Tidbits
NHK Knocking? Ayumi Kuroda was recently forced out of her position as the host of "Living Info: Hot Morning" after Shukan Shincho weekly ran a series of stories with headlines saying "Announcer Ayumi Kuroda hid her divorce." Rather than stand up for their employee's right to keep such her marriage private, NHK's old-boy management buckled under the weight of traditional beliefs. The so-called "public" corporation publicly acknowledged that Ms. Kuroda "hid" her divorce in 1997 with subsequent pressure for her to step down. The next time NHK comes knocking on your door why not tell them you will send your payment in after Ms. Kuroda is allowed to return to her position.
Would-Be Rapist Remains in the Diet - Self-proclaimed nationalist and outspoken Defense Vice Minister Shingo Nishimura gave a bizarre interview for a November issue of Weekly Playboy Magazine. He made an argument for Japan's nuclear armament using the concept of rape to explain his ideas. Nishimura said, "Nuclear weapons are a deterrent. If there were no punishment for rape, we would all be rapists. However, that is not the case because punishment acts as a deterrent." Additional comments by Nishimura were strikingly similar to the ideology of the Japanese Imperial Army that carried out the Rape of Nanking in 1937: On conquest Nishimura said, "This means exterminating all the men of a certain country, raping their women and having them bear their own offspring." On national defense, "This means preventing Japanese women from being raped by the men from other countries." To a female SDF member who opposed Japan's exercising the right of collective self-defense, "If you were being raped, I would never try to save you." The New Japan Women's Association said, "Nishimura's comments about rape are abusive." Nishimura has subsequently been forced to resign his Defense Vice Minister position but remains an LDP member of the Lower House as an elected representative by the people of Osaka.
Safe Nuclear Power? Japan has experienced yet another nuclear accident in Ibaraki and as with nearly every other such incident the natural reaction of the bureaucrats in charge has been to give false information and attempt to cover it up. There was a failure to report a radiation leak in Tokai on Nov. 20, 1995, a sodium coolant leak and fire at Monju in Fukui with editing and hiding of video tapes on Dec. 9, 1995, a water leak at Monju on Dec. 24, 1996 (although no cover up), a fire in Tokai with 37 workers injured by radiation, delays in evacuation, falsification of reports and destruction of photos taken on Mar. 11, 1997, and now another accident in Tokai with grossly inadequate handling procedures and improper delays in reporting to authorities, which caused rescue crews to be contaminated on Sept. 30, 1999.
An Epoch Ruling - In a discrimination civil suit brought by a Brazilian journalist, Ana Bortz, against a Hamamatsu jewelry store owner, Taro Yamada, the Shizuoka District Court has ordered Yamada to pay Y1.5 million in damages for discriminating against Bortz by ordering her out of the store because she was a foreigner. Mention was also made of Yamada's slander of Bortz by referring to foreigners as thieves. The verdict is particularly momentous as it was the first time a Japanese court has acknowledged the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination treaty (to which Japan is a signatory) as a basis for Japanese law. Presiding Judge Tetsuro So cited the treaty and said, "Banning foreigners from a store has an element of treating them cruelly because of their differences and is not appropriate behavior." {THANK YOU JUDGE SO!} Does this mean that it is now open season on half of the hundreds of thousands of real estate agents and landlords throughout Japan that actively discriminate against foreign people on a daily basis?
SPECIAL
FEATURE
Human Rights Falling
Through the Cracks in Japan
Japan "Justice" Ministry tearing Japanese children apart from gaijin dad