AUM Anniversary – Women’s Rights – Italian Color Clash

RSS Podcast Feed – MP3 TOKYO – On this edition March 21st 2006, 11 years since AUM, women’s rights in Japan, and complaints over the color of the Italian Cultural Institute’s building.

This week marks the 11th anniversary of the Tokyo subway gassing. On March 20th 1995 as thousands moved through the city’s mass transit system, members of the cult AUM Shinrykyo released crude sarin mixtures that killed 12 people and injured over 5000. Many remember that black day and the uneasiness it generated. Is Japan a safer place, has it learned anything, and will it be ready for another wayward group like AUM?

March 8th was International Womens Day. Coincidentally Japan’s only medal at the Winter Olympics in Turin, a gold, was won by a woman, Shizuka Arakawa.

The Italian Cultural Institute of Tokyo is a grand red building, but the neighbors don’t think so. They are demanding the the Italian embassy paint over the 12 story structure. This calls in to question, the city’s beauty in general, and the attitude to city planning.

U.S. Bases – Entertainment Visas – Baseball

RSS Podcast Feed – MP3 TOKYO – This week, trouble with relocating U.S. forces within Japan, organized crime and entertainers, and Japan gets bullied by its American big brother in baseball. With the imminent downsizing and reorganizing of U.S. forces here, no one wants soldiers in their backyard. But that’s the dilemma facing residents of Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture. Meanwhile, organized crime has long been linked to “entertainment” visas, so why is Tokyo taking a stand only now? And finally, Japan gets short-changed with a bad call at the World Baseball Classic in California.

JAL Woes – Osaka Non Museum – Whale Save

RSS Podcast Feed – MP3 TOKYO – Japan Airlines is facing an uphill battle in the wake of recent safety concerns and company infighting. The latest news has the corporation’s chief executive stepping down. Meanwhile a passenger abuses a JAL flight attendant after being asked not to use his cellphone in flight.

When is a museum not a museum? When all its exhibits are locked in vaults. The Osaka government’s wild spending on art in the bubble economy days and the lack of a building to house it all.

Recently on this program we talked about Japan’s continued whaling in contrast to an international ban. Now a story from the shores of Chiba where a group of citizens came to the rescue. 70 of the sea mammals washed up on the shores of Chiba prefecture near Tokyo. 2 meter melon-headed whales to be exact.