LONELY PLANET:
A good swimming spot is Fujiazhuang Beach, a deep bay with pebbly sand. Take bus 401 (Y1, 20 to 30 minutes) from the northwest corner of Jiefang Lu and Zhongshan Lu
FROMMER’S:
A few kilometers west is the relatively clean Fu Jia Zhuang Beach (¥5/65¢/35p). This is where the city's serious swimmers gather for a brisk dip before work. Take bus no. 5 (25 min.) from Qingniwa Qiao (north of Shengli Guangchang).
TOKYO — When an official at the Imperial Household Agency suddenly announced last week that 8-year-old Princess Aiko was refusing to go to school because of bullying, he did more than just disclose a mundane problem facing a member of Japan’s ancient and secretive monarchy.
He also added a new twist to one of the most riveting but mysterious dramas in Japan, the seven-year depression and seclusion of Aiko’s mother, Crown Princess Masako, the Harvard-trained former diplomat. Aiko is the only child of Princess Masako and her husband, Crown Prince Naruhito, and is widely known to be one of the few sources of joy for the troubled crown princess.
The episode has once again put Princess Masako’s unhappy story into the harsh glare of Japan’s tabloid press. The news media here portrayed her 1993 wedding as the fairy-tale marriage of a commoner to a prince but then grew increasingly critical of her inability to bear a male heir for the Chrysanthemum Throne. The mounting pressure is widely seen as contributing to what appears to have been a breakdown.
Since last week’s announcement, Princess Masako, 46, has emerged to take her daughter to school and even to sit with Aiko in her second-grade classroom. Some commentators speculated whether her mother’s problems had made Aiko overly sensitive or emotionally frail.
The question now is whether the report that her daughter was bullied will make Japanese more sympathetic to the princess’s plight, or only add to the criticism of her. Some said Aiko’s troubles might even feed growing calls by conservatives for her father, 50, to step aside as the successor to his father, Emperor Akihito, 76.
“Many people won’t want such an unhealthy family to become emperor and empress,” said Akira Hashimoto, a former schoolmate of Emperor Akihito who has written several books about the imperial family. “If Aiko’s problems continue, this will only put more pressure on the crown prince.”
The renewed attention began on Friday, when the Imperial Household Agency’s grand master, who manages the affairs of the crown prince and his family, said at a regular news conference that Aiko was staying home because of stomachaches and anxiety attacks. The grand master, Issei Nomura, then revealed that the agency believed that the princess had suffered “violent acts” by boys in her elementary school, though he did not elaborate.
The apparently unscripted outburst was unprecedented from someone in the usually tightlipped inner circles of Japan’s tradition-bound imperial family, and it immediately set off a frenzy of coverage in the Japanese media. Some reports have criticized the grand master for overreacting to a common problem faced by parents of other social classes.
However, the harshest words have been reserved for Tokyo’s elite Gakushuin Primary School, which was created more than a century ago to educate Japan’s prewar aristocracy. Tabloid weeklies have reported in scandalized tones how the school had allowed students to run, yell in class and tussle on the playground — roughhousing common at other schools but unacceptable at a school patronized by the imperial family.
Responding to the grand master’s comments, a director at the school, Motomasa Higashisono, said that Aiko was scared after two boys nearly collided with her by accident as they rushed down the hallway to get lunch.
“My understanding is that we have heard nothing about any acts of violence or bullying directed at Her Highness Princess Aiko,” Mr. Higashisono said. Still, there has been talk of whether the incident may prompt the imperial family to cut its ties to the school.
In an indirect way, the saga has also added to concerns of some conservatives about whether Prince Naruhito is fit to take the throne. Some court watchers, like Mr. Hashimoto, have begun to ask how the crown prince would be able to fulfill his duties as emperor with his wife incapacitated and now his daughter unable to attend school on her own.
Naruhito has also shared the blame for his wife’s failure to have a boy, which prompted a politically charged debate about whether to break with centuries of tradition and allow a woman to assume the Chrysanthemum Throne, one of the world’s oldest hereditary monarchies. This debate was halted three years ago when the wife of the crown prince’s younger brother, Prince Akishino, bore a son, ensuring a male successor for at least one more generation.
Others, however, said the school incident might have the opposite effect of making the public feel more compassion for Princess Masako. They said it could make the crown princess seem less distant if she was seen as a concerned mother facing her child’s bullying, an all-too-common problem in Japan’s high-pressure educational system.
“This will impress upon the public psyche that Princess Masako has problems just like the rest of us,” said Takeshi Hara, a professor specializing in the monarchy at Meiji Gakuin University here. “This could generate more support for her and the crown prince.”
Thu Mar 11, 2010 2:15pm IST
By Toshi Maeda
TOKYO (Reuters Life!) - In search of Mr. or Mrs. Right, dozens of Japanese are attending a newly launched school in Tokyo that aims turn them into marriage material.
The Infini school offers various classes for wannabe brides and grooms at a time when many people in Japan are either shunning the institution of marriage or are finding it very difficult to hook up with a partner.
The school, which is open to men and women, teaches students how to talk, walk and present themselves elegantly in a bid to capture the hearts and minds of prospective partners and their parents, who are often a major obstacle to successful unions.
Infini, which opened last month, now has about 30 female students. An almost equal number of males has signed up, but those who actually turn up to class are much fewer than their female counterparts.
"I had never even thought that my boyfriend's mother could play such a big role in my relationship, but now I've realised I need to start thinking seriously about how to impress my future in-laws," said Kozue Sugawara, 29, who joined the school after her previous marriage plans failed.
With women wielding increased economic clout and changing social attitudes towards marriage, more Japanese in their 20s and 30s are single than ever before.
Government statistics show nearly two-thirds of women under the age of 34 are unmarried, despite some 3,800 firms in Japan offering match-making services.
The average age of the school's female students is 30 years.
"Before, people would find it easy to get married because families and society would connect them in some way, sometimes pushing them to get married. But nowadays, people have too many choices and cannot seem to make up their minds," said Etsuko Satake, principal of the Infini marriage prep school.
Instructors provide critiques about students' dress, posture and even details such as how they cross their legs or get out of a car. Men and men are taught different skills, which range from how to set a table well to how to be more emotionally expressive.
Students also simulate dates, during which their instructors grade their performance and point out what they did wrong.
The school charges an annual fee of 200,000 yen ($2,217) for unlimited access to its classes.
And some students, such as 32-year-old Mei Oda, seem to think it's an investment worth making.
"I'm looking for a man who makes more than 10 million yen (110,000 dollars) a year, doesn't ask me to live with his parents and takes good care of me," said Oda, a contract office worker.
Experts say that with Japan's economy plunged deep into recession, many women are taking a renewed interest in marriage and the economic stability it could provide, and are actively seeking a partner through "konkatsu" or spouse-hunting activities.
(Editing by Miral Fahmy)
An unidentified woman opens the door at the entrance of the Hump Restaurant in Santa Monica, Calif. on Wednesday, March 10, 2010. Federal prosecutors have filed charges against the owner of the restaurant and its sushi chef that marine mammal activists say served illegal Sei whale meat. The charges follow a video sting orchestrated by the producers of the Oscar-winning documentary, "The Cove." (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)
By RAQUEL MARIA DILLON (AP) – 6 hours ago
LOS ANGELES — Federal prosecutors filed charges Wednesday against a sushi chef and a Santa Monica restaurant on allegations that they served illegal and endangered whale meat.
Typhoon Restaurant Inc., which owns The Hump restaurant, and sushi chef Kiyoshiro Yamamoto, 45, were charged with illegally selling an endangered species product, a misdemeanor.
According to a search warrant, marine mammal activists were served whale during three separate visits to the restaurant. Federal labs confirmed the meat came from a Sei whale, an endangered species protected by international treaties, documents said.
Agents also seized some suspected whale meat during a search of the restaurant Friday but are awaiting test results to confirm it was Sei whale, U.S. attorney spokesman Thom Mrozak said.
In October, two activists posing as customers went to The Hump and ordered "omakase," which means they let the chef choose the choicest fresh fish. They also requested whale and pocketed a sample.
The young women worked with Louie Psihoyos, director of the Oscar-winning documentary "The Cove," to record the meal with a hidden camera and microphone.
"These are endangered animals being cut up for dinner," Psihoyos said. "It's an abuse of science."
Psihoyos took their findings to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which started an investigation.
Activists claim the whale meat came from Japan's scientific whaling program and was illegally exported, but the U.S. attorney's office is still investigating the source of the meat.
Japan kills hundreds of whales in Antarctic waters each year under its research whaling program, which has triggered violent protests by conservationists and caused strong objections by diplomats in recent years.
An attorney for Typhoon, Gary Lincenberg, said the restaurant accepts responsibility for serving whale and will agree to pay a fine. If convicted, the company could be fined up to $200,000.
Court records say agents interviewed Yamamoto, a Culver City resident and a chef at The Hump for the past seven years, and he admitted serving whale to two young women.
Yamamoto's attorney, Mark Byrne, declined to comment on the charges, saying he hadn't had time to review them. If convicted, Yamamoto could face a year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000.
During the October restaurant visit, animal rights activist Crystal Galbraith, 27, and a friend who spoke fluent Japanese racked up a bill of $600, feasting on increasingly exotic dishes to gain the confidence of the waiters and chef.
"It was heartbreaking to eat an endangered animal, but I knew that I was doing it to save" the whales, said Galbraith, a vegan. "We were there eating for four hours. I felt so full and sick."
The waitress brought out a dish of whale sushi, identifying the whale in English and Japanese, court documents said. The dish was listed as whale on the check and cost $85.
The team sent samples to Scott Baker, a professor and cetacean specialist at Oregon State University's Marine Mammal Institute, for genetic testing. The results showed the meat was from a Sei whale, court records said.
The Sei whale is a baleen whale found throughout the world's oceans, and known for its graceful and quick swimming and its long, low vocalizations, Baker said. Fully grown, the mammal is longer than a bus.
Eating Sei whale meat is common in Japan, Korea and Norway and among native peoples in Alaska and Canada, but it is illegal to export the meat because of the Sei whale's endangered status.
In late February, when Psihoyos and the rest of his team were in Los Angeles for the Academy Awards, Galbraith and another friend returned to The Hump twice more.
This time, agents from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration sat at the bar and watched Yamamoto at work, court records said. During the third visit, another agent watched the chef go to his car and retrieve a package wrapped in clear plastic.
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