Tokyo Times

Photographs from a small group of islands

Current Affairs

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Gangsters’ paradise

After years of turning a blind eye, the Justice Ministry announced on Monday that from June 1, companies with ties to underworld syndicates will be prohibited from sponsoring foreigners entering Japan on entertainment visas; a decision aimed at restricting human-trafficking, with many of those on such visas forced to work in decidedly more nefarious forms of ‘entertainment’ than mere singing and dancing.

Honest, day-to-day money-making activities such as gambling, drug dealing and protection racketeering however will thankfully remained unaffected.

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Radical rumpus

”The ruling Liberal Democratic Party said it has received 3,500 reports of alleged ‘gender-free’ activities that were deemed problematic.

According to the LDP’s Web site, schools have had fifth-graders of both sexes share the same sleeping quarters on trips and conducted sex education classes using dolls with sex organs, drawing complaints for being too radical. The Tokyo government also claimed teachers had male and female students undergo medical checkups together.”

Part of a recent Japan Times article documenting the on going hoo-ha over the term ‘gender-free’ and the policy’s alleged excesses.

Whether young students sharing the same room for sleeping or medical checkups should be deemed radical or not is certainly debatable. Dolls with sex organs however are a different story altogether.

These previously posted and genuine educational dolls are certainly nothing if not revolutionary.

sex dolls

Both for their anatomical and chest hair design.

japanese sex dolls

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Political suicide?

With suicide levels still at record highs, and the number of yearly victims stubbornly sticking above the 30,000 mark, the authorities are desperate to rectify the situation.

Yet despite his usually impeccable political astuteness, this recent picture of the wavy-haired Prime Minister appears to show a man singing from a very different song sheet.

political suicide

(A big thanks to the always wonderful Spirit Fingers for the tip)

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Research ruse

On Tuesday morning, a fleet of whaling ships bound for the Antarctic, left Shimonoseki, in Yamaguchi Prefecture. The purpose of the trip being more ‘experimentation’ for the Institute of Cetacean Research.

During the expedition, the institute hopes to bag its first batch of fin whales – ten apparently being enough. Plus in what will no doubt be a busy trip, the research organization plans on doubling its catch of mink whales. Bringing the figure to somewhere in the region of 850.

Now the cynical amongst us may point an accusing finger at such ‘studies’, claiming that it’s merely a ruse for the commercial sale of whale meat. The recent introduction of whale burgers arguably backing up such claims.

whale burger

Yet this is obviously grabbing the wrong end of the stick. Asked (on its website) if the research program wasn’t simply commercial whaling in disguise, the Institute of Cetacean Research robustly stated:

The fact that the whale meat ends up on the market is a requirement of the treaty to ensure that resources are not wasted. It is not a “loophole” or “illegal” or “commercial whaling in disguise” as the anti-whaling rhetoric suggests. Income from the sale of by-products (meat) is used to partially offset the cost of the research.

Ah, now it all makes sense. The sale of whale meat helps fund further research trips, which in turn just happens to produce more edible extras. So much so in fact that kids can now enjoy the odd bit of whale in their school lunch. A situation that harks back to ‘the good old days’ when there was precious little else to eat.

Anyway, regardless of what any doubters may think, the institute clearly believes that the big greedy beasts deserve all they get. Why? Well, do you know how much they eat?

The research has found for example that whales are consuming 3 to 5 times the amount of marine living resources as are caught for human consumption. In the waters around Japan we have a situation of declining catches in certain fisheries while at the same time the sampling from our research program reveals that minke whales are eating at least 10 species of fish including Japanese anchovy.

Yes, it seems they are nothing but gluttons, wolfing down fish like it’s going out of fashion. And Japanese anchovy too! With behaviour like this, perhaps ‘research’ is exactly what they deserve.

whale meat japan

Or not, as they case may be.

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Warm Biz warning

The government’s summer saving campaign, ‘Cool Biz’, has officially been labelled a success. The power-cutting programme resulting in a 210 million kilowatt-hours reduction in demand — the equivalent of 79,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide. Quite impressive it has to be said. Especially as it was achieved by simply setting air-conditioners to 28 degrees, and allowing people to work in more casual attire.

warm biz

Winter’s newly introduced ‘Warm Biz’ hopes to have a similarly positive effect, with heaters being be set to a maximum of 20 degrees. A fairly comfortable temperature, but arguably just that bit on the chilly side; enough perhaps to push some people into building up a warmer wardrobe. At least that’s what the nation’s beleaguered retailers are hoping for anyway. A Mitsukoshi department store spokesperson happily confirmed that Cool biz had slightly increased summer revenue, prompting him to add that the current plan is “to boost menswear sales by about 10 percent through Warm Biz.”

Yet it’s the more lucrative women’s wear that Mitsukoshi has really got its eyes on, especially as Cool Biz didn’t necessarily affect female office workers. So what better way to tempt fashion conscious females than the sale of, erm, cashmere leg warmers. Apparently available in eleven colours too.

leg warmers

Perfectly combining old school emission levels with equally dated fashion garments. Although at 3,990 yen (20 pound) a pair, the price is decidedly modern.

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Party (on) politics

Politics rarely gets a mention on these pages, but due to intense opposition in some quarters to Prime Minister Koizumi’s postal reform drive, and an upcoming election on September 11, new political parties are springing up on an almost daily basis. In fact not only are there are a plethora of new parties, but some lawmakers are hopping from one to another like gadflies.

Upper house member Kensei Hasegawa has been instrumental in this trend, helping set up Kokumin Shinto (People’s New Party) last week, and then on Wednesday deciding to jump ship and join the even more recent New Party Nippon.

Whilst Hasegawa’s move is said to have been tactical, giving the newer party the necessary number of parliamentarians to make it legal, a few doubters have begged to differ. Some lawmakers saying the move was simply a way for Hasegawa to team up with other disco loving Diet members, enabling him to indulge publicly in his love of the Bee Gees, and in particular the movie Saturday Night Fever. A claim that the picture below of the newly formed New Nippon Party appears to confirm. Hasegawa-san on the right looking especially pleased with himself. (Apologies for the poor image quality).

japanese politicians

Whether this emphasis on party in the world of politics will go down well with the electorate is hard to say, but New Komeito leader Takenori Kanzaki appears to think it might be worth a few votes. The veteran politician recently caught gamely grooving in front of a crowd of young voters.

japanese politics

Yet try as they might, it looks like the Prime Minister will be very hard to beat, the political pro having already gone a long way in securing the groove vote. Plus along the way cannily attracting the attention of the nation’s, ahem, swing voters too.

gere and koizumi