This article about the demolition of a school in Osaka had an interesting explanation:

At its peak in 1958, the school had 1,270 enrolled students.

But 30 years down the track, the so-called “donut phenomenon” had taken hold.

Osaka’s downtown population headed for the suburbs leaving a gaping hole in the city center-and a serious shortage of school-age kids. By 1989, Aijitsu Elementary School had just 47 students and it was forced to integrate the following year with nearby Kaihei Elementary School.

Mmm, donut phenomenon.

Yahoo:

Major console makers such as Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo are considering self-regulating game sales to minors after Kanagawa prefecture designated the Playstation 2 game “Grand Theft Auto 3” to be a “harmful publication” under its Prefectural Youth Protection and Development Law because of its extreme brutality. The entire game industry is responding to the recent strengthening of public regulations, and strategies such as requiring identification when customers try to buy games suggested for those over 18 are being considered.

The Distribution Committee of the industry group “Computer Entertainment Association” (Koei President Kiyoshi Komatsu, Committee Chairman) is collaborating with game makers and sellers on the issue of self-regulation. One maker explained, “We need rules regarding the regulation of sales, but we would like the content of games to remain at the discretion of the industry.”

Many local governments have moved to regulate game sales after it was reported that the youth suspect in the murder of a teacher at an elementary school in Neyagawa, Osaka, on Feb. 14 was deeply into an action game involving the killing of zombies. Governor Narufumi Matsuzawa of Kanagawa expressed his intention to regulate games containing brutality at the press conference announcing the new law. Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara has publicly agreed with him, calling the regulation “quite an idea”.

I recently discovered Technorati Japan’s beta site, which is exactly the same as Technorati in English except it’s in Japanese and geared toward Japanese Internet users. The coolest thing about it for me so far is the fact that you can look at what books, CDs, and (most importantly for this site) news stories that Japanese bloggers are discussing at the moment. With that I bring you this latest story, ripped from Technorati Japan:

The Ministry of Internal Affairs (Somusho) has toughened its stance on eliminating anonymity on the Internet, thereby pushing people to use their real names so they can safely use the net, which has been cited as a “hotbed of harmful information.” They will decide on specific plans with the Education Ministry to encourage the use of technologies with a low level of anonymity such as blogs (diary-like sites) and SNS (Social Networking Sites) at elementary schools.

This suggestion will be included in the final report of the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ “Information Frontier Research Council” to be issued next week.

As the number of people using the internet domestically increases, developments such as the growth of suicide sites and bomb-making guides making their way onto the Net show that the Internet is flooded with harmful information that can lead to crime. The Ministry of Internal Affairs has reached the conclusion that in order to eliminate those negative aspects and make the Internet contribute to the development of the economic system, it is imperative to urge the use of people’s real names and improve the Internet’s trustworthiness.

Comment: Make no mistake: The Somusho is taking dead aim at 2-channel, Winny, and all the other anonymous web sites that have been the backbone of Internet activity in Japan since it got popular. They have heard every horror story about the suicide sites and piracy and are falling all over themselves trying to keep it from being a long-term trend. I’m not sure what to make of it—there are a lot of unhealthy things going on over at 2-chan, that’s for sure (Stay tuned and you’ll see an extended post on 2ch in due time). But then again, brainwashing the children of Japan to put their real names on the Net doesn’t seem like it’ll do much good. Here’s what some blogs are saying about this (thanks again, Technorati!):

From Garter House Annex:

This just makes me sigh.. My strength is leaving me. OK, here’s what I think:

Clearly anonymity does play a part in the dissemination of bad information. I don’t deny that. Nevertheless, I think the negative long-term impacts of repressing anonymous expression will far outdo any positives. Well, you could leave it at “There go the politicians again, going ahead without thinking about such things.”

I’m sure some official would excuse this activity by saying that simply urging isn’t a regulation, but in fact it has the same effect to the person who would be regulated. This is just official-speak and doesn’t fly with the general public.

Since I’m just judging from a news story I might be totally off, but let me give 2 slightly more specific opinions:
1. If they are really putting a priority on “contributing to the economic system”
then they are an era too late! Instead of worrying about the “economic system” they should worry about the development of “society.” If they do that then I think the pros and cons are more obvious.
2. I don’t know whether Yahoo added this or if it was said by Somusho, but I’d like go beyond my difference in position with the government to advise them that they should stop calling the Internet a “hotbed of evil”. Did they rip off “axis of evil” or simply appropriate it ignorantly? If it’s the former they just don’t understand what’s going on, and if it’s the latter then they are just too ignorant for words (Though I couldn’t imagine they would be). It’s ridiculous whichever way you slice it.

More in our continuing coverage of mad cow disease panic.

Taipei Times reporting that some retailers are voluntarily removing American beef from their shelves following the recent announcement of a second confirmed case of BSE (mad cow disease) in an American animal.

Some local supermarkets and those in Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store (新光三越), Breeze Center (微風廣場) and Pacific Sogo Department Store (太平洋崇光百貨) have echoed the Consumers’ Foundation’s (消基會) call to halt the sale of US beef.

However, other major retailers, including Carrefour, RT-Mart (大潤發), Tesco and Costco, have claimed they will abide by the government regulations and continue to sell their stock of US beef. Removing beef products will lead to immense financial losses given US beef’s dominance in the market.

Costco, the nation’s largest importer of US beef, has sold an average of 22.5 tonnes of US beef, or NT$10 million (US$320,000), per week since the import ban as lifted on April 16.

No word yet on whether Yoshinoya Taiwan will be continuing to use imported American beef. I just found an actual 24 hour open Yoshinoya only a few minutes bike ride from my apartment (and next door to a Mos Burger!), so as long as they serve gyudon I’ll be eating there, regardless of this irrational fear resulting from isolated cases. BSE is certainly worth being scared of-a terrifying disease where your brain basically rots in your skill-but so far there’s no evidence that anyone has actually eaten meat from an infected US animal, in contrast to the genuine outbreak in Britain several years ago in which dozens of people died.

Taipei Times

Hello Kitty talk starts brawl
A scuffle broke out late Thursday night between a group of Japanese tourists and locals at a restaurant in Wanhua (萬華), Taipei as result of language barriers and miscommunication. The group of seven Japanese were giggling and talking about the “Hello Kitty” magnets which have recently a stirred frenzy among fans and collectors in Taiwan. Thinking that the Japanese were laughing at them, a table of Taiwanese patrons next to them—about 10 in all—approached the group and somehow a fight started.

The magnets in question are part of a promotion by 7-11 (which some readers may not know is now actually a Japanese company) here in Taiwan. This year is the 30th anniversary of Hello Kitty, and I believe that there are 30 unique magnets to collect. One random Hello Kitty magnet is given away free with every purchase at the convenience store, encouraging quite a lot of repeat business from obsessive collectors. Naturally under these conditions it is virtually impossible to avoid accumulating a couple of these things and I managed to find two in my desk, one still in the wrapper and one opened, so I present them to you here so you can see that they were clearly worth fighting over.

On the package they call the effect where ridges in the plastic reveal a second image when you change the viewing angle ‘3D.’ I remember it well from a plastic He-man ruler I had when I was about 7 years old. Just by slowly rotating the ruler you could watch an epic battle for the future of Eternia unfold. In this case the effect is used for nothing nearly so cool, but in an extra-crappy way doesn’t even show two different pictures but only makes Helly Kitty’s parents or whatever disappear and reveal a 7-11 logo.

The Japan Times

Students in suit, tie need not apply

Environment Minister Yuriko Koike said Friday students applying for jobs had better not wear jackets and ties to the interview.

Students who passed the civil service’s written examination must next visit specific ministries and agencies for interviews.

Those applying to enter the Environment Ministry, however, have been showing up in suits despite the government’s “Cool Biz” summer dress campaign, which shuns suits and ties.

“It is regrettable that young people go for the ‘safe’ ways,” Koike said at a news conference.

The “Cool Biz” campaign, which started June 3, has been pushed as a way to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions by curbing the use of air conditioning and promoting sales of cooler apparel.

The Taipei Times

Men urged to doff suits
A group of women’s rights and environmental activists called yesterday for men to discard business suits in the summer in favor of casual shirts to reduce reliance on air conditioning. The activists, led by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Huang Shu-ying (黃淑英) urged the men to get stop wearing suits during summer to help save energy. Noting that air conditioning is the prime reason for surging power consumption in summer, Huang said that one degree higher on air conditioner thermostats nationwide in summer means the country could save 300 million kwhs—the amount that Penghu residents use in an entire year. Wearing suits requires a temperature of between 22?C to 23?C to make an office or room comfortable in summer, Huang said, claiming that room temperatures could be raised if men wore less clothing.

I mentioned earlier that Henry Kissinger was either lying about or woefully ignorant of Chinese history and implied that this was due to his personal biases.

Jonathan Mirsky’s review of “Mao: The Untold Story” in the June 2005 issue of the Far Eastern Economic Review (pg 59) contains this quote:

Mr. Kissinger, for instance, was so star-struck by Mao and Zhou Enlai that he committed many indiscretions and security breaches with both of them while serving Nixon.

The previous page also states that Zhou Enlai:

the most attractive man [visiting statesman like Henry Kissinger] had ever met.

For more information on Kissinger’s early negotiations with China, see this article at the National Security Archive at GWU. This article was written in 2002, shortly after a number of relevant records were declassified in mid-2001, so if you think you know the history of US/Chinese diplomacy based on pre-2002 information, you should probably read this article. There are also links to a number of original, formerly classified documents, such as this

These documents also illustrate some differences between Kissinger’s public statements regarding China and Taiwanese policy and his private diplomatic efforts.

As important as this exchange was, in his 1979 memoir Kissinger misleadingly wrote that “Taiwan was mentioned only briefly during the first session.”(5) Yet some 9 pages, nearly 20 percent, of the 46-page record of the first Zhou-Kissinger meeting on 9 July 1971, include discussion of Taiwan, with Kissinger disavowing Taiwanese independence and committing to withdraw two-thirds of U.S. military forces from the island once the Vietnam War ended. Moreover, Kissinger told Zhou that he expected that Beijing and Washington would “settle the political question” of diplomatic relations “within the earlier part of the President’s second term.” Kissinger did not say what that would mean for U.S. diplomatic relations with Taiwan but undoubtedly Zhou expected Washington to break formal ties with Taipei as a condition of Sino-American diplomatic normalization.

This memo from Kissinger to Nixon actually lists Taiwan as the first issue discussed at the Kissinger/Zhou Enlai (spelled Chou here) meeting.

[Page 3]He immediately moved to their fundamental concern, Taiwan, and I rejoined with our position on Indochina.

Some other interesting statements from this particular memo include:

Chou spoke of the Chinese fear of a remilitiarized Japan, and a violently and contemptuously attacked Soviet imperialism, which he claimed had learned its lessons from the U.S.

Clearly China’s current attitude towards Japan is not as divorced from their historical attitudes as some might think.

According to Kissinger’s secret memo to the president, Zhou’s primary themes of discussion were as follows:

the preoccupation with Taiwan; the support for the North Vietnamese; the spectre of big power collusion, specifically of being carved up by the US, USSR, and Japan; the contempt of the Indians, hatred for the Russians and apprehension over the Japanese; the disclaimer that China is, or would want to be, a superpower like the Russians and we who have “stretched out our hands too far”; and throughout the constant view that the world must move toward peace, that there is too much “turmoil under the heavens.”

Most of those are already clear, but the last is particularly interesting. In his recent editorial Kissinger claimed to believe that “Military imperialism is not the Chinese style. China seeks its objectives by careful study, patience and the accumulation of nuances.” I still believe that his understanding of Chinese history is fundamentally wrong, but based on the contents of his 14 July 1971 “Eyes Only” memo to President Nixon-where one would expect total honesty-he actually seems to have believed China’s claims the whole time. The fact that Kissinger believes (and believed) that China’s foreign policy is basically one of peace does not excuse such blatant misinformation as “The Chinese state in its present dimensions has existed substantially for 2,000 years”, but it does perhaps relegate it from sinister propaganda to mere incompetence.

Yahoo News (Thanks 2ch):

According to Bandai’s “Children’s Favorite Cartoon Characters Ranking” released on June 22, “Go! Anpanman” was the top choice for boys and girls for the fourth year in a row.

At #2 and below were, in order: “The Precure Duo“, “Pocket Monsters“, “Winnie the Pooh“, and “Hello Kitty“.

Anpanman was overwhelmingly preferred by the 0-2 age bracket, with 58.6% choosing him as their favorite. For 3-5 year olds the top was “Precure” (LINK NOT SAFE FOR WORK), a show popular among young girls. “Pocket Monsters” was the favorite for both the 6-8 and 9-12 age brackets.

On Anpanman’s popularity, Bandai gathered, “There are lots of characters that show up on the show, and the stories, where the goodguys always win, are easy to understand and entertaining for both children and their caregivers.” (Metropolis magazine online has a good article on the origins and popularity of Anpanman)

The survey asked the opinions of 2000 caregivers of children 12 or under in the beginning of April of this year.