ASIA / PACIFIC
Page 4 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
May 19, 2014
South Korea changing
maritime rules after sinking
By Youkyung Lee
The Associated Press
S
REMAKE REJECTION. Kazuya Haraguchi, 45, a technician for film reel, wearing part of a real Godzilla
costume he purchased at an auction, holds the monster’s figure at his apartment in Tokyo. Godzilla-lovers in the
nation where the stomping all began say their iconic hero falls into a special phantasmal category called kaiju,
different from more mundane monsters like King Kong or Frankenstein. And the Hollywood version is no kaiju,
said Haraguchi, who collects Godzilla goods, including a 100,000 yen ($1,000) complete DVD collection from
Toho Studios, which came with a huge fangs-baring Godzilla head. (AP Photo/Junji Kurokawa)
Loyal to zip-up Godzilla,
Japan wary of U.S. remake
Continued from page 2
it’s hard to point at a film where that truly
did him justice. Especially with the digital
tools we have available today.”
Edwards says he grew up watching
Godzilla films and has great respect for
their deeper meaning, such as raising
questions about nuclear weapons. But for
many Japanese, the updated, more
technologically advanced version of their
hero isn’t quite right.
Yumiko Yamashita, 40, a welfare
worker, thinks Godzilla must be lovable —
kawaii, or cute, is the way she describes it.
She is proud it is drawing overseas
respect but scoffed at U.S. depictions:
“They make it too flashy. It becomes too
American.”
Minami Ichikawa, a Toho Co. director,
acknowledged Japanese fans have been
waiting for Godzilla’s comeback because
Toho hasn’t made a Godzilla film for 10
years, after making 28 in the series.
One reason for his absence was that
Toho felt the days were over for the
old-style special effects, invented by the
legendary Eiji Tsuburaya, centering on
miniature cityscape models trampled by
an actor. The next Godzilla film out of
Japan, if there is one, will rely on
Hollywood-style computer graphics, he
added.
“Godzilla is an actor we rented to
Hollywood,”
Ichikawa
said,
while
declining to disclose terms. “The times are
changing.”
Haruo Nakajima says a true Godzilla
must be a figure of pathos as it destroys
buildings and bridges in its path.
He should know. He was the first
Godzilla.
Nakajima, 85, was a stunt actor in
samurai films when he was approached to
take the Godzilla role. He had to invent the
character from scratch, and went to the zoo
to study the way elephants and bears
moved.
The suit was so hot, especially under the
glaring lights on set, the sweat he wrung
from the shirt off his back would fill half a
bucket, he recalled.
“I am the original, the real thing,” he
said, stressing that later Godzillas are
mere imitations. “If Godzilla can’t walk
properly, it’s nothing but a freak show.”
The theme of his Godzilla was grander
and more complex, addressing universal
human problems, as it spoke to a Japan
that still remembered wartime suffering,
he said.
“It’s not some cowboy movie,” Nakajima
said proudly, sitting among sepia-toned
photos of him as a young man and Godzilla
figures in his apartment.
“Everyone asks me to play Godzilla
again,” he said. “My Godzilla was the best.”
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EOUL, South Korea
—
The
South
Korean government
is scrambling to fix what
the prime minister calls the
“deep-rooted evils” that
contributed to last month’s
ferry sinking, which left
more than 300 people dead
or missing.
As investigators probe
cozy links between the
shipping industry and its
regulators,
Seoul
has
promised new monitoring
and
regulations
for
domestic passenger ships,
which are not governed by
international rules. Here
are the initial steps the
Ministry of Ocean and
Fisheries and other groups
have taken:
Who’s on board?
The ministry says all
information about passen-
gers will be processed
electronically beginning in
June, with similar changes
for vehicles and cargo
beginning in July. The
measures are meant to fix a
system
that
produced
uncertainty about how
many people were on the
Sewol when it sank, and
especially
about
the
amount of cargo it was
carrying.
Under the current sys-
tem, passengers write
down their names, gen-
ders,
birthdays,
and
contact numbers. Many
people, including cargo
truck drivers who use
ferries on monthly passes,
didn’t bother filling them
out. Authorities believe
476 people were on the
Sewol when it sank, and
only 174 of them are known
to have survived.
Records
about
the
Sewol’s cargo, meanwhile,
appear to have been
inaccurate. A coast guard
official said the captain
reported 150 vehicles and
657 tons of cargo, but an
official with the company
that loaded the vessel’s
cargo said it was carrying
much more: 3,608 tons.
The ministry said pas-
senger ID cards will be
checked by officials from
the ship’s operator and
ferry terminal, a measure
that has often been
skipped. Terminal opera-
tors will be ordered to
better control ferry port
entrances.
Local TV stations have
shown long lines of pas-
sengers at Jeju terminal as
coast guard officials check
MARITIME SAFETY. Rescue helicopters fly over the Sewol, a
South Korean passenger ferry that authorities believe was carrying 476
passengers, mostly high school students, on April 16, 2014 off South Ko-
rea’s southern coast. The South Korean government is scrambling to fix
what the prime minister calls the “deep-rooted evils” that contributed to
the sinking of the ferry, which left more than 300 people dead or missing.
(AP Photo/Yonhap)
Chonghaejin Marine Co.
the ID cards of passengers.
The report said the coast Ltd. redesigned the Sewol
guard has increased the to add passenger space
number of officials present after purchasing it from
at the port, but it’s unclear Japanese owners in 2012.
whether that’s a perma- The redesign resulted in a
nent measure. Currently, deterioration of the ferry’s
there’s only one coast stability, increasing its
guard officer present at the center of gravity by half a
Incheon terminal, and the meter, which means its top
officer’s main tasks are became heavier than be-
anti-terrorism and enforc- fore. The Korean Register
of Shipping inspected the
ing safety.
redesigned vessel and said
Black boxes
Black boxes that record it would have to carry much
date, time, ship location, less cargo to safely operate,
speed, direction, weather, but the changes did not
and communications on the require approval from the
bridge will be installed on ministry
because
the
domestic ferries. Cur- ferry’s
width,
depth,
rently, only international height, and function all
ferries and freight vessels remained the same.
more than 3,000 tons are
The ministry said it
required to have the device, plans more restrictions
also known as a voyage regarding how ships may
data recorder. If one had be redesigned. Details are
been installed on the under discussion.
Sewol, it could have helped
Safety inspections
before departure
investigators check ship
The Korean Shipping
operations
against
Association, which regu-
testimony from the crew.
Officials
say
new lates and oversees depar-
domestic ferries will install tures and arrivals of
the devices and existing domestic passenger ships,
ferries will adopt the is a private group, unlike
devices after reviewing many of its counterparts in
other countries.
technical issues.
The association gets
Speed limits
The area off the country’s paperwork from captains
southern coast where the on crew, passengers, and
accident occurred is known cargo, ensures that ships
for its fast currents and for undertake safety measures
many small islands located such as evacuation drills,
close together, but unlike and decides whether ships
some other challenging are safe to depart. Its
marine areas, there is no biggest business, however,
speed limit for ships. is selling insurance prod-
Officials
will
review ucts to shipping companies
whether the narrow stretch and operators.
Since the Sewol disaster,
of water where the Sewol
sank should be designated the oceans ministry has
as a special area where a been considering taking
the job of overseeing pas-
speed limit is applied.
senger-ship safety away
Ministry approval
The ministry will submit from the shipping associa-
a proposal to the National tion, ministry official Kwon
Assembly seeking revi- Jun-young said. Kwon said
sions to ban any redesign of they are discussing which
passenger ships aimed at agency or agencies should
adding more passengers.
take on the job.
This pro
program
rogram
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financed
ced by or
o r connected
co nnected in
connec
n any
a ny manner
m ner r with
manne
wi th any
a ny governmental
g ov nmen
gover
nmental
al agency
agen
gency
cy or
o veteran’s
ve
vetera
eran’s
n’s or other
o ther organization.
or aniz
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ani atio
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