Kurashi - News From Japan

Do you drink "English tea" from Harrods, or Earl Grey from Twinings? Thinking it is worth the heavy price? Or Kirin's Afternoon Tea? Maybe you think the NGO Rain Forest Alliance label makes it worth even a little extra? So did I, until BBC and others revealed indescribable conditions for the workers at the plantations at India's Assam tea plantations. Shocking. BBC: The bitter story behind the UK's national drink Several of Britain's biggest tea brands, including PG Tips, Tetleys and Twinings, have said they will work to improve the tea estates they buy from in India after a BBC investigation found dangerous and degrading living and working conditions. Harrods has stopped selling some tea products in response, and Rainforest Alliance, the ethical certification organisation, has conceded the investigation has revealed flaws in its audit process. The joint investigation by Radio 4's File on Four and BBC News in Assam, north-east India, found ...

Set in British Malaya and India, The Flight of the Swans is an expansive family epic with a war theme revolving around the vision of a flight of swans or a bird in solitary endeavour that signals a cursed Captain and his family's hurried escape from the hands of the British. This, to face hardships in another land as well as hopeful dreams. Family upheavals, mangled from a wounded political and historical landscape as well as sibling rivalry for the hand of a beautiful courtesan, hold reflection on a new brand of literary Indian writing in Malaysia that rests on ambitious history and vivid description of lives lived and lost through circumstances and bad decisions.  This is a story that deals with the beautiful, the exotic and the tragic. http://suzan-abrams.blogspot.jp/2007/03/d-devika-bai-malaysian-novelist-who.html The Flight of the Swans by D. Devika Bai In her debut novel, The Flight of the Swans , Malaysian author, D. Devika Bai has painted a richly de...

One of the world's most amazing musicians, Ravi Shankar, has passed away, at age 92. Imagine back in the 1950s or 1960s, most people in Europe or America had never heard any "world music" or "new age music" or any kinds of tunes from other parts of our beautiful planet. Sad, but true. We were that "euro-centric" or whatever they call it in Europe or the US of A. Music was still caught up in all kinds of barriers. Mankind has so much music to offer! In comments, if you have suggestions of tunes by this master, I would be so glad to add them. Ravi Shankar was one of those rare pioneers, who managed to convince audiences in the West that music in other parts of the world was worth listening to. Not only was he truly a master of his craft, but he also managed to deal with people, to get the message across. One such student was George Harrison. And, George may have helped Ravi to understand the legal realities of making music (and money) in the West. ...

I have had a busy month with some travels around Japan, and managed to catch Sumo in Fukuoka (Hakuho lost, then went on to win on Sunday against fellow yokozuna from Mongolia Harumafuji). Here are some links:   Asia Times: China 'pivot' trips over McMahon Line By Peter Lee China is looking for a "Western" pivot to counter the United States' diplomatic and military inroads with its East Asian neighbors such as Japan, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Myanmar. For China's strategists, as an interesting analysis in the Indian Express tells us, the "Western" pivot means nurturing the PRC's continental Asian relationships with the interior stans and, across ...