Page 4 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
ASIA / PACIFIC
February 4, 2019
Indonesia’s Merapi volcano
unleashes river of lava
SWASTIKA SCANDAL. Thai pop band BNK48 performs for the first time in a large commercial facility
in Bangkok, Thailand, in this June 2, 2017 file photo. The popular Thai music act has set off a scandal after one
of its members wore a shirt showing the swastika flag of Nazi Germany during a performance. (The Yomiuri
Shimbun via AP Images)
Singer in Thai girl band
apologizes for swastika shirt
BANGKOK (AP) — A popular Thai
music act has apologized after one of its
members wore a shirt showing the
swastika flag of Nazi Germany during a
performance.
The incident involving the girl group
BNK48 occurred just two days ahead of
International Holocaust Remembrance
Day, which was marked with somber
ceremonies in other parts of the world to
remember the 6 million Jews and others
killed in Adolf Hitler’s death camps.
Israel’s embassy in Thailand posted a
statement on Twitter expressing “shock
and dismay over the Nazi outfit worn by
the singer.”
“Presenting Nazi symbols by the band’s
singer hurt the feelings of millions around
the world, whose relatives were murdered
by the Nazis,” it said.
The performer, 19-year-old Pichayapa
“Namsai” Natha, blamed her own
ignorance for her actions as she delivered a
tearful apology and asked for forgiveness.
In the video apology made on the stage
where the group usually performs, she
dropped to her knees as she finished her
brief statement and was comforted by
fellow band members. Her apology was
also posted on her Instagram account.
Management of the group, noted more
for its marketing prowess than its musical
abilities, also apologized that they had
“inadvertently caused dismay and distress
to people affected” by the historical crime
against humanity.
Incidents involving insensitive use of
Nazi symbols occur from time to time in
Thailand, where there is little awareness
of the Holocaust and an inclination to use
them as design elements or comic props.
Past scandals have involved bars,
restaurants, motels, and clothing using
swastikas and images of Hitler for
decorative purposes. But on several
occasions students at schools and colleges
have mimicked Nazi regalia and rituals,
including the “Heil, Hitler” salute, in skits,
artworks, and ceremonies.
Thais are not alone among the peoples of
Asia with little knowledge or sensitivity
about the Holocaust. In what may be a
mark of disinterest in history among the
younger
generation,
several
other
youth-oriented music groups have been
involved in similar scandals.
Late last year, management for the
South Korean hit K-pop boy band BTS
apologized for one of its members wearing
a t-shirt depicting the explosion of an
atomic bomb and another a hat with a Nazi
emblem in a magazine photo book. Band
members previously flew flags with what
appeared to be the Nazi swastika during a
concert.
In 2016, the producer for a Japanese
all-girl “idol” group like BNK48 joined
Sony Music in apologizing after the
popular act performed in outfits
resembling Nazi-era German military
uniforms.
Keyakizaka46, a group of about 20
mostly teenage girls who sing and dance in
synch, appeared at a concert in black
knee-length dresses that looked like
military overcoats, and black capes and
officer caps with a Nazi-like eagle emblem.
Sony Music is the group’s label.
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YOGYAKARTA, Indo-
nesia (AP) — Indonesia’s
volatile Mount Merapi
volcano has unleashed a
river of lava that has
flowed 4,590 feet down its
slopes.
Merapi, on the island of
Java, has entered an
“effusive eruption phase,”
Kasbani, head of the
Volcanology and Geological
Hazard Mitigation Center,
said.
Kasbani, who goes by a
single name, said the
volcanic material that
spewed out was the
volcano’s longest lava flow
since it began erupting
again in August.
He said the alert level of
the volcano has not been
raised but people should
stay out of a 1.8-mile
danger zone around the
LOTS OF LAVA. Mount Merapi spews volcanic material while erupt-
ing, as seen from Cangkringan, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, in this January 29,
2019 photo. Indonesia’s most volatile volcano unleashed dark red volca-
nic material that has flowed 4,590 feet down its slopes. (AP Photo/Slamet
Riyadi)
2010 killed 347 people.
crater.
Indonesia, an archi-
The 9,737-foot moun-
tain, located near the pelago of more than 260
ancient Indonesian city of million people, is prone to
tsunamis,
Yogyakarta, is the most earthquakes,
active
of
dozens
of and volcanic eruptions
because it straddles the
Indonesian volcanoes.
Its last major eruption in Pacific “Ring of Fire.”
World’s oldest man, 113, dies
at his home in northern Japan
By Mari Yamaguchi
The Associated Press
OKYO
—
The
world’s oldest man
has died at his
home — a hot springs inn
— in northern Japan at the
age of 113.
Masazo Nonaka died
while sleeping at home in
Ashoro
on
Japan’s
northern main island of
Hokkaido, his family said.
He died peacefully from
natural causes, according
to his granddaughter Yuko
Nonaka.
The supercentenarian,
whose family has run a hot
springs inn for four
generations, was certified
by Guinness World Records
in April 2018 as the world’s
oldest living man at 112
years and 259 days.
Born on July 25, 1905,
Nonaka grew up in a large
family and succeeded his
parents running the inn.
The 106-year-old inn is now
run by his granddaughter
Yuko.
She said her grandfather
appeared to be as usual
until her elder sister
noticed he was not breath-
ing. He was pronounced
dead by his family doctor.
“He didn’t have any
health problem. ... He went
T
PEACEFUL PASSING. Masazo Nonaka receives a certificate from
Guinness World Records as the world’s oldest living man at age 112
years, 259 days during a ceremony in Ashoro, on Japan’s northern
main island of Hokkaido, in this April 10, 2018 file photo. In the early
hours of Sunday, January 20, 2019, Nonaka died at his home — a hot
springs inn — in northern Japan at the age of 113. (Masanori Takei/
Kyodo News via AP, File)
The
fastest-aging
peacefully and that’s at
least our consolation,” she country in the world, Japan
as of September 2018 had a
said.
Nonaka, who enjoyed centenarian population of
eating sweets, used to 69,785, nearly 90 percent of
regularly soak in the them women, according to
springs, and would move the Ministry of Health,
about at the inn in a Labor, and Welfare.
The world’s oldest living
wheelchair, wearing his
person is also Japanese —
trademark knit cap.
He outlived all seven of Kane Tanaka, a 116-year-
his siblings, as well as his old woman from Fukuoka
wife and three of their five on the southern main
island of Kyushu.
children.