月: 2022年4月

下の記事を前もって読んでポイントをまとめておくこと。

Rescuers said that 10 people who were retrieved Sunday from the frigid sea and the rocky coast of a northern Japanese national park had died, a day after a tour boat with 26 aboard apparently sank in rough waters, triggering questions why it was allowed to sail.
The search for the others is still ongoing after the boat sent a distress call on Saturday afternoon saying it was sinking. The location, near the Kashuni Waterfall, is known as a difficult place to maneuver boats because of its rocky coastline and strong tide.
There were two crew and 24 passengers, including two children, on the the 17 tonne Kazu 1 when it ran into troubles while traveling off the western coast of the Shiretoko Peninsula. The coast guard said the 10 victims — seven men and three women — were adults.
The Transport Ministry launched an investigation into the boat’s operator, which had two accidents last year. The ministry said it was looking into safety standards and the decision to conduct the tour despite rough weather on Saturday.
The operator, Shiretoko Pleasure Cruise, had been instructed to take steps to improve its safety following earlier accidents in which it ran aground in June without causing injuries, and another in May, when three passengers suffered minor injuries when the boat collided with an object.
“We will thoroughly investigate what caused this situation and what kind of safety oversight was involved to allow the tour in order to prevent another accident,” Transport Minister Tetsuo Saito, who visited the area Sunday, told reporters.

名寄市立大学の図書館には現在の社会問題に関する本がたくさんあります。その中の1冊を手にし読んでみました。外国人労働者の実態について書かれた本でした。

要約すると

①外国人労働者たちが日本企業で差別的な扱いを受けている。

②過酷な労働、安い賃金、時間外手当不払い、そしてパスポート取り上げ。(逃げないようにするため)

③ブラック企業だけでなく、結構有名な会社でも上のような実態が報告されている。

④ この問題がなくならない理由は、2つある。1つは外国人労働者たちが職を失うことを恐れている。現行の法律ではいったん勤務先を辞めるとそれが自己都合であれ、会社都合であれ、国内滞在が認められなくなる。そしてもう一つは差別を厳しく取り締まる法律が日本にはないことだ。

そんなにひどいことが起きているとは知らなかった。

だがこのことを知人のフィリピン人たちに聞いてみたら意外な返事。

①日本はとても良い国。みんな日本で働きたいと言っている。

② Facebookなどで既に日本で働いているフィリピン人のグループアカウントがあるが、待遇について文句を言っている人は誰もいない。もし不満があればSNSに書き込みがなされるはず。

なるほど確かにそうだ。日本での待遇に不満があるならSNSに匿名で投稿する事は可能だ。それがないのはどう受け止めれば良いのだろう。

不思議でしょうがない。

The top artists in music hit the red carpet for the iHeartRadio music awards in Los Angeles. The show honors the “most played” artists and songs on its network of radio stations. However, most say social media is just as important as air time.

Award show host and music legend, LL Cool J, said “I think it’s all, it’s land, sea and air.” He added, “I think social media is extremely important, obviously, because you get to talk to your fans directly and then it’s also nice to touch some other platforms.”

Peytan Porter said social media was her path to getting on the carpet with a series of TikToks called “Songs I Forgot I Wrote.”

“I got nominated for this a year later and I finally started putting out music as an artist,” said Porter, “TikTok is what took me from just writing songs to get to be an artist last year. So it’s been amazing.”

Coi Leray understands the value of social media but feels that radio is just as important as an artist.

“It has to be super powerful to live throughout, you know, over the digital content because if they can’t see, they hear you, so they have to feel you. So, you know, I keep that in mind about the radio,” said Leray.

A Czech zoo has welcomed a critically endangered eastern black rhinoceros baby that has taken the name of Ukraine’s capital Kyiv in honor of that country’s resistance to invading Russian forces.

The rhino was born early on March 4 in the Dvur Kralove zoo, a rare occurrence for the facility even if it has the most rhinos belonging to the subspecies.

“The name is another expression of our support for the Ukrainian heroes,” zoo Director Premysl Rabas said.

Kyiv’s mother Eva has been taking care of him in a best possible way, the zoo said, with the baby gaining 1 kilogram (2.20 pounds) a day. It currently weighs about 50 kilograms (110 pounds).

Poaching has reduced the number of the eastern black rhinos living in the wild to around 800. The Czech park has 14.

Only three other such rhinos have been born in other zoos around the world in the last year.

A total of 47 eastern black rhinos have been born in Dvur Kralove since the park received the first one in 1971. Many of them are now in various zoos around the globe but nine have been returned to Rwanda and Tanzania to live in the wild.