For more information: go to http://www.immi-doj.go.jp/english.

Japan is changing. Maybe its not as fast as some would wish (or in the right direction), and maybe not for the “right” reasons, but there’s an undercurrent of change. Some of the changes started 20 years ago, the result of the economic bubble bursting, others caused by the “westernization” of Japan’s “traditional” culture and still others precipitated by the tragic events of 3/11.

The traditional Japanese salaryman’s path, some westerners might say” furrow” or “rut”, involved indenturing oneself to a big corporation for life. In exchange, one receives a predictable, seniority based progression through the salary, and perhaps management, ranks. The “paternalistic” corporation, in exchange provides the security of lifetime employment. As has been well documented, cracks are appearing in the veneer of this façade. For years, the ranks of “irregular” workers has been growing as fewer and fewer graduates are able to obtain full-time employment. Irregular workers now comprise about 35% of the workforce. Bonuses for full-time workers have been shrinking and overtime (pay) has been reduced. More and more, people are getting by on less and less.

The Japanese economic realities have been exacerbated, first by the “toxic investments” of the U.S. banking system, which erupted in the chaos of October, 2008 and, more recently, by the economic “imbalances” now chafing through the bureaucracies and boardrooms of the European Union. Business is getting tougher. Tough times require tough choices. These “tough choices” are the second stage of the changes in the Japanese economic “system” and include, among other things: merging units within corporations, eliminating (not replacing) certain positions and “strategic partnerships” between companies, which eliminate duplicate work forces. Many young people are seeing their future plans, and dreams, dissolving before their very eyes. One of those young men is a student of mine, and his story, I believe, reveals the effects of this confluence of changes.

The name Fukushima, particularly Fukushima Daichi, is now synonymous with the triple tragedy of 3/11. It’s predecessor, Chernobyl, remains the iconic word for nuclear disaster. However, while Chernobyl was a singular nuclear accident, “Fukushima” was two separate and distinct tragedies. The earthquake/tsunami, which caused the Fukushima nuclear accident, also impacted over 600 kilometers of coastline over 3 prefectures, resulted in 20,000 deaths and the destruction of 45,000 buildings and damage to a further 140,000. Over 300,000 people were displaced, and over 20 million tons of garbage remained after the tsunami retreated. Those devastated areas are to be rebuilt. Unlike Chernobyl, where nobody can “go home”, most of the hundreds of thousands of displaced people want to move back “home”.

Iwaki city is the industrial and tourist center of Fukushima prefecture. The northern tip of this “kana” city is a scant 20 kilometers from the Fukushima Daichi plant. However, the more southerly portions of the city have been declared safe and, as a result, Iwaki city has become one of the centers of the rebuilding process. As a result, the city’s population has actually grown since 3/11.

My student (I’ll call him “Ken) is from a small village, one of many, that make up Iwaki city. His father, an insurance salesman, had his business offices wiped out by the tsunami, as were most of the adjacent businesses. The business offices were situated on the main road of the village, which ran parallel to the harbor, so were only meters from the ocean. The tsunami breached the concrete harbor barriers, came across the road and washed away the buildings. “Ken” said that the sight of the destruction was too much for him to handle and he was unable to summon the strength to take any pictures. He was completely overwhelmed by the immensity of the destruction, and the pain he felt in seeing the town he’d grown up in so destroyed was unlike anything he’d ever experienced.

“Ken’s” father spent 3 months locating and visiting all of his clients, assisting them however he could. Of his father’s actions, “Ken” is very proud. Last December, he again went back to visit his family, for Oshogatsu. He and his family were able to celebrate the New Year in their new house, which had just been completed. He said they felt very lucky, but it was bittersweet. While there had been significant physical damage to his hometown, nobody in his village had been killed. They had been lucky, but others, elsewhere, had not.

Our affective domain is that part of our brain that reacts emotionally to stimuli. Most of us can identify with how a particular song will trigger a memory from an event long since passed, or a sight or smell triggers a strong emotional response. That’s our affective domain in action. My student’s emotional response to the experience of returning home at Oshogatsu was life changing. He suddenly felt closer to his family. He described how his Oshogatsu was “different” from before, more focused. Their new house was beautiful, but somehow tainted and not like his “home”. On the street where his father’s business had been located, other, older shops had also been completely ruined and ordered destroyed by the government. The owner of one such shop, a meat shop, where he and his parents had bought meat for decades, had decided to move away. What was left was a vacant lot, in the middle of which the owner had hung a “shimekazari” on a post. The irony of that sight, the protection and optimism symbolized by the decoration, sitting on an abandoned lot saddened him immensely. In stark contrast, a nearby business, which had been located in a newer, sturdier building, was getting ready to reopen early in the New Year. His Tohoku stoicism was being tested. His values were being questioned and he was having difficulty reconciling his emotions with his “existence”. Things weren’t beginning to feel right.

Suddenly, working for a major Japanese company, with the opportunity to work overseas and gain other worldly experiences, didn’t seem so appealing or certain. His perspective began to change, and his optimism about his future with this Japanese multi-national began to waver. Suddenly, he began to feel uncertain about his company’s commitment to him. He was young, and there were rumors circulating that his section might be merging with the similar sections of two other Japanese “competitors”. Perhaps he was going to become “redundant.” His life, and future, rather than being “decided” and clear, had become torn and uncertain. He had to think, to evaluate the conflict between his re-discovered emotional attachment to his family and “home”, and his desire to pursue a “salaryman’s dream”.

In the end, after many sleepless nights, he decided to leave his current employer and look for work in Iwaki city, where jobs are plentiful and he can be part of the rebuilding process. I’m sure he is not alone in having this experience. I wish him, and the others well! Ganbaru ne!

She bangs It.

She opens up and lets you inside and exposes herself and takes your breath away.

Td: Natsuki. You were telling me you’ve worked at a ‘Health Club’ –[basically a legal brothel, there are thousands of these places all over Japan where men pay for sexual ‘service’ from women, basic entrance fee averages= 15 thousand yen –publisher.]
Nk: Yes. I only worked there one day. I tried, but I couldn’t do it right. A customer chose me from the pictures. We took separate showers, it was okay. Then I had to do the ‘job’, but my body couldn’t accept the situation, but of course, he thought he could do anything he wanted, but I refused, I apologized to him, ‘this is my first day for this job, and I really cannot do this, so please change the girl’-he said no, he tried to keep ‘doing’, so finally I punched him in his face.
Td: Why did you choose that kind of work if you didn’t know you could do it?
Nk: I wanted lots of things at that time, designer bags, clothes, luxury things.
Td: How old were you at that time? What got you interested in that type of work?
Nk: I was around 18. One of my friends was working there, and she said the job was easy, it was an easy way to make money, she said I could try for one day, so I did.

Td: For you, what is different between pornography and artistic nude?
Nk: I don’t do pornography. Or cosplay. The way to express in pornography is too direct, and it’s only for men’s satisfaction sexually, I don’t do that. The photographers who shoot me already know I don’t do pornography, because they’ve seen my website, and I don’t have any of that on my website.
Td: Were you shy the first time you were photographed nude?
Nk: No. Because my ‘switch’ turns on…in front of my boyfriend, I’m shy, I’ll hesitate to take off my clothes, but in front of a camera, this is a special place for me to express something-not only to show my naked body, but a place of expression. It’s art, so I don’t get shy.

Td: Does your 5 year old daughter know mommy does nude photography? Do you think she understands your work?
Nk: She knows. I took her to the studio with me. I went to Europe and took her to the studio with me, she could see the whole process, so she gets used to seeing this kind of shooting. Of course she wonders ‘why mommy is naked’, but I didn’t have to explain, because she understood something.
Td: What if she tells you one day that she wants to be a nude model?
Nk: I want her to do anything she wants to do, I will not stop her.

Td: What made you want to do this kind of work?
Nk: Modeling is one way to express myself. I love expression. I also write, I’m now writing a love story, but there’s no happy end..

Td: Who discovered you? And how?
Nk: My ex-boyfriend. He worked at an advertising company. We often had photo sessions, as a hobby, but I found I loved it. He also liked Japanese bondage, ‘shibari’. He took that kind of picture also, and I loved that as well. I had a favorite author, Ryu Murakami, who wrote about Japanese bondage, so, I already had a kind of knowledge about it. I loved his stories, so it wasn’t so strange for me. He writes about Japanese girls lives, piercing, tattoo art. He also writes economic stories. He writes different things. So I’m a big fan of his work. So my introduction to that art was good, it didn’t seem strange or scary.
Td: Describe the feeling of being tied up. What gets you off about it.
Nk: When I do them for modeling. It’s just a job, and a way to express. In my personal life, Japanese bondage – I want to feel that I am under control, that I cannot do anything without the partners order. I am very submissive I think.
Td: What is the attraction of being ‘submissive’?
Nk: I’m very shy. If my boyfriend orders me, I would get shy so much, so maybe I might hesitate, because I’m shy. I’m originally a bit afraid of men. But at the same time, I love this feeling, because it makes me feel that I cannot do anything, I just follow his order, I can only do what he allows. {This is the submissive trait}.

Td: Do your nude photo shoots turn you on?
Nk: No.
Td: In your private life, are you only attracted to the Ds (Dominant/Submissive) stereotype?
Nk: No. I’ve dated ‘normal’ guys-the bondage, dominant thing is not a necessary element for me to have a relationship.
Td: What do people say when they find out you do nude model work?
Nk: My father was angry at first, that’s what my mother told me, but I’m a grown woman so it doesn’t bother me. My friends support me, they give me compliments and understand me, they’re happy because I’m happy and I found my way to do, real friends of mine don’t disagree with my way.
Td: Tell me your some of your thoughts about Japan-
Nk: People in Japan work so hard, saving lots of money, but I want to ask for what? They work hard everyday, until late in the evening, then they go drinking, they do the same thing everyday for their whole lives. I hate it. It’s so boring. Why work hard to make and save so much money, and do nothing?
Td: You lived in Europe for a while, talk about that experience..
Nk: I lived in Bremen, Germany for 4 years. I was a “haus frau”, basically a housewife there. I found that women’s position in Germany is totally equal to men. They express themselves directly and clearly. For me it was too tough to get along with people, I couldn’t speak German…here in Japan, a woman’s position is much lower than a man’s, sometimes it helps us women though, we can make excuses, we can be weak when we need to be here, so the inequality supports women I think. In Germany, I realized I was spoiled a lot in Japan, as a woman. My boyfriend in Germany said I should learn to say what I want with a ‘big voice’. Also, in Japan, people smile a lot, it makes a good atmosphere, but in Germany, if I smile too much, people think I am laughing at them.
Td: Did you learn to like the ‘equality’ between the sexes while you were in Germany?
Nk: Yes. Because I was a single mother and I was fed up with Japanese society.
Td: What will you do next?
Nk: I miss Europe. I’d like to go back to Germany, or some country in Europe. It’s easy to travel to other countries there. I like the architecture, and, as a single mother, it’s much more comfortable there than here. It’s more common if you are a single mother there, they accept people as they are more than here. They don’t ask about my history or anything like that, they don’t judge me.

Keep going Natsuki, never give up..

Rating out of five stars (or whatever rating you want to use).

Food: ***
Ambience: ****
Service: **
Price: $$$
Location: Easily accessible from the station.
Price for two people
$: 1 – 2,000 yen
$$: 2,001 – 5,000
$$$: 5,001-8,000
$$$$: 8,001 +

Website:

http://r.gnavi.co.jp/n034503/

English Website: http://r.gnavi.co.jp/n034503/lang/en/

Before you get out your dictionary, here’s a quick definition for you: The variety of life in the world or in a particular habitat or ecosystem. Seems rather important, doesn’t it?

Well, Let’s talk about these numbers.

75% of genetic diversity of agricultural crops has been lost.

75% of the world’s fisheries are fully or over exploited.

70% of the world’s known species risk becoming lost, or rather extinct, if global temperatures rise by more than 3.5ºC. Right now the temperature has increased just shy of 1ºC, which doesn’t seem much to worry about if it wasn’t for the frightening fact that 2/3 of this increase has happened since 1980. Scientists predict that the temperature will rise another 2.9 degrees globally during the 21st century in their lowest emission prediction scenario. For the nay-sayers out there, here’s a nice little graphic depicting Temperature anomalies from 1950-2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Enso-global-temp-anomalies.png

50% of the farmland bird populations in Europe have declined since 1980.

42% of all amphibian species are declining

40% of global bird species are declining.

1/3 (19%) of reef building corals around the world are threatened with extinction as the oceans continue to become more acidic.

Birds and amphibians aside, why should you care if coral reefs die out? Well, nearly half the fish the world eats make their homes around them. About 1 billion people across Asia alone depend on them for their food and livelihood. Scientists predict that hunger, poverty and political instability could be the result. I’ll throw in an extra number for you: 50% of coral reefs in the caribbean are already gone. Even the Great Barrier Reef in Australia is severely affected at this point. It’s a huge debate down under currently.

You may be wondering what we can do to prevent this from getting any worse and to protect our biodiversity on earth. Well, one way of helping the cause is by donating to, or volunteering for various organizations, such as WWF (wwf.panda.org), which is the most prominent conservation organization in the world.

One thing everyone reading this column should do is go to: act.earthday.org and sign the pledge of green, and keep good on your promise. Do something….do anything earth/environment related this April. There are many ways you can help out. Many of you are teachers…. teach something about the earth on that day to your students. Take your bike to get around instead of using a motorized vehicle, help to clean up the city, write a letter to your congressman, use natural cleaning alternatives, invent a new form of sustainable, clean energy… do whatever you can, and is within your power. Every little bit helps.

Although December 21st is one of the most important days for some superstitious people this year. April 22nd is another day that you should keep firmly imprinted in your memory. Do you know what happened on this day in history? Well, it’s Jack Nicholson’s birthday, and who doesn’t like Jack? More to the point though, It’s also the first time that people in America took to the streets to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment in massive rallies and protests from one coast to the next in 1970. It was the start of the environmental movement. Since then, the movement has gone global and is now observed in many countries around the world…. including Japan. Because of this movement, there have been many advancements for environmental protection around the world. It was originally the idea of senator Gaylord Nelson, who, after witnessing the ravages of a severe oil spill in Santa Barbara, became inspired to do something about environmental pollution. While some people will probably argue against this loss of biodiversity being caused by human activity, I can assure you that these extinction events are about as natural as twinkies, red diet Kool Aid, and Spam. This is not natural, folks! Stand up and do something about the loss of biodiversity on earth before it’s too late. Remember the Passenger Pidgeon? How about the Baji River Dolphin? No? Well, they are all recently extinct animals. become involved now, to make sure the same doesn’t happen to Tigers, Polar Bears, Bluefin Tuna, or the Panda Bear, which are all on the endangered species list !(http://www.earthsendangered.com/list.asp)

You see, all it takes is one person with the notion of a great idea to make a change. That’s the beauty of ideas. Ideas can grow into actions. Actions can become movements and movements have the power to change the world. Please join us this earth day to try and make a positive change. Celebrate the environment, and make a positive change this year. Go here for more info about Earth Day: www.earthday.org

So, what about this, our city? Wondering what’s going down in April here? Nagoya also has some earth day activities planned in April (although on the 28th). You can find out more information (sorry, only in Japanese) at: http://earthday-nagoya.com/

Your mission this April (and always), should you choose to accept it, is to do start doing something earth/environment related. It’s not an impossible mission once you find the motivation to get started, but it’s a mission of utmost importance. Become a Radically Active Nagoyan! Now is your time to act!

Most likely, if you’ve gone through divorce with children involved with a Japanese national, you’ve never heard of, let alone seen this video. The Supreme Court of Japan, just a few years ago, thought the issue important enough to warrant MAKING the video, but the lower family courts refuse to show it. How can this be? How can the family courts not show this video-which was made by the SUPREME COURT, and which exists solely for the family courts? Moreover, the family courts hide the existence of this DVD. Most parents don’t know about it, and, even if you do know about it there is no guarantee you can watch it. You need to have an active case and you need special permission from the judge to watch this DVD. Few parents know of it’s existence, fewer still ever see the video, but it exists, it’s REAL, and it has pertinent information that flies directly in the face of the traditional Japanese style of divorce, which is, one parent essentially ‘gets’ the children, and the other parent essentially gets the shaft. As in many issues of importance here in Japan, the reality, the ‘sensible’, is discarded in favor of the traditional, even if the traditional makes no sense.

Why make a powerful and helpful video, then hide it? Who benefits from that? Judges in Japan have no real power. Judges can save face by not showing the video. There are no penalties if one parent violates the visitation or custody agreement. Judges and police are unwilling to fine or jail non-compliant parents. So, why stir up a hornets nest by showing this video unless you are willing to penalize parents for not following court orders? Judges don’t show the video because they are aware that if they do, one parent might cause a ruckus about seeing their child(ren)—and without being willing or able to penalize parents who are non-compliant with their decisions, judges can slink off quietly without having to bear any responsibility for informing parents of the importance of both parents being involved in children’s lives after divorce. It’s their (the judges) way ‘out’, go the traditional route, don’t ask questions, keep with tradition, even if families and children and the future of the country is at stake. Bogus.

Recently, there’s a lot of talk about Japan finally signing the Hague Convention’s resolution. The Hague Convention on the International aspects of Child Abduction was designed to do one thing and that is return children quickly to their country of habitual residence. This is really simple and easy to understand. The court in the country of habitual residence is supposed to make the decisions about all parties concerned. And this makes sense because the schools, courts, police, etc. have all the information about everyone involved in the child’s life. Unfortunately, some countries are not very good at returning children to their country of habitual residence. But, almost every non-Hague country, except Japan, has returned at least one child to their country of habitual residence. Japan is the only country that has never returned one child. Japan is special. Over the last 5 years in Japan, many countries have put pressure on Japan to sign Hague. Japan has consistently said they are studying the issue, and recently they’ve indicated they will sign. With one condition, no, well, actually, with several conditions, and these conditions will most likely uphold Japan’s tradition of never returning any kidnapped or abducted children.

These conditions, among others, are:

1) if the child has adjusted to his new environment in Japan.

2) when a spouse has given consent to bring the child to Japan.

3) when the child refuses to return to his/her former residence.

4) if the child is at risk of abuse, either mental or physical.

-amongst others. It’s easy to see that these conditions are difficult to disprove, especially in cases with small children who have been coerced into saying, well, anything.

Japan is special indeed. So special, in fact, that for reasons unknown, they have not agreed to be part of what appears to be an almost universally accepted way to deal with international child abduction. So special, that they commission potentially helpful and informative videos to be made about the importance of children having access to both parents, yet they hide the existence of those same videos. So special, that they allow thousands of children to go without access to both parents, in a day and age where it has become a given that children need both parents to properly grow up and have a chance at adjustment. Japan is so special, that if you ask teachers of young students who have gone through divorce, they’ll tell you honestly and obviously that children need both parents, but the Japanese government and family courts don’t seem to agree—some traditions take a long time to die out. This selfish, ‘childish’, rogue tradition of denying children their right to have both parents in their lives should have gone the way of the dodo bird.

If you are not happy with this scenario you can contact Children First and find out how to help. A few concerned parents with big hearts and a little free time started Children First. Children First is a comprehensive advocacy group for issues affecting children’s rights and welfare. To learn more, please go to www.childrenfirst.jp and look at the ‘mission statement’ tab as well as children’s issues tab. The Children First website is still under construction. They are always looking for web savvy individuals to help build their webpage as well as bilingual people to help with translation. Children First also has a face book page (Children First Japan) and blog (kwbrow2.wordpress.com).