Saturday, August 6, 2011
Friday, August 5, 2011
Taiwan 'should boost defences against China spies'
President Ma Ying-jeou said Taiwan should strengthen its defences against Chinese espionage, following a string of spy scandals showing that intelligence gathering continues despite warming ties.
Taiwan needs to "actively prevent" any leak of secrets to China and must counter infiltration attempts by beefing up its counter-intelligence, Ma said in a statement issued by the National Security Bureau.
He made the comments at an intelligence meeting on Thursday aimed at tackling security issues resulting from expanding cross-Strait exchanges, the statement said.
Ties between Taiwan and China have improved markedly since Ma came to power three years ago on a Beijing-friendly platform but security concerns linger.
The two sides have spied on each other ever since they split in 1949 at the end of a civil war. Beijing still regards the island as part of its territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary.
Taiwan's military court earlier this year handed out life sentences to an army general and an intelligence officer for spying for China in the island's worst espionage scandals in recent years.
The general was allegedly lured in a honey trap by a Chinese female spy to gather information for Beijing while the intelligence officer reportedly had helped China unravel several of Taiwan's spy networks on the mainland.
A retired Taiwanese agent recently warned that at least 10 Chinese moles were believed to have infiltrated the island's security units.
Japan vows to continue nuclear plant exports
Japan said Friday it will continue exporting atomic power plants, despite uncertainty over its own use of them as it continues to grapple with a crisis at the tsunami-hit Fukushima nuclear plant.
Tokyo actively promoted nuclear plant exports until a massive quake and tsunami on March 11 sent the Fukushima Daiichi facility into meltdown, causing it to leak radiation in the world's worst nuclear accident since the 1985 Chernobyl disaster.
Japan reached an agreement last October to provide two nuclear power plants to Vietnam. It also signed a memorandum in December on civil nuclear cooperation with Turkey, preceding a possible deal for Japanese companies to build a nuclear plant by the Black Sea.
In a statement, the Tokyo government said: "In case other countries wish to utilise our country's nuclear power technology, we should provide it by ensuring that its safety is of the highest global standards."
It added that "a number of countries" continued to express an interest in Japan's nuclear power technology.
The statement, approved by Prime Minister Naoto Kan's cabinet, was issued in response to an opposition question on the government's policy on the export of nuclear power plants.
Amid the ongoing nuclear crisis, Kan has recently said Japan should reduce its dependence on nuclear energy and prepare for an eventual halt of nuclear power generation.
In late July, the premier said in parliament he had pushed for nuclear plant exports himself but that "thorough discussions should be held on the matter once again."
The statement also called on Japan's parliament to ratify accords on civil nuclear power cooperation with Jordan, Russia, South Korea and Vietnam to avoid spoiling the fruit of diplomatic negotiations and causing damage to bilateral trust.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Looking back to move forward
Teaching the history of the Khmer Rouge regime has gained fresh momentum with the introduction of new resources into higher education institutions throughout the Kingdom.
The move has raised hopes that education can foster an understanding of Cambodia’s tragic past, reconciliation and a commitment to human rights in a new generation.
With the blessing of the Ministry of Education, the Documentation Centre of Cambodia has compiled an ambitious syllabus on the Khmer Rouge to assist history lecturers at 94 universities and institutes.
“We think that without a proper understanding of history… [students] may fail to learn how to address the history properly and understand how the principle of human rights was violated years ago,” said DC-Cam’s director Youk Chhang.
The new course seeks to bring about a deeper understanding of Cambodia’s darkest chapter, the teaching of which has been neglected for decades due to political instability and the sensitivity of the material.
Instead of in-depth courses meant to help Cambodians understand how and why as many as two million of their compatriots died in fewer than four years of Khmer Rouge rule, university students have been left with just a couple hours for the subject in their Cambodian history classes.
Eng Somalin, who has been teaching Cambodian history for six years at the National Institute of Business in Phnom Penh, said last week at a three-day training for university lecturers organised by DC-Cam that she spends only about three hours of class time on the Khmer Rouge during a semester-long course. “We need to teach a lot,” she said. “In 48 hours, we need to teach all of Cambodian history.”
Last year, a new textbook – A History of Democratic Kampuchea 1975-1979 by Dy Khamboly – became required reading for high school students, who must pass an exam on Khmer Rouge history. But study of the period at most higher education institutions was still “very limited”, said Phala Chea, who helped create the syllabus.
“There’s no course on Khmer Rouge history. So if you want to learn that, you have to sit and wait for maybe a day of introduction into the Khmer Rouge culture. Just one day,” she said.
Eng Somalin said students are interested in the subject, despite the lack of classroom attention devoted to it. “They used to hear from their families talking about Khmer Rouge, and they hear something that the Khmer Rouge killed a lot of people in Cambodia, and they worked hard during this regime and sometimes they have a relative that died,” she said.
Historian David Chandler said in an interview in Phnom Penh last week that teaching history has been a “very low priority” for the members of the current regime, who view the subject as risky, especially for the former Khmer Rouge cadre in their ranks.
“If people start writing the book, you don’t know what side they’re on, what opens up, what doors swing open,” he said.
While the Khmer Rouge sought to erase history and all its “contaminating” effects on the idealised Khmer peasant-farmer, Cambodia’s “year zero” may have awakened a new sense of narrative for Cambodians who began to tell their own stories.
Chandler said that Cambodians have generally viewed history as something written by their rulers, but that surviving and coming to terms with the Pol Pot regime has pushed them to take more ownership over their past.
“History was never an important subject in the schools... I think they started thinking historically in the Khmer Rouge period when they started giving these biographies and things and a new sort of conscious came up – that everybody’s life had a narrative shape,” he said.
Youk Chhang wants teachers to engage students on a personal level. “When it comes to the Khmer Rouge, it’s so recent – because their parents were either victim or perpetrators… that they have to accept or rebel to it. And that generates the debate,” he said. “I hope that it will have some impact on their morality, their behaviour.”
While there is a range of teaching methods practiced in Cambodia’s higher education institutions, Youk Chhang said most rely predominantly on a lecture format that presumes “one question, one answer”, making new teaching methods perhaps nearly as controversial as the subject matter.
About 150 lecturers were asked to challenge that format during training at the Institute of Technology of Cambodia in Phnom Penh last week.
During one exercise at the training, after learning about mass atrocities carried out under the Khmer Rouge regime, the lecturers were split into groups and tasked with becoming experts on mass atrocities in different countries, such as Germany and Iraq. Each group then discussed the similarities and differences to the crimes of Democratic Kampuchea.
Chris Dearing, who helped lead the training, said the point of the exercise was to “show how students can actually teach each other in groups with very little teacher interaction”.
Though the course is built around A History of Democratic Kampuchea, the new syllabus goes well beyond the textbook by including materials that debate the definition of genocide, contemplate the meaning of “evil”, and examine specific aspects of Khmer Rouge rule – such as its effects on Buddhism or the Cham, or its policies in Ta Mok’s infamous Southwest Zone.
Vong Sotheara, deputy head of the Royal University of Phnom Penh’s history department, said the teaching methods would be as much of a challenge as the content of Khmer Rouge history. “We have to update our technique of teaching methodology,” he said.
Eng Somalin, the National Institute of Business lecturer, said she would use the new teaching methods and content, but will still only have three hours each semester for Khmer Rouge history. Vong Sotheara may have more leeway, with 10 to 12 hours of class time devoted to the subject.
But DC-Cam hopes that universities and higher education institutes will aim high and eventually create entire courses on the period.
“Cambodians are very proud of history,” Youk Chhang said. “It’s restoring the freedom of expression, a sense of ownership that Cambodians want.”
The move has raised hopes that education can foster an understanding of Cambodia’s tragic past, reconciliation and a commitment to human rights in a new generation.
With the blessing of the Ministry of Education, the Documentation Centre of Cambodia has compiled an ambitious syllabus on the Khmer Rouge to assist history lecturers at 94 universities and institutes.
“We think that without a proper understanding of history… [students] may fail to learn how to address the history properly and understand how the principle of human rights was violated years ago,” said DC-Cam’s director Youk Chhang.
The new course seeks to bring about a deeper understanding of Cambodia’s darkest chapter, the teaching of which has been neglected for decades due to political instability and the sensitivity of the material.
Instead of in-depth courses meant to help Cambodians understand how and why as many as two million of their compatriots died in fewer than four years of Khmer Rouge rule, university students have been left with just a couple hours for the subject in their Cambodian history classes.
Eng Somalin, who has been teaching Cambodian history for six years at the National Institute of Business in Phnom Penh, said last week at a three-day training for university lecturers organised by DC-Cam that she spends only about three hours of class time on the Khmer Rouge during a semester-long course. “We need to teach a lot,” she said. “In 48 hours, we need to teach all of Cambodian history.”
Last year, a new textbook – A History of Democratic Kampuchea 1975-1979 by Dy Khamboly – became required reading for high school students, who must pass an exam on Khmer Rouge history. But study of the period at most higher education institutions was still “very limited”, said Phala Chea, who helped create the syllabus.
“There’s no course on Khmer Rouge history. So if you want to learn that, you have to sit and wait for maybe a day of introduction into the Khmer Rouge culture. Just one day,” she said.
Eng Somalin said students are interested in the subject, despite the lack of classroom attention devoted to it. “They used to hear from their families talking about Khmer Rouge, and they hear something that the Khmer Rouge killed a lot of people in Cambodia, and they worked hard during this regime and sometimes they have a relative that died,” she said.
Historian David Chandler said in an interview in Phnom Penh last week that teaching history has been a “very low priority” for the members of the current regime, who view the subject as risky, especially for the former Khmer Rouge cadre in their ranks.
“If people start writing the book, you don’t know what side they’re on, what opens up, what doors swing open,” he said.
While the Khmer Rouge sought to erase history and all its “contaminating” effects on the idealised Khmer peasant-farmer, Cambodia’s “year zero” may have awakened a new sense of narrative for Cambodians who began to tell their own stories.
Chandler said that Cambodians have generally viewed history as something written by their rulers, but that surviving and coming to terms with the Pol Pot regime has pushed them to take more ownership over their past.
“History was never an important subject in the schools... I think they started thinking historically in the Khmer Rouge period when they started giving these biographies and things and a new sort of conscious came up – that everybody’s life had a narrative shape,” he said.
Youk Chhang wants teachers to engage students on a personal level. “When it comes to the Khmer Rouge, it’s so recent – because their parents were either victim or perpetrators… that they have to accept or rebel to it. And that generates the debate,” he said. “I hope that it will have some impact on their morality, their behaviour.”
While there is a range of teaching methods practiced in Cambodia’s higher education institutions, Youk Chhang said most rely predominantly on a lecture format that presumes “one question, one answer”, making new teaching methods perhaps nearly as controversial as the subject matter.
About 150 lecturers were asked to challenge that format during training at the Institute of Technology of Cambodia in Phnom Penh last week.
During one exercise at the training, after learning about mass atrocities carried out under the Khmer Rouge regime, the lecturers were split into groups and tasked with becoming experts on mass atrocities in different countries, such as Germany and Iraq. Each group then discussed the similarities and differences to the crimes of Democratic Kampuchea.
Chris Dearing, who helped lead the training, said the point of the exercise was to “show how students can actually teach each other in groups with very little teacher interaction”.
Though the course is built around A History of Democratic Kampuchea, the new syllabus goes well beyond the textbook by including materials that debate the definition of genocide, contemplate the meaning of “evil”, and examine specific aspects of Khmer Rouge rule – such as its effects on Buddhism or the Cham, or its policies in Ta Mok’s infamous Southwest Zone.
Vong Sotheara, deputy head of the Royal University of Phnom Penh’s history department, said the teaching methods would be as much of a challenge as the content of Khmer Rouge history. “We have to update our technique of teaching methodology,” he said.
Eng Somalin, the National Institute of Business lecturer, said she would use the new teaching methods and content, but will still only have three hours each semester for Khmer Rouge history. Vong Sotheara may have more leeway, with 10 to 12 hours of class time devoted to the subject.
But DC-Cam hopes that universities and higher education institutes will aim high and eventually create entire courses on the period.
“Cambodians are very proud of history,” Youk Chhang said. “It’s restoring the freedom of expression, a sense of ownership that Cambodians want.”
Swimming in the mainstream
An American gallery owner is doing his best to promote contemporary Thai art
Almost 13 years ago, H Ernest Lee came to Asia with the dream of starting an art gallery. Having previously worked as a business manager in the wine industry in the United States, his experience on the professional side of art was limited to some management he had done for a friend back home in exchange for some paintings.
While some would question the wisdom of taking such a risk in a new business, Lee has thrived in what he sees as a booming art scene in Bangkok. What he lacked in planning and connections, he made up for in passion. Now, as the owner of H Gallery, located on Sathon Soi 12, he has worked with many of Thailand's foremost artists and shows no sign of slowing down, with programming planned to 2013.
Lee spoke to Life about starting a gallery as a complete unknown in Asia and how the art scene has changed in Bangkok in the decade he has been here.
What brought you to Bangkok?
I wanted to have a gallery. I wanted to go into the art business and make it official. I had some freedom in my life at the time. I thought that I would come to Asia, find work, be based here part of the year, take work back to the United States, have exhibitions in the United States, and build something there. That didn't work out.
Had you been to Asia previously?
When I made the decision to come and be based here, I knew the culture from history and school, but I'd never been. At first I came for two weeks and did a quick trip to get a sense of the region. My original idea wasn't Thailand. I assumed I would be working in either China or Vietnam, but it worked out to be here. It's just the way it evolved. I started coming here more, got enthralled with the art scene. I felt like it was kind of open and that I could do something here. Sure enough, I've been in business now since November 1999.
How was it breaking into the art scene in Bangkok?
At first, nobody had worked with me, and they didn't know me. I wasn't a known person. I thought maybe I should do some exhibitions here.
I started doing exhibitions in November of 1999. I showed art work in alternative spaces around the city. Eat Me was the first venue, and I also did things with the Meridian Hotel and BMW before I built up enough of a business to feel comfortable about investing money and finding a space and making it official.
(The exhibitions) became quite well known, quite successful in their own way. Not necessarily financially, but they became very popular things, the exhibitions and the opening parties, etc. It just developed from there. I ended up having to stay and do this. I wasn't ultimately meant to do this in the US, I was meant to do it here.
How did you go about finding artists for your early exhibitions?
I went to the universities. The big guys, who were already being shown at exhibitions, I went to all those as well. I got a good sense of what was going on in the city. I had a lot of time on my hands back then too, so I had time to go visit people, talk to people and see artists' studios. But the big guys were already taken by established galleries here. I felt like maybe it wasn't the best thing to do, trying to get them. I don't know that they would even have been interested in working with me back then.
So I went to the university and found artists who were free and clear, and their work was interesting, exciting and a little edgy. Now the bigger artists do show with me, but in the beginning it was emerging artists from the university.
How was the art scene in Bangkok different when you started?
The gallery scene was much quieter. We're talking about 10 or 11 years ago. There were several good galleries, but they were kind of hard to find if you were a person on the street. When I opened, mine was geared a little more towards westerners and expatriates living here, and maybe trying to be more of an international gallery based in Thailand. Now there are quite a few galleries. It's more organised on an international level. If you come here now from abroad and you want to see the gallery scene here, it's easy to do.
Why do you think it has opened up in this way?
There was a paradigm shift a few years ago about art. When I first came here, it seemed as though art was something at the university, something over there, it's own sort of world. It wasn't part of mainstream Thai culture. That's all changed in the last 10 years. It's now part of the mainstream. Artists, students and regular people will go to exhibition openings and galleries now.
That wasn't always the case. There was the art scene, and that was separate from fashion, or finance, and now they're all a little more blended than they were a few years ago. Art and exhibitions are much more fashionable.
Are there any particular movements you see a lot of in modern Thai art?
I'm more a part of the contemporary scene. I work with more contemporary artists. Over the past few years, more and more students have gone to art universities abroad. A lot of them come back and bring very interesting ideas. You've seen more of a change in the overall scene. It's more open minded, looking towards the west and trying to develop their own styles based in Thailand.
Do any particular Western styles seem to resonate with the Thai artists who are educated abroad, and get brought back to Thailand?
They don't bring back Western styles, necessarily. They go abroad and are educated and it opens their mind a bit. It takes them out of their culture. I can speak for myself, living outside of my culture, I have a different attitude about the United States now that I've been abroad. It's the same thing with artists. As artists, they're open-minded to begin with. They go abroad, they look back at their own culture, then they come back and come up with something.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
ADB warns complacency threatens to derail 'Asian century'
TOKYO : Asia could be as wealthy as Europe by mid-century, but only if it tackles key challenges from inequality and corruption to climate change, says the Asian Development Bank.
- Based on current trends, Asia will make up half the world's economic output by 2050, and another 3 billion people will have joined the ranks of the affluent, their incomes matching those of Europe today.But the ADB study also notes the world's fastest-growing region remains home to almost half the world's absolute poor, who earn less than US$1.25 a day.Asia's decades-long march to prosperity, the ADB study said, was being led by seven economies with more than 3 billion people among them - China, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Malaysia.Under the best-case scenario, Asia's combined GDP - also including poorer nations such as Laos and Pakistan - will rise from $17 trillion last year to $174 trillion in 2050, with per capita GDP of $40,800 in current terms.But for Asia's rise to be sustainable, the study warns, the diverse region must emulate the past successes of top performers Japan, South Korea and Singapore by promoting inclusive and equitable growth."Asia is in the midst of a historic transformation," said the report, Asia 2050: Realising the Asian Century, commissioned by the Manila-based ADB and launched by president Haruhiko Kuroda in Tokyo.Mr Kuroda pointed out that developing Asia had led the way out of the global financial crisis and recession with a V-shaped recovery."By nearly doubling its share of global gross domestic product to 52% by 2050, Asia would regain the dominant economic position it held some 300 years ago, before the industrial revolution," the report said.However, the study warned that Asia's rise is by no means inevitable."Many see the ascendancy of Asia - or 'the Asian Century' - as being on autopilot, with the region gliding smoothly to its rightful place in destiny," wrote Mr Kuroda in a foreword to the report."But complacency would be a mistake. While an Asian century is certainly plausible, it is not preordained."The report warned that emerging economies face the risk of being stuck in the "middle-income trap" as bursts of rapid growth, driven by export-based manufacturing, are followed by periods of stagnation or decline.It highlights other key challenges - rising inequality within and between countries, poor governance and corruption in many of them, and intensifying regional competition for finite natural resources.In the worst case, it warned, Asia could face "a perfect storm" of bad macroeconomic policies, unchecked financial sector exuberance, conflict, climate change, natural disasters, changing demography and weak governance.To make Asian growth sustainable, the study said, its countries must address poverty, equality of access and opportunity, and focus on education, entrepreneurship, innovation and technological development.Climate change is "a wild card for Asian development", warned the study, which stressed that Asia was already hit by more storms, floods and other natural disasters than any other region.Global warming threatens to melt the glaciers that run from the Himalayas and other mountain ranges to feed Asia's major rivers, which provide water, food, fish and power for 2.8 billion people, it said."The anticipated affluence of some 3 billion additional Asians will put tremendous pressure on the earth's finite natural resources. "Out of self-interest, [Asia] will need to take the lead in radical energy efficiency and diversification programmes by switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy," said Mr Kuroda."How we handle vital resources such as water and food will determine whether we stay on the path of economic growth and development, or stumble into conflicts of scarcity." AFP
US President Barack Obama
Obama unfurls 11th-hour deal to avert US default
- Published: 1/08/2011 at 10:32 AM
- Online news: News
- US President Barack Obama announced that he and top lawmakers had reached an 11th-hour deal to avert a first-ever US debt payment default that would have sown chaos across the world economy."I want to announce that the leaders of both parties in both chambers have reached an agreement that will reduce the deficit and avoid default, a default that would have had a devastating effect on our economy," he said.With time running short before a midnight Tuesday (0400 GMT Wednesday) deadline, Obama warned "we're not done yet" and urged lawmakers "to do the right thing and support this deal with your votes over the next few days."Leaders of the Democratic-held Senate and Republican-led House of Representatives were working to rally polarized lawmakers behind the compromise, with critical votes expected as early as Monday."To pass this settlement, we'll need the support of Democrats and Republicans in both the House and Senate. There is no way either party -- in either chamber -- can do this alone," said Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid."My hope would be to file it and have it on the floor as soon as possible," House Speaker John Boehner told fellow Republicans in a conference call, calling it a remedy to avert "a job-killing national default that none of us wanted."As described by Obama and congressional leaders, the deal would raise the country's $14.3 trillion debt ceiling by about $2.4 trillion in two steps, while calling for roughly the same about in spending cuts over ten years.Asian markets immediately cheered news of the deal, with the dollar climbing against the yen in Tokyo, Australian shares surging 1.4 percent, and Japna's Nikkei 225 index climbing 1.7 percent on news of the breakthrough.The framework would fulfill one of the president's top goals: Raising cash-strapped Washington's ability to borrow by enough to avoid having another politically fraught debt battle before he faces reelection in November 2012.Republicans crowed that the framework did not explicitly call for raising tax revenues -- at least in the first wave of deficit cuts -- despite Obama's repeated calls for increasing revenues from the rich and wealthy corporations.The US government hit its debt limit on May 16 and has used spending and accounting adjustments, as well as higher-than-expected tax receipts, to continue operating normally -- but can only do so through August 2.Business and finance leaders have warned default would send crippling aftershocks through the fragile US economy, still wrestling with stubbornly high unemployment of 9.2 percent in the wake of the 2008 global meltdown.Without a deal, the US government would have to cut an estimated 40 cents out of every dollar it spends, forcing grim choices between defaulting or cutting back programs like those that help the poor, disabled and elderly.It was unclear whether the accord would be enough to placate ratings agencies that have warned Washington's sterling Triple-A debt rating was in jeopardy -- a downgrade that would lead to a paiful spike in interest rates.Obama trumpeted that the spending cuts would bring annual domestic government spending to the lower level in 60 years but promised they would not come so "abruptly" as to be a "drag" on the fragile US economy, still struggling with stalled growth and 9.2 percent unemployment in the wake of the 2008 meltdown.The agremeent faced opposition from conservative Republicans close to the "Tea Party" movement, who have called for draconian cuts, and from liberal Democrats who have vowed to protect the US social safety net."The 'deal' he announced spends too much and doesn't cut enough," said Republican Representative and presidential candidate Michele Bachmann. "Someone has to say no. I will."Democratic Representative Raul Grijalva, co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, rejected the deal in a blistering statement declaring: "This deal is a cure as bad as the disease. I reject it."Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who planned to present the framework to her rank-and-file on Monday, said "we all agree that our nationa cannot default" but gave Obama's announcement a chilly welcome."I look forward to reviewing the legislation with my Caucus to see what level of support we can provide," she said in a statement.The framework would initially raise the debt ceiling by about $900 billion,and tie a further $1.5 trillion increase to a special new US Congress committee charged with finding an equivalent amount of deficit-reduction over 10 years.The panel would have 12 members, evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats, and would be tasked with reporting back by late November in order to hold votes by late December on its proposals.A committee deadlock would trigger automatic spending cuts designed to be "unacceptable" to both Democrats and Republicans.
Flashy compacts
Flashy compacts
The Chevrolet Cruze and Mazda 3 stand out in their class with all-new packages for 2011, distinct styling and lavish specs. So which is the way to go?
- Published: 1/08/2011 at 12:00 AM
- Newspaper section:
One million baht C-segment family cars in the Toyota Corolla class are just like traditional home-cooked food, not the staple for the masses.
And for those still caught up in the SUV fad, a six-figure cheque can get you a Honda CR-V or, better even, a tax-privy Mitsubishi Pajero Sport with loads of metal and seven seats.
However, if you find big cars old-fashioned, then downsizing to C-segment saloons _ with generous spec and performance as those 2.0s are offering _ may sound a reasonable option.
But how can one be different in a Mazda 3 or Chevrolet Cruze with traditional saloon body and petrol power?
That sounds like a small market which car companies won't necessarily deny, but the hard fact is that there are buyers in Thailand who still have traditional palates even when the 3 has a hatch option and Cruze a diesel alternative to choose from.
That's why Life has summoned the 3 and Cruze together on these pages this week. They are the freshest arrivals at the moment. Being all-new this year also means a lot to buyers who may want to deflect from the Honda and Toyota crowd.
It may also be coincidence that the 3 and Cruze both happen to have very distinctively styled exterior and interior designs. The Mazda sticks with its fluid and wavy theme, while the Optra-replacing Cruze goes bold with a prominent nose and chunky rear end.
The Cruze’s fascia is flashier, but there’s no faulting the Mazda’s.But being meeker in appearance doesn't necessarily mean that there are no upsides. In fact, if you take usability into consideration, the Mazda's interior strikes a better balance between form and function.
And when it comes to perceived quality, the 3 takes the upperhand with its higher grade plastics _ at least from what you see or can feel with your fingers.
Since we're talking about range-toppers here, the amount of gadgets thrown into the cars help make them almost "complete" for a Thai C-segment saloon.
It's only the details that separate the two. While the 3 highlights sunroof, steering-mounted paddle-shifters and multi-function display, the Cruze goes for cruise control and side airbags for the front occupants instead.
The packages of both cars are relatively the same, if you don't delve into the exact specifications on paper.
Those backrests at the rear in both cars can also fold to accommodate larger things in the boot, but the Cruze seems capable of swallowing larger items with more ease.
The driving position in the Cruze is also airier than in the 3, which suffers from a too-protruding left footwell.
Even so, the feeling behind the wheel of the 3 exudes sportiness in a tidy manner; the Cruze tries a bit too hard to look distinctive with whacky lines and colours.
To traditionalists, comparing cars with different engine sizes may not seem fair outright. But the Cruze is only 66,000 baht cheaper and its engine is nearly as big and powerful as the 3 (apparently explaining the 3's loftier positioning in the segment).
This obviously means that the Cruze is a very average performer in this segment. Against the 3, the Cruze's 141hp 1.8-litre motor feels lazier, lacks breath in the mid-ranges and wants to move the gear up rather than the tacho needle.
And despite having a six-speed automatic to its advantage over the 3's five-speeder, the Cruze isn't any economical. The difference in the manufacturers' claims seems to be credible enough after a spin with the two cars from Bangkok to Kanchanaburi (our figures were basically a notch lower than the claims).
By having better performance and economy at the same time, it could be said that the 3 has a better engineered drivetrain.
More differences emerge when you take the chassis into consideration. Although both cars have a tendency to highlight handling over ride comfort, the Cruze's steering and suspension appear more relaxed.
They are very similar to sit in the back.But one letdown in the 3 is the low-profile tyres rimming the 17-inch wheels which make the ride noisy and harsh. Surprisingly, the Cruze also rides on the same running gear but doesn't seem to suffer its rival's ailments.
You could easily conclude the Cruze is for those needing comfort, or some virtues of D-segment cars when downsizing in the process. The 3, meanwhile, would attract sporty minds needing to stand out in a market filled with uninspiring cars to drive.
To put it in another way, the Chevy is more mature with its more restrained performance and relaxed driving manners, while the Mazda offers the more responsive drive for the younger set of buyers.
It would be very difficult for us to pick a winner, not because they are so similar to each other but for the fact that their execution is quite different.
Mazda has harsher ride.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Prime Minister
The Prime Minister Receives a Courtesy Call from Groups of Junior Reporters from Okinawa and Hakodate
Monday, August 1, 2011
Photograph of the Prime Minister receiving a courtesy call from groups of junior reporters from Okinawa and Hakodate 1
Prime Minister Naoto Kan received a courtesy call from groups of junior reporters from Okinawa and Hakodate at the Prime Minister's Office.
The junior reporters from Okinawa, selected from elementary and junior high schools in Okinawa Prefecture, actively promote youth exchanges to further connect Okinawa and the mainland through news gathering activities in various areas of the mainland. Their news gathering activities in Tokyo are conducted jointly with the junior reporters from Hakodate since 1992, after the Okinawan junior reporters visited Hakodate on their return from the news gathering activities in the Northern Territories and exchanges subsequently began. As in previous years, both groups of junior reporters paid the courtesy call.
The Prime Minister said to the groups of junior reporters, "By having this opportunity during your elementary and junior high school years to make various observations in Tokyo, or to go and see Hokkaido as I understand those of you from Okinawa will now be heading to Hokkaido, and to forge friendships with your peers in Okinawa and Hakodate, I imagine lifelong friends will be made. I am watching over you with such expectations.
In the Great East Japan Earthquake, many people around your age lost their lives, and many peers around your age lost their parents or foster parents. I would be truly happy if you can also carry out activities which will be of some use to the victims and offer them emotional support."
The junior reporters from Okinawa, selected from elementary and junior high schools in Okinawa Prefecture, actively promote youth exchanges to further connect Okinawa and the mainland through news gathering activities in various areas of the mainland. Their news gathering activities in Tokyo are conducted jointly with the junior reporters from Hakodate since 1992, after the Okinawan junior reporters visited Hakodate on their return from the news gathering activities in the Northern Territories and exchanges subsequently began. As in previous years, both groups of junior reporters paid the courtesy call.
The Prime Minister said to the groups of junior reporters, "By having this opportunity during your elementary and junior high school years to make various observations in Tokyo, or to go and see Hokkaido as I understand those of you from Okinawa will now be heading to Hokkaido, and to forge friendships with your peers in Okinawa and Hakodate, I imagine lifelong friends will be made. I am watching over you with such expectations.
In the Great East Japan Earthquake, many people around your age lost their lives, and many peers around your age lost their parents or foster parents. I would be truly happy if you can also carry out activities which will be of some use to the victims and offer them emotional support."
TV Stars
Iijima Ai
It's not the fact that she was a former porn star that made Iijima Ai stand out from the ever-changing gallery of pretty faces on TV. It's the fact that she was prepared to be very open and frank about what she'd been through and the relationships she had along the way. She was able to move on and build a career as a "multi-talento" to such an extent that many young TV viewers were not even aware of her colorful past.
Iijima (born Ishii Mitsuko in Tokyo) made her AV (adult video) debut in 1992, and was one of hundreds of young women who do so every year. She made over 100 movies, with titles like "Thank you for the f**k!" and "Used Panty of Sister in Law", becoming the biggest star in the business, and then proceeded to write a book about it. This was enough to have magazines clamouring for an interview. They knew that an "expose" on the inner goings-on of the porn industry would shift a lot of copies.
At the time, Japanese TV was going through something of a clean-up, reducing the number of late-night or even evening shows that featured semi-naked women to attract male viewers. But there were still some shows that stubbornly hung on to the format and Iijima became a presenter on one, Gilgamesh Night. It was the beginning of her move over to the more respectable side of the entertainment business. She quit the porn industry while still on top (so to speak) at the ripe old age of 20.
Through perserverance and hard work, Iijima gradually became one of the regular faces and a guest presenter on variety shows and even appeared on an education program on the conservative NHK public network. The best indicator of a TV personality's status is how often their face appears on screen and how many shows they feature on regularly. Iijima worked her way up to the rank of a senior "talento", and became a kind of big sister to the hordes of young women who arrived on the scene after her.
In 2001, Iijima caused a media storm with the publication of her memoirs. The provocatively titled Platonic Sex received huge media exposure and went on to be a bestseller, shifting over a million copies. It tells of how she was raped while in her early teens, driven away from home by the pressure from her parents to excel at school, had an abortion, got involved in the euphemistically named "enjo kosai" (dating for money) and finally entered the porn business. The book was adapted into a four-hour TV series and even a mainstream movie. This all served to make Iijima something of a heroine and role model for high school girls all over Japan. Not to mention extremely wealthy.
As with most stars who are most fondly remembered for their younger days, collector's items featuring Ai-chan will always fetch a premium. Examples include things like the trading card shown here. At the age of thirty, having established a respectable TV career and with many younger TV viewers unaware of her sordid past, 2002 saw the unauthorized release of a box set of DVD's of Iijima's old movies that sold like gold dust. The porn industry seems to have something of the Wild West about it and copyright is usually regarded more as the right to copy. But Iijima's production company filed for an injunction to halt the sale of the dirty DVDs and lawyers for both sides eventually settled the matter.
At the end of 2006, Iijima missed several of her regular TV show appearances due to health problems. The following spring, she confirmed that rumors of her impending retirement were true. She told fellow panel members of the TBS show "Sunday Japon" that she had simply had enough, that her body just couldn't take the workload anymore, and she had decided to quit. She officially retired on March 31, 2007 and there was much speculation about what she would do next. Rumors included her starting an IT company or moving to live in New York. Other porn actresses have tried to make the leap to mainstream TV, but with Ai-chan's strength of character and ability to take the abuse and make fun of herself, few if any are likely to succeed in Japanese showbiz as she did. But the final few months of her celebrity career also illustrated what a demanding business it really is.
It all came to a tragic end when Iijima was discovered dead at her luxury Tokyo home on Christmas Eve 2008. A friend found her body on the floor of her living room and rescue workers said she had been dead for several days.
Entertainment News stories:
It's not the fact that she was a former porn star that made Iijima Ai stand out from the ever-changing gallery of pretty faces on TV. It's the fact that she was prepared to be very open and frank about what she'd been through and the relationships she had along the way. She was able to move on and build a career as a "multi-talento" to such an extent that many young TV viewers were not even aware of her colorful past. Iijima (born Ishii Mitsuko in Tokyo) made her AV (adult video) debut in 1992, and was one of hundreds of young women who do so every year. She made over 100 movies, with titles like "Thank you for the f**k!" and "Used Panty of Sister in Law", becoming the biggest star in the business, and then proceeded to write a book about it. This was enough to have magazines clamouring for an interview. They knew that an "expose" on the inner goings-on of the porn industry would shift a lot of copies.
| Nudity has become something of a rarity on terrestrial TV these days but still fills the magazine racks of convenience store and bookstores. Japanese people on the whole have a pretty liberal attitude to sex and there haven't been any serious efforts to have such magazines moved to the upper shelves as in Western countries. But the late-night or even evening shows that featured semi-naked women to attract male viewers have all but disappeared in the last decade. But ironically, as Japan has developed a certain degree of self-consciousness about porn and sex, it has only been in recent years that publishers have been allowed to show pubic hair. |
At the time, Japanese TV was going through something of a clean-up, reducing the number of late-night or even evening shows that featured semi-naked women to attract male viewers. But there were still some shows that stubbornly hung on to the format and Iijima became a presenter on one, Gilgamesh Night. It was the beginning of her move over to the more respectable side of the entertainment business. She quit the porn industry while still on top (so to speak) at the ripe old age of 20.
Through perserverance and hard work, Iijima gradually became one of the regular faces and a guest presenter on variety shows and even appeared on an education program on the conservative NHK public network. The best indicator of a TV personality's status is how often their face appears on screen and how many shows they feature on regularly. Iijima worked her way up to the rank of a senior "talento", and became a kind of big sister to the hordes of young women who arrived on the scene after her.
In 2001, Iijima caused a media storm with the publication of her memoirs. The provocatively titled Platonic Sex received huge media exposure and went on to be a bestseller, shifting over a million copies. It tells of how she was raped while in her early teens, driven away from home by the pressure from her parents to excel at school, had an abortion, got involved in the euphemistically named "enjo kosai" (dating for money) and finally entered the porn business. The book was adapted into a four-hour TV series and even a mainstream movie. This all served to make Iijima something of a heroine and role model for high school girls all over Japan. Not to mention extremely wealthy.
As with most stars who are most fondly remembered for their younger days, collector's items featuring Ai-chan will always fetch a premium. Examples include things like the trading card shown here. At the age of thirty, having established a respectable TV career and with many younger TV viewers unaware of her sordid past, 2002 saw the unauthorized release of a box set of DVD's of Iijima's old movies that sold like gold dust. The porn industry seems to have something of the Wild West about it and copyright is usually regarded more as the right to copy. But Iijima's production company filed for an injunction to halt the sale of the dirty DVDs and lawyers for both sides eventually settled the matter. At the end of 2006, Iijima missed several of her regular TV show appearances due to health problems. The following spring, she confirmed that rumors of her impending retirement were true. She told fellow panel members of the TBS show "Sunday Japon" that she had simply had enough, that her body just couldn't take the workload anymore, and she had decided to quit. She officially retired on March 31, 2007 and there was much speculation about what she would do next. Rumors included her starting an IT company or moving to live in New York. Other porn actresses have tried to make the leap to mainstream TV, but with Ai-chan's strength of character and ability to take the abuse and make fun of herself, few if any are likely to succeed in Japanese showbiz as she did. But the final few months of her celebrity career also illustrated what a demanding business it really is.
It all came to a tragic end when Iijima was discovered dead at her luxury Tokyo home on Christmas Eve 2008. A friend found her body on the floor of her living room and rescue workers said she had been dead for several days.
Entertainment News stories:
Suzuki Airi
Suzuki Airi
Name : Suzuki Airi
Born April 12, 1994 in Gifu, Japan
Profession : J-pop Singer
Years active 2002 – present
Associated acts °C-ute, Aa!, Hello! Project Kids, Buono!
Suzuki Airi a 15 years old Japanese cute singer from Gifu but raised in Chiba, Japan,Currently is a member of idol groups ℃-ute and Hello! Project Kids. Both of her parents, Tōru and Kyoko Suzuki, are professional golfers, although her mother had already retired.
A famous Japanese actress and singer in Japan. One of the most charming idols lets see her pics :
Born April 12, 1994 in Gifu, Japan
Profession : J-pop Singer
Years active 2002 – present
Associated acts °C-ute, Aa!, Hello! Project Kids, Buono!
Suzuki Airi a 15 years old Japanese cute singer from Gifu but raised in Chiba, Japan,Currently is a member of idol groups ℃-ute and Hello! Project Kids. Both of her parents, Tōru and Kyoko Suzuki, are professional golfers, although her mother had already retired.
Sayaka Isoyama
Name: Isoyama Sayaka
Nickname: Isocchi
Born : October 23th, 1983 in Ibaraki Hokota
Height: 155cm
Measurements : Bust: 91cm (F cup) Waist: 60cm Hips: 87cm
Blood type: A
A famous Japanese actress and singer in Japan. One of the most charming idols lets see her pics :
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