Kurashi - News From Japan

Once Man and Dragon were one. Man chose Land and Sea, Dragon chose Wind and Fire. There is a new Ghibli anime released in Japan this week, called Tales from Earthsea (Gedo Senki). The director is Goro Miyazaki, and this is his first feature film. His father Hayao Miyazaki, founder of Ghibli Studio, got an Oscar for Spirited Away (released 2001). Listen to the beautiful soundtrack here or a TV version here . The Tales from Earthsea Single featuring the theme song by Aoi Teshima -- who is also the voice of Therru -- was released June 5th in Japan. It is now #1 on CD Charts in Japan! Trailers can be found here . The story is based on Ursula K. Le Guin's novels . From the synopsis : Ged was on a journey, searching for the source causing evil disturbances to the world. Ged — once an impetuous and arrogant goatherd boy — is now a mature man, called by others as "Lord Archmage", the greatest of wizards. During his travels, he meets Arren, Prince of Enlad. The youth was being ...

"Summer is the season for volunteering in Japan," says Akiko Kawamura, one of four English-speaking staff at TVAC, Tokyo’s remarkable volunteer networking center located in Iidabashi, notes Metropolis : "Teachers often assign a volunteer activity as summer vacation homework for their students," explains Kawamura, grabbing a pamphlet from stacks of volunteer-program brochures. "It's a chance for them to do some 'service learning,' to find out about their community, who lives there, what kinds of needs there are and what they can do." Along with 40 city and village volunteer centers throughout Tokyo, TVAC manages a network of more than 1,000 volunteer activities. One can choose to help the elderly, handicapped, children, hospitals, or many different kinds of NPOs (nonprofit organizations) including international charities and environmental groups. The website of Tokyo Volunteer Action Center is only in Japanese, but Tokyo Nihongo Volunteer Netwo...

If you happen to be in New York this summer, you can see the exhibition of unique photographs of the ancient temples of Angkor Wat , at the UN Visitor's Lobby. The Faces of Angkor . Photographs of Angkor Wat by Baku Saito (Japan) and National Geographic photographer Chris Rainier (Canada). Sponsored by UNESCO, the Permanent Missions of the Kingdom of Cambodia and Japan to the UN. Until Aug. 18. (Baku Saito's photos will also be shown in Tokyo at the Daimaru Museum Oct. 19-24.) The Unesco World Heritage Centre official website has the list of all World Heritage sites , as well as photos and videos. A great way to spend some quality time...

Japan's TV channels are angry about the piracy of its programs on the free YouTube Web site. Viewing figures for the site have taken off in Japan in recent months. An estimated 200,000 Japanese visited the free site in December 2005, but that figure had soared to more than 4 million by May. NHK and Japan's five major commerical TV stations have expressed concern about their programming being posted on the Web for free. "We are asking YouTube to delete illegally reproduced videos that have been uploaded onto the site without the copyright owner's permission," NHK spokeswoman Naoko Sakamoto said. Mainichi reports that one of Japan's top promoters of showbiz talent, Johnny's Jimusho, the office of Johnny Kitagawa, said it is mulling legal action to make sure its performer's rights are not infringed upon. A spokesman for the agency said it was determined to "root out" YouTube and similarly predatory web sites. Predatory? YouTube is a lot of fun...

Kyodo reports that rivers in Japan are contaminated with ingredients of antibiotics and medicines for humans and animals that flowed into them via sewage systems. This is raising concern that drug-resistant strains of bacteria might be produced: A team of researchers from the state-run Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology and the governmental Public Works Research Institute made the findings in a nationwide check of 19 key rivers across the country in 2004 and 2005. The team took water samples at river mouths to measure concentrations of ingredients of 11 antibiotics and 14 non-antibiotic medical drugs, all of which are widely used in Japan. Ingredients of antibiotics, particularly of anti-inflammation sulfa drugs, were detected in all the rivers checked. Toxic Japan previous

Shodanren , Japan's nationwide network of 44 consumers' groups has expressed doubts about the government's decision to resume US beef imports, according to NHK : A representative of the National Liaison Committee of Consumer's Organizations, Toshiko Kanda, said it is too early to resume beef imports as the Japanese government has yet to fully explain to the public the findings of its inspection of US meat processing facilities. Ms Kanda said that it will be difficult to regain Japanese consumers' trust in US beef. She said that consumers cannot dispel concern that measures taken by the US side are not sufficient, and that the same problem that led to the re-imposition of the import ban may reoccur. A June 22, 2006 statement from Shodanren concerning US beef imports can be found here , with Shodanren's concerns about the validity of the inspections, as well as risk communication and a demand for openness with regards to the information given to Japanese consumers...

Japan formally decided today to restart beef imports from the United States. Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Jiro Kawasaki said to Kyodo that Japan will put a total stop to importing products if it finds the same error as the one detected in January, which led Tokyo to reimpose the embargo. "We'd like consumers to feel secure. We will also strengthen our monitoring by opening all incoming beef packets for the time being," Kawasaki said. Let's hope noone sneezes when they do that...