Does Japan downplay sex crimes?

Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Jun 29, 2003 by Howard W. French New York Times News Service

HAYATO, Japan -- Two years ago, a 16-year-old high school girl who lived near here was hospitalized with a high fever. After doctors found that she had an acute case of genital herpes, she told her parents that her teacher had had sex with her.

When approached by the parents, the teacher denied the claim, warning them that their daughter would be expelled if they reported him.

Experts say molestation and statutory rape are commonplace in schools across Japan and that victims rarely come forward. To do so would violate a host of powerful social conventions, said Akiko Kamei, a retired teacher who is the country's only nationally known expert in classroom sexual abuse.

"In Japan there is a rape myth, which says that the victim of a rape is always to blame," Kamei said. "Moreover, women are told that if you suffer molestation or groping, you have to be ashamed. If you talk about it to anyone else, you are going to be tainted for the rest of your life."

Beyond that, even when they are identified and caught, molesters rarely receive more than a slap on the wrist.

Speaking at a public symposium, a member of Parliament, Seiichi Ota, recently made light of reports of gang rapes at a Tokyo university. "Boys who commit group rape are in good shape," Ota said. "I think they are rather normal. Whoops, I shouldn't have said that." (The legislator's comments were carried in many Japanese newspapers.)

Recently, however, the public tolerance for rape has begun to change as a handful of victims or their families have pressed charges against classroom molesters. The mother of the girl infected with herpes, for example, went to the police, which led not only to the dismissal of the 49-year-old teacher but to a one-year prison sentence for him as well.

In an interview about the incident, the mother requested anonymity, as do most people involved in such cases. She said that if her identity were revealed, she would be ostracized and could even lose her job.

As if to underline the family's concern, the daughter has left Japan, fleeing the taunts of fellow students and the cold shoulder of teachers at her former school.

"Whose interests would it serve for us to go public?" said the mother, who asked not only that her name not be used but that the name of her town, which is near Hayato, in western Japan, not be revealed. "We would have liked to receive solidarity from other people, but that is not how it works in Japan. I grew up in this community, and although a foreigner might not understand, it is a fact that the victim is always cast in a negative light."

The number of reported molestations in Japan schools rose from 27 in 1992 to 122 in 2001, the most recent year for which data are available.

Copyright C 2003 Deseret News Publishing Co.
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.

LDP lawmakers oppose voting right for foreigners

This article is old, yet shows you the thinking of many
in the Liberal Democratic Party in Japan. Perhaps long-term
foreign residents in Japan should be allowed to vote?
What about those born in Japan but having Chinese or
Korean nationality, shouldn`t they be allowed to vote?
What do you think?


Japan Policy & Politics, May 21, 2001

TOKYO, May 15 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING WITH RESULT OF MEETING)

Members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) failed Tuesday to reach a compromise on a pending bill to grant permanent foreign residents in Japan the right to vote in local elections, party members said.

They said the LDP members failed to reach agreement because many lawmakers expressed opposition.

About 15 lawmakers aired their opinions at a meeting of the LDP's Research Commission on the Election System, held at the party's headquarters in Tokyo. Some spoke strongly against the measure, saying giving non-Japanese residents the right to vote would infringe on Japan's national sovereignty.

Another opinion to surface during the meeting was that non-Japanese residents should acquire Japanese citizenship if they wanted to vote, and that the Diet should move to relax the conditions for obtaining Japanese citizenship to promote this course.

Only a handful of lawmakers supported the bill, advocating a full discussion be held on the issue. They said permanent residents should be given the right to vote in local elections in the communities where they were born and raised, but stopped short of supporting granting them voting rights in national elections.

The LDP leadership had hoped to nurture a consensus on members' opinions as soon as possible because the New Komeito party -- one of the LDP's two coalition allies and a major sponsor of the bill -- is hoping the Diet will vote on the matter before the end of the current 150-day ordinary session in late June.
Advertisement

The LDP leadership was seeking a compromise by which the Diet would vote on the bill in the current session, with party lawmakers given a free vote.

However, that idea was rejected by some LDP members at the meeting who said a free vote would cause an unseemly spectacle by openly splitting the party during the Diet session.

Former Construction Minister Masaaki Nakayama who chaired the meeting, told reporters after the meeting that he will convey the results of the debate to the LDP's allies -- the New Komeito and the New Conservative Party (NCP). He said another meeting will be held soon to try and find a workable compromise.

Meanwhile, the LDP has approved a bill to scrap the current screening process used in granting Japanese citizenship to permanent residents and instead accept applications via the justice minister.

The ruling coalition parties will jointly submit the bill to the current Diet session.

The amendment will simplify the complicated application process for obtaining citizenship for permanent residents hailing from former Japanese colonies on the Korean Peninsula and Taiwan as well as their descendants.

Some LDP members are calling for the bill to be presented as an alternative to the New Komeito's proposals to give permanent residents the right to vote in local election. The New Komeito, however, insists its bill should be considered separately.

There are 630,000 permanent foreign residents in Japan, most of them Koreans born in Japan.

Two separate but almost identical bills to grant permanent foreign residents the right to vote in local assembly, mayoral and gubernatorial elections were proposed to a previous parliamentary session last July, one by the New Komeito and the NCP, the other by the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan.

The Diet did not vote on the bills in the previous session, carrying over them to the current session.

The South Korean government and the pro-Seoul Korean Residents Union in Japan are both strong backers of the legislation.

COPYRIGHT 2001 Kyodo News International, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group

Buraku Liberation League

Buraku Liberation League is a movement demanding a national policy on Buraku problems. Email: honbu@bll.gr.jp Web: www.bll.gr.jp/eng.html

Buraku Liberation and Human Rights Research Institute (BLHRRI) aims to eliminate all forms of discrimination, particularly against the Buraku, in Japan. 1-6-12 Kuboyoshi, Naniwaku, Osaka City, Japan 556-0028. Tel: +81-6-6568-0905; Fax: +81-6-6568-0714. Web: http://blhrri.org/index_e.htm

COPYRIGHT 2005 New Internationalist Magazine
COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group

Kierkegaard & Japanese Philosophy

The Danish Philosopher Kierkegaard (1813-1855) is an enigmatic thinker whose works call out for interpretation. One of the most fascinating strands of this interpretation is in terms of Japanese thought. Kierkegaard himself knew nothing of Japanese philosophy, yet the links between his own ideas and Japanese philosophers are remarkable. These links were spotted quickly by Japanese thinkers and Japanese translations of Kierkegaard appeared long before English translations did. Yet, strangely enough, the Japanese relation to Kierkegaard has been all but ignored in the West.
--James Giles, author and University Professor
http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?PID=280542

Naoko Hashimoto on Japan & the Future of Japan

Pictured: Asakusa Gong

"I think one of the issues is going to be environmental issues. Right now Japan is doing a lot of work trying to find ways to save energy and also to recycle. And recently, there's been a car that was a project by the Kao University and it's called Eli-ca and it doesn't use any gasoline, it just operates on battery. And so there's been a lot of research on finding out ways to save energy."--Naoko Hashimoto
http://worldnews.about.com/library/worldpublicopinion/bl_japan_world.htm

"I recently read Iris Chang's Rape of Nanking, and there were things in that book that the Japanese people probably don't know about, and so I think that the majority of Japanese people are almost oblivious and they don't know the kind of violence that took place in the Rape of Nanking. I can understand and sympathize with a lof the Chinese people's anger after reading that book, but before, because the Japanese people aren't told what happened exactly at the Rape of Nanking, we don't know why they are so angry, and so now I think I can sympathize with the Chinese."--Naoko
Hashimoto

"Well technologically speaking, [Japan is] getting better, but spiritually, it's not so strong. A lot of people have a lot of emotional problems, there are a lot of people committing suicide, and there are a lot of students who are too stressed out about entrance exams for college and there seems to be and also now we have a problem where there's not enough...babies being born and so I think that's saying something about the situation in Japan and that young people find it hard to live in Japan."
--Naoko Hashimoto, About.com

Is this Japan?

Pictured: a temple in Japan


by Robert Upland

Mariko Suzuki shivers as she teaches at a local Japanese
junior high school. She isn`t allowed to turn on the heater.
That costs money. The students bundle up as best they can
and try to concentrate on the lesson. It is difficult
to write kanji when your fingers are blue.

At a junior high school in Odawara, the children shiver.
The small stove heater in the room is not strong enough to
heat it. Several children will go to hospital that day
suffering from frostbite.

Mariko gazes out the window at the expanse of dirt where
the children play. A grass
field too, costs money it should be assumed.
Yet this spartan existence is touted by the government
as building strength and sacrifice in Japanese youth.
I see it as short changing the people who will be the
future of this country.

It is interesting that in one of the richest nations
of the world, the conditions
one finds at times for students and teachers, smacks
of less advantaged nations like
North Korea.

Further, it is notable what our politicians choose
to spend our tax money on. Routinely it would seem,
the banks of rivers are cemented. Police are paid to
stop motorists for seatbelt violations, but not to stop
the motor cycle gangs known as the bosozoku, who routinely
terrorize and endanger the populous by their
actions. (Note: See our other article about bosozoku,
"The Tribes of Midnight," also at Japan Living)

Japan routinely places in the top ten in military
spending amongst nations. She is often in the top 6
and a large exporter of weapons as well. Again, what
this says to us is arms are more important than our youth.
Of course you will never hear a Japanese politician
actually say this,...
but actions do speak louder than words.

Japanese Idiots

"Gang rape shows the people who do it are still vigorous, and that is OK."
--Seiichi Ota (BBC News)

Kiichi Inoue, minister for disaster management, suggested that the murder of a classmate by an 11-year-old schoolgirl indicated a sign of women's progress.

"Men have committed thoughtless, harsh acts but I think this is the first for a girl," Mr Inoue told reporters. "Recently the difference between men and women is shrinking." He said "vigorous" women were increasing in society.

He joins a long list of Japanese politicians who have succeeded in inflaming a painful incident by making inappropriate comments.--BBC News

"Yoshitada Konoike said the parents of a boy suspected of killing a small child should be beheaded as a warning to parents who do not control their children effectively.

"The parents (of the 12-year-old boy) should be pulled through the streets and their heads should be chopped off," Mr Konoike told a news conference."
--BBC News

"…senior politician Takami Eto sparked complaints from China after suggesting that the Nanking massacre during World War II was a "big lie".

China says that 300,000 Chinese died at the hands of Japanese troops in Nanking, but some Japanese nationalists contest whether the massacre happened at all." BBC News

"Seiichi Ota, a lawmaker with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), said at a debate on Japan's declining birth rate that at least gang rapists had a healthy appetite for sex.

Then Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda, commenting on Mr Ota's remarks, suggested women who are raped are "asking for it" by the way they dress."--BBC News

"Possibly the most gaffe-prone of all Japan's politicians, former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, also drew fire… for suggesting childless women should be denied welfare payments in old age."--BBC News

"Hosei Norota, senior lawmaker and former Defence Minister, sparked controversy in 2001, when he said his country was not to blame for its entry into the war, and had been forced into action by the US."--BBC News

Mr. Norota obviously believes nations should shoot first before negotiating.

30 Years After Abductions, Questions Haunt Japanese

NIIGATA, Japan -- Megumi Yokota was walking home from badminton practice here in Niigata, on the northern coast of Japan, when North Korean agents grabbed the 13-year-old and packed her off to a waiting ship.

That was 30 years ago.

North Korea says she is long dead, a suicide. But her parents -- and millions of Japanese -- refuse to believe it. They regard Yokota as very much alive, a woman now in midlife, deprived of her freedom in a closed communist state.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/15/AR2007121501669.html

On Fingerprinting Foreigners.....

by Kevin Burns

How is fingerprinting me or anyone for that matter going to prevent terrorism in Japan? As well, the worst terrorism in Japan has been committed by Japanese. Yet Japanese will not be fingerprinted.

The Aum Shinrikyo of course were largely a Japanese group--the vast majority were Japanese. Indeed in Japan, all the members were Japanese.

Further, I think blindly following in the footsteps of George Bush is not a good idea. I hope the Japanese leadership will start to think for themselves soon.

Plus the paranoia we see about foreigners is a shame. I see it slowly
ending but things like this make me realize it is far from dead.

Back to the fingerprinting: you fingerprint a terrorist then let him into the country? Is that the strategy?

I think a better one simply is to do background checks and to realize you will never be able to close the borders totally. And why would you want to? Most of the people coming in and out of Japan are good people. With background checks and intelligence, hopefully you can catch a few of the undesirables before they come into the country.

Moreover, I think if your nation acts well, and doesn`t upset other
nations or religious groups to a large extent, then probably you
are pretty safe. If you go around attacking other countries and
rattling the sabre as Bush has done the last eight years, it leads
to the potential for more terrorism in America. I think Japan should
follow her own heart and not blindly follow Bush.

Kevin

Why DO the Japanese Have The Longest Lifespan?

Pictured: English class in Japan

by: Peter McGarry

A recent statistic in the World Bank Group states that the Japanese have the longest lifespan in the world. Japanese men live be 78 years old on average while the average lifespan of a Japanese woman is 85. How do the Japanese do it?

After personally experiencing the Japanese lifestyle in Tokyo for five years, I learned a little about why Japanese people live so long and will share a few of their secrets. This month will feature Part 1: It’s All in the Food. Part 2: Live the Lifestyle will appear in the April edition of eNews at www.magneticrevolution.com

Part 1: It’s All in the Food

The Japanese diet does not center on delicacies eaten solely for taste. In fact, most dishes are consumed based on the health benefits people gain from them. Conscious decisions are based on ‘What would be good for me?’ as opposed to ‘What do I feel like eating?’ This leads one to contemplate what is the diet for the average Japanese person and what are their secrets?

Secret #1: Eating fish instead of red meat lowers the risk of heart attacks.

For a source of protein, fish is a common staple in most meals. Red meat is significantly more expensive and less frequently consumed. Fish is healthier and the fresher it is the better. Keep in mind that not all fish in Japan is consumed raw, there are many ways that fish is prepared (grilled, baked, fried, poached, etc) and served. Furthermore, Japanese women believe that the skin on fish helps bring out the natural beauty of their skin and improves their complexion.

Secret #2: Soy products help reduce heart disease and high blood pressure and are a great source of protein.

Tofu and soy products are also staples in the Japanese diet. Considering that saturated fats from meat and dairy products increase cholesterol, it is encouraging to know that foods derived from plants such as soy actually have the opposite effect. Soybeans provide adequate protein without the saturated fat and cholesterol of meats and high-fat dairy. Soy sauce, tofu, and natto (soy beans mixed with raw egg served over rice) are a few examples of soy products consumed daily.

Secret #3: Wheat and buckwheat flour helps in the digestive process.

The consumption of starches is at a minimum and usually contains no white flour. Japanese noodles are made from wheat flour or buckwheat flour. Both are significantly healthier than enriched white flour. Rice is a staple in the diet but consists of a small bowl at meals. The significance is to cleanse the mouth when changing dishes. Rice will remove the flavor in one’s mouth much like cheese and crackers when sampling wines.

Secret #4: Smaller portions reduce the opportunity for excessive eating.

Traditional Japanese meals are about half the regular portion of western dishes. Even though most dishes are viewed as healthy, portions are still relatively small.

Secret #5: Oolong tea counter balances some of the effects unhealthy food has on the body.

Finally, the consumption of Japanese green tea or Chinese oolong tea, served hot or cold, has numerous health benefits. Tea has half the caffeine of coffee. Oolong tea, in particular, helps to break up oil in the digestive system and is usually consumed at mealtime, particularly when fried or breaded foods are being served.

These five secrets help to explain why the Japanese are so healthy and have the longest life expectancy. Part 2: Live the Lifestyle will appear in next month’s edition of eNews at www.magneticrevolution.com, and will describe daily life habits in Japan. If you have any comments or questions please send them to: info@magneticrevolution.com.

Here’s to your health!

Peter McGarry
info@magneticrevolution.com

About The Author

For additional free information on health issues regarding fitness, nutrition, environment and financial well-being please visit www.magneticrevolution.com. This site is a guide to improving your quality of life.
info@magneticrevolution.com

Why DO the Japanese Have the Longest Lifespan? Part 2: Live the Lifestyle

Pictured: Octoberfest in Chigasaki, Kanagawa


by: Peter McGarry

Why do the Japanese have the longest lifespan? Last month you learned to eat the things Japanese people eat, and now you will learn how to live like they live. Fast, long, and lively best describes a usual day in Japan. The country is geared towards an active lifestyle, as the ‘couch potato’ concept is completely foreign. This lively lifestyle centers around three key aspects: work, socializing and recreation.

The workday begins early due to the commute by train that most people endure. This can range from 20 minutes to over two hours with the majority of people standing, as there are not enough seats. Walking is the focal point in the daily exercise regime. On average, people walk one to two kilometers to the train station in the morning. After arriving at the closest station to their office, people typically walk another one to two kilometers to their place of business. At the end of their long day, workers go through the same routine. All in all, the average Japanese individual will walk between three to five kilometers per day. Interestingly enough, these walks generally occur immediately or soon after meals, which helps with the digestive process.

Socializing is also different than that for western culture. As homes and apartments in Japan are considerably smaller, people opt to entertain outside of their home. This is one of the primary reasons clubs; hobbies and leisure activities play such an important role in the culture. In fact it is very uncommon to have dinner parties or get-togethers in Japanese homes. A popular alternative is to meet at public establishments for events and parties.

Automobiles do have some purpose, however they are viewed as a hobby or a luxury. Parking in Japan is costly and limited with simply not enough parking spaces for everyone to park. Cars are used for longer excursions to other cities or the countryside. The most common recreational activities are active ones. Trips to the mountains, lakes or open spaces are most popular.

Although the pace of life is fast in Japan, we can learn from certain aspects. Changing our eating habits is an important first step and combining low impact exercise after eating, such as walking, will have a greater impact. Involvement in clubs or activities that are active will also create an opportunity to engage in activity. Finally, being less reliant on our vehicles will require more effort for some daily physical activity.

So perhaps if you do what they do and eat what they eat you could be extending your lifespan. Your life is what you make it.

Here’s to your health!

Peter McGarry
info@magneticrevolution.com
For additional free information on health issues regarding fitness, nutrition, environment and financial well being please visit www.magneticrevolution.com. This site is a guide to improving your quality of life.

About The Author

Peter McGarry, BASc, is the Editor/Publisher for Magnetic Revolution's monthly newsletter.
info@magneticrevolution.com

Tokai University Ranked 3rd Best Private University

Tokai: Tokai University ranked third best private university in Japan.
Friday, 26 January 2007
The THES (The Times Higher Education Supplement) QS World University rankings released World Top University Rankings 2006 and ranked Tokai University as the third best private university in Japan, following Keio University and Waseda University. Tokai University was ranked the 322nd of top 500 universities and 33 of them are from Japan (26 public universities and 7 private universities)

Robert A. Burns was a Good Man and my Father

OBITUARY

Do not go gentle into that good night,

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Dylan Thomas



On October 6th, 2007, Dr. Robert A. Burns (known to all his friends as "Bob"), passed away at the Delta Hospital after a long struggle with Parkinson’s Disease. He was 86. He was a gentle soul raging for a time but accepting the dying of his light with characteristic grace and dignity.

He was born in Wilkie, Sask., in 1921. He grew up and attended high school in that small prairie town along with his sister Eunice, brothers Gordon and Stan. During his childhood, he developed a love of hockey which he continued well into his later years. When war broke out in Europe, he took flight training in Manitoba and became a flight lieutenant with the RCAF. For most of the war he was stationed in Gibralter piloting a Hudson bomber out over the North African coast in search of German and Italian submarines. Toward the war’s end, he was transferred to a base near Prestwick, Scotland, where he met his future wife, Sylvia Kathleen Ludgate from Ayr. They were married in 1944 and returned to Canada shortly thereafter.

They took up residence in Saskatoon, where Robert began studying Pre-Med at the University of Saskatchewan. In 1946, their first son, Wayne was born. On completion of his Pre-med studies, Bob with Sylvia and baby son, moved to Toronto where he built a small house and buckled down to complete his M.D. at the University of Toronto.

Because of a long affinity for British Columbia, he and Sylvia decided to move to the coast and Dr. Robert Burns interned at the Vancouver General Hospital. In 1951 their second son, Graham was born and the young family moved to Port Alberni, a bustling pulp, paper and sawmill town at the time. Over the next thirteen years in Port Alberni, Dr. Burns practiced family medicine, became a respected member of the local medical community and participated in various community organizations, the PTA, the Boy Scouts and Alberni Valley Rotarians. He became a vocal member of the School Board. The family had a cottage on Sproat Lake where they spent memorable summers. There were vacations in Parksville, Qualicum Beach and Hornby Island with their many friends. In 1963 his third son, Kevin was born.

In 1964 after a long search for a place to further his studies toward a specialty in skin diseases, Dr. Burns and family embarked on the next four years for further studies in Dermatology at a Veterans’ Administration Hospital in Long Beach, California. While the work was intense, the four years were productive. But with the war in Vietnam, race riots in Watts and the political situation in the USA seeming more and more precarious, the family decided to return to the sanctity of Canada in 1968. They settled in Tsawwassen. Dr. Burns began practicing Dermatology in offices in both Richmond and later, Tsawwassen. He quickly built a thriving practice which he continued until he was 77 when he retired. He loved the daily routine of his office and was a reluctant retiree. Throughout his active years, he was an enthusiastic member of the local golf and tennis clubs and a proud Rotarian. His other loves were listening to jazz, playing the piano, traveling around the world on frequent trips with Sylvia, charting the ups and downs of the stock market, telling a good joke, and plying the local waters in a boat he co-owned with another doctor. He was a compassionate, caring and generous doctor all his life, delivering hundreds of babies in Port Alberni, administering to the needs of the native people on the reserve in Alberni, and frequently going out on call at all hours of the night. In Richmond and Tsawwassen he built up a large and loyal patient base as a Dermatologist, receiving referrals from most of the general practitioners in the two communities.

He is deeply missed and remembered by Sylvia, his wife for 63 years of marriage, his three sons, Wayne, Graham and Kevin and his six grandchildren. The Burns family would like to thank his caregivers at the Waterford and the staff at the Palliative Care ward of the Delta Hospital. A Memorial will be held in his honour for friends and family, on Sunday, October 14th from 2 to 4 PM in the reception room at Fairway Estates on Hunter Road in Tsawwassen. Anyone who wishes to attend is welcome and should call [604] 731-6317 for details and directions.

Obituary written by Wayne D. Burns

On Being a Teacher at Public Schools in Japan

"Is it any wonder there is a teacher shortage, when teachers are forced to teach lies and half-truths by the government? And why are teachers forced to attend school during the holidays? Daft rules, low pay and government meddling combine to make teaching an unnatractive career to many."
-SJG at Japan Today Forum

The Truth about AEON

A former Aeon teacher has compiled some articles on his experiences of teaching there:

http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=2189

On the Blacklist of English Schools

by John Foster

I`m not in favor of blacklists. I think Senator McCarthy showed clearly how they can be abused. Moreover, you will find that invariably, the people who engage in blacklisting on the internet, will not tell you their name. They don`t have the guts to stand up for what they believe by even telling you who they are. So it is difficult to trust what they state.

Arudo Debito (Dave Aldwinkle) is one of the exceptions. He tells you who he is and stands by what he says. I respect him for that. He has a blacklist of Japanese universities. He points out some of the problems at this site.

I think if you are going to have a zine, you need to have the courage to tell others
who you are and what you stand for. Anyone can hide behind an internet nickname.
By telling people your real name, you lend credibility to your site.

There is a blacklist of English schools in Japan, but predictably, the owner doesn`t list his or her name. He or she uses a pseudonym. It is difficult to believe what is said at such a list.

Who are you? What are your credentials? How are you going
about blacklisting schools?

Chinese and Japanese

"I feel that a lot of the time, generation after generation — for us and for Japanese young people too, we seem to have a hard time understanding each other. It's like we don't want to understand each other because of this history, so we stay on the superficial level."
--Violet Du Feng, a Chinese co-producer of "Nanking," a U.S. documentary about the 1937 Japanese occupation of the city, now known as Nanjing. She said she hopes that the film, which uses only firsthand accounts to tell its story, can help jump-start stalled communication between young Japanese and Chinese. (Kyodo)

Announcing the Games Workshop Club for Japan

An unofficial club for arranging to play Games Workshop games in Japan.
Post what games you like to play and arrange to play with others. We will announce GW events in Japan as well!

If you are new to GW, our members can teach you how to play. If you are a veteran of
GW games then come and enjoy!

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Games-Workshop-Japan/

Kevin Burns

Genetic Diversity

They tell me that there is more genetic diversity among the chimpanzees on a single hillside in Gombe than there is in all the human race, worldwide - features and skin color notwithstanding!

I think that there is a semi-instinctive urge to divide people into "us" and "them" groups - it seems to have been done by every tribe and civilization from the dawn of time. In the case of people who exist in smaller, tribal communities, the name of the tribe often simply means "the people" in their language. As though the "other" group, if their existance is known, were something - less than people. Of course, this trait is capitalized upon by our leaders when they wish their people to make war or to compete in some way . . .

I should think that living on islands would make the "us" group seem tighter and more homogeneous, and the "them" group seem farther separated from "us", and perhaps by extension, less "human".

I do think that as the world grows smaller, and we travel and meet people of other cultures, their humanity and their sameness will become more evident - and as we meet and make friends with people around the world through the internet, the world's communities will change - for the better!

My $.02 - YMMV.

~Bruce

Genetics

Japanese often cling to the view of being unique. We Japanese can
often be heard, as if all Japanese are the same. A good friend of
mine recently commented that we are 99.9% the same genetically. In
terms of that does race even exist? Does it matter except in the
realm of diseases where certain groups of people are more prone to
sickle cell anemia and diseases like that?

My philosophy is all about bringing people together, as opposed to
emphasizing small or false differences. What do you think?

Kevin Burns