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In the Inoue-Nery fight, the undisputed Japanese super bantamweight champion displayed the full range of his exceptional boxing skills to improve to 27-0.
In his analysis of the Tokyo Dome showdown, Raul Marquez said, "It's a very difficult fight for Nery to figure out how to beat a fighter like Inoue."
Veteran Australian bench boss Shawn Dennis, in his third season at the helm, reviews leading the B.League team to 35 wins in their first 54 games in 2023-24.
The Seoul Series was overshadowed by Shohei Ohtani's interpreter being fired for allegedly stealing millions of dollars from him to pay gambling debts.
Kaori Sakamoto and Shoma Uno are aiming to win their third consecutive figure skating world titles. Other key storylines are also highlighted.
Lopsided wins and narrow victories produced different types of drama in the Japan Series. From start to finish, the series is discussed in a penetrating way.
Naoya Inoue demonstrated his superiority against Fulton throughout the title fight and thrilled the audience by calling out his next challenger.
For the Summer Basho, yokozuna Terunofuji's return to sumo competition after undergoing surgery on both knees is the biggest storyline to follow.
Owner Shane Barclay outlines his company's baseball tour plans for Japan and elsewhere in 2023, highlighting his joy of sharing fun experiences with fans.
Lord K2 reflects on showcasing the daily rhythm of the tradition-rich sport and capturing its essential characteristics in his new photography book "Sumo."
Listen in as Debora Zoli, a FIBA-certified agent since 2007, discusses her career journey in a conversation with sports editor Ed Odeven, including finding opportunities for her clients in the expansive global basketball landscape.
The Italian-born Zoli shares insights about working with numerous teams in Japan's B.League and many other countries, while stressing the importance of maintaining contact with clients throughout the year. She also analyzes how the establishment of the B.League in 2016 solidified the overall structure of the sport in Japan.
Zoli, who is based in Southern California, currently has more than 50 clients. She expresses pride in working with veteran Japan pro basketball star Michael Parker (Gunma Crane Thunders) and coach Don Beck (Kumamoto Volters), who has guided several teams in the Land of the Rising Sun, for many years. And Zoli notes that she's not trying to compete with monolithic sports agencies, but instead reveals that her agency, DG Sport, is focused on carving out its own niche.
RELATED: #11 Sports Talk ― Motofumi Iguchi Delivers Informed Analysis Of B.League * [JAPAN SPORTS NOTEBOOK] Chiba Jets Adapting To New Coach John Patrick's Style Of Play * [ODDS And EVENS] Kevin Braswell Brings Wealth Of Basketball Experience To Akita Northern Happinets*
Join the conversation as SportsLook goes live with Twitter Spaces every month. The announcement will be made on our Twitter account. Feel free to share any suggestions in our comment section below.
Author: Ed Odeven
Follow Ed on [Japan Sports Notebook] here on Sundays, in [Odds and Evens] here during the week, Twitter ＠ed_odeven, and find him on JAPAN Forward’s dedicated sports website, SportsLook.
Listen in as Ed Odeven and Colin Morrison chat with JAPAN Forward's Galileo Ferrari about boxer Naoya Inoue and his one-sided destruction of British fighter Paul Butler, in their bantamweight title unification bout.
The much-anticipated match took place at Tokyo's Ariake Arena on December 13. Morrison's pre-fight analysis suggested Butler would need to rely on his maturity and experience to scrape out a tough win against Inoue.
As Odeven declared in his prediction, "Inoue, at age 29, is in the prime of his career." Fans were expected to be treated to another KO or a one-sided domination. And that was what happened.
RELATED STORIES: Why Naoya Inoue Will Win The Undisputed Bantamweight Title Fight * Naoya Inoue Becomes The Undisputed Bantamweight World Champion * Why Paul Butler Will Win The Undisputed Bantamweight Title Fight*
Join the conversation live every week. The announcements will be made on our Twitter account. Feel free to share any suggestions in our comment section below.
Listen in as Colin Morrison chats with the JAPAN Forward editorial team regarding the Japan national soccer team's achievement of winning the group stage in the FIFA World Cup.
A combination of superb strategic coaching from Hajime Moriyasu and world-class execution by the Samurai Blue produced memorable come-from-behind wins against former FIFA World Cup champions Germany and Spain.
The Samurai Blue trailed both games at halftime.
Key substitutions and formation changes in both matches impacted the action immediately, resulting in the upset victories over the two European giants.
During our conversation, Morrison expressed caution for the round of 16 match against Croatia, and forecast what became a difficult game for Japan. (The Samurai Blue lost 3-1 in the penalty shootout.)
RELATED STORIES: Japan Shocks Germany in Teams' Group E Opener at the FIFA World Cup * Japan Stuns 2010 World Cup Champion Spain To Reach Knockout Stage * Test Your Knowledge Of Japan's History At The FIFA World Cup*
Join the conversation live every week. The announcements will be made on our Twitter account. Feel free to share any suggestions in our comment section below.
Football freelance writer Colin Morrison joins the podcast to highlight some key moments in Japan's victory against Germany in the FIFA World Cup.
After winning the Tenno Sho (Autumn) for the fourth time, Christophe Lemaire dishes out insights about racing, his rapport with horses and the current season.
With exceptional performances in the Junior Grand Prix campaign and a stellar start to the senior events, Japanese figure skating is enjoying a banner season.
The 15-day tournament offered sumo fans plenty of memorable moments. Veteran sports reporter Armstrong joins the podcast for a wrapup of the event.
Daniel Robson and Arielle Busetto outline how the Tokyo Game Show has changed since the pandemic, such as the difference in scale and new things to look for.
Japan has taken steps toward better funding its self-defense, and Newsham outlines strategic areas for optimization.
Susan Yoshimura introduces the JAPAN Forward team and listeners to the new website Japan 2 Earth, engaging us with the challenge of achieving the SDGs.
Matt Beyer, EASL’s CEO, recalls working as a Chinese interpreter for the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks and shares insights on the plans for his league’s inaugural season.
JAPAN Forward’s team in Naeba gives a live inside view of the highlights of Day 3 and their favorite moments over the three-day festival.
JAPAN Forward’s team in Naeba gives a live inside view of the highlights of Day 2 and a preview of the artists to watch for on the last day of the Fuji Rock Festival.
JAPAN Forward’s team in Naeba gives a live inside view of the highlights of Day 1 and a preview of the artists to watch for on Day 2 of the Fuji Rock Festival.
JAPAN Forward’s team shares how and what to follow as they cover Fuji Rock, Japan’s biggest outdoor music festival, back with international artists for 2022.
Kei Hirata reflects on achieving her dream of cheering for major league sports teams in Japan and America and mentoring the next generation.
William Lee organizes rallies and demonstrations in Japan with the non-profit organization, Stand With Hong Kong - an independent, grassroots, crowdfunded advocacy group consisting of individuals who have come together to fight for freedom and democracy for Hong Kong.
Dr Jagannath Panda chats with the JAPAN Forward editorial team in a discussion on Japan and Korea’s relationship
Jennifer Zeng was a researcher at the Development Research Center of the State Council of the People's Republic of China
Motofumi Iguchi, the sports commentator, weighs in on the rapid growth of pro basketball in Japan in recent years, highlighting trends, trademarks and top issues in the league.
The group seeks to correct erroneous historical narratives about the comfort women and advance peace and prosperity in East Asia by repairing bilateral ties.
The Naoya Inoue versus Nonito Donaire rematch ー what were the techniques and experience on display in the match, and where do the two top boxers go from here?
The world of art doesn’t stand still, and Arielle Busetto shares what’s coming for teamLab’s digital artworks.
Learn about a wild side of Japan you might have missed as Daniel introduces us to sustainable foraging and preparation of wild mountain vegetables.
It’s been 10 days since US President Joe Biden’s seeming gaffe when he was asked whether the United States would be willing to intervene militarily to defend Taiwan if it were attacked. “Yes,” he replied. “That’s the commitment we made.”
Since the first visit of an American president to Communist China in 1972 by Richard Nixon, the United States has been ambiguous about military intervention in the event of a conflict between the mainland and Taiwan. Domestic and foreign opinion has been divided over whether Mr. Biden’s statement is a shift in strategy.
However, what is certain is that the “magic” of maintaining the status quo on Taiwan, which was proposed by former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the driving force behind Nixon’s visit to China, has begun to break loose. Let us begin with the relevant statements.
President Biden on May 23: “That’s the commitment we made,” he said in response to a reporter’s question related to a hypothetical attack on Taiwan.
On the same day, said former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said he negotiated the United States agreement with China wherein:
- The United States “would now [from 1972] exist on a two-China solution,”
- The Western world would be “prepared to live with a long period in which this process would work itself out,” and
- “It was always understood that the United States was opposed to a military solution to the problem.”
The US should not break with these principles, Dr. Kissinger told those gathered at the World Economic Forum in Davos, and China should continue to exercise patience.
US-China Experts Weigh In President Biden and Dr. Kissinger’s comments gathered attention immediately, to be followed by the comments of US-China experts in the United States over the next 24-48 hour news cycle for March 24-25. Among them:
- “We should avoid ambiguity and be clear, both in our recognition of Taiwan’s independence and our intent to assist it militarily. Confusion will only invite an attack from the CCP, not deter it.” (Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.)
Team Biden is in confusion over whether America would defend Taiwan. We should avoid ambiguity and be clear, both in our recognition of Taiwan's independence and our intent to assist it militarily. Confusion will only invite an attack from the CCP, not deter it. pic.twitter.com/elOHHArVlp
— Mike Pompeo (@mikepompeo) May 23, 2022
- Embracing strategic clarity over ambiguity will enhance deterrence. This is a new US approach to maintaining the “‘one China” policy. (Council on Foreign Relations President Richard Haass.)
Support @potus statement that US would defend Taiwan directly if it were attacked by China, embracing strategic clarity over ambiguity. Exactly right given China’s military buildup. Goal must now be to narrow gap between US pledge & US/partner capability. https://t.co/nTbhoMAD6K
— Richard N. Haass (@RichardHaass) May 23, 2022
- “The Biden administration should give a comprehensive speech on US policy toward Taiwan. The confusion and misstatements are more likely to undermine deterrence than strengthen it.” (Bonnie Glaser, China expert.)
A senior official from the Biden administration should give a comprehensive speech on US policy toward Taiwan. The confusion and misstatements are more likely to undermine deterrence than strengthen it.
— Bonnie Glaser / 葛來儀 (@BonnieGlaser) May 23, 2022
Secretary Blinken’s Comments A few days later on May 26, Secretary of State Antony Blinken gave such a speech at George Washington University in Washington, DC.
“The United States remains committed to our ‘one China’ policy,” he emphasized, before going on to explain how it is interpreted by the US State Department. It is a policy, he said:
- “Which is guided by the Taiwan Relations Act, the three Joint Communiques, [and] the Six Assurances.”
- ”We oppose any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side;
- “[W]e do not support Taiwan independence; and
- “[W]e expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.”
“While our [United States] policy has not changed,” he affirmed, “what has changed is Beijing’s growing coercion”.
Then he added bluntly, China’s “words and actions are deeply destabilizing; they risk miscalculation and threaten the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (February 11, 2022. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque) No Change in US Policy on Taiwan Some in Japan seem to believe that the US State Department has changed its Taiwan policy, but this is misguided. The Secretary of State has reiterated that America “does not support Taiwan independence.”
More importantly, the magic of deterring a Taiwan contingency through ambiguity, which has been in place since 1972, may no longer be effective due to the dramatic advancement of Chinese military power.
At 99 years old, Dr. Kissinger is still a clear-headed intellectual. But he cannot undo the radical changes in the international environment in East Asia over the past half-century. Moreover, his perspective on the US-China accord is closer to that of China.
On the other hand, for the United States, one China is a policy, but not a principle. The United States’ one China policy recognizes China’s “principle” that Taiwan is part of the People’s Republic of China, but it does not approve it.
And while the US “does not support Taiwan’s independence” and remains vague about specific measures to be taken in the event of a contingency, it calls for cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.
Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, in Japan in November 2011 (Sankei) Minor Correction of ‘Strategic Ambiguity’ The purpose of Mr. Biden’s remark on May 23 may have been to communicate a minor correction in the US policy, towards a less ambiguous “strategic ambiguity”. On the premise that the United States would be militarily involved in a Taiwan contingency, it would create a new deterrence mechanism with China that makes the degree of any military involvement ambiguous.
The conflict in Ukraine has given the United States new options to consider. Even without direct military intervention, it is possible to provide for maintaining Taiwan’s status quo.
The United States may have begun to think that the most effective way to deter China at this point is to leave open the various possibilities of military involvement in an emergency. US responses could range from indirect involvement, such as providing arms, intelligence, and military training to Taiwan, to direct engagement, including the deployment of US military units.
In this light, the United States’ attempts to fine tune its policy of strategic ambiguity over the past few months may not be unreasonable. It is understandable for China to protest, but as the Kissinger Magic of 1972 is fading away, a new mechanism of deterrence is needed between the US and China.
How China responds to the invitations of the United States will likely determine the future of the Indo-Pacific region.
(Read the column in Japanese at this link.)
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Author: Kunihiko Miyake
The post Deterring China: The Vanishing Kissinger Magic first appeared on JAPAN Forward. Related posts:
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On May 25, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government released new damage estimates for four earthquake scenarios that are expected to occur directly under the capital.
The worst-case scenario would be an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.3 on the Richter scale with a hypocenter directly under the southern part of central Tokyo. It would be expected to cause the most significant damage in the metropolitan area.
With six or higher on the Japanese seismic intensity level, it would shake approximately 60% of the 23 wards. Such an earthquake would be expected to cause damage to 194,431 buildings and lead to 6,148 fatalities. It is estimated that the number of evacuees could reach approximately 2,990,000 people.
The May 25 report is the first review in ten years. The last publication of damage estimates was in 2012.
In addition to a big quake with a hypocenter directly under the southern part of the city center, three other areas in Tokyo were studied: a hypocenter directly under the eastern part of Tama (M7.3), a Tachikawa Fault Zone earthquake (M7.4), and a Taisho Kanto earthquake (M8 class, similar in force to the Great Kantō earthquake of 1923).
The Damage An earthquake with a hypocenter directly under the southern part of the Tokyo metropolitan area would be expected to cause a seismic intensity of M7 in Koto, Ota, and Edogawa wards. 82,199 buildings would be destroyed due to tremors, liquefaction, and the collapse of steep slopes. Assuming the earthquake occurred at 6:00 PM in winter with a wind speed of eight meters, the report predicts that another 112,232 houses would be destroyed by fire.
Of the predicted deaths, 3,666 would be caused by collapsed buildings or direct impact from falling objects outdoors, and 2,482 would be killed by fire. The number of injured is estimated at 93,435, of which 13,800 would be serious.
Tremors Under Other Parts of Tokyo In the case of an earthquake with a hypocenter under the eastern Tama, the seismic intensity would be six or higher in Musashino City, Mitaka City, and other areas. Approximately 70,108 houses would be destroyed in the entire metropolitan area. The death toll would be an estimated 4,986 people, with 2,760,000 evacuees.
There is a probability of about 70% that earthquakes with a hypocenter directly under the southern part of central Tokyo or the eastern part of Tama would occur within the next 30 years. On the other hand, the likelihood of a Tachikawa Fault Zone earthquake is much smaller at 0.5-2%. However, if it were to happen, it is predicted that the Tachikawa Fault Zone Earthquake could cause 51,928 buildings to be damaged and the deaths of 1,490 people.
A Taisho Kanto earthquake has a 0-6% probability of occurring over the same period, with a predicted 54,962 buildings damaged and 1,777 deaths.
The Taisho Kanto and Nankai Trough earthquakes are categorized as “ocean-trench types.” Both were estimated to reach the powerful M9 class level of tremors. The maximum tsunami heights generated by such earthquakes has been forecast to reach about 2.2 meters for the Taisho Kanto earthquake and about 2.6 meters for the Nankai Trough giant earthquake.
Toyosu district in Koto Ward, Tokyo, has been identified as having a significant liquefaction risk (photo by Hibiki Fukatsu). What’s Changed Since 2012? The previous report released in 2012 estimated that a hypocenter under the Tokyo metropolitan area would most likely cause the greatest damage. It was identified as a “Northern Tokyo Bay earthquake.” The 2012 estimates of damage from an M7.3 earthquake were 304,300 buildings destroyed and 9,641 deaths.
Based on discussions at the government’s Central Disaster Prevention Council, the 2022 report has revised its focal area to include the southern part of Tokyo city center. Since the number of buildings adopting earthquake resilient technology and fire resistant construction has increased, less damage is anticipated than was expected ten years ago.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s 2022 report also studied the impact on infrastructure, including telecommunications, electricity, gas, and water. Each operator promotes countermeasures based on its experience with large-scale disasters such as the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011. Restoration of water and gas services will take three to six weeks, inevitably impacting evacuees’ lives and slowing recovery efforts.
Among the areas expected to be severely damaged by the Tokyo metropolitan earthquake is densely populated Ota-ku. (Photo by Kano Iwasaki) May 24, 2022 Expert’s Weigh In Hiroo Ichikawa, Professor Emeritus of Meiji University (Emergency Management) commented on the value of the report, urging Tokyoites to read it:
“Damage assumptions made by the Central Disaster Prevention Council of Japan and other organizations have focused on ‘damage and loss’ in the event of an earthquake. However, the new report is a breakthrough considering the perspective of the people of Tokyo, who were asking, ‘How should we act?’
“They present the details of disaster scenarios in chronological order. This helps us to imagine what could happen around us. I think this is valuable. If the people of Tokyo take the emergency laid out in the report personally and act appropriately, the risk of loss of life will change for the better.
“In the future, creating disaster scenarios reflecting regionally different conditions may lead to further disaster mitigation.”
Nobuo Fukuwa, Professor Emeritus of Nagoya University (Earthquake Engineering) added his perspective, saying:
“It is known that measuring progress numerically on the ‘hard’ material side such as reconstructing buildings and reducing the size of contiguous concentrations of wooden housing will result in less damage than expected.
“However, society is becoming more efficient and denser. In a society that has become increasingly dependent on others, the damage will grow, setting off a chain reaction if one thing goes wrong. For example, when comparing damage caused by earthquakes that occur periodically in the same area, such as in northern Chiba Prefecture, we can see that the damage has become greater as the society has become more advanced in recent years.
“The critical risk factors lie in the unquantifiable, and that’s what we need to be most careful about.”
RELATED:
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(Read the related articles in Japanese here, here, and here.)
Author: The Sankei Shimbun
The post Damage Estimate for a Predicted Quake in Central Tokyo: 190,000 Buildings and 6,100 Deaths first appeared on JAPAN Forward. Related posts:
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EDITORIAL | Latest Japan Earthquake Signals Need to Reexamine Disaster Response
Welcome to “Notes on a Scorecard,” a column that will be a regular feature with notes, quotes, anecdotes and opinions primarily about Japanese sports and athletes in and outside the country. The format is based on the column by the late legendary columnist Allan Malamud, which first ran in the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner and later Los Angeles Times.
So without further ado, here we go.
It appears that Sapporo, the host of the 1972 Winter Games, is in the driver’s seat to be the host of the 2030 Olympics. People that I speak with in the sports community are confident it will happen.
The reasons for this are:
- The IOC is very grateful for Japan holding the Tokyo 2020 Games under extremely difficult circumstances.
-
The two other serious bidders at this point (Salt Lake City and Vancouver) have logical reasons why they may be passed over this time.
Okurayama Jump Stadium, the venue for ski jumping at the 1972 Sapporo Olympics, in a 2021 file photo. (ⒸSANKEI) With Los Angeles set to host the 2028 Olympics, it is unlikely the IOC would give consecutive games to the same country, and Vancouver hosted the 2010 Olympics just 12 years ago.
An IOC inspection team had a three-day visit (May 31-June 2) in Sapporo to inspect the facilities. The decision on the 2030 Olympics is expected to be announced in May of 2023 at the IOC meeting in Mumbai, India.
RELATED: Sapporo is Snowed In, and it’s All Natural
- The start of the the Indy 500 on May 29 in Indianapolis. (Michael Conroy/AP)
In? Or Out? As far as hosting other sporting events go, Japan is going to have to make up its mind soon if it still wants to be a player on the international scene. This past week I saw that the Indianapolis 500 race, where two-time winner Takuma Sato competed, drew a mind-boggling crowd of 325,000 people.
Canceling competitions is going to be unacceptable going forward. The panicked move to call off skating’s Grand Prix Final in Osaka last December was completely unnecessary and unfair to the skaters.
The World Swimming Championships, also called the FINA World Aquatics Championships, were supposed to be held in Fukuoka this summer, but were pushed back until 2023 with the pandemic as the excuse. The global extravaganza was originally scheduled for 2021 in Japan, but called off due to COVID-19. (In the meantime, Budapest will host the 2022 world championships later this month.)
The world governing bodies of sports are going to become skittish if this continues to happen in Japan. After two and half years it is apparent that COVID is not going to magically disappear, but rather we have to coexist with it. This is the reality.
The Toray Pan Pacific Open and Rakuten Open tennis tournaments at Ariake Colosseum, which have been canceled the past two years due to the pandemic, are on the calendar for September 19-25 and October 3-9, 2022, respectively, but tickets have yet to go on sale for either event.
If the plug is pulled again, I can see the WTA and ATP Tours looking elsewhere in the future to fill in those dates.
- Mao Asada participates in a Mao Thanks Tour event at Yokohama Arena in April 2021. (ⒸSANKEI)
Mao Parts Ways with IMG Three-time world figure skating champion Mao Asada has left IMG after more than 15 years to open her own sports agency, Heroes Management. At this point it will represent Mao, her sister Mai, former world junior champion Marin Honda and sportscaster Shuzo Matsuoka.
With Mao’s name and fame, it seems likely that it could end up representing athletes and celebrities in a variety of sports and other fields.
- Naomi Osaka
A Cautionary Tale for Osaka Naomi Osaka was bounced out of the French Open in the first round and one has to wonder what the future holds for the four-time Grand Slam champion. The 24-year-old hasn’t made it past the third round at the past four Grand Slam tournaments she has entered and last summer’s Tokyo Olympics.
Osaka has pulled out of events for mental health reasons and to take time off, which have made it difficult for her to build any momentum in training and play.
Tennis is a tough sport that requires a certain rhythm. Once you get out of it, it can be very hard to regain.
Case in point: John McEnroe. At the age of 27, the seven-time Grand Slam singles champion took a six-month break from the game for personal reasons. He never won another Grand Slam singles tournament.
Yutaka Take rides Do Duece to victory in the 89th Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) at Tokyo Racecourse on May 29. (ⒸSANKEI) Yutaka Take, Rich Strike and Secretariat Quite an accomplishment by jockey Yutaka Take with his recent victory in the Japanese Derby, aka Tokyo Yushun. He has now won the race six times and done it in his 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s. Pretty amazing.
The incredible triumph on May 7 by Rich Strike at the Kentucky Derby brought back memories of a wonderful road trip I took years ago after I graduated from college. I flew from Los Angeles to Chicago, where I rented a car. I drove to Louisville, Kentucky, where I spent the night at a friend’s place, then went on to Claiborne Farms in Paris, Kentucky, the following day to see the legendary thoroughbred Secretariat.
“Big Red” was retired by that point and enjoying life as a stud in a huge pasture. A groom brought him over to me for a few photos. It was a moment I will remember forever.
For those who don’t know Secretariat, he was the Triple Crown winner in 1973, the first since Citation in 1948. Forty-nine years later his winning times in the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes still stand. He won the Belmont by a phenomenal 31 lengths.
Following my visit with Secretariat, I drove to Indianapolis to watch the Indy 500. Seeing the so-called “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” in person was another memorable experience.
- Seiya Suzuki (Kamil Krzaczynski/AP)
Cubs’ Suzuki Endured a Difficult May After being named the National League Rookie of the Month in April, outfielder Seiya Suzuki has been struggling in his first season with the Chicago Cubs. The slump was somewhat predictable, as most pitchers were unfamiliar with the former Hiroshima Carp star but have now adjusted.
Suzuki hit .279, with four home runs and 14 RBIs in his first month after signing a five-year, $85 million contract with the Cubs. He had a tough month in May, however, hitting no homers and knocking in just seven runs. He was hitting .245 by the end of the month when he went on the Injured List with a sprained finger.
Suzuki will try to avoid the fate of outfielder Kosuke Fukudome, who signed a four-year, $48 million pact with the Cubs in 2008.
Fukudome made the All-Star Game in his first season in the majors, but then struggled and was never able to figure out major league pitching. He was traded by the Cubs to Cleveland in 2011 and later released. He signed with the White Sox in 2012, but was let go after just 24 games.
The New York Yankees gave Fukudome one last chance the same year, but he never made it out of the minor leagues and returned to Japan in 2013.
- Roki Sasaki (ⒸSANKEI)
Intrigued by Sasaki’s Future Chiba Lotte Marines ace Roki Sasaki, aka “The Monster of Reiwa,” is now 5-0 in nine games this season with a miniscule ERA of 1.33 and 94 strikeouts against just eight walks. Sasaki tossed a perfect game in April, then nearly another in his following outing.
It is going to be interesting to see what the Marines do with the big right-hander, who is still only 20 years old. MLB teams will no doubt be salivating to acquire the star if Chiba Lotte decides to post him.
Author: Jack Gallagher
The author is a veteran sports journalist and one of the world’s foremost figure skating experts. Find articles and podcasts by Jack on his author page, here, and find him on Twitter @sportsjapan.
The post [NOTES on a SCORECARD] New Column Debuts With Mix of News and Views on Japanese Sports first appeared on JAPAN Forward. Related posts:
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The Japan Racing Association (JRA) opened its new Rehabilitation Research Center in Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture on May 26, with five thoroughbreds taking a swim. The facility is specially designed for rehabilitating injured horses so that they can return to the racetrack.
Under beautiful blue skies, Meisho Dassai, JRA’s best horse which was injured in 2020, was led around a donut-shaped outdoor pool by a trainer. Occasionally snorting and drinking water, the horse swam 3 or 4 laps in the pool, which has a 40 meter circumference and is about 3 meters deep.
Horses take a therapeutic swim as the JRA Rehabilitation and Research Center opens on May 26. Training in a swimming pool helps enhance cardiopulmonary function without straining the horse’s legs. These exercises are done almost every day during the week until mid-October, and visitors are welcome to watch it for free.
“I feel the power of horses swimming and breathing,” said manager and veterinarian Kazumichi Kodaira, eagerly promoting the center.
A 42-year-old office worker and a horse racing fan from Kashiwa City in Chiba Prefecture, said delightedly, “I didn’t think I could see a horse swimming in front of me!”
What is your hidden wonder of Japan? Upload your picture here.
Find more stories about the top race horses, and follow horse racing in Japan, here, on our dedicated sports website, SportsLink. (Read the article in Japanese at this link.)
Author: The Sankei Shimbun
The post [Hidden Wonders of Japan] Beautiful Racehorses Take a Therapeutic Dip at JRA’s New Facility first appeared on JAPAN Forward. Related posts:
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A United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution for strengthening sanctions against North Korea, following its violations in launching an international ballistic missile (ICBM), garnered a vote of 13 in favor and 2 against on May 26. China and Russia, both permanent members of the Security Council, exercised their vetoes and the measure failed.
Since the UNSC first adopted sanctions against North Korea in 2006, this is the first time that a resolution sanctioning Pyongyang has not passed due to the exercise of a veto. China and Russia have continually supported North Korea’s nuclear and missile testing that disturbs the international peace. That should make them ineligible for occupying seats as permanent members of the Security Council.
Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno commented on the matter in a news conference. “The rejection [of the resolution] by veto is deeply disappointing,” he said, calling for the Security Council to return to its original role of maintaining peace and security in the international community.
It was only natural that the chief government spokesman expressed disappointment about the vetoed resolution. However, Mr. Matsuno, and the Japanese government as a whole, should have been more clear and to the point in condemning Beijing and Moscow.
Russia’s Ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia and China’s Ambassador to the UN Zhang Jun. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri The Security Council Resolutions North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile development pose a serious threat to Japan and the rest of the world. All UNSC resolutions against North Korea from 2006 to 2017 have been adopted unanimously. Calling for Pyongyang to relinquish all nuclear arms and missiles, they have imposed strict sanctions on the flow of people, goods, and capital to and from the North.
The 2017 resolution stipulated that if North Korea carried out nuclear tests or ballistic missile launches, the UNSC itself would act to further limit exports of oil to the North. Notwithstanding that resolution, China and Russia refused even to denounce Pyongyang’s missile launches in March, and they have cast vetoes to doom the new resolution this time.
The Chinese and Russian ambassadors to the United Nations argued that the draft measures would lead to escalation of the confrontation and “extremely dangerous humanitarian consequences.” However, isn’t it North Korea that has been increasing tensions, pouring its meager resources solely into nuclear weapons and missile development while repeatedly testing nuclear weapons and missiles near Japan?
North Korea has been poised to go ahead with a nuclear test, which would be the seventh since the first in 2006. It is feared that China and Russia’s vetoes may have emboldened Pyongyang, possibly leading the North to perpetrate newly outrageous actions.
More Taunts and Belligerence Following the Japan-United States summit meeting on May 23, during the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or the Quad leaders’ meeting in Tokyo the next day on May 24, Chinese and Russian bombers flew in formation from the Sea of Japan to the Okinawa Islands and on toward the US territory of Guam.
That was a blatant act of provocation against the four member democracies of Japan, the United States, Australia, and India. And it was entirely unacceptable.
Meanwhile, the UNSC has been completely ineffectual in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, continually betraying its powerlessness. Under the circumstances, Japan has no alternative other than to secure its national security on its own, rather than pinning unrealistic expectations on the Security Council.
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(Read the editorial in Japanese at this link.)
Author: Editorial Board, The Sankei Shimbun
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Faf de Klerk, who has suited up for the English Premiership’s Sale Sharks since 2017, is headed overseas for the Japan Rugby League One’s 2023 campaign.
The Yokohama Canon Eagles announced the signing of the veteran scrum-half on Wednesday, June 1.
De Klerk, 30, started against England in the 2019 Rugby World Cup final in Yokohama. He also had a try against Japan in the Springboks’ 26-3 quarterfinal victory over the Brave Blossoms in Tokyo. He was chosen as the Player of the Match against Japan.
Now he’s returning to the city of South Africa’s biggest win in recent years.
“I am very excited and grateful for the opportunity to be part of a great team like the Yokohama Canon Eagles,” de Klerk said in a team-issued statement. “Since the Rugby World Cup in 2019, I knew I wanted to play in Japan at some stage in my career. Now it is a reality and I can’t wait to get stuck in with my teammates and coaches and hopefully make a big impact.
“The Japanese culture is amazing, and I look forward to enjoying every moment with my partner, teammates and all the rugby fans of Japan.”
The Eagles placed sixth in the 12-team League One, which wrapped up its inaugural season on Sunday, May 29. The Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights topped the Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath 18-12 in the championship match at National Stadium.
League One’s first season featured a quarter of 2019 RWC-winning Springboks: Malcolm Mark (Kubota Spears Funabashi Tokyo Bay), Lukhanyo Am (Kobelco Kobe Steelers), Pieter-Steph du Toit (Toyota Verblitz) and Willie le Roux (Verblitz).
Move to England Helped de Klerk De Klerk has appeared in 13 matches for Sale this season, amassing 13 points, including one try.
The 170-cm player, who has earned 36 caps for the Springboks, said in 2019 that a turning point in his career came in 2017, when he left South African side Lions for Sale. He was given a golden opportunity to prove his all-around skills to the coaching staff.
Despite being short of stature for a scrum-half, he’s a tough-as-nails player.
“The main thing for me when I got to Sale was I got put in a role where I needed to make a difference in the team,” de Klerk was quoted as telling the BBC before the England-South Africa final. “A lot of responsibility came my way in terms of how we wanted to play, how we wanted to kick, how we wanted to play our running game. … I played a lot of rugby, got a lot of starts, and the head coach Steve Diamond backed me continuously.”
Author: Ed Odeven
Follow Ed on JAPAN Forward’s [Japan Sports Notebook] here on Sundays, in [Odds and Evens] here during the week, and Twitter＠ed_odeven, and find him on JAPAN Forward’s dedicated sports website, SportsLook.
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In Japan as of June 1, 20,000 people are now allowed to enter each day.
On the same day, travelers coming from low-risk countries with proof of vaccination were also allowed to enter the country without taking a PCR test at the airport or going through quarantine.
Countries and regions have been divided into three groups, depending on risk factors such as rates of positive test results upon arrival in the past. They are color-coded respectively in blue, yellow, and red, going from low risk to high risk.
Earlier, effectively from March 1, small numbers of business travelers, interns and students were gradually allowed into the country. Quarantine measures, which had been in place since early in the pandemic at all international airports, evolved with the changes.
On March 14 and April 10, the daily admission cap was raised to 7,000 and 10,000 respectively, but inbound travelers still were limited to business and students ー and a test case of 50 tourists. Authorities said they were making these decisions while keeping an eye on the infection situation in Japan and around the world. Government officials also stated that the percentage of vaccinated people in Japan was key in deciding to open up borders, as 81.8% of the whole population has received their second jab, and 59.4% the booster shot.
Going forward, the government is considering raising the daily cap of entries to 30,000 from July, according to Jiji News reports.
Limited Trial Tours Under the new rules, small package tours are being conducted within prefectures that are free from COVID-19 emergency measures at the time. The prefectural governments must also agree to accept them during the trial phase.
From May 24, approximately 50 tourists from low-risk countries, the United States, Australia, Singapore, and Thailand have been allowed to travel around the country in small groups of about 4 each. The participants were made up of company employees and others who were invited to take part in tours across Japan. During their travels they were requested to take thorough COVID-19 infection prevention measures including wearing masks. These test cases were expected to help authorities identify any remaining issues before reopening the country fully to international tourism.
Trial Tour Has Cancellation One of the test inbound travel package cases was canceled on May 31 when one of the 4 Thais taking part was found to have contracted COVID-19.
The infected traveler complained of a sore throat on May 30 and tested positive on the same day in Oita Prefecture. Despite having no fever, the individual was expected to be quarantined in a repurposed facility until the infection cleared. An investigation into the matter is being conducted by authorities and the travel agency that hosted the tour.
The three other participants were deemed close contacts, but all have tested negative and were isolating in a hotel, the agency said.
Tours Going Forward From June 10, Japan will allow travelers from 98 countries and regions but initially limit them to guided tours as a means to reduce the potential spread of infection.
Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told a news conference on May 31 that the matter infection among one of the test cases had not affected the country’s plan to double its daily entry limit to 20,000 from June 1.
In addition, Matsuno stated that the government would examine the response and reflect it in the guidelines for preventing infections, based on the latest case.
Tourism minister Tetsuo Saito added on May 31 that the government will urge travel agents to get consent from tour participants to abide by Japan’s infection prevention measures, such as wearing masks during tours.
Masks On, Masks Off A new basic response policy on COVID-19 announced by the Japanese government on May 23 provides brand new guidance to residents and visitors on wearing masks. It defines situations where people should continue to wear face coverings and others where it’s not mandatory, rather than recommending masks in all public places as had been the case since the beginning of the pandemic.
According to the new guidelines, masks are not necessary outside, except when talking to someone close to you. During summer, it is recommended that people remove their masks to avoid heatstroke.
When indoors, masks are not needed as long as people do not talk and maintain a distance of at least two meters from each other.
Masks Still Called For In Some Situations It should be noted that the new policy maintains that “there is no change in the fact that masks are a basic way to prevent the spread of infection.”
The use of masks is still required when visiting elderly people or anyone in the hospital, during rush hour on public transportation, and anywhere that is crowded.
Furthermore, other infection prevention measures such as frequent hand washing and avoiding close contact remain crucial.
Japan’s mask wearing policy has been considered by some observers to have been a key in the country’s limitation of the spread of the COVID-19 infection.
- Coronavirus Pandemic: The World Could Learn from Japan – If It Only Wanted
It should be emphasized that private facilities and institutions retain the right to determine their own mask requirements.
When outdoors, inside gymnastics halls, and in pools, masks are not required as well.
Individual sports associations are responsible for setting their own policies for extracurricular activities.
Watching Closely National and local government leaders say they will further evaluate easing COVID restrictions while keeping a close eye on the infection situation.
Japan’s COVID-19 infection rate has fared rather well compared to other countries, and there has been a downward in infections trend since mid April.
On June 1, 22,768 new infections were reported nationwide. In Japan deaths have also stayed quite low, with 36 COVID-related deaths registered on June 1.
Asia’s Slow Reopening? In the background, the travel and tourism industry is facing a difficult period.
While the freedom to travel has largely returned in Europe and the United States, Asia has been the slowest continent to welcome back tourism, according to analysts.
“Asia is still struggling,” said Ejaz Ahmed, a research analyst on travel and tourism at the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), sharing his insight in a webinar on June 1.
“Blanket travel bans imposed by several countries including Australia, New Zealand and Japan during the COVID waves are only just lifting, and that has held back recovery,” said Ahmed.
China, the largest pre-pandemic source of international departures, also still has its borders closed, along with a zero-COVID policy.
Ahmed pointed out that the Southeast Asia tourism economy is also slow to recover as countries in the region were major markets for Japanese and Chinese travelers before the pandemic.
Japan is finally set to let international tourists enter the country from June 10 for the first time since April 2020. Yet, the openings which Japan will see are still limited to guided tours. And for all travelers, a PCR test with a negative result is still required before coming to Japan.
Japan welcomed over 30 million visitors in 2019, but fewer than 250,000 foreign visitors passed through its borders in 2021. The measures coming into effect on June 10 suggest that there is progress, but it will be a while before Japan sees a return to the pre-pandemic freedom of international tourism.
Impacts of the War in Ukraine There are other external aggravating factors as well. The war in Ukraine is impacting international flights as the airspace over Russia is closed to Western airlines due to sanctions. In addition, most airlines avoid flying over Ukraine for fear of missile strikes.
As Ana Nicholls, EIU Director of industry operations explained in the June 1 webinar: “Many of the main East to West routes are now impossible, forcing airlines to fly North or South.”
The rerouting means that flights take longer, use more fuel, require more staff, and are more expensive. The flight London-Tokyo is 2.5 hours longer compared to before the war in Ukraine, and Helsinki-Tokyo is four hours longer.
The EIU estimates that the additional time increases costs for airlines on average between €8,000 and 15,000 EUR per hour ($8,546-16,000 USD), or €100 EUR ($106 USD) per passenger in a flight at full capacity.
Add to this widespread inflation and the rising costs of fuel ー on average by more than 80% compared to 2021. Moreover, fuel accounts for 20 to 30% of the airline’s costs, says Nicholls.
Nicholls concedes, however: “So far international travelers don’t seem to be deterred [from taking flights], they are swallowing the costs and the queues, but it does make the recovery all the harder for airline companies.”
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As the war in Ukraine rages on, leisure, including sports and entertainment, is not a priority for Ukrainians ― survival is.
The unrelenting courage of the Ukrainian people to defend their homeland against the invading Russians has inspired the world.
At the same time, amidst the horrors of war, Ukrainian athletes have struggled to maintain training routines, or train at all. For example, Ukraine’s amateur sumo wrestlers faced the reality of not having a place to train after the Russian military invasion began on February 24, Kyodo News reported.
The team’s training headquarters in Kharkiv, the nation’s second-largest city and located in the northeast, wasn’t (and still isn’t) considered a safe place to hold training sessions as bombs rained down on the city and surrounding areas.
Past and present Ukrainian boxers, including retired world champions Vladimir and Vitali Klitschko and current heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk are among the most well-known athletes from the European nation. On the other hand, Ukrainian sumo wrestlers aren’t household names to most people within the country.
That said, Ukraine’s amateur wrestlers were making preparations for this summer’s World Games before Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine was launched.
By March, the Ukrainian wrestlers began looking for overseas options for training.
Coach Liubov Korobko discussed the challenges the athletes faced due to the ongoing war at a news conference at the Ukrainian Embassy in Tokyo on Tuesday, May 31.
“I’m sure the wrestlers would have been hurt had we stayed even a day more,” Korobko was quoted as saying by Kyodo News.
Training Opportunities in Japan Fostering a spirit of international goodwill, Japanese and Ukrainian sumo officials arranged for training opportunities for the latter nation’s wrestlers in the run-up to the 2022 World Games, a July 7-17 global sports festival featuring 30 sports, 100-plus nations and an estimated 3,600 athletes in Birmingham, Alabama.
An eight-member Ukrainian sumo delegation is currently in Japan making preparations for the games.
The team is scheduled to conduct training sessions in Usa, Oita Prefecture, starting on Thursday, June 2, followed by workouts in Seiyo, Ehime Prefecture, on June 15 before arriving in Tokyo 14 days later, and then traveling to the United States on July 5.
The Ukrainian Sumo Federation issued an explanation stating that the government has OK’d the participation of male wrestlers in the World Games despite currently prohibiting men ages 18-60 from leaving the country during the war. Female athletes do not need special permission to compete overseas.
In light of the abnormal situation, “[male] athletes who want to participate in international competitions have a special permit to leave the country,” the federation said in a news release.
Veresiuk, Berezovska Share Goals for World Games Which is why 33-year-old Oleksandr Veresiuk received approval to pursue his goal of representing Ukraine at the World Games this summer. An accomplished veteran wrestler, Veresiuk earned bronze medals at the 2018 and ’19 Sumo World Championships, an amateur event held in Taoyuan, Taiwan, and Osaka, respectively.
“Now is the time to give everything I have with Ukraine facing difficulties,” Veresiuk said, according to Kyodo News.
Compatriot Ivanna Berezovska, 31, is aiming for quality training camps in Japan before heading to Alabama. At the 2019 US Sumo Open, she collected first-place prizes in the women’s heavyweight and openweight competitions.
“I want to push myself at the sites where the sumo culture originated and get good results at the World Games,” Berezovska was quoted as saying by Kyodo News.
In her remarks at the Ukrainian Embassy, Berezovska made a brief reference to sumo’s historic sites.
Indeed, Usa, Oita Prefecture, and Seiyo, Ehime Prefecture, are significant in the sport’s long history. The northern Kyushu city is where legendary yokozuna Futabayama was born on February 9, 1912. He holds the all-time record of 69 consecutive wins.
- Futabayama (KYODO)
And Seiyo holds the distinction of hosting the Otoi Sumo Tournament, the nation’s only tournament featuring both amateur and pro wrestlers competing against one another. It was established 170 years ago.
Growth of Sumo in Ukraine While sumo’s origins date to ancient times in Japan, the sport is a burgeoning pastime in Ukraine in recent decades.
A quarter century ago, the Ukrainian Sumo Federation took root with one ring and five mawashi (loincloth), according to the sport’s national governing body.
Today, there are more than 3,000 sumo wrestlers, ranging in age from child to adult, in Ukraine.
In addition, there are 18 sumo clubs throughout the country.
Shishi, seen on May 9 at the Summer Basho, is Ukraine’s first professional sumo wrestler. He competes in the makushita division. (ⒸSANKEI) And Ukrainians have a current-era role model to root for in the Japan Sumo Association ranks: makushita division wrestler Shishi, 25, who became the first Ukrainian-born rikishi in 2020. His given name is Sergey Sokolovsky.
History also provides a clue about sumo’s popularity in Ukraine. Taiho, sumo’s 48th yokozuna (starting in 1961), held the mark of 32 grand sumo tournament titles from 1971 until 2014, when the great Hakuho tied his record, then broke it the next year.
Taiho was named Ivan Boryshko at birth, in 1940, in Karafuto Prefecture, Sakhalin island, which is now controlled by Russia. His father, Markiyan, fled Ukraine after the Russian Revolution.
Taiho in 1969. (ⒸSANKEI) After World War II, the future yokozuna and his Japanese mother relocated to Hokkaido, and he became known as Koki Naya. The bottom line: Taiho’s Ukrainian heritage is a part of sumo’s rich history.
The 2022 World Games will give Ukrainian wrestlers a chance to add another chapter to the annals of the sport. The fact that they are in Japan now, getting ready for July’s tournament, is a feel-good story as the war rages on.
RELATED: [ODDS And EVENS] Current And Former Ukrainian Athletes Take A Brave Stand Against Russian Invasion
Author: Ed Odeven
Follow Ed on JAPAN Forward’s [Japan Sports Notebook] here on Sundays, in [Odds and Evens] here during the week, and Twitter＠ed_odeven, and find him on JAPAN Forward’s dedicated sports website, SportsLook.
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The post [ODDS and EVENS] Ukrainian Sumo Wrestlers Proudly Prepare to Compete for Their Country first appeared on JAPAN Forward. Related posts:
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How many museums in the world can instill that sense of childish wonder, where visitors feel like they are floating in an imaginary world?
This is the appeal of MORI Building DIGITAL ART MUSEUM EPSON teamLab Borderless, the revolutionary interactive art exhibition in Odaiba, on Tokyo Bay, which has opened its doors to visitors since summer 2018.
The project is led by Mori Building Co., Ltd, an urban landscape developer, and teamLab, a digital art collective, both pioneers in their respective fields.
teamLab announced in 2021 that the permanent exhibition in Odaiba will close in August 2022, to then restart in a new form in another location in central Tokyo, and fans are already buzzing for what the art collective will bring next.
“What we can say now is that it will still be called teamLab Borderless, and it will still be in Tokyo,” said Yoko Kuwabara, who spoke to JAPAN Forward on a media day on April 13.
Commenting on the rare relocation of such an exhibition, Kuwabara continued: “Our team wants to keep alive the Borderless concept, because art is borderless, as so is the relation between us and art.”
Yoko Kawabara, at MORI Building DIGITAL ART MUSEUM EPSON teamLab Borderless on April 13. (Shaun Fernando) An Innovative Way of Doing Art The Digital Art Museum has awed countless people from all over the world in just four years since its opening in June 2018.
The venue received the Guinness World Record as “Most visited museum” in the category of single art group in 2019, with 2,198 million visitors over the calendar year.
The numbers beat strong competition from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and the Picasso Museum in Barcelona, Spain.
And it’s easy to see why. There are over 60 art pieces in the two-story teamLab Borderless exhibition, spread over 10,000 square meters.
“Until now, when you went to a museum and saw for example the Mona Lisa [by Leonardo da Vinci], you were seeing the same art piece which existed 100 years ago, right?” said Kuwabara.
“This [exhibition] is different,” she continued, “it changes with time, with the season, with visitors interacting, and then the impression visitors get from the art changes as well. It’s the idea that you participate in art.”
MORI Building DIGITAL ART MUSEUM EPSON teamLab Borderless on April 13. (Shaun Fernando) Truly Borderless The name of the exhibition is also spot on, as the whole museum is an embodiment of “borderless.” There are no maps to get around, but just arrows on how to go to other spaces. Many rooms have mirrors, sounds, and lights that make visitors forget where they are, as if they were in a parallel universe.
On the second floor, there is an aquarium themed room, with fish projections moving across the walls. The fish can be drawn on the spot and then scanned, so that they materialize as projections.
There is something for everyone, no matter the age, nationality or taste, bringing an innovative experience to all the senses. There is a trampoline with space-themed projection mapping, a room with massive floating balloons, and even a café where one can enjoy interactive projections while sipping a cup of coffee.
The over 500 projectors, and 420 computers are operated by Epson, providing a high-quality performance, 365 days a year.
“The fact of being able to present such a beautiful project, with such high quality [technology], it’s not something which is possible everywhere, and I think it’s a point of pride for these art pieces,” said Kuwabara gratefully.
MORI Building DIGITAL ART MUSEUM EPSON teamLab Borderless on April 13. (Shaun Fernando) Welcoming Social Media teamLab Borderless had its roots in exhibitions abroad, such as in Singapore starting in 2016.
The art collective teamLab itself was born in 2001, with the ambitious aim of bringing new art experiences to the world.
Following exhibitions abroad also in the United States, France, and Hong Kong, the collective decided that they wanted to create a flagship exhibition in their home country, Japan, in Tokyo.
“We wanted to do something bigger, and therefore we prepared for the Tokyo [2020] Olympics and Paralympics, so that we could show off our art to the world,” said Kuwabara.
Kuwabara also elucidated that teamLab had the ambition to reshape the world’s perception of Japanese art: “For visitors to Japan one can go and see [Katsushika] Hokusai [woodblock prints], or temples in Kyoto. But we wanted to be part of the modern art movement, so that in the same spirit of Yayoi Kusama, teamLab could spread around the world.”
And teamLab’s most powerful weapon? In keeping with the times, social media.
MORI Building DIGITAL ART MUSEUM EPSON teamLab Borderless on April 13. (Shaun Fernando) Instant Success When the museum opened its doors in 2018, it was a rare example of a place where pictures were allowed everywhere. The flood of colors, lights, interactions between visitors and artwork, make it the ultimate Instragrammable destination.
Kuwabara illustrated what felt like the overnight success of the permanent exhibition:
“Before we knew it, celebrities such as Flying Lotus, Pharrell, the Weekend, Angelina Jolie, they visited, and uploaded their pictures, and the word just spread like crazy everywhere. People were like ‘what is this?! We have never seen anything like it!’”
Many other VIPs also walked through these same colorful-lit corridors, including Will Smith, Kim Kardashian West, and the former first lady, Melania Trump. As pictures of these celebrities were posted, the appeal for people wanting to visit the museum from overseas increased.
In its first year since its opening, Mori Building revealed in a press release that half of 2.3 million visitors were from overseas. Among them, 50% came to Japan with the main purpose of visiting the museum.
“From one day to the next, we became famous abroad, and I think [teamLab Borderless] became the must-visit place for people coming to Tokyo,” concluded Kuwabara.
Going Forward, Keeping The Concept of Borderless Alive Like all museums around the world, teamLab Borderless has taken a hit during COVID-19, and has had to introduce measures for visitors to feel safe during the pandemic.
Yet, the pandemic hasn’t stopped the creative flows of the art collective. During COVID-19, teamLab inaugurated a project called Flower Bombing Home in 2020. Users could draw a flower on their cell phone, and all the entries were put together in a YouTube video of flowers blooming. The idea was that as people were restricted from going out, art could still be created and enjoyed from the comfort of your own televisions.
“Since COVID-19, the world has put up many borders, and has become more divided,” explained Kuwabara. “We want now, more than ever, to convey the concept of Borderless, and communicate the importance of art.”
The art collective is showing no signs of slowing down going forward. teamLab is already scheduled to have a Massless exhibition in Beijing in 2022, and a Borderless exhibition in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia by 2023, and Hamburg, Germany, in 2024.
teamLab is also constantly pushing itself with new frontiers in art. In February 2022, it unveiled its first non-fungible token (NFT) artwork, called “matter is void.”
The idea is that anyone can see and download the NFT. But only those who bought the digital artwork have the right to modify it.
“It’s like everyone is groping for art, and everyone is exploring it together,” commented Kuwabara.
What else does teamLab have in store for the world?
Find more information on the exhibition set to close in August 2022 at MORI Building DIGITAL ART MUSEUM EPSON teamLab Borderless.
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Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno reported this week that a South Korean government research vessel had recently been conducting unauthorized maritime survey activity in Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) adjacent to the Takeshima islands. The move has called into question Seoul’s professed desire for improved bilateral relations with Tokyo.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, May 30, Matsuno criticized the South Korean research activity as “totally unacceptable.”
Nonetheless, the 8th Regional Headquarters of the Japan Coast Guard confirmed that the South Korean ship appeared to be dragging a research cable through the waters inside Japan’s EEZ again that same day, May 30.
South Korea illegally occupies the Takeshima islands, which are part of Okinoshima, Shimane Prefecture. The development appears to have cooled hopes for a quick improvement in relations with the new South Korean administration.
Special envoys from Japan, South Korea, and the United States are scheduled to meet for discussions on North Korea in Seoul on Friday, June 3. The Japanese government is now considering whether to bring up the survey vessel issue at that time.
A Korean marine research vessel that throws something like a wire into the sea = May 30, Shimane Prefecture, north of Takeshima (Photo courtesy of the 8th Regional Japan Coast Guard Headquarters) The ‘Hae Yang 2000’ According to the foreign ministry, on May 29 the research vessel Hae Yang 2000 belonging to the Korea Maritime Institute (KMI) was discovered dropping a cable into the sea within Japan’s EEZ at a spot about 90 kilometers off Takeshima.
The KMI is a state-run institution and the parent group of South Korea’s Dokdo Research Center. Seoul calls the islands “Dokdo” and claims sovereignty over them.
Research vessels belonging to institutions operated by the South Korean government were also active near Takeshima from June 9 to 12. This was the very period when the inauguration of South Korea’s new president, Yoon Suk-yeol, was taking place, with Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi in attendance.
A Japan Coast Guard official noted, “This behavior seems to contradict their professed desire for an improvement in Japan-South Korea ties.”
Under Yoon’s predecessor, Moon Jae In, Japan-South Korea relations reached what had been characterized as at their lowest point in the postwar period, marred by issues, such as wartime labor, comfort women, and the 2018 incident in which the radar of a South Korean naval vessel “locked-on” to a Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) patrol aircraft flying overhead.
Nevertheless, hopes have been running high that bilateral relations might improve under Yoon, who indicated in May that he would emphasize relations with Japan. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has also said, “We cannot wait to improve ties.”
Ocean research vessel “Hae Yang 2000” around noon on May 29 (Courtesy of the 8th Regional Japan Coast Guard Headquarters) Calls for a Vigorous Response A government source says that the new South Korean leadership has apparently been oblivious to the likelihood that repeated operations by South Korean research vessels in Japan’s EEZ would go down badly in Japan and create doubts about the credibility of the South Korean side.
One foreign ministry official put it bluntly, “We shouldn’t harbor any illusions that the change of administration [in South Korea] will lead to a resolution of territorial issues.”
During his May 30 press conference, Chief Cabinet Secretary Matsuno stressed: “Takeshima is inherently Japanese territory, both in light of historical facts and international law. We will continue to strongly demand that the South Korean side take appropriate measures.”
However, South Korea also maintains that the waters in question are within its own EEZ, and it is not clear whether Seoul will accept Japan’s protests and demands.
During a joint meeting on May 31, members of the Liberal Democratic Party’s foreign affairs division and special committee on territories debated how Japan should respond to continued South Korean maritime research vessels intruding into Japan’s EEZ in the vicinity of Takeshima. Diet members in attendance made several suggestions, such as that Japan too should dispatch its own maritime research vessels to the area around Takeshima and take other new countermeasures.
At the same time, the Japanese government obviously would like to see Seoul-Tokyo relations normalized in order to better respond to the nuclear and missile developments North Korea is relentlessly pursuing.
For that reason, it will be keeping a cautious eye on the attitude of the South Korean side and remain open to working on various issues of mutual concern.
RELATED: * Q & A | South Korea’s Claims on Takeshima are Baseless; It’s Time Seoul is Served the Document * Returning Takeshima is the First Step to Better Relations with Japan * [Bookmark] Japan’s Three Territorial Problems Viewed Under the Glare of International Law
(Read the report in Japanese at this link and this link.)
Author: The Sankei Shimbun
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Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has announced that international tourists, who have been barred from Japan due to COVID-prevention border measures, will be permitted to resume entry from June 10. Ahead of the lifting of the ban, the maximum number of entrants to Japan will be increased to 20,000 per day beginning on June 1.
It is the first time in about two years that a ban on foreign tourists will be lifted. The measures come at a time when the spread of COVID-19 in Japan is being kept under control. The government hopes that promoting inbound tourism will help the economy and social activities attain a full-scale recovery.
Western countries have been promoting coexistence with the virus since the latter half of 2021. It is appropriate that Japan too should resume accepting foreign tourists, in line with its efforts to control infections.
Incoming international tourists are included in the increased number of 20,000 entrants a day.
Kansai International Airport is crowded with international arrivals on June 1, 2022 (Photo by Takanobu Sawano.) In order to thoroughly prevent infection risks, Japan will first allow package tours with guides, asking participants to enforce COVID-19 prevention measures, such as managing their behavior by wearing masks.
The demand for tourism is increasing, fueled by the rapid depreciation of the yen. This is the right moment to promote tourism while being careful of infection prevention measures. Revitalization is urgently needed in the tourism and transportation sectors that have suffered since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Step by step we will aim to accept [tourists] as we did in normal times, taking into consideration the status of infections,” Mr. Kishida said, expressing his intention to gradually increase the number of people allowed into Japan.
Japan has made good progress in its COVID-19 vaccination rate. The government decided to resume allowing inbound tourists, given the vaccination level and the fact that the spread of infection nationwide continued to subside even after the end of April-beginning of May Golden Week holidays.
A small experimental trial run by the Japan Tourism Agency has been underway since May 24, allowing 50 overseas tourists to visit Japan. Based on the outcome of the experiment, the authorities plan to formulate guidelines for infection control. Travel agencies and visitors to Japan will need to thoroughly comply with the guidelines in order to alleviate any cause of concern.
To begin, Japan will allow the entry of tourists from countries and regions with the lowest infection risk, according to the government’s classification of quarantine measures. However, many countries and regions fall into this category, therefore it is essential to establish an effective follow-up system in order to prevent the spread of infection.
The number of visitors to Japan in 2019 before the pandemic reached a record high of about 32 million people, and they contributed nearly ¥5 trillion (JPY) to the Japanese economy. Tourism evaporated, however, during the COVID-19 pandemic, dealing a big blow to tourist destinations.
The government should do its utmost to attract foreign visitors back to the country, in addition to expanding domestic travel, in order to speed up local revitalization of all regions in Japan.
RELATED: * Japan to Accept A Few Foreign Tourists On A Trial Basis * New Entry Measures Coming to Japan From June, Kishida Tells The City of London
(Read the editorial in Japanese at this link.)
Author: Editorial Board, The Sankei Shimbun
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The 83rd Kurofune Matsuri, or Black Ships Festival, was held in the small city of Shimoda on the Izu Peninsula in Shizuoka Prefecture on May 21 and 22. This festival commemorates the entrance of Commodore Perry and his black ships from the United States, whose arrival opened up Japan for trading purposes in the mid 1800s.
It is reasonable to suppose that the residents of Shimoda were not so excited about such a relationship at that point in time. However, as years have gone by, ideas change. And for the best part of 100 years the citizens have chosen to celebrate their special place in Japan’s international relations with a festival.
This has always taken place on the third weekend in May. However, it was cancelled for two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Japanese year is not only marked by its changes in seasons, but also the festivals, dancing and other events held in streets to celebrate historical events associated with the place. A Japanese summer with no festivals hardly qualifies as a summer. And so it was with delight that I heard the Black Ships Festival would once again take place in 2022.
It has been one of my favourite events of the year, and the only place I have known where Star Wars characters can randomly meet Edo period officials in the street and share a beer or some yakitori.
Kimono Biyori, a kimono group led by Ryuji and Hisae Nishiwaki, has been going to Shimoda to do a kimono fashion show for over ten years. I have gone there most years as well, taking students, my children and friends, so they could participate.
The site for the fashion show is outside Ryosenji Temple, which is where the Treaty of Amity and Commerce was signed between the Japanese authorities and the American Government Officials in 1858. It is a place of historical significance and home of the Black Ships Museum.
Surrounded by forested mountains and American jasmine plants, the location is beautiful, and only bad weather can halt the proceedings. Group members can enjoy the opportunity to wear their colorful and most creative outfits, be they antique or modern, and participants of all ages can enjoy taking part.
This year I wore an antique turquoise formal summer kimono, paired with an obi showing tropical fish to add a touch of sea themed interest to the outfit. Another participant wore a yukata with large tuna fish, and yet another had galleons on her beautiful obi. Five children participated, adding a lot of colorful fun to the show.
After the fashion show we joined in the fun of the day around the central streets of the town. Everyone was enjoying themselves, eating street food and listening and watching to magicians, storytellers, performing monkeys (not my taste), and many of Shimoda’s talented guitarists, singers and other musicians who come out into the street and perform at the roadside or on one of the many small stages set up around the town.
You could bump into a sailor from the American naval base, or a student dressed as an Edo official, a ninja, or many other kinds of characters. Everyone was just happy to be together and enjoying the sunshine and fun and games. This was especially true this year, after not being able to enjoy it for the previous two years.
Shimoda is normally a sleepy fishing community, famous for onsen (hot spring inns) and seafood. So after returning to our hotel we bathed, ate and were lucky enough to have rooms that looked onto the harbor where the fireworks were launched.
Everyone from under 9 to over 90 was consumed with childhood wonder as the fireworks lit up the sky to our chorus of oohs and aahs. Stories and drinks were shared as the night went on. And Kimono Biyori members, a varied bunch whose common link is a love for kimono, enjoyed being together after a three-year gap.
I was up early on Sunday to walk around the harbor and look for spots to take great kimono photos. The main event of the day ー a parade around the city ー started at 11 AM.
Government officials, the mayor and representatives from various committees, drove around the city, followed by marching bands from the US Navy and the Japanese Sel- Defense Forces.
After them come bands from various local organizations and schools, girl scouts, elementary school unicyclists, dancers, and more. Just about bringing up the rear was Kimono Biyori.
Often we have a courtesan out in front, but this year we had the male members dress up and go in front. They looked very cool wearing black tomesode, normally a women’s garment, in a robe-like manner over leggings underneath. The women walked behind with beautiful paper parasols, which we twirled creating a colorful sight.
A True Community Event I always get emotional about the parade. It seems that the whole city comes out to watch. Old and frail people sit on chairs outside their houses, and people watch from upstairs windows. Mothers and fathers hold their small children and babies and everyone waves or holds flags.
I find it incredibly moving that the whole population gets together to enjoy this event. No one is too old or young to or too important to smile and wave. It seems like a special kind of community spirit that perhaps doesn’t exist in the same way in the big city.
Every time we get ready for the long journey back to Tokyo with the sound of drums and music ringing in our ears. In Shimoda they party on into the evening, while we have to go, with regret. I know I am not the only member who leaves a bit of their heart in Shimoda each time.
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Author: Sheila Cliffe
Find other columns on kimono by author Sheila Cliffe, here.
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Inspired by a superstar from his ancestral homeland to start skating and hoping to follow the educational path of a pair of legends from the country of his birth, American junior Taira Shinohara has set an ambitious course for himself in the years ahead.
The 16-year-old from Schaumburg, Illinois, talked about his career, his skating goals, and growing up Japanese in the United States in an exclusive interview with Ice Time recently.
Shinohara’s parents both attended college in the ‘States and have lived there for many years. Their geographic background provides quite a contrast, as his father is from Kitami, Hokkaido, and his mother is from Fukuoka.
Shinohara finished third in the junior men’s category at the Challenge Cup in the Netherlands in February in his first international competition behind Japan’s Shunsuke Nakamura and Japanese-Italian Naoki Rossi. It was a promising result for the teen after placing seventh at the US junior championships in January.
Shinohara began skating at the age of 6 after being invited by a friend, and began taking lessons shortly thereafter. But it was an epic event years later that motivated him to begin seriously embracing the sport.
“I remember watching the Pyeongchang Olympics and seeing Yuzuru Hanyu skate,” Shinohara told Ice Time. “His free skate (to ‘Seimei’) triggered me to want to skate more and be part of the sport. I used to play soccer and figure skating was more of a side thing.”
Shinohara was effusive in his praise of the living legend and two-time Olympic champion, illustrating the profound influence Hanyu has had on skating in his career.
“He has the complete package. He has the jumps, the spins, the artistry,” Shinohara commented. “Only a few skaters have mastered all of those aspects in skating. Some people only have jumps.
“I would say Yuzuru is really good at doing all of them,” Shinohara continued. “He has good execution in his programs and his jumps are flowy. His step sequence is so powerful, yet also so intricate and precise. So that is what I like about him.”
- Shoma Uno
An Affinity for Japanese Skaters Shinohara made his admiration for Japanese skaters very clear.
“They are very good. They are very consistent in their jumps, especially the top skaters,” Shinohara noted. “Japanese skaters work very hard and are very competitive. The ones who work the hardest make it to the top stages.”
Shinohara listed what impressed him about both world champion Shoma Uno and Olympic silver medalist Yuma Kagiyama.
“I think he is really good,” Shinohara said of Uno. “I have never seen him in person. But through TV he looks very fast and very powerful. His jumps are super big.
“He was inconsistent before, but these past few years he has become more consistent. This year’s programs were very fun to watch. I really like him.”
Kagiyama, at 18 just two years older than Shinohara, is somebody the American also respects.
“He is very good. His jumps are super consistent,” Shinohara remarked about Kagiyama. “They look very effortless. I was impressed how being so consistent can put you in a really good spot. These past couple of years he started to do more quads.
“I’m not too consistent of a skater, regarding jumps, so I look up to him in how consistent he is in all competitions,” Shinohara added.
- Kaori Sakamoto
Awed by Sakamoto’s Olympic Success Shinohara said he was also moved by world titlist Kaori Sakamoto’s success last season.
“Kaori got third place in the Olympics. It was very impressive to see, even without quadruple jumps you could still win [a medal],” Shinohara commented. “Quadruple jumps are very cool. It is like pushing the boundaries of skating. It is also cool to see that you can push the boundaries other than jumps, like choreography, speed of skating, spins and artistry.”
With the Junior Grand Prix set to begin in August, Shinohara discussed his goals for the coming season.
“I want to get Junior Grand Prix assignments this season and place well and potentially go to the JGP Final,” Shinohara stated. “I am putting more of my goals toward later in the season.
“While the JGP is an important experience and I really want to go to the events, because going internationally is fun and you get to see skaters from other countries, I want to focus more on the end of the season and try to win junior nationals, so I can get a spot for junior worlds. I want to compete there and see how I can do.”
- Taira Shinohara (Jay Adeff/U.S. FIGURE SKATING)
Shinohara’s Programs for 2022-23 Shinohara, who trains at the Chicago Figure Skating Club under Jeremy Allen and Denise Myers, revealed the programs he will use for the coming season during the extensive conversation with Ice Time.
“My free skate this season is to Game of Thrones and was choreographed by Benoit Richaud,” Shinohara commented. “My short program is Amore by Ryuichi Sakamoto and was arranged by Rohene Ward.”
Shinohara indicated that he looked forward to working with the highly successful Richaud, who choreographed for him at the Skating Club of Boston in March.
“It is my first year with him, so I wanted to know his style,” Shinohara noted. “I am also a young skater, so I wanted to try different kinds of choreography.”
The Challenge of the Triple Axel Shinohara cited the triple flip as the jump he most likes, while calling the triple axel his most difficult due to the extra half rotation.
“I would say that most of my triples are getting more consistent together,” Shinohara said. “All of them are pretty strong. Me and my coach have been doing quads on the pole harness. I have also started doing them off the pole, and doing them by myself, too.”
Ice Time asked if Shinohara was pondering a move to a more high-profile coach at some point in the future.
“My family and I have talked about this, but I already have high-level coaches in Jeremy and Denise,” Shinohara responded. “They had Bradie [Tennell] go to the Olympics and they are very good coaches. They also have very good connections with other coaches and choreographers and resources with US Figure Skating.
“I am happy with the coaches I have right now and don’t think I will be moving to a different place. Moving wouldn’t necessarily make me a more advanced skater all of a sudden.”
- Taira Shinohara trains at the Chicago Figure Skating Club. (Jay Adeff/U.S. FIGURE SKATING)
Educational Ambitions I questioned Shinohara, who is a sophomore in high school now, on where he might go to college in the future.
“I have this abstract dream that I want to go to MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology),” Shinohara remarked. “I’m not sure if I have the academics to go there. I bet it is hard. I’m not sure if I am capable of going.”
Shinohara, who was likely being modest, is already pondering which field to study.
“Me and my Dad were talking about what majors to take,” Shinohara said. “I would probably go into the math field or the engineering field, because I really like to engineer stuff and I am more of a math kind of person.”
Going to MIT would place Shinohara along the same prestigious educational route that two of the greatest skaters in the history of the US have taken. Two-time Olympic champion Dick Button graduated from both Harvard and Harvard Law School, while currently Olympic gold medalist Nathan Chen attends Yale.
Shinohara discussed his thoughts about Chen, when Ice Time brought him up.
“I think he did really good. I think he really deserves it,” Shinohara said of Chen’s success at the Beijing Games.
“Especially from Pyeongchang, where he wasn’t able to skate how he wanted. Through the next four years he worked very hard and became a world champion. He was winning most of the competitions.
“He has this professionalism in every competition he skates,” Shinohara continued. “It was amazing how he was able to skate under that big pressure and skate his programs with high execution.”
Hobbies and Interests It was quite evident to Ice Time that Shinohara’s skills extend far past the rink.
“I like to computer code. I have been working on an Apple app for a while,” Shinohara mentioned, when asked about his hobbies. “I code for fun. I also like to do 3D stuff. There is something printing in the 3D printer now that I designed for my friend’s birthday. I also make objects and characters for presents and keychains.
“I also like to work on electronics. I really like to make things that are useful in the real world.”
The mention of the app got my attention, so Ice Time wanted to know more.
“The app I’m creating calculates the score of a program based on the elements GOE (grade of execution) and program component score you put in using buttons and sliders,” Shinohara declared. “I’m trying to make the app so you can save protocols and look at them later, too.”
As if that wasn’t enough, Shinohara also showed me an invention he has come up with.
“The ‘auto-camerman’ is a camera stand that rotates based on time,” Shinohara noted. “So when you program it correctly, you can make the camera follow you during your program when you skate. Since skaters move in the same ways every program, this was possible. In the future I hope I can use sensors so the camera follows you wherever you move.”
Importance of Japanese Education Despite living his entire life in the United States, Shinohara considers Japanese his first language. This is a byproduct of speaking it at home and going to Japanese school on Saturdays, as so many Japanese kids who grow up overseas do.
“Japanese is my more native language and English is my second language,” Shinohara stated. “In my family, we have always spoken Japanese since I was little. Even living in the US, we would talk more Japanese in the house. I think that made me fluent in Japanese.”
Shinohara credited his Japanese school with polishing his language skills and helping him understand the culture.
“I do go to Saturday (Japanese) school too. I have been going there since first grade,” Shinohara commented. “I think that helped me and developed my Japanese, too. Just talking and getting an education is a little bit different. With education, you know the background of Japanese history and what the society is like in Japan. You also look at literature of Japanese culture.”
Shinohara illustrated his adeptness in Japanese when he took second place in a speech contest at the Consulate General of Japan in Chicago a few years ago.
Prior to the pandemic, Shinohara said that he came to Japan once every two years.
“My family and I came every other year before the pandemic,” Shinohara mentioned. “The last time I was there was in 2018.”
Ice Time asked Shinohara about 2019 world junior champion Tomoki Hiwatashi, who grew up one town over from him in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.
“One time when I first started skating there was an ice show at our rink and Tomoki was invited to be a guest skater,” Shinohara recalled. “I really remember him being super good and I was very amazed at how skating can be so fun and so advanced, and you can impress many people.”
- Shohei Ohtani
Admiration for Ohtani Ice Time wondered about what other Japanese athletes, besides skaters, Shinohara looked up to.
“Shohei Ohtani is pretty big,” Shinohara remarked. “My Saturday school teacher really likes him, too. We call him ‘nitoryu’ (two swords) because he pitches and bats really well.
“My teacher talks about how we are also nitoryu because we speak both Japanese and English.
“I try my best in both academics and sports, too,” Shinohara added. “So I would say that is also nitoryu. I really like all sports. If I had the time, I would do so many sports. But with my skating, I can’t do that.”
RELATED: [ICE TIME] Nathan Chen Set for Final Event Before Battle with Yuzuru Hanyu in Beijing
Author: Jack Gallagher
The author is a veteran sports journalist and one of the world’s foremost figure skating experts. Find articles and podcasts by Jack on his author page, here, and find him on Twitter @sportsjapan.
The post [ICE TIME] Junior Skater Taira Shinohara Poised for Success On and Off the Ice first appeared on JAPAN Forward. Related posts:
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It has been 27 years since a key figure in Tibetan Buddhism, the 11th Panchen Lama, disappeared in China. Where is he? Has the world forgotten the human rights and religious freedom concerns his continuing disappearance raises?
On May 26, 2022, the author delivered a version of this article as remarks during a study session at a Giin Kaikan building in the vicinity of the National Diet, seat of Japan’s parliament, in Tokyo, Japan.
Excerpts below.
Mr. Akimasa Ishikawa, General Secretary of the All-Japan Parliamentary Group for Tibet speaking at the workshop. (Courtesy: Liaison Office for Japan and East Asia.) May 17, 2022 marked the 27th anniversary of the forced disappearance of the 11th Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, of Tibet. Chinese Communist Party leadership kidnapped the six-year-old boy along with his family members in 1995.
Twenty-seven years have passed, and he is now 33. But there is no information about him and his family.
More than three months have passed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It has generated the largest number of refugees since World War II. Thousands of people have been killed and displaced, and thousands of buildings destroyed. Even now there is no sight of the ending of the war.
This is the result of the self-centered policy of the democratic world giving priority to trade and economy, which has given despotic and totalitarian regimes a free hand. After all the lessons that we have learned from two world wars, we are still not wiser and safer.
Representative Dr. Arya speaking at the conference with Prof Yumiko Ishihama and Ven. Shuei Kobayashi (Courtesy: Liaison Office for Japan and East Asia.) Searching For the 11th Panchen Lama** The plight of the 11th Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, of Tibet is the result of the indifference of the democratic world and their prioritizing trade and economy at the cost of ignoring bullying and territorial aggressions. International silence over the illegal occupation of Tibet and other occupied regions has emboldened China. And it has encouraged the rise of authoritarian brutal regimes that we see around the world, including Putin’s Russia.
A child and his family have been kept incommunicado for more than 27 years by a government claiming itself as a superpower. This is wrong and beyond the comprehension of international norms and understanding.
It is a gross violation of children’s rights, human rights, and religious freedom. Yet the world has forgotten the Panchen Lama’s case, just as it has forgotten the case of Megumi Yokota, who in 1977 was also kidnapped by a brutal communist regime.
Ukraine of today is what Tibet was 70 years back. The international community must condemn the illegal occupation of Tibet by China, China’s illegal occupation of East Turkestan (the Xinjiang Uyghur region) and South Mongolia, and the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
We must also make clear that, just as the Chinese people are not with the Chinese Communist Party regime over its invasion of Tibet, Russians are also not with the Russian army over the invasion of Ukraine. When governments take illegal actions, the people always lose.
We must all work together to uphold freedom, democracy, and rule of law, and to condemn the despotic rulers for their crimes against humanity. Yesterday’s Tibet has become today’s Ukraine. If we let the despotic rulers continue, whose turn it may be tomorrow? It is not difficult to imagine!
Russia President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Totalitarian Regimes Unfortunately, this message—one of great urgency—is not always readily accepted. For example, I initially planned to hold a press conference on these concerns at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan (FCCJ). But the press conference was not approved. The FCCJ did not give a reason, saying only that the committee did not approve it.
The Panchen Lama issue, China’s invasion of Tibet, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are all linked, I believe. It is because of the failure of the international community to speak against the totalitarian regimes that things like the invasion of Ukraine can happen now.
Representative Dr. Arya explaining the contents of the book “The CCP`s 100 Atrocities in Tibet” (Courtesy: Liaison Office for Japan and East Asia.) Closed Eyes Tightly Shut** Last year, the Japan National Press Club (JNPC) also refused to host our event, saying that “There is nothing new, therefore, not newsworthy.” This reminded me of Clive Hamilton and Mareike Ohlberg’s book on China’s “Hidden Hand” in the free world.
If the media in the free world refuses to speak against the communist dictators, the world is in grave danger. We speak of press freedom, but if the media facilitators themselves are prejudiced, what press freedom are we speaking about?
The year 2021 was the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party. Chinese President Xi Jinping boasted about the progress the CCP has made in these 100 years, and how they have turned Tibet into a socialist paradise from a slave society.
We strongly refute his claim and challenge him that if what he says is true, then why is Tibet closed to the outside world? Why are Tibetans not allowed to travel freely in and outside Tibet?
Why is there phone, mobile, and internet shutdown in Tibet? China needs to explain this to the international community.
The Ukraine invasion is a strong reminder to us that we have not fully understood the cruel lessons we have learned from two world wars. The rise and expansion of despotic regimes like the CCP, Russia, North Korea, Syria, Myanmar, etc., are indicative of our failure to put the world order in right perspective.
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MP Akimasa Ishikawa, Mr. Takashi Nagao, Representative Dr. Arya, and Ven. Shuei Kobayashi. (Courtesy: Liaison Office for Japan and East Asia.) Request to World Leaders I would like to request that world leaders and the international community urge the Russian and Chinese leaderships as follows:
To the Russian Leadership: 1. Stop the invasion of Ukraine and withdraw the Russian army from the occupied areas immediately. 2. Start negotiations with Ukrainian and international leaders to resolve the issue peacefully.
To the Chinese Leadership: 1. Release Panchen Lama Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, his family members, and his teacher Chadrel Rinpoche at once. 2. Stop interfering in Tibetan religious freedom, such as in the selection of reincarnation of His Holiness Dalai Lama, and 3. Revoke the States Religious Affairs Bureau Order No. 5. 4. Initiate dialog with the representatives of the Central Tibetan Administration on Genuine Autonomy for all Tibetans.
Tibetans with Prof. Yumiko Ishihama and Ven. Shuei Kobayashi. (Courtesy: Liaison Office for Japan and East Asia.)
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Author: Dr. Tsewang Gyalpo Arya,
Representative, Liaison Office of H.H. the Dalai Lama for Japan and East-Asia
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Seoul, South Korea’s capital, was once a Chinese-styled walled city. Gates like the Namdaemun (Great South Gate) and the Dongdaemun (Great East Gate) served as boundaries that separated the city from the outside of the castle. The royal palace was, of course, located within the castle compound, inside the city walls.
Even after the period of Japanese colonial rule (1910-1945), when modern city building progressed, the basic structures remained the same. The official residence for Japanese governors-general was placed behind the former royal palace (Gyeongbokgung Palace). After Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonialism, the building was used as the residence of South Korean presidents.
However, it was not until the Roh Tae Woo administration (1988-1993) that it transformed into the vast palace-style property that it is today. The palace was named Blue House after its main building’s blue roof tiles.
Located deep on the foothills of a mountain, the heavily secured Blue House was not a place that the general public could easily approach. The mysterious landmark did not possess any sense of openness such as the White House in the United States.
The closed nature of the compound was symbolic of the highly concentrated power situation in South Korea.
Still, the situation was also influenced by the “Blue House Raid” incident, an attempted attack by North Korean guerrilla forces in 1968. It was also meant as a means to protect the presidential residence from the North Korean threat.
Former South Korean defense ministry building which has been converted to the new presidential offices and residence. (May 10, 2022, Kyodo) Changing History In One Move However, the new South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol abandoned the palace and established his offices away from the city center at a former Defense Ministry compound in the Yongsan District, which in earlier times would have been considered an area outside of the castle walls.
He has relocated the official presidential office and residence ー in other words, South Korea’s center of power ー to “outside the castle walls.”
Politically speaking, this is a significant transformation of Seoul’s traditional power landscape, spanning from the medieval Yi Dynasty to the present day. It means that the new leader has made a historic decision.
The decision stems from the new president’s pledge to reject authoritarian politics and the idea that “the new offices will allow for better communication with the public.”
Yet his predecessor, Moon Jae In, and the former ruling party are gritting their teeth and complaining, “The unilateral and hasty decision is outrageous!” This resentment is because the “Abandoning of the Blue House” was originally a pledge made by the Moon regime, which ultimately failed.
Tourists visiting the former South Korean presidential offices known as the “Blue House” on May 10, 2022 (Kyodo) A New Openness No longer serving as the presidential office, the vast Blue House compound was immediately opened to the public and has become a new tourist landmark packed with visitors on a daily basis.
The former Defense Ministry building, which is transformed into the new “presidential palace,” houses the president’s offices on the second and fifth floors and the press office on the first floor. The arrangement now allows the reporters to witness the president’s comings and goings and the chance to speak to him at all times.
This situation is also unprecedented. In the eyes of this Japanese reporter, the new openness appears to be somewhat inspired by how the press gathers at the official residence of the prime minister in Japan.
South Korea’s Blue House is now a tourist destination instead of the seat of power on the Korean Peninsula. (April 27, 2022, Kyodo) Changes inside the Castle Walls Incidentally, the US forces have already moved their Korean military headquarters to a new site from the Yongsan District, where the central government power shifted. In its place, the US Embassy, which has been inside the castle walls, will move to the former site of the US command.
Meanwhile, the reconstruction of the Japanese Embassy located near the US Embassy has been suspended for a while. The work stoppage is due to the anti-Japanese demonstrations and harassment from a comfort women statue that was put there.
There have been suggestions made by some Japanese residents in Korea that the Embassy of Japan should also leave the former castle compound and relocate to Yongsan District on the occasion of the birth of the new presidential offices.
Yoon Suk-yeol kicked off his administration with a significant and historic decision. I hope the new government will continue to show decisiveness, including the normalization of relations between Japan and South Korea, so that the “Abandoning of the Blue House” does not go down in history as its last and biggest decision.
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(Read the article in Japanese at this link.)
Author: Katsuhiro Kuroda
The post Yoon Makes History by Moving South Korean President’s Offices Out of the ‘Blue House’ first appeared on JAPAN Forward. Related posts:
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Taiwan’s participation as an observer at the World Health Organization (WHO) was rejected again at the May 22-28 meeting of the assembly held in Geneva, Switzerland. This was the sixth consecutive year that China’s vindictive backlash following the inauguration of the Tsai administration had led to the exclusion of Taiwan.
Infections due to the virus that causes COVID-19 have not yet been stamped out. Figuring out how to deal with this virus that repeatedly mutates itself remains a critical issue requiring the unity and shared wisdom of the full international community.
Infectious diseases do not respect national borders or regional barriers. The foolishness of succumbing to China’s majority votes in the WHO and allowing the creation of a void in the midst of a global health crisis is unconscionable and should not be tolerated.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had issued a statement strongly urging the WHO “to invite Taiwan to participate as an observer and lend its expertise to the solution-seeking discussions.”
Praising Taiwan’s measures against COVID-19 and its democratic governance, Blinken also pointed out, “There is no reasonable justification to exclude its participation, which will benefit the world.”
He is absolutely right. There is no reason for excluding Taiwan.
Although Taiwan’s rate of new infection cases is high, the Tsai administration has launched the concept of “coexisting with the virus” by relaxing quarantine measures. Steps are being taken to balance socioeconomic activities while living with the virus.
The international community, including Japan, has started on a path of easing COVID restrictions, even though the virus is not stamped out. There is a very great need for Taiwan’s knowledge to be shared as we figure out how society can continue in the era of “living with COVID.”
China’s Politics Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian expressed “firm opposition” to Mr. Blinkin’s proposal. Zhao then said, “The United States should stop exploiting the WHO assembly to amplify Taiwan-related issues.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian (AP/Andy Wong) However, it is China that is making all the noise.
Its spokesmen are loudly voicing their self-righteous claims while shutting their eyes to China’s responsibility in bringing on a global pandemic and failing in its initial response to report and restrain the spread and expansion of COVID-19. It is a disgusting display.
Thirteen member states, including those with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, submitted a joint request to the General Assembly requesting Taiwan’s participation. Over 1,500 lawmakers from more than 30 countries, mainly in Europe and North America, also sent letters urging Taiwan’s participation. Could it be that the WHO assembly, which continues to ignore the voices spreading throughout the international community, is misjudging the very reason for its existence?
At the assembly, Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was reelected. The five-year term, which will be his second one, will start on August 16. It seems appropriate that the international community should also reflect upon its own responsibilities for allowing an individual criticized for being under China’s influence to continue in office.
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(Read the editorial in Japanese at this link.)
Author: Editorial Board, The Sankei Shimbun
The post EDITORIAL | WHO Bends to China Again, Blocks Taiwan first appeared on JAPAN Forward. Related posts:
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Two days after the Utsunomiya Brex captured the 2021-22 B.League Finals title, the Alvark Tokyo and Chiba Jets announced that they are moving forward without their title-winning head coaches.
Luka Pavicevic is leaving Tokyo after five seasons at the helm.
Atsushi Ono is finished in Chiba after six seasons in charge.
Both teams issued news releases on Tuesday, May 31 announcing the departure of their longtime bench bosses. The Alvark labeled Pavicevic’s exit a mutual agreement, as did the Jets in reference to Ono.
The Alvark and the Jets are the only other franchises in league history to win titles.
Tokyo won back-to-back titles in 2017-18 and 2018-19, defeating the Jets in the championship final both times.
The 2019-20 season ended early due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The playoffs were canceled.
As a result, the Alvark were technically the reigning champions when the 2020-21 season began. The Jets were the better team, however, and advanced to the championship round, which became a best-of-three format for the first time. Chiba defeated Utsunomiya in three games.
In Ono’s six seasons as Chiba’s coach, and the team’s only sideline supervisor since the B.League’s inception in 2016, the Jets had a 248-74 overall record in the regular season, including 35-10 in 2021-22. They set a franchise record by going 52-8 in 2018-19.
Pavicevic compiled a 191-79 record in his five seasons at Tokyo. The Alvark went 39-14 this past season.
Read the full story here on JAPAN Forward’s dedicated sports website, SportsLook.
Author: Ed Odeven
Follow Ed on JAPAN Forward’s [Japan Sports Notebook] here on Sundays, in [Odds and Evens] here during the week, and Twitter ＠ed_odeven.
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The post Alvark’s Luka Pavicevic, Jets’ Atsushi Ono Leave Teams After Successful Coaching Stints first appeared on JAPAN Forward. Related posts:
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A new world rugby tournament is in the works, as reported by the British media and others.
World Rugby is preparing to host a tournament tentatively called the Nations Championship, which will include the world’s top 12 nations and regions. The tournament will include the six nations of the Northern Hemisphere, as well as New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Argentina, which make up the Southern Hemisphere Rugby Championship. Japan and Fiji will also participate.
In plan under discussion, the tournament would be divided into two groups of 12 teams, each team will play three games against opponents from a different hemisphere in July to determine group standings, and the top two teams from each group would play in the final tournament in November.
South Africa’s Lukhanyo Am carries the ball against England in the 2019 Rugby World Cup final in Yokohama. (ⒸSANKEI) Plans for a Lower-Tier Tournament At the same time, a plan is being discussed to hold a lower-tier tournament of 12 teams below the top 12 countries, such as the United States and Samoa. Both promotion and demotion to the upper and lower leagues would be part of the scheme.
The upper-tier tournament would be launched in 2026, while the lower 12 countries’ tournament is planned to start first in 2024.
The idea itself emerged after the 2019 World Cup in Japan. At the time, however, it failed to gain the understanding of some countries, due to the burden placed on top players caused by the increase in high-level matches and neglect of the Pacific Island countries. With the COVID-19 outbreak, the proposal was dropped last year.
This year the idea resurfaced, and along with it a proposed new provision that the Nations Championship would be held every other year in even-numbered years, not to overlap with the four-year cycle of the Rugby World Cup and British and Irish Lions games, appears to have already gained a consensus among some major countries.
Naoto Saito and his Brave Blossoms teammates compete against Ireland on November 6, 2021, in Dublin. (Clodagh Kilcoyne/REUTERS) JRFU Interest Since this is still at the press level, the Japan Rugby Football Union (JRFU) has not made any official statement of approval or disapproval. However, a JRFU announcement acknowledged, “positive discussions are continuing among the parties concerned, and the JRFU is closely monitoring the direction of the discussions in cooperation with them.”
The statement continued, indicating a high level of interest, saying: “We expect to hear new information from World Rugby within the next few months.”
JRFU was open to participating in the project when the idea first came up. This is because the current international competition is not enough to strengthen Japan’s national team.
The Brave Blossoms made it to the top eight for the first time at the 2019 Rugby World Cup, which was held in Japan. In the next tournament in France in 2023, the national team is aiming to surpass its previous result and finish in the top four or higher. To achieve this, Japan will need to play more serious matches against stronger teams than the Brave Blossoms were able to do.
Ireland’s Bundee Aki breaks through a tackle from Japan’s Kotaro Matsushima to score a try on November 6, 2021, at Aviva Stadium in Dublin. (Peter Morrison/AP)
Japan is the only country in the world’s top-eight tier that does not participate in a tournament such as the Six Nations Championship. Those tournaments allow clubs to test themselves in multiple matches against powerful teams each year.
Successive national team coaches and the JRFU have worked hard to arrange as many matches as possible against Tier 1 nations. If the new tournament is realized, there are hopes that it will push Japan’s national team to strengthen dramatically, just as Argentina has evolved. Argentina is now a powerhouse and has been a top-eight contender in the World Cup since 2012, when the team started participating in the Rugby Championship contests.
On May 12, two future World Cup host countries were decided: Australia, in 2027, and the United States, in 2031, will be hosts for the first time.
Japan, after successfully hosting the 2019 tournament, has also stated that the JRFU will aim to host the tournament a second time after 2035, with the goal of having Japan’s national team win the championship when that event is held. The Nations Championship will be a key tournament for Japan to help realize this grand dream.
Author: Hiroshi Yoshida, rugby reporter
Read other reports by the author about Japanese rugby at this link.
The post RUGBY | A New World Rugby Tournament: Key to Unlocking Japan’s Potential first appeared on JAPAN Forward. Related posts:
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May is the calm before the storm in the videogame media. We’re about to get extremely busy – June will bring an avalanche of announcements and updates of new games, as the game industry primes its hype machine ahead of the holiday season.
Traditionally the world’s eyes would be on the Electronic Entertainment Expo – better known as E3, and held most years since 1995 in mid-June in Los Angeles.
However, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the show has been put on ice, and a multitude of digital events have sprung up in its place. This year, IGN will host our now-annual Summer of Gaming series, including collaborations with a separate event called Summer Game Fest, a headline showcase by Xbox and its newly acquired mega-subsidiary Bethesda, and much more. It’s going to be an exciting month for videogame fans.
That also means May is a very, very quiet month, as the major game publishers save up their surprises. And so, for this month’s column, I thought it might be fun to detail some of the planning that goes into covering such events for us at IGN Japan.
Delivering the Videogame News Whether we are on our home turf for a domestic event like Tokyo Game Show or BitSummit, or covering an overseas event like E3 or Gamescom, we always want to present the biggest and best news for our audience. This involves dozens of hours of reporting and producing written and video content, as well as an ever-increasing number of hours of livestreaming over the course of each event.
At Tokyo Game Show 2021, for instance, we delivered 35 hours of livestreams, produced in real-time from our own studio inside the venue in Makuhari, Chiba. And for June 2022’s series of summer showcases, we will create a mix of coverage from Tokyo and Los Angeles, our first major overseas jaunt since the pandemic began over two years ago.
But not all of our reporting is done on the day of the event. For all of these major expos, videogame publishers large and small will strive to offer opportunities for key media outlets and influencers to play their new games in advance, under embargo, to produce coverage that can be published once each game has been announced.
The effects of the pandemic have also meant that we sometimes have to shoot some video interviews in advance. Fully live interview appearances are not always possible if our guests are unable to attend the show in person, or perhaps to even enter Japan in the first place.
In other words, while we may have a livestream running throughout each day of Tokyo Game Show or some other event, some segments are only possible if we pre-produce them and then drop them into the livestream, much like how broadcast TV runs a mix of live and pre-produced shows.
It’s all in the Details All of this requires an immense amount of planning over a period of months, from gathering top-secret information from publishers to signing NDAs, booking guests to preparing equipment to organizing staff and creating their schedules, booking transport and accommodation, building on-site studios, and much more. And as Chief Editor of IGN Japan, much of that planning is undertaken by me.
Daniel catching up with Sonic the Hedgehog at Tokyo Game Show 2021. Luckily, I love these big expos. Since I was a budding music journalist back in the early 2000s, I have loved the sense of community that comes from hundreds of thousands of like minded fans gathering in one place. During the pandemic I’ve missed these shows terribly, so it’s exciting to see that some of them are coming back.
Back in the UK, I was an official reporter at the much-loved Reading Festival, writing reviews and grabbing on-the-spot interviews with my beloved heroes like Nirvana/Foo Fighters musician Dave Grohl.
I continued this when I moved to Japan. Flitting between the stages at shows like the Fuji Rock Festival, Summer Sonic, Rock in Japan and the Rising Sun Rock Festival to review performances by all kinds of bands, before running back to the backstage area to interview them.
Hanging with the members of Pixies backstage at Summer Sonic 2014. As a freelancer, I would often cover each gaming expo in Japan for five or six publications in the UK, US and elsewhere, all at the same time, juggling appointments and never scheduling time to eat. I would attend every after-hours mixer to catch up with friends and earwig some juicy industry secrets, and somehow still manage to write dozens of articles and hit all my deadlines. Well, most of them.
Sleep – is Overrated I got close to no sleep at all of these shows, but every time it energized me and built up my endurance. And that’s a good thing, because IGN Japan’s coverage of game expos can be quite physically and mentally demanding.
The IGN Japan editorial team in their studio overlooking the show floor at Tokyo Game Show 2021. Livestreaming in particular can be hard work. For example, at domestic events like TGS and BitSummit, we build our own on-site studio and invite game developers to come for interviews and to play demos of their games on-stream.
In a single day we might have around 15 different guest slots, with up to four days of programming from the show floor. And since it’s live, it has to run like clockwork – we can’t afford for a slot to go over its allotted time, as it would delay the rest of our guests.
Once we even had an overseas developer get stuck at the airport on his way to TGS, which meant an on-the-spot rehaul of our livestream schedule while we were already on air. But by and large, in Japan at least, everyone turns up on time and is super well prepared. No major catastrophes yet – touch wood.
I can’t say too much about our upcoming trip to Los Angeles yet, save to say that we will be preparing a ton of very cool and exciting written, video and livestream coverage. Fueled, I’m sure, by a total lack of sleep.
Star Wars Day In the meantime, while May has been light on gaming news, IGN does also luckily cover movies and other entertainment. And for me personally, that means May 2022 has been Star Wars month.
I get excited for May 4 every year. Known as Star Wars Day, thanks to the wonderful pun “May the fourth be with you”, this is a day when Star Wars fans the world over get to reconnect with the Force.
And I, dear reader, am a dyed-in-the-wool Star Wars fan. The galaxy far, far away was my first love in all of pop culture. Return of the Jedi came out in the UK just weeks before my 4th birthday, and playing with figures of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Princess Leia are among my earliest memories. So Star Wars Day is a big deal for me.
And a Month of Star Wars But this year, we’ve had a whole month of it. With the build-up to the brand new Disney Plus series Obi-Wan Kenobi, I re-watched all three prequel movies, which we then discussed in detail along with our audience during a livestream on IGN Japan’s YouTube channel. I played BioWare’s classic Star Wars RPG game Knights of the Old Republic, released in Japan for the first time on Nintendo Switch this month, some 19 years after it first came out. I tuned in to voices from the domestic Star Wars fan community via Twitter Spaces and YouTube, enjoying their amazing passion and creative fan art and cosplay, and meeting new friends in the process.
This last weekend in May, 2022 I enviously watched the 20-odd hours of footage being broadcast from Star Wars Celebration, Lucasfilm’s official fan event, which took place in Anaheim, California, for the first time since the pandemic started. I even pre-ordered an adorable new action figure of George Lucas.
And then, of course, the first two episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi dropped on May 27, and I watched them both twice before we held a livestream on our channel, before watching them again the next day with my daughter.
I won’t spoil anything here, since some of you might not have seen it yet, but what an incredible joy it has been to see Ewan McGregor back as Obi-Wan. And further, what a joy to enjoy it with our audience at IGN Japan and discuss what we loved about it together.
By the time I return for next month’s column I’ll hopefully have a bunch of exciting news and thrilling anecdotes to share from the storm that is June in the videogame media. In the meantime, I’m enjoying the calm. Until then, may the Force be with you!
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Daniel Robson is chief editor of videogame news site IGN Japan. Read his series Gamer’s World on JAPAN Forward, and find him on Twitter here.
The post [Gamer’s World] Making the Most of the Calm Before June first appeared on JAPAN Forward. Related posts:
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Japanese photographer わたろ Wataro (@wataro_photo) posted a series of photos on Twitter that received over 153,000 likes at the time of writing.
However, the photos weren’t taken by Wataro.
When he handed his camera to his 3-year-old son…? Wataro is a father of two children. One day, he handed the camera to his 3-year-old son and went to work.
When he returned home, he checked the camera and found these photos.
The rest of the article can be viewed on our partner’s website, grape Japan at “What happens when you give a 3-year-old a camera for a day. Photos are “moving”; “genius.”
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Akihabara-based retailer Thanko has a knack for crafting quirky but convenient goods meant to match a solo lifestyle. In recent years they’ve released a “secret base” privacy taste to be lazy in, as well as a bento-sized rice cooker that serves just enough fresh rice for one person in minutes.
Thanko recently gave some of that tailored-for-one-person ingenuity with a foldable ramen hot pot. Now the makers are doubling down on that design with a new and improved “Ore no Ramen Nabe” (My Ramen Hot Pot) that turns instant noodles into gourmet noodles for solo servings, and can also cook up a delicious ricey finish!
The rest of the article can be viewed on our partner’s website, grape Japan at “Japan’s one-person ramen hot pot is a game-changer for instant noodle lovers.”
Author: Grape Japan
The post Japan’s One-person Ramen Hot Pot is a Game-changer for Instant Noodle Lovers first appeared on JAPAN Forward. Related posts:
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The situation in Ukraine has been occupying my thoughts since February. Young Ukrainian men and women with guns in their hands are appearing on TV and social media, as they elatedly vow to “protect their country”.
The sight of these young people triggers in my mind the fervor of the days depicted in a comic. It tells the story of young women in the former Soviet Union pleading to be sent to the front during the Great Patriotic War, and I am engulfed in feelings that are indescribable.
Attention Focused on Women in Battle Two books featuring women fighting on the battlefield, Keito Koume‘s manga adaptation of The Unwomanly Face Of War by Svetlana Alexievich and Touma Aisaka’s Doushi Shoujo Yo, Teki Wo Ute (literally, “Young Woman Comrade, Shoot the Enemy”) have been gathering much attention in Japan.
As Russian forces continue their invasion of Ukraine, these books are experiencing a timely success among Japanese readers seeking to better understand war.
“Current wars and conflicts worldwide threaten the precious lives of people and cultures that have been built up over the years.” Kadokawa publishers stated in a recent press release.
In response to the growing interest in war-related books and fighting women, the KADOKAWA Group, one of Japan’s leading publishers, released nine books related to war and peace for free on BOOK☆WALKER, a Japanese ebook store, for a limited time from May 10 to 16 under the title “Now is the time to think about war.” Although that window of time has passed, it is still useful to review the books on their list.
‘Young Woman Comrade, Shoot the Enemy’ Doushi Shoujo Yo, Teki Wo Ute (literally, “Young Woman Comrade, Shoot the Enemy”) is about a young girl who lost her mother and hometown to the Germans during the German-Soviet War. It tells the story of how she survived as a sniper ー and member of an all-female sniper team on the battlefield ー in the war to regain her homeland.
The book won the Honya Taisho Award, also known as Japan’s Booksellers Award, on April 6, 2022. It was selected from 10 nominated works for this year’s award ceremony held in Tokyo.
Aisaka expressed his gratitude, saying, “I have been touched by how much this work has been adored by the booksellers even before it was published. I am thankful that it has been recognized with such a wonderful award despite being my debut work.”
On the other hand, recognizing the current tragedy in Ukraine, he said:
“My heart has been in the depths of despair since the invasion began. I kept wondering what I should think about Russia, the country I was so passionate about in my novels.
“In the process, I have gradually come to see a Russia that is not Putin’s Russia. And those who oppose the war at home are also Russia. Although their voices may be small, I want to listen to them, remember them, and amplify their messages as much as possible.”
He added, “My protagonist would be sad if she saw this situation. But she would not despair. She would go to the town and do her part as a sniper. So I too will stop despairing, and when I write my novels, and in other situations, I will oppose war and make efforts to build peace.
The Book Sellers Touma Aisaka’s “Comrade Girl, Shoot the Enemy” has sold over 53,000 copies a week, soaring from No. 80 to become No. 1 in the “Oricon Weekly Book Ranking,” it was announced on April 15.
Unfortunately, the publisher, Hayakawa Publishing, Inc. told JAPAN Forward that there are no plans to publish an English translation of this book at the moment.
The Unwomanly Face Of War Another book being read in Japan recently is a manga adaptation of Belarusian Nobel Prize winner Svetlana Alexievich‘s nonfiction book, The Unwomanly Face Of War.
The book spotlights women who had no choice but to fight on the front lines for their freedom.
After interviewing hundreds of Soviet women ー captains, tank drivers, snipers, pilots, nurses, and doctors who had experienced the war on the front lines, on the home front, and in occupied territories during WWII ー Alexievich uncovered their buried stories.
One woman recited words of prayers for each and every soldier that passed by. Another, with a smile on her face, looked back on an incident when she ran over a dead soldier’s body with a carriage. People’s senses, which are capable of possessing beautiful virtues and immeasurable maliciousness, are hard to comprehend during such abnormal times.
The manga version illustrates the diversity and complexity of human emotions, as expressed by these words in the work: “A human being is greater than war”, deeply touching my heart.”
Originally published in 1985 in Armenian under the title War Does Not Have a Woman’s Face, the book first came out as chapters in the magazine October.
It was in a censored form after the author had been repeatedly rejected by the authorities, who told her to write only about “victory” instead of “filth”.
The Manga Adaptation The manga, released by Kadokawa Corp. has sold more than 100,000 copies. The illustrations were drawn by Keito Koume, the creator of the “Spice and Wolf” manga series.
The first volume of the manga version was published on January 27, 2020. More recently, it was introduced on a Japanese TV program following the February 24, 2022, Russian invasion of Ukraine. A shortage of copies in bookstores followed.
Rather than heroic tales, the manga portrays the complicated emotions of women affected by war.
The original book is great reading material and highly recommended. At the same time, considering its volume, it may not be for the average reader. If it were not for the cute manga pictures that depict the chaos of the battle scenes, illustrations that are too realistic might also make it tough to continue turning the pages.
Both books are engaging material relevant to this time we are living in as Russia continues to send its soldiers to Ukraine. Whether you choose the engaging manga or the book versions of these stories, they will draw you right in.
Author: Eiji Honma and Shaun Fernando
The post Women Of War: Japan’s Rising Attention To Women on the Front Lines first appeared on JAPAN Forward. Related posts:
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Since 1971, Japan Society Gallery has been the premier institution in the United States for the display and interpretation of Japanese art and culture in a global context. Through groundbreaking exhibitions and related programs, the Gallery cultivates a broader understanding and appreciation of Japan’s contributions to global artistic heritage and celebrates the diversity of Japanese visual expression from prehistoric times to the present day. A new installation titled Kazuko Miyamoto: To perform a line enters a canon of historic exhibitions held at Japan Society in New York.
The exhibition extends the institution’s legacy of presenting not only the best of the arts of Japan, but of supporting underrepresented artists—especially women—and artists at important, often early, moments in their careers.
Through fellowships, grants, and installations, Japan Society has been an innovative platform for Japanese artists. Among them are many well-known names, such as including Shikō Munakata (1959), Yayoi Kusama (1965–66), Shigeko Kubota (1978), Ushio Shinohara (1982), Daido Moriyama (1999), and Yoko Ono (2000).
Kazuko Miyamoto: To perform a line builds upon this history and serves as a continuation of the ideas that will be explored throughout Japan Society’s exhibition calendar and related programming in 2022 and beyond. The exhibition underscores the history of international modernisms by amplifying the representation of a significant artistic voice.
To perform a line The first solo institutional survey of Kazuko Miyamoto (b. 1942, Tokyo) covers her critical contributions to the minimalism movement through early paintings and drawings from the 1960s, her breakthrough string constructions in the 1970s, culminating in her kimono series from 1987 through the 2000s.
The exhibition brings together key bodies of work which have never been shown together until now. It offers a crucial opportunity for a broad audience to encounter Miyamoto’s rich oeuvre for the first time.
With a strikingly independent spirit, Kazuko Miyamoto is an artist who has never been intimidated to eschew conventions and chart her own course. Miyamoto’s expanding vision for over five decades has resulted in paintings, drawing, sculptures, photographs, and performances, as well as installation and textile works that oscillate between geometric and organic forms.
Throughout her career, the presence of the artist’s hand has remained a constant aesthetic sensibility, as has the use of modest, often found materials such as nails, string, umbrellas, tree branches, brown paper bags, and newspaper.
By highlighting critical moments of experimentation, the exhibition traces the conceptual complexity and visual range of an artist who has challenged and broadened the legacy of post-1960s international art.
Installation view of Kazuko Miyamoto: To perform a line, 2022© Naho Kubota. Courtesy of Japan Society Weaving Geometry In Miyamoto’s innovative string constructions (1972–1979) the artist plays with the parameters of abstraction, architecture, and scale. Miyamoto originally created her breakthrough string constructions in her studio in Manhattan’s Lower East Side neighborhood with a few threads stretched and anchored around nails on the walls. The pieces became increasingly spatial and three-dimensional.
They were made through an intuitive and gestural process, emerging out of the artist’s relationship with a given space. Undermining the rigid geometry and mechanical repetition of minimalism, she instead introduces a human factor, and with it, the possibility of error, chance, and ephemerality.
By recreating Miyamoto’s historic string constructions for this installation — many of which have not been on view since they were first installed in the 1970s — exhibition designer Leon Ransmeier took cues from the avant-garde milieu and the industrial studio atmosphere Miyamoto was originally working in when she first created this series.
Keeping to the original intent and integrity of the pieces — constellations of nails driven directly into the floor and wall — Ransmeier and his team designed large hardwood platforms to display the string constructions in the gallery. This thoughtful gesture harmonizes Miyamoto’s works and the architecture of Japan Society Gallery.
「Sail(1979)」©Kazuko Miyamoto. Courtesy of the artist; EXILE, Vienna; Take Ninagawa, Tokyo (Installation view of Kazuko Miyamoto: To perform a line, 2022© Naho Kubota. Courtesy of Japan Society) Resonance and Subversion of Minimalism In addition to Miyamoto’s string constructions, the artist’s early paintings and drawings work within the vocabulary of minimalism — geometry, industrial materials, seriality, monochrome color palette. Yet they subvert its strict economy of means and mechanized production.
Her works instead feature a more free-form approach that became increasingly narrative and personal, often autobiographical.
By the late 1980s, dance rituals and performance comprised a large part of Miyamoto’s practice, contributing further to her idiosyncratic visual language. Miyamoto’s distinct artistic approach recast minimalist forms and strategies — repetition, geometry, the grid — by introducing handmade and subtly irregular elements.
Photo③
Installation view of Kazuko Miyamoto: To perform a line, 2022© Naho Kubota. Courtesy of Japan Society. Activating the Readymade Since 1980, Miyamoto has infused found materials and artifacts with autobiographical and historical moments that have shaped her world. Miyamoto’s kimono series (1987–2000s) is particularly notable, exploring the signification within archival traces and the pliant nature of personal identity.
The kimono has been an important and recurring motif that has served to express aspects of the artist’s own history and cultural identity. From a young age, Miyamoto studied traditional Japanese dance in which she wore the kimono, a garment that she also learned to construct and sew as a child in Tokyo.
The exhibition space was designed to emphasize the kimono’s sculptural qualities. Ransmeier designed elegant hanging mechanisms on which the kimono works hang, supported by (and juxtaposed with) industrial metal columns. The kimono are complemented by a display of related works on paper as well as selections of paintings and drawings from Miyamoto’s oeuvre that echo the artist’s formal strategies.
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION Name: Kazuko Miyamoto: To perform a line
Where: Japan Society (333 East 47th Street New York, NY 10017, USA)
When: April 29 – July 10, 2022
For Tickets, Prices and to learn more: See the exhibition website, here.
Exhibition 3D Tour: See the exhibition’s digital portal, here.
Find and follow the Japan Society on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, and on the organization’s homepage.
Author: Tiffany Lambert, Curator, Japan Society
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The Special Committee on Nuclear Regulations of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, chaired by Junji Suzuki, has compiled a report containing proposals for more efficient safety inspections of Japan’s nuclear power facilities. The report was presented to Environment Minister Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in mid-May.
The Japan Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) has been taking such a long time to conduct its safety inspections that only 10 of the nuclear power plants shut down following the 2011 Fukushima disaster have been restarted. Consequently, the Special Committee on Nuclear Regulations called for the use of enhanced predictive analysis for safety inspections, for example by making use of data from inspections of nuclear power plants that have already passed inspection.
As a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, global energy prices have skyrocketed. That is certainly true in Japan, where electricity and gas costs continue to rise. Amidst these developments, reevaluations of nuclear energy are occurring worldwide because the energy source provides a stable supply of electrical power and facilitates decarbonization.
Prime Minister Kishida has also expressed his intention to pursue improving the efficiency of nuclear power facility inspections. Hopefully, the Prime Minister will be proactive in dealing with this problem and take the lead in getting the NRA to implement the proposals contained in the report. It is important to get the dormant nuclear power plants up and running again.
A street monitor in Tokyo’s city center announces the power supply shortage and blackout warning including all of Tokyo, on the evening of March 22, 2022. Lengthy Delays The standard administrative review process for safety inspections of nuclear power facilities by the NRA has been set at two years. This is in line with the goals of maintaining fairness and transparency in government administration called for in the Administrative Procedures Law.
As things now stand, however, the agency has been taking far longer to complete earthquake fault assessments and other inspection procedures. In fact, we have no way of estimating when it might finish these inspections. Take for example the case of Hokkaido Electric Power Co.’s Tomari Nuclear Power Plant, where inspections have been ongoing for nine years.
The LDP’s special committee offers 10 proposals in its report on the promotion of increased efficiency in inspections for the restart of nuclear facilities.
Chairperson Suzuki has pointed out: “Although it has already been 10 years since it was launched, the Nuclear Regulatory Authority has only gotten 10 nuclear power plants restarted. We have a strong sense of crisis that the Authority’s inspections have stalled.”
Kashiwazaki Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant is idle, despite having a good safety review. Recommendations to Help The report urges the NRA to actively incorporate new information about nuclear power regulations in other countries.
It also calls for strengthening communication between the NRA and the local governments of areas where the nuclear power facilities are located, as well as the electric power companies that operate them. For example, it says that the NRA should thoroughly brief these concerned parties on the status of inspections.
The NRA is an organization that operates independently from other Japanese government agencies. It is established to conduct safety inspections following the 2011 accident at the Tokyo Electric Power Co. Fukushima Daiichi reactor.
Although ensuring the safety of nuclear power facilities is essential, that does not justify a self-righteous attitude on the part of the NRA. It is only natural that the efficiency and transparency of any administrative agency be questioned.
Remember that just this March Tokyo Electric Power Co. and Tohoku Electric Power Co. for the first time issued electrical power outage warnings for the regions they serve. These areas were teetering on the brink of large-scale blackouts.
Getting Japan’s nuclear power plants up and running again as soon as possible will provide a stable supply of electrical power and help to bring down the cost of electricity. Prime Minister Kishida needs to exercise strong leadership regarding this issue.
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(Read the editorial in Japanese at this link.)
Author: Editorial Board, The Sankei Shimbun
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David Benoit became the first head coach in Kyoto Hannaryz history. In June 2009, the former NBA forward was hired to lead the bj-league expansion team
Thirteen years later, Roy Rana became the fourth bench boss in team history. Rana recently wrapped up his third season as an assistant coach/chief of staff for the Sacramento Kings, who missed the playoffs for the 17th consecutive NBA season.
Kings sideline supervisor Luke Walton was axed in November and interim boss Alvin Gentry coached the club for the remainder of the 2021-22 NBA campaign. A new era will soon begin in Sactown, with Golden State Warriors lead assistant Mike Brown set to take over as the Kings’ new coach after the ongoing NBA playoffs.
Which brings us back to the Hannaryz. Over the past two seasons, the Hannaryz had a combined record of 35-79. They went 14-43 this season in the B.League, which formed as a merger between the bj-league and NBL (the JBL’s successor) in 2016.
- Shinya Ogawa served as the Kyoto Hannaryz’s head coach for the 2020-21 and 21-22 seasons. (B.LEAGUE)
Shinya Ogawa, 38, coached Kyoto for the past two seasons, before mutually parting ways with the club earlier this month.
Rana, 53, faces a major challenge in rebuilding the Hannaryz. The B.League’s 11-team West had six teams with winning records in 2021-22, and the league as a whole has gotten better since its inception.
But Rana’s vast experience at the youth, high school, collegiate and international levels, along with three valuable seasons working in the world’s top hoop circuit, will serve like a compass in guiding him in this next chapter of his coaching career.
Roy Rana became Egypt’s head coach in January. (FIBA.BASKETBALL) Who Is He? A related new chapter began in January, when Rana was named the Egypt men’s national team’s new head coach.
Egyptian basketball officials had an up-close view of Rana’s coaching skills on display in 2017, when he led Canada to the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup title, the nation’s first-ever title in the tournament. To reach the final in Cairo, Canada upset the seven-time defending champion United States in the semifinals.
Indeed, Rana will be a busy fellow juggling his coaching duties with the Egypt national team and the Hannaryz.
Hannaryz general manager Takuma Watanabe believes Rana is the right coach to spearhead the club’s rebuilding efforts.
“Our club and Mr. Rana have communicated on various aspects of organizational development, areas of improvement, direction of the future organization, and what an ideal team will look like,” Watanabe said in a statement on May 19. “Our club is convinced that in order to start a new phase of program building, we require Mr. Rana’s experience and knowledge as our new head coach.”
The GM added, “Not only has he built an impressive and successful career, he has countless experiences of building championship-level programs. His caring personality will bring great influence to veteran players, international players looking to build their careers and our younger developmental players and staff. More importantly, Mr. Rana has a genuine interest in supporting and impacting the beautiful and historic city of Kyoto and its passionate and supportive fans.”
- Roy Rana is seen during his tenure with the Sacramento Kings. (NBAE)
Getting an Outside View I reached out to a longtime basketball insider this week to ask him about Rana’s coaching credentials.
My source, who has worked as an NBA scout for many years, said, “Roy Rana has a great reputation as a coach in Canada at Ryerson University and as the coach of Canada’s junior team. I had an executive at Nike tell me how much they respected him.”
In short, the source said, “he has great credentials.”
In this era of global basketball, the importance of personal relationships with people at the highest levels of the game can’t be overstated, and Rana has cultivated relationships with players, coaches, scouts, front-office personnel and other key movers and shakers in the industry.
What’s more, through his association with the Nike Hoop Summit, an international All-Star Game held each year, as head coach of the World Team, starting in 2011, Rana helped develop many of the current era’s elite players. More than 30 of Rana’s World Team players competed in the NBA this season, including the New York Knicks’ RJ Barrett, the No. 3 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, and superstars Nikola Jokic (Denver Nuggets) and Joel Embiid (Philadelphia 76ers).
He also served as Germany’s lead assistant at the Tokyo Olympics last summer.
Before that, Rana served as Canada’s head coach, leading the team to a 10-2 record in FIBA Americas qualifying to book a spot in the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup.
Basketball is his passion, a necessary component of success at the pro level.
- Roy Rana leads Canada at the 2016 FIBA Americas U18 Championship in Valdivia, Chile. FIBA.BASKETBALL)
A Track Record of Success “[I am] incredibly honored to become a part of the Kyoto Hannaryz and excited to lead our team in one of the great cities in the world,” Rana said in a news release. “I will do my best to represent and bring great spirit to the Hannaryz as we begin to build and climb in one of the fastest emerging basketball leagues globally, the B.League.”
Rana was born to Indian parents in Wolverhampton, England. The family moved to Canada when he was 1. He grew up in Toronto.
Early in his coaching career, he demonstrated the ability to lead. He enjoyed a remarkable run at the Eastern Commerce Collegiate Institute, a high school, from 2000-09. His overall record there was 256-39, and he was named the Canadian High School Coach of the Year in 2003, 2004, 2005 and ’06.
In addition to coaching accolades and a remarkable winning percentage, Rana led Eastern Commerce to four provincial titles and nine city championships.
In 2004, Rana had an eye-opening experience during a weeklong visit to Michigan State, where he watched coach Tom Izzo running the show.
“Rana said he was blown away by the huge emphasis on character and discipline at Izzo’s practices, down to the tucked-in shirts and 60-second breaks,” The Globe and Mail’s Hayley Mick wrote in 2011. “He also seized the chance to ask Izzo to share some secrets from his playbook.”
After coaching at Toronto’s Eastern Commerce, Rana guided the Ryerson University men’s squad from 2009-19. He took a sabbatical from 2015-16.
- Former Canada Under-18 men’s national team coach Roy Rana. (FIBA.BASKETBALL)
Learning and Growing as a Coach At Ryerson, now known as Toronto Metropolitan University, Rana compiled a 195-87 record before joining the Sacramento Kings.
In May 2020, he reflected on his first season as an NBA assistant coach, telling ESPN that he viewed working in the world’s premier league as a collaborative experience.
“As far as my role is concerned,” Rana said in that interview, “I’m just a very, very small part of a big wheel and I make my contributions in every opportunity that I can, whether that’s through my work with [head] coach [Luke] Walton or whether that’s work with our players or whether that’s as a scout.”
After one season into his three-year tenure in Sacramento, Rana insisted he was blessed to be immersed by the sport, growing and learning as a basketball leader.
“I’m getting a PhD in basketball at the highest level,” he was quoted as saying by ESPN.
- Roy Rana (FIBA.BASKETBALL)
The Day the Passion for Basketball Hit In an April appearance on Fran Fraschilla’s World of Basketball podcast, Rana provided a wide range of insights about his basketball coaching career and his formative years growing up in Canada.
Fraschilla asked Rana how he developed a lifelong passion for basketball.
Rana said, “I loved every sport. I would read the sports section of the newspaper every day. …. I’d consume everything I could, and then I can honestly tell you probably my transformational moment was in the fifth grade.”
What happened?
“We had a poster of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in our gym class and it just looked like space age to me,” Rana called. “He had the goggles on, he was taking the hook shot, and we’d watch the sport highlights at night, and there he was, just dominating the highlights. … I just thought that that skyhook was what got me hooked. It helped me fall in love with the game.”
Now recognized as one of Canada’s top basketball coaches of the 21st century, Rana said being asked to serve as a scholastic coach when he worked as a teacher was a blessing in disguise.
“I fell into it through my progression into being a high school teacher, and that’s kind of how I got started,” he told Fraschilla.
He added: “That obsession has turned into a pretty good career.”
Kyoto Hannaryz fans will witness Roy Rana’s passion for basketball in the 2022-23 season as the club rebuilds.
Author: Ed Odeven
Follow Ed on JAPAN Forward’s [Japan Sports Notebook] here on Sundays, in [Odds and Evens] here during the week, and Twitter＠ed_odeven, and find him on JAPAN Forward’s dedicated sports website, SportsLook.
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On May 24, the leaders of Japan, Australia, the United States and India met in Tokyo for the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad.
This is the second in-person leaders meeting, following the summit in Washington DC in September 2021. In addition, two online leaders meetings have taken place since 2019.
The frequency the leaders have met in recent years underscores the leaders’ resolve in showing their stand on the Indo-Pacific, in an implicit will to fight back the influence of China.
The four leaders agreed on protecting the international rule of law and condemning “unilateral use of violence in any territory”, including a surprisingly strong (if nonspecific) statement against violence, the likes of which are seen in the war in Ukraine.
Collaboration in various sectors was also agreed upon, including in the health and energy security, space information and climate change sectors.
Their meeting comes just a day after US President Joe Biden unveiled the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) in Tokyo on May 23. The new framework is set to include 13 countries: the Quad members, along with New Zealand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Indonesia, among others. Together, these countries account for approximately 40 percent of the world’s GDP.
Commenting on the IPEF’s importance in an afternoon press conference, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida stressed the significance of having the participation of both the United States and India, something which wasn’t true for either economy-related agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
Albanese celebrates his victory on May 22 (AP). Australia’s New PM Attends Two Days After Winning Election It was telling that all four leaders were there at all. US President Biden had been facing a tough period domestically, and Antony Albanese had traveled to Japan directly after winning the election to become Prime Minister of Australia on May 22.
Albanese’s attendance so soon after the election campaign even garnered a joke in Joe Biden’s opening remarks when he said, “If you fall asleep, I will understand.”
Albanese for his part, in his first international assignment since taking office, took the opportunity to say that “Australia has just changed government, but its commitment to the Quad has not changed, and will not change.
“Our cooperation is built on the values that we share: a commitment to representative democracy, the rule of law, and the right to live in peace,” Albanese emphasized.
Notably, the Australian leader in his opening remarks pushed an environmental agenda, pledging the country’s aim to obtain 43 percent carbon neutrality by 2030 and to reach carbon zero by 2050.
Unified in the Indo-Pacific In a 3 pm press conference following the summit, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida emphasized the message of unity he said the four leaders shared.
“On issues including the war in Ukraine, we agreed on the importance of protecting the rule of law and the integrity of a country’s territory, as well as condemning the unilateral use of force in any territory, including the Indo-Pacific,” said the leader of the host country.
The statement by the four countries in particular included the pledge to maintain “freedom of navigation and overflight, to meet challenges to the maritime rules-based order, including in the East and South China Seas.”
This is a message directly to China, which has been conducting regular incursions into foreign waters, alarming Japan and other countries.
In response to North Korea’s frequent launch of nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), the countries also agreed on “commitment to the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.” Other regions of Asia also garnered their attention, as the leaders expressed their serious concern about the situation in Myanmar.
Broad Areas of Collaboration The joint statement identifies areas of collaboration, including $500 million USD ininfrastructure to be spent over the next five years. COVID-19 vaccines, cybersecurity, space information sharing, and climate change were addressed, the latter seeing the launch of the “Quad Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Package (Q-CHAMP).
In the sector of maritime defense, there was a discussion about the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA), which has been designed to facilitate the coordination and response of regional partners to humanitarian and natural disasters, and combat illegal fishing.
Other areas for attention by all four countries include health, technology, and the announcement of the Quad fellowship. The fellowship, a new concept, would bring 100 students from Quad countries to the United States to pursue graduate degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects.
Commenting on the discussions among four leaders in the press conference, Kishida said: “We have managed to send a strong message from Tokyo to the world by the fact that now, more than ever, a free and open Indo-Pacific is important to the leaders of all four countries. And I think it has a renewed importance.”
Statements of Regional Unity The US, Japan and Australia all mentioned Russia’s war in Ukraine in their opening remarks to the summit, as a way of expressing the urgent need for Indo-Pacific ties.
“We are navigating a dark hour in our shared history,” said Biden in his opening remarks, calling Russia’s war “brutal, unprovoked”, triggering “a humanitarian catastrophe.”
Australia’s prime minister echoed the same worries in a veiled reference as he said: “As the Indo-Pacific is reshaped, the Quad is needed now more than ever to meet the challenges and threats of a less certain world.
Yet, as much as Kishida stressed the important words of unity, there was an elephant in the room in the sense that the joint statement contained no clear condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
India’s Ambivalence India has decades of economic and military ties with Russia. It’s estimated that about 50 percent of military aid to India comes from Russia.
India was also the only of the four countries in the Quad to abstain from the United Nations General Assembly resolution on March 3, which condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
And in fact, Prime Minister Modi didn’t mention Ukraine at all in his opening remarks. Instead, he stressed the importance of a free and open Indo-Pacific as a “force for good.”
That ambivalence carried over into the leaders’ joint statement with regards to China, Russia’s ally and an important Indian economic partner. China is never mentioned explicitly in the joint statement, with the exception of the wording,“East and South China Seas.”
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Kishida brushed over the differences in opinion among countries, however, remarking in the press conference:
“Among these four countries, of course there are slight differences in the positions of each country. Even with those differences we reached an agreement on certain points. And we managed to send a message from Tokyo to the world, and I think that has an important meaning.”
The leaders agreed to have their next in person meeting in Australia in 2023, where they have pledged to continue discussions to achieve a free and open Indo-Pacific.
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Japan’s Defense Department has begun to specify details for creating a successor to the Japan Air Self-Defense Force’s (ASDF) F2 fighter jet. Government sources with knowledge of the project revealed on May 13.
Japan was previously considering Lockheed Martin for technological development support. However, eventually, major British air defense equipment manufacturer BAE Systems PLC and Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd were selected to be the lead contractors.
Based on the May 5 Japan-Britain summit talks in London, the joint F2 replacement project details will be finalized by the end of 2022, the sources said.
Japanese PM Fumio Kishida and British PM Boris Johnson shake hands in London on May 5, 2022. The Search for Project Partners In December 2021, defense authorities in the United Kingdom and Japan committed to research engine development for a next-generation fighter. Discussions are underway to coordinate Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and BAE Systems in developing the fuselage.
Sources said another multinational team had been assembled to create the engine. Japan’s leading heavy machinery manufacturer IHI Corporation and British carmaker Rolls-Royce, LTD would take on this role.
An Italian company and Lockheed Martin may participate in some portions of the project. Sources also explained the possibilities of joint development of the fighter’s major components.
As the project’s lead contractor, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries had been probing for terms of an agreement to acquire technological support from Lockheed Martin. The two companies had produced the F2 together. But the negotiations with Lockheed Martin were not progressing. Japan’s Defense Ministry decided to switch to Britain on the condition that the US government approved.
However, to ensure the interoperability of fighters between Tokyo and Washington, the existing Japan-US coordination for fighter operations will remain active. Japan will still share joint development plans with the United States for a separate combat support system project employing unmanned aircraft.
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Shifting Around Hurdles Given that decommissioning periods for old-type fighters differ between Japan and the US, there have been problems regarding their replacements’ costs. In addition, a high level of secrecy permitted Lockheed-Martin to seek fighter refurbishing on the US mainland.
Such tight security posed “black box” hurdles. According to our sources, it would have impeded technological sharing between the two countries.
The Ministry of Defense has planned to commence the next-generation fighter operations around 2035. It has already appropriated ￥85.8 billion JPY ($664 million USD) in F2 successor development expenses in the fiscal 2022 budget.
As a senior official of the Ministry of Defense put it, the next-generation fighter development project is “of epoch-making significance, as we have had no full-fledged plans for jointly developing a fighter with a country other than the United States.”
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(Read the article in Japanese at this link.)
Author: The Sankei Shimbun
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Do you know the difference between average life expectancy and healthy life expectancy? What should you be concerned about if you want to train in hypoxic conditions, safely and effectively like athletes?
Dr. Toshitaka Yamakawa, an associate professor in the Faculty of Advanced Science and Technology at Kumamoto University, found in his recent research that real-time monitoring of heart rate and arterial oxygen saturation (SpO2) was a useful way for safe hypoxic training. He then developed a wearable device to measure both of them.
If hypoxic training could be carried out more easily by non-athletes, it would contribute to the prevention of lifestyle diseases. And as a consequence, it would help extend healthy life expectancies.
The research by Dr. Yamakawa was published in the Journal of Digital Life, a multidisciplinary, peer-reviewed, open access, online journal based in Japan.
Japanese are well-known for their longevity. According to the World Health Organization’s 2019 data, the life expectancy of Japanese people is in the top tier of countries all over the world. For men, the expectancy is 81.49 years, which is the second longest ー after Switzerland. For women, it is 86.94 years ー the longest among all countries.
However, there is an issue. The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has calculated the difference between life expectancy and “healthy life” expectancy. That number indicates the number of years in a lifetime that people have to rely on medicine or assistance from others as they age.
Lifestyle Disease and Dependency Based on 2019 data, it turns out that is about 9 years for men and about 12 years for women. Neither timespan is short, reflecting the difficulties people suffer as they grow older.
The greater the difference between life expectancy and healthy life expectancy, the heavier the financial burden on society for medical or welfare assistance. At the same time, the elderly themselves, or their families, may face a declining quality of life over that period.
Lifestyle diseases are the cause of about 60 percent of deaths in Japan and have a negative impact on patients’ lives. To avoid the undesirable side effects of longevity, the Japanese ministry has pointed out the importance of focusing on prevention and effective treatment of these diseases.
Taking a Look At Hypoxic Training Hypoxic training, which has recently been gaining attention, provides one method for prevention of lifestyle diseases. It is considered to be an effective therapy particularly for people with low physical fitness and obesity because it may provide sufficient benefits, even with a low exercise load, in comparison with exercise in a normal oxygen environment.
Some competitive athletes train themselves in a normobaric hypoxic room in which oxygen concentration is low and air pressure is normal.
However, the safety of hypoxic training for non-athletes has been unclear, along with guidance as to the appropriate amount of exercise load for different individuals. Response to the hypoxic load can vary widely among ordinary people, unlike competitive athletes who routinely undergo cardiopulmonary load training.
Looking for Answers for Non-athletes A study was conducted in the search for a safe and effective way of hypoxic exercise for non-athletes. Twenty healthy university students with no cardiovascular and respiratory diseases were selected as the experimental subjects.
They walked on a self-propelled treadmill for 15 minutes in a hypoxic room. Ten of the 20 subjects performed an exercise test first under normal conditions in a room with 20% oxygen. Then they exercised again under hypoxic conditions in a room controlled at 16% oxygen.
The remaining 10 subjects performed the exercise tests under the same two oxygen saturation levels, but in a reverse order.
The participants’ energy expenditures were measured as they exercised by activity meters attached to their waists. Heart rate and SpO2 measures were additionally taken before, during and after the exercise activity. Exercise load was controlled based on target heart rate, calculated for each subject using formulas based on age and resting heart rate.
Results of the research shows that the heart rate values were not significantly different between 20% and 16% and that the energy expenditure values are almost the same between them. Subjects went more slowly and covered shorter distances under conditions of 16% oxygen, producing values significantly lower than those found when they exercised under conditions of 20% oxygen.
In other words, despite the difference in conditions, the subjects’ bodies adjusted and heart rates and energy expenditures were almost equal.
Study Findings The results suggested that real time monitoring of heart rate and controlled exercise load can lead to sufficient energy expenditure and adequate cardiac load for beneficial health, even in a hypoxic environment. According to Dr. Yamakawa, the experiment showed: “SpO2 reflected the hypoxic load and could be used as an index to evaluate effectiveness and safety of hypoxic training.”
In association with the research, Dr. Yamakawa developed a wearable pulse oximeter that can measure both heart rate and SpO2 from the earlobes. The data is transmitted to a smartphone application which instructs users to increase or decrease exercise velocity when heart rate is too low or too high. The application also directs users to stop exercising if the SpO2 is too low for more than 1 minute.
In conclusion, Dr. Yamakawa reported: “Real-time monitoring of heart rate and SpO2 can be used to evaluate the exercise load and safety of hypoxic training.”
He expects that the practical application of a wearable device will contribute to the widespread use of hypoxic training, leading to the prevention of lifestyle diseases and the extension of healthy life expectancies.
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Among the black holes, the heaviest and most mysterious of celestial bodies in our universe is Sagittarius A*. It is the black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy, home to our solar system.
On May 12, an international team including the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan announced that they had taken an image of Sagittarius A* for the first time. Black holes attract all substances with their extremely strong gravity, so they are difficult to see. This is only the second successfully captured image of a black hole in the world, and the first in the Milky Way Galaxy.
The Japanese members of the team said at a press conference in Tokyo on the same day: “It will lead to an understanding of the variety of black holes and galaxies. A new dawn of research has begun.”
Where is It? Sagittarius A* is located about 27,000 light years from Earth and has a mass of 4 million times that of the sun. Its existence was confirmed by European and American researchers, and was the topic of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics.
However, it was impossible to take an image of it because it absorbed all light and was pitch-black.
The international team built a high-resolution observation system to address this problem. It is comparable to a giant Earth-sized telescope, made by linking the ALMA telescope in Chile, which was built partly by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, to other radio telescopes. A total of eight radio telescopes in six locations — including the United States, Europe, and the South Pole — are part of it.
After observing in April 2017 and analyzing the data, the scientists were able to capture the glowing of the surrounding gas, and a black-hole-like figure with a diameter of about 60 million kilometers emerged in the center.
Comparing the 2019 Discovery in the M86 Galaxy The team used the same method in 2019 to create the world’s first image of a black hole. The subject of this image was a supermassive black hole at the center of the M87 galaxy in Virgo, 55 million light years away, with a mass 6.5 billion times that of the sun. The observations were carried out at the same time as for Sagittarius A, but the analysis for the M87 galaxy came first because the matter surrounding Sagittarius A had fast and unstable motion.
The two have differing characteristics. The black hole of the M87 galaxy was confirmed to have a jet-like phenomena in which gas is ejected at a tremendous speed. But this is not the case for Sagittarius A*.
Professor Mareki Honma of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, representative for Japan in the international team, said: “Comparing the images in detail will help clarify the origin of the difference in activity and the effect on the galaxy. It will also help verify whether the familiar laws of physics hold in spaces with strong gravity.”
Observing and Photographing with an Earth-Sized Telescope
How Black Holes Work A black hole is a celestial body with an extremely large amount of matter stuffed in a small volume. It has an exceptionally strong force of gravity. Even light cannot escape, and the black hole sucks in everything, including the surrounding gas.
As light is not emitted, it is difficult to capture its figure. For that reason, observations consist of capturing the light, radio, and X-ray waves of the surrounding gas and stars.
Furthermore, all light is swallowed in the middle of the black hole, leaving a dark gap. The surrounding bright ring is radio waves emitted from the high-temperature plasma gas near the black hole.
Due to the strong gravity, the direction that the radio waves propagate is bent. That allows even those waves that initially weren’t headed towards Earth to be seen here.
The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) is built to be a giant, high-resolution observation system, essentially an Earth-sized telescope. By linking and synchronizing the ALMA telescope in Chile, partly built by the National Observatory, and other radio telescopes from all over the world, it becomes possible to image the region surrounding the black hole in high resolution.
The EHT has the resolving power equivalent to 2 million times that of a human’s eyesight. Think of it as the equivalent of seeing a golf ball placed on the moon from Earth.
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(Read the related Sankei Shimbun articles in Japanese at this link and this link.)
Author: The Sankei Shimbun
The post New Dawn of Research Begins with Capture of First Black Hole Image in the Milky Way first appeared on JAPAN Forward. Related posts:
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Against the backdrop of Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and United States President Joe Biden met in Tokyo on May 23 in what was Biden’s first trip to Japan since taking office.
The invasion of Ukraine has shaken the global order, with repercussions even reaching the Indo-Pacific region. Biden has been strongly supportive of Ukraine. At this time his visit to Japan, a neighbor of China, is highly significant as it shows that the most important concern of the Biden administration remains deterring Chinese expansionism.
The two leaders criticized the Russian invasion and reaffirmed their position that the use of force to unilaterally alter the status quo ー anywhere ー is totally unacceptable. They also agreed that Japan and the United States would cooperate in order to jointly respond to threats from Russia, China, and North Korea.
Bolstering Deterrence of China Biden’s response to a question during the press conference following his meeting with PM Kishida attracted considerable attention. When a reporter asked what the United States would do if China invaded Taiwan, President Biden clearly stated that the US military would come to the defense of Taiwan.
Beijing has refused to rule out the use of military force to annex Taiwan. And a Taiwan contingency would inevitably involve Japan because of its geographical proximity. For that reason, Chinese adventurism must be deterred.
The longstanding stance of several US administrations on the issue of Taiwan has been one of “strategic ambiguity.” However, the use of such delicately nuanced diplomatic language with a Chinese regime that respects only power falls on deaf ears.
That a president is willing to clearly announce that the United States will help defend Taiwan serves to enhance deterrence. White House officials later clarified Biden’s answer by saying that US policy on the Taiwan question has not changed. But the fact remains that the President said what he did.
We would point out that previously in Japan former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had said, “A Taiwan emergency is a Japanese emergency.” Since Prime Minister Kishida, members of his Cabinet, and the ruling party agree, they should not hesitate to speak out.
Deterring a China that is using its mammoth economic strength to rapidly expand its military power will be no easy task. While continuing to cooperate with international society in that regard, we must look to the Japan-US alliance to play the central role. We should realize that the world has never before looked to the Japan-US alliance to play a critical role as much as it does today.
Enhancing Their Efforts Quad leaders meet in Tokyo, from front; PM of Australia Anthony Albanese, on his left US President Joe Biden, at the back PM of Japan Fumio Kishida, and on the right PM of India Narendra Modi. May 24, 2022 (Photo by Yasuhiro Yajima). The summit participants deserve praise for announcing various initiatives for enhancing deterrence capabilities.
The two leaders concurred that peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is a must if international society is to enjoy peace and prosperity.
With China and North Korea in mind, the two sides also agreed on close consultations, including at the Cabinet level, aimed at strengthening “extended deterrence” by the United States in defense of Japan that includes both nuclear weapons and conventional military forces.
China and North Korea continue to strengthen their nuclear forces, while Russia is threatening Ukraine and NATO with its nuclear arsenal. The time has come for Japan to review whether the “nuclear umbrella” provided by the United States is sufficiently reliable.
- [Speaking Out] Why Not Discuss Nuclear Weapons?
We need to shun taboos and engage in real debate about what Japan actually requires to defend its people, considering all options, including nuclear sharing and the development of an independent nuclear capability.
Without a doubt it will take a reasonable amount of time to reach a decision and then implement it. In ensuring Japan has a nuclear deterrent that will form the basis of our national security, we cannot waste a single day. We urgently need to review the state of the current nuclear umbrella and then take steps to strengthen it.
Reassessing the Nuclear Umbrella President Biden welcomed the announcement by Prime Minister Kishida that he had resolved to seek a larger defense budget so that Japan could “drastically bolster its military strength.” For the sake of the Japanese nation and the preservation of peace, we hope that the Prime Minister will follow through on his promise.
Prime Minister Kishida must begin explaining to the governing parties and the nation about the importance of acquiring a nuclear deterrent and a counterattack capability while increasing defense spending to more than 2% of the GDP.
New Economic Framework Again with China in mind, President Biden has adopted a stance that emphasizes the economic situation in Asia. Japan and the United States are among the 13 nations participating in the new Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) launched in Tokyo on May 23.
The US developed this concept as a framework to replace the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which it is not inclined to rejoin at this time.
Meanwhile, in its pursuit of regional hegemony, China has joined the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and has applied for membership in the TPP. Strengthening regional solidarity centered on Japan and the United States is essential in order to counter Beijing’s strategy. Japan should be proactive in this respect.
One problem is that since the IPEF will not get involved in discussions concerning tariff reduction, its benefits may not be obvious to Asian countries that are eager to export to the US market.
Another question is whether other countries will go along with the high-quality regulations demanded by countries like Japan and the United States. In this regard, Japan may be expected to act as a bridge between the United States and Asian countries in the debate concerning how to establish a highly effective framework.
It is unfortunate that Taiwan was not included among the IPEC founding members. No doubt, participating countries are wary of getting caught up in a confrontation between the United States and China and fear that Taiwan’s participation in IPEC would adversely affect their ties with Beijing.
Nonetheless, if Taiwan were to participate, it would serve to further strengthen regional supply chains. Japan should approach other participants and encourage them to agree to let Taiwan join the IPEC.
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(Read the editorial in Japanese at this link.)
Author: Editorial Board, The Sankei Shimbun
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MANILA, Philippines — Japan’s ambassador to Manila, Kazuhiko Koshikawa, paid a courtesy call on the Philippines’ presumptive president Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday, May 23, discussing infrastructure assistance and job opportunities in Japan for more Filipinos.
Koshikawa came to Marcos’s campaign headquarters- turned- transition office with two other ambassadors — those of South Korea and India — and the chargé d’affaires of the United States embassy.
In a press briefing after the meeting, Marcos said that, in his individual discussions with the envoys, they agreed that “the survival and stability of the global economy, even just the regional economy, is going to depend on the partnerships we make with the other countries.”
He added, “We have to open as much of the economy as we can to trade.”
Koshikawa, he said, spoke about projects that could be pursued via official development assistance through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
“He showed us many possibilities in terms of…transportation infrastructure…and also employment,” Marcos said. “Japan would like to see an increase in the employment of Filipinos in Japan. So we will pursue those opportunities.”
Philippines and Japan Later on Monday, Marcos tweeted about his “fruitful discussion” with Koshikawa:
Grateful to Ambassador Koshikawa Kazuhiko for the fruitful discussion on how the Philippines and Japan can work together to further improve our transportation and infrastructure. pic.twitter.com/avWXoTQCyV
— Bongbong Marcos (@bongbongmarcos) May 23, 2022
Marcos, son of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos who was deposed through a people power revolt 36 years ago, won by a landslide in the recently concluded presidential election. His running mate Sara, daughter of the outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte, also won with an overwhelming lead.
The presumptive president, once officially proclaimed in the coming days, will assume office midday on June 30 for a six-year term.
He inherits from the outgoing government the enormous task of rebuilding the economy, with debts having piled up as a means to finance pandemic response in the past two years. At the media briefing Monday, he mentioned that his administration could only have a better handle of the finances for projects once the national budget for 2023 is passed.
On May 20, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida spoke on the telephone with Marcos to congratulate him – the third head of government to do so after United States President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“Prime Minister Kishida expressed his resolve to continue cooperation on the economic front, such as infrastructure development…as well as in the security and coast guard law enforcement fields…among others,” a statement from the Japanese embassy said.
“In response, President-elect Marcos stated that the relations with Japan are of utmost importance to the Philippines, and communicated his intention to deepen cooperation with Prime Minister Kishida in a wide range of areas,” it continued.
The two leaders agreed to hold an in-person meeting as soon as possible.
The presumptive president-elect of the Philippines met with the Ambassador of Japan and others on May 23, 2022, in Manila (Provided by the media office of Ferdinand Marcos Jr.) Japanese Aid As of December 2020, JICA has 79 ongoing projects across the Philippines, grouped into eight types:
- Governance
- Economic infrastructure
- Investment promotion and industrial development
- Disaster risk reduction and management
- Agriculture and agribusiness development
- Environment and energy
- Health and social development
- Peace and development in Mindanao
After the Marcoses and their cronies were ousted in 1986, official documents surfaced, revealing that during the dictatorship of the father Marcos, he and his associates had received commissions from loans that were meant to fund Japanese projects in the Philippines. Lessons from the scandal became a factor in the passage of Japan’s ODA Charter in 1992.
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Author: JAPAN Forward
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The official newspaper of the Chinese military has published an article urging the PLA’s forces to prepare for war. The opinion piece appeared on April 20 in The Liberation Army Daily, contributed by General Ding Laifu, who recently took command of the 73rd Army Group in the Eastern Theater Command Ground Force. The article’s title is: “The Army Must be Prepared for War.”
The 73rd Group Army is based in Fujian Province and is the main front line force against Taiwan. Its commander-in-chief, General Ding’s writing on “war preparedness,” has attracted much attention.
The article starts with an argument that the military should always be prepared for war as a basic premise: readiness must be a matter of course. Ding criticizes the actual “war preparedness” on the part of the People’s Liberation Army as follows.
“In some units, there is no sense of urgency in military training and preparedness for war, and soldiers are not fully ready for actual combat. The root cause of this problem is something called ‘peace disease.’”
“Some officers are so used to being ‘peace-time officers’ that their minds are not on the battlefield. Instead, they spend their time doing paperwork, processing documents, or holding various meetings.”
“Some officers talk a great deal about ‘fighting when the time comes and winning if we fight,’ but in their hearts, they live their days thinking ‘war will never happen, and even if it does, it won’t be our turn to fight.”
The article thus boldly exposes the reality of poor “war preparedness” on “some part” of the Chinese military. Further, General Ding expresses a sense of crisis, saying, “If this condition continues, our military will become insubstantial, and an army in name only.”
Lifting the Veil – A Little China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) navy soldiers on vehicles carrying anti-ship missilesー Tiananmen Square ーmilitary parade in Beijing, September 3, 2015. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj The Chinese military is usually shrouded in a thick veil, and its inner workings are not well known. But revelations by a local commander on a contested frontier have brought its condition to light.
When General Ding exposes a problem, he is careful and uses the word “some” a lot. The term “some” is a Chinese Communist Party-style idiom that is often used when they want to emphasize that “it is a limited phenomenon.”
However, the fact that the commander of the collective eastern forces felt a sense of crisis and made public an internal military problem is noteworthy. The revelations offered in the article serve as an indication of the seriousness of the situation.
This author suspects that the problems Ding recognized are by no means limited to a few officers but would be pervasive.
In other words, the current Chinese military officers are affected by what Japan calls “peace disease,” a form of peace complacency. Even though they are military personnel, their will to be prepared for war and fight in times of emergency has considerably dissipated.
Ding has written his article in the context of the 73rd Group Army that he leads. If this is the state of the front line troops against Taiwan, one can only guess the poor state of the Chinese military as a whole.
Heeding Xi’s Words President Xi Jinping, the supreme commander of the Chinese military, has in recent years frequently instructed or called for the military to prepare for war with the very invasion of Taiwan in mind. Every time he inspects the military, he always gives his standard key directive: “hurry up to engage troops in realistic combat exercises in preparation for war!”
If there was a widespread tendency in the military to neglect the need to improve the crucial combat readiness, it would indicate the Chinese military’s disregard for President Xi and a degree of disunity with him. At the same time, the Chinese military is not exempt from China’s traditional issues, such as corruption. That alone could contribute to a lousy, ineffectual attempt to solve the problem.
Lately, Russia’s aggression against Ukraine has exposed the surprising fragility of the supposedly mighty Russian military. Like the Russian army, which is a paper tiger, the Chinese military today faces a variety of problems.
We should be more objective in assessing the reality and actual effectiveness of the Chinese military while remaining highly vigilant in facing the military threat from China.
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(Read the China Watch column in Japanese at this link.)
Author: Seki Hei
The post China Watch | Commander’s Exposé Reveals Chinese Military Troubled by ‘Peace Disease’ first appeared on JAPAN Forward. Related posts:
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Greetings fellow readers of JAPAN Forward.
In Japan, where I live now, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are at long last starting to subside, and nearly all sports events are once again allowing spectators. At judo tournaments, too, organizers are now beginning to allow fans to watch the events in person. On April 29, the All Japan Judo Championships took place before spectators for the first time in three years at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo.
In this month’s message, I would like to share a few thoughts regarding this prestigious tournament.
Allure of the All Japan Judo Championships The All Japan Judo Championships, which have no weight class categories, first took place in 1948.
These days most top judo competitions, including the Olympic Games and the World Judo Championships, are subdivided into weight classes. Originally, however, judo competitions took place without weight distinctions. That being so, the All Japan Judo Championships can be said to showcase judo in its original form. It has, therefore, a special allure that makes all Japanese judoka eager to give it a try at least once.
I admit to being one of those judoka who fell under the spell of this tournament.
In fact, I participated in the tournament on twelve occasions, starting in 1996, when I was still a senior in high school, and continuing up until 2008, when I retired. And I took first place three of those times.
My feelings towards this particular tournament are totally different from those regarding the Olympics or world championships. For me, the All Japan Judo Championships stands at the pinnacle of the sport, and a judoka cannot claim to be the best of the best unless he has won it.
Certainly, many Japanese judoka active today feel the same way.
The All-Japan Judo Championship: Tatsuru Saito (above) defeats Kokoro Kageura to win the competition in overtime. April 29, 2022 at the Nippon Budokan. (Pool photo.) The 2022 Competition This year saw 47 men compete, with each determined to show that he is the finest judoka in Japan. The eventual champion turned out to be Tatsuru Saito, who won his first title.
Saito is still only 20 years old, and this was actually his second tournament appearance. At this time he seemed truly determined to take home the All Japan champion title.
Despite his formidable size ー Saito stands 190 centimeters tall and weighs in at 160 kilograms ー he exhibits the rare ability to deftly control his physical movements. His technical skills in terms of the finesse of his kumite grip and waza (judo techniques) are extraordinary. That makes for super-sized judo of the finest kind.
Since Saito is still developing, there is no doubt in my mind that he is destined to become a leading figure to lift Japanese judo into the future.
Everyone, please remember this name: Tatsuru Saito.
2022 All Japan Judo Championship winner Tatsuru Saito smiles for a commemorative photo with his family and related parties. To the left is his brother Ichiro, and the right is his mother Mieko. On April 29, 2022 at the Nippon Budokan (Pool photo) Athletes of All Shapes and Sizes Japan national judo team members that competed in the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics were invited to participate by recommendation in this year’s All Japan Judo Championships. The excitement level of the championships was raised especially by the presence of two gold medalists, Naohisa Takato in the 60-kg class and Shohei Ono (73 kg).
For those relatively lightweight entrants, winning against other competitors who weigh more than 90 kilograms is an extremely difficult task. Nevertheless, they gamely accepted the challenge. Why?
It must be because they were eager to see how well their judo skills would work on bigger opponents. Like true judoka, they were answering a natural desire to test themselves.
Unfortunately, both men lost their first match. But the sight of each of them boldly going up against a much larger opponent fully demonstrated the appeal of this tournament.
In fact, the unique appeal and value of this tournament is because it has no weight classes, instead bringing together judoka of all shapes and sizes to compete. The matches during the tournament allow judoka to give free play to their own strengths and individual characteristics. The allure is totally different from other tournaments.
National team coach Keiji Suzuki, (right), with his predecessor Kosei Inoue (left) at the training camp for the Judo World Championships. April 15, 2022, at Kokushikan University. (Pool photo.) International Judo Exchange My hope is that more people will come to know the attraction of these All Japan Judo Championships.
Before COVID-19, it was in fact quite common to see many foreign fans from various countries at the Budokan for this championship.
We now appear to be on the cusp of a time when international travel will once again be normal. As that happens, we look forward to welcoming spectators from around the world.
The All Japan Judo Federation distributes videos of tournaments through its official YouTube channel. Matches from the most recent All Japan Judo Championships can be found here.
Kosei Inoue, now in serving in leadership roles at the All Japan Judo Federation, is the former national coach of Japan’s men’s judo team and former Olympic and World judo champion and president of NPO Judos. Find his previous articles on JAPAN Forward here. Additional information about the NPO JUDOs can be found at this link.)
(Click here to read this article in Japanese.)
The post Kosei Inoue: The Challenge and Charm of the All Japan Championships first appeared on JAPAN Forward. Related posts:
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Leaders of the Quad countries are set to meet in person in Japan on Tuesday, May 24. Ahead of the meetings, India’s ambassador to Japan, Sanjay Kumar Verma, sat down for an exclusive interview with The Sankei Shimbun and JAPAN Forward.
The ambassador discusses India’s views about the Quad, which is made up of India, Australia, the United States, and Japan. He also answers questions about the Indian government’s response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Excerpts of the interview follow.
What are the main issues to discuss at the Quad leaders’ meeting? I cannot preempt what our leaders will discuss at the summit, but I am sure of these issues being very important globally at the moment.
The large objective is to have peace, stability, and the rule of law in the Indo-Pacific region.
In [the case of] hegemonistic tendency in this region ー or any part of the world ー we are completely against it. Unilaterally changing the status quo ー completely against it. Not following the rule of law ー completely against it.
These things are what the Quad would and should discuss in this region.
Ambassador Japan Sanjay Kumar Varma (photo by Yoshinori Saito) How should Japan, India, Australia, and the United States confront China? We have to collectively make it very clear that any attempt to change the status quo unilaterally will not be acceptable.
Collectively, we have got quite a bit of international responsibility between Japan, India, Australia, and the US. We should use that leverage to convince any country which is looking at changing the status quo.
What do you think about how the Quad should respond to China’s possible invasion of Taiwan? There are two aspects of this. The very first aspect is, should such an incident happen? It should not.
Then, what is the role of a platform like the Quad? Is that to stop such an incident?
If it reaches the time an incident happens, it’s too late. Therefore, the Quad collectively has to talk to countries, talk to governments, giving its perspective on regional stability and regional security. As a Quad partner, you would rather try to stop any incident [from happening] rather than considering what will happen after the incident happens.”
Can you discuss the neutral position India has taken on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine? Let me clarify that we don’t take a neutral stand, we take an independent stand. And this independent stand is based on our own perception of our national security, national strategy, our national beliefs and values.
We follow a principle of autonomy in foreign policy, which we do in almost any situation in the world. We also see that our national strategy and national interest has to be driven by our domestic needs.
On economic sanctions [including against Russia], India has never favored any economic sanctions in the world. Because we feel that economic sanctions hurt the common people more than they do the targeted individuals and organizations.
We would rather be in favor of dialogue and diplomacy.
Ambassador Japan Sanjay Kumar Varma on May 18, 2022 (photo by Yoshinori Saito) Isn’t India continuing to trade with Russia? India’s total requirements of energy have to be imported.
Our country is huge. It is a country of close to 1.4 billion people, so, therefore, energy needs will be higher. And also it is a country which is going through a development phase. It is a developing country.
The energy use will be more as it was for all the developed countries at some point. If you look at overall India’s energy mix, we import close to about 2% of our energy needs from Russia. Our basket is very wide, and our dependence on energy imports from Russia is only about 2% or more of total imports.
What is India’s role in stopping Russia’s invasion of Ukraine? India is probably one of the very few countries which has been able to talk to everyone. It has been able to speak to the United States and Russia. It has been able to speak to China and the US.
So, similarly, in this particular context, our Prime Minister [Narendra] Modi and our Foreign Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar, both of them are in touch with their counterparts in Russia and Ukraine. On a number of occasions we pressed constructive dialogue through diplomacy [between the two countries].
Japan’s Self-Defense Force aircraft was not allowed to land in India to load Ukraine aid. What’s the background of the denial? We had received a request for overflight of the SDF aircraft. [It was for] overflying of the Indian airspace, which had already been agreed to. So, probably, there was some kind of confusion as to the one or two objectives.
We were not denying the airlifting of humanitarian assistance from the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) depot in Mumbai by Japanese aircraft to take it to the conflict zone. Were we somehow trying to obstruct Japan’s effort? We were not.
Introducing Ambassador of India to Japan Sanjay Kumar Verma
Ambassador Verma joined the Ministry of External Affairs of the government of India in 1988. A graduate of Patna University, he pursued a postgraduate degree in physics at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Delhi. His service included terms at the consulate general in Hong Kong and the embassy of India in China, followed by assignments as ambassador of India to Sudan and consul general in Milan, Italy. Only 56 years old, H.E. Verma has served as the ambassador of India to Japan since January 2019. At the same time, he is the ambassador of India to the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
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Author: Mizuki Okada
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First of 5 parts
The Japanese have been hunting whales since ancient times. It is impossible to consider the relationship between the Japanese people and the sea without examining the history of whaling.
This is the first of a series of five articles on “Whales in the Japanese Landscape.” The series is part of a larger ongoing collection published by the Sankei Shimbun in Japanese, titled “Tales of the ‘Watatsumi’” after the Japanese god of the sea.
Series begins:
Traditional whaling, which prospered during Japan’s Edo Period, was both a large industry that commercialized one of the ocean’s great resources, and a unique culture.
What did whales mean to the Japanese, and to the human race? The author set out to investigate and unravel our relationship with whaling.
Just off of Taiji Harbor in Wakayama Prefecture, two large whale bones nearly twice my height stand at the entrance of Ebisu Shrine. The “whale bone torii” (a torii is a gateway to a Shinto shrine), is made from the jawbones of a sei whale.
When I saw it I thought it was part of an old religious tradition to honor whaling, but it turns out to be quite recent. The torii was first created in 1985, and the one that stands there now is the third generation.
Story Behind the Torii The Edo-Period poet and author Ihara Saikaku, who was based in Osaka, wrote about the torii in a story in his book The Japanese Family Storehouse (Kadokawa Gakugei Publisher, 2009 edition, in Japanese):
You can read the rest of this story and learn the story behind the Torii at this link. This article was first published by Whaling Today on May 18, 2022. Check out Whaling Today for deeper and unique insights into Japanese whaling culture, whale conservation efforts and sustainable whaling. (Read the column in Japanese at this link. This article is published in cooperation with the Institute of Cetacean Research. Let us hear your thoughts in our comments section.)
Series continues in part 2.
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Author: Hideaki Sakamoto
Hideaki Sakamoto is a member of the Sankei Newspaper’s Osaka editorial committee for the local news division.This series aims to experiment with new approaches in examining the spiritual history of Japanese that interact with the sea.
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The world is heavily focused on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. However, we must not forget the problems plaguing Myanmar.
There has been no movement toward normalization in the country, which has been under the rule of a military junta since a coup d’etat in 2020. Instead, the iron-fisted rule of the military government is becoming entrenched.
Some of the Southeast Asian state’s pro-democracy advocates have turned to an armed struggle. Reinforced by ethnic minority armed groups, pro-democracy forces have intensified their fighting against the Tatmadaw (the national army).
Myanmar’s economy has deteriorated severely because of the withdrawal of foreign capital, the declining value of the country’s currency, and soaring global prices associated with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This should not be allowed to continue.
- Japanese Enterprises in Distress in Myanmar Amid Riots Against the Military Coup
No Progress Commander Min Aung Hlaing saluting at the Armed Forces Memorial Ceremony in Naypyidaw, the capital of Myanmar, on March 27, 2022. (Myanmar armed forces via Kyodo) To resolve the situation, all parties concerned must be brought to the negotiation table. In particular, the participation of Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD) and Myanmar’s toppled democratic regime who is detained by the military junta, is essential.
Myanmar’s military took control of the government in a coup in February 2021. Since then it has attempted to suppress dissent by cracking down on peaceful demonstrations and carrying out indiscriminate shootings.
Part of the pro-democracy interests and some ethnic minority armed groups have jointly formed the National Unity Government of Myanmar (NUG), embarking on an armed struggle with the aim of overthrowing the military junta.
There are about 20 ethnic minority armed groups in Myanmar, which have been in a state of civil war with the military for a long time. Pro-democratic youth have been provided training by these armed groups.
The start of dialogue by all parties is one of the agreements reached in a summit of the Association Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in April 2021. Importantly, Myanmar’s military commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing was among those in attendance.
Ms. Suu Kyi is the top-priority figure among parties to the agreed-upon dialogue. It is therefore strange that the Myanmar military did not permit visits to Suu Kyi and other leaders of the NLD by the Cambodian vice prime minister when he visited Myanmar as a special envoy of ASEAN in March 2022. ASEAN must be firm in its attitude toward the Myanmar military junta.
Army Memorial Day parade in Naypyidaw, the capital of Myanmar, on March 27, 2022. (Kyodo). Producing Results or Changing Strategy Myanmar, suffering from a shortage in foreign currency reserves, has made it mandatory to exchange foreign currencies for kyat, Myanmar’s currency, for doing business in the country. This has brought strong complaints from businesses and the public. Such makeshift measures will only deepen the economic turmoil in Myanmar.
The United States and Europe have imposed sanctions on the country, but Russia and China have provided the Myanmar military with weapons and thrown their support behind the junta. It is a terrible thing to see the Myanmar military government declaring Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “legitimate.”
Japan meanwhile has clearly distinguished itself from the United States and Europe on the Myanmar issues, saying that Tokyo has its “unique channels of communication” with Myanmar’s junta. If so, the Japanese government must show some results soon, demonstrating how it will help resolve the current situation.
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- EDITORIAL | Act on Myanmar Now or Brace for Another Protracted Civil War
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(Read the editorial in Japanese at this link.)
Author: Editorial Board, The Sankei Shimbun
The post EDITORIAL | Turmoil Continues in Myanmar, in Case We Have Forgotten first appeared on JAPAN Forward. Related posts:
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The final sequence produced a dream for the Ryukyu Golden Kings and heartbreak for the Shimane Susanoo Magic.
Ryukyu’s Dwyane Evans grabbed an offensive rebound with 2 seconds left on the game clock and scored on an inside jumper at the buzzer, lifting the Golden Kings to a pulse-rising 72-70 victory over the Susanoo Magic in Game 2 of their B.League Championship best-of-three semifinals at Okinawa Arena on Sunday, May 22.
With the win, the Golden Kings, who had the league’s best record in the regular season (49-7), advanced to face the Utsunomiya Brex in the best-of-three B.League Finals. Game 1 is on Saturday, May 28 at 12 PM at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium. Game 2 is set for Sunday, May 29 at 4:05 PM. If necessary, Game 3 is on Tuesday, May 31 at 7:05 PM.
The Brex, who won the B.League’s inaugural championship in 2017, reached the title series for the third time by eliminating the host Kawasaki Brave Thunders 77-73 in Game 2 on Sunday at Todoroki Arena. Coach Ryuzo Anzai’s club was the championship runner-up team last year.
Before Evans’ series-deciding shot, teammate Ryuichi Kishimoto missed a pull-up 3-pointer with about 3 seconds remaining before an announced crowd of 8,309.
- Ryukyu’s Ryuichi Kishimoto shoots a 3-pointer on his team’s final possession of the game. (B.LEAGUE)
With 11 seconds left, Susanoo Magic small forward Perrin Buford made an inside jumper and tied it at 70-70.
It set the stage for a dramatic finish on the other end of the court.
- Golden Kings coach Dai Oketani (B.LEAGUE)
Without Evans’ heroics, overtime would have decided the game. And if the Susanoo Magic had prevailed, a Game 3 would’ve been held on Tuesday, May 24.
Instead, the Golden Kings, guided by first-year bench boss Dai Oketani, celebrated their dramatic victory as soon as possible.
“When I look back on today, I think it was a game that will be a good memory,” said Evans, a former All-Atlantic-10 Conference player for Saint Louis University. “I believed in the team throughout the season, and I think this is the result of everyone stepping up.”
Kishimoto said, “I think it was a splendid game. With the end of today’s game, I think we will be in good shape for the final. I’ve been frustrated at the [results of the] semifinals in the past, and we’ve advanced to the finals, so I hope we can get a satisfactory result for my colleagues who have competed with me.”
- The Golden Kings’ Keita Imamura sank 10 3-pointers in the two-game series. (B.LEAGUE)
Sharpshooter Keita Imamura paced the Golden Kings with 25 points, including five 3-pointers. Allen Durham added 13 points and seven rebounds, Kishimoto had 12 points and five assists and Evans, who joined Rykyu in 2020, contributed 10 points, nine rebounds and five assists.
The Susanoo Magic, who went 40-15 in the regular season under first-year coach Paul Hanare, led 60-53 entering the fourth quarter.
The hosts’ strong defense limited Shimane to 12 points in the final period.
Buford, who wrapped up his collegiate career at Middle Tennessee State in 2016, had 20 of his game-high 34 points in the first half. Teammate Reid Travis finished with 10 points.
- Shimane guard Seiya Ando (B.LEAGUE)
Two-time B.League champion guard Seiya Ando, a former Alvark Tokyo guard, entered the postseason averaging 15.7 points per game for Shimane.
The Golden Kings held Ando to six points on 2-for-12 shooting in Game 2.
Ryukyu’s effective passing was another trademark of the series finale. The Golden Kings dished out 20 assists and held the Susanoo Magic to 10.
In the series opener, Ryukyu defeated Shimane 94-85.
Imamura, who canned 5 of 10 3s, led the Golden Kings with 21 points.
Durham sparked the hosts with 19 points and nine rebounds and dished out six assists. Kishimoto poured in 18 points, Evans had a 12-point, seven-rebound performance and Narito Namizato contributed 10 points.
Buford had 27 points, eight assists and five steals. Travis scored 20 points and Ryosuke Shirahama had a season-high 17. Ando finished with six points on 2-for-9 shooting.
- Utsunomiya Brex star Josh Scott waves to the team’s fans after Game 2 on May 22 at Todoroki Arena. (B.LEAGUE)
Brex Sweep Brave Thunders Utsunomiya recorded 83-70 and 77-73 road wins over East rival Kawasaki on Saturday and Sunday to return to the championship round for the second straight year.
In Game 1, power forward Chase Fieler, a Florida Gulf Coast alum, paced the Brex (40-16 in the regular season) with 18 points. Teammate Josh Scott notched a double-double with 14 points and 17 rebounds. Playmaker Makoto Hiejima added 12 points and seven assists. Isaac Fotu and Seiji Ikaruga scored 11 points apiece.
Utsunomiya enhanced its chances of winning the series opener at the free-throw line, making 19 of 25 shots. Kawasaki was 7-for-10.
- Brex big man Josh Scott grabbed 32 rebounds in two playoff games against the Brave Thunders. (B.LEAGUE)
Matt Janning, who helped lead the Brave Thunders past the Nagoya Diamond Dolphins in the playoff quarterfinals, had a game-high 22 points. Nick Fazekas scored 20 and Naoya Kumagae had eight before fouling out. Jordan Heath grabbed 10 rebounds.
In Game 2, which featured 13 ties and 14 lead changes, Hiejima shined in an impactful 24-point, six-assist performance. Scott, a former University of Colorado standout, again had a strong effort at both ends of the floor, providing 17 points and 15 rebounds. Fieler chipped in with 12 points and nine boards and Ikaruga scored 10.
- Utsunomiya’s Makoto Hiejima runs the offense in Game 2 against Kawasaki. (B.LEAGUE)
In the fourth quarter, Hiejima had 11 points, including 8-for-8 at the foul line.
When it was over, Hiejima said, ”I thought the fourth quarter was the game, but I think it’s a worthwhile victory for the team.”
Utsunomiya outrebounded Kawasaki 44-35.
Fazekas had 24 points and 12 rebounds, Janning scored 22 points and Heath added 12 points and 11 rebounds.
- The Fighting Eagles Nagoya pose for a commemorative photo after winning the B2 finals on May 22 in Nagoya. (B.LEAGUE)
B2 Playoff Update Fighting Eagles Overpower 89ers in Game 3 to Win Title After the first two games were both decided by less than 10 points, Game 3 of the B2 championship series was a one-sided win for the Fighting Eagles Nagoya.
Sendai trailed 20-7 after the first quarter and never recovered in a 75-44 loss on Sunday.
The Fighting Eagles (42-8 in the regular season) raced out to a 23-7 lead after a 15-0 run that started in the first quarter.
Coach Taizo Kawabe’s squad completed its quest to win the playoff title series after securing promotion to B1 for the first time by finishing in first place overall during the regular season. Sendai, the regular-season runner-up for best record, also earned promotion, returning to the B.League’s top flight for the first time since the 2016-17 campaign.
- Fighting Eagles coach Taizo Kawabe (B.LEAGUE)
“I’m really happy that I was able to share the best scenery with the boosters,” Kawabe commented after the series-clinching win.
“Thank you to all the players, staff, family members, front desk staff and sponsors who fought together for a long season,” he added.
- Nagoya’s Andrew Randall (B.LEAGUE)
Andrew “Scootie” Randall sparked the Fighting Eagles with 23 points.
Nagoya’s Luke Evans, who is featured on this episode of JAPAN Forward’s Sports Talk, finished with 15 points and nine rebounds in Game 3. Gonzaga University alum Jeremy Johnson, a former college teammate of Rui Hachimura, provided 14 points, seven rebounds and four steals, while Reiya Nozaki handed out five assists.
- B2 playoffs MVP Andrew Randall (B.LEAGUE)
Randall, who played college ball at Temple University, was named the B2 playoffs MVP after averaging 15.7 points and 7.1 rebounds in seven postseason games.
The 89ers, who had a 38-15 regular-season record under first-year bench boss Hiroki Fujita, shot 30.9% (17-for-55) on Sunday.
Nagoya triumphed 81-73 in Game 1 on Friday.
- Fighting Eagles point guard Kaito Ishikawa (B.LEAGUE)
The Fighting Eagles led 31-15 after one quarter. Strong performances by Jones (20 points, eight rebounds), Randall (17 points, seven rebounds, five assists), Evans (16 points), Brian Qvale (14 points, seven boards), Ishikawa (seven points, six assists) and Nozaki (six assists, two steals) were key factors in the win.
Sendai’s Justin Burrell had 19 points and 13 rebounds in the opener. He also had an uncharacteristic eight turnovers.
- Nagoya’s Brian Qvale (B.LEAGUE)
In Saturday’s Game 2, the 89ers bounced back with a 69-64 triumph, holding the Fighting Eagles to 36.1% shooting (22 of 61) from the field.
Burrell led Sendai with a double-double (26 points, 12 rebounds) in the win.
Third-Place Series Canceled Due to Player’s COVID-19 Infection The Kagawa Five Arrows were declared winners by walkover for Games 1 and 2 of their B2 third-place series against the Kumamoto Volters in Takamatsu.
The series opener on Friday was called off after a Volters player had tested positive for the coronavirus in the run-up to Game 1. He had been in close contact with teammates in recent days. As a result, the walkover resulted in a 20-0 Kagawa win.
The same score entered the record book for Game 2 the next day.
Author: Ed Odeven
Follow Ed on JAPAN Forward’s [Japan Sports Notebook] here on Sundays, in [Odds and Evens] here during the week, and Twitter ＠ed_odeven. Find more reports on basketball, baseball, horse racing and other sports 24/7 on JAPAN Forward’s dedicated sports site, SportsLook.
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The post BASKETBALL | Golden Kings, Brex Advance to B.League Finals first appeared on JAPAN Forward. Related posts:
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A year ago, Naomi Osaka withdrew from the French Open after her first-round victory, citing the need for a mental health break.
This year, former world No. 1 Osaka didn’t make it past the first round. American world No. 28 Amanda Anisimova, a 2019 French Open semifinalist, eliminated the 38th-ranked Osaka 7-5, 6-4 on Monday, May 23 in Paris.
“I thought I tried really hard, and I just feel like it was a bit unfortunate because I wasn’t able to play as many matches leading into this tournament,” Osaka said after the match, according to ESPN. “So there were probably some really bad decisions that I made on certain points, but I think overall I wasn’t too bad.”
Anisimova ended defending champion Osaka’s title hopes at the Australian Open in January.
- Naomi Osaka plays a shot against Amanda Anisimova. (Christophe Ena/AP)
After her first-round exit in the French capital, Osaka said she’s not ready to commit to playing at this year’s third Grand Slam event, Wimbledon, which is held on grass.
Osaka has captured all four of her Grand Slam titles on hard courts (two at the US Open, two at the Australian Open). She has struggled to play consistently on clay and on grass.
In a ruling that may ultimately impact her decision for Wimbledon, which begins on June 27, the ATP and WTA Tours decided to get rid of ranking points for the tournament in response to tournament organizers banning players from Russia and Belarus from competing.
In essence, Wimbledon becomes a lucrative but glorified exhibition event due to the elimination of ranking points. Which left Osaka without a definitive plan for what lies ahead.
“Yeah, like for me, I’m not sure why but, like, I feel like if I play Wimbledon without points, it’s more like an exhibition. I know this isn’t true, right?” Osaka was quoted as saying by ESPN. “But my brain just, like, feels that way. Whenever I think like something is like an exhibition, I just can’t go at it 100%. I didn’t even make my decision yet, but I’m leaning more towards not playing given the current circumstances but, you know, that might change.”
Author: Ed Odeven
Follow Ed on JAPAN Forward’s [Japan Sports Notebook] here on Sundays, in [Odds and Evens] here during the week, and Twitter＠ed_odeven. Find Ed and more sports on JAPAN Forward’s dedicated sports website, SportsLook.
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The post TENNIS | Naomi Osaka Eliminated in First Round of French Open first appeared on JAPAN Forward. Related posts:
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China’s United Front Work (UFW) network is known to wield exceptional authority vis-à-vis shaping developing nations’ opinions of Chinese thinking and strategy in global affairs. Through this network, Beijing is advancing the scope of economic engagement, political influence, and media impact to garner major soft-power gains across Africa.
The United Front Work Department (UFWD) is a key institution of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. It has been promoted since the time of Mao Zedong. However, since 2012 it has been rigorously revived under the reign of CCP’s present general secretary, Xi Jinping.
UFWD’s large-scale resources are visibly being channeled to secure China’s global outreach of its national power, Xi’s political thought, and his political strategy for the “Great Rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation (zhonghua minzu weida fuxing).”
In foreign activities, China’s influence operations in most cases are patterned through various UFWD outfits. Xi has asserted that the UFW network should adjust itself to the national goal and changing political environment for China’s rise by revitalizing the UFW with the Party’s mass line (dang de qunzhong luxian).
China is using a combination of hard and soft power in its foreign policy worldwide, including inside Africa. Africa’s most important economic partner is now China, which Beijing has used to successfully leverage economic influence to include African university education.
- China Invests in Africa As Grand Foundation for Its Belt-and-Road Master Plan
Confucius Institutes global reach Confucius Institutes and Confucius Classrooms Former South African President Nelson Mandela once said: “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, it goes to his head. But if you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”
The domination of China’s economic diplomacy and its language are increasingly becoming tools to realize its foreign policy objectives.
Against this backdrop, the linkages between teaching Chinese as a foreign language and the role of China on the international stage have grown in importance since 2004, when the Confucius Institutes program was first launched. Overseen by the Office of Chinese Language Council International, more commonly referred to as Hanban, the CIs network has created a robust presence within Africa’s higher education institutions.
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Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (front, 3rd L), on an official state visit, driving out to the Nairobi National Park in Kenya, May 10, 2014. REUTERS/Noor Khamis/File Photo How It Works Beijing-funded public institutes teaching Chinese language and culture are popping up across Africa. It is seen as part of a stated push to improve the country’s cultural influence with a focus on soft power.
Scholarships play a big role in the influx of African students in China. Between 2010 and 2014, a reported 33,866 Chinese government scholarships were distributed to African students through the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. Moreover, at the 2018 FOCAC conference, China committed to providing African students with 50,000 government scholarships, and to adding 50,000 opportunities for seminars and workshops to “train” more professionals in different disciplines.
Usually, Confucius Institutes and Confucius Classrooms (CCs) are set up through partnerships between a Chinese university, a host country school or university, and the Office of Hanban ー the language and culture promotion organization under China’s Ministry of Education. For this, the Hanban dispatches a Chinese director, language and culture instructors, lecturers, and funding from China. Despite the fact CIs are housed in African colleges and universities, they are funded and controlled by the Hanban.
As a result of this structural arrangement ー educational institutions funded by a foreign government — they have become particularly controversial. Among the allegations are that CIs are being used to further the CCP’s state goals and compromise academic freedom and integrity.
On university campuses in Africa there is less pushback towards these departments. The Hanbanprovides funding, materials, and opens new buildings on mostly under-funded campuses.
Employing Beijing University in the Initiative China has increasingly come to consider its language institutes a potent tool of soft power that aids the goal of China’s rise. And in a sense this “cultural” soft power is an effective measure in advancing China’s foreign policy aims.
Adding complexity to the framework for the Chinese institutes, and to the connection between culture and soft power, Beijing University launched a center in 2014 dedicated to soft power. Using the university’s connections and reputation, it seeks to spread Chinese culture abroad. During the launch, then-Minister of Culture Cai Wu made China’s global ambitions clear:
[C]ultural soft power is beginning to offer strong support for the rise of China. The country must enhance its cultural strength in order to dominate theglobal contest for soft power.
From zero presence in Africa before 2005, the number of Confucius Institutes had risen to a total of 48 by 2018, according to data compiled by Development Reimagined, a Beijing-based international consulting firm working in the field of China-Africa relations. In addition, there are some 27 CCs in Africa.
Chinese President Xi Jingping with South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa and Senegal’s President Macky Sall in Beijing, China September 4, 2018. Lintao Zhang/Pool via REUTERS The Case of South Africa In specific reference to Confucius Institutes, the case of South Africa remains the most prominent in that it hosts the highest number of CIs in the entire continent. South Africa is home to six Confucius Institutes and five Confucius Classrooms, the highest such numbers in a single African nation.
In 2015, South Africa began integrating Chinese language learning into its national education system. The Chinese embassy officials in South Africa state that the Confucius Institute “is requested by African universities.”
However, the managers placed at the CIs on campuses in South Africa contradict this. They state that the request “mostly comes from China” or “from business people deeply involved with China.” At times, they even credit the Chinese embassy as the source of pressure to open the institutes.
China’s President Xi Jinping and Ghana President Nana Akufo-Addo in Beijing on September 1, 2018. Nicolas Asfouri/Pool via REUTERS Tokyo on Notice As part of its Free and Open Indo-Pacific framework, Japan is committed to provide nation-building support in the area of development as well as politics and governance. And it has done so in a way that respects the African countries, not by force or intervention in them.
China’s encroachment into the institutions of African countries, ranging from its push into internal decision-making structures to various means of influencing policy making in its favor, should serve as a serious alert for Japan.
The consequences of China’s initiatives have an impact beyond just Japan’s own national security. They also lend understanding to and illustrate the challenge of China’s attempted inroads to influence several countries that constitute the core of Japan’s neighborhood and a key sub-region of the Indo-Pacific.
Continues in Part 2
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Dr. Monika Chansoria is a senior fellow at The Japan Institute of International Affairs in Tokyo. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of the JIIA or any other organization with which the author is affiliated. She tweets @MonikaChansoria. Find other articles by Dr. Chansoria here on JAPAN Forward.
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The town of Ine is located approximately 130km north of Kyoto, on the coast of the Sea of Japan. Due to its seaside location, fishing and seafood have long been part of the history of the area.
Since the 1700’s, local fisherman have built their wooden, thatched-roof homes right on the water.
The bottom floor acts as a boat garage come workshop with the living quarters above. This design made the morning commute as simple as heading downstairs.
Amazingly, these ‘funaya’ traditional homes still remain to this day. Visitors can see all 230 of them dotted along the 5km stretch of coast, some as private residences and others converted to accommodation.
A unique place to visit The pristine landscape and unique traditional architecture of Ine set it apart from any other location in Japan. For this reason, it has been designated as a ‘Group of Traditional Buildings’ by the government–a historic preservation category to protect beautiful and unique places such as these.
(You can read the rest of the article at this link. This article was first published by Team JJ on July 20, 2019. Check here for deeper and unique insights into visiting Japan, including wellness, travel, cuisine and more. Find us on Instagram and on Facebook.)
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Sodashi’s best racing surface is turf.
All six of the white thoroughbred’s career victories entering the 17th Victoria Mile on Sunday, May 15 at Tokyo Racecourse, were earned on grass.
Sodashi did it again on Sunday, winning her seventh race in 11 career starts. This time, the 4-year-old filly and fourth favorite, outclassed a field of 18 over 1,600 meters on turf. Sodashi, ridden by Hayato Yoshida, reached the wire in 1 minute, 32.2 seconds before an announced crowd of 26,657.
Eight days after competing aboard Crown Pride at the Kentucky Derby and placing 13th at Churchill Downs, French jockey Christophe Lemaire was back in the spotlight in a Japan Racing Association Grade 1 race. Lemaire guided Kizuna-sired Fine Rouge to a runner-up finish, two lengths behind Sodashi, who was chosen as the JRA’s Best Two-Year-Old Filly in 2020 and Best Three-Year-Old Filly Last Year.
Trainer Naosuke Sugai collected his 14th career G1 win. Yoshida earned his fifth. (Watch a video replay of the race here.)
Resistencia (jockey Takeshi Yokoyama’s ride) placed third, a neck’s length behind Fine Rouge, followed by Rosa Noir (Katsuharu Tanaka), a further nose length adrift.
In fifth place, Songline (Kenichi Ikezoe) reached the end of the race by the length of a nose behind Resistencia. Songline’s paternal roots feature a who’s who of top-level horses. He was sired by Kizuna, whose father was the legendary Japanese horse Deep Impact, who was sired by Sunday Silence, the 1989 Kentucky Derby and Preakness champion.
Sodashi races ahead of the pack in the Victoria Mile. (ⒸSANKEI) A Field of Deep Impact Deep Impact passed away in 2019. His direct descendants were prominently featured in the Victoria Mile, including 12th-place finisher Lei Papale, 13th-place finisher Terzetto, and Des Ailes and Magic Castle, who were 15th and 17th, respectively.
Rosa Noir was the pace-setter early on, with Resistencia, Lei Papele and Sodashi following in close pursuit.
Approaching the final stretch, without being bunched in by other riders, Sodashi had ample room to operate in the middle of the track and galloped at full stride.
Rosa Noir held a lead of several lengths, but the distance was shortening as Sodashi and Reistencia, who was on the outside, made a run at the top spot.
- In 11 career starts, Sodashi has seven victories. (ⒸSANKEI)
Over the final 200 meters, Sodashi found an extra gear and passed Rosa Noir.
“The filly was relaxed and in good condition when I rode her in the post parade,” said Yoshida, who rode Admire Lead to victory in the 2017 Victoria Mile. “Once she entered the gate, she was focused and was able to make a good break and I was able to ride her in good rhythm while holding down her pace. She responded well at the stretch and when I urged her to go.
“As today’s race included a very strong field, it was like a dream for a white horse to be able to win a G1 race at Tokyo Racecourse.”
- The view from Tokyo Racecourse as the horses reach the final turn. (ⒸSANKEI)
Daring Tact Returns to Competition Daring Tact, who became the first unbeaten filly Triple Crown champion in October 2020, made her long-awaited return to competition on Sunday. Sidelined for 13 months due to ligamentitis in her right foreleg, trainer Haruki Sugiyama’s Victoria Mile entry finished in a respectable sixth place.
Assigned the first post position, Daring Tact, guided by Kohei Matsuyama, navigated an inside path and remained near the front of the pack throughout the race.
Sugiyama approached the race with caution, as he outlined in comments made a couple days beforehand.
“The jockey says that she’s improved over the last couple of weeks as this race approaches,” the trainer told reporters earlier in the week. “Her body has changed over time, together with her coat and general condition. She ran as I expected this last week, training uphill, and we didn’t overwork her.”
He added: “…I hope she’ll be in the best condition just before it. Coming off her layoff, it’s hard to know exactly.”
Race favorite Lei Papale, ridden by Yuga Kawada, faded down the stretch and fell out of contention.
Follow horse-racing coverage here on JAPAN Forward’s dedicated sports website, SportsLook.
RELATED:HORSE RACING | Sodashi Bests Field in Oka Sho, Becomes First White Thoroughbred to Win a JRA Classic Race
Author: Ed Odeven
Follow Ed on JAPAN Forward’s [Japan Sports Notebook] here on Sundays, in [Odds and Evens] here during the week, and Twitter＠ed_odeven, and find him on JAPAN Forward’s dedicated sports website, SportsLook.
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Rank-and-filer Takanosho upset yokozuna Terunofuji on Sunday, May 15 to move into a five-way tie for lead at the midway point of the Summer Grand Sumo Tournament.
In the day’s final bout at Ryogoku Kokugikan, Takanosho forced Terunofuji to the edge where the grand champion attempted a last-gasp arm throw but stepped out with his foot to seal the win for the No. 4 maegashira who improved to 6-2.
“I just wanted to go for it today and that’s what I did,” Takanosho said. “I tried to get inside. He’s a heavy man so I just wanted to keep moving forward and do my brand of sumo.”
Lower-ranked wrestlers Tamawashi, Ichiyamamoto, Sadanoumi and Aoiyama are also tied for the lead in what has become a wide-open tournament with no clear favorite heading into the second week.
Read the full story here on JAPAN Forward’s dedicated sports website, SportsLook, and follow daily coverage of the Summer Basho here.
Author: Jim Armstrong
The author is a longtime journalist who has covered sports in Japan for more than 25 years. You can find his articles here.
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Emperor Hirohito had hopes of visiting Okinawa even with the complicated feelings of the people of the prefecture.
Falling ill unexpectedly
My visit to Okinawa is canceled
I sigh in frustration
So reads a draft of a waka poem handwritten by Emperor Hirohito on a piece of ruled paper of the Imperial Household Agency. The page was donated to the Gakushuin University Museum of History in September 2019 by a former aide to the Emperor.
The poem expresses his frustration as his deteriorating health hampers his scheduled visit to Okinawa in 1987. It would have been his first visit to Okinawa since the end of World War II.
A draft of Emperor Hirohito’s handwritten poem in the Gakushuin University Museum of History, Toshima Ward, Tokyo. Photo by Masamichi Kirihara.
I have taken ill unexpectedly
But I had a duty to fulfill
By visiting Okinawa
After much revision, the wording of the poem was changed for publication to the above. But the phrase used in the original draft, “kuchioshikikana,” is an expression of frustration that conveys Emperor Hirohito’s bitterness more candidly.
Emperor Hirohito’s Duty From 1946 to 1954, Emperor Hirohito went on an imperial tour to encourage the people in areas that had been scorched by the fires of the war. He visited all of the prefectures except Okinawa, which was still under United States military rule.
After the reversion of Okinawa to Japanese sovereignty in May 1972, Emperor Hirohito had considered visiting Okinawa several times. However, such visits were made difficult by the complicated sentiments of the people of Okinawa. The prefecture had experienced a gruesome land battle that killed a quarter of its residents. And those who survived the war felt left behind in Japan’s postwar reconstruction efforts.
Chobyo Yara (deceased), during term as the first governor of Okinawa Prefecture after the reversion of Okinawa to Japanese sovereignty, announced his intentions to request the attendance of Emperor Hirohito and Empress Nagako at the commemorative tree-planting festival to be held in Okinawa in November 1972. However, local opposition forced him to abandon the idea.
Emperor Hirohito and Empress Nagako cheer at the ceremony to commemorate the return to Okinawa at the Nippon Budokan in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo on May 15, 1972. (Sankei) Documents suggest that Emperor Hirohito wished to visit Okinawa as early as possible.
According to Chobyo Yara’s journals, a compilation of Yara’s diaries and other documents in the Okinawa Prefectural Archives, the then- Director-General of the Imperial Household Agency confided in him as follows in April 1975.
“I’m troubled because His Majesty the Emperor has asked me what he was supposed to do and whether he could visit [Okinawa] before going to America.”
Hope Springs from a National Sports Festival Twelve years later, an imperial visit to Okinawa became a real possibility during the National Sports Festival of Japan in October 1987. The Imperial Household Agency conducted a preliminary survey of the area and even set a date.
However, there was staunch local opposition. Hiromitsu Miyagi, the then Vice-Governor of Okinawa Prefecture who is now 89 years old, says that signs with the words “Oppose the Emperor’s visit to Okinawa” were erected along the road from Naha Airport. When he asked the Imperial Household Agency whether he should remove the signs, the agency told him to leave them as they were. Miyagi understood that Emperor Hirohito wanted to see Okinawa as it truly was.
Unfortunately, the plan was thwarted yet again in September, right before Emperor Hirohito was due to begin his visit. He had fallen ill and was being treated at the Hospital of the Imperial Household in the Imperial Palace.
His visit to Okinawa was canceled. Crown Prince Akihito, his son who would become Emperor Akihito, attended the opening ceremony with his wife in his father’s place.
Former chamberlain Kenjiro Nakamura, now 88 years old, recalls screening a video recording of the National Sports Festival at the Fukiage Palace that November upon Emperor Hirohito’s request.
“There may have been a range of emotions going through his mind, but His Majesty did not say anything and kept his eyes on the screen the whole time.”
Emperor Hirohito never lost hope of visiting Okinawa. At a press conference in April 1988, he declared, “My determination has not changed, even today.”
However, in September of the same year he vomited blood while staying at Fukiage Palace. He passed away in January 1999, after battling illness and without fulfilling his wish to visit Okinawa.
Emperor Akihito First Imperial Visit On the evening of July 17, 1975, almost three years after Okinawa’s reversion to Japanese sovereignty, Emperor Emeritus Akihito, who was then Crown Prince, visited Okinawa for the first time, accompanied by Empress Emerita Michiko. At the end of the first day of his visit, he gave a statement concluding with these words:
“The many noble sacrifices cannot be atoned for by a single act or word, but must be remembered by the people over many years, and each one of us, in deep reflection, must continue to keep this place close to our hearts.”
But just that day, a member of an extremist group had thrown a Molotov cocktail at Emperor Akihito while he was visiting his first destination, the Himeyuri Memorial Tower in Itoman, where the battle of southern Okinawa had taken place.
Shuzen Hokama (deceased), who delivered lectures to Emperor Akihito, revealed in his book that he had been consulted in advance about Emperor Akihito’s visit to the former battlefield in southern Okinawa.
An excerpt from Hokama’s book, Kaiso 80 Nen Okinawagaku he no Michi (An 80-year Memoir: The Road to Establishing Okinawan Studies), reveals the commitment of the then Crown Prince, to continue engaging with Okinawa.
“When I said, ‘We don’t know what will happen, so please be on your guard,’ His Highness quietly replied, “I will accept whatever happens.”
On June 27, 2014, Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko offered flowers at the Kozakura Memorial Tower in Naha for the victims of the sinking of Tsushima Maru. The Emperor’s Words Emperor Hirohito’s long-sought imperial visit to Okinawa was finally realized by Emperor Akihito in April 1993. On the day the Emperor and Empress arrived in Okinawa, they visited Itoman to meet with the representatives of the bereaved families at the Okinawa Peace Memorial Hall. There, the Emperor delivered an unprecedented speech that lasted for six minutes.
“We will not let the deaths of the many people who died because of the war go to waste, but will continue to deepen our understanding of the history of our country and the world and pray for peace.”
The audience sobbed as they listened to the Emperor’s words, which were delivered without notes as he met his gaze with each bereaved family member.
Complicated Feelings The bereaved families had complicated sentiments towards the Imperial Family.
Masakatsu Takara, now 81 years old, lost nine members of his family when an American submarine sank Tsushima Maru and killed approximately 1,500 people. The ship had been carrying school children to evacuate them from Okinawa in the latter stages of World War II. Mr. Takara found it difficult to shake off his negative feelings toward the Imperial Family.
“Emperor Akihito is not to blame, but the war which was started by Emperor Hirohito caused many deaths. I also felt that Okinawa was cut off from the rest of Japan after the war.”
However, the Emperor’s repeated visits to Okinawa and his poetry about Tsushima Maru showed Mr. Takara that Okinawa had a special place in the Emperor’s heart. “My heart gradually softened,” he says.
In 2014, the imperial couple visited the Tsushima Maru Memorial Museum in Naha, where Mr. Takara serves as chairman of the governing body.
After laying flowers at the cenotaph, the couple spoke to all 15 survivors and bereaved family members who had gathered there, speaking again to each one of them as they parted. “We are sorry that you have had to suffer for so long,” they said.
“Even now, I have difficulty saying ‘Long live the emperor.’ But I could feel the kind-heartedness of Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, and how serious they were about engaging with the bereaved families in Okinawa. I was able to feel that this brought solace to the souls of the victims,” Mr. Takara recalls.
Emperor Akihito visited Okinawa 11 times in total. His compassion for the people of Okinawa and their history of hardship will be passed on to Japan’s future generations.
An Annual Observance Emperor Naruhito has held a silent prayer on Okinawa Memorial Day, June 23, with his parents since his childhood. It is a practice which he continues with Empress Masako and their eldest daughter, Princess Aiko.
His Majesty has visited Okinawa five times since 1987.
- The Emperor and Empress read the names of the war victims inscribed at the Cornerstone of Peace in Itoman, Okinawa Prefecture, on July 15, 1997.
- His Majesty the Emperor speaking at the ceremony to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the return of Okinawa, May 15, 2022 (photographed by Yasushi Notomi)
In February 2019, Mr. Takara was invited to a tea ceremony at the Imperial Palace, held just before the imperial transition. He weaved his way through the crowd to meet Emperor Emeritus Akihito.
“I came from Okinawa. I hope the next emperor will visit us, too.”
His Majesty responded with a gentle nod.
50th Anniversary of Okinawa’s Reversion On May 15, Okinawa Prefecture celebrated the 50th anniversary of its reversion to Japanese sovereignty with twin ceremonies in Naha, the capital of Okinawa, and Tokyo. His Majesty Emperor Naruhito, with Empress Masako standing at his side, spoke to the people of Okinawa by videolink, expressing his feelings of concern for the people of the prefecture upon attainment of this 50th anniversary.
The date was also marked by various efforts to collect oral testimonies and archived documents, exploring the past, present, and future of the Imperial Household’s relationship with Okinawa and its people.
At an earlier press conference in February, His Majesty the Emperor declared his commitment to “re-examine the course of Okinawa’s history and bring my heart closer to Okinawa and the people of Okinawa.”
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(Read the report in Japanese at this link.)
Author: The Sankei Shimbun
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There’s a first time for everything.
When a new professional sports league is established, there’s always something special about first-ever games, the first season as a whole and, of course, the accomplishments of the first champion.
For the WE League, Japan’s first fully fledged women’s pro soccer circuit, INAC Kobe Leonessa will forever be listed in the record books as the title-winning club in its inaugural season.
Manager Kei Hoshikawa’s team secured the title with two matches remaining on its schedule. A 3-0 triumph over Nojima Stella Kanagawa on Sunday, May 8 at Sagamihara Gion Stadium in Kanagawa Prefecture clinched the top spot in the 11-team league.
- INAC Kobe Leonessa’s Mina Tanaka reacts after scoring in the eighth minute on May 8. (ⒸSANKEI)
Mina Tanaka scored in the eighth and 78th minutes. Yui Narumiya provided the second goal in the 72nd. (Watch match highlights here.)
The Leonessa have 47 points (15 wins, two draws, two defeats) through May 14. The second-place Mitsubishi Heavy Industry Urawa Reds Ladies have 41 points (13-2-4).
- Manager Kei Hoshikawa (KYODO)
“It’s been a long season, but I’m very happy to be able to finish [as champions],” said Hoshikawa, who directed the Latvian men’s team FK Auda from 2018-20 before joining the Leonessa.
The season wraps up on Sunday, May 22. The champions will be away for their final match, playing Omiya Ardija Ventus in Saitama.
Before the launch of the WE League, the Nadeshiko League operated as the top flight of Japanese women’s soccer. The Nadeshiko League, however, consisted mostly of amateur players.
The Leonessa captured the Nadeshiko League crown in 2013.
Nine years later, WE League Chairman Kikuko Okajima reflected on the team’s 2022 title and the league’s first season.
“INAC Kobe Leonessa’s momentum and strength was visible from the beginning of the season, when Megumi Takase scored the opening goal of the WE League,” Okajima said on May 8.
- Mina Tanaka (right) in action in the first half. (ⒸSANKEI)
Okajima cited the Leonessa’s 16-match win streak and eight shutouts as examples of the team’s exceptional play.
“Even at times when they had less possession of the ball in a match, they managed to conjure up and seize opportunities to seal the match with match-winning goals,” Okajima said.
“I would like to give a big round of applause once again to all the players, staff and everyone involved,” she added.
“I hope that as the first league champions of the WE League, the club will only continue to entertain football fans and empower spectators with their thrilling play.”
Tanaka has a team-high nine goals, trailing only Urawa’s Yuika Sugasawa, who has 12. Narumiya is the Leonessa’s second-leading scorer (five).
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Celtic players (from left) Yosuke Ideguchi, Daizen Maeda, Reo Hatate and Kyogo Furuhashi celebrate winning the Scottish Premiership after their match against Dundee United on May 11. (Russell Cheyne/REUTERS) Japanese Quartet Shares Thrill of Scottish Premiership Title Kengo Furuhashi, Daizen Maeda, Reo Hatate and Yosuke Ideguchi have all made contributions to Celtic’s splendid season in the Scottish Premiership.
Manager Ange Postecoglou’s side clinched the title with a 1-1 draw against Dundee United on Wednesday, May 11. Celtic held a four-point lead over the Rangers heading into the final weekend of the season.
An unbeaten run of 31 matches, including domestic tournaments, propelled Celtic to the top of the table.
Furuhashi has had the biggest impact of the four Japanese newcomers, scoring 18 goals in all competitions for Celtic this season.
Former Yokohama F. Marinos boss Postecoglou credited the Japanese quartet for helping their new team achieve greatness this season.
“They’ve been great,” Postecoglou was quoted as saying by Kyodo News. “Obviously for them it was a big challenge coming from the other side of the world, different country, different culture, and they’ve all been outstanding.”
Celtic, which now owns 52 Scottish League titles, will be in the spotlight more frequently in the coming months by virtue of a berth in the UEFA Champions League for the 2022-23 campaign.
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- Washington Mystics guard Rui Machida runs the offense on May 10 against the Las Vegas Aces.
(NBAE/GETTY IMAGES/via KYODO)
Basketball Mystics Are the First WNBA Team with Three Wins In her first season in the WNBA, point guard Rui Machida is enjoying her team’s successful start to the 2022 campaign.
The Washington Mystics improved to 3-0 on Tuesday, May 10 by beating the visiting Las Vegas Aces 89-76.
Washington became the first WNBA team with three wins.
Against the Aces, Machida made her first start of the season, playing 29-plus minutes. She finished with nine points on 4-for-8 shooting from the floor, including a finger-roll layup to open the third quarter, and four assists. She had one turnover.
The Mystics overcame a 13-point halftime deficit and dominated the third quarter, outscoring the visitors 24-7.
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Seiya Ozaki, seen scoring a second-half try against the Shizuoka BlueRevs, and his Tokyo Suntory Sungliath teammates are preparing for their playoff semifinal match on May 21. (ⒸSANKEI) Rugby Playoff Fixtures Set in League One The Japan Rugby League One’s inaugural season has wrapped up, with a quartet of teams advancing to the first-division playoffs.
The Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath (14-2) and Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo (11-5) will meet in the first semifinal on Saturday, May 21.
A day later, the Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights (14-2) and Kubota Spears Funabashi-Tokyo Bay (12-4) are scheduled to play.
The third-place match is set for May 28 and the championship match to be held the next day.
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Shun Murakami competes in the men’s final at the 3rd Japan Open of Surfing on March 30 at the Surf Stadium Shizunami in Makinohara, Shizuoka Prefecture. (KYODO) Surfing WSL’s Murakami Featured in Documentary Shun Murakami, a 25-year-old competitor in the World Surf League’s men’s qualifying series, is the subject of a recently released documentary, which was produced by Rakuten.
The 17-minute film, Shun Murakami: The Documentary, debuted on Rakuten Sports’ YouTube channel in February.
For Tobias Memmott, who directed the documentary, highlighting Murakami’s commitment to his craft was a top priority.
“From the first meeting with Shun we knew that his dedication to his sport went far beyond the competitions and sponsorships that being a professional surfer envelopes you in,” Memmott said in a press release. “Shun is surfing for a much greater goal and purpose. To Shun, surfing is his past, present, and future and that’s the story we set out to tell.”
In its description of the documentary, Rakuten Sports introduces the project his way:
The documentary follows Shun Murakami, one of Japan’s leading professional surfers on his lifelong quest to find the perfect wave. Surfing helps him nurture his powerful connection with the ocean, which in its fascinating unpredictability draws him to explore its myriad waves. The more difficult the wave, the greater his motivation to ride it.
In late March, Murakami finished runner-up at the Asia Open in Ichinomiya, Chiba Prefecture. Compatriot Reo Inaba outscored Murakami 13.50-8.85 in the final.
Chiba Lotte Marines starter Roki Sasaki pitches against the Orix Buffaloes on May 13 at Osaka’s Kyocera Dome. (ⒸSANKEI) Baseball Marines’ Sasaki Improves to 4-0 Nearly two months into the season, Roki Sasaki is still unbeaten.
The Chiba Lotte Marines hurler picked up his fourth victory on Friday, May 14 against the Orix Buffaloes, the team he threw a perfect game against on April 10.
Lotte won the series opener 4-1 in Osaka, with Sasaki scattering six hits and allowing one run in seven innings. He had seven strikeouts and issued one walk in his seventh start of the season.
“Even though they hit me, I was able to pitch well…and just hang on enough to get through seven innings,” Sasaki said, according to Kyodo News.
Sasaki, who has fanned 78 batters in 49 innings, was named the Pacific League’s Pitcher of the Month for March and April. He was 3-0 with a 1.50 ERA in five starts by the end of April.
Shohei Ohtani poses with his 2021 AL MVP plaque on May 10 in Anaheim, California. A ceremony was held before the game. (KYODO) Angels’ Ohtani Receives AL MVP Plaque The Los Angeles Angels held a pregame ceremony on Tuesday, May 10 at Angel Stadium to present Shohei Ohtani with his 2021 American League MVP plaque.
A ceremony had been scheduled for January in New York, but it was called off due to the global pandemic.
Instead, Ohtani received an MVP plaque and the Commissioner’s Historic Achievement Award at his team’s ballpark.
Before the first pitch was thrown, 25,000 of the fans in attendance (39,313) received a souvenir: an Ohtani bobblehead upon entering the stadium.
Also this week, Sports Illustrated highlighted the popular superstar’s jokester antics in a story entitled “Angels Star Shohei Ohtani Is a Legendary Hitter, Pitcher and Prankster.”
- Reiichi Matsunaga, seen managing the Japan baseball national team at the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics. (ⒸSANKEI)
Reiichi Matsunaga, Manager of Japan’s 1984 Olympic Squad, Dies at 90 Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Reiichi Matsunaga, who guided Japan to a gold medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, died on May 12 at a hospital in Yokohama. He was 90.
Matsunaga managed at the high school, collegiate and industrial league levels.
He took over as Hosei University dugout boss in 1964. While managing at his alma mater, he led the school to six Tokyo Big6 titles and the 1968 All-Japan University Baseball Championship Series title.
Between 1971 and ’80, Matsunaga piloted the Sumitomo Metals to a pair of Japan Amateur Baseball Championship titles.
He served as Team Japan’s skipper, starting in 1980.
Baseball was a demonstration sport at the 1984 Summer Games. The final was held at Dodger Stadium. Japan defeated the United States 6-3 in the gold-medal game.
On August 7, 2014, the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum held an event to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Team Japan’s Olympic gold.
On the exact day 30 years later, slugger Katsumi Hirosawa, who belted a three-run homer against Team USA, recalled Matsunaga’s pregame pep talk with his players.
“Dodger Stadium, where we had the final against Team USA, was packed,” Hirosawa said. “People sang the Star-Spangled Banner out loud together. We knew Team USA was very good and they looked so relaxed that day. We, on the other hand, were so tense. I got cold feet. Then Manager Matsunaga called us together and said, ‘Being relaxed doesn’t always help you play well. Just do your best. There are a lot of things you can achieve only when you are tense.’
“He made me think it’s OK to be nervous. I felt relieved. Today people often ask me, ‘What can I do when I feel overwhelmed with pressure?’ I borrow Manager Matsunaga’s words and say, ‘It’s OK to feel pressured and get nervous. There are things you can do only when you are tense. There’s nothing wrong with being nervous. It’s not your enemy.’ I believe that Manager Matsunaga’s words led us to the victory over Team USA.”
Matsunaga was the final speaker at the anniversary event, and spoke with pride about the growth of baseball on a global scale.
“Today 108 countries are members of the International Baseball Federation,” Matsunaga said. “We must not forget all the painstaking efforts and contributions that people have made for baseball to have developed into a worldwide sport. We, who once led Team Japan in the Olympics, will work together in order to realize our nation’s dream to bring baseball back to the Olympics for our younger generations.”
Since their 30th anniversary gathering, the landscape of international baseball has changed. The International Baseball Federation joined forces with the International Softball Federation to form a new global governing body, the World Baseball Softball Confederation.
Both sports were added to the Olympic program for the 2020 Tokyo Games after being off the program in 2012 (London) and 2016 (Rio de Janeiro). Neither sport will be played at the 2024 Paris Games, but both are set to be played at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Matsunaga was born in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture.
In 2007, he was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame.
- Naoya Inoue shadowboxes on May 12. (ⒸSANKEI)
Boxing ‘Monster’ Inoue Preparing for June 7 Title Defense Naoya Inoue, the unbeaten WBA and IBF bantamweight champion, is busy getting ready for his next fight.
“The Monster” (22-0, 19 knockouts) meets Filipino challenger Nonito Donaire on June 7 at Saitama Super Arena in a rematch of their November 7, 2019, showdown in the World Boxing Super Series final.
Inoue won the fight by unanimous decision (116-111, 117-109 and 114-113).
This time, Inoue said he’s determined to have a better performance against Donaire (42-6, 28 KOs).
“I won’t make it into a drama this time. I will do everything I want to do and win unilaterally,” Inoue said in a recent interview with Boxing Magazine, a monthly Japanese publication.
Author: Ed Odeven
Follow Ed on JAPAN Forward’s [Japan Sports Notebook] here on Sundays, in [Odds and Evens] here during the week, and Twitter ＠ed_odeven and find him on JAPAN Forward’s dedicated sports website, SportsLook.
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There is a lot going on in the world and we know you want to stay informed. You are the reason JAPAN Forward launched The Week – a podcast for busy people who want to keep abreast of Japan’s culture, politics, business, economy and research worlds. Hosted by Arielle Busetto.
In our sixth episode we discuss recent developments in Asia, including the elections in the Philippines, and the president’s inauguration in South Korea. We also talk about an interview with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry Koichi Hagiuda, Japan’s Golden Week, and Haruki Murakami’s latest work. Find the related articles list below.
Join us wherever you get your podcasts — on Spotify, Apple Music, Google Podcasts, or directly through our website at JAPAN Forward. Reach out and stay in touch on Twitter @ariellebusetto.
New podcasts will come out every Friday evening, JST, and will remain available for listeners on your own schedule.
We have more podcasts available on our page, including Real Issues, Real Voices, Real Japan, (both in English and Japanese), and Sports Talk.
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Periodic outings to the Arakawa Amusement Park (Arakawa Yuen), an amusement park for young children owned and operated by Tokyo’s Arakawa Ward, were a favorite activity when our two sons were preschool and early elementary school age.
Trips to this park always delighted our boys because it included rides on the Arakawa tram line. Our older son in particular enjoyed standing behind the driver watching him or her manipulate the controls as the tram trundled down the tracks.
Now both are college students. One is a regular contributor to JAPAN Forward. Cleaning up my office last week, I was reminded of the Arakawa Amusement Park when I found a set of unused ride tickets. More recently, the park itself has been closed for more than three years for refurbishment.
The park reopened on April 21. I visited it on reopening day to see what had changed, and to introduce it to JAPAN Forward readers in Japan who may be looking for things to do with small children as school summer vacations approach.
Origins of the Park The Park is on a site that was originally used by a brick factory. Then, in 1922 a private entrepreneur turned the land into an amusement park featuring a boating pond using water from the adjacent Sumida River.
After a period as an artillery base during the Pacific War, the site passed to Arakawa Ward. Since then, the ward has constructed and managed a changing mix of facilities along a corridor extending from the Arakawa Yuen Mae tram stop to the Sumida River.
There is a parking garage underneath this corridor. On the west side there is a municipal recreation facility that includes a large outdoor water play area for kids and an indoor swimming pool. Along the corridor there are several play spots for children.
One of several play spots for small children on the corridor from the tram stop to the Park.
The corridor to the park starts here, about a three minute walk with small children.
The entrance to the corridor adjacent to the tram stop features a new gate with a ferris wheel motif taken from the ferris wheel that is the symbol of the park itself.
Rides and Facilities The park offers a number of static and moving attractions. To the west of the entrance is a small Japanese style garden and pond. On the east side of the pond there is a vintage tram car that has been converted into a snack shop.
To the north of the pond there is a red brick building that houses a reference collection of books and tram models and an elaborate N-gauge model railroad layout with consoles that allow children to operate a train of their choice.
- This building houses a collection of tram car models, books about tram lines, and an elaborate N-guage model railroad layout.
- Red brick structures in Japan are associated with modernization and the adoption of European patterns during the Meiji Era (1868-1912).
- Cafe 193 using a vintage tram car of a type distinguished by its single eye (headlight).
- No children playing in the stream on opening day but the flowers were something to see.
- One quadrant of the model railroad layout.
A small artificial stream feeds the pond.. On hot summer days, this stream is crowded with children in various states of undress playing in the water
Aside from the ferris wheel, moving attractions include a small scale jet coaster (Japanese-English for roller coaster), a merry-go-round somewhat reminiscent of the late, lamented El Dorado at Toshimaen, and a rotating ride where children can pretend to be firefighters spraying water on a conflagration in high rise buildings.
In the center of the park, there is a two-story transportation hub.
Ground level serves a “steam train” (battery powered) that makes a leisurely sweep through the park, and an elevated “sky cycle” that allows children (and adults) to peddle themselves along an elevated track that gives a view of the nearby Sumida River, the park pond, carousel, and the ferris wheel.
- This telephoto shot makes the sky cycle and a ferris wheel gondola appear to be on a collision course.
- On opening day there seemed to be more adults than children on the carousel.
- The station that serves the train and the sky cycle on opening day.
- Air dome trampoline with the sky cycle, ferris wheel, and water spray ride in the background.
Air dome trampolines are particularly popular with young children. A large one was added to the Park as part of the refurbishment.
There are also various mechanical animals, buses, cars, and trains for small children.
- Although stationary, rides of this type delight small children.
- Jungle gym. The building in the background has a play area for toddlers on the second floor.
- Rides for smaller children and their parents.
At the far east side of the park, there is an area with the climbing and play items (jungle gym) typical of parks for children in Japan and a long roller slide that winds down an artificial grassy hillside. These are adjacent to a building housing a play area for toddlers.
Petting Zoo For our children, the animals at the park were as much an attraction as the rides.
Prior to refurbishment, the park had Japanese monkeys. These are gone. In their place are kangaroos, kapibara, and raptors (meat-eating birds), mostly owls not native to Japan, goats, sheep, and a friendly alpaca.
- One of a half-dozen owls on display. They are remarkably blase in the face of a steady stream of children and adults taking their pictures.
- The alpaca and its hairstyle is similar to that favored by some academics who appear on television.
- Friendly baby goats move freely among children who enjoy petting them.
- Larger goats do not roam freely but the can be hand feed food that is available for a nominal charge.
- Seeing the guinea pigs brought back fond memories of the four I had as a child.
- Park ponies.
Park staff feed the birds close up and give explanations of their behavior and habitat. Children can mix with and pet the smaller goats and sheep and can hold guinea pigs.
Short pony rides are offered three times per day. The park guide explicitly notes that these are available to children with disabilities. Moreover, because the park is aimed at families with children in strollers, it is also inherently wheelchair friendly.
Eating There is a cafeteria and several snack points within the park. You can also bring your own food, although there are only a few places to sit and eat. Neither alcohol or smoking are permitted.
Tickets and Charges Park entry is ￥800 JPY ($6.20 USD) for adults, ￥400 JPY ($3.10 USD) for middle school students, and ￥200 JPY ($1.55 USD) for elementary school students. Entry plus unlimited rides costs ￥1800 ($14 USD), ￥1000 ($7.75 USD), and ￥700 JPY ($5.45 USD) respectively.
There are additional discounts for preschool age children and adults over 65. Further details may be found here.
Important Until May 9, reservations are required everyday ,and on weekends and holidays reservations are required until June 30. Weekdays after May 9 do not require reservations.
As of this writing all slots on all days requiring advance booking have been taken, but entry after 2:00 PM may be possible on occasion. This machine-translated page describes the current situation and advises checking the park Twitter feed for updates.
The advance registration website is very verbose. Working through it is best done on a computer with a large monitor rather than a smartphone or tablet.
During Golden Week, all seats were taken on every run of the train. Getting There Although there is an underground parking facility close to the park, using the Arakawa Line and walking to the park (3 minutes from the tram stop) is the best way to get there.
The Arakawa Line connects to major rail lines at Otsuka (Yamanote Line), Oji (Keihin Tohoku and Nanboku lines), and Machiya (Keisei, Chiyoda lines).
A day pass for the tram (￥400 JPY [$3.10 USD] for adults, ￥200 JPY [$1.55 USD] for children) is a good value if you combine a visit to the Arakawa Nature Park with one to the Arakawa Amusement Park.
This pass is not necessarily a separate ticket. It can be added electronically to SUICA or PASMO. Details of the tram day pass and other discount tickets for travel within Metro Tokyo can be found here.
Arakawa Nature Park Usually a visit to the Arakawa Amusement Park was enough to satisfy our two boys. But on occasion we went to a second kids-oriented park, the Arakawa Nature Park a short walk from the Arakawa 2-chome stop on the Arakawa tram line.
This park is actually two different facilities connected by a bridge.
Both are above the site of a wastewater (sewage) treatment facility, the first one in Japan. It started operation in 1914 and occasionally in summer a faint smell reminds you that the park sits on top of a sewage treatment facility.
Using the tram stop entrance brings you to a swan pond housing two swans, a male named Leo and a female named Sakura.
- The nature park that covers part of the sewage treatment facility is at left.
- Azalea were in full bloom when we visited on May 1st.
- Panoramic view of the park. No indication here that this sits above a sewage treatment facility.
A variety of flowering trees and shrubs are planted around the pond and boardwalks allow you to view the pond and the plants from a variety of angles.
When we visited on May 1, wisteria were in bloom ー much earlier than in other Tokyo parks ー but when we visited a week later, the blossoms had disappeared. This may be a consequence of the microclimate existing above the water treatment facility.
A small play area can be found in this part of the park for children with a “dip line” that our sons enjoyed. But the real attraction of this park for them was the Transportation Park (交通園) that lets children use their choice of bicycle, unicycle, or pedal cart for 30 minutes at a time.
Wisteria at the entrance to one of the board walks in the pond area.
Dip line in a small play area adjacent to the pond.
Traffic Safety Lessons One goal of the park is to teach traffic safety. School children get excursions to the park to learn about cycling safety.
There is a railroad crossing with a warning flasher and an intersection with traffic signals. On busy days volunteers stand near these to gently remind children (and adults) to observe the signals.
Volunteer indicating left turns only.
In Japan all traffic is required to stop before going through a grade crossing.
There is no charge for using the cycles and no limit on how many times a child may borrow a cycle, unicycle, or pedal cart.
Pedal cars like this must be used in a reserved area, not on the general circuit.
Cycles with training wheels can be used in an area reserved for them.
There is no food service within the park, only a small number of vending machines. However, there is a grassy knoll in the middle of the cycle park that is fine for a picnic lunch.
In addition, the Park has a wading pool that gets rather crowded, as well as tennis courts and other sports facilities that can be reserved.
When we visited, we also noted that there are numerous rose bushes in this part of the park. They were just starting to bud, but at the tram stop, some rose bushes were already blooming.
This is a reminder that despite having sakura in its formal name, the Arakawa tram line is in fact much better known for the rose bushes that line the route from the eastern terminus at Minowabashi to the Arakawa Shakomae stop with an additional segment near Otsuka.
The tram and its roses were taken up in my JAPAN Forward article published May 14, 2021.
The Arakawa Ward library and public hall one minute to the west of the tram stop serving the nature park.
Roses blooming from a trellis at the tram stop for the nature park.
As of May 7, 2022, the most concentrated segment of rose bushes between Arakawa-shako-mae and Arakawa-yuenchi-mae has gone into full bloom.
Those seeking still more roses should visit Furukawa Teien (Furukawa Formal Garden), subject of my June, 2019, JAPAN Forward article. May 5th will be the start of the Garden’s rose festival it was announced, after a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19.
Getting There The Arakawa Nature Park can also be reached from the Machiya station on the Keisei and Chiyoda lines. Shops there sell items that can be used for a picnic lunch in the park.
The park is open year round with the oddity that it is closed on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of each month. Open hours do, however, vary by season: short in winter, long in summer. There is no admission charge.
There are no shops near the Arakawa 2-chome tram stop that serves the Park (荒川二丁目停留所) but there is an attractive Arakawa Ward facility (Yui-no-mori) nearby that has a coffee shop that serves a lunch menu.
The main component of this facility is a spacious and bright library with good collections for children of varying ages and an exhibition area dedicated to the noted non-fiction Akira Yoshimura, a native of Arakawa Ward.
Only parts of the Yui-no-mori website have English. Looking at the Japanese pages and their photos gives a better idea of what this facility offers.
Conclusion The rose bloom along the Arakawa tram line has just begun. We find places to visit along the tram line year round. But now is a particularly good time to make use of it, especially if you have young children.
It is a good way to enjoy neighborhood Tokyo on a limited budget.
Having said this, I would once again stress that the Amusement Park gets very crowded on weekends and holidays and requires advance registration. The Nature Park gets crowded but not to the extent the Amusement Park does, and no advance registration is required.
Author: Earl H Kinmonth
Photographs by EH Kinmonth. Find other stories about Tokyo and nearby areas by Dr. Kinmonth at this link.
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A rarity is preserved at a Buddhist temple in Okayama Prefecture. It is labeled: “Mermaid Mummy.”
As the name suggests, its upper body is a mummy with the appearance of a primate, and the lower body is a mummy that looks like a fish. How can the identity of the mummified creature be unraveled?
A new project has just started to shed light on this mystery scientifically ー and from perspectives of folklore. A team of researchers has been conducting a full-scale investigation using computed tomography (CT) to analyze the internal structure of the mummy, along with radiatiology and DNA testing. The final report of their findings is expected in the autumn of 2022.
About 30cm in Length The temple of Enjuin is in a mountainous area of the city of Asakuchi in southwestern Okayama Prefecture. The mummy, which has been stored securely in a paulownia wood box at the temple, was taken to Kurashiki University of Science and the Arts (Kurashiki City, Okayama) in February.
A group of three experts have taken up examination of the mermaid mummy. Professor Takafumi Kato, a specialist in paleontology, is playing a leading role, with other experts in ichthyology and molecular biology on the team.
In its interim report in April, the team revealed results of the CT and electron microscope analyses, as follows:
- The mummy is about 30 centimeters (11.8 inches) in length;
- It weighs 365 grams;
- The eye orbits are fixed forward and there are eyebrows on the face;
- Two types of hair ー thick straight hair and finer curly hair ー grow from the head; and
- Cuticles like those of humans and other primates are confirmed on the surface of the hair.
Meanwhile, the mummy has a dorsal fin and caudal fin on its lower body, which is covered in scales.
The report continues, explaining that while the upper body looks like that of primates, some abnormalities are also found: The teeth are conical, a characteristic that can be associated with predatory fish. Things similar to scales are on the shoulder and the neck, but their features are different from those in the lower body.
Using DNA testing and radiocarbon dating, the researchers plan to explore whether any creatures similar to the mummy are known to exist and what embalming techniques were employed for it. The experts say they will get to the bottom of the mystery without prejudgment.
Chief Priest Kozen Kuida, center, puts “mermaid mummy” into a computed tomography (CT) system. (Courtesy of the Kurashiki University of Science and Art.) ‘Found in Fishing Net Off Kochi Prefecture’ The research is aimed not only at unveiling what the “mermaid mummy” really was, but also examining the cultural background in which it was so important.
A clue to understanding the mummy’s history may lie in a note found in the same paulownia box as the mummified mermaid. Explanations in the note read in part:
The mummified mermaid was caught in a fishing net in waters off Kochi Prefecture, Shikoku Island, during the Genbun period (1736-1741) in the middle of the Edo era. It was then put on sale in Osaka and was purchased by the affluent Kojima Family of Fukuyama, in Hiroshima Prefecture. It was treated by the family as a cherished heirloom. Then in the 36th year of Meiji (1903), the mummy was handed over to a man named Toyojiro Komori.
According to Chief Priest Kozen Kuida, the mummified remains have been kept at the Enjuin temple since toward the end of the Meiji Era (ending 1912). But how they ended up inside the temple is a mystery.
During the latter half of the 1970s,
The mummy created a stir again around 1975, when it was taken up by newspapers and television, and at times being put on display in a glass case for public viewing. Chief Priest Kuida’s predecessor, however, put a stop to the public viewing. Thereafter, access to the mummy was limited to parishioners and a few others with knowledge of its existence, he explained.
In the (CT) image, you can see scales on the body (Photo by Kurashiki University of Science and Technology).
Here you can see a needle is stuck from the dorsal fin to the body (Photo by Kurashiki University of Science and Technology).
Local Interest and Initiative Local residents in a study group researching their region’s history prompted the launch of this project.
A member of the group, a naturalist from Okayama Prefecture, discovered film negatives of the mummy during his research. Hiroshi Kinoshita, a board member of the Okayama Folklore Society and an advisor to the local history group, then visited Enjuin Temple with other group members. They confirmed that the mummy still exists.
A curator at the Kurashiki Museum of Natural History is also a member of the group. That has led to the emergence of plans to have the mermaid mummy displayed in an upcoming exhibition on yokai (fantastical creatures of Japanese folklore). Along with it, full-scale research of the mummy will be conducted, with cooperation of Kurashiki University of Science and the Arts.
Legend of Eternal Youth and Immortality A legend goes that you will acquire eternal youth and immortality if you eat the meat of a mermaid. Along with it are anecdotes from various parts of the country about women called yaobikuni, nuns who are said to have lived more than 800 years after eating mermaid meat.
On the other hand, Kinoshita points out that in the Edo period there were groups producing fake mermaid mummies in and around Wakayama Prefecture. He surmises that the bogus mummies might have been spectacles drawing visitors at such places as show tents, while some might probably have been exported to Europe as bizarre curios.
In fact, the British Museum has a mermaid mummy allegedly from Japan, which has been displayed with an explanation to the effect that it “was made of a combination of a monkey and a fish.”
While identification of the mummy at Enjuin Temple will have to wait for the research team’s final report in the autumn, clearly it has served as a foundation of support for people yearning for good health and longevity.
Chief Priest Kuida noted, “Even if the mummy turns out to be a fake, that cannot diminish the role it has played as an object of worship, and the thoughts and feelings of people will not change.” Whatever the studies conclude, the mermaid mummy will continue being preserved by the temple as its treasure, the priest added.
Before the final report comes out, the mermaid mummy is scheduled to be put on display at the Kurashiki Museum of Natural History from July 16 through September 25.
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(Read the article in Japanese at this link.)
Author: Saki Ogawara
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Variety TV shows and projects that were popular in the past are being revived on internet streaming services. In March, Amazon Prime Video announced that they were rebooting Fuun! Takeshi’s Castle, a TBS show that was popular thirty years ago.
Netflix is also preparing to stream the second season of The Future Diary, another TBS show. TBS’s progressive global strategy is what is propping up this popular content and pushing it to become available on streaming sites.
Excitement Builds “Fuun! Takeshi’s Castle is back! That’s great. I really looked forward to watching it every week,” said Shinya Ueda of comedy duo Cream Stew.
The show “Prime Video Presents Japan” was held in March 2022 to explain TBS’s strategy and future lineup. Ueda was acting as the emcee of the event.
As the Fuun! Takeshi’s Castle reboot was announced, he couldn’t hide his excitement. Takeshi Kitano, who plays the part of the count who owns the castle on the show, appeared to grace the stage for the announcement.
Fun and Laughs for a New Age Fuun! Takeshi’s Castle was an action-based variety show that aired from 1986 to 1989. Non-celebrities would compete for prize money as they attempted to storm Takeshi’s castle.
Watching them attempt challenges like the “Dragon Lake,” which had to be crossed by running over stepping stones, and the “Strait of Gibraltar,” which required crossing an unstable rope bridge, made the show quite popular.
The show was a huge hit globally and was broadcast in over 150 countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and throughout Latin America, often being called “Takeshi’s Castle”. Many countries also adapted the format for their own versions, using local cast members and participants.
The reboot of the title to be streamed next year will be the Amazon Original “Revived! Fuun! Takeshi’s Castle” (tentative). Details about the show or the budget have yet to be announced, but TBS will be producing the show.
Season 1 of The Future Diary, a Netflix series, is available for streaming globally. Streaming, Not Televising Why did TBS choose to revive it on an internet streaming service and not as a regular TV broadcast? Shinjiro Watanabe, head of the DX Strategy Department, DX Business Bureau, Overall Editing Headquarters, explained: “Takeshi’s Castle continues to be popular overseas. Since this is an era where we have a global platform, we are working hard with the goal of transmitting our shows to the world.”
TBS Holdings is a shareholder of and operates the streaming service Paravi, which is a competitor of Prime Video. However, Watanabe explained, “Paravi is a domestic service. If we team up with Amazon or Netflix, we can bring TBS content to the world.”
It’s Time to Sow Seeds TBS has previously shared a reboot of past popular content on streaming sites with the intent of reaching international audiences.
The Future Diary was set up as a Netflix series that started streaming globally in December 2021. The company has since announced that Season 2 will be available starting May 17, 2022.
The theme is a romance reality show that originally aired as part of the TBS variety show, Un-nan no Hontonotokoro! Similar to Fuun! Takeshi’s Castle, it had previously been popular overseas, so they offered it to Netflix because it’s a global service.
Other key commercial networks beyond TBS are also offering their original programs to global streaming services before they air on TV. For example, starting in 2015 Fuji TV has been airing their latest drama programs on Netflix.
The popular long-running Nippon Television show Hajimete no Otsukai became popular on Netflix under the title Old Enough!, and the network has announced that they will proactively develop and produce more shows for international streaming.
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Looking Into the Future With these trends in mind, Watanabe is looking at South Korea’s Studio Dragon as a role model for TBS’ proactive plans for global expansion. Studio Dragon’s programs have become international hits on Netflix, such as the drama Crash Landing On You, which was also a massive hit in Japan. As a result, Studio Dragon’s name has become famous throughout the world.
What is TBS’ vision of the future? Watanabe says, “We need fans around the world in order to make an environment where it is easy to create works on a larger scale than we do now.
“I think right now is the time to sow the seeds for that environment.”
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(Read the report in Japanese at this link.)
Author: The Sankei Shimbun
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Much of the world has focused in horror at the conflagration taking place in Ukraine. National security expert Dr. Nadia Schadlow has done more, taking up the challenge of explaining what deterrence is and why the West has failed to prevent Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Her analysis in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal published on March 20 prompted widespread public discussion of the issue. The points she raised have implications for regional security in Asia, which she further discussed in a March 29 online interview with the Washington Bureau Chief of the Sankei Shimbun.
Formerly the Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategy and a chief architectof the 2017 US National Security Strategy, Dr. Schadlow, is currently a National Security Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington, DC.
Excerpts follow:
Dr. Nadia Schadlow What are the most critical points behind the West’s failure to deter Russia from invading Ukraine? It’s definitely a difficult problem, because there’s no scientific formula for what works in deterrence. There are two principles, which are important. I wrote about that: capability and will.
But the mix of what works and the timing is almost a question for a historian looking back. It’s very hard to predict.
What is a problem is that the building blocks for deterrence are set in place years before. You don’t just deter overnight, they accrue, they build up over time. It’s like a stone wall that is slowly built up over time. That’s the ideal kind of mix of deterrence.
We haven’t had that, in many ways, for quite some time. You have NATO that has decreased its capabilities for many years. Not just the arguments about the 2% or the 1% [of GDP contribution to defense]. Germany ended up with something like under 300 tanks, maybe less. That’s hard to believe!
And the same thing with the United Kingdom. So that had been happening for 10 years. [It’s an] example of a building block of deterrence.
You had discussions about how in war games ー that the United States had actually done ー NATO would have lost and could not keep the Baltics protected. These were public games that have been in newspaper reports. I think the RAND Corporation was involved. You had Germany signing a gas agreement with the adversary [Russia] that NATO had identified. It doesn’t make sense.
These are examples of the building blocks of deterrence that had started to really dissolve.
If you think of it as a stone wall, all of these rocks in that stone wall had been pulled out for a long time beforehand.
I was at an event really recently with a Danish parliamentarian who said to me, “I was wrong. All I cared about was climate. I never ever, ever thought that this (could happen.) So, to be fair to the Biden administration, this situation had been growing over time.
What I did argue in my article, though, was at the very least, don’t tell your adversary what you will not do.
Can you explain further? As soon as you start to say, “I won’t do this, we won’t do that”, not only do you limit your own options, but you tell Putin exactly what your lines are. So it doesn’t even make sense in terms of strategy.
Strategy: you want to keep your options open. You want to inject some ambiguity, threats of what might happen or what might not happen.
I think Putin, going into this invasion, had a very strong sense that the West’s options would be fundamentally limited and, in a way, they were.
Now if this becomes an Article 5 violation, do I think NATO will fight? I think we have indications from many of the key frontline NATO states that they certainly would, but everyone has become a little bit nervous about making predictions in this scenario.
US President Joe Biden REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo If the Biden administration could show clear will to defend Ukraine, do you think it could have deterred Russia? I can’t say with certainty, because I think Putin was so determined. But the events leading up to the invasion didn’t help.
Saying that we would accept a minor incursion. Saying that we would not under any circumstances deploy US troops. And essentially saying there’s a clear limit to how much, how many, what types of weapons we would provide the Ukrainians.
There are no such things really as defensive or offensive weapons ー it is how they are used. The Ukrainians are on the defensive here, they’re protecting their territory. They’re protecting their country. So creating these distinctions between types of weapons systems probably is not helpful.
Putin in the end probably had decided a while ago that this is what he was going to do. I think he overplayed his hand, I don’t think he anticipated the response that he got.
But before we start to pat ourselves too much on the shoulders, we are still buying Russian [goods]. There are still billions of dollars in transactions of Russian oil and gas. Check on that figure, but that’s what I’ve read, which I find shocking.
We’re still including Russia at the negotiating table with Iran. It doesn’t make sense. They’re at war in Europe, we have all these sanctions, and yet we’re including them as a trusted partner at the negotiating table with Iran? It’s mind boggling.
So we’re sending Putin some mixed signals.
And I’m very surprised about the oil and gas numbers from the European Union. Obviously, we haven’t cut things off completely.
What about NATO? Long term, what will NATO look like? Will Germany really commit to increasing its capabilities, not just its defense spending?
To do that, [the German government’s] probably going to go up against the limits of German debt and what is acceptable in German society in terms of debt ratios, as I understand it. And experts I’ve talked to have said they’re not going to do it.
So what does NATO look like in two years from now? Hopefully war will be avoided in Europe and the problem that we will be facing will be: what’s the configuration of NATO? Hopefully, it will not be a more terrible problem, which no one wants.
Ukraine’s Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, attacked by Russian troops on March 4 (Reuters from a YouTube capture from a camera at the same nuclear power plant) What do you think of Putin’s tactics to exploit the fear or threat of nuclear weapons, weapons of mass destruction? I think he’s been effective at it. But also, unfortunately, he’s de facto used chemical weapons many times in the past, not only against individuals that he has targeted. Remember what happened in Syria. Certainly the Russians looked aside when Assad used chemical weapons.
Then remember, President Trump used the strike against Syria, targeting its facilities. So I think on the chemical side, in terms of even chlorine gas, I’m worried that Putin will do something terrible like that.
No one knows on the nuclear side. The thought of unleashing nuclear war seems just impossible to fathom. I guess we do have to fathom it, but no one can predict what will happen through the course of events there.
What is needed to deter further escalation, the use of chemical weapons, biological weapons, or tactical nuclear, small nuclear weapons? I think we can stop purchasing. We can stop allowing close to billions of dollars of purchase of oil and gas from Russia.
We can probably threaten or do something in the cyber domain. But the sense [is] that Russia’s future growth is going to be harmed. The problem is Putin. The Russian people have a great capacity for suffering and they don’t necessarily have any choice in this matter either.
In a way, Putin is making decisions independent of the best interests of his country and of his people.
Instead he could have been focusing for years on the great scientific and cultural heritage of Russia and growing that, a country with so many talented people in it. And he hasn’t done that for many, many years.
Ukraine-Russia conflict in the southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine April 21, 2022. REUTERS/Chingis Kondarov. You made a point in the Wall Street Journal article that it’s their strategy to “escalate to de-escalate.” Could you explain in more detail what that means? Yes, it’s a part of Russian military doctrine. I’m not an expert on all aspects of all the doctrine. But it’s a part of Russian military doctrine, which they’re doing.
Escalate: [means] you threaten or use force to get to the negotiated settlement you want. And unfortunately, [as] people who have studied Russian nuclear doctrine have pointed out in much greater depth, a part of that is the possibility of threatening the use of tactical nuclear weapons, because it would create such fear in the West that we would be forced to negotiate. We’re seeing a little bit of that now.
You mentioned the need for ambiguity for deterrence. What do you think about Biden’s remark in Warsaw, in his words, “For God’s sake, the man can’t remain in power”? To be honest, I evaluated his remarks as just saying something off the cuff that he shouldn’t have said. And I think he meant it in an off the cuff way. I do not think he meant it to signal policy.
I think he just said that without thinking and it didn’t reflect United States policy. Unfortunately, he has tended to do that, have these off the cuff phrases. But he’s the President of the United States, so it creates a problem.
Former President Trump sometimes would do the same, only often the media would come down on him even more. So I think, as president, you have to think more carefully before you speak.
What worries me more is the last point that I made in the article, that to rebuild the building blocks of deterrence, are we going to be forced to use military force the next time? Because at a certain point, it will seem that we are unwilling under any circumstances to use force. That’s what worries me. There will be pressure.
How about the White House officials’ reaction trying to deny the President’s comment? I think they were probably very concerned about it. In the same way, they were concerned about the statement that President Biden made, the “a minor incursion” statement. That was walked back as well, and [so was] the statement that he made, “We will respond in kind to the [use of] chemical weapons”, suggesting that we would use chemical weapons, which we won’t.
There are a series of statements that he has made. And he has made what I would call gaffes on the domestic side as well.
Russian President Vladimir Putin marks the 77th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, May 9, 2022. Sputnik/Anton Novoderzhkin/Pool via REUTERS At this moment, what is needed to convey a message to Putin that shows the West’s will, or capability, to address this conflict? We should reaffirm that NATO is an alliance that will take its Article Five commitment seriously. That’s very important. We cannot see the war spread further in Europe.
We should immediately reduce the shipments, in terms of the amount of money still going into Russia from the purchases [of oil and gas].
I think we should stop the negotiations on the Iranian nuclear deal and not give the Russians leverage over that or allow the Iranians to sell oil. Because I think [the Russians] do see a benefit for it. So those are some of the factors.
We need to remain committed to NATO and in the long term, [show] we’re committed to ensuring that NATO capabilities remain strong well into the future.
But perhaps [we] also [need to] give a way out, a sense that Russia can take a different trajectory and rethink its role in the international system in a way that’s good for the future of its people and of the Russian people.
How do you assess the Biden administration’s draft 2022 National Security Strategy, and the concept of integrated deterrence that is said to be fundamental to it? I have to look at it more closely, but my first look at integrated deterrence is that it’s no different from the fundamental idea that political, economic, and military power go hand in hand. That power matters, you can’t separate them out. All of them are integrated.
The concept of deterrence in the traditional way, will and capability, is the predominant concept that should hold. If integrated deterrence detracts from that, I think we lose focus.
American power has always been a mixture of economic, political, and military. So how is integrated deterrence different from that fundamental concept?
I would add technology now in that mix. But as an operational concept, will and capability still seems the best way to look at deterrence.
Also, that’s what our adversaries will see. You have to test the concept against how it will be received by the other side. So in a way, what would be interesting would be to see how Chinese military and political leaders, Russian military and political leaders, Iranian military and political leaders, interpret integrated deterrence.
And I’d like to know for a different point, to ask my Japanese counterparts how they view the concept as well.
Airstrip used by mobile missile units training in that area of China. Experts in China’s nuclear force says it is expanding the number of underground silos for intercontinental ballistic missiles. (Satellite image ©2021 Maxar Technologies via AP) What is your view of the concern that China could use the Russian model to exploit the threat of nuclear war in order to avoid US intervention in the event of a Taiwan invasion? It worries me, as well. China has been modernizing its nuclear forces for quite some time now.
A key reason why the United States left the intermediate range forces treaty, the INF Treaty, was not just because Russia was not abiding by it anymore. [It was] also because it didn’t cover a big part of what China was doing.
So yes, I think it is a threat. That’s why we need to make sure the costs look really high in China for [following a Russian model].
China still has a lot of goals regarding its long term growth, its long term desire to grow its economy, and to take up some key positions globally. War would hurt that. It would set those goals back for a long, long time.
So hopefully there’s some deterrent effect in that. It’s a tough problem.
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(Read the related article in Japanese at this link.)
Interview by: Hiroo Watanabe, Washington Bureau Chief
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Fighter jets appeared without presage from behind the aircraft carrier, passing just by the bridge. Every time a fighter jet took off and landed, a roar echoed through the air and white steam rose above the deck. [
Mizuki Okada, a staff writer at The Sankei Shimbun and JAPAN Forward accompanied Japan’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Yoshimasa Hayashi on his visit to USS Abraham Lincoln, the United States Navy’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, on Saturday, April 23.
It was a joint visit by Mr. Hayashi and American Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel to the USS Abraham Lincoln, one of the world’s largest aircraft carriers. The US Navy’s Nimitz-class vessel was deployed in the Philippine Sea, Pacific Ocean at that time.
It was the first time in about twelve years that a Japanese foreign minister had landed on a US aircraft carrier.
Japanese and US media representatives onboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. Onboard an Osprey A group of both Japanese and American media boarded an MV-22 Osprey transport aircraft from the US Navy’s Atsugi Air Base (located in Yamato City and Ayase City, Kanagawa Prefecture). It is the same type of aircraft boarded by Minister Hayashi and Ambassador Emanuel at the same base.
We are directed to wear equipment called “flight gear” including a helmet with earpieces and goggles.
About an hour after we were airborne, the sea breeze began to flow into the cabin. Eventually, the Osprey landed vertically on the USS deck while its propeller converted to axis up, like a helicopter.
Landing on the deck, we were exposed to strong winds from the propeller. This reporter crouched down to look up at the Osprey as it took off, but because the propeller rotated faster during takeoff, she ended up on her bottom instead, knocked over by the strong winds.
Commander of the Strike Group Our host was Rear Admiral Jefferey Anderson, Commander, Carrier Strike Group Three, led by the USS Abraham Lincoln.
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen” he said as we recovered from the landing. “ Everyone can hear me? Okay, thumbs up, you can hear me? Okay!
Calling out loud to the media group, Commander Anderson expressed confidence in his ability to act with promptness, regardless of the situation. He had deployed in Iraqi Freedom and past assignments had included duties as a Top Gun instructor and training officer at the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center. Speaking to both Japanese and American media, he said:
Can I talk about some of the exercises that we did in the Sea of Japan [in April] with the Inazuma [Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s Destroyer]? Primarily our operations there were to show our ironclad commitment to Japan and the Russians.
Our work with the Inazuma there was largely focused on training and building interoperability capability and capacity.
USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), USS Mobile Bay (CG 53), USS SPRUANCE (DDG-111), @jmsdf_pao_eng
(JMSDF) Kongō-class guided-missile destroyer JS Kongō (DDG 173), and JMSDF Murasame-class destroyer JS Inazuma (DD 105) sail in formation during a U.S.-Japan bilateral exercise. pic.twitter.com/0dlV6uuKRP— 7th Fleet (@US7thFleet) April 13, 2022
Comments of the Guests Onboard After touring the aircraft carrier, Mr. Hayashi and Mr Emanuel held a joint press conference onboard USS Abraham Lincoln’s lower deck. There were still continued takeoff and landing drills by F35C stealth fighter jets and other aircraft, so the roar of the planes frequently drowned out their comments, forcing several interruptions.
“I just wanna say, I could have used that when I was mayor a couple times. Okay?”
Mr. Emanuel, who has served as Mayor of Chicago, joked and drew laughter pointing to the roaring fighter jets when the press conference restarted. For the record, there is no aircraft carrier with fighter jets on it in landlocked Chicago. However, the scene put the media members at ease.
Ambassador Emanuel’s opposition to China’s attempts to alter the status quo through force was prominent among his remarks at the joint press conference. Emphasizing this point, he said:
One of the things that China doesn’t have is this kind of friends and allies. Our power as a country comes from the alliances that we have and the ability of all others. Also, it’s not just Japan and South Korea, but Australia, New Zealand, India. We have a major base, a significant base in the Philippines. China has none of that.
Vice Admiral of the 7th Fleet Vice Admiral Karl Thomas, Commander of 7th Fleet, who is based at San Diego, California, in the United States, was also on board.
The 7th Fleet is responsible for the Western Pacific and Indian Ocean. But the Russian invasion of Ukraine also seemed to be on his mind. Vice Admiral Thomas told the group of media present: “We’ve seen the strength and power of the free world come together when a country is aggressive and doesn’t abide by our international rules-based order and invades a sovereign nation.”
He added, “Russia is a large country and has a fleet on this Pacific side as well. And we watch them routinely. I’m very confident in our ability out here in the Pacific to keep an eye on the Russian fleet.
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When the Osprey carrying Mr. Hayashi and others took off from the USS Abraham Lincoln to carry them back to Japan, this reporter crouched down again to watch it go, thinking “Don’t fall over again!” This time, she grasped the deck-installed handle with both her hands.
After seeing them off, she realized her hands had turned black with the oil that stuck to the deck every time an aircraft took off and landed.
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(Read the article in Japanese at this link.)
Author: Mizuki Okada
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The quantity of food waste ー edible food that is discarded and goes to waste ー has finally started going down in Japan.
According to data collected by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the volume of food waste discarded in fiscal 2019, the latest year for which food waste data is available, stood at 5.7 million tons. That is the lowest amount since the ministry started estimating how much food is wasted in Japan in fiscal 2012.
Admitting that it was a record low, the FY 2019 food waste figure is still equivalent to every person in Japan throwing away one bowl of rice every day.
The decrease in food waste may be attributable to the surge in awareness of the idea of “mottai-nai” – or “too good to waste.” Businesses in charge of marketing of foods products are also making steady efforts to cut back on wasting food.
The data released by the ministry predates the COVID-19 pandemic. With food-service industries in a slump, it is thought that food waste figures may have diminished further. Whatever the reason, the downward trend is one that should not stop.
Japan has an abundant supply of food, which means everyone in the country must work together in a constant effort to tackle the food waste problem.
First of all, consumers must keep in mind the importance of not wasting food. For example, by finding ways to help prevent food in home refrigerators from spoiling so quickly.
- Typical rich Japanese meal.
- Pruduce of Japanese Fisheries
- Ponono Place, finding new ways to use and share excess food.
Business Cooperation Critical At the same time, efforts are also required on the part of businesses such as the food manufacturing industry. In the 5.7 million tons of food wasted in 2019, households accounted for only 2.61 million tons. Businesses, on the other hand, accounted for some 3.09 million tons, more than 54 percent of the total.
Interesting in this connection are the efforts by some businesses to utilize edible residue from processing food in other food-manufacturing fields.
Asahi Group Holdings, Ltd. (GHD), for instance, has been using the ears of bread left over at the bakery Marcelino Mori (in Kuramae, Tokyo’s Taito Ward) for other purposes since October 2021. They repurpose it as a raw material for adding flavor to beer, while reducing food waste. The brewery uses more than 40 kilograms of bread ears a month.
Originally, the idea started with En’no Ki, a coffee-roasting shop in Kuramae. Proprietor Reiko Shiraha collected the chaff extracted from roasting coffee beans and provided it to Asahi GHD. Chaff from the beans’ has also been used for fertilizer and in cup production.
Tsunagu Taito, a nonprofit organization supporting people with disabilities, has been involved in recovery of these otherwise wasted resources.
The KURAMAE Model The project, based on the KURAMAE Model, employs the concept of circular economy at the regional level to battle the food waste problem. It is a framework expected to not only help reduce food waste but also encourage the application of resources in the region that complement each other, making maximum use of the vitality of the local communities.
En’no Ki has reportedly received plenty of inquiries, and the KURAMAE Model is expected to spread nationwide in the future.
Moves for reducing food waste as much as possible should be boosted on a national scale.
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(Read the editorial in Japanese at this link.)
Author: Editorial Board, The Sankei Shimbun
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Japan’s Golden Week is a cluster of holidays at the end of April and the beginning of May that brings an extended vacation to the majority of the population every year. Millions of people typically leave for domestic and international destinations.
In 2022, for the first time in three years, no COVID-19 state of emergency was in place in Japan for this holiday. And the Japanese were on the move.
The number of Shinkansen and other train travelers during Golden Week more than doubled, to approximately 2.5 times the levels of 2021.
According to the JR group, the number of Shinkansen and limited express train passengers during Golden Week (April 28-May 8), increased 2.45 times compared to 2021, recovering to 56.4% of pre-COVID ridership (based on 2019 numbers.)
The limitations of life with COVID-19 at least partially set aside, the lingering question was whether this rediscovered sense of freedom would lead to another COVID spike – or not.
Fresh Mountain Air on Mt. Takao Mt. Takao, located in Hachioji, an urban municipality in greater Tokyo, also saw a surge in tourists compared to 2021. Visitors to this popular Tokyo hiking course were not yet back to pre-pandemic levels, however.
Still, at the start of the Golden Week holiday, travelers queued for hours to catch the cable car at the foot of Mt. Takao.
Many were aiming to reach the halfway point of the mountain. For those who wanted to ride instead of hike, there was a 40-minute wait for the lift and a 30-minute wait for the cable car.
From May 3 to May 5, Takao Tozan Railway, which operates the cable car, shortened its usual 15-minute intervals to 10 minutes to ease congestion.
Sarushima Island Sarushima island or Monkey Island is a popular day-trip destination that’s close to Yokosuka, in Kanagawa Prefecture. It offers beaches, ruins, and unparalleled views of Tokyo Bay from every angle. However, there are actually no monkeys in the area.
On May 5, a line formed at Yokosuka Port in Kanagawa Prefecture for the ferry to Sarushima island. Despite a 10-minute ferry ride, the wait was three hours long.
It was packed all the way up to the deck on the ferry. And for the first time in 3 years, there were long lines at the island’s restaurants and restrooms because so many people crowded onto the island for the day.
Tokyo Disney Resort Despite the rain, Maihama Station, the closest train terminal to Disneyland and Disney Sea, was congested with people.
As of March 22, the 20,000 daily visitor limit, which had been set to prevent the spread of COVID-19, had been lifted by the Oriental Land Company, operator of Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea.
Information on the numbers of Golden Week visitors has yet to be released by Universal Studios or Disney Resort.
Universal Studios Japan In the Kansai region, families were enjoying themselves at Universal Studios Japan. Special measures to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 were lifted in Osaka Prefecture, and the maximum admission limits were eased from March 22.
Osaka’s Dotonbori, widely known for its neon lights, outrageous signage, and abundance of restaurants and bars, was crowded with young people as well.
COVID Measures Special measures against COVID-19 were lifted before the holiday, but regional governments and industry banded together to remind those traveling – and receiving travelers – to be cautious for the sake of their friends and families. The mantra: wear masks, wash hands and make sure rooms are well-ventilated.
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To help out, a number of offices and industries opened sites to coordinate the testing effort.
For example, Kawasaki Heavy Industries opened two free PCR testing sites in Sannomiya-Kobe City to facilitate safety of big events during Golden Week.
The Kinoshita Group opened 20 temporary testing stations at major train stations and airports in Japan to help would-be travelers do so safely during Golden Week.
On the other hand, the number of people wanting to take PCR tests at some of these inspection stations, such as Osaka North. appears to have waned. In 2021, up to about 1,200 people a day visited the convenient Osaka location during the Golden Week period, forming lines in front of the testing site. This year, however, there were few lines.
Post- Holiday COVID Spike? There has been much curiosity about whether there would be a COVID-19 spike after the holiday.
Using Tokyo as a case study, on April 28, the day before Golden Week began, there were 5,394 COVID-19 cases.
One week later on May 5, this number had dropped to 2,320, partly due to a lack of testing opportunities due to traveling.
When the holiday ended, the number of cases returned to near their pre-Golden Week levels, with 4,764 new cases recorded on May 11. However, this is still approximately 600 fewer new daily cases than there were on April 28.
Cooperation of people wearing masks and exercising good hygiene habits undoubtedly contributed to the stable numbers.
Foreign Arrival Restrictions The Japanese government is arranging to double the limit on foreign arrivals to 20,000 people per day in June, according to government sources.
Moreover, loosened rules on immigration are expected to follow, pending an assessment of the COVID-19 situation in the country after Golden Week.
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Among the new measures announced, the government said tourists will be allowed into the country once again later in May, in the form of trials of small-scale groups. How the trials go may tell us when to expect a return to more normal tourism in the future.
Author: Shaun Fernando
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Author Haruki Murakami, 73, gave an interview to The Sankei Shimbun and others timed to coincide with the publication of his Japanese translation of The Last Tycoon. The volume isan unfinished workby American author F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940), posthumously published by Chuokoron-Shinsha.
Mr. Murakami covered a wide range of topics, from war-ravaged Ukraine to the film Drive My Car and how translating The Last Tycoon made him re-examine the importance of an aspiring heart.
Writer Haruki Murakami (provided by Chuokoron-Shinsha) ‘I Felt Myself Changing Every Time I Wrote’ “Even before becoming a novelist, I loved his works and have been translating them diligently. Fitzgerald was my starting point and is a sort of literary hero to me.”
Mr. Murakami has translated many of Fitzgerald’s works, from his collection of personal essays, My Lost City, which became Mr. Murakami’s first translated work in 1981, to the timeless masterpiece The Great Gatsby, translated in2006.
The Last Tycoon is an unfinished novel by Fitzgerald, who suffered from alcoholism and died suddenly of a heart attack at the young age of 44. Mr. Murakami translated the 1941 edition, which includes Fitzgerald’s drafts and notes compiled posthumously by the author’s friend and literary critic Edmund Wilson.
“I felt disappointed when I read it as a student. But when I read it again as I got older, I was absolutely riveted. Its effect came over me gradually, like being immersed in the tepid waters of a hot spring,” Murakami reflected.
“When he wrote this, he was 44 years old and going through a period of rapid growth as a novelist. I myself finished The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle at that age and felt myself changing every time I wrote.
“The Last Tycoon is unfinished, but if he had been able to finish it, I think it would have turned out an amazing novel.”
The Peculiar Universality of Fitzgerald’s Works The protagonist of The Last Tycoon is Monroe Stahr, who was born into a poor Jewish family but makes a name for himself as a Hollywood film producer. In flowing prose, the novel tells the story of the glory and downfall of a shrewd man driven by his dreams and ambitions in the newly emerging film industry.
The protagonist is based on the real-life legendary producer Irving Thalberg. Fitzgerald first encountered him in the movie capital of the world when working as a screenwriter, after his former popularity had waned and his novels were no longer selling.
The story not only describes the inner workings of the burgeoning film industry, but also crucially depicts the transitional period of the United States in the 1930s ー when communism was gaining traction ー closing in on its reader with an uneasy universality.
Fitzgerald lived through the 1920s, which saw an economic boom, its subsequent collapse, and the downturn of society which lasted for a decade. He himself lived through that decline and continued to search for a way out of it.
If we think about it, we probably have similar experiences. What I’m reminded of when I translate his novels is the earnestness of those who seek ways to change themselves and find new values in the circumstances that surround them.
Haruki Murakami’s novel, “Drive My Car” was the basis for the Academy Award- winning movie of the same name. (Bunshun Bunko) Tensions of Romance and Heartbreak Protagonist Monroe Stahr achieves a spectacular rise to fame, then falls madly in love with a woman who bears a resemblance to his late wife. This brings a sense of impending doom and tragedy similar to that of The Great Gatsby, which Mr. Murakami lists as one of the most important books he has encountered in his life.
Fitzgerald’s novels are all about romance. Whether it’s falling in love with ‘the one’ or an obsessive admiration. There is always an aspiring heart with a sort of fiery ambition as its energy source.
And when it gets what it seeks, it has already lost its luster. A lot of his stories are like that. The heart that seeks and the resulting sorrow has a personal significance for me. I may forget the plot, but the sensation remains.
What Mr. Murakami says also applies to his own creative attitude.
Society has changed in the 40-odd years I have been writing novels. But I think the way the heart seeks hasn’t changed, so all I can do is continue writing about things like that.
I will get nowhere if I start fussing over the theme or the subject matter, and it will weaken the natural momentum of the story. That’s what I’ve learned from the various writers whose works I’ve translated.
‘It’s a Meaningless, Tragic War’ The film Drive My Car,based on Mr. Murakami’s short story and directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, won Best International Feature Film at the Academy Awards. Mr. Murakami watched the film at a theater and said that it was intriguing.
“To be honest, I get nervous when a film is made too faithfully to the original work. Mr. Hamaguchi’s film changed a lot of the dialogue and the plot. I’m happier when there are more alterations.”
In March, after the Russian military invaded Ukraine, Mr. Murakami ran a special program on his radio show Murakami Radio on broadcaster Tokyo FM. It received a huge response for its anti-war songs and quiet appeal for peace.
It’s a meaningless, tragic war, and I hope it will end as soon as possible.
Most of the protest songs I played [on the program] were written in the 1960s. The anti-war movement has continued since then, but despite all that, I feel like nothing has changed, and I feel helpless. But I have no choice but to keep speaking out.
Mr. Murakami is famously a “running author.” He runs three to four times a week despite his busy writing schedule and has continued to run a full marathon once a year.
After all, you can’t keep writing a novel without stamina and concentration. I’m a long-distance runner, so I believe the second half of the race is crucial.
The good thing about being a novelist is that you can be one for a long time. The rest is all about stamina. I have the feeling that as long as I can run a full marathon, I can probably write a full-length novel.
Murakami’s Next Novel This rouses curiosity about his next novel, but he wants to keep it a trade secret.
After all, you can’t keep writing a novel without stamina and concentration. I’m a long-distance runner, so I believe the second half of the race is crucial.
I don’t tell anyone I’m writing a novel until I’m finished. I keep completely silent. Then, when I’m finished, I hand the USB drive [containing the manuscript] to my editor and say, ‘Here you go.’
Seeing the surprise on my editor’s face is my little pleasure.
About Francis Scott Fitzgerald Fitzgerald was born in 1896 in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in the United States. His debut novelThis Side of Paradisewas published in 1920 and received critical acclaim. He caused a sensation with his flamboyant lifestyle which he shared with his beautiful wife Zelda, and shot to stardom.
Like Hemingway, Fitzgerald is considered to be part of the Lost Generation in the United States. His best-known works include his 1925 novel The Great Gatsby. He died of a heart attack in 1940 while working on The Last Tycoon.
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Author: Rui Ebisawa
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Without much fanfare in the mainstream national media, the Nagasaki Velca recently completed a remarkable season ― their first season as a basketball club ― and secured promotion in the process.
A little background is appropriate at this juncture.
The Velca opened their first season with a 90-70 road win over the Kagoshima Rebnise on October 2, 2021. The Velca wrapped up their inaugural season in the B.League’s third division on May 1, 2022 with a 95-77 victory over the visiting Gifu Swoops.
Nagasaki compiled a 45-3 record, capturing the B3 title. Coach/general manager Takuma Ito’s team outscored its opponents by 1,310 points this season. Who was second on that list in the 15-team B3? The Veltex Shizuoka (35-10), who outscored their foes by 663 points.
After establishing a firm foundation from the get-go, the Velca were built to succeed in the 2021-22 season. They will compete in the B.League second division in the 2022-23 campaign.
At the same time, new teams are scheduled to join B3 for the upcoming season: the Tachikawa Dice, Veertien Mie, Shonan United BC and Tokyo United Basketball Club.
Velca shooting guard Kenji Leon Matsumoto drives to the basket against the Toyoda Gosei Scorpions in an All Japan Basketball Championship game on September 23, 2021. Veteran Roster Ito, who embraces a fast-paced, high-energy style of play, assembled a roster featuring a plethora of veteran players with B1, B2, or B3 experience.
Many of the names on the Velca’s roster are familiar to B.League followers, including Kenji Leon Matsumoto, Edward Yamamoto, Masaya Karimata, Matt Bonds, Noriyuki Sugasawa, Kanji Takahira, Ryota Kondo, Daisuke Noguchi, Javier Carter and Jeff Gibbs.
The bottom line: 10 of 14 players listed on the roster before the season began had played in the B.League in past seasons.
What’s more, Ito is a former Alvark Tokyo bench boss (2015-17) and assistant coach for the NBA G League’s Texas Legends.
So there was a level of familiarity with Japanese pro basketball that permeated throughout the organization, even before the Velca whipped the Rebnise in their opener seven months ago.
- Velca veteran guard Edward Yamamoto, seen playing for the Shimane Susanoo Magic in 2016. (B.LEAGUE)
Focus on Team Play, Community Base Above all, the Velca played an unselfish, entertaining brand of basketball this season.
Eight players averaged more than 1.0 assists per game, with Karimata leading the way (4.0).
Eight players averaged more than 7.0 points per game, including Bonds (21.9), Carter (14.0), Gibbs (12.8), Matsumoto (9.4), Karimata (8.8) and Tariki Dickson (7.7).
Nagasaki became the first team in B1, B2 or B3 since the B.League’s launch in 2016 to average 100 or more points for an entire season.
The Velca averaged 101.4 ppg.
By all accounts, it’s a modern-era NBA-style offense.
- Masaya Karimata in action in 2016 during his tenure with the SeaHorses Mikawa. (B.LEAGUE)
Rapid-fire, 3-point shooting is a staple of Ito’s offense, and eight Velca players attempted 100 or more 3-point shots this season. Yamamoto took 210 shots from beyond the arc. Kondo and Karimata had 200 and 199, respectively.
In a recent interview, Ito discussed the satisfaction of building a successful new team and the challenges connected to creating a strong foundation.
“We provide entertainment, an innovative style of entertainment, and through basketball we get the city excited,” Ito told Odds and Evens, summing up the team’s approach as “wakuwaku,” a Japanese word that refers to something “exhilarating” or “thrilling.”
Ito pointed out that the club has four main objectives: contributing to the local economy by creating jobs; delivering a message of world peace; developing people as players, front-office personnel, etc.; and leading the way as an innovative team in Japan.
- Takuma Ito, Nagasaki Velca’s head coach and general manager (NAGASAKI VELCA)
Ito’s Style Speaking about the team’s commitment to an innovative style of play, Ito told me the Velca have made a “full commitment into our five-out offense.” In short, all Nagasaki players are expected to take and make long-range perimeter shots.
This, of course, played a pivotal role in the Velca’s record-setting scoring performance against the visiting Yamaguchi Patriots on April 2 in a 148-83 win. The hosts made 23 of 38 3s en route to a B.League single-game record for points.
“On our shooting chart, it’s all layups and 3-pointers,” Ito noted.
But do the Velca focus on mid-range jumpers as a core element of the team’s offense?
“No, we don’t actually,” he said. “We emphasize on attacking the basket. Our style of play, we use five words to describe our style of play: hard, aggressive, speed, innovative and together.”
A Comparison of B2 and B3 Asked about the difference in the talent and overall level of competition of the B.League’s second and third divisions, Ito acknowledged that it is significant.
“Obviously, B2 is much better,” he stated.
Analyzing the makeup of B2 teams’ rosters, Ito noted that there are a lot more older players in the second division. A key factor in a slower-paced game than in B3, he observed.
As for B3, “there’s not much experience but I think the players are much younger and play at a faster pace.”
- The Nagasaki Velca’s 2021-22 season portrait. (NAGASAKI VELCA)
Ambitious Goal From the Beginning During our phone conversation, Ito told me that the Nagasaki Velca and the team’s parent company, Japanet, had lofty ambitions for 2021-22.
Becoming a longtime member of B3 was never in the cards.
Or as Ito explained: “Our plan was to move up, just get up out of B3 as soon as possible, which is one season.”
Asked if, based on its success this season from start to finish, the overall mood of the team is enveloped in excitement, Ito was quick to point out the observation is precisely correct.
So how did the Velca produce a storybook season with astonishing results?
Ito will be the first person to tell you that the team’s relationships were a huge factor.
“One thing I really put emphasis on in recruiting the players and the staff, actually, is character,” the coach revealed. “We truly have high-character people. I mean, our guys care for each other, guys care about more than basketball ― care for the community and care for kids. So it’s one great thing about our team, we don’t [feel] satisfied.”
Week after week, the previous game’s score didn’t impact how the players approach their next game.
“Our guys never relax. They focus on our style of play, and that’s why the record is [what it is]. Focus on the game at the time, practice at the time to just get better,” Ito said.
- Matt Bonds
- Daisuke Noguchi
- Ryota Kondo
(Photo credit: NAGASAKI VELCA) A Season of Achievements Bonds led the Velca in scoring (21.9 ppg) and rebounding (10.7). He had a season-best 44 points against Tryhoop Okayama on November 13. The Saint Michael’s (Vermont College) alum scored in double digits in 47 of 48 games. He was named the B3 MVP.
“I am very happy to be awarded the MVP,” Bonds said in a team-issued statement. “I would also like to thank my teammates, coaches and staff. They have always supported me throughout the season. And thanks to the energy and support of all the fans and everyone in Nagasaki, I was always able to play with all my strength. This award is dedicated to the Velca family. Thank you.”
Bonds played for a trio of B.League clubs (Saga Ballooners, Kawasaki Brave Thunders and Nishinomiya Storks) last season before signing with the Velca.
Gibbs, now 41 and a standout frontcourt player for the Utsunomiya Brex (the franchise was previously known as the Tochigi Brex) since 2016, left the club after its championship runner-up season in 2020-21. He had nine double-doubles for Nagasaki and averaged 7.2 rebounds.
“He’s been great from Day 1,” Ito told Odds and Evens. “I remember the first day of practice he came, he’s 41 and he was diving on the floor, so that set the tone, and then young guys were [thinking], ‘Why not? If Jeff Gibbs is diving for the ball?’ ”
- Jeff Gibbs, seen playing for the Tochigi Brex in 2016, was Nagasaki’s oldest player this season. He was 41 when the season tipped off in October. (B.LEAGUE)
Speaking in a recent video message to the Velca fans released on the team’s social media accounts, Gibbs said: “I just want to say thank you Velca fans for your support all season long. Your energy and spirit guided us to a lot of wins this year to the championship.”
Like Gibbs, the 33-year-old Karimata provided vital leadership for the team, as did fellow veterans Yamamoto (age 35), Noguchi (38), Carter (30), Sugasawa (34) and Takahira (28).
Gibbs and Karimata were named to the B3 Best Five team, recognition for their consistency and quality play throughout the season.
Along with a new adjacent soccer stadium, a new hotel and a shopping mall and office complex, a new basketball arena is scheduled to be built in Nagasaki in time for the 2024-25 B.League season.
Exciting times, indeed, for the city and the Nagasaki Velca.
Author: Ed Odeven
Follow Ed on JAPAN Forward’s [Japan Sports Notebook] here on Sundays, in [Odds and Evens] here during the week, and Twitter＠ed_odeven, and find him on JAPAN Forward’s dedicated sports website, SportsLook.
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The post [ODDS and EVENS] Nagasaki Velca Establish Winning Tradition in Sensational Inaugural Season first appeared on JAPAN Forward. Related posts:
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Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks veteran pitcher Nao Higashihama was as surprised as anyone else after he threw a no-hitter against the Saitama Seibu Lions.
The 31-year-old from Okinawa struck out six and issued only two walks in a complete-game 97-pitch effort that resulted in a 2-0 win over the Lions on Wednesday, May 11 at Fukuoka’s PayPay Dome.
“I didn’t think I could do it,” Higashihama said in the post-game hero interview. “And I still don’t believe it.”
It was the 95th no-hitter in Japanese pro baseball and Higashihama (4-1) became the 84th player to achieve the feat.
Read the full story here on JAPAN Forward’s dedicated sports website, SportsLook.
Author: Jim Armstrong
The author is a longtime journalist who has covered sports in Japan for more than 25 years. You can find his articles here.
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Yoon Suk-yeol has taken office as the new President of South Korea and will lead the first conservative government in that country in five years.
In his inauguration address on May 10, the former public prosecutor, who took a hard line on North Korea during the campaign, called on Pyongyang to abandon its drive to develop nuclear weapons.
At the same time, Yoon declared that if North Korea’s leaders genuinely engage in complete denuclearization, “We are prepared to present an audacious plan for vastly strengthening North Korea’s economy and improving life for its people.”
Yoon added that under his administration the door will remain open for dialogue to peacefully resolve issues between the two Koreas.
Threats to the Region North Korea continues to develop nuclear weapons and missiles, and appears poised to conduct its seventh test of a nuclear device, which will be the first in more than four years.
A large monitor in Akihabara, Tokyo, announces North Korea’s ICBM missile launch, which landed inside Japan’s EEZ near Hokkaido on March 24, 2022. (Sankei) Elsewhere, China is ratcheting up political and military pressure on Taiwan, and Russia is continuing its invasion of Ukraine.
In all cases, talk alone will not be enough to deter these bad actors on the international scene. Actual pressure is also indispensable.
No Mention of Regional Allies Japan and US Be that as it may, it is regrettable that in his address President Yoon chose not to mention South Korea’s relations with either Japan or the United States.
Now more than ever Japan, South Korea and the United States need to cooperate for the sake of peace and stability in East Asia. Seeing as how under Moon Jae-in, Yoon’s predecessor, the trilateral arrangement did not function as it should, strengthening relations among the three countries will be a pressing diplomatic issue for the Yoon administration.
To achieve these goals, Yoon will first have to normalize relations between Seoul and Tokyo, as bilateral ties between our two countries reached their postwar nadir under Moon. Therefore, Yoon must clearly present policies for improving relations with Japan.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken with South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi in Honolulu, Feb. 12, 2022. (Kevin Lamarque/Pool Photo via aP) Missing: Good Precedent When earlier conservative governments led by Lee Myung-bak and Park Gyuen-hye were first launched, they advocated forging future-oriented bilateral relations. Nevertheless, after public support for these administrations declined among the public, they unreasonably shifted their stances.
President Yoon has signaled his intent to abandon Moon’s pro-Pyongyang, pro-Beijing policy line, and to instead emphasize security cooperation with Japan and the United States. However, the progressive Democratic Party of Korea still holds a majority in the National Assembly, and may seek to hamstring Yoon, who is a political novice.
We hope that President Yoon will exert strong leadership expressed through decisive action and not just a string of empty words.
It needs to be kept in mind that South Korea bears sole responsibility for the deterioration in Japan-South Korea relations. It is up to Seoul to adhere to the principle that “promises between nations must be kept”—something that should be obvious.
Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi meets with South Korean President Yoon Suk-Yeol and hands over a letter from Prime Minister Kishida on May 10, 2022, in Seoul (Kyodo) Cracking Open the Door While in Seoul for Yoon’s inauguration, Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi met with his incoming counterpart Park Jin, who said “We cannot allow Japan-South Korea relations to get worse than they are now.”
If that is so, then the Yoon administration needs to abide by the 1965 Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea that declares that all claims “have been settled completely and finally.” It accordingly has the responsibility to halt attempts to sell assets of Japanese companies in South Korea in connection with the lawsuits concerning alleged “wartime forced labor.”
During their meeting the two foreign ministers concurred that the bilateral agreement on “comfort women” reached seven years ago had also “completely and finally” settled that issue and the agreement should be complied with. Park Jin put it succinctly when he said, “It is an official agreement.”
That should be considered the starting point for improvement in Japan-South Korea relations.
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(Read the editorial in Japanese at this link.)
Author: Editorial Board, The Sankei Shimbun
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A waka poem by Emperor Meiji has unexpectedly attracted new attention after the Embassy of Ukraine in Tokyo quoted it on Twitter on April 25.
The poem translates roughly as follows: “The four seas are born from a single womb, why then should wind and waves rise in discord?”
Emperor Meiji wrote this verse at the start of the Russo-Japanese War to express his sincere desire to avoid war.
The Emperor Meiji The Ukrainian Embassy’s Twitter account noted that the Showa Emperor also read this poem before the start of the Pacific War. This was included when it apologized for having earlier posted a video clip on its Twitter account on April 1 that had included a photo of the Showa Emperor along with those of fascist dictators Adolph Hitler and Benito Mussolini. (The video has since been removed).
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In fact the Showa Emperor famously read this poem by Emperor Meiji at an Imperial Council meeting held on September 6, 1941, three months before the outbreak of the Pacific War. He did so to express his hope that the Japanese government would continue to work for a diplomatic solution to the very end.
Ryuzo Sejima, former chairman of C. Itoh & Co. (now Itochu Corporation), was at that time serving with the Army General Staff at Imperial Headquarters. He later described how deeply moved he was when he heard about what had happened from a superior.
A life size statue of the Emperor Meiji (Sankei) whose birthday is on November 3.
A special exhibition introducing poems written by Emperor Meiji (photo by Hiroshi Matsumoto)
Heartfelt Words Still Resonating Here is another revealing anecdote concerning the Showa Emperor. On May 29, 1943 Tokyo received a telegram from the last Japanese defenders on Attu Island in the Northern Pacific stating that they were launching a last-ditch night attack.
When the Emperor was informed about the telegram, he said simply, “Tell the officers and men that they did their duty well to the very end.” That was so, even though he knew that no one would be there to receive the telegram.
In his memoirs Sejima wrote that the emperor’s heartfelt words were imbued with the “feelings of a parent who continues to call the name of a deceased child.”
The Showa Emperor’s birthday falls on April 29. From 1989 to 2006, it was celebrated on Greenery Day, a public holiday.
From 2007 Greenery Day was moved to May 5, and April 29 became Showa Day. This public holiday was adopted in order to encourage the Japanese people to reflect on the entirety of Emperor Showa’s reign, including the turbulent early part and Japan’s spectacular recovery from the ashes of war. Of course, to consider as well the future course that the nation should take. It is clear that renaming the holiday was fitting in order to convey how much Emperor Showa had hoped for peace and how much affection he had for the Japanese people.
It is only natural therefore that a supra partisan group should now be actively seeking to change the name of the November 3 national holiday from Culture Day (Bunka no Hi) to Meiji Day to coincide with Emperor Meiji’s birthday.
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(Read the article in Japanese at this link.)
Author: The Sankei Shimbun
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The South Pacific island of Guadalcanal is a strategic point on the sea lanes of communication (marine shipping routes) between the United States and Australia. During the Second World War, the Imperial Japanese Army built an airbase on the island to divide the Allied forces of the United States and Australia. The island became the scene of fierce battles, where more than 20,000 troops from both sides were killed.
Eighty years later, as China continues its maritime expansion, it is driving a wedge into this part of the South Pacific, shaking the region again.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, left, and Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Oct. 9, 2019. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File) China Wedging Into the Solomon Islands The source of the shock is a security pact signed by China and the Solomon Islands in the capital city of Honiara on the island of Guadalcanal. The two countries are not disclosing the agreement.
In March, a document believed to be a copy of the draft Solomons-China agreement was leaked on social networking sites. The leaked document revealed shocking content to neighboring countries.
The pact can be read as if the island nation were ceding its sovereignty by recognizing China’s authority.
The leaked draft includes the following stipulations:
- China can dock vessels in the local ports in the Solomon Islands to resupply as needed. And it can use force to protect the safety of Chinese personnel and operations;
- The Solomon Islands can request Beijing to dispatch police, armed police, and military personnel to maintain social order and protect human lives and property; and
- The Solomon Islands will provide intelligence and supply support for the Chinese mission and grant jurisdictional immunity to its personnel.
Australia’s Shock Australia is probably the most shocked by this Chinese diplomatic surprise attack. The British Commonwealth nation has long considered the Pacific Island nations to be in its backyard. Located northeast of Australia, the Solomons island chain, like Australia, is part of the Commonwealth.
On paper, both have Queen Elizabeth II as their head of state. Moreover, Australia has provided significant aid to the Solomon Islands to support its national management as a regional ally of their mutual former sovereign, the United Kingdom.
However, the Chinese media have called Australia the “watchdog.” It had signed a security agreement with the island nation before China, and has often taken responsibility for maintaining order in the country, which does not have an army. In the new agreement, the Solomon Islands appear to be trying to give the Chinese more authority than its Australian counterpart.
The Diplomat, an American media specializing in foreign affairs, calls the security agreement a game-changing development for the South Pacific region. It also surmises that the actual signed agreement is “very close to the leaked draft.”
China’s Motives Both China and the Solomon Islands insist that Beijing will not establish a permanent military base there. However, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) thinks otherwise. It warns that China could slowly establish a military presence in the Pacific islands, if the Solomon Islands’ parliament approves the security agreement with China and ratifies the deal.
Australia has decided to introduce nuclear submarines through the 2021 AUKUS security framework which includes the United States and United Kingdom. Plans are to build a nuclear submarine base on Australia’s east coast.
China may seek to monitor US, British, and Australian nuclear submarines through a military base it would establish in the Solomon Islands, ASPI warns. The area is considered Australia’s gateway.
Ninth Pacific Island Nations Meeting (PALM 9) hosted by the Prime Minister of Japan. Pacific Island Nation Ambitions Izumi Kobayashi is an expert on the region. He is director of the Society for Pacific Island Studies and professor in the International Studies Department at Osaka Gakuin University. He points out that the conventional wisdom of the US and Australian would not have expected the signing of the security pact between China and the Solomon Islands.
This is “something that would not have happened,” he says, attributing the cause to blunders by Western nations, adding:
Australia and the South Pacific island nations can be thought of as a ‘parent-child’ relationship. Those island nations have already been independent sovereigns, but they are increasingly frustrated with Australia, which, with an authoritarian attitude, has treated them like children. They have wanted to be free from Australian control and to seek out more options for assistance beyond Australia. This kind of ambition lies behind the current circumstances.
There is the hubris of Australia. The problems are multifaceted. Various factions among regions of the Solomon archipelago are playing games by fostering competition among powerful foreign countries interested in offering them assistance.
Ethnic Divisions Moreover, the ethnic conflicts in the Solomon Islands also played a role. They allowed China to take advantage of the local divisions.
The Solomon Islands, a nation of nearly 1,000 islands and atolls, gained independence from the UK in 1978. Its current population is about 700,000. However, in Kobayashi’s words, “There was no need for these islands to be united for common destiny as a nation.” This artificial binding is the root cause of the current ethnic conflicts.
As the nation’s capital was established in Honiara on the Guadalcanal Island, many residents on Solomon province of Malaita, which is about 113 km or 70 miles away from the Guadalcanal, moved to Guadalcanal. The Malaitans, who are known to be energetic and industrious, ended up holding many vital positions in the nation’s political and economic world. Conflicts between these transferred Malaitans and the native Guadalcanalese have become acute.
This ethnic conflict has spawned a politically charged environment, where supporting China or Taiwan has been the dividing issue since both nations became active in diplomacy in the South Pacific.
A long-standing diplomatic relationship between Malaita and Taiwan has meant that Taiwan-sponsored projects have tended to occur on the Island. In turn, this has strengthened their ties.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has harshly criticized the new security alliance in the region which would see Australia build nuclear submarines. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File) China’s Emergence in Island Politics A significant policy change occurred in April 2019 when Manasseh Sogavare was elected Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands for the fourth time. In September of that year, he distanced the Solomons from Taiwan and established diplomatic relations with China.
In November 2021, unrest erupted once again in Honiara. Pro-Taiwan demonstrators who were upset with the sudden pendulum swing toward China demanded the resignation of the Sogavare government and called on it to restrengthen its ties with Taiwan. The demonstrators turned violent and destroyed shops in the city’s Chinatown.
Great Power Competition How will the struggle for supremacy in the South Pacific between the US and China unfold in the future? In April 2022, the United States’ Biden administration sent National Security Council (NSC) Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell and his team to the Solomon Islands.
Campbell warned Prime Minister Sogavare that the US would take “countermeasures” if Chinese troops were stationed there. It is possible that he also cautioned Solomon’s National Parliament not to approve the security agreement.
The United States has been planning to reopen its embassy in the Solomon Islands, which it closed in 1993. According to Professor Kobayashi, from the time of the Donald Trump administration, there has been a movement in Washington not to leave matters regarding the Pacific region to Australia (in anticipation of China’s expansion). He predicts, “Barring effects from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, leadership in the South Pacific is set to shift from Australia to the US.”
On the other hand, the online version of the Chinese Communist Party publication Global Times criticized the US response to the security agreement between China and the Solomon Islands, calling it “far more hysterical than anything coming out of the Kremlin regarding Kiev.”
The Chinese CCP media outlet argues that Washington is aiming to push its own strategy in the Indo-Pacific to contain China’s territorial expansion into the South Pacific regions, South China Sea and Taiwan.
It could be said that, instead, it is Beijing’s sense of crisis over the US containment of China that prompted its offensive in the South Pacific.
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(Read the article in Japanese at this link.)
Author: Yoshiaki Nishimi, former Sankei Shimbun Beijing Bureau chief.
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Japan’s Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry Koichi Hagiuda discusses the implications of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine for global institutions, energy policy and other issues in an exclusive interview with The Sankei Shimbun ahead of the late April Golden Week holidays in Japan.
Reverberations are being felt widely, he explains, including in the United Nations. Acknowledging the calls for Japan to step forward, Minister Hagiuda talks about whether Japan would play a more active role in the efforts to reform the global institution.
The minister shares his take on the domestic implications forJapan’s Strategic Energy Plan, adopted in the autumn of 2021. He also reiterates the country’s commitment to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, including the future of nuclear energy in Japan.
With rising pressure to end all financial relations with Russian entities, the Minister Hagiuda also discusses finding the balance that benefits Russia the least while protecting Japan’s interests.
Excerpts of Minister Hagiuda’s remarks follow.
Sakhalin 1 oil and gas development project off Sakhalin island in Northeast Russia. (Provided by Exxon Neftgas via Kyodo) Behind the Decision to Not Withdraw from the Sakhalin Projects Japan has no choice but to rely on overseas imports for most of its energy resources. For that reason, our country’s energy security must not be compromised by the escalating tensions in Ukraine.
From this perspective, the two projects on Sakhalin Island, Sakhalin 1 which produces crude oil, and Sakhalin 2 which produces liquefied natural gas (LNG), as well as the Arctic LNG 2 project, are stable sources of long-term and inexpensive energy. That is why we have decided to hold on to our interests there and have announced that we will not withdraw.
So many Ukrainians are being killed by Russian aggression. Emotionally speaking, I understand the opinion that all imports from Russia should be stopped immediately to put economic pressure on Russia. However, Japan has owned concessions in the Sakhalin 1 and 2 projects for many years.
If Japan were to give up these concessions, a third country would immediately come in to take them. Even if the concessions were not handed over to a third country, if Russia trades the crude oil and LNG on the market, it is highly likely that they will be traded at a higher price than now.
As a result, pulling out of the projects will only benefit Russia. That is why, at this point, we would like to solemnly maintain our stance of securing Japan’s concessions.
Reducing Dependence on Russian Resources Basically, Japan’s energy dependence on Russia will decrease in the future. However, even if only one country stops doing business with Russia, if the energy consumption of the entire world remains unchanged, a struggle for resources will be created and energy prices will rise.
To compensate for reduced imports from Russia, for example, oil-producing countries have been asked to increase crude oil production. And the United States has been asked to increase shale gas production.
We need to come up with the best options for each other, taking into account the circumstances of countries other than Russia.
Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Russia casts the lone dissenting vote criticizing Russia’s aggression in a UN Security Council session, Feb. 25, 2022. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) Reforming the United Nations If Russia commits serious outrages in the future, the United Nations will have to set up a new platform.The international community needs rules, and if the UN [Security Council] cannot do its job, then there is no point in its existence.
I believe that sensible countries are disappointed with the UN’s actions in response to the invasion of Ukraine. There are various stakeholders among the permanent members of the Security Council and as it stands, nothing can be decided if one country invokes its veto. It is not a matter of rule by democracy.
The United Nations should be restructured into the institution we all want. And I think the world would like Japan to step forward on the matter of UN reform. Japan will chair the Group of Seven (G7) summit next year. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida should be proactive in bringing about reform of the United Nations.
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Interview with Koichi Hagiuda, Minister of Economy Trade and Industry, (Photo by Hideo Iida, Sankei, on April 25, 2022.) Moving Forward with the Strategic Energy Plan The Cabinet approved Japan’s Strategic Energy Plan in October 2021, and it will remain as our compass for mid to long-term energy policy.
Of course, we will respond flexibly to the future energy situation in the post-Ukraine invasion world. However, we will not change the major goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.
Meanwhile, at the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Japan proposed the use of ammonia and hydrogen, which do not emit carbon dioxide (CO2) when burned, to decarbonize coal.
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The European countries have asked to join us in this effort, and Japan’s technological capabilities are now being reevaluated. This is the only light in the midst of the disaster of the invasion of Ukraine. And I would like to see Japan lead the world’s energy policy with its science and technology.
As for nuclear power plants, we are not thinking of building new plants or expanding existing ones at this stage. However, if and when the Nuclear Regulation Authority of Japan (NRA) finds that existing plants [that are shut down] comply with the new regulatory standards, it is my responsibility to ensure they are restarted. I intend to do so, with the understanding of the local communities.
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Facing an Energy Emergency We are facing high crude oil prices, and I was instructed by the prime minister to “show leadership and come up with countermeasures.”
The maximum subsidy to oil wholesalers has been raised from 5 JPY (less than 4 cents US) to 35 JPY (about 25 cents US) per liter. Although there is criticism that this will distort the market (where prices are determined by supply and demand), this is a state of emergency. Market tightening due to the Ukrainian tensions adds to the recovery period from the COVID-19 pandemic.
We want to prioritize the lives of our citizens now. However, this is an exceptional measure, and it must end at some point. We will cooperate with the international community in making efforts to stabilize the oil price.
Interview with Koichi Hagiuda, Minister of Economy Trade and Industry, (Photo by Hideo Iida, Sankei, on April 25, 2022.) Prospects for the Summer Elections We need to make efforts and produce results, conveying the effects of each policy to the people. Unless we do so, I don’t think we can win the summer Upper House elections. After all, it is our responsibility to raise wages.
We have strengthened the system of “subcontractor G-men” (transaction investigators) to listen to the voices of small and medium-sized businesses nationwide, and better grasp the transactional status they face. Prices can then be passed on appropriately.
It may be inherently odd for the government to intervene in private sector management, but the wage situation will not change unless someone does it. I am willing to do it even if someone bears a grudge against me.
Post-Kishida? I don’t mean to sound pretentious, but since I was first elected as a politician, I have had no ambition to become the LDP president or prime minister. As the culmination of my political career, however, I would like to serve as LDP Secretary General at the end.
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(Read the related interview articles in Japanese at this link and this link.)
Interviewed by: Mayumi Ogawa
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Some Londoners panicked when they noticed a large jet flanked by two fighter planes flying low over the city during the recent visit to the city by the Prime Minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida.
People wondered if they were witnessing some sort of terror incident. Photos of the planes were shared anxiously on social media.
Royal Air Force aircraft carry out a low-altitude ceremonial flight passing over the British Prime Minister’s residence in London on May 5 (Pool photo) One user wrote: “An airliner aeroplane has just flown low over Trafalgar Square flanked by fighter jets.”
Another added: “Fighters escorting passenger plane approaching Heathrow.”
Fortunately, there was no cause for alarm. The ceremonial fly-past had been carefully arranged by the Royal Air Force to honor Mr. Kishida and the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who were standing on Horse Guards’ Parade, the ground where every year the Trooping the Color takes place to mark Her Majesty The Queen’s official birthday.
The largest plane in the formation was an RAF Voyager Vespina, with a Union Jack flag emblazoned on its tail. It was accompanied by two smaller RAF Typhoons.
The jets passed above the roof of Buckingham Palace, then over the pelicans in St James’s Park before appearing directly over the heads of the prime ministers, drawing smiles and gasps from onlookers.
Then a British army captain, dressed in scarlet tunic and a white plumed bearskin hat, stepped forward and invited the honored visitor to inspect the Grenadier Guards. Major General Chris Ghika made his invitation in perfect Japanese.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is greeted by an honor guard speaking perfect Japanese on May 5, 2022, in London with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. (Pool photo via Kyodo) Pageantry with Purpose Such pageantry may strike critics as a waste of time and money. But it was designed to impress important points upon the visitors.
The government wanted to show that Britain commands a powerful international military force and enthusiastically supports the defense industry.
At a press conference later that day, Mr Johnson said that the United Kingdom and Japan had agreed a defense deal that will allow their national forces to work more closely together and that the UK’s Future Combat Air System (FCAS), “could become the cornerstone of the UK-Japan bilateral relationship.”
Prime Minister Johnson, speaking in Downing Street alongside Mr. Kishida, said he was glad that the two nations have agreed to a reciprocal access agreement for the armed services, which should enable more joint military exercises involving Japan’s Self Defense Force and the British Army.
He said allies in Europe and East Asia must be unified in the face of threats. He condemned the recent ballistic missile launch by North Korea, offering reassurance that the UK stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Japan and its Indo-Pacific allies.
PM Kishida attending an online meeting of G7 leaders who are talking to President Zelensky of Ukraine. May 9, 2022 . (provided by the Cabinet Public Relations Office) Solidarity with Ukraine Mr. Johnson said he was impressed by the strong stance the Japanese government has taken against the Russian aggression in Ukraine.
Mr Kishida underlined this position by stating in London that: “Russia’s egregious aggression against Ukraine is a clear violation of international law.”
He continued: “Acts amounting to war crimes are utterly unacceptable and I condemn them in the strongest terms. In order to achieve peace, the international community must make it clear that aggression brings consequences.”
Mr. Kishida pointed out that Japan is one of only a few Asian countries sanctioning Russia – the others being South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan. “We will continue to work with the UK and the international community to take resolute action to end this atrocity and restore peace as soon as possible,” he said.
Trade Connections As well as the landmark defense agreement, the Japanese leader’s trip to London also brought forth a pledge to collaborate more closely on trade and to press forward with Britain’s application to become a member of the CPTPP bloc. The British government announced that it has appointed Greg Clark MP as the UK’s new trade envoy to Japan, with a brief to further strengthen economic links.
Mr Clarke said: “As Business Secretary from 2016 to 2019, I enjoyed strong relationships with Japan as a hugely significant trading partner with the UK. I look forward to building on this in the role, championing UK businesses and creating more opportunities for our two countries to deepen our already strong ties.”
The British government, led by Mr Johnson, places great importance on forging closer alliances with friendly and like-minded countries in Asia. This policy forms part of the “global Britain” approach to international relations, which has been developing since Brexit.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen Supporting Taiwan The Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss, emphasized the connections between security in Europe and the risks to peace in the Indo-Pacific during a recent speech.
“We need to pre-empt threats, working with allies like Japan and Australia to ensure that the Pacific is protected,” said Ms. Truss.
She added: “We must ensure that democracies like Taiwan are able to defend themselves.”
Britain does not offer diplomatic recognition to Taiwan but treats its envoy similarly to an ambassador. And many members of the governing Conservative party praise Taiwan for maintaining a multi-party democracy in the face of threats from China.
There is a similar situation in the United States, where Senators from both the Democrats and the Republicans are adamant that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine must not be allowed to embolden China to act aggressively against Taiwan.
In London, Mr Kishida said: “Peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is critical not only for Japan’s security but also for the stability of international society”.
He added: “Japan maintains its position to expect a peaceful resolution through dialogue to issues surrounding Taiwan. And the situation will be watched carefully from that perspective.”
President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, March 24, 2022. Doug Mills/Pool via REUTERS NATO Event Representatives of NATO member states will gather in Madrid next month for a crucial meeting to discuss the alliance’s strategy for the coming decade.
Japan is not a NATO member but has been attending meetings as an observer regularly since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It is highly likely Foreign Minister Hayashi will attend the Rome event. The representative of the British government, Liz Truss, takes the view that NATO “must have a global outlook, ready to tackle global threats”.
However it is possible that Ms Truss will no longer be Foreign Secretary by the time the Rome event takes place.
According to one MP representing Mr. Johnson’s Conservative party, she’s being lined up for the role of Chancellor of the Exchequer, which would give her responsibility for the national budget.
If the rumors are to be believed, the man who is currently the top finance minister, Rishi Sunak, would then move to become the head of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
From Japan’s perspective, it is not particularly important who holds which positions within the British government, provided there is continuity of policy in areas such as trade and defense.
It is even possible that there could be a change of prime minister in London this year, if Mr. Johnson is unseated by a party rebellion. If that were to happen, the Japanese will surely hope that the new British leader shows as much commitment to challenging “autocratic, coercive powers” as Boris Johnson.
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Author: Duncan Bartlett
Duncan Bartlett is a regular contributor to JAPAN Forward. You can read his other articles and essays here.
The post Honored by the Captain of the Guard, Kishida Clinches Trade and Security Deals with Britain first appeared on JAPAN Forward. Related posts:
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I was taken aback the first time I came across a Japanese coin with a hole in the middle.
So far as I know, no coins in Europe or North America have holes. But in Japan, both five yen coins and 50 yen coins include this striking feature.
People who study coins – a field of endeavor known as numismatology – place great significance on holes, as they reveal a link between modern Japanese money and ancient China. Back in the early centuries of the first millennium AD, Chinese merchants traveled abroad with purses full of Ban Liang coins, hoping to persuade foreigners to use them.
Alas, the Japanese were unimpressed. They prefered to barter with rice or pieces of cloth. This continued until about 700 AD, when a tech innovator rose to power in Nara.
Empress Gemmei (San’ei-sha) That visionary was Empress Genmei. She supported the copper industry and urged metal workers to mint an independent imperial currency. Following the example of the Chinese prototypes, the first Japanese copper coins had holes in them. Today, I fear that such copycat behavior would provoke allegations of intellectual property theft.
Volatile Currencies The economies of modern Japan and modern China are quite different from one another. Nevertheless, for the past few months the financial news from Asia has been dominated by the decline of currencies from both countries against the United States dollar.
The Japanese yen, adjusted for prices, is at the lowest level since the 1970s. The yen started to slide in 2021, when it became apparent that the US Federal Reserve would raise interest rates, creating a widening gap in yields across the Pacific.
Now the Fed is under pressure to address two serious problems – very high inflation and the mounting risk of a recession later this year. Europe’s economy is also slowing and it could well fall into a recession, should there be a significant dispute over gas supply because of the war in Ukraine.
The recent jump in oil and gas prices has precipitated the decline in the value of Japan’s currency. Unlike previous times of geopolitical turmoil, investors no longer regard the yen as a “safe haven”.
- Wadoukaichin monument in Saitama Prefecture.
- Japanese coins of the current era [Photo by Wikimedia Commons]
Long-term Outlook Will the yen remain weak, or is this just a temporary spell in the doldrums?
Well, the Bank of Japan said in March that recent increases in energy prices will weigh on the Japanese economy in the short-term but will eventually wane.
However, given that the central bank is determined not to follow the Fed by raising interest rates, a weak yen seems inevitable.
This trend, combined with rising oil prices, leads to painful inflation in Japan. Delivery drivers are aghast at the increasing cost of petrol at the pumps and shoppers are struck at how expensive imported food, such as cheese, has become in supermarkets.
I have come across a few patriotic traders in Tokyo who are talking up the yen. But most economists warn that the Bank of Japan’s reluctance to raise rates is a sign that it has run out of practical options to get the economy back on track.
Workers in protective suits keep watch on a street during a COVID-19 lockdown in Shanghai, China, April 16, 2022. REUTERS/Aly Song China’s Covid Crackdown Turning to China, the yuan lost near 4% of its value against the US dollar in April. This is predominantly linked to the pressure on the economy caused by the Communist government’s stubborn adherence to a “zero-COVID” strategy, which uses mass testing and strict lockdowns to try to prevent the virus spreading. Shanghai has been in special measures for a month.
The official line is that this strict approach is keeping people safe and the death rate low. However, this is not the full picture. I have seen reports that some buildings in Shanghai have been surrounded by green fences, which were erected by soldiers in hazard suits, leaving people trapped inside their homes. When residents attempt to complain, their voices are quickly silenced.
China’s economic figures for April will “certainly be disastrous” according to Gavekal Dragonomics, a consultancy. I also believe that the implications for China’s currency would be even more severe, were the yuan to be allowed to trade freely on the markets. Instead, it is protected by the government, which limits its movements against the dollar.
Ancient Chinese coins on a string [Courtesy Wikimedia Commons]. Spend, Spend, Spend China’s currency worries may deter its central bank, the People’s Bank of China, from cutting interest rates to revive growth. This leaves its leaders fixated on the idea that fiscal stimulus is the way out of the mess. Citigroup, a bank, forecasts that infrastructure spending in China could grow by 8% this year.
Japan’s Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, has tried a similar approach. Soon after his election last year, he unveiled a record-breaking stimulus package, worth approximately 56 trillion Japanese JPY ($490 billion USD).
It is a vast figure and yet I recognize that many people may not see much benefit from this lavish government spending in their daily lives.
Nevertheless, in some senses, the Japanese can count themselves fortunate. There are no more lockdowns. Foreigners are gradually trickling back.
It’s not a perfect situation, of course. There is still good reason to be worried about global oil prices, supply chain bottlenecks, China’s COVID problem, and a looming recession in the United States and Europe.
Yet – as the little space in the middle of coins reminds us – there’s often a shortfall between perfection and reality. There are even stories that the hole is for people to find unity with peace when in prayer. That theory sounds a little vague and I am not sure whether the myth originated in China or Japan.
Still, it is a charming idea and surely, both lands could benefit from some good fortune at the moment.
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Author: Duncan Bartlett
Duncan Bartlett is a regular contributor to JAPAN Forward. You can read his other articles and essays here.
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A unique vocal group named after their hometown, Yokohama, the Yokohama Sisters are known for their mesmerizing vocal blends and a variety of polyphonic repertoire that features popular R&B and classical songs, as well as traditional Japanese ballads.
The three singers, Maho, Miwa, and Ai, crossed paths at a voice training school in Yokohama. Interested in their recent viral video and other work, JAPAN Forward sat down with them at the end of April for an exclusive interview.
Live performances and YouTube videos are the main forms of their activity. Suddenly in February 2022, however, the vocal trio attracted worldwide attention with a choral video of the Ukrainian national anthem they posted on YouTube.
The video was released soon after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began, and we were curious about the incredible timing. Their preparations had started much earlier, the sisters explained, and for a different purpose.
Originally, they were rehearsing to celebrate the 55th anniversary in 2020 of Yokohama’s sister-city affiliation with four global cities by singing each country’s national anthem. The Ukrainian city of Odesa was one of the four, along with Mumbai (India), Manila (Philippines), and Vancouver (Canada). But like most activities around the world, the celebration was postponed due to confirmation reasons.
The “Ukrainian National Anthem” video that has become a viral topic of discussion this time is one of the four they were practicing.
While the video has gained a lot of attention, some people apparently believe the trio made it as a political statement.
The sisters, however, contend otherwise, stating that they really want to sing the anthem of as many countries as possible, adding that each has its own charm.
In their opinion, singing the national anthems of other countries is a great way to show respect. They hope that as they keep on doing so, their audience will become intrigued by the country and want to learn more, including about Ukraine.
Public Reaction Makes the Statement In response to a question regarding the public reaction to their video, three sisters said that they were surprised by the view count and positive comments they received.
The video spread, sparked by the fact that it was picked up by multiple local outlets in Ukraine, says Maho. The sisters described their sadness about the current situation in Ukraine, which has been extremely difficult to witness.
“A conflict-free world is, of course, what we all desire, so the Yokohama Sisters will continue to do everything we can to bring smiles to people’s faces through our activities”, says Maho.
During the time of the JAPAN Forward interview, the talented trio was working on a music video for their new song, “Mama Papa Don’t Cry“.
They explained the curious choice. Apparently, some parents have expressed difficulty attending the Yokohama Sisters’ performance while raising their children. Since both Maho and Ai have worked as nursery school teachers, Maho said she wrote the song from the viewpoint of a small child. The song is dedicated to all fathers and mothers facing challenges.
Bringing Family-Friendly to Live Performances Currently, the sisters are working on family-friendly activities to enable parents to participate with their children.
Maho added, “With the pandemic, there were fewer live events and fewer opportunities for children to experience music. Some people were concerned that children would disturb the show if they cried, and that is absurd since that is what children do. So we have tried to make the performances as family-friendly as possible.”
While many are sensing the pandemic’s end is in sight, the three members of the Yokohama Sisters say they will keep singing, and continue acting as a bridge between Japan and the rest of the world.
Upcoming Events The Yokohama Sisters will be performing at the following events.
◉Laser Rush Presents Party at Cliff Side Yokohama on May 5
◉Clef TAKA Live at Sendai Club Junk Box (Guest Appearance) on May 20
◉Okinawa Champuru Carnival hosted by FM Yokohama on May 21
Author: Shaun Fernando
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“Do you know a Ukraine night? No, you do not know a night in the Ukraine. Gaze your full on it” [original grammar], wrote Nikolai Gogol in A May Night.
When I was a university student, I read out Bin Ueda’s Japanese translation of this short story. At the time, the title A May Night (五月の夜) had been translated to “Spring Evening in Southern Russia.”
Ukraine’President Volodymyr Zelenskiy meets Polish PM Mateusz Morawiecki, other regional leaders in Kyiv March 15, 2022. Ukraine Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS Noble Patriotism that Protects Freedom Back then, I wasn’t aware that faraway Ukraine was a separate country from Russia. I would have been surprised to see Ukrainian civilians resisting so tenaciously against the Russian army.
The Ukrainians have amazed the world with their perseverance in this conflict — patriotism that defends freedom is noble. I hope that a peaceful conclusion will be reached without yielding to Russia’s every unreasonable whim and demand.
The destruction shown on television day after day has been heart-breaking. A Japanese pundit, finding the footage unbearable to watch, commented, “There’s no way to put a stop to the mounting civilian deaths except for Ukraine to back down at some point.”
Then he added that the countries have entered “a phase in which political compromise is necessary on the premise that tactical nuclear weapons could be used.”
I, too, hope for peace to come as soon as possible. But whether “choose surrender over nuclear war” is good advice at this stage is dubious. Such a weak attitude is exactly what a country flashing its nuclear card would want.
If the Japanese keep insisting on “surrender over nuclear war,” it is probably because of Japanese education under the postwar “peace” constitution.
If so, the future is bleak. The Japanese archipelago, surrounded by the sea and geographically assured of peace, is now also surrounded by two major nuclear-weapon states — China and Russia — and other countries that are developing nuclear weapons.
Don’t Give In to a Nuclear Bully A question I have for those who advocate a pacifist mantra is this: Is it right to advise the Ukrainians resisting for the sake of their country to “raise your hands in surrender first to end the war”?
Dictator Putin’s campaign to “unite” ethnic Russians has become subject to worldwide scrutiny. Chinese President Xi Jinping, who also exercises imperial power, advocates for the unification of the Han Chinese.
With a Taiwan operation in mind, Beijing is closely observing the fate of Ukraine, while also keeping a close watch over the anti-war sentiment of Moscow’s citizens as well as the mood of the Chinese people.
Foreign Minister Wang Yi can read Japanese. China’s foreign ministry is likely taking note of Japanese reactions as well.
Japanese politician Ichiro Ozawa in the Great Hall of the People with Chinese President Hu Jintao. Ozawa led a delegation of more than 600 pro-China business and political leaders from Japan. December 10, 2009 (Kyodo) Seeds of Misunderestimating Japan However, I wonder if President Xi underestimates the Japanese people. In 2009, Ichiro Ozawa, then secretary-general of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), led a delegation to visit Beijing where they shook hands with Chinese leaders and posed for photos.
“Ozawa’s children,” young Diet members who were elected to office under the wing of Ozawa, rejoiced in their belief that those photos would guarantee their victory in the next election.
These are our country’s “elected elites.” I wonder how they are being perceived by top diplomat Yang Jiechi and other members of the Politburo Standing Committee. It is terrifying to think that things like this could engender disregard for Japan.
We should not urge Ukraine to surrender as long as they have the will to fight. Their battle against a despotic state is also a battle for the free world.
Placed in the unique situation of being an island nation, Japan is imbued with a vague sense of security that has allowed an idiosyncratic form of pacifism to prevail unchallenged. But such a sense of security does not hold internationally.
Japan’s Idiosyncratic Pacifism Dante wrote, ”He goes in search of liberty—so precious, as he who gives his life for it must know.”
Nowadays, it is difficult to uphold an exclusively defense-oriented policy.
In Ukraine, drones have identified and destroyed a group of tanks invading by land. Similarly, any naval fleet that tries to invade Japan by sea will have to be sunk by missiles.
In preparation for such maritime contingencies, Japan should at least discuss enhancing its missile arsenal or sharing nuclear weapons with the United States.
- ‘Reality of World Security’: Shinzo Abe’s Nuclear Sharing Talk Sparks Debate
As the international situation deteriorates, the Diet cannot keep insisting that a constitution denying Japan the right of belligerency and the maintenance of war potential should remain unchanged.
-
EDITORIAL | 70 Years Later, are We Passing On a Sovereign Japan to the Next Generation?
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Japanese Coast Guard patrols against Chinese incursions near Senkaku
- China’s maritime militia in Japan’s territorial waters around the Senkaku Islands.
- Naval vessels from Russia and China around Japan October 23, 2021. Russian Defense Ministry/via REUTERS
Japan Needs the Power of Deterrence The current Constitution was enacted when I was a junior high school student. Its renunciation of war reads, “The Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.”
Although beautifully written, I think philosopher Michitaro Tanaka was more convincing when he said that adding “the Japanese people renounce typhoons” in the Constitution won’t stop typhoons from coming to Japan.
After emerging victorious from an internal Party struggle, Xi Jinping declared his will to follow in the footsteps of Mao, who was in turn like a reincarnation of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of a unified China.
Xi spoke of China’s dream of becoming a world power in the post-American era and seized the hearts and minds of the ignorant.
The Limits of Tyranny Pundits on TV say that China, with tyrannical rule as its national character, has not changed since ancient times. But is that true?
During the Qingming Festival or Tomb Sweeping Day of 1976, a bouquet was offered at the Monument to the People’s Heroes in Tiananmen Square in memory of the late Premier Zhou Enlai. Attached to the bouquet was the following poem.
“China is no longer the China of yore. And the people are no longer wrapped in sheer ignorance. Gone for good is Qin Huang’s feudal society. When modernization is achieved, we will offer wine to worship you once more.”
Zhou Enlai set a national goal of modernization. After the economic opening of China, the country came close to its goal in terms of industry, national defense, and science.
However, democratization is impossible under a one-party rule, and China has gone backward in recent years. But, as some thoughtful people have said, you cannot reverse the flow of the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers.
Tyrannical rulers will eventually lose their positions and change will come. But until then, Japan must enhance its deterrence capabilities to prevent China from invoking military force.
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(Read the Seiron essay in Japanese at this link.)
Author: Sukehiro Hirakawa
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On April 28, 1952, the San Francisco Peace Treaty came into force. In 2022, Japan marks the 70th anniversary of the restoration of its sovereignty.
Sovereignty is the mark of an independent nation that can decide its own path without interference from other nations. The importance of this can be clearly seen in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, where the people have stood up courageously against their invaders to defend the independence, and therefore sovereignty, of their country.
According to international law, wars are ultimately brought to an end by the enforcement of peace treaties. Unfortunately, despite Japan marking its 70th year since its postwar period truly began, the significance of the restoration of its sovereignty is still not well understood.
Occupation-drafted postwar Constitution of Japan Harsh Realities of the Occupation During the more than six years of occupation, Japan lost its sovereignty and had to be at the beck and call of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP).
But many in Japan perceive these years no differently than the 70 years since Japan regained its sovereignty. This is the lingering curse of the occupation.
SCAP Directives took over every corner of Japanese politics, economy, and society. Japan had a government and a Diet, but no autonomy. Anything that went against the will of SCAP was forbidden.
Textbooks were blacked out, and media — including newspapers, publications, movies, and broadcasts — were censored. Even the mention of the censorship system was forbidden. With the press and speech controlled, there was no freedom in occupied Japan.
The adverse effects of the Tokyo War Criminal Trials, by which the losers of the war were condemned under ex post facto laws, continue to this day. Without any regard for Japan’s side of the story, history was rewritten to suit the Allies. And a masochistic view of history was instilled into the minds of the Japanese people.
The sovereignty of a nation is a prerequisite for the enactment or revision of a constitution. But SCAP forced upon Japan a draft constitution that only took its American staff one week to prepare, threatening that otherwise the Emperor’s life would not be guaranteed.
Japan is still unable to revise its Constitution, which was created while it had no sovereignty. Even though sovereignty was restored 70 years ago.
Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe discusses the Constitution of Japan in a panel discussion in Yurakucho on April 21, 2022 (Photo by Hideo Iida, Sankei). A Lingering Occupation Even then when sovereignty was restored, United States military rule continued in Okinawa, the Amami Islands, and the Ogasawara Islands.
Some have called the day sovereignty was restored “a day of humiliation,” when Okinawa became separated from the mainland. But this is misguided.
When the San Francisco Peace Treaty was signed, then-Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida stated clearly that he “cannot but hope that the administration of these islands will be put back into Japanese hands in the not distant future.”
The United States had initially wanted to separate Okinawa from Japan and turn it into a trust territory. An article allowing the United States to turn Okinawa into a trust territory anytime was incorporated into the peace treaty.
But the Japanese government fought back strenuously, and the world recognized its residual sovereignty in Okinawa. The government never gave up on the reversion of Okinawa, and in 1972, Okinawa was returned to the mainland 20 years after the peace treaty came into effect.
Japan Needs Stronger Deterrence Still, today Japan’s restored sovereignty is incomplete and under threat.
The four southernmost Kuril Islands and Takeshima (aka Liancourt Rocks) should also be under Japan’s sovereignty, but remain illegally occupied by Russia and South Korea, respectively. The abduction of Japanese citizens by North Korea is another serious violation of sovereignty and human rights, and it is yet to be resolved.
Meanwhile, China has been trying to seize the Okinawa islands. Although Japan exercises de facto control of the Senkaku Islands, China Coast Guard ships have been roaming the surrounding waters and repeatedly trespassing into Japan’s territorial waters.
Another major concern is the possibility of a Taiwan contingency, which would precipitate a Japan contingency because of Taiwan’s geographical proximity.
There are many lessons to be learned from the tragedy occurring in Ukraine, which unfortunately was not able to deter Russia. It was invaded because Russia deemed its defenses to be weak.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on April 9, 2022. (Sankei) Demonstrating ‘Will’ Deterrence is established when the government and the people demonstrate their will and readiness to defend the land, waters, and airspace under their sovereignty.
In the Japanese education system, while the concept of popular sovereignty is taught over many hours, the concept of national sovereignty is rarely mentioned in the classroom.
In recent years, the government screening of textbooks finally approved the listing of the four southernmost Kuril Islands, Takeshima, and the Senkaku Islands as Japan’s inherent territories. Yet, there is still no discussion on the perspective of territorial defense in the context of national sovereignty.
There was even a time in Japan when so-called intellectuals, indifferent to their own country, were considered progressive. They criticized visits by public figures to Yasukuni Shrine, which enshrines those who lost their lives trying to protect Japan.
This is not the way to go. On this 70th anniversary of the restoration of sovereignty, the Japanese people must reflect on the importance of protecting their territory and passing on a free, independent, and sovereign Japan to our descendents.
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(Read the editorial in Japanese at this link.)
Author: Editorial Board, The Sankei Shimbun
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High-profile acquisition Seiya Suzuki made a positive impact for the Chicago Cubs in April, especially as a newcomer to the team’s batting lineup.
And as the second month of the Major League Baseball season got underway, Suzuki was recognized for it, being named the National League’s Rookie of the Month for April on Monday, May 2.
Suzuki belted four home runs and had 14 RBIs in April while batting .279 for the month.
He got a hit in two at-bats on Opening Day to give himself a .500 batting average. Suzuki’s batting average then peaked at .429 in the season’s opening month on April 18 (after his 10th game).
The former Hiroshima Carp star, who signed a five-year contract with the Cubs, has struggled of late, though. He snapped an 0-for-17 slump on Sunday against the Milwaukee Brewers, stroking a run-scoring double in the sixth inning in Chicago’s 2-0 win.
Was the hit a turning point for the slumping Suzuki?
“I can’t tell yet,” Suzuki was quoted as saying by Kyodo News after the game. “I want to do what I can to have quality at-bats as soon as possible.”
Earlier this season, Suzuki’s hot bat was one of the biggest stories in MLB. He was named NL Player of the Week on April 18.
Author: Ed Odeven
Follow Ed on JAPAN Forward’s [Japan Sports Notebook] here on Sundays, in [Odds and Evens] here during the week, and Twitter＠ed_odeven, and find him on JAPAN Forward’s dedicated sports website, SportsLook.
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The Kawasaki Brave Thunders are playing high-caliber basketball as the B. League’s 2021-22 regular season inches closer to the finish line.
The Brave Thunders recorded an 85-53 home victory over the Alvark Tokyo on Sunday, May 1 at Todoroki Arena, extending their winning streak to five.
Kawasaki opened the game on a 29-0 run and led 31-2 after the opening quarter over the injury-riddled Alvark, who played without injured stars Alex Kirk and Ryan Rossiter.
The visitors trailed 44-19 entering the third quarter.
By the end of the game, the Brave Thunders became the third B. League first-division club to pick up its 40th win this season.
Nick Fazekas paced the Brave Thunders (40-13) with 23 points and added six rebounds and five assists.
Fazekas led all players with 11 points in the first quarter. The Alvark made 1 of 15 shots from the floor in the opening stanza.
- The Brave Thunders built an insurmountable lead in the fist quarter. (B. LEAGUE)
Kawasaki’s Jordan Heath buried 5 of 8 3-point attempts in a 20-point effort. Pablo Aguilar finished with a double-double (10 points, 10 boards). High-energy guard Yuma Fujii contributed eight points and five assists.
Several weeks ago, the Ryukyu Golden Kings (47-6 through Sunday) became the first team to reach the 40-victory plateau.
The Shimane Susanoo Magic (40-14) notched victory No. 40 on Saturday against the Shiga Lakestars, winning 102-79 in Matsue, Shimane Prefecture.
- Brave Thunders big man Jordan Heath drives to the basket. (B. LEAGUE)
In jumping out to the aforementioned 29-point lead, Heath, a former Canisius (New York) College player, said energy was the key catalyst for his team.
“Today we were talking about putting out energy from the start of the game, and I thought that led to the fact that we were able to keep our opponent to two points in the first quarter, and that was the reason for the victory,” said Heath, who’s in his third season with the Brave Thunders.
Kawasaki sits in second place in the East with a .755 winning percentage. The reigning champion Chiba Jets (33-9), who have played fewer games than all of the B. League first division’s 22 teams, are in first place. The Alvark (38-13, .745 winning percentage) are in third place.
All B1 teams are scheduled to play their final regular-season series on Saturday and Sunday, May 7-8 (see the matchups below).
Tokyo’s Taiki Osakabe shoots as Kawasaki’s Naoya Kumagae defends. (B LEAGUE)
If the Brave Thunders finish the regular season with two more victories, they will lock up the East’s second position in the final standings, securing the right to host playoff games in the quarterfinals and semifinals. The playoffs get underway on May 12.
“Now that we have a clear goal as a team, I think the team is able to concentrate and fight,” said Heath, who is averaging 11.3 points per game. “I think this goal is the way to win the championship.”
Fujii echoed Heath’s sentiments.
“We still have two games left, so we’ll do our best to win firmly and decide second place on our own,” Fuji, who’s averaging 13.7 points per game, told reporters.
Brave Thunders head coach Kenji Sato said his team’s performance was underscored by “the ability to concentrate and execute at the beginning.”
What else defined it?
“It is the result of talking before the game with the players, [saying] that many people are visiting the venue, and let’s express Kawasaki’s basketball that has grown so far from the beginning [of the season], I think,” the coach related.
Shuto Ando scored a team-best 16 points for the Alvark. Jordan Taylor added 10 points and Gen Hiraiwa, making his second start of the season, also scored 10 on 5-for-6 shooting.
- Shimane’s Perrin Buford sizes up the Shiga defense on April 30. (B. LEAGUE)
New Coach Puts Stamp on Shimane First-year coach Paul Hanare has orchestrated the Shimane Susanoo Magic’s big improvement from last season to the current campaign.
By winning their 40th game on April 30, they’ve exceeded their overall performance from 2020-21 in a big way. The Susanoo Magic went 28-32 last season.
Shimane’s latest win, against the Lakestars, included steady offensive output from Seiya Ando (14 points), Nick Kay (13) and Reid Travis and Ryosuke Shirahama (11 apiece).
Small forward Perrin Buford was the game MVP, providing 25 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists in the win.
Buford, a Middle Tennessee State product, is in his second season with the Susanoo Magic. He averaged 14.8 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.3 assists in 44 games (four starts) in 2020-21. This season, he’s produced bigger numbers across the board: 19.7 points, 7.9 rebounds and 6.0 assists in 49 games (22 starts).
- Ryukyu’s Ryuichi Kishimoto shoots a layup on May 1. (B. LEAGUE)
Golden Kings Earn Bounce-Back Win over Diamond Dolphins The Ryukyu Golden Kings avenged their series-opening loss to the host Nagoya Diamond Dolphins a day later on Sunday, May 1, winning 88-68.
Nagoya (32-14) opened the weekend with a 73-67 victory.
In the rematch, Dwayne Evans paced the Golden Kings with a game-best 27 points on 12-for-16 shooting. Teammates Allen Durham and Jack Cooley each had 16 points. Guard Koh Flippin supplied five points and six assists. Flippin, who joined the team in the offseason after helping the Chiba Jets win the title last spring, also was a disruptive force on defense, finishing with six steals.
Scott Eatherton led the Diamond Dolphins with 18 points.
A Look Ahead Here are the pairings for the last weekend of the regular season on May 7-8:
Ryukyu Golden Kings vs. Hiroshima Dragonflies
Levanga Hokkaido vs. Toyama Grouses
Ibaraki Robots vs. Gunma Crane Thunders
Chiba Jets vs. Sunrockers Shibuya
SeaHorses Mikawa vs. Kawasaki Brave Thunders
Osaka Evessa vs. Nagoya Diamond Dolphins
Alvark Tokyo vs. Utsunomiya Brex
Niigata Albirex BB vs. Yokohama B-Corsairs
San-en NeoPhoenix vs. Akita Northern Happinets
Shiga Lakestars vs. Shinshu Brave Warriors
Kyoto Hannaryz vs. Shimane Susanoo Magic
RELATED: #8 Sports Talk ― Shawn Dennis On The Challenge Of Building Winning Culture With Nagoya
Author: Ed Odeven
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The post BASKETBALL | Kawasaki Brave Thunders Become the Third B. League Team with 40 Victories This Season first appeared on JAPAN Forward. Related posts:
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Train fans, this is for you. There will be a new park with a train model factory, Tsurugashima City in Saitama announced recently. This park will be a collaboration with KATO, the largest train model brand in Japan.
Here’s the backstory of this project.
Neutram trains in Osaka. Railroads in Japan To begin with, Trains are one of the most common forms of public transportations in today’s world. They are used by 67,714,000 people for daily commuting, long trips, cargo transportation and tourism, for example. (Data source: The Rail Transport Statistics Survey, 2019, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. Annual numbers calculated into days.).
Japanese are among the heaviest railroad users in the world. In addition to the many types of local trains, the mainland of Honshu and the northern island of Hokkaido are connected by bullet trains, and many tourists also use them. As more attention is given to the environment and problems such as the shortage of truck drivers, the demand for cargo trains is also growing.
By the way, the island of Okinawa is not connected by trains, of course, as the distance from the main islands is formidable. Other than a monorail, Okinawa is the only prefecture in Japan without railroads.
Back in Tokyo, many (if not most) students and workers commute by trains. Shinjuku Station, which is located in the center of Tokyo, is known as the busiest station in the world, with 3,590,000 users a day (Guinness World Record, 2018).
Choshi Densetsu train in Chiba Prefecture. Trains are Fun, Not Just Transportation Beyond daily use, trains in Japan are also popular as entertainment. Often children learn the different models of railcars on various train lines. Some are decorated with pop culture icons and figures from childrens’ anime series. And if the weather is nice, amateur (and professional) photographers can be seen lining the platforms and tracks to take photos with special features, such as cherry blossoms, autumn colors, or a new model car coming into (or out of) use.
As JAPAN Forward has reported, railroad museums are packed with children and parents on holidays. Some railroad companies are running (and others are planning to run) steam locomotives around popular tourist destinations.
- Omiya Railway Museum Showcases Dawn of Railroads in Japan Until Sept. 30 (Until September 2021. Ended.)
- Riding the Steam Train Chichibu Paleo Express
Adults and kids are fascinated by steam locomotives. Amid the environment of affection for trains in Japan, a new railroad park which is a bit different from the conventional will open in Tsurugashima City, Saitama Prefecture.
N Scale and Park In the first place, you may be wondering, what is “N scale?”
If you are familiar with model trains, you may already know. N scale is one of the standards of railroad models. The scale of model trains and other parts are based on the width of railroads.
There are various scales. The most famous in other countries is probably the HO scale, which runs on 16.5mm rails.
In Japan, however, this 16.5mm rail size was too big. Therefore, the N scale, which runs on 9mm rails, has been the most popular scale.
Then, where is there an N scale in the park?
The answer is in the large black building at the center of the site. This building is Kansui Kinzoku’s model railroad factory, known by the brand name KATO train models.
Narrow-gauge railroad cars owned by KATO. The Relationship between KATO and The City KATO is one of the biggest model train companies in Japan, and the new factory will be “a factory in a city”.
It’s planned to be constructed with a park near the factory site. There will be no walls around the factory, allowing it to be open for people not only physically, but also psychologically.
Visitors will find a railroad circling around the park and factory.
This railroad is a real railroad ー the company has small steam locomotives. Although they are small and called the light rail, they are a genuine railroad scale which is still used in some countries, including Japan.
The park mixes the culture of steam locomotives with a British style garden, and is expected to become a center of interaction for people in the city.
Suneori Amagoi(脚折雨乞), in the Suneori district of Tsurugashima City. The ritual of praying for rain takes place in August once every four years and has been designated an intangible folk cultural asset by the Japanese government. People pray with a dragon made of bamboo and wheat straw 36m long that weighs 3 tons. Hometown Tax Option In 2008, a national policy called furusato nozei, which means “hometown tax,” was started to encourage people with roots or affection for a region to contribute to local finances. Strictly speaking, though, despite its name, the tax is a donation.
Children grow up in towns outside the major metropolises, receiving local government support such as parks, education and health care as they do. That support is paid for by local taxes. However, when they go on to their next stage of education or begin their professional lives, many move to urban areas. The taxes they pay goes to services in the big cities.
So, in a sense, although rural cities spend a lot of money on the next generation, their return is small. The hometown tax system was started as a way to change this situation. (The portal webpage of the Hometown tax system, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of Japan, 2021).
The most popular feature of the system is that donors can select local specialities as thank-you gifts. In Tsurugashima City, that means products related to KATO train models.
In 2021, donations to the city amounted to ￥230 million JPY ($1.8 million USD), and 85% of the donors chose railroad models for thank you gifts.
Kato Project is a Good Model While the Hometown tax has brought significant contributions to the coffers of local municipalities, it has been criticized for generating intense competition far removed from the initial idea. One city went so far as to offer iPads as thank-you gifts.
The Garden Park Project with N scale trains started with the support of the Furosato Noze hometown tax system. Now it has grown into a feature that helps draw visitors and income back into the town.
The park will open in 2024, and is expected to draw many local residents as well as fans of railroad models from Japan and around the world.
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Author: Simon Kagaya
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Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel joined Commander of the US 7th Fleet Vice Admiral Karl O. Thomas on board the USS Abraham Lincoln at sea on Saturday, April 23. Standing together, the two diplomats delivered a strong message to North Korea and China from the carrier’s deck.
- Onboard the USS Abraham Lincoln Allies are Deterring Tyranny
Reporters accompanying the Minister and Ambassador were given a tour of the USS Abraham Lincoln, the fifth nuclear powered Nimitz class US aircraft carrier. Based in Yokosuka Japan, it is part of the largest forward deployed fleet of the US Pacific forces.
Sitting down in the Captain’s Study of the USS Abraham Lincoln, Vice Admiral Thomas then gave an on-the-record interview to the reporters present.
Excerpts follow:
Vice Admiral Carl . Thomas in an April 23, 2022 interview in the Captain’s Study aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. How do you view the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific region, with increased military activity from China, Russia, and North Korea? A lot of things happen in this region that are critical to the world. We’re all watching what’s happening in Europe with Russian aggression. We’re watching China as they gain confidence and increase expansion exercises.
Certainly North Korea has launched more missiles recently. As for our naval forces, the US Navy has deployed the 7th Fleet, along with our US Marine Corps III MEF team, and then all of our allies and partners who we can sail and operate with every day.
The key is deterrence. I think you’re standing on board a large piece of that deterrence, but it really is broader than that. It’s really the opportunity and the exercises and that training that we do with all the other like-minded nations out here in the Pacific that provides that strength and that balance.
As we saw over in Europe, the free world gets a vote and understands the importance of sovereignty, the importance of rules-based international order. And so by being out here operating as a very visible, very agile dynamic force, there’s no better way to provide the deterrence that we need in this part of the region.
How well would you say the US and its allies are walking the line? We have RIMPAC coming up. In one of the Pacific exercises we’ll have 30 nations out there operating together. Then there’s our mission Keen Edge that we just did [from the end of January to February with the Japanese Self-Defense Forces].
There are numerous exercises in this part of the world to be able to operate at sea and exchange information, exchange tactics and be able to work as a consolidated force. That is the best deterrence that we can provide: all nations working on a common goal.
Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi is given a tour of the USS Abraham Lincoln, a nuclear powered Nimitz-class aircraft carrier in the 7th Fleet (pool photo). Do you feel there’s a deterrence gap in this region, with China and its ballistic missiles? I would say it’s concerning that China might not be willing to be as transparent as the rest of the nations in this part of the world.
They certainly have been very open in their desires and their intentions. But, I do think that it’s in the news that our nations have been talking at the highest level, between our Presidents [President Joe Biden of the United States and President Xi Jinping of China). And then also at the Secretary of Defense level.
It’s encouraging that we are communicating. Certainly as we’re out there operating in the South China Sea and the East China Sea, our ships are operating in the same water space.
We operate professionally around one another. So, while I think there’s a tension, obviously, between our nations, there’s an understanding that it’s important that we communicate and try to find common ground we can agree on.
Will the US have a further response to the invasion of Ukraine, and will Russia’s aggression impact the Indo-Pacific region? We’re certainly paying attention to what’s going on over in Europe and with the Ukrainian War, Russian aggression into a sovereign nation. Certainly Russia is a large country, and it has a fleet on this Pacific side as well. And we watch them routinely.
I’m not going to talk about the operations that were conducted, But I think all of us in the world are watching the events unfold over in Ukraine. We’re all learning from it, China’s learning from it, Taiwan’s learning from it, The United States is learning from it, and the world is learning from it.
We’ve seen the strength and power of the free world come together when a country is aggressive and doesn’t abide by our international rules-based order and invades a sovereign nation. And so, we’re all on alert and watching.
I’m very confident in our ability out here in the Pacific to keep an eye on the Russian fleet.
Aboard the US 7th Fleet’s USS Abraham Lincoln (April 23, 2022, pool photo). How are the US, Japan and other allies responding to North Korea’s missile launches? This ship sailed up into the Sea of Japan in April. And it was a statement by an aircraft carrier that had been sailing in the South China Sea just a week and a half earlier, could move that rapidly. That’s the benefit of this aircraft carrier.
We did sail ー the Abraham Lincoln sailed up through the Sea of Japan ー just to make sure that other nations understood the versatility of this ship, and to maybe send a message to [North Korean leader] Kim Jong Un that we’re aware of your missile launches and not appreciative of the increased tempo.
We’re always ready to do that type of operation. And that’s the flexibility that we bring as a forward deployed force.
What do you think of Japan’s role in this Indo-Pacific region especially against China’s aggressive military activities? I think Japan has a huge role to play. Clearly, Japan’s physical location puts them in close proximity to the People’s Republic of China. The fact that they have a very capable military allows them the leadership role that is necessary for this entire part of the world.
And I’m very happy with the tight coordination that our two nations exhibit on a daily basis. The missions that I just talked about going up into the Sea of Japan, I had Japanese ships with this carrier operating up there. It’s very important that like-minded nations operate together and Japan has a very strong leadership role to play.
Ambassador Rahm Emanuel and Japan Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi visit USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) along with members of their staff, other distinguished visitors, and members of the media while operating in the Philippine Sea, April 23. #USNavy #US7thFleet pic.twitter.com/JvmAh9D3zE
— 7th Fleet (@US7thFleet) April 23, 2022
How do you view the US-Japan alliance in the face of China’s intention to alter the status quo? I had the good fortune of operating out here as the strike group commander on board an aircraft carrier just like this [the USS Ronald Reagan] a few years ago. And then I came back as the [7th] fleet commander. So I’ve seen firsthand how strong and how rapidly the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force [has worked] with the 7th Fleet, the III MEF team and the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force with our Air Force. I’ve seen the advancement that we’ve made as a team through exercises like Keen Edge where we go out and we practice together.
We’re truly interoperable and interchangeable among our forces. But, the thing that strikes me is the way that we both see the problem today, the way that we react and understand the challenges that we have. And I’ve never seen our alliance be tighter than it is today.
[The alliance] is extremely aligned, and it’s very refreshing when I work with my fleet Commander [in Chief, JMSDF Fleet] [Vice] Admiral [Hideki] Yuasa, my counterpart. He and I can almost complete each other’s sentences. We talk regularly and operate together that closely.
About Vice Admiral Karl Thomas, Commander, United States 7th Fleet Vice Admiral Karl Thomas is a native of Northern Virginia, He received his commission through the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1986 with a degree in Management Systems. He earned a Master of Science in Information Technology from Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California.
A carrier aviator in the E-2C Hawkeye, he served at sea as executive officer and commanding officer of Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron 117 during Operation Iraqi Freedom. As a flag officer, his tours include Task Force 70/Commander, Carrier Strike Group 5, deploying on USS Ronal Reagan out of Yokosuka, Japan. He took command of the US 7th Fleet in July 2021.
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(Read the related article in Japanese at this link.)
Author: Mizuki Okada
The post INTERVIEW | US 7th Fleet Commander Karl O. Thomas: On Alert in the Indo-Pacific first appeared on JAPAN Forward. Related posts:
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Japan is a nation steeped in tradition. There is a profound reverence for nature and the seasonal foods it provides.
Over the years, many dishes have become synonymous with certain areas of Japan as well as different traditional events. Dairy in Hokkaido, soba at New Year’s and…grilled chicken (Yakitori) at sumo?
A brief history of sumo Sumo has been practised in Japan for over 1,000 years. In the olden days, local lords would employ samurai (sumo wrestlers) to bout for entertainment.
During Japan’s modernisation in the Meiji Era (1868–1912) the samurai class disappeared which threatened the future of sumo.
People felt that sumo wrestling was old-fashioned and barbaric. Despite this, sumo continued on. In fact, sumo wrestlers still wear the samurai topknot (muge) to this day.
(You can read the rest of the article at this link. This article was first published by Team JJ on July 12, 2019. Check here for deeper and unique insights into visiting Japan, including wellness, travel, cuisine and more. Find us on Instagram and on Facebook.)
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On April 28, the award ceremony for the 30th Grand Prize for the Global Environment Award, sponsored by the Fujisankei Communications Group, was held at the Meiji Kinenkan in Moto-Akasaka, Tokyo. Certificates and trophies were handed out to recipients in the presence of His Imperial Highness Crown Prince Akishino and Her Imperial Higness Princess Kako, who attended the ceremony.
Sekisui House won the Grand Prize for its contribution to biodiversity conservation by planting a total of 1.79 million trees. President and CEO Yoshihiro Nakai said, “We will continue to share our accumulated expertise in biodiversity conservation with society and expand our conservation activities.”
Sekisui House biodiversity planting “Gohon no Ki” (“Five Trees”) project. Fujisankei Group President Hisashi Hieda addressed the audience, saying, “Strong Japanese leadership is required to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to realize carbon neutrality.” He also confirmed his commitment to “push forward with the creation of a prosperous and vibrant country by harmonizing the environment and the economy through this award program.”
Canon Chairman and CEO Fujio Mitarai, who serves as chairman of the award program committee, said, “We will strive to further enhance the social reputation of this award and continue to contribute to the sustainable development of society and the economy.”
Crown Prince Akishino speaks at the 30th Global Environment Awards ceremony on April 28, 2022, at Meiji Kinenkan (photo by Yuhisa Hagiwara) Crown Prince and Princess Congratulate Recipients Although a reception was not held on April 28 as a precaution against COVID-19, award recipients were given the opportunity to meet Their Imperial Highnesses Crown Prince Akishino and Princess Kako before the ceremony.
CEO Nakai of Sekisui House, the winner of the Grand Prize, recalled, “Crown Prince Akishino said to me, ‘If the tree-planting network expands, it will have the same effect as building parks.’”
Sekisui House President Yoshihiro Nakai, who won the grand prize, receives a trophy from WWF Japan Chairman Takejiro Sueyoshi in the presence of Their Imperial Highnesses Crown Prince and Princess Akishino. (photo by Hideo Iida) METI Minister’s Award to Kyushu Electric Power Michiaki Uriu, Chairman of Kyushu Electric Power, the recipient of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) Minister’s Award, emphasized that the company was praised for its biodiversity conservation efforts, which were undertaken in collaboration with local residents. He expressed his aspirations for the future:
“By continuing these efforts, we hope to contribute to the realization of a sustainable society.”
Every year, the company partners with 800 to 900 local residents to conduct a controlled burn in the Kuju Bogatsuru wetlands in Oita Prefecture for environmental conservation.
Their Imperial Highnesses Crown Prince and Princess Akishino congratulate winners at the 30th Global Environment Awards, Meiji Kinenkan in Minato-ku, Tokyo (photo by Yuhisa Hagiwara) MEXT Minister’s Award to Nakui Agricultural High School The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports and Technology (MEXT) Minister’s Award went to Nakui Agricultural High School in Aomori Prefecture. School Principal Tomoo Koizumi expressed his joy by saying, “We are happy that the fruits of our research, including the efforts of our graduates, have been recognized.”
The school has been lauded in both Japan and overseas for its efforts to support agriculture in developing countries and received various awards. According to Principal Koizumi, the Crown Prince and Princess said to him, “I hear the name of your school often. You are all working very hard.”
Mizuho Nakai, a 17-year-old third-year student and the leader of the research group, said, “The spirit of helping each other has been the motto of our research. I would like to continue to help those in need through the power of agriculture, utilizing the perspectives of high school students.”
RELATED: Sekisui House Takes Grand Prize in the ‘30th Global Environment Awards’
(Read the stories this report is based on in Japanese, here and here.)
Author: The Sankei Shimbun and JAPAN Forward
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OBITUARY | Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee, Flexible Thinker, Learned from Japan
What I have learned from watching the unfolding of the Ukraine crisis is that its president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is a world-class politician who is using all of the diplomatic and military options at his disposal in battling the great power of Russia. The rise and fall of nations is at stake.
Can Japan Meet Ukraine’s Standards? In his video address to the National Diet on March 23, the Ukrainian president said, “Japan was the first Asian country to put pressure on Russia.” He may also have had in mind saluting Japanese lawmakers for the 1904-1905 Russo-Japanese War. But do members of the Diet have the necessary pride to try living up to such lofty expectations?
One more point that has been a precious source of research material comes from the fact that, with Germany at the forefront, many European countries which had previously been seriously inflicted with the illness of pacifism ー no war at any cost ー have begun to throw off their mantles of hypocrisy.
PM Fumio Kishida shakes hands with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz flanked by US President Joe Biden ahead of a G7 summit in Brussels, March 24, 2022. Michael Kappeler/Pool via REUTERS Germany’s Dependence on Russia Respect should be paid to Germany in particular, a nation defeated in World War II like Japan. It has instantaneously accomplished the transformation into a “normal country,” a challenge that would probably have encountered strong winds of opposition from neighboring countries in times of peace.
When comparing the situation before the Russian invasion of Ukraine to the one after, it was quite exasperating to see Germany’s behavior prior to Russia’s invasion. Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel kept falling short of the shared promise by members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) under the defense guidelines for each member to allocate 2% of its gross domestic product for defense spending.
“Nord Stream 2,” a new pipeline project that carries natural gas from Russia to Germany via the Baltic Seabed, was completed at the end of 2021. However, United States President Joe Biden, like his predecessor Donald Trump, opposed the project because it would increase dependence on Moscow for its energy supply and could put Germany’s security in jeopardy.
While she was in office, Merkel refused to give the nod for defense spending increases or stopping the pipeline project. During the Merkel era, Germany continued leaning toward China economically. It was not until its closing stages that her administration began to raise opposition to the human rights violations in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
While phasing out nuclear power, Germany had been set to import more fossil fuels – from Russia, via the Nord Stream pipeline. Frustration with Germany, Hungary The more tensions rose in Ukraine, the stronger the reaction of Western nations grew against Germany’s behavior, such as its plans “not to send more than 5,000 defensive helmets to Ukraine” to help in the war effort.
Ross Douthat, a columnist with the liberal New York Times, has condemned Germany, noting that it often acts like a de facto ally of the Russians rather than a credible NATO ally. Tom Rogan, a national security writer for the Washington Examiner, an American conservative news website and weekly magazine, dismissed Germany upright, saying its hesitation to help in the Ukraine crisis raised “yet another concern over Germany’s credibility as a NATO ally.”
Compared to Japan, the United States and many European nations, which have been surprisingly aligned with each other in addressing the Ukraine problem, the actions of Germany and Hungary are conspicuously out of step. Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban, who has been a close friend of Vladimir Putin, expressed his intention to reject military support for Ukraine in comments made on March 25. Supporting Ukraine, he said, would be “against Hungary’s national interests,” according to AFP.
Can German Chancellor Olaf Scholtz inspire Japan to follow its lead to becoming a normal country?- April 25, 2022. REUTERS/Michele Tantussi Chancellor Sholz Turnaround On February 27, three days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a special Sunday session of the Bundestag, the Germany national parliament, was convened. Chancellor Olaf Scholz delivered an epoch-making speech after inviting the ambassador of Ukraine to Germany onto the floor with applause. The gist of his speech included:
- ramping up Germany’s defense spending to the NATO-set target of 2% of the GDP by 2024;
- implementing direct weapons assistance to Ukraine; and
- constructing two liquefied natural gas import terminals as quickly as possible to lessen Germany’s dependence on Russian energy sources.
This amounts to the most dramatic shift in German policy since the 1990 reunification of East and West Germany. It is noteworthy that Chancellor Scholz belongs to the left wing of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SDP), which has been far less active on security issues than the Christian Democratic Union and its sister party, the Christian Social Union (CDU-CSU).
Furthermore, Chancellor Scholz’s government is a coalition with the Greens, whose focus has been environmental issues, and the Free Democratic Party (FDP), which has backing from the business world.
- A nuclear-powered Type 094A Jin-class ballistic missile submarine of the Chinese (PLA) Navy in April 12, 2018. REUTERS/Stringer
- Chinese Navy ship, in the front, sails with Russian Navy ship sail near Japan. November 2021.
- A flotilla of Chinese maritime militia in waters near Senkaku Islands (September 2020)
- Chinese President Xi Jinping in military uniform.
- Chinese Coast Guard vessel prowling near the Senkaku Islands
What Should Japan Do? Germany’s military might is considered relatively inferior in terms of training compared to other major European powers. But the gap could be eliminated in four to five years, if the German government has budgetary leeway. It is nothing other than the menace of Russia that has driven this 180-degree changeover in German policy.
Japan’s national security circumstances are hardly comparable to Germany’s. Berlin showed an immediate reaction after sensing the large, looming threat to Poland, with which Germany shares a border.
However, we must bear in mind that Germany, with the nightmare of the days of Nazi Germany still lingering, has been able to transform itself into a normal country, and from a light-weight economic power into a well-balanced nation. This is primarily due to a series of misjudgments by Russian President Vladimir Putin, and ensuing changes in the geopolitical environment.
NATO, the European Union, and the Group of Seven (G-7) have been revitalized like never before. Not only eternally neutral Switzerland, but also three Scandinavian countries have announced they will provide weapons to Ukraine, thus successfully overcoming the limits of conventional self-centered pacifism.
Trends in public opinion in Sweden and Finland point to their population’s earnest desire to join NATO. Meanwhile, Poland, which was prone to causing problems within the EU, is now playing a central role within the EU in helping Ukraine.
What will Japan do on the threshold of a great opportunity to be a normal country? It is not lacking in funds or time to tackle the task. What is missing is Japan’s will to accomplish the goal.
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(This was first published as a Seiron opinion article. Read it in Japanese at this link.)
Author: Tadae Takubo
Professor Takubo, Ph.D, is a professor emeritus at Kyorin University.
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On April 29, Japan’s superstar actor-director Takeshi Kitano received the prestigious Golden Mulberry Award for Lifetime Achievement at the Far East Film Festival in Udine, Italy.
The event, called FEFF by many, is a cinema festival which focuses on East Asian films from Japan, South Korea, China, the Philippines and many other countries. It has taken place far away, however, in Italy’s northeastern city of Udine since 1999.
TAKESHI KITANO guest of honour at #FEFF24!
On Friday, April 29, the Japanese legend will receive the Golden Mulberry Award for Lifetime Achievement on the stage of the Far East Film Festival in #Udine.
•#takeshikitano #fareastfilmfestival pic.twitter.com/DSBoxg2f4g
— Udine Far East Film (@fareastfilm) March 18, 2022
A “Kitano Day” was organized by the festival on April 29, along with a gala event to honor the Japanese film director. The gala featured a showing of the film Sonatine (1993), one of the most famous films by Kitano, where the main character ー a tormented yakuza ー gets entangled in a gang war.
Sonatine is just one of many films that Kitano has produced over his career spanning more than 30 years. Others among them: household titles such as Battle Royale (2000) and Kikujiro (1999).
Kitano received the Golden Lion in the Venice International Film Festival for Hana-bi ((Fireworks) in 1997.
Sonatine (1993) Tuning In from Tokyo Tuning in virtually from Japan at 2 AM JST, Kitano – with his characteristic twisted smile – thanked the audience warmly.
Kitano was scheduled for the ceremony in person. But then on April 28 the announcement came suddenly that the director would not be attending the ceremony.
Appearing visibly apologetic, Kitano explained in his April 29 online speech that he had prepared everything to attend the ceremony, until almost the very last minute.
I had the PCR test, I had gotten my last shot of the vaccine, and had even bought a suit. But then the situation in Ukraine, the length of the journey, I am also a certain age. Therefore, I decided that it was best not to come.
I am in the midst of putting together my new film. Hopefully I will be able to attend the ceremony in person and present my film next year, I’ll absolutely come next time, commented Kitano.
Almost dejectedly, he added: “Especially due to the situation in Ukraine, I wanted to stand up for freedom of expression and show the importance of cinema. So I am really sorry not to be able to be present.”
Director of the Festival Sabrina Baraccetti presents Takeshi Kitano virtually with the Golden Mulberry Award for Lifetime Achievement on April 29 in Udine. (Credit: Far East Film Festival) Celebrating In His Absence Despite the absence of the maestro in the Teatro Nuovo di Udine, the atmosphere in the theater was electric. Kitano fans could be seen wearing matching t-shirts and sporting banners reading, “Takeshi Kitano is the God of Film.”
As the Far East Film Festival president and artistic director Sabrina Baraccetti explained during the ceremony “People in Italy have grown up with maestro Kitano’s films. Italy is the place that has the most fan clubs for Kitano. There is even the Kitano religion!”
A gala attendee Alberto Fantozzi (27) told JAPAN Forward how special it was to see Kitano, even if virtually at the event: “You really feel the commitment that Kitano has to his art. And to making films.”
Citizen K (2021) by Yves Montmayeur. Popular Around the World This is only a small part of Kitano’s appeal around the world, as the multi-faceted actor has found ways of touching the heartstrings of people everywhere.
“As an artist, Kitano is such an interesting character. You never know what he will do next,” explained filmmaker Yves Montmayeur, in an exclusive interview on April 30. Montmayeur is the director of a documentary on Kitano’s life, Citizen K (2021).
“I think that is his strength,” he continued, “and what makes him an incredible artist all around the world.”
RELATED: Netflix ‘Asakusa Kid’ Pays Tribute to Takeshi Kitano’s Mentor Senzaburo Fukami
Author: Arielle Busetto, reporting from Udine.
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Japan is celebrating its Golden Week holidays from April 29 through May 5. And, for the first time in three years, there are no declarations of emergency or similar orders in place to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.
During the extended holiday week, millions of people are expected to return to their hometowns in other prefectures or travel for pleasure.
Local governments are nervous about the lack of restrictions. At the same time, it is considered the first test period of living with COVID.
“People feel more free during the holidays. But that’s precisely the reason we don’t want you to forget to take safety personal measures at this time,” said Tokyo’s Governor Yuriko Koike at a press conference on April 28. She repeatedly underlined the need for everyone to take what have become normal precautions in Japan: washing hands, wearing masks, and ventilating rooms.
Haneda Airport’s domestic terminal on April 29, 2022, as the Golden Week holiday period begins with no COVID-19 emergency orders in place for the first time in 3 years. The number of newly infected people on April 28 was 5,394, putting the average for the week at around 5050.6 people per day. While lower than the 5905 new cases of COVID-19 registered a week earlier, the level is still considered high. Experts insist that “people must remain vigilant that the number of newly infected people won’t start to increase again before it has gone down sufficiently.”
Crowds are expected in shopping and entertainment areas of big cities during Golden Week. In popular Tokyo neighborhoods, the number of people enjoying nightlife has increased by 30% since mid- April, compared to January to March 2022, when restrictive measures were in place.
One reason for concern is that the mainstream BA.1 strain of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 is receding, while the new BA.2 variant, considered more infectious, is appearing more often. In the week of April 12 to 18, 89.4% of new daily cases in Tokyo were suspected to be of the BA. 2 strain.
Vaccination is the key to curbing the infection. However, the rate of vaccination for the third jab among the younger generations remains low. As of April 26, only 34.2% of people in their twenties in Tokyo had received their booster.
“Young people especially should want to get vaccinated during Golden Week,” Governor Koike urged.
RELATED:At Home, in Pajamas: Pandemic Plays Havoc with Japan’s Golden Week
(Read the article in Japanese at this link.)
Author: The Sankei Shimbun
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The twelfth annual version of one of Japan’s premier manga art exhibitions, which is sponsored by Sankei Shimbun, opened in downtown Tokyo on Friday April 29.
Like the famous ukiyo-e woodblock print artists of the Edo period (1603-1868), today’s manga artists and illustrators, who have played a large role in popularizing Japanese culture globally, are sometimes referred to as eshi (artists).
The theme for “Eshi 100 Artists Exhibition 12” (Eshi Hyakunin Ten 12), an exhibition of works by some of today’s most distinguished manga artists, is michi. It is a term which means road or path, of the way of something.
In fact, works by 104 artists will be on display at Akiba Square, which is located in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward near Akihabara Station. The exhibition provides a good psychological escape since the various restrictions necessitated by COVID-19 have been lifted.
Shiro Usazaki “Envy Green” (provided by the exhibition’s business headquarters) Envy Lurking Behind the Cuteness A young girl with green hair is literally chewing on a path along which colorful teddy bears resembling gummy fruit drops are walking. Although she is surrounded by cute articles in fashionable pop colors and she seems to be smiling, her eyes are filled with tears.
This is a scene from “Envy Green,” drawn by the female artist Shiro Usazaki (24). Usazaki is a very popular artist whose works are being displayed for the first time at Eshi 100. The title “Envy Green” is intended as a pun on the word “Evergreen.” Although on the outside a young person might appear glowing with health and vitality, inside she may be possessed by disturbing thoughts when comparing herself with others.
Usazaki says that when she considered the theme michi, the first thing that came to mind was the expression “The grass is always greener on the other side.”
“In this picture I was trying to capture the feeling that the girl is thinking,” says Usazaki, “that the path other people are on is fashionable and cute, just like it is as sweet as candy.” That’s why she drew the path and other objects in front of the girl as more colorful than her features.
“I’m happy if people can get the stark contrasts between the color shading and degree of brightness,” she adds.
Illusionary, Bewildering Paths No doubt many of us got lost trying to find the right path when we were children. We were so anxious we wanted to burst into tears, but also got a bit of a risk-taking thrill venturing into an environment out of the ordinary for us. “Losing One’s Way” (Mayoi Michi) by Otohiko Takano, an artist who is known for her distinctive designs with a fairytale feeling, captures memories of such occasions presented in an illusionary setting.
A young girl is walking along a dark path at night in which everything is suffused with a surreal bluish glow. Look closely and you can make out the people who appear to be residents of the street. Or are they actually cats?
The girl’s face betrays her unease, but at the same time she seems exhilarated by the adventure. The interpretation all depends on the imagination of the viewer.
Takano admits that she herself has a terrible sense of direction. She is quick to add, however, that she does not really mind “the sense of helplessness and despair she feels when she ends up in some totally wrong place.” The festive feeling of the painting makes the viewer feel as if “this is the start of an adventure.”
Choko Fuji’s “Bridal Procession of the Fox” (provided by the exhibition’s business headquarters.) A Crossroads in Life Choko Fuji’s painting titled “Bridal Procession of the Fox” (Kitsune no Yomeiri) offers a different take on the theme of michi. She explains how she came up with this concept as follows:
“I chose the motif of a fox about to get married to explore the theme of setting out on the long path of life with another person.”
The painting shows a fox in full bridal costume, with her fox ears sticking up under her headscarf (as well as her tail protruding from below the back of the kimono). The fox bride is shown as breathtakingly beautiful.
Fox weddings were a favorite subject in premodern Japanese folk art. The screen in the center background includes depictions of pairs of birds. Fuji apparently tried to eliminate perspective as much as possible to give it the feel of Nihonga (Japanese-style) painting.
On the bottom hem of the vulpine bride’s pure white wedding kimono you can see a bridal procession of foxes. (There are also foxes at the bottom of the screen in the back). In fact, there is still another fox hidden in the picture.
“Since the painting is going to be shown in large size at the exhibition, I would be happy if visitors look for it,” says Ms. Fuji.
Preview of “Eshi-100” on April 28, 2022 in Akihabara, Tokyo (photo by Yuhisa Hagiwara) Other Worlds to Explore There are any number of other works at the exhibition that express the individual world views of the eshi artists on display.
Some show scenes related to the “ways” of tea (sado, chado) and flower arranging (kado). Others depict “my way”— the personal paths that young girls have followed—in which the artists look back at the paths that they themselves have trod.
How about visiting the exhibition to appreciate the works yourself, recalling the michi that brought you to where you are today and contemplating the road you will take from this point on?
When: The “Eshi 100” exhibition runs from 10:00 A.M. to 8:00 P.M. every day from April 29 (Fri.) to May 8 (Sat.)
Admission is ￥1,200 for high school students and above, and free for junior high school students and below.
COVID-19 Protocols: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, please wear a mask and observe other necessary precautions while at the exhibition.
Additional Information: is available, mostly in Japanese, at the event website, here. michi, ukiyo-e.
To see reports on earlier years’ Eshi-100 exhibitions:
- Enjoy Works by Eshi-100 Illustrators at Akihabara For Golden Week
- ‘Wa’ and the Japanese Imagination: Eshi-100 Highlights Pop Culture in Exhibition Starting August 8
- ‘Eshi-100’ Contemporary Manga Illustrations Exhibit Returns For Golden Week
(Read the announcement in Japanese at this link.)
Author:The Sankei Shimbun
The post Eshi-100 Exhibition Showcases Top Manga Art Talent in a Ten Day Run first appeared on JAPAN Forward. Related posts:
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There are many places across Japan that are in high demand as shooting locations for video-related productions, however due to strict regulations and privacy laws, achieving authorisation for filming at these spots can sometimes prove difficult or even impossible.
The good news for those in the industry is that with modern technology there are alternative ways to get the job done.
Digital Reality Location is a project that solves that very problem by fully reproducing locations through complete 360° CGI. With the software artists can freely set the time zone, angle and era of the location to help bring their masterpiece to life.
The project is overseen by Geek Pictures and Visual Mantokyo, and currently offers virtual versions of Shibuya Scramble Intersection and Ginza 4-chome intersection. On top of that, there are plans to expand the project to include areas around Tokyo Station, Akihabara and Kyoto.
Curious to see how the locations look? Check out the commercials for the project which show how the photorealistic CGI world can really bring creativity to life.
CGI World virtual locations in Tokyo (Via Grape Japan) The rest of the article , along with several promotional video showing you how it works ー and great examples of a fashion catwalk at Shibuya Scramble, music videos, dancing and more ー can be viewed on our partner’s website, grape Japan at “Shibuya Crossing, Ginza 4-Chome and more become picture-perfect CGI worlds for use in film and music videos“.
(Interested in CGI? You may also like: INTERVIEW | Attack on Titan Director Reveals Secrets Behind His Style in the Final Season.
Author: Grape Japan.
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On April 21, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) delivered a speech in Tokyo at a symposium titled “The Taiwan Strait Crisis and Japan’s Security.” The symposium was hosted by Japan Forum for Strategic Studies (JFSS) and sponsored by the Sankei Shimbun.
- The Taiwan Strait: Clearing the Fog of ‘Strategic Ambiguity’
The following is an abridged version of his speech.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin Ukraine and Taiwan have several things in common. One is that the military balance is heavily tilted to the opposing country. Another is that both have allies. Having no allies means not having another country willing to fight together with you.
If the opposing country is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, that, unfortunately, means that the Council will not function.
How about the differences? Ukraine is recognized by the world as an independent country and is a member of the United Nations, but Taiwan, unfortunately, is not recognized by most countries as an independent country. Nor is it a member of the UN.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a clear violation of international law. But if China were to invade Taiwan, there is a high risk that it would not be deemed a unilateral violation of international law if China claims it had acted to ensure territorial integrity.
On top of that, there is a huge difference in the economic power of China and Russia. Will the many countries that condemn Russia be able to condemn China in the same way? Asian and African countries may have second thoughts.
In such a situation, it is important to ask what Japan should do to prevent China from using force.
- Taiwan in the Wake of Ukraine: Implications for the US-Japan Alliance
There is a great military imbalance not only between Taiwan and China, but also between Japan and China. That means Japan itself also needs to make efforts. I hope that the proposal of Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) for revising the three key defense documents will include an increase in defense spending by 2% of GDP within five years.
The LDP is a very open party, so people discuss all sorts of things. I happened to be the first to say 2%. I won’t say who, but a certain person disagreed.
Former PM Shinzo Abe. This person said, “Instead of starting with a target figure, we must use a bottom-up approach.” These were hardly the words of a politician. They sounded like something an assistant to the budget examiner of the Ministry of Finance would say.
Does that mean this person would be happy with 5% if spending happens to accumulate to a 5% increase? The state must communicate its intentions.
All NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) member nations, without a single exception, have agreed to increase their defense spending by 2%. Each country, according to its size, is committed to shouldering the burden of creating peace and stability. Naturally, Japan should shoulder part of the burden as well.
Japan has asked the United States and many other countries for more military commitments. In response, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Germany, and the Netherlands have sent naval vessels [to the Indo-Pacific].
The world will be astounded if Japan, despite saying that global cooperation is necessary for regional peace and stability, announces that it would be increasing its defense budget by only a negligible amount. Without a doubt, Japan would become a laughingstock.
There is much to consider for the defense budget. From machine guns to SM-3s [which intercept ballistic missiles], the amount of ammunition is far from enough. This poses a major problem for Japan’s combat sustainability.
The budget for maintaining and servicing naval ships and fighter aircraft is inadequate. Aging military buildings need to be rebuilt. Funding for the research and development of cutting-edge technologies in the space, cyber, and electromagnetic domains is also important.
The total defense spending for the current fiscal year, including the supplementary and main budgets, was ￥6.17 trillion JPY ($47.98 billion USD). The direction we must take is to consider ￥6.17 trillion JPY ($ 47.5 million USD) as the initial budget and at least increase the budget from there. I strongly hope that the Ministry of Defense will clearly request this when submitting its budget request this summer.
- EDITORIAL | Japan Lags Behind NATO Members in Defense Spending
A group photo during an extraordinary NATO summit in Brussels, Belgium, on March 24, 2022, to which Japan was an invited guest. (Michael Kappeler/DPA via AP, Pool) There is also a need to strengthen relations with the United States. With the establishment of the Peace and Security Preservation laws by the Abe administration, the Japan-US alliance became an alliance in which both countries help each other for the protection of Japan.
At that time, some argued that if Japan could exercise the right of collective self-defense, Japan would be dragged into a war. Opposition parties were also against the legislation.
- Japan can Only Succeed in Self-Defense if it’s Prepared to Help Defend Taiwan
But the invasion of Ukraine revealed the opposite. If Ukraine had been a member of NATO, Russia would not have attacked it. The Baltic states are much smaller than Ukraine in both size and military strength, but Russia has not touched them because they are members of NATO. Being able to exercise the right of collective self-defense means nothing more than avoiding getting dragged into a war.
In order to improve the military balance, the US-Japan alliance, the US-Japan-Australia-India Quad, and like-minded countries that support the Free and Open Indo-Pacific concept should firmly demonstrate their commitment to the region. In this context, it is important to maintain a balance with China.
With regard to Taiwan, it may be time for the United States to reconsider its policy of “strategic ambiguity.”
- Why Shinzo Abe’s Writing is Catching the World’s Attention
The United States has maintained an attitude of ambiguity regarding whether or not it will defend Taiwan in the event of an armed invasion by China. It has decided to deter China by making China think that the United States might defend Taiwan, while also putting a check on Taiwan’s independence groups by making them think that the United States might not defend Taiwan.
The United States was overwhelmingly strong when it made this decision. Its policy of strategic ambiguity prevented Taiwan from strongly asserting its independence, and China chose to prioritize a peaceful resolution. But the balance that had been established is changing drastically. The United States needs to review its stance on strategic ambiguity and make clear its commitment to Taiwan’s defense.
The online strategic dialogue between Japan, U.S. and Taiwan on July 29, 2021. As long as Japan asks the United States to do this, it must respond together with the United States. Japan is fully capable of doing so because of the legal framework provided by the Peace and Security Preservation laws. In the event of a Taiwan Strait crisis, it would without a doubt be considered a situation that has an important influence on Japan’s peace and security under Japan’s Legislation for Peace and Security Preservation.
If there is an armed attack against the United States that threatens its survival, there is a possibility that Japan could exercise its right of collective self-defense.
There have been discussions about the concept of enemy base attack capability. But there is absolutely no need to limit the discussion to military bases.
Even with North Korea in mind, since it would not be possible to destroy all TELs (transporter erector launchers), Japan could target key regions instead. There are varying opinions on what should be considered “key.” But I won’t say any more about this.
It is absolutely essential for the Japan-US alliance that Japan possess and use strike capabilities.
Former Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe. For example, let’s say North Korea launches a missile and it lands in Japan. In order to prevent a second or third strike, Japan is supposed to ask the United States to retaliate.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida would call President Joe Biden and ask him to use strike capabilities.
President Biden would agree and instruct the commander of the US military base in Misawa to retaliate. When the F-16 fighter jets set off to drop bombs on North Korea, it would be natural for them to assume that Japan would be going with them.
But Mr. Kishida would say, “No, various circumstances prevent us from going.”
[US side:] “You were the ones attacked, but you’re not going with us?”
[Japan:] “No, please go alone.”
This makes no sense. This will make the United States think, “You are the ones who were attacked, and yet the only ones putting themselves in danger for you are the young people of the United States.”
At that moment, the Japan-US alliance will face a crisis.
There is no need to change the basic framework of being dependent on the United States for main strike capabilities. But it is absolutely necessary for Japan to have minimum strike capabilities to maintain deterrence — that is, to maintain the power not to start a war.
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(Read the article in Japanese at this link.)
Author: The Sankei Shimbun
The post Shinzo Abe: Measly Defense Budget Hike Will Make Japan a Laughingstock first appeared on JAPAN Forward. Related posts:
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Three generations of the Yokoyama family have enjoyed success at the highest level in Japanese thoroughbred racing.
Sunday, May 1 provided a vivid example as the nation enjoyed a leisurely day amidst Golden Week holidays. Kazuo Yokoyama followed in the footsteps of his father (Norihiro, who still competes in Japan Racing Association events, and won it in 1996, 2004 and 2015) and paternal grandfather (Tomio, who passed away in 2009, took the title in 1971) as winners of the Tenno Sho (Spring).
As a result, the Yokoyamas became the first three-generational family to collect Tenno Sho (Spring) titles.
The Yokoyama family’s success in high-profile races was also in the spotlight just a few months ago. At last year’s Tenno Sho (Autumn), Takeshi Yokoyama, Kazuo’s younger brother, won the October 31 race by a length over Contrail at Tokyo Racecourse.
- Tomio Yokoyama, winner of the 1971 Tenno Sho (Spring).
- Norihiro Yokoyama rides Ingrandire to victory in the 2004 Tenno Sho (Spring). (ⒸSANKEI)
Bursting out of the 16 gate aboard second favorite 4-year-old bay colt Titleholder, Yokoyama led from start to finish in the 165th Tenno Sho at Hanshin Racecourse. Titleholder was clocked in 3:16.2 in the 3,200-meter race, beating runner-up Deep Bond, the favorite ridden by Ryuji Wada, by seven lengths.
Fourth favorite T O Royal (Yuji Hishida’s ride) was a length behind Deep Bond, with Heat on Beat (Kenichi Ikezoe) a further 3½ lengths back. (Watch the race replay here.)
From an historic standpoint, Titleholder’s winning time did not come close to setting a record. In 2017, Kitasan Black set the race-record time (3:12.5) at Kyoto Racecourse. Last year’s top time was 3:14.7 by World Premiere.
For Yokoyama, Sunday’s victory was his first Japan Racing Association Grade 1 win. For Toru Kurita, Titleholder’s trainer, it was his second G1 win. The first? In the 2021 Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger), with Titleholder producing the triumph.
- The view from the stands as Titleholder closes in on the win. (ⒸSANKEI)
An announced crowd of 11,109 watched Titleholder’s dominating performance in Takarazuka, Hyogo Prefecture.
Wagering on the race topped $165.7 million USD (¥21.51 billion JPY).
A Positive Sign for Titleholder Yokoyama, 29, guided Titleholder, sired by Duramente, to a win in the Grade 2 Nikkei Sho on March 26 at Nakayama Racecourse in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture.
According to Kurita, Titleholder’s performance in the Nikkei Sho, his most recent race before Sunday’s, was indicative of his ability.
“In the Nikkei Sho, I thought the others were going to catch him in the stretch, but he reached down and found some more and held his ground,” Kurita said in the run-up to the Tenno Sho. “I was reminded again of just how strong he is.”
Yokoyama maintained a positive outlook before the race began at 3:40 PM.
“I felt that he was in good form when I rode him in the post parade so I just believed in him and concentrated on riding him in good rhythm,” Yokoyama said in his post-victory interview.
“We were able to slow down the pace in the backstretch to conserve his stamina and I was not worried about the horses behind us in the last stretch. I’m happy that I was able to win this race with Titleholder, rather than just winning my first G1 title [with another horse]. I think he will get stronger and stronger going forward.”
Kazuo Yokoyama and Titleholder gallop ahead as Silver Sonic, without jockey Yuga Kawada, races in the 165th Tenno Sho. (ⒸSANKEI)
Titleholder’s pace-setting gallop and overall dominance clashed with the oddity of seeing Silver Sonic running sans veteran jockey Yuga Kawada for the entire 3,200 meters.
Stumbling out of the gate, the Orfevre-sired Silver Sonic lost Kawada. Then the disqualified 6-year-old dashed toward the front of the pack and was on Titleholder’s heels as the race marched toward its finish.
Meanwhile, Yokoyama and Titleholder stormed to a seven-length lead early on and held a sizable advantage throughout the race, though T O Royal closed the gap to less than two lengths at one point.
- Kazuo Yokoyama and Titleholder (SHUKAN GALLOP)
Titleholder ran the final three furlongs in 36.4 seconds. Heat on Beat’s 37.0-second effort was closest to the winner’s recorded time over that distance.
Deep Bond, the runner-up in the 2021 Tenno Sho (Spring), surpassed title-chasing T O Royal with 100 meters left and held on for second place to secure a second consecutive second-place finish in the race.
A Look Ahead The JRA’s next G1 race is the NHK Mile Cup at Tokyo Racecourse on Sunday, May 8. French jockey Christophe Lemaire steered Schnell Meister to victory in the marquee test of speed for 3-year-olds in 2021.
RELATED: [ODDS And EVENS] T O Royal, Titleholder And Deep Bond Are Among Top Entrants For Tenno Sho
Author: Ed Odeven
Follow Ed on JAPAN Forward’s [Japan Sports Notebook] here on Sundays, in [Odds and Evens] here during the week, and Twitter＠ed_odeven, and find him on JAPAN Forward’s dedicated sports website, SportsLook.
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The post Titleholder Overwhelms the Field in the 165th Tenno Sho first appeared on JAPAN Forward. Related posts:
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Umeko Tsuda (1864–1929) is currently in the spotlight, particularly because her portrait will be shown on one side of Japan’s new 5,000 yen note that will be issued in 2024.
The little-known Umeko was one of the first five Japanese women to study in the United States. When she was only seven years old, she left her parents’ home and spent eleven years studying in the US. After returning to Japan and working as a teacher, she decided to go back to America and spent 4 years studying biology at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania.
Umeko later became a pioneer in women’s higher education in Japan and founded Tsuda University in 1901.
The author of this biography of Umeko Tsuda, Minako Oba, is a novelist. This biography was initially published in Japanese in 1991. However, the later translation into English by Oba’s daughter Yu Tani is the subject of this review.
Tsuda University’s main courtyard with pond. The Attic Letters Oba was born one year after the death of Umeko and experienced the Second World War. She then studied at Tsuda College from 1949 to 1953. In other words, this book is a reflection by a university graduate on the founder of her university.
Oba portrays Umeko’s life from her own perspective by extensively quoting from the actual letters that Umeko herself wrote in English over a period of 30 years to Adeline Lanman, her “American mother” who took care of the young Umeko. These so-called Attic Letters were found in the attic of the university’s main building in 1984.
In the original Japanese version of the book, Tsuda Umeko (Asahi Shimbun Publishing, 2019), Oba translated the English letters into excellent Japanese, which shows her creative talents as a novelist.
In the English version of the book, however, Umeko’s letters were quoted as they were written, without translation. Readers can therefore enjoy the exact words written by Umeko herself in English. Hence, the English translation offers a more direct expression of Umeko’s voice as a young woman.
Book cover of Japanese edition withe obi announcing Tsuda’s image will be on Japan’s new ￥5,000 JPY banknote. A Feminist Perspective on Meiji Japan These letters contain Umeko’s views on the situation of women at the time and some historical insights into this period.
At one time, Umeko lived in the home of Hirobumi Ito, who was the first Prime Minister of Japan. She enjoyed unique experiences, such as teaching English to his wife, nights out at Rokumeikan, a hall used for entertaining foreign dignitaries, and observing the domestic side of Ito’s family.
She writes:
They [Ito’s wife and daughters] seem to reverence their father, and his word is law to all, but his faults and his morals seem not to trouble them very much, if it does at all. Alas, too often are such faults passed over, and for the woman, there is no help … (p. 140)
Her critiques are fascinating because they give us a historical glimpse behind the scenes of a politician who ran Japan during the Meiji era, in addition to Umeko’s feminist perspective.
Images of the main entrance to the founded by Umeko Tsuda Tsuda’s Influence on the Author However, a unique feature of this book is that it can be read not only as a biography of Tsuda Umeko but also as a story of the awakening of Minako Oba as an author. For example, in the book, she overlaps Umeko’s awakening as an educator with her own awakening as a novelist:
But the idea [to establish a private school] was there, nascent, from the time she [Umeko] first became aware of the world, or in any case from the age of seven. When it was impressed on her young mind that her mission was to learn about foreign lands for the sake of the future of Japanese women, this idea had gestated and ripened and was finally in the state of fermentation. Umeko was thirty-six years old when she made the decision to found a school.
My mind goes back to my own long road as a writer. I also carried the thought in my mind from as far back as I can remember … I was also thirty-six, when I wrote Three Crabs, but I had been writing manuscripts in my spare time for more than twenty years before that. It seems to me that it was my destiny to become a writer … (p. 201)
As such, this book is an autobiography of a Japanese woman, Minako Oba, who was inspired and empowered by Umeko Tsuda.
Front view of Tsuda University. For the Students Who Follow The title of the last chapter, “Seedling” is suggestive. This chapter depicts Oba’s university days and her search for a way of life. She went to Tsuda College after the war when the percentage of women who went ahead to higher education was still remarkably low. In 1954, the percentage of women who went to college was 2.4% and the rate of women who went to junior college was 2.2%.
Oba recalls that the students “shared an odd devotion” to the founder of Tsuda College and were not afraid of choosing what they wanted to do because they had “the power of people like Umeko” to support them.
In her book, Oba introduces her fellow graduates, such as Liberal Democratic Party politician Mayumi Moriyama and former Minister of Education Ryoko Akamatsu, among many others. Their stories suggest that the seeds into which Umeko poured “every bit of her body and soul” have sprouted and will continue to sprout for the countless women who follow in their footsteps.
Oba aimed to portray Umeko Tsuda as “not as a public historical figure, but as a living, breathing woman” in her book. By overlapping her own life with Umeko’s life, she succeeded admirably.Z
About the Book Title: Reflections on Tsuda Umeko: Pioneer of Women’s Education in Japan
Author: Minako Oba
Translator: Yu Tani
Publisher: Japan Publishing Industry Foundation for Culture and Industry (Japan Library)
Date: March 2021 (in English)
ISBN: 4866581816
Formats: Hardcover and digital.
To purchase: on Amazon at this link.
For more information: See the publisher’s website, here.
Reviewed by: Professor Mayuka Sato, Ph.D
Professor Mayuka Sato (Ph.D) is a member of the Faculty of Humanities, English and American Culture, at Musashi University in Japan. She specializes in British History, especially the history of the women’s suffrage movement in Britain and Japan. (Photos provided by the author.)
The post BOOK REVIEW | ‘Reflections on Tsuda Umeko: Pioneer of Women’s Education in Japan’ by Minako Oba first appeared on JAPAN Forward. Related posts:
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Ryotaro Shiba’s ‘RYOMA!’ Translated into English
The Japan Rugby League One’s inaugural season is days away from reaching the finish line. And before the focus shifts to the playoffs, it’s worth noting that Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath utility back Damian McKenzie is the league’s most prolific scorer in the 2022 campaign.
The 27-year-old from New Zealand has amassed 188 points through April 24. McKenzie has appeared in 11 of Tokyo’s 14 matches entering the penultimate weekend of the season, producing 20 or more points in five of them. His top scoring output of the season occurred against the Kobelco Kobe Steelers on March 4, when he rang up 31 points (three tries, eight goals) in a 56-17 win.
McKenzie, who has earned 40 caps with the All Blacks but missed the 2019 Rugby World Cup due to a knee injury, suited up for New Zealand’s Chiefs, a Super Rugby outfit, from 2015-21. In 95 appearances, he amassed 879 points.
Which is why it’s no surprise that the versatile, 176-cm veteran is one of the Sungoliath’s most important players on offense.
Blessed with elusiveness, speed, strength and an aggressive mindset on the field, McKenzie has scored seven tries and converted 48 goals and nine penalty goals.
Outside back Rikiya Matsuda of the Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights is second in League One in points (168). He has one try, with the majority of his points coming from conversions (44), penalty goals (24) and drop goals (one).
The other player with a triple-digit total in points (101) is Bernard Foley, who suits up for the Kubota Spears Funabashi Tokyo Bay. The Australian has four tries, 21 conversions and 13 penalty goals in seven matches.
- Damian McKenzie in an August 2018 file photo. (Rick Rycroft/AP)
Recently, McKenzie said that he’s made a smooth transition to living and working in Japan.
“I’ve come over here to Japan, I got here in December and I’ve loved it,” McKenzie was quoted as saying by The Associated Press. “Suntory’s a great club, the Japanese people are so welcoming, so respectful and we’re lucky to have some great foreign lads here as well.
“We’ve some great Japan staff and management and I really enjoy the rugby. Japanese rugby is getting better every year, the caliber of players is getting a lot better and it’s probably a little less physical over here but the speed of the game is really quick.”
With McKenzie and other Sungoliath standouts as tone-setters, the title-chasing team has wracked up 30 or more points in 11 matches this season, including a season-high 69 in a 40-point win over the Shining Arcs Tokyo-Bay Urayasu on March 20.
New Zealand’s Damian McKenzie scores a try against the United States in Landover, Maryland, on October 23, 2021. (Alex Brandon/AP)
When McKenzie signed a one-year contract with the Sungoliath last November, he was coming off a Super Rugby campaign in which he led the league in points (111).
“I love attacking rugby and I really look forward to playing an exciting brand of rugby,” McKenzie said when the announcement of his move to Japan was made.
McKenzie filled a Suntory roster spot vacated by departed standout Beauden Barrett, another player with a long list of accomplishments with the All Blacks.
Sungoliath head coach Milton Haig’s club wraps up the regular season on May 7 against Toyota Verblitz at Paloma Mizuho Rugby Stadium in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture.
League One replaced the Japan Rugby Top League in an overhauled structure, which now has a three-tier system. Previously, a number of players competed as amateurs, whereas now they are required to be professionals.
Emerging Blossoms, Tonga Samurai XV to Stage Charity Match for Tonga This year’s Japan Rugby Charity Match, scheduled to be played on June 11, will serve as a fundraiser for Tonga in the aftermath of the Pacific island nation’s tsunami and volcanic eruption. Proceeds from the match will help support reconstruction projects in Tonga, the Japan Rugby Football Union said on Wednesday, April 27.
The match will be held at Tokyo’s Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium.
The Emerging Blossoms, members of Japan’s development squad, will face the Tonga Samurai XV, comprised of players from Tonga and Tonga heritage who play for League One clubs.
Washington Mystics point guard Rui Machida dribbles in a preseason game against the Minnesota Lynx on April 27 in Washington. (NBAE/GETTY IMAGES/via KYODO) Basketball Machida Makes Preseason Debut with Washington Mystics WNBA newcomer Rui Machida appeared in her first preseason game in a Washington Mystics uniform on Wednesday, April 27. Coming off the bench, Machida logged 18:42 of court time and contributed two points, two assists and a rebound for the Mystics in their 78-66 home victory over the Minnesota Lynx.
She was 1-for-4 shooting and had three turnovers.
Machida, a 29-year-old playmaker who helped lead Japan to a silver-medal finish at the Tokyo Olympics, admitted she had first-game jitters.
“I was really nervous the first time,” Machida said through interpreter Miki Takei, according to The Washington Post. “But my teammates encouraged me to play like [myself]. I made a bunch of mistakes. I made a bunch of turnovers and stuff, but, you know, trying to keep getting better. I’m looking forward to playing the next game.”
“When I stepped on the court, [the nerves] just disappeared,” she added.
- Washington Mystics head coach/general manager Mike Thibault and newcomer Rui Machida pose for photographers on April 25. (KYODO)
In the Tokyo Games last August at Saitama Super Arena, Machida had 18 assists against France, an Olympic women’s single-game record, in the semifinals.
The Mystics were set to wrap up their preseason with a game against the host New York Liberty on Saturday.
Washington opens the regular season at home against the Indiana Fever on May 6.
Machida began her professional career with the WJBL’s Fujitsu RedWave in 2011. The pro circuit is also known as the W. League.
- Kawasaki Brave Thunders star Nick Fazekas (B. LEAGUE)
Veteran Big Men Fazekas, Harrellson Near Milestones Nick Fazekas, a former NBA big man with the Los Angeles Clippers and Dallas Mavericks during the 2007-08 season, has been a pillar of stability for the Toshiba (now known as Kawasaki) Brave Thunders since joining the franchise in 2012.
And Fazekas, a University of Nevada alum, is one of the top players in the B. League, which launched in 2016. Entering the weekend of April 30-May 1, he’s 43 rebounds shy of 3,500 in B. League games, and will become the first player in league history to do so.
Former New York Knicks player Josh Harrellson of the Sunrockers Shibuya is also closing in on a milestone. The University of Kentucky product needs six blocks to become the first player in league history to record 400 blocked shots.
- Tom Hovasse (JAPAN BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION)
Hovasse Appears on World of Basketball Podcast In early April, Japan men’s national team basketball coach Tom Hovasse was a guest on the World of Basketball podcast hosted by Fran Frischilla, an ESPN hoop analyst.
In an engaging conversation, Hovasse discusses his basketball odyssey with Frischilla.
Check out the episode here, and hear his insights in an interview on JAPAN Forward’s Sports Talk podcast, here.
Los Angeles Angels starter Shohei Ohtani throws a pitch in the first inning against the Cleveland Guardians at Angel Stadium on April 27. (Richard Mackson/USA TODAY SPORTS) Baseball Ohtani Helps Guide Angels to Victory with Arm, Bat Reigning American League MVP Shohei Ohtani had an influential role in the outcome of the Los Angeles Angels’ April 27 game against the visiting Cleveland Guardians (formerly known as the Indians).
The hard-throwing right-hander worked five innings on the mound, allowing five hits and two runs in an 8-5 victory over Cleveland, and the Angels extended their winning streak to four. Ohtani walked one and struck out four, evening his record at 2-2.
Batting second as LA’s designated hitter, Ohtani whacked an RBI double and added two singles in five at-bats. It was his first three-hit game of the season.
“Fortunately, everyone around me is hitting the ball really well, so it is good to jump in there and contribute to the victory,” Ohtani told reporters through an interpreter.
Ohtani was pulled after throwing 86 pitches. After laboring through the first two innings (his pitch count was at 44 through two frames), he set down his final eight batters in order.
“Shohei did not have his best stuff early,” Angels manager Joe Maddon was quoted as saying by The Associated Press. “He was relying too much on off-speed stuff. He got more aggressive on his fastball and the other pitches played better.”
- Roki Sasaki (ⒸSANKEI)
Marines Manager Iguchi Gives Sasaki Rest Chiba Lotte Marines hurler Roki Sasaki is expected to make his next start on May 6 or 7, manager Tadahito Iguchi said on Friday, April 29.
Sasaki, who twirled NPB’s first perfect game in 28 years on April 3, was removed from the active roster four days before Iguchi’s announcement.
Fatigue was cited as a reason to skip Sasaki’s regular spot in the pitching rotation.
“[Going forward] I want to keep him on a pitch limit while we take his condition in regard to his fatigue,” Iguchi said, according to Kyodo News.
After his perfect game, Sasaki pitched another eight perfect innings in his next start on April 10, then left the game. His 17-inning perfect innings streak ended on the very first pitch of his next start on April 17.
Sasaki is 3-0 this season with a sparkling 1.50 ERA. He’s pitched 36 innings, striking out 60 batters and issuing five walks.
Soccer Brazil, Japan to Meet in June Friendly in Tokyo Brazil will face Japan in a men’s soccer international friendly on June 6 at the New National Stadium in Tokyo, it was announced on Wednesday, April 27.
Before facing Japan, the five-time World Cup champion, including at the 2002 tournament held in Japan and South Korea, is set to take on Argentina in Melbourne, Australia on June 1.
Brazil reached the quarterfinals at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
- Kaori Sakamoto and Shoma Uno
Figure Skating United States Sports Academy Honors Uno, Sakamoto Shoma Uno and Kaori Sakamoto, who recently captured singles titles at the World Figure Skating Championships in France, were chosen as the United States Sports Academy’s March Athletes of the Month.
Uno claimed gold in the men’s competition on March 26. Sakamoto collected the women’s top prize on the previous day.
In voting for the men’s award, Uno outpointed Swedish pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis and American tennis player Taylor Fritz, who were second and third, respectively.
On the women’s side, Sakamoto placed ahead of Ukrainian high jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh and Polish tennis player Iga Swiatek.
The United States Sports Academy was established in 1972.
The educational institution, which is based in Daphne, Alabama, accepts public nominations for its Athlete of the Month program. The public is able to vote for nominees online as well in the first week each month.
“The online votes are used to guide the Academy selection committee in choosing the male and female monthly winners, who then become eligible for selection to the prestigious Athlete of the Year ballot,” the USSA explains on its website. “A worldwide public vote on the annual ballot is used to guide the committee in making the final selection.”
RELATED: [ICE TIME] A World Championships To Remember For Kaori Sakamoto And Shoma Uno
- Naomi Osaka hits a return to Anastasia Potapova at the Madrid Open on April 29. (Manu Fernandez/AP)
Tennis Osaka Seeks Better Results in Clay-Court Tournaments Preparing for the upcoming French Open, Naomi Osaka, is appearing in the Madrid Open, another clay-court tournament, which got underway on Thursday, April 28.
The wild-card entrant said controlling her emotions is an important objective.
“I’m trying to embrace my mistakes compared to the previous years as well, so I’m not that hard on myself,” Osaka told reporters on Wednesday, The Associated Press reported. “If I make a mistake or if I don’t move up to the ball fast enough ― because I find on clay you actually have to move much more ― but if I do stuff like that I just tell myself not to be mad.”
Osaka was eliminated in the second round of the 2021 Madrid Open, falling 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 to Karolina Muchova.
She won her opening match 6-3, 6-1 against qualifier Anastasia Potapova on Friday.
Author: Ed Odeven
Follow Ed on JAPAN Forward’s [Japan Sports Notebook] here on Sundays, in [Odds and Evens] here during the week, and Twitter＠ed_odeven, and find him on JAPAN Forward’s dedicated sports website, SportsLook.
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The post [JAPAN SPORTS NOTEBOOK] Damian McKenzie Wracking Up a Plethora of Points for Title-Chasing Sungoliath first appeared on JAPAN Forward. Related posts:
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Shibazakura (moss phlox) color a hillside in the Hitsujiyama Park to the east of Chichibu in a noted display that my wife and I made a trip to see on April 28. We also stopped by the Chichibu Jinja (shrine), one of a number of noted shrines and temples in the city.
Along the way from the park to the shrine, we happened upon the Chichibu Meiseikan that is dedicated to preserving a local kimono weaving and dyeing technique that was popular in the 1920s and 1930s.
Hitsujiyama Park This is a municipal park that sprawls over hillsides east of Chichibu. It has the facilities one expects in peripheral municipal parks in Japan, including tennis courts and playgrounds for children.
Year round admission is free ー except when an estimated 400,000 shibazakura come into bloom on a hillside on the south edge of the park. Three hundred JPY admission (about $2.30 USD) to this area is charged during the bloom period to cover the provision of extra visitor facilities and the numerous guides who direct vehicles to the parking lots and visitors to the hillside.
When we visited, some of the many separate flower beds had passed their peak but others were still in full bloom.
- Ground level view of flower beds still near their peak.
- Flowers in some parts of the field had dropped.
- Both from a distance and closeup, the flowers were striking for their color and density.
The park website is updated daily with photos showing the current state of the flowers.
Gently sloping paths that can be navigated with baby strollers and wheelchairs allow viewing the many distinct varieties of shibazakura. Helpfully, they are identified by small signs.
Paths on the flower covered hillside were hardpack and sloped gently making them baby carriage and wheelchair friendly. A number of log benches on a knoll that overlooks the hillside covered with shibazakura provide a space to relax and take in a panoramic view.
- The log benches are at the far side of this photograph.
- About one-third of the shibazakura field as seen from the elevated benches.
- This panorama photo taken from the middle of the bench area shows the size of the shibazakura field.
The bench area is also a good place for a picnic lunch or a snack.
Street Food A nature park on a mountain hillside might not be the most obvious place to find Japanese street food. But at the west exit from the floral area, there is a large market area with individual vendors offering food items typical of Japanese festivals, such as yakisoba. There are also more pricey items such as wagyu (Japanese marbled beef), and items particular to the Chichibu area.
- Food stand featuring wagyu and beer.
- Okonomi-yaki (savory pancakes) is a ubiquitous item in Japan as market and festival street food.
- The only woman we saw wearing kimono at an udon and soba stall.
- Ayu, a popular freshwater fish, being grilled on skewers.
We had a heaping plate of sansai tempura (mountain bracken tempura) as a snack.
Beverages ranging from ramune to draft beer are available. Food can be taken elsewhere in the park or eaten at stand up tables in the market area.
Ramune is possibly the oldest soft drink in Japan, dating from 1884. It was the creation of a British pharmacist who served the foreign community in Kobe.
Ramune is typically sold in glass bottles that are sealed by a marble held in place by the carbonization in the drink. The market area and its stalls operate only during the festival period, April 15 to May 5 this year.
Souvenirs The valley running from Hanno to Chichibu is a commercial forestry area. Sawmills can be seen from the train. One stall in the market area was selling artisanal wooden utensils.
Handmade wooden spoons, bowels, and cups. The forest areas in the Chichibu Mountains are also noted for nest building insects, including the “murder hornets” that attracted foreign press attention in 2020.
One shop was selling nests and medicinal concoctions containing these insects.
- Nests for sale.
- Pickled osuzume bachi (giant hornets).
Less exotic items available include preserved bracken and sweets made with local ingredients.
Cement From the market area, one can also see artifacts of the product most associated with Chichibu: cement. Bukosan 武甲山 to the southeast from the park has been a source of limestone for more than a century. The scars from mining are clearly visible, even on a cloudy and misty day.
A large part of the mountain has been turned into cement. The Seibu Chichibu Line opened in 1969, and until 1989 it had freight trains hauling cement for further transport on JR lines. The Chichibu Railroad that connects Kiryu, Kumagaya, and Chibu is celebrating its 123rd anniversary. It too was constructed to haul cement, and its largest stockholder is Taiheiyo Cement.
The Chichibu Railroad operates steam excursion trains as described in my May, 2019 JAPAN Forward article. Current information can be found here.
Chichibu Silk After walking through the more generic section of Hitsujiyama Park, we headed for Chichibu Jinja. On the way I noticed signs for a silk museum. We decided to visit since it was on our direct path to the shrine.
I did not expect much. But it turned out to be very informative, while providing an opportunity to see people dying and weaving silk cloth.
The Chichibu Meisen Center is dedicated to preserving a type of silk textile that was popular in the 1920s and 1930s. In contrast to the very expensive and elaborate materials, kimono, and accessories that are associated with Kyoto and its Nishijin weavers, the Chichibu genre is decidedly plebeian.
It was developed to make use of lower quality, even off-color yarn, to produce simple, brightly colored kimono for casual wear.
The production process involves silkscreen dyeing of only the vertical threads (weft) with the horizontal threads (warp) in a complimentary color added later.
- One color of a design being applied to the vertical threads.
- The horizontal threads being added to the dyed vertical threads.
The result is a textile with bright, bold colors, a distinct sheen, and a somewhat rough texture.
Few kimono are made using this type of textile today. But it lends itself to mats used for place settings, handbags, and other such items. These are available in the museum shop.
One of the display rooms has a collection of kimono made with this fabric. Visitors are encouraged to take selfies wearing the haori, traditional Japanese hip- or thigh-length jacket worn over a kimono, of their choice.
Visitor wearing one of the haori available at no cost for selfies and portraits. The center is a five minute walk from the Seibu Chichibu Station. Admission is ￥100 JPY for children, ￥200 JPY for adults ($ 0.75 to $1.50 USD, respectively.) Hands-on dyeing and weaving opportunities are available with charges starting at ￥1000 JPY (about $7.50 USD) for simple items.
Wisteria Fuji (wisteria) are just now coming into bloom in Tokyo. Notable viewing spots such as Koishikawa Korakuen had no flowers last week. In contrast, there were numerous wisteria in full bloom in Chichibu, including those at the Meiseikan.
Wisteria at ground level at the Meiseikan. Chichibu Jinja This is one of 34 shrines and temples that are part of a pilgrimage circuit in Chichibu. The main shrine building has gilded wood carvings similar to those in the Toshogu at Nikko.
Unfortunately, scaffolding that is part of a five-year restoration project obscures the carvings on the front of the main shrine building. Lesser panels on the side of the building do, however, give a sense of the artistry embodied in these carvings.
- Restored colored wood carvings on one side of the main Shrine building.
- The three monkeys at lower left are a common element in carvings of this type.
The Shrine is the main locus of the Chichibu Night Festival, an annual event in early December that attracts enormous crowds. This festival is registered with UNESCO.
The main street leading to the Shrine entrance has a sprinkling of shops both in late Edo style and in what might be called Taisho roman, a blending of Japanese and European features.
- Houses and shops with an eclectic European-Japanese design are dotted around the approach to the Shrine.
- A soba restaurant on the street leading to the Shrine.
Chichibu in general and the Shrine in particular figure in a popular television anime. Posters featuring characters from the anime were conspicuous near the Shrine.
Anime character adjacent to a bus stop in front of the Shrine. A Train Ride Worth Taking There is frequent train service on the Seibu Ikebukuro Line. Some trains go directly to Chichibu after reversing direction at Hanno. Others are timed to meet a connecting service from Hanno to Chichibu. The basic fare is ￥760 JPY ($5.85 USD) for adults to Yokoze, or ￥790 JPY ($6.08 USD)for adults to Seibu Chichibu.
We used the Laview Express that stops only at Tokorozawa, Iruma, Hanno, Yokoze, and Seibu Chichibu. The express ticket is ￥710 JPY ($5.40 USD) if bought in advance. There is a ￥200 JPY($1.55 USD surcharge if tickets are bought on the train.
The Laview Express was designed by Kazuyo Sejima, a celebrated woman architect, and features spacious seats that recline and windows that extend from near the floor to near the luggage racks.
The enormous windows are one of the distinctive features of the Laview carriages. The bold design of this train has been featured in numerous articles in foreign English language media.
The Laview Express that we took to Yokoze leaving the station for the final station Seibu Chichibu. Unfortunately, there is only generic Tokyo suburbia to see until the train enters the Hanno to Chichibu segment. Seating on the right side going and the left side returning gives the best view of the scenic river valley that the line follows.
If you are prone to motion sickness as I am, ask for tickets mid-carriage. There is considerable movement near the passages between carriages when the train is moving at full speed.
Most guides recommend walking from Chichibu Station to the park. This involves a steep hill climb. Walking from Yokoze Station is better: gently uphill and quite picturesque.
One of several picturesque homes on the walk from Yokoze Station to Hitsujiyama Park. The route was very well signed with guides at junctions.
There were wheelchair uses in the floral and shops area, but those coming by train should probably use a taxi to reach the park itself.
Conclusion Predicted weather for the remainder of Golden Week indicates a mix of dry and light rain days. Floral displays such as the one at Hitsujiyama often look better during or after a light rain.
Overcast skies make photography easier. There is no blinding sun coming from the wrong direction and no harsh shadows that can result in photos with under or over exposed parts.
The park and Chichibu have much to offer. Now is an excellent time to escape urban Tokyo with a low cost outing to one of the mountainous areas to the west.
RELATED: Kanto Region Waiting to Be Rediscovered As Center of Kimono Production
Author: Earl H Kinmonth
Photographs by EH Kinmonth. Find other stories about Tokyo and nearby areas by Dr. Kinmonth at this link.
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CHIBA ― The future is now. Well, maybe not officially, but the boundary-stretching, gravity-defying aerial maneuvers of skateboard and BMX competitors on the first day of the X Games Chiba conjured up visions of futuristic pursuits.
Twists and turns, spins and backflips and zig-zag patterns of whimsical movements, often in rapid succession, were performed with split-second gaps between jaw-dropping, difficult techniques at ZOZO Marine Stadium on Friday, April 22, a picture-perfect spring day.
The X Games was launched in the United States in 1995 as a showcase for extreme sports on cable sports giant ESPN. Two years later, event organizers expanded the concept with the Winter X Games, providing major exposure for snowboarding and freestyle skiing. The X Games have previously been held in 12 countries.
Demonstrating its growth and global reach, more than 100 athletes from 16 countries are scheduled to compete in Chiba.
During Friday’s elimination round, Kokona Hiraki emerged as the top qualifier for the women’s skateboard park final on Saturday.
Of the 12 competitors, eight advanced to the final round.
Two of the event’s three medalists from last year’s Tokyo Olympics ― champion Sakura Yosozumi and Hiraki ― participated. They received enthusiastic support from the fans while they rode their skateboards.
- Sakura Yosozumi (KYODO)
On her first of two runs, Yosozumi, a 20-year-old from Wakayama Prefecture, vaulted into second place with an impressive display of speed, balance and nifty footwork, alternating between several tricks. She was the next-to-last competitor on the start list.
The standings would change quite a bit as the athletes took their second runs.
Although Yosozumi lost her skateboard while airborne, she amassed enough points to reach the final, as did compatriots Hiraki and Kisa Nakamura.
Meanwhie, Mami Tezuka, who was assigned the final spot on the start list, capitalized on a stellar second run to reach the eight-woman final.
The 20-year-old, who hails from Shiga Prefecture, placed second in the event at the X Games in Southern California, in July 2021.
Nine months later, she somehow found her comfort zone during both of her 40-second runs in Chiba, despite pre-event jitters.
“I was so nervous,” Tezuka said in an interview that was projected onto the stadium’s mammoth scoreboard and heard on the loudspeakers.
As for the result, she simply said, “I’m excited.”
“This is so cool,” added Tezuka, mentioning the opportunity to compete in the first-ever X Games in her homeland.
She also said that she’s delighted about increased opportunities to compete as a skateboarder nowadays.
“It’s getting bigger and better,” Tezuka said with a smile. “I’m so happy about that.”
Earlier Friday, 12-year-old Australian skateboarder Chloe Covell was the youngest competitor on the three-day extravaganza’s opening day.
Covell was fifth after the qualifying round of the women’s street competition, advancing to the final on Sunday.
Funa Nakayama competes in the women’s skateboard street elimination round. (KYODO)
Brazil’s Rayssa Leal, silver medalist at the Tokyo Olympics, and Japanese bronze medalist Funa Nakayama, 16, were third and second, respectively, in the elimination round.
Yumeka Oda, a 15-year-old from Nagoya, ascended to the top of the standings with a crowd-pleasing mix of moves, including gliding over handrails, zooming on the surface of walls and popping up on stairs for quick intervals, all without stopping.
- Yumeka Oda soars through the air in the women’s street elimination round. (KYODO)
Tokyo native Aori Nishimura, a three-time X Games gold medalist and two-time world champion, was among the octet who booked berths in the final.
Momiji Nishiya, the reigning Olympic champ, was scheduled to compete but pulled out.
In the men’s BMX park elimination round, Rim Nakamura, the fifth-place finisher at the Tokyo Olympics, grabbed the No. 1 spot in the first run, besting a field also featuring 2021’s three Olympic medalists (Australia’s Logan Martin, gold; Venezuela’s Daniel Dhers, silver; and Great Britain’s Declan Brooks, bronze).
But after the final run, only USA’s Jagger Eaton placed ahead of Nakamura.
In both of his allotted 45-second runs, Nakamura was upbeat and fast-paced throughout his performance, with a wide array of moves, hurdling over the embankments, twisting in quick somersaults and horizontal ovals, giving a glimpse of his talents.
Kevin Peraza, a 27-year-old veteran BMX rider and 2019 Summer X Games gold medalist in the men’s park event, expressed joy in returning to Japan for the “seventh or eight time.”
Like many of the athletes who spoke on the opening day of the X Games Chiba, Peraza, who was born in Tucson, Arizona, highlighted their mission of planting the seeds for their sports to grow.
“My goal as a BMX rider is to inspire the next generation,” Peraza said.
In the men’s skateboard vertical final, American Jimmy Wilkins, Moto Shibata of Osaka and Brazil’s Gui Khury, who is 13, placed 1-2-3.
During trick after trick, air time (the longer, the better) above and beyond the halfpipe propelled the top finishers.
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Kio Hayakawa in action in the men’s BMX flatland competition en route to a gold medal. (KYODO)
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Kio Hayakawa (KYODO)
Kio Hayakawa, who hails from Niigata, exhibited tremendous form in the BMX flatland tournament, the evening’s final event.
His bike nearly became an extension of his body, with one wheel acting as a vertical base for a large portion of his routine, and the other wheel high in the air. Hayakawa also displayed exceptional hand-eye coordination along with balance in guiding his bike in a series of circular twists that resembled a spinning top.
The 20-year-old Hayakawa outscored Alex Jumelin of France in the gold-medal match, earning his first-ever X Games gold medal.
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Author: Ed Odeven
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The post X Games Chiba Entertains with Endless Array of Twists and Turns first appeared on JAPAN Forward. Related posts:
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There is a lot going on in the world and we know you want to stay informed. You are the reason JAPAN Forward launched The Week – a podcast for busy people who want to keep abreast of Japan’s culture, politics, business, economy and research worlds. Hosted by Arielle Busetto.
In our third episode we discuss a recent meeting between US Senator Bill Hagerthy and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. We also talk about Russian threats to Japan, collaborating with the Philippines, great hikes in the season of flowers, return of the Tokyo Kimono Show, Japan’s sports fishing success, and even maid robots. Find the related articles list below.
Join us wherever you get your podcasts — on Spotify, Apple Music, Google Podcasts, or directly through our website at JAPAN Forward. Reach out and stay in touch on Twitter @ariellebusetto.
New podcasts will come out every Friday evening, JST, and will remain available for listeners on your own schedule.
We have more podcasts available on our page, including Real Issues, Real Voices, Real Japan, (both in English and Japanese), and Sports Talk.
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Author: Arielle Busetto
The post ‘The Week’ Podcast #3: Russia Eyes Hokkaido, Andy Warhol Auction, Tokyo Kimono Show is Back first appeared on JAPAN Forward. Related posts:
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On an overcast day in late March, I made my way to a nondescript hotel set amid the gray and black edifices of Tokyo’s government district. Armed with only a conference room number, I eventually found what I was looking for: the Historical Awareness Research Committee’s symposium on the history of the SadoKinzan (Sado Gold Mines).
Outside the conference room, two men were checking names off a guest list. Only those cleared for attendance could go in.
Why all the secrecy?
After all, the complex of gold and silver mines on Sado Island, located in the Sea of Japan off the coast of Niigata Prefecture, stopped production in the late 1980s. And the Sado mines have been known for producing precious metals since the Heian Period (794-1185) some nine centuries ago. So it certainly wasn’t the location of the mines or the silver or gold that needed protecting.
What does need protecting is Sado’s history. The Sado mines are up for registration with the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as a World Heritage Site. However, some in South Korea are claiming that Koreans were forced to work in the Sado mines. The real history of Sado is under attack.
The Historical Awareness Research Committee (HARC), under the direction of Reitaku University Professor Tsutomu Nishioka, convened the March symposium to tell the true story of Sado and its mines. It was not a tale of forced labor, but of equal opportunity and voluntary Korean immigration to Sado to take the high-paying jobs available there.
Sado Kinzan gold and silver mine on Sado Island, Niigata Prefecture. (Sankei) Koreans Volunteered in Droves to Work in the Japanese Home Islands Six speakers took the podium during the nearly three-hour symposium, including two who joined remotely from South Korea.
First, Professor Nishioka provided an overview of the labor and mobility frameworks in place during the period of annexation, 1910 to 1945, during which the Korean peninsula was a part of Japan and Koreans were Japanese citizens. While some claim today to have been tricked or forced to work on Sado Island, the primary documents tell an entirely different story.
For example, Professor Nishioka cites Government-General of Korea statistics which show that, from 1933 to 1938, 727,094 Koreans voluntarily applied at local police stations on the Korean peninsula for permission to travel to Japan to work but were denied. Even during part of the mobilization period of the Pacific War, from 1939 to 1942, some 22,800 Koreans were apprehended in Japan as having entered from Korea without permission and were sent back.
From 1939 to 1945, Professor Nishioka continued, 2,378,232 Koreans crossed over to Japan, of which approximately one-fourth (604,492) were mobilized as part of the war effort. The remaining three-fourths (1,773,740) voluntarily and individually went from Korea to Japan searching for work.
In other words, there was no reason to force anyone to work in Japan. Hundreds of thousands of Koreans were trying to work in Japan of their own accord.
- Yumiko Yamamoto presenting at Sado Kinzan symposium.
- Professor Kanji Katsuoka at the Sado Kinzan history seminar.
- Researcher Ryosuke Nagatani presenting at the Sado Kinzan symposium.
- Lineup of presenters at Sado Kinzan symposium (l to r: Yumiko Yamamoto, Kanji Katsuoka, Shiro Takahashi (giving introductory remarks), Ryosuke Nagatani, Tsutomu Nishioka (at podium being introduced), Hwang Uiwon (on screen appearing remote from South Korea))
Photos provided via Dr. Jason Morgan. Pak Gyeong-sik and the Origin of Fake Korea-Japan History The historical record is unmistakable and undeniable. During the period of annexation, Koreans volunteered to go to the Japanese home islands in droves. The pay tended to be better in the home islands, and the job opportunities much more plentiful.
So, where did the falsehood of forced labor come from?
In 1965, a Korean resident in Japan named Pak Kyǒng-sik published a book in Japanese titled Record of Korean Forced Mobilization (Chosenjin kyosei Renko no kiroku). According to the second presenter at the symposium, retired Meisei University lecturer Kanji Katsuoka, this book, released as a counterargument to a work of fact-based documentary history written by scholar Yoshio Morita, was the origin of the myth that Koreans were abducted en masse from the Korean peninsula and dragooned to work in Japan.
Pak’s book was unhistorical, but left-wing academics in Japan and Korea seized on Pak’s fictions to advance their political ends.
Unfortunately, the fictitious “forced labor” narrative persists. In the third talk at the symposium, Nadeshiko Action representative Yumiko Yamamoto traced the “forced labor” narrative through the United Nations International Labor Organization (ILO) records.
Even more unfortunate, Yamamoto stresses, is that the Government of Japan accepted this false narrative for years, and even apologized for something that never happened. It was only in 2019, Yamamoto points out, that the Japanese Government rebutted in an official report a South Korean labor organization’s insistence that Koreans had been forced to work in the Sado mines.
Yamamoto also referenced a curious overlap in timing. In the early 1990s, right when some in South Korea started claiming to have been forced to work in Japan (which led to the “forced labor” narrative entering the records of the ILO), others in South Korea also began claiming to have been “forcibly abducted” to work as comfort women.
Sado Kinzan gold and silver mines on Sado Island, Niigata Prefecture. (Sankei) Prewar and Wartime Life on Sado Island In the fourth symposium presentation, Historical Awareness Research Committee researcher Ryosuke Nagatani relied on a wealth of primary sources to reveal what life was like at the Sado mines before and during the Second World War. Nagatani’s array of data showed that wages for those in the Japanese home islands (including Koreans) were much higher than those on the Korean Peninsula.
For example, in July of 1940, according to data compiled by the Japan Mining Cooperative (Nihon Kozan Kyokai), the average wage for mine workers was 66 yen, 77 sen. In the same year, 1940, the average wage for a male teacher in Korea was 15 yen, 96 sen, and for a male bank employee in Korea was 30 yen, 80 sen. (The sen, which is no longer in circulation, was valued at 1/100 of a yen.)
Not only were wages high for mine workers in Japan, but the Sado mines provided special amenities rare at other operations. For example, Korean men on Sado were encouraged to bring their wives and children to live at the mine complex with them.
Food and bedding charges were deducted from wages, but workers (both Japanese and Korean) still enjoyed high pay. The work was dangerous, to be sure. But the living conditions were good, and pay seems to have been commensurate with the risks involved in mining.
Sado Kinzan gold mines in Niigata Prefecture. (Sankei) High Wages, Plentiful Food Even though the working conditions in the Sado mining complex were good, many Korean workers fled. Why? The reason was simple. There were many other jobs available in Japan with even higher pay.
This point was reinforced by the fifth symposium speaker, Naksundgae Institute of Economic Research research fellow Lee Wooyoun. Dr. Lee worked deeply in primary sources to show that wages for Korean workers at mines in Japan were high, and living conditions better than on the Korean peninsula.
According to a sample document, for instance, Dr. Lee found that, in 1940, a mine worker earning 71 yen, 95 sen per month had 21.2% of his monthly wages deducted for food, 18.6% deducted for savings, and 16.4% deducted for other goods and services, for a total of 56.2% of monthly wages deducted. The worker also sent a large portion of his earnings—34.5%, or 24 yen, 84 sen—back home to Korea, and kept 9.3% of his wages (6 yen, 72 sen) as pocket money.
Being able to send more than one-third of one’s wages home and still have money left over at the end of the month indicates very favorable conditions for Korean workers at mines in Japan.
And it wasn’t just wages that were good. According to Dr. Lee’s research, the number of calories an average mine worker could expect to consume per day on the Korean peninsula versus in Japan reveals substantially better living conditions in Japan for Koreans. For example, in 1941, someone living in the southern part of the Korean peninsula could expect to consume approximately 1,799 calories per day. A Korean laborer working the mine face at the Mitsui Yamano coal mine in Fukuoka Prefecture consumed around 3,224 calories per day on average in the same year. Mining in Japan was good work for Koreans.
Based on this and extensive other research, Dr. Lee concluded that there is “no problem in registering the Sado mine complex with UNESCO as a World Heritage site.”
Hwang Uiwon presenting virtually at the Sado Kinzan mines history symposium. (Screenshot) Fighting for Historical Truth in Korea and Japan The sixth and final presenter at the Sado Kinzan symposium was Hwang Uiwon, a South Korean journalist and researcher and the representative of MediaWatch, which monitors the media in South Korea. Hwang pointed out that the South Korean media tends to ignore primary historical sources and instead seeks out interviews with those who will confirm the preferred anti-Japan narrative of the South Korean Left.
In a follow-up interview, Hwang told JAPAN Forward, “The reality is, the mainstream media in Korea has not reported any evidence or testimony that supports the truth on the comfort women or forced conscription issues to the public. Thus, Japan must establish communication channels to convey its views to Korea. I suggest Japan communicate, not with anti-Japan elitists, but with the general public in Korea.”
Hwang stressed that “Japan must, above all, be defiant in the face of the truth. If Japan prioritizes goodwill over truth,” Hwang said, “friendship efforts with Korea will inevitably fail. Unlike [South] Korea’s anti-Japan elites, the general public has no incentive to get involved in anti-Japan sentiments. Therefore, if we continue to persuade the Korean public with the conviction that they’ll one day embrace the truth, the dishonest groups in Korea shall eventually collapse.”
The March 2022 Sado Kinzan symposium in Tokyo, featuring researchers from both South Korea and Japan, did just as Hwang suggested. It is also symbolic of the work spearheaded by HARC president Professor Nishioka. In his most recent book, My Korean Experience, Nishioka writes that only a shared devotion to historical truth will help Japan and South Korea overcome division and achieve mutual respect.
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Author: Dr. Jason Morgan
Read other essays and interviews by Dr. Jason Morgan at this link.
The post The Real History of Sado Gold Mine is Under Attack first appeared on JAPAN Forward. Related posts:
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Student attention during classes has been one important collateral damage of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As schools all around the world moved online, many students experienced the grueling reality of attending classes exclusively on Zoom or similar online platforms.
Enter the idea: Gatten Button, developed in collaboration with the University of Tokyo, NPO IOT Media Laboratory, and System Japan.
Left to right: NPO IOT Media Laboratory President Kazuhiko Nishi, University of Tokyo Professor Masayuki Nakao, System Japan CEO Yoshiteru Shichiri. What’s a Gatten Button? The device appears simple, a box with a button at its center – the likes of a colorful button on a game machine. If pressed, a green LED inside the button lights up.
But the seemingly humble device has the ability of facilitating interaction between students and their teachers, and thereby increasing attention and productivity. (Gatten means “understood” in Japanese slang).
The preliminary results of the classes using the Gatten Buttonhave exceeded expectations, says one of the lead researchers, NPO IOT Media Laboratory President, Professor Kazuhiko Nishi at a press event on March 25.
In the sample class where this button was used, student results were 20% higher than in classes where the device was not used.
The uses can be many ー and creative. Upon cues from teachers, students can press the button to say they have understood, or to indicate they know the answer to a question. It is a sort of gamification of learning.
“It’s an incredibly simple but useful device. It means that just by pressing a button, even the shy students have a way of communicating with teachers that they understand what is being said,” said Masayuki Nakao, Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Tokyo.
The device is already being tested at Suma Gakuen Junior and Senior High School for consideration of its broader introduction in schools. It has potential uses not just for online lessons, but in many other venues as well.
NPO IOT Media Laboratory President Kazuhiko Nishi, and one of the key researchers in the Gatten Button device project.
Birth of the Idea
As is the case with some of the best ideas, the initial concept was born out of personal experience. Professor Nakao teaches at the Mechanical Engineering Department at one of the most prestigious institutions in the country, the University of Tokyo.
Yet even professors like Nakao have been struggling to keep the attention of their over 140 students during online lessons.
Online classes tend to be less active. Not everyone has their webcam on. Sometimes students just log into the class, and there is no way to determine if they are even sitting in front of their computer.
“It boils down to the fact that for the motivated students Zoom online classes are more than sufficient. But chasing down students who are not as motivated becomes really difficult when classes are just online,” explained Professor Nakao.
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Professor Nakao recalled first hearing about box-like devices with buttons used to enhance the learning experience that were used in countries like Finland. Then came the serendipitous collaboration with System Japan.
Yoshiteru Shichiri, CEO of the company which specializes in sensor technology, talked to JAPAN Forward about how he wanted to do something to help students be more productive during classes. Shichiri had three children stuck at home during the pandemic, and understood the problem first hand.
It was then that Gatten Button was developed.
Gatten Button during a lecture. A collaboration between System Japan, NPO IOT Media Laboratory and University of Tokyo. How it Works The main feature of the device, a large green button, was designed deliberately large and sturdy, to cater to playful students.
Professor Nishi told JAPAN Forward that keeping the mouse of a computer in mind, he “decided to keep it simple,” with one single button.
The device can be easily plugged into a laptop USB slot. It is equipped with three features to help increase attendance ー and attention ー during classes.
First, it has a slot where the student ID card is inserted. This provides an easy way to check attendance using RFID technology.
Second, a sensor detects if the user is sitting in front of the device. This deters, for example, students logging into the lesson then stepping away to do other things.
Third, all of the information gathered by the device is collected to the cloud, where the teacher can access it anytime, anywhere.
System Japan has created technology for the care of the elderly in the past. CEO Shichiri explained why the company had to come up with a sensor which was triggered not by motion, but by a non-contact vital signs sensor which captures the presence of someone even as they are still.
System Japan CEO Yoshiteru Shichiri explains how the Gatten Button data appears on the screen of the teacher, March 25, 2022 Surprising Results In the initial trial, 50 devices were created and distributed to a group of middle school students.
The students’ progress was monitored by having them take a comprehension test once between 2020 and 2021, immediately after a class which had used the Gatten Button.
The results were striking. Test results of students who had used the Gatten Button scored on average 20% higher than the scores of those who hadn’t.
“Normally, it’s quite difficult to increase productivity by one fifth just by shifting teaching style. We almost felt like it was magic,” recounts IOT Media Lab’s Nishi.
Professor Nishi explains the impact the device has on the speed of the lesson: “A lesson just continues, whether you understand it or not. But by using this device, the teacher has the possibility of adjusting the speed, depending on the students’ understanding.”
Nishi also adds that when students are asked to do something concrete, like pushing a button, there is a chance that they are forced to think a bit more deeply about the content of the lesson.
The whole team that created the Gatten Button. Future Uses “This is such a simple idea, it’s just a button isn’t it? But [this experiment] has led us to believe that as a mechanism it has enormous potential,” Nishi says.
The makers are now scheduled to expand the project to around 100 devices, which would serve two classes. They can be used for either remote or in person classes, depending on the circumstances of the school.
“In Japan, we often have one-way teaching styles. So adding a way of checking understanding could make in-person learning much more effective as well,” reflects Nakao, extolling the potential uses for in person classes.
The price is set to be determined at a later date, and will partially depend on the number of orders in an economy of scale.
System Japan’s Shichiri is also thinking of ways in which the device can be refashioned to work in other areas. Ideas abound, including using them in professional settings, and in other areas of the company’s main field, for example monitoring the understanding of the elderly in particular situations.
“As the population continues to age, it might be useful to have a device like this where one can very easily check if users are awake in the morning, for example,” Shichiri explains.
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Author: Arielle Busetto
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The World Heritage Site Kumano Nachi Taisha Shrine held the Sakura Flower Festival to pray for a bumper crop on April 14. To thank nature for its blessings, two shrine maidens with their hair adorned with cherry blossom hair pins, performed an elegant dance in front of the Shintai, Nachi Falls, which is Japan’s tallest waterfall.
The World Heritage Site is located in Nachikatsuura Town, Wakayama Prefecture, about 130 km south of Osaka.
Reenacting an anecdote from the retirement of Emperor Kazan (968–1008), the festival tells the story of his 1000 days’ stay on Mount Nachi, where he wrote a waka poem praising the beauty of the cherry blossoms in this area.
Shrine maidens performing a dance as part of the “Sakura Flower Festival” at Kumano Nachi Taisha Shrine. At the festival celebration, a Shinto priest wearing a black-lacquered eboshi (Japanese formal headwear) with a cherry blossom decoration, blew a whistle and rang a drum in the background.
Chishiko Ise, 64, a tourist from Kagoshima City, was delighted at the scene. “The shrine maidens’ dance was very beautiful,” she said, adding “The priests’ songs and performances were also wonderful. They made me feel relaxed.”
What is your hidden wonder of Japan? Upload your picture here.
(Read the article in Japanese at this link.)
Author: Sankei Shimbun
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Finland and Sweden, the two militarily non-aligned Nordic countries, have begun to shift toward joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in preparation for security threats from Russia.
In a joint news conference in the Swedish capital of Stockholm on April 13, Finland’s Prime Minister Sanna Marin and Sweden’s Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson expressed their willingness to join the membership of NATO.
Every sovereign nation has the right to make a choice of its allies for the sake of its security. Both Finland and Sweden are in close proximity to Russia, which has trampled on the United Nations Charter by invading Ukraine. Anxieties over Moscow’s behavior make their consideration of joining NATO only natural.
Finland in particular is a direct neighbor, sharing a 1,340-kilometer (832-mile) border with Russia. During World War II, Finland was invaded by Soviet troops and has a history of fierce fighting against the Soviet Union.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg meets Swedish troops in exercise “Cold Response 2022” with around 30,000 troops from NATO members plus Finland and Sweden, in the Arctic Circle, Norway, March 25, 2022. REUTERS/Yves Herman In the April 13 joint news conference, the two countries’ prime ministers acknowledged that Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine had changed their countries’ security environment. Prime Minister Marin said, “Our security cannot be guaranteed without joining NATO,” adding that Finland would reach a decision on the NATO membership issue “within the coming weeks.” Prime Minister Andersson said the Swedish government would finalize a stance on the matter as quickly as possible.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said there would have been no Russian invasion had his country been a NATO member.
Made up of 30 countries consisting of the United States, Canada, and European nations, NATO is a powerful military alliance with an estimated 3.3 million combined force strength. It operates on the principle of mutual defense based on the right of collective self-defense.
Russia has reacted strongly against the two Nordic countries’ moves to join the NATO defense bloc. Deputy Foreign Minister Alexandr Grushko is reported to have said such moves, “could seriously aggravate the current military situation and lead to most undesirable consequences.”
Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council, Chairman of the United Russia Party. April 15, 2022. (Yekaterina Shtukina, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) “Sound-minded people wouldn’t want to see missiles and warships with nuclear weapons aboard appear near their border, causing tensions to be heightened,” said Dmitry Medvedev, former Russian president and current deputy chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation. The statement is nothing but a pure and simple act of intimidation, with a threat of nuclear arms.
Video footage has been reported of Russian troops moving two missile systems in the direction of the Finnish border.
The Putin administration should be aware that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the movement of missile forces have increased the vigilance of the two Nordic countries, pushing them toward applying for NATO membership. That both countries have taken steps to shed the neutrality they maintained even during the Soviet era is the direct result of Russia’s deeds and a strategic failure of Moscow’s own making.
NATO should allow Finland and Sweden to join the Western defense bloc so that they will not encounter the destructive aggression being witnessed in Ukraine.
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(Read the editorial in Japanese at this link.)
Author: Editorial Board, The Sankei Shimbun
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Manga artist Fujiko A. Fujio passed away on April 7. The famed artist is the author of Manga Roads, a comic series in which he chronicled his days as an apprentice. He was 88.
Manga Roads (Shogakukan, series) is considered a bible for aspiring manga artists. And it made Tokiwaso, the apartment complex that appears in the manga, famous. The very same apartment is recreated as the Tokiwaso Manga Museum in Minaminagasaki, Toshima-ku, Tokyo.
On the day of Fujiko’s passing, locals from the area and visitors to the museum were surprised at the sudden announcement and reminisced about his life, which was filled with innumerable famous works.
Tokiwaso Manga Museum, a reproduction of the building where the young Fujiko Fujio lived in Toshima Ward. (Photo by Mitsuhiro Uno) The Setting of ‘Manga Roads’ “This entire area was the setting of Manga Roads,” said Mikio Koide, president of the Tokiwaso Shopping Street.
“The movement to restore Tokiwaso [district] actually started from Manga Roads. “It’s a very sad piece of news,” he added, speaking with difficulty after hearing the news of Fujiko’s passing.
Koide, 63, was a leader of the movement to build the reconstruction of Tokiwaso in the area it was originally located.
In Manga Roads, Michio Maga, a character based on Fujiko himself, meets Shigeru Saino (based on Fujiko F. Fujio, who passed away in 1996). They relocate to Tokyo and move into Tokiwaso, where Osamu Tezuka also lives.
In real life the duo lived in Tokiwaso from 1954 to 1961. They threw themselves into creative work in a friendly rivalry with the other manga artists who also resided there, such as Shotaro Ishinomori, Fujio Akatsuka, Hideko Mizuno, and many others.
The Tokiwaso apartment building was demolished in 1982 due to deterioration. Manga Roads came into the spotlight again when the story was adapted into a TV drama on NHK in 1986.
Thanks to years of campaigning by the area’s locals, a museum faithfully reproducing the living room and other rooms from that time opened in July 2020.
Fujiko F. Fujio (left) and Fujiko A. Fujio when they were young in November 1965. ‘Japan’s Walt Disney’ In October 2020, Fujiko visited the museum for the first time. “I was equally astonished and moved to see Tokiwaso reproduced,” the famed author is reported to have said by sources at the time. “Memories from when I was 20 came back to me, and I almost cried.”
He revisited the museum in April 2021 to see the Tezuka retrospective and reminisced about how Tezuka lent him the deposit money to move in. “It’s thanks to him that I could move into Tokiwaso,” Fujiko said, adding: “He looked after me not only professionally but also in my personal life.”
Koide mourned Fujiko’s sudden death saying, “I wish we could’ve held a Fujiko A. Fujio retrospective at the Museum while he was still alive.”
On April 7, when the 88 year-old’s death was announced, manga artist Koichi Nagata, who lives nearby, also passed by the museum. “I heard the news when I was eating at Matsuba, a ramen restaurant where the Tokiwaso dwellers often used to eat,” said the 47 year-old manga artist, adding: “It shocked me.”
“I loved Ninja Hattori-kun when I was a child and The Laughing Salesman when I grew up. He was still healthy, I thought,” Nagata continued on April 7. “We will miss him.”
Nobuo Kishi, 70, who came to visit the museum from Kamagaya in Chiba Prefecture, said, “It’s sad, but he gave us so much joy from the time we were children. Even my children and grandchildren love him. He’s like the Japanese Walt Disney.”
(Read the report in Japanese at this link.)
Author: Mitsuhiro Uno
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“Find something you love to do and you’ll never have to work a day in your life,” someone once said.
That timeless wisdom sums up Kenta Kimura’s life.
As an 8-year-old, he found something he loved to do: fishing.
He discovered his love for the outdoor activity on a trip with his father to Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefecture. Then the Kyoto-born Kimura became an accomplished fisherman in Japan’s junior ranks. He won seven tournaments as a 17-year-old, planting the seeds for a future career as a pro angler.
For more than 20 years, Kimura has pursued his passion, competing in tournaments in Japan and for a decade now in the United States.
In the euphoric aftermath of his victory in the Bassmaster Opens division in Richmond, Virginia, on April 16, Kimura expressed gratitude to American fishermen and the sport’s culture in the United States, one that supports his livelihood. It was his first Bassmaster tournament title.
“I want to thank the American anglers. You guys have created a great sport,” Kimura said after the competition had wrapped up at the St. Croix Bassmaster Northern Open at James River. “This is my dream. It’s what I’ve wanted to do all my life since I was a little kid.”
- Kenta Kimura began fishing at age 8. (ⒸB.A.S.S.)
Kimura, who turned 40 in February, is one of four Japanese anglers in the Bassmaster Elite Series. The others: Takumi Ito, Daisuke Aoki and Masayuki Matsushita. Currently, there are 94 individuals in the pro-angler division.
Before winning at James River and collecting $52,000 USD (¥6.64 million JPY), Kimura’s best result this season was ninth place at the SiteOne Bassmaster Elite at Harris Chain (Leesburg, Florida) in February.
What were Kimura’s keys to victory in the three-day tournament in Richmond?
For starters, effective use of fishing lures played a pivotal part.
“Anywhere in the world, the bigger fish like buzzbaits in a river. Especially this place; all the fish are pressured,” explained Kimura, who also works as a fishing guide on Lake Biwa and as a lure designer, in an interview with the Bassmaster website.
Kimura’s approach paid off, though early on it didn’t appear that he would win the tournament.
By the end of the opening day of competition (April 14), Kimura, who lives in Osaka, was in 19th place with a total haul of 17 pounds.
- Kenta Kimura displays part of his winning haul at the St. Croix Bassmaster Northern Open on April 16. (ⒸB.A.S.S.)
Emerging as a Contender In a pivotal performance, Kimura, known as “Kimken” to fishing fans and his Bassmaster rivals, exhibited his fish-catching skills on Day 2. By the end of Good Friday, he had climbed into second place, catching a cumulative 23 pounds, 5 ounces for his five-fish limit.
Kimura’s experience competing on the previous tour stop at Chickamauga Lake in Dayton, Tennessee, the week before helped him plot his strategy on James River.
For example, from April 14-16 he opted to use the same DRT Tiny Klash swimbait that was a successful lure for him on Chickamauga Lake, according to Bassmaster.com. He hauled in a 19-pound fish on April 8 in Dayton using the effective lure, which includes a lateral tail and an adjustable ABS plastic bill.
And Kimura stuck with the effective lure several days later, when he secured victory on James River with a 6-pound catch.
Earlier, a more modest catch proved vital, he acknowledged.
“I culled out a 2-pounder with that fish,” Kimura told reporters. “Without that fish, I wouldn’t have won.”
Kimura also had his top overall day on the tournament’s final day, reeling in his five-fish limit to the tune of 24 pounds, 11 ounces.
That added up to a three-day haul of 65 pounds, and Kimura defeated runner-up Keith Poche, a resident of Pike Road, Alabama, by 3 pounds, 9 ounces in the overall standings.
- Kenta Kimura rides his boat in Virginia. (ⒸB.A.S.S.)
A Winning Strategy In his first trip to James River, Kimura found his comfort zone 30 seconds away from the takeoff site, Osborne Park & Boat Landing. As a savvy veteran, he also adjusted on the fly, mixing and matching his lures based on what he was experiencing, e.g. finding the winning combination.
“Every time I’ve fished rivers, I make a long run, but I stayed closer to give me time to figure out what tide they liked,” said Kimura, who discusses his fishing career, passion for designing lures and fishing tips in Parts 1 and 2 of an informative video interview series, here and here.
“The first day I was just running around a lot of different places and caught all of my fish on the buzzbait. I had a good day, but it was only 19th place.
“The second day, I caught a limit pretty easy on the squarebill and the spinnerbait, but I couldn’t get a big one, so I switched to the big swimbait. They really liked the bigger profile.”
By winning the top prize at the Bassmaster Northern Open at James River, Kimura exceeded his expectations.
After all, he was left with modest expectations entering the tournament after producing unsatisfactory results in practice.
“I really didn’t expect this because I had a horrible practice,” Kimura insisted after finishing atop the leaderboard. “I was going to be happy with 14 pounds a day, but I figured some things out. Some guys said it was going to take 18 pounds a day to make the cut, but I said, ‘No way.’ But this river is full of big fish.
“This might be the best river I’ve ever been to in the whole world. I love the James River.”
Follow Bassmaster tournament results throughout the year on the organization’s official website.
Author: Ed Odeven
Follow Ed on JAPAN Forward’s [Japan Sports Notebook] here on Sundays, in [Odds and Evens] here during the week, and Twitter＠ed_odeven, and find him on JAPAN Forward’s dedicated sports website, SportsLook.
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A new report by the government’s Earthquake Research Committee lays out the risks of an M8 earthquake on the Richter scale in Japan’s Hyuganada Sea and Nansei Islands.
Nankai Trough, the presumed epicenter of the earthquake, runs about 200 km or 130 miles off the east coast of Shikoku Island and stretches along the eastern side of southwest Japan. The March 25 report indicates a broad portion of this area, area including the Hyuganada Sea and Nansei Islands chain in southwestern Japan, are at risk of damage from both earthquake and tsunamis.
Learning from the Great East Japan Quake The report does not analyze the risks in other regions of Japan, including the Fukushima area, which experienced a jarring M7.4 quake off its coast on March 17, 2022.
When the committee first issued a long-term earthquake evaluation for Japan’s southwestern region in 2004, the expert panel had not identified a probability of a quake as large as an M8 magnitude on the Richter scale. Although the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake falls outside the study’s regional scope, the committee has revised its review based on the latest findings of that event.
Areas of Focus The report identifies three new risk areas for megathrust earthquakes of at least M8.
A long-term evaluation of active faults below the seabed in the southwestern part of the Sea of Japan for the first time for the 2022 report. The analysis indicates an 8-13% chance of a powerful earthquake with a probability of M7 or more occurring over the next 30 years on some of these active undersea faults. This is a very high probability for an active fault-triggered temblor.
The area off the Hyuganada Sea east of Kyushu is also at risk, as is the region extending from the Nansei Island chain to around Yonaguni Island in the far western part of Japan. It is assumed there have been earthquakes in the area in the past, the lack of data makes it difficult to estimate the likelihood in these areas.
A megathrust quake in the M8.5 range is thought to be possible in the Yaeyama Islands (near Ishigaki Island, Okinawa Prefecture), which suffered a similar earthquake and tsunami that hit the region in 1771. The destruction from that event extended to Yonaguni Island. While the possibility of this type of event is in the report, it is excluded from the probabilities assessment because there are too many unknowns.
Analyzing the Risks The committee’s long-term projections are intended to forecast the likelihood and scale of earthquakes occurring either at boundary zones of tectonic plates that cover the Earth or an active fault. A megathrust quake occurs when one tectonic plate is pushing under another, and a sudden slippage occurs. These points are called subduction zones.
Dr. Naoshi Hirata, chairman of the committee and Professor Emeritus at the University of Tokyo’s Institute for Earthquake Research said, “It is highly probable that an M8 or stronger quake has occurred in the past, and we believe it necessary to assume a similar one will happen in the future.”
According to the committee, chances are greater than 90% within the next 30 years that a major quake of a M7 to 7.5 will strike in waters off Yonaguni Island. Moreover, the report predicts an 80% chance of one of that magnitude happening in the Hyuganada Sea. A major earthquake is also thought possible in the waters off the Nansei Islands, although there is insufficient data to calculate the likelihood.
The report considers deep-focus, megathrust earthquakes likely to happen in undersea subduction zones, where one tectonic plate moves under another. It predicts an M6.7-7.4 quake of this type hitting between Honshu and Shikoku in the oceanic region within the Akinada Sea and Iyonada Sea in the larger Seto Inland Sea, and stretching northeast to the Bungo Channel between Shikoku and Kyushu.
The chance drops slightly to around 60% in the northwestern waters off the Nansei Islands.
Overview along the Sea of Japan Looking at the active undersea faults in the southwestern part of the Sea of Japan off Tottori Prefecture and Nagasaki Prefecture, the committee divided the quake-prone region into three areas. There is a 3-7% risk in the east, 3-6% risk in the central area, and 1-3% risk in the west of an M7 earthquake occurring within the next 30 years.
The committee has put the quake likelihood for the three areas as a whole at 8-13%, but identifies the largest fault belt beneath the seabed off the Hoki region of Tottori Prefecture is at risk of a M7.7-8.1 earthquake in that time frame. Fault line in the area extend for an estimated 94 kilometers.
“Given that quakes triggered by active faults are considered striking at an interval of several thousand years, the occurrence probabilities of those are all significantly high,” Professor Hirata noted,
Major earthquakes with undersea epicenters often cause massive tsunamis. The committee plans to expand its analysis to include tsunami-related predictions such as maximum wave height based on the magnitudes of earthquakes assessed in this latest long-term evaluation report.
(Read the article in Japanese at this link.)
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Author: The Sankei Shimbun
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In his recent online meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, United States President Joe Biden is reported to have repeatedly urged India to stand with other democracies as they seek to respond to the invasion of Ukraine by putting increasing pressure on Russia.
India’s stance of avoiding direct condemnation of Moscow ー and its reluctance to join sanctions against Russia ー have attracted much attention, and elicited expressions of dissatisfaction and disappointment from the United States.
India is the world’s largest democracy and boasts a thriving economy, comparable in size to those of the United Kingdom, Germany, and France. The hope has been that Delhi would display a commensurate awareness of the influence it can exert for the sake of global peace and security.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has already created many victims and continues to endanger the lives of even more of that country’s citizens. India should not delay any longer in clarifying its opposition to Russia’s actions.
Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov meet during Lavrov’s trip to New Delhi, India on April 1, 2022. (S. Jaishankar’s Twitter handle via AP) Up to now Delhi has sought to portray itself as neutral in the conflict. For example, it abstained during the United Nations February 25 Security Council and March 2 General Assembly votes on resolutions condemning Russia.
Instead, there are reports that India has increased its purchases of Russian oil after Moscow offered to sell the oil to India at a discount. Such loopholes in the net of sanctions tightening around Russia should not be allowed.
During their summit meeting, Biden reportedly told Modi that increasing purchases of Russian oil are “not in India’s interest.” He also promised that the United States would “assist in diversifying” India’s energy procurement.
During the East-West Cold War, although India overtly adopted a non-aligned stance by refusing to join either camp and claiming it sought to balance off the two sides, it was actually highly dependent on the former USSR for its arms procurement and other needs.
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Nonetheless, India today has joined Japan, the United States, and other Western nations in calling for a free and open Indo-Pacific. And it is eager to be regarded as a reliable partner that shares with them universal values, such as freedom and democracy.
Virtual Meeting of President Biden and Prime Minister Modi on April 11, 2022. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, left, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, second left, India’s Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, right, and Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar, far right. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)t. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) President Biden also announced during the online summit that he intends to visit Japan during the latter part of May. That will provide an opportunity for a Quad summit of the leaders of Japan, the United States, Australia, and India in Japan.
It is important that Japan and the United States take the lead at the meeting, and that India joins them in sending a strong message to Russia in the name of the Quad as a whole.
At the same time, the Quad members must not forget the existence of China. As fellow Asian democracies resisting autocratic China, Japan and India should further strengthen their collaboration.
The involvement of India is vital if we are to deter a China bent on emulating Russia by using force to change the status quo in the East China Sea and South China Sea.
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(Read the editorial in Japanese at this link.)
Author: Editorial Board, The Sankei Shimbun
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The sports equipment company Mizuno entered the American market, the homeland of baseball, in the spring of 1978. A few people, including Nobuyoshi Tsubota, loaded a large-sized camper van with Mizuno gloves and drove around the Major League Baseball training camps.
Tsubota gladly accepted requests for repairs. He was able to understand what each player’s characteristics were just by touching their gloves and would repair them in a few minutes. He became famous as Magic Hand, and fans of Mizuno gloves increased.
When the sportswriter Manabu Matsuse heard that anecdote from Tsubota during an interview, the latter started humming a song. “Come, come, everybody…” It was the theme song of the radio show teaching English lessons that had begun on NHK after the war.
Tsubota taught the song to the American staff and engaged in communication with them, as related in Shodou ー The Craftsmen of Ichiro’s Glove and Matsui’s Bat (Kodansha, in Japanese, 2009). The show, which inspired the recent NHK morning drama that reached its grand finale the week of Tsubota’s passing, was helpful to him on this occasion.
- US Ambassador to Japan J. Thomas Schieffer (right) received the repaired glove of superstar Lou Gehrig, with Mizuno master craftsman Nobuyoshi Tsubota (February 2006, photo by Mizuno)
- Nobuyoshi Tsubota (center) watching the Yankees’ baseball camp in March. 2003. (photographed by Naoya Asano)
- Nobuyoshi Tsubota, the craftsman of the glove used by Ichiro Suzuki (January 2004, Osaka City.)
Passion for Baseball Tsubota had played baseball since he was a child, and he asked to make gloves when he joined Mizuno at 15 years old. After slowly working his way up, the company finally entrusted him with making made-to-order gloves when he was 40.
He listened carefully to the requests of each professional baseball player and added his original improvements to the items. He also became famous for inventing different types of gloves for each position.
Until his retirement in 2008, more than 200 athletes favored Tsubota’s gloves. Among them are Sadaharu Oh, who won nine titles in a row with the Yomiuri Giants, former major leaguer Hideki “Godzilla” Matsui, and Ichiro Suzuki.
Nobuyoshi Tsubota, master baseball glove craftsman (October 2004, Mizuno Sagisu Distribution Center) Tsubota passed away on April 3, at age 89, recognized as the master baseball glove maker that he longed to be.
The title given to him in his obituary was “former Mizuno baseball glove craftsman.” But he used to say that he was not a craftsman, but instead a technician who faithfully met the players’ needs without pushing his own style on them.
The glove he put the most effort into was not made for a professional baseball player, though. It was made for a child who had lost his fingers.
(Read the obituary in Japanese at this link.)
Author: The Sankei Shimbun
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The Tokyo Kimono Show returns on May 28 and 29, 2022. This will be the 5th event after two years of cancellations because of COVID-19 emergency measures.
Previously held in Coredo Nihonbashi, first in 2015, and then again in 2017-19, the popular event has attracted 10,000 or more visitors in the past.
Scheduled to take place in Ningyocho, Nihonbashi, this time, the event will be held in the heart of the kimono industry in Tokyo this time. Along with Kimono Salone in the autumn, this is a big venue for showcasing the latest products and developments in the kimono world.
The event is a lot of fun, even if you don’t actually wear kimono. There is plenty to look at, and if you enjoy clothing or textiles or are a bit of a fashionista, it is a great way to spend a day out.
Poster for the 2022 Tokyo Kimono Show. Hands-On Activities The 2022 event is separated into three main locations and seven small satellite locations, each with small-scale activities. Venue sites are all close to each other, making it convenient for visitors to move between them. Although it might seem a little inconvenient, in times of COVID, spacing them slightly apart and reducing compact crowds is actually a positive.
One ticket gives access to all parts of the event. Tickets can be bought with cash on the day of your visit for ￥1,500 JPY (about $12 USD). Buy them online, though, if you can. They are only ￥1,000 JPY (about $8 USD) if purchased online in advance.
The main locations are
- Tagen Building (2nd floor), a kimono business,
- Plaza Marm (2nd and 3rd floors), a rental space often used for kimono sales, and
- The Green Hall event space in Sunrise Building (2nd floor).
Tagen Building is hosting the craft workshops, of which twelve are planned, in categories such as color coordination, making accessories in silk, creating silk balls, learning to wrap goods in furoshiki, and more.
There are plenty of choices for those who want to be hands on. These workshops are popular, and it is advisable to reserve a space online in advance. There is also a chance to rent a kimono and get dressed up at the event, for those who would like to try kimono wearing.
The Tokyo Kimono Show Kimono Style At the Green Hall in Sunrise Building one can find the Kimono Style show. Mannequins are dressed in kimono and their outfits can be examined closely. They are shown as they would be worn, rather than flat as works of art.
This year the kimono have been divided into those that can be considered historical, those featuring work in the craft tradition, and those with a contemporary fashionable focus. This means that one can take a walk through historical garments as well as examine the works of Japan’s incredibly skilled contemporary dyers and weavers.
This exhibition will be a treat for fashion lovers. There will be a reproduction of the beloved Heian period 12 layered junihitoe on display.
Tokyo Kimono Show Shopping Opportunities At Plaza Marm one can go shopping at around 70 booths and buy everything from exquisite kimono to undyed cloth, from gorgeous brocade obi to accessories and underwear.
Not only is it a great opportunity to examine all kinds of kimono goods and accessories, but it is a unique chance to speak to some of the talented craftspeople and designers who have gathered in Tokyo for the event. Most are very happy to explain about what they make and how it is made. I’m happy to say that many of my favorite artisans from Tango are coming to show their wonderful kimono fabric.
Tokyo Kimono Show Events Onstage An event stage located on the third floor of Plaza Marm building will be busy with kimono activities on both days.
Each day has a program of 7 live events. There are kimono fashion shows from different organizations each day. There are also opportunities to learn about kimono dressing and styling, as well as some entertainment in the form of music and juggling.
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While the talk shows may require a fair knowledge of Japanese language, the entertainment and fashion shows are very visual and can be enjoyed by everyone.
Tokyo Kimono Show From Kimono Into an Evening Dress One exciting show shares the skill of folding a long sleeve furisode kimono into an evening dress. As the kimono is folded into the dress shape it does not damage the kimono in any way. This is a fascinating way to make use of kimono in today’s times.
Japanese wedding dress style will also be on display. And you can enjoy the taste of green tea during the event with a break at Plaza Marm.
Dressed in kimono, holding a cup of Japanese green tea. COVID-19 has dealt the industry a hard blow, but it is not defeated. And this event is sure to demonstrate just how very much alive and committed Japanese kimono makers, traders and kimono wearers are to keeping the kimono a part of our living culture.
For more information, see the Tokyo Kimono Show Homepage, here. Author: Sheila Cliffe
Find other columns on kimono by author Sheila Cliffe, here.
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Tatsuya Tsuboi’s bronze medal at the world junior championships in Tallinn, Estonia on April 16 was the culmination of a long climb back to relevance after years of struggle with injuries and disappointing results.
The 19-year-old Tsuboi was the Japan junior champion back in the 2018-19 season, when he scored a narrow victory over Shun Sato. It appeared then that he was on his way to joining skating’s elite ranks. However, his career did not continue on an upward trajectory after that, but went in the other direction.
After finishing seventh at the Japan Championships that season, Tsuboi struggled to 14th place at the world juniors and then slipped off the grid. He received no Junior Grand Prix assignment in the following three seasons, having failed to impress the Japan Skating Federation in test skates.
Tsuboi’s only results of note in recent years came at the Japan juniors in the 2019-20 season, where he came in fourth, and in 2020-21, when he was seventh.
In a testament to his tenacity, Tsuboi continued skating despite his challenges. Other skaters might have decided to retire, but Tsuboi forged on.
- Tatsuya Tsuboi competes in the short program at the world juniors on April 14. (KYODO)
Demonstrating His Ability Tsuboi’s renaissance began this season with a second-place showing behind Kao Miura at the Japan juniors. He then placed a respectable ninth at the Japan Championships in December, won the junior men’s title at the Bavarian Open in February, came in second behind Kazuki Tomono in the senior men’s category at the Coupe du Printemps in March, before capping off his season with the bronze at the world juniors.
One of the most popular skaters among his peers, Tsuboi, a sophomore in the school of Global Human Sciences at Kobe University, is also a gentleman.
I still remember something that happened one year at the annual junior camp at Chukyo University outside Nagoya. Ice Time was standing in the lobby of the National Training Center when a group of junior skaters walked past me. I recognized Tatsuya and said hello, but he had turned to speak to someone else at that moment and didn’t see me.
As the group walked away, one of the junior skaters told him what had just happened. Tsuboi then turned around and walked back across the lobby to speak to me. I will always remember that. It showed me that he had respect for others.
From that moment on, I always wanted to see Tsuboi succeed because I knew he was a good kid.
Working with Coach Nakano A native of Okazaki, Aichi Prefecture, Tsuboi trains alongside world champion Kaori Sakamoto and Four Continents titlist Mai Mihara under Sonoko Nakano in Kobe. He credits the veteran mentor for helping him turn his career around.
“After entering university, I practiced hard under Coach Nakano from April until August, which led to the Japan Championships, the latter half of this season, and this time,” Tsuboi stated in Tallinn after the free skate.
“Coach Nakano told me that this is my time to show my improvement,” Tsuboi commented after finishing fifth in the short program last Thursday.
Tsuboi acknowledged that practicing with Sakamoto and Mihara has had a positive impact on him.
“Mihara-san at the Four Continents and Sakamoto-san at the Olympics, I was always influenced by both of them,” Tsuboi continued. “I have learned a lot from training with them.”
After the short program, Tsuboi revealed that he had another obstacle to overcome before traveling to Estonia.
“After Luxembourg (site of the Coupe du Printemps) I was in close contact with somebody who had COVID, so I had to quarantine for one week and was unable to practice,” Tsuboi said. “I had to try to overcome this. I was able to run during this time though.”
Tatsuya Tsuboi and Yuhana Yokoi (Yuhana Yokoi/via TWITTER) A Close Friendship with Yokoi Yuhana Yokoi, who is two-and-a-half years older, is one of Tsuboi’s best friends in the skating community. After he claimed the bronze at the world juniors, she posted the following message on Twitter with photos of them together over the years: “Congratulations, Tatsu-chan. I admire Tatsu-chan, who has experienced injuries and taking exams and is also skating.”
In an appearance on the “Ice Time Podcast” in 2020, Yokoi discussed her friendship with Tsuboi.
“Tatsuya Tsuboi is a skater I have known since we were really young,” Yokoi said. “I have been friends with him for the longest time. Originally, I was friends with his older sister. It has been about 10 years since I have known him.
“I would say we are good childhood friends,” Yokoi continued. “I was really happy when I was able to win the Japan Junior Championships with him in 2018. I usually call him Ta-chan.”
- Tatsuya Tsuboi attends Kobe University. (KYODO)
Motivation to Improve Tsuboi, who landed a quad salchow and six clean triples in his free skate, admitted that he was stunned by the quadruple lutz of gold medalist Ilia Malinin of the United States and became motivated to increase his own jump arsenal.
“It was amazingly powerful when viewed live,” Tsuboi stated about Malinin. “Now I can only jump the salchow, but by participating in the world juniors, I got the desire to learn toe loops, loops and other types of quads.”
Tsuboi understands that competing against his fellow Japanese skaters, who have incredible credentials, won’t be easy, but is prepared for the challenge.
“As for moving up to the senior level, there are lots of strong skaters in Japan such as Yuzuru Hanyu, Shoma Uno, Yuma Kagiyama, so I really have to practice hard and be ready to compete at that level against those top skaters as well as international skaters.”
RELATED: Ilia Malinin Powers To World Junior Title; Tatsuya Tsuboi Captures Bronze
Author: Jack Gallagher
The author is a veteran sports journalist and one of the world’s foremost figure skating experts. Find articles and podcasts by Jack on his author page, here, and find him on Twitter @sportsjapan.
The post [ICE TIME] Perseverance Pays Off for Tatsuya Tsuboi With Bronze at World Juniors first appeared on JAPAN Forward. Related posts:
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On April 7, it was reported by TV Asahi that Sergey Mironov, leader of the political party A Just Russia, stated on his party’s website that “Russia has all rights to Hokkaido.”
Mironov is a major political figure who served as chairman of the upper house of the Russian parliament for almost 10 years.
However outrageous his claim was, it didn’t come as a surprise.
On August 16, 1945, Russia’s predecessor the Soviet Union, under the name of Chairman Joseph Stalin of the State Defense Committee, demanded that U.nited States President Harry S. Truman include the northern half of the island of Hokkaido in the area to be surrendered by Japan to the Soviet forces.
Thankfully, Truman refused — half of Hokkaido would have become Russian territory if he hadn’t.
On another occasion, Mironov stated, “I hope that Japanese politicians have not completely forgotten the lessons of World War II and the fate of the Kwantung Army.”
He didn’t explain what he meant by the “lessons of World War II” or “the fate of the Kwantung Army,” but the insinuation was clear: Defy Russia and you will suffer.
Head of A Just Russia Sergei Mironov: “according to many experts, Russia has all rights to Hokkaido. I hope Japanese politicians have not completely forgotten lessons of WW2 & fate of the Kwantung Army, otherwise we’ll be forced to refresh their memories” https://t.co/JnqdffQVds
— James D.J. Brown (@JamesDJBrown) April 5, 2022
[James Brown is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Temple University]
On August 9, 1945, the Soviet Union violated the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact and invaded Manchuria, committing the most terrible atrocities including looting money and goods, assaulting women, and capturing young civilian men just to increase the numbers of POWs.
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After Japan’s surrender, the Soviet Union abducted over 600,000 Japanese and placed them in forced labor. If there is any lesson to be learned from the war, it is that surrendering to the Russians will not guarantee peace or safety.
An aerial view of Japan’s Northern Territories as seen from the northern part of Hokkaido. More than 20 years ago, this author visited Kamchatka in the Russian Far East. A young Russian interpreter told me that he had been taught falsely that “the four southernmost Kuril Islands [in Japan’s Northern Territories] were stolen by Japan during the Russo-Japanese War.” He said he only found out that the Kuril Islands had been Japanese territory for 70 years when he came to Japan to study at Shinshu University.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is also an information war with false information being launched from both sides. Information from neither side should be taken at face value, but at the very least, it is clear that Russia should not be trusted.
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(Read the column in Japanese at this link.)
Author: The Sankei Shimbun
The post Threats Begin as Major Politician Claims Hokkaido Belongs to Russia first appeared on JAPAN Forward. Related posts:
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The Chinese government has locked down the city of Shanghai — the nation’s economic center with a population of about 25 million — with an urban blockade since March 28.
Shanghai authorities have a zero-COVID policy, and the lockdown is needed to control the spread of infection in a recent outbreak.
The number of daily new COVID-19 infections in Shanghai has exceeded 20,000, reaching a record high on April 6. But more is at stake than a deadly illness.
More than 90% of the infected are believed to have no symptoms. As part of the city’s zero-COVID policy, Shanghai authorities are isolating asymptomatic people and those who had close contact with COVID-positive residents into quarantine facilities.
This method of controlling COVID-19 is so inept that residents are now suffering from food shortages and other hardships. The cries for help of those effectively confined to house arrest have been falling on deaf ears.
Access to food and daily necessities is not provided. The closure of medical facilities has deprived people with preexisting conditions of their regular treatments and medications.
Shanghai’s urban lockdown is an inhumane measure that could cost the lives of some of its residents.
More broadly, the Xi Jinping administration’s policy of draconian city blockades must be reviewed and relaxed to save precious lives. The failure of the central government’s zero-COVID policy to prioritize human rights is apparent.
Nearly all the lights are out in the office buildings of Shanghai on the evening of April 18, 2022 (Residents, via Kyodo) Foreign Consulates in Shanghai React On April 11, the United States government ordered the evacuation of staff and families of its consulate general in Shanghai who were not involved in essential operations. Increases in the number of infected people and the restrictions on consulate staff movement by city authorities were cited as reasons.
虽然我们已减少了我们驻上海总领事馆的人员规模，我们仍然保持业务开放，并留有一群强有力的员工。美国驻华使团有超过80人加班加点地工作，为封城下的美国公民提供帮助。我们全天候都在。如需帮助，拨打电话+(86)(10) 8531-4000。 https://t.co/h3UGErx5vd
— 美国驻华使领馆 US MissionCN (@USA_China_Talk) April 15, 2022
The Japanese government is very slow in reacting to the situation. Around 10,000 Japanese companies have operations based in Shanghai, and 42,000 Japanese employees and their families live there. Some have complained about the rapid depletion of staples, such as food and diapers. Is the Japanese government doing everything it can to ensure the health and safety of Japanese citizens?
The Xi administration’s zero-COVID policy is intended to demonstrate both domestically and internationally the “remarkable superiority of the Communist Party’s leadership and the effectiveness of its socialist system.”
China’s vaccination rate is just under 90%. But domestically developed vaccines using the inactivated virus are considered to be less effective than vaccines used in the West. That may be the reason China seems to be less inclined to shift to policies like those in Japan, Europe, and the United States that do not halt social and economic activities.
Workers in a protective suits direct residents lining up for COVID tests during lockdown amid the COVID-19 pandemic, in Shanghai, China, April 17, 2022. REUTERS/Aly Song Viral Video of Li Qiang in Shanghai In the midst of this turmoil, a surprising video has gone viral. Li Qiang, the city’s top politician and Communist Party secretary of Shanghai, was confronted by residents during an April 11 tour of the city.
Open protest is an extraordinarily unusual occurrence, given that the city is under strict information control. Mr. Li is a close associate of President Xi and a solid contender to join the supreme leadership at this fall’s Communist Party Congress.
The high volume of sharing that video of Mr. Li seems to reflect the growing dissatisfaction within China with the Xi administration’s rigid response to COVID-19.
We must also remain keenly aware of power struggles taking place within the Chinese Communist Party.
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(Read the editorial in Japanese at this link.)
Author: The Sankei Shimbun
The post EDITORIAL | Inhumane Shanghai Lockdown Can Cost Residents’ Lives first appeared on JAPAN Forward. Related posts:
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Seiya Suzuki was named the National League Player of the Week on Monday, April 18, Major League Baseball announced.
The Chicago Cubs outfielder, who left the Hiroshima Carp in the offseason, has been one of the NL’s top hitters in 2022. He batted .412 (7-for-17) last week. Suzuki smacked three home runs and hit two doubles in six games, driving in five runs.
What’s more, he got hits in all five of his starts from April 12-17.
Appearing as a pinch hitter on April 15, he was intentionally walked by Colorado Rockies pitcher Ty Blach in the fifth inning. And he was intentionally walked again in the series finale two days later.
The 27-year-old Suzuki clubbed a pair of homers in a 2-1 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on April 12. He ended the week with a solo blast against the Rockies on April 17 in the Cubs’ 6-4 win.
Suzuki had a .400 batting average through Sunday.
Cubs manager David Ross said Suzuki has made a smooth transition from NPB to MLB.
“He’s played at a high level. The Japanese league is a really high level [of baseball],” Ross was quoted as saying by MLB.com on Sunday. “Coming over here, to me what’s stood out is just how calm the at-bats are, right? You hear about the plate discipline and the contact, but just being able to find his pitches and not chase outside the strike zone with the velocity that’s here and some of the nasty stuff that he’s faced so far, it’s just been really impressive.
“I’m glad he feels comfortable. Yeah, it’s been really impressive so far.”
Seiya Suzuki runs the bases on April 16 at Coors Field in Denver. (KYODO)
Suzuki extended his hitting streak to nine with a fourth-inning single to left on April 18. With the hit, Suzuki tied former Tampa Bay Rays player Akinori Iwamura’s record, set in 2007, for most consecutive games with a hit by a Japanese player to start an MLB career.
Suzuki raised his batting average to .429 (third in the NL) by the end of the night, finishing 2-for-3, and the Cubs defeated the visiting Rays 4-2 at Wrigley Field.
In nine seasons playing for the Hiroshima Carp, Suzuki had a .315 batting average in 902 games.
Suzuki said his approach to hitting isn’t complicated: prepare and execute.
“Obviously, we have a lot of great data here, but when you step in the box, there’s some different stuff that you feel,” Suzuki said through translator Toy Matsushita, according to The Associated Press. “That’s what is most important. I just have my own data in my head to utilize.”
Author: Ed Odeven
Follow Ed on JAPAN Forward’s [Japan Sports Notebook] here on Sundays, in [Odds and Evens] here during the week, and Twitter＠ed_odeven, and find him on JAPAN Forward’s dedicated sports website, SportsLook.
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The post BASEBALL | Seiya Suzuki Selected National League Player of the Week first appeared on JAPAN Forward. Related posts:
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Last part
Read Part 1: TRANSCRIPT | Get Russia Out of Ukraine or Risk Return to ‘Age of Wars’
Yasuo Naito, editor in chief of JAPAN Forward, recently hosted a Twitter Spaces discussion with international relations expert Andrii Gurenko for its first podcast in Japanese.
Gurenko, who is himself from Ukraine, shared his insights on the background of Russia’s invasion, causes of the war, and what can Japan and the international community do going forward.
Naito was previously the Moscow Bureau Chief for The Sankei Shimbun. An experienced foreign correspondent, he had reported on the annexation of Crimea in 2014, among other issues.
This last installment, the focus is on the causes of the conflict and the role of the international community.
Excerpts of the English translation follow.
Responding to the request for assistance for the Ukraine military effort, Japan has sent protective equipment from the Self-Defense Forces. What else do you think Japan can do? I think that the best thing would be for Japan to reform the [Self-Defense Forces] law as soon as possible, in order to be able to share Japanese anti-tank missiles. Therefore, I would like to ask the members of the National Diet to recognize that times are very clearly changing, and one can’t continue with the political consciousness that has been present until now.
At the very least, it has to be possible for a democracy that is being attacked to have the right to defend oneself, and I think that [removing restraints on defense] needs to be done as soon as possible.
I think that there can be collaboration regarding other things at the same time, such as the sharing of medical supplies, and I think that is also very important.
[Ukraine is] a war zone, so medical supplies are always necessary. I also think that humanitarian policies are possible, so it’s important to accept all those Ukrainian evacuees that want to come to Japan, and support them for a period, such as helping them find housing, and so on.
Will this help improve the situation in Ukraine? Humanitarian policies are just fixes to an ongoing situation. They do not solve the root causes of the war. And while the war continues, the loss and damage continues to accumulate.
We need to address the causes of the war, and therefore Japan, like the United States, should stop importing gas and oil from Russia.
Uniqlo has announced the move [to close its brand shops in Russia] recently. But I think that all Japanese companies should exit and not trade with Russia. I think at this point in time, these [trade related] things are the most important things that Japan can do.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing, China, Friday, Feb. 4, 2022. (Alexei Druzhinin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) We talked about China. Many are expressing doubts about the effectiveness of the sanctions on Russia, and think Russia can avoid them through its close ties with China. What do you think about this? Trade between Russia and China is of course continuing, so there is a possibility that the Chinese market could become a way for Russia to escape sanctions.
However, it’s unlikely that Russia will be able to recover from losing access to the international market just by trading with China. The chance of financial collapse is still there.
But also, what is important is that if China gives Russia this way out by trading in the market, then the international community needs to impose sanctions on China as well.
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It’s necessary to send a clear message to China that it should not get involved in this. And if it does, then it will be treated like a sympathetic party to Russia and be subject to sanctions.
Therefore, it’s important for Western countries, starting from America, that they don’t just punish Russia, but put pressure on countries that side with Russia.
This is related, because I think China is looking at what is happening now carefully as an example, and using it as food for thought for its own future behavior.
So, for example, if Russia’s invasion of Ukraine succeeds, what happens then? Or if the invasion fails, and the army needs to retreat, what happens then?
If Russia’s invasion is a success, it might be connected to China in the future deciding to invade Taiwan. The thinking might go something like this: “Yes, there are sanctions. Yes, there is the criticism from the international community. But if it’s a tolerable level, let’s do it.”
On the other hand, if Russia’s invasion fails, and the Russian army needs to retreat, then China might think, “Let’s avoid a military invasion if possible, and think of a different strategy.”
Long before this war, Ukrainian troops ride on an APC with a Ukrainian flag, in a field with sunflowers in Kryva Luka, eastern Ukraine, on July 5, 2014. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File) There has been some debate in Japan among those who think that a pacifist stance might be a solution. What do you think? Surrendering and peace are not the same thing.
Negotiations are happening regularly, almost every day. What should happen is that there are negotiations, the invaded party also concedes on some conditions, and an agreement of sorts is reached.
Russia’s action, what it is doing now is one-sidedly imposing conditions so that there is a complete surrender, and that is not a negotiation.
People say that if one surrenders, at least fewer people will suffer. But that isn’t really true. If that scenario plays out, I think that there will be a purge of Ukrainians and it will become even more of a dire situation.
Right now, the capital Kyiv has not fallen yet. But let’s say that it does, and President [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy says that he is surrendering to Putin. The Ukrainians will not listen to him. If Zelenskyy says such a thing, then if anything, Ukranians will become convinced that he is a bad president and just continue fighting.
Therefore, this scenario could lead to more confusion and an increase in those suffering and dying.
Zelenskyy’s strategy of fighting against Russia and protecting the independence of Ukraine is not something he thought of. He’s representing the ideology of many citizens of Ukraine. It is not a situation where Zelenskyy is the only one who wants to fight, and Ukrainians have no intention of doing so.
Continuing to fight is becoming part of the collective consciousness of Ukrainians, so it’s meaningless to discuss giving up.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (Alexei Nikolsky, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. (Ukrainian President Office/via Reuters)
What about international pressure for negotiations? In all this, negotiation efforts are continuing, even internationally. But they are not reaching any result. There seems to be no way of achieving peace right now.
Therefore, the only thing left to do is to fight, and lead the conflict to a stalemate so that any further invasion is impossible. Only at this point will the invader say, “The only thing left to do is negotiate.”
But it’s important to make the invader think like that, in order for negotiations to become a possibility.
Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (Sankei Shimbun) A debate on nuclear weapons has started, following former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s comment on nuclear sharing with the United States. What are your thoughts on this? If Ukraine had nuclear weapons, of course we would not have had this situation, it’s obvious, there is nothing to discuss.
There is some debate whether it is actually possible to introduce nuclear weapons, I am not in a place to judge that. But it’s certain that if Ukraine had had nuclear weapons, Russia would have thought twice about invading.
Regarding Japan’s defense and the debate on nuclear sharing [with the US], I think it’s time to start having this debate. Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe recently talked about this. It’s an easy thing to say now, given that he isn’t in power anymore after some years.
But quite apart from the fact whether Abe said it or not, I think it’s obvious that this sort of debate is important.
What should be discussed in the debate? One can discuss, in the case of nuclear sharing, who should have the right to decide to use the weapons: should it be the US or Japan? Should it be the Japanese Self-Defense Force?
Not discussing this at all is like giving up on that choice, and on thinking about it altogether.
Around Japan there are countries like China, Russia, and North Korea that all have nuclear weapons. They are all isolated. They all have strong militaries, and they all ignore the rule of international law and have violent approaches.
In this context, of course an approach which is suitable to Japan is what is best. Just copying what is done in Germany is not going to be enough.
I think in principle it’s correct if Japan and the US discuss it and come to an agreement. It will take time, but at the very least one needs to create a debate by calling in some experts to share their views. And then have a discussion, because that will ultimately also have some connection to the change of consciousness of the general population.
In this, the media also has an important role to play, to discuss what is necessary and what isn’t.
Andrii Gurenko (Sankei Shimbun/JAPAN Forward) Do you have a last message for listeners? I would really encourage everyone to view this conflict as if they were directly involved. This time the war is in Ukraine. But next time we have no idea where war could break out, we have no idea where the missiles will fly.
We need to stop this situation now, and do our best so that the situation doesn’t expand any further.
I would like Japanese people to have the same sense of urgency that they would have if they thought that a missile would come flying over their house.
Get informed with the correct information. And have a fruitful debate on what to do with friends and acquaintances in the spirit that, if this situation in Ukraine is not stopped now, many other countries have the potential to be next.
So, let’s work towards this aim going forward, together.
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Author: Arielle Busetto
The post TRANSCRIPT | Ukraine’s War is Everybody’s War – Don’t Be the Next Target first appeared on JAPAN Forward. Related posts:
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Ah, Shizuoka. Rolling hectares of tea crops, vast lakes, rushing rivers, stretching coastlines and jaw dropping views of Mount Fuji.
It’s hard to believe this nature-lover’s paradise is only an hour from the hustle and bustle of Tokyo. Shizuoka City, the capital of Shizuoka Prefecture, has deep roots in Shogunate Japan. Echoes of samurai and the ruling Tokugawa Clan still remain in the historic buildings around town and in the depths of the pond and gardens at Fugetsuro.
A former Tokugawa residence, Fugetsuro is widely believed to be the most beautiful Japanese garden in all of Shizuoka. Join us as we visit for a stroll and enjoy some exquisite kaiseki cuisine.
Shizuoka and Shogun The history of Shizuoka City dates back quite far. Centred around the impregnable Sunpu Castle, it was a prosperous town during the Edo Period with strong associations to the legendary Tokugawa Family.
In fact, Ieyasu Tokugawa, the first ever shogun, spent both his early and later years there. A couple of hundred years and a few generations later, the very last Tokugawa family member, Yoshinobu Tokugawa, also chose Shizuoka for a peaceful retirement. Yoshinobu was only 31 years old when he moved there at the end of his family’s reign. He spent his days immersed in various interests such as hunting, fishing, photography and Noh recitals.
(You can read the rest of the article at this link. This article was first published by Team JJ on July 31, 2019. Check here for deeper and unique insights into visiting Japan, including wellness, travel, cuisine and more. Find us on Instagram and on Facebook.)
The post Serene Gardens, Exquisite Kaiseki and Feudal History at Fugetsuro, Shizuoka first appeared on JAPAN Forward. Related posts:
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Second of 3 parts
First Part: INTERVIEW | Envoy Hopes for Kishida Visit to Poland in Support of Ukraine
On April 12, Poland’s ambassador to Japan Paweł Milewskisat down with journalists from The Sankei Shimbun and JAPAN Forward for an interview about Poland, Ukraine, and the changing global landscape. What does this mean for Japan, which he considers “Poland’s most strategic partner in Asia”?
In this second installment, Ambassador Milewski talks about the challenges of the refugee crisis, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ambitions in Europe, and what it’s going to take to end the war in Ukraine.
Ambassador @MilewskiP today, talking with journalists from #JapanForward about possible outcomes of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis and it’s implications for Europe and beyond. Good talk and challenging questions. Thank you! @MofaJapan_en @norishikata pic.twitter.com/Ey2rdUCmzQ
— 駐日ポーランド共和国大使館 (@PLinTokyo) April 12, 2022
Excerpts follow.
Ukrainian Refugee Situation How is Poland doing with the influx of refugees from Ukraine? The situation is extremely difficult for Poland, for the European Union, and especially countries [that are] neighbors to Ukraine: Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Moldavia.
Poland has received more than 2.6 million Ukrainians [since Russia started the war]. At the beginning of the crisis, we received approximately 100,000 to 140,000 people every day.
They are mostly women with their children, elderly people, with just a few suitcases, few plastic bags, not knowing where they [would] go, and with the expectation that they will at least leave the risk of death behind. [The demographic] means that they cannot come to Poland and find a job easily because they have to take care of the children and the grandparents, for example.
Displaced Ukrainians onboard a Poland bound train in Lviv, western Ukraine, Sunday, March 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue) How is Poland coping with those large numbers of people? The Polish government has taken immediate measures to receive each and every Ukrainian, even people who didn’t possess documents, passports, health certificates, vaccination certificates, even Ukrainians traveling with pets.
The Polish parliament passed a bill in the first couple of days after the start of the war allowing Ukrainians to stay in Poland for the next 18 months. They have full rights to find a job, free medical service, free education rights for their children, and no costs of transportation. It means that people were free to move around.
There must be challenges housing the evacuees. How can Poland is handle it? In more than 45 days since the war started, Poland hasn’t built a single refugee camp. That means that, mostly, this (welcoming effort) is on the shoulders of the Polish people and the Polish government.
Polish people traveled from different parts of the country to the border with the signs, “If you wish to come to Krakow, I have three seats in my car. You can take your two children and come to my house.” That was something which surprised us (Polish), that the Poles have been so generous, open, and kind.
Why do you think Polish people have been so generous? In Polish history, we have seen our borders moved, have been occupied by Nazi Germany, but also the Soviets, and we were under occupation for almost 70 years.
Our history has seen thousands of Polish people who have been deported from Poland to the Russian Far East, traveling to Vladivostok, to Sakhalin.
We understand very well what that means to leave your house when it’s bombarded by the military forces.
Poland’s Ambassador to Japan Pawel Milewski on April 12, 2022 (photo by Hideyuki Matsui, The Sankei Shimbun.) What about the impacts on daily life in Poland? There are of course also negative effects [of the war]. Due to the war in Ukraine and the influx of refugees, we are facing very high inflation, almost 11%. If this crisis continues, it’s quite likely that the Polish economy will be facing a lot of challenges.
Next year, we will have elections. The [incoming] Polish administration might find it difficult to govern the country and to lead the people if the situation continues to deteriorate.
The Long War Will Ukraine be divided between the East and West? The war is not going to end quickly. It will take some time.
Ukraine has always been divided into the West and East. The Western part is extremely pro-European. One is reminded of the Maidan square demonstrations [in 2013].
It will not sound very diplomatic, but the Eastern part of Ukraine has been more Sovietized because it has been more inhabited by Russian people, and still is.
Does this background of divided leanings make a difference in the war? For the Russian military forces, it will be much more difficult to fight against the Ukrainians in the north or in the west compared to the east.
Crimea in 2014 was taken just like that. [The Russians] were accepted linguistically, culturally, and in terms of the political kind of mindset.
Rescuers work among remains of residential building destroyed by Russian shelling, amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in Borodyanka, Kyiv region, Ukraine April 7, 2022. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra War Crimes and Relations with Russia What lies ahead in the region’s relations with Russia? Russia is a terrorist state. Putin is a war criminal. He should be standing up and confronting the international criminal court right now and responding to all of those atrocities he has inflicted on the Ukrainians: bombarding houses and killing children.
War crimes don’t [just] happen. They are committed.
Someone is using missiles, using weapons prohibited by international law, like cluster bombs, vacuum bombs, and parachute bombs. Those [Russians] are war criminals leading the country.
He (Putin) has to resign from power. It is not for us to change [Russia’s leader], the Russian people have to do it. Unless Putin is gone, there is no relationship between Europe, European states, and Russia at all. I don’t think it’s possible to talk about the normalization of the bilateral relations between European countries and Russia.
What about relations with the Russian people? The Russian society has to realize that they are at war and that they are living in a parallel world, a world full of fake news, disinformation, and propaganda [saying] that there is no war.
[A Russian propaganda saying that] “A special military operation taking place in Ukraine, Ukraine is full of Nazists and people who are killing their children.” This is all rubbish.
A Russian working at the TV station holds a sign with the words “NOWAR” behind the newscaster during a live broadcast on Russian television (Twitter, via an adviser to the President of Ukraine). Do you think the problem is contained to Ukraine? We face many security challenges in Eastern Europe, but also in East Asia. If we allow Russia to continue its atrocities in Ukraine, I’m afraid that some other countries, like North Korea, like the People’s Republic of China, and maybe others will be eager to follow these examples.
That (countries following Russia’s example) would mean to destroy global security.
Putin has repeated a couple of times that he would be in the position to use nuclear weapons if something goes badly for him.
Would Putin really use nuclear weapons? I think that, especially here in Japan, people understand what it may mean if someone uses nuclear weapons. It would be an apocalyptic situation, because other countries also possess nuclear weapons: North Korea, the People’s Republic of China, and some others — Pakistan, for example. It’s an extremely dangerous situation.
History repeats itself, and we have to really unite, stand together, and respond collectively; otherwise, it might be like a domino effect.
What is the motivation for the aggression, in your view? From the beginning of Putin’s leadership in Russia, he kept saying that Ukraine is an artificial state. It used to be part of the Russian Empire, and it should be part of the Russian Empire.
He has never accepted that on the Russian doorstep there is an independent sovereign state, a proud and strong nation, which is striving to be part of the European Union, to be part of the European family.
Does Poland feel this same resistance from Russia? Poland entered the European Union in 2004. We got rid of Communism 15 years earlier.
For my generation, and for all Poles, it was our dream to be part of the European Union, to be part of the free and independent world, not to be subject to any of the empires on our western or eastern borders.
[It was our dream] to be free and to develop our nation as we wanted.
Is Ukraine different? Ukraine has been inhabited by many Russians, and now Putin is bombing and killing his own nationals.
He’s deporting [people from Ukraine] to Russia, many young people, from Crimea, from Donetsk, just like Polish people who were deported to the Russian far east.
Poland’s Ambassador Pawel Milewski in an April 12, 2022 interview. Finding a Way to End the War What can be done to end, not escalate, the war? We have to first of all judge the aggressor and what he has done.
To do that, we have to finish the war as quickly as possible, provide weapons, and everything that is needed.
At the same time, we have to be careful, because if we (including Poland) engage into a war with Russians, the whole NATO will have to go into this war. NATO is obliged by Article 5, which says that if one member state is attacked, the rest [of NATO] has to go together, right?
How can NATO avoid risking escalation? We live in a world of fake news, cyberattacks, and we have to be very careful not to be subject to any kind of provocation.
Two, three weeks ago, a little village was bombarded by the Russian military just 20-30 kilometers from our border. That was a provocation from the Russians.
If we had fired back, Russia would have responded, and the entire NATO would have to be engaged in this war. Putin would have said, “I was attacked by NATO, I have to respond.”
NATO has proved to be extremely united, effective, and well-equipped militarily.
What if other countries join NATO? Sweden and Finland really want to join [NATO] quickly right now. The parties in Finland, which were saying that the country should not be a member of NATO, now are saying this is a time to consider joining because that would provide security if Russia attacks.
Putin always said that this is the problem of NATO expansion toward the East.
But he has never agreed with the truth that Eastern Central European countries have always wanted to be a part of NATO — not because it’s fashionable or cool, but because they have all felt a danger of Russia towards them.
While phasing out nuclear power, Germany is set to import more fossil fuels, and Russia has been a primary source. Europe has been a strong Russian trade partner. Will that change? Russia is a huge country. With China alone, it has 4,300 kilometers of border. Yet it’s an undeveloped country.
The economy is so based on exports of energy, and it requires a lot of reforms. Many Western countries [thought that] they were in a position to modernize Russia: ”We have to trade with it. We have to get it into our economic circles so that we can guarantee that they will behave like us.”
That all proved very wrong.
Our German, French, American partners said that Poles, Baltic states, the Romanians, many Central Eastern European countries — which were under the occupation of the Soviet Union — that we were Russophobic, that we were exaggerating.
Watch for Part 3. RELATED:
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Interview by: Mizuki Okada, Arielle Busetto, Yasuo Naito
The post INTERVIEW | Unless Russia Kicks Out Putin, It Will Be ‘More Isolated from the World’ first appeared on JAPAN Forward. Related posts:
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Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met with United States Senator William “Bill” Hagerty, former US ambassador to Japan, on Tuesday, April 12, at the Prime Minister’s Office.
The two exchanged views on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as well as issues related to China and North Korea.
After the meeting, Mr. Hagerty told reporters, “I’m very pleased to say that the President of the United States will be here later next month in Japan to focus on the Quad.”
The Quad — a cooperative framework of the four countries of the United States, Australia, India, and Japan — will hold a leaders’ summit meeting in Japan in May.
US Ambassador Rahm Emanuel, who took on the post in Tokyo in late January 2022, and others were present at the meeting.
Excerpts of Senator Hagerty’s Q&A with the press follow:
Left to right: US Senators Ben Cardin and Bill Hagerty, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, US Ambassador Rahm Emanuel, US Senator John Cornyn outside the Prime Minister’s Office, April 12, 2022 (photo by Yasuhiro Yajima.) Senator Hagerty, what did you discuss in your meeting with Prime Minister Kishida? We just had a very productive meeting with the Prime Minister. We’re here to underscore the importance of our strong relationship. And as the United States and Japan’s alliance is tested every day, we’re finding new areas to cooperate, whether it be with respect to Ukraine and Russia, or what’s happening in North Korea. Also, with the overarching concerns that we both share about China’s presence and China’s aggressive posture in this region.
There are many opportunities for us to cooperate. We’re looking for those opportunities today and we’re very pleased to have such a successful meeting with the Prime Minister, thank you.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida with US Senator Bill Hagerty (left) and Ambassador Rahm Emanuel on April 12, 2022 (photo by Yasuhiro Yajima.) As you discussed Russia and Ukraine, what specifics were addressed on the subject of additional sanctions on Russia or about Ukrainian refugees? We are very pleased to see Japan’s leading foreign policy posture, [with Japan] joining us in the most extensive sanctions regime that has ever been unfolded in the world. We all are very disappointed, very concerned about the human rights issues occurring in Ukraine. Senator [Ben] Cardin is a leader in this arena and made some very direct requests of the Prime Minister.
We see this as an opportunity for our alliance to grow even stronger as we stand up for the rights of democracies. We see the atrocities underway in Ukraine. We never want to see that happen again. And the fact that the United States and Japan are standing together as friends make an important message that we send around the world.
US Senator Bill Hagerty outside the Prime Minister’s Office on April 12, 2022 (photo by Yasuhiro Yajima.) Do you have plans to visit Taiwan this time or in the future? This trip is specifically focused on Japan, and I’m very pleased to say that the President of the United States will be here later next month (May) in Japan to focus on the Quad. [United States] Ambassador [Rahm] Emanuel will be leading that [effort]. And I’m certain we’ll do a very good job as this underscores the strength of our bonds of kizuna with Japan. The fact that our President will be visiting here late next month underscores the importance of this entire region to America.
US Senator Bill Hagerty and US Ambassador to Japan Emmanuel (left) on their way to visit PM Kishida on April 12, 2022. (photographed by Yasuhiro Yajima) You’ve come back to Japan, to Tokyo, this time as a former ambassador. How do you feel right now? I couldn’t feel better about the strength of our relationship. And I’m so pleased to see the forward-leaning posture of Japan.
Japan continues to strengthen its presence and continues to strengthen its partnership with America. We have strong bipartisan support for their relationship in the Senate as evidenced by the fact that two very senior members of the Senate are here — Senator [John] Cornyn (Republican, Texas), and Senator [Ben] Cardin (Democrat, Maryland) — to join me.
We’re here to support our ambassador and the relationship with Japan. I’m very pleased to see the progress moving forward, under new leadership and [believe it is] something that will make our countries very strong together. Thank you.
RELATED: The Quad Foreign Ministers’ Meeting: What Lies Ahead?
(Read the related article in Japanese at this link.)
Author: Mizuki Okada
The post INTERVIEW | US Senator Hagerty: Biden’s Japan Visit to Highlight Region’s Importance to America first appeared on JAPAN Forward. Related posts:
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Listen in as the Council on Geostrategy’s Co-founder and Director of Research Mr. James Rogers and Associate Fellow Dr. Philip Shetler-Jones join the JAPAN Forward editorial staff and special guest Dr. Rieko Hayakawa for a far-reaching discussion of UK-Japan relations amidst the increasingly tense geopolitical environment.
Celebrating its one-year anniversary in March 2022, the Council on Geostrategy is an independent non-profit organization situated in the heart of Westminster with research focus on a strong Britain, geopolitics, and environmental security. Arriving on the scene just as the UK was defining its “Global Britain” strategy, the Council significantly contributed to the conversation through its research and analysis, as well as in articles shared on JAPAN Forward.
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Listen in as journalist and scholar Jay Alabaster chats with the JAPAN Forward editorial team on the recent whaling season in Taiji and changes with activism in the area. Sharing some glimpses of the lifestyle of this coastal town, he gives us an idea what it’s like to live far from Japan’s urban centers.
Jay Alabaster is a longtime journalist and now a PhD student at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University. He is also an adjunct professor teaching at Waseda University from April.
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Listen in as guest Jason Halayko chats with the JAPAN Forward editorial team about his new Nikon Z9 camera and preparing as a professional photographer for the upcoming X Games Chiba event.
Jason Halayko writes the column [A Photographer’s Notes] which retells his recent photo shoots, great photography tips and equipment reviews. As a professional photographer, he details key moments and learnings in his experiences so others can learn.
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Listen in as Galileo reconnects with former Fukushima JET Programme colleagues to talk about some of their experiences during the Great East Japan Earthquake.
First, about the people on the recording:
Billy McMichael was and is currently living in Fukushima City. After the Great East Japan Earthquake, McMichael coordinated volunteer activities to help clean up the city and coastal areas affected by the earthquake and tsunami.
Fane Malieta was living in Tomioka-machi, a town along the east coast of Fukushima Prefecture at the time. The town was heavily affected by the tsunami, and had strict evacuation regulations due to its proximity to the TEPCO Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.
Gene Lyu was living in Shinchi-machi, which is near the border of Miyagi Prefecture in the northeast part of Fukushima. Gene wasn’t able to return to his apartment for a couple of months.
John Au-Yeung was living in Iwaki, a coastal city in the eastern part of Fukushima. The fishing ports near him were greatly affected by the disaster.
Jastin M. was living in Koriyama City, which is in the center of Fukushima Prefecture. Jastin volunteered in the city and coastal areas in the aftermath of the earthquake.
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Listen in as guest Peter Tasker chats with the JAPAN Forward editorial team about culture and politics from the Beijing Olympics to his favorite Olympic-themed movies and recent Japanese works.
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Interviews with stars like Kyary Pamyu Pamyu and reporting on the hottest games are part of Daniel Robson’s job.
Listen in as veteran music journalist Daniel Robson, Editor in Chief of popular video game and entertainment website IGN Japan joins the JAPAN Forward editorial team to chat about his recent interview and the latest hits in the entertainment market.
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Listen in to the conversation as the JAPAN Forward editorial team chats with foreign correspondent Agnes Tandler on living through the historic snowfall in Sapporo this winter, the city’s famous soup curry, and world sporting events that face climate challenges.
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Listen in to the conversation as the JAPAN Forward editorial team talks about February festivals – from the 2022 Winter Olympics and differences between the Tokyo and Beijing host cities, to Japan’s Setsubun traditions, and cherry blossom expectations.
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Listen in as the JAPAN Forward editorial team chats with professional action and sports photographer, Jason Halayko about the New Year’s predictions in his article, “Expect Innovations in the Photography Industry in 2021” and what it’s like to work in Japan.
Find other articles by Jason Halayko here.
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Listen in as the JAPAN Forward editorial team chats with Senior Fellow at The Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA), researcher and commentator on Asia’s security affairs, Dr. Monika Chansoria about the regional priorities she identifies in her New Year’s essay – 2021 Security Priority: Better Integration of Indo-Pacific, Partner Nations.
Find other articles by Dr. Monika Chansoria here
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Listen in as the JAPAN Forward editorial team chats with author and finance guru Peter Tasker about predictions in his New Year’s essay – Peering Into 2021: Tanjiro Kamado Battles Big Tech, including his take on some of the big choices we’ll face in the coming year.
Find other articles by Peter Tasker here.
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Listen in as JAPAN Forward sports journalist, Ed Odeven, and guest, Ice Time’s Jack Gallagher, weigh in on key sports highlights of Japanese teams, events and individual athletes in 2020.
Articles mentioned in the podcast:
- [JAPAN SPORTS NOTEBOOK] NPB’s Hawks, J. League’s Frontale Reign Supreme
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Listen in as the JAPAN Forward editorial team discusses the stories that continue to shape our outlook after dominating Japan’s headlines over the last year.
Articles mentioned in the podcast: * The Year in Our Stories: International Friction that Focused Our Attention in 2020 * The Year in Our Stories: International Cooperation Shores Up ‘Free and Open Indo-Pacific’ * The Year in Our Stories: Japan’s Democracy in Action (Domestic Politics) * The Year in Our Stories: Economy and Technology Battle COVID, Bring Inspiration * The Year in Our Stories: Pop Culture Brings Fun Relief to Japan and the World
Listen in as the JAPAN Forward editorial team reflects on their favorite articles published throughout the year, and discuss how Japan’s trending words have impacted our lives in 2020.
Articles mentioned in the recording: Top 25 JAPAN Forward Reader’s Favorites of 2020: 25 – 21
Top 25 JAPAN Forward Reader’s Favorites of 2020: 20 – 16
Top 25 JAPAN Forward Reader’s Favorites of 2020: 15 – 11
Top 25 JAPAN Forward Reader’s Favorites of 2020: 10 – 6
Top 25 JAPAN Forward Reader’s Favorites of 2020: 5 – 1
Japan’s Trending Words in Our 2020 Stories: Online「〇〇」
Japan’s Trending Words in Our 2020 Stories: Animal Crossing
Japan’s Trending Words in Our 2020 Stories: Demon Slayer
Japan’s Trending Words in Our 2020 Stories: Amabie
Japan’s Trending Words in Our 2020 Stories: 3Cs
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Listen in as JAPAN Forward Editor in Chief Yasuo Naito and veteran journalist Yoshihisa Komori discuss some of the impacts of the 2020 U.S. election on Japan and the Indo-Pacific region, and how the outcome could influence U.S.-Japan relations going forward.
Find articles in English by Yoshihisa Komori here, on JAPAN Forward:
- Huge Polling Flops in U.S. Election: The ‘Great Blue Wave’ for Biden Never Arrived
- End of Conciliatory Engagement: A Guide to the Trump Administration’s China Policy
- Ruling Party Lawmaker Voices Rare Criticism of China in the National Diet
- China Rapidly Dwarfing Japan in Naval Power, Would Establish Superiority in a Senkakus Showdown
Listen in as the JAPAN Forward editorial team chats with Julian Gregory and Jonathan Howard, two members of the world-famed a cappella group, The King’s Singers, just days away from their Digital Online tour, ‘ Finding Harmony in Japan, Heiwa’ (peace).
We learn about their recent activities and hobbies during the pandemic period, reminisce about their 2019 visit to Tokyo to welcome the Reiwa era, and hear about their favorite pieces in the new ‘Heiwa’ repertoire.
Read more about the King’s Singers on JAPAN Forward in our pieces here:
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Listen in as the JAPAN Forward editorial team is joined by Sports Journalist Ed Odeven for a discussion on the status of Japanese teams, athletes and competitions in and outside Japan. Ed takes our questions and shares his analysis of sports in the coronavirus era.
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