29 April, 2005

EU sugar regime ruled illegal

» BBC News | EU loses WTO plea on sugar aid
Last night, finally the WTO ruled that the EU's subsidies to sugar was illegal. As a result, the EU is to stop illegally dumping subsidised sugar on global markets.

The EU's subsidies to sugar producers in Europe has been labelled as the cause of poverty among sugar farmers in developing countries and criticised by NGOs such as Oxfam.

The reason why I'm enthusiastic about writing on this subject is because I studied it for my dissertation.

It was the end of August when I finished writing the dissertation. The WTO similarly ruled that the EU sugar regime was unfair. But Oxfam claimed that Europe's proposed reforms were not drastic enough.

And this time. Having had complaints from three strong sugar-producing countries - Brazil, Australia and Thailand, the WTO issued a final ruling against the EU sugar policy. What is written in latest related articles seems, to me, the same as what is written in ones of last year's August, but this time the situation appears to be different.

However, there are things to be cleared and done. The New York Times says;

Still, it is unclear how the European Union will respond to the ruling.

Oxfam warns;

If the EU (...) didn't implement sugar (...) in good faith, this could jeopardize the entire round of WTO trade talks.

The EU's reform proposals are expected in early July 2005.

By the WTO's decision, the EU has been given 15 months to reform its sugar regime. In fact, Brazil, Thailand and Australia claimed a 90-day deadline to comply, but the WTO rejected their call.

Is this really the end of the EU's unfair sugar regime? Even if this really happens, there is a long way to go for developing countries.

Many people, including me, wish to see good faith practised by the rich countries.

Here is also my photographs.
» auspicious version 2 | Photographs: Sugar Story

And links of related articles.
» Guardian Unlimited | European sugar subsidies ruled illegal
» The New York Times | Europe Loses Sugar Appeal at W.T.O.
» Oxfam | Press Release | WTO ruling on EU sugar subsidies must trigger serious reform, say Oxfam and WWF

29 April, 2005

Golden Week's frenzy

May's special holiday, Golden Week, has just started. Golden Week consists of several national holidays in this period - Greenery Day (29 April), Constitution Memorial Day (3 May), National Holiday (4 May), Children's Day (5 May). So this period based on these successive holidays is called "Golden Week" in Japan.

Thanks to perfect calendar, this year's Golden Week is superb, ranging from 29 April to 8 May. In addition to the usual holidays, two weekends come at just the right time. Tomorrow, 30 April is Saturday and 1 May is Sunday. In fact, 2 and 6 May are Monday and Friday. Though many of companies have those two days off and, even if not, many workers take them as paid holidays. Then, another weekend comes again. As a result, ten days off. What a happy calendar.

In Golden Week holidays, Japanese people are busy at moving around. University students living alone in Tokyo return to parent's house in the countryside, fathers aka salaried male worker have to take their families to amusement parks and shopping malls, and 20's rich female workers visit to Paris to buy Louis Vuitton's handbags. Crowds appear anywhere in Japan - traffic congestions on motorways and crowds at trains stations. It's no surprise. We have got used to it.

But this year, it's going to be more crazier than ever. According to Japanese travel agency, JTB, the number of tourists who travel abroad during the vacation will be more than 60 million. 60 million people!!! 60 million Japanese go outside of Japan with digital cameras. 60 million Japanese gather to only a few airports in Japan... It's crazy.

Because if the long vacation, distant destinations such as Europe and America are popular. On the other hand, owing to recent anti-Japanese movements in China, many tourist have cancelled their visit to China.

I'm not going anywhere, in particular. Meet some friends, go back to my parents' and stay usual.

Have a nice holiday.

29 April, 2005

Sugar subsidies

The WTO has ruled against the EU sugar regime. Victory for sugarcane producers. More info coming soon.

26 April, 2005

TITLE - June 2005

This month TITLE features two major sport brands, Adidas and Puma. Adidas is one of the brands which I love. There seems to be many stories about Adidas; Superstar 35th Anniversary models, Karl Lagerfeld's ad photos and more.

26 April, 2005

Esquire - June 2005

The Japanese edition of Esquire features German Products. The theme is "Life with the German Products" - from Bauhaus' most recent products to long seller items. I think I have to buy this issue.

24 April, 2005

Nikon D70s

Nikon is releasing D70s, the successor of last year's award-winning model D70 on 27th of this month. D70s is designed based on D70, but has upgraded some functions. Larger LCD monitor, improved AF functions, high-capacity battery, and so on.

Nikon has achieved sales of more than a million units of D70 all over the world since March 2004.

Nikon is also planning to release beginner's SLR digital camera, D50, in this June.

» Nikon | D70s

23 April, 2005

Extreme North

I went to Shinjuku today to see an exhibition of Norwegian product design. It's been long since Scandinavian design became widespread and recognised in Japan. But in many cases "Scandinavian design" would have meant to be Sweden, Denmark or Finland. Not Norway.

In fact, I heard before a phrase which describes the relationship among Scandinavian countries - "Sweden designs, Denmark produces and Norway transports". I don't know who said this and to what extent this is pertinent.

I read an interesting article in some magazine. The article explains why Norway lags behind other Scandinavian countries in design.

First of all, unlike other Scandinavian countries, Norway is blessed with the North Sea which provides natural resources and fishery resources. After Norway found these resources with potential in 1970s, the country started to focus on the North Sea. As a result, Norway has promoted the development of the resources rather than one of design. Meanwhile, in other Scandinavian countries, design has established its position. Therefore, these facts have created an image that Norway lags behind other Scandinavian countries in design. The article also mentions Norway's geography - Fjord coastline.

But the article clarifies the point that this is just an image. "Scandinavian design" originates from Scandinavian climate typified by long winter and aims at comfortable home life during long winter. Of course, there are some other factors like cultures that had effect on design. The article concludes that Norway - obviously one of Scandinavian countries - is no exception and has potentialities of design as other Scandinavian countries do.

Norway's design is booming now and seems not to be a "transporter" anymore.

Here are some links related to Norwegian design.
» Norway.com
» Norway Says (Norway design=Norway Says? - Design group)
» GUU - Norwegian Design (Norwegian design portal site)
» The Nordic Countries at Expo 2005 (Norway at the Aichi Expo 2005)

And here are links of the exhibition:
» Norsk Designråd | Extreme North (Norwegian)
» Living Design Centre Ozone | Northern Lights (Japanese)
» Living Design Centre Ozone | Extreme North (Japanese)

20 April, 2005

More to it

I added some to the last blog about China's anti-Japanese protests.

18 April, 2005

Adobe + Macromedia

» BBC News | Adobe to buy $3.4bn Macromedia
Adobe Systems Inc., company of Acrobat and Photoshop, agreed to acquire Macromedia Inc., a rival company specialising in web design softwares, for about $3.4 billion.

Customers are calling for integrated software solutions that enable them to create, manage and deliver... compelling content.

said Bruce Chizen, chief executive of Adobe, who is to remain in power.

I wasn't ready for this surprising news. And so are other web people, I guess.

So is this just surprising news? Good for us or bad for us? What will happen after Photoshop meets Dreamweaver?

» Adobe | Adobe to acquire Macromedia

» Adobe
» Macromedia

17 April, 2005

McDonald's at 50

» BBC News | McDonald's at 50
McDonald's is 50 years old this week. It's now located in 121 countries, more than half of which were built during the breakneck 1990s.

Degree zero
Too homogeneous for many, perhaps.

McDonald's has become the bane of the - largely Eurocentric - "slow food" movement. Jean Baudrillard, the French hyperrealist theoretician (and probably no lover of the McNugget) called the Big Mac "the degree zero of food" - a product ubiquitous to the point of invisibility.

I think there are relatively less people in Japan have ever thought about the scary aspects of McDonald's homogeneity. But thanks to recent publications, many people are getting to know.

If you haven't, try these.
» Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation
» Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me

Then vist this bullshit...
» McDonald's

16 April, 2005

Brutus vol.569

Brutus, a sister magazine of Casa Brutus, published by Magazine House. The new issue (15 April 2005) features "Work slow, work happy!". It introduces many kinds of happy jobs all over the world.

» Brutus Online | Brutus

16 April, 2005

Tired of ...

Finally the time has come. It can be time to write about this. Before anything else, I must say - I am a Japanese and therefore look at this matter through the viewpoint of a Japanese.

» BBC News | Thousands join anti-Japan protest
Yes, I'm going to write about China's recent anti-Japanese movements.

» Guaradian Unlimited | Textbook solution

Japan has apologised many times for its aggression against China, but many Chinese - readily encouraged by their government and by their own "patriotic" textbooks - feel it has not shown enough contrition for episodes such as the notorious Rape of Nanking in 1937 in which many thousands were massacred by Emperor Hirohito's soldiers.

So how can we show "enough contrition" and satisfy Chinese people, if they don't admit the fact that Japan has apologised many times? And this kind of comment may trigger their anger. They'll say "that's why Japanese don't take this serious". The Guardian concludes its article as follows;

Part of this problem is that trust can only be created by regular communication, and there has been no official visit to China by Mr Koizumi since 2001, and none by a Chinese president to Japan since 1998. Bilateral disputes have to be handled on their merits, but China and Japan should stay cool, refrain from stoking these fires - and follow the example of the commission set up by France and Germany after 1945 to agree a common account of their tangled history. It will need a conscious effort before Asia's bloody past can become another country.

» Times Online | Unleashing the mob

Mr Koizumi must prove that he is a genuine reformer by finding a different ceremony to honour the nation’s war dead and to ensure that the annual ritual of textbook tension is brought to an end. Meanwhile, China’s leaders must understand that they will be the ultimate losers if they encourage a marauding mob mentality.

I don't think Koizumi, our prime minister who is all mouth, can deal with this matter. But this part - China will be the ultimate losers - is pretty hard and surprises me.

» Independent | The 5-Minute Briefing: What's behind the spat between China and Japan?

China makes much less fuss about other historical enemies, including the British, who fought two wars to supply opium to the country, or the US, who for years bankrolled the nationalists against the communists. Tokyo believes Beijing is whipping up anti-Japanese sentiment to deny it a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. And hypocrisy looms large: Chinese students learn little of the invasion of Tibet or the crimes of Chairman Mao. In the background, the tectonic plates of Asian politics are shifting to accommodate the growing economic bulk of an increasingly confident and assertive China, which some in Japan view with alarm. The Trade Minister, Shoichi Nakagawa, called China "a scary country".

Hot in economics, cold in politics is the phrase used in Japan, and the hope is that this booming trade will trump the present tensions. But some fear the heady brew of history, nationalism and politics that hangs above relations between these two old enemies like a pall will eventually drag them into further confrontation.

An internet-led boycott of Japanese goods is picking up speed in China, where anti-Japanese feeling is high following decades of patriotic education. And anti-Chinese sentiment is hardening in Japan, which is to terminate aid to China after providing billions of dollars over the past two decades.

If there is anti-Chinese sentiment in Japan like Independent says, it's not exactly anti-Chinese sentiment. It's more like longstanding sickness. There are so many discrepancies between us, including history. Even in recent history, they can be observed. For example, ODA. Although Japan is the largest ODA donor of China, the government doesn't want to clarify that fact to the public.

So what is true and what is not???

How about this? Bring this matter to the UN or whatever. Otherwise this will never end. And so will the matter with Korea.

The series of anti-Japanese movements has originated from two factors; Japan's ambiguous attitude in diplomacy that basically postpones dealing with problems and has caused many trouble in East Asia, and the Chinese government's control over the public, including "patriotic" textbook which focus on wartime Japan defined as a hard-to-forgive brutal state. These two points can be true. There are misunderstandings between us.

The Times points out;

China has exploited and exacerbated historic bitterness for political purposes: first, to divert attention from domestic tensions over economic disparities, unemployment, corruption and political restrictions; and secondly, to limit Japan’s influence in Asia at a time of growing political and economic competition with China.

The Communist Party is now playing a nationalist card to win backing at home. But creating an atmosphere viscerally hostile to Japan, which some Chinese companies no doubt hope will blunt Japanese competition, could have dangerous consequences.

In the end, I'm anxious about my friend who is working in China.

15 April, 2005

Manifesto designs

An interesting article on manifesto designs of three parties for the election.
» BBC News | Manifesto designs under the microscope
14 April 2005
By Brian Wheeler

Moreover, a blog about the Conservative's campaign poster from the BBC Election 2005 page.
» BBC News | Off-message to on
14 April 2005
By Alan Connor

9 April, 2005

24 on Japanese ad

Jack Bauer, the hero of the popular drama, 24, is now on the ad of Caloriemate, nutritionally-balanced snack food. This poster was at a metro station in Tokyo.

By the way, this picture above was taken with my mobile phone's camera. Good quality, isn't it?

9 April, 2005

Casa Brutus vol.62

One of my favourite magazines, Casa Brutus. This is an architecture magazine not only for professionals and architecture students but also for general people who are interested in architecture - like me.

The new issue (May 2005) has arrived. The feature story is "Museum of Tomorrow". From Frank.O.Gehry's Guggenhei in Bilbao, Spain, to Japanese Yoshio Taniguchi's new MOMA building. Plus, "Arts and Interrior, by DOLCE & GABBANA", "EXPO 2005 AICHI JAPAN" and so on.

» Brutus Online | Casa Brutus

9 April, 2005

New categories: ads and mags in Japan

This blog is very haphazard and talks about this and that. There is no standard.

Here is my plan that will cretae new categories and probably cause the more haphazard or chaotic blog. No, I'm just kidding, it's not that bad.

I just want to write about magazines and advertisements in Japan. Having seen magazine racks at WHSmith and studied a little bit about UK magazines in Cardiff, I realised Japanese magazines were quite sophisticated. In terms of design, the magazines are worthwhile to look at.

And so are Japanese advertisements. They are also interesting and can be funny or cool. I think I didn't study PR, but journalism in Cardiff. Did I?

The picture above is the poster of a bottled tea. I just wanted to put it. No meaning. You can watch it at here, if you want.

7 April, 2005

Not as charismatic as that

Having thrown away its pride, Sony has openly announced a new network walkman, NW-HD5. It is equipped with a 20GB hard-disk which can store up to 13,000 songs and a long-lasting battery that can last for up to 40 hours.

And what I want you to look at is this long-lasting battery, which is one of Sony's strengths. Although Apple's iPod has become popular, there have been some claims against iPod's unreplacable battery. Don't know whether Sony knows this secret, but Sony exaggerates the long-lasting battery as one of the selling points of this NW-HD5.

Finally Sony has started to move forward for regaining a position in the portable audio market that Apple snatched with iPod. But the memorable kick-off product is far from surprising and is not nearly as charismatic as iPod. I love Sony, but I have to say this is an authentic MOCK iPod.

7 April, 2005

New home for Mona Lisa

» BBC News | Mona Lisa gains new Louvre home
By the way, where is Munch's stolen Scream?

7 April, 2005

Star Wars fans queue at wrong venue

» BBC News | 'Wrong queue' for Star Wars fans
Calm down, everybody. And for those people, here is a trailer.

7 April, 2005

Coldplay and Glasto 2005

After almost three year silence, my favourite British band, Coldplay, is going to release their new album X&Y on 6 June. They have recently revealed the jacket of the new album. As to the album's artwork NME.com says; "there are currently no clues to the meaning behind the image that resembles 1990s computer game 'Tetris'".

Finally I can hear their new songs. Really looking forward to the new album.

Coldplay / X&Y
1. Square One
2. What If
3. White Shadows
4. Fix You
5. Talk
6. X&Y
7. Speed Of Sound
8. A Message
9. Low
10. The Hardest Part
11. Swallowed In The Sea
12. Twisted Logic

» Coldplay: Official site

And the world's biggest music festival, Glastonbury Festival is coming this year, too. It will be held on 24, 25 and 26 June. The festival tickets started to be sold four days ago (on 3 April). But they've already been sold out and appeared on auction website eBay. According to NME.com, "people were attempting to sell their passes soon after the event sold out in three hours on Sunday". And it says; "As of April 6, the highest bid so far for a pair of Glastonbury tickets was £2050". Coldplay, The White Stripes and Kylie Minogue will perform.

» Glastonbury Festival

6 April, 2005

050505: UK election

» BBC News | Blair sets 5 May as election date
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has formally announced that the general election will be held on 5 May.

Blair is going to serve his third term? Polls show a dead heat for the first time since 1992 - the Labour Party and the Conservative Party are close to being in balance this time. Behind this fact, there is an unsettled question about Iraq war. Blair is in a disadvantaged position. Here are some of the related articles.

» Guardian Unlimited | MI6, Jack Straw, defence staff: Blair ignored them all

» BBC News | Iraq war haunts UK prime minister

For those who keep eye on this election, I recommend BBC's special page. This is fantastic.

» BBC News | Election 2005

6 April, 2005

Mourning the Pope

» BBC News | Pope John Paul II dies in Vatican
Pope John Paul II, the third longest-serving pontiff in history, died in his apartment at the Vatican on Saturday. He was at the age of 84.

When I watched BBC News, a reporter discribed him;

John Paul is the first global pope, and he is also the first pope who died in the globalised world.

The New York Times has created special sections for John Paul. Click "The Life of Pope John Paul II" and "The Next Pope" in "Interactive Feature". You can see selected pictures.

» The New York Times | Multimedia

5 April, 2005

Feed me better

I'm going to recap last week's news I missed. Because I had the busiest week ever since this year began, I couldn't possibly catch up with anything like news. Here is a selection of recent news. I begin with this.

---

» BBC News | TV chef welcomes £280m meals plan

Recent event of celebrity chef Jamie Oliver. Following his campaign, Feed Me Better, the UK government is to allocate an extra £280m over three years to improve school lunches.

His achievement should be praised, but should it have been done by him? The lack of nutritionally balanced school meals is responsible for school kitchens, which prioritise school budgets, and the government, which forces the schools to do so with small budgets. And to take care of nutritional balance of kids is parents' job.

In BBC's article, Liberal Democrat spokesman Phil Willis said;

The extra funds are welcome, but it's sad that it's taken a celebrity chef to get the government to act when they've had eight years to improve the sorry state of school dinners.

Willis also added;

It is breathtakingly cynical for Tony Blair suddenly to claim that he is passionate about the quality of school meals just because a celebrity chef has made a TV programme about it.

» BBC News | Have Your Say | How can school meals be made healthier?
I agree with him.

It's a bit disingenuous to complain that the government's announcement of more funds was prompted by Jamie's programme, or that it is just a cynical election ploy. From what I've read, considerable research and planning must have gone into the detail that was announced.
Tim Douglas, London, UK