Bullying: Probably main cause of SDF suicides

The suicide rate among Japan’s Self-Defense Forces (SDF) personnel is about twice that of non-military civil servants, government statistics revealed.

“According to the National Personnel Authority, the suicide rate among SDF members stood at 34.4 per 100,000 in fiscal 2007. That was nearly double the 17.7 suicides per 100,000 among regular national civil servants in fiscal 2005, the latest comparable figure.” Asahi Shimbun reported.

In what appears to be a major coverup, the Defense Ministry and SDF officials claimed they didn’t  know the motive for the suicide in 50%  of the cases.

“In November 1999, a 21-year-old petty officer hanged himself while aboard a destroyer. He had complained about bullying by senior officers.”

“While the Fukuoka High Court dismissed the claim of bullying in an Aug. 25 ruling, it awarded 3.5 million yen in damages to the parents, saying verbal abuse by the senior officers ‘went beyond the scope of mentoring, and was illegal.’”

Either Fukuoka High Court banked on the general public’s ignorance of how their military “warlords” operate in SDF, or else they couldn’t give a f**k what people thought!

It’s also interesting that the news report did not disclose gender distribution of the SDF suicide victims.

Related Links:

• The Other Victims of GW Bush’s War Racket

Certainties!

In a chaotic world filled with uncertainties, Japan politics may boast two constants:

1. An early election for a new PM looms on the horizon nearly every year.

2. The new PM is almost certainly from the Libral Demcratic Party.

How the Japanese manage to call what is effectively a one-party system a “democracy” is beyond …

Taro Aso, Japan’s New Prime Minister, announces his Cabinet Wednesday night. (SATORU SEKIGUCHI/ THE ASAHI SHIMBUN). Image may be subject to copyright.

Taro Aso, 68, the outspoken former foreign minister, was selected as Japan’s 92nd prime minister on Wednesday. Aso announced his Cabinet consisting of friends and close confidants within hours.

In line with the keep-it-in-the-family politics, a daughter of the late Prime Minister Keizo Obuchibe, Yuko Obuchi, 34, was named the state minister in charge of the declining birthrate. She also became the youngest Cabinet minister in the postwar period.

As for the reaction by the opposition parties, Minshuto leader, Ichiro Ozawa, said: “It doesn’t matter who the new prime minister is because the contents of the government will not change.”

Like epilepsy, Japanese politics is hereditary!

Taro Aso’s Early life

(Source: Wikipedia) Aso, a Roman Catholic, was born in Iizuka, Fukuoka.[3] His father, Takakichi Aso, was the chairman of the Aso Cement Company and a close associate of Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka; his mother was Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida’s daughter. Aso is also a great-great-grandson of Toshimichi Okubo, and his wife is the third daughter of Prime Minister Zenko Suzuki. His younger sister, Nobuko, is the wife of Prince Tomohito of Mikasa, a first cousin of the Emperor Akihito.

Aso first graduated from the Faculty of Politics and Economics at Gakushuin University. He then studied in the United States at Stanford University, but was cut off by his family, who feared he was becoming too Americanized. After making his way back to Japan on a ship, he left once more to study at the London School of Economics.

Aso spent two years working for a diamond mining operation in Sierra Leone before civil war forced him to return to Japan.

Aso joined his father’s company in 1966, and served as president of the Asō Mining Company from 1973 to 1979. He has distanced himself from the company’s use of forced labor during World War II.

He was also a member of the Japanese shooting team at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal and President of the Japan Junior Chamber in 1978. (Source: Wikipedia)

All Japan Needed Was a “Roman Catholic” PM !

Postscript [September 29, 2008]

As if by coincidence [sic] “Koizumi, who announced his own retirement from politics last week, told supporters his second son, Shinjiro, 27, would run as the Liberal Democratic Party candidate for his constituency, the Kanagawa No. 11 district, in the next Lower House election.” (Source)

Shinjiro Koizumi, 27, and his father, ex-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, 66, in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, on Saturday (TORU NAKATA/ THE ASAHI SHIMBUN). Image may be copyrighted.

Related News:

• Koizumi’s son inherits family job
• Aso takes top job, packs Cabinet with his buddies

Related News:

• Vertical Society
• Endemic Corruption: Hallmark of Japanese Politics
• Another Criminal Resigns from Fukuda’d Rotten Cabinet

USS George Washington NOT Welcome!

Japan has enough problems without USS George Washington compounding its predicament.

A citizens organization in Yokosuka submitted a petition signed by 50,000 residents asking the local government to hold a referendum on whether to admit USS George Washington.

The US nuclear powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington arrives at the Yokosuka US naval base in Yokosuka, Kanagawa prefecture on September 25, 2008. AFP/Getty Images. Image may be subject to copyright. 

USS George Washington (CVN-73), a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, has two Westinghouse A4W nuclear reactors producing about 210MWe—enough to power about 250,000 houses. 

Protesters stage a demostration against entering USS George Washington in Yokosuka, a naval hub just 50 kilometres (30 miles) south of Tokyo, on September 25, 2008. Photo from Getty Images by AFP/Getty Images. Image may be subject to copyright.

September 25, 2008. Protesters shout a slogan against U.S. Navy nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington at Kannonzaki, near Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, Thursday morning , Sept. 25, 2008. The George Washington will replace the USS Kitty Hawk as the U.S. Navy’s only carrier with a home port outside of the United States. AP Photo by Shizuo Kambayashi. Image may be subject to copyright

 

September 25, 2008. Protesters shout a slogan against U.S. Navy nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington at Kannonzaki, near Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, Thursday morning , Sept. 25, 2008. The George Washington will replace the USS Kitty Hawk as the U.S. Navy’s only carrier with a home port outside of the United States. AP Photo by Shizuo Kambayashi. Image may be subject to copyright.

 

 

Protesters shout a slogan against U.S. Navy nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington at Kannonzaki, near Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, Thursday morning , Sept. 25, 2008. The George Washington will replace the USS Kitty Hawk as the U.S. Navy’s only carrier with a home port outside of the United States. AP Photo by Shizuo Kambayashi. Image may be subject to copyright!

 

USS George Washington (CVN-73), a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, with two nuclear reactors: A floating Chrnobyl in the backyard?

Nuclear accidents can and do happen. A number of Russian nuclear submarines are known to have experienced nuclear meltdowns. Though the United States Navy has always been reluctant to release information about any similar nuclear accidents on board its carriers or submarine fleet.

Many of the readers still remember the Chernobyl disaster. The legacy of Chernobyl will linger on for at least another 10 generation. In case of a serious accident on George Washington, a lot of people would lose their lives, with many more injured. A large part of Kanagawa Prefecture could effectively become uninhabitable for many generations.

Can Japan, or the U.S., afford this folly?

News Reports:

• Anxiety about nuclear safety as U.S. carrier arrival nears
• Japan police probe 2 explosions near US Navy base  (Sept 13, 2008)

Related Links:

U.S. Navy Fires Captain of Japan-Bound Nuclear Warship 

Houston, We Have a Problem!

The Other Victims of GW Bush’s War Racket

…

Koki Tomiishi, 6, Victim of a Cruel Society

The fate of Koki Tomiishi is by no means unique

“I was pessimistic about the future because of my illness and thought about killing my son, and myself, too,” police quoted, Kaoru Tomiishi, 35, who reportedly murdered her son, Koki, 6.

This is a society, a system, that preys on its weak, injured, diffabled, orphaned.  The “unlucky” have no place here.

Source: Mother admits to killing son in park

5-year-old girl found naked on street dies

Meanwhile a 5-year-old girl, who was found on sunday naked and unconscious on a street in Togane, Chiba Prefecture, arguably one of Japan’s worst prefectures,  died in hospital.  

Yukimaro Narita was a nursery school pupil who lived with her mother Taeko, 37, nearby.  Her T-shirt, shorts, underwear and shoes were found at a parking lot near where she was found.

Source:  http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200809220054.html

Another Criminal Resigns from Fukuda’s Rotten Cabinet

Farm minister Ota Resigns

Vice agriculture minister Toshiro Shirasu also steps down

Less than 48 hours after the Moderator posted the Endemic Corruption: Hallmark of Japanese Politics about the ex-ministry official implicated in the Chinese tainted rice scandal, two more “Politicketeers,” [political racketeers,] the dishonest Farm Minister and the corrupt Vice Agriculture Minister, resign from their lucrative posts.

They are wined and dined, showered with expensive gifts, sent on free holidays … and they don’t think there’s anything wrong with “returning a favor!”

Farm minister Ota steps down

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN – http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200809200050.html

Farm minister Seiichi Ota on Friday resigned to take responsibility for the tons of contaminated rice illicitly diverted for use in food served at restaurants, hospitals, stores and other places.

Ota only took over his portfolio in August this year, after Takehiko Endo stepped down as agriculture minister over a scandal involving ministry subsidies illicitly gained by an agricultural organization previously headed by Endo. Get the picture?

“As the tainted rice became a big social problem, I decided to take responsibility,” Ota said in a news conference held after a Cabinet meeting. “I thought that it was time (to resign) since measures to prevent a recurrence have been mostly worked out.”

Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura, who will concurrently serve as the minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, told reporters Friday that Ota conveyed his intention to resign to Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda.

Vice agriculture minister Toshiro Shirasu also resigned Friday to take responsibility for the ministry’s inspections at a factory of rice wholesaler Mikasa Foods Co. that failed to detect the diversion of the rice contaminated with pesticides and mold.

It is extremely rare for a minister and a vice minister, the top bureaucrat, to resign simultaneously.

Ota would have to leave anyway when the Fukuda government resigns en masse Wednesday. Fukuda announced his resignation earlier this month, before the rice scandal surfaced.

Ota and Shirasu have apparently been under pressure from the prime minister’s office as the extent of the spread of the contaminated rice, which was meant for industrial use, became clearer.

In addition, a former ministry official was found to have been wined and dined by Mikasa Foods when he was in a supervisory position over the company.

In a news conference Sept. 11, Shirasu said: “Primary responsibility lies with the companies that diverted (tainted) rice for food use. At this stage, I do not think that we are responsible.”

On Sept. 12, Ota said on a televised program: “I can say with confidence that the contaminated rice has not had a negative influence on human health. That’s the reason (the ministry) is not making much fuss about it.”

The comments sparked sharp criticism from both ruling and opposition parties.

“If they continue to make such remarks, the people will not stand for it,” Yukio Hatoyama, secretary-general of opposition Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan), had earlier said. “They should resign immediately or the prime minister should fire them.”

The prime minister’s office apparently thought that drastic measures were needed to stem the fallout ahead of the Lower House election expected next month.

Machimura said the government will get to the bottom of the issue of who was responsible for diverting the tainted rice for human consumption.

“As a result (of the diversion), the rice entered the mouths of many people,” he said. “We are reflecting on the fact that the diversion caused public anxiety over food. We have not yet clarified the entire picture of the scandal.”

Earlier Friday, Ota said that Forestry Agency Director-General Michio Ide, 58, would succeed Shirasu.

Shirasu took over the vice minister’s post in September last year following the resignation of Yoshio Kobayashi.

Kobayashi resigned only a few days after Takehiko Endo stepped down as agriculture minister over a scandal involving ministry subsidies illicitly gained by an agricultural organization once headed by Endo. (IHT/Asahi: September 20,2008) - Copyright the authors or the respective news agency.

Tainted rice was used in 102,000 rice balls, said Asahi Shimbun. On April 16, 4,528 students and 726 teachers at 47 public junior high schools ate sekihan red bean rice containing the bad rice.

Related Links:

• Endemic Corruption: Hallmark of Japanese Politics
• Finally, Fukuda makes a good decision!
• Since when breaking the law is a crime in Japan?

• People Mean Nothing to Japanese Govt
• A Haiku for Fukuda (Shortly before he resigned!)
• Japanese Politicketeers

• Japan’s Corporacketeers
• Japanese Banks Commit Crimes Against Humanity

Three Japanese men charged with attempting to smuggle wildlife

Were the three smugglers aspiring to be politicians?

ABC News: Updated Fri Sep 19, 2008 2:46pm AEST

Customs officers have charged three Japanese men with attempting to smuggle native lizards out of Australia.

Two of the Bobtail lizards seized by Customs
officers in Perth. (User supplied). Source: ABC News

Officers stopped two of the men when they returned to Fremantle by ferry from Rottnest Island, and say they found two bobtails in their luggage.

The third man was arrested at Perth International Airport.

The National Manager of Investigations for Customs, Richard Janeczko, says the maximum penalty for smuggling wildlife is a jail term of up to ten years or a fine of $100,000.

“There’s a huge market for animals, especially Australia’s animals, because we have quite unique animals within the country,” he said.

“And there’s quite a cruel international trade in dealing with wildlife, so animals can be worth anything. These sorts of animals can be worth up to 20 thousand dollars each.

“Our general experience is that people are involved in wildlife smuggling for money, and the welfare of the animals is only a side issue, and in many smuggling cases animals die as a result.”

The men have been charged with attempting to export native species without a permit.

They are due to appear in court on Monday.

Copyright the author or news agency.

Jr High School Thieves!

No Censorship on this Blog!

Photos of the Jr High School Thieves who stole a scooter belonging to the Moderator’s kid have been removed pending police investigation.

Moderator.

[Note: Comments motivated by political, military, or religious propaganda will be rejected. Uncivil, childish, or racist remarks would be deleted. No spamming or advertising! keep it clean and to the point!] 

Endemic Corruption: Hallmark of Japanese Politics

They are wined and dined, showered with expensive gifts, sent on free holidays … and they don’t think there’s anything wrong with “returning a favor!”

Here’s the latest episode in the long-running saga of endemic corruption among Japanese politicians.

Mikasa entertained ex-ministry official

BY YUSAKU MIYAZAKI AND HAJIMU TAKEDA

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN September 17, 2008
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200809170064.html

OSAKA–A former section chief at the farm ministry was wined and dined by Mikasa Foods Co., a company that was under his supervision and is now embroiled in a tainted rice scandal.

In an interview with The Asahi Shimbun, the former section chief, aged 62, admitted to being entertained by Mitsuo Fuyuki, president of Mikasa Foods, and several Mikasa employees, in 2005 and 2006. He denied, however, giving favors to the Osaka-based company in return.

Mikasa Foods is suspected of having purchased more than 2,500 tons of industrial-use rice tainted with mold or pesticide and sold much of it to various food manufacturers and brokers.

The rice was bought from the government and trading firms.

“(Mikasa was) a valued customer that bought a lot of [Chinese] imported rice (from the government),” said the former official of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, who is now an agricultural consultant in Osaka Prefecture.

He was the head of the consumption distribution section of the Osaka branch at the ministry’s Kinki Regional Agricultural Administration Office from April 2004 to March 2006.

The section oversees rice distribution in Osaka Prefecture, sells government rice and supervises rice dealers, including Mikasa Foods.

The period in which the former section chief was wined and dined overlapped the period in which Mikasa Foods was said to have illegally sold industrial-use rice to food manufacturers.

According to the former ministry official, Mikasa Foods entertained him at a company-operated Japanese-style pub in Osaka on two occasions between 2005 and 2006.

With Fuyuki and his subordinates at Mikasa, the then section chief ate chicken and other dishes and drank beer. The section chief said the bill, which came to several thousand yen per person, “might have been paid by Mikasa.”

On these occasions, he and the Mikasa people “mostly had a chit-chat, like ‘how’s the rice harvest this year?’ and did not talk about complicated business matters,” the former section chief said.

“Mr. Fuyuki and others had asked me out repeatedly,” he continued. “As I was in a position to sell the government rice, I was afraid of giving a bad impression to rice dealers (by declining Mikasa’s offers).”

The former section chief said he had been involved in rice administration for about 40 years, and that he was the longest-serving person at the Osaka office at the time. “So they might have expected me to give some sort of information,” he said.

But he insisted his office had no information that could have been offered.

In hindsight, the former section chief said, “I think I did something I shouldn’t have done.”

The rules of ethics for central government employees prohibit them from being entertained by contractors through wining and dining, golfing, trips and other methods.

Even when splitting the bill, government officials are required to report in advance if the cost per person is expected to be 10,000 yen or more.

“Although I didn’t see the bills, I didn’t report (going out with Mikasa people) because they were for a small amount,” the former section chief said.

He also said he had been under tremendous pressure from the government to sell a large quantity of rice in storage. (IHT/Asahi: September 17,2008)

Copyright the author(s) or Asahi Shimbun.

The Day Wattie Was Shot

An Infamous Day in New Zealand’s Otherwise Bloody History

Poor Wattie Was Always Unlucky!

Featherston (New Zealand) residents were “outraged” last week over the theft of the bronze plaque commemorating shooting of  Private Walter (Wattie) Pelvin, of Geraldine, the Wairarapa.

Wattie was the only New Zealand soldier killed on active service on home soil during World War II.

Wattie was  Born October 15, 1908. He was the only New Zealand soldier killed “on active service” on home soil during World War II. Poor Wattie’s fate seems to have been sealed  when he had a lung removed as a child, and was subsequently considered unfit for service overseas.

A carpenter by occupation, he was sent to Featherston to help finish construction of the POW camp before the prisoners arrived, and was later ordered  to stay on as a guard in 1941.  On that infamous day, February 25, 1943, Wattie was on guard duty at N0 2 Compound were 250 Japanese prisoners of war were kept.

It has been claimed that the prisoners refused work and staged a sit-in. The camp adjutant attempted to end the sit-in by firing his pistol and injuring a Japanese officer. When the intimidation failed to force the prisoners to move, the New Zealand prison guards opened fire on the Japanese prisoners.

The plaque at the Featherston memorial is part of a small memorial garden that marks the site of the massacre where New Zealand prison guards murdered 48 Japanese prisoners of war, wounded 61 others and accidentally shot Wattie on 25 February 1943.

A burst of fire which lasted less than 30 seconds mowed down 109 Japanese killing 48 and wounding  61 of them.

Wattie and 6 other prison guards were wounded by ricocheting bullets fired by their own comrades. He was taken to Greytown Hospital where he died three days later, aged 34.

Featherston Massacre plaque

Transcript of the haiku on the plaque:

Behold the summer grass
All that remains of the
Dreams of warriors.

Source: New Zealand History Online and others.

Sarah Palin a Japan Sumo Wrestler: Fat Chance!

A US Vice President? Slim Chance. A Japan Sumo Wrestler? Fat Chance!

Eat Your Heart Out Governor Palin, You Can Never Be a Sumo Wrestler in Japan. Even a Hail Mary Pass …

Rep. VPl nominee Alaska Gov Sarah Palin buys a "Moose Tracks" ice cream cone at 'The Chocolate Factory' after a campaign stop with U.S. Rep presidential nominee Sen McCain (R-AZ) in Cedarburg, Wisconsin, Sep 5, 2008. REUTERS/Brian Snyder - US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN 2008 (USA). Image may be subject to copyright. See Fair Use Notice.

Palin: She Inhaled
By Lisa Lerer

(Source: CBS)

(The Politico) Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is known as a staunch social conservative. She’s a life long NRA member, belongs to an anti-abortion-rights group called Feminists for Life and opposes civil unions.

Palin has said she smoked marijuana but didn’t enjoy it and doesn’t smoke anymore.

“I can’t claim a Bill Clinton and say that I never inhaled,” she told the Anchorage Daily News in 2006.  More …

.

Meanwhile, Back in The Sumo Ranch …

Japan bans Russian sumo wrestlers

(Source: CNN)

Russian sumo wrestler Hakurozan, left, receives water from his brother Roho in this July 2006 photo. Image may be subject to copyright. See Fair Use Notice.

TOKYO, Japan (AP) — Two popular Russian sumo wrestlers were slapped with lifetime bans from Japan’s ancient national sport for allegedly using marijuana and the head of the Japan Sumo Association resigned Monday to take responsibility for the scandal, officials said

The wrestlers, brothers Roho and Hakurozan, tested positive for the drug when the sport conducted its first drug tests following the arrest last month of another Russian wrestler, Wakanoho, for marijuana possession.

The scandal has rocked the sumo world, which has its roots in religious ritual and tends to hold its athletes and officials to high moral standards. Marijuana possession is considered a serious offense in Japan, and the scandal has been front-page news. More …