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Taiga Uranaka

For Taiga Uranaka's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:

JAPAN

Jul 15, 2000

Okinawans see railway as ticket to ride

NAHA, Okinawa Pref. -- A middle-aged cabby here says he has never seen a train in his life except on television, much less ridden one. His story, however, does not surprise locals.

JAPAN

Jul 14, 2000

The sacrificed island's dream remains deferred

NAHA, Okinawa Pref. -- On Aug. 9, 1958, the entire nation was riveted to the first round of the National High School Baseball Tournament, which pitted Okinawa's Shuri High School against Fukui Prefecture's Tsuruga High School.

JAPAN

Jul 2, 2000

Garbage, indifference fueling crow plague

His affliction started about six months ago when a pair of jungle crows decided to build a nest in a neighbor's tree.

JAPAN

Jun 18, 2000

Yokohama sin tax prompts cries of no fair

YOKOHAMA — After Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara announced his controversial plan to impose a local tax on the city's banks earlier this year, other local governments have been searching for new revenue sources to replenish coffers drained by recession.

JAPAN

May 17, 2000

Summit expected to disrupt tourist industry

Hoteliers in Okinawa seem to have a common message to guests invited to the Group of Eight Summit in Okinawa in July: We will be happy to have you here, but we wish you would come in winter.

JAPAN

May 12, 2000

Canine training dogged by amateurs

Tomoe Yazawa knows about the particular needs of her clients. The service-dog trainer, who raised Japan's first four-legged helper for the physically disabled, worked as a home care-giver before she took up her current position.

JAPAN

May 10, 2000

Okinawa goods shops basking in G8, or pop-star spotlight?

Who is to thank for the recent brisk sales at an Okinawa goods shop in Tokyo, former Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi or pop singer Namie Amuro?

COMMUNITY

Apr 4, 2000

Date club ads turn green Sendai pink with anger

SENDAI, Miyagi Pref. -- "Dial this number for beautiful office ladies." "Ring up for perky college coeds."

ENVIRONMENT

Apr 4, 2000

Group struggles to replant beeches

SHIROISHI, Miyagi Pref. -- Mountains are special for Shizue Hata, the 54-year-old owner of a small Chinese dumpling shop in this quiet city of 40,000.

JAPAN

Mar 23, 2000

Local autonomy put to the test by new nursing care program

SENDAI -- The public nursing care insurance system, due to go into operation next month, is the first real test of local autonomy and its success depends on the performance of each municipality, according to Miyagi Gov. Shiro Asano.

COMMUNITY

Mar 12, 2000

Deal sparing city from invasion set in stone

The stakes could not have been higher when two men met on March 13, 1868, to determine the fate of Edo and its 1.5 million inhabitants.

JAPAN

Mar 11, 2000

Nursing care more democratic

The public nursing-care insurance system due to start next month is a steppingstone toward a citizen-oriented society where everyone can participate in the decision-making process, according to Professor Keiko Higuchi of Tokyo Kasei University.

JAPAN

Mar 1, 2000

Care-givers, doctors face turf war

Hirohiko Nakamura's message to doctors is clear: Back off.

JAPAN

Feb 28, 2000

Stray cat glut spurs odd neighborhood response

Staff writer YOKOHAMA -- A first glance at Masumi Nomura feeding cats in a Yokohama park may lead you to believe she loves the furry felines, but the opposite, however, is true. For years this 61-year-old Isogo Ward resident's daily trips to the park have included feeding a group of homeless cats. Even when she is sick, Nomura said she can't ignore them. "When I think about them waiting for me with a hungry stomach, I cannot stay at home." The cat's cuisine varies depending on the day. Sometimes it is tinned cat food and sometimes it might be boiled tuna with cheese as dessert. And the entire cost comes out of her own pocket. "My husband got angry when he first found out that I was feeding cats. He said he does not work for them," she said. Just another cat freak? On the contrary, Nomura said she doesn't even like cats, saying that when she first started feeding them, she couldn't even touch them. Ten years ago, the residents' association of Nomura's apartment complex began a campaign to sterilize the homeless cats that frequented their neighborhood. They started feeding the cats simply to make it easier to catch them for the fateful trip to the vet. "It takes half a day to catch a cat, and it is very difficult to lure them into a cage," Nomura said. Once Nomura started feeding them, however, she couldn't simply ignore them after the operation. Hence her daily trips to the park. The campaign has spread from its humble origins. To day, there are seven people participating, feeding about 50 cats regularly at five different sites. To date, the group has been responsible for the sterilization of more than 190 cats. According to Nomura, the effect of the sterilization program is beginning to be reflected in the diminishing number of strays in the neighborhood. Nomura said the number of regulars at her feeding site has dropped from 16 to six -- all sterilized. "We don't see kittens around here any more." The sterilization costs -- about 20,000 yen for a female and 15,000 yen for a male -- are raised from the group's community bazaars. Another positive effect of the feeding program is that the cats have stopped scavenging. With the security of a regular meal, they no longer raid the local trash cans. The project has gained media attention in recent years as a model of a community taking collective responsibility for the stray cat problem. Strays had been a major community issue in Isogo, southeast Yokohama, where feline mischief had angered many residents. For years, ward officials had been caught between calls from cat haters and cat lovers; the haters demanded the cats' destruction while the lovers vehemently opposed the final measure. Under the current law, authorities do not have the legal right to catch and destroy cats. "We can capture unchained dogs and assume they are abandoned, but there is no legal definition for cat ownership, so we cannot distinguish between pet cats and strays," said Kiyotaka Watanabe, head of Isogo Ward's hygiene division. The dispute very nearly split the otherwise peaceful community of 169,000 people, with ward officials -- caught between the two groups -- choosing to do nothing about the cat problem. Three years ago, the ward finally decided to mediate between the two warring factions. The officials offered an unusual proposition -- if you really hate cats, then make friends with them. "If you don't tame them, you won't be able to catch them for the sterilization operation," Watanabe said. Officials said the inspiration for this unusual idea came from Nomura's group. "We tried to persuade residents that the cat problem was not solely an issue for individual owners, but one that concerned the entire community. Everyone has to share responsibility," said Watanabe, who himself keeps a cat called Torasaburo. The sterilization program should see the number of strays decrease drastically in four to five years, Watanabe said. Based on community opinions, the ward set "cat guidelines" for both strays and pets in March. According to Watanabe, there are currently 13 groups engaged in the community cat project. Nomura, however, would like to see still more people participate in the project, but she said a lack of understanding hampers recruiting. "When I am feeding cats, people often tell me to stop feeding them because they hate them," she said. "But if they hate them so much, then they should do something about it." The advent of spring usually causes more problems for Nomura's group. "Spring is a season of abandoned pets, because many people move," Nomura said. Further compounding their problems is some pet owners' view of the group as a convenient orphanage for their unwanted cats. Following a TV program last year that featured the group's activities, more than 10 cats were found abandoned at the feeding spots in a span of six months. Since then, Nomura will only give media interviews on the condition that the exact locations of the feeding spots are not revealed. "Dumping pets is such a selfish act," Nomura reckoned. "If people decide to have pets, then they have to be committed. If they don't want them anymore, then they should have them killed."

JAPAN

Feb 24, 2000

Nursing coverage denies smaller group home operators

Staff writer When the government first announced its planned public nursing-care insurance program, group homes were to be covered. The definition of "group homes," however, is causing problems for some small operators, including the Tanoshiya nursing home in Urawa, Saitama Prefecture. When the system goes into effect in April, the facility will continue to be ineligible for government subsidies due to the regulation that recipient care homes give each resident a private room. Tanoshiya is a group home, a style of nursing care facility that was launched in the late '80s in Scandinavian countries. They have become popular in Japan in recent years as a viable alternative to full-scale welfare facilities. They usually care for a small number -- 10 or less -- of elderly citizens with senile dementia in relatively stable physical condition. While the guidelines for group homes set by the ministry last year cover 90 percent of the cost of nursing services provided for eligible elderly citizens, residents of Tanoshiya are ineligible for the subsidy. "The Health Ministry's regulations say that each resident must be provided with a single room," said Kazuko Yamanaka, a staff member at the house, adding that residents here share a room divided by a curtain. The plight of Tanoshiya, or "Joy House," is far from unique. The six women who reside here, ranging between 75 and 92 years old, face a risk that is shared by residents of other small-scale facilities. "It is difficult to meet the single-room condition in remodeled houses," Yamanaka said. "But only these types of facilities can provide the family-like environment that residents enjoyed before they arrived here." Currently, each resident pays a monthly fee of 180,000 yen plus a 500,000 yen initial payment. It's not enough, according to staff members, who say the house needs at least double that amount to provide its services without additional funds, such as the hoped for public subsidies. Since the house opened in November 1998, the staff and the residents' families believed that the new public nursing-care insurance program would make their lives easier. The Health Ministry's announcement of the single-room requirement, however, has dashed those hopes. "We were working hard to keep the operation going by raising funds through various ways, including bazaars, until the system started in April," said Kazuko Nire, from Omiya, Saitama Prefecture. Her 83-year-old mother-in-law, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease, was admitted to Tanoshiya in April. Nire said her mother-in-law's condition has improved since then. "But if we are denied nursing insurance, we cannot afford to let her stay here any more." The reasoning behind the government's introduction of the single-room requirement is not without merit. The very nature of group homes is of concern to the ministry. They are worried about the potential risk of abuse and other human rights violations. Officials say they are concerned about the possible entry of profit-oriented, low-quality operators into the field following the introduction of the new insurance system, which will open the potentially lucrative nursing care market to private business. "We get inquiries from people who intend to start group homes, and I am often surprised to find how many of them don't know anything about welfare," one official said. "Some are simply trying to launch group homes as a lucrative business." Experts say the family-like environment and personal care provided in group homes has proven beneficial in slowing the progress of dementia -- more so than at bigger nursing homes. A further benefit is the freedom permitted to residents, which is possible because of the smaller number of occupants, Tanoshiya Director Hiroyuki Watanabe said. "Here, they can live their own lives," he said. "If they did the same in regular nursing homes, they would be accused of 'problematic behavior.'" While Watanabe says he understands the necessity of basic rules to ensure the rights of residents, he questions the wisdom of strictly implementing the single-room policy. "Some of the residents here want a roommate, saying they become anxious at nights if they go to bed alone." With the prospect of a bureaucratic about-face slim, Tanoshiya began searching for an alternative location. After considerable effort, they have secured a candidate site. The estimated cost of remodeling the new facility, however, is 16 million yen. Consequently it will be a long time before operations can shift to the new location. Concerned family members of Tanoshiya residents filed a petition with the Saitama Prefectural Government in December, asking for coverage from April at the current facility as a stopgap measure. Meanwhile, Nire criticized the ministry's strict rules, saying those motivated by bad intent will find loopholes in the system anyway. "Instead, authorities should place more stress on monitoring to ensure appropriate practice," she said. Seiichi Takahashi, an associate professor of economics at Tohoku Fukushi University, is also worried that the ministry's single-room rule might eliminate the merits of group homes, which utilize existing homes in the community. Under the new rule, he said, group house operators must build facilities to meet the conditions. Moreover, the new facilities will probably be in remote places. Despite this, the Saitama Prefectural Government said the single-room policy is one condition that must be met. "Don't we need space to be alone even among family members?" one official said. According to the Health and Welfare Ministry, the number of elderly people suffering from dementia is estimated at 1.6 million and is forecast to reach 2.3 million by 2010. While the exact figure is unknown, there are about 600 group homes nationwide, with many more scheduled to open in the near future. The ministry has set a goal of creating 3,200 group homes as part of its five-year plan for building welfare infrastructure for senior citizens. While ministry officials recognize the positive mental effects of group homes, the real reason behind the ministry's policy is the perpetual shortage of publicly subsidized nursing homes. As of fiscal 1998, about 47,000 people were on the waiting list for nursing homes nationwide. The nationwide capacity was 280,000, according to the Health and Welfare Ministry.

JAPAN

Feb 4, 2000

Exhibition teaches U.S. kids there are no samurai in Ginza

Staff writer Attention American kids! There are no samurai striding down the streets of Tokyo anymore. And, you know, the "Pokemon" character you're so crazy about actually originated in Japan. Despite the long-standing partnership with Japan and the permeation of Japanese products into daily life in the U.S., many American children have little understanding of this East Asian country or its people, according to Catherine Martens, president of the Capital Children's Museum in Washington, D.C. She and her colleagues want to help change all that with a new exhibition at the museum. The CCM, one of several pioneering museums designed especially for children, last summer launched a permanent exhibition titled "Japan: Through the Eyes of a Child," an interactive exhibit on Japanese life today. For the nonprofit organization, a lack of public funding means help from the private sector is indispensable to continue the $1 million-plus project. Martens is calling on Japanese firms to join the list of sponsors. While nearly 50 corporations in Japan and the U.S. have offered their support so far, the budget is still very tight, said Martens, who is currently on a fundraising trip in Japan with Penelope Fletcher, vice president of the organization. "We need (sponsorship) very quickly." The exhibition, the museum's latest cross-cultural project, is designed to virtually immerse children in the Japanese culture, based on re-creations of Japanese life aided by state-of-the-art computer technology. It includes a tatami room, where kids can experience cleaning the mats with a vacuum cleaner (the machine has, of course, "tatami mode"), and a traditional mom-and-pop vegetable stand, where they'll find some products they are unlikely to encounter in their own kitchens weighed in grams under the metric system. Through a computer-simulated ride on a bullet train, kids can experience the country's transportation system and geography, the latter of which is considered a very important component of the exhibition. "Many children think Japan is the same everywhere," Fletcher said. "The exhibition shows the diversity of the country in climate as well as culture." An effort was made to ensure the display items are realistic. Structures were designed and built in Japan, and all pieces, from the dish-washing soap in the kitchen to the postbox on the street corner, were brought from Japan. "Many Japanese visitors say they are surprised because things are so accurate," Martens said. While many museums with cross-cultural undertakings tend to emphasize the exotic aspects of foreign life, the CCM's exhibit puts the same weight on similarities. "Kids will learn many Japanese eat Kellogg's cornflakes for breakfast just like them," with the only difference being that the writing on the box is in Japanese, Fletcher said. "They learn similarities while appreciating the differences." True to life, the exhibition is never complete, Martens and Fletcher said, but rather an ongoing development, updated to reflect the latest in Japanese culture. Therefore, to keep the project afloat, corporate donations are vital, Martens said. The museum hopes to raise at least $500,000 by mid-March, when the official opening ceremony for the exhibition is slated. Corporate contributions are not limited to money, Martens and Fletcher said. During their trip, they secured a pledge from a prominent kimono retailer in Tokyo to donate the traditional costumes for exhibition. So what now tops their donation wish list? Samples of wax food that sit in the glass showcases of Japan's restaurants. Those interested in the project should write to the Capital Children's Museum at 800 Third Street, NE, Washington, D.C. 20002, telephone (202)-675-4120 or visit its Web site at www.ccm.

JAPAN

Jan 18, 2000

Pilots' diaries show human side

It may only bring a wary smile to the face of 72-year-old Midori Yamanouchi when she sees young revelers at drinking bashes toast the legendary kamikaze missions.

JAPAN

Jan 17, 2000

Kamikaze diaries reveal pilots' human side

Staff writer It may only bring a wary smile to the face of 72-year-old Midori Yamanouchi when she sees young revelers at drinking bashes toast the legendary kamikaze missions. But the soft-spoken anthropology professor at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania gets terribly upset when she hears Americans say these pilots were "mindless, robotlike figures who simply followed orders and died." This gross misperception of the pilots and other wartime Japanese, she said, is what she hopes to correct when her book hits U.S. stores in a few weeks. The work, the fruit of a six-year effort, is a translation of an anthology of letters and diaries by Japanese students mobilized and killed in the war. She hopes the book will "destroy the stereotyped images of Japanese as emotionless and blindly obedient." "Kike Wadatsumi no Koe" ("Listen to the Voices from the Sea -- Writings of the Fallen Japanese Students") is the first English version of one of the longest-running best sellers in postwar Japan. The original was first published in 1949, and about 2 million copies have been sold. The latest edition, printed in 1995, comprises writings by 74 students. Many entries vividly depict the anguish experienced by the conscripts before they accepted their fate. Some of the writings somehow escaped rigorous military censorship and helped shed light on the mind-set of the young combatants. It has become a sort of spiritual pillar for a number of antiwar groups in Japan. Yamanouchi, who has spent about two-thirds of her life in the United States, knows from experience that those enigmatic young pilots who crashed their fighters into enemy ships were as human as their American counterparts. During the war, her elder brother, Hiroshi, a student at the University of Tokyo, was mobilized, and is among those who lived to tell the tale. She also remembers listening as a young girl to a nightly radio program on which the pilots bid farewell to their families on the eve of their kamikaze missions. Foremost in the minds of the youth in those days -- both those on the frontline and back home -- was a strong sense of responsibility to protect their families, even at the expense of their lives, Yamanouchi said, and their sacrifice was definitely not for something abstract like the state or emperor. What Yamanouchi sought in the translation was by no means meant to justify the war or glorify the dead soldiers. Instead, she was just desperate to get the truth known, she said. "I have wanted to show (Americans) that these youths were not an idiosyncratic bunch," Yamanouchi said. However, she found her reach was limited to her direct personal contact. Therefore, she said she saw a golden opportunity to communicate with a far greater audience when she discovered that, despite its strong domestic impact, the book had not been translated into English. "As a person who lived through those painful days and months and shared their sorrows but survived, it is my modest effort -- and perhaps self-appointed duty -- to give a human face (to these students)," Yamanouchi said in the book's acknowledgment. She embarked on translating the 500-plus-page book six years ago with her partner, Joseph L. Quinn, a professor of English at Scranton who was entrusted to "lend a muscular tone" to her work. While the old Japanese writing style was not difficult for Yamanouchi, who is well-versed in classic Japanese, it took more than a mastery of language to interpret the documents. Written under the highly charged atmosphere of what they expected to be their final days -- and in constant fear of watchful superiors -- the writings were often too inconsistent or heavily nuanced to render directly into English. Because of this, she solicited the help of her brother, Hiroshi, in Tokyo, who guided her through the mental labyrinth as one who shared in the campus culture. Yamanouchi also enlisted help from colleagues at Scranton and even former students to help her in the work. However, she and Quinn hit a roadblock when it came to finding English spellings for the names of foreign places abundant in the text. Many of these names, such as Kandy in today's Myanmar, were those used during the Japanese occupation and no longer exist. To find the Philippine name Kangepot, she contacted the Philippine Embassy and even asked her Filipino students, but could not get an answer. But Yamanouchi's commitment to a faithful translation ruled out omitting even such trivia. Instead, the pair combed through relevant documents and old maps to locate a corresponding spelling. The result was a translation "very faithful to the original with nuances converted to an easy-to-understand form (of English)," according to Ko Yamamoto of the Wadatsumi Society, which edited the original book. Yamamoto, a 71-year-old former English literature professor at Meiji University in Tokyo, did, however, express doubt about the precision of the military jargon's translation, as he was too young to experience a stint in the barracks. The book's publication has been delayed due to scheduling problems at the University of Scranton Press. But the delay could be attributed to more than that, as Yamanouchi couldn't help but be pleased to learn. "I heard that a lady who was formatting the script had to stop often, as she couldn't read the computer screen because of her tears," Yamanouchi said. "By reading this book, English-language readers, too, will perhaps recognize how much alike we all are."

JAPAN

Jan 16, 2000

Tough town beaten to despair as jobs dry up

For 70-year-old Mikami, winter life on the streets of Tokyo has become so unbearable that flirting with a suicide fantasy has become his favorite pastime.

JAPAN

Jan 16, 2000

Street people face tuberculosis scourge

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.

[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

When trying to trace your lineage in Japan, the "koseki" is the most important form of document you'll encounter.

Climbing the branches of a Japanese family tree

By Alex K.T. Martin

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