barefootmouse:

womenwhokickass:

Aya Kamikawa: Why she kicks ass

• She is the only openly transgender official in Japan at this point, and the first to seek or win elected office in Japan.
• She won a four-year term as an independent under huge media attention, placing sixth of 72 candidates running for 52 seats in the Setagaya ward assembly, the most populous district in Tokyo.  In April 2007, she was re-elected to her second term, placing second of 71 candidates running for 52 in the same ward assembly. 
• While the government announced that they would continue to consider her male officially, she stated that she would work as a woman. 
• She is devoted to work for various groups, the disabled, single-parent families, homeless people to evening junior high school students, LGBT people and to improve rights for women, children, the elderly.  She strives to give support for these people and bring positive changes which would help them in society. 
• She was also a committee member for Trans-net Japan (a self-support group for transgender people) and organised meetings and social events to give support and symposiums to raise the public awareness.

I need to see more stories like this one every day. Actually we all do.

hanguknamja:

lostintrafficlights:

hanguknamja:

Korea's last prince, 이우. Died in 1945 in Hiroshima, Japan. (x)

The atomic bombing of Hiroshima not only took the life of one of the last Korean royals, it incinerated over 20,000 common Koreans, many of them forced laborers, at the hands of their enemy’s enemy, who not only did not distinguish between civilians and soldiers but refused to distinguish between the Japanese and their victims.

After the war, the few Korean survivors went unrecognised as victims of this atrocity, because they were not Japanese nationals, and neither they nor their offspring, many of whom suffered severe congenital malformations from the radiation poisoning, received compensation or adequate medical treatment.

They were thus triply victimized. First by the Japanese, who enslaved them. Second, by the Americans who exploded an atomic bomb over them indiscriminately. Third, by the world, for refusing to recognize them as victims of an atrocious crime against humanity. Even today, I’m surprised about how few people realise that so many Koreans were killed at Hiroshima (and Nagasaki).

Reblogged again for the commentary. 

1 in 7 of the victims in the Hiroshima bombing were Korean.

(Source: partimecat)

bemusedlybespectacled:

gdfalksen:

Chiune Sugihara. This man saved 6000 Jews. He was a Japanese diplomat in Lithuania. When the Nazis began rounding up Jews, Sugihara risked his life to start issuing unlawful travel visas to Jews. He hand-wrote them 18 hrs a day. The day his consulate closed and he had to evacuate, witnesses claim he was STILL writing visas and throwing from the train as he pulled away. He saved 6000 lives. The world didn’t know what he’d done until Israel honored him in 1985, the year before he died.

Why can’t we have a movie about him?

He was often called “Sempo”, an alternative reading of the characters of his first name, as that was easier for Westerners to pronounce.

His wife, Yukiko, was also a part of this; she is often credited with suggesting the plan. The Sugihara family was held in a Soviet POW camp for 18 months until the end of the war; within a year of returning home, Sugihara was asked to resign - officially due to downsizing, but most likely because the government disagreed with his actions.

He didn’t simply grant visas - he granted visas against direct orders, after attempting three times to receive permission from the Japanese Foreign Ministry and being turned down each time. He did not “misread” orders; he was in direct violation of them, with the encouragement and support of his wife.

He was honoured as Righteous Among the Nations in 1985, a year before he died in Kamakura; he and his descendants have also been granted permanent Israeli citizenship. He was also posthumously awarded the Life Saving Cross of Lithuania (1993); Commander’s Cross Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland (1996); and the Commander’s Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta (2007). Though not canonized, some Eastern Orthodox Christians recognize him as a saint.

Sugihara was born in Gifu on the first day of 1900, January 1. He achieved top marks in his schooling; his father wanted him to become a physician, but Sugihara wished to pursue learning English. He deliberately failed the exam by writing only his name and then entered Waseda, where he majored in English. He joined the Foreign Ministry after graduation and worked in the Manchurian Foreign Office in Harbin (where he learned Russian and German; he also converted to the Eastern Orthodox Church during this time). He resigned his post in protest over how the Japanese government treated the local Chinese citizens. He eventually married Yukiko Kikuchi, who would suggest and encourage his acts in Lithuania; they had four sons together. Chiune Sugihara passed away July 31, 1986, at the age of 86. Until her own passing in 2008, Yukiko continued as an ambassador of his legacy.

It is estimated that the Sugiharas saved between 6,000-10,000 Lithuanian and Polish Jewish people.

erin-barren:

imperius-rex:

JESUS FUCKING CHRIST WHY DID I NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS CAT BEFORE

HER NAME IS TAMA
AND SHE’S THE STATIONMASTER AT A TRAIN STATION IN JAPAN
SHE GREETS ALL THE PASSENGERS
AND SHE HAS HER OWN OFFICE
AND SHE’S PAID IN CAT FOOD
AND SHE IS A FUCKING EXECUTIVE OF A FUCKING RAILROAD STATION 

AND LOOK AT HER

 

the trains are decorated with cartoon versions of her since she’s their mascot as well

(Source: kawaiidesugeoffreyrush)