ASIA / PACIFIC
Page 4 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
July 3, 2017
Japan marks 75 years of Vatican
ties with noh theater show
STRETCHING CELEBRATION. Indian Sadhus, or Hindu holy
men, perform yoga to mark International Yoga Day at Kamakhya temple
in Gauhati, India. Millions of yoga enthusiasts across India took part in
mass yoga sessions celebrating the third International Yoga Day, which
falls annually on June 21. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)
International Yoga Day
marked by millions in
India, where it began
LUCKNOW, India (AP) — Indians in mass crowds
across the country were bent and twisted and posed in
celebration of International Yoga Day, in the place where
it began.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi joined 50,000 students
and other residents in the northern city of Lucknow for a
mass yoga session last month. Similar yoga displays were
organized in villages, towns, and cities across India.
The United Nations proclaimed the date in 2014 and it’s
being marked around the world.
The practice began in ancient India. Modi has described
yoga as free health insurance and exhorted people to make
it a part of their daily lives.
COMPETING FOR CUSTOMERS. GrabBike drivers and Xe Om
(or motorbike taxi) drivers are seen waiting for customers outside a major
hospital in Hanoi, Vietnam. Vietnam’s motorbike taxis are seeing business
dry up as customers increasingly opt for ride-hailing services such as
Uber and Grab. (AP Photo/Tran Van Minh)
Ride-hailing services transform
Vietnam’s transport culture
By Tran Van Minh
The Associated Press
H
ANOI, Vietnam — Nguyen Kim Lan used to
make a decent living shuttling customers around
town on his Honda motorbike. But his clientele
has dwindled as young and tech-savvy Vietnamese
increasingly use ride-hailing apps like Uber and Grab to
summon cheaper, safer motorbike taxis.
The expansion of the ride-hailing services across
Southeast Asia is shaking up traditional motorcycle taxi
services that are a key source of informal work for people
like Lan. In some cases, the Xe Om (or motorbike taxi)
drivers are venting their anger in attacks on the new
competitors.
Lan is just frustrated. He says his income has fallen to
just 20 percent to 30 percent of what it used to be.
“Nowadays, my frequent customers have all booked
Grab and Uber, so they don’t come here anymore,” said
Lan, 62, as he waited for customers at an intersection in
downtown Hanoi.
“Before, office workers would come here after work.
Now they just sit in their offices and get picked up at the
door,” he said.
As elsewhere in the region, motorbikes are Vietnam’s
main form of transportation, especially in the capital of
Hanoi and the southern commercial hub of Ho Chi Minh
City. They can maneuver through crowded, narrow city
streets more easily than cars and are less expensive to buy
and run.
Having invaded the conventional taxi market, ride-
hailing apps such as Uber and Malaysia-based Grab are
now elbowing aside the Xe Om with their UberMoto and
GrabBike services.
Continued on page 16
ROME (AP) — Japan marked the
75th anniversary of diplomatic ties
with the Holy See with a performance
of ancient traditional noh theater in
Rome.
At the performance in Rome at the
Palazzo
della
Cancelleria,
a
Renaissance architectural master-
piece housing Vatican tribunals,
visitors were shown how to wear a
noh theater mask.
Japan’s
ambassador
to
the
Vatican, Yoshio Matthew Nakamura,
says noh theater absorbs cultural
elements from various countries and
civilizations.
Japan has been a strong admirer of
Vatican artistic treasures. Decades
ago, Japanese television sponsored
the restoration of the Sistine Chapel
ceiling, which was frescoed by
Michelangelo.
Presenting his diplomatic creden-
DIPLOMACY & DRAMA. Japanese actor Kazufusa Hosho, impersonating Okina, performs
as part of a traditional noh theater presentation during celebrations for the 75th anniversary of the
diplomatic relations between the Vatican and Japan, in Rome’s Palazzo della Cancelleria. (AP Photo/
Gregorio Borgia)
tials last year to Pope Francis, periphery,” an area where Francis
Nakamura gave him binoculars “to says the church must pay more
see the lives of people in the attention.
It’s a girl: Japan zoo’s star
panda baby gets a checkup
By Yuri Kageyama
AP Business Writer
T
OKYO — The baby panda who
has become an overnight
celebrity in Japan is a girl.
Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo said the panda,
born June 12, was ruled a female by
examining experts in late June.
It’s difficult to determine the
gender of a panda newborn. The zoo
had also been careful not to separate
the baby from her mother, and the
two short periods they took her away
were not enough to determine the sex.
The still-nameless cub has been
doing
well,
drinking
mother
ShinShin’s milk.
Giant panda cubs gradually get
black markings on their ears, eyes,
and paws, and the spots were starting
to show. The zoo released a photo that
showed
a
pinkish
mouse-like
creature with some dark spots on its
body. Earlier video showed the
mother gently cradling the cub and
apparently giving it breastmilk.
The nearly seven-inch panda won’t
be in public view for months, probably
about half a year, according to the
zoo. But the zoo is already drawing
crowds in the nation that has an
acute weakness for kawaii, or cute,
things.
And Japanese media have been
feeding practically daily reports on
the little panda as well as footage of
children getting excited at the zoo.
KAWAII CUB. A giant panda cub is seen at the Ueno Zoo in Tokyo at 10 days old, in this June
22, 2017 file photo. The zoo said the panda, born on June 12, was ruled a female by examining
experts. The still-nameless cub has been doing well, drinking mother ShinShin’s milk. Panda cubs
gradually get black markings on their ears, eyes, and paws; just shy of two weeks old, the spots
were starting to show. (Tokyo Zoological Park Society via AP, File)
The public is being solicited to give stable, it said.
The fact the baby has survived
her a name, although details are still
more than 10 days is a good sign,
sketchy.
In 2012, the last cub born at the although it remains fragile for the
zoo, also ShinShin’s, survived only six first few months, according to
experts.
days.
The first panda to be born in
Kansai
University
professor
Katsuhiro
Miyamoto
estimates captivity in Japan was in 1985, at
Tokyo’s economy will receive a 26.7 Ueno Zoo, and it lived only 43 hours.
About 420 giant pandas live in
billion yen ($240 million) lift from the
baby, including panda-related goods, captivity, mostly in their native
zoo admission fees, and other China, while about 1,860 live in the
wild. China for decades has gifted
spending over the next year.
The zoo said the mother was also friendly nations with its unofficial
doing well, eating bamboo and national mascot in what is known as
drinking water. The zoo will continue “panda diplomacy.” The country more
to monitor both of them 24 hours per recently has loaned pandas to zoos on
day, although their conditions appear commercial terms.
Making Ivanka Trump shoes:
Long hours, low pay, and abuse
By Erika Kinetz
Affordable Quality Retirement Living
for Seniors 62 years and older
The Associated Press
G
ANZHOU, China — Workers at a Chinese factory
used by Ivanka Trump and other fashion brands
tell The Associated Press of overtime that
stretches past midnight, steep production quotas, and
crude verbal abuse. The low point, however, was when a
manager hit a worker on the head with a high heel,
drawing blood.
Three workers spoke to The Associated Press on
condition of anonymity, for fear of retribution or ar-
rest.
In May, three men investigating conditions at the
Huajian Group factory in Ganzhou were detained,
accused of illegally using secret recording devices to steal
commercial secrets. They had been looking into labor
violations for China Labor Watch, a New York nonprofit
that has been investigating Ivanka Trump’s Chinese
suppliers for more than a year.
The brand said it takes the allegations “very
seriously.”
Alberta Simmons Plaza
6611 NE Martin Luther King Blvd
Portland, Oregon 97211
503 . 240 . 4198
. One–Bedroom Apartments with Full
Sized Kitchens and Living Areas
. Planned Activities, Laundry Facility,
Conference & Meeting Room,
Elevator and Library
. Conveniently Located to Shopping,
Restaurants, Pharmacy and
Medical Offices