Covering
Japan: Nagasaki Journal |
The Students
The Classes
| Jessi Hempel |
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Long
Fight Pits Activist Against Dam Project Since the 1970s, Yatiyo Yamashita has protested the filling in of Isahaya Bay. The public works project aims to create more arable land for farmers, but Yamashita and other critics decry the pollution and destruction of sea life they say it is causing. Yamashita’s battle seems to be a losing one – the government, the construction lobby and even former fishermen who now work construction jobs are behind it – but to give up the fight would be to turn her back on her late husband’s legacy. |
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Worrisome
Rise in School Dropouts In a society where every sixth-grade student learns the same lesson at the same time, and group conformity reaches beyond the school uniform to dictates on hairstyles and shoe colors, some kids can’t take it. They’re bored if they’re too smart, ashamed if they’re not smart enough or miserable if they can’t express their individuality. What to do when it’s too much to take? Drop out, and join the growing ranks of "school refusers" who face low-income jobs and a life lived with Mom and Dad. |