I caught part of a Japanese news broadcast from NHK, the national
broadcasting service. Thank God for modern technology. My TV has
the option of SAP (second audio programing) so you can listen to the
broadcast in English. Older TV's did not have that option.
On the broadcast, mention was made of Japan's aging population and low
birth rate. Apparently Japan's low birthrate is even worse than
Italy's. A government official talked about addressing the problem
of a low birthrate. One of the proposals to increase having more
children was to have free pre school (kindergarten?). I don't know if
that will really increase the birthrate. The proposal sounds a bit
like a proposition which failed on the California ballot. I am not
sure what can be done to encourage a higher birthrate. Maybe people
should be given incentives to move out to the countryside. The
countryside in Japan has been suffering a decline in town populations.
People have been moving to the cities. I wonder if it is possible for
people to live out in the country with less infrastructure? Anyways
Paul Ehrlich's "Population Bomb" ought to take a hike. Japan made
a mistake by voting to legalize abortion in 1948. I should also
mentioned that Margaret Sanger (founder of planned parenthood) visited
Japan, I think around the 1920's. She ifluenced one uppper class
Japanese lady, whose name escapes me. This lady was profiled in the
book GIANTS OF JAPAN. I think Pat Buchanan also profiled Japan as
well as the Western European countries in his book DEATH OF THE WEST.
So, yes abortion does have concrete consequences. One should also say
that contraception also has consequences. Both abortion and
contraception spell low birthrate. Too bad the news media didn't
address those two factors.
What is puzzling is the reports of various crimes in Japan. Japan is
supposed to be a low crime country but the news over the past few days
mentioned the rape and strangulation of a seven year old girl, an
attempted kidnapping, the assault of two university students who were
later killed by being buried alive, and tonight the kidnapping and
assault of a woman in her 20's. I don't think the identity of the
seven year old girl, would normally be announced. But the father
wanted to make sure his daughter was not forgotten. The culprit was a
Peruvian. This means such a crime will give foreigners a bad
reputation, even if the majority are law abiding. If one were to watch
the news, one might wonder about Japan being a safe place. This is
depressing stuff.
NHK news does cover other matters such as sports. Tokyo and Fukuoka
are competing for the right to be the host for the 2016 Olympics.
The Japanese officials will decide which city in August. I guess from
there, Japan will propose it's choice to the Olympic Committee. I
suppose I would chose Fukuoka, since my paternal ancestors are from
Fukuoka. ( Of course cynics may say I favor Fukuoka, because, Ayu was
born there). Besides Tokyo hosted the Olympics in 1964. So I think
Fukuoka should be given a chance, even if it is not on the main island
of Honshu. I am not sure if it is much more difficult to access than
Tokyo. Japanese players in Major league baseball are also covered.
Plus Japanese Professional Baseball.
I should mention a few days ago, that coverage was given to the
Japanese returning from Iraq. Some of them served as doctors. There
was a clip of an Iraqi expressing thanks for being able to observe
world class doctors in action. I suppose that won't make the American
news. Too positive.
A former co-worker told me she doesn't watch the news because of all
the bad news. I guess the United States is not the only country which
reports bad news. Given Japan's low crime rate, I find reports of
those crimes to be puzzling. What's the point in reporting those
crimes?
[ I later talked to a Japanese national who said it is the practice of
Japanese broadcasters to broadcast negative news. He says Japanese
like to watch negative news. I don't know if Japanese really like
that negative stuff or if that is what sells. But it is interesting
that the Japanese media, like the American media highlight the
negative. ]
I think my area also gets German news. I think it would be
interesting to access news from different parts of the world. There
is a magazine which excerpts news articles from all over the world.
It identifies the periodical and the political slant of the periodical.
Unlike our American news media, which pretends to be neutral. I think
the name of the magazine is WORLD or WORLD PRESS.
Guy
# posted by GuyTak @ 5:56 PM
