Is our house durable?



A famous architect who allegedly designed more than 200 buildings in over 20 prefectures, was arrested for the construction scandal after he admitted making up data to cut costs.

Hidetsugu Aneha told BBC reporters that "I felt pressure from the industry's overall trend to seek speed and low cost." A fierce competition to sign up contracts misled Ahena into fabrication. He also admitted that at least 21 buildings -- 20 condominium complexes and a hotel his office was involved in making -- did not fulfill government quake-resistance standards, the Japan times said.

“Our construction industry is beginning to recover from a decade of economic stagnation.” said the BBC's Tokyo correspondent.

We had a historically tragic “kobe earthquake” in 1995 that killed more than 6.400 lives in a 7.3 magnitude tremor. It was the worst earthquake in Japan since the Great Kanto earthquake in 1923, which took 140,000 lives. Japan has been scambling to ensure its architecture to be made “quake-proof” ever since the Kobe disaster.

After Ahena’s reveal, some citizens face with fears that buildings Aneha designed may not be earthquake-resistance. He also admitted that his buildings might crumble even under a moderate earthquake. Hundreds of people have already been evacuated from apartment blocks and hotels where risk is expected.

Japan's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry have found that Mr. Aneha faked data for at least 21 buildings.

During the lower house committee hearing, one property developer claimed that “these plans were drawn up by one individual, a crook.”

Thinking about hundreds of innocent citizen who are threatened by their house security, the situation is extremely disturbing. I personally do not believe Japanese citizen are not well-informed about the earthquake precaution even we are ranked one of the world’s most earthquake-prone countries.

Media told us enough alert on several earthquakes that are expected to take place within a decade. But who are really started to take a precaution for it? Ovbiously not Mr. Aneha and others. The damage will be expeceted high if the earthquake hit in an urban area such as Tokyo, Osaka and Kyusu area. Appearently, government does not want the citizen to be scared of our daily life. If it really happens, are they going to be enough food supply when people flock to the store? Media is only going to report the aftermath. Where are we going to escape? I can let all of my family suffer if I already know a danger by now.

- A deadly kiss shocked the nation



Let’s say I am allergic to a peanut and I just died of eating some peanuts.

“You could have prevented. Why did you even try it?” That is a response that I would probably　 get from people who would react “Thank god that I am not her.”

People were not reacting like that when an incident really happened to a 15-year-old Canadian girl with a peanut allergy. Christina Desforges died after kissing with her boyfriend who had a peanut butter on toast, the AFP news agency reported.

According to BBC news, Ms. Desforges, of Saguenay, Quebec had been given an adrenaline shot and a standard treatment for anaphylactic shock for five days, but she failed to respond to days of treatment on Wednesday- four days after a deadly kiss.

Based on a research done by Canadian broadcaster TVA reporters, Ms. Desforges was very sensitive to peanuts and the case is considered to be very rare. She was taken to a hospital in Saguenay, and pronounced dead.
I have never heard of peanut allergy as it is part of food allergy commonly found in the United States. I looked up the allergy statistics which was collected by U.S department of Health and services last August.

Their finding is that “Peanut or tree nut allergies affect approximately 0.6 percent and 0.4 percent of Americans, respectively, and cause the most severe food-induced allergic reactions.”

To put this statistics in real number, about 1.5 millions American are severely suffering from some peanut allergy. Additionally, peanut allergies account for 50 to 100 deaths each year.

Surprisingly or not, the reason of peanut allergy remains unclear, but one study found that baby creams or lotions with peanut oil may cause children to develop allergies later in life, the Associate Press reported.

What I can do for those patients is simple: Taking as much precaution as possible. If my roommate had it, I would not put any peanut product around kitchen, maybe not even in the house. And if my boyfriend had it, I would better be “informed” before innocently commiting body contact.

There is a ongoing investigation whether or not her boyfriend intentionally kissed her, but I do not really believe so. It takes a psycho to kill a girlfriend, putting her in a constant pain like that.

Strawberry Farm business in Cali

Bill Ito, 55, has been working with his strawberry farm over the years in the Los Alamitos and Irvine area, the LA Times reported. It took him quiet loyalty to pass down his family tradition that started back in 1918 when his parents emigrated from Japan to establish a family farming enterprise.

Despite the California Alien Land Law of 1913 that banned all Asian immigrants from owning land or property, his farm has flourished. Then, it immediately become one of the biggest strawberry growers in Southern California.

Farmers of Japanese descent helped the California’s $1.3 billion strawberry industry, However, in nowadays; the numbers of farmers are becoming scarce.

It seems like some farmers sold their land during booms in property values. Others had a hope for their college-educated children to be in white-collar professional careers, according to Diana Ono, an event organizer at Orange County Buddhist Church in Anaheim.

What struck me was the fact that ethnic assimilation and advancement by Japanese Americans over Latinos as the industry’s dominant players past few decades. According to the California Strawberry Commission, they now make up more than 56 percent of the state’s strawberry growers, compared with 14 percent for Japanese Americans,

Ito, the farm master, studied math at UCLA and worked in a bank learning financial management for five years before he got antsy at the profession. “I missed the sun on my face.” Ito said to LA　Times staff. He longed for the freedom to be his own boss.

Today, Ito and his brother Eddie, farm 450 acres on leased land in Los Alamitos and Irvine. It has been my stereotypical image that Latinos do the agricultural work in California. It never occurred to me that they took in charge of the field from Asian immigrants prior to WWII. If my parents were one of Japanese immigrant back in 1960s, my father might have been the one who appeared on the front page of Friday edition in LA times last week, like Bill Ito did, picking up juicy berries with a big smile. It is a funny thought, but who knows? It could have happened. I could have been a farming woman.

Surviving in U.S school
According to a study by the Pew Hispanic Center, foreign-born children, especially those from Mexico, are likely to drop out of high school if they had an inconsistent educational record before immigrating in the United States.

Kathleen O'Connell, an assistant principal at Belmont High School in Los Angeles, said "The school teaches them the whole notion of schooling, teaching them content that they've never had, giving them algebra, biology, history and geometry when they've never learned to read," In Belmont High, district data show nearly half of 5,500 students are still learning English.

Apparently, a crucial problem is that students who arrive in the United States have little or no literacy skills in their native language.

I think I can see where the problem stems from. There are more Mexican children, who involuntarily immigrated in the United States, than those who made their mind to study English in the United States.

If the first language was not guided on the first place, it becoms too confusing to comprehend both. They probably need a lot more- maybe more than the time of their age – to completely switch the language or become bilingual. In reality, the school does not give them enough time to wait for their transformation. Therefore, the number of dropouts will keep increasing.

The LA times also raises questions about whether Latino students — both foreign-born and U.S. natives — have access to the same quality of education as their peers.

Their finding showed that Latinos, on average, attend more crowded high schools than whites or African Americans. They also said larger high schools do a significantly worse job than smaller schools. That has prompted many large school districts, including L.A. Unified, to begin breaking up big schools into smaller "learning communities."

Their research even showed that while white students are likely to attend suburban or rural schools, Latino and African American students are equally likely to attend school in central cities where schools tend to be much bigger, with larger class sizes. That overflow could be considered as another setback.

I was born Japanese, and have studied a decent amount of literacy in grade school. However, the difference in rhetoric bugs me the whole time. When it comes to the flow of my writing, even experienced ESL teachers have not yet found how to get me off the hook.

I think it is because my mind still works in Japanese. The idea wanders around and disappears in the middle. Then, the “reader” has to be responsible for understanding the point that I am making. I am lucky to go through this process, without quitting school. I was given opportunity and they aren't.

Steeped in a New Tradition

Instant ramen noodles are replacing beans and rice for many people in Mexico. Japanese fast-food noodles, first imported in Mexico around 1980s, are filling pantries across the country.

Maruchan, a brand of instant ramen noodles, made Mexico Latin America’s largest per-capita consumers of instant ramen. The product is so pervasive that a national newspaper recently dubbed Mexico “Maruchan Nation” and “Noodle champ”.

Nearly 60 percent of Mexico’s workforce earns less than $13 a day. Instant ramen is a hot meal that fills stomachs, typically for less than 40 cents per serving.

An official with Mexico’s national council for Culture and Arts, Gloria Lopez Morales, is concerned that globalization might disconnect Mexicans from their very life source, be it U.S corn displacing ancient strains of fast food encroaching on the traditional leisurely afternoon meal. “We have entered a period of crisis”, Morales said.

Instant ramen has its roots in aiding hunger. It was invented by Momofuku Ando, an insatiable entrepreneur whose businesses crumbled with Japan’s defeat in World War II.

Thanks to highly automated manufacturing in plant on American soil, most of this product is manufactured in Southern California, where Japanese food giant Nissin and Tokyo-based Toyo Suisan, maker of the Maruchan brand have their U.S headquarters.

By cutting the ingredients in its soups and lowering its prices, the U.S successfully produce low-grade noodles in the South America market. That is an irritation to Nissin which is running a distant second.

By nutritional-value comparison, ramen contains 385.0 calories which outnumbers rice and beans by 2.5 to 1. Influenced by TV advertising like “You can spend days cooking beans. Maruchan is ready in three minutes”,lazy people's soup became a new tradition in a country like Mexico, where their traditional food come from slow-food sauce and hard-worked dough".

Baptism



Having a little bit of curiosity and no intention of becoming Christian, I went to the beach in Long Beach Saturday to see my friend getting baptized.

Raised in a country where religious ignorance is common, many Japanese struggled to identify themselves with a specific religion. Unless they are born as a specific religion, they are not usually expected to change their religious belief throughout their life.

Kanami, 19, of Long Beach, who I just met a couple weeks ago at a Christian Church, has made up her mind recently to become one of Christ's faithful.

Although Japanese lifestyles are largely dependent on Buddhist/Shinto customs, public discussion about the specific religion seems almost like a no-no. I think people are afraid of being unfavorably labeled by society.

She suffered a religious identity crisis as she went to the Christian high school.

“I never considered myself as a Christian though I practiced the Bible at school for 6 years.”

Her family, friends and school teachers did not boost her religious morale, either. When she came to the United States this summer, she had a big fight with her friends.

“I then realized the importance of praying at a church.”She broke down in tears. She also added a story of being rescued by JCFN volunteer women when she passed out from over breathing.

JCFN, Japanese Christian Fellowship Network, supports Japanese Christians and seekers returning from overseas. They introduce churches in their various areas to Christians with whom thy can get in touch, as a part of the follow up process.

“It was very inspirational experience.” Her voice was often vibrated as she continued her oath of allegiance. About 30 people who gathered for her celebration started singing hymns which were chosen at her request. They were singing in perfect harmony, and I could not feel more isolated. I was touched by the power of the songs, but it did not strike me any more than awe.

A performance of Christian ritual of baptism was followed by three front dunks. I think she made a quite commitment to come out of the “traditional” closet, because religion is not yet actively discussed in Japanese society.

While she sought a comfort zone and found the reverend, my belief in religion has not changed a bit. And I constantly spoke to myself that “I did not belong there.” My God is still unsettled.

Cal State Raises Fees



Here it comes again. California State University students are haunted by another fee hike nightmare.

Trustees of the CSU system Thursday approved fee increases of 8% for undergraduates and 10% for graduate students. A fifth straight year of fee hikes will torment more than 400,000 students in the 23-campus Cal State system.

At this moment, there is no announcement of a how much hike is expected for the non-resident students. Unless I hit the jackpot, I will be a direct hit of this financial injustice.

According to the statistics, between 2004 and 2005, there was an unreasonable 20 percent fee increase for non-residents while 14% for California residents. When the original fee for outsiders was already $8,460, you would imagine how sharply 20 percent would damage my pocket.

I can never understand the intention of overcharges against us. Is this because we are not tax-payers? In reality, we DO pay for tax while employed outside the campus- as high as 15 percent　and for liquor, gasoline, tobacco just like everybody else.

If I focus on geographic aspect, the popularity of CSU universities would justify the fee increase. It might not provoke students into turmoil. As long as students are covered with financial aid, they are willing to lower their living standard and completely devote to education. About 40.000 students who appeal for financial hardship are underestimated. Having little hope for a modified bill, the fee hike will take effect in next school year.

The appointment of Cal State Long Beach, F. King Alexander, was based on how much strengths he would bring in funding. According to the article in 49er,“He has a sense of funding that is something we’re looking for,”I would like to see things change.

One click to save, one click to shop

According to the research firm ACNielsen, approximately 10 percent of the world's population - more than 627 million people - has shopped online at least once.

This survey was done through an online poll of 21,100 respondents across Europe, Asia, North America, Latin America and South Africa. Internet users in those 38 markets were asked about their online shopping experiences, in terms of frequency, payment methods and favorite purchases.

In Germany, the third largest economic power in a world, the poll showed 95 percent of Internet users have made purchases online. On the other hand, the United States ranked 11th, with 89 percent of users having purchased something online.

If I look at demographics, Europeans have a tendency to shop more online while Americans stick with mall culture. In Asia, the study revealed that a high level of Internet penetration does not necessarily translate into frequent online shopping. Latin America showed the lowest level of shopping frequency. I can also see a shift in younger people who purchase music online to download straight onto MP3 players.

The Internet has gone wild; many retailers and marketers are targeting any Internet users for additional profits. A small shop online can definitely defeat a big High Street retailer by providing a similar or better shopping experience in cyberspace.

Upcoming mayhem?

I did not know anything about a possible terrorist threat until my mother called and said she was worried about a recent threat in the New York subway system. I switched my radio to news for a change, and bent my ears toward A.M 1150, a popular progressive talk show in L.A.

According to Randi Rhodes, a political talk show host, New York and Washington are on high alert. Security precautions have been heightened but the Bush Administration seems to rely on the military force too much. “When you are sick, go to a doctor. Bush called for military because it is out of his hand.” Randi said.

Following a 'specific threat' against the city's subway system, New York police officers requested a bomb sniffing dog to search for the train. A Department of Homeland Security memo describes an alleged terrorist plan to attack New York subways on Sunday, with bombs hidden in briefcase or possibly baby strollers, The Associated Press reported.

Authorities closed part of the New York's Pennsylvania Station after they found a soda bottle filled with an unidentified green liquid in the morning rush hour. Before noon, part of the station operate was sealed off to investigate a suspicious liquid in a can.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg rode the subway downtown to New York City Hall. New Yorkers endured bag searches and security scares on their morning commute, following what city officials described as the most potent threat to date of a terrorist attack on the subway.



According to the KTLK survey, More than 67% voted that the U.S is going on the wrong direction whereas 26% believe that the country is still on the right direction.