2011年3月31日木曜日

Japan must not overlook mental health of children in disaster zone - The Mainichi Daily News

There are many elementary school children making the rounds of disaster evacuation shelters to look for their missing parents. Others are searching the rubble of collapsed buildings for mementos such as photos as well as their belongings. Some children were seen to smile during their school graduation ceremonies. People across the country are trying to cheer up these children in quake- and tsunami-hit areas.

More than 10,000 people have been confirmed dead and some 16,000 others remain missing following the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake. Facing this unbelievable reality, anybody would want to encourage child survivors to help them conquer hardships already experienced and those sure to come.

However, children are already doing their best. Even though they do not understand what has happened to them as much as adults and cannot express their feelings, they can also suffer from disaster trauma and become overwhelmed with grief after losing their family members, their homes or both.

Rather than simply urging children to overcome the disaster, what is needed is to look for subtle changes in their emotions and provide appropriate psychological support.

Children who have experienced such a massive disaster tend to complain of insomnia and loss of appetite, act infantile, be frightened by loud sounds, easily lose their temper, have nightmares and refuse activities they enjoyed before the traumatic event.

If children begin to show these symptoms, adequate care should be provided to them, such as telling them, "You're all right," and avoiding letting them sleep alone, in order to reassure them.

Japan must not overlook mental health of children in disaster zone - The Mainichi Daily News

2011年3月27日日曜日

Japan earthquake

Govt to cover earthquake refugees' hotel tab

The Yomiuri Shimbun

The government will pay all charges for accommodation, as well as travel costs, for victims of the March 11 disaster who stay at hotels and inns designated by the government for use as shelters, the Japan Tourism Agency said.

According to the agency, accommodation for about 34,000 people at such facilities was ready in nine prefectures--Kanagawa, Aichi, Toyama, Yamagata, Akita, Gunma, Ishikawa, Okayama and Fukuoka--as of Saturday.

The prefectural governments of disaster-stricken areas will requisition rooms at hotels and inns at 5,000 yen per person per day, including three meals a day, the agency said. They will work with municipal governments to register people who want to evacuate to other prefectures.

The cost of the evacuees' accommodation and travel will eventually be reimbursed by the central government by way of local tax grants and other fiscal resources, in line with the Disaster Relief Law and administrative rules, the agency said.

Evacuees will be allowed to stay at designated hotels and inns only for a limited time, until the construction of temporary housing facilities is completed.

Meanwhile, 7,373 buildings in Tokyo and 12 prefectures in the Tohoku and Kanto regions were judged "unsafe" following emergency risk assessments conducted by the metropolitan and prefectural governments.

Govt to cover earthquake refugees' hotel tab : National : DAILY YOMIURI ONLINE (The Daily Yomiuri)

2011年3月24日木曜日

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2011年3月12日土曜日

Bullying-related complaints, child abuse cases hit record highs in 2010 - The Mainichi Daily News

Bullying-related complaints, child abuse cases hit record highs in 2010

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Complaints over school authorities' inappropriate responses to bullying and cases of child abuse addressed under a Justice Ministry program to remedy human rights violations both reached record highs in 2010, the ministry said Friday.

The number of bullying-related complaints jumped 51.9 percent from the previous year to 2,714 and abuse cases grew 6.3 percent to 771, it said.

"The number of cases directly reported by affected children grew. It is possible that they brought to light underlying cases," said an official of the ministry's Human Rights Bureau.

The total number of human rights violations has remained at the 20,000 level since 2004. In 2010, the total came to 21,696, up 2.3 percent from the previous year.

Cases of violence and abuse accounted for the largest number of the total human rights violations at 4,788, down 6.1 percent from 2009.

Bullying-related complaints, child abuse cases hit record highs in 2010 - The Mainichi Daily News

Japan Death Row

Japan: Death row inmate, 75 today, should be granted a stay of execution

Posted: 10 March 2011

A man believed to be the world’s longest serving death row inmate, who has spent the last 43 years on death row and is 75 today, should be granted a stay of execution, removed from death row and his case reviewed, Amnesty International said today.

Amnesty International and the Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN) today called on the Minister of Justice to grant a stay of execution for Hakamada Iwao in accordance with Article 479 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and for him to be taken off death row. Article 479 provides for a person to be granted a stay of execution in cases where the person is found to be suffering from mental illness.

Clare Bracey, Death Penalty Campaigner for Amnesty International UK, said:

“Having been locked away on death row for the last 43 years, with over half of that time spent in solitary confinement, and not knowing if each day might be his last, it is no wonder that Hakamada Iwao is suffering from physical and mental ill health.

“International law prohibits the execution of people with mental health issues, and Hakamada's case typifies the worst consequences of Japan's justice system

“The Japanese authorities should grant him a stay of execution in accordance with the law and review all similar cases."

Hakamada Iwao, has been on death row since 1968. He was convicted after an unfair trial of the 1966 murder of the managing director of the factory where he worked, and the man's wife and two children.

Within months of the finalisation of his death sentence, Hakamada began to show signs of seriously disturbed thinking and behaviour. The Prison authorities have refused access to Hakamada’s medical records, even to his family members and his legal representatives. Hakamada’s mental health condition continues to be of concern.

Hakamada confessed after 20 days of interrogation by police without a lawyer present but later retracted his confession saying that he had been beaten and threatened during the interrogations. One of the judges who convicted Hakamada, Kumamoto Norimichi, stated publicly in 2007 that he believed Hakamada was innocent, but that he had been outvoted in the decision.

AIUK : Japan: Death row inmate, 75 today, should be granted a stay of execution

2011年3月8日火曜日

Cabinet OKs bills to revise parent's rights to stem child abuse - The Mainichi Daily News

The Cabinet on Friday approved bills to revise two laws on parental rights amid an increase in child abuse cases in Japan, with an eye on seeing them clear the ongoing Diet session.

The bills, if passed by parliament, would pave the way for a system that would put a limit of up to two years of suspended parental authority and give priority to childcare facility officials over the parents as part of efforts to protect children from parental abuse.

Cases presumed to require swift and flexible action include medical neglect, involving parents refusing to seek medical treatment when their children are sick, and when parents wrongfully take children away from shelters.

Under the current system, parents are stripped of custodial rights without a time limit. Childcare workers say the current law makes them hesitate to ask the courts to invalidate parental custody even if they are suspected of abusing their children.

Amid concerns that suspending custodial rights for an indefinite period of time could jeopardize the parent-child relationship, one of the bills seeks to revise the Civil Code to introduce a time limit, which would make it possible to restore the parents' custodial rights once the situation improves.

Cabinet OKs bills to revise parent's rights to stem child abuse - The Mainichi Daily News

2011年3月5日土曜日

Japan's Mazda told to pay family in worker suicide - Yahoo! Philippines News

TOKYO – A Japanese court on Monday ordered automaker Mazda to pay 63 million yen ($770,000) in damages to the parents of an employee who was ruled to have committed suicide over depression from being overworked.

Japan, a workaholic nation where people often take pride in suffering in silence, has been plagued with deaths of overworked people, some resorting to suicide and others dying from exhaustion.

Mazda Motor Corp. said it was disappointed that the court in the southwestern city of Kobe had rejected its assertion that the 25-year-old employee's 2007 death was not work-related. It will review the details of the ruling before deciding whether to appeal, the automaker said in a statement.

"We feel it is extremely regrettable to have lost a precious employee," the Hiroshima-based maker of the RX-8 sports car and MX-5 Miata roadster said in a statement following the ruling. "We offer our condolences from the bottom of our hearts."

Japan's Mazda told to pay family in worker suicide - Yahoo! Philippines News

Cabinet OKs bills to revise parent's rights to stem child abuse - The Mainichi Daily News

Cabinet OKs bills to revise parent's rights to stem child abuse

TOKYO (kyodo) -- The Cabinet on Friday approved bills to revise two laws on parental rights amid an increase in child abuse cases in Japan, with an eye on seeing them clear the ongoing Diet session.

The bills, if passed by parliament, would pave the way for a system that would put a limit of up to two years of suspended parental authority and give priority to childcare facility officials over the parents as part of efforts to protect children from parental abuse.

Cases presumed to require swift and flexible action include medical neglect, involving parents refusing to seek medical treatment when their children are sick, and when parents wrongfully take children away from shelters.

Under the current system, parents are stripped of custodial rights without a time limit. Childcare workers say the current law makes them hesitate to ask the courts to invalidate parental custody even if they are suspected of abusing their children.

Cabinet OKs bills to revise parent's rights to stem child abuse - The Mainichi Daily News

2011年3月2日水曜日

2% of Japanese girls have eating disorder: poll - The Mainichi Daily News

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Nearly 2 percent of female middle school students in Japan were found having eating disorders that require professional help in a survey in 2009 and 2010, according to health ministry data made available to Kyodo News on Tuesday.

Gen Komaki who led the ministry's first full survey on the juvenile health problem said, "The number of potential sufferers could grow several-fold. The popular trend today that favors dieting could be endangering children."

The survey found that 1.9 percent of girls and 0.2 percent of boys have eating disorders and are in need of therapy or advice from doctors who have expertise in both physical and mental health.

Students trying to lose weight often use laxatives, throw up food they have eaten, skip meals and work out excessively, according to the survey led by Komaki, senior researcher with the National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry.

2% of Japanese girls have eating disorder: poll - The Mainichi Daily News