Jake Adelstein's Blog, page 6

The Johnny & Associates Scandal: A Silent Japanese Media Was An Accomplice Says Expert Panel

Tokyo – On August 29, Japan witnessed the unfolding of one of its most controversial entertainment revelations. The scandal surrounding the late Johnny Kitagawa, former president of Johnny & Associates, who passed away at 87, was once again brought to the fore. At a press conference, an external expert team formed to prevent recurrence, after nearly three months of investigation, confirmed allegations of sexual misconduct by Kitagawa. And in an unsparing report, they chastised Japan’s cowardly media for their role in enabling Kitagawa’s reign of terror.

By 1996, with the publication of All About Johnny: The Mansion of Boy-Love (ジャニーズのすべて　少年愛の館) Japan and the media knew that Johnny Kitagawa was a predatory pedophile, but his talent agency was so powerful that almost everyone in mainstream media kept quiet–even after his death.

The team, led by a former prosecutor, contradicted previous statements by the company, noting that the company was aware that Johnny Kitagawa was routinely sexually assaulting the young boys in his talent agency, some as young as 12. They pointed out that Johnny used his power to make or break a young “idol” to intimidate the boys, hundreds of them, into satisfying his perverse sexual desires. The company knew this and aided and abetted him, sometimes telling those young boys brazen enough to protest, “If you want to make it big, you have to put up with it (sexual assault and sexual harassment).”

The team recommended that Julie Fujishima, his niece and the current CEO, resign to take responsiblity.

However, what is more alarming than the truth of the allegations is the role of the media. A section of the investigative report highlighted the media’s silence, indicating a possible suppression of information.

Historically, some weekly magazines had reported the crimes of Kitagawa in detail. Yet, the mainstream media largely turned a blind eye until March 2023 when BBC aired a special program on the subject. It wasn’t until former Johnny’s Jr. members held a press conference to report their victimization that the issue began to receive wider attention.

Interestingly, as far back as the early 2000s, Johnny & Associates had sued the magazine Bungei Shunju (Shukan Bunshun) for defamation. Despite the entertainment agency essentially losing and the court acknowledging the truth of the sexual misconduct allegations, the verdict barely made headlines. The media’s strangely subdued reaction raises questions about its impartiality and commitment to the truth.

Further testimonies from the Tokyo District Court’s decision on the lawsuit against Bungei Shunju revealed that many within the media industry saw Johnny & Associates as a formidable power. Any negative news about the agency was deemed taboo. Mary Kitagawa, a key figure in the agency, was said to have direct lines to broadcasting network presidents, often demanding changes if something displeased her.

Given these intricacies, one can deduce that the Japanese media, including television networks, might have hesitated to report on Johnny Kitagawa’s alleged misdeeds. There’s an underlying fear that covering these allegations might jeopardize opportunities for Johnny & Associates talents to appear on their shows or in their publications. This sentiment resonated during the victims’ interviews, with many pointing out that the media perhaps felt compelled to stay silent due to the company’s towering position in the entertainment industry.

The muted response and actions of the media, combined with the agency’s evident lack of self-purification and its strengthened culture of concealment, indirectly enabled the continuation of the alleged misconduct. This lack of accountability and oversight, tragically, led to more victims.

Concluding Thoughts: The Japanese media’s restrained reporting reveals a larger problem of corporate influence and the challenges of maintaining journalistic integrity. It’s a glaring reminder that in order to protect society’s vulnerable, truth and transparency must always be prioritized.

Today Japan starts dumping its nuclear waste into the ocean.

On August 24th 2023, Japan will start dumping the thousands of tanks of radioactive water piling up around the remains of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant meltdown.The meltdown took place in March of 2011–more than 12 years ago.  The dumping will continue for decades to come. The Japanese government wants the world to use the term “treated water” for the liquid waste they’ll be dumping off the coast of Fukushima but “nuclear contaminated water” is the truth. You can call wild fugu “pufferfish” but if you eat the liver of one, it will still kill you.

Even though the water has been processed to remove radioactive elements, there are twelve harmful substances that can’t be processed out. 

And if you believe the Japanese government when they tell you it’s safe, you probably believed them when they told you for decades, “a nuclear meltdown in Japan is impossible”. Or when they said, “No one could have predicted that an earthquake and tsunami could cause a meltdown at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant” right after the accident. A claim later proven false when reports predicting exactly that scenario were found and it was shown that the top executives in TEPCO had ignored them. Maybe you believed Prime Minister Shinzo Abe when in a bid to win the 2020 Olympics for Japan, he told the world, “Fukushima is under control.” 

12 years later, it’s clear it was never under control and isn’t now. 

In March of 2011, an earthquake started one of the worst nuclear meltdowns in modern history, at the Tokyo Electric Power Company nuclear power plant. It was a preventable tragedy. Several independent reports reached the same conclusion: the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant meltdown was a man-made disaster.

It was a man-made disaster because of years of corruption, myopic thinking, and nuclear myths propagated by Japan’s so-called “nuclear mafia”. The nuclear mafia aka nuclear village was made up of the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party, the nuclear power conglomerates, yakuza, criminals, paid-off media, powerful advertising agency Dentsu, and Tokyo Electric Power Company—which had a long history of corporate malfeasance and cover-ups even before the disaster. 

Of course, building nuclear reactors in an earthquake prone-nation located in belt of seismic activity known as the ring-of-fire was always Godzilla level stupidity.

The thing is: the disaster isn’t over. 

When the water stops flowing; the second disaster starts 

The calm, orchestrated dance of water pouring at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is more than a routine – it’s a lifeline. Since 2011, the haunting specter of the nuclear meltdown has made Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) maintain a continuous stream of water onto the damaged reactor cores. It’s an act of both desperation and precaution, as the planet grapples with the legacy of one of its worst nuclear crises. But what if, in an alternate universe, TEPCO were to halt this flow?

The primary reason for this ceaseless pour is deceptively simple: cooling. Despite being “shut down”, the reactor’s fuel continues to produce decay heat, a byproduct of the radioactive decay of fission products. While this might sound abstract, the implications are concrete and perilous. Without the cooling effect of the water, temperatures within the reactor cores would skyrocket. Think of it as leaving a pot on a hot stove, unattended and unchecked.

Yet, the consequences extend far beyond mere heat. In the intricate and delicate world of nuclear science, an unchecked rise in temperature could rekindle the specter of recriticality. While the probability is considered low given the present state of the fuel, it isn’t non-existent. Essentially, we’re flirting with the slight possibility of nuclear reactions spontaneously restarting in localized zones.

Beyond this, with escalating temperatures comes the harrowing potential of hydrogen generation. To the layperson, hydrogen might evoke memories of high school chemistry or the Hindenburg disaster. In the context of Fukushima, it’s a grim reminder of the explosions that rocked the world in the early days of the crisis. When temperatures escalate, there’s a potential for zirconium cladding on the fuel to react with steam, producing hydrogen. This isn’t merely a chemical reaction; it’s an explosive risk.

Yet, even if we were to momentarily set aside the risks of recriticality and hydrogen buildup, there’s another lurking shadow: the environment. The integrity of the containment structures is tenuous. As temperatures burgeon, these structures could falter, becoming a gateway for radioactive gases and contaminants. It’s not just about the immediate vicinity; it’s about the air we breathe, the oceans that span our continents, and the very fabric of our global ecosystem.

To make matters even more intricate, there’s the concern of structural degradation. Without the water’s protective embrace, the reactor’s internal structures could corrode at accelerated rates, posing containment challenges that might even dwarf the present ones.

Of course, skeptics might point to the storage dilemma TEPCO currently faces. The vast quantities of contaminated water have been a logistical nightmare, posing their own environmental risks. By halting the water flow, wouldn’t we mitigate this issue? Perhaps, but it’s the quintessential act of robbing Peter to pay Paul. The immediate threats of forgoing cooling far outweigh the challenges of storing contaminated water.

Japan must keep pumping water into that nuclear hell-hole. It will overflow and need to be stored into tanks. Those tanks will be emptied into the sea. 

Japan claims the only solution for dealing with the overflowing and rotting tanks of contaminated water—-thousands of them–is to treat them to remove some impurities and dump them in the ocean. 

Fukushima’s Radioactive Woes: Beyond Just Tritium in the Contaminated Water

In a dick move that bypassed public opposition, contaminated water stored on the premises of Tokyo Electric Power Company’s (TEPCO) Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant will now be dumped into the ocean. 

Even though Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (Liberal Democratic Party) emphasizes its safety, even suggesting it’s harmless enough to drink, many are asking the pointed question: Is it really safe to release radioactive-contaminated water into our seas?

A significant concern among experts is the undue focus on tritium.

Major newspapers and TV networks report that while the contaminated water can be purified with a multi-nuclide removal facility called “ALPS,” tritium remains non-removable. The nuclear industry counters with claims that the radiation emitted by tritium is weak, it exists naturally, and regular nuclear plants also produce it, releasing it into the sea when it meets the required standards.

However, a larger concern seems to have slipped past major media outlets. 

Tritium isn’t the only radioactive nuclide that ALPS fails to remove. Other radionuclides, such as Iodine-129, Cesium-135, and Cesium-137. among 12 in total, also elude its purification process. The three mentioned above I-129, Cs-135, and Cs-137 share the potential to cause long-term ecological and health impacts when released into the environment due to their radioactive nature, their ability to enter and move up the food chain, and their capacity to persist in the environment for extended periods. For more on these three see the notes at the bottom.

In 2021, Yamamoto Taku,  who was a representative of Liberal Democratic Party’s “Water Treatment Policy Study Group,” clarified his stance on the problem. 

 “Let me be clear: I’m pro-nuclear… However, I believe the public should be given accurate facts, especially when so many reports on nuclear treatment water are misleading.” In an interview with Nikkan Gendai, he cited TEPCO’s documentation from December 24, 2020, which confirms that even after secondary treatment, 12 radionuclides, apart from tritium, remain. Many of these have incredibly long half-lives, with Iodine-129 clocking in at about 15.7 million years, Cesium-135 at around 2.3 million years, and Carbon-14 at about 5,700 years.

Taku also addresses the misleading narrative that “normal nuclear power plants also release into the sea.” 

He explained, “The water treated by ALPS and the usual nuclear wastewater are entirely different entities. Among the nuclides ALPS can’t handle, 11 aren’t found in typical nuclear wastewater. Normal reactors have fuel rods covered in cladding, preventing the cooling water from touching them directly. However, at Fukushima Daiichi, water has come into direct contact with exposed fuel rods. The nuclides in the treated water originate from this accident.”

The underlying message is clear: once the water is released into the ocean, there’s no turning back.

No one is happy about the Japanese government’s decision except Tokyo Electric Power Company, which has escaped having to fund other more expensive solutions–and its stockholders, many of whom are members of the Liberal Democratic Party. Japan’s neighbors, Korea, China, Hong Kong and others are fearful of the effects that the radiation might have on marine life–are going to boycott many organic products made in Japan from Fukushima and neighboring areas.

The local fishermen and farmers in Fukushima and neighboring prefectures are furious as the release dials back and destroys efforts to convince the public and other countries outside of Japan that the fish caught and produce made in the area are safe. 

Prime Minister Kishida who has refused to meet with the local fishermen to explain the decision, boldly tweeted #STOP風評被害 (STOP damage from rumors) to show his solidarity with the locals. 

It’s nonsense. Because it’s not simply rumors that the water being dumped into the ocean isn’t safe, it’s the truth. How damaging? Nobody seems to have an answer. But you won’t see any Japanese politicians or TEPCO executives guzzling down a cup of ALPS treated water anytime soon.

 The best way to stop damage from rumors? Stop dumping the nuclear waste in the ocean. 

But it seems unlikely that Japan will change its mind—since the Japanese government seems incapable of learning from the past. They’ll keep dumping water into the oceans around Fukushima—until the next nuclear accident here. And if Japan keeps moving forward in reopening their unsafe and antiquated reactors, there will most certainly be another disaster. Probably before the current one is finished. 

There are many people commenting on the situation and many of them with a vested interest in making sure that nuclear power continues to be hailed as an alternative energy source but we will leave you with the words of Professor Robert Richmond, to consider.  

“Japan’s decision to go forward with the release of the treated, radioactively contaminated water is not surprising, but certainly disappointing.  Both Japan and the IAEA can turn a challenging situation into an opportunity to explore and develop better approaches to nuclear disasters than ocean dumping.  

Considering the documented deteriorating conditions of ocean health and that of those communities who depend on it, we should expect far better from those in positions of authority and responsibility.  This decision violates the spirit of the UN Ocean Decade and the recently passed UH High Seas Treaty, as well as the rights of indigenous Pacific communities.  

This is not the first such disaster nor will it be the last, and this decision undercuts the premise that the nuclear power industry is viable and responsible in its ability to deal with its own mistakes and wastes.  As the saying goes, those who do not learn from history are forced to repeat it, and this action will be to the detriment of future generations who will likely suffer the consequences of decisions that are made based on expediency, politics, and profit above people.”

Professor Robert Richmond is Director of the Kewalo Marine Laboratory at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and a member of the Expert Scientific Advisory Panel to the Pacific Islands Forum

Fun things that TEPCO can’t filter out of the “treated water”

Iodine-129 (I-129), Cesium-135 (Cs-135), and Cesium-137 (Cs-137) are all radionuclides, which means they are radioactive isotopes of their respective elements. They are supposed to be diluted when dumped into the ocean so much that they will not be harmful. Let’ s hope that’s true. In terms of harm to the natural world, they share several common characteristics:

Bioaccumulation: All these radionuclides can enter the food chain. Once they are taken up by plants or animals, they can accumulate in tissues and move up the food chain. This can lead to higher concentrations in top predators, including humans.Long-lasting Environmental Contaminants: Both I-129 and Cs-135 have extremely long half-lives (15.7 million years and 2.3 million years, respectively). This means that they remain radioactive and present in the environment for a very long time once released. Cs-137, with a half-life of 30.17 years, while much shorter than the others, can still persist in the environment for several decades to centuries when considering its full decay process.Ecosystem Disruption: Areas that become highly contaminated with these radionuclides might become unsuitable for certain types of life or for agricultural practices. This can lead to changes in biodiversity, alter ecological balances, and affect human livelihoods that depend on these ecosystems.Water and Soil Contamination: These radionuclides can contaminate both water sources and soils. This poses risks not only for the immediate aquatic or terrestrial ecosystems but also for humans and other organisms that rely on these resources for sustenance.Radiation Emission: All three emit radiation as they decay, which can harm living organisms by damaging DNA and other cellular structures. This can lead to diseases, genetic mutations, and even death in extreme exposures.Human Health Risks: Beyond the natural world, these isotopes also pose significant risks to human health. For instance, I-129 can concentrate in the thyroid gland, increasing the risk of thyroid cancer, while Cs-135 and Cs-137 can be distributed throughout the body, exposing tissues to radiation and increasing the risk of various health issues.

Upcoming “Tree Hugging” Event In Tokyo Will Protest Controversial (and Wildly Unpopular) Meiji Jingu Redevelopment

On April 9, 2023, protestors convened outside the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building to oppose the planned redevelopment of the culturally and historically significant Jingu Gaien area in central Tokyo. It was the real beginning of a protest movement. 

With the support of Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, a real estate firm intends to construct high-rise towers in the green space, raze and rebuild sports venues, and potentially harm iconic trees in the process. Critics liken this redevelopment to erecting skyscrapers in New York’s Central Park and warn of irreversible damage to Tokyo’s soul and its environment.

The billion-dollar project, which has already commenced some construction activities, is challenged by activists, preservationists, and locals. Despite collecting nearly 200,000 signatures opposing the development and garnering 69.5% disapproval in a newspaper poll, the redevelopment continues to move forward. 

Notable voices against the project included the late composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, author Haruki Murakami, and environmental planning expert Sachihiko Harashina, who criticized the environmental impact assessment’s quality and accuracy.

A new and unique protest is planned for August 27th called the Chipko Tree of Life Festival. The objective, along with the scheduled activities, is simply for participants to hug one of the 18 gingko trees threatened by the Meiji Jingu redevelopment project. 

The Chipko Movement is a non-violent forest conservation movement originating in India, and the origin of tree hugging as a form of protest against ecological destruction. While the act of protesters using their bodies to prevent trees from being cut down dates back hundreds of years, the movement grew to prominence in 1974 after a 4-day chipko protest in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand successfully ended a year-long effort to drive out contractors.

The Tokyo Chipko Tree of Life festival-cum-protest begins at 10:00 am in Jingu Gaien Park by the gingko trees, and will include live performances of music and visual art, children-oriented activities, and speeches. Events are scheduled into the afternoon. 

For media inquiries and additional information, please contact: Charles Cabell chipkotreeoflife@gmail.com

O-bon: Festival of The Dead or “Please Feed The Hungry Ghosts”

(Originally published in 2017)  Late July marks the official start of O-bon, the Festival of the Dead, where Japanese people visit the graves of their ancestors and/or pay their respects to the recently departed. For Tokyoites, August is the time of celebration and it continues to the end of the month for some regions.

It’s also a semi-official vacation for many, and the trains out of Tokyo fill-up with families going back home to visit the living and the dead.

Some Japanese families who can’t afford to travel put offerings on the family Buddhist altar and welcome their departed in-laws into the home for a few days before wishing them farewell. (In some cases, when the visiting ghosts won’t leave, they have to call in a Buddhist exorcist to kick them out. Maybe.)At JSRC, we thought you’d like to know a little bit more about this festive occasion and why it’s celebrated. *Editor’s note: The 90% well-researched version was revised to be 99% accurate and less snarky. All snarky and historically inaccurate parts are followed by a ★ for clarity.  While ☆ represents a gross simplification.

It’s a long road home from the underworld to Tokyo.

The history of the holiday which came to be known an O-bon/お盆–pronounced like Oh! Bone!–is very long and the stories as to how it came to be celebrated in Japan are as ethereal and mysterious as your average ghost.

The old lunar calendar that was used up until the Edo period actually had the holiday on July 15th but the modern calendar places it on August 15th. This means that now it also coincidentally comes on the same day that Japan surrendered to the United States and World War II ended.

O-bon was originally a Buddhist holiday that dates back as least as far as the year 606 in Japan, where it was written up in Nihon Shoki (日本書紀) one of Japan’s earliest historical records. At that time it was called 盂蘭盆会 (urabonkai). It was believed that on this day if you made offerings to the local Buddhist monks, that the spirits of your parents and other ancestors would be saved from spending time in the lower realms of existence and be sent on to a better incarnation.

In time, over centuries, with the free-market liberalization of the metaphysical world, the Buddhist monks got cut out of the distribution system and now the offerings are made directly to the spirits. ☆

The “bon” in O-bon  (盆) itself refers to the vessels (plates, bowls, tupperware etc)  in which offerings are placed upon for the spirits of the deceased. The physical bowl has come to refer to the holiday or the period where the holiday is celebrated in modern lingo. Of course, O-bon as a holiday could be translated as “honorable container day” but then it wouldn’t sound as cool as “Japanese Festival Of The Dead.” The practice of offering food and drinks (such as Pepsi-Watermelon Cola and Wasabi Potato Chips etc) to the visiting spirits is believed to have spread from the original ceremony in Japan’s hip 600s.

 The O-Bon Sutra: If it’s in an ancient book it must be true.

            There is even a Buddhist holy book about O-bon, called the 盂蘭盆経 (Urabonkyo) which establishes the basic ideas of the holiday. In this tale, a disciple of Buddha, named 目連 (Mokuren) finds out that his deceased mother is trapped in the realm of hungry ghosts (餓鬼) and tries to find a way to relieve her suffering.　*Buddhism postulates six realms of existence. Hungry ghosts aka gaki (餓鬼) are spirits with huge stomachs and small throats that can never get enough to eat and are perpetually famished. 　Look for my book on the United States of America and its obesity problem, Hungry Ghost Nation, in 2015.★

Mokuren, the Buddhist monk, is bummed that his Mom is a sort of demon. He makes votive offerings of food and water to his Mom, but right before she can wolf them down, they all burst into flames, making that a no-go. He decides to save Mom.

“Mom, you look great as a hungry ghost–not fat at all! But I’ll talk to the boss, we’ll figure this out.”

Our hero, Mokuren, who we’ll call Mork, just to make it easier to remember,  has a talk with the Buddha about this problem. The Buddha, who being all-wise and everything, says to him, “Well, Mork, your Mom was really a total thug and it’s not going to be easy to spring her from her realm of suffering. However, if you wait until the last day of our post-rainy season vacation, which is July 15th, and make offerings to all of your Buddhist monk pals and supporters—making sure everyone gets fed, maybe your Mom can eat some of the leftovers or get lucky?”

And so he does just that, the monks and lay-supporters have a huge party: drinking, dancing (the original o-bon odori), eating, and having lots of fun. The Buddha says to them, while the party goes on, “Guys, let’s take a moment and pray for the well-being of our beneficiary who put on such an awesome party, and for his ancestors as well—up to seven or so generations. Let’s calm our hearts and meditate and do a thanksgiving sort of thing.”

            ”仏陀は、十方の比丘に対し、このように言った。「比丘達よ、七月十五日に供養を受ける時、
施主の家の為に祈り、七世の祖先の為に祈り、
坐禅をして心を静めて、然る後に、頂きなさい。」「比丘達よ、初めて御飯の供養を受ける時、
施主の家の為に祈り、七世の祖先の為に祈り、
霊前で祈願をしてから、然る後に、頂きなさい。」それを聞いた、比丘達は、法悦に包まれて、
モッガラーナの涙も、完全に止ったのである。
そして、母親も、一劫続く餓鬼道から救われた”

And lo and behold, the monks are wrapped in holy bliss and Mork’s Mom (Mokuren’s Mom), was freed from the realm of hungry ghosts. The Buddha then promises the same service to any monk or lay disciple who will take the Buddhist monks out for a party on July 15th.☆

The authenticity of this Sutra is widely debated but it doesn’t seem any less plausible than the Book of the Mormon.

50 Ways To Appease Your Loved Ones

O-bon is celebrated in different times, manners and places in Japan. The most common belief is that the spirits of the dead return around August 11th and leave again around August 15th or 16th, depending on the traffic in the spirit world. (O-bon traffic in our world peaks on the 14th and 15th, as most Japanese families in Tokyo go on vacation during this period as well and it collides with summer vacation for the kiddies.)☆

During this period families come together, greet the spirits of the departed, and then send them off again to the netherworlds. Some areas greet the spirits with a large bonfire (迎え火) and then send them off again with another fire (送り火). The energy crisis in Japan has dimmed plans to replace the bonfires with large LED lamps spelling out “Welcome” or “Good-bye” but in the future, who knows?

Depending upon the household and the area, some families will clean up the Buddhist altar and make their offerings there, placing faux horses made out of egg-plant or cucumbers to provide transportation for the wandering spirits. The smoke from the incense is believed to provide a highway for the ghosts and their cucumber horses to travel on.Tokyo dwelling families originally from Narita City in Chiba Prefecture families make a giant “limousine bus”* out of pumpkins and grapes to make the travel to Tokyo easier for the mass gatherings of ghosts arriving at the airport from the underworld. ★Actually that’s not really true. Apparitions can easily take the Narita Express now.☆

In many areas, O-bon odori(お盆踊り）, the O-bon dance is performed. The dance dates back to Heian era Japan and was believed to be a ceremony both to welcome the spirits of the dead, memorialize them, entertain them, and appease them. It’s not known if the modern-day hostess club has its origins in the O-bon odori.★ The movements of the dance are said by some to mimic the writhing of souls burning in hell—which makes sense if you’ve survived enough Japanese summers. But it’s hard to see how the writhing of tortured souls could be amusing. Mmmm….laughing at the suffering of tortured souls—amazingly O-bon pre-dates Japanese game shows.

Poorly choreographed O-bon Odori

Since the 1600s, many versions of the O-bon Odori incorporate Buddhist chanting which is believed to help the restless spirits go to a better place….Hawaii or heaven or a better incarnation. But not Saitama☆.

Deep O-Bon Thoughts (As Deep As A Plate)

Jokes aside, O-bon is one of the most interesting of Japanese festivals and while August 15th marks the current official date for the holiday, it still begins in July in many places in Japan. If you can use it as an excuse to get out of work, try celebrating it twice in the same year. You can claim to have relatives in Kansai. The actual dates and practices don’t mean that much but it’s an idea that I like in principle. There is something good about remembering those who have departed from our lives and will not return. It reminds us how lucky we are to still be alive, to eat, to drink and to dance. Even for those of us who can barely dance at all, there is something joyous about this holiday. Dance while you can.

“I love having the ancestral spirits visit but I wish they’d clean up after themselves. It’s about time to light that incense and send them off.”

「このお盆に生きている全部の人間は、単に今年度の生き残り分にすぎない」吉川英治 (小説家)

“All of us who are still alive this O-bon, we’re simply the survivors of our fiscal year.”—Eiji Yoshikawa, Japanese novelist.

originally posted on August 15th, 2012 and updated yearly

The Evaporated: 神隠し(かみかくし）Gone with the Gods –On Air now

December 12 2022

People have a habit of vanishing in Japan—even hundreds of years ago, it happened often enough that myths were created to explain these sudden disappearances. 神隠し (kamikakushi)–to be hidden by the gods. Even now, every year over 80,000 people are reported missing. And that may be the tip of the iceberg–because only family members can make those reports. If your girlfriend, high-school buddy, co-worker just evaporates one day–you can go to the police but unless you can prove foul play, they may not even open a file on the case.

There are so many types of missing people in Japan, that there are different words used to describe them. But unfortunately, defining a vanishing doesn’t make people rematerialize.

Even now, every year over 80,000 people are reported missing in Japan. And that may be the tip of the iceberg

If someone you knew and loved went missing one day – with no warning, no explanation, and no evidence – who would you turn to in order to find the truth?

If you were the one looking for that person, what would you do if you found out an entire infrastructure exists, designed for the express purpose of helping people — like your loved one — vanish into thin air?

Would you try to find someone who doesn’t want to be found? Would you judge the person for disappearing in the first place? Would you enroll in private eye school?

Who else has gone missing … and why?

The Evaporated: 神隠し/Gone With The Gods is a multi-faceted deep dive into the phenomenon of Japan’s johatsu, or “evaporated people” — citizens who choose to just vanish from their lives–and those who do so without a choice. Some of the “evaporated” are escaping dire circumstances (debt, abuse, threats of violence), but others are ashamed of how their lives have turned out, or shackled by conformity. They want to start over. And in Japan, there’s a way. It’s a cultural phenomenon.

But it might also be the ultimate cover up. Jake Adelstein, author of Tokyo Vice, The Last Yakuza, and I Sold My Soul For Bitcoins joins forces with Shoko Plambeck, model, actress and former journalist lured back into the trade by the promise of solving some great mysteries of her homeland. And of course, sound engineer/journalist and aspiring private detective, Thisanka Siripala. Together they will take you on a midnight ride into the shadows of the rising sun. We consult experts, ex-yakuza, retired police officers, the employers of the missing, and talk to those who decided to vanish and those that helped them do it.

Paul Simon once sang, “50 Ways To Leave Your Lover” but in Japan there are more than “50 Ways To Leave This World” and manuals that will show you the way. But they can also teach people how to make someone vanish and never be found. We’ll explain how that works as well.

This podcast will be brought to you Campside Media, “The New Yorker of True-Crime Podcasts” who produced critically praised works like Suspect, Chameleon: Hollywood Con Queen. Sponsored by Sony Music Entertainment.

New episodes will be released one per week. For those who can’t wait, subscribe or try The Binge. See below. Listen to it wherever you get your podcasts.

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The Evaporated On The Binge!—Get all the episodes, all at once and a plethora of other true crime podcasts.

Is there someone in your life, in Japan, who has vanished without a trace or even with a trace, but can no longer be found? Share your story with us at Gone@campsidemedia.com

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UN International Symposium on the North Korean Abduction Issue: For Families, Far From Resolved

This month, the governments of Japan, Australia, South Korea, the United States, and the EU are jointly holding a symposium hosted by the United Nations (UN) on the North Korean abduction issue. 

For decades, the abduction issue was dismissed as urban legend. A post-war North Korean plot to kidnap Japanese people off the coast and use them to train spies: it sounds unbelievable, stranger than fiction.

It wasn’t until it became impossible to ignore – the culmination of years of campaigning by the families of abduction victims, some good journalism, a plane hijacking, and finally confirmation by Kim Jong-Il himself –  that the abduction issue was taken seriously. And now, in Japan, the wave of abductions between the 70’s and 90’s are well known as a tragic period in the nation’s history. 

However, the issue is still ongoing. Some of the abductees were returned to Japan in the 2000s – but not all. There’s speculation that some abductees are still being held in North Korea, and that more people have been abducted in years since. 

The scope of this issue goes beyond Japan. It has been suspected that North Korea is responsible for the kidnappings of citizens from other countries such as Thailand and the United States as well. 

Awareness is rising internationally. Last year, these bizarre kidnappings were covered in the podcast, The Evaporated, for which the younger brother of Megumi Yokota, Japan’s most famous abductee, was interviewed.

The brother, Takuya Yokota, is scheduled to speak at the symposium, as are family members of other victims. In addition, a panel of experts from the international community will be speaking. 

The annual symposium to continue the effort to return any remaining abductees to their home countries will be livestreamed on June 29 2023 from 8:00 to 9:45 EST (21:00 to 22:45 JST), available on the official UN programming website and on the official Youtube channel of the Government of Japan Headquarters for the Abduction Issue.

To learn more about the abduction issue: 

Official Website of the Headquarters for the Abduction Issue, Government of Japan (Japanese, English, Korean, Chinese, Russian, French, Spanish. Link is to English site)

YouTube channel of Prof. Kazuhiro Araki of the Specified Missing Persons Problem Investigation Committee (Japanese)

The Evaporated: Gone With The Gods, episode Conspiracy on the Coast (English)

Inside Yamazaki Distillery: Peaceful Shrines, Rogue Schoolchildren, and Whisky (Lots of It.)

To celebrate Suntory Whisky’s 100th anniversary, the company is releasing Hakushu highballs in canned form, sold at conbinis near you for 600 yen a pop. It’s as good of a time as any to recount our tour of Hakushu distillery’s sister distillery in Yamazaki, Kyoto. 

I arrived at Yamazaki Station with my colleague (who is, incidentally, also my older sister) half expecting it to be decked out with pamphlets, advertisements, photos— hell, even merchandise— dedicated to Suntory’s Yamazaki Distillery. The distillery has received a staggering 1 billion yen investment from Suntory in honor of the 100th anniversary of their whisky line, and we were there for a press tour to get a chance to see the facility before construction started later in the year. If Aomori is known for apples, I figured this area is probably known for whisky, and would want to take advantage of that whenever possible. 

After all, Yamazaki is the distillery that started it all for Suntory whisky back in 1923. It’s in part due to the successes of their whiskies that Suntory was able to grow into the all-around beverage behemoth they are today. And few brands make it to that level while maintaining mass appeal– ask my younger cousin, who offhandedly told me that he used to specifically seek out Suntory vending machines to buy their bottled water before school. (Kids these days!)

But Yamazaki Station, just 30 or so minutes away from Kyoto in a semi-rural town, was just a regular train station. And the 10 minute walk to the distillery was more elusive than we had thought. After running into a fellow confused journalist when the asphalt street we were on hit a dead end, headed back toward the station to try again. 

(As it turns out, the real path was a single file, slightly muddy foot trail marked only with a small, dark brown rectangle of plywood with the word ”サントリー” written vertically on it in a slightly lighter shade of brown.)

The distillery is a large group of buildings at the slightly sloped base of a mountain, with a small paved road cutting through the center of the complex. We were told to watch out for traffic– it wasn’t a private road dedicated to the small carts and semi trucks used in the day to day operations, but a public through street. 

And at one point, groups of schoolchildren walked what seemed to be a practiced daily route: they passed the gift shop, crossed the street a little ways after the diesel-blackened loading docks, and proceeded to make their way along the road, which wrapped around the right side of the hill. Their yellow hats and red backpacks bobbed and weaved the entire way.

All of this is to say that, despite the tall, large buildings and the groups of visitors going in and out, the presence of the Yamazaki Distillery is remarkably low-key. It doesn’t overwhelm its surroundings, nor does it impose. Behind the buildings was all forest, and, if you looked a little past the buildings up the hill, you could see a torii and a small temizuya by a narrow path leading into the trees. In 1923, the shrine at the end of the path was in poor condition; the founder of Suntory, Shinjiro Torii, decided to help restore it after the distillery was built.

The temizuya next to the distillery with camellias blooming nearby.

Yamazaki was chosen as the location of the distillery for two reasons, which Takahisa Fujii, the distillery manager (the 20th, in fact, over the distillery’s 100 years of operation) explained. Whisky making hadn’t been established in Japan yet, and so Torii had turned to Scottish masters to help determine where to start building his distillery. In Scotland, the geography and climate is essential for the proper maturation of whisky. Not humid enough and the casks might dry out, but too humid and the alcohol content drops. 

The sweet spot is somewhere with a large, reliable body of water nearby, greenery, and a relatively stable climate. In Yamazaki, three rivers intersect into the principal river of Osaka prefecture not even two kilometers away from the warehouse where the aging casks are stored, and the surrounding mountains hold and stabilize the humidity. 

Torii looked to Japanese masters for the second factor. The water quality in Yamazaki has been famous for hundreds of years, so much so that one of the most prominent figures of the Japanese tea ceremony, Sen no Rikyu, built a personal teahouse in the town in the 1500s just for the water. 

It’s fitting that Torii drew from both Scottish and Japanese knowledge to start his whisky venture. Suntory has continued to follow Scottish tradition in some ways: they still use traditional materials for their washbacks and they import a number of their copper pot stills from Scotland.

The washback room — warm, humid, slightly sour air. A retired copper pot still, used as a sculptural decoration outside. The pot stills in use are unoxidized and beautifully copper — it was a shame that photography wasn’t allowed in the distilling room.

The blended whisky itself is where the differences start to emerge. In Scotland, a distillery and a blender are separate entities–a blender will choose their single malts from a variety of different sources and will do their magic accordingly. This is easy to do in Scotland, where there’s generations of distillers scattered across the country who have dedicated their operations to perfecting their single malts – and new distilleries cropping up all the time.

In Japan, no such tradition exists. So, under their trailblazer’s burden (or considerable market share), Suntory makes all their single malts in house. It increases the size and complexity of their operation, but it also allows them greater control over the precise kind of whisky— they call it “liquid”—they want to manufacture as single malts and for blending. In the image of this model, other Japanese whisky houses have followed suit. 

Because of this, Suntory has a very specific DNA underlying its whiskies. Make no mistake– the single malts and blends are complex and distinct. But every whisky we tried in the sampling section of the tour was recognizably Suntory. I’d be a bit biased to call it the platonic Japanese whisky, but they’re clean, balanced, and aromatic, with little smoke or peat to be detected. 

(In fact, during the tour, we were told that Yamazaki uses no peat in its current rotation of whiskies in production. This was a bit confusing, considering we had just spent the minute before taking turns to sniff a brick of peat our guide had brought with him.)

Fujii, who is a blender as well as distillery manager, explained that blenders have two major tasks: recreating the blends formulated by past blenders using the new liquid, and inventing new blends to be considered for the new line. This is a challenge that may not be unique to Suntory or the whisky industry, but to any successor for an institution with deep roots. How do you carve a new, innovative path forward while maintaining the identity–the legacy– of the institution? It seems that the answer lies in the task itself. 

Endless rows of aging casks

To recreate the existing whisky blend, the blender has to develop a nuanced, studied understanding of that blend– and of the blender behind it. Fujii described it as objective work, setting aside his own ideas and even preferences to recreate the whisky in the precise image that the original blender had in mind. After such technical work, crafting a new blend is “the fun part.” 

But with the knowledge of the former blenders and their work also comes an understanding of the overall story created through the progression and evolution of these blends. The whisky that the new blender creates isn’t just one that suits their preferences or one that’s unique for the sake of being unique –  it’s one that will represent their tenure, and that is something that has to be treated with care and respect. 

Amusingly, when asked about his ideas and personal preferences–what he personally looks for, what piques his interest during a tasting–he seemed to avoid the question. But I’m sure that as the blender overseeing the 100th anniversary, Fujii and the other blenders at Suntory have much to think about for their own legacies, and how to lead Suntory into the next century. 

Tour participants walk by the first whisky cask created by Suntory.

Corporate Turmoil: The Ups and Downs of the Elevator Business

By Henry Rogers

Fujitec, a major Japanese company that has been in business for the last 75 years, has come into the spotlight over the last couple of months. Fujitec is of the Japanese archipelago’s largest elevator manufacturers and has recently had a significant portion of its stocks purchased by a foreign investment company. The company, Oasis, has been accused of pressuring out top executives, directors, and members of the board that disagree with them after this deal. The investor had the last chairman of the company and a member of the company’s founding family removed from his position.

Takakazu Uchiyama and a delegation representing the “Free Fujitec” movement held a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan (FCCJ) today. This conference was held because the delegation wanted to highlight their new proposal for the upcoming shareholders’ meeting.

Oasis only holds 17% of the company’s shares, which allows them to put directors and other key positions in place. This also allowed them to remove Mr. Uchiyama from his position at the company after levying serious allegations.

The Free Fujitec movement takes issue with many of Oasis’ business practices. The group spoke on national security as well as economic security. Regarding national security, the speakers pointed out that since Fujitec is one of Japan’s largest elevator companies, its elevators are in airports and important government buildings such as the Ministry of Defense. While many might react to this with “it’s just an elevator,” modern elevators have cameras with microphones, and many are now equipped with face recognition software. Fujitec has a location where all of their elevators are controlled remotely, as well as some of the elevators having the ability to be controlled by a smartphone. If Oasis is able to execute a full hostile takeover, this will mean a foreign company will have access to these elevators.

On an economic security level, the delegation is afraid for the future of Fujitec. Oasis has a clear goal to sell Fujitec to another company— creating short-term profits but severely limiting the company’s growth and damaging many employees’ futures. 

And Oasis has a very poor track record when it comes to investing in firms– at least, this is what was emphasized by the group’s presentation. They showed three companies that Oasis had invested in— Sun Corporation, Raysum, and Tenma — all of which took a negative turn after the investment. This is on top of the company’s legal troubles with previous investments all over the world, including a previous case in Japan.

One of the primary issues that the Free Fujitec group is trying to tackle is the removal and replacement of leadership. The group has assembled what they think is the primer group to take over for those they view as Oasis’s people. Many of those candidates were at the press conference and spoke. Those speaking were Kazuyoshi Kimura, Kenji Uenishi, Hiroki Okimoto, and Hiroyuki Kawai.

At the conference, Takakazu Uchiyama emphasized that it was not just about the money and the power for them that it was about the company and the employees. He explained that he wants “one board, one company, one Fujitech.”

Takakazu Uchiyama was asked how he felt about the accusations that were levied against him. Oasis has accused Mr. Uchiyama of misuse of power and selling himself company property at a discount. The misuse of power allegation was that Mr. Uchiyama was using company employees to tend his garden.

The response to these allegations by the ex-corporate chairman was clear: this is “fake news.” He explained that the gardener was indeed an employee of the company, but he was being paid privately after hours. 

Mr. Uchiyama is currently suing Oasis for defamation and is claiming 1.7 billion yen in damages.

This corporate battle will be ongoing, but the direction it will go will likely be determined on June 21, when Fujitec holds its Annual General Meeting.

“Tibet is one of the biggest prisons in the world” Filmmaker Exiled by China Speaks Out in Tokyo

By Henry Rogers

Between 2007 and 2008, Tibetan filmmaker Dhondup Wangchen traveled around Tibet, interviewing Tibetans about their plight against neighboring China. The resulting film, Leaving Fear Behind, was pivotal in showing the world what was really happening in Tibet. Wangchen was arrested by the Chinese government after the film’s release and imprisoned for six years. He now lives in America, traveling and raising awareness about the oppression of Tibet.

The film interviews dozens of Tibetans and centers on how they are treated and their perspective on the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing. 

The Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan (FCCJ) hosted Dhondup Wangchen for a short screening of his documentary and press conference last week to speak on the issues Tibet faces and to give insight into the making of his film.

When the topic of the Olympics was broached in the film, one main sentiment was shared among interviewees — “The Olympics are important, but I do not care.” Indeed, they don’t have any reason to. The Chinese government promised reforms and greater treatment of ethnicities so they could hold the Olympics, but these reforms never came. And the oppression of Tibet continued.

The actions of the Chinese government have been a massive contributing factor toward the disappearance of Tibetan culture and language. Interviewees spoke about how they were terrified and outraged to watch their traditions and language disappear before their eyes.

Religious oppression is one of the main strategies utilized by the Chinese government. One scene showed a family watching the Dalai Lama on TV and the people showing their respects. The interviews after this emphasized how connected the people were to the Dalai Lama and how they wanted him to return.  

During the press conference, Wangchen first spoke about how kids two to four are being forced to go to boarding schools where they are being taught only Chinese language and culture. Then later in life, around seven to eight, while they are still in these schools, they are only allowed to see their parents once or twice a month. 

All of the normal small Tibetan schools that these children would have traditionally attended have been all but wiped out. 

Traditionally, nomads in Tibet have lived by themselves, allowing them to preserve elements of Tibetan culture. The Chinese government has realized this and is forcing them to relocate to cities. On top of this, other groups of people are moving, or in some cases, are being moved to Tibet, which is making it increasingly difficult for Tibetans to find jobs in their own country.

In Tibetan Buddhism, kids are able to enter the monastery at 6-7 years old, but now they are not allowed to become a monk until 18. As a result, the number of Tibetan monks has shrunk dramatically because of this change in policy.

At the very end of the film, Dhondup Wangchen explains that making the film wasn’t about money or fame, but “about the plight of the Tibetan people” and ending their oppression. 

These issues all come from the same goal of the Chinese government to systematically weaken the national identity of Tibetan people. China is so interested in Tibet because it is rich in valuable resources containing everything from fresh water to various minerals– resources which are currently difficult to retrieve with Tibetans in the way. Their actions have negatively impacted the continuation of Tibetan culture and language and can be seen as an attempt to secure these resources. Homogenizing the people is just one step toward protecting their investment. 

The documentary Leaving Fear Behind by Dhondup Wangchen can be found here.

Ainu Nation’s Lawsuit For Fishing Rights Draws The Support of the International Indigenous Community

By Henry Rogers

In Japan, Hokkaido has a reputation for being the place where everything is better: the beer, the skiing, the milk, the vegetables, even the hot springs. But the large northern island of the Japanese archipelago is also home to Japan’s indigenous minority, the Ainu, who have faced a long history of oppression by the Japanese government. Most recently, the Raporo Ainu Nation has been embroiled in an intense legal battle with the federal and local governments over fishing rights. 

The Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan hosted a press conference on May 29th with indigenous representatives from Japan, Finland, and Canada. The leaders had just come from an international symposium hosted by the Raporo Ainu Nation. 

The event, titled “The Indigenous Right to Catch Salmon in Rivers – A Gathering of Indigenous Peoples living with the Sea, Forests, and Rivers” was held in Urahoro, Hokkaido from May 26-28 and hosted representatives from around the world. All groups represented at the symposium have been battling their own fishing rights conflicts with their respective governments. The goal of this symposium was for indigenous groups to come together, share ideas, and learn from each others’ experiences working on this issue. 

The Ainu are located in the north of Japan and some eastern Russian provinces. The Ainu are not Japanese and have different customs and traditions. The ancestors of the modern-day Ainu have lived in the region long before ethnic Russians and Yamato Japanese. 

The Ainu have been living off the land since far before the Meiji restoration period in Japan. Deer and salmon have historically been their primary protein sources, but during the Meiji restoration, this changed. The Japanese government passed legislation banning the Ainu from hunting and fishing for their traditional foods. The government declared them poachers if they continued as they had before.

The Ainu have experienced severe discrimination at the hands of the Japanese government for hundreds of years. Democratization in the wake of World War II made it possible for the Ainu to successfully petition for increased rights and some policy changes. However, the government has yet to concede on the issue of salmon fishing. 

Salmon is integral to the culture and traditions of the Ainu people and has been for centuries. And as stated by the leader of the Raporo Ainu tribe, “You cannot separate life from culture.” Right now, that separation is being forced on the Ainu people, for they are allowed to fish but are limited to only 200, and the fish is to be used for strictly ceremonial purposes. On top of the limitation for fishing, the Ainu now have to compete with commercial fishing corporations.

The Ainu have entered into a legal battle with both the local and federal governments in the hope to gain legal rights to fish salmon for traditional, cultural, and commercial purposes.

The press conference held on Monday features speakers Masaki Sashima, the president of the Raporo Ainu Nation; Aslak Holmberg, the president of the Saami Council in northern Europe (primarily Finland); and Russ Jones, the hereditary chief of the Haida Nation in Canada.

The two visiting leaders each brought their own expertise and knowledge to the table. Aslak Holmberg is a fisherman and fishing teacher who has been active in fighting for his nation’s fishing rights as well as other issues his community faces. Russ Jones is a commissioner on the Pacific Salmon Commission. He has extensive experience dealing with the Canadian government on behalf of the Haida Nation on indigenous rights, including fishing.

The conference’s main theme was unifying the different groups behind the Raporo Ainu Nation in their legal battle. The two visiting leaders made interesting comparisons highlighting that while their people have had similar struggles, the Ainu salmon case is unique. The leaders pointed out that in many cases of indigenous rights, the government removes access to a resource for everyone. But in the Ainu case, the government has restricted the nation’s access while granting access to corporations for commercial fishing.

Governments will often justify their oppression of tribes on the grounds of climate control or the preservation of nature. When asked what the justification for the Japanese government was, Masaki explained that there was no justification, just disrespect. He explained that the restriction does not have logic behind it, for there are areas of Japan and Hokkaido where people don’t have these restrictions.

Towards the end of the conference, Russ Jones acknowledged the sustainability concerns that have been used to defend the fishing restriction. He told the press they realize that fisheries are gradually moving due to climate change and that adapting to the changing environment is a pressing matter. However, he emphasized that salmon are in Hokkaido now, and the lawsuit should not be belittled or written off because of climate change. 

The Japanese government’s mistreatment of the Ainu has put the future of the Ainu nation at risk. It is estimated that there are around 20 to 25 thousand Ainu left, and the population is declining. 

The Ainu do not know when they will get a ruling in their legal case, but should receive developments within the next few months.