“there are too many universities in Japan.”拼命趕時髦求生存的高等教育花樣

 

這種拼命趕時髦求生存的高等教育花樣  很可供台灣參考

Japan's Hope: If You Build It, They Will Come

Raquel Marín

By MIKI TANIKAWA

Published: February 25, 2013

TOKYO — The colorful education minister of Japan, Makiko Tanaka, riled Japanese academia last autumn when she denied accreditation to three new schools on the grounds that “there are too many universities in Japan.”

She later took it back when her decision was met with fierce resistance. (And then she lost her job when the governing party lost a parliamentary election in December.)

But her comment left a lingering question: Japan’s youth population is declining, so why do new universities and departments keep popping up?

The number of 18-year-olds in Japan peaked in 1992 at 2.05 million, dwindling to about 1.2 million by 2012. During that time, the number of four-year universities grew to 783 from 523.

Even greater energy has been poured into thinking up new departments and majors. According to the Ministry of Education, there were 207 new departments, majors and graduate programs in 2011, and an additional 236 in 2012. In 2006, a whopping 482 new departments and majors were introduced.

The boom has been happening for quite some time. Since the late 1990s, more than 2,000 new academic departments and faculties have been created in Japan, despite an aging population. Although dozens of departments are scrapped each year, that still leaves hundreds added to the pile annually.

Meanwhile, existing schools and departments are suffering. According to the Promotion and Mutual Aid Corporation of Private Schools in Japan, a Ministry of Education affiliate agency, 46 percent of private universities have empty spaces. The group said that nearly 40 percent of private universities were operating in the red.

Japan has been making an effort to attract more overseas students, but the relatively small number of foreigners is not enough to offset the growing number of university spaces.

To attract students, schools have taken pains to give their freshly minted departments more modern-sounding names. Tokyo universities like Hosei, Kokushikan and Seijo have created schools like the Faculty of Lifelong Learning and Career Studies, 21st-Century Asian Studies and Faculty of Social Innovation.

Provincial universities are doing the same. Utsunomiya Kyowa University in Tochigi Prefecture now has a program for City Life Studies. Konan University in Hyogo Prefecture opened a School of Creative Management, known in English as the Hirao School of Management.

Akita University in Akita Prefecture is opening Japan’s first Faculty of International Natural Resources next year. Kyoto Seika University has been expanding its Faculty of Manga and recently added a Ph.D. in manga to its roster of degree programs.

Professors and administrators affiliated with the new, nontraditional departments say that they emphasize forward-looking, interdisciplinary programs that fit the 21st century. But some experts say they are there mostly to increase enrollment.

“There is a competition to win students, and universities need to show they are doing something by tinkering with their product lineup,” said Hiroshi Kobayashi, editor of College Management magazine, published by Recruit.

As new universities and departments gushed forth in the past decade, complaints have arisen among high school counselors who advise college-bound students.

“The No. 1 complaint among high school counselors, according to our survey, is that they cannot figure out what those new university departments and majors are all about,” Mr. Kobayashi said. “If a student expressed interest in a certain future career, the counselor can say, ‘Oh, in that case, you should apply to this program or that.’ But it is hard to know what the English communication department does, as opposed to the English language department.”

The term “communication” has become a popular term, Mr. Kobayashi said, along with other fashionable words like “international,” “information,” “environment,” “health” and “life.”

According to the National Institution for Academic Degrees and University Evaluation, more than 1,200 kinds of undergraduate degrees were offered by Japanese universities in 2009; about 60 percent of them are unique.

Administrators of the new departments say they are establishing programs that prepare students for new challenges facing a society in flux.

At the Faculty of Social Innovation at Seijo University in Tokyo, students study corporate innovation and the roles of social groups and individuals, said Mitsunobu Shinohara, dean of the faculty. Students are exposed to a wide range of disciplines including business, public policy and social psychology, with innovation as an important common thread, he said.

“It’s critical to learn how to approach the issue and how to resolve it,” and not just to study facts, Mr. Shinohara said. He said that a more interdisciplinary approach gained popularity in the early 2000s, when his faculty was established.

New programs typically emphasize the thinking process and not the mere acquisition of knowledge.

“Japanese students take notes and memorize, so they can do well on the tests. But here, what you learn is not as important as how you learn,” said Harumasa Sato, dean of the Hirao School of Management at Konan University.

Mr. Sato said the main purpose of education was to train students to be thinkers, capable of exploring and finding answers on their own. “Students don’t exactly take courses, but rather the goal in this program is to finish five major projects,” which include oral and thesis presentations, Mr. Sato said. His school is about to graduate its first batch of students in March, and their job placement rate “has been pretty good,” he said.

To the extent that his and other new schools are experimenting with new ways to train students, the movement represents efforts to do things that traditional schools have fallen short on, he said.

“People criticize that what we do is not entirely clear. But are other established departments of, say, economics and law doing what they should be doing? Are they creating capable young people who can compete in the globalizing world?” he asked.

“How should Japanese universities be in the age of globalization has been one of the greatest themes for us,” said Kageaki Kajiwara, dean of the School of Asia 21 — whose Japanese name is 21st-Century Asian Studies — at Kokushikan University. “In this day and age, we cannot live without having anything to do with globalization.”

Even though classes are taught in Japanese, nearly a third of the 1,700 students in the department are non-Japanese, with students from China, Iran, Myanmar, Russia and South Korea.

“What’s great about this school is that you can learn about other Asian cultures and get to know the people from those cultures, and at the same time study Japanese language and culture,” Ehsan Sheikhi, a 26-year-old Iranian student, said in fluent Japanese.

Izumi Yamanaka, 22, who is expected to graduate soon from the Faculty of Social Innovation at Seijo University, said that rather than being confusing, it was an advantage to have an intriguing department name on her résumé.

“The interviewer always asked what my major was all about, which means you get a chance to answer and explain,” she said. “That’s one question other students don’t receive.” Ms. Yamanaka just got a job working for a bank in Tokyo.

For some experts, the problem is not that new schools and departments are introduced, but that institutions with lackluster reputations are not allowed to die.

“As society changes, new universities should be created to fill new needs,” said Bruce Stronach, dean of the Japanese campus of Temple University, which is based in Philadelphia. “The problem is that Japanese society is good at building but not at scrapping. There should be greater emphasis on discontinuing universities that cannot fulfill their quotas or no longer serve their original purpose.”

A few of the new schools have failed. In 2010, five universities said they would no longer accept new students and expected to dissolve. In 2012, a Tokyo college that was founded in 2002 said it would close in 2015.

Still, closures and bankruptcies are rare, and schools tend to hang on despite low enrollments.

Most Japanese education institutions — both public and private — depend heavily on grants from the Ministry of Education, which can be suspended or removed if the ministry deems that a university has outlived its purpose, Dr. Stronach said.

Shutting down universities and departments is often difficult because it means dismissing faculty and staff members, which management is loath to do. In fact, school administrators say new departments are sometimes built to make up for lost divisions, often a junior college or a department whose subject is no longer popular.

Mr. Shinohara at the Faculty of Social Innovation at Seijo University admitted that one reason his department came into being was because the junior college division at his university closed — because of a shortage of students.

江戸時代の絵師、曽我蕭白（そが・しょうはく）が描いた「雲龍図」

江戸時代の絵師、曽我蕭白（そが・しょうはく）が描いた「雲龍図」を、既にご覧になっただろうか。
　2012年3月から始まった東京を皮切りに、国内4カ所を巡回している「特別展 ボストン美術館 日本美術の至宝」という展覧会の目玉の1つだ。現存する形でも、ふすま8枚にわたって巨大な目とひげを持つ龍が雲の合間を泳ぐ姿が描かれている。鼻とひげの部分だけでも、ふすま一枚からはみ出す大きさで、その大胆な構図と迫力は、本当に一見の価値がある。
　これまた素人目にもその凄さがひしひしと伝わってくる長谷川等伯の「龍虎図屏風」と併せて見ると、興味をますますかきたてられる。特別展はこの2月は福岡県太宰府市の九州国立博物館で実施中で、4月からは大阪に移動する予定である。
　私自身、昨年の東京国立博物館での展覧会を、何とか時間をひねり出して見てきたのだが、東京だけで来場者は40万人以上を数えたという。
　明治期以来、遠く離れたボストンの地で、よくもまあこれだけのものを集めてきた、という点にも驚かされる。蕭白の「雲龍図」も、明治になって米国人医師のビゲローが来日して収集した約4万1000点のうちの1つだとのこと。

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• 　1911年ボストン美術館に収められたときから、襖から剥［は］がされた状態で保管されてきた巨大な龍。今回の修復作業により公開が可能となった。伝来は明らかでないが、寺院の襖かと考えられる。34歳の作。

　中国唐代の隠者龐居士とその娘霊昭女を描いたとされるが、その好色的な眼差しは、女性の脛に見とれて法力を失った久米仙人とも見える。曽我蕭白の皮肉な眼差しが読み取れる。制作年のわかる蕭白最初の作品としても貴重。

　一陣の風の中で剣を持つ中国の仙人陳楠［ちんなん］が、池に潜む龍を追い出して天の水門を開かせ、旱魃［かんばつ］を救う場面とされる。龍は黒雲となって画面の上に勢いよく昇る。水は激しく渦巻き、風に吹き飛ばされた従者の表情も面白い。

　廬山に隠棲した東晋［とうしん］の僧慧遠［えおん］のもとを訪れた陶淵明［とうえんめい］と陸修静［りくしゅうせい］。話に夢中になった 慧遠が俗世に通ずるとして渡らぬと決めた橋を越えたことに気付いて3人で大笑した場面が描かれる。蕭白にはめずらしく穏やかな画風がうかがえる楽しげな作 品。

Abe agonistes 安倍訪美。推動修憲: 憂人權倒退

日相推動修憲 專家憂人權倒退
日本執政黨自民黨在大選中獲得壓倒性勝利後決定推動修憲。籠罩在改革失敗的失望氣氛中，日本正在“向右轉”，而這一趨勢可能超出預期。

 (德國之聲中文網)日本首相安倍晉三推動大舉修憲，各界則擔憂日本可能回到上世紀初封閉的軍國主義狀態。自從自民黨1955年成立以來，該黨便呼籲徹底重新審視並改寫日本和平憲法，聲稱該憲法是第二次世界大戰後盟軍強加於日本的。如今，在最高法律頒布近70年後，安倍晉三得到了眾議院壓倒性的多數，預計今年夏季也將在參議院選舉中鞏固足夠的席位。
安倍晉三已經宣布，他的第一步將是修訂修憲的必要程序。目前的修憲門檻是必須獲得兩院全體議員三分之二以上的贊成票，安倍有意修改為多數贊成即可。
明治大學法學院教授雷佩塔（Lawrence Repeta）警告道，這一步最終將演變為"政府擁有更多凌駕於人民之上的權力，個人權利的保障被降低"。
自民黨在2012年4月28日提出修憲草案。當日正是日本與同盟國簽訂《舊金山和平條約》60年紀念日。該黨的提議將影響日本的許多生活層面以及與世界各國的關係。 
日本首相希望下調修憲門檻
人權受到威脅
雷佩塔教授表示："如果通過這項計劃，日本將與全球拓展人權保護和政府責任機制的走向背道而馳。"
雷佩塔與日本自由人權協會（Japan Civil Liberties Union）和許多法律專家都檢視了自民黨的修憲草案。他指出了多個值得關注的重要領域。
例如，現行憲法第97條對公民人權的基本保障的規定將被全數刪除：
他表示："這是關於人權的一項非常廣泛的聲明，而自民黨卻只想刪除它。我們在解釋手冊中無法找到支持這項決定的聲明。" 取而代之的是人民將在新憲法的規定下有責任表現出對"國旗和國歌的尊重"。
此外，憲法也將要求人民"不得違背公共秩序或公共利益"，但法學專家表示，這項規定中沒有關於公眾利益的定義，這將賦予警察和司法當局廣泛且無定義的新權力。
而憲法草案的第19條第2款則稱，"任何人不得不當獲取、擁有或使用個人相關資料"，這條同樣籠統的要求可能被用於侵犯新聞自由。自民黨提議的新憲法中也包含對言論自由的新限制。
回到30年代
專家憂心,自民黨提出的憲法草案將使人權後退
日本學習院大學法學教授紙谷雅子（Masako Kamiya）表示："我的猜測是，他們心目中的日本應該更趨近於上世紀30年代初期戰前的日本。"
她補充道："我相信許多自民黨員同意那個時代相當不錯，存在著一些美好的價值；當時的社會和諧，年輕人安分守己、敬老尊賢，社會秩序是依照政府和當局所訂立的規範。"
"不幸的是，這項提案的內容包括了一些變革，這些變革忽視我們的前人所作的選擇。"
自由人權協會的主要關注內容則是那些明顯經過深思熟慮、與全球人權發展方向相左的決定。
自民黨在其網站上解釋了理由稱，"在編寫本草案時，我們首先徹底審查了聽起來像是翻譯的措辭，以及看似是基於自然權利理論的規定。"
該聲明還寫道："權利是通過歷史、傳統和文化逐步演變而成。我們相信人權相關規定應該反映出日本的歷史、文化和傳統。"
西方的概念
自民黨認為，目前的憲法包含了一些基於西方自然權利理論的規定，認為這些規定應該予以修改。
法學家雷佩塔稱，人們有理由對此擔心："我們正進入了一個新時期，世界對於人權概念更為警醒，但是自民黨似乎在說那是錯誤的，他們不願成為其中一部分。總體而言，這更像是政府權力凌駕於人民之上，並且降低了對人權的維護。"
"這份文件清楚顯示，他們的世界觀脫離了對基本人權更普遍的認知。"
作者：Julian Ryall 編譯：張筠青
責編：石濤

日本媒體普遍稱讚安倍訪美獲得成果

童倩

BBC中文網日本特約記者

更新時間 2013年2月25日, 格林尼治標準時間13:42

中國傳媒譏諷安倍訪美遭冷遇。

日本《產經新聞》和富士電視台周一（25日）發表了過去兩天聯合對全國千人做的電話調查結果，顯示安倍政權的支持率比1月份調查時上升超過5個百分點，達到69.6%。

其中讚賞首相安倍晉三訪美、通過日美首腦會談加強了日美同盟的民意有76.5%；贊成日本政府公開中國軍艦使用射控雷達的事件並向中國抗議的民意有90.1%、贊成日本政府立即加強制裁朝鮮的民意為89.1%。

儘管共同社等日本傳媒兩天來陸續報道了中國傳媒譏諷安倍訪美遭冷遇的看法，但在日本，傳媒、輿論視安倍訪美基本達到目的的看法卻也很普遍，上述民調結果也反映了這一點。

會談內容

日美首腦1小時45分鐘的會談究竟談了什麼，日本外務省公布的內容中，有關釣魚島（日稱尖閣諸島）的部 分是：「兩位首腦討論了包括尖閣諸島在內的狀況，安倍說日本冷靜對待中國，包括政治層面在內，希望繼續與中國對話，兩位首腦一致同意以日美同盟為基礎開展 合作，使這個地區不以實力而以規範來支配」。
而日本主流傳媒至周一為止的報道，除了安倍與奧巴馬談笑內容外，大部分是安倍表態。安倍在美會談後在記 者會上說希望與中國新領導人習近平會談。安倍在美國戰略國際問題研究所（CSIC）的演講中表示：「不是要叫美國做什麼，而是要靠日本自己的力量守衛尖 閣」。《每日新聞》對此分析指出安倍已感到並顧慮到美國擔心中日東海衝突、擔憂捲入紛爭的立場。
一個叫做「記錄中國（Record China）」的小傳媒周一在網頁引述外交界透露的消息說，日美首腦討論釣魚島問題後，認為首先是「維持現狀」，奧巴馬敦促安倍擱置「在釣魚島常駐公務 員」的自民黨公約，修複中日關係。報道引述透露消息的人士認為，安倍不得不對此採取擱置態度。

良好反應

主張中日友好的報紙發表社論紛紛讚揚安倍表示冷靜對待中日糾紛的立場，不過《朝日新聞》的社論也說： 「日美首腦對中國有溫差，奧巴馬對記者們說「對日美兩國來說最重要的方面是經濟成長」，所以現在美國不想與中國敵對，而比起中美，更不和的是中日，美國不 願捲入中日紛爭的聲音高漲，所以美國謀求日本採取慎重態度，如果錯誤估計這一點，日美信賴關係也會崩潰」，社論呼籲安倍不要以冷戰態度來敵視中國，應該更 具戰略眼光。
日本「2頻道」網絡上一些人士指責《朝日新聞》社論說：「這與中國譏諷安倍如出一轍」。
主張日美同盟的《讀賣新聞》、《產經新聞》、《日本經濟新聞》的社論也讚揚安倍修複了日美關係，並敦促安倍盡快調整國內對日本加入跨太平洋戰略伙伴關係協定(TPP)談判的分歧。
大部分國民也顯得更關心安倍與奧巴馬會談中顯示日本加入談判意向，因為這關係到所有人今後生活乃至生存問題，日本經濟界和全國農協已分別發表贊成與反對的聲明。

Agonistes

Japan’s emphatic general election
Abe agonistes

A party comes back from the dead, but still remembers where to find the switch for the printing presses

Dec 22nd 2012 | TOKYO | from the print edition

SHINZO ABE, who will become Japan’s new prime minister on December 26th, is wasting little time in offering the goodies. The leader of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which staged a remarkable return to power in elections on December 16th, has made reviving an economy sapped by deflation the central goal of his “crisis-beating” cabinet. It is likely to start with pressure on the central bank to reflate the economy. A big dollop of public spending may follow (smothering the country in concrete is an old speciality of the party). As for Japan’s trade-damaging tensions with China, the hawkish Mr Abe wants to put them to one side for now.

His startling victory brings back a prime minister whose previous year in office, in 2006-07, was a shambles. It also brings back a party crushed in the general election of 2009. Mr Abe acknowledges that voters gave him a decisive victory not out of love for his party or ideas, but out of despair at the outgoing Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) which, at war with itself, struggled to make policy. With a dozen parties, the election field was crowded, dividing the anti-LDP vote. One newspaper columnist described the LDP win as like choosing a plate of Japanese-style curry rice on a menu where nothing appeals: it was the least bad option. Meanwhile, the party’s formidable powers of organisation also counted for something.

In this section

• »Abe agonistes
• Can’t get the help
• A heavy hand
• Killing disease

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Related topics

• Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)
• Japan
• Government and politics
• Public finance
• Central banking

With 325 seats, the LDP and its coalition partner, New Komeito, have a “supermajority” in the 480-seat lower house of parliament: that is, more than the two-thirds of seats necessary to override a veto by the upper house, which the opposition controls. Amazingly, the LDP achieved this despite notching up almost 4m fewer votes than when it was routed in 2009. Support for the DPJ collapsed, in other words. It was the third election in a row in which voters swung savagely against the incumbents. Given such volatility, it is too early to expect a comfortable LDP victory in an election for the upper house next July. Voters swinging like weathervanes are now the norm. But if offered decisive leadership—markedly absent for several years—they may yet prove more constant.

Mr Abe promises to put his energies into fixing the economy. As well as an even looser monetary policy to end Japan’s fifth recession in 15 years, he also calls for a burst of public spending of perhaps {Yen}10 trillion ($120 billion). It would be financed by more borrowing on the part of a state that already has debts of over 200% of GDP.

Japan’s big-business lobby, Keidanren, is underwhelmed by all this. It wants Mr Abe to boost productivity, for instance, by deregulating farming and medicine, both sources of LDP support. Still, presumably because investors bet that Mr Abe’s views may prevail upon the Bank of Japan, on the day after the election the stockmarket hit its highest level in more than eight months. A strong yen has reacted to “Abenomics” by skidding to a 20-month low of nearly {Yen}85 to the dollar.

Mr Abe is pressing the central bank to set a hard target for inflation, of 2%. At present the bank has no target, but rather a more loosely defined inflation goal, of just 1%. Feathers flew during the campaign as the Bank of Japan hotly defended its independence. But as T he Economist went to press, its board members were believed to be discussing an inflation target.

This suggests that the central bank wants a truce of sorts. It is not yet in the clear, however. Mr Abe has floated the idea of rewriting the central-bank law, which may curb its independence. He has toyed with the idea of issuing public bonds underwritten by the bank. Even if Mr Abe chooses not to carry out his threats—such “fiscal financing” is highly unorthodox—he may still seek to appoint a more like-minded central-bank head when the term of the governor, Masaaki Shirakawa, expires in April.

Mr Abe does not unveil his full cabinet until December 26th, though key figures are already known. One is 72-year-old Taro Aso, another former prime minister, and fan of manga comics, who led the LDP to defeat in 2009. Mr Aso is rumoured to be the next finance minister. He will want to ensure economic growth that both helps the LDP win the next upper-house election and allows the consumption (sales) tax to be raised in 2014—a crucial step towards plugging the budget deficit.

Yoshihide Suga, a confidant of both Mr Aso and Mr Abe, is expected to have the crucial role of chief cabinet secretary and government spokesman. Some fear that the new leader may pick a cabinet of friends, as he did in 2006, with disastrous results. Yet Mr Abe has also retained a pragmatic former rival, Shigeru Ishiba, as the party’s secretary-general. It may be a sign of tolerance for those outside his clique.

Hanging over Mr Abe are two questions. One has to do with the physical and mental strength of the 58-year-old. Mr Abe stepped down in 2007 under immense strains. He says he is now taking proper medication for his long-standing bowel disorder, which is affected by stress.

The other question is Mr Abe’s nationalism and his tendency to gloss over or even deny the worst of Japan’s wartime misdeeds. At a time of heightened tensions over territorial disputes, he has it in his power to undermine Japan’s standing with China and South Korea, while putting off ordinary Japanese at home.

Tomohiko Taniguchi, a former foreign-ministry official now at Keio University, says Mr Abe will seek to strengthen relations with America, after a rocky patch under the DPJ. Closer relations with Asian democracies, including Australia and India, will follow. But although improving ties with China and South Korea will be a lower priority, Mr Taniguchi says, Mr Abe has learned from the “painful failure” of his earlier term in office, when all his talk about “patriotism” and “righteousness” carried little weight with voters.

He has not said whether he wants to take Japan into the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), an American-led free-trade grouping. The Keidanren is strongly for it. Farmers and other LDP backers are against. Mr Abe seems privately to be in favour.

Whether or not Japan’s neighbours let him brush off tensions with them over territories and history may depend on their new leaders. The attitude of China’s Communist Party chief, Xi Jinping, is unclear: pragmatism may trump dislike for Mr Abe’s views. As The Economist went to press, South Korea was electing a new president. Mr Abe, who is the grandson of a former prime minister once accused of war crimes, has refused to say whether or not he will visit Tokyo’s Yasukuni shrine, which honours convicted war criminals among Japan’s war dead. If he does go, he can expect a backlash from neighbours.

Should Mr Abe refrain and set about reviving the economy instead, however, it would do wonders for Japan’s standing abroad. It would also be an unexpected thank you to the voters who cheerlessly put him into office this week.

竹島日 Takeshima Day,Shinzo Abe Plays It Safe, With Early Results

「安倍經濟學」初見效，7月面臨大考

MARTIN FACKLER 報道 2013年02月20日

Toru Hanai/Reuters

日本首相安倍晉三將於本周訪問華盛頓，他上任後的一系列經濟政策提振了東京股市。

東京——自從一個多月前就職，日本直言不諱的鷹派新首相安倍晉三(Shinzo Abe)一直處於某些政治分析人士所說的“安全駕駛模式”。他謹慎地避免了任何可能激怒其他亞洲國家的言行，轉而關注如何採取措施重振死氣沉沉的國內經濟來討好選民。
截至目前，安倍晉三的方法似乎正在發揮作用。他的公共工程計劃，也就是被稱為“安倍經濟學”的刺激措施，已讓東京股市與他個人的支持率雙雙飆升。 《讀賣新聞》(Yomiuri Shimbun)的最新民調顯示，他目前的支持率為71%。本周五，與奧巴馬總統在華盛頓舉行的峰會上見面時，他將尋求鞏固自己的強勁開局。美國將日本視 作最重要的亞洲盟國，本次峰會旨在加強兩國的關係。

現年58歲的安倍晉三稱，他希望成為日本近10年來未曾見過的領導人：行事穩健，從而擁有足夠的在任時間來真正有所作為。分析人士稱，他的成功將取決於他能否帶領自民黨取得今年7月的參議院選舉勝利，並終結讓眾多前任鎩羽而歸的國會分裂狀態。
不甚明朗的是，如果能贏得這次選舉，他將如何行事。一些分析人士稱，安倍晉三之所以有點難以捉摸，是因為他似乎有兩面性的特點，他既是現實主義者， 又信奉右翼意識形態。在分析人士看來，如果他的確摒棄目前的某些謹慎做派，比如尋求修改日本的和平憲法，放棄目前的自衛隊，轉而允許進行全面軍事建設，那 麼他將面臨與中國就爭議島嶼僵持不下的風險，並且可能讓日本在亞洲陷入孤立，因為該地區對日本20世紀初的軍國主義歷史依舊敏感。
安德魯·L·奧羅斯(Andrew L. Oros)是位於馬里蘭州切斯特敦的華盛頓學院(Washington College)的國際研究主任，他說，“上任的最初六周里，安倍晉三使盡全身解數來表明自己是個溫和派。但是過了7月份，他可能覺得手腳更放開，可以做 自認為正確的事了。”

奧羅斯等人稱，問題部分在於，安倍晉三面臨著相互衝突的政治壓力。他在執政黨內部最保守一翼的政治基礎希望他能採取大膽舉措，結束在他們看來日本二 戰後沒完沒了的懺悔姿態。但是，他還必須讓更多的大眾信服，他是個頭腦冷靜、有能力的領導人，能夠守護這個經濟未來繫於中國的衰落中的國家。
除此之外，還有他過去失敗的陰影。六年前擔任首相時，他在一片批評聲中下台，因為他追求修改憲法和歷史教科書的民族主義議程，而在減少失業和刺激經濟方面作為有限，被指“毫無頭緒”。
這一次，就像任何一位重獲機會的人一樣，安倍晉三毫不遲疑地堅持謹慎行事。他專註於讓世界第三大經濟體擺脫衰退，採取了能迅速重振日本經濟的措施。 去年12月，他領導的自民黨獲得選舉勝利，使之成為首相。自那以後，他承諾將在公共工程中投資2150億美元（約合1.34萬億元人民幣），用以創造就業 崗位並促進增長。
他還公開向央行日本銀行(Bank of Japan)施壓，要求該行更積極地行動，以結束多年來侵蝕經濟的價格下跌現象，即通貨緊縮。
“安倍晉三顯然已經從過去的失敗中汲取了教訓，”東京附近的駿河台大學(Surugadai University)的政治學者成田憲彥(Norihiko Narita)說。“最大的教訓就是，選民更關注經濟問題。”
“安倍經濟學”已經對日元產生了影響，僅在四個月的時間裡就讓日元貶值了20%。由於日貨在海外市場的價格降低，日本原本舉步維艱的出口行業得到改善，但這也引發了對一場貿易大戰的警告，因為其他國家也會競相壓低自己的貨幣價值。
然而，對“安倍經濟學”最大的批評是，這些政策只會給經濟打上一劑短效的強心針，帶來的不過是過多的大橋和公路而已，還會增加日本已經令人窒息的國 債。經濟學家稱，到目前為止，安倍晉三的政策幾乎沒有涉及更深層次的結構性改革，而他們認為，只有這樣的結構性改革才能為日本的僵化經濟帶來競爭力，從而 產生可持續增長。
他們說，最具象徵意義的一步就是加入跨太平洋的自由貿易協定，這會迫使日本開放其受保護的國內市場，如農產品。安倍晉三似乎個人傾向於加入《跨太平 洋夥伴關係協定》(Trans-Pacific Partnership)，美國支持該協定，稱這會把具有經濟活力的地區聯合在一起。日本和美國官員稱，安倍晉三甚至可能會私下向奧巴馬承諾日本將很快加 入協定。但他不敢公開這麼說，因為他擔心這樣做會疏遠長期以來支持自民黨的農民群體，至少不能在7月選舉前說。
同樣，安倍晉三還擔心自己會激怒沖繩選民，這種擔心也有可能阻止安倍推進另一議程，即不受歡迎的美國空軍普天間基地的遷移問題，長久以來，這已在美日兩國間引發了一些問題。這讓一些分析人士揣測，安倍晉三的華盛頓之行究竟能產生怎樣的結果。
美日峰會的計劃似乎一開始就不順利。上月，日本方面提出的訪美請求遭到奧巴馬政府拒絕，美方稱自己還沒有做好準備。日本的小報紛紛稱這是美國在怠慢日本。或許是為了做出補償，美國方面延長了安倍晉三和奧巴馬會晤的時間，還在行程表上增加了白宮午宴一項。
對安倍晉三來說，在爭議島嶼的控制權方面，日本面臨著來自中國日益嚴重的挑戰，在這種情況下，加強和美國的聯繫至關重要。日本稱爭議島嶼為尖閣諸島 (Senkaku)，中國則稱之為釣魚島。分析人士稱，安倍晉三可能會告訴奧巴馬，他想讓日本在美國國防部面臨大幅預算削減時成為美國更強大的軍事夥伴。 但尚不清楚的是，修改日本憲法等更激進的措施是否能被大多數日本選民接受，他們還是希望安倍晉三繼續溫和路線。
“安倍晉三較主流意識形態偏右，”東京一橋大學(Hitotsubashi University)的政治學教授中北浩爾(Koji Nakakita)說，“這給他帶來了很大的潛在風險。”

For His Second Act, Japanese Premier Plays It Safe, With Early Results

By MARTIN FACKLER February 20, 2013

TOKYO — Since taking office less than two months ago, Japan’s outspokenly hawkish new prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has been in what some political analysts are calling “safe driving mode.” He has carefully avoided saying or doing anything to provoke other Asian nations, while focusing instead on wooing voters with steps to revive the moribund domestic economy.
So far, his approach seems to be working. His plans for public-works projects, stimulus measures called “Abenomics,” have sent the Tokyo stock market surging along with Mr. Abe’s own approval rating, which is now at 71 percent, according to the latest poll by Yomiuri Shimbun. On Friday, he will seek to build on his strong start when he meets President Obama at a Washington summit meeting aimed at improving relations with the United States, which regards Japan as its most important ally in Asia.

Mr. Abe, 58, has said he wants to be what Japan has not seen in almost a decade: a steady-handed leader who lasts long enough in office to actually get things done. Analysts say his success hinges on whether he can lead his Liberal Democratic Party to victory in Upper House elections in July, and end the split Parliament that undermined many of his predecessors.
What is less clear is what he will do if he wins that election. One trait that makes Mr. Abe a bit of an enigma, some analysts say, is that he seems to have two sides: the realist and the right-wing ideologue. In analysts’ view, if he does jettison some of his current caution, for instance by trying to revise Japan’s antiwar Constitution to allow a full-fledged military instead of its current Self-Defense Force, he risks provoking a standoff with China over disputed islands, and possibly isolating Japan in a region still sensitive to its early-20th-century militarism.
“In his first six weeks, he has done everything he can to show he is a moderate,” said Andrew L. Oros, director of international studies at Washington College in Chestertown, Md. “But after July, he might feel he has a freer rein to do things that he thinks are justified.”
Part of the problem, Mr. Oros and others say, is that Mr. Abe faces conflicting political pressures. His base in the governing party’s most conservative wing expects bold steps to end what it sees as Japan’s overly prolonged displays of contrition for World War II. But he must also convince the broader public that he is a coolheaded, competent steward of a declining nation that also depends on China for its economic future.
There is also the ghost of his past failure. The last time he was prime minister, six years ago, he stepped down amid criticism that he had been “clueless” for having pursued a nationalistic agenda of revising the Constitution and history textbooks, and for not doing more to reduce unemployment and spur the economy.
This time, Mr. Abe is acting with the determined carefulness of a man given a second chance. He has focused on extricating Japan from its recession with steps that have quickly buoyed the country’s economy, the world’s third-largest. Since being named prime minister after his party’s election victory in December, Mr. Abe has promised $215 billion in public works spending to create jobs and promote growth.
He has also publicly pressured the central bank, the Bank of Japan, to move more aggressively to end years of corrosive price declines known as deflation.
“Mr. Abe has clearly learned the lessons of his past failure,” said Norihiko Narita, a political scientist at Surugadai University, near Tokyo. “And the biggest lesson is that voters care more about the economy.”
Abenomics has already affected the yen, helping to drive down its value by 20 percent in just four months. This has strengthened Japan’s struggling export industries by making their products cheaper abroad, but also led to warnings of a trade war in which other nations push down the values of their currencies.
However, the biggest criticism of Abenomics is that it will provide only a short-lived adrenaline shot for growth, while producing little more than superfluous bridges and roads, and adding to Japan’s already stifling national debt. Economists say Mr. Abe’s policies so far contain few of the deeper-reaching structural reforms that they say are needed to produce sustainable growth by encouraging competition in Japan’s sclerotic economy.
They say the most symbolic step would be joining a Pacific-wide free trade pact that would force Japan to open sheltered domestic markets, like farm products. Mr. Abe appears to personally favor entering the pact, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which the United States champions as a way of binding the economically vibrant region together. Japanese and American officials say Mr. Abe may even privately promise Mr. Obama that Japan will soon join the pact. But he cannot afford to say so in public for fear of alienating the farmers who have been strong supporters of the Liberal Democrats — at least not until the July elections.
Similarly, fears of angering voters on Okinawa will also likely prevent Mr. Abe from offering progress on another issue that has long caused problems with the United States, the relocation of the unpopular American air base at Futenma. This has led some analysts to wonder what Mr. Abe’s visit to Washington will actually be able to produce.
Plans for the summit meeting seemed to get off to a rocky start last month when the administration declined a Japanese request for a visit, saying the American side was not ready. This was reported as a snub in Japan’s tabloid press. Perhaps to make amends, the Americans have increased the time that Mr. Abe will spend with Mr. Obama, adding a luncheon at the White House to the schedule.
For Mr. Abe, strengthening ties with the United States is crucial as Japan faces a growing challenge from China for control of the disputed islands, known as the Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China. Analysts say Mr. Abe will probably tell Mr. Obama that he wants Japan to act as a fuller military partner with the United States, at a time when the Pentagon faces steep budget cuts. But it is unclear if more radical steps, like rewriting the Constitution, would sit well with the majority of Japanese voters who wish Mr. Abe to remain moderate.
“Mr. Abe is to the right of the mainstream,” said Koji Nakakita, a politics professor at Tokyo’s Hitotsubashi University, “and that carries a huge potential risk for him.”

2月22日竹島日

Japan angers Korea by marking Takeshima Day

	Despite firm warnings from South Korea over the past week, the Japanese government has gone ahead with its plan to send a senior official to events in Shimane Prefecture to mark Takeshima Day.

Japan-South Korea island spat continues Navigating East Asian waters poses political challenges Japan to take S. Korea islands row to international court

日本治污經驗/ Japan’s Pollution Diet/319災區 匿名客寄贈金條/ 午睡咖啡店

日本治污經驗/ Japan’s Pollution Diet

累計1900萬元╱日319災區 匿名客寄贈金條

日本石卷災區的「石卷重建支援網絡」，月初收到兩封裝有金條的匿名捐贈郵件。（取自網路）

〔編譯林翠儀／綜合報導〕日本東北大地震重災區宮城縣石卷市的三個機構，一月上旬陸續收到善心人士匿名寄贈的金條，累計已有總重達六千公克、市價約六千萬圓（近一千九百萬台幣）的八塊金條。由於寄送信封上蓋有長野市內郵局的郵戳，研判可能是同一人或單位所贈。
石 卷市收到匿名金條的消息，一開始是由石卷魚市場的社長須能邦雄在十四日對外公布。須能表示，他是在八日收到寫著「支援品」的快遞郵包，寄件人僅寫著「地震 海嘯支援協力會」，沒寫住址與電話。他打開郵包一看，發現竟然是兩塊各為一千公克的金條，鑑定後確定為二十四Ｋ純金，價值約一千萬圓。
隔天 消息見報後，非營利民間團體「石卷重建支援網絡」及「石之森萬畫館」的運營公司也出面表示，在四日至七日間各收到兩個裝金條的郵包，累計三機構共收到四塊 五百公克及四塊一千公克金條，重達六千公克。信封上仍舊沒有註明寄信者的姓名及住址，也沒有附信件，只寫著「支援金」或「支援品」，而且全都蓋有長野市內 郵局的郵戳。
石卷重建支援網絡是一群關心兒童環境教育的志工組成的非營利團體，災後致力於救援工作。而石之森萬畫館，則展示與石卷市頗有淵源的已故漫畫家石之森章太郎的作品。

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 午睡咖啡店 日粉領族充電再上

〔編譯林翠儀／綜合報導〕位於東京鬧區的赤坂，最近出現一家專為女性設計的「午睡咖啡店」，在午餐時間或白天空檔，為疲累的上班族女性提供一個小憩片刻的空間，10分鐘收費150日圓（約47元台幣），在網路上引發話題。
這家名為「Qusca」的午睡咖啡店，位於赤坂的商業大樓群之間，招牌印有綿羊圖案。該店老闆是一名女性，她表示以前曾在廣告公司上班，當時深感能讓女性安心休憩的場所少之又少，所以才開了這家店。
職業婦女經常要在家庭與工作之間忙碌奔波，往往出現慢性睡眠不足的問題，上班時難免會出現「只要10分鐘也行，好想睡一覺」的念頭，但在辦公室或一般網咖，礙於眾人目光或出入份子較為複雜，根本不可能安心入睡。
休息10分鐘收費47元
午睡咖啡店就是要為上班族女性提供這類貼心服務。咖啡店裡分成餐廳與臥室2個區域，上班族女性可在餐廳裡享用一客午餐或甜點，吃飽後再以10分鐘150日圓的代價，在臥室裡掛著蚊帳的床鋪或躺椅上小睡片刻。
平常在外頭奔波洽公，或下班後準備趕赴約會的粉領族，也能抽空來此休息一下，恢復精神。除床鋪和躺椅外，這家咖啡店還備有化妝台、無線網路、充電器，並提供免費飲料與小點心。怕睡過頭的人，還可以拜託店員叫醒或借用鬧鐘。

喵喵電車

這篇傳到我不知道是第幾手了.
作者待查證.
先謝謝

喵喵電車

漫步在日本時，不難發現，每個車站都會安排一名稱職的站長，當列車緩緩 進站時，他們總是帶著笑容、親切的服務每位乘客上下車。在炎炎夏日，給 自己來趟電車輕旅行，是個非常不錯的選擇。 和歌山電鐵的貴志川線，一共有三款不同造型的電車，分別是: たま電車（小 玉電車）、いちご電車（草莓電車）、おもちゃ電車（玩具電車）。其中2006 年的「いちご電車（草莓電車）」和2007年的「おもちゃ電車（玩具電 車）」，都算是主題電車中的前輩，但由於たま電車的人氣居高不下，相較 之後，就顯得落寞許多，但還是很值得乘客一看。 貴志川線的鐵道是連結和歌山縣的和歌山市與東郊的紀之川市，從起點的和 歌山站到終點貴志站總長約14.3公里，列車行駛此路線時，單程走完約需30 分鐘的時間。JR和歌山車站正門旁不遠處的小小東口，正是和歌山電鐵株式 會社貴志川線的入口處，由於地方性鐵道的財力有限以及其它不明原因，只 好依附在JR車站裡，但其實沒有太大的影響，因為乘客都會在車站內相互轉 乘，其實這樣對雙方都是有好處的。 進入了東口的地下通道，要前往貴志方向的旅客，請務必留意第九月台的指 示牌，不然很容易就會超越它了。走上月台後，映入眼簾是小小的售票亭， 旁邊還掛著「和歌山電鐵株式會社貴志川線」的木製招牌。買好票之後，接 近候車的月台邊，接下來就是貼緊相機快門，靜靜等待著たま電車的到來 吧！ 有關乘車券的部份就為大家作簡單的介紹，通常特地造訪此處的乘客，都會 直接購買一日乘車券，票價為大人650円／孩童350円，買好一日券之後，接 著就是留意時刻表，開始規劃如何交錯搭乘三款主題列車。 いちご電車（草莓電車） 「いちご電車」以白色為底，加上草莓圖案搭配而成，由於草莓算是沿線地 區特產，等於間接結合了地方特色，車廂內完全使用原木地板，乘客的座椅 同樣換為富有質感的木製品，上頭絨布也充滿著草苺圖案。 おもちゃ電車（玩具電車） 「おもちゃ電車」將車內的長條椅加入俏皮木馬作為裝飾，這可是小朋友們 相互競爭的寶座呢。由於取名為玩具電車，設計者發揮巧思與創意，竟然把 大人小孩都無法招架的扭蛋機搬上車廂，鐵道公司藉此也多了一筆收入。另 外，順道一提，車廂內的展示櫥窗，擺放著不少市面上很難見到的珍貴玩具 喔。原先瀕臨廢止的貴志川線，靠著貴志川町在內的沿線居民，向有關政府 當局提出保存鐵道的相關活動與計畫，希望保留住這條近90年歷史的貴志川 線。幾經波折後，岡山電氣鐵道公司接手出資組成目前的經營團隊並由和歌 山電鐵株式會社，正式接下營運任務。無論是たま電車，いちご電車或おもち ゃ電車，其實都是發揮創意的行銷呈現手法。在乘客多半是沿途的通勤族與 學生，生意不易維持、集客能力有限的環境下，藉此扭轉局勢，開創另一種 鐵道經營的奇蹟。 同場加映 人氣爆紅的たま電車也出現在”桃太郎的故鄉”岡山市的路面上喔！岡山市內 有兩條路面行使的電車路線。一條從JR岡山站至東山的東山線，另一條是穿 越柳川之清輝橋的清輝橋線。岡山的路面電車也是主打三款車型，第一種是 桃子(MOMO)電車，超低式路面電車，車廂造型也是由水戸岡鋭治氏先生所 設計，此款車型曾經榮獲日本第一回日本鐵道賞的最佳設計獎。第二種是黑 (KURO)電車。造型仿自昭和44年運行的岡山電氣鐵道，並以岡山城的黑色為 特色，故命名為黑電車。第三種就是たま電車啦!因為經營岡山電氣軌道與和 歌山貴志電鐵都屬於同一個集團。岡山的たま電車，車體繪有35個小玉圖 案，很明顯的比貴志川線減少許多，不過還是一樣可愛。

 

日本下層社會: 網咖可能是老家.....(攝影師Shiho Fukada)/In Japan, Hope Fades for Disposable Workers

美國NPR是值得推薦的.
它的Blog有篇介紹攝影師Shiho Fukada的日本化外之民的剪影. 值得參考

Editor's Pick

Hard Times In Japan: 'Home' Might Be An Internet Cafe

by Coburn Dukehart

February 15, 201311:59 AM

 

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  Courtesy of Shiho Fukada
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The first part of Fukada's series documents the plight of old men in a dying labor town.

Courtesy of Shiho Fukada

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Part two explores the rise of "karoshi" — or "death by work" — a rising trend among white collar workers due to extreme stress.

Courtesy of Shiho Fukada

In 2008, photographer Shiho Fukada read a story in the New York Times about a town in Japan that was filled with destitute old men. Having grown up in a prosperous Japan, she says she couldn't stop thinking about them.
She traveled to the Kamagasaki district of Osaka to document the collapse of the labor market, including the old and sick day laborers who had been abandoned by an economy they had given their lives to.
That essay sparked a four-part photo series documenting people who have made hard choices in the wake of Japan's declining economy. Over the next few years, Fukada sought out people who were struggling, although they still tried to maintain a brave face.

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Part three highlights the rise of "hostesses," young women who are paid to flirt and entertain men, but not for sex.

Courtesy of Shiho Fukada

"[Japanese] people suffer in private, in their homes, so I thought it was a really important story to tell, Fukada says.
"The lnternet cafe workers — they put on tie, go to work — you couldn't tell," she says. "The amount of effort people put in is really heartbreaking to me."
The four parts of Fukada's project highlight the aging population of Kamagasaki; the rise of white-collar suicide; the increasing popularity of hostess jobs; and the rise of 24-hour Internet cafes — where people actually live.
"Japanese [people] are so private, so it was really hard for me to approach them and to get access to them," she says. "And on top of that, these are people in extreme conditions who are not necessarily proud of their situations."

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Part four delves into the world of people who live in 24-hour Internet cafes because they can't afford rent.

Courtesy of Shiho Fukada

Fukada, who splits her time between China and New York, temporarily moved back in with her parents in Japan to work on the project. Her father worked the same job his whole life and is now comfortably retired. But she says those opportunities are fading in Japan, making her work deeply personal.

"I can relate," she says. "I'm a freelance photojournalist. I'm totally disposable. I could be any one of these people. People think, 'I'm not going to end up like that.' But now, given the economy, anyone could end up in this situation."
Fukada's project was funded in part by grants from the Pulitzer Center and the Alicia Patterson Foundation. You can see more of her work on her website.



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In Japan, Hope Fades for Disposable Workers

Ko Sasaki for The New York Times

Unemployed men in the Airin district of Osaka, Japan, waited at a labor center to collect welfare payments. Some of the younger men are able to find odd jobs.

By NORIMITSU ONISHI

Published: October 11, 2008

OSAKA, Japan — With job signs stuck to their vans’ windshields and sliding side doors left open in expectation, the recruiters were sizing up the potential hires at Japan’s largest day labor market here recently.

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Ko Sasaki for The New York Times

Kazuyasu Ikeda, 64, had good jobs during Japan’s economic boom but now works sporadically.

By 4:30 a.m., thousands of aging day laborers had spilled out of the neighborhood’s flophouses and homeless shelters, or risen from its parks and streets, to form a potential work force of mostly graying men.
A sign on one blue van, barely legible in the twilight, offered a 15-day construction job paying $95 a day, minus $33 in room and board. Although the terms were comparatively decent, the recruiter sitting in a folding chair in front of the blue van had found only one suitably young laborer by 5 a.m. Most were above the unwritten cutoff age of 55.
“It’s really hard to use the men here because they’ve gotten old,” said the recruiter, Takuya Nakamae, 55, turning his head toward his prize catch, a recruit in his 30s. “If you’re this young, everybody wants you and you get plenty of offers. Just look at how young you are!”
And yet it was the older men who really knew how to work, he said, adding: “They’re the ones who worked during Japan’s decades of economic boom, so they know the ins and outs of every job. It’s just that they don’t have the strength anymore.”
Nowadays, few young men gravitate here, the Airin district of Osaka. Little is being built in Japan’s stagnant economy, and young day laborers or part-time workers find jobs by registering their cellphone numbers with temporary employment agencies.
Many of the older men who remain arrived here to work on the 1970 Expo in Osaka, which, like the Tokyo Olympics six years earlier, became a symbol of postwar Japan’s rebirth. Over the decades, they left to work on bridges, buildings and highways all over the country, performing the dirtiest and most dangerous jobs in helping build Japan. Some made it out of here and moved on to steadier jobs and lives.
But many others are still in Airin, one of the few corners of Japan where stray dogs lie in the middle of the street alongside drunken men, and Japanese mobsters, or yakuza, sell drugs openly on street corners and run gambling dens on certain blocks. After one worker claimed abuse by the police, scores of people here rioted for five days over the summer, though old-timers said the disturbances were only a faint echo of the violent and widespread riots of the 1960s and 1990s.
Many of the men left in Airin, on average just shy of 60 years old and with no family ties, are waiting to die here, said Minoru Yamada, who moved here in 1973, once worked as a day laborer and is now chairman of Kamagasaki Shien Kiko, a private organization that helps laborers.
“At one time, this was a place where you could remake yourself,” Mr. Yamada said. “But not anymore. Now it’s become a dumping ground for old men, a place where waste is disposed of.”
A grim report by the city government last year said that conditions in Airin were rapidly worsening: an aging population, rising homelessness, deepening poverty and increasing cases of tuberculosis and alcoholism. The number of welfare recipients has grown fivefold in the past decade.
An ancient slum, this area was renamed and reshaped into Airin in the 1960s when the city government cleared it of family dwellings, concentrated all the city’s day laborers here and invited others from all over Japan to meet a construction boom. Today, the city estimates that 30,000 people, about a quarter of its peak two decades ago, live in this 153-acre neighborhood, which is less than one-fifth the size of New York’s Central Park.
The district’s overall population is more than 85 percent male. But in Airin’s core — an urban valley hemmed in by wide avenues and an elevated train track — there are almost no women at all.
During Japan’s economic go-go years, the number of jobs offered here swelled, peaking at 9,614 a day in 1990. The number has fallen to about a third of that today and no longer includes jobs in the kind of large and lucrative construction projects that fueled Japan’s boom. Still, recruiters show up every morning at the Airin General Center, the day labor market, saying they need to check over hires before sending them to a job.
“This is different from bidding on dead tuna at a fish market auction,” said one recruiter, who said he shifted to Airin more than two decades ago after working as a pimp in Tokyo. “Sure, you can recruit on the Internet, but on the Internet, you can’t make out someone’s character. For example, a guy can be O.K. if he hasn’t been drinking. But if he has, he may get crazy and create problems for everybody around him.”
A couple of hours after the recruiters had left for the day, Tadashi Kato showed up at the center to put his name down for a job as a night watchman. Mr. Kato, 75, came here in 1957, abandoning forever his home in rural Hokkaido and family talk of fixing him up with a job at the national railway.
“It’d be natural to wonder whether I would have been better off joining the national railway, but I’ve led a carefree life and have seen things that people usually can’t,” Mr. Kato said in a guttural voice, explaining that he had taken photos of past riots here and was looking for a “successor” to inherit them.
He once lived in a flophouse. But nowadays, with few jobs coming his way, he sleeps on the streets. He refused to apply for welfare or enter the city-run homeless shelters, where each person receives one piece of hardtack bread a night. He would never, he said, depend on the government.
He was married briefly, and he said that, unlike many of the men who came here to escape after accumulating debts or abandoning their families, he long supported his former wife and their only child, a daughter.
He last saw his daughter, in Tokyo, when his first grandchild was born three decades ago.
“ ‘Your feet stink — don’t come here dressed like that,’ ” he said she told him. “She said I could come if I had some money for her, but not to bother if I didn’t. Either way, it’s hard being a man.”
He had not seen his daughter since, but he said he knew her address in Tokyo.
“When I die, I’ll absolutely go to my daughter’s,” Mr. Kato said of his ashes, adding, “Sometimes, you know, I think if I could go painlessly, it wouldn’t be that bad not to wake up in the morning.”
It was not 11 a.m. yet, but Airin’s tiny outdoor drinking stalls were already filling up with customers. The most popular was a five-stool stall that belonged to Yayoi Onodera, 48, who charged $5 per drink and sold rice balls. She had earned around $40,000 in profit since moving here from Tokyo six months ago.
“I never dreamed I’d make so much money,” Ms. Onodera said, adding that she had struggled in the beginning but was encouraged by a local yakuza leader who used to stop by every now and then before he was arrested and imprisoned for drug dealing.
Later that afternoon, many of the men drifted to Sankaku Park nearby where they watched sumo wrestlers on a television set atop a pole.
But Kazuyasu Ikeda, 64, went straight home to the 49-square-foot room he had been renting for the past six years for $11 a night. From his fourth-floor room, where he had a television set, 16 small cactuses and a small tank filled with guppies, he had a view of a parking lot and, beyond that, the Hankai train line.
He had just collected his wages for cutting grass that day and was in high spirits. The wages, of course, were nothing compared with what he had made during Japan’s economic boom. Helping to build a highway in Okinawa back then, he said, he far outearned American marines stationed there.
“At a foreigner’s bar that I used to go to, I was even more popular than the foreigners,” Mr. Ikeda said, adding that he was such a regular that the bar kept a bottle of Camus Cognac for him.
He never had children and thus suffered no guilt, he said with a laugh.
But as he watched the end of the day’s sumo matches, Mr. Ikeda, a red towel he had used while working still wrapped around his head, seemed to grow tired and his mood darkened. The conversation drifted, as it often did in Airin, to the topic of death.
Mr. Ikeda boasted that he had never taken a handout, stood in a soup line or stayed in a homeless shelter. When there were no jobs, he collected aluminum cans. His “policy” was to rely on no one, he said.
“I’ll hang on for another 10 years,” he said.
Outside, the train rattled past as dusk began settling on Airin. The men here, he said, were like cigarette lighters worth 100 yen, or less than $1.
“It’s painful to throw away a Zippo or Dunhill lighter even if it doesn’t light properly anymore,” he said. “But 100-yen lighters you just throw away. That’s what we are.”