At Press Time
JR (Japan Railways) IS PLANNING TO WATER DOWN their shinkansen (bullet train) service by deleting the water fountains on board the expensive trains. While claiming this is due to customer disinterest, we point out their new policy of selling bottled water at inflated prices is suspect as the real reason.
SOME ONE MILLLION REFUGEES in Yugoslavia need your support. NGO, The Japan Emergency Team is undertaking its 54th disaster operation in this regard (according to a press release sent to JT). Contact them at Operation Kosovo, 1-6-19-65 Azabudai, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-8691 or at kosovo@jhelp.com.
ENGLAND ON THE CHEAP: The British Accommodation Consortium has notified JT that their new listing of less expensive places to stay is now available free. For example, a summer stay at Kings College in London is Y5,000 daily, including breakfast. Contact www.buac.co.uk or call 44-115-950-4571. For equivalent American info B.J. Publishing can send you a book for Y2,000. Fax them at 1-714-525-6625 or try www.bbonline.com and www.bbchannel.com/usa.
It may take years for CARNIVAL CRUISE LINES to recover from a Titanic sinking of their reputation. While business has been on he increase since the release of the Titanic, it’s suffering now from bad press. Carnival commonly sells connecting air flight and sea cruise packages. In a recent case, the flight got in too late to make the connection. While it is normal for a ship to wait in such a case, they did not. 100 angry passengers were stranded in the anything-but-exciting Miami airport trying to find a way back home.
The Carnival ship had been informed of the flight delay (a matter of hours), but left for San Juan regardless. Were this not enough o blemish their reputation, they chose not to offer refunds, but offered a mere 20% discount which meant, effectively, that customers could pay for two trips and travel on one. This merely compounded the problem and sent customers to file complaints with the Federal Trade Commission.
Under American law, since Carnival arranged the scheduling and failed to mitigate damages by not waiting, they can be held liable for civil damages which can include punitive and circumstantial damages. They’d have been smarter to wait, and it would have been cheaper to offer refunds. Shame on them!
NEAR GUNMA PREFECTURE? The Hotaka Country Music and Jazz festival is the place to be. All the beer you can drink for Y2,000. Contact 027-858-4073 or on the Web at www.newmadrid.com.
SPECIAL
FEATURE
Human Rights Falling
Through the Cracks in Japan
Japan "Justice" Ministry tearing Japanese children apart from gaijin dad