....."銀座，每一條街道都有獨特的歷史與風情。
進駐時尚高雅的銀座大通，是日本許多商社企業家的夢想，不少文人雅士也對銀座情有獨鍾。
銀座的名稱原自江戶時代初期，1612年，銀幣鑄造所由駿府（今日靜岡市）遷至江戸（今日東京）現銀座之地，因此被名為銀座。明治5年（1872年），東 京發生大火，銀座幾乎全毀，但危機正是轉機，災後東京府決定用耐火的煉瓦造街。由英國建築師Thomas Waters設計，明治10年（1878年）重建後的銀座，選擇兩層煉瓦建築物，煤氣燈、銀座柳，讓銀座通成為當時日本西化的重要指標。
一場全世界首次舉辦的戶外陶瓷攝影展──「半世紀．銀座一瞬間」（GINZA PHOTOGRAMM），在引領世界潮流的銀座展出，正是向世界宣揚日本精緻工藝與影像美學的絕佳典範。
這項創新的公共藝術展，以「銀座中央通」為攝影作品的街道藝廊，展出作品使用日本精密的陶瓷技術，以細膩的轉印技術，將攝影作品呈現在瓷磚介面。日本傲人的陶瓷工藝，讓每一幅攝影作品在戶外天候的自然光下呈現，讓世人感受戶外藝廊的銀座一瞬間。
從清晨到黃昏，光的厚度、光的色溫，讓鏡頭下的東京，有千變萬化的姿彩。
現場展出的攝影作品，由世界知名的馬格蘭攝影通訊社（Magnum Photos）東京分社協助，邀請伊藤俊治、高野秀士、小川潤子等大師，從眾多作品中精選出三十五幅。這些作品來自世界二十八位重量級攝影大師，如： Henry Cartier-Bresson、Robert Capa、保田博二、指山雅美……等等。這些赫赫有名的攝影師，半世紀以來，各自以獨特的觀點，捕捉鏡頭下的東京風景。
此外，展覽期間還在銀座通的步道上裝設了特製的作品展台，並在銀座通及晴海通的路燈上，飄揚著日本獨特的、高難度技術製作而成的雙面熱轉印刷攝影布旗。"
The Asahi Shimbun
2008/8/26
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The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) on Monday ordered All Nippon Airways Co. to stop running its advertisements for a new high-end service following customer complaints that they never received the luxurious seating touted.
The newspaper and television advertisements said the new Premium Class service started on April 1 this year. They emphasized that the seats offer more legroom and are separated by partition panels for privacy. The seats also come with a reading light.
However, the airline did not start installing the seats until June. In fact, many seats in Premium Class are still the older ones, much to the chagrin of many customers who paid extra for the service.
The FTC said the advertisements violate the law against unjustifiable premiums and misleading representations.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism also issued a rare written instruction to the airline. A ministry official said the advertisements are undesirable from the viewpoint of customer protection.
"We deeply apologize for misleading our customers," said an official at ANA's public relations office.
ANA started the Premium Class service to compete against rival Japan Airlines Corp., which introduced a first-class service for domestic flights.
In the Premium Class service, which costs several thousand yen more than economy class, passengers get more comfortable seats, eat dishes cooked by first-class ryotei Japanese restaurants and can use airport lounges.
The advertisements showed actor Rentaro Mikuni falling asleep in comfort in a Premium Class seat.
In April, ANA operated 360 domestic flights a day. In 87 of those flights, ANA only slightly widened the spacing between the conventional luxury seats or changed their upholstery.
No changes were made on the remaining 273 flights.
In June, the new seats were introduced in one aircraft. Currently, they are installed in eight aircraft.
The small print in an advertisement on ANA's flight schedule booklet at the start of the Premium Class service read, "The change to the new seats will be made in stages."
However, the newspaper advertisements did not contain such an explanation.
ANA has received many complaints from customers who paid for the Premium Class service.
Some said the seats were different from those shown in the advertisements. Others said they did not get their money's worth.
ANA initially explained to the FTC that the advertisements only represent the "image" of the Premium Class service.
However, the airline has since modified all the advertisements for the new service.(IHT/Asahi: August 26,2008)
JUN KANEKO, THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
Fireworks display breaks world record with flying colors (JUN KANEKO/ THE ASAHI SHIMBUN)
A 3,514-meter-long string of fireworks placed along the coast of the Sea of Ariake in Yanagawa, Fukuoka Prefecture, colors the sky and water Sunday night. The display broke the record in the Guinness Book of Records of 3,125.79 meters set during the same festival--the Ariake Sea fireworks festa--in 2003. Organizers of this year's festival used about half of their total budget of 16 million yen for the record-breaking "Niagara" fireworks display, which was hoisted about 20 meters off the ground by 21 cranes.(IHT/Asahi: August 26,2008)
從「蟹工船」航向送報伕的年代
- 2008-08-24
- 中國時報
- 【邱振瑞】
現今的日本出版業不時發出閱讀人口流失，書市走向冰河期的哀鳴，但儘管情況如此嚴竣，每年依舊有暢銷書的風潮。這些暢銷書題材廣泛多姿，舉凡政治、社會、歷史、教養、勵志、小說等，深度和廣度兼而有之，不得不承認日本人潛在的閱讀底力。當然，書籍的熱銷與成功，有諸多條件和客觀因素使然，有的是恰逢其時，有的則歸功於出版社操作議題得當，但總體而言，它們畢竟都是社會史的回音，同時亦折射出當代讀者的精神趨向。日本無產階級作家小林多喜二的代表作《蟹工船》，今年一月起陸續在日本造成轟動和熱烈討論，在全球化時代來臨的現代，頗有醍醐灌頂的意義。
中篇小說《蟹工船》最早發表於一九二九年三月，那是正逢世界經濟大恐慌的時代，同時也是小林多喜二遭拓殖銀行解雇後不久發表的作品。這部小說是小林根據一九二六年蟹工船「博愛輪」和「英航輪」虐待和迫害漁工和雜役的實際案件為藍本的。小林執筆之初，曾親自走訪函館的漁會和從事捕蟹的漁夫，聽取船員們的海上體驗，並收集相關新聞報導，經過長期調查所完成的傑作。諷刺的是，翌年六月，《蟹工船》卻被日本政府以褻瀆天皇和皇室的不敬罪予以起訴。三年後的一九三三年二月十日，被筑地警察局的數名特務警察逮捕，同夜遭嚴刑拷打凌虐致死，可說是壯志未酬英年早逝。當小林被刑求致死的噩耗傳至中國時，引起同為左翼陣線作家的悲憤，魯迅、茅盾、田漢等人還發起為其遺族募捐的活動，可見文學的連動力量。
誠然，《蟹工船》是日本普羅文學的代表作之一，在小林死後曾引起短暫的搶讀風潮，但是隨著二次大戰結束後，日本從戰敗的廢墟走向復興，再乘著高度經濟成長的翅膀起飛，社會間的衝突對立逐漸趨向緩和，大量的中產階級崛起，這部小說也走入日本國語教科書的世界，成為學生考試時必讀與暗背的對象，卻沒有再度撞開閱讀大眾的心扉。
為什麼這部幾近八十年前的作品，會在當今日本年輕世代當中，引起如此巨大的迴響和共鳴，有幾個現象值得觀察。從社會結構和勞資關係來看，三○年代《蟹工船》發生的虐待勞工的慘事，現在幾乎已不復存在，但其不合理的法規和剝削，依然變形異體寄生在社會的幽暗處，繼續以吸取活人的血滋養自身。在這樣大量失業的年代裡，閱讀故事精采，言語生動的《蟹工船》恰恰讓年輕世代喚醒自身的處境，更由於貧困受難的相似性，造就了這部小說重新引領風騷。換句話說，向來自虐成性凡事隱忍為懷的日本人，藉由小說《蟹工船》的點化，找到了抒發苦悶的出口，並鼓勵自己要勇敢地面對嚴酷的社會制度。
日本人對自身處境的反省是如此，台灣人又是如何面對不合理的社會制度呢？在台灣文學中，也出現過與《蟹工船》宏旨有異曲同工之妙的作品。楊逵於一九三四年十月發表於東京《文學評論》的短篇小說〈送報伕〉就具有這種魅力。它同樣描寫弱勢者受資方壓榨的經歷，在不景氣的時代，為了謀得送報的差事，應徵者必須先繳交保證金，招募不到規定的訂戶數，不但領不到薪資，辛苦籌來的保證金亦會被全數沒收。多虧勞動者的自我覺醒，進行抗爭為自身權益奮戰，最後雇主也因被送報伕揭發壓榨勞工而被扭送警局。這是那個時代的共同主題，喚醒被欺凌與被侮辱的人要團結起來對抗強權。吊詭的是，小說〈送報伕〉同樣具有為弱勢執言的精神，為什麼沒有在台灣掀起閱讀風潮，難道是國民性的不同，抑或台灣人不習慣從文學作品中尋找精神的出路，而是直接投身滾滾洪流般的社會運動來快速有效？
馬克思說得傳神：世界的哲學家都用自己的方法在「解釋」世界，問題是如何「改造」世界。直白地說，儘管《蟹工船》獲得日本讀者的多數共鳴，讓他們更瞭解自己正處在貧富差距愈形嚴重的時代，看不見自己的前途而惶惑不安；但若沒有把像《蟹工船》與〈送報伕〉中賜予的勇氣化為具體行動，藉此改造社會結構，他們終究只能苦嘆坐在現代的蟹工船上，不但無法走出黑暗汙穢的船艙，耳畔還會不時響起如《蟹工船》開頭那句對白：「喂，下地獄囉！」
| 名人：日本电视卖点 | |
| 作者：英国《金融时报》乔纳森•索布尔(Jonathan Soble) | |
| 2008年8月25日 星期一 | |
| 下一页 第1/2页 | |
日 本电视节目Hole in the Wall的参赛选手站在一个水池边上，一个巨大的可移动的厚纸板朝着他们快速移动过来。要避免被撞倒和落水，他们必须控制他们的身体，穿过厚纸板上挖出的各种形状。这些形状从基本的“T”和“L”等字母到各种可笑的人体轮廓。这是日本电视节目的天才所在。在Hole in the Wall节目视频成为YouTube上的大热门后，英国Pop Idol节目的制作者Fremantle购买了该节目模式的版权，并卖给16个国家的电视广播公司。该节目将很快出现在英国和美国。 随着低预算的真人秀和游戏节目加强了对全球电视广播的控制，在日本按下遥控器就像是瞥见了电视的未来。在任何一个既定的黄金时间，多数节目可能都是竞猜或益智类猜谜、穿越障碍或与非洲原始部族共同穿越灌木丛。 任何节目都可能演变为对人们智慧和耐力的吸引人的考验。最近的一个热门节目是Y10,000 Monthly Budget Savings Challenge!，选手要借助少的不可思议的钱（93美元）度过一个月。最有创意的一位选手为了吃到鸡蛋，买了小鸡自己喂养，并自己用鱼叉钓鱼，但最 终仍输给了一位更为节俭的对手。 然而，尽管日本有很多类型的电视节目，近距离的观察一下日本的电视行业，你会发现日本电视节目与西方的截然不同之处。例如，日本电视节目几乎没有非 名人选手，甚至在益智类节目和真人秀节目中也是如此，而在其它国家，这些节目的参与者通常都是普通人。日本电视节目的怪异性看上去可能类似《幸存者》 (Survivor)或《未知因素》(X-Factor)，但参赛选手很少是不知名的普通人。 “日本人不关心陌生人，”日本最大的独立制作公司之一TV Man Union首席执行官Yutaka Shigenobu表示，“普通人都是陌生人。对他们而言，名人更像是朋友和家人。” 因此，看日本电视就像是看一场永无止境的《Celebrity Jeopardy!》或《舞动奇迹》(Strictly Come Dancing)的马拉松，《舞动奇迹》的日本版名为《Shall We Dance?》。 Hole in the Wall节目的选手都是专业喜剧演员，不过，Fremantle制作的节目都是非名人选手。Savings Challenge!上的那位养鸡、用鱼叉钓鱼的选手也是一位喜剧演员。 相同的面孔似乎经常出现在电视节目中。日本主持人御法川法男(Monta Mino)主持着12个直播或录制节目，并因一个月内主持电视直播节目时间最长（22小时15秒）而被载入吉尼斯(Guinness)世界纪录。 日本的名人定位让其处于一种类似的电视行业中，最近几年，全球最热门的一些节目遭到了人们的不理不睬。Fremantle的Idol模式已在40个 国家复制，从美国到哈萨克斯坦，但日本电视网迄今拒绝了制作“日本Idol”的提议，其明显理由是，如果在节目开播前，参赛选手不是知名人士，就没有人看 了。 Fremantle首席执行官托尼•科恩(Tony Cohen)表示：“日本对于国际内容价值的信任度要远远低于其它国家。”科恩将许多模式未取得成功归咎于“以名人为导向的电视文化”。 当外国电视节目被引进到本国市场时，日本电视网采取了与Hole in the Wall相反的方式，让名人选手代替了国外使用的平民选手。《Who Wants to be a Millionaire?》节目一直不尽人意，直到制作人把参赛选手从观众变成演员、歌手和运动明星。（不可避免的是，该节目的日本版由吉尼斯世界纪录保 持者御法川法男主持。） 普通人并非总是不受欢迎。1975年，Yutaka Shigenobu制作了全球最早的真人秀节目之一：Trans America Ultra Quiz。这档节目部分是竞猜节目，部分像是《急速前进》(Amazing Race，该节目的参赛者都是普通人，在美国境内进行赛车比赛)，最终是在纽约自由女神像前的竞猜比赛。该节目曾风靡一时，高峰时期曾吸引30%的观众参 与。“如果当时有出售电视模式的想法，那么它早已在全球大获成功了，” Shigenobu表示，“我们起步太早了。” 他的观点显示了日本电视节目注重名人的最大原因：30年前，日本就制作出了普通人节目，现在正向前发展。在美国的Idol节目出现之前，日本已有了 类似Idol的节目：音乐试镜节目Asayan发掘了当今日本最著名的一些流行音乐明星，该节目从上世纪90年代初持续到2002年。一些以普通人为中心的电视节目幸存了下来，例如旅行和交友晚间节目《恋爱巴士》(Ainori)。在节目中，年轻人在驾车环游世界时相恋和分手。该 节目的收视率如今已不如以前，但却已坚持到了第九个年头，这可能得益于其直播室内的名人评审团，他们对节目的分析以及与节目毫无关系的闲聊占了节目时间的 一半。 任何一类真人秀节目都能失去其对大众趣味的掌控，对于那些厌恶这一类型的西方人而言，这是个好消息。节目制作人还应注意：日本大型电 视网之一的负责人表示，普通人趋势在日本逐渐衰落的一个原因是，太多节目都是真人秀——组织参与者竞赛并安排选手之间的“自发”场面。甚至连备受观众喜欢 的Ainori也遭到了批评。 他表示：“人们开始怀疑每一档节目。” 本文是全球TV系列第一部分。要参看该系列其它文章，请访问www.ft.com/arts/tv 译者/梁艳裳 |
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Japan argues some species are abundant enough for limited whaling (Japan: Issei Kato)
When Tameo Ryono first sailed about five decades ago from the remote Japanese village of Taiji to catch whales, he was filled with pride.
"Whalers were stars here in Taiji. I got what I had dreamed of since I was a little boy," he said at a community centre in Japan's oldest whaling village, nestled in a sprawling national park near the craggy Pacific coast.
"I'm proud of being able to do whaling throughout my life."
But Mr Ryono, 71, looks all but certain to be the last in his family to engage in whaling, as harsh criticism from conservationists and foreign countries and changing appetites at home threaten a way of life whalers say stretches back 400 years.
The International Whaling Commission (IWC) banned commercial whaling in 1986, but is now bitterly divided between countries such as Australia that say all whales still need protection, and those such as Japan that argue some species are abundant enough for limited hunting. The group meets in Chile later this month.
Australia and Japan have agreed not to let the dispute hurt bilateral ties.
The two countries will also work to find a solution to the whaling controversy, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told reporters after meeting Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda.
Japan conducts what it calls scientific research whaling in Antarctica. Critics say it is a cover for commercial whaling and that harpooning whales and cutting them up for processing on big factory ships is hardly traditional compared to the methods once used.
Mr Ryono joined the crew of a 490-tonne whaling ship on an Antarctic voyage at age 18, learning his skills from veterans for a decade before he was considered a full-fledged whaler.
His son, however, has not followed suit.
"Everybody of my generation wanted to become whalers," said 42-year-old Fumitoshi Ryono, who instead opted to become a local civil servant in Taiji, 420 kilometres south-west of Tokyo.
"I was hoping to become a whaler when I was a student, but whaling companies were going through restructuring and weren't recruiting whalers those days."
When Tokyo joined the IWC moratorium on commercial whaling in 1987, more than 50 Taiji whalers lost their jobs.
Now only 40 out of Taiji's population of 3,500 are whalers, contributing just a few percent of its tax revenues compared to over 70 per cent in 1966, when the industry was at its peak.
Mr Ryono has no plan to urge his son to take up the harpoon.
"I don't think I should tell my son to become a whaler. That's something he should decide," he said.
For hundreds of years, coastal whaling in Taiji was done from colourful wooden boats using huge rope nets and hand harpoons.
Villagers still recount the mass shipwreck during a storm that killed more than 100 Taiji whalers in 1878, virtually destroying the traditional industry.
But it was revived in the early 1900s with modern whaling techniques from Norway. Today's coastal whaling now uses steam-powered vessels and gun harpoons.
When Japan began Antarctic whaling in the 1930s, many Taiji men joined the expeditions. These days, whalers in Taiji survive thanks to an annual local government quota that allows them to catch about 2,000 pilot whales and dolphins in coastal waters.
Such species do not fall under IWC restrictions.
But Taiji's bloody semi-annual dolphin "drives" are sometimes filmed surreptitiously and spark impassioned protests from animal rights activists.
Japan wants to expand coastal whaling. Last year, it threatened to quit the IWC after anti-whaling countries blocked its proposal to let four villages, including Taiji, kill minke whales similar to "community whaling" allowed for Alaska natives, who eat whale meat as a staple and use it for cultural practices.
Taiji Mayor Kazutaka Sangen has not lost hope of reviving the local whaling industry and keeping the tradition alive.
"Despite various tragedies and hardship, our ancestors did not cut their ties to whales," he said.
"It is Taiji's mission to pass on our whaling techniques and food culture to future generations."
But conservationists are not convinced.
"The people of Taiji argue that whaling is their culture and tradition. But there is a gap between whaling in the Antarctic Ocean and coastal whaling," Greenpeace Japan executive director Jun Hoshikawa said.
"I wonder how they see this gap. Is whaling in the Antarctic really Taiji's tradition?"
Mr Sangen is struggling to keep pride in whaling alive. The town has launched a program to teach young citizens about whaling.
The mayor also helped put whale meat back in school lunches, reviving a practice encouraged after World War II by US occupation forces to feed a hungry population.
"Unless we revive whale meat school lunches, we will lose our food culture," he said.
But even in Taiji, there are some dissenters. Last year, a local assembly man called for a halt to the school lunches over concerns about high mercury content in the meat.
Despite the criticism, Mr Sangen remains defiant.
"We and our successors will keep telling the world proudly and loudly that Taiji has its long history of whaling and the people of Taiji are catching whales," he said.
- Reuters
For what is believed to be the first time anywhere in Japan, elected officials have openly condemned the consumption of dolphin meat, especially in school lunches, on grounds that it is dangerously contaminated with mercury.
In an exclusive interview with The Japan Times held in Kii Katsuura, Wakayama Prefecture, on July 19, Assemblymen Junichiro Yamashita, 59, and Hisato Ryono, 51, from the nearby whaling city of Taiji said they had found extremely high mercury and methylmercury levels in samples of meat from pilot whales killed inshore by Taiji hunters and put on sale in that locality.
The pilot whale, or "gondo" (Globicephala macrorhynchus), is the largest of the dolphin family of small cetaceans. This species is among some 2,300 dolphins slaughtered annually in Taiji, after the mammals are herded in "drive fisheries" into small coves, where they are speared and hacked to death. Similar hunts elsewhere in Japan are estimated to account for at least another 20,000 small cetaceans annually.
The Taiji assemblymen, who are both independents, also condemned the growing practice of feeding this meat to children in their school lunches — describing it as no less than "toxic waste."
The random samples tested by the two assemblymen were bought at supermarkets in Taiji and nearby Shingu, and were similarly sourced to the meat served to children in whale-meat lunches at Taiji schools. Such lunches may also have been served in schools in other prefectures, the Taiji officials said.
Yamashita and Ryono defied the code of silence traditionally shrouding sensitive issues, especially one that could threaten the economy of their small, isolated fishing town on the scenic Kii Peninsula.
Asked why, they said local people were getting very anxious about food safety in Japan. Recent reports of contaminated products from China have heightened their concerns, they said.
Yamashita explained, "We're not against traditional whaling, but we heard claims that pilot whales are poisoned with mercury, and we discovered that some of this meat from a (drive fishery) was fed to kids in school lunches."
He said that although they had doubted the pilot whales were contaminated with mercury, they decided to have certified lab tests carried out nonetheless.
"We tested some samples — purchased at the Gyokyo supermarket in Taiji and Super Center Okuwa in the nearby city of Shingu," Yamashita said, adding they were "shocked" by the results.
One dolphin sample had a mercury content 10 times above the health ministry's advisory level of 0.4 parts per million, with a methylmercury readout 10.33 times over the ministry's own advisory level of 0.3 ppm.
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| Dolphins cut off from the open sea being driven into a cove by Taiji fishermen in December 2006, prior to being slaughtered the next day. BOYD HARNELL PHOTOS |
Another dolphin sample tested 15.97 times and 12 times above advisory levels of total mercury and methylmercury, respectively.
The results prompted the two officials to describe dolphin meat as "toxic waste."
In fact, the dolphin levels were higher than some of the mercury-tainted seafood tested during the tragic Minamata mercury-pollution disaster of the 1950s, according to Dr. Shigeo Ekino of Kumamoto Medical Science University in Kyushu. In that episode, thousands were sickened, disabled or died in the toxic chemical disaster.
Ekino is famous for his breakthrough study of brain specimens from deceased Minamata disease victims that reveals how even low levels of methylmercury can damage or destroy neurons.
After they received the test results, the Taiji lawmakers, anxious about the possible toxic effects of pilot-whale meat consumed by local schoolchildren, quickly contacted Masahiko Tamaki, an official of the Wakayama pre-fectural health section, and showed him the test results from their samples.
Yamashita said, "He (Tamaki) seems to think he has to do something, but doesn't know how to do it."
Tamaki was hesitant to confront the mercury issue due to possible repercussions, and offered no solutions, Yamashita said, adding, "The Wakayama health section simply told me they didn't want to upset Taiji people."
But Yamashita said: "According to the high mercury result, if they continue, the people will be harmed — this harm, spread through school lunches, is terrible because children will be forced to eat mercury-tainted dolphin."
Despite the Taiji pair's urgent health concerns, however, Taiji Mayor Kazutaka Sangen plans to build a new slaughterhouse for processing meat from pilot whales and other dolphins caught during globally condemned drive fisheries there.
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| Hideki Moronuki of the government's Far Seas Fisheries Division (left), and Shigeo Ekino of Kumamoto Medical Science University | |
He also wants to expand the provision of school lunches containing pilot whale meat.
Ryono said, "We may not be able to prevent the building of a new slaughterhouse, but we will continue to appeal to Taiji people not to use dolphin for school lunches."
Meanwhile, concern over 12 dolphins currently in "capture pens" in Taiji is mounting as the mammals await imminent shipment to a dolphin aquarium in the Dominican Republic. This has prompted Yamashita and Ryono to write an urgent letter to Max Puig, environmental minister of the Dominican Republic, protesting importation of the dolphins, saying his environmentally friendly island state would be accepting "toxic waste."
Top researchers in Japan's medical community have also voiced concern about the high levels of mercury found in small-cetacean food products.
Ekino told The Japan Times: "Everyone should avoid eating dolphin meat. If people continue to eat dolphin, there's a high probability of them having damage to their brains. . . . No government agency is studying the problem — no scientists in Japan want to study the subject; it's very political."
Award-winning U.S. neurologist David Perlmutter echoed Ekino's sentiments in a telephone interview, saying, "I totally agree with Dr. Ekino when he said everyone should avoid eating dolphin meat — the consumption of dolphin meat is a profound health risk for humans."
Referring to Japan's health advisories warning pregnant women that consuming dolphin meat "can be harmful to the fetus and to young children," Perlmutter, who has a private practice at his clinic in Naples, Fla., said, "If it's a risk for pregnant women and children, why is it safe for anyone else?"
Tetsuya Endo, a professor and researcher at Hokkaido Health Science University's faculty of pharmaceutical sciences, affirmed the other doctors' condemnation of small-cetacean food products.
In a terse e-mail sent to this correspondent, Endo said, in reference to dolphin meat, "It's not food!"
In 2005, Endo published the results of a three-year study on random samples of cetacean food products sold throughout Japan, and concluded all of it was unhealthy because of high levels of mercury and methylmercury.
However, Hideki Moronuki, deputy director of the government's Far Seas Fisheries Division of the Resources Management Department, in an interview with The Japan Times, maligned Endo's study, calling it "misleading information." When pressed, though, he failed to substantiate his accusation.
Endo, however, responded to The Japan Times in an e-mail, saying, "If he (Moronuki) has any basis for his comments, he has the responsibility to show it because it is deeply related to human health."
Moronuki was specifically asked if there was a mercury problem with dolphins. His response: "No."
He acknowledged that doctors' reports (of high mercury levels) may be correct, but claimed, "I don't think it causes a problem with consumers."
When asked if he thought consuming dolphin meat was dangerous, he said, "No."
But he conceded that eating too much dolphin meat could be "dangerous."
Moronuki was also asked if he felt responsible for the poisoning of his own people. He replied: "No. I am responsible for the management of the dolphin fishery, that's it."
This bureaucrat's attitude flies in the face of certified copies of six test reports commissioned and paid for over the past year, each showing high mercury levels in the meat put on sale from all dolphin species tested. That data have been made freely available by The Japan Times to the appropriate Japanese government agencies and officials.
Despite this hard data, government authorities have consistently displayed a sense of apathy toward these matters, and what many informed commentators regard as dangerously cavalier attitudes in dealing with urgent health issues affecting their citizens.
Makoto Tanaka, assistant director of the health ministry's inspection and safety division in the Food Safety Department, would only say that he is seeking an international standard for establishing a new advisory level for consumers of mercury-tainted food products.
The health ministry has been aware of the mercury problem in small cetaceans (not to mention in the meat from great whales) for many years, but so far it has refused to ban the sale of such food products.
In particular — despite unequivocal scientific test results — it has failed to require the posting of warning labels for consumers of dolphin meat.
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| Taiji Assemblymen Hisato Ryono (left) and Junichiro Yamashita face a U.S. camera crew following their exclusive JT interview on July 19. |
This approach continues despite an advisory order, Kan Nyu Dai 99 Ban, established July 23, 1973, under which a warning was issued to prefectural and local governments by the then director of the environmental and health agency, stating that mercury in seafood must not exceed the advisory level of 0.4 ppm.
Although still in effect, enforcement of the advisory order by governors and mayors has been lax and unchallenged.
But the reaction around the killing coves of Taiji was swift in confronting the two assemblymen's health concerns.
On the one hand, Gyokyo, the leading local supermarket, pulled pilot whale meat off its shelves, and will not resume its sale, according to Takuya Kondo, assistant director of the health ministry's Department of Food Safety's Standards and Evaluation Division.
Kondo said, "The (Taiji) government has to comply with . . . provisional regulations. . . . They are not supposed to sell (dolphin meat) if it is over the advisory level of 0.4 ppm for mercury."
Yamashita and Ryono believe many people in Japan are unaware of the (health) problems related to consuming dolphin meat, and they say they want to educate people through an Internet blog currently posted by the Save Japan Dolphins coalition, an international conservation group.
But it would be a lot more straightforward if this issue was addressed in a more open and accountable way by officials.
Instead, a pervasive sense of paranoia seems to loom over any investigation of the mercury contamination of foodstuff in Japan.
On this reporter's initial visit to the test lab, my sample of dolphin meat was at first rejected for testing by lab officials, who greeted me with a file of my articles on the barbaric dolphin slaughter in Taiji, and the toxicity of cetacean meat sold in Japan.
One lab official said: "Sometimes happens big problem, I must confirm your purpose. . . . We cannot stand in opposite position of Fishery Agency. . . . If you publish our report, we'll have to close the lab."
The lab later conducted the test after learning the test-sample result would determine whether a potentially dangerous public-health hazard existed.
Also, during the dolphin drives and the animals' subsequent slaughter in Taiji, I was stalked nonstop by shady-looking characters just a few meters behind me wherever I went. Police also attempted to question me several times and, to my considerable consternation, all seemed to know my name exactly as written on my driver's license — even though only my hotel had a copy of my license.
It was very unsettling.
Perhaps the two courageous assemblymen may have sounded the final death knell to Japan's dolphin slaughter by focusing the spotlight on the toxic products of this butchery.
But how many Japanese may already be adversely affected, so many years after the danger of this cruel trade has been known?
BY LOUIS TEMPLADO, STAFF WRITER
2008/8/22
What form of transport comes to mind when you think about traveling in Japan? For most people the answer is the speedy Shinkansen, as much a symbol of Japan as sushi and Mount Fuji.
But for Tokyo resident Kazue Arai, the answer is the bus. Sitting in the heat of the JR Bus Kanto Terminal in Tokyo's Shinjuku area last week, Arai was charged with leading her family of eight--children and in-laws included--back to their rural hometown to spend the Bon holidays. After sizing up her travel options, she chose the highway.
"We've always taken the train," explains Arai, before stepping on board a bus bound for Takato, Nagano Prefecture. "But this time we're trying the bus. At the train station my parents have to climb up and down stairs, and they"re too old for that now. And once we get there we have to ride a taxi for 40 minutes. The bus drops us off near our house and we can walk.
"My son loves trains and he gets sick on buses," she adds. "But the bus is a lot cheaper, so we just make him put up with it."
It's a choice many are making. Once equated with morning red-eye and stiff necks, medium- and long-distance bus travel these days is on a roll. This summer, according to JR Bus Kanto Co., the largest of several regional bus firms belonging to the Japan Railways group, the number of passengers choosing buses is up 10 percent compared with last year.
Willer Travel, one of several new private bus firms on the scene, is doing even better, reporting a 150-percent rise in ridership during the same period.
To be sure, bus travel is still a tiny blip on Japan's travel infrastructure--moving less than 3 percent of the passenger traffic between Tokyo and Osaka. Yet it's twice what it was a decade ago, and there's still no sign of a slowdown.
Once crammed mostly with student types, buses are now attracting businessmen, families and senior travelers. The reasons vary: Many seniors don't drive; Japanese in their 20s and 30s are spending their money on mobile phones instead of automobiles; and companies are cutting back on travel expenses.
In an interesting development, says Hikoharu Konishi of JR Bus Kanto, families have started traveling separately. Mom and the kids ride the bus, while dad catches up later by train.
Behind it all is the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, which opened the industry to new competitors in 2002. Fares dropped when the new carriers entered the market.
A one-way trip from Tokyo to Osaka, for example, used to run 8,000 yen. Today it starts from 3,500 yen, while the Shinkansen fare remains at 13,240 yen. With competition stiff on main routes, the firms are creating new ones, heading to places hard to get to by train, like Takato.
"Until now, people rarely considered anything outside of the Shinkansen," explains Aiko Ike of Willer Travel, an Osaka-based firm that entered the field three years ago. "Now there's a new sensibility. For the same amount of money, you can travel three times instead of once.
"City people can take short trips to the countryside, while people in the country can hop on a bus to shop in the city."
Price isn't the only lure. Willer, which used to be a ski tour operator, entered the bus business with a most finicky and active demographic in mind: women.
The company's buses are pink, and its policy is to seat women travelers away from men whenever possible. Its budget-class "Relax" seats come with roll-down canopies above the headrests so that occupants can sleep, apply makeup in peace or avoid unwanted eye contact. For those willing to pay more, the company offers comfy Premium class seats--an option quickly copied by other new firms and JR Bus as well.
The rise of minnows like Willer, Rotary Air Service Co. and Orion Tour Co. has not gone unnoticed by JR Bus conglomerates.
Once part of the government-run Japan National Railway (now Japan Railways), JR Bus is talking of discounts, luxuries such as Premium Dream seats, and the creation of new "products"--such as bus-to-ferry-to-bus voyages to places as far away as Sapporo (from 9,900 yen) and Kagoshima (from 11,800 yen).
"To be honest, our fares never changed in the past--they were what they were no matter what," says JR Bus Kanto marketing division chief Yoshiaki Takahashi. "But we"ve borrowed a page from their book and learned to be flexible. We owe them a debt of gratitude because they brought new interest to buses, and a lot of our new efforts are a response to them."
That said, Takahashi makes the point that its new competitors aren't officially transport companies, per se, but charter tour firms operating under a different set of rules. Most passengers, he says, don't know the difference between the two, except for the fact that the charter buses can't build or use terminals. Instead, they load and offload on public streets.
"Because they are tour firms, they are not required to maintain an entire bus fleet; they can charter just the buses they need. It keeps their fares competitive, but because they use the lowest bidder, safety could be an issue."
Rising gas prices aren't reflected in the cheap fares, and likely won't be anytime soon. For each yen the price of gas increases operating costs rise by 15 million yen, explains Takahashi. Still, a bus filled with cheap tickets earns more than a bus half-filled with expensive ones.
"Now is a golden chance for us" to pull passengers away from trains and planes, Takahashi says.
Asian tourists are already on board. Visitors from Taiwan, South Korea and China are a regular sight at JR Bus terminals, queuing up to go to such destinations as Sano, Tochigi Prefecture, and Gotemba, Shizuoka Prefecture, and the outlet shopping malls found there.
"It's a good deal," says one Taiwanese tourist spotted earlier this week at the Shinjuku JR Bus terminal. "The seats are comfortable and you get slippers, blankets and a hot towel. But I am still planning to ride a Shinkansen later--it's one of the reasons I came to Japan."(IHT/Asahi: August 22,2008)
2008/8/22
Kyosen Ohashi, 74, a former TV personality who now leads a leisurely retirement by combining work and overseas living, writes about his diverse interests: "At first, I nibbled at a broad range of hobbies and eventually narrowed them down to a few."
To enjoy the latter half of our lives, we need at least two pastimes--one each that we can enjoy indoors and outdoors, respectively, he writes in "Kyosen, Jinsei no Sentaku" (Kyosen, choice of life) published by Kodansha Ltd.
Young people should dip into many things, he says. As they age, they should choose a couple of "lifelong friends" in consideration of their physical and financial situation.
In Ohashi's case, the choices seem to be jazz and golf. They suit him. What about me? I won't go so far as to say my favorite pastime is work, but as I look around me, I see a mountain of activities that I bit into but never finished.
According to a white paper on leisure published by the Japan Productivity Center for Socio-Economic Development, how people spend their free time appears to be changing.
Of 91 kinds of leisure activities cited, including eating out, going for a drive and karaoke, on average, Japanese people aged 15 or older engaged in 14.5 kinds of leisure activities at least once in 2007, down from 17.8 in the survey 10 years previously.
In particular, the decline was notable among teenagers, who are at their most adventuresome age. In 10 years, the average number of activities teens had engaged in dropped about 30 percent, from 21.6 to 15.6.
At the same time, people are tending to stick to specific activities. The survey results indicate that people are devoting time and money to the activities they really enjoy.
With their selective investment in a narrow range of hobbies, however, young people miss out on a world of other pastimes. When people with such narrowed interests reach middle age and older, the future of the leisure market will worsen. The white paper deplores this situation.
Young people these days habitually kill time with their cellphones and game consoles. The time they spend on the Internet is also growing. Thus, they aren't nurturing more rewarding hobbies that could help sustain them in later life.
Many people sit around at home, in front of computers. When they go out, their eyes are glued to their cellphones.
I wonder what the lives of people whose only indoor and outdoor interests are computers and cellphones will be like when they reach their later years.
--The Asahi Shimbun, Aug. 21(IHT/Asahi: August 22,2008)
BY TOSHIHIRO OKUYAMA, AND SHIGERU HIRUMUTA
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
2008/8/23
Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK) concealed the fact that its subsidiaries were paid to organize symposiums that were aired and withheld the identities of sponsors of many of the events, including government ministries.
Between November 2004 and June this year, at least 10 such programs were shown on channels of the public broadcaster.
Each contract was worth 10 million yen to about 30 million yen per symposium. If the sponsor was a governmental organization, the payment came from taxpayers' money.
Under the Broadcast Law, NHK is supposed to be impartial and refrain from showing programs that represent the interests of a specific person or group--including the government.
NHK is financed by fees received from viewers.
Critics say the programs featuring the symposiums were mere publicity stunts sponsored by the government.
"These programs are nothing but PR," said Takaaki Hattori, a Rikkyo University professor and a member of the Broadcasting Ethics and Program Improvement Organization's Committee for the Investigation of Broadcasting Ethics. "Even if NHK itself received no money, it used the subsidiaries as covers."
An NHK official, however, defended the programs.
"The symposiums that we broadcast on TV were highly public in nature, and they were completely different from PR programs sponsored by the government," the official said.
"Organizing symposiums is a legitimate business of our subsidiaries, which are private companies."
The NHK official also denied allegations that the subsidiaries gained contracts from sponsors by assuring them that the symposiums would appear on TV.
Three of NHK's production subsidiaries, including NHK Enterprises Inc. and NHK Joho Network Inc., were commissioned to organize the symposiums.
NHK owns a majority of shares in these companies, and former NHK employees are on the boards of the subsidiaries.
For years until July 2006, only those three affiliates had the right to propose program ideas directly to NHK. Other competitors, such as ad agencies, did not have that right.
According to sources, many symposium sponsors signed contracts with the NHK subsidiaries, believing that their events would be broadcast on NHK.
In one case, an employee of one of the subsidiaries allegedly obtained a contract by saying to the sponsor: "How about this plan? We'll see to it that it will be aired on TV."
At most of the symposiums, NHK announcers or other employees served as emcees. These events were later broadcast nationally on NHK's Educational or Satellite 2 channels.
The programs included a series of five symposiums on work skills, sponsored by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, which paid an NHK subsidiary 85.32 million yen to organize. The program was aired in February and March 2007.
Another program, broadcast in March 2006, featured a symposium on how to deal with business scams. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry paid an NHK subsidiary 23.14 million yen to put together the symposium.(IHT/Asahi: August 23,2008)
２４日午前０時半ごろ、京都市伏見区醍醐醍醐山の醍醐寺境内の建物から出火していると、同寺職員から同市消防局に１１９番通報があった。消防局によると、建物は醍醐寺のうち、山の上にある「上醍醐」境内にある准胝堂（じゅんていどう）とみられる。
寺職員の話では、午前０時半ごろ、山すその下醍醐の事務所に火事が起きたと連絡があった。寺職員によると、２３日夕方から夜にかけて、落雷があったという。
醍醐寺は８７４年建立で、真言宗醍醐派の総本山。１４７０年に大部分が焼失したが、豊臣秀吉が「醍醐の花見」で再興したことで知られる。
世界文化遺産に指定されており、五重塔は国宝。
毎日新聞 2008年8月24日 東京朝刊
2008年8月24日1時33分
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印度教女神薩克蒂(Sakti)的降魔形象，主要流行於印度東部地區。她名稱甚多，如大幻(Mahamay... じゅんでい 【准胝】 〔梵 ca   i〕「准胝観音」の略。 |
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日本「讀賣新聞」晚報今天報導，日本厚生勞動省為輔導「網咖難民」就業，大致決定將設立一個融資制度，以接受職訓為條件，提供每個月十五萬日圓（約新台幣四萬三千元）的融資金。這項新制預定下年度創設，相關的年度預算概算將標列約一億日圓（約新台幣兩千九百萬元）。 報導說，網咖難民因為居無定所，難以覓職，只能被迫以低收入過著不安定的生活，形成更難就業的惡性循環。日本厚勞省去年調查估計，全日本約有五千四百名這類網咖難民。 厚勞省有意在二零零九年度創設一個新制度，條件是網咖難民必須接受公共職訓講課，在受訓期間，日本政府將提供一筆每月十五萬日圓的融資金，作為住屋、生活費的補助。 受訓內容包括教室課程及企業實習，受訓期間約三至六個月。受訓結束後，如果年收入在一百五十萬日圓（約新台幣四十三萬元）以下的話，可以不用償還這筆融資。 厚勞省定義的網咖難民是通常在網咖店借宿，然後當臨時工的三十五至三十九歲之間的「居無定所、工作不穩定者」，一年約有數百人可適用此新設的融資制度。 但是，厚勞省也須防範無就業意願、只想接受融資者的申請，因此會先透過面試等措施進行篩選。 報導說，在日本，「居無定所、工作不穩定者」與流浪漢不一樣，前者並不適用輔導自立的特別措施法，因此需有不同的因應對策。 |
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吉田松阴(Shoin Yoshida)爬进狭小的渔船，在茫茫夜色中划向庞大的美国舰队时，他必定需要一些勇气。那些美国船队荷枪实弹，停泊在下田湾。当时，幕府家族已统治日 本逾两个世纪，亦对西方闭关锁国两百多年。松阴偷渡是在1854年，当时还极少有人敢与“蛮夷”交善。但凡有人这样做，并回来谈论，处罚就是死罪。
爱国志士松阴没有被判处死刑，至少最初是这样。但他希望向美国海军大将佩里(Perry)这位“英雄”学习的计划，却遭遇了可怜的失败。佩里是日本 的敌人，当时正试图撬开日本的国门，让日本与西方通商。佩里的手下只是将松阴交还给日本官府，由日本官府将他投入监狱，然后押回他的家乡——位于日本最西 端的萩城(Hagi)。
日本现代化的启蒙地
正是在萩城，表面上遭到软禁的松阴开始教授学生。这些弟子成为日本卓越的——如果说后来有些悲剧色彩的——现代化进程的思想先驱。明治维新时期，受 到松阴及其他志向相似的导师鼓舞的精英武士骨干，将日本从封建锁国中拖了出来。其中一些追随者从萩城走向了世界各地，去学习铁路、议会制度、枪炮和伦敦萨 维尔街(Savile Row)礼服（日语中西服这个单词现在仍为Sebiro，虽然多数日本人都不清楚它的起源）。
松阴并不是西方文化的盲目追随者。他认为，要防止外国人打垮日本，日本必须增强其科技和军事实力。松阴的崇拜者罗伯特•路易斯•史蒂文森 (Robert Louis Stevenson)记道：“他视驱除这些无所不能的外国人为己任，而帮助把这些外国人介绍到日本却是他的主要功绩之一。”
29岁时，作为一宗失败的暗杀计划的主谋，松阴被处以死刑。如果说松阴像一位错位的英雄，那么萩城就是一处有几分错位的地方。这个曾启发了日本现代 化进程的港口已经退缩回自己的历史中。它理应是日本最著名的景点之一，但却鲜为人知。没有其它哪个日本城市有它这么浓郁的日本封建气息，也鲜有如此守旧之 地，远离米其林(Michelin)三星餐厅的文明。萩城是日本的腔棘鱼——人们以为已经灭绝了的古老的幸存者。
萩城蜗居在山海之间，山隔断了它与日本的联系，海阻截了它与世界的交流，外面的世界看不到它的存在。第一次鸟瞰这座城市及其周边小岛星罗棋布的海湾，人们不由得会升起一种感觉，就像一位古老的探险者，踉跄间无意发现了一个失落的文明。
在夏天，这里炎热得让人喘不过气来，空气腥臭、厚重，漫溢着蝉鸣。古老的城堡(Jokamachi)和寺院群(Teramachi)扁扁平平，那里 曾居住过武士和富有的商贾们。寺庙、木屋、储藏室、灰瓦屋顶、杂草丛生的墓地，一切看起来那么的不真实，更像是电影布景。在白灰墙和桔树林的环绕下，参观 者恍若置身于封建王朝的迷宫中。日本很少会让人感到如此陌生。
我是偶然间发现萩城的。当时，我在写一篇报道，追溯一位知名政客所鼓吹的空想国家主义的思想根源。这位候选人的拥护者们充满敬畏地供奉着积满灰尘的 松阴神社（Shoin Shrine，松阴被关押和讲学的地方）和其它相关遗迹，包括一座高杉晋作(Shinsaku Takasugi)纪念碑。高杉晋作曾拜松阴为师，创建了一支有革命意义的奇兵队，允许非武士参军。
尽管这位萩城这位最著名的儿子享有着国际主义者的称号，目前居住在此的外国人却很稀少。当英国作家戴维•米切尔(David Mitchell)去年逃离到爱尔兰之后，据他所知，萩城只剩下了一位外部世界的代表：伯蒂尔•珀森(Bertil Person)。这是一位来自瑞典的陶工，40年前，他来到萩城学习乳白制陶术，却忘却了离开。
珀森称，萩城的大约5万人口每日似乎都在不断减少——他是对比长长的讣告栏和简短的出生及婚礼通告栏得出的结论。“当你在这里生活数周之后，真实的 日本便渐渐隐退，那种整个世界都是如此的幻觉开始慢慢蔓延出来，”他说道。“我想，这从某种程度上解释了，为什么有些出生在此的人，一生都不曾真正离开 过。”
体验传统日式旅店
萩城并不是所有地方都景色如画。我最近到该市旅行所住的传统日式旅店，叫做常茂惠(Tomoe)，就坐落在一间普利斯通 (Bridgestone)轮胎店的旁边，隔河耸立着一根工业烟囱，河沿也是水泥砌成的。走进旅店，却有如踏入一片幻境——榻榻米、和服、石子铺的庭院、 竹子、温泉——不过，我还得再过两个小时才能享用这一切。这种旅店的入住时间是从三点开始（退房时间是上午10点之前）。
空下来的这两个小时，我去了海鲜餐馆——萩心海(Hagi Shinkai)。这里恍若一座室内游泳池：在乡村式柜台的背后，赫然是三个大水池，池水泛着海绿色，上面分别架着一块木板。客人点菜后，比如说点了鱿 鱼，侍者就拿着一面大鱼网，沿木板疾走，而鱿鱼出于逃生的本能，在池中四处扑腾。几分钟后，菜就上桌了——还在盘中动弹。
鱼的名称被标在一块块薄木板上。其中有虎鱼——一种长相凶恶的石鱼，有毒的河豚，还有章鱼、海鲷、螃蟹，以及成盘的海胆——海胆的英文名不那么好 听，叫做Sea Urchin（海刺猬），可能是因为这样，这种美味的小生物才没有在全球灭绝。我点了比目鱼生鱼片，很新鲜，虽然肯定是死了——味道绝佳。
在日本传统旅店住一宿，几乎就是一种宗教体验。大部分时间呆在自己的房间：端坐在榻榻米上，一个穿和服的女人迈着小步，在房间里进进出出，还跟你讲 敬语。每次她推开纸门，就有一些新的奇迹呈在你面前：绿绿的草茶、自腌的泡菜、甜点、蜜饯、麒麟啤酒，接下来是配有各种精美小菜的怀石料理，每一样都摆放 得像艺术品，盛在陶瓷或漆器里。
饭后洗过温泉，蒲团已给你摆好了。在日本的一个规则是，住的传统旅店越贵，枕头越不舒服。我的枕头有砖块大小，里面好像装着死蜜蜂。耳边嘎嘎吱吱的响声，温泉澡，加上温热的清酒，完全可以确保你安然入梦。
次早从梦中醒来，我又去了武士旧居。有一些比较大的房子是向公众开放的，其中许多带有很美观的日式庭园。一些小走廊还陈列着萩陶，这种陶器上有乳白 和粉红的彩釉。在这个崇尚陶艺的国度，萩陶被认为是一种上乘的陶器，但确切地说，其工艺起源于外国人。创始人是两个朝鲜族兄弟，他们从1604年开始用本 地粘土制作典礼用的茶碗。这种精致的陶器只供武士阶层使用。相传，为扩大潜在的市场，精明的制陶工人开始在每件陶器底部都刻上标记。再到后来，平民可以买 “残缺”的样品。那两位朝鲜族兄弟的后裔如今仍在制作陶器，他们的手艺只传男，不传女。多数陶器仍保留着特有的标记。
爱旅行的萩城老人
那天傍晚，我听到一阵喧闹声，循声而至，终于看到几个中学生在一块尘土飞扬的练习场上打棒球。我旁边的长椅上，两位70多岁的老人在黄昏的余晖中，静坐沉思。我跟他们攀谈起来，在自我介绍时，两人按着古礼，摘下了头上的棒球帽。
与我最初的预想相反，他们的观念一点都不保守，对世界大事也所知颇多。一位老人说：“有条件的时候，我们喜欢去旅行。”他一口气说出了从法国巴黎到 中国桂林等等地方。“噢，是的，”另一位接着说，“一切都在快速地变化着，不像这儿。如今这里没什么可留住年轻人了，他们都爱到大城市，还有国外。”
在棒球的击打声中，我们天南海北地聊了起来。在中国快速发展的经济、西班牙水果的质量（不那么好，很显然）、日本政局（不那么好，很显然）、英吉利 海峡隧道(Channel Tunnel)面临的工程挑战等话题上，我新结识的这两位朋友都有许多话好说。他们还对农业补贴、日美棒球差异和两国板球的关系、中日关系的变化趋势以及 会讲多种语言的好处发表了看法。
在这个美妙的夜晚，我们坐在这儿，把日本抛诸脑后，更不用说整个世界。然而，他们毕竟是在此地土生土长的，这些萩城的儿子是在脑海中静静地想象着世界其它地方的存在。
本文作者戴维•皮林是英国《金融时报》驻东京首席记者
译者：陈云飞/岱嵩
Wikipedia article "Hagi, Yamaguchi"Kachō Kōsaku Shima (課長島耕作 Kachō Shima Kōsaku?, "Section Chief Kōsaku Shima") is the first in a number of Japanese manga series, by Kenshi Hirokane, about a fictional salaryman named Kōsaku Shima. The series ran from 1983-1992 under this title, winning the 1991 Kodansha Manga Award in the General category.[1] It depicts the life of a salaryman, a Japanese white-collar worker who devotes his life to his company. The manga have been translated from Japanese into English (partially; through Kodansha Bilingual Editions), French and German.
At the start of the long-running series, Shima Kōsaku is a kachō, or section chief, of a huge conglomerate, Hatsushiba Electric. He is later promoted to buchō (division chief) and eventually promoted to manager and executive-director, and with each promotion the title of the series changed as well.
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日本是大和民族，這個「大和」，就是大和諧的意思。為了達到這個境界，日本社會必須時時自我克制，以追求謙卑、忠誠、尊重與共識為目標。 「經濟學人」指出，不過，日本企業若是依樣畫葫蘆，就會群龍無首，因為日諺有云：冒出頭的釘子，會被錘平；有才能的老鷹，會藏起爪子。歐美企業老闆愛上全球商業雜誌封面，但日本企業主愛藏身幕後，他們講究群策群力。 這種民主美德，戰後在日本發揮了充分的效益，但是今天卻成為日本企業的絆腳石：公司為了和諧，不敢讓年輕人早日負起重任；工時超長，成為常態，斲傷生產力；婦女和外國人鮮能擔任高階職務。 所以，當年輕、聰明、有幹勁、敢於打破陳規的島耕作一出現，立即成為萬人迷。這位成功的企業領袖，鄙視企業政治，按功行賞，不論年資。他偶爾犯錯，涉及併 購疑雲，但卻廣受受薪階級歡迎。今年六月，島耕作終於成為日本最大企業初芝五洋控股公司社長：唯一的缺點，就是他只是個卡通人物。 對日本批評者而言，這個故事說明了一切：島耕作只能存在於虛構的世界裡。其實，日本企業經理人，甚至於政客，都應該向島耕作看齊。 日本企業經理人擔心破壞公司和諧，大多不願表露自己的想法。他們的部屬不願挑戰公司的理念，怕長官沒面子。開會時，大家和稀泥，美其名為共識，創意橫遭抹殺，做出沒有效率的平庸決策，不足為奇。 如果改變企業的大和文化，是日本企業經理人的責任，則日本政府顯然必須負起更大的責任。日本企業最大的問題在於勞動市場：中年勞工若換工作，勢必喪失老年 年金。僵化的年資制度歧視婦女，讓婦女結婚後，無法重回勞動市場。日本迄無法律可資對抗虧本關門的企業，但大部分企業主和政客的作為卻彷彿已有此法存在。 如果日本領導人認為國家需要更多像島耕作這種人，就應該將阻礙島耕作成為現實真人的石頭全部搬開。 |
島耕作（シリーズ；1947年9月9日—）是日本漫畫家弘兼憲史所創造出來的一個漫畫人物，出生於日本本州山口縣岩國市，人物見於《課長島耕作》（共十七冊)、《部長島耕作》（共十三冊)、《取締役島耕作》（共八冊)、《青年島耕作》（共四冊，已完）及《常務島耕作》（共六冊，已完）及《專務島耕作》（出版中）（依作品出版順序）。
目錄[隱藏] |
他在大學畢業後，進入「初芝電產公司」上班。34歲時，接任初芝販賣助成部課長。之後曾外派美國一年，與多位美國女性發生關係而產有一私生女。目前，已經外放到「上海初芝電產有限公司」擔任董事長一職。2005年年初，獲得「初芝電產公司」董事會通過升任為常務取締役（常務董事），負責大中華區的業務。2008年，獲得「初芝電產公司」董事會通過升任為社長（總裁），妻為島伶子，已離婚。育有一女島奈美。
1991年，《課長島耕作》獲第15屆講談社漫畫賞，被日本議會推薦給議員閱讀。在日本已有超過一半的上班族看過，日本外務省甚至將整套的《課長島耕作》英譯本，當作外國來訪賓客的禮物。有人認為島耕作其實就是作者自己的化身，連「出生地」都一樣。「初芝電產公司」也可能是參考或影射作者曾任職過的松下電器產業株式會社。
始於1983年
1992年－2002年間，於漫畫週刊上發表。最初開始時，每半年或一年發表一回。1999年時，因為人氣下滑(上升??)，為此再度改成每週發表一回。
2008年－至今
日方未授權
| 日本公司職稱 | 英文 | 中文 |
|---|---|---|
| 會長 | CHAIRMAN | 董事長；集團主席 |
| 社長 | CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, President | 總經理；總裁（簡稱C.E.O.） |
| 代表取締役★專務取締役 | MANAGING DIRECTOR | 執行董事；常務董事；董事總經理 |
| 取締役★專務★常務 | DIRECTOR | 董事 |
| 事業部長 | Head of Business Group | 事業群總經理、副總經理、協理、資深總監 |
| 部長 | DEPARTMENT CHIEF | 部門總經理、協理、總監 |
| 課長★科長 | SECTION CHIEF | 部門經理 |
| 係長 | SECTION IN CHARGE | 部門主管 |
| 主任 | SUPERVISOR | 主任 |
| 會社員 | STAFF | 職員 |
General Hideki Tojo lashed out at his countrymen in his journal even after atomic bombs had been dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The journal, found in the National Archives of Japan, covers the two-week period from Aug 10, 1945, a day after the second atomic bomb had struck Nagasaki.
"The Japanese government has accepted the notion that Japan is the loser and it appears to be going to accept unconditional surrender," Tojo wrote. "Such a position frustrates the officers and soldiers of the imperial armed forces.
"Without fully employing its abilities even at the final moment, the imperial nation is surrendering to the enemies' propaganda," he wrote. "I never imagined such torpor in the nation's leaders and its people."
Tojo ordered the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor that brought the United States into the Second World War. But he was forced out as premier in 1944 as the tide of the conflict turned.
He was hanged in December 1948 as a Class-A war criminal after being found guilty at the Tokyo war crimes tribunal.
The journal, published in the Nikkei newspaper in the run-up to Friday's 63rd anniversary of Japan's surrender, provoked a strong reaction in Japan. Professor Tsuyoshi Amemiya, a military historian, said that Tojo's bitterness at the people and leaders aware that there was no hope of withstanding the Allies' onslaught was misplaced.
"His feelings towards the Japanese people were completely wrong," said Prof Amemiya, 73. "I was a militaristic 10-year-old when I heard the emperor announce the surrender and I cried and cried because I never thought Japan would be defeated.
"But Japanese people, in their real hearts, were exhausted by the war," he said. "We had no guts left to fight. We were poor, hungry, tired from working so hard, the cities were burned to ashes and every day we were attacked from the air."
In the diaries, Tojo is critical of Japanese leaders' acceptance of the 1945 Potsdam Declaration, which called for Tokyo to surrender unconditionally, lambasting them as being "frightened by new types of bombs and scared of the Soviet Union entering the war" in the Pacific theatre.
Tojo anticipated a "humiliating surrender" but refused to criticise the emperor when the capitulation was announced over the radio.
"Now that the government has decided to proceed to diplomatic processes after gaining the emperor's judgment, I have decided to refrain from making any comments about it, although I have maintained a separate view," he wrote.
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| 滿樹柿果，是做和果子的重要材料。 |
BY LOUIS TEMPLADO, STAFF WRITER
2008/8/1
There's only one bad thing about traveling: You have to leave town to do it. Some of us have just come back from vacation, after all, and there's the stuff we need to catch up on.Fortunately there's a way to work off wanderlust: Travel-themed places right here in Tokyo where you can get a taste of the road even as you plan your next escape.
"Not everyone who comes here is actually planning a trip. Some people prefer just reading about it," says Masakazu Kawata, who runs the bookstore Nomado, located in the Nishiogi neighborhood of Tokyo's Suginami Ward.
It's not the only specialty travel bookstore in Tokyo--there's 246 Bookstore in Aoyama, with its many photo books, as well as Map House in Kanda, with its collection of maps--but Nomado has the broadest selection. There are standard-issue backpackers' bibles such as the Lonely Planet series alongside self-published guidebooks and travel diaries and unusual merchandise such as khanga shawls from Africa, displayed with a book explaining how to wear them.
Nomado migrated to Nishiogi one year ago from nearby Kichijoji, where it opened nine years ago, when it was the only shop of its kind.
A lot has changed in Japanese traveling patterns since, Kawata says.
"Before there used to be quite a lot of books meant for backpack-style travelers," he says, filled with nuts and bolts details on how to rough it. "Now most of the customers here are women. The books that catch their interest are about fashion, things you can buy overseas and where to eat.
"Now many guidebooks are really more like shopping diaries."
It's a shift that Kawata doesn't claim to understand. He himself was a backpacker who trekked through 50 countries before settling down behind the counter. His aim, he says, is to turn the place into a salon, where travel writers and photographers can present their works.
If book browsing still isn't enough to slake the thirst for the road, then Travel Cafe Bliss--not to be confused with the Travel Cafe chain--might be worth a visit.
Located in the Harajuku district of Shibuya Ward, Bliss is by turns a cafe, a party venue, a travel agency and a gallery. On the menu can be found such items as Bali coffee, Turkish tea and Argentine mate tea, served in a hollowed gourd--meant to bring back memories of trips past. Meanwhile in a booth sits owner Nobuhiro Koga, who dispenses advice and arranges tickets for travelers as well.
"What I do is a lot like "travel image training," says Koga, who started the cafe nine years ago as a more personal and relaxed alternative to travel agency offices. "Often, people choose a destination but don't know why or what to do when they get there. I talk them through it until a concrete plan comes into view."
The Internet, he says, has dramatically changed the way Japanese travel--but not all for the good.
"Even 10 years ago agents were still using telephones and faxes to arrange itineraries," he says. "And about some places we had no information at all. If you wanted to go somewhere it was because you had really set your mind to it.
"Now there's too much information," he adds. "Travel has become like fashion. People now mix and match whatever's in front of them, without thinking deeply about it."
The cure however is simple: reading a few more books, perusing a few maps, and talking to people who've come back with stories. In short, all it takes is a little more armchair travel.(IHT/Asahi: August 1,2008)
2008/8/5
Fujio Akatsuka, dubbed the "god of gag manga," died on Saturday at age 72. Hearing the news, I found myself softly mimicking that all-too-famous cry of astonishment--"Shee" (pronounced "shay")--immortalized decades ago by one of Akatsuka's popular cartoon characters. Another classic Akatsuka line was korede ii-noda!, or "this is as it should be!" I imagine he would have said just that of his own passing.Because Akatsuka had battled a series of grave illnesses for the last 10 years, I was sort of prepared for the worst. Still, as someone who grew up with his gag comics, I mourn his passing with a heartfelt "shee."
"Osomatsu-kun" (Mr. Pathetic) was the first Akatsuka work that completely bowled me over. The series' regular characters included a smarmy pseudo-francophile named Iyami, little Chibita who always clutched a skewer of oden morsels in his hand, and Dekapan and Hatabo. Other oddball characters kept popping up without rhyme or reason, and I remember laughing my head off at the most outrageously nonsensical story developments.
Akatsuka was initially commissioned to do non-serial cartoons. But in 1962, the weekly Shonen Sunday comic magazine asked him to do a four-week serial. In his autobiography "Korede Iinoda" (This is as it should be), Akatsuka recalled, "Since I was doing only four installments, I decided I could be as outrageous as I wanted, and go out with a bang."
It was this tremendous creative energy of his that totally floored little brats such as myself. "Osomatsu-kun" ran for more than five years and catapulted Akatsuka to stardom.
Until then, comics generally had the laid-back atmosphere of classic rakugo stories. But Akatsuka's works were fast-paced, pure slapstick. Page after page, readers were assaulted with gags and crazy scenes that made them writhe with mirth.
In retrospect, I think Akatsuka's creativity dazzled everyone because there was still a lot of stodgy common sense and gravity left in society at large back then. But his world of fast-paced nonsense also resonated with the energy that filled Japan in the 1960s and 1970s.
Were someone as talented as Aka-tsuka to appear today, I imagine he or she would either be overshadowed by the absurdity of our real world--more absurd than comics--or look out of place in the stagnant atmosphere of the present era.
It was 33 years ago that the late Juzo Itami, a film director, put his finger on Akatsuka's greatness with this comment, "I think society is trying to imitate (Akatsuka's) comics, not the other way round."
Gone is this genius who cracked up Japan during the Showa Era (1926-1989), leaving behind a society whose deterioration is accelerating.
--The Asahi Shimbun, Aug. 4(IHT/Asahi: August 5,2008)
2008年8月2日21時48分
赤塚不二夫さん＝０１年２月ごろ撮影
ネコとたわむれる赤塚不二夫さん＝８１年１２月撮影
「シェー！」「これでいいのだ！」「ニャロメ！」など数々の流行語を生み、「おそ松くん」「天才バカボン」などで笑いのブームを巻き起こしたマンガ家の 赤塚不二夫（あかつか・ふじお、本名赤塚藤雄）さんが２日、肺炎で死去した。７２歳だった。葬儀の日取りは未定。喪主は長女りえ子さん。
中国東北部（旧満州）生まれ。新潟県内の中学を卒業後に上京、化学薬品工場の工員をしながらマンガを描き、５６年に貸本マンガ「嵐をこえて」でデビュー。石ノ森章太郎さんら多くのマンガ家が住んだアパート「トキワ荘」で本格的な創作活動を始めた。
５８年、初の月刊誌連載となった「ナマちゃん」を「漫画王」に発表。６２年に六つ子を主人公にしたドタバタギャグ「おそ松くん」を「週刊少年サンデー」に、変身願望をくすぐる少女マンガ「ひみつのアッコちゃん」を「りぼん」に連載して人気マンガ家に躍り出た。
６７年、前衛的笑いの集大成「天才バカボン」と“反体制ネコ”ニャロメが登場する「もーれつア太郎」が連載開始。多くの作品がテレビアニメ化され、一大ブームを巻き起こした。０２年に脳内出血で倒れて以降は、東京都内の病院で、意識が戻らないまま闘病生活を続けていた。
６５年に「おそ松くん」で小学館漫画賞、９７年には日本漫画家協会文部大臣賞を受賞した。
A fruitless argument is called mizukake ron in Japanese. It translates literally as "water-throwing argument," and the expression is said to have derived from a fight over water. Farmers cannot survive without water. In the old days before the introduction of proper irrigation systems, fights over water broke out frequently during periods of drought.
And it appears that the belligerents in those fights were not always total strangers. In a kyogen comic play titled "Mizukake Muko" (Water-throwing son-in-law), a man and his son-in-law fight over water for rice paddies. They start off by smearing each other's faces with mud. Water was so precious back then as to even ruin family relations.
