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About The Asian reporter. (Portland, Or.) 1991-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 17, 2015)
Page 2 n THE ASIAN REPORTER ASIA / PACIFIC August 17, 2015 China blacklists 120 songs for obscene or violent lyrics BEIJING (AP) — China has released a blacklist of songs that it says promote obscenity or violence and ordered website administrators to remove them from their sites. The official Xinhua News Agency said the order from the Ministry of Culture accompanied the list of 120 songs that “trumpeted obscenity, violence, crime, or harmed social morality.” It said any unit or individual that does not take down the songs will face unspecified “severe punishment.” The list contains Chinese-language songs, and some are by household names in China, including Taiwanese pop singer Chang Csun Yuk and Taiwanese actor Stanley Huang. Xinhua said the list will be updated regularly. China’s authoritarian govern- ment regularly attempts to tighten control over content it says disturbs social stability. Five accused of being witches beaten to death in India PATNA, India (AP) — Dozens of villagers in eastern India beat to death five women, accusing them of practicing witchcraft and blaming them for a series of misfortunes in the village, according to police. Residents of Kinjia village in Jharkhand state dragged the women out of their homes and beat them with sticks and iron rods, said Arun Kumar Singh, a deputy inspector-general of police in Ranchi, Jharkhand’s capital. The attackers blamed the women for several accidents and misfortunes suffered by villagers, including the death of an infant in Kinjia, Singh said. Police have arrested about 50 people involved in the attack, Singh said. A large number of police officers have been deployed in the village to prevent any outbreak of violence. Superstitious beliefs persist in many parts of India and have been behind similar attacks on women in Jharkhand. From 2000 to 2012, about 2,100 people, mostly women, were killed in India on suspicion of practicing witchcraft, according to the National Crime Records Bureau. Kinjia is about 25 miles west of Ranchi. Seoul reaches deal to salvage sunken Sewol ferry SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea says it has reached an agreement with a Chinese-led consortium on a 85.1 billion won ($73 million) deal to salvage the ferry that sank in an accident that killed more than 300 people in April of last year. The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said the consortium led by China’s state-run firm Shanghai Salvage Co. plans to raise the 6,800-ton Sewol by about July next year. South Korea approved plans to salvage the Sewol in April, accepting demands from the victims’ families who staged fierce protests in the capital of Seoul for months. The relatives hope that raising the ship will reveal details about the cause of the sinking and help find the bodies of nine passengers still missing. Disney apologizes for tweet on A-bomb anniversary TOKYO (AP) — Walt Disney Japan has apologized after a tweet sent from its corporate Twitter account wished readers “congratulations on a not special day” on the 70th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of Nagasaki. The company offered “deep apologies,” saying it would take care to avoid such mistakes in the future. In English, the tweet conveyed “A very merry unbirthday to you!” from a song in the Disney film Alice in Wonderland. The Japanese translation described the day as “not special,” prompting sharp criticism. Japan holds solemn ceremonies each year to mourn the more than 74,000 people killed in the bombing of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, three days after the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Japan surrendered on August 15, ending World War II. At least 50 dead after huge fiery blasts at Chinese port TIANJIN, China (AP) — Huge, fiery blasts at a warehouse for hazardous chemicals killed at least 114 people and turned nearby buildings into skeletal shells in the Chinese port of Tianjin, raising questions about whether the materials had been properly stored. Hundreds of people were injured in the explosions, which sent out massive fireballs that turned the night sky into day and shattered windows several miles away. At least 20 of the dead were among the more than 1,000 firefighters sent to the mostly industrial zone to fight the ensuing blaze. “I thought it was an earthquake, so I rushed downstairs without my shoes on,” said Tianjin resident Zhang Siyu, whose home is several miles from the blast site. “Only once I was outside did I realize it was an explosion. There was the huge fireball in the sky with thick clouds. Everybody could see it.” Zhang said she could see wounded people weeping. She said she did not see anyone who had been killed, but “I could feel death.” The municipal government in Tianjin said more than 700 people were injured. The port is the 10th largest in the world and seventh largest in China. It has grown in importance as companies wanting lower manufacturing costs have migrated to the north from eastern and southern China’s manufacturing centers. South Korea wins East Asian Cup SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea drew with North Korea 0-0 to win the 2015 East Asian Cup, a third triumph in six editions of the biennial four- nation soccer tournament. South Korea, without its European-based players, dominated its northern neighbor, but was unable to score at Wuhan Sports Center Stadium. China finished second with four points from three games, one point behind South Korea, after being held by Japan 1-1. China took the lead after 12 minutes through Wu Lei, but Japan equalized before the break thanks to a goal by Yuki Muto. Japan, the only team not to win at the tournament, finished last with just two points. North Korea was third with four points. FINAL FLIGHTS. A visitor looks at photos of deceased pilots of the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II at Chiran Peace Museum in Chiran, Kagoshima prefecture, Japan. As young army pilots took off on suicide-attack missions in the closing days of World War II, schoolgirls in the southwestern Japanese town waved handkerchiefs and branches of pink blossoms. Chiran served as the takeoff spot for 439 pilots on suicide-attack missions, many of them also teenagers. Japan surrendered four months later. (AP Photo/Yuri Kageyama) Japanese girl’s World War II job: Waving goodbye to kamikaze pilots By Yuri Kageyama and Miki Toda The Associated Press C HIRAN, Japan — As young army pilots took off on suicide-attack missions in the closing days of World War II, the schoolgirls in the southwestern Japanese town of Chiran waved handkerchiefs and branches of pink blossoms. “Remembering that still makes me trem- ble,” said Chino Kuwashiro, now a tiny 86- year-old with a stooped back. “We waved and waved until we couldn’t see them anymore. Why did we have to endure such sorrow?” She and the other girls were called Nadeshiko, after the fragile pink flowers seen as a symbol of femininity in Japan. They were ordered to take care of the pilots at the army base in Chiran. Their jobs included cleaning, doing the laundry, sewing on buttons, and saying goodbye. The 100 or so girls had their jobs for barely a month in the spring of 1945, but the farewell ceremony, in which some were ordered to take part, is etched painfully in their minds. Only about a dozen Nadeshiko women are alive today. Chiran served as the takeoff spot for 439 pilots on suicide-attack missions, many of them also teenagers. Japan surrendered four months later. Kuwashiro broke into tears as she pointed to the green-tea groves and pumpkin patch where the runway once stood. The planes tipped their wings three times in a farewell salute — a bomb hung from one wing, a fuel tank from the other. Japanese here say Chiran today highlights the horrors and extremes of war, and want their town of 10,000 to be designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site. They have yet to gain even the approval needed from the Jap- anese government, but an exhibit thousands of miles away suggests there are powerful lessons in the lives lost here 70 years ago. Photos, letters, and poems from the pilots of Chiran are now on exhibit, for the first time outside Japan, on the battleship USS Missouri, berthed in Pearl Harbor, Hawai’i. The items are from the Chiran Peace Museum, which is devoted to the suicide-mission army pilots. Though such Japanese pilots in World War II are generally known as kamikaze, that name applied specifically to navy pilots. Their army counterparts, like those in Chiran, were called tokko. Those who refused to fly to their deaths were imprisoned. “I have a big smile, mother, as I am about to carry out my last, and first, act of filial love. Don’t cry. Please think I did good,” wrote Fujio Wakamatsu, 19, in one of the letters on display. Michael Carr, the president and chief executive of the Battleship Missouri Memorial, said that instead of recoiling at the stories, visitors are moved by the Chiran exhibit, which runs through November 11. “It shows that we are all people who share the same love for our family, love of country, and obligation to duty,” he said. “We need to continually highlight and remember history so that people can learn from it and move forward with a perspective of tolerance, dignity, and peace.” A corner of the Chiran museum is devoted to Nadeshiko, and includes a video with inter- Continued on page 3 Asian Currency Exchange Rates Units per U.S. dollar as of 8/14 Bangladesh Taka· · Cambodian Riel · · China Renminbi · · Fijian Dollar · · · · Hong Kong Dollar · Indian Rupee · · · · Indonesian Rupiah · Iranian Rial · · · · Japanese Yen · · · Laos New Kip · · · Malaysian Ringgit · Nepal Rupee · · · · Pakistani Rupee · · Papua N.G. Kina · · Philippine Peso· · · Russian Ruble · · · Saudi Riyal· · · · · Singapore Dollar · · South Korean Won · Sri Lankan Rupee · Taiwan Dollar · · · Thai Baht · · · · · Vietnam Dong · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 77.775 4102.6 6.3912 2.1434 7.7558 65.007 13787 29566 124.26 8174.5 4.0805 104.04 101.5 2.7739 46.175 64.858 3.7515 1.4037 1180.6 133.93 32.151 35.233 22103