今週の日本

Japan Says JAL Can Be Saved, With State Bailout

New York Times

Japan renews effort to free citizens abducted by North Korea

Guardian

Nintendo profit dives, others in red amid slump

Washington Post

Hitler en versión 'manga', estrella en el salón barcelonés

El Pais

Japan-U.S. ties need revamp: Hatoyama

Japan Times

Teacher held over 'black widow serial killings' in Japan

Times Online

Body Image in Japan and the United States

Japan Focus

Au Japon, une gérante de fast-food est morte de surmenage

Le Monde

Economy priority for Japan's PM

BBC

Seibu Lions win rights for 18-year-old LHP Kikuchi

Yahoo Sports

Last week's Japan news


Japan Statistics

Global Gender Gap, by country:

Norway: 1
Finland: 2
Sweden: 3
Iceland: 4
New Zealand: 5
Philippines: 6
Denmark: 7
Ireland: 8
Netherlands: 9
Latvia: 10

United Kingdom: 13

USA: 27

Japan: 98

Source: World Economic Forum

Suicides through the end of September totaled 24,846 in Japan. That is an increase of 741 on the total from the first nine months of the previous year.

Source: Kyodo News


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渋谷駅 モヤイ像



Shibuya Station is famous for its Hachiko statue - so famous in fact that the exit near the statue is named after it. However, the south exit of Shibuya Station also has a statue - a much bigger one - that isn't as famous: the Moyai.

This massive statue is based on the moai statues of Easter Island, and was donated to Tokyo by Niijima Village in the Izu Islands south of Tokyo, which are officially a part of Tokyo. It was 1980, and the occasion was the celebration of Tokyo's 100th year as capital of Japan (which previously had been Kyoto).

Niijima Village is the source of the stone of which this statue is made. The word "moyai" is a word in the Japanese dialect of Niijima Village meaning "to work together," and by happy coincidence it sounds like "moai."

Although poor cousin to Hachiko, Shibuya Station's south exit moai is actually more memorable, in its grand, tragic simplicity, and, not least, its solitude in a spot only a minute's walk from the Shibuya shopping area - one of the Japan's most crowded places!

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Tokyo Vice: An American reporter on the Police Beat in Japan

by Jake Adelstein

Pantheon

ISBN: 0-521-58810-3

346 pp

With so many books promising untold riches, then failing to deliver, this journalistic adventure by Jake Adelstein is rare: it is unputdownable and a real eye-opener into a side of Japanese society that foreigners and Japanese themselves very rarely see, and as such is highly recommended.

After graduating from Sophia University in the early 1990s, Adelstein became the first Western reporter for the Yomiuri Shinbun, the biggest Japanese–language newspaper in Japan (and the newspaper with the highest circulation in the world). He was soon assigned to the crime beat and after a stint in Saitama (north of Tokyo and as the author describes it, "the New Jersey of Japan") he was sent to cover the notorious red-light district of Kabukicho and the foreigner's playground of Roppongi in central Tokyo. In doing so he made contacts of pimps, prostitutes, hostesses, yakuza gangsters, various members of the police force, and other assorted characters for information.

He details the various complexities of his job and illuminates the necessity of having good connections, which means spending almost every other night wining or dining police connections, or turning up at their houses with gifts. The loyalty Adelstein has for his profession, his colleagues, and his sources is truly admirable, and the friendships he makes are unforgettable. He also makes his way between various competing factions of the police agencies, the media, the government, and other organizations to try and get what he wants.

Adelstein details his descent into this world with both glee and weariness; his evenings become drunken prowls around hostess bars, sex industry establishments, and the nightlife and detritus of Tokyo as he searches for information. His insider's view of the Lucy Blackman case and the way the police handled it are fascinating. He details his involvement in other cases involving various lowlifes of Japanese society and opens up a whole new world to the reader.

The Yakuza are very prominent throughout - indeed, it appears that there are few businesses in which they do not have some kind of presence - and the sheer power that they command, both in physical presence and financially, is breathtaking; the police's role appears to be just to keep them in check as much as possible rather than to attempt to try and eradicate them.

Adelstein eventually gets in way too deep. Knowing too much about Goto Tadamasa, leader of the Goto faction, a branch of Japan's biggest Yakuza organization, the Yamaguchi-gumi, and a man who was able to enter the USA and obtain a liver transplant despite being on various blacklists, Adelstein is threatened to "either erase the story, or we'll erase you. And maybe your family." He decides that enough is enough and to get out, but not before a showdown with Goto.

The book succeeds on all levels - it is a fascinating glimpse into Japanese society on a level rarely penetrated by Westerners and Japanese alike; it is the journey of a man who loves his job and family but wades in way too far; and it is a truly great read. With stories like these, Jake Adelstein would make a phenomenal drinking partner.

David White

Buy this book from Amazon USA I UK I Japan

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徳川慶喜お墓

Tokugawa Yoshinobu was the 15th and final shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan. He attempted to reform the shogunate system - but failed.

He resigned in late 1867, and retired into relative obscurity　(though was throughout his life close to the Imperial family).

Like Japan itself, he was swept up by the tectonic changes that overtook the country with the opening of its ports to foreign powers.

He died on November 22, 1913, and is buried in Tokyo's Yanaka Cemetery.

The cemetery and the surrounding area - Yanaka or Sendagi - is well worth a day out. It is close to Ueno Park, and can be done on foot.

To find the grave itself is not hard as there are markers (see below). You may get lost and are more likely to have crows and stray cats for company than human beings - but a bit of persistence you will find it.

The cemetery is very peaceful.

Access

The Yanaka area can be accessed from either Sendagi Station (Chiyoda subway line) or Nishi Nippori Station (Yamanote Line). For the cemetery, Nishi Nippori Station is the closest station. It is just below it and a short walk up steps.

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• Date: Friday Oct 31st, 2009
  
• Time: 6:30-9pm
  
• Drinks will be served between 6:30pm-8:50pm.
• Place: The Red Rock (2F Aster Plaza Building, 4-14-6 Sakae, Nagoya (very close to Sakae Station)
• Fee: 3000 Yen
• Halloween Costume Contest with a Wii Fit, digital picture frames and much more! Consolation prizes will be awarded for 2nd - 5th place as well!
• Dress code: Anything (Casual, etc)
• Reservations: Not necessary but recommended and appreciated. Just show up to the party!
• Over 25,000 Yen worth of exciting prize giveaways each month!