2011年2月28日 星期一

110 billion yen earmarked to cut use of rare earths

本經濟產業省(Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry)週五稱﹐將向在日本國內運營的企業提供152億日圓補貼﹐推動企業將對中國稀土資源的依賴程度降低約三分之一。

日本經濟產業省稱﹐補貼資金將用於支持東芝公司(Toshiba Co.)和日立金屬(Hitachi Metals Ltd.)等日資企業及在日本運營的非日資企業的84個項目。

該機構稱﹐獲得補貼的企業將把這筆資金用於尋找各種方法﹐改善稀土資源回收利用、加工從其他國家進口的稀土礦及開發替代性資源。

日本經濟產業省稱﹐長期來看﹐預計獲得補貼的項目能推動日本稀土金屬年使用量減少至20,000噸﹐最近幾年的平均稀土金屬年使用量約為30,000噸﹐其中超過90%來自中國。


CRISIS MANAGEMENT: 110 billion yen earmarked to cut use of rare earths

2011/02/26


photoDysprosium, a rare earth element, is used in the production of motors for hybrid vehicles after being smelted into iron alloy. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

The industry ministry said Friday it will grant 33.1 billion yen ($404 million) in subsidies to help fund private sector projects that will develop the technology to reduce the use of rare earths.

The move is designed to reduce Japan's dependence on rare earth imports from China by 30 percent in several years.

Rare earths are materials used in a wide range of high-tech applications.

Japan's annual imports of rare earths total 30,000 tons, 90 percent of which comes from China.

Japan is pushing to diversify its source of supply after China blocked exports of rare earths following a territorial row last September.

The subsidies will be offered to 160 projects undertaken by 110 companies, among them manufacturing giants Toshiba Corp., Panasonic Corp. and Nissan Motor Co.

It will bring the total of spending for such efforts by both the government and businesses to around 110 billion yen.

Rare earths are crucial to the manufacture of hybrid vehicles and an array of high-tech electronic products.

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry requested 42 billion yen for rare earth-related projects in the supplementary budget for the current fiscal year that was passed in November.

The 33.1 billion yen, part of the sum for the purpose, is expected to finance half or one-third of the private sector investment.

The ministry is expected to decide in May which private projects will receive the remainder of the subsidies.

Toshiba will develop an alternative agent for cerium, a material used as abrasive in the production of hard disks.

Panasonic is set to introduce a system to recover and recycle neodymium magnets used in air conditioners.

Nissan expects to invest in experimental installations that will allow the company to develop automotive parts that do not use rare earth materials.

The government is trying to curtail Japan's rare earth imports through the development of new technology while accelerating efforts to diversify its sources of supply.

2011年2月27日 星期日

Japan Company Developing Sensors For Seniors

Japan Company Developing Sensors For Seniors

1_Japan_Sensors_for_Seniros.sff.jpg
Enlarge Associated Press

In this Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2011 photo, Nippon Telegraph and Telegram Corp. Communications Science Laboratories staff imitates to brush his teeth during a demonstration of a wearable sensor attached to a wristwatch-like device during the NTT Research and Development Forum in Tokyo. Japan's top telecom company NTT says using this technology, what an elderly person is doing during each hour of the day can be shown on a chart.

1_Japan_Sensors_for_Seniros.sff.jpg
Associated Press

In this Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2011 photo, Nippon Telegraph and Telegram Corp. Communications Science Laboratories staff imitates to brush his teeth during a demonstration of a wearable sensor attached to a wristwatch-like device during the NTT Research and Development Forum in Tokyo. Japan's top telecom company NTT says using this technology, what an elderly person is doing during each hour of the day can be shown on a chart.

text size A A A
TOKYO February 23, 2011, 02:33 am ET

Japan's top telecoms company is developing a simple wristwatch-like device to monitor the well-being of the elderly, part of a growing effort to improve care of the old in a nation whose population is aging faster than anywhere else.

The device, worn like a watch, has a built-in camera, microphone and accelerometer, which measure the pace and direction of hand movements to discern what wearers are doing — from brushing their teeth to vacuuming or making coffee.

In a demonstration at Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp.'s research facility, the test subject's movements were collected as data that popped up as lines on a graph — with each kind of activity showing up as different patterns of lines. Using this technology, what an elderly person is doing during each hour of the day can be shown on a chart.

The prototype was connected to a personal computer for the demonstration, but researchers said such data could also be relayed by wireless or stored in a memory card to be looked at later.

Plans for commercial use are still undecided. But similar sensors are being tested around the world as tools for elderly care.

In the U.S., the Institute on Aging at the University of Virginia has been carrying out studies in practical applications of what it calls "body area sensor networks" to promote senior independent living.

What's important is that wearable sensors be easy to use, unobtrusive, ergonomic and even stylish, according to the institute, based in Charlottesville, Virginia. Costs, safety and privacy issues are also key.

Despite the potential for such technology in Japan, a nation filled with electronics and technology companies, NTT President Satoshi Miura said Japan is likely falling behind global rivals in promoting practical uses.

Worries are growing the Japanese government has not been as generous with funding and other support to allow the technology to grow into a real business, despite the fact that Japan is among the world's most advanced in the proliferation of broadband.

More than 90 percent of Japan's households are equipped with either optic fibers or fast-speed mobile connections.

"But how to use the technology is the other side of the story," Miura said in a presentation. "We will do our best in the private sector, but I hope the government will help."

Nintendo Co.'s Wii game-console remote-controller is one exception of such sensors becoming a huge business success. But that's video-game entertainment, not social welfare.

George Demiris, associate professor at the School of Medicine at the University of Washington, in Seattle, says technology for the elderly is complex, requiring more than just coming up with sophisticated technology.

Getting too much data, for instance, could simply burden already overworked health care professionals, and overly relying on technology could even make the elderly miserable, reducing opportunities for them to interact with real people, he said.

"Having more data alone does not mean we will have better care for older adults," Demiris said in an e-mail.

"We can have the most sophisticated technology in place, but if the response at the other end is not designed to address what the data show in a timely and efficient way, the technology itself is not useful," he said.

Book by Japan man accused of killing Briton sells well

日本的 英國英文教師謀殺者的"潛逃回憶錄" 賣10萬本


日本的 英國英文教師謀殺者的"潛逃回憶錄" 賣10萬本

Book by Japan man accused of killing Briton sells well

Reuters - ‎2011年2月22日‎
Tatsuya Ichihashi after being caught following more than two years on the run, during which he had plastic surgery. By Chiaki Kawase TOKYO (Reuters Life!) - A book by a Japanese man accused of killing a British English teacher in a 2007 crime that ...
---

Japanese Man Accused of Murdering Briton Publishes Memoir

NTDTV - ‎2011年2月22日‎
The Japanese man accused of killing a British English teacher in 2007 has returned to the limelight again. Tatsuya Ichihashi's book, entitled "Until I Got Arrested: A Memoir of the Missing 2 years and 7 months", has lined bookstores across Japan ...

---

Book by Japan man accused of killing Briton sells well

CNBC.com - ‎2011年2月22日‎
TOKYO (Reuters Life!) - A book by a Japanese man accused of killing a British English teacher in a 2007 crime that riveted Japan and how he evaded capture by police for years is selling well less than a month after publication. ...

2011年2月25日 星期五

日本語の近代

『日本語の近代』/日本近代国语批判作/ 小森 陽一

這是了解日本文化的重要入門書
它給我們一重要的課題去探討我們的"國語"之成立過程和歷史發展


『日本語の近代』(岩波書店 2000年)/日本近代国语批判
作者:(日)小森阳一 著,陈多友
小森 陽一こもり よういち,1953年5月14日-),東京都出身的日本文學學者。日本全國「9條之會」(「九條の會」)事務局長。東京大學大學院(研究生院的日本語)總合文化研究科・教養學部教授。專攻是近代日本文學、結構主義符號論(構造主義記號論)。天皇制廢止論者。
小森阳一(1953-),日本著作批评家,东京大学教授,著有《作为结构的叙事》、《作为文本的故事》、《日本近代国语批判》、《后殖民》、《天皇的玉音放送 村上春树论 等著作。

出 版 社:吉林人民出版社

出版时间:2004-8-1



日 本学者罕有会得到中国知识人的热烈喝彩的,小 森阳一却是个例外。他对日语民族主义“忤逆式”的批判;对多种领域——语言学、历史学、思想史、国语学等等决定性的置换;从国语视角对日本现代化的全盘考 量,都引发了国内知识界的强烈共鸣和思考,而这一切,都在本书中的文字得到了见证。



出版說明: ......作為讀者 應該進行辨別和持審慎的批評態度
译者序
一 发现“日语”
1 “言”与“书”之间
2 “清朝考证学”与“国学”的方法
二 近代民族国家与“日语”
1 作为新型媒体的演说
2 演说与翻译
3 报纸与自由民权运动
4 日本旁听记录方法的出现
三 天皇的“日语”
1 作为文本的《军人诏救》
2 从《军人诏敕》到《教育诏敕》
3 “臣民”意识与殖民地
四 言文一致的幻想
1 “国字”改良问题
2 小说与“言文一致”
五 战争与“日语”
1 “国家”与“国语”
2 “国语”的凝聚力
六 殖民地占领与近代日本文学的成立
1 台湾的殖民地化与“日语”
2 “文学”的“日语”
3 “叙述部分”与“台词”的分离
七 “标准语”称霸
1 书写声音
2 普选与圆本
3 阶层化“日语”
4 殖民地“日语
八 战败后的反复”
1 “当用汉字”与“现代假名用法”
2 战后“圆本热”与“国民文学论争”
作者后记

2011年2月24日 星期四

Kamakura: A 400-year tradition of snow houses

BY YOICHI HARUYAMA STAFF WRITER

2011/02/24


photoKamakura snow houses in Yokote, Akita Prefecture (Masaru Komiyaji)photoCandles burn in small, 30-centimeter kamakura on a riverbank in Yokote, Akita Prefecture. (Masaru Komiyaji)

YOKOTE, Akita Prefecture--While snow houses can be seen in many northern municipalities, this city's 400-year-old tradition of worshipping the god of water in snow houses has taken the custom to another level.

One hundred full-sized snow houses, called "kamakura," transformed Yokote during its annual snow festival on Feb. 15 and 16.

The festival probably boasts the largest number of kamakura in Japan large enough to accommodate several people.

During the festival, local children sit on straw mats in the kamakura, calling "Agatte tanse" (Please come in) and "Ogande tanse" (Please pray to the god of water) to tourists.

The snow houses have a plaque devoted to the god of water and a collection box for monetary offerings. Visitors are entertained with rice cakes grilled on small portable stoves and "amazake," a sweet low-alcoholic beverage made from fermented rice.

The tradition is thought to have its roots in the Sagicho fire festival, which began in the lifetime of Sakanoue no Tamuramaro, a warrior in the Heian Period (794-1185). New Year's decorations would be burned at the festival, and it is believed that furnaces made of snow were built to contain the flames.

Yokote, located in an inland basin that experiences heavy snowfall in winter and little rain in summer, has also had ancient customs of worshipping the god of water in winter and praying for rainfall in midsummer.

It is believed that the two traditions combined about 400 years ago into the kamakura custom.

It was customary for every home in Yokote to make its own kamakura from the Meiji Era (1868-1912) to the early Showa Era (1926-1989). After World War II, fear of accidents and the need to avoid obstructing traffic made the custom a more regulated affair.

Today, the full-sized kamakura for the snow festival are the work of experts.

The city held its first snow festival in 1954, introducing a "model house" with a 5-meter diameter. The size and shape of snow houses had varied substantially until then. The standard size was later reduced to a diameter of 4 meters and a height of 3 meters.

First robot marathon kicks off in Osaka, Japan

Robots compete in the marathon in Osaka Japan on 24 February 2011 Organisers say the race is a test of durability not speed

Related Stories

Five knee-high androids have crossed the starting line in the world's first marathon for two-legged robots.

The contest is being held in the Japanese city of Osaka.

The contestants are expected to take four days to complete the course, which involves 423 laps of an indoor track.

Operators are allowed to change the robots' batteries and motors but if the machines fall over they must get up by themselves.

The race is being organised by local authorities and a local robotics firm, which hopes the marathon will become an international event in the future.

Spectators turned out on Thursday to watch the start of the robots' 26-mile (42km) journey.

The toy-sized contestants waved and limbered up before the race got under way.

Organisers say they expect the race to be won not by the fastest robot but by the one that can withstand the most wear and tear.

2011年2月20日 星期日

Saidai-ji Eyo Hadaka Matsuri

Men fight for amulet, title of luckiest guy

BY TSUTOMU MIYATAKE STAFF WRITER

2011/02/21


photoSwarms of men dressed in loincloths crowd the grounds of the Saidai-ji temple in Okayama on Saturday in an annual festival. (Masanori Takahashi)photoWomen purify themselves in cold water to pray for the safety of participants in the Saidai-ji Eyo festival. (Masanori Takahashi)

OKAYAMA--Imagine trying to grab a stray banknote dropped in a jam-packed train before one of the other commuters snatches it and bolts from the car onto the platform.

Place that situation in a somber temple setting and have the contestants--all male--stripped down to loincloths. Now replace the banknote with a sacred wooden amulet that supposedly brings the bearer good fortune for the year.

The annual Saidai-ji Eyo hadaka matsuri (nudity festival), a ritual said to have originated in the Muromachi Period (1338-1573), was held Saturday night at the Saidai-ji Kannon-in temple in Okayama's Higashi Ward.

Thousands of men dressed in skimpy traditional undergarments packed into the temple grounds and grappled for a pair of "shingi" (sacred pieces of wood), each measuring about 20 centimeters long, and tossed from the window of the temple's main altar.

According to local belief, those who manage to get their hands on the wooden amulet and race out of the temple's precincts will be blessed with good fortune for the rest of the year.

In the evening, men began to throng the temple, and by the time the treasured pieces of wood were tossed out of the window, the men were packed like sardines in the 15-meter by nine-meter plaza in front of the main altar.


裸祭在日本新春期間並不罕見(其實有點誇大,因為參加者都穿著纏腰布),其中最特出的是在岡山市西大寺舉行的裸祭。近萬名幾乎全裸的男士在嚴寒的冬天赤 .

Saidai-ji Eyo Hadaka Matsuri
(Naked Festival at Saidai-ji Temple)

A mysterious and exciting night festival.
Almost fully-naked men compete for good luck charms.

Date:Third Saturday of February
Place:Saidai-ji Temple,
City:Saidaiji-naka, Okayama Prefecture

One of the three most eccentric festivals of Japan. Nine thousand men wearing only loincloths struggle fiercely with one another over a pair of lucky sacred sticks measuring 4 cm in diameter and 20 cm in length, thrown into the crowd by the priest from a window 4 m up. Anyone who luckily gets hold of the shingi and thrusts them upright in a wooden measuring box known as a masu which is heaped with rice is called the lucky man, and is blessed with a year of happiness. The other lucky items are bundles of willow strips, and although 100 of these are thrown into the crowd, it is not an easy task to catch them.

The origins of this festival date back 500 years when worshippers competed to receive paper talismans called Go-o thrown by the priest. These paper talismans were tokens of the completion of New Year ascetic training by the priests. As those people receiving these paper talismans had good things happen to them, the number of people requesting them increased year by year. However, as paper was easily torn, the talismans were changed to the wooden ofuda that we know today.

Shouting out 'Wasshoi! Wasshoi!' the almost fully naked men approach the precincts. Although this festival takes place in the cold season, the fervor of the men waiting impatiently is so strong that they seem to have difficulty breathing, which is why water is splashed over them. Precisely at midnight, the lights are turned off all at once, the sacred sticks are thrown into the crowd, and the vehement rush to grab the sticks starts. Even if someone is lucky enough to get hold of the sacred sticks, they are quickly snatched away by others, almost like a rugby game. Spectators usually crowd around the participants within the precincts of the shrine to experience all the thrills and excitement of the action. But if you wish to look on safely, there are seats available, though you have topay for them.

On the day of the festival, prior to the main event, there is a Hadaka Matsuri from 18:00 when primary school boys compete for rice cakes and cylindrical treasures.

2011年2月19日 星期六

With Whaling Ships Under Attack, Japan Will Recall Fleet


Simon Ager/Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, via Associated Press

An environmentalist aimed a slingshot to unleash red paint at the Japanese whaling ship Nisshin Maru in the Antarctic Ocean.


TOKYO — Japan will cut short this year’s annual whale hunt in the Antarctic Ocean after obstruction by an environmental group largely prevented its ships from killing whales, the government said Friday.

The Agriculture Ministry, which runs Japan’s widely criticized research whaling program, said harassment by the group, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, had kept its catch far below its annual target of whales. A spokesman for the ministry said on Friday that 170 minke whales and two fin whales had been caught this season, far below the annual targets of 850 minke and 50 fin.

The recall of Japan’s fleet is the first time that environmentalists have succeeded in cutting short the annual hunts, which Japan says are necessary for scientific research. Critics say the hunts are an effort to evade a global moratorium on commercial whaling.

Friday’s announcement was welcomed by Sea Shepherd, which is based in Washington State. In a statement on its Web site, the group said three of its ships would remain in the Southern Ocean to “escort” the Japanese fleet northward.

In recent years, Sea Shepherd has sent ships to the Antarctic to block Japan’s whaling fleet, turning the hunts into a game of cat-and-mouse that has received increasing media attention. The environmentalists try to block the Japanese by tangling the ships’ propellers with ropes or putting their own vessels in between the whalers and their quarry.

The ministry said the group had harassed the Japanese ships by shining laser beams to temporarily blind crew members and throwing flares onto the whaling vessels. Agriculture Minister Michihiko Kano told reporters on Friday that the decision to recall the fleet was made to ensure the safety of the crews and ships.

The ministry said its whaling fleet had often been able to simply outrun the environmentalists. It could not do so this year because Sea Shepherd had faster vessels, the government said.

Japanese newspapers reported that there had been resistance to cutting short the hunt for fear of appearing to cave in to pressure from foreign environmentalists.

Domestic critics have called the program an anachronism, because private fishing companies have dropped out under international pressure and the demand for whale meat is declining. Few Japanese eat whale anymore, and the meat from the hunt has piled up in freezers, or been given to children for school lunches.

Makiko Inoue contributed reporting.

In rural Japan, a modest bid to preserve tradition

letter from NIYODOGAWA, Japan
A portable shrine has been carried up a mountain for the past 217 years to celebrate the Akiba Matsuri, which has come to resemble a wake.
A portable shrine has been carried up a mountain for the past 217 years to celebrate the Akiba Matsuri, which has come to resemble a wake. (Chico Harlan)


Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, February 19, 2011

Last weekend this dying town held a party, so its few remaining residents awoke at sunrise, headed up winding mountain roads and convened at the usual spot, where, for 217 years, they and their ancestors have gathered annually to celebrate their gods and assault their livers.

Many participants describe the Akiba Matsuri as the highlight of the year, and it combines the best elements of a holiday, a circus performance and a frat party. But lately, it has also come to resemble a wake. Niyodogawa, like so many places in rural Japan, is shrinking and aging, doomed by its demographics. Half the local population is 65 or older. This year, one local high school will graduate a class of six. No private companies offer jobs, so young adults face what amounts to mandatory banishment.

Viewed from up close, at least, Japan's great rural-to-urban migration - hastened by two lost decades of economic stagnation - carries the weight of a terminal condition, and those in Niyodogawa no longer talk about solutions or reversals. There is only a dull ache, with a town in consensus that its future isn't really a future. "I wish I could say there was hope," Niyodogawa school superintendent Toshumitsu Ono said, "but if I answer honestly I do not see it."

The Akiba Matsuri festival fits into this only because it's the one thing in Niyodogawa (pop. 6,868 - after nine deaths and one birth in December 2010) that hasn't yet changed. For some, this delivers a sense of pride: Just look at what the town still has. For others, it invokes dread: Just look at what the town stands to lose.

More than anything, though, the festival has assumed a central role in Niyodogawa's modest attempts for preservation. Fathers teach their sons about the elaborate traditions, with this inherent message: Even when you live somewhere else one day, come here once a year to these mountains in Southwest Japan and keep this tradition going.

The Akiba Matsuri festival has been going on for so long that much of its logic has been lost. Men don feline costumes and hideous masks; children dance with one another, thrashing real swords; about a dozen men haul a portable shrine up a mountain, nearly collapsing at points along the way from exhaustion; six particularly acrobatic honorees march along the same path while dancing with 25-foot poles, made all the more unwieldy by tufts of rooster feathers on one end. Occasionally, the men toss these poles back and forth, their failure to maim one another all the more impressive when one considers the numerous sake shots they took well before lunchtime.

But already, the Akiba Matsuri festival has had to adjust merely to remain the same; now even former residents are called on to take part. Participation used to be restricted to those who lived in a mountainside town called Beshi. Today, Beshi is a rubblelike collection of 60-year-old wooden houses; it has 100 residents and no children. Some 80 percent of those residents, municipal officials say, are elderly people living alone.

In the past 23 years, as Beshi turned from a town into a ghost town, the Akiba Matsuri has gradually widened the radius from which it allows participants, and this has corresponded with changes at the municipal level. Six years ago, three towns were folded into one, creating Niyodogawa. This year, one Niyodogawa elementary school had two children in its second-grade class, and more elementary schools will soon merge. Soon-to-close Niyodo High School failed this year to field its usual softball team, in large part because its total school enrollment could scarcely cover the infield. For those who grow up in Niyodogawa, then, the festival itself - requiring six practice days spread throughout the year - is a prominent extracurricular activity. It organizes the way you grow up.

You dance and carry a sword at age 8. Maybe you play the piccolo at 13 and the taiko, or drums, at 17. If you're lucky, blessed with bulging forearms and a good sense of balance, perhaps you'll be a pole-tosser at age 26, and you'll be cheered like a rock star by the 10,000 attendees, and you'll be interviewed by the local television station.

This year former Niyodogawa residents returned from Tokyo, from Yokohama, from Osaka. Next year, Supika Fujihara figures, he'll probably return, too - as a former resident. Fujihara, 18, will graduate from high school in March. He wanted to find a job in Niyodogawa, but he also wanted a job in the car industry, which doesn't exist here. So next month he'll move - reluctantly - to Nagoya, where he'll manufacture clutch and transmission parts.

"I've been really worried about going to live in Nagoya," Fujihara said, "and so many people have been coming up to me, giving advice. . . . Everybody here looks out for you."

Fujihara remembers festivals going back to the time he was 6 years old. This year, he played the drums. His oldest brother had a starring role as a pole-tosser. He felt many emotions while out on the mountains, so he tried to think about the advice so many kept giving him. As Fujihara put it, "People say, 'No matter where you go, just please come back.' "

2011年2月18日 星期五

インド・タイで代理出産、日本人不妊夫婦が急増



図:  拡大  

 インドやタイで代理出産を望む日本人の不妊夫婦が急増し、2008年以降、少なくとも30組が依頼、10人以上の赤ちゃんが誕生していることがわかった。米国より安く済み、日本人向け業者がこの1、2年に相次いで、あっせんを始めた影響が大きい。

 一方で、代理母は貧しく、妊娠中は集団生活を求められる例が多く、倫理面から批判もある。インド、タイ両国政府は、代理出産をめぐるトラブルを避けようと、法整備に乗り出した。

 インド、タイの医療機関やあっせん業者に取材すると、08年以降、インドで20組以上、タイで10組以上の夫婦が代理出産を依頼し、計10人以上が生ま れていた。夫婦の受精卵を代理母に移植するほか、第三者からの提供卵子と夫の精子で受精卵を作り、代理母に移す例も多かった。

 これまで、日本人が代理出産を依頼するのは米国が中心だった。インド、タイで日本人の依頼が増えた背景には、08年にインドで代理出産で生まれた日本人の赤ちゃんが無国籍状態となり一時出国できなくなった問題が、大きく報道されたことがある。

 これをきっかけに「安価なアジアで代理出産が可能」と知られるようになり、インド向けの3社、タイ向けの2社のあっせん業者が、主にこの1~2年の間に東京やバンコクで取り扱いを始めた。現地の診療所と提携、代理母の紹介、出産後の法的手続き、通訳を代行している。

 費用は、代理母への報酬も含め500万円前後のところが多く、米国の3分の1程度で済む。

 代理母への報酬は、両国とも日本円で平均60万円程度。代理母は経済的に貧しい女性が多く、インドでは5~10年分の年収に当たるという。また「健康な子どもを手渡せるように」と、宿泊所での集団生活を求められ、食事や行動も管理する施設が多い。

  インド、タイ両国とも現時点では代理出産を規制する法律はないが、いずれも昨年、合法化を目指し法案が提出された。インドの法案では、依頼人の出身国が 代理出産を認めるという証明書の提出を求めている。日本は認めていないため、法施行後は日本人は依頼できなくなる可能性がある。タイでは金銭のやりとりは 禁止する方向で調整中だ。

 日本では代理出産を規制する法律は無いが、日本産科婦人科学会が指針で禁止している。しかし海外でのあっせんに関する規定はなく、強制力もない。日本学 術会議は08年、第三者の体を生殖の手段として使うことは問題があると、代理出産を原則禁止する報告書をまとめた。(岡崎明子)

2011年2月16日 星期三

1,000-year-old statue uncovered/ Yakushi-ji (薬師寺)

Yakushiji

Yakushi-ji - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

- [ 翻譯此頁 ]
Yakushi-ji (薬師寺) is one of the most famous imperial and ancient Buddhist temples in Japan, located in Nara. The temple is the headquarters of the Hossō ...

1,000-year-old statue uncovered

BY AYA NARIKAWA STAFF WRITER

2011/02/16


photoThe 11-headed Bodhisattva before the paper was removed (Provided by Yakushiji temple)photoRestored Sho-Kannon Bodhisattva (Takuya Isayama)

NARA--Repair work on a Buddhist statue at Yakushiji temple has uncovered a 1,000-year-old treasure, temple officials said.

The 53-centimeter-tall statue of "Juichimen Kannon," or an 11-headed Bodhisattva of compassion, was believed to date from the mid-Edo Period (1603-1867). But researchers found that it was created by using paper that covered--and concealed--another statue from the mid-Heian Period (794-1185), the officials said Monday.

The statue had long been stored in the temple's treasure house in this ancient capital city with its arms and other parts broken apart.

After the statue was sent for repairs in 2007, the old "washi" paper covering the statue was removed, and another image emerged with quite a different head shape, and only one head.

Examinations at the Nara National Museum and at Bijyutsuin (Laboratory for Conservation of National Treasures of Japan) showed that the inside statue, made of Japanese cypress, was of another Bodhisattva of compassion, known as "Sho-Kannon."

The inside statue's features, including its waist, which is twisted a bit to the left, were common among Heian Period statues, researchers said.

They said covering Buddhist images with paper was often done during the Edo Period to add color, but that it was very rare for a different, older statue to be found inside.

"They may have turned an old Buddhist image into a new one for worship, in the same way that they used old building materials to construct a new building," said Yoshihiro Suzuki, a researcher at the museum. "It probably was a fashion of the times or an individual's own preference that a different statue was created."

The restored Sho-Kannon image will be on display at a special exhibition of Yakushiji's cultural properties at the temple's Tokyo branch in the Gotanda area from Feb. 26 to March 6.

The exhibition is supported by The Asahi Shimbun.

2011年2月15日 星期二

Life ever so sweet for Japan's chocolatiers

Life ever so sweet for Japan's chocolatiers

BY MITSUKO NAGASAWA STAFF WRITER

2011/02/15


photoYoshiaki Uezaki with his creation in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture. Uezaki will represent Japan at the World Chocolate Masters 2011 competition in Paris in October. (Gen Hashimoto)

Japanese chocolatier Yoshiaki Uezaki smiled as he presented his all-chocolate Valentine's Day creation. Amid curled red ribbons, pillars, foundations and flourishes, a winking white rabbit held a heart--but who would the bunny give it to?

Uezaki, 36, will represent Japan in the World Chocolate Masters 2011, a culinary competition devoted to the art of chocolate set for Paris in October.

Each entrant will present a "piece montee," a decorative confectionary centerpiece. These beautiful sugar sculptures have held down pride of place at formal banquets since the 19th century.

Experts say that they can gauge confectioners' skill with chocolate, a material that requires delicate temperature control, from the shiny texture of their creations.

Their works must also present a story to viewers. For example, Uezaki wants viewers to wonder who the rabbit is going to give the chocolate heart to.

The competition for World Chocolate Masters is held every other year.

Japan is already a big presence at the competition. Japanese teams won the last two competitions in 2007 and 2009, becoming the leader of a rising force of Asian confectioners pitted against European rivals with a much longer history in the field.

Uezaki works for Patisserie Kosai as chief confectioner in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture.

He recalled a man who brought in an empty ring box and asked him to create a ring of candy to put in the box. He said he wanted to give it to his girlfriend.

Another customer, a woman, asked Uezaki to make the chocolate in her place before Valentine's Day, saying that it shouldn't be too elaborate.

"The best part of my job is that I can, through confectionery, be involved in my customers' important events," he said.

Uezaki said competitions help him polish his skills, enabling him to meet all sorts of unusual requests from customers.

2011年2月10日 星期四

樂恕人拼命吃河豚

樂恕人的 《懷人紀事集》

我不認為樂恕人先生是名家 不過他的 《懷人紀事集》倒該存一 "目錄"

自序
前部 懷人
抗戰期中的 蔣委員長3
三十載親炙懷右老 17
革命老人丁石生 54
敬悼潘公展師 62
痛惜趙免敏恒師 72
高士彭醇士 81
憶陳辭修將軍 91
懷念蕭同茲先生99
哀黃公達 105
痛悼丁策 114
天末懷諸將 132

後部 紀事

敵友滄桑 163
元老大師手腳情誼174
中國的劍俠 184
日本的詩吟劍舞 194
中元節在日本 206
自由中國樂事多 215
拼命吃河豚 235
書緣與書香 241
國劇往那裡走 257
中央日報與我 267

JAPANESE HOME COOKING: Boiled and seasoned spinach warms you up

JAPANESE HOME COOKING: Boiled and seasoned spinach warms you up

2011/02/10



photoBoiled and seasoned spinach in gravylike sauce (Provided by Katsumi Oyama)

A simple way to enjoy vegetables is "ohitashi" style, in which the ingredients are boiled and then drenched in a seasoned stock. This dish warms even more when made with a thickened gravylike sauce.

"Ohitashi should taste crisp in the summer, but chewy and soft in winter. The desired texture changes according to the season," says cuisine expert Tatsuo Saito, who selected spinach for this recipe because it is in season.

A key to making a delicious sauce is to stir-fry the "chirimenjako" (tiny salted and dried baby fish) until they sizzle. The dish may be served with "yakimochi" grilled rice cakes.

INGREDIENTS (serves four)

1 bunch spinach

1 pack enoki mushrooms

20 grams chirimenjako

2 Tbsp katakuriko starch

1 Tbsp sesame oil

Pinch of chili powder (ichimi-togarashi)

Sauce ingredients: (200 cc water, 1 Tbsp sake, 2 Tbsp sweet mirin sake, 1 Tbsp light soy sauce)

METHOD

Trim off spinach roots, then wash leaves thoroughly. Make an incision in the circular base so it cooks quickly. Cut to 5 cm lengths. Separate stems and leaves. Trim off enoki base, cut in half and loosen mushroom parts.

Bring a generous amount of water to a boil, adding 2 tsp salt per liter of water. Add spinach stems first, then leaves. Stir. When the spinach turns bright green, add enoki mushrooms. Once the vegetables become soft, quickly remove and place on a sieve. Drain off water.

Heat sesame oil in a frying pan and stir-fry chirimenjako until aroma rises. Add sauce ingredients. Boil about 2 minutes, and then add vegetables.

Skim off scum when the mixture comes to a boil again. Make space in the center of the pan with a ladle; slowly pour in starch that has been mixed with 2 Tbsp water. Boil thoroughly until sauce thickens.

Sprinkle with chili powder to taste.

* * *

From The Asahi Shimbun's Okazu Renshucho column

2011年2月9日 星期三

日本的債務惡夢

2011年02月09日 06:59 AM

清醒认识日本债务问题
Press pause on Japan’s debt disaster movie




Standard & Poor’s downgrade of Japan’s credit rating raises a disturbing prospect. Is this stage two of the global credit crisis, featuring a chain of sovereign defaults among the largest economies? No less a figure than Kaoru Yosano, Japan’s new minister for economic and fiscal affairs, seems to think so. “We face a dreadful dream,” he told the Financial Times last week.

标准普尔(Standard & Poor's)下调日本信用评级之举,引发了令人担忧的前景。这是不是全球信贷危机的第二阶段——其特征是一连串规模最大的经济体出现主权违约?日本经济 财政大臣与谢野馨(Kaoru Yosano)如此重量级的人物似乎这么认为。他上周告诉英国《金融时报》:“我们面临着一个噩梦”。

After the disasters of 2008, such fears are understandable, but misguided. The risk is they lead to policies that, far from solving the world’s economic problems, make them a whole lot worse.

在2008年的灾难之后,这样的担忧可以理解,但却被误导了。它们有可能促成这样的政策:非但无法解决世界各种经济问题,反而使其变得更为糟糕。

The case for the prosecution is simple. Japan’s ratio of government debt to gross domestic product is above 100 per cent and shows no sign of declining. The political system seems gridlocked, with a succession of uninspiring leaders coming and going with bewildering rapidity.

标普调降日本评级的理由十分简单。该国政府债务占国内生产总值(GDP)的比重已超过100%,且没有下降的迹象。政治体系似乎已陷入僵局,一连串让人提不起精神的领导人走马灯似的来了又去。

On this reading, Greece and Ireland were just the hors d’oeuvre. The main course is yet to come. Japan is still the world’s third-largest economy, and the aftershock from a bond market crash would be like the fall of Lehman cubed.

就此而言,希腊与爱尔兰仅仅是开胃小菜。主菜尚未呈上。日本仍然是全球第三大经济体,其债券市场崩塌的余震,冲击力将会与雷曼(Lehman)倒闭一样。

But a key piece is missing from this picture. Unlike the spendthrifts of euroland’s periphery, Japan is entirely self-financing. The state may be in deficit, but the cash-rich private sector saves enough to cover domestic needs and, in addition, to export capital equivalent to about 3 per cent of output every year. The result is a vast nest-egg of overseas assets.

但这幅图景缺了一块关键的内容。与挥霍无度的欧洲外围国家不同,日本在融资上完全是自力更生。政府或许是处于赤字状态,但现金富裕的私人部门有足够的储蓄满足国内需求,而且每年还可输出相当于产出3%左右的资本。其结果就是巨大的海外资产储备。

In this respect Japan resembles not Greece or Ireland but another small European country. Belgium has sported a government debt-to-GDP ratio of more than 100 per cent for the best part of two decades. At the same time, it has been in current account surplus year after year, 2008 excepted.

在这方面,日本可不像希腊或爱尔兰,而更像另外一个欧洲小国。过去20年的大部分时间里,比利时政府债务占GDP比重都超过100%。但同期内,除2008年以外的每一年,该国的经常账户都处于盈余状态。

Citizens of deficit countries such as Greece, Ireland and Portugal – or indeed the US and the UK – are in the reverse position. They must pay dividends and interest to foreigners, including Belgians and Japanese, who own their liabilities.

那些赤字国家(包括希腊、爱尔兰与葡萄牙,甚至英美等国)的公民,则处于相反的境况。他们必须向持有本国债务的外国人(包括比利时人和日本人)支付红利和利息。

But surely such dizzying levels of government debt are unsustainable? If so, nobody has told the markets. As Japan’s debt has snowballed, the interest rate demanded by investors has fallen ever lower. Last year, as yields on Greek debt soared into double digits, Japan’s 10-year bond yields plunged to a paltry 0.8 per cent.

但这种令人眩目的政府债务水平肯定无法持续吗?如果是这样,没有人告诉过市场。在日本债务越滚越大的同时,投资者要求的利率却不断下降。去年,当希腊债券的收益飙升至两位数的时候,10年期日本债券的收益率却降至微不足道的0.8%。

Rather than a “dreadful dream” Japan’s leaders face an enticing reality. They have the opportunity to issue more and more bonds at the lowest interest rates seen since the Babylonians invented accounting.

日本领导人面对的并非“噩梦”,而是一个迷人的现实。他们有机会以巴比伦人发明会计制度以来最低的利率,发行越来越多的债券。

The smart move would be to copy Britain’s funding of the Napoleonic wars and issue perpetual bonds. That would make explicit what everyone knows. Government debt is never going to be “paid back” – just rolled over ad infinitum. As long as the interest payments can be comfortably serviced, no problem need arise.

聪明的做法将是效仿英国对拿破仑战争的融资,发行永久债券。这将让所有人都知道的东西明确化。政府债务永远不会得到“偿还”——它只会越滚越多、直至无穷。只要能够轻松地支付利息,就不会出什么问题。

The way to ensure this happens is not by demand-shrinking austerity measures but by durable economic growth – which requires a combination of monetary and fiscal stimulus and structural reform. A higher consumption tax, Mr Yosano’s favoured remedy, would probably mean less consumption. This is what happened in 1997, in spite of the finance ministry’s Pollyanna-ish view that consumers would be enthused by fiscal rectitude and go on a spending spree. Instead, a deep recession eroded tax revenues further and left an even bigger budget deficit.

确保上述情况发生的办法,不是通过收缩需求的紧缩措施,而是通过持久的经济增长——这 需要将财政与货币刺激措施和结构性改革结合起来。与谢野馨所青睐的提高消费税的举措,可能意味着减少消费。这种情况在1997年曾经出现过——尽管这位财 政大臣盲目乐观地认为,消费者将受到财政紧缩的鼓舞,继续大肆支出。相反,深层衰退进一步侵蚀了税收收入,并造成了越来越大的预算赤字。

The reality is that in ageing, high-saving countries such as Japan and Belgium there is consistent demand for low-risk financial assets such as government bonds. Private-sector assets and public-sector liabilities are two sides of the same Godzilla-sized balance sheet.

现实情况是:在日本、比利时等人口日益老龄化的高储蓄国家,对政府债券等低风险金融资产的需求持续存在。私人部门资产与公共部门债务,是同一张庞大资产负债表的两面。

Upsetting this delicate equilibrium could have dire international consequences. If major surplus countries squeeze domestic demand, there is no hope of righting the global imbalances that contributed to the credit crisis. More trouble will follow.

打乱这种微妙的平衡,可能会产生可怕的国际性影响。如果各大顺差国限制国内需求,纠正引发了信贷危机的全球失衡就没有指望。更多的麻烦将会接踵而至。

With the deficit countries having used most of their policy bullets, the next phase is likely to feature protectionism, a rollback of globalisation and a rise in nationalist and nativist political movements – a prospect as stomach-churning as a sushi waffle.

考虑到赤字国家的政策“弹药”已经快打光,下一阶段可能主要以贸易保护主义、全球化逆转、民族主义与本土主义政治运动的兴起为特征——这样的前景简直与寿司华夫饼一样令人作呕。

Japan needs to forget about the credit agencies, which have not had a terribly good track record recently, and concentrate on exiting deflation. That’s the only way to wake up from Mr Yosano’s “dreadful dream”.

日本必须忘记那些信用评级机构——最近它们自己的记录也好不到哪儿去——专注于摆脱滞胀。这是唯一从与谢野馨所说的“噩梦”中苏醒过来的方式。


译者/何黎

陳之邁《旅日見聞》

陳之邁《旅日見聞》等

陳之邁, 1908-1978. - 淡江大學圖書館館藏查詢系統書刊名清單 12本


維基百科,自由的百科全書

陳之邁1908年8月23日1978年11月8日),筆名微塵廣東番禺人,出生於天津,中華民國外交官。

陳之邁1928年從清華大學畢業後赴美國留學,獲俄亥俄大學文學士、哥倫比亞大學哲學博士學位。回國後曾任教於清華大學、北京大學南開大學中央政治學校西南聯合大學等校,並加入了胡適蔣廷黻創立的獨立評論社抗日戰爭期間,曾任教育部參事、行政院政務處參事等職。1944年出任中華民國駐美國大使館公使銜參事,後又歷任中國出席聯合國善後救濟總署副代表、聯合國糧農組織國際緊急糧食委員會中國代表、駐美國大使館公使等職。1955年,出任中華民國駐菲律賓大使。1959年任中華民國駐澳大利亞大使,後兼駐紐西蘭大使。1966年調任駐日本大使,1969年又任駐教廷大使,1971年兼任駐馬爾他大使。期間,教宗曾贈予其十字勳章。1978年回到台灣,任外交部顧問、國際關係研究所研究員,同年去世。
----


陳之邁《旅日見聞》目錄
奈良訪古 1
京都的皇居 21
京都的寺廟 35
東京的皇宮 49
日本皇室招待使節 59
東京的面貌 81
廣島的原爆 95
九州之旅 111
附錄
古代日本所崇仰的三十二位中國民名臣 123
長崎保存的國父一張照片 137
胡適之和諸橋轍次的筆談 141-151
(傳記文學》19689月號 133期)

2011年2月6日 星期日

私の履歴書(わたしのりれきしょ): 日本的人間群英錄



私の履歴書
(わたしのりれきしょ)は、日本経済新聞朝刊最終面(文化面)に掲載されている連載読み物である。1956年3月1日にスタート。第1回は鈴木茂三郎で、3月1日から7日にかけて連載された。当初は連載期間が1週間と短かったが、その後次第に長くなり、1987年からは毎月1ヶ月間(1日から末日)に渡って1人を取り上げるスタイルが定着。

私の履歴書 - Wikipedia

- [ 翻譯此頁 ]

日本大賣場大恩客: 中国人

アウトレットモール - Wikipedia

- [ 翻譯此頁 ]
アウトレットモール(Outlet mall または outlet centre)とは、1980年代にアメリカ合衆国で誕生した新しい流通業(小売業)の形態で、主にいわゆる「メーカー品」(通常、メーカーのブランド名を表示したもの)や、「高級ブランド品」(通常、
百貨店なと ...



アウトレットモール多すぎ? 生き残りへ頼みは中国人客

2011年2月6日15時6分


写真:バーゲン期間中の御殿場プレミアム・アウトレットは大勢の人でにぎわっていた=静岡県御殿場市バーゲン期間中の御殿場プレミアム・アウトレットは大勢の人でにぎわっていた=静岡県御殿場市

図:  拡大  

 消費者の低価格志向を追い風に拡大してきたアウトレットモール。業界内では今、国内の施設数が飽和に近づきつつあるとの見方が出ている。そこで頼みにするのが中国人客。誘致策を練るほか、中国に進出する動きも出始めた。

 静岡県御殿場市の「御殿場プレミアム・アウトレット」。1月下旬の日曜日に訪れると、大勢の買い物客でにぎわっていた。雑貨品など200以上の店があ る。2000年夏の開業以来、2度の売り場面積の増床を重ね、その面積は倍増した。運営会社の広報担当の角田智恵美さんは「国内マーケット自体がゆるやか に縮小する中、中国などからの観光客をいかに呼び込むかがカギを握る」と話す。

 今は中国の春節にあたり、中国人観光客も多い。高額商品をまとめ買いする富裕層も珍しくないため、施設側は少しでも多くの客をつかもうと、場内で外国人 向けの割引クーポンや来場プレゼント袋を配る。中国語対応スタッフも1人から3人に増員。施設を案内して買い物のサポート役を担っている。敷地内には旧正 月を祝う中国語や英語の看板、ポスターも増やした。

 東京・台場の商業施設「ヴィーナスフォート」のアウトレットでも5日、中国語の館内放送が響き渡っていた。あちこちに「免税」「日本製」の文字が踊る。

 93年に日本で最初とされるアウトレットモールが埼玉県ふじみ野市に誕生した。業界では「大都市から車で90分以内の数百万人商圏」が狙いといわれ、郊 外や高速道路のインターチェンジ沿いなどで、続々とオープンしてきた。駅前で小規模の「都市型」アウトレットも登場している。全国で約40施設が営業。矢 野経済研究所は、10年度の売り上げ規模は6188億円にのぼると推計する。

 だが、「良い土地は限られ、オーバーストアに近づいている」(大手運営会社)。大型ショッピングセンターとの競争も激しく、08年には大阪府貝塚市、 09年には千葉県長柄町で、閉鎖に追い込まれた。そこで業界が手を伸ばそうとしているのが、中国からの観光客というわけだ。

 中国人をターゲットにした施設建設の動きもある。三菱地所グループは、成田空港近くに13年春の開業を予定している。成田空港からは車で15分程度。「これからも増え続けると予想される中国人観光客を逃す手はない」(運営会社のチェルシー・ジャパン)という。

 さらに三井不動産は今夏、海外では初となるアウトレットモールを中国浙江省寧波市に出店する。

 30年前から三井が全国で展開している大型商業施設「ららぽーと」や、国内のアウトレットで培った運営ノウハウを生かす。商業施設本部長の飯沼喜章常務 は「国内では一服感があるが、中国市場は未開拓。我々の経験を試してみたい」と話している。成功すれば、他社でもアウトレットで進出する動きが強まる可能 性がある。

    ◇

 〈アウトレットモール〉売れ残ったブランド品などを安く販売する店舗を、一堂に集めた商業施設。1980年代に米国で誕生したといわれる。高級ブランド の衣料品などが安く買えるため人気を集める。三井不動産や三菱地所系のほか、イオンも埼玉県越谷市で今春にも開業。地方では地元資本の施設もある。

 最近では苦境が続く地方のテーマパークからの転身例なども目立つ。三井不動産が「倉敷チボリ公園」(岡山県倉敷市)の跡地で、今年冬に新設予定。集客が 見込めるうえ、雇用創出にも期待する。ハウステンボス(長崎県佐世保市)も、アウトレットの誘致を打ち出している。中国や台湾、香港からの買い物客を呼び 込みたいという。


The Silent Traveller in Japan [Hardcover...

李南衡: 日本通/ The Silent Traveller in Japan [Hardcover...

2011年2月3日 星期四

外國遊客訪日:861.2萬人次 (2010)

外國遊客訪日本人次去年刷新紀錄

日本東京商店一位身穿和服的女士在派發廣告吸引中國遊客

日本觀光局分析相信,去年7月日本放寬中國遊客個人訪日簽證的條件,是激發中國遊客增加的原因。

日本政府觀光局周三(1月26日)發表去年訪日外國遊客人次的統計說明,去年全年訪日外國遊客達到861.2萬人次,比前年增加26.8%,刷新日本旅遊統計史上最高紀錄。

中國遊客大增

其中,中國遊客大幅增加了四成,達到141萬人次,不但創下中國遊客訪日人次的最高紀錄,而且牽引了外國遊客訪日人次增加。

日本觀光局分析相信,去年7月日本放寬中國遊客個人訪日簽證的條件,是激發中國遊客增加的原因。

觀光局也認為,日本加大在海外的旅遊宣傳則是訪日外國遊客增加的另一個原因。去年泰國、新加坡、馬來西亞和法國的訪日遊客人次也都刷新了最高紀錄。

期待經濟效果

日本外相前原誠司周一在國會發表外交演講時,重申了日本外交也存在推進觀光的方針。他還特別提起放寬對中國遊客發放簽證標準的政策,作為民主黨政權製造經濟效果的政績。

09年日本人國內旅遊和外國遊客在日本消費的經濟效果,合計共約2700億美元,由此創出旅行社、旅館等406萬人就業機會,政府稅收增加約490億美元。

日本百貨店等零售業紛紛表示,外國遊客中,亞洲遊客消費能力明顯較強,尤其來自中港台的華人遊客購買送親友的禮物特點鮮明。其中中國遊客可能因剛走出國門不久和國內經濟高增長等原因,更顯得腰纏萬貫,不時一擲千金,成為日本商人的重點「獵物」。

東京許多商店現在都有中文說明,不少線路的地鐵上也有了中文地名報站。

仍未達成目標

日本在前首相小泉純一郎政權的03年提出觀光立國的設想,06年定下每年遞增訪日外國遊客人次的目標。去年既定是1000萬人次,儘管訪日遊客人次刷新紀錄,但依然未達目標。

觀光廳的統計也說明,去年9月中日東海撞船事件影響兩國關係,10月以後中國遊客人次大幅減少。觀光廳相信,如果不是這個政治因素,中國遊客人次增長還更大。

觀光廳分析認為,目前中國遊客訪日旅遊趨勢有復蘇徵兆,期待春節假期真正成為復蘇的起點,以便日本今年實現1100萬人次的既定目標。

日本去年底有多個消息報道,外務省、觀光廳和警察廳等政府各部目前正在研究今年7月進一步放寬中國遊客訪日旅遊的條件,包括發放一年內多次往返旅遊簽證等措施。

中國朱鹮在日復蘇促發減藥種稻

䴉屬
澳洲白䴉
科學分類
界: 動物界 Animalia
門: 脊索動物門 Chordata
綱: 鳥綱 Aves
目: 鸛形目 Ciconiiformes
科: 䴉科 Threskiornithidae
亞科: 朱鷺亞科 Threskiornithinae
屬: 䴉屬 Threskiornis
J E Gray, 1842

中國朱鹮在日復蘇促發減藥種稻

小朱鹮--「新新」和「愛愛」

99年5月一對中國朱鹮孵育出第一隻日本朱鹮,全國轟動。這是2000年5月出生的兩隻小朱鹮--「新新」和「愛愛」。

日本新潟縣佐渡市最近向聯合國糧食及農業組織FAO申報成為「世界農業遺產」(GIAHS),以炫耀當地為保護珍稀動物朱鹮推廣的減農藥種稻農業。如果申報成功將成為日本首個世界農業遺產。

佐渡市隸屬日本的魚米之鄉新潟縣,但本身位於日本海與本土相望的一個島嶼,面積約855平方公里,人口約64000人,是新潟縣內盛產魚米的佼佼者。

朱鹮復蘇地

佐渡市近年多了一個引人矚目的焦點,那就是成為日本復興一級保護動物朱鹮的地區。

日本曾經從南到北都有朱鹮分佈,不過2003年最後一隻朱鹮死亡後宣告滅絕。日本一直不知道是什麼原因導致這種漂亮的吉祥鳥滅絕,但中國知道,而且成功保護到現在約760隻。

像中國贈借大熊貓的外交一樣,1998年中國國家主席江澤民訪日時宣佈贈送日本一對朱鹮「友友」和「洋 洋」。99年1月兩隻朱鹮抵達了佐渡市,隨之而來的還有中國養育朱鹮的專家常駐。中國專家用幾年時間訓練日本人工養育朱鹮,並揭開了日本朱鹮滅絕的謎:朱 鹮絕不能吃生長在施過農藥的水稻田裏的泥鰍。

99年5月一對中國朱鹮孵育出第一隻日本朱鹮,全國轟動。佐渡朱鹮保護中心從全國雪片般湧來的應徵小朱鹮名的信件中,決定了排位最高的取名「優優」。

為了防止近親交配,日本與中國交換朱鹮。日本朱鹮到去年12月為止,共有158隻,其中21隻在東京多摩動物園和石川縣動物園,其它都在08年起陸續放歸野生。為了避免朱鹮吃農藥水稻田裏的泥鰍,佐渡在放歸朱鹮野生前幾年就不得不開始推廣減農藥種稻。

復蘇後的課題

當地農民反對減農藥種稻的不少,因為在日本農民現在平均年齡66歲的現實中,減農藥就意味著增加人工除草、捉蟲等體力勞動負擔,而且隨著朱鹮增多,在稻田裏找泥鰍的朱鹮踩壞稻穗等,也開始成為農民新煩惱。

放歸野生的朱鹮也不全留在佐渡,目前在新潟縣本土和長野、富山、石川、福井、山形、秋田等縣都發現了飛來的朱鹮,使得減農藥種稻已成為日本全國的新農業課題。

農民能否配合這個難題,也許是促使政府推動佐渡市申報世界農業遺產的其中一個原因。

要農民配合創造適合朱鹮生存的環境,當然需要他們精神上有目標指引和激發榮耀意識,這與聯合國創設世界 遺產的本來目的也不矛盾。但作為日本生產高級大米的新潟和秋田等縣,種植減農藥水稻對產品、產量的影響是正面還是負面、增加體力負擔的農民今後能不能從米 價上獲得回報等等,都還是未知的結果。

楠木正成 Kusunoki Masashige

摂州路上 (頼山陽)
酒家粉壁映晴波。   酒家の粉壁は晴波に映じ
官道乾沙度淤河。   官道の乾沙 淤河を度る
風景依然人欲老。   風景依然として人 老いんと欲す
楠公墓下十経過。 

大楠公                 梁川星巖

豹死留皮豈偶然,
湊川遺蹟水連天。
人生有限名無盡,
楠氏精忠萬古傳。


          『日本外史』楠公の最期

くすのき‐まさしげ【楠木正成】

    [1294~1336]南北朝時代の武将。河内の土豪。後醍醐天皇の鎌倉幕府討伐計画に応じ、幕府軍を相手に奮戦。建武の中興の功績で河内の国守と守護を兼ね、和泉(いずみ)守護となった。のち、足利尊氏(あしかがたかうじ)と摂津湊川(みなとがわ)で戦い、敗死。大楠公(だいなんこう)





維基百科,自由的百科全書

Kusunoki Masashige.JPG
日語寫法
日語原文 楠木正成
假名 くすのき まさしげ
平文式羅馬字 Kusunoki Masashige
楠木正成(不明-1336年),幼名多聞丸明治時代起尊稱大楠公,為鎌倉幕府末期到南北朝時期著名武將。楠木正成一生竭力效忠後醍醐天皇,在湊川之戰陣歿。後世以其為忠臣與軍人之典範,被視為武神。原官位正五位,1880年追贈正一位。

目錄

[隱藏]

 經歷

楠木一脈源出以橘諸兄為始祖的橘氏,出生於河內國石川郡赤坂村(現大阪府南河內郡千早赤阪村)。根據江戶時代學者賴山陽日本外史的推測,楠木正成在永仁二年(1294年)出生。
元弘元年(1331年後醍醐天皇密謀剷除鎌倉幕府,不料計劃敗露,後醍醐天皇遂喬扮女裝帶著三神器逃出京都,號召各地豪強起兵勤王,開啟元弘之亂的序幕。楠木正成在下赤坂城起兵響應。
雖然後醍醐天皇很快兵敗,被流放隱岐島,楠木正成與護良親王仍展開抗戰,用巧妙的游擊戰法以小部隊死死拖住幕府六波羅探題主力大軍。在楠木正成死守千早城,利用游擊戰與幕府軍交鋒,成功擊退對手。1333年,後醍醐自隱岐島脫逃,幕府大將足利尊氏陣前倒戈,滅探題部隊。新田義貞亦乘機起兵關東,滅亡鎌倉幕府。
當後醍醐天皇實行建武新政時,楠木正成出任記錄所寄人、雜訴決斷所奉行人以及河內和泉守護。在建武新政期間,楠木正成獲得天皇信任,與結城親光名和長年千種忠顯合稱「三木一草」。
建武元年(1334年)冬,楠木正成出兵討伐北條氏的餘黨,護良親王乘機發動政變,試圖推翻天皇,但失敗被捕,之後楠木正成辭退多種建武新政的職務。
建武二年(1335年),足利尊氏反叛朝廷,楠木正成與新田義貞起兵討伐,新田義貞在箱根竹之下之戰戰敗,足利軍迫京都。但是不久之後,在北畠顯家的支援下,楠木正成奇蹟般地擊破足利大軍,守住京都。
1336年,足利尊氏在九州重整旗鼓,再次以大軍進逼京都。楠木正成建議遷都以疲敵軍,但是該計劃被後醍醐天皇否決。天皇命楠木正成聽從新田義貞的指揮迎戰足利軍。楠木正成明知此戰必敗但仍捨命出戰,率領少數親兵在湊川之戰中迎擊足利直義大軍,戰敗之際留下遺言「我願意七次轉世報效國家」(七生報國),與其弟楠木正季互刺而死。
楠木正成妻子久子在丈夫與長男正行死後逃離河內,隱居於美濃國伊自良村長瀧釜谷奧之院。

 死後的影響

永祿二年(1559年),自稱是楠木正成子孫的楠木正虎朝廷捐輸金錢,並請求平反祖先楠木正成被室町幕府列為朝敵的污名,獲正親町天皇可。
江戶時代,在水戶藩主德川光圀的影響下,楠木正成成為忠臣的典範。此外軍事學家亦研究楠木正成的游擊戰術,楠木流的軍學成為了當時的主流。江戶時代末期的尊王攘夷人士經常參拜楠木正成之墓。
明治維新之後,明治天皇為表彰楠木正成忠貞報國、捍衛皇室的功勞,特地在楠木正成戰死地湊川建立湊川神社以奉祀殉難的楠木正成及楠木一族,並在東京皇居廣場前樹立楠木正成的銅像,靖國神社招魂社亦因此情況而成立。
楠木正成遺言「七生報國」在二次大戰時,成為日軍的精神格言,尤其為神風特攻隊所奉。在二次大戰戰後由於價值觀的改變,史學研究上開始強調其"惡黨"(在日本史上是代表反幕府的意味)性格,而和戰前的人物印象有很大不同。

參考文獻

 相關連結

Setsubun, or Bean Throwing Festival.節分会の豆まき

3日午後3時20分ごろ、東京都江東区富岡1丁目の深川不動堂で、節分会の豆まきに集まった参拝客が次々に転倒した。警視庁によると、女児(4)と男児(6)を含む男女計10人が足などにけがを負い、9人が病院に搬送されたがいずれも軽傷という。

It's the Year of the Rabbit
It's the Year of the Rabbit
Do the Japanese and Chinese have the same zodiacal calendar? The Japanese zodiacal calendar came from Chinese culture. The twelve-year cycle of animal years that is the basis of the Chinese zodiac is called the junishi in Japan, where spring and the new zodiacal year are ushered in with the annual Setsubun, or Bean Throwing Festival. Each year, on February 3rd or 4th, people are selected by virtue of their birth year according to the Chinese zodiac (this year is the Year of the Rabbit, so people born in any Year of the Rabbit may be chosen for the ceremony) to throw roasted soybeans from the temple's stage to the crowds; this drives away the evil spirit and brings the onlookers good luck. At home, beans are thrown while shouting, "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" ("Demons out, good fortune in!") Then everyone picks up the number of beans corresponding to his age and eats them for good luck. Some people also decorate their doorways with the heads of sardines; it seems the evil spirits don't like their smell. Who would?

2011年2月2日 星期三

電子三味線

しゃみ‐せん【三味線】

日本の弦楽器の一。四角形で扁平な木製の胴の両面に猫または犬の皮を張り、胴を貫通してのびる棹(さお)に3本の弦を張ったもの。ふつう、いちょう形の撥(ばち)で弾く。棹の太さによって太棹・中棹・細棹に分けられ、調弦法は本調子・二上り・三下りなどがある。中国の三弦が起源とされ、永禄年間(1558~1570)に琉球経由で渡来した楽器に日本独自の改良を加えたもので、近世・近代の代表的邦楽器。三弦。さみせん。


Plugged-in samisen rocks Edo-style traditionalists

BY YOSHIKATSU NAKAJIMA STAFF WRITER

2011/02/02


photoHiroshi Kitagawa plays one of his custom-made electric samisen. (Yoshikatsu Nakajima)

YOKKAICHI, Mie Prefecture--Just like the day Bob Dylan picked up an electric guitar in the folkie 1960s and shocked the world, the idea of playing an electric samisen strikes some traditionalists as unholy.

But Hiroshi Kitagawa, 45, the eighth-generation owner of Cosmo Gakki, a shop in the city's Suwasakaemachi district that has sold samisen since it opened in 1853, thinks that plugging in seems the only way to save the traditional instrument.

His music shop sells custom-made electric samisen in addition to guitars and other musical instruments.

The Cosmo Gakki store dates back to the Edo Period (1603-1867), when it sold the three-stringed instruments to geisha. Back then, Suwasakaemachi was part of the Yokkaichi-juku post station, which was on the way to Ise Jingu shrine in Ise, also in Mie Prefecture. The station prospered from the many pilgrims that passed through on their way to the sacred shrine.

But as times changed in the Showa Era (1926-1989), Cosmo Gakki began selling guitars and other instruments.

Kitagawa taught samisen lessons at his shop until about three years ago. Most of his students were people in their 80s. He worried that the instrument's image was akin to gateball--it was viewed as something only old people play.

But in this rock 'n' roll era, he figured, there had to be a way to entice young people to try their hand at samisen. Why not a better electric version?

Since spring 2009, Kitagawa has sold nearly 50 of his three models of "Ben-Ten" series electric samisen, priced from 70,000 yen ($842) to 120,000 yen. Most were sold through orders taken via the web.

In fact, he has sold more electric samisens than traditional acoustic ones, which start at around 50,000 yen apiece.

Why would people pay more? It's the sound quality, Kitagawa says.

Most other electric samisens on the market depend on signals generated by the vibration of strings. Kitagawa was not satisfied with that sound.

"They were all flat and sounded much different from a 'real' samisen," he said.

He began looking at technology used in electric acoustic guitars, in which a pickup device is used to convert sounds into electrical signals.

Kitagawa mounted a pickup underneath the skin of a samisen, which blends the vibration from the skin with the resonance inside the box of the samisen.

"That's how it can generate such natural-sounding music," Kitagawa said. "It was an idea only someone who deals in both Japanese and Western musical instruments could come up with."

The pickup doesn't get in the way. In fact, when unplugged, a Ben-Ten samisen sounds much like a conventional one.

His Ben-Ten samisen has been well-received by Japanese musicians who play traditional music.

Mikan Nitta, a 40-year-old shakuhachi (bamboo flute) player based in Komono in the prefecture, was amazed by the excellent sound. He has worked with Kitaro, the Grammy-award winning synthesizer artist, and musicians across many genres.

"The sounds are so realistic. It almost sounds like an ordinary (traditional) samisen being amplified through a microphone," Nitta said.

Kitagawa plans to upload a video clip to the web of himself playing "Oise Mairi" (Visit to Ise Jingu shrine), a traditional song about pilgrimage, on an electric samisen using a contemporary arrangement.

"Okinawa's 'sanshin' (samisen that was created in the island prefecture) raised its profile thanks mainly to the hit song 'Nada Soso,'" Kitagawa said. "I'd like to promote the samisen (with my electric version of the instrument) because it has a long, distinguished background, even though people from traditional samisen circles might be annoyed by the idea," he said.

Kitagawa says electric samisen orders he receives take about a week to deliver. Visit (www.cosmogakki.com) for more information.