Kyodo - Senior officials of Indonesia and Japan have "principally" agreed that Indonesian caregivers and nurses to work in Japan under an economic partnership agreement will study Japanese in Indonesia before leaving for Japan, a government official said Wednesday. Mohamad Jumhur Hidayat, chairman of the National Board for the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Overseas Workers, told Kyodo News that "at the operational level, both countries have agreed" on the new arrangement. Under the proposed new arrangement, the Indonesian nurses and caregivers will study Japanese in Indonesia for four months and in Japan for two months. The first batch of 205 Indonesian caregivers and nurses, who left for Japan in August last year, has studied the language in Japan for a total of six months. Hidayat said that the "expensive training" in Japan is the reason behind the proposed new arrangement. "Currently, for a total of six months, Japan must pay about 100,000 yen for each nurse or caregiver during their language training, but under the new arrangement, the budget can be cut to half," he said. "Hopefully, the negotiations among the ministers will be completed by March," Hidayat said. Under the agreement, the Japanese government is to accept 200 nurses and 300 caregivers each year.
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/
NHK 24-hour global English TV service to start Mon
TOKYO, Jan. 28 - Japan International Broadcasting Inc., a subsidiary of the Japanese public broadcaster NHK, will start its 24-hour all-English global broadcasting service via satellite and the Internet next Monday, executives of NHK and JIB said Wednesday.
NHK World TV is expected to reach 110 million households in North America, Europe and the Middle East as well as areas in Africa and Asia by the end of March 2009, Yoshinori Imai, vice president of NHK, said at a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo.
Imai and Hatsuhisa Takashima, chief executive officer and president of JIB, told the press conference that it will broadcast up-to-date information on Japan, airing opinions of Japanese leaders and intellectuals that have not had much exposure in the international community so far.
"As far as this new challenge is concerned, we will try to show Japan as it is... We will try to show pros and cons, every aspect of public opinion as much as possible," said Takashima.
"By doing so, we believe that people in the world will better understand what is happening in Japan," Takashima said.
The programming contains straight news on politics, business and other issues as well as feature stories on traditional and pop culture.
In April last year, JIB was founded through a 50 million yen capital investment from NHK followed by another 150 million yen in August.
In October, JIB also allocated new stock worth about 190 million yen to commercial broadcasters, trading companies, information-technology companies, and other private sectors including NHK's affiliates, according to JIB
http://www.breitbart.com/index.php
NHK World TV is expected to reach 110 million households in North America, Europe and the Middle East as well as areas in Africa and Asia by the end of March 2009, Yoshinori Imai, vice president of NHK, said at a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo.
Imai and Hatsuhisa Takashima, chief executive officer and president of JIB, told the press conference that it will broadcast up-to-date information on Japan, airing opinions of Japanese leaders and intellectuals that have not had much exposure in the international community so far.
"As far as this new challenge is concerned, we will try to show Japan as it is... We will try to show pros and cons, every aspect of public opinion as much as possible," said Takashima.
"By doing so, we believe that people in the world will better understand what is happening in Japan," Takashima said.
The programming contains straight news on politics, business and other issues as well as feature stories on traditional and pop culture.
In April last year, JIB was founded through a 50 million yen capital investment from NHK followed by another 150 million yen in August.
In October, JIB also allocated new stock worth about 190 million yen to commercial broadcasters, trading companies, information-technology companies, and other private sectors including NHK's affiliates, according to JIB
http://www.breitbart.com/index.php
Strong yen hitting foreign students' pockets
OSAKA--Many foreigners studying in Japan are finding it increasingly difficult to pay admission fees and tuition for schools and universities due to the appreciation of the yen during the global recession.
The number of foreigners studying in the nation peaked at about 124,000 this academic year, but 90 percent of them are self-funded.
Finances are a serious concern for an increasing number of foreign students, especially privately financed students from China, Southeast Asian nations and South Korea, which has seen its won drop sharply against the yen.
Of 80 students from 10 nations studying at Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, 44 students from China and South Korea were unable to pay their tuition for the autumn semester before the original due date of Oct. 20. Although the university extended the deadline by two months, 17 students were still unable to pay the fee, leading the university to further postpone the due date.
Among the cash-strapped students was Lee Yon Suk, 30, a South Korean studying at the university's Japanese Studies Department.
"I've pushed myself to the limit, and I don't know what more I can do if the yen stays high. I can't ask my parents for financial support because I don't want to be a burden on them," she said.
She scraped the tuition fee together by working part-time as a translator and doing other jobs.
In July, the government launched a program at the initiative of former Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda to increase the number of foreign students in the nation to 300,000, but it was not designed to provide urgent financial support. The program is overseen by the Education, Science and Technology Ministry.
Some universities and colleges are now working to help students in need, by extending due dates for tuition payments and offering financial support.
In January last year, 100 won was equivalent to about 11.2 yen but has since dropped dramatically, fetching just 6.61 yen on Friday. The value of other Asian currencies, such as the Indonesian rupiah and Thai baht, also has plunged against the yen.
Students receiving scholarships from the Japanese government obtain the money in yen, but half of the privately funded students do not receive any scholarships, according to a ministry estimate.
As the yen strengthens, the value of currency sent by students' parents and the money they saved before coming to Japan weakens, causing financial hardships for many students. Most students are already working the maximum 28 hours a week allowed on a student visa and therefore cannot earn some extra cash by working more.
Osaka University has received several inquiries from students who cannot afford to pay tuition and rent.
Oemry Ferensa, a 26-year-old Indonesian student who entered the university's Graduate School of Engineering last autumn, has not yet paid about 550,000 yen in entrance fees and tuition for the first semester. If he is still unable to pay by the end of February, he will have to leave the school.
The ministry provides 50,000 yen in monthly financial support to privately funded undergraduates and 70,000 yen to postgraduates. Although the budget for this support for fiscal 2009 has been expanded from the previous year to cover 12,470 students--an increase of 370 students--it is still not enough to support all the students in need.
The ministry's Office for International Student Exchange hopes the harsh financial climate will not discourage foreigners who want to study in Japan, nor the universities hoping to attract them.
The ministry hopes to expand its own financial support program for foreign students.
The Yomiuri Shimbun
The number of foreigners studying in the nation peaked at about 124,000 this academic year, but 90 percent of them are self-funded.
Finances are a serious concern for an increasing number of foreign students, especially privately financed students from China, Southeast Asian nations and South Korea, which has seen its won drop sharply against the yen.
Of 80 students from 10 nations studying at Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, 44 students from China and South Korea were unable to pay their tuition for the autumn semester before the original due date of Oct. 20. Although the university extended the deadline by two months, 17 students were still unable to pay the fee, leading the university to further postpone the due date.
Among the cash-strapped students was Lee Yon Suk, 30, a South Korean studying at the university's Japanese Studies Department.
"I've pushed myself to the limit, and I don't know what more I can do if the yen stays high. I can't ask my parents for financial support because I don't want to be a burden on them," she said.
She scraped the tuition fee together by working part-time as a translator and doing other jobs.
In July, the government launched a program at the initiative of former Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda to increase the number of foreign students in the nation to 300,000, but it was not designed to provide urgent financial support. The program is overseen by the Education, Science and Technology Ministry.
Some universities and colleges are now working to help students in need, by extending due dates for tuition payments and offering financial support.
In January last year, 100 won was equivalent to about 11.2 yen but has since dropped dramatically, fetching just 6.61 yen on Friday. The value of other Asian currencies, such as the Indonesian rupiah and Thai baht, also has plunged against the yen.
Students receiving scholarships from the Japanese government obtain the money in yen, but half of the privately funded students do not receive any scholarships, according to a ministry estimate.
As the yen strengthens, the value of currency sent by students' parents and the money they saved before coming to Japan weakens, causing financial hardships for many students. Most students are already working the maximum 28 hours a week allowed on a student visa and therefore cannot earn some extra cash by working more.
Osaka University has received several inquiries from students who cannot afford to pay tuition and rent.
Oemry Ferensa, a 26-year-old Indonesian student who entered the university's Graduate School of Engineering last autumn, has not yet paid about 550,000 yen in entrance fees and tuition for the first semester. If he is still unable to pay by the end of February, he will have to leave the school.
The ministry provides 50,000 yen in monthly financial support to privately funded undergraduates and 70,000 yen to postgraduates. Although the budget for this support for fiscal 2009 has been expanded from the previous year to cover 12,470 students--an increase of 370 students--it is still not enough to support all the students in need.
The ministry's Office for International Student Exchange hopes the harsh financial climate will not discourage foreigners who want to study in Japan, nor the universities hoping to attract them.
The ministry hopes to expand its own financial support program for foreign students.
The Yomiuri Shimbun
Nagoya schoolkids keep it real with hip-hop
NAGOYA--Hip-hop, with its roots in American black and Latino culture, might seem an unlikely dance to see here in the Aichi Prefecture capital. Yet, young homeboys and girls performing spectacular jumps, high kicks and one-handed spins to the driving beat of hip-hop music are no longer an unusual sight at schools around the city.
Hip-hop is cool in Nagoya.
The music and dance of hip-hop was born in the United States, where in 1970s' New York, gangs of young blacks and Latinos evolved alternative moves in music and dance to protest the prevailing pabulum of mainstream pop and disco that filled the radio airwaves.
Today, hip-hop is a strong cultural and economic force worldwide. And here in Nagoya, youths are using the dance to give shape to their own alternative visions.
Teens and older youths are honing their skills, strength and flexibility, hoping to win recognition in the growing number of hip-hop dance competitions being held here.
Even universities and high schools are adding hip-hop to gym classes and club offerings.
Aside from the fun and excitement this exuberant music and dance generates, its popularity can be traced to unique facets: it promotes nonviolence and forges faith in one's hometown.
In October, about 30 people took part in a class on the meaning and history of hip-hop at Nagoya University's Toyoda Auditorium.
The audience, filled mostly with youths in baggy clothes and members of the general public, heard lectures by two professional dancers.
The Nagoya-based dancers--Katsu, 39, and You-Gee, 33--have taught the class together since it began last summer.
"Hip-hop, which has spread worldwide, was started by members of youth gangs (in New York) who wanted to stop fighting. They instead began to compete on the streets by dancing," one said.
Katsu and You-Gee both honed their hip-hop dance skills in the United States. Since returning to Japan more than a decade ago, they have been working as dancers in and around Nagoya.
"It's amazing now. Many people are dancing hip-hop in sports clubs around the country," one said.
Adding to the Nagoya excitement is the annual Dance Dynamite hip-hop contest, which has been gaining more contestants year by year. When it started in 1991, fewer than 20 people entered, but last year's event saw 449 dancers eager to win accolades. Dance Dynamite is now one of the largest dance competitions in the Tokai region, of which Nagoya is the largest metropolis.
Why has hip-hop become so popular here?
Organizers believe it has something to do with the nonviolent nature of the dancing and the way it encourages local kids to stick with their hometowns instead of bolting for bigger cities.
In the States, hip-hop emerged in the poor inner cities, where immigrant and black youths with longstanding complaints against society decided to shun popular culture and instead create their own music and dance forms.
They no longer tried to hide what they were and where they were from.
Rather, hip-hop's originators proudly proclaimed their existence through music and dance. Hip-hop, rap and other forms of alternative music and dance soon claimed the notice of American youths of all colors.
To some extent, that's what is happening in Nagoya, too.
Chukyo TV Broadcasting Co. (CTV), based in Nagoya, has produced hip-hop dance programs since 2004. Producer Eisaku Kuromiya, 39, said, "Nagoya and hip-hop fit well together."
Kuromiya, born and raised in the city, is proud of his hometown. "I like Nagoya," he says.
And hip-hop encourages people to stand tall and feel proud of their roots, Kuromiya says.
Nagoya is home to musicians who have reached wide acclaim, such as nobodyknows+ and Seamo. Both artists have appeared on the prestigious Kohaku song contest that airs every Dec. 31 on Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK) to ring in the new year.
They share similar opinions about the culture of hip-hop.
Seamo, 33, appeared in a video message shown during the university lecture led by Katsu and You-Gee.
"Hip-hop represents hometowns. Tokyo is not the only place that spreads culture," Seamo said.
Hip-hop's reach is expanding into classrooms nationwide, too.
Last spring, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology officially announced new school curriculum guidelines for junior high schools that included descriptions of hip-hop dance and music.
Dance has been an elective subject for physical education classes for years. But starting in fiscal 2012, in junior high schools, dance will become mandatory for first- and second-year phys-ed classes, and an elective for the third year.
In addition, the ministry is considering extending dance in senior high school phys-ed classes.
If that happens, the day will come when students nationwide will be learning hip-hop and other dance moves in their gym classes.
The ministry plan is a sign that hip-hop and other forms of dance have reached an unprecedented level of acceptance in Japan, according to Yuki Kumazawa, 37, a teacher at Tokai Gakuen High School in Nagoya who helps lead an unofficial dance club at the school.
In 2002, Kumazawa set up a network of school dance clubs around the area. According to the Aichi prefectural board of education, 20 schools in the region now have official dance clubs.
Hip-hop has come a long way from its rebellious roots on U.S. inner-city streets.
Kumazawa says that the best way to spread hip-hop's positive influences is for teachers to set up exchanges among students to help them learn the moves.
In 2004, he joined other advisers to organize a dance festival that involved 200 students from seven schools in the prefecture. The program was part of the annual Youth Festival sponsored by the Nagoya city government.
The dance program has continued to be a part of that festival, with last year's festival including 400 students from 18 schools.
This year, the event takes place on Jan. 24. At Nagoya's Toho High School, student dancers started practicing their routines in the gymnasium last month.
Saki Tanaka, 18, a third-year student at Tokai Gakuen High School who helps coordinate the dance troupe, is enthusiastic. "I cannot imagine life without dancing," she said.
Keiko Ito, 45, a teacher at Toho High School and an adviser to the official dance club of the school, recognizes the positive gains from dancing.
"Students grow by learning to express themselves through body movements. I thought someday the time will come when dance is a requirement in education," Ito said.
Ito herself is no slouch on the dance floor. Last July, she placed second in the hip-hop category at a national dance competition sponsored by a nonprofit group
BY HIROYUKI MAEGAWA, THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
Hip-hop is cool in Nagoya.
The music and dance of hip-hop was born in the United States, where in 1970s' New York, gangs of young blacks and Latinos evolved alternative moves in music and dance to protest the prevailing pabulum of mainstream pop and disco that filled the radio airwaves.
Today, hip-hop is a strong cultural and economic force worldwide. And here in Nagoya, youths are using the dance to give shape to their own alternative visions.
Teens and older youths are honing their skills, strength and flexibility, hoping to win recognition in the growing number of hip-hop dance competitions being held here.
Even universities and high schools are adding hip-hop to gym classes and club offerings.
Aside from the fun and excitement this exuberant music and dance generates, its popularity can be traced to unique facets: it promotes nonviolence and forges faith in one's hometown.
In October, about 30 people took part in a class on the meaning and history of hip-hop at Nagoya University's Toyoda Auditorium.
The audience, filled mostly with youths in baggy clothes and members of the general public, heard lectures by two professional dancers.
The Nagoya-based dancers--Katsu, 39, and You-Gee, 33--have taught the class together since it began last summer.
"Hip-hop, which has spread worldwide, was started by members of youth gangs (in New York) who wanted to stop fighting. They instead began to compete on the streets by dancing," one said.
Katsu and You-Gee both honed their hip-hop dance skills in the United States. Since returning to Japan more than a decade ago, they have been working as dancers in and around Nagoya.
"It's amazing now. Many people are dancing hip-hop in sports clubs around the country," one said.
Adding to the Nagoya excitement is the annual Dance Dynamite hip-hop contest, which has been gaining more contestants year by year. When it started in 1991, fewer than 20 people entered, but last year's event saw 449 dancers eager to win accolades. Dance Dynamite is now one of the largest dance competitions in the Tokai region, of which Nagoya is the largest metropolis.
Why has hip-hop become so popular here?
Organizers believe it has something to do with the nonviolent nature of the dancing and the way it encourages local kids to stick with their hometowns instead of bolting for bigger cities.
In the States, hip-hop emerged in the poor inner cities, where immigrant and black youths with longstanding complaints against society decided to shun popular culture and instead create their own music and dance forms.
They no longer tried to hide what they were and where they were from.
Rather, hip-hop's originators proudly proclaimed their existence through music and dance. Hip-hop, rap and other forms of alternative music and dance soon claimed the notice of American youths of all colors.
To some extent, that's what is happening in Nagoya, too.
Chukyo TV Broadcasting Co. (CTV), based in Nagoya, has produced hip-hop dance programs since 2004. Producer Eisaku Kuromiya, 39, said, "Nagoya and hip-hop fit well together."
Kuromiya, born and raised in the city, is proud of his hometown. "I like Nagoya," he says.
And hip-hop encourages people to stand tall and feel proud of their roots, Kuromiya says.
Nagoya is home to musicians who have reached wide acclaim, such as nobodyknows+ and Seamo. Both artists have appeared on the prestigious Kohaku song contest that airs every Dec. 31 on Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK) to ring in the new year.
They share similar opinions about the culture of hip-hop.
Seamo, 33, appeared in a video message shown during the university lecture led by Katsu and You-Gee.
"Hip-hop represents hometowns. Tokyo is not the only place that spreads culture," Seamo said.
Hip-hop's reach is expanding into classrooms nationwide, too.
Last spring, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology officially announced new school curriculum guidelines for junior high schools that included descriptions of hip-hop dance and music.
Dance has been an elective subject for physical education classes for years. But starting in fiscal 2012, in junior high schools, dance will become mandatory for first- and second-year phys-ed classes, and an elective for the third year.
In addition, the ministry is considering extending dance in senior high school phys-ed classes.
If that happens, the day will come when students nationwide will be learning hip-hop and other dance moves in their gym classes.
The ministry plan is a sign that hip-hop and other forms of dance have reached an unprecedented level of acceptance in Japan, according to Yuki Kumazawa, 37, a teacher at Tokai Gakuen High School in Nagoya who helps lead an unofficial dance club at the school.
In 2002, Kumazawa set up a network of school dance clubs around the area. According to the Aichi prefectural board of education, 20 schools in the region now have official dance clubs.
Hip-hop has come a long way from its rebellious roots on U.S. inner-city streets.
Kumazawa says that the best way to spread hip-hop's positive influences is for teachers to set up exchanges among students to help them learn the moves.
In 2004, he joined other advisers to organize a dance festival that involved 200 students from seven schools in the prefecture. The program was part of the annual Youth Festival sponsored by the Nagoya city government.
The dance program has continued to be a part of that festival, with last year's festival including 400 students from 18 schools.
This year, the event takes place on Jan. 24. At Nagoya's Toho High School, student dancers started practicing their routines in the gymnasium last month.
Saki Tanaka, 18, a third-year student at Tokai Gakuen High School who helps coordinate the dance troupe, is enthusiastic. "I cannot imagine life without dancing," she said.
Keiko Ito, 45, a teacher at Toho High School and an adviser to the official dance club of the school, recognizes the positive gains from dancing.
"Students grow by learning to express themselves through body movements. I thought someday the time will come when dance is a requirement in education," Ito said.
Ito herself is no slouch on the dance floor. Last July, she placed second in the hip-hop category at a national dance competition sponsored by a nonprofit group
BY HIROYUKI MAEGAWA, THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
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