Page 2 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
ASIA / PACIFIC
June 6, 2022
Man in Japan gambles COVID town funds
TOKYO (AP) — The money was supposed to be COVID-19 assistance for
low-income households in a small Japanese town, but it was mistakenly wired to
the bank account of a resident who refused to return it and spent most of it on
online gambling, police said. Sho Taguchi, a 24-year-old jobless resident in the
town of Abu in western Japan, was arrested in May, Yamaguchi prefectural
police said. Police said he admitted to spending most of the 46.3 million yen
($360,000) of taxpayers’ money on gambling. According to Kyodo News agency,
only 68,000 yen ($530) is left in his bank account after he withdrew the money 34
times in just over 10 days after the town made the mistake. He’s being held on
suspicion of computer fraud. Taguchi had allegedly refused the town request to
return the money, police said. The funds were COVID-19 subsidies that were
deposited into his bank account in April. Each of the 463 low-income households
in Abu, population 3,372, was supposed to receive 100,000 yen ($780). But a
town official mistakenly submitted to a financial institution a single transfer
request of the total amount to Taguchi, whose name was the first on the list of
recipients, Kyodo News reported. Town officials are separately investigating
how the erroneous transfer went through unnoticed, a mistake that has
triggered a wave of criticism from residents. Abu mayor Norihiko Hanada told
reporters that the arrest is a step toward tracing the money and hoped it is
recovered in full. Taguchi’s arrest was based on his alleged transfer of 4 million
yen ($31,300) of the town money paid into an account believed to be an online
gambling site.
Indian couple longing for grandchild sues son, his wife
NEW DELHI (AP) — A retired Indian couple is suing their son and daughter-
in-law, demanding that they produce a grandchild within a year or pay them 50
million rupees ($675,000). Sanjeev Ranjan Prasad, a 61-year-old retired
government officer, said it was an emotional and sensitive issue for him and his
wife, Sadhana Prasad, and they cannot wait any longer. His son, a pilot, was
married six years ago. “We want a grandson or a granddaughter within a year or
compensation, because I have spent my life’s earnings on my son’s education,”
Prasad told reporters. Prasad said he spent 3.5 million rupees ($47,300) for his
son’s pilot training in the United States. “The main issue is that at this age we
need a grandchild, but these people (my son and daughter-in-law) have an
attitude that they don’t think about us,” Prasad said. “We got him married in the
hope we would have the pleasure of becoming grandparents. It has been six
years since their marriage,” Prasad said. “It feels as if despite having everything
we have nothing.” The son and daughter-in-law could not be reached for
comment. Prasad said he and his wife love children. “We are not getting love and
affection from where we want it the most,” he said. “I feel very unlucky.”
Airbnb ends rentals in China to focus on outbound tourists
BEIJING (AP) — Airbnb Inc. has announced it will stop representing
short-term rental properties in China and focus its business in the country on
serving Chinese tourists looking for lodgings abroad. Airbnb joins a series of
foreign internet companies including Yahoo Inc. and eBay Inc. that pulled out of
China after running into fierce local competition and regulatory barriers. “We
have made the difficult decision to refocus our efforts in China on outbound
travel and suspend our homes and Experiences of Hosts in China, starting from
July 30, 2022,” said the chief strategy officer of Airbnb China, Nathan
Blecharczyk, in a statement on its social media account. Landlords represented
by Airbnb have had more than 25 million guest arrivals since 2016, according to
Blecharczyk’s statement. The Chinese government has blocked foreign tourists
from visiting since the pandemic hit in early 2020 and has told the Chinese
public to avoid foreign travel that isn’t essential for business or study.
Duterte hits Putin: I kill criminals, not children, elders
MANILA, The Philippines (AP) — Outgoing Philippine President Rodrigo
Duterte sharply criticized Russian leader Vladimir Putin for the killings of
innocent civilians in Ukraine, saying while the two of them have been tagged as
killers, “I kill criminals, I don’t kill children and the elderly.” Duterte, who
openly calls Putin an idol and a friend, voiced his rebuke for the first time over
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in remarks aired in late May, where he blamed the
three-month old war for the spike in global oil prices that has battered many
countries, including the Philippines. While stressing he was not condemning the
Russian president, Duterte disagreed with Putin’s labelling of the invasion as a
“special military operation,” and said it was really a full-scale war waged
against “a sovereign nation.” “Many say that Putin and I are both killers. I’ve
long told you Filipinos that I really kill. But I kill criminals, I don’t kill children
and the elderly,” Duterte said in a televised weekly meeting with key cabinet
officials. “We’re in two different worlds.” Duterte, who steps down on June 30
when his turbulent six-year term ends, has presided over a brutal anti-drugs
crackdown that has left more than 6,000 mostly petty suspects dead. Human
rights groups have cited much higher casualties and say innocent people,
including children, have been killed in the campaign that Duterte vows to
continue up to his last day in office. The unprecedentedly massive drug
campaign killings have sparked an investigation by the International Criminal
Court as a possible crime against humanity. Duterte has said he expects to face
more lawsuits arising from the drug deaths when his presidency ends. Duterte
and his police officials have denied sanctioning extrajudicial killings in the
campaign against illegal drugs but have openly threatened drug suspects with
death and made an unsuccessful attempt to reimpose the death penalty in the
largest Roman Catholic nation in Asia to deter drug dealers and other criminals.
FAR OUT-HOUSE. A man leaves a public restroom that was designed by architect Tadao Ando in Tokyo, on May 11,
2022. Wim Wenders is making a film about beatified Japanese toilets that will have what the German director calls “social
meaning” about people in modern cities. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)
Wenders making a film about
fancy public restrooms in Japan
By Yuri Kageyama
The Associated Press
OKYO — Wim Wenders is making a
film about high-end public toilets in
Japan that will have what the
renowned German director calls “social
meaning” about people in modern cities.
“My first reaction was, I must admit: What?
Toilets? Chotto mattene,” he said, using the
Japanese expression for “wait a minute.”
But then he began to see what the story
could be about.
“For me, they turned from toilets into
restrooms. That’s a very nice word in English,
the restroom. When I saw these places the next
couple of days, I realized they were restrooms
in the true sense of the word,” Wenders told
reporters in Tokyo’s fashionable Shibuya
district, where the dozen public restrooms are
located.
The facilities were designed by leading
architects including Kengo Kuma and Tadao
Ando, with the idea that a pleasant public
restroom could counter the common
expectation it had to be filthy, filled with
graffiti, or associated with crime.
Wenders, the Oscar-nominated director of
Wings of Desire and Buena Vista Social Club,
said when he saw the Shibuya bathrooms, he
was moved.
“This is a truly precious place,” Wenders
said.
And so his film’s hero will be a sanitation
worker who cleans the toilets, seeing his job as
T
a craft and a service for the people. Details of
the script are still being worked out.
Koji Yakusho, known for playing the
Japanese everyman in works like Shall We
Dance and Babel, said he accepted the role as
soon as it was offered because he wanted to
work with Wenders.
“I have a feeling it’s going to be a beautiful
story. And I feel a story that has the toilet as
the setting, with the person who works there
and the people who use it, will help lead to an
understanding of Japan,” said Yakusho.
The Tokyo Toilet project was initially
conceived to impress foreign visitors expected
for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, before the
coronavirus pandemic forced the events to
take place without spectators in the stands.
The public restroom designed by Ando is
round with frames for the exterior walls, to
allow air to circulate. In real life it gets cleaned
without water to avoid mold or decay by men in
blue jumpsuits by Japanese fashion designer
Nigo.
The project, including Wenders’ film, has
the backing of Fast Retailing, the company
behind the Uniqlo clothing chain, and The Nip-
pon Foundation, which carries out humani-
tarian projects using revenue from boat
racing.
Wenders said his film, despite its humble
setting, will explore a profound concept.
“I almost think it’s a utopian idea because
the toilet is a place where everybody is the
same. There is no rich or poor, old or young.
Everyone is part of humanity,” he said.
Asian Currency
Exchange Rates
Units per U.S. dollar as of 6/03
Bangladesh Taka· ·
Cambodian Riel · ·
China Renminbi · ·
Fijian Dollar · · · ·
Hong Kong Dollar ·
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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 · · ·
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88.91
4033.8
6.6596
2.1115
7.8453
77.592
14370
42097
130.72
13590
4.387
124.38
197.2
3.52
52.933
61.375
3.7507
1.3751
1248.9
358.49
29.341
34.35
23165