or yet another entry in my long series of crap that no one reads

in response to the horrible stabbing spree in akihabara, tokyo, japan a few weeks ago the japanese national police agency has once again shown why policy changes proposed during the height of public panic and tragedy have such a reputation for being well thought out, logically consistent, and effective in practice.

it has been decided that the most effective way to prevent such incidents from happening in the future is to help strengthen the familial and social bonds within japanese communities to reduce feelings of alienation and bitter isolation in the nation’s citizenry. to educate citizens on what to watch for in individuals that might indicate possible instability and what to do. to take steps to decrease the stigma associated with mental illness and the shame which prevents families and friends from reporting strange behavior to get counseling and medication for their loved ones. to increase the penalties for those who commit violent crime, and to revamp laws to favor self defense and empower people to stop criminals like this before hostile situations get further out of hand. all while recognizing that no matter what legislation is enacted, not all murders can be prevented or tragedies averted.

no, i’m just kidding, they want to ban double bladed knives and increase the restrictions on guns. to quote the article:

A panel of legal and other experts has submitted a report to the National Police Agency, saying daggers and other double-edged knives should be banned “to prevent their use in serious crimes. Such knives are “originally intended for stabbing and are highly dangerous…The panel…also recommends tightening laws on firearms

obviously all such incidents and stabbings could be prevented if only the authorities only took away every dagger, hunting, bowie, butterfly, switchblade, exacto and pocket knife, church key, and letter opener in the country. maybe they could melt them down into a healing image of hello kitty to commemorate the loss of lives in akihabara. i mean its not like people could find an alternative murder weapon. or that single edged knives could possibly hurt anybody. or that any of these blades have legitimate uses besides stabbing people. or that knives in japan are already regulated to help prevent crimes like this. or that those laws failed to prevent this massacre. or…

while they’re at it why not just outlaw the wedge? it is after all the most evil of the simple machines.

and i think we can all make the logical conclusion that a madman running down innocent people in a car, then getting out of the car and stabbing others with a knife until stopped by a heroic group of officers carrying firearms, is really an issue resulting from lax gun regulation and slap on the wrist gun crime laws. we all know that had hunting rifles been illegal the aum attack would never had happened. and if paintball guns didn’t exist, neither would takuma. seriously though, wtf?

i guess they’ll be coming after video games next. it would complete the trifecta of stupidity after all. if only children weren’t allowed to see violence they wouldn’t be violent, etc., etc.

but if japan wants to insist on banning items that can be used as weapons and strengthening laws on items already restricted then i’ll help them with my own non-comprehensive list of things to be banned.

i think this would be a good start, murder would probably vanish, and the ignored mentally ill would most likely join hands and sing songs under a rainbow.

according to an article in the new york times online,written by norimitsu onishi, the ashes in a japanese urn are an apt metaphor for the future of the system of funeral buddhism in the country.

where as in the past, the japanese reliably counted on buddhist priest’s and their rituals as a source of comfort during the time surrounding the death of a loved one, many now are choosing to go with services provided funeral homes or cremations with no services at all (preferring instead to dump their loved one’s remains in the nearest ashtray and keep their kaimyo in the toilet in case they need something to aim at when they’re drunk).

photo of a priest staring disinterestedly at a wall, hat tip to the old grey lady

while there are a myriad of reasons for this shift in attitudes towards death and the proper place of religion during this time, to numerous to be discussed in detail here, there are a few notable trends listed in the articles.

1) the accelerated drop in religious belief in the cities combined with their ever increasing populations has led to a large group of people who have no religious belief whatsoever and see no need to start on the day of their death.

2) the rural demographic, where until recently buddhism was still strong, is aging and dying off as the younger generations move to cities and the birthrates are not enough to make up for the exodus of population and businesses. this leaves country temples serving an ever dwindling number of less affluent elderly to serve, thus making many temples financially insecure.

3) the sense of japanese that buddhism doesn’t cater to the needs of the living, thus making them more indifferent to what it teaches about what happens after death; and the lack of change in that area the clerics seem to want to make in this regard.

4) a lack of moral authority apparent in the buddhist temples since the end of wwii when they began to sell prestigious posthumous names to people who paid them enough money, thus denigrating names once reserved for revered buddhist adherents with strong moral characters to an indulgence of sorts. as appropriate in situations like these payments are usually made in unmarked in envelopes on a no receipt-cash only basis.

5) the general expense of traditional funerals combined with new rent a priests employed by funeral homes to provide services for people they most likely have never met before and willing to provide honest listings of fraudulent extravagant titles that can be attained at rock bottom prices and you get a receipt.

all these factors are combining together to create an a daunting challenge to the continuing existence of temples across the country. with funeral expenses being analogous in importance to these temples as tithing is to churches and synagogues in the west in terms of revenue sources, many priests face being the last generation of clerics ministering their religion in japan.

as a consequence many temples are expected to close their doors over the coming decades, taking with them (they claim) a major source of local history and sense of community and continuity in their local precincts. of course some of the major private and state sponsored temples and unesco tourists sites will be unaffected, but many charming repositories of small town rural culture will be disappearing. so if you always wanted to visit that one out of the way zen garden that somehow escaped being listed in the travel guides and is free of tourists, now might be a good time.

soon places like this might be overgrown memories of a different age

few random closing thoughts…
a) what’s going to happen to all the libraries of coin lockers supposedly holding parishioners souls? talk about a crappy afterlife, you’re closed in a hole in the wall until the local priest can’t make ends meet and then bulldozed; lame.

b) i find it darkly humorous that the priests see many of the sources of their decline, recognize they are preventable, and then do nothing. this lethargy in response to their situation seems to come from a certain amount of apathy about their beliefs. they talk about how other religions provide sermons and community services outside of funerals to keep their faith relevant to their congregations as if it would be some theoretically nice thing to do, and then take no action to emulate. has buddhism in japan become this esoteric that it no longer has an application in people’s daily lives? i suspect that it’s just laziness on the part of the priests

c) perhaps this is just the logical conclusion to japan’s seeming cognitive dissonance on the issue of religion. after all if you don’t believe in it and didn’t live your life according to its precepts and went to your death this way, how would having an extravagant funeral change this? it you believe that human existence ends when the lungs stop breathing, the heart stops beating, and the neurons stop firing signals through their dendrites why waste your money to commemorate, dedicate, exalt, and provide a home for a soul you don’t even believe exists? and if you do believe in a deity or higher power of some sort exists, do you really think that a life spent living in sin and unbelief can be made up for by having a really cool name and a nice funeral? i guess these types of services are more for the living, but if that’s true why not remember the dead in your own way? it would be a lot more meaningful and cost effective than spending over ten thousand dollars for a piece of lacquered wood and empty platitudes from some guy who never even met the deceased.

d) think of the boon to the horror movie industry. decrepit buildings, abandoned alters, moss covered statues, rooms with soul lockers; this will be great!

courtesy of bat japan an invention to make menthol cigarettes more more flavorful: a ball in the filter which when squeezed adds a burst of flavor to the smoke

Images via Trends In Japan

link here

some samples

Japan’s oldest “modern” robot — the 10-foot, 6-inch GakuTenSoku — has been awakened in Japan. Gone are the inflatable rubber tubes of the original 1928 android build by biologist Makoto Nishimura. The bot now tilts its head, moves his eyes, smiles, and puffs out his cheeks thanks to a $200,000, computer-controlled, pneumatic-servo makeover. While nothing compared to his modern offspring, GakuTenSoku still manages to creep us the hell out. On display at the renovated Osaka Science Museum starting July 18th.

japanese robot nostalgia from engadget.

in january of this year, what is being called a “missing link” from the cretaceous period was discovered in iwate prefecture by one kazuhisa sasaki.

this specimen is the oldest praying mantis specimen to have legs with hair and spines.

interesting…

in an apparent chemistry experiment gone awesome, a 14 year old girl managed to not only to give herself considerable trouble breathing, but forced an evacuation of her apartment complex. according to police this is only an isolated incident in a series of similar experimentation through out the nation. driven to recreating this inspiring chemical reaction by educational websites around the world, many japanese both young and old are racing to combine household cleaning products in order to artificially create the chemical responsible for odiferous flattus.

when reached for comment about how and why so many people around japan would be performing their own trails with household cleaning chemicals when the results, in addition to being well known, are also so stinky; the head of a tokyo based group specializing in this field gave this observation…

“It’s easy, and everyone can do it,”

finally a family friendly way to introduce the children to the wonders of science through empirical observation of molecule creation. think of how little taro’s eyes will light up when you tell him you’re going to show him how to create a smell like a bad fart in an enclosed space. that rebellious and angsty girl airi will finally find something she could do when she is alone. your spouse could learn a good prank to pull next time you forget your anniversary. why not just surprise everybody and do it yourself? it just takes one’s breath away when considering all the people that could benefit from testing this home school biochemical reaction.

just remember for the sake of your neighbors, please put up a notice like the one listed in the article. it is always good to let the people living around you know that might not want to partake in your pursuit of knowledge that they may need to keep a wide berth. sort of like a mythbuster’s “science content” warning.

found an interesting article on the wordpress platform. since japundit is a growing site with some past issues involving the site going down i thought it might make an interesting read for both the casual japundit and those who run their own blog/vlog based on the wordpress platform

for those who haven’t heard the news ghost in the shell is being adapted into a live action movie by dreamworks. the man selected to direct the film? stephen spielberg. the writer? jamie moss (same writer from street kings).

there has been great speculation and excitement over the announcement. there have also been many questions about the abilities of this duo to successfully recreate the message, tone, postcyberpunk atmosphere, and characters of masamune shiro and mamoru oishii, all while converting the movie into a hollywood blockbuster that appeals to a wide spectrum of an audience.

so in the dual spirits of open inquiry and entertainment, here is my proposition to you japundits: a thread on ghost in the shell. thread to postulate, a thread to innovate, a thread to create, a thread for questions, a thread for objections, a thread for interjections, a thread for ideas, a thread for geekiness, a thread for nostalgia, a thread for points, and a thread for pissing people of by trying to express the freedom of the thread through rhyme and failing.

are spielberg and moss up to the task? will they destroy the movie? who would you like to see play motoko, or batou, or arimake? who’s off limits to play certain characters? what adaptations or changes in the plot or characters would you like to see? what adaptations or changes would you not tolerate in the film? will the originality of the storyline and plot be diluted by the use of material by the wachowski brothers? where will new port city be filmed? or will it be digitally rendered? what would be an appropriate budget for the film? these are the questions i’m interested in finding the answers to, but you don’t have to answer them. go crazy.

found an interesting article in the yale daily news today. it might not fit the general theme of japundit, but it certainly will tap your wtf tolerance for the day.

apparently creating hoax videos of amatuer “drug” induced miscarriages combined with what is most likely congealed menstrual blood (mixed with saline) smeared on paper wrapped around a cube frame constitutes art in america’s ivy league schools these days.

what i find humorous is the defense of the piece by yale, who call the story behind the work a piece of “performance art.” funny how no one made mention of that to anyone until the news broke online. it seems the faculty of the school were willing to let students, campus groups, and the general public believe that this display was factual, even not letting the school newspaper in on the deal until the story reached the public and the shit hit the fan.

apparently part of the effect or message (the message i took away: some people in arts college are really disgusting people with no artistic talent that belong in a mental hospital) could only be achieved by letting people believe it was real, or more like the student was just a publicity whore and the school was acting as her pimp, stirring up controversy for recognition.

even more pathetic is the likely outcome of the matter. the controversy will achieve the designers’ aim and the girl will become a famous (i refuse to say artist here) and live the high life by selling her work to rich douchebags who have no sense of taste and want to have something “edgey.”

oh well

according to articles found on both bloomberg and the guardian, the expanding waistlines of japan’s denizens is causing the ministry of health and welfare concern. so great is there apprehension, in fact, that they along with local and municipal governments, have hatched a comprehensive series of plans to reduce the girth of the nation. as its stated goal, the government hopes to reduce unhealthy weight and obesity in the workforce and their dependents by 25% in seven years time.

being the lazy ineffective bureaucrats they are, the ministry has a plan to hoist all responsibility for achieving these goals on the shoulders of the companies who employ overweight workers and their out of shape dependents. the firms that fail to meet the goal of having 25% of their workforce (and the work force’s dependents) shape up risk paying increased taxes to help assist with the overburdened public health system.

isn’t it enough that your manager harasses you about meeting quotas, productivity, and deadlines? now you have to report to them about your exercise and diet plans, too? lame. not to mention the increased taxes on the entire company. now you not only have to report to your supervisor about your waistline; but anyone who isn’t in shape is probably going to be the victim of hazing from their fellow employees who don’t want to hear about why their paychecks are being cut when the worker doesn’t manage to drop those last 5 pounds.

even more insidious are the possible implications for proprietors and small llc (or japanese equivalent) companies. while the articles are relatively sparse on the details of how this plan would affect small companies (or whether they are excluded) if the same laws did apply this could be a great hidden way to raise taxes on certain individuals who already have enough to wade through.

and would somebody please think of the women and the children here. aren’t the relationships between spouses and their offspring strained enough without having to watch each other’s weight. hey, at least it provides a plausible excuse for telling your wife she’s fat. “honey i’m just trying to help you with your job.”

i know. i know, i’m probably being a tad over-reactive (probably?) and might be engaging in my fair share of hyperbole, but this does seem like an underhanded and indirect way of trying to reign in the present value of future healthcare.

well at least there is a light side to this whole matter. in a bid to encourage japanese citizens to lose weight some municipalities have take it on themselves to create inspirational models of behavior for all the lardasses out there. case in point: the mitsuke mighty morphing metabo rangers.

do you think they morph into something less lame?

interesting series of photos on this website

scattered around buddhist temples in the tohoku region of japan there are mummified bodies enshrined in . practitioners of an ancient set of rituals known as shugendô, these monks actually mummified themselves in a prolonged act of asceticism. believing that they could attain enlightenment in a mere ten thousand days (about 8 years, 2 months, and 19 days) by adhering to a strict diet, keeping a strict schedule of meditation and exercise, and slowly poisoning themselves.

remember those blow up jumping castles that you had at your birthday party as a child? well leave it to japan to pervert those too.

boldly going where only ash (satochi) has gone before

in zenkoji temple, located in nagano, a movement is taking root. instigated by an incident in which one of the tendai sect’s high priests punished a monk for insubordination by forcing him to copy sutras in a small room for two months: enraged by this form of discipline the man’s fellow monks filed a lawsuit stating that the temple authorities were violating his contract of employment.

all it needs is a gm logo

not satisfied with the possible remedies of law and equity that the courts could offer, the monk also approached nagano’s zenroren and asked them to determine whether he had cause and standing to create a union at the temple. finding that his set wages and specifically defined hours working for daikanjin, the zenroren ruled that he was legally of the same standing as a salaryman working for a corporation and approved his petition to begin union negotiations with his monks and the temple.

the resulting agreement, dubbed the zenkoji daikanjin bunkai has already inspired monks from other sects to contact their own local labor boards and ask whether they to can create their own unions. the seeming hope among these junior monks is that one day they may enjoy better working conditions and higher wages for their work at the buddhist temples and shrines across the nation.

hmmm…

NSFW

planning a trip with the kids? looking for something a little bit more original than disney? or maybe you want the kids to experience something educational while they’re having fun. well if your visiting japan, korea, china, or vietnam; you might consider the following amusement parks.

probably NSFW

ever thought about cruising on your own boat around the pacific ocean? you know, just for the hell of it? well then, are you an environmentalist perhaps? someone who is worried about the increasing acidity of our oceans and the giant pile of trash polluting the pacific. hmmm? then you’ll love this man.

his name is kenichi horie. already a record holder in solar powered sailing and a world class recycler of used beer kegs.

his vessel is the suntory mermaid 2. a wave powered ship; it is slow as a snail, but environmentally friendly and a possible harbinger of a future propulsion system for large slow moving ships like the cargo ships from china