U.S.A.
August 21, 2017
THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 7
Back to bomb shelters? North Korea threats revive nuke fears
By John Rogers
The Associated Press
OS ANGELES — After the Soviet
Union collapsed in 1991, the era of
nuclear nightmares — of the
atomic arms race, of backyard bomb
shelters, of schoolchildren diving under
desks to practice their survival skills in the
event of an attack — seemed to finally,
thankfully, fade into history.
Until now.
For some baby boomers, North Korea’s
nuclear advances and President Donald
Trump’s bellicose response have prompted
flashbacks to a time when they were
young, and when they prayed each night
that they might awaken the next morning.
For their children, the North Korean crisis
was a taste of what the Cold War was like.
“I’m not concerned to where I can’t sleep
at night. But it certainly raises alarms for
Guam or even Hawai‘i, where it might be a
real threat,” said 24-year-old banker
Christian Zwicky of San Bernardino,
California.
People of his parents’ generation were
taught to duck and cover when the bombs
came.
“Maybe those types of drills should come
L
back,” Zwicky said.
He isn’t old enough to remember the
popular
1950s
public
service
announcement in which a cartoon
character named Bert the Turtle teaches
kids how to dive under their desks for
safety. But Zwicky did see it often enough
in high school history classes that he can
hum the catchy tune that plays at the
beginning. That’s when Bert avoids
disaster by ducking into his shell, then
goes on to explain to schoolchildren what
they should do.
“I do remember that,” says 65-year-old
retiree Scott Paul of Los Angeles. “And also
the drop drills that we had in elementary
school, which was a pretty regular thing
then.”
EMOTIONAL FLASHBACKS. Pictured is a
sign at the entrance to the former Nike Missile Control
Site LA-96, which was operational for a period of time
during the Cold War, at San Vicente Mountain Park on
the Santa Monica Mountains in Los Angeles. The Cold
War years, from the 1950s through the 1980s, were a
time when people often felt confident to let their chil-
dren play outside unsupervised while simultaneously
fearing they might perish with them in a nuclear war
between the United States and Soviet Union. With the
collapse of the Soviet Union those fears seemed to
end. With recent exchanges between North Korea and
the U.S. in the news, they are back. People once again
are fretting how they can stay safe. (AP Photo/Damian
Dovarganes)
Even as a 10-year-old, Paul said, he
wondered how much good ducking under a
desk could do if a bomb powerful enough to
destroy a city fell nearby. No good at all,
his teacher acknowledged.
Then there were backyard bomb
shelters, which briefly became the rage
during the missile crisis of 1962, when it
was learned the Soviets had slipped
nuclear-tipped missiles into Cuba and
pointed them at the United States.
After a tense, two-week standoff
between President John F. Kennedy and
Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev that
some believe brought the world the closest
Continued on page 8
Changing tastes brew bitter times for Japan’s beer makers
Continued from page 5
announced it is acquiring Anchor Brewing Company.
It likely would take way more than a cameo by Depp,
though, to reverse the trend away from beer.
Data compiled by Kirin Brewery Co., a rival Japanese
brewery, found the annual global consumption of beer, at
nearly 184 million kiloliters, fell in 2015 from the year
before, for the first time in 30 years, as consumption in
China peaked.
By region, Asia still tops the world in beer consumption,
making up 34 percent of global beer guzzling, followed by
Europe at 27 percent. North America accounts for 14
percent and Africa just seven percent, according to the
Kirin study.
By nationality, Czechs were No. 1 in per capita
consumption of beer. Americans ranked No. 20, while
Japanese were 55th, down from 38th in 2010.
“The days of the daily kanpai and chugging beer are
over,” says Kirin spokeswoman Naomi Sasaki.
At least, though, Japanese are starting to appreciate
more nuanced craft beers, she says, reflecting their more
individual-oriented lifestyles.
Japan now has about 200 small craft breweries, giving
consumers more choice about the beers they drink, said
Hiroyuki Fujiwara, president of the Japan Beer
Journalists Association.
Fujiwara believes changing tastes in part reflect a
change of perspective after the tsunami and nuclear
disaster in northeastern Japan in 2011. These days, many
Japanese are less concerned about keeping up with their
neighbors, he said.
“The biggest contrast to that kind of thinking is the
bubble era when people simply wanted what was
considered cool by society, be it their home or their car,” he
said, referring to the go-go economy of the late 1980s,
which collapsed in the early 1990s.
Last year, Kirin signed a deal with Brooklyn Breweries,
founded by former AP war correspondent Steve Hindy, to
replicate its flavors at its plants in Japan.
Kirin also opened a craft brewery — still relatively
uncommon in Japan — in Tokyo’s fashionable
Daikanyama district two years ago: Spring Valley
Brewery. Asahi opened one near its head office recently.
Kirin’s brewery has a western menu, a spacious terrace,
and beers with names like DayDream and Jazzberry that
are brewed behind transparent walls.
Shizuka Nagasawa, 29, was enjoying a recent weekday
afternoon off at Spring Valley Brewery with her husband
Keita Nagasawa and their three-year-old son. They’re
such fans, they joined the brewery’s club and have craft
beer delivered to their home each month.
“There is such a wide range, like bitter-tasting ones and
fruity flavors. Checking them out is fun,” said the clerical
worker at a tea-maker.
Later that day, in Nihonbashi, an older part of
downtown Tokyo, about a dozen “salarymen,” jackets and
ties off, each armed with a glass of cold beer, were downing
their after-work beers the old-fashioned way.
At Mitsukoshi department store’s rooftop beer garden,
it was all-you-can-eat-and-drink for three hours at 4,801
yen ($44) for men and 4,301 yen ($40) for women. The food:
classics like fried noodles, curry, and wieners. The star
beer: Asahi Super Dry.
Eiji Itou, 50, a technology company employee who was
sitting beside his company’s president, shrugged at the
notion that drinking with co-workers in a beer garden is
no longer trendy.
“Kanpai,” the group shouted in unison, raising their
beers together and gulping them down.
“We, the old guys, are upholding tradition,” he said with
a smile.
Cambodia’s PM wants U.S.-born
grandchild to not be American
Continued from page 4
leader Vladimir Putin,
while Hillary Clinton had a
record of pushing for war in
Syria when she was
secretary of state.
He has also expressed his
agreement with Trump’s
disdain for the press.
Hun Sen recently shared
his opinion on CNN — a
Trump nemesis — which
the Cambodian leader com-
plained had broadcast a
misleading program about
child prostitution in his
country.
“CNN television de-
served to be cursed by Pres-
ident Donald Trump,” he
said. “May I send a
message to Donald Trump
to praise you because your
cursing CNN was fair and
right, not wrong.”
“The American media is
too spoiled,” he said.
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