Visual Anthropology of Japan - 日本映像人類学

Friday, May 18, 2018

"Hyoe Yamamoto dives into Japan’s culture of corporate corruption in ‘Samurai and Idiots: The Olympus Affair’"

Image borrowed from https://samurai2018.com/

Excerpt from The Japan Times, 5/16/18.

“Samurai and Idiots” revisits a 2011 scandal that rocked camera manufacturer Olympus Corp., when then-newly appointed CEO Michael Woodford blew the whistle on the company’s shady accounting and dalliances with organized crime. Woodford was ousted from his post just two weeks afterward, terminating a 30-year career with the company. Before he left, however, the British businessman had torn the lid off what would become an enormous financial scandal involving one of the country’s most respected and successful names. In the aftermath, the entire board of Olympus resigned and the previous CEO, along with others, were arrested.

“It’s not really my story, it’s a story about modern day corporate Japan,” Woodford says in the film, which is meticulous in showing how a powerful manufacturer could be taken down from the inside.

“The title comes from Michael Woodford’s own words,” Yamamoto tells The Japan Times. “Woodford felt, and I do too, that the two concepts are not all that different. We Japanese hold the samurai as the ultimate ideal but it has become a convenient label more than anything else. It has been slapped onto whatever the Japanese — especially Japanese corporations — want to hide or avoid having to explain.”

The Olympus scandal may feel like history now, but the analysis of Japanese society in “Samurai and Idiots” is still quite relevant, according to Yamamoto.

“Though social networking and the internet have changed some aspects of how Japanese corporations and society think, many things have remained exactly the same,” he says. “Again and again, we’ve seen how people at the top sabotage their organizations and then cover the whole thing up. The Moritomo scandal, for instance, is a classic case in that we can’t really see who’s ultimately responsible. Everything is evaded with a single word: sontaku (loosely translated as ‘following unspoken orders’).

“I find the whole thing bizarre, but at the same time, it’s so Japanese. One of the motives for making ‘Samurai and Idiots’ is to show the Japanese that what is acceptable and even considered a virtue here can seem strange, offensive or illegal to the outside world.”

Read the whole article: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2018/05/16/films/hyoe-yamamoto-dives-japans-culture-corporate-corruption-samurai-idiots-olympus-affair/

"Samurai and Idiots" webpage: https://samurai2018.com/

Thursday, May 17, 2018

Suspicious looking? Grandma's birthday package was opened and searched by the Japanese Postal Service... At least the package arrived on time...

Wednesday, May 16, 2018

"HIV stigma needs to be tackled to eliminate disease in Japan"

And so it continues... From Japan Today, 5/16/18:

Despite advances in treatment, the number of newly confirmed cases of HIV in Japan has remained flat for the past decade, a sign that misconceptions about the disease are making progress towards eradication difficult.

"The stigma around HIV is the reason that we can't end it. In many places, people are still afraid of HIV or afraid of people living with HIV. We need to be clear that that idea is old, that is 30 years old," said Owen Ryan, executive director of the International AIDS Society, on a recent visit to Japan.

Ryan, whose group of doctors, nurses and researchers is working to eliminate AIDS, called for more self-testing in Japan, saying, "In Japan, the key is finding (those) who aren't tested." "When people know their HIV status, they tend to go get treatment. So self-testing is important," he stressed.

Japan is the fifth-largest donor to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, an effort it helped establish. The fund is the largest multi-government funder of HIV programs, more than 4 billion dollars a year, according to Ryan.

In spite of Japan's efforts on the international front, newly infected HIV sufferers at home totaled 1,407 in 2017, slightly lower than the previous year, with a third showing symptoms that indicate they may have progressed to the third stage of the disease, known as AIDS, preliminary data by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare showed. In 2016, the number was 1,440, up from 1,434 in 2015.

The latest data also reported three cases of mother-to-child infections, the first case of multiple infections in three years, prompting the government to call on pregnant mothers to make sure they get health checkups.

In the fight against AIDS, the ministry started a subsidy program from April in some municipal areas in Japan where workers will be able to be tested for HIV for free as part of their health examinations. Public health centers nationwide also offer free, anonymous HIV testing but only do so on weekdays.

In Japan, self-testing is not sufficiently practiced "because people are scared," Ryan said. "In Japan, new infections are (largely) among gay men and so you are already stigmatized because you are gay and people feel like it's a double stigma. I think getting (more people) tested happens by attacking that stigma," he said.

"With a bit more work and more money, Japan really could be one of the first countries to end AIDS," Ryan said.

A public survey conducted in January this year by the Cabinet Office showed that 52 percent of the respondents still believed that AIDS is an "illness that leads to death," although advances in drugs used to treat the disease have allowed HIV patients to live as long as non-sufferers and also have substantially lowered the chance of transmitting the disease to others.

The poll, which drew responses from 1,671 people over 18 years old nationwide, showed 34 percent of them think the "cause (of AIDS) is unknown and untreatable," while 20 percent called it "an illness that only affects specific people."

As for the origins of infection, some respondents were completely misinformed, with 25 percent believing that "mosquitoes were carriers" of the disease, and 17 percent saying it could be transmitted by "light kissing."

Only half of the respondents also knew that anonymous, free testing is offered at public health centers.

Another online survey conducted by HIV Futures Japan Project, an entity comprised of people infected with HIV and researchers of the disease, also showed that those with the disease are tormented by the stigma associated with the disease.

In the poll conducted on some 1,000 people in Japan infected with HIV in 2016 and 2017, about 93 percent said they are "very careful" when they talk to someone about being HIV positive.

More than 85 percent also said that, in general, when people learn they are HIV positive, they deny it, while nearly 63 percent feared losing their jobs if their employers discover they carry the disease.

The survey also found that HIV patients tend to put pressure on themselves, leading some to suffer from deteriorating mental health.

Over 64 percent said that they lie about their condition if HIV comes up in conversation, while nearly 66 percent said they continually try to ensure their HIV positive status is not discovered by people around them.

While acknowledging the difficulties in tackling the issue in an environment like Japan where AIDS is still taboo, Ryan warned that stopping the conversation or failing to educate young people about it only serves to reinforce the stigma.

He cited the cases of eastern Europe and central Asia where new HIV infections rose by 60 percent and AIDS-related deaths in the region increased by 27 percent between 2010 and 2016, while globally, new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths have actually fallen in the same period.

"It's a great example of, when you stop talking about it, educating about it, it keeps coming back," Ryan said.

UNAIDS, which works closely with the International AIDS Society, aims to eliminate the AIDS epidemic by 2030.

Its ambitious project takes the so-called 90-90-90 approach: ensuring 90 percent of the infected are diagnosed, getting 90 percent of those who are diagnosed on treatment with antiretroviral drugs, and having 90 percent of those infected attain viral suppression.

Source: https://japantoday.com/category/features/health/feature-hiv-stigma-needs-to-be-tackled-to-eliminate-disease-in-japan

Previous VAOJ coverage: http://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.jp/search/label/HIV%2FAIDS

Friday, April 27, 2018

From the "Untitled" collection...

Location: Furukawabashi/古川橋

Thursday, April 19, 2018

51

Memories can't wait...

Monday, April 16, 2018

Late Bloomin' Post: 2018 Cherry Blossoms in the Neighborhood as Shot by 3 Cameras Over the Course of a Couple of Weeks

↑ Shot with

See previous sakura-related posts on VAOJ:

Spring 2010
Spring 2011
Spring 2012 pt.1
Spring 2012 pt.2
Spring 2012 pt.3
Spring 2013 pt. 1
Spring 2013 pt. 2
Spring 2013 pt. 3
Spring 2014 pt. 1
Spring 2014 pt. 2
Spring 2015

Saturday, April 14, 2018

Remnants of yet another small local shop closing in my neighborhood...

Friday, March 30, 2018

Good Friday full moon over the neighborhood cemetery

Sunday, March 18, 2018

Dad (photographer) and Daughter (art director) Collaboration

These prints come from a total set of 10 shot today at Tsurumi Ryokuchi Park in Osaka, Japan.

Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Japanese Disability Marks

Recently I was on the subway in Kyoto and saw a sign sponsored by the City of Kyoto with information about various marks associated with disabilities. These marks seem to be growing and it is important that people be able to recognize, understand and accommodate disabled people and facilities as appropriate. This is especially true after the new Law to Eliminate Discrimination against People with Disabilities enacted on April 1, 2016.

New law bans bias against people with disabilities, but shortcomings exist, say experts: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/05/02/reference/new-law-bans-bias-against-people-with-disabilities-but-shortcomings-exist-say-experts/

77% of public unaware of anti-discrimination law for disabled people: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/10/01/national/social-issues/77-public-unaware-antidiscrimination-law-disabled-people/

Please refer to the photo above:

1. International symbol mark for people with disabilities - identifies a person as disabled; also identifies facilities for disabled peoples use
2. Disabled person mark - identifies a car driven by a disabled person with a driver's license
3. Deaf/deaf/hard-of-hearing person mark - identifies a car driven by a Deaf/deaf/hard-of-hearing person with a driver's license
4. International symbol mark for blind people - identifies facilities that are considered safe and barrier-free for blind people
5. Ear mark - indicates a company or service who will be understanding and accommodating about communicating with a Deaf/deaf/hard-of-hearing person (in terms of reading, writing, and/or use of technology such as iPads and the internet for remote sign language interpretation; but does not indicate any on-site ability to use sign language)
6. Hearing Loop T Ear mark - indicates an area wired with broadcasting equipment that works with hearing aids and cochlear implants for enhanced clear sound
7. Hosho Dog mark - indicates a business or service that allows service dogs
8. Ostomate mark - indicates a restroom with equipment for people who have had an ostomy (a surgical operation to create an opening in the body for the discharge of body wastes)
9. Heart Plus mark - identifies a person with a disability inside the body (heart, respiratory function, dentition, bladder, small intestine, liver, immune function, etc.)
10. Help mark - identifies a person with a so-called hidden disability (prosthetic limbs, artificial joints, internal disability, intractable disease, etc.)

For more information (and some more marks) see the Government of Japan Cabinet Office webpage on marks concerning people with disabilities (in Japanese): http://www8.cao.go.jp/shougai/mark/mark.html

Related on VAOJ: "Disabled woman yelled at for using train’s priority seat, 'not looking like a handicapped person'"

Related: I was happy to see that the American Anthropological Association is working to create barrier-free arrangements for their annual meetings.

AAA is committed to ensuring that our Annual Meeting is inclusive and accessible for all attendees and that we meet and exceed all of the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). AAA will make arrangements for sign-language interpreters, sighted guides, and other disability-related access needs and services for meeting registrants.

Source: http://www.americananthro.org/AttendEvents/landing.aspx?ItemNumber=14722&navItemNumber=566