Thursday, September 22, 2011

22/09 EDITORIAL: Politicians must share awareness of nuclear problems we face

2011/09/22

An estimated 60,000 people joined a rally held in Tokyo's Meiji Park on Sept. 19 to demand an end to Japan's reliance on nuclear power.

What was striking was not just the large number of participants, but their diversity.

Some people sang "Eejanaika" (Who cares?).

One line in the song goes, "It doesn't matter if we don't have nuclear power plants." Some danced to the tune while others chanted the slogan, "Abolish nuclear power plants. Discard them immediately."

Some children carried signs that read: "We want to go back to Fukushima (the way it was) before the nuclear accident."

In addition to labor unions and peace organizations, elderly people and students, as well as women and children, took to the streets. There was great diversity in the slogans on banners and tags of demonstrators. People who had something to say and wanted to get messages across gathered from all over the nation.

People joining hands and expressing their opinions are the starting point of democracy. This means ordinary citizens play a leading role in politics. In the case of governments, it must take the form of indirect democracy under a parliamentary system. But it is the power of individuals that moves politics and history at important junctures.

In the United States, the speech "I Have a Dream" by Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) encouraged the civil rights movement. The citizens of East Germany tore down the Berlin Wall. Thus, acts of direct democracy have moved governments and made democracy richer.

In Japan, too, citizens surrounded the Diet during the 1960s struggle over the revision of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty. Demonstrations opposing the Vietnam War were also strident. Before long, however, political demonstrations seemed to have run out of steam, except for those held in Okinawa. Could it be that people gave in to a sense of resignation that political appeals are powerless before reality?

But a little more than six months since the Great East Japan Earthquake, something is starting to change deep down in this country. In particular, the wave of "breaking with nuclear power" is spreading like never before.

Citizens are beginning to think that they can no longer rely on professional politicians. How can we protect our livelihoods and lives, as well as the futures of our children? Why not join hands with people who share the same and immediate anxieties and complaints, and make direct appeals to politics? Such thoughts are resonating and affecting each other.

"All we have are democratic rallies and citizen demonstrations. Let's stand firm," said writer Kenzaburo Oe, one of the organizers. His words are symbolic. "Breaking with nuclear power" seems to be a move to add a new page to our democracy.

The spread of the Internet through which people are joining hands in a new way is also energizing rallies.

A much larger number of hands is needed to make this tie thicker and lead to actual changes. The media, including newspapers and broadcasts, needs to focus on changes. At the same time, it is also indispensable for political parties and politicians to share awareness of the problems we face.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Sept. 21

22/09 VOX POPULI: Groundless rumors still a cause for concern

Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a daily column that runs on Page 1 of the vernacular Asahi Shimbun.

2011/09/22

Yoshitaka Takahashi (1913-1995), a scholar of German literature, wrote that fireworks are best viewed when they are far away.

On the evening of the river festival at Ryogoku in Tokyo, he was invited to the home of Hyakken Uchida (1889-1971), a writer to whom he looked up as his mentor. For some reason, the shoji sliding screens were shut. As if to wait for short intervals in their conversations over sake, he heard fireworks exploding in the night sky.

Although he couldn't see them, Takahashi was struck by an aesthetic sense. He also wrote about fireworks exploding too far away to hear the distant booms.

"Fireworks that flare up and spread in a distant night sky beyond the fields in the suburbs are also tasteful." When we fill in gaps in information in our minds, our imagination often surpasses reality.

But too much imagination is also a problem. At a fireworks display in Nisshin, Aichi Prefecture, I heard that Fukushima-made fireworks alone had been excluded. Complaints that the fireworks would "scatter radioactivity" put a damper on the event, which was held to support reconstruction due to the Great East Japan Earthquake.

Radiation levels at the fireworks factory were low enough. Also, the pyrotechnics had been kept indoors.

Sensitivity and vague anxiety differ from person to person. But there is no other way to describe what happened than to simply blame damages caused by groundless rumors. Many citizens must have been disappointed that the organizers caved in to the objections of a small number of people.

Be that as it may, the organizers probably would have been criticized anyway if they had gone ahead with their original plan and not excluded the Fukushima fireworks.

Either way, it would have created bitter feelings.

Under such circumstances, local governments may become reluctant to organize events to support Fukushima.

Having the determination to support the stricken areas and taking the time to eliminate anxieties will become more important than ever in the days ahead.

An impressive tanka by Yumiko Nakano of Kyoto ran in the Asahi Kadan column of the vernacular Asahi Shimbun. " Wondering whether to buy peaches/ I confirm a handwritten sign that reads 'Fukushima'/ I buy them without hesitation."

Some people buy produce after seeing handwritten signs showing where the items originated. Clearly, these buyers appreciate the enthusiasm of the sellers.

I wish to listen carefully to the sounds of distant fireworks aimed at strengthening ties until the day we can buy produce from stricken areas around Fukushima without hesitation.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Sept. 21

* * *

Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

天声人語 2011年9月22日（木）付

　東京・銀座の真ん中で、街路樹のケヤキが歩道をふさいでいた。長さ１０メートルほど、端の太さは４０センチ。二股の幹の片方が折れたらしい。現場でチェーンソーがうなる。猛（たけ）る風雨に、すました街も一変した▼不意に揺れる大地も怖いが、にじり寄る台風も恐ろしい。沖縄の手前でゆるりと輪を描いていた１５号は、我に返ったように勢いを増し、秋台風らしい速さで列島を縦断した▼帰宅ラッシュに重なった首都圏では交通網が乱れ、家路を断たれた群衆が駅に道路にあふれた。先の１２号が残した紀伊半島の土砂ダムには一部決壊の情報がある。「先輩」が仕込んだ爆薬に１５号が点火した形だ。震災の被災地にも、暴風雨は容赦なかった▼きのうは、１９５９（昭和３４）年の１５号、すなわち伊勢湾台風が発生した日でもある。東海地方で育ったせいか、小学校の授業でそう教わった。わが誕生日と同じかと落ち込みながら、大きな台風は９月半ばから実りの秋を襲う、と銘じたものだ。まだ気は抜けない▼海から空からと、水難の年である。各地の古老に「生まれて初めて」と言われては寄る辺ない。なるほど、文明のはるか前から独自の営みを重ねる自然は侮れない。だが人間には、悔し涙で綴（つづ）った教訓の束がある▼悪条件が重なると大災害になるが、一つでも除けば災害の規模は一けた小さくできる。お天気博士、倉嶋厚さんの教えである。猛威をかわすため、津々浦々に刻まれた爪痕をくまなく探り、次に消し去るべき条件を拾い集めよう。

22/09 Chủ nghĩa tư bản 'hướng về Phương Đông'

Lord Desai

Giáo sư danh dự trường LSE

Cập nhật: 15:45 GMT - thứ năm, 22 tháng 9, 2011

Một loạt các nước tư bản phương Tây đang phải thắt lưng buộc bụng về tài chính.

BấmChủ nghĩa tư bản vẫn đang sống và sống khỏe – nhưng không phải ở các nước phương Tây mà đang dịch chuyển về phương Đông.

Chủ nghĩa tư bản Nga đã già cỗi và cần gấp một cuộc đại tu, nhưng tinh thần của chủ nghĩa tư bản – dám mạo hiểm, tiết kiệm, đầu tư, cần cù – tất cả những đức tính đó đã di cư và tìm được tổ ấm ở Trung Quốc, Ấn Độ, Indonesia, Nam Hàn và Nhật Bản – là những nước mà ta vẫn nghĩ chẳng bao giờ có thể thoát được đói nghèo.

Các bài liên quan

Chủ đề liên quan

Kinh tế

Chủ nghĩa tư bản phương tây đã có cả nửa thế kỷ xa hoa quá mức, liên tục thịnh vượng, thất nghiệp thấp, tăng trưởng gần như được đảm bảo và kết quả là chi phí của chúng ta tăng lên theo, ngành chế tạo phải chuyển ra nước ngoài, trong khi ngành tài chính chứng tỏ là người bạn thiếu chung thủy.

Chúng ta sẽ phải nghĩ lại về mô hình của mình, giá trị của mình, sẽ lại cần đến những đức tính cũ bởi chủ nghĩa tư bản sẽ chẳng sớm biến mất.

Nếu châu Á có chủ nghĩa tư bản tràn đầy khí lực và chúng ta vẫn giữ cái chủ nghĩa tư bản đã kiệt sức này, chúng ta sẽ phải trả giá lớn và bán sự thịnh vượng của mình cho sự thịnh vượng cho họ.

22/09 Gửi tin nhắn sex có thể bị phạt 50 triệu đồng

Cá nhân, tổ chức thực hiện việc gửi tin nhắn lô đề, bói toán, dâm ô, bạo lực, mê tín di đoan... có thể bị phạt từ 30 triệu đồng đến 50 triệu đồng.

Tin nhắn rác đang trở thành nỗi kinh hoàng
của người dùng di động. Ảnh: Nhật Minh.

Nghị định 83 về xử phạt vi phạm hành chính trong lực vực viễn thông vừa được Chính phủ ban hành chiều 20/9. Chiếu theo quy định mới này, các hành vi phát tán tin nhắn rác, xâm phạm thông tin cá nhân, sử dụng trái phép mật khẩu hoặc ngăn cản bất hợp pháp việc truy nhập thông tin... đều bị nghiêm cấm. Bên cạnh đó, các mức xử phạt đối với những hành vi này cũng được điều chỉnh tăng lên.

Trong đó, mức phạt từ 10 triệu đồng đến 20 triệu đồng áp dụng đối với hành vi tiết lộ trái phép nội dung thông tin riêng của người sử dụng dịch vụ viễn thông. Đối với hành vi mua bán hoặc trao đổi trái phép thông tin riêng của người sử dụng dịch vụ viễn thông, mức phạt được nâng lên từ 30 đồng đến 50 triệu đồng.

Ngoài ra, các trường hợp thu trộm, nghe lén thông tin trên mạng viễn thông, đánh cắp và sử dụng mật khẩu, mật mã, thông tin riêng của cá nhân, tổ chức, hoặc ngăn cản bất hợp pháp việc truy cập thông tin... sẽ áp dụng mức phạt từ 20 triệu đồng đến 30 triệu đồng.

Nghị định 83 của Chính phủ cũng quy định chi tiết các mức phạt đối với hành vi phát tán tin nhắn rác đang gây bức xúc trong dư luận. Theo đó, các tổ chức, cá nhân lợi dụng hoạt động viễn thông nhằm kích động bạo lực, dâm ô, đồi trụy, tội ác, tệ nạn xã hội, mê tín dị đoan hoặc gửi phát tán tin nhắn rác có nội dung thông tin bói toán, mê tín dị đoan; thông tin có nội dung cờ bạc, lô đề hoặc để phục vụ chơi cờ bạc sẽ bị phạt từ 30 triệu đồng đến 50 triệu đồng.

Thời gian qua, người dùng di động không khỏi bức xúc trước nạn xả rác tin nhắn lô đề, bói toán. Những tin nhắn rác này được phát tán bằng thuê bao cá nhân tới người dùng di động vào bất cứ thời điểm nào trong ngày. Tình trạng tin nhắn trúng thưởng rởm, lừa tiền... cũng không ngừng gia tăng. Thậm chí, không ít khách hàng còn bị hack sim điện thoại, ăn cắp thông tin cá nhân.

Theo Hồng Anh (VNE)

22/09 A death in Georgia

Capital punishment

A death in Georgia

Sep 22nd 2011, 13:29 by J.F. | JACKSON, GEORGIA

AT THE Republican candidates' debate on September 7th, Brian Williams, the moderator, noted that while Rick Perry has governed Texas, the state has executed more criminals than any other state: 234. The crowd cheered. At least one of the men whose executions Mr Perry oversaw appears to have been innocent. Under Mr Perry's watchTexas has killed the mentally ill, criminals who were juveniles when they committed their crimes, and criminals who lacked adequate counsel. In answering Mr Williams, Mr Perry said that "when someone commits the most heinous of crimes against our citizens...you will face the ultimate justice in the state of Texas. And that is, you will be executed." The crowd cheered again. Some said the crowd was "cheering death". I don't think that's true. Or rather, it may be literally true, but it is a rather sneering and unhelpful caricature. James Taranto wrote that the applause was "less sanguinary than defiant"—they were expressing contempt for "the liberal elite" that opposes the death penalty. This is more plausible, though it does imply that they were cheering themselves for cheering the death penalty, which is hardly more comforting. Perhaps they were also cheering the notion of retribution. The idea that if you do wrong you get what's coming to you animates Westerns and crime fiction, both distinctly American genres; small wonder it should find fertile political ground too. But here's the thing: life is not a movie or a novel. Reality has no obligation to provide us with a clear narrative or villain, and it rarely does.

Take the case settled yesterday in Georgia. Mark MacPhail, a 27-year-old police officer and former Army Ranger working off-duty as a security guard, was fatally shot in the chest on August 19th, 1989 in a parking lot in Savannah, Georgia, after intervening in an argument between a homeless man, Larry Young, and another man named Sylvester Coles. MacPhail was shot twice, and never drew his gun. Two years later Troy Davis (pictured) was convicted of killing MacPhail. He was sentenced to death. His conviction rested almost entirely on witness testimony, much of it conflicting. No gun was recovered, and ballistics testimony linking the shell casings found at the scene to a gun fired at a party that Mr Davis had attended earlier that night was shaky. Since his conviction seven of the nine witnesses have recanted their testimony. Mr Young claims the police coerced him into identifying Mr Davis as the shooter. He received two stays of execution, in 2007 and 2008. But his appeal for a new trial was denied. Following a two-day evidentiary hearing a judge denied his claim of innocence. Last March the US Supreme Court rejected his appeal. On September 20th the Georgia Parole Board denied his request for clemency. Late Wednesday night, at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification prison in Jackson, the state killed him.

Davis's supporters began gathering there late Wednesday morning, anchored by the Davis family but buoyed by busloads of college students from Atlanta. A church down the street from the prison hosted a rally. Speaker after speaker harped on the same two points, one sound and one largely but not wholly irrelevant. The former, of course, concerned the injustice of the death penalty and the large amount of doubt concerning Mr Davis's guilt. He was effectively killed on the word of nine people, seven of whom changed their minds. Reports said that Georgia's parole board, which denied Mr Davis clemency on Monday, split 3-2 on that decision. Eyewitness testimony is profoundly unreliable; that it, and only it, was used to kill someone is unjust on its face and sets a terrible precedent.

The largely irrelevant point concerned the large numbers of supporters Mr Davis had around the world. We were told that rallies were held in Europe and across America, that hundreds of thousands of people had signed petitions, that death-penalty supporters such as Bob Barr and William Sessions (a former Georgia congressman and a former FBI director) and luminaries such as Jimmy Carter and the pope all opposed Mr Davis's execution. But the problem with Georgia's decision to kill Mr Davis is not that it's unpopular; it's that it was wrong.

In the event, neither point carried much weight. The execution time of 7pm came and went. Word spread through the protesters—around 150 on the prison grounds and another 500 or so on the grassy hill across the street—that the US Supreme Court had ordered the execution delayed. They were jubilant. The protests across the street grew stronger and louder. So did the police presence; by 9pm there were around 200 cops—camouflage-clad SWAT, corrections officers in black helmets and riot gear, state troopers in old-school powder blues with old-school wooden nightsticks—lined up in formation in front of the prison, across the street from the protesters. But as the night wore on, the protesters grew quieter. Shouts of "Fuck the police/No justice, no peace!" gave way to candles and silent prayer. I don't know that anybody expected the Supreme Court to grant a stay. They had already denied one on the same evidence in March. Around 10.30 the Court announced it refused to block the execution. There was silence, weeping and prayer. A prison official came out to announce that the sentence was carried out starting at 10.53, and Mr Davis was pronounced dead at 11.08. His body was removed from the prison grounds at around midnight. When it was all over, Raphael Warnock, the pastor of Ebenezer Church, where Martin Luther King preached, said, "This is one of those moments when the nation is called to examine itself and ask, 'Is this who we are?'" It seems that it is, alas.

22/09 Single-Sex Education Is Assailed in Report

By TAMAR LEWIN

Published: September 22, 2011

Single-sex education is ineffective, misguided and may actually increase gender stereotyping, a paper to be published Friday asserts.

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The report, “The Pseudoscience of Single Sex Schooling,” to be published in Science magazine by eight social scientists who are founders of the nonprofit American Council for CoEducational Schooling, is likely to ignite a new round of debate and legal wrangling about the effects of single-sex education.

It asserts that “sex-segregated education is deeply misguided and often justified by weak, cherry-picked or misconstrued scientific claims rather than by valid scientific evidence.”

But the strongest argument against single-sex education, the article said, is that it reduces boys’ and girls’ opportunities to work together, and reinforces sex stereotypes. “Boys who spend more time with other boys become increasingly aggressive,” the article said. “Similarly, girls who spend more time with other girls become more sex-typed.”

The authors are psychologists and neuroscientists from several universities who have researched and written on sex differences and sex roles. The Science article is not based on new research, but rather is a review of existing research and writing.

The lead author, Diane F. Halpern, is a past president of the American Psychological Association who holds a chair in psychology at Claremont McKenna College in California. She is an expert witness in litigation in which the American Civil Liberties Union is challenging single-sex classes — which have been suspended — at a school in Vermilion Parish, La.

Arguing that no scientific evidence supports the idea that single-sex schooling results in better academic outcomes, the article calls on the Education Department to rescind its 2006 regulations weakening the Title IX prohibition against sex discrimination in education. Under those rules, single-sex classes may be permitted as long as they are voluntary, students have a substantially equal coeducational option and the school reasonably believes separation will produce better academic outcomes.

Russlynn H. Ali, the assistant secretary for civil rights at the Education Department, said it was reviewing the research. “There are case studies that have been done that show some benefit of single-sex, but like lots of other educational research, it’s mixed,” she said. “When you’re talking about separating students, treating them differently, you want to do it in a way that’s constitutional, and you want to make sure that there is adequate justification. We certainly want to safeguard against stereotyping.”

The article comes at a time when single-sex education is on the rise. There were only two single-sex public schools in the mid-1990s; today, there are more than 500 public schools in 40 states that offer some single-sex academic classes or, more rarely, are entirely single sex.

Many of them began separating the sexes because of a belief that boys and girls should be taught differently that grew out of popular books, speeches and workshops by Michael Gurian, Leonard Sax and others.

Dr. Sax, executive director of the National Association of Single Sex Public Education, was singled out for criticism in the Science article, for his teachings that boys respond better to energetic, confrontational classrooms while girls need a gentler touch.

“A loud, cold classroom where you toss balls around, like Dr. Sax thinks boys should have, might be great for some boys, and for some girls, but for some boys, it would be living hell,” Dr. Halpern said in an interview. She said that while girls are better readers and get better grades, and boys are more likely to have reading disabilities, that does not mean that educators should use the group average to design different classrooms. “It’s simply not true that boys and girls learn differently,” she said. “Advocates for single-sex education don’t like the parallel with racial segregation, but the parallels are there. We used to believe that the races learned differently, too.”

Dr. Sax criticized the article on many counts, and said it did not fairly reflect his current views. He vehemently rejected the comparison to racial segregation, and the use of the term “sex segregation.” Legally, race is a suspect category, while sex is not.

“We are not asserting that every child should be in a single-sex classroom, we are simply saying that there should be a choice,” Dr. Sax said in an interview.

The authors of the article, though, say that because there is no good scientific research backing such a choice, the government cannot lawfully offer single-sex education in public schools.

The article cites a review commissioned by the Education Department, comparing single-sex and coed outcomes, concluding that, “as in previous reviews,” the results are equivocal.

The article also said that research in other countries, and data from the Program for International Student Assessment, also found little overall difference between single-sex and coed academic outcomes.

While some studies have found better outcomes from single-sex schools, the article said, the purported advantages disappear when outcomes are corrected for pre-existing differences. For example, Chicago’s Urban Prep Charter Academy for Young Men, a school whose high college admissions rates were praised this year by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, was subsequently criticized by the scholar Diane Ravitch as having test results that were actually lower than average on basic skills.

“This is very much a live issue, and I think it’s snowballing,” said Galen Sherwin, a staff lawyer for the Women’s Rights Project of the A.C.L.U., who is handling the Louisiana case. “I see news stories every single week about new proposals, usually based on the idea that boys and girls learn differently. Often it’s people who have attended training programs by Sax or Gurian, saying these programs will cater to boys’ and girls’ specific learning styles.”

Much of the impetus for single-sex public schooling came from popular books like Mary Pipher’s “Reviving Ophelia” and, especially, a 1992 report by the American Association of University Women, “How Schools Shortchange Girls.” But by 1998, when the association issued another report, saying that single-sex schooling was not the solution to problems of gender equity, the pendulum had swung, with boys’ difficulties in school receiving more attention, in part because of books like Dr. Sax’s “Why Gender Matters” and Mr. Gurian’s “The Wonder of Boys.”

A version of this article appeared in print on September 23, 2011, on page A19 of the New York edition with the headline: Single-Sex Education Is Assailed in Report.

22/09 SHOSO-IN TREASURES SPECIAL / Unveiling treasures of ancient Japan

The Yomiuri Shimbun

The 63rd Annual Exhibition of Shoso-in Treasures will be held from Oct. 29 to Nov. 14 at the Nara National Museum. In the following, we offer our readers a glimpse of the rare treasures that will be on display.

NARA--Visitors to the Shoso-in treasures exhibition will no doubt find beauty and pleasure in its exhibits, which include elaborately designed swords and priest robes that emit the essence of design from the periods they were crafted in.

Sixty-two pieces from the large collection of the Shoso-in storehouse in Nara, which are mainly associated with Emperor Shomu (701-756) and Todaiji temple in Nara, will be exhibited this year. Seventeen of them have never been before publicly shown.

Visitors will be enchanted by swords decorated with silver and gold made using a technique similar to that used for makie lacquerware, and also priest robes made of several pieces of cloth and fine silken threads. These ancient items manifest the wisdom of the skilled craftsmen who painstakingly made them.

One prominent treasure of the collection is the gorgeous sword Kingin Denso no Karatachi. Its sheath, decorated using the makkinru technique, which uses makie-like methods, depicts beasts and birds, clouds and arabesque patterns. Makkinru craftsmen paint objects with coarse flour gold then coat a fine lacquered layer on top; grinding designs into the lacquer exposes the vivid gold color underneath.

"Kokka Chinpo Cho," a list of Shoso-in items treasured by Emperor Shomu that, upon his death, were dedicated to the Great Buddha statue at Todaiji temple by Empress Komyo (701-760), suggests Kingin Denso no Karatachi came from China's Tang dynasty (618-907).

Upon the occurrence of the Fujiwara no Nakamaro rebellion in 764, 100 swords associated with Emperor Shomu were removed from the Shoso-in storehouse and used as weapons. Only three have been found, including Kingin Denso no Karatachi.

In 2010, two ancient swords discovered buried under the pedestal of the Great Buddha statue at Todaiji temple about a century ago were confirmed as Yo no Hoken and In no Hoken. The discovery of the swords, missing for about 1,250 years, heightens the possibility that others from Shoso-in could be found.

One question stirs the imagination: Why were items decorated using methods so similar to the makie technique--widely believed to be originally Japanese--apparently used to make Chinese objects?

Shichijo Shokusei Juhishoku no Kesa, a quilted priest robe made of seven mottled strips and adorned with beautiful arabesque patterns, is believed to have been used by Emperor Shomu after he devoted himself to Buddhism.

Kesa robes are made from pieces of cloth that Buddhist followers donated to temples, and are characterized by silken threads and elaborate tapestries.

Shichijo Shokusei Juhishoku no Kesa is listed in the opening part of "Kokka Chinpo Cho," which hints of Empress Komyo's fondness of the robe.

The exhibit Koge Bachiru no Shaku (red-stained ivory measuring ruler) exemplifies the ancient bachiru technique of carving designs into red-stained ivory. Records tell us that each year during China's Tang dynasty, subordinate warriors would present such a ruler to the emperor. Koge Bachiru no Shaku suggests similar ceremonies might have occurred at the imperial court of Heijokyo, currently in Nara Prefecture, which was established as the capital of Japan in 710.

It's easy to get excited when gazing upon these beautiful treasures, whose craftsmanship emotionally appeals to us in ways that transcend time.

===

The star of the show

NARA--The treasure drawing the most attention at this year's Annual Exhibition of Shoso-in Treasures at the Nara National Museum is Ojukuko, a piece of agarwood, better known as Ranjatai, which will displayed for the first time in 14 years. The three kanji that represent Ojukuko contain another three characters that represent Todaiji temple.

Ojukuko, 1.56 meters long and weighing 11.6 kilograms, is an aromatic wood called jinko in Japanese. Although believed to be indigenous to mountainous areas in central Laos and Vietnam, many details--including how it came to be treasured in Shoso-in--remain unclear.

When it is burned, resin in the wood emits a unique smell. Small chips are cut from it and burned for fragrance.

The piece had been a symbol of elegance and power adored by powerful people throughout history.

Slips of paper pasted on the wood bear the names of Ashikaga Yoshimasa (1436-1490), the eighth shogun of the Muromachi shogunate; warlord Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582); and Emperor Meiji (1852-1912), indicating they had a chip cut from the piece.

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Information

-- Exhibition period: Oct. 29 to Nov. 14 (open daily)

-- Hours: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. (until 7 p.m. on Fridays, weekends and Nov. 3.) Entrance is permitted until 30 minutes before closing time.

-- Admission: 1,000 yen for adults, 700 yen for high school and university students, and 400 yen for primary and middle school students. Prices are 900 yen, 600 yen and 300 yen, respectively, for groups of 20 or more, or for advance tickets. Advance tickets will be sold from late September to Oct. 28. Tickets purchased at the museum 90 minutes or less before closing are 700 yen, 500 yen and 200 yen, respectively.

-- Organizer: Nara National Museum

-- Supporters: NTT West Corp., Kintetsu Corp., Central Japan Railway Co., West Japan Railway Co., Daikin Industries, Ltd., Daiwa House Industry Co., Tezukayama Gakuen and Tezukayama University, and Hakutsuru Sake Brewing Co., with special cooperation from The Yomiuri Shimbun.

(Sep. 22, 2011)

Mai Phương Thúy đang dần "xấu" đi?

Hoa hậu Mai Phương Thúy

Thứ Năm, 22/09/2011, 05:37 AM (GMT+7)

Sự kiện: Scandal thời trang Việt

Sự xuống dốc không chỉ thể hiện ở cách chọn lựa trang phục, phong thái khi xuất hiện. Mai Phương Thúy còn chịu nhiều điều tiếng bởi văn hóa ứng xử "lạ kỳ" của một hoa hậu.

Thời trang 24H cập nhật nhanh nhất các mẫu Thời trang thu đông 2011, thời trang công sở, thời trang 2012 hot nhất, bí quyết mặc đẹp mới, hợp mốt nhất.

Bài viết không muốn đào xới thêm những chuyện ồn ào và được cho là "sự cố" hay "tai nạn" của hoa hậu Mai Phương Thúy. Nhưng nếu cứ để mọi chuyện nhẹ nhàng trôi qua thì e rằng cô sẽ ngày càng làm mất hình tượng tốt đẹp vốn được dày công xây dựng bấy lâu.

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