PAID DATING WITH TEENAGE STUDENTS THRIVING IN JAPAN?
TOKYO, Japan - Japan must do more to stop child abuse, and
especially the exploitation of young girls working in entertainment cafes
across the country, according to a UN official.
This message comes as Japan records an increase in the
number of exploitation cases reported from 2014.
In October, Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, the UN's special
rapporteur on child prostitution and pornography, angered Japan's government by
saying that up to 13 percent of schoolgirls had taken part in Enjo Kosai, or
compensated dating.
- She said later that the figure was not official, and would not be in her final report. But campaigners argue the lack of official figures is itself a sign of complacency by Japanese authorities.
- In the capital Tokyo, infantilised sexual culture has become accepted, and Japanese rights groups are campaigning to end the practice.
- Mai, a student, is working part-time promoting a so-called joshi kosei, or high-school girl cafe, in Tokyo's Akihabara district, where adult men pay to sit and chat with teenage girls.
- "Some of the men are my grandpa's age, and I do sometimes get short of things to talk about," Mai, dressed in her school uniform, told Al Jazeera.
- She said working in such a cafe beats her old restaurant job, and she insisted that her customers treated her well.
At the cafe where Mai works, her boss picks the staff of 15
to 18-year-old girls."Basically, they need to be pretty. That is an absolute requirement.
They should look slim and stylish. Also, they need to be
smart," Koichiro Fukuyama, the cafe owner, told Al Jazeera.
- But Fukuyama said there is no prostitution involved.
- Shihoko Fujiwara, spokesman of the women's right's group Lighthouse, said the culture of glamorising the practice is disturbing.
- "This concept of Enjo Kosai - compensated dating - has been around for how long now, 20 years? And we don't have any official figures for that? For me that was very shocking," she said.
- In Japan, it took until 2014 for possession of child abuse images to be made illegal - but not cartoon depictions of such abuse.
Campaigners said these images can be used in a much more
specific way, by child abusers to convince their victims that their criminal
actions are in fact perfectly normal.
Employing teenagers in adult entertainment is illegal - but,
in Japan, it seems, good for business.
Source: Al Jazeera
DOLPHIN BUTCHERING SEASON KICKS OFF IN JAPAN
TOKYO, Japan - The controversial six-month dolphin hunting season began on Monday in the infamous town of Taiji, but bad weather would delay any killing, a local official told AFP.
The annual catch, in which people from the southwestern town corral hundreds of dolphins into a secluded bay and butcher them, was thrust into the global spotlight in 2010 when it became the subject of the Oscar-winning documentary “The Cove”.
“The dolphin hunting season started today and will last until the end of February,” said an official of the Taiji fisheries association, adding the season for hunting pilot whales, which also begins today, will last until April.
But bad weather on Monday meant there would be no hunting on the day, he said. Environmental campaigners are already in situ to watch the hunt, the official said.
Last season, activists from international environmental group Sea Shepherd, who call themselves “Cove Guardians”, streamed live footage of the dolphin capture,
Earlier this year, the slaughter sparked renewed global criticism after US ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy tweeted her concern at the “inhumaneness” of the hunt.
Defenders say it is a tradition and point out that the animals it targets are not endangered, a position echoed by the Japanese government.
They say Western objections are hypocritical and ignore the vastly larger number of cows, pigs and sheep butchered to satisfy demand elsewhere.
But critics of the practice say there is insufficient demand for the animals’ meat, which in any case contains dangerous levels of mercury.
They say the hunt is only profitable because of the high prices live dolphins can fetch when sold to aquariums and dolphin shows.
On Sunday around 30 people marched in Tokyo to protest the hunt, which they say sullies
Japan’s reputation abroad.
Source: AFP
OBAMA BACKS JAPAN IN ISLAND ROW WITH CHINA
The US president has reiterated that islands at the centre of a Sino-Japanese dispute are covered by a US-Japan defence pact, in a public show of support for allies in Tokyo.
In comments made on Thursday in Japan, Barack Obama said that the islands - known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China - were historically administered by Tokyo and came under the terms of joint-defence alliance.
He said US commitment to the treaty was "absolute". "This is not a new position. This is a consistent one," he said.
"Article five covers all territories under Japan's administration including Senkaku islands."
However, he said: "We stand together in calling for disputes in the region, including maritime issues, to be resolved peacefully through dialogue."
- He said the US commitment to defend Japan was a matter of historical fact rather than a rebuke to China: "The treaty preceded my birth, so obviously this isn't the red line that I'm drawing."
- China later on Thursday said that the islands were its property.
AT LEAST 10 DEAD IN JAPAN HOSPITAL FIRE
FUKUOKA, Japan - At least 10 people killed after fire broke out at
orthopedic hospital in southern Fukuoka prefecture. A fire at a small hospital
in southern Japan has killed at least ten people, police say.
The fire, which broke out early on Friday morning, also injured another
eight people, police said. Their condition was not immediately known.
"We have confirmed the deaths of 10 people - eight in-patients and two
hospital workers," said a local police spokesman in the southern Japanese
prefecture of Fukuoka.
The fire is believed to have started around 2:20am (17:20 GMT on Thursday)
at the four-story building and was put out more than two hours later.
"The cause of the fire is yet to be determined," the police
official said, adding that the victims have yet to be identified.
Opened in 1970, the orthopedic hospital is located in a quiet residential
area, local media said, adding that many of the inpatients were elderly.
NHK quoted a firefighter as saying that flames were already emanating from
the windows of the building when fire engines arrived.
A 43-year-old woman living in the neighbourhood told the network: "A
lot of smoke came to the front door of my house and I heard shouts like 'Help!'
and crunching sounds."
Jiji Press news agency said some elderly patients were seen being rushed out
of the hospital while ambulance crews were giving them heart massages.
Source: Agencies
WORLD WAR II BIGGEST BREAKTHROUGH, MASS GRAVES FOUND ON JAPAN'S IWO JIMA
IWO JIMA, Japan - Two mass graves that may hold the remains of up to 2,000 Japanese soldiers have been discovered on the island of Iwo Jima, one of the bloodiest and most iconic battle-sites of World War II, a report and officials said today.IWO JIMA, Japan.The discovery of the remains would be one of the biggest world war II breakthroughs in decades toward finding the bodies of roughly 12,000 Japanese who remain missing and presumed dead after the 1945 battle on the island, which has been renamed Iwoto by the Japanese government.The island was seen as key to the United States because it had three airfields that could be used to launch raids on Tokyo and Japan’s main islands.
The battle claimed 6,821 American and 21,570 Japanese lives.Dozens of remains are recovered every year, but about 12,000 Japanese are still classified as missing in action and presumed killed on the island, along with 218 Americans.
According to the Kyodo report, searchers dug near a runway at a base used by the Japanese military – the only full-time inhabitants of the island – and at the foot of Suribachi.It said the operation began early this month based on information from the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
Source: Flash News
- A team of Japanese searchers has discovered 51 remains in two areas listed by the U.S. military after the war as enemy cemeteries, one of which could contain as many as 2,000 bodies, Japan’s Kyodo news agency said today.The team was to report its findings later today to the prime minister’s office.
- Officials at Japan’s health ministry, which supervises search efforts on the remote island, confirmed that 51 bodies had been recovered and two sites believed to be burial grounds had been found. But they could not immediately confirm the potential size of the mass graves or other details of the Kyodo report.
- Virtually all of the 22,000 Japanese soldiers tasked with defending the rugged, volcanic crag were killed in the battle, which became a symbol and rallying point for the United States in the Pacific war after the US flag was raised on its highest ground, Mount Suribachi.
The battle claimed 6,821 American and 21,570 Japanese lives.Dozens of remains are recovered every year, but about 12,000 Japanese are still classified as missing in action and presumed killed on the island, along with 218 Americans.According to the Kyodo report, searchers dug near a runway at a base used by the Japanese military – the only full-time inhabitants of the island – and at the foot of Suribachi.It said the operation began early this month based on information from the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
VISITORS GEOFLAGS SINCE AUGUST 26, 2009
