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Kicking up a stink over ink in Kobe

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You might want to avoid Suma Beach this summer if you are inked or have even a temporary sticker tattoo. The powers that be in Kobe City are considering ways to ban the display of tattoos on the beach.

It’s not easy to have a tattoo in Japan, and things have been getting even more complicated in recent years. Dress codes prohibiting employees from having exposed tattoos at companies are common. The Softbank Hawks have informed Venezuelan first baseman Alex Cabrera that he will have to cover the tattoos on his forearms this season. Inked Japanese celebrities such as Namie Amuro appear on television with their tattoos blurred out.

Saunas, gyms and other places where customers disrobe used to look the other way when tattoos were obviously not gang-related, but a hardline stance toward ink of any kind is now common.

Whether accurate or not, says Jake Adelstein, author of “Tokyo Vice” and a former crime reporter for the Yomiuri Shimbun, it is the link with the yakuza that is behind the infamous “bathhouse ban” on tattoos — a regulation that over the years has left many an inked foreign tourist or resident angry and unwashed after being turned away from an onsen (hot spring) like a common criminal.

“Police pressure and the yakuza image are bad in Japan. There are also public safety concerns. Since so many yakuza have hepatitis C from drug use or contaminated needles used for their tattoos, they risk spreading infection to the other customers,” explains Adelstein. “The other reason is obvious. Yakuza are often violent, ill-tempered individuals and no one wants to hang around them. Tattoos equal yakuza in the Japanese mind. And the hepatitis C concerns apply to nonyakuza as well.”

Tattooing was banned in the Meiji Era by officials who feared being viewed as uncivilized by Westerners, who were arriving with the end of the closed country policy. But it was impossible to stamp out the practice completely and it continued underground.

In an ironic twist, it was Western people who brought tattooing out of the back alleys in Japan. The U.S. Occupation forces legalized tattoo parlors in 1948, presumably due to demand for ink from soldiers and sailors.

While private businesses — such as restaurants requiring a coat and tie — sometimes dictate the appearance of customers, and it is harder to hit the gym or onsen when inked, restricting tattoos on a public beach would be unprecedented.

Old prejudices die hard, however. The Kobe Municipal Government is currently discussing prohibiting tattoos at Suma Beach. Regulating concerts, dancing, alcohol and tobacco are among other measures also on the table. A vote is scheduled for March 22.

Colin Jones, a professor at Doshisha University Law School, said it was “interesting that the thing driving it (the ban) is subjective fear of people with tattoos.

“If that is a reason for legislation, I guess you could ban foreigners or black people from going to the beach too, if enough people felt fearful because of it,” he added.

It is unclear how prohibiting the open display of tattoos at Suma Beach would be enforced, and unknown whether it would be effective in restoring order and calming fears. Covering tattoos would work for some when they weren’t swimming but those with ink on their faces, fingers or feet would be out of luck.

No penalties are planned for those violating the proposed regulations on tattoos at Suma Beach. Kanagawa Prefecture banned smoking on beaches last year, also without any punishment for violators. Smoking areas were prepared but people could still be seen lighting up on the sand.

[The editor of Tattoo Tribal magazine Shinji] Watanabe says many people in the tattoo community are taking a wait-and-see attitude toward the proposed legislation, but he is concerned that the ordinance could set back efforts toward the acceptance of tattoos in Japanese society.

“There are people who do not have tattoos that do bad things and it’s sad that people blame bad behavior on tattoos. Tattoos have an outlaw history in Japan but that image is archaic. I am worried that if Kobe City puts signs on the beach banning tattoos, the image of tattoos in Japan will worsen even further.”

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20110315zg.html

Radiation levels shoot up in Tokyo, vicinity

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Radiation levels shot up in Tokyo and its vicinity Tuesday following the nuclear accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan that was triggered by last week’s massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami, local governments said.

But those levels did not pose immediate danger to human health, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology said.

In Tokyo, small amounts of radioactive substances, such as iodine and cesium, were detected, the metropolitan government said.

In Ibaraki Prefecture, adjacent to Fukushima Prefecture where the troubled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant is located, the amount of radiation at one stage reached 5 microsievert per hour, 100 times higher than usual, the Ibaraki prefectural government said.

In Kanagawa Prefecture, the radiation level shot up 10 times higher than usual.

In Saitama, capital of Saitama Prefecture, the amount of radiation reached 1,222 nanosievert per hour — a figure about 40 times higher than usual.

In Ichihara, Chiba Prefecture, the amount of radiation showed a two- to four-fold increase, the Chiba prefectural government said.

The amount of radiation rose to 1.318 micro sievert per hour — a figure 33 times bigger than usual — in Tochigi Prefecture’s capital of Utsunomiya, the Tochigi prefectural government said.

Northerly winds brought radioactive substances from Fukushima Prefecture to Tokyo and its vicinity, nuclear experts said.

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/78135.html

Activist fighting for LGBT rights

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Toshima Ward candidate aims to pass partnership ordinance

[Taiga] Ishikawa, a 36-year-old writer and activist with inside experience in politics [and an openly gay candidate running for the Toshima Ward Assembly in Tokyo], said he is not trying to become Japan’s Harvey Milk. But what he is aiming for as a politician is to make his neighborhood more friendly to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people and foreigners.

“I know it’s a big plan, but if elected, I hope I can enact a partnership ordinance” that would allow unmarried couples regardless of gender to have equal rights as married couples, he said.

Ishikawa is a former secretary to Social Democratic Party leader Mizuho Fukushima and plans to run as an SDP candidate in the election, which is scheduled for April.

Under the Toshima partnership ordinance he envisions, the ward would issue a certificate to two adults who register as “partners,” giving them the right to apply for ward-managed housing and hospital visitation rights.

He added that he supports local-level suffrage for foreign residents of Japan.

International marriages sometimes require an official certificate to prove the Japanese applicant is unmarried, and the government used to refuse to issue such certificates to Japanese homosexuals attempting to marry in countries that permit same-sex marriages.

But after Ishikawa, his support group and SDP chief Fukushima kept lobbying for change, the government in 2009 effectively allowed Japanese to marry foreigners of the same sex by issuing a new certificate that does not include a sex designation entry to fill in.

“I have realized that if politics change, society will change,” Ishikawa said.

“By embracing diversity, I believe Toshima will be a great place to live,” he said.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110311f1.html

High court annuls punishment for teachers over Hinomaru, ‘Kimigayo’

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The Tokyo High Court on Thursday annulled the disciplinary actions taken against all but one of 168 plaintiffs that include teachers who refused to stand up at the hoisting of the Hinomaru national flag and sing the “Kimigayo” national anthem at school ceremonies in Tokyo.

The three-judge high court panel presided over by Judge Hiroaki Ohashi thus overturned a 2009 Tokyo District Court decision that ruled unfavorably for the plaintiffs, but it turned down their demand for 550,000 yen per plaintiff in damages.

In a separate similar suit, the same high court panel also nullified disciplinary actions against two former school staffers.

In Thursday’s decision on an appeal from the 168 plaintiffs, the high court defended a notice from the head of the Tokyo metropolitan government’s office of education that instructed school principals to make teachers and school clerks stand up at the hoisting of the national flag and sing the anthem at events such as graduation ceremonies.

Judge Ohashi said the instruction does not itself run counter to the Constitution which guarantees freedom of thought and conscience.

However, local authorities’ disciplinary actions represent an abuse of authority, the judge said, noting the plaintiffs had acted in accordance with their own views and beliefs and did not intend to disrupt school ceremonies.

In March 2009, the Tokyo District Court rejected the suit, saying the plaintiffs apparently neglected to abide by principals’ orders for them to stand up and sing.

The high court findings showed that the head of the metropolitan government’s office of education issued an instruction in October 2003 demanding all participants at commencement and enrollment ceremonies stand up at the raising of the Hinomaru flag and sing the “Kimigayo” anthem.

The plaintiffs, who refused to stand up and sing at such ceremonies from 2003 to 2004, were reprimanded or received salary cuts in punishment, according to Thursday’s ruling.

The Hinomaru flag and “Kimigayo” anthem had long been regarded as Japan’s national flag and anthem, despite having no legal base. In the Diet enacted a law officially designating Hinomaru as Japan’s national flag and “Kimigayo” as its national anthem.

According to the Cabinet Office, Hinomaru is translated as the “Rising Sun” flag. “Kimigayo” is unofficially translated as “His Majesty’s Reign.”

But some people in Japan are opposed to the national flag and anthem because their links with past Japanese militarism.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9LSAL480

Japan football players to form union

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Japanese football players are to form a union to demand better working conditions, including bigger rewards for international duty, their association said Wednesday.

The Japan Pro-Footballers Association (JPFA), currently representing some 960 players at home and abroad as a fraternal body, said it had decided to register itself as a labour union with the right to collective bargaining and strikes.

The decision was made by a majority vote at a special JPFA general meeting on February 28, the JPFA said in a press release.

“It is aimed at having serious discussions about the Japanese football world in the future,” the statement said, adding that the association is following the example of major footballing nations where players are unionised.

The International Federation of Professional Footballers (FIFPro) has advised the 15-year-old JPFA to launch “union activities as soon as possible,” the Nikkan Sports daily said.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gm6qqxy-wgxhqeRyQvicPTBhJmDQ?docId=CNG.4d0972a5d5ba233b46fb820a5ebf0e0c.4a1

Japan launches primary push to teach English

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Compulsory foreign language lessons start next month for all 10- to 12-year-olds, raising hopes among educators and industry leaders of ending a decades-long ‘English deficit’

With just weeks to go before English becomes a compulsory subject at Japan’s primary schools, doubts surround the boldest attempt in decades to improve the country’s language skills, and its ability to compete overseas with rival Asian economies.

The new curriculum is to be introduced after intense lobbying from the business community, amid fears that Japan’s competitive edge could be blunted unless it takes English communication as seriously as China and South Korea.

The new classes, which start in April, will be aimed at fifth- and sixth-grade pupils, aged 10-12, at all of Japan’s public primary schools. The lessons will be held only once a week – or 35 times a year – with each lasting 45 minutes.

By the time they leave primary school, children should know 285 English words and 50 expressions, although the education ministry is reluctant to talk of targets.

Hiroshi Noguchi, of the ministry’s international education section, said the main purpose was to ease the transition from primary to junior high school, where English has long been compulsory, and to expose young children to other cultures.

“We don’t have any specific targets,” he said. “The schools have been given the choice of how to structure their lessons and set their own targets. We believe children will leave knowing the basic expressions that will help them on their way with English learning.”

The long-term aim is to improve Japan’s lowly position in the international English proficiency standings: despite studying English for six years from the age of 12, Japanese students have among the lowest scores in Asia in the international Toefl test of English.

But many of Japan’s 400,000 primary school teachers say they are ill-equipped for their new role as language instructors. In a recent survey, 77% said they needed to improve their language skills, while a similar percentage said they required more training.

“I’ve visited lots of schools and met teachers who are worried and lacking in confidence,” says Yuri Kuno, a visiting professor at Chubu Gakuin University, who has been lobbying education authorities to introduce English tuition at an early age since the 1970s.

“The trainers are themselves not trained and most of them have no experience of teaching at primary schools.”

Primary school children have been given occasional foreign-language instruction since 2002, but South Korea made English compulsory at that level in 1997, and China in 2005. Japanese sixth-graders have, until now, received an average of 13.5 hours of English tuition a year, far fewer than their Chinese and South Korean counterparts.

Ideally, Japanese teachers will work alongside assistant language teachers from English-speaking countries.

Sarah Doherty, an ALT in Sendai, northern Japan, who has taught primary school pupils as young as seven, says she has had a positive response from the children and their parents. But she is concerned that the optional use of a new ministry textbook, Eigo Nooto [English Notebook], could take the enjoyment out of learning, particularly when Japanese teachers are left alone.

“There’s a risk that English will end up being taught like any other subject,” she said. “So I worry that the fun part will disappear. And a lot of Japanese teachers haven’t been trained properly and are shy about using English in front of the class. I worry that the kids will be shy, too.”

But the change has been welcomed by the Japan Business Federation, which says more companies complain of a dearth of English-speaking graduates. Many cannot afford to teach them in-house, hindering their ability to expand overseas as the domestic market shrinks.

The federation’s chairman, Hiromasa Yonekura, said: “It is extremely important to foster global human resources, as it is technology and international trade that have supported Japan, which has limited natural resources.”

The experience among older pupils does not bode well for the primary school scheme. In a recent report, only 20% of English teachers at public high schools taught oral communication in the target language, even though the education ministry has set a goal of 100% English usage by 2013.

“My major concerns are about the instructors who teach children,” says Kumiko Torikai a professor at the graduate school of intercultural communication at Rikkyo University. “They are elementary school teachers who teach different subjects, but they are not professionals in English language teaching.”

She accused education authorities of “wishful thinking” for believing that the new lessons would result in a marked improvement in practical language skills. “Singing English songs and repeating simple words in English for an hour once a week will not be enough to equip students with proficiency in English,” she said.

There are concerns, too, about the quality of assistant language teachers, more of whom will be needed to teach alongside Japanese colleagues.

“The trend nowadays, after the era of JET [the government sponsored exchange programme for teaching assistants], is for school boards to hire native speakers from private agencies, which charge lower prices,” said Torikai. “If you are not ready to devote a budget to teachers, you cannot expect to have qualified and committed instructors.”

The programme also faces criticism from traditionalists who claim that primary school children are too young to acquire a second language before they have mastered their own.

Noguchi disagrees. “As part of the overhaul, Japanese lesson hours will also be increased, and we believe children are quite capable of studying both languages,” he said. “That is our message: that Japanese is important, too.”

The fact that debate is taking place at all is proof of Japan’s inward-looking nature, Kuno said. “The idea that their proficiency in their mother tongue will suffer is something you hear only in Japan. Can you imagine people saying that in the US or Britain? The problem is that we have no experience of exposure to foreign languages. We take it for granted that everyone else speaks Japanese.”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/mar/08/japan-launches-primary-english-push

Byzantine temp rules need permanent fix

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Who tells workers what to do, therefore, is a critical starting point for a great deal of Japanese employment law and regulation.

Imagine you are in a fast-food restaurant ordering a hamburger. So long as you are just looking to pay ¥500 for a hamburger and a side of fries, you are a client and the restaurant is a provider of goods (the hamburger) and services (food preparation).

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