was harmed nor any train disrupted by this rare appearance. According to the article at Mainichi online, the loner seems to be a member of a pack of nihonzarus inhabiting Okutama Region. Happy hunting!

Says Ars Technica.

The iPhone has proven quite popular in Japan, despite the fact that many phones in the Japanese market have most of the common features that the iPhone lacks. Because of this, a former NTT DoCoMo executive blames the industry for being too insular, designing phones only to carrier specifications.

Japan, which has long had 3G networks (still in relative infancy here in the US), has been in many ways years ahead in innovations compared to other markets. Most phones can scan QR barcodes, pay for items at vending machines, and use a complex system of “emoji” for messaging, all features that the iPhone currently lacks. But data access is built around the i-mode system, developed by NTT DoCoMo in 1999 as sort of an Internet “lite” that is speedy and easily transmitted over cell networks, and Japanese handsets are built to work with the i-mode network.

The iPhone, on the other hand, was built to access the “real Internet,” using standard protocols and data formats. And since it wasn’t limited to any carriers’ specifications, Apple was free to design a device with an innovative interface and relatively open features. “I believe the iPhone is closer to the mobile phone of the future, compared with the latest Japanese mobile phones,” Tsuyoshi Natsuno—former head of the i-mode division at DoCoMo—told Nikkei’s TechOn. He compared Steve Jobs’ vision in developing the iPhone to that of Sony’s Ken Kutaragi, responsible for the Playstation and Playstation 2, and Nintendo’s Satoshi Iwata, the man behind the Gameboy DS and the Wii.

{Photo by Tighten up!}