Ugly women: Come to Mount Isa!
You really have to love our Antipodean brothers. They are nothing if not recklessly honest, and this story from the BBC is a great example. Before you read this, let me assure you this is a real story!
Australian plea for ‘ugly’ women
The mayor of a remote Australian mining town has come under fire after saying that female “ugly ducklings” might benefit from its shortage of women.
John Molony told a newspaper last week that “with five blokes to every girl, may I suggest that beauty-disadvantaged women should proceed to Mount Isa”.
The council has since been swamped with complaints from both men and women.
But Mr Molony has refused to apologise for the remarks, saying he was “telling it like it is” in the Queensland town.
Located 1,829km (1,136 miles) from Brisbane, Mount Isa is home to one of the world’s biggest underground mines.
In 2006, there were just 819 women aged 20-24 living there out of a total population of 21,421, according to the most recent census.
‘Lonely women’
In an interview with the Townsville Bulletin last week, Mr Molony proposed a novel solution to Mount Isa’s shortage of eligible women.
“Quite often you will see walking down the street a lass who is not so attractive with a wide smile on her face. Whether it is recollection of something previous or anticipation for the next evening, there is a degree of happiness,” he said.
“Some, in other places in Australia, need to proceed to Mount Isa where happiness awaits. Really, beauty is only skin deep. Isn’t there a fairy tale about an ugly duckling that evolves into a beautiful swan,” he added.
A fellow councillor, Jean Ferris, said the invitation to “beauty-disadvantaged women” had caused consternation among both sexes.
“It’s an absolute disgrace,” she told the Courier Mail. “It’s not council’s view and it’s not mine. It’s hard when you’ve got to defend something someone else has said. We’re definitely appalled.”
Mr Molony has since refused to retract his marks and insisted he is “a bloke who respects women”.
“I believe we should look after women,” he said. “I’m told men outnumber women here by five to one. If that’s the case, then perhaps it’s an opportunity for some lonely women.”
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Now I’m one of those people who thinks political correctness has gone crazy over the past decade or so, but what this guy has said is off the map! Interesting to note that complaints have been received from men as well as women. An Australian Dollar says that it’s the men from Mount Isa saying something along the lines of “Strewth! What the bloody hell are you telling ugly chicks to come here for, mate?”. Will refrain from continuing a possible quote, which would no doubt include a reference to “VB” and “throwing another shrimp on the barbie”. I would love to see someone in the UK say something similar. I would have to get my stopwatch out to see how quickly he would be ousted by politicians. Usain Bolt’s just got a 100m world record of 9.69s - I think if someone said this he could be out of the door quicker than that!
Exclusive insight into Ako Kawada suicide
Since yesterday’s article about Ako Kawada’s (see right) suicide and her mother blaming peace activist Matt Taylor for his supposed actions (or lack of them), I have been in contact with someone who can shed some more information on the situation surrounding Kawada’s suicide and actions of all parties prior to this sad event. I have promised my source anonymity, but they have no reason to tell me anything but facts about the case. So, without any delay, let’s get straight into this.
Firstly, you’ll recall this mystery “Mr A” who was mentioned very favourably by Kawada’s mother but never named in the article. This was in contrast to Matt Taylor who’s name was dropped at every occasion. Well I’m all in favour of both openness and equality, so let’s give this Japanese media boss a name. Genichi Taniguchi may not mean so much to anyone outside Japan (and probably not a huge amount to a lot of people inside Japan), but stating someone’s real name is much better that toying around with these mystery names. And Mr T is the only person who could ever warrant a single-letter name!
Hopefully you can see that I mean business with this blog entry and am not messing around. So let’s move on with some more facts. The Japan Today (and Shukan Post - the original Japanese tabloid source) article suggested that Kawada was in a relationship with two men prior to her suicide; Taniguchi and Taylor. This was never the case, and her relationship with Taniguchi was ended over a year ago, long before she started seeing Taylor. It is true that they were having a relationship, and were in fact engaged at one point. One month into the engagement though Kawada had serious concerns about her finance, and called off the engagement and relationship. Taniguchi took this badly and proceeded to stalk & harass her with emails, phone calls etc. Taniguchi assured her that if she was not to be with him, then he would ensure she wouldn’t be with anyone else. Kawada’s mindset was that she would die before going back to him, which ultimately was the case. It was this harassment by Taniguchi that led Kawada to her depression and finally to her taking her life.
Now this harassment at the end of a relationship I can easily believe, having experienced it first hand here in Japan. Please note, I wasn’t the harasser(!). A former girlfriend had her ex-boyfriend saying almost the same things, and stalking her with threatening emails and phone calls after she ended the relationship. The wonders of technology eh… you can stalk someone effectively by pressing a few buttons on a keyboard or on your mobile phone; no following them necessary these days. And I’ve seen the effect it can have on the women who are subjected to this kind of harassment.
Let’s continue looking at this article. Kawada’s mother is claiming that it was obvious Taylor knew about her daughters depression and suicidal thoughts, but said and did nothing. She might want to believe this, but the fact of the matter is her family all knew about what was going on. Compounded is the fact that her father (ironically the owner of a mental hospital here in Japan) was one of the first people in her family to become aware of Kawada’s depression, and yet did nothing. My guess is that the perceived shame of having someone with a mental illness in the family took precedent with actually using his professional experience and dealing with it, hoping that it would just go away. Kawada’s mother was also fully aware of her daughter’s illness and depression, having talked about it with her a couple of weeks before her death.
Taniguchi also knew exactly what his actions were doing to Kawada, but openly joked about it and is on record as saying that she’s just saying it and that she wouldn’t really take her own life. Tragically, he couldn’t have been more wrong.
And there we have it for now. Hopefully that’s added some food for thought for everyone about Ako Kawada’s tragic suicide. One final thing I thought about: Kawada’s mother said that Taylor was using her daughter’s death to promote his film. But Kawada’s death was just 6 days before the film was premiered. Given that the most publicity you want for a film is prior its initial release, there would have been no time at all to make any changes to the film. With that in mind, it does look like Taylor’s desire to place Kawada’s name in the final credits was through genuine feelings for her.
Lastly, although I am focusing on this particular suicide, there are over 30,000 people taking their lives each year in Japan (that’s around 90 per day) and over 1m do the same in the world (that is one suicide every 40 seconds). If you are feeling depressed and are having thoughts about suicide, it is always better to talk to someone than to keep your feelings bottled up inside. In Japan the following organisations are there if you need to talk:
Befrienders International: Tokyo (Japanese)
Tel: 03 5286 9090
Website: www1.odn.ne.jp/~ceq16010
Tokyo English Lifeline (English)
Tel: 03 5774 0992
Website: www.telljp.com
Ako Kawada suicide - mother speaks out
Some of you might remember an article I wrote a couple of months ago about Japan’s suicide rate, and how freelance TV announcer Ako Kawada was the most famous recent one. Well it seems that Kawada’s mother has now come out criticising her daughter’s last relationships, and one in particular. Japan Today has the following article, before my usual critique:
Kawada’s last relationships before suicide draw mother’s criticism
The suicide by freelance announcer Ako Kawada, 29, in May came as a great shock to media insiders and television viewers. While it was reported at the time that Kawada had been suffering from depression, some insiders suggest that problems in her relationships with her two boyfriends might have been contributing factors.
Kawada’s mother recently talked to Shukan Post about her daughter’s relationships with the two men. One was Kawada’s boss, Mr A, and the other was American peace activist Matt Taylor.
Kawada’s mother recalls: “Our family appreciated Mr A’s support at her funeral, although some people criticized him. However, we don’t feel like that toward Mr Taylor. He met her on the day she committed suicide. Apparently, she had talked of suicide before and he knew everything about that. I wonder why he wouldn’t have told us. I just can’t understand it.”
Taylor directed a film on the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, a project in which Kawada helped. At the press preview, Taylor said: “She was a very pure person. We cried together several times when watching the film. I am proud that her name will forever be part of the credits.” However, this has caused some resentment that he is making use of Kawada’s name to get extra publicity for the documentary.
“We don’t want him to use Ako’s name to promote his film,” said Kawada’s mother. “We don’t even want her name to be part of the credits.”
Commenting on the reaction by Kawada’s family, Taylor told Shukan Post: “I promised her that her name would be in the credits. In the American film industry, it is common for film producers to put the names of people involved in the film and loved ones who passed away, in the credits. I think her mother would understand this if she had an opportunity to see my film.”
Dark Knight - a few thoughts
Last Saturday saw the release of Dark Knight over here in Japan. For those of you who have not had contact with civilization over the past month or so, that is the name of the new Batman film. So much has been said about this film, and in particular, about Heath Ledger’s performance as The Joker. Would he surpass Jack Nicholson’s performance in the same role 19 years ago… did his involvement in this particular character help to push him over the edge and have a part to play in his untimely death by overdosing on medication… these were just 2 of the many questions people have been asking about this film. From last Saturday, Japanese cinema-goers had a chance to find out.
First of all, so much has been said about The Joker that we should probably start there. Times have changed, and for those of you with a long enough memory, you will recall that Jack Nicholson was not the first person to play The Joker on the screen. 1966 brought about not only a World Cup win for England, but also the late Cesar Romero as The Joker (see below), fighting against Adam West’s Batman. The Batman TV series was a family show, where punches were not shown on screen in favour of cartoon-like explosions with “POW!”, “BAM!” or “KAPOW!” written over them. It was essentially a show that everyone could watch. While The Joker was the villain, he was a humourous villain and was likeable in the role.
I’m famous!
Or rather, my car is semi-famous. Am happy to report that my car is featured in the September issue’s Readers Rides section of US import/performance car magazine, Super Street. I get a copy of this magazine every so often whenever one of a few car friends of mine is about to throw it away. I sent a picture and a mini-profile of my car in a month or 2 ago for the hell of it. Was very surprised to find they actually printed it!
It’s hardly bringing me fame, fortune and infinite happiness, but it did make my day! Click on the pictures below to see them in a bigger size.
