The Japanese education minister has denounced Western-influenced individualism in schools, saying allowing too much freedom was like eating too much butter, newspapers said yesterday.
Bunmei Ibuki, addressing a function in Nagasaki on Sunday, was quoted as saying that current education policy was imposed by US occupiers after World War II.
"Japan has until now stressed the individual point of view too much," Ibuki told the southern city's chapter of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), the Asahi Shimbun reported.
"No matter how healthy butter can be, eating only butter every day will lead to metabolic syndrome," the Nikkei Shimbun quoted Ibuki as saying.
"Human rights are important, but if they are respected too much then Japanese society will have human rights metabolic syndrome," he said.
Ministry and LDP officials said they did not have a transcript of the remarks.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has made education reform a top priority, last year pushing through a law that requires schools to teach "patriotism" -- a taboo since World War II -- when students were taught to revere the emperor. His government is also considering bringing back corporal punishment and adding classroom hours.
Ibuki also called Japan an "extremely homogenous" nation, the Nikkei reported.
"There is no doubt that the Yamato race has historically ruled Japan," he said, referring to the main Japanese ethnic group.
PROVOCATIVE: Chinese Deputy Ambassador to the UN Sun Lei accused Japan of sending military vessels to deliberately provoke tensions in the Taiwan Strait China denounced remarks by Japan and the EU about the South China Sea at a UN Security Council meeting on Monday, and accused Tokyo of provocative behavior in the Taiwan Strait and planning military expansion. Ayano Kunimitsu, a Japanese vice foreign minister, told the Council meeting on maritime security that Tokyo was seriously concerned about the situation in the East China and South China seas, and reiterated Japan’s opposition to any attempt to change the “status quo” by force, and obstruction of freedom of navigation and overflight. Stavros Lambrinidis, head of the EU delegation to the UN, also highlighted South China Sea
The final batch of 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks purchased from the US arrived at Taipei Port last night and were transported to the Armor Training Command in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), completing the military’s multi-year procurement of 108 of the tanks. Starting at 12:10am today, reporters observed more than a dozen civilian flatbed trailers departing from Taipei Port, each carrying an M1A2T tank covered with black waterproof tarps. Escorted by military vehicles, the convoy traveled via the West Coast Expressway to the Armor Training Command, with police implementing traffic control. The army operates about 1,000 tanks, including CM-11 Brave Tiger
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said it expects its 2-nanometer (2nm) chip capacity to grow at a compound annual rate of 70 percent from this year to 2028. The projection comes as five fabs begin volume production of 2-nanometer chips this year — two in Hsinchu and three in Kaohsiung — TSMC senior vice president and deputy cochief operating officer Cliff Hou (侯永清) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Silicon Valley, California, last week. Output in the first year of 2-nanometer production, which began in the fourth quarter of last year, is expected to
Taiwan’s drone exports surged past US$100 million in the first quarter, exceeding last year’s full-year total, with the Czech Republic emerging as the largest buyer, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. Exports of complete drones reached US$115.85 million in the period, about 1.2 times the total recorded for all of last year, the ministry said in a report. Exports to the Czech Republic accounted for about US$100 million, far outpacing other markets. Poland, last year’s top destination, recorded about US$11.75 million in the first quarter. Taiwan’s drone exports have expanded rapidly in the past few years, with last year’s total
RSS