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Thursday, November 08, 2007

Alcoholism In Japan

One of the most alcohol friendly countries in the world, Japan has a strong drinking culture, ranking 6th in the World for the largest consumption of beer after China, the U.S., Germany, Brazil and Russia. From 'Settais' (business dinners) to 'Bounenkais' (end of year parties-or literally 'forget the year' parties), all social occasions in Japan require a large consumption of alcohol to fit in with your peers.. According to a World Health Organization (WHO) survey in 2002, nearly 50% of men habitually consume alcohol (http://www.who.or.jp/AHP/docs/WHOReport_Vol6.pdf).

So it wouldn't be surprising to hear that alcoholism is on the rise in Japan. The latest statistics show that the problem drinking rate in Japan currently stands at 2.4 million according to the National Hospital Organization, Kurihama Alcoholism Center. Even Prince Tomohito of Mikasa, the 61-year old cousin of Emperor Akihito, has admitted that he suffers from alcoholism after repeated hospitalization for the problem. 'I am Prince Tomohito, dependent on alcohol," he said at a speech in July. He went on to say that 'I have been drinking alcohol since my days in university and am dependent on it, so I find it rather surprising that I am seen to have been hit by it now.'
Read the whole story here.....

Friday, November 02, 2007

Enola Gay pilot Tibbets dead at 92

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) Paul Tibbets, who piloted the B-29 Enola Gay that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, has died after six decades of steadfastly defending the mission. He was 92.
News photo
Paul Tibbets, pilot of the Enola Gay, the B-29 that dropped the A-bomb on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, waves from his cockpit before takeoff from Tinian island. In July 2003 (top), he appears in Dayton, Ohio. NATIONAL ARCHIVES, AP PHOTOS
News photo

Tibbets died Thursday at his Columbus home after a two-month decline due to a variety of health problems, friend Gerry Newhouse said.

Throughout his life, Tibbets seemed more troubled by other people's objections to the bomb than by having led the crew that killed tens of thousands of Japanese in a single stroke. The attack marked the beginning of the end of World War II.

Tibbets grew tired of criticism for delivering the first nuclear weapon used in wartime, telling family and friends that he wanted no funeral service or headstone because he feared a burial site would only give detractors a place to protest.

And he insisted he slept just fine, believing with certainty that using the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki saved more lives than they erased because they eliminated the need for a drawn-out invasion of Japan.

"He said, 'What they needed was someone who could do this and not flinch — and that was me,' " journalist Bob Greene, who wrote the biography, "Duty: A Father, His Son, and the Man Who Won the War," quoted Tibbets as saying.

"I'm not proud that I killed 80,000 people, but I'm proud that I was able to start with nothing, plan it and have it work as perfectly as it did," Tibbets said in a 1975 interview. "You've got to take stock and assess the situation at that time. We were at war. . . . You use anything at your disposal."

He added: "I sleep clearly every night."

Paul Warfield Tibbets Jr. was born Feb. 23, 1915, in Quincy, Ill., and spent most of his boyhood in Miami. He was a student at the University of Cincinnati's medical school when he decided to withdraw in 1937 to enlist in the Army Air Corps.

"I knew when I got the assignment it was going to be an emotional thing," Tibbets told The Columbus Dispatch for a story on the 60th anniversary of the bombing. "We had feelings, but we had to put them in the background. We knew it was going to kill people right and left. But my one driving interest was to do the best job I could so that we could end the killing as quickly as possible."

Tibbets, a 30-year-old colonel at the time, and his crew of 13 dropped the five-ton "Little Boy" bomb over Hiroshima on the morning of Aug. 6, 1945. The blast killed or injured at least 140,000.

Tibbets retired from the Air Force as a brigadier general in 1966. He moved to Columbus, where he ran an air taxi service until he retired in 1985.

Tibbets again defended the Hiroshima bombing in 1995, when an outcry erupted over a planned 50th anniversary exhibit of the Enola Gay at the Smithsonian Institution.

Tibbets is survived by his wife, Andrea, sons Paul, Gene and James, as well as a number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. A grandson named after him is a B-2 bomber pilot stationed in Belgium.