A film company is feeling the heat from Japanese extremists over a documentary they are planning to release about Yasukuni Shrine.

“The threats began about two months ago, when we started press screenings of the movie in Japan,” [Chinese-born director Li Ying] told The Hollywood Reporter in Berlin, where “Yasukuni” screened at the Berlin International Film Festival’s Forum sidebar. “The threats have gotten worse and worse as we have gotten closer to the Japanese theatrical release of the film in April.”

Here is another one of those stories that pop up every now and again that seem to indicate some Japanese men have a definite problem interacting with members of the opposite sex.

In this episode, Daisuke Nunomura, a 28-year old male employee of Skymark Airlines has been arrested for abusing a female coworker whom he locked in his car for five hours at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport.

Nunomura originally met his 28-year old cabin attendant victim about two years ago, and immediately started to bombard her with e-mails and letters. Apparently upset that she spurned his love attack, Nunomera ambushed the woman and forced her into his car, where he held her captive for about five hours, during which Nunomura allegedly head-butted the woman.

The woman eventually was able to escape by telling Nunomura that she needed to go to the toilet. She an e-mail message to a friend when Nunomura left her alone.

Nunomura admits to the charges against him, but refuses to give police a reason for acting as he did, telling them, “I’ll tell you about the motive for my crime later.”

Ain’t love grand!

Chat Noir, operator of the Caffe Veloce coffee shop in Japan, has sued publisher Kodansha for 11 million yen and an apology to compensate for losses it says it suffered due to a bad review of their coffee.

The October 2007 issue of “The Weekend for Adults” monthly magazine by Kodansha ranked 11 popular cafe chains in an undercover survey, checking them on drinks, food, atmosphere and convenience.

Caffe Veloce — known for signboards with wine-red frames or with the catchphrase, “Good coffee brewed here” — came last, with the accompanying article saying it was sheer luck whether the coffee was any good.

The chain is suing because it says the subjective opinion of a single writer has hurt is brand image. The magazine, on the other hand, claims such a suit, “not only restricts the freedom to criticize but is also disadvantageous for consumers.”

In case you are wondering, the top spot for a cup of Joe in Japan according to the review is Tully’s, followed by Segafredo Zanetti of Italy, and then Starbucks.

Almost 76 percent of the respondents to a telephone survey conducted in Japan by Kyodo News last weekend said they will no longer use food items that come from China.

According to Kyodo, the percentage of people in Japan who use Chinese food items dropped from around 58% last year to only 21.6% after the poison dumpling scandal hit in Japan.

When the groups Reporters Without Borders and Chinese Human Rights Defenders published an online report titled Journey to the Heart of Internet Censorship about how China is censoring online content, the Chinese government did the only thing it knows how to do. . . It censored the report

Just hours after the report was issued, Yang Le, the head of the Beijing Information Office, which is in charge of Internet control, circulated an order to websites and ISPs asking them to update their lists of banned key-words. The new banned key-words, mostly relating to the Internet, were used throughout the Reporters Without Borders report.

Read more about it here.

Via The Raw Feed

The British Olympic Association (BOA) reportedly is forcing the nation’s athletes to sign contracts that effectively ban them from speaking out against human rights abuses in China.

The controversial clause has been inserted into athletes’ contracts for the first time and forbids them from making any political comment about countries staging the Olympic Games.

The ban goes into effect from the moment a competitor signs up with the team, and those who refuse to sign will not be allowed to travel to Beijing. Violators will be sent home immediately.

The clause, in section 4 of the contract, simply states: “[Athletes] are not to comment on any politically sensitive issues.”

It then refers competitors to Section 51 of the International Olympic Committee charter, which “provides for no kind of demonstration, or political, religious or racial propaganda in the Olympic sites, venues or other areas”.

What about other countries? The United States, Canada, Finland, and Australia all have announced their athletes will be free to speak about any issue concerning China. Only New Zealand and Belgium have banned athletes from giving political opinions.

A recent Japan Times article about warnings eminating from an annual gathering of business leaders in Kyoto over the the political situation here and its affect on Japan’s “place on the world stage,” reveals that some “leaders” in Japan seem to prefer the relative harmony of a one-party dictatorship over a two-party system of checks and balances.

Opposition party control of the Upper House since July has created political gridlock that is hurting Japan’s international reputation, participants said.

Solutions offered to break the deadlock were sometimes radical. Kyoto University professor Terumasa Nakanishi, a strong advocate of Japan having nuclear weapons, suggested the Upper House be abolished in its current form.

If this guy is a professor (which, I guess, makes him among Japan’s best and brightest), then Japan may be worse off than we imagine. The people voted the opposition (Democratic Party of Japan) into power in The Upper House because they were dissatisfied with the policies and practices of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and their coalition partner New Komeito Party. So in response this geek says Japan should simply abolish the Upper House in order to give the LDP and New Komeito a free hand, effectively spitting squarely into the eye of the Japanese voting public.

But even Nakanishi seems to have realized what a wacky notion this is, for he offered an alternative “plan,” albeit one that is no less wacky than the first (emphasis mine).

More moderately, [Nakanishi] also favors a coalition government.

“Two main parties, the Liberal Democratic Party and the Democratic Party of Japan, forming a coalition government is the only way to break the stalemate,” Nakanishi said, to the approval of many of the senior business leaders present.

Well, this approach accomplishes essentially the same thing as the first: that is it basically nullifies the results of the Upper House election and gives notice to the people of Japan that their votes mean absolutely nothing. It tells them the system is not only rigged, it is owned and operated by a small group of self-anointed, self-important elitists with a sense of entitlement that they feels puts them well above the law, the constitution, and the will of the people they govern.

What is the biggest threat to Japan according to these “leaders?”

Why, nails that refuse to be hammered down to the benefit of the powers that be, of course.

Many participants complained bitterly about what they see as self-centered behavior by corporations and individuals, especially among the younger generation[.]

Andy Young who runs Siberian Light - The Russian Blog, writes in to point us to his post about a long forgotten battle fought between Japan and the Soviet Union in the opening days of World War II. Forgotten, but so significant that it literall altered the course of history.

In August 1939, just weeks before Hitler invaded Poland, the Soviet Union and Japan fought a massive tank battle on the Mongolian border - the largest the world had ever seen.

Under the then unknown Georgy Zhukov, the Soviets won a crushing victory at the batte of Khalkhin-Gol (known in Japan as the Nomonhan Incident). Defeat persuaded the Japanese to expand into the Pacific, where they saw the United States as a weaker opponent than the Soviet Union. If the Japanese had not lost at Khalkhin Gol, they may never have attacked Pearl Harbor.

The Japanese decision to expand southwards also meant that the Soviet Eastern flank was secured for the duration of the war. Instead of having to fight on two fronts, the Soviets could mass their troops - under the newly promoted General Zhukov - against the threat of Nazi Germany in the West.

In terms of its strategic impact, the battle of Khalkhin Gol was one of the most decisive battles of the Second World War, but no-one has ever heard of it. Why?

Read the rest of the post here.

Tokyo is about to lose one its most popular tourist sites as the Tsukiji Fish Market adopts new rules in April that urge visitors to “refrain from coming” voluntarily.

It seems that tourist promotion activities for Tsukiji have been so successful that the hordes tourists showing up each morning create a hygiene risk and are interfering with normal business activities.

Hideji Otsuki, head of the wholesale market, said the request is aimed at getting tourists to exercise voluntary restraint.

“The situation won’t drastically change overnight because Tsukiji has become so well-known among (tourists) via the Internet,” Otsuki said by phone. “But we’d like to gradually change the situation by widely advertising the new rules.”

Tourists who arrive unaware of the new rules won’t be kicked out, but the ill-mannered may be escorted off the premises by security guards, he said.

Specifically, Tsukiji workers complain that some tourists try to touch the fish, and that camera flashes interfere with hand signals used during auctions.

Under the new rules. . .

• All outside visitors must submit an application in advance.
• Sightseers will be “asked to refrain from entering.”
• Visitors who show up unaware of the new restrictions will be allowed to enter but will be asked to abide by the new rules.
• No flash photos in the auction sites.
• No smoking except in designated areas.
• No babies, baby strollers or other large baggage.

With the government looking determined to push through a tax reform bill that JP reported on last week, it might come as something of a surprise to hear that it’s being reported tonight that they have agreed to drop the bill, or at least the clause concerning “road-designated tax revenues”, which has been facing stiff opposition and causing the oft-stated ‘confusion’ in parliament.

That Mainichi article linked above might lead you to believe that consumers in Japan can now look forward to cheaper gasoline at the pump. But I for one won’t be holding my breath.

Kyodo reports rather fuller details, including -

The withdrawal comes after the ruling and opposition camps accepted [House of Representatives Speaker Yohei] Kono’s offer made earlier in the day to resolve the tense confrontation over the bill in the lower house, a senior opposition lawmaker said. The offer calls for withdrawing the stopgap bill and seeking “some kind of conclusion within this fiscal year” through March on a separate bill to maintain the special taxes for 10 years beyond their expiration on March 31.

There’s no suggestion of nixing the gas tax, or lowering the rate. All this does is free up parliamentary time, by postponing a spat that sounds like it was beginning to get out of hand -

Prior to the deliberations at the financial committee, about 50 DPJ members blocked the passage near the committee room, holding up signs which read ”Road interests versus people’s lives.” In the committee meeting, opposition lawmakers protested against holding a vote, seizing the committee head’s microphone and slamming desks.

There’s clearly other pressing business the government wants to get round to (keep your eyes open) and could do without such strident hindrance. But it can only be seen as a postponement - the government will resubmit the issue in a bill in some other form in the near future, and in the face of further opposition, are likely to force it through.

If you thought you’d seen the last of the Kameda family, I’ve news for you. They’re back. I know. I’ve missed them too.

The demure, urbane and modest Koki Kameda, it has been announced, will return to the ring on March 22 for a non-title bout with Spanish flyweight Jose Lopez Bueno at Makuhari Messe in Chiba.

Koki’s been in ‘media exile’ since the whole family’s shameful display during younger brother Daiki’s now infamous fight last October.

Have to say it doesn’t sound like exciting fare, more like target practice. Don’t know much about Jose Lopez Bueno, except that he’s 33 (12 years older than Kameda) and doesn’t have what you’d call a sparkling record (42 fights, won 29, lost 9, drawn 4). Is he one of these “washed up palookas” that JP was referring to?

Daddy won’t be ringside of course, he’s still banned, but whether we’ll see return of the media circus that inevitably ensued whenever a Kameda was present, well that’s another matter entirely and remains to be seen.

Here is something a bit different for your weekend viewing pleasure. . . It is the trailor for a new soap opera out of Thailand titled War of Angels.

The new soap opera focuses on the sexual scandal of a handsome married pilot, and a group of jealous air hostesses fighting for his love. The stewardesses can be seen cat fighting while on duty and wearing their uniforms.

It seems a trade union that represents air crews has filed a complaint with the Thai culture ministry and the TV station that broadcasts the show, saying it demeans their profession.

Though the producers of the show have apologized, and have promised to lengthen the skirts worn by the flight attendant characters and to stop depicting them having cat fights in uniform (which I guess means they will have them wearing something else when they cat fight), they have ruled out cancelling the show as demanded by the union.

Via Asian Pop With Yien Jee

Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara has gone on record saying that the U.S. will abandon Japan in the future to forge stronger ties with China because the two countries worship money.

“The U.S. will gravitate more and more toward China at the expense of Japan as it seeks short-term benefit,” Ishihara, 75, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television Jan. 9. “American and Chinese people share a similar value for just money, money, money.”

Japan’s adoption of U.S.-style capitalism has led to a wealth gap between urban and rural areas, he added. The co-author of the 1989 bestseller “The Japan That Can Say No,” also reiterated his view that the country should scrap its security treaty with the U.S. and strengthen its military.

Ishihara also claimed that many of Japan’s current woes are due to embrace of American-style capitalism by former Primer Minister Junichiro Koizumi and opposition leader Ichiro Ozawa.

“It was Ozawa who created a regional gap,” he said. “Ozawa ruined Japanese farming villages along with small and medium companies.”

Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s push to privatize parts of Japan’s postal system and boost competition were also a mistake, he said.

Only time will tell whether Koizumi’s reforms were good for Japan, but out here in the Tochigi countryside I hear nothing but complaints against the ex-Prime Minister. Many people out in the rural areas feel betrayed by Koizumi’s reforms and harbor deep bitterness against him and the “Koizumi children.”

The municipal government of Tsukubamirai in Ibaraki Prefecture has cancelled a scheduled lecture on domestic violence due to protests from opponents. Protesters also expressed displeasure with the Law for the Prevention of Spousal Violence and the Protection of Victims. The law allows the government to provide shelters for domestic violence victims, which the protesters claim would lead to the breakup of families.

Kazuko Hirakawa, head of Tokyo Feminist Therapy Center who was to be invited to the lecture, expressed regret over the move. “It’s regrettable because I wanted to show attendees the reality of domestic violence.”

Earlier this week, a group of protester gathered at the Tsukubamirai municipal government headquarters changing slogans. This prompted the government to cancel the lecture, saying it could “lead to confusion and cause trouble to attendees.”

I came across this transcript of 9/11 hearings by the Japanese Parliament. I was hesitant to post it because I’m not one for conspiracy theories but it’s interesting to read. Yukihisa Fujita leads the questioning in to the events of that day and questions Japan’s role in the War on Terror.

On New Year’s Eve, I first went to Zojo-ji Temple to see the countdown. From there I preceded on foot to Roppongi where the clubs were expensive and packed. Tensions were high.

I bumped into a fight between three security guards of Gaspanic’s Club 99 and two patrons. Some bystander leapt in to kick one of the guys but the crowded shouted at him. Another guy got involved but he just tried to break it up.

Actually fights aren’t so common in Roppongi despite what critics might think.

Keep the Peace!

A major Japanese labor union is organizing a postcard mailing campaign they hope will convince North Korean strongman Kim Jong-il to release Japanese citizens still believed to be held captive after being kidnapped by NORK agents in Japan.

The Japanese Trade Union Confederation, known by its Japanese acronym of Rengo, has printed about 100,000 pamphlets and handed them out to members, as well as made the document available on its website, each of which contains a cut-out postcard urging Kim to “let our comrades come home.”

The postcards are written in Japanese and Korean, and contain photos of 12 people the Japanese government recognizes as official abductees. They also are adorned with a photo of the NORK Chia Pet dictator, in hopes that doing so will keep the North Koreans from destroying the cards.

Members of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) reportedly are pushing for a law that would grant permanent foreign residents the right to vote in local elections.

With New Komeito [a partner of the Liberal Democratic Party in the current ruling coalition] also strongly demanding local suffrage for permanent foreign residents, DPJ lawmakers hope in the upcoming Diet session “to split the ruling camp by submitting the bill to the House of Councillors and call on New Komeito to endorse it,” according to one of the sources.

Though there is virtually no way in hell this law will pass any time soon (due to total resistance by conservative lawmakers in all parties, and especially the Liberal Democratic Party), it is an interesting notion. Not that long ago we got word that Japan is getting ready to lower the age of majority here to 18 from the current 20. At that time I wondered how long it would be before Beat Takeshi, a member of Morning Musume, or some masked wrestler becomes Prime Minister. . . But throw a bunch of hairy barbarians into the mix and the mind absolutely boggles.

East Japan Railway Co. (JR East) has reportedly rejected posters promoting a local “naked festival” because they feel many women would be uncomfortable looking at the naked men in on the posters.

“As sexual harassment becomes more of a problem, the standards for displaying posters in public spaces are becoming stricter,” a representative of the Morioka branch of JR East explained. “It wasn’t just that it was out of line because there was nakedness; the pictures showed things that were particularly unpleasant for women, such as chest hair, and it was decided that showing them things they didn’t want to see was sexual harassment.”

In the festival, crowds of men wearing nothing but loincloths participate in scrambles using sacks called sominbukuro. The festival, which has continued for about 1,000 years, is held in the hope of warding off plagues and producing bumper crops. This year, it will be held between the evening of Feb. 13 and early Feb. 14.

The poster in question combines three photos, showing a close-up of a bearded man with a hairy chest, and men in the background wearing loincloths.

The Australian government on Monday sharply condemned a popular Internet video claiming its citizens oppose Japanese whaling because of racism, while brutally killing animals such as kangaroos and dingoes.

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith criticized the video as he announced that Australia would this week deploy a ship to the Southern Ocean to gather evidence for possible legal action against Japan over its whaling program.

The 10-minute video, which has recorded more than 100,000 hits since being posted anonymously on the YouTube website, shows graphic images of Australians killing animals and of infamous racial riots at Cronulla beach in 2005.

Full story here. . .