Kurashi - News From Japan

Great to see a story on Japanese TV about attempts to make people more aware of the need for a healthy diet. Hope you can catch the video: http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/insideasia/20141217.html People in Thailand are dealing with a growing problem...their waistlines. The World Health Organization says one in every four Thais is overweight. NHK WORLD's Dhra Dhirakaosal has the story of one woman who's trying a fresh approach to eating well. This is a canteen of an electronics plant in the suburbs of Bangkok. It's open 24 hours a day. Many of the dishes are rich in oil and sugar. One costs only about 50 cents -- half the normal price. The rice is free. Customers can eat as much as they want. "If our employees become more obese, it'll create problems for our firm." Sampan Silapanad / Vice president, Western Digital Thailand Aki Yamato from Japan works for the electronics maker as a diet and nutrition advisor. ...

Trade negotiations are going to be really big news in July. Prepare yourself. It may be like the Battle of Seattle all over again, except this time Japan can only join the real show, if Washington agrees, at a very late date. Akira Amari, Japanese Economic Revitalization Minister, thinks this "represents the core for Japan's economic growth." Democracy? Sovereignty? You be the judge. As NHK World notes: The Japanese government has increased its negotiating team for the upcoming Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade talks. Japan will join the negotiations for the first time. The talks are already in their fourth year. The next round of multinational negotiations will be in Malaysia starting July 15th. Japan is to take part in the 10-day talks starting on the 23rd. Well? The US has not yet decided if Japan may join or not. Once the United States of America decides, Japan may or may not join the TPP talks starting on the 23rd (not when everyone else starts...

Thailand and Japan have links that go way back to the 16th Century, and as Buddhist countries, of course there are deeper bonds that transcend time. Based on a true historic figure during Ayothaya Era, here is a film that depicts the life of Yamada Nagamasa , a Japanese samurai who gained considerable influence in Thailand and became the governor of Nakhon Si Thammarat province in southern Thailand. Yamada Nagamasa lived in the Japanese quarters of Ayutthaya , home to another 1,500 Japanese inhabitants (some estimates run as high as 7,000). The community was called "Ban Yipun" in Thai, and was headed by a Japanese chief nominated by Thai authorities. Yamada was born in Shizuoka prefecture in 1590. Wikipedia has more: The colony was active in trade, particularly in the export of deer-hide to Japan in exchange for Japanese silver and Japanese handicrafts (swords, lacquered boxes, high-quality papers, used by Rembrandt, among others). They were noted by the Dutc...