In early May, the Japanese government announced that it will take a special measure to recognise children born within 300 days of their mother's divorce, given that the mothers became pregnant after divorce. This announcement came after a group of divorced women with children raised the issue on the current civil law, sparking debate in the National Diet.
Section 2 of Article 772 of the Japanese Civil Code, implemented in 1898, stipulates that a child born 200 days or more after its mother's marriage took place, or within 300 days after its mother's marriage was dissolved or terminated, is considered to have been conceived during her previous marriage. This means that the child must be added to the koseki of its mother's previous husband, or family registry, which causes tremendous distress for the mothers and other people involved. In order to prove that the child is not biologically related to the former husband, this former husband has to testify before the court. Many of these mothers avoid contact with their former husbands, or do not want their children to be registered in their former husbands' registries. In such cases, children do not have koseki.
The Ministry of Justice estimates that approximately 3,000 children are born under these circumstances every year. Those children who do not have family registries cannot receive various social services such as health care and pension programs, and are not issued passports.
Following the government's announcement, the issue has been extensively debated on many blog sites. An anonymous blogger argues that the law does not need to be changed.
もし、新しい旦那の子供だと言い張るならみなさん、状況をよく考えて下さい。その女性は、離婚後すぐ(翌日くらいには?)彼氏が出来、妊娠し結婚しています。そんなことありえますか?明らかに離婚前に不貞行為をおかしているようにしか思えません。侵していないとしても、離婚後すぐに妊娠というのはいかがなものでしょうか?自業自得としか思えません。この法律になんの不具合があるのでしょうか?
もう一件、女性の再婚禁止期間の短縮も検討されているみたいですが180→100日たった3ヶ月で再婚を決意するようなスピード結婚って、これも再離婚の可能性がありますよね?おたがいをよく知らないで結婚するって・・知った仲だと言い張るならこれも離婚前の不貞行為が感じられます。そんな法律じゃいけないと思うのです。むしろ、雁字搦めにするべきだと思います。例えば、子連れ離婚した場合は、再婚できないとか。ニュースで流れる虐待の100%近く、再婚家庭や同居家庭です。あきらかに、子連れ再婚にはハイリスクがあります。なんの罪もない子供が、信じていた実の親に裏切られ虐待を受けるのですよ。この、状況に方があきらかに深刻ではないのでしょうか?
On the other hand, Toranekojiji writes that the law is behind the times and calls for affirmitive relief.
離婚後に生まれた子どもの父親を定める「300日規定」は、明治時代にできた民法の内容をそのまま受け継いでいる。
一般的な妊娠期間を考慮したものだ。しかし、離婚後の妊娠でも早産で「300日」に足りないと、前夫の子になってしまう。離婚がすんなり決まるとは限らず、夫からの暴力で逃げていたり、離婚協議が長引くケースも少なくない。妊娠の時期より離婚成立が遅れると、再婚相手の子でも、別れた夫の戸籍に入る。
Divorce is not necessarily granted easily. It is not rare that divorce mediation can drag on in such a case as a woman is running away from her husband's violence.
[…]
離婚前の妊娠でも、DNA鑑定や調停の記録、別居状態を示す住民票などで、子どもの父親が誰かを判断することはできるはずだ。法務省の運用見直しは、離婚後の妊娠であることを医師が証明すれば、300日以内でも再婚した夫の子か非嫡出子として認めるものだ。一定の前進だが、これで救済されるケースはそう多くない。
離婚前の妊娠も見直し対象とした案は、“復古調”の家族観を持つ保守層の抵抗で頓挫している。長勢甚遠法務相は「貞操義務や性道徳」を持ち出した。女性の再婚禁止期間の短縮を盛り込んだことにも、自民党内の反発が高まった。
In the revision by the Ministry of Justice, if a woman obtains a doctor's note proving that she got pregnant after her divorce, then her child will be regarded as either her new husband's child or an illegitimate child. Although it is a step forward, not a lot of cases will not be solved by this.
A bill which takes into account revision of pre-divorce pregnancy situations has been held back by the conservatives with reactionary family values. Justice Minister Nagase Jinen brought up the argument of “fidelity and sexual morals”. There was backlach within the Liberal Democratic Party over the insertion of a shorter restrictive period for women to get remarried.
[…]
離婚で苦しんだ女性が、子どもの戸籍の扱いで再び苦しむ事態も解消したい。今回の運用見直しで結論とせず、より多くの親子を救済する法改正へ
論議を深めたい。
It sometimes takes more than money and time to have your computer fixed in Moscow: good looks, lots of patience and a special sense of humor may prove helpful as well. LJ user kmaka reports (RUS) on a recent conversation with a technical support service representative:
0 comments · »»Discrimination
I call the service center to arrange taking my warrantied laptop there. I ask how long it'll take them to replace a CD-ROM. Ten days, they reply. How come, I say, all it takes is pushing one button twice… Well, there's this and that. I do arrange to take it there, then they'll make the order. And then, when the part arrives, I'll take it there again.
And you say you work from 10 to 6, I decide to clarify. Does it mean you really open at 10? That is, if I come at 10, will anyone be there?
No, they reply, there won't be anyone. Not until 11.
And could you somehow arrange for someone to be there, I say, because I have to go to work, too.
Well, a service representative Sergei tells me, if you are a long-legged, slender blonde, then yes, this can be arranged.
We ended up agreeing that Sergei would bother showing up at 10:30, thus doing a favor to a nice-looking brown-haired woman with an incredible decollete, husband and child.
I'm wondering now whether I should call the IBM headquarters and tell them about the peculiarities of the Russian service - or whether I should visit the hospitable office first.
What is the difference between Chicken Majboos and Chicken Biryani? How do you react when you are suddenly face to face with the Amir (Ruler) of Kuwait? And how do you survive a dust storm? These are just some of the issues Kuwaiti bloggers are discussing this week.
Rieaane, a Filipino living in Kuwait, shares with us how to cook a traditional Kuwaiti dish. She writes the full recipe and explains the difference between Chicken majboos (a Kuwaiti dish) and Chicken Biryani (an Indian dish) in her blog philq8.
I always love cooking and making experiments with the foods I found in our kitchen. Since I am in an Arab country right now, I always aim of cooking all the Arabic dishes that I want to eat. And since some of the ingredients of these dishes are not suitable in my taste, I always make a way to cook it in my own style and personal taste. I also noticed that the Chicken Biryani (Pinoy Style) which I posted here few months ago ranked 3rd in this blog’s top posts for the month of April. Few days ago, I tried to experiment arabic dish again called Majboos. It is an Arabic dish which is consist of long grain rice and chicken or meat. The meat or chicken were boiled before frying, then the rice is being cooked with the meat or chicken’s broth.
Krakatoa speaks about how he reacted when he came face to face with the Amir of Kuwait Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmed Al Jaber Al Sabah at a condolence meeting.
intlxpatr takes us on a tour of the old American Hospital in Kuwait.
I discovered the beautiful building we park in front of when we got to church is the Old American Hospital. I don’t know what it is used for now, but it has been beautifully renovated.
Qais over at io81 shares more of his business experience and how advertisements affected his business.
Following my earlier post of Gift Express, when i introduced my marketing campaigns:P they are small but i like calling them campaigns. I had to know what impact i got for the money i have spent on such ads.
Meanwhile, Ms Loala tells us about bad parking at Kuwait University.
Now don't tell me those two were on a hurry. Can you see the freaking distance between the two sidewalks??! This is unbelievable!
Finally, Forzaq8 was shocked with the dust storm over the weekend.
wow what a weather yesterday, the dust storm was obstructing view on the street , i was drivng on fifth ring road yesterday after i went out of my friend dewaniya
Picture from Forzaq8 flickr stream.
1 comment · »»The campaign against the Bible was started by an anonymous website, truthbible, on 15 of May to protest against the Obscene Articles Tribunal's (OAT) internim ruling that two issues of Chinese University's student paper were indecent.
Uptill now, the website has received 2041 complaints, while the Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority (Tela) has received more than 2,300 before the weekend. Spokeperson from the Tela said that they wouldn't hand over the Bible to the OAT because Bible is a classic and its value has been recognised by the community.
The website cites a number of texts and stories from the Bible to show that it is full of violence, obscenity and discrimination, such as description of incest between father and daughters, rape, etc. However, the action actually gains support from Christians who want to use Bible for defending freedom of speech in Hong Kong.
In an internet joint statement (via inmediahk.net), it said:
我們不要忘記歷史的教訓:十六世紀宗教改革家加爾文生平最大污點,是對異見者塞爾維特 (Michael Servetus) 的殘酷逼害。
或許有人會覺得,投訴《聖經》豈非將《聖經》「擺上枱」?——但《聖經》從來都是應該被「擺上枱」,發光發亮的,而非只放在酒店抽屜陰暗處「辟邪」,或安於教堂的長椅背後、每逢到禮拜天才被翻幾頁。《聖經》教我們行公義、施憐憫,這些教導,都應該讓世人看得見!
cowcfj is an individual blogger joining the campaign, here is his explanation:
我的目的不在於要打倒聖經,而是要凸顯淫審處不合理的處理手法。…我相信,聖經就算送審了,最後也沒可能被裁定為「二級不雅」的,淫審處人員沒有這種膽量。他們只敢對大學生、明報下手。他們只是明光社手中的棋子。
Memory-Melody-Mentality quotes Malcolm X to explain the spirit of this action, the ultimate objective is an apology from OAT for their mistake:
著名黑人民權鬥士Malcolm X 曾說:「你跑到他的宮邸,希望他改正問題--但偏偏問題就是他製造出來的。他就是罪犯。你不要把你的事交給罪犯,你應該把罪犯送到 (國際) 法庭。」我們都只是一群小市民,我們沒有能力把淫審處送到國際法庭,但我們有能力吸引世界的目光。我們將繼續以荒謬回應荒謬,我們會一直嘗試再一次讓路透社的oddly enough 報導香港,直至淫審處面對他的錯誤,公開道歉。
Since the Tela has refused to hand over the case to the tribunal, plastichk further questions the selective prosecution practice:
請問一聲,影視處是根據哪一條法律,去判斷「源遠流長的宗教文獻或文學作品」有豁免審查的特權 (Immunity)?
如何去判定「一般合理社會人士,普遍接受的道德禮教標準」?中大學生報只有百多宗投訴,聖經在兩日內卻已經有超過二千個投訴!
「道德禮教標準」是隨著時代改變的,以往普遍接受,不代表將來會繼續接受。
大家要留意,影視處是政府轄下的「行政機關」,而不是法院--所以一句講晒,選擇性執法惡晒。大家要決定啞忍,還是對這種不公不義的現況提出抗爭?去申訴專員公署投訴?籌錢向高院提出司法覆核?大家好好想一想吧。
“Moral standard” is changing according to time, it might be acceptable in the past, but it doesn't mean that it is acceptable in the future. Please notice that Tela is an “administrative body”, it is not a tribunal or court –we can conclude that it is selective prosecution.
Should we decide to be silent about that, or should we confront this unjust practice? Whether to complain to The Office of The Ombudsman (trans. note: a government body against abusive administrative power)? or to collect money for judicial review? Please think hard on this.
ESWN has translated the CU student magazine's questionaire which touched upon incest and animal love. Last week, the OAT warned a local newspapers that its report on the student magazine issue had also violated the indecency and obscenity ordinance as it had made some direct quotes from the questionaire. Therefore, by translating the questionaire, ESWN also ran the risk of a maximum fine of HK$400,000 and 12 months in jail.
Ooops… by linking to ESWN's article here at GVO, I will be in the same boat. Now you might get the meaning of using farce (complaint on Bible) against farces (OAT's ruling against student magazine and obscene hyperlink).
6 comments · »»It was 518. A number Koreans don’t forget. Blogs were filled with ‘518’ for several days in order to commemorate the Gwangju Massacre (Gwangju Democratizaion Movement) on the 18th of May, 1980. A blogger, thirdtype, posted a five minute video clip and the stories of the deceased.
Bloggers, like qts, show an impressive movie poster, ‘I wished it to be a dream,’ with her (or his) brief expression about 518.
학교다닐때는 입밖에도 내지 못하던 사건… 이젠 한국 민주화의 아이콘으로 자리잡은 518. 그 5월이 또 왔다. 언제짬내서 또 광주한번 다녀와야지.
A blogger, Level-B, talks about how he got to know about Gwangju Massacre.
그러니깐, 내가 처음 광주사태를 첨 알게 된 게 아마 대학교 1학년 때였을 거다. 학교 식당 앞에 빨래줄에 매달아놓은 그 희생자 사진들과 관련 사진들을 보고 아 씨바 이거 진짜야? 했던 나는 동아리방에 굴러다니던 책들을 통해 딱 11년 전 그 도시에서 있었던 일들을 알게 됐고 나를 비롯한 [우리]가 그 자장 속에 있을 수밖에 없다는 걸 깨달았다. 그리고 그때로부터 딱 16년 후인 오늘,
이제 광주는 일종의 성지 대접을 받고있고 별 그지 깽깽이까지도 다 망월동에 참배랍시고 가서는 껄떡대는 시대가 됐다.
권력에 환장했던 그 새끼들도 아직 멀쩡히 잘 살아있고 그때 도청에서 군인의 총에 맞아 죽은 사람들을 기리는 노래인 < 임을 위한 행진곡>은 이제 그 빛을 많이 잃어버렸다.그래서?
뭐 잊지 말자는 말밖에는 할 게 없네.
A blogger, Ulariul, posted a documentary and explained how it changed his perspective.
난 관심 없다구..
광주 5.18 관심 없다구 라고 생각하고 있었다.
물론 그들의 만행에 대해선 어릴적부터 대학생들에게 들었던바 있다.
지금도 볼수 있을지 모르겠지만 그때 당시의 처참한 사진들을 난 봐왔었다.
그래도 난 나와 상관없다라고 생각했는데…
위의 다큐를 보면서 다시한번 피가 거꾸로 쏟구쳐 오는것을 느낀다.
전두환이 살아 있다는게… 너무나도 슬플 뿐이다.
The young generation, like Canimg, commemorates it in their ways.
내가 태어난지 두달이 되었을때 이웃동네에서 일어난 사건이다.
고등학교때 친구하나는 1980년 5월 17일 광주에서 태어났다고 했다.
수많은 사람들이 죽어나갔던 그때 그 시점에도 새로운 생명은 태어난 것이다.
나서 죽는게 사람이겠지만, 억울하게 죽은 영혼이 더 아프지 않게,
그때 새로 태어난 우리가 위로해 주고 같이 아파해 주고…
다시 그런 세상이 되풀이 되지 않도록 제대로 만들어 가야 할텐데…
A young and really popular internet cartoonist made a series of cartoons on the internet showing how young generations who had painful stories from the incident try to get revenge on the main leader, Chun Doo-hwan, and young people who didn’t know about the incident had chances to learn about it.
1 comment · »»
Japan Observer has posted a long and very thoughtful entry outlining the history and politics of the constitutional revision debate in Japan. On the future of the debate, JO writes: “[W]ith the collapse of organized opposition to revision within the political system, the only potential source of opposition is from the Japanese people themselves […] the push for revision is an opportunity for the Japanese people to raise their voices and claim the process for themselves.”
From AfriGadget: “A small company in Madagascar is working to get electricity to rural areas of the island. This video shows them taking the solar panels around in a van to show people how it works and educate the children on solar power. It’s an interesting video, especially near the end where Bill hooks up his computer to the internet through a satellite connection at night - all powered by the solar panel’s stored energy.”
Is Zimbabwe still moving forward?, asks David Kobia: “Africa is truly a continent of insoluble contradictions. Zimbabwe's largest mobile operator, Econet has introduced 3G (Third Generation) cellular service to the capital - Harare. So far there are only 2 other countries offering the service on the continent, South Africa and Mauritius.”
Kenyan Pundit announces free wi-fi in Nairobi, Kenya: “Apparently KDN is offering free wi-fi in Nairobi (think it’s a promotion for their Butterfly product). It’s supposed to last through the end of the month. If you have a wi-fi enabled laptop, PDA etc. just search for the essid butterfly and connect. They are supposed to have around 100 access points in Nairobi.”
The face of brain-drain: “I found this document the other day at the Air Botswana check-in counter at the recently renamed O.R. Tambo International Airport, Jo'burg. It reads: “NOTICE TO AIR BOTSWANA PASSENGERS & STAKEHOLDERS
Air Botswana apologises sincerely to passengers who are affected by the current disruption to its services. This temporary situation is caused by factors relating to flight crew. In common with many airlines in Africa and elsewhere, Air Botswana has experienced a loss of pilots, whose skills have been recruited by carriers in the Middle East and Asia where the civil aviation industry is growing rapidly. This has resulted in a diminished capacity to maintain a full timetable for services, necessitating a rescheduling of some flights.”
“Dubai rockers Asking Alexandria dropped into the studio and we filmed their live performance. They're about to start a 9 month tour of the UK and they've been asked to play 4 songs on MTV Europe's segment on Dubai. Not bad for a bunch of students from the UAE, one of whom attended The American University of Sharjah!” write UAE Students, who link to a video of the performance here.
This is Zimbabwe remembers Murambatsvina: “In the dead of winter, just like Stalin, one his heroes, Bob set the armed forces on defenceless families and brought in the bulldozers to throw them into the street. Within a matter of weeks, 700 000 people were living in the open, exposed to the harsh winter by night and loss of dignity and property by day. It was a hopeless situation as working men and women were tormented by the choice between going to work and leaving their property and helpless children in the open, or not going to work and getting fired. The expression between a rock and a hard place has never been so real.”
dr.stonefly reprints an email sent by an activist in Henoko, urging the readers to take direct action in the protest against the marine survey. The email describes a fierce collision between the authorities and the peaceful demonstrators on boats and canoes. [Ja]
Kakaluigi describes an apprehensive mood (Fr) in Bukavu, a city in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Bukavu was caught in the middle of fighting between Tutsi government forces and the Hutu that fled there after the Rwandan genocide, and later between Congolese government and rebel forces. Kakaluigi wonders whose interests President Joseph Kabila really has at heart: those of Bukavu's people at heart or the Rwandan government. “During the day he is with us and at night he is with Kigali.”
Rachiri Mayotte writes about racism in Reunion (Fr) as politics on the island move toward the right.
The Indonesian Law Reporter looks at existing copyrights law in Indonesia and asks if Creative Commons license is applicable in Indonesia?
Yangon Thu points to an article that talks about the Myanmar government using force to clear the ground for massive dams.
“Riot police attacked a seminar this evening in support of Hassan Mushaima and Abdulhadi Alkhawaja. They used tear gas and rubber bullets. According to some online reports, Waad’s Ibrahim Sharif was injured, possibly by a rubber bullet, and had to be taken to hospital….This attack comes just a day after the King ordered the public prosecutor to drop the case against the activists,” writes Chanad Bahraini.
The first Bangui International Human Rights Film Festival (Fr) starts on May 22 with the support of the French organization Alliance and the EU, writes the blog of the Alliance for Democracy and Progress.
Liliane reports on the on going clashes between the Lebanese Army and members of Fath Al-Islam in north Lebanon. It is reported that there has been seven casualties from the army and four from Fath Al Islam. The clashes started at 3am on Sunday May 20, and was still going till late in the morning.
Notas Al Margen [ES] reports on the rejection of the proposal that would allow Chileans living abroad to receive the right to vote. Some variations on the proposal called for new voters to register every five years, where they would need to travel back to Chile during this time period. El Diablo en los Detalles [ES] has a simple message to those that voted against this proposal. In addition, a YouTube video [ES] of a government official defending the right to vote by Chilean ex-pats is also available.
More on the story of the boy who sawed off his mother's head and brought it to the police, courtesy of Mutant Frog Travelogue: “After the crime, he went into an Internet cafe, watched a Beastie Boys DVD, and apparently wrote the following note…“
The computer game, Starcraft, shook Korea again. The CEO and designers of Blizzard Entertainment visited Korea and revealed ‘Starcraft II’ in public. For the first place, they chose Korea and made a special version in Korean for Korean gamers, the biggest contributor to make the game popular for the last 10 years. Look at the preview of the game and how Koreans were so enthusiastic in the presentation on the 19th.
“Jesus will turn down 1,000 won (US$ 1) for the donation,” lyrics of a church hymn[ko]. The video clip shown the song of a church has been leading to bloggers’ arguments, criticizing the corruption of Korean Christian churches and criticizing misunderstanding the lyrics on the other hand.
Graham Webster at Transpacific Triangle, picking up on earlier entries by Ampontan and Observing Japan, asks the question: “Who's the Bigger Nationalist: Abe or Koizumi?” The verdict: “People like Abe who favor constitutional revision are ‘practical nationalists,' whereas people like Koizumi who pay tribute to late 19th century nationalist traditions are 'sentimental nationalists.'”
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