Australia topped the OECD Better Life Index while Japan has been ranked 16th out of 36. Picture: OECD Better Life Index

The results of the OECD Better Life Index have revealed that Australia is the “happiest” industrialized country in the world – even trumping the likes of Norway and Sweden – while Japan ranks 16^th.

But is Japan really that bad a place to live, or are Japanese people just complaining too much?

The OECD Better Life Index bases its results on the housing, personal income, jobs, community, education, environment, civic engagement, health, life satisfaction, safety and work-life balance of people within ３６ of the world’s most developed countries.

The Wall Street Journal reports that thanks to continued trade with countries like China and the country’s resource boom, Australia has managed to ride out the economic storm in Europe, placing the it at the top of the Better Life Index, overall.

While Australia performed exceedingly well, ranking within the top five for civic engagement, health, safety and community, the work-life balance of many Aussies leaves something to be desired. Australians are among the most overworked people in the world, ranked 30^th above Israel, Korea, Japan, Turkey and Mexico.

But what of Japan?

According to the Better Life Index, the citizens of the world’s third largest economy are not very happy. While findings that place Japan as the safest in the world and with one of the best education systems are of little surprise, things are not looking good for Japan, overall.

Although Japan boasts the highest life expectancy in the world at 83 years, on average, only 30 per cent of respondents reported they were in good health – much lower than the OECD average of 70 per cent. While these results could partially be to do with the aging population, Japanese people spend less of on their health than the average developed nation.

And while a almost a third of the country reported that they worked “very long hours – the second highest behind Turkey at 43 per cent), it doesn’t seem to be paying off. The average Japanese person earns $US23458 a year – only $1000 more than the OECD average.

In terms of housing, Japan scored slightly lower than the OECD average. 93 per cent of Japanese people live in dwellings with private access to indoor flushing toilets. The  OECD average is 97. per cent. Similarly Just over three quarters of Japanese people say they are satisfied with their home, compared to the OECD average of 90 per cent.

It’s interesting that areas in which Japan performed worst such as health and housing are rated on a subjective basis. While there is no disputing factors like the average education attainment (the highest amongst those countries surveyed), how much time someone spends with their friends, or how “satisfied” someone is with their house, cannot be accurately measured.

15 per cent of Japanese people said they ‘rarely’ or ‘never’ spend time with friends or family – the highest figure in OECD countries. But don’t we all feel overworked sometimes? How often are exaggerations thrown around because we’re in a particular mood?

With a shaky economy and signs of a hot summer teamed with power outages thanks to the temporary shutdown of the country’s nuclear reactors, it is easy for Japanese people to become depressed by their surroundings, especially when their neighbour, South Korea, is growing from strength to strength.

Whatever the case may be – whether Japanese people truly are less happy that many other countries, or whether they just think they’re worse off – perhaps what is important for Japanese society is to look beyond what is, and aim for what could-be.

Osaka's Mayor has told over 100 city workers to cover their tattoos. Picture: Flickr

The Japan Times reports that the usually casual and charismatic Hashimoto had the city council ask over 33,000 of its employees if they had tattoos and told the 110 employees who answered in the positive to have the ink removed or look for work elsewhere.

“If they want to have tattoos, they should quit working for the city and go to the private sector,” he said.

“There may be places such as the fashion or food industries where it can be allowed, but there is no such option for civil servants.”

The unusual survey was prompted by an incident last month in which a city worker showed off his tattoos while on site at a welfare facility, scaring children nearby.

The Mainichi Daily describes the survey as a slip of paper with images of a person, front and back, on which the employees must mark out if and where they have tattoos if they are easily seen by the public.

Tattoos have long been associated with the Yakuza, meaning people with tattoos often run into difficulties when trying to attend public pools and baths. Japan’s two biggest airlines – ANA and JAL – have also banned flight attendants from having tattoos.

But none the less, small tattoos are becoming increasingly fashionable among younger generations in Japan.

Osaka City Council appears to have taken this into account with Hiroshi Kotawa, an assistant section chief in Osaka City’s personnel division, telling The Japan Times that smaller, “fashionable” tattoos should not be a problem, provided they are adequately covered.

“I don’t think all tattoos are bad. But as a civil servant, I believe it’s unacceptable to make the public unpleasant,” he said.

Unfortunately for Osaka City Council, though, it seems that “the public” does not entirely approve of the harsh new move.

Over half of the respondents to The Japan Times' monthly poll disagree with Hashimoto. Picture: Japan Times

This month’s poll on The Japan Times shows that over half of the respondents either feel that Japan should accept that tattoos do not always have bad connotations, or feel that if the tattoos are covered there is no need to have them removed.

A further 20 per cent say that Hashimoto has “gone too far”.

A wedding at Tokyo Diney Land can cost up to 7 million yen. Picture: Flickr

Yesterday, Japan Today reported that a lesbian couple have been allowed to hold their wedding Tokyo Disney Land.

Koyuki Higashi, who has been documenting her and her partner Hiroko’s wedding plans on her blog, writes that she was initially told by Tokyo Disney staff members that the marriage could go ahead provided the couple dress “like a man and woman”.

According to Higashi’s blog, the staff member said a same-sex wedding where both parties wore bridal gowns or tuxedos would create “repercussions” among the visitors to the park.

However, Japan Today reports that several days later, Tokyo Disney clarified their initial response, saying same-sex couples could wear what they liked to their wedding. The only limitation placed on same-sex marriages is that they not exchange vows at the onsite chapel “because of Christian teaching[s]”.

“We have never refused an application for a same-sex wedding at hotels here,” a spokeswoman for Milial Resort Hotels, a subsidiary of Tokyo Disney Resort, told AFP.

“One of our staff members was mistaken when explaining about outfits for a same-sex wedding,” she said.

Although the happy couple can choose what to wear, the fact that a staff member suggested that they conform to such rigid social expectations highlights Japan’s interesting take on GLBT issues.

While the discussion of homosexuality and gay marriage is still closeted, Japan is generally very liberal minded about gender identity issues. Transgender entertainers have become increasingly popular on mainstream TV with singers like Ai Haruna leading the “new half” wave.

But, unfortunately, same-sex couples still have no legal status in Japan, and there are many homosexual people who enter a heterosexual marriage to keep their alter ego a secret.

In 2009, Japan passed a law to allow its homosexual citizens to marry their foreign partners in countries where gay marriage is legalized. Until that time, AFP reports that the Japanese Government refused to supply essential documentation for overseas marriages if both partners were of the same sex.

While this is good news for mixed-race couples, it means that Japanese nationals are still prevented from having their marriage legally recognized.

In 2007, Kanako Otsuji held a civil ceremony with her partner of four years, Maki Kimura, to become Japan’s first openly lesbian politician.

Otsuji told Pink News that she hoped her wedding, which was held during an HIV/AIDS prevention festival called Nagoya Lesbian Gay Revolution, would encourage more same-sex couples to be more open about who they love.

“Gays and lesbians are hiding themselves in society to protect themselves.

“I want people to know that gays and lesbians exist in society by looking at us (Kanako and Maki),” she said.

But even though many gays and lesbians feel they must hide their sexuality, GLBT culture is “unseen” in Japan. Recently, gameshows and talk shows who have popularized “new half” entertainers, allowing heterosexual Japanese to see how the other half live.

Hideki Sunagawa, president of Tokyo Gay Pride told Majorix News that while the presence of GLBT culture in mainstream media is welcomed, he questioned whether it was stereotyping gay people – particularly males – too much.

“It’s true that gay men are portrayed mainly as transgendered people. Even if they are not dressed like women, those who are on TV are very feminine in their behavior and in the way they talk. Many Japanese people think that gay men are basically the same as transgender people and transvestites. They are extreme and there’s always one who plays a female role in gay couples.”

Ramon Razor Hard Gay is a heterosexual entertainer who's claim to fame is impersonating gay stereotypes. Picture: Flickr

Similarly, there are comedians like Razor Ramon Hard Gay, who is dresses in leather shorts and thrusts towards the guests on his segment, who negatively stereotypes gay men even though he is known to be heterosexual.

It seems that while entertainers like Ai Haruna continue to play to mass media’s expectations of what a gay, transgender or transsexual person “should be”, Japan’s acceptance and respect for GLBT culture can only go so far.

And while commentators on Japan Today’s website have suggested that Tokyo Disney are “only in it for the money”, perhaps this is the best way for Japanese people to see that there is more to a same-sex relationship that what they see on prime time television.

College students from vocational schools in Tokyo punch the air with their fists during a pep ceremony to launch their job-hunting in Tokyo. Pic: AP.

Yomiuri Shimbun reports that suicide rates of people in their late teens and early 20s have increased 250 per cent from 2007, because fewer graduates are finding full time work.

Beginning in the second half of their third year of study, students spend 18 months handing out resumes and taking interviews in the hope of obtaining a coveted position of lifetime employment in a reasonably-sized company.

But for many of these job hunters, it’s not uncommon to send over 100 resumes, only to be turned down 100 times.

According to the National Police Agency, in 2011, 150 people committed suicide due to not finding a job.

In a society that is still largely defined by who you work for and what you do, the stress of not finding a job is particularly bad. Over 80 per cent of people who committed suicide last year were male.

Last year’s Great Eastern Japan Earthquake has also had a huge impact on the jobless rates of Japan’s graduates.

Picture: The Yomiuri Shimbun

Over 75 per cent of survivors from Fukushima, Iwate and Miyagi Prefectures are either unemployed or still searching for work, according to the Yomiuri Shimbun. This figure was particularly bad in Fukushima, where only 13 per cent of people have found jobs.

But people outside of Tohoku are also feeling the effects of the disaster.

Another report by the Yomiuri shows that the number of graduates willing to work in nuclear technology jobs has dropped.

Isshin Takenaka, a first-year graduate student at the University of Tokyo in the Department of Nuclear Engineering and Management told the paper that instability in the nuclear sector made it too risky a career choice.

“I no longer want to join the nuclear power industry; I’ll search for a job in another field,” he said.

In an attempt to counter these frightening statistics, the Japanese government employment service centre, Hello Work, has announced it plans to set up branches at universities.

The Mainichi Daily reports that the move would allow Hello Work to work closely with the university’s job placement programs as well as smaller, lesser-known firms who are looking for new recruits.

The program would also help to promote work experience and internship programs at local businesses and nonprofit organizations.

The draft proposal of the Hello Work, University program is expected to be discussed in government, with the final proposal to be released in June.

But things aren’t looking so good for Japan.

On Friday, a group of researchers at Tohoku University’s ‘Economics of Age’ department released a population clock which predicts that in 999 years time, there will be no children under 15 years old left in Japan.

At the moment there are 16.6 million children aged 15 and under in Japan, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and communications.

Lead researcher Hiroshi Yoshida told the Japan Times that he released the clock as a wake-up call for Japan’s would-be parents.

“By indicating it in figures, I want people to think about the problem of the falling birthrate with a sense of urgency,” he said.

The clock, which can be seen on the university’s website, shows that Japan’s population drops by one person every 100 seconds.

In a press release, Yoshida said the population clock research was started in honour of Children’s Day (March 5^th) but “Children’s Day 3011 will not come” if Japan’s birthrate continues to decline at its current rate.

Japan’s birthrate has been a source of worry since it fell below 2 in 1975. Currently, Japan’s birth rate is 1.39 however it is expected to be as low as 1.35 in 50 years.

Meanwhile, Japan Today reports that Japan’s life expectancy is expected to rise even further to from 86.39 years in 2010 to 90.93 years in 2060 for women and from 79.64 years to 84.19 years for men.

The website also says that Unicharm, a feminine hygeine and diaper company, has reported that sales of its adult diapers has “slightly surpassed” those for babies for the first time.

The New York Times reports that another demographic study shows that by 2040, there could be one centenarian for every newborn in Japan.

Japan is getting ready for summer with Triumph Japan's ice bra. Picture: Triumph Japan

A frozen gel, which remains soft and flexible, is inserted into the cup providing the wearer with a “super cool feeling”, according to manufacturer, Triumph Japan.

AFP reports that the “Super Cool Bra”, unveiled today in Tokyo showed off the new underwear line featuring a fish tank design on the outside of the cup.

The bra includes a spring of mint and wind chime. Picture: Triumph Japan

And if the idea of having your chests cooled to freezing temperatures hasn’t won you over yet, a spring of mint and wind chime hang between the two cups to give a “refreshing fragrance and sound”, according to the maker.

Triumph Japan,boasts that all five senses will be “hooked” by the cooling sensation of the bra, while saving money and electricity over summer.

Wearers can also keep the bottom half of their body cool with novelty bamboo screen and mosquito net mini skirts.

Novelty bamboo screen and mosquito net mini skirts. Picture: Triumph Japan

Japan is replacing it's infamous Alien Registration Card. Picture: Ministry of Justice

Obviously, things have changed since the Tokugawa period, but some expats living in Japan still feel as though their treated like prisoners on parole. From being referred to as ‘Aliens’ to having to carry a registration card which, up until 1999, included the carrier’s fingerprints, moving to Japan on a mid-to-long-term basis has been a daunting prospect.

But many of Japan’s Aliens take this strange, almost racist, approach to foreigners in their stride. An opinion piece in Japan Today even suggests that being referred to as ‘Gaijin-San’ is almost be a badge of honour for some non-Japanese living in Japan.

“ It is good to be a gaijin in Japan. There are some days when I don’t feel like a gaijin… It doesn’t bother me if people don’t like me because I am a gaijin,” one commenter said.

But there are big changes on the horizon for Japan’s Aliens. The Wall Street Journal’s Asia Japan Watch reports that from July this year, the infamous Alien Registration Card will be replaced with a “residence card”. The card will be similar to those that Japanese nationals carry, except it will also indicate the carrier’s nationality.

The introduction of the new registration system is a huge step forward. Not only does it allow permanent residents to stay for a maximum of five years, instead of three, official records for mixed-race families will list all family members, regardless of nationality.

Until now, foreign spouses could not be listed as the head of the family, and would not officially appear in records like family trees.

Brazilian workers share a beer in Oizumi Japan. Pic: AP.

As Japan’s birthrate continues to shrink, this year for the 31^st year in a row, foreigners are becoming a vital addition to the workforce. But they’re on the decline too. According to the Ministry of Justice, following the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and Japan’s slowing economy, the numbers of registered foreigners has dropped 2.6 per cent on 2011 figures.

Even the strong Brazilian community in Southwest Japan is seeing a drop in numbers as Nikkei Japanese – Japanese people living overseas – return to cash in on Brazil’s booming economy which is now the sixth largest  in the world.

But as actual numbers of foreigners decrease, the number of mixed race marriages in Japan is increasing. According to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, in 2009, almost 35,000 marriages – about 5 per cent – of included a non-Japanese partner. That’s almost triple the 1985 figure of just over 12,000.

Compared to other countries, Japan has been slow to let go of its homogenous image and open up to foreigners. This move by the Government not only shows how much non-Japanese residents in Japan have increased, it also reveals just how much Japan needs foreigners to contribute to their dwindling population and workforce.

Tokyo pictured during the power crunch aftermath of last year's earthquake and tsunami. Pic: AP.

Yesterday, Japan turned off it‘s final nuclear reactor; the first time the energy-hungry, resource-poor country has been without nuclear power in over 40 years.

And while technicians worked in Hokkaido to decommission the Number Three unit at Tomari, protesters gathered in Tokyo to celebrate the historical event.

Protest organizer Masao Kimura, told Japan Today: “It’s a symbolic day today. Now we can prove that we will be able to live without nuclear power.”

But can Japan really live without nuclear power?

With a muggy and long summer only months away, people will be reaching for their air-conditioning remotes and fans, while the rainy season is sure to keep people inside, watching television and using their computers.

Kansai Electric Power has already announced it’s electricity supply to mid-western Japan, including large cities like Osaka and Kyoto, could fall short by up to 20 per cent and Hokkaido Electric Power has voiced similar concerns.

Until the disaster at the Fukushima Daichi Nuclear Power Plant, almost 30 per cent of the world’s third largest economy’s power came from nuclear energy. Plans to construct even more plants saw that figure jump to 50 per cent by 2030.

But now, Japan has been forced to make ends meet by using Liquid Natural Gas (LNG). The end of last financial year saw Japan’s LNG imports surge by almost 20 per cent, and Japan has already opened two new, state-owned natural gas drilling sites off it’s coast.

The Japan Institute for National Fundamentals (JINF) insists that Japan should continue Nuclear Power generation, noting that increased domestic electricity costs caused by an “emotional reaction” to abandon nuclear power could force Japanese companies to relocate their factory operations overseas.

“[This would cause] increased stagnation of domestic industrial production and other economic activities. Moreover, it would jeopardize the international position of Japan in Asia and in the world.”

The Guardian reports a recent survey shows 71 per cent of Japanese manufacturers said their production would be cut if affected by power shortages while 96 per cent said their earning would be affected by higher electricity bills.

The JINF, also stressed that it is important to maintain a nuclear industry in Japan, not only for it’s own power supply and economy’s sake, but for other nuclear nations as well.

The Tokyo-based think tank says that as the leading manufacturer of nuclear technology “It is Japan’s obligation to maintain and further develop this key technology and use it to improve the safety of nuclear power plants in developed countries as well as in developing countries, where nuclear power generation continues to grow.”

“We want to face the reality firmly”

Yet in the face of these cold, hard facts and predictions, the Japanese Government has, in a move that some would call ‘brave’, insisted that safety must come first.

It’s important to note that although all of Japan’s reactors are offline, this is not a permanent move away from nuclear power in Japan.

Instead, Japan’s dormant reactors will be allowed back online once they pass ‘stress tests’ approved by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The State Minister for Nuclear policy, told : “Situations surrounding electric power are severe, but we can’t sacrifice safety. We want to face the reality firmly.

But the hardest is yet to come – local communities must also give their approval before the plant is fired back up again.

In a recent poll by Kyodo News, 59.5 per cent of Fukui Prefecture residents are opposed to restarting the Oi nuclear power while  26.7 per cent support it.

The JINF says that if nuclear power is to be re-started in Japan, the government must first re-build the population’s trust in the energy source.

“It is imperative to thoroughly examine problems related to the human factors and rebuild highly reliable systems of safety management and operation,” they said.

However you see Japan’s move to temporarily halt nuclear power – for better or for worse – it seems now is an important time to keep a open mind about everything. With a shrinking population and an already shakey economy, this experiment into a nuclear-free world is just that – an experiment. And blame should not be laid too quickly on any party, regardless of the consequences.

A pampered pooch has a drink from it's portable water dish while walking through Mito in a stroller. Picture: Anna Watanabe

In Western countries, the image of the cat lady is as infamous as it is feared by unmarried, childless women. But in Japan, a country with a birth rate of 1.3 children per woman, pets are becoming a popular addition to many families – perhaps even more popular than the children themselves.

In 2009, the Japan Pet Food Association recorded 12.3 million dogs and 10 million cats in the country – that’s six million more than the number of children under 16 in Japan.

And as more Japanese choose to fill the empty spaces in their hearts and homes with their pets, the more these animals are being pampered.

In 2009, Japanese people spent over 1.2 trillion yen ($US 15 billion) on their pets including 410,000 yen trench coats , day spas and dog-friendly cars.

But as pets become more popular in people’s private lives, they’re also earning themselves more visibility in the public domain.

The Asahi Shimbun Asia Japan Watch reports that the nation is re-evaluating how it treats its pets after talks at a animal welfare symposium in Tokyo.

At The Life Sippo Project 2012 Symposium: Protecting Pets at the Yurakucho Asahi Hall, politicians, activists, radio personalities and entertainers discussed how the need to re-house the animal-victims of the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake has provided the a unique opportunity to also improve the overall treatment of animals in Japan.

From June, The Act on Welfare and Management of Animals will be amended to prohibit keeping puppies and kittens in display windows for nighttime sales.

The age at which a puppy or kitten is taken from it’s mother is also likely to be revised.

“A dog’s life advances dozens of times faster than a human’s, so I hope the law is amended as soon as possible,” said actress Chieko Baisho.

This cute couple are sightseeing, again from inside a stroller, around Asakusa's Sensouji Temple. Picture: Anna Watanabe

But it’s not just what humans can do for our four-legged friends. It seems pets in Japan will be able to much more for their owners, too.

Aera Magazine reports that the Susaki local government in Kanegawa prefecture will officially monitor the city’s animals for signs of another earthquake.

The government announced that it will not issue evacuation orders based on the animals’ behaviour but will be releasing details of their movements and activities.

The decision to monitor animal behaviours came after a disaster forecast, released in March, revealed that Susaki could be hit by a tsunami up to 24 metres high.

A book, recording animals behaving strangely up to one month before the magnitude Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995, has been published recently, further backing the Susaski council’s new monitoring scheme.

The book includes incidences of normally quiet dogs barking for three hours before digging a hole under the garden fence to escape, three hours before a tremour and a set of ten eggs bought from a supermarket four days before the quake, each with two yolks.

As Japan’s birthrate declines into the territory of science fiction, a la P.D. James’ Children of Men, people are clearly looking towards their furry family members for company. And while some may say things have gone too far, it’s nice to see animals have a greater voice in a country that has seen pets as a simply a household possession for many years.

An email from a NSW Liberal Party insider says Tony Abbot's right-wing Liberal Party are anti-Asian. Picture: AP

Minister Bowen, like many Australians prides our country’s long and rich history of multiculturalism. What’s interesting is that he emphasises that after 1970, when government immigration policies changed from the infamous White Australia Policy to Multiculturalism, the integration of other communities and cultures were encouraged for mostly socially – not economically or politically – beneficial reasons.

And it’s true: Australian society has benefited immensely from multiculturalism. I often tell people overseas, what Australians lack in national history, compared to most other nations, we make up for it in our varied diets.

But while a superficial glance suggests Australian society has benefited from various waves of immigration, how much have these immigrants been able to contribute to their communities, politically speaking.

How bipartisan is Minister Bowen’s ‘political bipartisanship’ on which his ‘genius of multiculturalism’ rests?

Recently an email, claiming to be written by a NSW Liberal Party insider, has been sent to several mastheads, suggesting there is a strong anti-Asian sentiment within the party.

The sender claims that an unusual, American-style “primary”, or pre-selection vote, in the Western Suburbs seat of Greenway is an attempt to de-seat the previous candidate, Jayme Diaz from running again.

“Asians/ethnics are used to contest safe labor seats but once the seat becomes winnable, The [sic] liberal [sic] party elders install candidates that are Caucasians,” it reads.

Tony Abbot has reportedly blamed Greenway, amongst other seats, for his loss to Labor in the last federal election. Greenway was lost to Labor’s Michelle Rowland by just 702 votes.

Although the official Liberal Party line is that the primary is simply an “experiment” to give the electorate a say in the party’s candidate to contest the next federal election, another Liberal source has told the Sun Herald otherwise.

”The entire motivation for the discussion in the party around primaries was how do you fix the seat of Greenway because it’s a mess.”

Diaz, a prominent member of the electorate’s Filipino community has signed many new members and would be re-endorsed should a regular preselection process be held.

Adding further fuel to the fire that the experimental primary is designed to de-seat Diaz are reports that the migration lawyer has “gone into hiding”.

The email goes on to mention other popular politicians with Asian heritage like the Dai Le in Cabramatta and Chang Lim in Parramatta, all of whom have been “drubbed” by the party based on their ethnicity.

But the real thrust of the letter is that the Liberal Party is anti-Asian.

“The faces of Liberal representatives in canberra [sic] would lead you to believe there are no Asians living in Australia or Asians arent [sic] citizens who vote and hence should not be represented.”

And our insider has a point: there are no federal government shadow ministers of Asian ethnicity, even though Australians with Chinese heritage are the fifth largest ethnic group in Australia and almost 4 per cent of the total population.

Hong Lim, the sole Asian member of Victorian state parliament made a similar comment at the beginning of the year.

He told The Age that while Asian Australians do disproportionately well in the corporate sector, compared to other ethnic groups, they are still under represented and have no say in national debates.

”This is not right. Because of the sheer numbers, the sheer wealth, the sheer brain power they have, they should have something more.”

Both Lim and our insider want to know: “Where is the liberal equivalent of Senator Penny Wong?”

But Lim looks further and asks why Asian Australians are so underrepresented across other sectors of society.

”They are not on TV, not public intellectuals, or human rights or social justice activists. There are none in the judiciary,” he told The Age.

But Benjamin Herscovitch of The Centre of Independent Studies sees things differently. The policy analyst told Asian Correspondent that, from a social mobility point of view, Asian Australians do very well.

“The desires of those among the Asian Australian population to pursue other career paths rather than being involved in the political process, should be noted. The representation of Asians are high amongst other career groups,” he said.

So could it be possible that Asian Australians are just less interested in moving into politics?

Unfortunately, the Liberal Party didn’t return any calls or emails so it’s difficult to say for sure. But what we can say is that our media and news continue to be saturated by ‘White’ Australians, despite our ethnic makeup.

But wait, there’s more.

Research from the Lowy Institute suggests yet another reason why we have so few Asian political figures: compared to other countries, Australians just don’t like Asians as much as other nationalities.

Measuring how they felt towards other countries in terms of ‘warm’ or ‘cold’ on a thermometer (0 degrees being very cold, 50 degrees being neither and 100 degrees being very warm), the 1002 adults surveyed in the 2011 Lowy Poll rated our Asian neighbours between 67 and 51 degrees. Japan was the country people felt most warmly towards at 67 degrees while China rated 53 degrees, just above Indonesia at 51 degrees.

How Australians feel towards other countries. Picture: The Lowy Institute, 2011 Poll

In comparison, New Zealand scored 88 degrees while Great Britain and the US were given 79 and 70 degrees, respectively.

While these results may seem unsurprising, compared to New Zealand, Australians seem to feel less warmly towards Asian countries.

The Asia New Zealand Foundation mirrored questions asked by the Lowy Institute and returned some surprising results. The order in which the countries are ranked are roughly the same, however New Zealanders feel almost 10 degrees warmer on average towards Asian countries, rating China at 70 degrees and Indonesia at 65.

If such results are anything to go by, perhaps it is not the Liberal Party who should be blamed for anti-Asian sentiments, but Australian society as a whole. If these primary selection processes truly are about de-seating Asian candidates based on ethnicity, could it be a pre-emptive move to make sure a safe candidate is ready to be elected?

It’s unfortunate to think that a country that has built itself up on multiculturalism could have such deep-seated racial issues, especially at a time when our relations with Asian nations are becoming more important. So perhaps before Minister Bowen makes any more speeches on the ‘genius’ of multiculturalism in Australia, he should take a look at his colleagues in Canberra and question why so little of this ‘genius’ has managed to find a seat on either side of government.

The tsunami-devastated city of Minami Soma may begin walking tours of the worst-hit areas. Picture: Flickr/ whsaito

Following the removal of the Japanese government’s evacuation orders on Monday, the Minami Soma municipal has announced it plans to offer walking tours of the city.

The Daily Yomiuri reports that the tours, called “disaster area reconstruction support tours”, will be run by volunteers and show visitors areas that have been deserted because of high radiation counts.

Participants, who could be allowed into the city as early as June this year, will be provided with Geiger counters but basic utilities like running water are still unavailable.

Without power and water, residents have been forced to uproot themselves and move away from their hometown.

The deserted streets of Minami Soma, Fukushima prefecture, Japan. Pic: AP.

The removal of the evacuation order has seen many people return to their homes and salvage what they can. Unable to enter his former home, Michio Matsudaira told the Mainichi Daily that the outlook for his town is bleak.

“Many residents in this area are old. In the absence of jobs, my future is uncertain,” he said.

During the summer months, the Minami Soma coast once hosted over 1.5 million tourists who came for the Soma Nomaoi festival but has had no tourists since March last year.

To further boost the local tourism industry, the local government plants to offer a 2000 yen (US$25) subsidy for each person who stays and eats in the city.

Senkaku Islands are currently privately owned by a Japanese citizen. Picture: Flikr/buck82

The Associated Press reports that in his announcement, Ishihara said Japan plans to buy the islands to bolster Japanese claims in the area and “protect the Senkakus”.

“The Japanese are acquiring the islands to protect our own territory. Would anyone have a problem with that?”

Well, China. And Taiwan, too.

You see, if the islands – called Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese – really were to appear in your local real estate rag, the ad would probably read: “located in a charismatic neighbourhood”.

Located in the East China Sea, the mostly uninhabited islands have been the cause of diplomatic tensions since the 1880s. In 2010, a Chinese and Japanese boat collision saw Beijing freeze trade and ministerial talks with Japan.

But despite their marred history, Ishihara, a strong nationalist, insists Tokyo wants to buy three of the four islands from their private Japanese owner.

“No matter which country dislikes it, no one should have a problem [with Tokyo buying the islands].”

“If we leave them as they are, we don’t know what will happen to the islands,” he said, as reported by the Japan Times.

China has already responded to Ishihara’s plans, reiterating that the islands truly belong to the Middle Kingdom.

“Any unilateral measure taken by Japan is illegal and invalid, and will not change the fact that those islands belong to China,”  said Liu Weimin, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a statement.

Japan has prevented China from drilling for natural gas in the disputed area where the two countries' claims to the territory overlap. Picture: Flickr

So what’s so special about these four rocky outcrops?

Japan has annexed several islands – including Okinawa – in the East China Sea since the end f the 19^th century.

According to Japan, surveys of the Senkaku Islands in 1885 showed they were uninhabited and had never been under direct Chinese control. As such, in 1895 they were officially incorporated into Japanese territory.

But China insists they have historical records dating back to the 15^th Century, showing they’d been used by Chinese fishermen as a operational base.

Today, the islands’ surrounds are still a popular location for Japanese and Chinese fisherman.

But more importantly, a 1969 UN Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East survey indicated the possibility of large oil reserves in the area’s surrounds.

In the same year, Japan signed the Okinawa Reversion Treaty with the US. This treaty gave Japan full responsibility and administrative authority for all the territories included within it.

This means although there is little Japan can do with the Senkaku Islands as it stands, they have a higher claim to the territory. And they’ve been trying to keep it that way for many years, paying rent of 24.5 billion yen (US$304,000) a year to the private owner to make sure the islands are not sold to another country.

Ishihara has not revealed how much Tokyo will be paying for the islands, but it seems that Japan wants to win this dispute at whatever cost.

A fault line west of Mt Fuji has been found to be 150 per cent longer than originally thought. Picture: Flickr/palindrome6996

The Daily Yomiuri reports that the Fujikawa River fault zone, running west of the dormant volcano, has been found to be 40 kilometers (24.9 miles) long – 150 per cent longer than originally thought.

The Shizuoka University team, led by geologist, Professor Aiming Lin, says the fault zone connects to the border of a tectonic plate which spreads inland from Fuji-Kawaguchiko to Shizuoka City in Shizuoka Prefecture.

When previously thought to be only 26 kilometers long, researchers believed the Fujikawa River fault zone could cause a M7.2 quake on its own, and reach up to M8 if it coincided with a Tokai, or eastern Japan, earthquake. But now Professor Lin says the fault line could cause a M8 earthquake on its own.

Last year’s Great Eastern Japan Earthquake was M9. However its epicentre was off the eastern coast of Japan. Should a quake occur inland, along the Fujikawa River fault, the consequences are expected to be far worse.

Currently, the Japanese government has predicted the probability of the fault zone causing a M8 earthquake along with the next Tokai earthquake, in the next 30 years, is as high as 18 per cent.

Find out if Mount Fuji is the home of Japan’s next big quake here.

But it doesn’t stop there. New research shows that up to 10,000 people are predicted to be killed should a quake strike further east, in Tokyo.

The Wall Street Journal’s Asia Japan Watch reports that a panel of researchers, assembled by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government have almost doubled the estimated number of deaths, which stood at 6,400 six years ago.

The experts say increased deaths will largely be caused by the collapse of buildings and fires, based on a M7.3 quake with an epicenter in the northern part of Tokyo Bay.

Most of the 23 wards in Tokyo are predicted to experience shaking of 6 or more on the Japanese ‘shindo’ scale. Ranging from 1 to 7, the shindo scale measures the degree of shaking felt on the ground, as opposed to the magnitude of the quake at its origin.

The increased ground-level shaking results are based on research conducted in March which showed plate boundaries are 10 kilometers closer to the surface than previously thought.

The panel also took the worst case scenario of the quake striking on an winter evening when high winds and low humidity would increase the likelihood of fire damage.

Kirin's new frothy, frozen head of beer keeps the drink cold for thirty minutes. Picture: Youtube

It’s a new piece of technology that will leave regular beer drinkers scratching their heads.

Kirin Brewery Co. has developed a “Frozen Draft” dispenser that keeps your beer icy cold for up to thirty minutes.

Yes, some Japanese can nurse a beer for that long.

Called the “Ichiban Shibori Frozen Draft”, the machine mixes air into Kirin Ichiban beer that has been frozen to -5 degrees Celsius (23 degrees Fahrenheit) creating a frothy, frozen head that insulates the beer.

See a video of the frozen beer for yourself here.

If, like most, you can finish your beer in less that half an hour, the frozen topping can be eaten.

If not, don’t fear: the beer soft-serve melts into the drink without diluting the beer like ice cubes. In fact, the froth is supposed to give the beer a creamier taste.

But why would anyone need to keep their beer cold for thirty minutes?

Between 30- and 50-per cent of East Asian people have an inherited enzyme deficiency making it more difficult to metabolise alcohol. This means people without the ALDH2 enzyme will take longer to drink less alcohol than others.

As little as a half a bottle of full strength beer can cause people to go bright red – not just in the face but all over their body; have an increased heart rate and feel nauseated.

Suddenly Kirin’s Frozen Draft doesn’t seem quite so strange an idea after all – especially when competitor, Asahi, has brought out it’s new beer gadget for Spring.

The Wall Street Journal’s Asia Japan Watch reports that the new “Tornado Dispenser” injects beer into specially designed glasses, filling them automatically from the bottom up.

Ichiban Shibori Frozen Draft is available in 20 stores in Tokyo, Kanagawa and Chiba and will be available nationwide from May. Gizmag also writes that the Australian market may also be interested in the product in the future.

But what exactly will be happening over the next five days and why?

The Satellite

North Korea claims the rocket will launch a scientific satellite into space. Pic: AP

North Korea is planning to launch the rocket to coincide with the 100^th anniversary of the country’s founder, Kim Il-Sung on April 15.

In order to prove the peaceful intentions of the launch, the usually secretive country invited foreign journalists to the new space centre in Cholsan Peninsula for the first time.

“If it were a ballistic missile, it would have to be hidden in an underground chamber, or would need to be carried on board another vehicle for protection.  If it were not, then it would be useless in a real war,” said the North Korean officials.

The visiting reporters, who arrived by a special train were also able to see the satellite that is allegedly being launched. Called Kwangmyongsong-3 or Shining Star, the 100kg box is covered in solar panels for electricity and is designed to collect data on forests and natural resources in the communist state.

UN Security Council violations

But despite North Korea’s best efforts to prove the rocket is for research purposes, Japan, South Korea and the US say the launch violates Security Council resolutions that ban the North from missile development.

The Christian Science Monitor reports that the Democrat Senator, Jim Webb, has condemned North Korea for the launch despite the country’s economic woes.

“It involves a missile, whichever way you look at it,” Webb said.

“We were testing the intentions of the North Korean regime. There were negotiations tied to food aid and a clear understanding that [there] not be this kind of activity by North Korea.”

But North Korean officials insist that the scientific launch is justified.

“No matter how much you are hungry, you have to continue to develop technology, as without it you will become the most under-developed country in the world,” said Jang Myong-Jin, head of the North Korean space centre.

Is it a nuclear test?

At the moment, it’s North Korea’s word against Japan, South Korea and the USA so it is difficult to say.

In 2006 and 2009 North Korea performed similar rocket launches which were followed by underground nuclear testing.

Satellite images show that new underground tunnels – similar to those in 2006 and 2009 – are being dug providing strong evidence for nuclear testing to happen soon after the launch.

Editor of 38 Degrees North, Joel Wit told The Guardian that the nuclear tests are not unexpected.

“Even a few weeks ago, when it became clear North Korea was moving forward with the rocket test, a number of people saw this inevitable chain of events set in motion – and part of that was a nuclear test.”

Japan’s response – is it too much?

Like its Asia Pacific allies like the USA, Japan has done everything in its power to prevent the launch. And while the White House warned on Tuesday that food aid would be cut if the launch went ahead, Japan has taken more drastic measures.

Tokyo has taken a worst case scenario stance, threatening to shoot down the rocket if it veers into Japanese airspace.

North Korea has also been quick to attack Japan’s use of Patriot Advanced Capability-3 interceptor missile defence systems that have been deployed on and around Okinawa and Tokyo.

“We will not tolerate any violation of our national sovereignty. We did not shoot down satellite launches from Japan or South Korea. Why are they threatening us?” Mr Jang told the AFP.

School trips and Japanese airlines’ flight paths have also been disrupted by the launch.

The Yomiuri Shimbun reports that a Hyogo high school has changed the destination of their school trip from Okinawa to Sapporo while Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways flights to Manila, Singapore and Jakarta will have a 200km detour because of the launch.

But Japanese people seem unperturbed by the events happening not three hours flight to the west.

When Japan Today asked its readers if they were worried about the launch, the majority said they were more concerned with the amount of hype surrounding it.

One reader said: “Not at all. I also believe that by trying to put fear into everyone , it is just an excuse to buy more military equipment. That scares me much more because that money should be used in a better way.”

Military journalist and analyst, Motoaki Kamiura, told The Wall Street Journal’s Asia Japan Watch that Japan’s response is as much about demonstrating the country’s military strength as the missile launch is for North Korea.

“The government is trying to show to the public that the missile defense systems, on which it spent 1 trillion yen ($12 billion), are effective,” Kamiura said.

And while the majority of Japan did just that during this year’s sakura mankai season, those taking in the sights from home had a rude shock when Asahi TV broadcast footage of last year’s tsunami instead of the floral display.

Asahi TV broadcast images of last year's March 11 tsunami instead of sakura hanami. Picture: Livedoor news

While the announcer explained that at 5pm Ueno Park had reached its highest turnout for this year’s hanami, the footage showed of a town covered in water and debris with cars floating away.

The incorrect footage, subtitled with “This weekend, 215,000 people enjoy the best of Ueno Park in full bloom,” became a hot topic across the Internet during the April 7 broadcast with people dubbing it a “broadcast accident”.

Outraged viewers took to blogs and bulletin boards with one person saying the footage “stank of insensitivity”.

Twitter user 365@Impact said even the broadcaster’s apology seemed insincere.

テレ朝これは酷い…花見のニュースで映像は津波映像！(´Д` ) 大変失礼しました！って言葉にも誠意無し←

— (*うдま*)ノ〃(@365Impact) April 7, 2012

Others took it as an honest mistake and questioned whether the program’s editors had mistaken “hanami” for “tsunami” as the words sound somewhat similar.

“At first when I saw it I laughed. But afterwards when the broadcaster said ‘We apologise for the incorrect footage’ it was too late!” said another on Livedoor News.

This year’s hanami has seen an increase on last year’s numbers as people continue to recover from the earthquake and tsunami.

This week, the Mizuhou Corporate Bank and Lawson, Japan’s second largest convenience store chain operator, have announced plans to enter the Myanma market.

Lawson announced that it hopes to open its first store in the capital city Yangon this year with a further 100 stores opening across Burma over the next three years.

To help support the local market, Lawson said it plans to make its stores franchised.

The Japan Times reports that almost 300 Japanese companies visited Burma between April and December last year while the Japan External Trade Organisation plans to establish a business support centre in Burma at the end of 2012.

Prior to the Burma’s military government rule beginning in 1988, Japan and Burma held one of the strongest diplomatic connections within Asia.

Indeed, a the time of the junta takeover, Japan was believed to be one of the only countries with enough influence to encourage a reconciliation between the military and Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD).

With Chinese manufacturing becoming increasingly expensive Burma’s moves toward democracy signal a renewal of strong ties between the two countries.

“Everybody is thinking ‘China plus one’ now. Burma could be the one,” Masayoshi Watanabe of JETRO told the Japan Times.

Japan’s Foreign Minister, Koichiro Genba reinforced such sentiments when addressing the press following the NLD victory at last weekend’s by-elections.

“What is important from now on is that . . . people in Burma realize that their country will become rich if the democratic process and national reconciliation advance,” he said.

Japanese investment in Burma has been small, totalling $221 million since 1988. But Japan has announced plans to resume official development assistance to the South East Asian nation for the first time in 25 years, despite tightened domestic purse strings following last year’s tsunami and nuclear disaster.

But despite the two countries’ renewed relations are founded on democratic activities, some critics question whether Japan use its economic ties with Burma to bring forward issues of human rights.

The Inter Press Service reports that Toshihiro Kudo of the Institute of Developing Economies believes Japan is more likely to wait for human rights developments, rather than push for results.

“In contrast to the Western push for human rights improvements, Tokyo’s diplomacy with conflict-ridden countries follows a more carrot approach with promises of rewards for democratic steps,” he said.

Other Japanese businesses with plans to move into Burma include Suzuki Motor Corp, while the Daiso discount chain store has already opened its doors in Yangon last month.

Japan's textbook publishers are divided over how to document last year's disaster. Pic: AP.

There are many of things Japan has done in the past that it tries to erase from public memory by downplaying their events in school textbooks: the Nanking Massacre, medical testing on POWs during WWII, comfort women and territorial disputes.

But all these are atrocities that have happened outside of Japan, to other nationalities and they occurred generations ago. As inexcusable as it is to claim their non-existence, the logic is somehow more understandable.

But now Japan is trying to rewrite its own modern history. The barely 12-month-old events of the March 11 disaster are now being whitewashed out of “concern got people’s feelings and uncertainly about the effects of radiation,” the Yomiuri Shimbun reports.

“Textbooks are used for a certain period of time. While the situation surrounding the nuclear crisis remains unclear, we can’t hastily cover the issue,” said one textbook publisher.

Only one in 10 textbooks produced for Japan’s schools have covered the issue of radiation and the meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

One editor defended this decision saying they were in two minds about how to include content but were considering those affected by the event.

“We wanted to take up the issue under food safety, but didn’t know how to handle an issue whose impact has yet to become clear. So we couldn’t cover it.”

Another publisher who refrained from mentioning the Fukushima disaster specifically said that they offered general information on nuclear generation and safety to “encourage [students] to think about the issue on their own”.

One teacher told the newspaper that from a scientific viewpoint, the information offered in the textbooks was inefficient.

Already teachers in the Tohoku area are taking it upon themselves to inform their students about last year’s events and how they will impact the lives of the pupils.

Tomoyuki Bannai says his year four students in Koriyama, 60 kilometres from the nuclear plant, are “probably the best in the world in terms of radiation education,” he told the Japan Times .

“I want them to have the ability to select the right information when so many different data exist. And I want them to be smart enough to think for themselves based on such information.”

Radiation education will become compulsory subject in junior high school from next year and Fukushima’s 700 primary and junior high schools will be forced to spend between two to three hours a year on the topic.

In contrast, Bannai and his students have spend between 30 and 40 hours in the last year alone, with the aid of a colourful picture book he created on his own and distributed free of charge to his students.

Tomoyuki Bannai's picturebook can be purchased on Amazon for 1000 yen. Picture: Amazon.com

“We will not lose to radiation” uses red lines to show how radiation accumulates in materials and foods and helps children understand the difference between internal and external exposure.

However, without the appropriate study materials, how well the rest of Japan’s school children will understand how their lives have been and will continue to be impacted by the nuclear disaster is unknown.

A rice farmer and his dog return home to check on their rice paddy in Tomioka town, Fukushima. Pic: AP.

The Japan Times has reported that an elderly Tokyo resident is encouraging the nation’s aging population to eat rice grown in Fukushima prefecture.

Like the ‘suicide corps’ – a group of aging volunteers who worked to diffuse the crippled Daiichi nuclear plant – the logic behind Hidekazu Hirai’s plan is that older people are less susceptible to the effects of radiation.

“Why don’t the elderly, whose potential for suffering health damage (from radiation) is lower than it is for youths, eat all of the Fukushima rice?” said Hirai, who is a member of the 675 person-strong Skilled Veterans Corps.

Farmers from across Tohoku, particularly Fukushima, are fighting an uphill battle against rumours that their crops are radioactive. And with even stricter limitations on cesium levels in foods going into effect this Sunday, sales prospects are worsening.

For most of Fukushima’s farmers, the only way they can sell their produce is to private buyers, over the internet through blogs, websites and even social networking sites like Mixi and Facebook.

Hirai has already made a sales contract with one rice wholesaler, filling orders amounting to almost 1700 kilograms. The website reports that 700 kg of this was bought by an old age care facility.

“I just want to make sure people know I am not doing this for business purposes, but as a volunteer. I am not making money,” he said.

But Hirai is not only looking out for the farmers up north, he hopes that by encouraging elderly people to eat Fukushima rice, less of it will be available on the market for young children to eat instead.

Although parents are becoming increasingly wary of where their food comes from, the website reports restaurants and ‘bento’ makers are not obliged to reveal where their supplies come from.

While the idea is certainly a noble one, people seem less than optimistic about its outcome.

In a poll taken by the Japan Times, roughly a third of people think the plan is “too extreme” or are more concerned for their own safety due to lack of food labelling regulations.

A poll on the Japan Times shows that most people are skeptical of Hirai's plans. Picture: Japan Times

A further 20 per cent believe it’s a well-intentioned idea but cannot save Fukushima’s farmers. And they could be right.

Fukushima produces almost 250,000 tonnes of rice a year and 40 per cent of last year’s harvest still hasn’t been sold.

The Yorisoi Hotline is open 24 hours a day and provides consultations in eight langauges. Picture: Yorisoi Hotline

The free call support hotline was originally designed to allow victims to speak to someone about the troubles they were facing in a familiar, unintrusive way.

Following March 11,  there was a 20 per cent increase in suicide rates across Japan, compared to the year before with Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures having higher suicide rates than Tokyo.

“I know there are many who say ‘there is also a positive voice coming from the disaster affected areas’ but there are also many people who feel that they are in a ‘living hell’ in those areas, too,” explained Tetsuya Matsumoto, a representative of the reconstruction committee team.

“There are many people who feel they cannot talk with their neighbours and acquaintances which is why this 24-hour support hotline is so significant.”

One year on, the Yorisoi Hotline has been such a success it’s become a nation-wide support service, complete with a 90 minute radio show, broadcast four nights a week.

What’s more, the hotline also provides consultations in English, Tagalog, Korean, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese and Thai and is open to people of all ages.

In a society like Japan’s where homogeneity is king and personal, emotional problems are not discussed, a hotline that openly discusses issues like domestic violence, homosexuality and suicidal thoughts is incredibly forward thinking – and long overdue.

The nightly radio show helps, not only to tell people facing certain issues that ‘you’re not alone’ but also stands to educate the wider public on basic issues other groups of people are facing.

For example, the most recent program on Sexual Minorities began with an explanation of the LGBT movement, providing definitions for words like ‘lesbian’, ‘bisexual’ and ‘transgender’ – words that a lot of Japan’s aging population may never have heard before.

Psychologist, Rika Kayama, wrote in the Mainichi Shimbun that the hotline is a welcome support service for people who are unsure of who best to speak to about their problems.

“I think that the greatest anxiety of people who need help is where to turn for assistance. Furthermore, due to the nature of their problems they often have to visit a number of different professionals, sometimes even being told things like ‘this is not in the range of our expertise’… This may only discourage them from seeking further help.”

While the hotline is only run by volunteers, Kayama worries that advice provided may not be completely “adequate” but like her I think that just knowing there’s something willing to listen is a huge relief in itself.

The issue of “lonely deaths” – people dying in their apartments and not found until weeks later – is increasingly coming into the spotlight in Japan. And although neighbours may not feel “close enough” to check in on each other or discuss issues of financial worries or depression together, perhaps by speaking to someone – even just over the phone – problems such as these which seem to highlight the worrying problem of isolation in Japanese society will slowly disappear.

So was being stopped on the streets of Tokyo as a child and having schoolgirls include me in their photos.

I was always the only Hafu child in my neighbourhood in Japan. Pic: Anna Watanabe

And so are the conversations between my friends of Asian heritage who plan on marrying a “White Person*” so they can have “mixed babies*”.

But tedium aside, I’m proud so say these so-called “mixed babies” are the fastest growing community on earth. And I do mean “babies” – 41 per cent of people of mixed race are still under 18.

In 2011, it was revealed 50.7 per cent of Brazil’s population identifies themselves as mixed race. And with the largest Japanese expat population in the world, many of these mixed-race Brazilians will have some percentage of Japanese heritage.

Even in Japan, a country infamous for its monocultural make-up, almost 1 in 30 children born will have at least one parent who is not Japanese.

And as strange as it is to say, the reverse racism is kind of justified.

There have been many studies showing people of mixed-race are more attractive, more genetically compatible and less susceptible to genetic defects. This week, the New York Times reported that bilingual children are smarter than monolingual counterparts.

But despite all the praises being sung of multi-ethnicity, as an individual of mixed race I feel like there are still social issues that are being overlooked.

Sean Lennon, the son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono probably best summed up what being half Japanese, half Caucasian is like.

“If, like me, you are Japanese and English, you will in Japan be considered white, and in America be considered Asian. This can be lonely at times.”

Sean Lennon says he's caught between two cultures. Picture: Flickr/ phonogalerie.com

Not only is it lonely, but I find myself voluntarily assimilating into my surroundings; taking on different personas depending on which ‘race’ I should be around different people. Unconsciously I make the stereotyped ‘peace’ sign in photos when I’m the token Asian, but will ham up an Aussie accent if I’m in rural parts of Australia.

I’ll be quiet and demure when visiting my farming family in Fukushima, but happily provide free English lessons to the old ladies who chat to me on the Keihin-Tohoku train line in Japan.

Some may just call it good socializing, but I feel the problem with voluntary assimilation is that it hinders the development of a mixed race identity and community.

In the past few years there have been people exploring this issue on a social level, like the Hafu Film Project and Jeff Chiba Stearn’s documentary, One Big Hapa Family.

But it’s Stearn’s latest documentary Mixed Match that I think highlights the real problem about an underdeveloped mixed race community.

Mixed Match looks at the problems surrounding people of mixed ethnicity on bone marrow transplant lists. In the US over 30,000 people are diagnosed with blood diseases like leukemia each year.

Bone marrow donations must have a certain amount of genetic similarity to the recipient making it difficult for people of mixed race to find a donor. Even the odds of finding a donor within their family are significantly reduced.

And although the mixed race community is the largest growing community on earth, only 2 per cent of registered bone marrow donors in the US are of mixed race. Complicating matters further, because there is an infinite number of mixed race combinations, the odds of finding a suitable donor can be as low as one in a million.

As the population of mixed race people grows, hopefully a sense of community and belonging amongst those people will also grow with time. This may sound like a hope for exclusivity or isolation from the wider world, but it’s not – it’s more a want for complete belonging and a Hafu life. Not a half life.

*I realize these terms are quite racist but they are used in daily conversation with no ill feeling. Growing up in Australia where almost half the population was either born overseas or has a parent who was born overseas, it’s easier to use well-intentioned, politically incorrect slang to describe all manner of paler-skinned persons.

'Members of groups with tattoos cannot bathe here' Picture: Flickr/Bonnetmaker

And while I in no way support underworld activity, I think it’s important to recognise how much the Yakuza have added to Japanese culture in the modern day, overall.

Whether you’ve come to appreciate Japanese-styled tattoos or you’re a connoisseur of 1960s-70s Yakuza films, it’s hard not to be charmed by an admittedly romanticised view of one of the world most infamous underworld collectives.

Which is why reports that the Japanese police want to remove four stone lanterns inscribed with the names of top Yakuza leaders from a World Heritage listed shrine have shocked and saddened me a little.

The names of two leaders from the Yamaguchi-gumi – the largest Yakuza syndicate in Japan – have already been hidden from public view but police want to remove the lanterns entirely to sever social ties with organized crime.

“We cannot overlook gangster-related lanterns standing at a World Heritage shrine,” a prefectural police officer said, as reported by the Asahi Shimbun.

The lanterns were a donated addition to the shrine after it was listed as a World Heritage site in 2004, but a parishioner insists the shrine was not aware the donations came from within the Yamaguchi-gumi.

“It is rude to drop the donor’s name without permission whoever the person is,” a shrine representative said.

Top members of the Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's largest Yakuza organization pictured in 1988. Pic: AP.

The request to have the lanterns and their underworld connections removed from the public’s view comes just days after police revealed that gang membership for both the Yakuza and Japan’s Bikie Gangs is at new lows.

The Mainichi Shimbun reports that Bikie Gang membership is now one fiftieth of what it was at its peak in 1980, while Yakuza numbers at their lowest since 1992 when anti-gang legislation was first introduced.

Japan Today reports that lower-level players in the Yakuza are finding it difficult to cope with the country’s economic strife with cases of shoplifting and petty crime by gang members increasing.

“It appears they’re having trouble paying their bills and making ends meet,” a police spokesperson said.

In the case of Japan’s Bikie Gangs, their decline appears to have as much to do with fashion as it does with the economy.

While the 148 Bikie groups in the 1980s sported heavily embroidered clothing and rode modified bikes, the 16 gangs in the Tokyo area today wear normal clothes and are “closer to a group of friends than a gang” according to a police official.

Police believe that as Bikie members’ spending money runs out, their interests have turned to other forms of entertainment like video games and computers.

Which makes me wonder: while the Yakuza will never disappear from Japan’s social landscape, as money becomes tighter and the few financial gestures they make to society at large are removed by the authorities how will they be seen?

And if Japan’s currently very visual Yakuza – their addresses are formally listed, like any other registered company – have their image taken away from them, what will become of the groups and the thousands of businesses, and in some cases industries, which rely on their presence?

80 per cent of Japanese people want the country to find an alternative energy resource. Picture: AP

Two sets of results – one a citizen poll, the other a research paper – have been released providing very different cases for whether Japan should continue to use nuclear energy.

The first, conducted by the Tokyo Shimbun over the weekend, reveals that 80 per cent of the 3000 people surveyed want Japan to phase out its reliance on nuclear power, according to Japan Today.

This figure has almost doubled in the last year since the Fukushima Daichi disaster, according to the World Nuclear Association, although those who totally oppose the power source has interestingly stayed roughly the same at 16 per cent (up 1 per cent since 2011).

Tokyo Shimbun’s survey also revealed 53 per cent of people would allow currently inactive reactors to be restarted on a short-term basis to meet the nation’s electricity demands.

Until March 2011, nuclear energy provided 30 per cent of Japan’s energy and this was expected to increase to over 50 per cent by 2030. But now, with municipal governments – not just the people – moving away from nuclear, corporations like Kansai Electric Power Co. are being forced to look elsewhere for energy before more rolling blackouts are forecast for the upcoming summer.

In the case of Kepco, three of Kansai region’s largest cities, Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe, have called for the electricity provider to find a new solution to nuclear energy.

But without at least two of the region’s 11 reactors going back online, liquid natural gas and fossil fuels will be back on the menu, adding over $30 billion a year to energy costs.

And this is what makes the second of the two sets of results so hard to ignore.

Japan is the country second-most prepared for a low carbon future according to the Climate Institute. Picture: Climate Institute.t

Today, the Climate Institute, an Australian-based climate change research centre, revealed the latest scores in the Low-Carbon Competitive Index scale in which Japan has been ranked the second– behind France and above the UK – in terms of its ability to adapt to a low carbon future.

The Low-Carbon Competitive Index ranks 19 of the G20 countries by calculating how the various country’s economies are structured towards less emissions-intensive activities; steps they’ve already taken to move towards a low-carbon future; and investments in education and infrastructure.

In contrast to Japan, the US has been ranked 9^th and Australia, in 16^th place, is the only G20 country to score lower in 2012 than in 1995.

It’s no secret that the top performing countries, including South Korea and Germany, have a lot of their energy generated by nuclear sources.

Even Germany, who announced in the wake of the Fukushima disaster that it would abandon all nuclear power generation by 2022, currently draws just under 20 per cent of its energy from nuclear processes.

A breakdown of Japan’s placement on the index reveals that the country has performed the strongest in its early preparation for a low-carbon future and in its future prosperity therein.

That means, Japan has put in place ways of assessing the carbon intensity of various industries and invested in clean energy businesses and this will easily continue with its low population growth and high level of GDP per capita.

But where Japan has seen weakest growth has been in its economic reliance on emissions intensive structures.

And if the country continues down its current LNG-focused path, the carbon emissions will grow.

New Scientist reports that Japan’s LNG – which although has a smaller carbon footprint that coal is a bigger emitter than nuclear – along with fossil fuels which it imports across long distances will mean bad news for the country’s C02 emissions in the long term.

“A permanent shutdown (of Japan’s nuclear) would boost annual CO2 emission by 60 million tons – or more than 5 percent  - as the nation draws extra power from burning fossil fuels, according to the country’s Institute of Energy Economics.”

Nuclear is an awfully divisive topic and while the fear of another “Fukushima” is very real is it difficult to ignore the other side of the story.

Whatever Japan decides to do from here must be considered and not just for the lifetime of the current government or even the lifetime of the country’s current voters.

Fukushima provided Japan with the opportunity to create a phoenix-like plan and be a leader in environmentally conscious but socially responsible energy production. And that plan must last for generations to come.

Reports of child abuse have increased 40 times in the last 20 years. Picture: Flikr

The Asahi Shimbun reports that a charge against a man accused of sexually abusing two girls has been dismissed because one of the victims was deemed “too young” to provide accurate evidence.

The defendant was sentenced to 13 years prison for crimes including rape and indecency against a 10-year-old and her 15-year-old sister.

But one charge of forcible indecency was dropped because the 10-year-old failed to produce a written complaint by herself.

The court said: “There remains considerable questions over the girl’s competence to file a complaint.”

But prosecutors insist that the girl was old enough – and competent enough – for her evidence to be “deemed reliable”.

One court official said: “[The victim] said her life was like a hell at that time.”

And again Japan Today writes of a 23-year-old mother who has been arrested for abusing her newborn twins by throwing them to the ground.

Medical checks revealed that one child had a fractured skull and brain contusion while the other sustained injuries to the head, arms and legs. Injuries to both children took months to heal.

The mother’s justification for her violence was she couldn’t sleep because the babies kept crying.

Japan’s National Police Agency recognises that violence to children at their parent’s hand is “one of the biggest social problems in recent years” with child abuse reports increasing 40 fold in the last 20 years. In 1990, over 1000 cases were reported compared to over 44,000 in 2009*.

A whitepaper released in 2006 reveals physical cruelty was the most common form of abuse (44.5 per cent of cases) while 3.1 per cent of cases were sexual abuse.

In comparison to countries like the US, these figures are low. Although Japan’s population is roughly half of the United States, in 2007, 37 children were killed by their parents, compared to almost 1500 in America.

But what makes the numbers important is that despite Japan’s very strict and conservative legal system, very little has been done for child protection.

In 2006 the government introduced a 10-year plan to improve child-rearing and provide parental support. 1700 community daytime childcare centres were opened up across the country and each prefecture received least one child-guidance centre.

These facilities are designed to help parents socialise and create a support network as well as give third parties an opportunity to look out for signs of domestic abuse.

But these centres, run by social workers, have no power behind them to take the child into protective custody, nor are they staffed by professionals able to gather legally binding evidence. In Japan there are only around 100 lawyers specialised in child protection.

Japan is generally a safe country with a very low crime rate, thanks to its harsh conviction rate of 99.7 per cent. But, as cases like these two reveal, child abuse is something that, like many of Japan’s social issues, is still swept under the rug.

*This sharp increase is most probably due to more victims coming forward, however many academics and welfare workers say it’s the tip of the iceberg as some forms of physical violence are not widely considered “abuse”.

Vending machines and convenience stores are seeing increased sales since last year's earthquake. Picture: Flikr/bluemonkey

Today, Suntory Holdings Ltd. announced that in response to clients’ needs, following the Great Easter Japan Earthquake, it will install 5000 ‘high-performance’ vending machines which can supply drinks during power outages.

The disaster-ready machines come in two types: one that stores energy in batteries and the other that comes with a handle, which can be cranked to generate electricity.

Vending machines have been identified as an increasingly important feature on the streets of Japan in the wake of last year’s disaster.

Although Kirin Holdings, Japan’s largest food and beverage company, had almost 20,000 million yen losses related to last year’s earthquake, both Kirin and Suntory saw markedly increased sales in mineral water in the same time period with Suntory recording a 22 per cent increase on last year’s figures.

And it’s no surprise. Japan has the highest vending-machine-to-person ratio in the world with one vending machine for every 23 people. So when most shops closed down following the disaster, the cheap and convenient jidouhanbaiki was the natural choice.

In its business strategy for 2012 Suntory said its vending machines could act as a “lifeline and offer information communication capacity in the wake of disasters”.

As a result the company will also install vending machines that provide free drinks during disasters and has tested machines that include an electronic disaster message board in Sendai.

But Japan’s vending machines aren’t the only success stories from last year’s earthquake and tsunami.

All three of Japan’s largest convenience store chains  – Family Mart, Lawson Inc. and Seven Eleven operator, Seven & I Holdings Co. – posted profit increases.

In fact, profits at all three chains were the highest ever.

The Wall Street Journal explains how convenience stores became make-shift shopping centres for many of northern Japan’s people.

“When 41 of the factories that produce for Seven Eleven in the northeast were forced to close after the earthquake and tsunami, the remaining 128 facilities rerouted the most essential items up north – rice balls, pre-prepared lunch boxes and sandwiches. Stock was back to normal less than a month later, according to the company’s website.

By the time American forces were arriving on March 12 to begin their joint rescue operation with Japan, Lawson had already shipped 40,000 cup ramen north, and Family Mart had provided 100,000 units of noodles, candy and jello to the disaster-stricken areas, according to their website.”

Although konbini provide a more familiar shopping experience, it’s important to remember that there are almost 120 times more vending machines than there are convenience stores in Japan. This means that expensive but innovative moves like Suntory’s disaster message board vending machines are not so far-fetched an idea as some may think.

Vending machines, and to a lesser extent konbibi, have always been a talking point for first time visitors to Japan. Whether it’s the variety of items on sale – from business cards to lettuce grown inside the machine – or their sheer quantity, they are certainly a national icon. And it’s great to see they’ve bounced back even stronger.