In Memory of the Victims of Hiroshima Bombings

We pause to respect the victims of the 1945 Hiroshima bombing.

To read an article in relation to today's news, please click HERE or HERE.

Picture Credit: Toru Hanai for the IHT

Not Just Your Dogs Drinking from the Toilet Bowl

The Mainichi Shimbun reported from Higashihiroshima (East Hiroshima) that plumbing blunder at the Hiroshima University Higashihiroshima Campus had resulted in students drinking water that was designated for flushing toilets. They traced the problem to 1993, when the gymnasium's renovation was completed. They attributed the problem to incorrect fitting between pipes for high quality drinking water and low grade toilet flushing water. Recently, 80 students got very ill with symptoms including diarrhea and vomiting. It is a surprise that the outbreak had not occurred much earlier.

Read the full news HERE.

The Grass is Always Greener . . .

Some Americans and Europeans prefer to say their vows in Bali, in Phuket, or in Kyoto, so why not the Japanese bride and groom ditching their shrines and temples in favor of the churches in the West? An article by Doreen Carvajal (read it HERE) in the International Herald Tribune talks about the phenomenon of these fantasy weddings in Paris. Especially now that the whole world has seen the weddings of Cruise-Holmes (in a castle in Italy) and Longoria-Parker (in a chateau in France), some would like to realize the same dream of doing it abroad.

Even here in Tokyo, during one of my strolls in Omotesando back roads and small alleys, I ran across a huge church with disproportional front yard. At first I really thought it was a worship church, but upon closer inspection, I realized it was a church solely used for the purpose of wedding ceremonies. These ceremonies came in packages, like any wedding ceremonies, but this one caters to those who want the ultimate western wedding experience.

Not too far from this church, on Omotesando-dori itself, stood L'Anniversaire, a multi-story store that catered exclusively to weddings, with each floor focusing on one aspect of the wedding: jewelries, bridal gowns, make-up, and topped with the ceremonial place.

Photo credit: David Brabyn for the IHT

Gorgeous George

Ocean 13 is coming to Tokyo, and so is its major star, George Clooney, pictured here at a press conference. Watch the trailer HERE.

The Japanese Election Results

The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) of the current prime minister Abe Shinzo suffered a major setback in the Upper House from Sunday's (yesterday's) election, which took away the majority from their hands and delivered it into the opposition, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), led by Ozawa Ichiro, a coalition of moderates, former socialists and conservatives. In the past, the DPJ (founded in 1996) could not muster the votes to overcome the ever powerful LDP, whose strongholds of power extended beyond big cities and into rural areas. This time around, the disenchanted voters gave their voice to the opposition after a major government bungling of national pension records and a series of scandals and corruptions.

Unlike past prime ministers who had resigned in the face of such loss, Abe defiantly decided to stay the course as prime minister. Japanese law spelled out the Lower House of the Parliament as the one choosing the prime minister. The LDP has the majority in the Lower House, which is considered to be stronger and more influential than the Upper House. Inheriting the parliamentary majorities from his most popular predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi, Abe passed through legislations laws that concerned patriotism in schools and the plan to elevate Japanese military and to revise the pacifist Constitution. The recent loss will surely hold his future plans in check as the majority Upper House will be able to deny him the easy route.

Abe's recent campaign with trademark soundbytes of making Japan into a "beautiful country" has been mocked by some opposition and even his own fellow LDP politicans. He has been viewed as out of touch with the rest of the country, forgetting about the bread and butter issues, the basic needs of the people. His main theme put the emphasis on revising the pacifist Constitution, but with recent tides against him, he appeared to want to appease the mass by switching it to the economy, which came too little too late. The opposition, meanwhile, had made economy the main issue in the first place, and voters obviously rewarded DPJ's effort and handed them the Upper House.


(Photo credit: Sasaki Ko for the New York Times.)