Saturday, December 05, 2009

"Tokio Hotel" in concert in Tokyo in 2010!


Update !! Tokio Hotel in Tokyo in 2010!

The group "Tokio Hotel" will be for the first time in Japan in 2010. Information confirmed December 15 2009 by the Ambassador of Germany in Tokyo, Mr. Volker Stanzel during a luncheon press conference at the "Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan" answering to [my] question of a French journalist at RTL. Tens of thousands of Japanese fans await the TH. Amateurs of pop, of rock 'n' roll, manga, of dreams and thrills. Where? At the German embassy garden... or at Tokyo Dome, outside concert on a jungle island in Tokyo Bay as the richest man of France LVMH Bernard Arnault did with top stars and VIPs? Mystery... Details are being elaborated Ambassador Volker Stanzel said.
http://www.fccj.or.jp/node/5195



These guys are just amazing, need them here in Japan now!

'Dogs unleashed' or whatever.


"We chose the name Tokio because Tokyo is a fabulous city and Hotel because we spend a lot of time in hotels".

Their recent MTV show:

G e n i a l !

"Tokio Hotel continues to conquer the world, riding high after their recent MTV EMA performance in Berlin, the guys of Tokio Hotel - Bill Kaulitz, Tom Kaulitz, Georg Listing, and Gustav Schafer - recently hit MTV's Buzzworthy to answer questions from Tokio Hotel fans. When asked about his favorite song on the new Tokio Hotel album, Humanoid, Tokio Hotel lead singer, Bill Kaulitz, revealed that he leans toward "Dogs Unleashed" while the other Tokio Hotel guys like "Noise" and "Automatic"." I agree too. Dogs unleashed is a top!



Transsexual Ai Haruna struggles for tolerance in Japan



Ai Haruna @ FCCJ press event
report & vdo

Ai Haruna is a Japanese TV personality, she was crowned
the world's most beautiful transsexual a month ago in a
show contest in Pattaya, Thailand.

Kenji Onishi was Ai Haruna's name before because she
was a man. She lived with difficulties since she was a
child.

Now she is not just an other trans who parades on TV
shows in Japan. She speaks politics and justice. She
fustigates discrimination in her, his country: Japan

Discrimination is a word that provokes irremediable
power of attraction to a journalists' crowd. We
invited the character at our FCCJ press event.

Haruna is 37, pretty, manly cheeks, strong voice but
feminine laughter from times to times, large shoulders
and big hands -naturally- She wants her country to be
more tolerant toward people of diverse sexual
orientations.

"I was surprised to see many transgender people work at
hotels and restaurants with no problem in Thailand,
Japan can learn many things from other Asian nations
like Thailand and the Philippines."

In Japan, people can legally change their gender on
official documents, but transgender people still face
spoken and silent discrimination.

Discrimination where?

She recalled condominium owners had declined to let her
rent apartments because neighbors may object. "I was
rejected five straight times," she said. "I think Japan is
behind."

"I was born with a very masculine sounding boy's name.
But I always wanted to be a girl, always dreamed of
becoming a pretty idol seen on TV." "But for a long
time life was very difficult for me."

"Even after I had a sex change operation at the age of
19 and had my first boyfriend, I encountered many, many
obstacles that constantly made me realise I wasn't a
woman."

Now crowned the world's transsexual queen, Haruna wants
to work internationally to raise awareness for sexual
minorities. "I want to work for those who are troubled
like me," she said. "I want to work in the world. And
of course, I want to be married some day."

In Thailand, trans came to change because of financial
reasons but in Japan it is an other story. Simply
said, a current societal change.

Ai Haruna VDO @ FCCJ event


photo & vdo © Asian Gazette 2009

Wednesday, December 02, 2009

Flabbergasted Michael Moore pats Japan capitalism



Moore and starlet Ogura at TSE


"Quit being like us. Be the Japan you created after 1945,
you believe that you’re all Japanese and that you’re on
the same boat."

Documentary film maker Michael Moore made his own
show while visiting the Tokyo Stock Exchange for the
promotion of his latest work "Capitalism: A Love Story."

The film director is urging people in Japan to get
back to a social security system based on the spirit
of mutual trust, and warns that the country appears less
caring following the excessive reign of "conservative"
governments.

"You started to go down the other road, so my humble
plea is for you to come off that road with your new
prime minister and go down the road that we used to
admire".

Moore, 55, a Sumo sized belt, said he wishes the film
to encourage people in Japan to have second thoughts
about following ideas believed in the United States,
such as "only the strong will survive", and to revalue
the safety net system that Japanese people built to
help each other after World War II.

In the 127-minute film, Moore accused a handful of
leaders in the U.S. government and Wall Street of
obtaining funds, including taxpayers’ money, all to
themselves thus leading to making themselves richer and
most others poorer. Moore also urged President Barack
Obama not to expand the war in Afghanistan. He said
that he had sent Obama a message from his father, a
World War II veteran. "I passed on to him a personal
request from my father and his Japanese friend : Mr
Obama, you do not know war. We both know war and
want it no more".

✍ Now the issues is: if no gold and no money, what else,
slavery as a compensation to labor payment? Some
people get tired with these easy talks about finance.
Weird too confusing finance and conservatism.
Baba cool...

Tuesday, December 01, 2009

Journalists slaughtered: Andal Ampatuan Jr. charged




Near the Presidential Palace in Manila, Philippines.
1,000 journalists and activists gathered to protest the
massacre in the southern Philippines of 57 civilians,
including at least 30 journalists and their staff in
the deadliest single attack on the media in the world.


Philippines prosecutors charged Andal Ampatuan Jr.
today, he is the heir of a powerful clan, with murder in the massacre
of 57 people, more than half of them journalists and their staff
who were accompanying the family and supporters of an election
candidate November 23.

News quotes:

"At least 10 witnesses will testify they saw Andal
Ampatuan Jr. leading the gunmen, including police
officers, who blocked his rival's election caravan
moments before the Nov. 23 massacre, according to
prosecutor Al Calica. Ampatuan turned himself in last
week and denied the charges. He belongs to a clan
allied with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo that has
ruled southern impoverished Maguindanao province
unopposed for years. His father, the family's
patriarch, and six other family members also are
considered suspects but have not been charged.

Prosecutors initially filed 25 murder charges against
Ampatuan in southern Cotabato city, whose regional
trial court is nearest to the massacre site in Ampatuan
township. The five prosecutors handling the murder
case carried two boxloads of evidence and affidavits
from witnesses from Manila to Cotabato city aboard two
air force helicopters. They are expected to ask the
court to try the case in Manila for security reasons.

"The evidence is strong," Calica said, adding that at
least 10 witnesses provided written testimonies linking
Ampatuan to the killings. He said three of them were
in the convoy carrying journalists and the wife, two
sisters, an aunt and several supporters of Ampatuan's
rival, Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu of Maguindanao's
Buluan township.

What happened?

Mangudadatu had sent his relatives to file his
candidacy papers for governorship. Mangudadatu said
Ampatuan had threatened to chop him to pieces if he
attempted to challenge the Ampatuan family's ironclad
control over the province. So, Mangudadatu sent female
family members in the belief they would not be harmed.
Hours later, troops found the bullet-riddled and hacked
bodies near the highway sprawled in the grass and
hastily buried in three mass graves by a backhoe
together with three vehicles.

Quoting the three witnesses who survived, prosecutor Al
Calica said they managed to turn their cars from the
tail end of the convoy and escaped after shots were
fired and the gunmen hurriedly took control of the vans
and sport utility vehicles in the caravan. Police cars
were parked along the road as the gunmen led the
victims in their vehicles to a remote hilltop where
they were butchered, Calica said. Police said earlier
they took into custody six officers, including the
Maguindanao provincial police chief and his deputy. Two
inspectors among them were allegedly seen during the
massacre with Ampatuan, said Erickson Velasquez, head
of the criminal investigation division.

Premeditated?

Prosecutors said the killings were carefully planned
and that more charges will follow. At least one
witness alleged that the Ampatuan clan had gathered in
the patriarch's mansion in the provincial capital of
Shariff Aguak days before to plan the killings, said
chief state prosecutor Jovencito Zuno. The graves were
dug in advance and a backhoe positioned to bury the
bodies, prosecutors said. The Ampatuans denied any
responsibility in the killings in a rare news
conference in Shariff Aguak on Sunday.

Arroyo has declared a state of emergency in Maguindanao
and a neighboring province and ordered troops and
police to confiscate unlincensed weapons and restore
order. But few think the measures will go far enough
in a lawless region notorious for political warlords
that has been outside the central government's control
for generations.

Journalists support

In Manila, about 1,000 journalists and activists
marched Monday to demand justice for the single worst
attack on the media anywhere in the world. Thirty of
the victims were journalists or their staff. The
protesters hackled Arroyo's spokesman Cerge Remonde
when he tried to address them outside the president's
office.

The carnage drew worldwide condemnation, including from
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Europe, the Usa.

The VDO report on youtube


FCCJ statement Nov 30th 2009

The Foreign Correspondent Club of Japan Freedom of the
Press Committee condemns the massacre in the Southern
Philippines that resulted in the killing of 57 people,
including 30 journalists and media workers November
23rd 2009.

The Committee conveys our condolences and sympathy to
all journalists in the Philippines and expresses our
solidarity with the National Union of Journalists of
the Philippines (NUJP) in mourning their slain
colleagues and demands that those responsible for such
a heinous act are brought to justice without any delay.

The Committee hopes that this terrible tragedy, the
biggest single atrocity against journalists in recent
history, would compel the government to take prompt
actions to protect journalists and the freedom of the
press in the Philippines.

Foreign Correspondent Club of Japan
Freedom of the Press Committee

More later...