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-US In Japan

Value of US base land in Japan enough to buy all of New York City
Mainichi Daily News/MSN News
December 16, 2005

http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/waiwai/news/20051215p2g00m0dm033000c.html

If the value of all the Japanese land "occupied" by the U.S. military was combined, there would be enough money to buy all of New York City, including the Statue of Liberty, which is a symbol of how little liberty Japan actually has, according to Flash (12/27).

The men's weekly claims to be outraged by what it calls Japan's blind obedience to the United States even as it was supposed to be negotiating with its ally to reduce the burdens, fiscal and otherwise, local governments carry here to host the U.S. military.

Flash says its own independent study revealed that Japan is home to 88 U.S. military installations, which combined take up 312 million square meters with a total land value exceeding 14 trillion yen.

"Using the results of the global real estate market survey carried out in 1999 by the former National Land Agency and the Japanese Association of Real Estate Appraisal, 14 trillion yen would be a sum large enough to buy all the land in New York City, based on the standard value of residential land," an appraiser familiar with the residential market tells Flash.

Of course, the figure doesn't include New York's mercantile nature and commercial value, but that doesn't change the fact that over 14 trillion yen worth of Japanese territory is being "occupied," the weekly says.

Tokyo ranks third among Japan's 47 prefectures in terms of the amount of territory used by the U.S. military, following only Okinawa and Kanagawa prefectures. Tokyo Metropolitan Government officials are actively seeking the return of land in the capital that is currently under the control of the U.S. military.

"Bases in Tokyo should have their status reviewed, downgraded and ultimately be returned to the control of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. Yokota Air Field (U.S. Air Force Base) in particular is being strongly sought as the location of a third airport in Tokyo, where demand for flights increases yearly," a metropolitan government spokesman tells Flash. "As far as the metropolitan government is concerned, our policy for the time being is to continue to propose to the national government and U.S. military that the joint civilian-military use of facilities be permitted. We want the U.S. military to immediately return the Akasaka Press Center and Tama Service Annex should be opened up to as many Tokyo residents as possible."

The U.S. military presence in Tokyo also causes a decline in local land values, according to the veteran appraiser.

"Ground around Yokota Air Base is strong and able to withstand earthquakes, which makes it really good for housing. Other popular residential areas like Tokorozawa and Sagamihara are also homes to U.S. bases," the appraiser tells Flash. "Basically, what I'm trying to say is that there are these huge U.S. bases located in commutable areas within about an hour's train ride from central Tokyo and these prove to be considerable obstacles as far as things like land values and residential construction are concerned."

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-Buzzing Japan

More handbags abuzz to good vibrations
Mainichi Daily News/MSN News
December 16, 2005

http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/waiwai/news/20051215p2g00m0dm028000c.html

The buzz on Japan's streets nowadays is that just about any young woman is carrying around her own vibrator, according to Shukan Post (12/23).

Instead of the old days when aids were referred to as "adult toys" and carried a sleazy image, sex aids are now called "adult goods." It's apparently become so common that it's almost as though there's a vibrator in every handbag.

"In the past, nearly all our customers used to ask us to disguise the labeling on our packages so they looked like they were cosmetics or something, but now we get much fewer of those type of requests," Norie Oda, operator of the Happy Woman adult aid shop, tells Shukan Post. "I suppose people just don't see them as such a big thing anymore."

Eiko Yamada, proprietor of Shesta, another adult good shop targeting women, says there's more good vibrations around than a Beach Boys album, with the number of adult aid users skyrocketing, particularly among women in their late 20s to early 30s.

"Our sales are almost 200 percent what they were last year," Yamada tells Shukan Post.

Sanae Takahashi, CEO of Merci, another company in the same line of business, explains what has brought about the change.

"Before, there only used to be seedy stores that existed only for guys. But, over the past few years, (ubiquitous) discount store chains like Don Quijote have started selling sex aids over the counter and online sales are doing well, too," Takahashi says. "There has been a really rapid increase in the number of our single women customers, and those who come to the store as a couple. We did some marketing and monitoring and made sure we stocked cute shapes and colors that would appeal to women."

Japan's adult aid market for women has evolved quickly.

"You only used to be able to buy items that were either egg-shaped or made to look like a male organ. And they cost a small fortune, too,' an adult aid manufacturer tells Shukan Post. "Now they come in all sorts of shapes so complex it's hard to even tell they're vibrators. You can get some that warm human skin, others that emit a sweet smell when they're turned on. Prices vary, too, with the range starting at about 3,000 yen and going through to really classy models in the vicinity of 10,000 yen. Expensive models don't just jangle around, either. They also move up and down."

Shesta's Yamada says the typical sale is an item selling somewhere from 4,000 yen to 6,000 yen.

"They're about 15-centimeters-long, which is a size that fits nicely into a make-up pouch," she says. "And our most popular items share the common trait of having been made to be small and cute."

Ikumi Wakabayashi, a writer on the adult entertainment world, analyzes what's being called the "My Vibrator" phenomenon.

"It's been about 15 years since we moved from the sleazy world of 'Adult toys' to 'adult goods.' The change also brought about the creation of adult item stores catering to single women and couples, and the stores where all the employees were women. It's become much easier for women to buy adult goods. Online sales offering anonymity have also become the norm and sparked explosive sales," Wakabayashi tells Shukan Post. "Women's sexual awareness has progressed. More women now want to pursue sexual pleasure by themselves, as well as with guys. Young women have no problems with using adult goods."

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-Stunning Little Japanese Girl

Mysterious case of girl kept prisoner in home for most of her life stuns society Mainichi Daily News/MSN News
December 16, 2005

http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/waiwai/news/20051212p2g00m0dm007000c.html

A scrawny, tiny girl with horribly disheveled hair staggered through a park in Fukuoka. The girl, who looked as though she was in the early years of elementary school, was clearly in trouble and a concerned passerby stopped and escorted her to a nearby convenience store where the child called the police, according to Josei Seven (12/22).

The girl stood about 120 centimeters tall and weighed just 28 kilograms, about the average for a 7-year-old Japanese child.

Imagine the horror, then, when police discovered the "girl" was actually an 18-year-old adult woman. And it went beyond horror when the girl revealed she had been kept a virtual prisoner in her home for nearly all of her life.

As she opened up a little more to the police officers who picked her up from the convenience store, investigators learned that the woman had argued with her mother over watching TV when she was banned from doing so. Her mother had punched her in the face and back and the girl had walked out of their home.

Penniless and barely able to walk, the stunted woman had stayed in a park for five days until the passerby came to her rescue.

Her mother, meanwhile, was arrested for assault and fined 100,000 yen by a summary court on Nov. 22. The mother paid the fine the same day and was released without further charges.

"My daughter's disabled. She breaks things and can't control her waste. She's a real shame. I didn't want to create problems for anybody else, so I didn't let her out," Josei Seven quotes the 40-year-old mother as telling the police.

The woman was raised in an apartment with her parents and two sisters. The sisters have both since left home. Her father is busy at work and left the child rearing to his wife. Apart from a brief stint at kindergarten, the woman spent nearly her entire life in the flat and her mother forbade her to leave.

"She got two meals a day in the apartment. Her mother taught her some math and language drills, but she can't write any difficult characters or work out hard sums," a police insider familiar with the case tells Josei Seven. "Apart from the incident where she walked out of the home, it wasn't possible to find enough evidence to allow us to pursue charges for child abuse or neglect of parental duty."

Local authorities have copped a blast for their handling of the case, allowing the 18-year-old woman to survive below their radar.

"For the nine years from the time when she should have started elementary school until the end of junior high school, education officials would visit her home about once a month to talk about her. The mother would always greet them at the door, tell them her daughter was ill that day and send them away," a spokesman from the Fukuoka Municipal Board of Education says. "We could perhaps have handled the case a little better. We should have treated it with more urgency. We'll make a manual now so that we'll be able to deal with cases like this if they come up again in the future."

Experts say the forced confinement has stunted the woman's growth in more ways than physically.

"People can't grow without dealing with society and communicating. Humans need the sun's light and fresh air for physiological reasons. Without them, the appetite disappears, circulation slows and internal organs don't work well," pediatrician Tanuki Mohri tells Josei Seven.

While the woman receives treatment in a Fukuoka hospital, her mother is back at home and looks unlikely to receive further punishment.

"There is no concrete example of abuse and we are not planning to pursue the case against the mother any further," the police source says.

That's not to say that attention has not turned toward the mother. Disabled children were once shunned in Japan, but that's not the case so much now, where people are becoming a little opener.

"Even when you tell parents now that things look good for parents with disabled children, thanks to consultation centers and a wide range of facilities, none of them believe you," says Nobuko Adachi, head of Katatsumuri no Kai, a group for parents with disabled kids.

Naoki Ogi, a commentator on education issues, says there was little wrong with the woman shut away for nearly all her life.

"Education officials should have realized that there was something wrong with the mother if she wouldn't let them near her daughter for nine years," Ogi tell Josei Seven. "They should have reported the case to superiors, then sent out an SOS to mental health and social welfare experts to have something done about it."