Kurashi - News From Japan

Funny Korean names on Chinese foods  Recently, many Chinese foods are sold all over Asia, especially in Korea and Japan. But, the Chinese companies need a language lesson! These food products have Korean characters, but they are meaningless, or just - - too funny!! To be popular in China, the foods have such Korean characters, but really... The cookies in the photos have a label trying to say "please chose this with mother's love" but actually, they failed so terribly! About the tea, the label says "a sense of nature that has been recovered" and "it is cool!" but that seems really strange, or perhaps, just totally out-of-date copywriting.

From Kowaka-san's visit to Sweden  My boss at Japan Offspring Fund, Kowaka-san, is visiting Sweden and Denmark this week. He is very interested in sustainable agriculture and healthy food. In Sweden, he and his staff (and wife and cute daughter!) have visited Swedish chicken farms, where almost no antibiotics need to be used, due to strict hygiene rules and good animal welfare practices. He is trying to introduce such ideas in Japan as well, where over 1500 ton antibiotics is used annually for food production. Sweden in late May... It is the best time to visit my home country... But, looks like they got some rain, too!

The Japan Today website asked young Japanese people what they do for the environment. Some of the replies are quite good! Here are a few: "I also try not to waste gas by just idling my car or motorcyle for no reason, because it emits CO2, the cause of global warming." (Umeno, 30) "When I smoke cigarettes outside, I do not throw away the cigarette butts on the street. I hold onto them until I find an ashtray." (Niwa, 27) "My note pad is the flip side of papers that I no longer need." (Marie, 26) "I try not to buy anything that is disposable, like paper cups, plastic spoons, knives, etc. They are only good for one-time use, and after that you have to buy a new one." (Takashi, 25) Please click here to add your comment!

The Osaka District Court has sentenced a former meat-packing company executive to seven years in prison for swindling the government out of more than 5 billion yen by abusing a beef-buyback program. The government program was introduced in October 2001, a month after the first outbreak in Japan of mad cow disease. Mitsuru Asada, 66, the former chairman of Osaka-based Hannan Corp., was called the "big boss of the meat industry." He is one of 26 people indicted in a series of similar cases, according to The Japan Times. The Japanese government has provided some 21 billion yen in BSE-related subsidies. The amount Asada obtained represents about a quarter of this amount. Disgusting. My question is: Why should tax payers be subsidising the meat industry at all?

Dr Egziabher Dr Egziabher, key negotiator on the Biosafety Protocol, finally received his visa and will attend the meetings on the Cartagena Biosafety Protocol, Montreal, Canada (25 May - 3 June). As I noted a few days ago, his visa was denied by Canada without explanation and several Canadian embassies and ministers were made aware of this problem one week ago, by Consumers International (CI) and other organisations. The photo is from a great interview with him on Friends of the Earth's website. Please click here to read more about Dr Egzianbher and Ethiopia

Peace Demo in Japan I don't know if media in other countries has paid any attention to the many peace demonstrations that are taking place all over Japan. There is a strong peace movement that opposes the war in Iraq, and also wants to maintain the Article 9 of the Japanese constitution. The photo (from a demonstration that I joined last December) is from Greenpeace Japan's website. Meanwhile, The Guardian reports that the US politician who led the campaign to change the name of french fries to "freedom fries" has turned against the war. I always like when people are not afraid to change their minds! Quote: Walter Jones, the Republican congressman for North Carolina who was also the brains behind french toast becoming freedom toast in Capitol Hill restaurants, told a local newspaper the US went to war "with no justification". Mr Jones, who in March 2003 circulated a letter demanding that the three cafeterias in the House of Representatives' office buildi...

My father was a high school history teacher, so I grew up hearing a lot of stories about such topics. I noticed that there are always conflicting views, and found that it was difficult to agree on almost anything. War time history seems especially painful, in every country. As Churchill once said, the Victor gets to write the history. Now, a middle school history textbook, which has taken Korean, Chinese and Japanese scholars four years to write, has been published. The history textbook publication committee, comprised of some 50 teachers, history scholars and civic group members from the three nations, held a meeting to celebrate the publication in downtown Seoul yesterday, according to The Korea Times. "We have made efforts to share the common ground of history in East Asia based on peace and humanitarianism, confirming that it is possible to respect each nation’s own view on history, while forming a common view of history from among the three countries," the committee said...