Tokyo fest to feature five world premieres, offer support to Tohoku

TOKYO (TR) – The 24th Tokyo International Film Festival will be highlighted by five world premieres in competition and offer encouragement to the victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake, organizers announced on Wednesday.

TIFF chairman Tatsumi “Tom” Yoda said at a press conference at the Roppongi Hills complex in Tokyo’s Minato Ward that this year’s installment of the fest, which runs between October 22 and 30, will utilize the slogan “Believe! The power of films” in an effort to support the victims of the earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Japan’s Tohoku region. Read more

Osaka in 24 hours

OSAKA (TR) – As Japan’s third largest city, Osaka offers a mix of modernity and traditional touches: culturally important structures, culinary delights, interesting art — it’s all here. What follows is a guide to this city for a single day’s stay.

08:00: Osaka may be considered Japan’s second city in many ways but when it comes to urban sprawl it has just about as many flashing neon signs, packed trains, and towering skyscrapers as that found in Tokyo. For an idea of how things used to be, start your day by heading over to Osaka Castle, nearly an oasis of serenity in the center of this city of 2.6 million people. Around the grounds, paths wind beneath cherry trees, near the moats, and up to the imposing stone walls that surround the structure. Osaka Castle Museum includes displays that feature the history of castle, which was originally constructed by warlord Hideyoshi Toyotomi (1537-1598), elaborate samurai armor and helmets, and a top-floor observation deck. The area surrounding the compound also offers no shortage of vendors peddling grilled mochi (rice cakes) wrapped in nori (seaweed) and piping-hot red bean cakes. Read more

Shinji Imaoka and ‘pink eiga’ sing and dance ‘Underwater’

TOKYO (TR) – The soft-core porn genre known as pinku eiga, or pink films, has over its half-century in existence dabbled in just about every imaginable theme — including incest, adultery, and torture — to bring eroticism to the screen.

Yet this year’s fantasy “Underwater Love,” by veteran pink director Shinji Imaoka, is probably the first film within this fading genre to interweave song and dance sequences — as in a full-blown musical — into the narrative.

Following a press screening last week at The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan, the director admitted that such a unique approach, along with the other quirks in the film, which features a mythical kappa creature, as characterized by a tortoise shell and beak, in the male lead, will likely make it a bit challenging for filmgoers to embrace. Read more

On deck: Former catcher Atsuya Furuta now helping others

TOKYO (TR) – During his 18 years with Japanese pro baseball’s Yakult Swallows, Atsuya Furuta, typically sporting a pair of wire-framed glasses, was one of the most recognizable faces in the game.

Known for his leadership, having been the head of the players’ union during a labor strike and a player-manager for two seasons late in his career, Furuta is now looking to take advantage of that image and set an example that he hopes will gather momentum.

The current focus of his efforts is the fundraising website Just Giving Japan. Started in Britain more than a decade ago, Just Giving launched here last March. “In Japan, there is no philanthropic culture,” explains Furuta, dressed in a striped blue shirt and beige jacket, during an interview at the end of last year in Tokyo’s Roppongi district. “In the West, there is a sense of giving. For Japan, it’s not a matter of Japanese people not wanting to give; rather, they have a hard time figuring out how to do it.” Read more

Tokyo rewind: Right-wing groups commemorate assassination of politician Inejiro Asanuma 50 years later

TOKYO (TR) – By any measure, the assassination of socialist politician Inejiro Asanuma in Tokyo in 1960 was a shocking event — and five decades later the impact of the incident continues to reverberate in unpredictable ways.

During a political debate at Tokyo’s Hibiya Public Hall in October, a 17-year-old rightist, Otoya Yamaguchi, broke free from the assembled crowd, rushed the stage, and stabbed Asanuma with a small sword two times before being apprehended. He committed suicide three weeks later while being incarcerated in a detention cell.

Right-wing groups had strongly opposed Asanuma, who criticized the Liberal Democratic Party and the United States, proclaiming the latter to be the common enemy of the Japanese and Chinese peoples during a speech in Beijing one year before. Read more

Phone fraud fleeces the unsuspecting: Cases up 45% from 2009

TOKYO (TR) – For “Mrs. A” (as she will be referred to in this story), a recent morning started off rather quietly. This housewife from Yamaguchi Prefecture had nothing substantial planned, aside from a little housework and some time behind her computer. But after one phone call, the day disintegrated into the worst of her life.

It is around noon, and the caller says he is a policeman. “First, relax, and listen carefully,” he cautions. “Your husband has been in an accident which is now under investigation. He fell asleep at the wheel of his car.”

“He’s with me now,” the policeman continues, “and he’s not injured, but he caused quite a bit of damage to another car, one owned by a Mr. Ishii of Hiroshima.” Read more

On the record: Japan’s last vinyl factory administers proficiency exam

TOKYO (TR) – There are still those for whom the world spins at exactly 33 revolutions per minute. Digital MP3 downloads and YouTube videos may now be the formats of choice in the home and clubs, but the sound of a cartridge needle riding over the groove of a vinyl slab — scratches, skips and all — is quite literally music to the ears of many audiophiles.

In an effort to raise awareness for this niche format, this weekend vinyl junkies will be asked to put their styluses aside and pick up pencils. Toyo Kasei, the owner of Japan’s last fully functioning pressing plant, will hold a proficiency exam dedicated solely to stacks of wax.

“The exam is designed to expose a new audience to the joy of vinyl records,” says Eiji Hirata, special assistant to the president. “We also would like those from older generations to revisit the experience of listening to them.” Read more

Contractors in Japan begin to shovel aside yakuza groups

TOKYO (TR) – News organizations have consistently celebrated the steady rise of the Tokyo Sky Tree in Tokyo’s Sumida Ward. Yet the most interesting aspect to the project, set to reach a height of 634 meters, might be taking place at ground level.

At the base of the steel structure, a signboard, complete with a stick-figure campaign character raising its fists in anger, announces that yakuza criminal gangs are prohibited from participating in the project, which is scheduled to be completed in 2012.

In November, 2008, members of construction companies formed a committee designed to exclude gangster groups. A similar arrangement was conceived for the new incarnation of the Kabuki-za theater in Ginza, Chuo Ward, whose historic building closed this year.

“We have formed alliances with construction companies that are designed to shut off yakuza involvement in these projects,” says Hiroichi Katayama, superintendent of the Organized Crime Elimination division within the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. Read more

God’s gangster: Former yakuza Tatsuya Shindo preaches the gospel

Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?

…Ezekiel 33:11

KAWAGUCHI, SAITAMA (TR) – From the cracked exterior paint to the crumbling wood trim, the “snack” club June Bride appears to have the appropriately rundown look favored by just about every watering hole in Kawaguchi, Saitama Prefecture. Impressions change, however, once one enters and sees the sketches of Jesus Christ taped to the silver wallpaper and the wooden cross propped against the back wall.

The proprietor is Tatsuya Shindo, and he is not a barman. From the age of 20, Shindo peddled stimulants in and around Tokyo for a gangster family under the nationwide Sumiyoshi-kai yakuza syndicate. When multiple jail stints followed thereafter, he decided to start offering something else entirely: the gospel. Read more

Risk of HIV infection stalks Tokyo’s 2-chome gay enclave

TOKYO (TR) – Ko is a regular in the gay quarter of 2-chome, an area filled with small blocks of roughly 300 bars, clubs, video stores and small hotels in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Of slight build and sporting long, wavy hair, the 23-year-old provides out-call (deri heru) SM services, typically dispensed in love hotels or residences, to homosexual men. Bondage, whipping and humiliation are among his specialties.

During an interview at a coffee shop at the edge of 2-chome, Ko explains that should sexual contact be requested, a condom is a necessity. “And if I have to touch inside a customer, I’ll use rubber gloves,” he adds.

Yet many men do not take such precautions — a fact that has made the gay community the largest growth population for cases of HIV and AIDS in Japan, reports the Japan Foundation for AIDS Prevention (JFAP). Read more

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