Pac Rim Heather: 10/18/09

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Cheapskate Confessions: Japan on a Budget

Cheapskate Confessions: Japan on a Budget

It’s no secret that Japan is an expensive destination.

In fact, Tokyo has recently reclaimed its spot as the world’s most expensive city, with Osaka-Kobe right behind, according to the Worldwide Cost of Living Survey.

Well even in one of the world’s most expensive countries, a vacation doesn’t have to bring on budgetary meltdown.

We’ll show you how to defy the naysayers and survive your trip to Japan with a few extra bucks left in your wallet.

FIRST THINGS FIRST

Before you can even worry about where you’re going to eat or sleep, you’ve got to buy a plane ticket.

Luckily, if you know where to look, you can get one pretty cheaply. How cheap? Well, during the off season — for example, in March or April — prices frequently dip below $500. The secret is to use a Japanese travel agency.

Since these agencies buy tickets in bulk, their prices can be significantly cheaper than Orbitz or Expedia or other travel companies that don’t have a specific regional focus. These companies don’t devote much effort to advertising themselves in English, so few people know about the deals they offer.

Prices offered by different travel agencies can vary significantly, so if you’re truly devoted to truly cheap cheapness, we recommend that you proceed through the list below and obtain a quote from each and every agency before purchasing your ticket. Remember that you can always call the agency up and speak to them in English.

Amnet
(800) 929-2663
http://www.amnet-usa.com (Japanese)

HIS USA
(800) ASK-4-HIS
http://his-usa.com/ja/top/Top.aspx (Japanese)

IACE Travel USA
(800) 872-4223
http://www.iace-usa.com/index_us.htm (English version)

JTB USA
(800) 235-3523
http://www.jtbusa.com/enhome (English version)

Kintetsu International
(630) 250-8840
http://www.kintetsu.com (English)

NaviTour USA
(800) 303-2006
http://www.navitourusa.com/en/s.phtml (English)

One last note: international travel specialists like San Francisco-based Air Brokers (http://www.airbrokers.com) can sometimes beat the prices of even the Japanese travel agencies!

EAT CHEAP

It’s true that Japan is the land of $8 orange juice and $50 cantaloupe, and that food and drinks can be really expensive if you just go stumbling into any old place and blindly order items. But there are some ways to get a cheap meal in Japan…

Our first suggestion is to search out Japanese fast food chains like Matsuya and Yoshinoya. These places will serve you a beef bowl or a plate of curry for $4-$5. If you get tired of this fare, try convenience stores, which offer ready-made food of all kinds for decent prices.

If you’re looking for something with a bit more culinary merit, try a kaitenzushi, a sushi restaurant where the food comes around to you on a conveyor belt, served on plates that are color-coded to indicate price. When your wallet is empty, stop eating. Ramen is another inexpensive option, and luckily the restaurant version tastes a lot better than the instant stuff sold in the US.

McDonald’s — a chain as ubiquitous in Japan as in America — is always a good bet for cheap eats, but it’s kind of a cop-out. I mean, having made the long journey to Japan, you wouldn’t even think of settling for a burger and fries, right?

Also note that in most Japanese restaurants, if they bring you any kind of appetizer, you’re going to have to pay for it. If you don’t want it, just say you don’t want it. Or put on an icky face and make frenzied “go away” motions with your hands.

SLEEP CHEAP

In Japan, as in most places, youth hostels are generally the cheapest option. Hostels.com (http://hostels.com) lists several establishments that’ll sell you a bed in Tokyo for less than $20. We hope this outrageous reasonableness comes as a pleasant surprise.

If you can’t or don’t want to stay in a youth hostel, try a business hotel. You should have no problem finding a room for less than $100. Do keep in mind that these places are pretty cramped. Bathrooms, for instance, are often little more than glorified shower stalls.

If you think a business hotel might fit your needs, take a look at Super Hotel’s English-language website (http://www.superhotel.co.jp/en). This chain does everything possible to cut costs, going so far as to eliminate phones in guests’ rooms. Prices vary based on location, but the cost for a room tends to hover right around $50. The English version of the website doesn’t feature all the chain’s locations, but it does list options at popular destinations.

There are plenty of interesting alternative choices.

Assuming you’re not claustrophobic, you might want to try a capsule hotel. Popular with drunken businessmen who’ve missed the last train, capsule hotels will offer you a space barely big enough to wriggle into, but they are inexpensive.

Capsule hotels probably aren’t a good option for couples or families, since the environment isn’t suitable for kids and many don’t allow women. But if it works for you, expect to pay just about $30 a night.

Alternately, you could stay overnight at a love hotel. These are intended for couples in need of an hour or two of private time, but they offer nightly rates which can be significantly lower than those of regular hotels.

Love hotels list rates for “rest” and “stay.” The “rest” rate is the per-hour rate and the “stay” rate is for the full night.

A significant upshot to this choice is that these places are overflowing with, er, character. We’re talking heart-shaped beds and TV with all the channels. “Stay” rates average about $50.

If your luggage is light and you’re truly into pinching pennies, you could also spend the night at an internet/manga cafe, where you pay one flat fee to use the computer and read comics over a cup of tea for a fixed amount of time. Nobody’s going to think you’re weird if you do this.

Many of these places actually offer overnight packages, which can run as low as $10. Typically, you’ll get your own little cubicle with a reclining chair, and if you’re lucky, the place might even have a shower.

CHEAP TRANSPORTATION

Our first tip is to never even think about using a taxi. Banish the thought from your mind.

A taxi ride from Tokyo’s Narita airport into the city costs approximately $160 and takes about two hours. By contrast, a ticket on a non-express train costs $10-$12 and takes around an hour and a half. Now, in many other cities around the world, public transportation often isn’t the most pleasant or most efficient way to get around, but Japanese trains run on time, are very clean and go just about everywhere you want them to.

At most stations, you’ll buy your tickets from a machine that can display instructions in English. The only thing that’s annoying about relying on trains is that they generally stop running between midnight and 1:00 a.m. Taxis prowl the streets looking for those who’ve missed the cutoff.

If your travel plans involve flitting around from city to city, you might save some money by purchasing a Japan Rail Pass (http://www.japanrailpass.net). Japan Rail, or JR, operates the majority of the rail lines in the country and can take you just about anywhere you want to go. Passes are sold in 7-day, 14-day, and 21-day increments. The nice thing is that the Japan Rail Pass is eligible for travel about the “shinkansen,” or bullet train, a super-fast, fun, and all-around really neat form of transportation that is ordinarily rather expensive. A 7-day Japan Rail Pass runs about $350. The pass is not sold in Japan, so you’ll need to pick one up before arriving there.

If you happen to be traveling to Japan during a school holiday, consider buying a seishun juhachi kippu (”18-year-old youth’s ticket”), a super-cheap, all-you-can-ride train pass. The passes are only available for purchase during school holidays (ie- they go on sale just before vacation starts, but most likely won’t be available at the very end of the vacation period).

The passes are only valid on JR’s slower trains. Despite the name, anybody can use a seishun juhachi kippu, and they are available for purchase at most JR stations. Each seishun juhachi kippu gives you five days of unlimited travel and costs about $100. Two or more people can use one ticket on the same day. For your reference, the school vacation schedule in Japan is roughly as follows:

March 1 - April 10
July 20 - September 10
December 10 - January 20

We’ll throw out one more option for those looking to travel long distances: the glorious overnight bus, a transport institution known and loved by Japan’s young and penniless. Overnight buses are uncomfortable and cramped but cheap. A trip from Tokyo to Osaka will set you back about $80, which is definitely less expensive than a trip by plane or shinkansen.

Japan Bus Web (http://www.bus.or.jp/e/index.html) operates a large English database chock full of detailed bus info.

OTHER STUFF

So you’ve probably got all kinds of ideas about stuff you want to do once you get to Japan. Unavoidably, most of that stuff is going to cost money. But don’t forget that people-watching can be an enjoyable–and completely free–activity. Great places to do this include Shibuya and Harajuku in Tokyo and America-mura in Osaka. Japan is full of colorful and crazy fashions and just sitting on the sidelines and watching the crowd can be pretty entertaining.

You might think about working some hiking and/or camping into your schedule. These activities are fun, provide you with opportunities to meet local people, and are cheap to boot. Check out Outdoor Japan (http://www.outdoorjapan.com) for some information on outdoor activities. And remember… it’s completely free to climb Mt. Fuji. Just remember to take your own drinks and snacks, since those sold onsite are way overpriced.

One final tip that may shave a few bucks off the total cost of your trip: although many people consider travelers’ checks an anachronism now that ATMs are so widespread, bringing traveler’s checks to Japan will net you a slightly better exchange rate. If you can get the traveler’s checks for free, you’ll save a little money in the end.

YOU CAN DO IT

Anybody who told you it couldn’t be done was just saying it to make themselves feel better. Cheap travel in Japan isn’t an impossibility. It takes dedication and planning and maybe a little self-deprivation, but in the end, returning home from such an ultra-expensive country with some change to spare is a pretty good feeling.

By Mike Day for Petergreenberg.com.

Off the Brochure Travel Guide: Tokyo, Japan

Off the Brochure Travel Guide: Tokyo, Japan

Tokyo is a massive, hyper-modern metropolis with a million and one things to do, and reams of articles could be written about it.

In fact, entire guide books could be written about stuff that isn’t in the guide books. But we’ve got a few experiences that you’re unlikely to stumble across while you’re reading a brochure.

And remember, when in Tokyo, be sure to do some exploring on your own. It’ll be worth it.

Ramen Museum

What? A museum dedicated to ramen? If all you’ve ever eaten is the pre-packaged version sold in the U.S., we’re sure you’ll question the sanity of this idea, but ramen is an art form in Japan and this museum treats it that way.

OK, so maybe the displays on matchbooks and curtains from ramen shops are a bit silly. However, the theme park inside the museum, which replicates a street scene from 1958 and includes a whole bunch of shops serving various regional ramen variations, is undeniably cool. Our sources tell us that this isn’t the best ramen in Japan, but the concept is interesting enough to deserve attention.

The ramen museum (its full name in Japanese is Shin-Yokohama Ramen Hakubutsukan) is located close to the Japan Rail Shin-Yokohama station. Admission is 300 yen. Unfortunately, a bowl of ramen is not included in the price.

Kirin Factory

If you know Japanese beer, you know Kirin, but did you know that you can take a tour of the factory? They’ll show you how the beer is made and then let you taste it for free. You can’t beat that. The tour lasts about an hour, and reservations are required. Note that the tour is conducted only in Japanese, but we believe beer transcends language. The factory is located near Namamugi station in Yokohama.

Ghibli Museum

If you’re an anime fan, a visit to the Ghibli Museum is a must, but even if you’re not, you’ll still enjoy this mazelike, interactive house of wonders dedicated to the works of Studio Ghibli, responsible for Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, and My Neighbor Totoro, among other titles.

Inside the museum, you’ll find a mock-up anime studio and exhibits related to many of Studio Ghibli’s films. The exhibits really aren’t the most interesting part of the museum, though. There is no fixed route through the structure and visitors are encouraged to explore its spiral staircases, causeways, ledges, bridges, and twisting, narrow halls. Plants grow from the outside walls of the building and a giant robot stands tall atop it.

The Ghibli Museum is located in Mitaka (go to Mitaka station on the Chuo line). Note that tickets must be purchased in advance. The travel agency JTB (www.jtbusa.com/enhome/) would be glad to sell you one.

What Kind of Otaku Are You?

Hardcore anime and manga fans already know what the term “otaku” means. The closest English equivalent is “fanboy.” The word refers to somebody who’s so deeply burrowed into a particular niche, be it stamp collecting, video games, toy trains, whatever, that he or she fails to lead more than perfunctory existence in the real world.

Akihabara, Japan’s main electronics district, is known as the computer/video game otaku capital of the Planet Earth. Akihabara’s main drag is essentially a huge heap of electronics shops and nearly nothing else. Akihabara is a cool place to visit, but it’s definitely on the brochure because tourists like to go there to buy cameras.

Here are a few other places with shops catering to a particular niche that are less likely to pop up in your guidebook. These sorts of districts are part of what makes Tokyo unique, and there are a number of them to be explored.

Jinbocho is to used books what Akihabara is to electronics. If stacks of musty old paperbacks really make your day, you must go there. You’ll find book upon book in shop after cluttered, dusty shop. Don’t look for this place in Lonely Planet – just hop on the subway and make your way to Jinbocho station if you’re interested in checking it out.

Ochanomizu is to the guitar what Jinbocho is to used books. There, you’ll find what must be the world’s densest collection of guitar shops. There are stacks of Fenders and loads of Les Pauls. You won’t find any Japanese traditional instruments there, and you won’t find any violins or any oboes, just guitars.

Okay, there might be some drums, basses, and keyboards hanging around as well. Once again, if you’re interested in checking it out, just make your way to Japan Rail’s Ochanomizu station. The guitar shops are easy to find. Just follow the young guys with purple hair.

If you get excited by the idea of a couple hours spent wandering through William-Sonoma, visit Kappa Street, also known as “Kitchen Town.” The street is lined with stores selling all kinds of kitchen wares– this is where the restaurants of Tokyo get their supplies. You can find deals on unique pottery, plates, teacups and sake sets, as well as bring home a Japanese vegetable knife, or usuba hocho. These knives can be difficult to find in the U.S., but a medium to good quality knife on Kappa Street can run from $40-$100.

There are even whole districts devoted to particular foods – for instance, Tsukishima, which is known for its overwhelming multitude of monjayaki shops. Monjayaki is a Tokyo specialty that somewhat resembles the more popularly known okonomiyaki. It is essentially a type of pancake/omelet which is cooked in front of you on a griddle. There are truly a mass of monjayaki outlets in Tsukishima, a district of the city built on a man-made island. Just get off the train at Tsukishima station and follow your nose.

Fun at Yoyogi

Tokyo’s locals tend to be quiet and reserved, perhaps by necessity (do you really want to have a conversation with the person whose elbow is digging into your spine on a rush hour train that’s crammed to the gills?). If you want to see them cutting loose, go to Yoyogi Park, located near the fashion district of Harajuku, on a Sunday.

You’ll find drum circles, people dancing, punk bands blasting out loud music, and so on. Just about anything crazy that anyone has ever done on a city street is acted out there each week. It is truly something to see.

Yunessun and Mori No Yu

If you’re ready for a respite from Tokyo’s pulsing neon and bustling crowds, take a day trip to the much smaller and quieter city of Hakone, which is about an hour and a half by train from Tokyo. Why visit Hakone?

Well, there are tons and tons of onsen (hot springs) there. Often, an onsen is a place where people bathe together nude in very hot water, but if the idea of getting naked with strangers makes you a tad uncomfortable, don’t worry. Hakone’s Yunessun is an onsen theme park which is mostly nudity-free, and a number of the baths there are very unique. For instance, there’s a Dead Sea spa with a sodium content so high you’ll float, a sake spa which we think probably won’t intoxicate you (but no promises), a green tea spa, and so on.

If you don’t mind shedding your skivvies, that kind of hot spring is also available at the nearby Mori No Yu facility, which is dedicated to outdoor baths in beautiful settings. Admission to Yunessun alone is 3500 yen; Mori No Yu alone is 1800 yen; both together will run you 4000 yen.

There’s a hotel onsite if you feel like making this more than just a day trip. Since the location is a bit out of the way, we recommend following the directions on the Web site (http://www.yunessun.com/english/index.html).

Rush Hour

If you want to have a truly authentic Tokyo experience, try riding a train at rush hour. Maybe you’ll even meet with one of those guys in white gloves who comes around to push the flailing mass of people into the train so the door can close! Go between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. for the optimum rush hour experience. The Saikyo, Keio, and Chuo lines are highly recommended.

By Mike Day for PeterGreenberg.com.

Finding Free and Cheap Travel Activities in Expensive Japan - GETTING THERE, GETTING AROUND, LODGING

Finding Free and Cheap Travel Activities in Expensive Japan - FUKUOKA

Finding Free and Cheap Travel Activities in Expensive Japan - HIROSHIMA

Finding Free and Cheap Travel Activities in Expensive Japan - KYOTO

Finding Free and Cheap Travel Activities in Expensive Japan - TOKYO

Finding Free and Cheap Travel Activities in Expensive Japan

Japan is notable for its modern antiquity, bustling city life, and enough fluorescent lights to give any traveler’s eyes a workout.

But with the current economic climate, the Land of the Rising Sun might also be confused with the Land of the Rising Budget, especially for travelers.

However, there are plenty of activities in Japan that are affordable—and even free—meaning you can cover a great deal of territory even on a tiny budget.

TOKYO

Each neighborhood in Tokyo has its own distinct appeal, plus dozens of free and cheap activities, so no one could ever dare complain that the city is boring. Tiring, yes—but never boring.

Though it’s incredibly touristy, stopping into a Japanese temple should still be at the top of your list of things to do. Senso-ji Temple, located in the Asakusa neighborhood, allows you to absorb Japanese culture while also experiencing the craziness of urban Tokyo life.

The main pathway leading up to the temple is lined with little shops that sell everything from rice cakes to key chains to samurai swords. The crowds can be a bit overwhelming, but if you just keep moving, you’ll be fine. It’s worth the effort to see the temple and the second tallest pagoda in Japan, which stands nearby. Best of all, both sites are free, which means you can save your money for more important things—like the sake set you’ve been eyeing since you entered the temple grounds.

Near Asakusa is Ueno Park, which is home to several temples, a museum and an art gallery. A stroll through this park provides a respite from the hustle and bustle of Tokyo, but still allows visitors to see some important sights. Cherry trees are abundant here, with blossoms reaching their peak in early April.

Although it’s definitely “on the brochure,” take some time to visit Tokyo Tower (modeled after the Eiffel Tower) just before dusk, where a ticket to the top earns you two spectacular views: the Tokyo skyline at sunset, followed by the city at night. On clear days, you can see the sunlight dancing upon Mount Fuji’s silhouette in the distance. www.tokyotower.co.jp/english

Your inner geek will emerge at Akihibara Electronic Town, a gadget-lovers paradise that’ll whet your appetite for anything with a “play” button. It might even make you rethink your budget, since prices here are pretty reasonable. In addition, many of the items at Akihibara won’t show up in the States for at least a year, thus giving you bragging rights to your friends back home. The area is also packed with toy stores that cater to the 7-year-old inside us all. www.akiba.or.jp/english

Seasoned travelers know about the Tsukiji Central Fish Market, and often make a point of dragging their friends at 5 a.m to this boisterous wholesale auction market where local merchants and restaurateurs compete to get the freshest and most desirable catch of the day. Yes, it can be a challenge to convince someone to get up that early to watch fish being sold, but it’s one of the better Tokyo experiences.

Don’t miss more tips with Cheapskate Confessions: Japan on a Budget

Fishmongers shout out prices and throw seafood around while visitors simply look on (and duck). Everything from giant tuna to baby octopus is available there—and don’t forget to enjoy some of the freshest sushi you will ever eat before heading back to your hotel for a mid-morning nap. Visitors are welcome, but remember to be respectful. The government only recently lifted a tourist ban, which was a result of some previously inconsiderate foreign visitors. www.tsukiji-market.or.jp/tukiji_e.htm

Depending on your time frame, consider a quick day trip to the small city of Gotemba. Located at the foot of Mount Fuji, Gotemba and the surrounding area can be reached by the Shinkansen high-speed train in about an hour and a half. Once you get off the train at Gotemba, hop on one of the buses that continually run up to any one of the volcano’s “fifth stations.”

During climbing season (July–August) travelers can summit Mount Fuji via a number of different ascent routes on all sides of the volcano. The last stop accessible by road on these ascents is called the fifth station, which acts as a sort of base camp and is a great starting point for a mountain climb. While no climbing experience is needed to summi Mt. Fuji, you should be in good shape and definitely participate in a guided excursion. Most climbers begin their journey in the dead of night so that they are able to watch the sunrise at the summit. www.city.gotemba.shizuoka.jp/indexe.html

Text and Photos (except as indicated) by Karl I. Muller for PeterGreenberg.com.

A dubious achievement

A dubious achievement

Old Seoul: frame by frame 24. First railway in Seoul

History of the nation’s first major railway tied to unwanted Japanese influence
October 19, 2009

Korea’s 110-year railroad history by the numbers

* 9/18/1899 - date that Korea’s first railway, called the Gyeongin Line, opened
* 90 jeon (the old Korean currency) - the ticket price for a first-class seat (to put it in perspective, a bowl of noodles cost 3 jeon back then).
* 30 km/hour - the speed at which Korea’s first train, the Mogal, operated.
* 2004 - Year in which Korea opened its high-speed railway, the fifth country in the world to do so.
* 300 km/hour - the speed at which Korea’s high-speed railway operates today.

Public transportation is one of those rare inventions that changed life forever.

Long gone are the days when people had to walk, ride horses or - for the regal bunch - sit atop palanquins to get around. Today, you can hop in a car, a bus or a subway and speed across town in a jiffy. You can also fly to the other side of the world in less than a day.

For moving across Korea, however, cars, planes and buses often take a back seat to trains today. Sure, riding the rails might not be as popular as it was back in the day. But taking the train can be far more efficient when it comes to zipping around the country, particularly when talking about the relatively new high-speed lines.
Last month, Korea celebrated the 110th anniversary of the foundation of its first railroad. So what better time than now to look back at the first major railway and train stations in Korea, a tale that highlights tremendous advancement and architectural treasures, yet one that also has a decidedly dark side.

‘Leaps like wind and rain’

Few, if any, people these days marvel at the idea of riding a train. But in the mid-1800s, it was quite exciting.

“It darts like thunder and lightning and leaps like wind and rain,” Kim Ki-su, a foreign envoy, wrote in 1877 about his experience riding a train a year earlier in Japan. “Inside the car it doesn’t move a bit, but outside scenes of mountains, houses and people flashed fast.”

Historic documents show that the Korean government actively began discussing construction of a railroad in 1882, hoping to introduce this amazing new “steel horse” to the people. But the government, part of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), was growing increasingly weak and vulnerable due to rising pressure from Japan and other countries. Eventually, foreign powers struggled with each other over the right to build the railroad here. This context is key to understanding the history of Korea’s railroad system.

“A railway is a symbol of a modern society, and its construction signals the start of a modernization process,” Kim Jong-hun, an architecture professor at Pai Chai University, argued in his book “The History of Stations,” released in 2003. “But Korea’s case is unique because a railway didn’t appear when the people felt the need for it. Rather, it was Japan’s means of invading the country.”

In Japanese hands

The project fell into Japanese hands in a roundabout way.

American financier James R. Morse actually obtained the construction rights for Korea’s first railroad, which was dubbed the Gyeongin Line. The plan was to connect Jemulpo in Incheon with Noryangjin in Seoul. Morse held a groundbreaking ceremony in 1897 in Incheon. But his financial situation rapidly deteriorated, and he conceded the rights to a Japanese firm two years later.

The Japanese opened the Jemulpo-Noryangjin line on Sept. 18. About 10 months later, after a bridge over the Han River was completed, the line was extended, stretching all the way to the Jeong-dong area.

While the railway was no doubt a solid achievement, it came at a price.

The Japanese forcibly mobilized thousands of Korean workers, bought a massive lot at a dirt-cheap price and bulldozed farms, homes and even graveyards, according to a March 9, 1906 article in the Daehan Maeil Shinbo, an early Korean newspaper.

Early train stations

The opening ceremony for the extended line was held at Seodaemun Station, which once stood near Ewha Girls’ High School in Jeong-dong and became the “gateway to Seoul.” The station is believed to have been demolished sometime around 1919, relinquishing its gateway status to Namdaemun Station, precursor of today’s Seoul Station (Seodaemun and Namdaemun stations had coexisted for two decades).

Henry Noel Humphreys (1810-1879), a British artist, argued that it is the duty of railways and train stations to relieve travellers, in part by having a comforting architectural style. That wasn’t the case in Korea, though, where early railway stations were barely more than Japanese military facilities. Not exactly soothing.

Stations built later can be lumped into one of three architectural types: classical Western, traditional Japanese and a mix of the two. The old Seoul Station building, which is currently undergoing restoration, falls into the third category. It was built between 1922 and 1925 to replace the small, wooden Namdaemun Station. Today, of course, the new Seoul Station has a modern feel.

While the history of railways and the train stations themselves in some countries are more glamorous, Korea at least has a unique background in this area.

The start of the railway system here, as Professor Kim of Pai Chai University says, was “the byproduct of clashes between invasion and resistance, development and plunder, and repression and growth.”

By Kim Hyung-eun [hkim@joongang.co.kr]

Opening Today of The Peninsula Shanghai

Our Proud Return -- The Past Meets the Future -- The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, Limited Returns to Shanghai with the Opening Today of The Peninsula Shanghai

Encompassing the Best of Our Traditions and the Height of Sophistication in One Extraordinary Hotel

SHANGHAI, Oct. 18 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- A spectacular and iconic new building now graces Shanghai's celebrated Bund -- The Peninsula Shanghai opens today.

(Photo: http://www.prnasia.com/sa/2009/10/17/20091017766702.html)

(Photo: http://www.prnasia.com/sa/2009/10/17/2009101735020.html)

Built in the style of a noble residence of the 1920s and 30s, The Peninsula Shanghai harks back to Shanghai's heyday, when the city was "the Paris of the East". A blend of Art Deco features with subtle Chinese influences has been faithfully recreated in the 235 superbly appointed guestrooms and suites -- among the largest in the city -- in this perfect marriage of history and contemporary comfort.

Grand and glamorous, yet with a welcoming residential feel, this unique property marks the return of classic luxury to Shanghai. The first new building on the Bund in over 60 years and occupying a prime site on the Huangpu River beside the former British Consulate Gardens and the Suzhou Creek, The Peninsula Shanghai offers spectacular views of the Pudong skyline, river and historic Bund.

This glorious new landmark property is the Group's ninth prestigious hotel, and also marks the return of parent company, The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, Limited, to its Shanghai roots after an absence of 60 years, where it operated four of the city's premier hotels -- The Kalee, Majestic, Palace and Astor House -- in the first half of the last century.

Never before has Shanghai seen elegance, service and style on this scale, in a hotel that offers historical authenticity blended with The Peninsula Hotels' proprietary state-of-the-art in-room technology.

Four themed suites -- The Astor, Majestic, Palace and Peninsula Suites are the epitome of gracious living, with outdoor rooftop terraces and breathtaking views of the Bund and Pudong's futuristic skyline. Together with the spectacular Rose Ballroom, which accommodates 450 guests for a banquet or 1,000 for a cocktail reception, these will be Shanghai's most exclusive venues for weddings, prestigious events, celebrations and product launches.

Special Peninsula features include an elevator large enough to deliver a limousine to the ballroom, a custom-made 1930s Schindler cage lift and a full- scale replica of a 1930s seaplane in the Rosemonde Aviation Lounge, The Peninsula Arcade with a selection of the world's top luxury brands, customised Rolls-Royce Phantoms, not to mention unique wedding photo opportunities, from the splendid marble staircase, to the 900 sq m Palace Suite wraparound rooftop terrace with its breathtaking views of the entire city, tipped to quickly become Shanghai's number one venue for prestigious corporate events and social occasions.

When it comes to dining at The Peninsula Shanghai, China's first Michelin Star winner, Chef Chi Keung Tang already has a loyal following for his famous signature Cantonese dishes. Enjoy his MSG-free classic cuisine and dim sum favourites at The Yi Long Court restaurant, which together with the speciality tea counter, Chef's Table and seven private dining salons, revives the lofty elegance of a rich 1930s merchant's residence.

Traditional Afternoon Tea will be served in the triple-height Lobby lounge overlooking the former British Consulate Gardens, with tea dances held once a month. As the rollout continues, guests can look forward to the unveiling of the rooftop Sir Elly's Restaurant Bar and Terrace, the hotel's international dining venue offering modern European cuisine with French influences. Spectacular skyline views can be enjoyed both from Sir Elly's dining room and the top floor private dining rooms. The basement will see the decadent days of Shanghai's heyday come to life in the Salon de Ning late night lounge, while The Compass Bar, with its dramatic deep purple and French navy decor, maritime memorabilia and outdoor terrace is the hotel's cosy and inviting bar, the perfect meeting place just off the Bund.

No Peninsula would be complete without a Peninsula Spa by ESPA, and the partnership with the renowned operator continues, with exciting new decor and special spa treatments unique to The Peninsula Shanghai. Nine treatment rooms, with a cool navy and white nautical theme, complement the sauna, steam and relaxation rooms, just steps from the 25-metre indoor swimming pool and expansive Fitness Centre.

"Opening The Peninsula Shanghai is a unique opportunity to re-establish our historic links to this wonderful city. We've tried to create an approach that s different, and we feel very comfortable and proud to be back", says Mr Paul Tchen, The Peninsula Shanghai's General Manager. "Shanghai's a natural part of our storyline, a romantic and historic continuation of the golden age of travel and our company's rich heritage".

Incorporated in 1866 and listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (00045), HSH is a holding company whose subsidiaries and its jointly controlled entity are engaged in the ownership and management of prestigious hotel, commercial and residential properties in key destinations in Asia and the USA. The hotel portfolio of the Group comprises The Peninsula Hong Kong, The Peninsula Shanghai, The Peninsula Tokyo, The Peninsula Beijing, The Peninsula New York, The Peninsula Chicago, The Peninsula Beverly Hills, The Peninsula Bangkok, The Peninsula Manila and The Peninsula Paris (opening in 2012). The property portfolio of the Group includes The Repulse Bay Complex, The Peak Tower and The Peak Tramways, St. John's Building, The Landmark in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and the Thai Country Club in Bangkok, Thailand.

For further information, please contact:

Ms Cecilia Lui
Regional Director of Communications China
The Peninsula Shanghai
No. 32 The Bund. 32 Zhongshan Dong Yi Road
Shanghai 200002, China
Tel: +86-21-2327-2888-6605
Fax: +86-21-2327-2000
Email: cecilialui@peninsula.com
Website: http://www.peninsula.com
Digital Photo Library: http://www.leonardo.com/peninsula
Broadcast Video Library: http://www.thenewsmarket.com/thepeninsulahotels

Ms Sian Griffiths
Director of Communications
The Peninsula Hotels
8/F, St George's Building, 2 Ice House Street
Central, Hong Kong
Tel: +852-2840-7239
Fax: +852-2840-7499
Email: siangriffiths@peninsula.com
Website: http://www.peninsula.com
Digital Photo Library: http://www.leonardo.com/peninsula
Broadcast Video Library: http://www.thenewsmarket.com/thepeninsulahotels

PR Representative in Shanghai:
Ms Doris Yin
Client Servicing Executive
Eastwei Relations Shanghai
Rm. 203, Building G, Red Town
No. 570 W. Huaihai Rd.
Shanghai 200052
Tel: +86-21-5169-9311 ext.6132
Fax: +86-21-5230-0401
Email: doris.yin@eastwei.com
Website: http://www.eastwei.com

SOURCE The Peninsula Shanghai

Rising seas threaten Shanghai, other major cities

Rising seas threaten Shanghai, other major cities

By ELAINE KURTENBACH
The Associated Press

Monday, October 19, 2009; 12:00 AM

SHANGHAI -- This city of 20 million rose from the sea and grew into a modern showcase, with skyscrapers piercing the clouds, atop tidal flats fed by the mighty Yangtze River.

Now Shanghai's future depends on finding ways to prevent the same waters from reclaiming it.

Global warming and melting glaciers and polar ice sheets are raising sea levels worldwide, leaving tens of millions of people in coastal areas and on low-lying islands vulnerable to flooding and other weather-related catastrophes.

Shanghai, altitude roughly 3 meters (10 feet) above sea level, is among dozens of great world cities - including London, Miami, New York, New Orleans, Mumbai, Cairo, Amsterdam and Tokyo - threatened by sea levels that now are rising twice as fast as projected just a few years ago, expanding from warmth and meltwater. Estimates of the scale and timing vary, but Stefan Rahmstorf, a respected expert at Germany's Potsdam Institute, expects a 1-meter (3-foot) rise in this century and up to 5 meters (15 feet) over the next 300 years.

Chinese cities are among the largest and most threatened. Their huge populations - the Yangtze River Delta region alone has about 80 million people - and their rapid growth into giant industrial, financial and shipping centers could mean massive losses from rising sea levels, experts say.

The sea is steadily advancing on Shanghai, tainting its freshwater supplies as it turns coastal land and groundwater salty, slowing drainage of the area's heavily polluted flood basin and eating away at the precious delta soils that form the city's foundations.

Planners are slow in addressing the threat, in the apparent belief they have time. Instead, Shanghai has thrown its energies into constructing billions of dollars worth of new infrastructure: new ports, bridges, airports, industrial zones, right on the coast.

"By no means will Shanghai be under the sea 50 years from now. It won't be like the 'Day After Tomorrow' scenario," says Zheng Hongbo, a geologist who heads the School of Earth Science and Engineering at Nanjing University.

"Scientifically, though, this is a problem whether we like it or not," says Zheng, pointing to areas along Shanghai's coast thought to be shrinking due to erosion caused by rising water levels.

Chinese legend credits Emperor Yu the Great with taming floods in Neolithic times by dredging new river channels to absorb excess water. In modern times, the city has been sinking for decades, thanks to pumping of groundwater and the construction of thousands of high-rise buildings.

Today, Shanghai's engineers are reinforcing flood gates and levees to contain rivers rising due to heavy silting and subsidence.

"We used to play on the river banks and swim in the water when I was growing up. But the river is higher now," says Ma Shikang, an engineer overseeing Shanghai's main flood gate, pointing to homes below water level near the city's famed riverfront Bund.

Rising seas threaten Shanghai, other major cities

Twice daily, the 100-meter (330-foot-wide) barrier, where the city's Suzhou Creek empties into the Huangpu River, is raised and lowered in tandem with the tides and weather, regulating the city's vast labyrinth of canals and creeks.

The 5.86-meter (19-foot) high flood gate is built to withstand a one-in-1,000 years tidal surge; the highest modern Shanghai has faced so far was 5.72 meters (nearly 19 feet), during a 1997 typhoon.

Levees along the Bund and other major waterways are 6.9 meters (nearly 23 feet) high, providing better protection than in Miami, New York and many other cities. But they still would be swamped if hit by a surge like Hurricane Katrina's 8.5-meter (28-foot) onslaught.

Shanghai is considering building still bigger barriers - like those in London, Venice and the Netherlands - to fend off potentially disastrous storm surges, most likely at the point 30 kilometers (18 miles) downstream where the deep, muddy Huangpu empties into the Yangtze.

Sang Baoliang, deputy director of the Shanghai Flood Control Headquarters, has been to see the Thames Barrier, which protects London, and the Deltaworks series of storm barriers and dams in the Netherlands, where two-thirds of the population lives on land below sea level, much of it reclaimed from the sea.

Like many Chinese officials, some of whom deem the topic too sensitive to discuss, Sang is cautious about what China might do.

"We are studying this, but it is extremely complicated," said Sang, as shots from surveillance cameras at dozens of flood gates flashed on a full-wall screen.

"If the research determines that indeed the sea level will rise further, then we will need to build the walls higher. But this is still under research," he said.

Such projects usually require several decades of planning and construction, and with sea levels rising, they likely will have to be adjusted, given the unknowns of climate change.

"Nobody - no municipal or provincial government, and no central government agency - is preparing adaptation plans for Shanghai or the Yangtze Delta," says Edward Leman, whose Ottawa-based consultancy Chreod Ltd. has published research on the issue. "They must begin now, as investments and decisions made today will have a major impact in the coming years."

Nearly a quarter of mankind lives in low-lying coastal areas, and urbanization is drawing still more people into them.

"The tendency of coastal and port locations to become playgrounds for architects and developers has become a global phenomenon in recent decades," says Gordon McGranahan, director of the human settlements group at the International Institute for Environment and Development, an independent think tank in London.

McGranahan helped author a 2007 report by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development that put the number of people living in areas vulnerable to such flooding at 40 million people, with trillions of dollars of homes and other assets at risk. By the 2070s, the number could rise to nearly 150 million, it says.

Extreme weather will aggravate the already precarious situation for many: in September, Tropical Storm Kestana left 80 percent of the Philippine capital, Manila, under water. Newspaper photos showed much of Haikou, on China's southern coast, flooded, as Vietnam evacuated more than 350,000 people from the storm's path.

In years to come, some Pacific islands, like tiny Tuvalu, are expecting complete inundation. Vietnam's environment ministry estimates that more than a third of the Mekong Delta, where nearly half the country's rice is grown, will be submerged if sea levels rise by 1 meter (39 inches).

Impoverished Bangladesh is spending billions of dollars on dikes and storm shelters, while seeking international aid to help it adapt to flooding that could force up to 35 million of its people to relocate by 2050.

Though much of its land is arid, China likewise has millions of people living in densely populated tidal flats and coastal valleys who already must be evacuated during typhoons. Many of the country's biggest cities are threatened, the OECD report says.

"What has been specific to China has been the enormous coastward migration, unfortunately just at a time when it would have been better not to settle low-elevation coastal areas," McGranahan said.

Traces of former sea walls show that much of today's Shanghai, which sits between a flood basin and the sea, was under water or marshland until the 7th or 8th century AD. Over thousands of years, ancient settlements expanded and withdrew as water levels ebbed and rose.

In the future, communities unable to move may instead end up adapting buildings and infrastructure to accommodate higher water levels, says Hui-Li Lee, a landscape architect who is working on several projects in the region.

"There are many things we cannot account for, but if we know an area is going to flood, then we have to plan for that," Lee said. "When we look at a map, we have to think that 30 years later or 50 years later everything will be below sea level."

China’s Export of Its Culture Stumbles Amid State Control

October 19, 2009

Uneasy Engagement
China’s Export of Its Culture Stumbles Amid State Control

By STEVEN ERLANGER and JONATHAN ANSFIELD

FRANKFURT — As China extends its economic reach, it has also increased efforts to promote its culture, or “soft power,” to counter Western influence and improve its image in the wider world.

Yet if Chinese goods are accepted everywhere, its arts and literature, embattled at home after decades of censorship and state control, are proving harder for the government to export.

After years of delicate preparations, China was the “honored guest” this past week at the Frankfurt Book Fair, the largest and most influential book trade event, based on the number of publishers represented. But what Beijing hoped would be a celebration of its cultural achievements turned into a tug of war between control and free speech, as much a showcase for Chinese dissidents as the state’s approved writers.

Mao Zedong said that power flowed from the “wielders of the pen,” not only from the gun. But the chairman would not be amused to find books like “Mao: The Unknown Story,” an indictment of his rule that is banned in China, displayed alongside the official Chinese exhibit at this year’s fair, which ended Sunday.

When the German organizers and diplomats urged the Chinese to allow a prominent storyteller and musician, Liao Yiwu, to come to Frankfurt, the authorities refused to lift his overseas travel ban, and told him to stop talking about it.

A symposium preceding the book fair titled “China and the World — Perceptions and Realities,” became a major confrontation. Fair organizers withdrew invitations to two dissident writers the Chinese wanted to exclude, Dai Qing and Bei Ling, but welcomed them at the last minute after criticism by journalists and politicians. When the writers made statements, the Chinese delegation walked out, only to return after an abject apology by the fair’s director, Jürgen Boos.

“We did not come to be instructed about democracy,” declared Mei Zhaorong, China’s former ambassador to Germany.

Unlike the exquisitely choreographed ceremonies during the Beijing Olympics, the fair presented a messier and more ambiguous portrait of China on the rise — a country still deeply uncomfortable with its own discordant voices, yet eager to become more competitive with the West in the realm of ideas.

China controlled its own massive display of books, artwork and authors at the fair, including even books from Taiwan, to underline its assertion of “One China.” But it could not censor the 2,500 books about China displayed by others. And while Beijing had many consultations with the German government and arguments with the fair organizers, it ultimately did not push to prevent dissidents and critics — even representatives of the Dalai Lama — from attending the event.

The book fair is not the Beijing Olympics and “cannot be controlled,” said Mr. Boos. He apologized for mishandling the symposium, but said: “It is the beginning of a cultural dialogue. And dialogue is not easy.”

Still, Chinese officials did not attend dissident events, “which were full of people who already agreed with the dissidents,” said the German novelist Tanja Kinkel. “They were preaching to the choir,” she said.

The Chinese themselves were annoyed. With SpiegelOnline headlining its coverage “China, the Unwelcome Guest,” several official Chinese delegates told colleagues that Europe’s politicians and news media were strongly biased.

Li Pengyi, a delegation member and vice president of China Publishing Group Corporation, said happily that China had sold nearly 900 copyrights here. But he complained about the coverage.

“We don’t feel we’ve been hospitably treated,” he said. “China sent more than 2,000 people to Frankfurt. And now this barrage of criticism.”

Zhao Haiyun, spokesman for China’s General Administration of Press and Publication, said that instead of focusing on literature, the media had focused on human rights and censorship. “The German media are very biased,” he said.

Even so, the Chinese did not pull out. The Beijing leadership sent Xi Jinping, China’s vice president and heir apparent to President Hu Jintao, a measure of the political weight they attached to the event.

Michael Naumann, a former German culture minister and now publisher and editor of Die Zeit, a prominent weekly newspaper, said German organizers misjudged the complications of honoring China in a year laden with controversy, including the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the 20th anniversary of the crushed Tiananmen Square democracy movement and the 60th anniversary of Chinese Communist Party rule.

“I think the people who run the book fair were kind of naïve when they invited the Chinese,” he said. “But opening this enormous window of the book fair to Chinese writers, whether they are censored or not, will give them a way to sniff out the open forum of intellectual debate.”

Since 2004, China has pursued what it calls its “going out” policy on the cultural front, trying to square its economic influence and new status as a global power, while trying to defuse criticism on issues like Tibet, Taiwan and human rights.

There have been yearlong cultural exchanges with many countries; the opening of hundreds of language teaching centers known as Confucius Institutes; new foreign-language services from official media like Xinhua and CCTV; and new interest in foreign platforms like the Kennedy Center and the Europalia festival in Brussels.

There have been other furors. When China was featured at the 2004 Paris Book Fair, officials initially persuaded the French not to invite the Nobel literature laureate Gao Xingjian, a French citizen whose books are banned in China.

But Frankfurt, with its 7,300 publishers and 300,000 visitors, was a much riskier venture.

Jing Bartz has been the fair’s chief representative in Beijing since 2003 and negotiated strenuously with Chinese publication officials. “China has really wanted to use this platform to promote Chinese culture,” she said. “On the other side, they are worried because they can’t use Chinese rules to do it.”

What helped persuade China was the cultural trade gap. At the 2005 Beijing book fair, the Chinese were shocked that German publishers sold 600 copyrighted works to China while the Chinese sold just one to Germany, Mrs. Bartz said.

Chinese officials worried particularly that the Dalai Lama might attend, or that books would be displayed from adversaries like the banned movement Falun Gong.

The breakthrough came in 2006, said Mrs. Bartz, when Shi Zongyuan, then head of the General Administration of Press and Publication, told organizers: “We just have to make it very clear what is our guest of honor program, and what are the other events.”

China invested $15 million and managed nearly every detail of its exhibition. There was much argument over what translations to finance. The 20 new German-published volumes China financed include works by major writers, like Jiang Rong’s “Wolf Totem,” Yu Hua’s “Brothers,” and Xu Zechen’s “Running Through Zhongguancun.”

Mr. Xu’s hit, about a migrant hawking pirated DVDs and fake IDs in the capital, was unexpected. But of some 100 newly translated titles that China promoted, most are banal introductions to China from state publishers.

“The government has not put on such a concentrated, large-scale event before to promote Chinese literature, so I think it’s a good opportunity,” said Mr. Xu, 31. “Because of the government’s involvement, there are inevitably going to be these ideological problems. But we just have to be responsible to ourselves.”

Since the uproar over the symposium last month, said Mr. Boos and Mrs. Bartz, China has appeared more relaxed. Officials eventually gave up protesting the attendance of those like the Uighur independence advocate Rebiya Kadeer; the Dalai Lama’s envoy, Kelsang Gyaltsen; Ms. Dai, Mr. Bei or Mr. Gao.

“They tried to learn,” Mrs. Bartz said. But she confirmed that while the Chinese were “very satisfied with the business results” of the fair, “they don’t really feel they were welcomed as guests here.” The word went down from the top, she said, not to react to demonstrations or provocations from protesters or journalists.

Back in China, however, the fair has not brought any noticeable easing of restrictions.

Mr. Liao, the writer and musician, was imprisoned from 1990 to 1994 after he wrote a poem about the Tiananmen massacre. Despite an invitation here — he hoped to promote his book about China’s downtrodden, known in English as “The Corpse Walker” — the police would not lift a ban on his going overseas.

In a telephone interview, Mr. Liao said it was not a complete loss for him or other underground writers, given the publicity. “Only by going through these incidents, it seems, can we become known to the outside world,” he said.

Steven Erlanger reported from Frankfurt, and Jonathan Ansfield from Beijing

Lotte Shopping Said to Agree to Buy Control of China’s Times

Lotte Shopping Said to Agree to Buy Control of China’s Times

By Cathy Chan

Oct. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Lotte Shopping Co., South Korea’s biggest department store owner, agreed to buy control of Times Ltd. in a deal that values the Chinese supermarket operator at about $625 million, two people with knowledge of the matter said.

Seoul-based Lotte Shopping will purchase a 72.3 percent stake in Times from Chairman Kenneth Fang for about HK$5.50 per share, 19 percent above Times’s latest traded price, and will make an offer for the rest of the company, the people said, asking not to be identified because the talks are private.

Lotte Shopping beat out China’s Wumart Stores Inc. to clinch the biggest acquisition in the country by a Korean company, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Lotte Shopping, which operates a department store in Beijing, will add 65 outlets in the world’s fastest-growing major economy with the purchase.

Times may announce the deal as early as today, the people said. A call to the company’s Hong Kong office outside of regular business hours went unanswered.

“We are currently in the final stage of talks with a positive stance, but we have no information on the size or the value of the stake,” said Lee Sun Dae, a spokesman for Lotte in Seoul.

Wumart, Beijing’s biggest supermarket chain, said Sept. 24 it has held talks with Times. Shares in Times were suspended on Oct. 12 in Hong Kong after rising to a two-year high, taking its market value to $523 million.

Lotte Shopping said Oct. 16 in a regulatory filing that it plans to invest an additional 732.7 billion won ($622 million) in its Hong Kong unit, which will use the proceeds to expand in China and Hong Kong.

Nomura Holdings Inc. is advising Lotte Shopping and HSBC Holdings Plc represents Times. Annie Cheng, a spokeswoman at HSBC, declined to comment. Nomura spokesman Matthew Russell didn’t return an e-mail seeking comment.

To contact the reporter on this story: Cathy Chan in Hong Kong at kchan14@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 18, 2009 12:00 EDT

U.S. Enlists Oil to Sway Beijing's Stance on Tehran

BUSINESS

OCTOBER 19, 2009

U.S. Enlists Oil to Sway Beijing's Stance on Tehran

By JAY SOLOMON

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration is encouraging key Arab states to boost oil exports to China in order to reduce Beijing's reliance on Iranian energy and pare Chinese resistance to tougher sanctions over Tehran's nuclear program.

The administration's strategy has yielded a gain: in a step coordinated with Washington, the United Arab Emirates recently agreed to boost oil exports to China to between 150,000 to 200,000 barrels a day from a current level of 50,000 over the next six months, according to U.S. and Emirati officials.

A senior Emirati official said Abu Dhabi plans to make a significant additional increase "within the next three years."

Saudi Arabia, long at odds with Tehran, also appears prepared to offer China more oil to make up for any losses it incurs as part of an international effort to punish Iran, according to people familiar with Saudi thinking.

The kingdom buys considerable weapons, natural resources and consumer products from China, and is weighing how to leverage those purchases to persuade Beijing to distance itself from Tehran.

The U.S. strategy is as much about realigning diplomatic alliances as shifting the oil supply, U.S. officials said.

Many diplomats and Middle East analysts are skeptical that the U.S. and the Arab states will succeed over the long term in breaking Beijing's reliance on Iranian energy.

Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. are both constrained in exporting oil by quotas established by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Industry analysts question how the two countries could significantly boost exports to China without flouting those quotas and flooding markets with excess oil.

Washington and its European allies increasingly view China as the pivotal player in an international effort to pressure Tehran economically over its nuclear program. Iranian officials are scheduled to meet representatives from the U.S., France and Russia in Vienna on Monday in a bid to conclude an agreement for the international community to better monitor and manage Tehran's stockpile of low-enriched uranium.

Growing sanctions against Iran could lead to significant instability in the Persian Gulf. Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. could be important partners in guaranteeing Beijing's continued oil supply. China's consumption is expected to grow to about 20 million barrels of oil a day by 2030 from its current level of eight millions barrels a day.

Saudi Arabia is the largest oil exporter to China, sending 740,000 barrels a day during the first five months of 2009. Iran is the second-largest supplier at about 540,000 barrels a day.

"We've been telling the Arab states to directly express their concerns to Russia and China about Iran's actions," said a U.S. official involved in the dialogue. "And we stressed that they should use their leverage."

Beijing is the second-largest buyer of Iranian oil. The Asian giant has pledged tens of billions of dollars in new investment in Iran's oil and gas infrastructure in coming years. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao damped U.S. hopes for broad cooperation on Iran last week, praising Beijing's "widened and deepened" relationship with Tehran following a meeting with Iranian Vice President Reza Rahimi.

China and Russia have the ability to block new sanctions proposals being discussed at the United Nations Security Council. Beijing has repeatedly expressed opposition to enacting expansive financial penalties against Tehran.

China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Beijing's National Energy Administration didn't respond to requests for comment about the U.A.E. offer of additional oil.

A spokesman at Saudi Arabia's Washington office didn't respond to requests for comment.

Beijing also views Iran as a crucial partner in helping China achieve energy independence. China is investing in massive joint exploration, extraction and refining projects in Iran. Oil-industry analysts note that many of China's energy ventures in Iran have yet to bear fruit, due to technological deficiencies and contract disputes. But Beijing is still seen as unwilling to turn its back on opportunities to develop China's own refining and extraction capabilities.

"The Chinese are wooing Iran because they are banking that the best energy security is to be their own producers," said Patrick Clawson, an Iran expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

U.S. officials, however, view the U.A.E.'s action as an important early signal from a key oil-producing Arab state.

—Sue Feng contributed to this article.

Write to Jay Solomon at jay.solomon@wsj.com

The Road to Copenhagen

The Road to Copenhagen

Gavan McCormack

In September, after its warmest August on record, Australia’s East coast was shrouded in thick red dust. Visibility was reduced to metres, forcing cancelation of flights and driving people indoors as some five million tonnes of soil blew in from the country’s vast interior where the drought is in its ninth year. Early in the same month, Koreans were told that in future snow was likely to disappear in their country save for a few mountain peaks, and that their climate would become sub-tropical. Elsewhere, the Arctic sea-ice crumbles, opening navigation and exploration routes into the polar regions, glaciers retreat, half the world’s tropical and temperate forests, wetlands, and coral have gone or are threatened; storms, floods, and other natural disasters ripple around the world. Scientists warn of approaching global catastrophe.

Australia facing record temperatures

The UN Environment Program’s latest study tells us that, even if the international community enacts every climate policy so far proposed global temperatures will still rise significantly through this century. Whatever we do now we “cannot reduce the already committed GHGs [global greenhouse gases] warming of 2.4 degrees Celsius.” The world’s preeminent climatologists, according to the report in the April issue of the scientific journal, Nature, estimate that even with a moderate warming (20C) we stand “a strong chance of provoking drought and storm responses that could challenge civilized society, leading potentially to the conflict and suffering that go with failed states and mass migrations.” That is our future, and the outlook is steadily worsening.

At Copenhagen we have to reach global consensus to launch a campaign – amounting in intensity to wartime mobilization – to try to arrest, or at least slow, the degeneration of the world as we know it into the catastrophe of climate chaos. The December conference becomes the most important event in the history of humanity, our last chance.

Global NGOs, including Greenpeace and WWF, estimate that we need at Copenhagen a commitment to a global carbon cut of 40 per cent cut by 2020 and 80 per cent (95 per cent for the industrial countries) by mid-century. Another way of putting it is to say that the Kyoto targets – only reached in a few places – now have to be multiplied by two to three times in the short term and up to ten times in the medium term.

At present, despite the commitments many countries have made since Kyoto in 1997 to reduce them, they are rising steadily. Globally, greenhouse emissions rose by 38 per cent between 1992 and 2007, increasing from a rate of 1.1 per cent annually in the 1990s to 3.5 per cent in 2000-2007. The specialist literature is punctuated increasingly by bleak words: threshold, tipping-point, irreversibility. We are destabilizing the climatic conditions under which over the last several millennia humanity developed agriculture, villages, cities, civilizations.

World fossil fuel emissions, 1990-2007

Human activity, pumping carbon into the atmosphere at steadily increasing rates ever since the industrial revolution has raised the pre-industrial concentration of carbon in the atmosphere (280 ppm) to 387 ppm, and that level continues to rise by around 3.1 ppm per year. On a “business as usual” projection of our current trajectory, we are headed towards an end of century carbon concentration figure of around 950 ppm and a temperature rise of 4.60C.

To hold temperature increase to around 2 degrees, the world’s scientists meeting in Bali in 2007 insisted that we must at all costs keep levels of atmospheric carbon concentration below 450 ppm. The EU and Australia have now adopted that goal. However, many scientists think that the real tipping point is more likely to be 400 ppm – in any case now unavoidable and imminent - and highly influential ones, including Rajendra Pachauri, the head of the IPCC, think that, as a matter of urgency, we should reduce it to 350. Even if all cuts pledged by countries around the world as of this moment were realized, the temperature rise will still be in the order of 3.5 degrees, ie. almost twice the previous “worst case” scenarios.

For Australia, where a reformist and climate-conscious government took office in 2008, the subsequent commitment to 450 ppm has grim implications. It takes for granted continuing and worsening ravages of drought, fire, extreme summer heat up to 45 degrees in Southern Australia in 2008), and – since it is a big country – floods. Already drought in the country’s grain basket, the Murray-Darling River basin, has drastically reduced the output of irrigated crops and forced complete suspension of rice agriculture in the past two seasons. Most shocking of all, with a 450 ppm carbon concentration in the atmosphere, the Great Barrier Reef – one of the wonders of the world - will not survive.

In Japan too, a reforming, climate conscious government took office in September 2009 and immediately announced a commitment to a 25 per cent reduction on its 1990 emissions by 2020. Even under the previous LDP governments, Japan has sometimes been seen as a model of clean and efficient energy, but the fact is that it not only failed to meet its 6 per cent Kyoto reduction target but its emissions grew by 11 per cent to 2007. That was better, to be sure, than the US (+20 per cent), but it pales before the accomplishment of countries such as Germany which cut its emissions by 21 per cent.

Japanese Prime Minister Hatoyama Yukio’s 25 per cent “reduction on 1990 levels” is a bold promise, and it stands in relief compared to the paltry US gestures thus far. However, Hatoyama has yet to persuade industry or to develop a blueprint of how to accomplish it, his pledge is conditional on a Copenhagen agreement in which “all major economies participate,” and because of the failure of the post-Kyoto decade his 25 per cent of 1990 levels actually means he has to cut current levels by 36 per cent. And, if he accomplishes all that, in terms of what is needed it represents no more than a first step.

As for South Korea, its greenhouse gas emissions have been growing at the highest rate among OECD counties (increasing by 90 per cent between 1990 and 2005), and its thus far announced short-term (to 2020) goal is to hold them to an increase of not more than 8 per cent above its 2005 levels. Should it take that stance to Copenhagen, Korea is unlikely to fare well. Facing global catastrophe, any industrial country that talks of increasing its carbon emissions can expect to be told to go back and re-consider its global responsibilities.

South Korea’s carbon emissions

Short of some technological breakthrough (of which at present there is no sign), the political and moral imperative is that we shift from non-renewable, carbon-intensive to renewable, carbon-neutral economic activity, cut back on production, consumption, and waste in the “conventional” carbon sector, husband existing resources and find more equitable and less wasteful ways of distributing them, eliminating the unnecessary and inefficient. Yet, as I wrote in this column in 2008 (“The Chimera of Growth,” March 2008), humanity’s shared, quasi-religious faith, shared by Christians, Buddhists, Muslims and atheists alike, is that human society must be organized so as to maximize production, consumption, and waste. GDP scale and growth is currently the major indicator of the “success” of countries.

December’s Copenhagen meeting calls therefore for a Copernican shift so that henceforth countries will be evaluated not for their GDP but for their success a global citizens in cutting back greenhouse gas emissions. The growth fetish has to be set aside lest our decline into climate chaos, punctuated by water wars, oil wars, food wars, and epidemics, becomes irreversible. The Kyoto, Bali, and other major conferences on climate change were no more than feeble nudges in the direction humanity has to go. Copenhagen must go much further.

This is the text of a column written for Kyunghyang Shinmoon and published on October 13, 2009.

Gavan McCormack is emeritus professor at Australian National University in Canberra, a coordinator at Japan Focus, and author of Target North Korea: Pushing North Korea to the Brink of Nuclear Catastrophe and Client State: Japan in the American Embrace.

Recommended citation: Gavan McCormack, "The Road to Copenhagen," The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 42-3-09, October 19, 2009.

Software Pirates in China Beat Microsoft to the Punch

Software Pirates in China Beat Microsoft to the Punch

Published: October 18, 2009

TAIPEI — At shops in the bustling Xinyang market in Shanghai, fake Apple iPhones and Bose speakers were displayed alongside bootleg copies of Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system, a week before it officially was to go on sale.

“Which version do you want? Ultimate? Normal? English or Chinese?” one shopkeeper asked, proudly pointing out her ample supply of discs packed in unmarked white boxes.

People in mainland China have been able to buy pirated copies of the newest version of Microsoft’s Windows franchise this month for just 20 yuan, or $2.93, each — a fraction of list prices, which are as high as $320.

Windows 7’s “early release” in China underscores the challenge major software makers face in trying to make money in China, the world’s second-largest PC market, after the United States.

The U.S. research firm IDC estimated that about 80 percent of software sold in China last year was pirated. While that figure is falling, it is still double the global average and about four times the average in developed markets like the United States and Japan.

“The big issue that is driving piracy in China today is price,” said Matthew Cheung, an analyst at the research firm Gartner. “If you’re trying to sell a program that costs 2,000 yuan to a student living on 400 yuan a month, that’s simply not going to work out for most consumers.”

In a nod to such pressures, Microsoft cut the price of its Office 2007 Home and Student Edition to 199 yuan last year from 699 yuan.

And Microsoft will sell its low-end Windows 7 Home Basic version for 399 yuan, a modest price by Western standards but still 15 times as much as is charged for pirated copies.

Violation of intellectual property rights has been a sore spot in China’s relations with its major trading partners, even as it has cracked down on rampant piracy of everything from Gucci bags to software.

A Chinese court jailed four people in August for spreading a bootleg version of Microsoft’s Windows XP, in what Xinhua, the official news agency, called the nation’s biggest software piracy bust.

“A lot of people are used to getting away with it for a long time,” said Steve Vickers, president of FTI-International Risk. “There are signs that law enforcement is picking up, and that should help things improve.”

Business Software Alliance, a trade association created by the software industry, said the sector had lost more than $6.6 billion in China last year to piracy.

Most experts agree that piracy in China is a long-term issue, but many say that conditions should improve as software makers cut prices, users become more educated and living standards rise.

“Piracy in China is reducing year by year because the government is placing more attention on it and prices between the real and fake have narrowed,” said Qian Liyong, director of the E.U.-China Project on the protection of intellectual property rights, based in Beijing.

Gartner estimated that software piracy rates in mainland China would fall as low as 50 percent by 2012, putting it almost on a par with rates in developed Asian markets like Hong Kong.

Customer education is also improving in mainland China as many realize the dangers of installing pirated software, which sometimes comes with viruses and spyware.

“This is a long-term issue — 10-20 years — it’s not just going to go away in an instant,” said Edward Yu, chief executive of Analysys International, a research firm.

In a bid to tackle the problem, Microsoft began an unconventional campaign in China last year that caused a black screen to be displayed every hour for users of pirated versions of Windows XP.

But that just caused thousands of irate users to migrate to free software from domestic companies like Kingsoft.

Some say that free Web-based software, supported by advertising, may ultimately help to reduce piracy in China by letting third parties pay for development costs.

“Because of the Internet, we are seeing a trend that software is by and large becoming free for consumers from point to point,” Mr. Yu said.

Princess Aiko’s relay race

A video of Princess Aiko, daughter of Crown Prince Naruhito, participating in her school’s Sports Day (undokai) festivities:

The second half of the clip contains footage of Naruhito running in the same relay back when he was 7-years-old.

Japan to relax visa requirements for Chinese tourists+

Japan to relax visa requirements for Chinese tourists+

Shared via AddThis

Men going to great lengths for beautiful skin

Men going to great lengths for beautiful skin
Shoichi Shirahaze / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

Skin care items are not just for "metrosexuals" any more, as marketers cater to an increasing number of men who are putting priority on cosmetic considerations.

According to the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry, sales of men's skin care cosmetics in 2008 totaled 17.6 billion yen, a 16.9 percent increase from the previous year.

Nivea-Kao Co. became the first to offer a men's skin care brand in 2002, followed by Shiseido Co. in 2004 and Roht Pharmaceutical Co. in 2006.

Yoshiaki Okabe, a Shiseido official who took part in developing the company's men's skin care brand, said, "More men are spending money on skin care items thanks to the appearance of men's cosmetics items at several department stores as well as due to the 'choi-waru oyaji' [trendy middle-aged playboy] boom."

Meanwhile, Kaori Sutani, a public relations officer at Mandom Corp., said men, mostly younger ones, have begun paying attention to their skin, partly due to the popularization of sending e-mail photo attachments. According to a Mandom survey, the usage rate of facial wash among men reached 59.4 percent in 2009, compared with the 48.8 percent figure registered in 2005. When the question focused on university students, the rate soared to more than 85 percent.

Other men's cosmetic products, such as beauty essence, milky lotion and cream preparations, also recently have hit the market. One can find large selections of these items at drugstores and special cosmetic counters staffed by skin counselors at department stores.

Male skin is said to contain more oil and less moisture than female skin. Skin care experts recommend that men keep their facial skin clean by frequently washing and using moisturizing products.

(Oct. 19, 2009)

Crime rife at Net cafes that don't require ID

Crime rife at Net cafes that don't require ID
The Yomiuri Shimbun

Tokyo police are considering making it mandatory for Net cafe operators to ask customers to show identification after a survey found nearly 75 percent of crimes committed at cybercafes occurred at shops that did not check the ID of customers.

Fewer than 40 percent of Net cafes in the capital ask their customers to show ID, according to a Metropolitan Police Department survey of 561 Net cafes known to be operating in Tokyo as of the end of August.

The MPD launched an expert advisory panel Saturday to consider measures to stem the crimes--including theft, hacking and rape--occurring in Net cafes. One step the panel will discuss is making it obligatory for Net cafes to confirm the identification of their customers, according to the MPD.

Just 214 of the Net cafes surveyed, or 38.1 percent, asked customers to show ID when entering their premises.

There were 679 crimes reported in Tokyo's Net cafes from January to the end of August. Of them, 505, or 74 percent, took place at Net cafes that did not check customer ID.

Thefts of bags and other possessions topped the list with 579 incidents, followed by 67 cases of fraud and seven robberies with violence.

A youth arrested by police on suspicion of stealing items from private booths late at night reportedly told police that the Net cafes were easy targets. "The booths have no locks and many people leave their booths unattended," he reportedly said.

Since around 2006, cases of using computers at Net cafes for unlawful purposes such as hacking and purchasing illegal drugs online have been steadily increasing, investigators said.

Even rapes have been reported at Net cafes. A 28-year-old part-time worker arrested on suspicion of indecently assaulting a young girl in a booth for couples at a Net cafe reportedly told police that the booth had a mattress and "could not be seen from the outside."

Girls who have run away from home have been found using computers at Net cafes to trawl for people willing to pay them for sex, the MPD said.

Billing fraud gangs have stationed members charged with withdrawing money from victims' accounts at Net cafes.

The MPD has been urging Net cafe operators since 2007 to verify the identity of their customers with ID bearing a photograph and keep computer records.

Compliance with the MPD requests, however, has been left to discretion of the cafes, and no penalties are slapped on cafes that fail to comply.

Just 38.1 percent of Net cafes complied with the MPD request in the latest survey, edging down from 40.6 percent in a survey a year before, and only 13.9 percent stored computer usage records, down from 24.6 percent a year earlier, the MPD noted.

Some Net cafes reportedly told MPD officers that they stopped asking customers to show ID because many cafe users disliked the practice.

The Japan Complex Cafe Association, a nationwide federation of 1,263 Net cafe operators, plans to ask its members to tighten their checks of customers.

"We'll boost efforts to confirm cafe users' identification because doing so would bring in more users if they know they can enter and feel safe," an association official said.

(Oct. 19, 2009)

Water shortages hit south China

Water shortages hit south China

Source: Xinhua
2009-10-19

SEVERE drought over the past months has stunted rice crops, threatened reservoirs and left hundreds of thousands of people short of drinking water in southern Chinese provinces.

In the southern Guangdong Province, where rain in the first 10 months fell by 14 percent compared with averages in past years, more than 55,000 hectares of cropland are affected and 50,000 people are facing difficulties in getting drinking water because of the drought.

Water level in Guangdong's dams continued to drop. According to Guangdong Provincial Flooding and Drought Relief Headquarters, water levels in Guangdong's 32 key reservoirs have reported a year-on-year decrease of 2.34 billion cubic meters.

The drought is continuing to take a toll on agricultural production in the province.

"I've never seen such a severe drought in my life," said a 73-year-old farmer in Zhoutian Township, Shaoguan City. "A great deal of crops have been damaged."

There have also been concerns of further crop damage as drought harms plants' ability to weather the winter.

In Nan'ao Island of Shantou City, home to more than 70,000 people, drought has left residents struggling to bathe and do the laundry.

More than 70,000 people in Zhangzhou City in the southeastern Fujian Province are also short of drinking water.

Hydraulic experts attribute the water shortage to the lingering drought as well as a shortage of reservoirs, where construction has lagged behind China's industrialization and urbanization.

In the central Hunan Province, low water levels in Dongting Lake, China's second largest fresh water lake, have forced local fishermen out of work.

"October used to be a 'golden season' for fishing in the lake," said fisherman Gong Jianmin. "But now we can't go out to fish since the low water period has come early this year because of the drought."

In eastern Jiangxi Province, most cities have recorded a 66 percent drop in rainfall.

Villagers relocated to make way for reservoir

Villagers relocated to make way for reservoir
Source: Xinhua
2009-10-19

A RESETTLEMENT project involving 330,000 people living in central China's Hubei and Henan provinces has started to make way for China's south-north water diversion project, according to resettlement authorities in Henan yesterday.

People will be relocated from their homes near the Danjiangkou reservoir, where a sluice will be built to divert water from the Yangtze River to thirsty northern China regions including Beijing, Tianjin, Henan and Hebei.

Sources with the resettlement headquarters in Henan said the provincial government has approved new settlement areas with convenient traffic conditions and good soil quality.

Henan's Xichuan County will see the resettlement of 162,000 people, the largest number in a single county, in 185 new villages.

Resettlement in the province is scheduled to be completed in 2011, according to Henan's authorities.

Each resettled family will be given 0.1 hectare of land per person and an annual subsidy of 600 yuan (US$88) each for 20 years, according to Duan Shiyao, deputy chief of Hubei Provincial Resettlement Bureau.

The resettlement project is the country's second largest following a similar scheme for the Three Gorges Hydro-Power Project, where 1.27 million people were moved.

U.S.-Japan ties get early test ahead of Obama visit

U.S.-Japan ties get early test ahead of Obama visit
Sun Oct 18, 2009 7:30am EDT
By Phil Stewart

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A trip by the U.S. defense secretary to Tokyo this week will offer an early test of ties with Japan's new government, which swept to power last month promising a more independent path from Washington.

The change of guard in Japan has raised uncertainty among investors watching the pivotal role of the U.S. alliance in a region that is also home to North Korea, an unpredictable and reclusive state that is pursuing a nuclear program.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, whose trip will include South Korea, will give assurances of Washington's "full-throated commitment" to defend allies in Asia from any threat from North Korea after its latest missile test, U.S. defense officials said.

But Gates is also expected to seek assurances during his visit on Tuesday and Wednesday that Japan's new government will honor past security accords, clearing away possible sources of friction before President Barack Obama's visit next month.

Those include a contentious agreement on rejigging U.S. forces in Japan, home to 48,000 U.S. troops.

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama wants a Marine air base moved off Okinawa island -- an option U.S. officials rule out. They say it would undermine broader security arrangements long in the making.

"It's been in the works for 15 years. ... You start to pull on one thread and you run the risk of the whole thing unraveling," said one defense official, briefing journalists before the trip on the condition he not be named.

Washington also wants Japan to come forward with new forms of assistance to Afghanistan, if Tokyo follows through with plans to halt a naval refueling mission backing coalition forces, the official said.

"That contribution does not have to be a military one. In fact, a lot of the very valuable contributions in Afghanistan are on the development side and the training side," he said.

Japan's defense minister said on Tuesday that Tokyo would end its refueling mission in support of coalition operations in Afghanistan, but a top government spokesman said a decision had yet to be made.

Analysts expressed optimism that Tokyo and Washington would reaffirm their historically strong ties, despite a new government in Japan and a young administration in Washington.

"The Japanese will be reassuring him (Gates) that nothing much is going to change, even though they've made a lot of noise," said Phil Deans, professor of international affairs at Temple University's Tokyo campus.

SOUTH KOREA HANDOVER

After Japan, Gates heads to South Korea, where nearly 29,000 U.S. soldiers are stationed to help defend against North Korea, which fired five short-range missiles on October 12.

The Pentagon called those tests "unhelpful and potentially destabilizing" and senior U.S. officials immediately traveled to Tokyo and then Seoul last week to assure allies the United States could defend them, officials said.

"North Korea is obviously trying to achieve break-out as a nuclear weapons state. We will never accept this," one official said.

Asked whether there were concerns that Asian allies might pursue their own nuclear programs to defend against North Korea, a U.S. official said the hope was that a strong U.S. commitment would steer them away from "the nuclear option."

Gates' trip to Seoul also comes amid a major restructuring of the U.S. military alliance with South Korea, forged during the 1950-53 Korean War. Seoul is set to take wartime control of its forces by 2012.

"We think it's a natural evolution of the alliance, that it's time now 60 years after the start of the Korean War," an official said.

Officials said Gates was set to confirm progress toward the handover.

"That will be one of the issues that will be discussed," he added. "And we fully expect that we will endorse the progress we've made and that we're on target for transfer in 2012."

South Korea's 650,000 troops face about 1.1 million in North Korea, which devotes the bulk of its resources to its military despite a struggling economy.

(Additional reporting by Isabel Reynolds in Tokyo; Editing by Paul Eckert and John O'Callaghan)

© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved

Upcoming Cruises

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Subscribe To

About Heather

Translate into your native language

Search This Blog

Feedback Welcome

Followers

General Travel Links

Cruise Links

Asia News & Travel Links

Alaska & Hawaii News & Travel Links

Australia News & Travel Links

Brunei News & Travel Links

Cambodia News & Travel Links

China News & Travel Links

Hong Kong News & Travel Links

Indonesia News & Travel Links

Japan News & Travel Links

Macau News & Travel Links

Malaysia News & Travel Links

North Korea News & Travel Links

Northern Mariana Islands News & Travel Links

Papua New Guinea News & Travel Links

Russia News & Travel Links

Singapore News & Travel Links

South Korea News & Travel Links

Taiwan News & Travel Links

Thailand News & Travel Links

Vietnam News & Travel Links

Upcoming Cruises & Holidays

Blog Archive