Page 2 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
ASIA / PACIFIC
July 21, 2014
Cambodia to build memorial at genocide museum
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia will build a memorial at the
Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum to remember at least 12,000 people tortured and
killed there during the radical Khmer Rouge regime, according to officials. The
museum, formerly a high school in Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh, was turned
into S-21 prison after the Khmer Rouge took power in 1975. Of the estimated
16,000 men, women, and children who passed through its gates, only a handful
survived. The construction of the memorial will “ease the mind” of the survivors
of the genocide and serve as an educational tool for the next generation to
remember and prevent the return of such a dark regime, said Kranh Tony, an
official attached to the special tribunal for the genocide crimes. An estimated 1.7
million people died as a result of the Khmer Rouge’s radical policies from 1975 to
1979. The Buddhist stupa will replace a similar memorial that disintegrated
inside the Tuol Sleng complex. It will be completed in nine months. The
museum’s renovation began in 2010.
Singapore backs call to destroy gay-themed books
SINGAPORE (AP) — A children’s book inspired by a real-life story of two male
penguins raising a baby chick in New York’s zoo has been deemed inappropriate
by state-run Singapore libraries. The conservative city-state’s information
minister, Yaacob Ibrahim, said he supports the decision to destroy all copies
alongside two other titles because he said the prevailing norms in Singapore
support teaching children about conventional families. The National Library
Board, which runs 26 public libraries in Singapore, said it plans to destroy the
books. They include And Tango Makes Three, about a male-male penguin couple
in the Central Park Zoo; The White Swan Express: A Story About Adoption,
which involves a lesbian couple; and Who’s In My Family: All About Our
Families. The decision has triggered online petitions to spare the books.
Amid China spat, Vietnam to build 32 patrol ships
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Vietnam says it plans to build 32 new coastal patrol
vessels to help defend its maritime sovereignty. Hanoi is locked in a territorial
dispute with its much larger neighbor China in the South China Sea that has
exposed its lack of maritime muscle and surveillance capabilities. Prime
Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said the government would spend $540 million on
32 new coast guard and fishery patrol vessels. Vietnam and China have sparred
for years over who owns what in the South China Sea, but tensions escalated
sharply in early May when Beijing deployed a large oil rig near the disputed
Paracel islands.
Myanmar journalist freed after sentence reduced
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — A journalist and his assistant who were
imprisoned for filming inside a government office were freed after an appeals
court reduced their sentences from one year to three months. Zaw Pe, a video
reporter for the independent Democratic Voice of Burma media group, and Win
Myint Hlaing were convicted in April of trespassing and obstructing a civil
servant after filming inside an education department office while investigating
the selection process for a Japanese scholarship program in 2012. Their
sentences were reduced because the appeals court agreed with their lawyer that
they had acted in their capacity as journalists. The nominally civilian
government that replaced military rule has eased censorship and other
measures limiting press freedom, but reporters and publishers still face
intimidation through lawsuits. In April, after the two were originally sentenced,
several private newspapers printed black front pages to protest the cases
against them and other journalists.
Chinese officials will buy more electric cars
BEIJING (AP) — China says at least 30 percent of newly purchased govern-
ment cars will be electric and other types of “new energy vehicles” as it attempts
to tackle air pollution and encourage the electric car market. The official Xinhua
News Agency was quoting a joint plan from government departments that says
about a third of newly bought cars for official use from 2014 to 2016 will rely on
clean energy and the percentage will be raised year by year after that. They
include electric cars, plug-in hybrids, and fuel-cell and solar-powered cars.
China is the world’s biggest auto market by number of vehicles sold.
North Korea threatens to boycott Asian Games
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea has threatened to review its deci-
sion to enter the coming Asian Games in South Korea after talks on the games
broke down. North Korea had said it would send athletes and cheerleaders to the
games as part of measures aimed at reducing tension. Many in South Korea
doubt the North’s sincerity, citing its recent series of missile and rocket tests.
The games are scheduled for September 19 through October 4 in Incheon.
Nepal teenager commits suicide after Brazil defeat
KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — A teenager in eastern Nepal committed suicide
after her favorite team, Brazil, lost badly to Germany in the World Cup
semifinals, according to police. Police said the 10th-grader was depressed and
hanged herself from the ceiling in Bharaul village located 250 miles east of the
capital of Kathmandu. The teenager was identified as Pragya Thapa. Her
mother found her hanging from the ceiling in her room. She was living with her
mother and grandparents while her father was abroad working. Police said they
were investigating and the body had been sent for autopsy. Germany defeated
Brazil 7-1 in the semifinal earlier this month.
GODZILLA COMES HOME. Film director Gareth Edwards, left, chats with Japanese actor Ken Watanabe while pos-
ing for photographers during the Japan premiere of the movie Godzilla in Tokyo. Tokyo rolled out the red carpet for Holly-
wood’s Godzilla remake although the nation that gave birth to the fire-breathing monster is seeing the latest movie after it
opened everywhere else. Trepidation remains, however, about its reception in Japan because of the intense loyalty fans
feel toward the original. The film opens in Japan on July 25. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)
Hollywood ‘Godzilla’ finally
stomps home to Japan
By Yuri Kageyama
The Associated Press
T
OKYO — Tokyo rolled out the red car-
pet for Hollywood’s Godzilla remake
although the nation that gave birth to
the fire-breathing monster is seeing the latest
movie after it opened everywhere else.
Godzilla, which opened in the U.S. on May
16, has grossed more than $490 million
globally.
But trepidation remains about its reception
in Japan because of the intense loyalty fans
feel toward the original. The film opens in
Japan on July 25.
Director Gareth Edwards, present in Tokyo
for the mid-July gala, stressed he had merely
parented what was the child of Japan.
“It feels like a homecoming,” said Edwards.
“His home is Japan.”
Ken Watanabe, whose Godzilla role is one of
several appearances in Hollywood films,
acknowledged pressure was high for how the
film may be received in Japan.
“It might be a challenge for Japanese to
accept this movie,” he said after posing with a
figure of Godzilla on the red carpet.
He said some scenes show the wreckage of a
giant tsunami, evoking painful memories of
the March 2011 disaster in northeastern
Japan, which killed nearly 19,000 people and
set off the worst nuclear catastrophe since
Chernobyl.
“I have a special feeling for this film because
of the disaster,” Watanabe said.
Edwards’ 3-D Godzilla, complete with
glistening scales, spikes down its back, and a
terrifying roar, pays homage to the original,
tracing the theme of the threat of radiation,
following America’s atomic attacks on Japan
in World War II.
Although Godzilla has grown to be one of
Japan’s most iconic exports, along with sushi
and geisha, its status in mainstream
entertainment has waned here.
Toho Co., the creators of Godzilla movies
since the first one in 1954, stopped making
them after the 28th in a series in 2004.
Officials say times have changed and an
actor thrashing about in a rubber suit,
smashing miniature models of buildings, just
doesn’t cut it anymore.
Watanabe said the film’s late opening in
Japan was because of technical reasons about
summer vacations coming later, and denied it
was intentional to avoid jinxing it by having it
possibly fail in the land of Godzilla’s birth.
But he laughed and shook his head when
asked whether the best was being saved for
last.
Hard-core Godzilla fans think nothing can
live up to the charm and pathos of the original,
and scoff at computer graphics and other
modern filmmaking technology.
Akira Takarada, who played the young diver
in the first Godzilla and appeared in many
sequels, said he burst into tears when he
watched the new Godzilla in the U.S., and the
crowd began stomping on the floor, and then
gave Godzilla a standing ovation when it
finally appeared about an hour into the movie.
“A giant hero they had been waiting for had
arrived,” he said with emotion in his voice.
Edwards appeared confident his movie
would win over Japanese fans.
“They’re the best fans in the world,” he said.
“They’re crazy.”
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