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Saturday, January 29, 2011

Japanese teenagers obsessed with hiding faces behind medical masks


Saturday 29th January, 2011  

Experts have warned that there is a growing culture among teenagers in Japan to hide their faces behind white medical masks.

The disposable facemasks are a favourite among Japanese commuters and office workers, who wear them to help prevent the spreading of flu germs, especially during the winter.

But now teenagers are seen wearing the cotton masks, some from the moment they awake until they go to bed, sparking concerns that they are using them in order to retreat from society.

Yohei Harada, an analyst specialising in youth trends at Hakuhodo Inc, the advertising agency, said there is an increase in the number of wearers.

"A few years ago, very few teenagers wore masks. But many wear them today and the numbers are increasingly very rapidly," the Telegraph quoted Harada as saying.

"The reason is that these teenagers are looking for something to hide behind.

"They are constantly having to communicate with friends via SMS and emails and this is making them so tired that it is a relief to wear a masks. It is a way to hide their feelings," Harada stated.

The climate of political flux, economic instability and the absence of jobs for life in Japan are further factors believed to be fuelling social insecurities among teenagers. (ANI)

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Prime Minister Kan's personal website now available in English


TOKYO —
An English version of Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s personal website, called ‘‘Kan-Full Blog,’’ was launched Tuesday as he hopes to promote his key policies also to a non-Japanese audience. The Internet site, launched in mid-November in Japanese, features video clips and texts mainly related to Kan’s official duties.
The content will be translated from the Japanese original, a Cabinet Secretariat official said, adding that the two-month-old website has had around 10,000 views per day.
The URL is http://kansblog.kantei.go.jp/

Sunday, January 16, 2011

King's Vision of Justice: Rooted in the Bible

Remembering Martin Luther King Jr.


By David J. Lull
 
    As we celebrate the life of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., we remember how important the Bible was to him, and how deeply his vision of racial justice is rooted in the Judeo-Christian heritage. It was the Bible that led him to choose the more excellent way of love and nonviolent protest over hatred, despair and violence.

    Dr. King often pointed out that it was Jesus' Sermon on the Mount that inspired the "dignified social action" of the civil rights movement. His notion of "creative suffering"
borne by civil rights activists who endured persecution and police brutality came from his Christian faith in the redemptive suffering of Jesus.

    Dr. King dreamed of a day when America lives up to its creed, when all people sit together at one table, and when freedom and justice reign. His famous "I have a dream" speech reaches its highest point with echoes of the prophet Isaiah: "I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low ... and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together."

    In words of the prophet Micah, he hoped that one day all persons elected to public office will "do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with [their] God." His hope for an end to war was rooted in Isaiah's vision that people will "beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks." Biblical promises of "peace on earth and goodwill toward all" were Dr. King's antidote to despair.

    To critics who accused him of being an extremist, Dr. King said that he stood in a long line of extremists, including the prophet Amos, Jesus, the apostle Paul, the Protestant reformer Martin Luther, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln. For Dr. King, the question was what kind of extremists we will be
extremists for hate or for love, for injustice or for justice, for evil or for goodness.

    Dr. King's commitment to the Bible as his primary source book was nourished in his childhood when Bible stories told around the dinner table held the King children in awe. Those stories sustained him until the end of his life.

    In what was to be his last speech, Dr. King drew from the biblical story of Moses: "Like anybody, I would like to live a long life ... But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain, and I've looked over, and I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land."


David J. Lull wrote "King's Vision of Justice: Rooted in the Bible" while serving as director of the NCC Bible Translation and Utilization Program. He now serves as Assistant Professor of New Testament at Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Survey shows rising indifference to sex among male teens, couples

TOKYO — 

One-third of Japanese men aged 16 to 19 were uninterested in or even averse to sex as of last year, double the number from 2008, a government survey showed Wednesday. The survey, conducted in September, also showed more married couples were also found sexless than before, with more than 40% saying they had no sex in the past month.

The latest survey was conducted by a research group of the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry to study people’s views on lifestyle. It is based on replies provided by 671 men and 869 women aged 16 to 49 in interviews.

‘‘The survey result confirmed that young men have become ‘herbivorous’,’’ said Kunio Kitamura, head of the Clinic of the Japan Family Planning Association who took part in the survey, using the term used increasingly in Japan to describe young males who are shy and passive in relationships with women.
According to the ministry, 35.1% of men aged 16 to 19 said they are uninterested in or averse to sex, surging from 17.5% in the previous poll in 2008.

The percentage climbed to 21.5% among men aged 20 to 24 from 11.8% two years earlier, and among women of any age group, the survey showed.

Those married men and women who said they had no sex in the past month totaled 40.8%, up from 36.5% in the previous survey and 31.9% in a 2004 study.

Respondents cited vague reluctance after childbirth, a sense that it is a bother and job-related fatigue as reasons for shunning sex with their partners.

‘‘Some measures are necessary (to deal with the increase in sexless couples) as it is directly linked to the declining birthrate,’’ Kitamura said.

Wednesday, January 05, 2011

Big tuna fetches record $396,000 in Tokyo

Wednesday 5th January, 2011  (Source: CTV)

TOKYO-A giant bluefin tuna fetched a record 32.49 million yen, or nearly $396,000, in Tokyo on Wednesday, in the first auction of the year at the world's largest wholesale fish market.

The price for the 342-kilogram tuna beat the previous record set in 2001 when a 202-kilogram fish sold for 20.2 million yen, a spokesman for Tsukiji market said.

"It was an exceptionally large fish," said the official, Yutaka Hasegawa.

"But we were all surprised by the price." The massive tuna was bought and shared by the same duo that won the bidding for last year's top fish: the owners of Kyubey, an upscale sushi restaurant in Tokyo's Ginza district, and Itamae Sushi, a casual, Hong Kong-based chain.

Reporters thronged Hong Kong entrepreneur Ricky Cheng after his big win, which reflects the ...


Read the full story at CTV