'The Cove' to Be Screened in Japan from June

TOKYO —The Cove,the Oscar-winning U.S. documentary on a controversial dolphin hunt in a Japanese town, will be screened by at least 26 movie theaters across Japan from next month, the distributor of the film said Tuesday.

Unplugged Inc said the screening will start in Japan at Theater N Shibuya and Cinemart Roppongi, both in Tokyo, on June 26. The distributor added that theaters in at least 15 other prefectures, including Hokkaido, Kanagawa, Osaka, Hiroshima, Fukuoka and Okinawa, will follow but gave no details about when they will start showing the film.

The company said it is still negotiating with other theaters for possible screening.

The film, mostly shot in Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture, partly with hidden cameras, won the 2010 Academy Award for best documentary but stirred criticism in Japan with some arguing that it has factual errors.

The distributor faced the possibility of canceling the planned screening of the film in Japan due to strong opposition from the town of Taiji, its fishery association and other groups.

‘‘While there are some voices against the decision to screen the film, the majority of opinions are supportive and many of them say ‘let audiences judge for themselves,’‘’ an Unplugged official said.

from Japan Today

Banning Male Employees from Having Beards

MAEBASHI —The municipal government of Isesaki in central Japan on Wednesday banned male employees from wearing beards, citing concerns that citizens find beards unpleasant and the need for public servants to maintain decorum.

The government of the Gunma Prefecture city said it has received complaints from some citizens who were offended by city office employees who had come to work unshaven following a holiday, and that it has instructed the employees concerned to shave each time a complaint was filed. But it is the first time that the city has put the ban, which carries no penalties, in writing.

The Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry said it believes Isesaki is the country’s first municipality to introduce such a policy.

The ban was introduced in step with the start of this year’s ‘‘Cool Biz’’ casual attire campaign for the summer months for city government employees. The campaign, which is aimed at cutting back on air-conditioner use by allowing government and company employees to work without jackets and neckties, has been practiced in Japan since 2005 under the initiative of the Environment Ministry.

‘‘Some citizens find bearded men unpleasant, so beards are banned,’’ a city government in-house notice says.

Although public opinion has become more tolerant of beards, ‘‘public servants should look like public servants,’’ a city official said.

But an official at the Environment Ministry said it is ‘‘hard to say’’ whether beards have anything to do with maintaining decorum.

Minoru Fujii, a member of the Hige (beard) Club, a Tokyo-based organization to promote beards that consists mostly of barbers, said, ‘‘I’m designing beards for my customers based on the concept of ‘a beard acceptable in the office.’ In the case of public servants, maybe the ban can’t be helped.’’

from Japan Today

Lovely smiles Hide the Pathetic State of Politics

"I want to do my best with enough love to cover the Earth," said Ryoko Tani, a two-time Olympic gold medalist in judo, at a news conference Monday to announce her candidacy in this summer's Upper House election on the Democratic Party of Japan ticket.

She is one of few people who can deliver such a line unabashed and with a beaming smile.

That must be part of the reason why the DPJ decided to field her. No normal person could try out for the Olympics and engage in national politics "on the side." People who devote themselves to either one must be annoyed at the idea.

The DPJ is putting up several well-known figures, including a former gymnast, a rakugo storyteller, an actress and a singer. The Liberal Democratic Party is fielding former professional Yomiuri Giants baseball pitcher Tsuneo Horiuchi, and the Sunrise Party of Japan is endorsing the candidacy of Kiyoshi Nakahata, also a former Giants player.

The lineup is so diversified that it almost looks like that of a variety show. These people, who polished their skills and made their names in their own specialist areas, must want to draw on their experiences while working for the public good. But I want to know why they have chosen to be lawmakers, instead of giving lectures or writing books.


In the Upper House election this summer, tens of millions of voters, who are giving up on the LDP and feel betrayed by the DPJ, are going to drift. Sitting next to Tani, DPJ Secretary-General Ichiro Ozawa told reporters: "I feel as if we won over a million or 10 million friends." Maybe he meant "votes." Celebrities running in the proportional representation system are traditionally thought to attract votes.

When we look around the world, there are inspirational people like Tani who make us want to place our trust in them. However, now more than ever, our politicians need professional awareness and competence to get things done. They must have a passion for rebuilding the nation and the wisdom and skills to work out policies that will give shape to that passion and then explain those policies to the public. A refreshing smile is a mere extra gift.

The political world is in the midst of a complete overhaul. The election is a good chance also for voters to shed old thinking. But once again, it looks like smiles and name recognition are going to be the decisive factors. How pathetic. The choosing of governments based on election manifestoes supposedly enhanced the nation's politics.

Once that connection starts to loosen, it can fall apart in no time.

I find myself thinking, "Is this right?" in the face of a magnificent extra gift.

from Asahi Shimbun


* * *


Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

Hanging Wisteria Flowers

KITA-KYUSHU--An arch of hanging wisteria flowers welcome visitors at Kawachi Fujien.

The 4,620-square-meter park has 100 wisteria vines in colors from various shades of purple to pink and white.


Twenty-two different types of wisteria are grown.

The flowers are particularly bright this year due to cold weather in March and April.

"It's great if everyone leaves the park feeling happy," said Takashi Higuchi, 63, who manages the park.

From Asahi Shimbun
Wisteria

In Japan, the Children Are Buying Bugs

While American children are buying Japanese action figures, Japanese children are buying bugs. That’s one lesson to be drawn from Jessica Oreck’s documentary “Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo,” a guided tour of a national predilection that introduces us to insect stores, insect fairs, insect video games, insect vending machines and insect viewing areas.

Ms. Oreck, a filmmaker-botanist double threat, ventures into the woods with a professional beetle hunter (whose career has paid for a Ferrari) and observes children playing with prehistoric-looking bugs as big as their hands. She also visits shrines and festivals featuring traditional dance and music, part of her attempt to tie Japan’s unusual love of insects into its aesthetic affinities for transient beauty and communion with nature. This entails a somewhat stilted narration that introduces us, as if for the first time, to things like haiku and The Tale of Genji.

Punctuated by images of crowded cityscapes, slowly moving trains, neon-lighted streets and green hillsides — backgrounds familiar from Japanese art-house films and serious anime — the diverting “Beetle Queen,” like “Lost in Translation” or Takashi Murakami’s art, says less about Japan than it does about America’s continuing fascination with modern Japanese culture. A scientist looking for a combination of childlike innocence and minimalist sophistication might not see it in Hello Kitty but can recognize it in a horned beetle.

From the New York Times