A blog about things Japanese–and some that aren’t

One thing to consider if you’re a user of Yahoo Japan’s auction site: Yahoo Japan Auction has been hit with several thousand cases of identity theft and fraudulent auctions involving using the accounts. As of now, the combined confirmed and suspected ID theft in Yahoo Japan Auctions has reached about 10,000, with an increasing number of auction users in legal dispute with Yahoo Japan who claim they were charged auction fees for transactions that they don’t know about.

Most of the auctions involving the accounts were posted from Korea, China and other Asian countries.

Yahoo Japan, for its part, denies any responsibility on the matter:

“An internal investigation we carried out hasn’t found any information leakage. It can’t be ruled out that the users themselves have had their IDs stolen as a result of [them entering their personal data via e-mail] phishing fraud schemes.”

However, given the number of cases of alleged identity theft, it seems probable that there is some way intruders manage steal users’ personal data through the system itself.

Yahoo Japan launched its auction service in 1999 ahead of eBay and has a big lead in internet auction business in Japan. Around 7 million users have registered on the site by the end of June this year and the value of auction transactions on the site has reached 740 billion yen on 2007.

The NHK news feature above reveals a sad phenomenon in Japan society: the rising number of suicide. Of all the reasons behind the rising number of suicide cases, overwork remains the most serious and important. This explanation was deduced from notes and writings left by those who committed suicide themselves and also from the stories of their family members who knew the victims well although admittedly were not aware of what the victims are really going through in their final days.

As much as I praise the courage and thoughtfulness of the victims’ families who have gathered to relive the painful experience of losing a loved one to let others understand more about this sad phenomenon, I can’t help but notice the silence of business community about this problem. Their absence from this worthy movement seems to define their stand on this matter–that the business community still do not take overwork-related suicides seriously. Well, they should. If employers are serious in raising the overall efficiency of their workers, they should probably take the issue of overwork as their top priority.

Japan survived a late scare from Bahrain as Okada’s men clinched 3 points at their World Cup qualifying soccer game. Shunsuke Nakamura opened the scoring with an excellent low free kick that passed through Bahrain’s protective wall past the goalie.

“First and foremost, I want to say that I’m happy that we were able to win three points in this heat,” Okada said. “I thought we played really well until the last 10 minutes. “We ended up conceding twice, but maybe this was the best way to win for us. I think we learned a valuable lesson that was more important than goal difference. But we won three points away, and I applaud the players for it.”

Highlights of the game below:

The government has just published the 2008 version of its annual Defense White Paper in which domestic and international “defense” situation is pondered and analyzed. The highlight of this year’s paper is Japan’s continuing suspicions on China’s ballooning military spending in which Japan wants more transparency and the reason (intention) behind the buildup itself. Other new highlights of the paper mentions China’s intention to create a unit capable in waging cyber warfare, and a series of important domestic scandals involving Defense Minister Moriya who is accused of corruption, and the Aegis Destroyer’s collision with a fishing vessel implying that domestic “defense” situation is not so good either.  

The Japan Defense White Papers are seriously considered in both academe and political literatures in Japan, since they reflect the governments overall standpoint about Japan’s international military relations. 

What with the rapidly aging population, mythical taboos, plus soaring land prices it isn’t difficult to understand why Japan will face serious shortage of crematorium in the very near future.

The number of Japanese aged 65 or older hit a record 27 million in 2007, more than 21 percent of the population. That percentage will nearly double in the next 30 years.

Japan, however, faces significant barriers to expanding the number of crematoria: high land costs and cultural taboos against anything related to death - meaning few Japanese would welcome a crematorium going up next door. Nagoya, in central Japan, has faced typical difficulties.

The Yagoto Cemetery has been struggling since 1999 to build a second crematorium, but opposition from nearby residents has so far blocked construction of the 18 billion yen (US$167 million), 30-furnace facility. The looming crematorium shortage has spawned some macabre proposals.

“A cremation vessel would have many advantages,” said Katsuhiro Motoyama, a spokesman for the Nippon Foundation. “It is cheap to build and it does not occupy any land.” The foundation estimated a 2,600-ton vessel with four furnaces would cost about 2 billion yen (US$20 million). (See the above artist rendition of this futuristic crematorium)

Just think about it, 27 million of Japanese people are already 65 years or older in 2007, and as years pass by these number will go up, projected at around a whopping 54 million in thirty years time! More old people means more will die at the same time. A report at Daily Yomiuri Online where the above excerpt came from claims that crematoriums in Japan have their hands full already. 

Japanese people don’t like crematorium so much - who doesn’t? -  but the point is that communities don’t want them built in their backyard. Remember that around 1.1 million who died last year were all cremated, now imagine an additional 600,000 deaths by 2040. Where would these additional get cremated? Maybe a boat like the one above will be ideal. Or maybe it will still be a lot more cheaper to die abroad. What say you, where do you think you’d like to die (get cremated or be buried)?

Just when you think Japan is losing its edge in consumer products, along comes a toilet so advanced you’d need to read a manual just to heed nature’s call. From the Telegraph:

Japan makes the most advanced, remarkable toilets in the world. Japanese toilets can, variously, check your blood pressure, play you music, wash and dry your anus and ‘front parts’ by means of an in-toilet nozzle that sprays water and warm air, suck smelly ions from the atmosphere, switch on a light for you as you stumble into the bathroom at night, put the seat lid down for you (a function known as the ‘marriage-saver’) and flush away your excreta without requiring anything as old-fashioned as a tank. These devices are known as high-function toilets, but even the lowliest high-function toilet will have as standard an in-built bidet system, a heated seat and some form of nifty control panel.

Consequently, first-time travellers to Japan have for years told a similar tale: foreigner goes to toilet and finds a receptacle with a hi-tech control panel containing many buttons with peculiar symbols on them, and a strange nozzle in the bowl. Foreigner doesn’t understand the symbols. Foreigner finishes business, presses a button, gets sprayed with water by the nozzle and is soaked.

I especially enjoyed the part that narrates how Toto determined the average measurements of people’s intimate parts:

The nozzle has to be accurate, and to make it so, they need to know the average location of the human anus. Facts like this are not easy to find, so they turn to the only source available, which is anyone on the company payroll. Their workmates aren’t impressed. ‘Though we are colleagues,’ one says with politeness, ‘I don’t want you to know my anus position.’

But Kawakami and Ito prevail. Three hundred colleagues were persuaded to sit on a toilet - in private - and to mark the position of their anus by fixing a small piece of a paper to a wire strung across the seat. The average is calculated (for males, it comes to between 27 and 28 centimetres from the front of the toilet seat), but that’s only the first hurdle. Mr Kawakami is now tasked with improving the Washlet’s ability to wash ‘the female place’. He needs to know how many centimetres separate a female’s two places, and is initially at a loss. Obviously the best place to research female places is in a place with females, preferably naked ones. That’s where the strip club comes in.

Read the rest of the article here.

On the video below, Will Smith seems to be really excited about this robo-toilet:

Want to know some facts about long hours of work in Japan? Here’s an article at Mainichi Shimbun discussing its deep causes, what it means to the society, what to expect in the future. Some of the highlights of the article is as follows:

Q: How long do Japanese people work?

A: The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) conducted a survey of working hours in Japan, the U.S., Britain, France and Germany, and found that Japanese work an average of 1,784 hours per year. This is 13 hours less than the Americans, who work the longest, but 348 hours longer than the Germans, who work only 1,436 hours. Another survey of 18 developed nations indicates that 28.1 percent of Japanese workers work more than 50 hours a week, the highest percentage among the surveyed nations.

Q: Do the Japanese have fewer holidays?

A: In western nations, it’s normal for workers to take two to four weeks of vacation in summertime or at Christmas. In contrast, while Japanese workers are entitled to an average of 17.7 days of paid vacation every year, in 2006 they actually took only 8.3 of those days off, only about 46 percent of their entitlement. In addition, although the Child Care and Family Care Leave Law allows both men and women to take parental leave, only 0.5 percent of men took the leave in 2005. The law has become a mere facade.

Q: Is working too long a problem for society as a whole?

A: Japan is becoming an increasingly aged society, with a declining birthrate. If we don’t create an environment where everyone can work efficiently and easily, industries are in danger of stagnating. Companies are beginning to see the danger, and some are making efforts to cut overtime and to get more people to take childcare leave. The only way to succeed is for both management and labor to change the way they think.

I kind of get what Miss Takamura is saying about the blurring of “authority and responsibility”, and that there is really no clear cut definition where one’s responsibility begins and ends. The point of course is that employees need to be a team player, and clear cut definition is unnecessary if you all do your best. The problem is that not all do their best. For example, say you have a team mate who takes his or her time comfortably without a care in the world, then you are sometimes forced to wait and most of the time to do all the job for that team mate of yours just so you could finish the responsibility of the whole team which you are a part of. Therefore the whole team suffers by working or waiting long hours. This is understandable in the workers level, what’s not understandable is how the management can’t seem to decide how to approach this problem - the “authority” issue.

Edamame is apparently the overwhelming No. 1 choice of the Japanese (with 40% of the votes). That’s according to an online poll by the Net Research. As a beer-drinker myself, I happen to agree. Edamame is green soy beans which are easy to prepare (or can be bought cooked). Take the stalks off the pods, put 1 tablespoon of salt into a pot boiling water, then boil the edamame for 3 to 4 minutes and you’re done.

Now the second most popular appetizer is the so-called “kakinotane“, which is made from mochi rice and coated with soy sauce. It is often mixed with peanuts and is also very popular among the Japanese beer drinkers.

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.