Suicides in Japan: this is getting way out of hand
As anyone who lives here in Japan or reads Japanese news can see, the suicide rate here is a big problem. In 2005 there were over 32,000 suicides and Japan has the second highest suicide rate of all OECD countries (S. Korea being top) and the 10th highest in the world (Lithuania topping that list). There is never a week goes by that you don’t read at least one story in the news about someone killing themselves by jumping off a bridge (the Rainbow Bridge in Tokyo seems a popular spot), overdosing on someone of 
gassing themselves to death (most popular at the moment).
The most recent high profile suicide has been that of Ako Kawada (see right). Kawada was a 29 year old TV announcer who had worked on TBS here in Japan for 5 years. Last year she left TBS and started to branch out doing some freelance announcing on TV Asahi. On her blog last week she said that she was feeling really worn down and needed a break from things. It seems like things came to a head over the weekend. At 6am on Monday morning, she was found slumped in the drivers seat of her car with a pair of charcoal briquettes in there. She was already dead when the police arrived? It always baffles me to think about what could cause someone who’s young, beautiful, and seemingly doing very well in her career field of choice decide that taking her life is the best way to solve her problems.
Last year the Japanese media almost ended up destroying the life of a singer called Kago Ai, who used to sing in a J-pop group called Morning Musume. In Japan your pop stars have to be squeaky clean and if you do the slightest thing wrong, you will be crucified for it. Anyway, photos came out of Ai smoking underage (shock, horror!) and holding hands with a boyfriend (even more shock and horror!). The media had a field day about how much of a failure she was, and Ai was promptly fired from the band and her management company. It started a very quick downward spiral which culminated in her slitting her wrists. Fortunately she was saved and has made a recovery, but still has the scars on her wrists as testament to what could have happened. gI still have the scars where I cut my wrists… I’ve made up my mind never to do such a thing again” she said in a recent press conference. One interesting point to note about Ai’s situation was the reaction of her management company. As soon as the first of these two scandals came out, the Up-Front Agency distanced themselves from her, and she was removed from Morning Musume. When the second scandal emerged, they dropped her straight away. Even in the companies statement’s, there was nothing said about supporting her, or hoping that she could get over these scandals in the near future. It seemed the most important thing was for the company to retain integrity and not really care about Ai and what her problems were.
Man dressed up as schoolgirl found trespassing
You’re gonna love this one! I was going to start a very serious entry but have to give you this story from Kyodo News first:
Man disguised as schoolgirl arrested for trespassing in Ibaraki school
Tuesday 27th May, 10:02 AM JST
IBARAKI - A 30-year-old man was arrested Monday night for sneaking into an Ibaraki high school, wearing a schoolgirlfs uniform and wig, police said Tuesday.
Shigemitsu Kajiro, 30, was caught by a teacher in a corridor around 5:30 p.m. after the teacher noticed he was wearing shoes which did not match the schoolfs uniform. After discovering the student was a man, the teacher took him to a staff room and called police. The suspect has so far said nothing about what he was up to or whether he had done this before, police said.
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There’s not really much you can say about this is there? Interesting that the teacher only realised when this teacher noticed the man’s skirt didn’t match his/her uniform. Did he manage to look that much like the rest of the female student body (or should that be “bodies”)? I know for some Japanese guys it can be tough to judge their gender from a distance, but when you’re wandering around the school with students around, you’d have thought he might stand out a bit. Don’t think I could pull that off too well though… am thinking the hair on the legs might be a bit of a giveaway! Although if I wear the right shoes to match the uniform, maybe I could…
As for what he was doing there, it certainly wasn’t something innocent. But unless the police can “interrogate” a confession out of him, what could he be charged for? Trespassing?
They’re just giving drugs away!
My blog seems to have taken a slight drugs theme… not sure what the reason is but it’s nothing too sinister. I just read this story and it had me laughing, so I thought you would appreciate it too. Just as the week was starting to look normal, the Japanese authorities make sure I walk around with a smile on my face!
So let’s picture the scenario: you’ve just arrived in Tokyo after a 12-hour flight from the UK. You’re weary, jet-lagged and quite thrown by all the neon lights and kanji (Chinese characters) that you see around you. You queue up for immigration, get your photo and fingerprints taken, declare that you’re not Osama Bin Laden and have no intention of killing Hello Kitty or anything like that. You pick your bag up from the luggage carousel and get the train into the centre of Tokyo. Still trying to listen carefully for any English that might help you, you get a taxi to your hotel and check in. Now all you need is a relaxing shower, so you open your suitcase to get your toiletries out. What’s this? There’s a small metal box in your suitcase. You’re sure you didn’t pack it yourself so you tap it a few times and then open it up. Upon opening it, you find it’s full of 146g of cannabis, with a street value of Y1 million!
Your first reaction is probably “What the…”, followed by a little fear about what should you do. You’ve read Dave’s blog and know that the police are not the most effective at investigations; going to the police station with a bunch of cannabis telling them you found it in your suitcase might have you eating rice & fish heads in a prison for some time. You then start to wonder who could have done this. Was it the shady businessman who wore the dark glasses through the entire flight? The dreadlocked, unwashed guy on his way to Thailand through Tokyo? The Japanese guy who pushed into you on the train?
Cocaine as a teaching aid?
Thought that title might get your attention! Today’s entry actually has a link with the title, and I’m sure you’re all quite intrigued now so I will continue.
Yesterday I had a 3rd year class, entitled Current English. In this term of the class, we cover a world problem and then at the end of the term have a Model United Nations conference about it. For those of you who might not have heard of the term, the Model United Nations is a mock-up of the real UN, where students take on the roles as delegates from certain countries and research about a given topic. A few of our conferences look more like we are making a mockery of the real UN, but that’s beside the point. Anyway, the students were giving presentations on natural resources found in countries and the problems/conflicts caused by them. Resources included diamonds in Angola, oil in Nigeria, timber in various parts of Asia, and coca in Colombia.
So we get to the coca presentation and the group stands up and goes to the front of the class. Had reasonably high expectations of the class as they had a long time to prepare and the presentations before this specific one had been good. So they introduce Colombia, the coca industry and how coca leaves (see right) are used. A little is talked about how the government is trying to eradicate the crops with the help of US forces and the problems they encountered. It was all going too well. So then the spanner in the works comes. One of the male students in the presenting group gets out a sealed clear plastic bag from his shirt pocket and states “this is cocaine” while tapping it with his finger. At this point there is a loud thud in the classroom as my jaw slams into the floor. I was just waiting for the police to burst into the classroom, arrest me and deport me by the time I’ve said “I’m not military!!!”. If that wasn’t enough, he gets this powder into his hand from the bag and snorts it, before simulating the feeling of taking a hit (or whatever the lingo is for snorting) cocaine. I think one of the other presenters must have seen my face and reaction while this was going on and she quickly shouted out, “Don’t worry! It’s not real cocaine!”. A couple of sighs of relief went through the classroom from students and I slowly started to reel my jaw back in. Was still pretty shocked by it though.
And then we got to the Q&A section after the presentation, and the first question was: “If I wanted to buy cocaine in Japan, how much would it cost?”. Bang went the jaw against the floor again! and then came the answer. “From our research” a girl states, “the initial cost is low but then if you buy it again it costs more”. Logical given it’s an addictive drug but I dare not ask how they did their research.
As much as I enjoy every day at my workplace, yesterday and that class in particular will go into the memorable category and won’t be forgotten for a long time to come. You know you’ve got a good class going when a student says to the class, “This is real cocaine”…
Japan to criminalize possession of child pornography
Now here is a story that is provoking much debate on Japanese language forums here in the Land of the Rising Sun. On Friday a bill was agreed by the government to make the possession of child pornography illegal in Japan. While it may come as a surprise to some of you that this is not already the case, Japan is like many countries which has no specific laws against child pornography possession. This story comes from Kyodo News:
Ruling parties agree on bill criminalizing possession of child porn
Sunday 18th May, 12:50 AM JST
TOKYO - A project team of the ruling coalition basically agreed Friday on a bill to stiffen the law against child prostitution and child pornography to criminalize the possession of such pornographic material even for personal use, team members said. While the current law does not cover individual possession of child pornography, the revised bill states, eeNobody is allowed to own or keep child pornography,ff and stipulates a prison term of up to one year or a fine of up to 1 million yen for violators, the members said.
The bill also requires Internet service providers to contribute to preventing the dissemination of child pornography, which occurs across national borders, and to cooperate with authorities in investigations, they said. The bill does not cover pornographic animation or computer graphics, only focusing on photography and images.
But the project team postponed making a final decision at Fridayfs meeting, as there was an opinion asserting that a eetransitional periodff is needed for people who currently possess child pornography to give them time to dispose of them, and the team will discuss the matter at its next meeting, lawmakers from the team said.
The coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and the New Komeito party plans to submit the bill to the ongoing Diet session running through June 15, but it is expected that the coalition will not be able to reach an agreement with the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan over the legislation.
While the DPJ is now considering compiling its own revision bill, some of the partyfs lawmakers have voiced concern about punishing those who only own child pornography, with a senior member saying, eeIt may lead to unfair investigations.ff
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