Uncle Sparky's 1st 2008 adventure in Japan

[stsparky]

This is a quick trip as I understand it.

I arrive in Narita 1/11/2008 around 4:00 PM and leave for FUK at 7:30 ...

We're playing in the snow in Kumamoto and Fukuoka for 10 days and if the purpose of Hiromi's trip pans out we fly straight home - if it's a negative we'll do DisneySea.

I'll keep you posted.

[Everdarke]

Have a fun trip mate. I wish I had the resources to visit Japan. :(

[Pierrot le Fou]

Be sure to wave when you pass over Kansai.

And enjoy the fingerprinting you dirty big-nosed terrorist!

[stsparky]

I 'll wave. I'll wax my fingers. :D

[belladonna]

Have fun in the snow! We don't have that here so make use of it while you're over there

[ミュー]

Have fun in the snow! We don't have that here so make use of it while you're over there
lol. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ky%C5%ABsh%C5%AB#Economy_and_climate)

[belladonna]

lol. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ky%C5%ABsh%C5%AB#Economy_and_climate)
thing is i was born just north of there in iwakuni and my dad said that the weather was pretty much the same as here... but we do get ice... no snow, but ice

[stsparky]

There's often snow in Kumamoto.

If I get a chance - I'll Bullet Train to Osaka for the day, and we'll do something mindbendingly American.

Oh - bump.

I leave in 36 hours. :D

[Pierrot le Fou]

Yes. Sounds splendid.

[stsparky]

Have a fun trip mate. I wish I had the resources to visit Japan. :(


Be a courier (http://jupiterair.com/courier/index.htm) son - I hear Japanese like Finns due The Rainbow Bridge TV show.

http://jupiterair.com/courier/index.htm - link

[japanat]

... Osaka for the day, and we'll do something mindbendingly American.Pick up girls at the Pig & Whistle?...

[stsparky]

Pick up girls at the Pig & Whistle?...
The Pig and Whistle (http://travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguide-2763379-pig_and_whistle_osaka-i)
From the dartboard on the wall to the brass on the bar, this is a true English pub. It even has fish and chips on the menu! The clientele is a cheerful mix of locals and those who are visiting on a stopover or business trip. Sitting at the bar or relaxing on a sofa, you will soon feel at home here. The traditional pub fare also includes chicken and chips and pizza, and a "one-dish, one-pint" happy hour for JPY1,100 makes extraordinary good value.

I was thinking either Chicago Ribs or Hard Rock Cafe.

[japanat]

The Pig and Whistle (http://travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguide-2763379-pig_and_whistle_osaka-i)
From the dartboard on the wall to the brass on the bar, this is a true English pub. It even has fish and chips on the menu! The clientele is a cheerful mix of locals and those who are visiting on a stopover or business trip. Sitting at the bar or relaxing on a sofa, you will soon feel at home here. The traditional pub fare also includes chicken and chips and pizza, and a "one-dish, one-pint" happy hour for JPY1,100 makes extraordinary good value.

I was thinking either Chicago Ribs or Hard Rock Cafe.Ah, a married man. I stopped going to the P&W (where the eigo-bandits walk up to you even if you're talking to a friend and not paying attention to the scenery, give you their phone number, and walk away) long ago. Health-wise, probably a good decision. Artery-clogging fats over mind-destroying STDs any day.

[stsparky]

We'll have to consider September.

In the meantime - this is Japan.

http://metropolitician.blogs.com/scribblings_of_the_metrop/_c_pictures_2006_10_06_mn_trafficking_07_1.jpg
The girl above is from Korea - but don't tell.

5 girls, education official tied to child prostitution scandal on matchmaking site (http://mdn.mainichi.jp/national/news/20080122p2a00m0na017000c.html)

SAITAMA -- Five girls have been questioned and an education official has been arrested for using an online matchmaking site for child prostitution, police said.

Investigators suspect that school girls as young as elementary school age used the Web site to offer to perform prostitution, and that the site was a hotbed for child prostitution until it was closed in September last year.

The five girls are accused of violating the law regulating matchmaking Web sites. Shigeru Odaka, 44, an official of the Edogawa Ward Board of Education in Tokyo, has been arrested for violating the same law.

The girls posted messages on the site offering to provide sexual services in return for money. They were aged between 12 and 16 when they posted the messages. Odaka put up a message on the same Web site on Aug. 21, last year, asking girls aged between 11 and 15 to have sex with him in return for money.

Moreover, prefectural police have sent investigation reports to prosecutors, accusing three other adults of violating the matchmaking site law and the Law for Punishing Acts Related to Child Prostitution and Child Pornography for looking for underage prostitutes on the same Web site.


出会い系：買春誘った中１補導　教委職員らを逮捕　埼玉 (http://mainichi.jp/select/today/archive/news/2008/01/21/20080122k0000m040117000c.html)

　インターネットの出会い系サイトに売買春を誘う書き込みをしたとして、埼玉県警少年捜査課と蕨署が、同県 などの当時１２～１６歳の中学１年～高校２年の女子生徒５人を出会い系サイト規制法違反の非行事実で補導、 東京都江戸川区教委職員、小高茂容疑者（４４）ら４人を同法違反などの疑いで逮捕、書類送検していたことが ２１日、分かった。　

　同課などはサイトが児童買春の温床となり、小学生の女児が利用していた可能性もあるとみている。調べでは 、女子生徒は性行為を誘う書き込みなどをした非行事実で補導された。

　小高容疑者は昨年８月２１日、無料出会い系サイト「女子小学生と中学生のための援助交際掲示板」（９月に 閉鎖）に「おこづかいほしい１１～１５の子いる？」などと児童買春を持ちかける書き込みをした疑い。ほかの ３人は昨年１０月から１２月にかけ同法違反や児童買春・児童ポルノ禁止法違反容疑で逮捕、書類送検された。

　サイトには閉鎖される直前の同年７月中旬～９月上旬の約１カ月半で約３万件のヒットがあり、男女計約６７ ０人の書き込みがあった。うち２割が女子生徒からとみられる。買春を持ちかける書き込みも多数あった。サイ ト内では女子小学生を「ＪＳ」、女子中学生を「ＪＣ」と隠語で表記していたという。

　同法は０３年９月に施行された。現行では事業者を把握する制度がなく運営業者を特定しづらいため、警察庁 は３月にも改正案を通常国会に提出する方針だ。【山崎征克】

==========
Children still denied entry to family registers over divorce law loophole (http://mdn.mainichi.jp/national/news/20080122p2a00m0na016000c.html)

A legal loophole has denied at least 127 children placement on family registrations because their mothers became pregnant before divorcing their former husbands, a Mainichi poll has found.

The survey, which covered a total of 219 municipal governments and ward offices in central Tokyo and other prefectures across the nation earlier this month, is the first of its kind after the Justice Ministry gave up counting the number of such children last year.

"It is a problem, and we need to take some kind of countermeasures," said Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama, referring to the results of the Mainichi poll during a press conference following a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

In May last year, a Justice Ministry directive ruled that children born within 300 days after divorce could be recognized as the children of the new husbands on condition that doctors can prove that the women became pregnant after getting divorced.

The directive runs counter to Article 772 of the Civil Code that stipulates children that women give birth to within 300 days after divorce should be regarded as children of their former husbands.

However, in order for children conceived by women before divorce and born within 300 days after divorce to be registered as the children of their new husbands, it is necessary to undergo court procedures involving their former husbands.

In many cases, the mothers were unable to undergo this legal process because of violence by their former husbands or other reasons. In such cases, the children were denied entry into family registrations, and subsequently were denied recognition and benefits from the government.

Despite these complications over the issue, according to the latest poll, 154 local governments said they had provided child allowances to children without family registration in the past, with the number of such recipients estimated to be 254, while 39 local governments said they were still providing such allowances as of the end of December, with the number of such recipients estimated to be 127.

The survey has also found that only the Kita Ward Office in Tokyo had issued residency registration for children without family registration.

[Sublime]

I was just looking at that girl on the right thinking about the reasons behind that utterly despaired grin. Then again I can see why being a prostitute in Japan can be a horrible dissatisfying job. It's like you're an ice-cream taster and you're already fed-up with ice cream and on top of that you live in the country with the worst ice-cream in the world. Not even real ice-cream but instead shaved ice at most...

PP: About that law - it exists in variations all over the world. The best way to deal with it is run a ABO(H) blood type matching which is considered a sufficient proof by most courts. It's neither as expensive nor as time consuming as running a full DNA match.