A Milestone for an Aging Society

“What is life? Life is an allotment of time. How we use that time is up to us.”

So said Dr. Shigeaki Hinoharu, a medical practitioner and much-loved speaker, who passed away July 18 at the age of 105. Dr. Hinoharu was still treating patients after his hundredth birthday. As a speaker, his audiences included children as well as adults of all ages. It is fair to say he was a living example of everything he taught about how to live well: Be active. Use your allotment of time for yourself but also for others. Stay in touch with your body and get regular medical check-ups.

"Life is a river. Just as rivers flow to the sea, every life flows toward its eventual merger with a sea we call death."

So said Dr. Hinoharu, whose 105 years were a warm and loving tribute celebrating the gift of life.

Shogi, an Old Game with New Heroes

Shogi is a strategy board game played by two persons. It involves flat pieces arranged on a 9-square X 9-square board. With knights, foot soldiers, generals and a king whose imminent capture ends the game, it can be compared to chess. A Japanese traditional game, it is played today the same way it was played in the 16th century.
Professional shogi players are ranked, and the ranks are called “dan”. A certain number of wins is required before a player can have professional status. It is the victories that count, not the age of the player. Recently, a 4th “dan” professional player named Sota Fujii has been making headlines, for two reasons.
The main reason for the headlines is, Mr. Fujii has been undefeated since turning professional last year. That means 29 straight victories against other professional players. A string of victories that long is unprecedented. The second reason is, at age 14, he is still in junior high school.
In related news, makers of shogi boards are experiencing a burst of prosperity. Parents are buying shogi sets for their children. What a wonderful gift: a game that can be played without electricity, and one that requires another human being with whom to play.

It's the Little Things

A Japanese microbiologist was recently awarded a Nobel Prize. His research concerned a process called autophagy, by which unwanted cells can be destroyed through a natural mechanism.

Unwanted cells? How about cancer cells? This research has wonderful implications for the fight against cancer.

However, what people will probably remember from the Nobel awards ceremony is Mr. Ohsumi's closing remarks: “I would like to take this opportunity to note my appreciation for the many lessons and wonderful gifts from yeast — perhaps my favorite of all being sake and liquor,” he said. As for me, when it comes to yeast, I'll take bread as the greatest gift from these tiny-tiny organisms.

For better or worse, little lives have big significance. Here's to ongoing research in cellular autophagy!

UNESCO Intangible Cultural Assets: Japan's Mountain Festivals

Starting with the magnificent Mt. Fuji, Japan is a country where mountains are prominent. A folklorist named Kanzaki, in an essay reported by Yomiuri Shimbun on December 2 (2016), explains the Japanese belief that mountains are inhabited by gods, and that honoring those gods with colorful festivals is a uniquely Japanese tradition. He is careful to explain that these gods are not in any way connected with a system of religious beliefs; they are more like "amoeba", shapeless but nonetheless real to those living within their range of influence, according to Mr. Kanzaki.

Recently, 33 festivals honoring these mountain spirits have been granted UNESCO recognition as intangible cultural assets. Why? Because of their creativity and artistry.

Colorful floats! Intricate illuminations! Music and rhythmical teamwork! Japanese love their festivals, not least because putting one on fosters community ties. At mountainous locations throughout the Japanese islands of Honshu and Kyushu, festivals are held from April to November.

Want to add some Japanese color to your language? Try these sayings.

Are you studying Japanese? I've been speaking Japanese for decades, but I still need to study. This year I tried to add some proverbs to my vocabulary. Some of them work well in English, too. Want to speak more colorfully? Maybe you would enjoy popping these into conversations.

Here are some Japanese proverbs to borrow, just to make conversation a little bit more exotic.

Why stop someone from comparing apples and oranges when you can shrug enigmatically and say, “The moon and snapping turtles”? (tsuki to suppon)
Don’t urge someone to be practical; simply say, “Dumplings outweigh flowers.” (hana yori dango)
You can encourage people to smile and be nice, or you can say “No one shoots arrows at happy faces.” (warau kao ni ya tatazu)
Milk and cookies go together. Salt and pepper complement each other. How about “Plum trees and nightingales”? (ume ni uguisu)
Have you seen the dragon motif on a certain brand of Japanese beer? That’s a “kirin”. You can call a young person with a bright future a rising star, or you can call him/her “dragon pup”. (kirin ji)
One more!
Why say “many a slip between the cup and the lip” when you could say, “Even when they’re winning, samurai keep their helmets on.” (katte kabuto no o wo shimeyo)

Proverbs are like potato chips to me. Once I get started on them, it's hard to stop.

A Question for Travelers

Once upon a time, in a book about journaling, I found a great question. Here it is. "The next time you visit a foreign country, look around and ask yourself this: what do these people know that I don't know?"

Here is one answer about the people of Japan: they know how to wrap anything, from a simple box to a dozen loose, fresh eggs. Two clanking bottles of sake? No problem. A watermelon? No problem. A picnic? Of course.

Their solution is older than paper shopping bags, more environmentally-friendly than plastic, more flexible than a basket. Their traditional wrapper is flexible enough to cover any shape, and it can be used again and again. What is it? Japanese traditional wrapping is a square of cloth called a furoshiki. If you already speak a little Japanese, you may recognize the word furo (bath) in furoshiki. One of its traditional uses was to wrap up everything needed for a bath--soap, shampoo, a towel, a basin, shaving equipment, a hair dryer. These days, furoshiki are more often used as elegants cloths for wrapping gifts.

Books abound on clever and beautiful ways to wrap a gift in a furoshiki. The etiquette for the recipient after duly admiring the presentation and the gift it encloses is to return the furoshiki to the giver, who will use it over and over until it wears out. Unlike wrapping paper, it doesn't crease and there is no tape to peel away. Also unlike paper or plastic, the furoshiki may have a monetary value much higher than the gift it enclose, so returning it is the right thing to do.

There is a lot of wisdom to be found in the folkways of Japan, and the ingenuity of the furoshiki is one of my favorite discoveries.

Where Left is Right, as in Culturally Correct

This is the season when Japanese TV is filled with historical dramas. Lots of kimono and flashing swords!

In Japanese culture, there is a respectful attitude toward swords. Not everyone could have one, and those who were entitled followed certain rules. One of the rules was to use the sword only with the right hand. To do this with maximum efficiency, the sword had to hang from the left side of the body. This makes sense, of course.

Did you know that swords are the reason that, in Japan, traffic flows along the left side of the road? Think about it.

One of the other rules concerning Japanese swords is that no one but the sword's rightful owner has the right to touch it. Not even by accident. Samurai were entitled to cut down anyone who--deliberately or accidentally--touched the sword.

Picture this.

Here comes a Samurai, swaggering down the road, sword swinging from his side. Someone walks past the Samurai on the sword side and accidentally brushes the sword. Sayonara, unlucky blunderer, whether man, woman or child! To avoid accidents, another rule came into play: sword-carrying samurai kept the sword on the outside of the road, away from oncoming traffic.

Voila! The "traffic flows on the left side of the road" rule is born.

Volcanoes in Japan--Bad News and Good News

The tragic--and without any warning whatsoever--eruption of Mt. Ontake showed Japan the dark side of its many volcanoes. Is there a bright side? Yes! Geothermal energy, a serious alternative to nuclear power generation.

Here is something from The Japan Times online:

Mount Ontake obliterated the nuclear lobby’s argument that seismic sensors and global positioning technology can predict eruptions that may threaten reactors. This one came out of nowhere — like a huge bolt of lightning, survivors say. Even if we knew that one of Japan’s other 100-plus active volcanoes was about to blow, Tokyo Electric Power or Kyushu Electric Power can’t move reactors or toss huge protective domes over them. All Japanese authorities could do is evacuate surrounding areas to lop a zero or two off death-toll figures.

It’s time Japan started heeding the advice of environmentalists like David Suzuki to go geothermal. In 2012, the Canadian geneticist and author joined the board of the Japan Renewable Energy Foundation at the urging of Softbank founder Masayoshi Son (who has been investing big in renewable energy projects). Since then, Suzuki has rarely missed an opportunity to try and shame Tokyo into scrapping its reactors.

“Geothermal can be a huge source of energy and very quickly,” Suzuki told Bloomberg News in March 2013, on the second anniversary of the meltdown at Fukushima. “It is an opportunity being squandered in the drive to get the reactors up and running again.”

Can you say "Henoko"?

Most people don't even know where it is, but it is probably the keystone to Japan's future as a peaceful, prosperous country where everything works and quality of living is reasonably good for almost everyone. Or, Japan can follow the US down the slippery slope of militarism to become an environmental and moral junkyard. Henoko, on Okinawa Island, has been tossed to the military machine like a bone to a rabid dog: take this! stay away from the rest of us!

Here is what The Japan Times Online reports about the people's reaction to the Henoko deal:



Thousands march on Henoko base site

by Jon Mitchell

Special To The Japan Times




Aug 23, 2014

NAGO, OKINAWA PREF. – More than 3,500 demonstrators marched to U.S. Marine Corps Camp Schwab in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, on Saturday in the largest show of anger to date against the new American base being built off Henoko Bay to replace Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in crowded Ginowan further southwest.

Lining the road four deep for 700 meters and crowding the hillsides, the protesters chanted “Stop construction” and “Save the Bay” after assembling in the morning. Some came from as far as Hokkaido, many with their children in tow.

Okinawan legislators and peace campaign leaders gave impassioned speeches against what they called Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s re-militarization of Japan and railed at the perceived discrimination of Okinawans.

The largest welcome was given to anti-base Nago Mayor Susumu Inamine, who was re-elected in January on a strong anti-military platform. Wearing a cape decorated with multicolored dugong, the endangered mammal threatened by the project, he greeted the crowd in Okinawan.

Inamine likened the situation on Okinawa to World War II, when more than a quarter of the civilian population died, saying that this time, the island was not under attack by the U.S. military, but by the Japanese government.

“We all need to work together to save Henoko Bay,” he said. “You can all help. We’ll never give up.”

Down the slippery slope!

What does the world really want to buy from Japan? What makes the consumer heart go pitty-pat? What does everyone wish they could bring back from Japan? I'll bet you didn't say missile parts.

Japan doesn't need to join the military-industrial complex to make a living. So why are they doing this? Today's top story in The Japan Times online:

First arms export set for approval under new rules: Nikkei report

AFP-JIJI
Jul 6, 2014

Japan is set to approve its first arms export following the relaxation of a self-imposed ban as the nation seeks to boost its global military and economic stature, a report said Sunday.

Some More Thoughts on Japan's Peace Constitution

There is an excellent commentary in today's Japan Times online, from a gentleman in Kansas. I know we are not in Kansas, but this article makes good sense. Here's a sample:

Turning to the rule of law, the primary principle at the foundation of the rule of law is that no person or agency is above the law. Its very essence is the idea that there is one set of laws to which every person and entity is subject, and which is applied equally to all. Thus, not only is the government subject to the law, but government power must be exercised through and in accordance with the law, and not through the use of discretion or arbitrary fiat.

A further and important aspect of the rule of law is that the law must be generally accessible and intelligible, meaning that laws are sufficiently clear, precise and predictable.

Laws must also be susceptible to change, but only in accordance with established mechanisms, and in conformity with democratic principles.



So: (1) No one, not even (make that especially) the Prime Minister, is above the law. (2) There is a legally-prescribed mechanism for change, and it is not arbitrary fiat. (3) Being "clear", "precise" and "predictable" is important.

To see the complete article, go to http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2014/06/27/commentary/japan-commentary/reinterpreting-article-9-endangers-japans-rule-of-law/#.U64BtbmKAiQ

Caution: Democracy at Work

When most of the nations of the world (with a few notable exceptions) have not started a war in decades, there are those who are ready to say, "This is what world peace looks like." Japan is probably the only one among the non-war-starting nations to actually have a clause in the Constitution that prohibits war. Most of us want to keep it that way.

What happens when the people want one thing and the Prime Minister (not elected by popular vote, by the way)wants something else? We will soon find out.

Here's what the Japan Times reports about popular opinion vs the Prime Minister:



55% now opposed to Abe’s collective self-defense push, survey says

Kyodo, JIJI




Jun 22, 2014
Public opposition to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s bid to overturn the ban on collective self-defense jumped to 55.4 percent from 48.1 percent last month, according to the latest survey.

In a nationwide telephone poll conducted by Kyodo News over the weekend, 57.7 percent of respondents said they are also against the Abe administration’s methods, which involve reinterpreting — rather than formally amending — the war-renouncing Constitution, while just 29.6 percent expressed support.

The survey also revealed that 62.1 percent of respondents were concerned the scope of Japan’s exercise of collective self-defense would expand once the ban is removed, and 74.1 percent said the ruling LDP-led coalition should not set a time frame to end discussions on the issue.

A Word from an Okinawa Princess

If you go to the promontory called "Manza-mo", before you can look out over the sea, before you notice the jewel-like colors of the water and the fish-shaped rocks jutting above the waves, you will see a poem carved into a rock. The poem goes: "Be still, and watch the colors change, at peace forever, 'til all the fish turn into stone."

Be still.
Read the poem again.
Let the tide turn toward peace, again and forever.

Doing the Right Thing About Agent Orange

A first! Even though the government still denies that this could happen, the courts ruled that the veteran Marine's testimony made sense and that the evidence backed up his claim. This is a step toward doing the right thing by those who serve their country.

From the Japan Times online edition:



Ailing U.S. veteran wins payout over Agent Orange exposure in Okinawa

by Jon Mitchell

Special To The Japan Times




Mar 17, 2014
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has granted compensation to another former service member for exposure to Agent Orange while stationed on Okinawa during the Vietnam War era. Dated October 2013, the award was made to a retired marine corps driver suffering from prostate cancer that, the presiding judge ruled, had been triggered by his transportation and usage of the toxic defoliant on the island between 1967 and 1968.

The decision to grant the claim comes in spite of repeated Pentagon denials that Agent Orange was ever present in Okinawa.

According to the ruling of the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (BVA), the unnamed marine alleges he came into contact with Agent Orange while transporting it in barrels and rubber bladders between U.S. military ports at Naha and White Beach — a navy installation on the island’s east coast — and a warehouse on Kadena Air Base. He also claims to have sprayed the defoliant in the Northern Training Area, in the Yanbaru jungles, to keep back foliage and reduce the risk of forest fires.

The former marine was able to identify the barrels he helped to transport as the infamous Vietnam War defoliant due to the tell-tale orange stripes painted around their middles.

The retired service member had first applied for compensation in 2004 but his claim was initially rejected. Following appeals by the veteran, Judge Mary Ellen Larkin ruled in his favor last October, stating, “While neither the service department nor DOD confirms the presence of Agent Orange on Okinawa during 1967 and 1968, the veteran offers a highly credible, consistent account that he was directly exposed thereto during those years while performing his assigned military duties.”

A survey of the communities directly involved in nuclear power generation shows that people are overwhelmingly AGAINST restarts. Here's what The Japan Times online has to say about this:



The Fukushima tragedy justifies nuclear skepticism

by Jeff Kingston




Mar 15, 2014

The findings of a Kyodo survey conducted in February this year reveal a stunning level of reluctance to restart Japan’s nuclear reactors in the host cities, towns and prefectures that stand to gain from revving them back up.

The nation’s 48 viable reactors are generating no electricity at present — and no local subsidies as long as they are idled. However, the spigot of financial inducements would open up again if the local governments in question were to green-light reactor restarts.

Despite this lure, though, only 13 out of the 135 villages, towns, cities and 21 prefectures situated within 30 km of a nuclear power plant responded to the survey saying they would unconditionally approve bringing local reactors back online if the Nuclear Regulation Authority vouched for their safety; another 24 would do so only if certain other conditions were met. It is a stunning rebuke that less than 10 percent of those authorities are keen to sign up for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s nuclear renaissance despite all the foregone benefits. It’s not what one would expect given the high subsidy-addiction that afflicts these hosting communities.

(for the full story, go to The Japan Times online)

Radiation Levels in Tokyo: Some Numbers

Here is something from Bloomberg news reported in The Japan Times online edition about relative radiation levels. The commercial flight factoid surprised me.




Tokyo radiation less than the level in Paris

by Jacob Adelman

Bloomberg




Mar 11, 2014



Data from the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Public Health show atmospheric radiation levels in the capital are at the same level as before the Fukushima nuclear disaster started three years ago and are below those in Paris and London.

The average radiation level in central Tokyo was 0.0339 microsievert per hour in Shinjuku Ward on March 6, data showed. That’s about the same as the day before the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami caused three reactor core meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 plant, 220 km to the northeast.

That reading compares with 0.085 microsievert in London and 0.108 microsievert in Seoul on March 3, and 0.057 microsievert in Paris on Feb. 27, according to a compilation of world monitoring sites on the website of the Japan National Tourism Organization. Radiation levels in central Tokyo were as high as 0.809 microsieverts per hour on March 15, 2011, before declining to 0.0489 microsievert by the morning of March 18.

Radiation occurs naturally in the environment. While a careful search could still reveal trace levels of Fukushima-linked radioactivity in Tokyo, it now barely registers over readings from background sources, such as solar particles, rocks and soil, said Kathryn Higley, who heads the nuclear engineering and radiation health physics department at Oregon State University in Corvallis.

“You have this widely ranging natural background,” Higley said in a telephone interview. “It varies because of the geology. It varies because of your elevation.”

Radiation levels in central Tokyo on March 15, 2011, peaked at about 24 times the level of the day before the accident, prompting thousands of expatriates to flee the country over the following few months.

Last year’s record number of foreign visitors and rising enrollment at international schools show how those concerns have abated, as Tokyo’s radiation readings fall below those in other major cities.

New York recorded 0.094 microsievert an hour on May 31, 2011, according to the last available Geiger counter reading from Background Radiation Survey, a project where owners of the equipment feed their readings into a central database.

By comparison, a commercial flight exposes passengers to about 10 microsieverts per hour, according to the Health Physics Society’s website.

Vulnerability + Empathy = World Peace

A simple equation, and it starts with trouble on a huge scale: the whole world, any place at all, is vulnerable to earthquake, pestilence, flood, drought, tsunami and any number of natural disasters. The following excerpt from The Japan Times online suggests some steps toward building the resilience that enables recovery from large-scale disasters. The excerpt is from a proposal by Daisaku Ikeda of Soka Gakkai International.



"I believe that immeasurable value could be brought to an entire region through cooperation regarding extreme weather and disasters among neighboring countries — the possibility of transforming their understanding of and approach to security.

Above all, the unpredictable nature of extreme weather and natural disasters and the sense of vulnerability they provoke can open the door to empathy and solidarity across national borders.

Furthermore, measures to enhance security in this way would not lead to what has been called the “security dilemma,” a vicious cycle in which the steps that one state takes to heighten security are perceived by other states as an increased threat, causing them to respond with similar measures, only leading to further mistrust and tension. The knowledge, technology and know-how that facilitates cooperation in the area of disaster relief is such that its value to all parties is enhanced through sharing."

Daisaku Ikeda is president of Soka Gakkai International and founder of the Toda Institute for Global Peace and Policy Research. His 2014 peace proposal can be read at ⤢www.sgi.org.

Japan: Once Upon a Time (2)

Japan now makes regularly scheduled expeditions to Antarctica, and for years, the ship the explorers sailed on was the Shirase. The ship was named for Nobu Shirase (1861-1946), who got his start as a niche explorer on an expedition to the Kuril Islands--in the area opened up by Takadaya Kahei.

Nobu Shirase took on another cold ocean when he led an expedition to Antarctica. On his first try, the ice kept him away. More than glory, he treasured his crew members. When the Antarctic ice proved impassible, he withdrew to Australia. Penniless, he and his crew were rejected by the Australian public, but embraced by a former member of the Shackleton Expedition to Antarctic--to the extent that they could make a second attempt to reach Antarctica.

This time, they were able to disembark at two locations, burying mementoes of their expedition as solid evidence of their presence on the icy continent.

Nobu Shirase is, to me, the embodiment of prudence plus daring plus master of the art of the possible. On the first attempt, ice prevented the ship from reaching the continent. On the second attempt, they reached the shore of Antartica but were faced with a 300-foot vertical cliff of ice. Shirase and his crew set to work carving a stairway in the ice, step by slow step, until they reached the top.

There is a famous story from the golden age of the samurai, about a samurai and his blacksmith. A certain Lord prepared two buckets of boiled rice, challenging the samurai and the blacksmith to pound the rice into the smooth paste known as mochi. The samurai attacked the rice with the flat of his sword, smashing away ruthlessly. The blacksmith took one grain of rice, placed it on his anvil, squashed it with his hammer, and repeated the process grain by grain until he was done.

It was the blacksmith who won the contest, and it was Nobu Shirase who not only reached Antarctica but was able to return home to Japan with ship and crew safe and sound, successful in the end.

Japan: Once Upon a Time (1)

When we think of the great voyagers of the world, names like Columbus and Magellan come to mind. Here is a good opportunity to think about what I call the "niche" voyagers, explorers who went where others didn't think to go. One of my favorite niche voyagers is Takadaya Kahei.

Takadaya Kahei was born in a land of mild waters, in a part of Japan then called Awaji, near what is now called Kobe, in 1769. He found work as a fisherman, and as soon as he could afford it, he bought his own ship. It was a ship unlike any the western world has ever used. Why? Because in those days, Japan was a closed country and ships were deliberately built to be unfit to go very far: no sturdy sides to keep out wild waves, no protected cabins for shelter on long trips, no Viking dragon-boat sort of industrial strength steering system.

Still, Takadaya Kahei went as far as he could make his boat sail: to Hokkaido, a huge northern territory not yet incorporated into Japan. What did Hokkaido need? Rice! Salt! Sake! Takadaya had those. What did Hokkaido have to sell? Marine products like salmon and edible seaweed. Takadaya Kahei had a ready market for all of them.

There is a lot more to tell about this intrepid merchant seaman. If you go to Hakodate, a port city in Hokkaido, by all means visit the Takadaya Kahei museum where the tools of his trade are on exhibit. Takadaya Kahei was a man who made boatloads of money in the kinds of trade we today call "win-win" transactions. He was a merchant who not only did well but also did good. Hakodate became a wonderful place to live, largely because of the efforts of Takadaya Kahei.

Meanwhile, back in Fukushima...

Before you read another word, this needs to be said. This episode of withholding data is NOT an example of what can happen with Japan's new secrecy protecting policy. This is about a public utility keeping the public uninformed, and it is about news being reported as soon as it became available.

Now, on to the latest revelations about the damage to sea water, from Jiji press, through The Japan Times online edition:


Regulators expected to demand detailed explanation for latest evasion

Tepco hid record-level radiation data last July

JIJI



Feb 11, 2014

Tokyo Electric Power Co. did not tell the public until recently that massively high levels of radiation were found in groundwater collected last July at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, even though the utility was aware of the data that month, according to sources.

Tepco released the data on Feb. 6 showing that the groundwater contained a record 5 million becquerels per liter of radioactive strontium-90.

When Tepco reported the data to the Nuclear Regulation Authority last week, it initially claimed that it had only recently compiled the data, NRA sources said.

However, the embattled utility later corrected the timing, apparently showing that it had withheld the record readings, the sources said.

The withholding of the radiation data looks to be the latest in a long line of missteps for the utility, experts said.