Monica Lewinsky Changes Social Media Name to Fight Bullying

Monica Lewinsky is teaming up with celebrities for an anti-bullying campaign that targets name-calling.

Appearing Friday on ABC’s Good Morning America, Lewinsky says the #DefyTheName campaign calls on people to change their social media names to include the names they were bullied by. Lewinsky says she’ll now be known as ”Monica Chunky Slut Stalker That Woman Lewinsky.”

Lewinsky says she had a long list of names from childhood on. She says name-calling is the most common form of bullying and it’s important not to let those names define you.

Lewinsky says organizers want to recreate a community of empathy online.

Lewinsky was a White House intern when she had an affair with President Bill Clinton. Clinton initially denied the affair before admitting to it in 1998.

From: MeNeedIt

Chance the Rapper to Give $1M to Boost Mental Health Services

Chance the Rapper says he’s donating $1 million to help improve mental health services in Chicago.

The Chicago native made the announcement Thursday during a summit for his nonprofit organization SocialWorks, saying those involved “want to change the way that mental health resources are being accessed.”

Six mental health providers in Cook County will each get $100,000 grants and SocialWorks is starting an initiative called “My State of Mind” to help connect people with treatment. Members of the Illinois Department of Human Services and the Chicago Department of Public Health were on hand for the announcement.

Also Thursday, the rapper, whose real name is Chancelor Bennett, announced plans to give money to 20 additional Chicago Public Schools. His nonprofit has given millions to Chicago schools in recent years.

From: MeNeedIt

Light Exercise Might Lessen Stroke Severity, Study Indicates

People who regularly engage in light to moderate physical activity — like walking four hours a week or swimming two hours weekly — might have less severe strokes than individuals who aren’t as active, a Swedish study suggests.

Researchers examined data on 925 patients who were treated for strokes at Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg, Sweden, between 2014 and 2016. Overall, four in five of these patients had mild strokes.

Slightly more than half of the patients were inactive before their strokes. Compared with this inactive group, people who got at least some exercise before their strokes were twice as likely to have mild strokes, researchers reported in Neurology.

“We knew from earlier research that physical activity could reduce stroke incidence,” lead study author Malin Reinholdsson of the University of Gothenburg said by email. “However, whether or not pre-stroke physical activity could also influence stroke severity was not clear.”

Patients in the study were 73 years old on average and most of them had what’s known as an ischemic stroke, the most common kind, which occurs when a clot blocks an artery carrying blood to the brain. About 6 percent of patients had hemorrhagic strokes, a less common type that is caused by a ruptured blood vessel in the brain.

Surveyed about exercise

To assess pre-stroke activity levels, researchers surveyed participants about the duration and intensity of any exercise they got before they were hospitalized.

Researchers defined “light” activity as walking at a leisurely pace for at least four hours a week, and classified exercise as “moderate” intensity when people did things like swimming, running or walking briskly for two to three hours weekly.

Among 481 people who were inactive, 354, or 74 percent, had mild strokes.

For those who managed light physical activity, 330, or 86 percent, had mild strokes. And among the 59 participants who got moderate intensity exercise, 53, or 90 percent, had mild strokes. 

Age also mattered, with higher odds of a mild stroke for younger people in the study.

The study wasn’t designed to prove whether or how the amount or intensity of exercise might influence stroke severity.

Another limitation is that researchers relied on stroke survivors to accurately recall their previous exercise habits, and memory is often compromised after a stroke.

Even so, the results add to evidence suggesting that an active lifestyle can both lower the risk of stroke and reduce the chances that a stroke will be severe, said Nicole Spartano, co-author of an accompanying editorial and a researcher at Boston University School of Medicine.

“Regular exercise helps the brain to maintain healthy arteries that have more complex networks,” Spartano said by email. “So when a blockage [stroke] happens in one area, there may be another route to provide oxygen to the affected area.”

Being physically active can also help prevent risk factors for stroke, like obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure, Spartano noted.

“This study is exciting because it suggests that you might not have to do a lot of intense exercise to see an effect,” Spartano said.

From: MeNeedIt

Light Exercise Might Lessen Stroke Severity, Study Indicates

People who regularly engage in light to moderate physical activity — like walking four hours a week or swimming two hours weekly — might have less severe strokes than individuals who aren’t as active, a Swedish study suggests.

Researchers examined data on 925 patients who were treated for strokes at Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg, Sweden, between 2014 and 2016. Overall, four in five of these patients had mild strokes.

Slightly more than half of the patients were inactive before their strokes. Compared with this inactive group, people who got at least some exercise before their strokes were twice as likely to have mild strokes, researchers reported in Neurology.

“We knew from earlier research that physical activity could reduce stroke incidence,” lead study author Malin Reinholdsson of the University of Gothenburg said by email. “However, whether or not pre-stroke physical activity could also influence stroke severity was not clear.”

Patients in the study were 73 years old on average and most of them had what’s known as an ischemic stroke, the most common kind, which occurs when a clot blocks an artery carrying blood to the brain. About 6 percent of patients had hemorrhagic strokes, a less common type that is caused by a ruptured blood vessel in the brain.

Surveyed about exercise

To assess pre-stroke activity levels, researchers surveyed participants about the duration and intensity of any exercise they got before they were hospitalized.

Researchers defined “light” activity as walking at a leisurely pace for at least four hours a week, and classified exercise as “moderate” intensity when people did things like swimming, running or walking briskly for two to three hours weekly.

Among 481 people who were inactive, 354, or 74 percent, had mild strokes.

For those who managed light physical activity, 330, or 86 percent, had mild strokes. And among the 59 participants who got moderate intensity exercise, 53, or 90 percent, had mild strokes. 

Age also mattered, with higher odds of a mild stroke for younger people in the study.

The study wasn’t designed to prove whether or how the amount or intensity of exercise might influence stroke severity.

Another limitation is that researchers relied on stroke survivors to accurately recall their previous exercise habits, and memory is often compromised after a stroke.

Even so, the results add to evidence suggesting that an active lifestyle can both lower the risk of stroke and reduce the chances that a stroke will be severe, said Nicole Spartano, co-author of an accompanying editorial and a researcher at Boston University School of Medicine.

“Regular exercise helps the brain to maintain healthy arteries that have more complex networks,” Spartano said by email. “So when a blockage [stroke] happens in one area, there may be another route to provide oxygen to the affected area.”

Being physically active can also help prevent risk factors for stroke, like obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure, Spartano noted.

“This study is exciting because it suggests that you might not have to do a lot of intense exercise to see an effect,” Spartano said.

From: MeNeedIt

Light Exercise Might Lessen Stroke Severity, Study Indicates

People who regularly engage in light to moderate physical activity — like walking four hours a week or swimming two hours weekly — might have less severe strokes than individuals who aren’t as active, a Swedish study suggests.

Researchers examined data on 925 patients who were treated for strokes at Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg, Sweden, between 2014 and 2016. Overall, four in five of these patients had mild strokes.

Slightly more than half of the patients were inactive before their strokes. Compared with this inactive group, people who got at least some exercise before their strokes were twice as likely to have mild strokes, researchers reported in Neurology.

“We knew from earlier research that physical activity could reduce stroke incidence,” lead study author Malin Reinholdsson of the University of Gothenburg said by email. “However, whether or not pre-stroke physical activity could also influence stroke severity was not clear.”

Patients in the study were 73 years old on average and most of them had what’s known as an ischemic stroke, the most common kind, which occurs when a clot blocks an artery carrying blood to the brain. About 6 percent of patients had hemorrhagic strokes, a less common type that is caused by a ruptured blood vessel in the brain.

Surveyed about exercise

To assess pre-stroke activity levels, researchers surveyed participants about the duration and intensity of any exercise they got before they were hospitalized.

Researchers defined “light” activity as walking at a leisurely pace for at least four hours a week, and classified exercise as “moderate” intensity when people did things like swimming, running or walking briskly for two to three hours weekly.

Among 481 people who were inactive, 354, or 74 percent, had mild strokes.

For those who managed light physical activity, 330, or 86 percent, had mild strokes. And among the 59 participants who got moderate intensity exercise, 53, or 90 percent, had mild strokes. 

Age also mattered, with higher odds of a mild stroke for younger people in the study.

The study wasn’t designed to prove whether or how the amount or intensity of exercise might influence stroke severity.

Another limitation is that researchers relied on stroke survivors to accurately recall their previous exercise habits, and memory is often compromised after a stroke.

Even so, the results add to evidence suggesting that an active lifestyle can both lower the risk of stroke and reduce the chances that a stroke will be severe, said Nicole Spartano, co-author of an accompanying editorial and a researcher at Boston University School of Medicine.

“Regular exercise helps the brain to maintain healthy arteries that have more complex networks,” Spartano said by email. “So when a blockage [stroke] happens in one area, there may be another route to provide oxygen to the affected area.”

Being physically active can also help prevent risk factors for stroke, like obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure, Spartano noted.

“This study is exciting because it suggests that you might not have to do a lot of intense exercise to see an effect,” Spartano said.

From: MeNeedIt

28-year Prison Term Caps Downfall of ‘Suge’ Knight

Marion “Suge” Knight was sentenced Thursday to 28 years in prison for mowing down and killing a Compton businessman in a case that completed the former rap music mogul’s downfall from his heyday as one of the biggest and most feared names in the music industry.

Knight will now spend much of the rest of his life, if not all the rest, in a California prison. He showed no emotion in court Thursday as relatives of Terry Carter, the man he killed, described their loved one as a devoted family man and peacemaker.

Carter was killed after Knight and one of his longtime rivals, Cle “Bone” Sloan, started fighting outside a Compton burger stand in January 2015. Knight was upset about his portrayal in an N.W.A. biopic, Straight Outta Compton, on which Sloan was serving as a consultant. Knight clipped Sloan with his pickup truck, seriously injuring him, before speeding through the parking lot and running over Carter and fleeing.

While Carter’s relatives said they hoped Knight’s lengthy sentence would bring them peace, many had no kind words for the Death Row Records co-founder, whom they criticized for showing a complete lack of remorse.

Carter’s daughter Crystal called Knight a “low-life thug,” “career criminal” and “a disgusting, selfish disgrace to the human species.”

“I ask that you sentence this unrepentant, remorseless, cold, callous menace to society to the maximum of 28 years,” she told a judge.

Pleaded no contest

Before Thursday’s hearing, Knight had already agreed to his lengthy prison term by pleading no contest to a voluntary manslaughter charge and avoiding a trial on murder and attempted murder charges that could have resulted in a life sentence if he was convicted. The sentencing ended a nearly four-year court saga that included frequent outbursts by Knight, 53, who also collapsed in court during one appearance and shuffled his defense team 16 times.

Between the restrictions of the three-strikes law and the time Knight has already served, he’ll likely spend roughly 20 years in prison before he’s eligible for parole. 

Knight has been in decline for decades. At his pinnacle in the mid-1990s, he was putting out wildly popular records that are now considered classics from Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur.

Shakur was in Knight’s car when he was killed in a drive-by attack in Las Vegas in 1996.

Knight later lost his stake in Death Row Records in bankruptcy proceedings.

Nearly two dozen of Carter’s relatives packed the courtroom Thursday. Carter’s daughter, Nekaya Carter, said she hoped that the end of the courtroom saga could bring her some peace.

“I wanted justice for my dad and now we’ve finally got it, kind of,” she said.

She then addressed Knight directly despite the judge’s instructions not to: “My dad can finally rest in peace while you live out the rest of your life in prison.”

Carter’s sister, Jessica Carter, told Los Angeles Superior Court Ronald Coen, “He was so much more than the person the defendant killed with his truck.” 

‘He helped people’

There have been disputed accounts of why Carter was at the scene, but his family said he often acted as a community mediator and peacemaker.

“This wasn’t no cat who went after nobody,” Carter’s brother-in-law Damu Visha said in court. “He helped people.”

The death was captured on surveillance video, and family members described their anguish at having to see it repeatedly, and chastised the media for showing it so often.

Coen appeared moved by the family’s words and offered his own condolences. 

“If it hasn’t been said by anyone else,” Coen said, “let me tell you that my heart goes out to you.”

Most of the victim’s family members spoke of the need to forgive Knight for their own peace of mind.

“I hope and I pray that we find forgiveness,” Terry Carter’s cousin, Patricia Hawkins, said. “But it won’t be today.”

From: MeNeedIt

28-year Prison Term Caps Downfall of ‘Suge’ Knight

Marion “Suge” Knight was sentenced Thursday to 28 years in prison for mowing down and killing a Compton businessman in a case that completed the former rap music mogul’s downfall from his heyday as one of the biggest and most feared names in the music industry.

Knight will now spend much of the rest of his life, if not all the rest, in a California prison. He showed no emotion in court Thursday as relatives of Terry Carter, the man he killed, described their loved one as a devoted family man and peacemaker.

Carter was killed after Knight and one of his longtime rivals, Cle “Bone” Sloan, started fighting outside a Compton burger stand in January 2015. Knight was upset about his portrayal in an N.W.A. biopic, Straight Outta Compton, on which Sloan was serving as a consultant. Knight clipped Sloan with his pickup truck, seriously injuring him, before speeding through the parking lot and running over Carter and fleeing.

While Carter’s relatives said they hoped Knight’s lengthy sentence would bring them peace, many had no kind words for the Death Row Records co-founder, whom they criticized for showing a complete lack of remorse.

Carter’s daughter Crystal called Knight a “low-life thug,” “career criminal” and “a disgusting, selfish disgrace to the human species.”

“I ask that you sentence this unrepentant, remorseless, cold, callous menace to society to the maximum of 28 years,” she told a judge.

Pleaded no contest

Before Thursday’s hearing, Knight had already agreed to his lengthy prison term by pleading no contest to a voluntary manslaughter charge and avoiding a trial on murder and attempted murder charges that could have resulted in a life sentence if he was convicted. The sentencing ended a nearly four-year court saga that included frequent outbursts by Knight, 53, who also collapsed in court during one appearance and shuffled his defense team 16 times.

Between the restrictions of the three-strikes law and the time Knight has already served, he’ll likely spend roughly 20 years in prison before he’s eligible for parole. 

Knight has been in decline for decades. At his pinnacle in the mid-1990s, he was putting out wildly popular records that are now considered classics from Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur.

Shakur was in Knight’s car when he was killed in a drive-by attack in Las Vegas in 1996.

Knight later lost his stake in Death Row Records in bankruptcy proceedings.

Nearly two dozen of Carter’s relatives packed the courtroom Thursday. Carter’s daughter, Nekaya Carter, said she hoped that the end of the courtroom saga could bring her some peace.

“I wanted justice for my dad and now we’ve finally got it, kind of,” she said.

She then addressed Knight directly despite the judge’s instructions not to: “My dad can finally rest in peace while you live out the rest of your life in prison.”

Carter’s sister, Jessica Carter, told Los Angeles Superior Court Ronald Coen, “He was so much more than the person the defendant killed with his truck.” 

‘He helped people’

There have been disputed accounts of why Carter was at the scene, but his family said he often acted as a community mediator and peacemaker.

“This wasn’t no cat who went after nobody,” Carter’s brother-in-law Damu Visha said in court. “He helped people.”

The death was captured on surveillance video, and family members described their anguish at having to see it repeatedly, and chastised the media for showing it so often.

Coen appeared moved by the family’s words and offered his own condolences. 

“If it hasn’t been said by anyone else,” Coen said, “let me tell you that my heart goes out to you.”

Most of the victim’s family members spoke of the need to forgive Knight for their own peace of mind.

“I hope and I pray that we find forgiveness,” Terry Carter’s cousin, Patricia Hawkins, said. “But it won’t be today.”

From: MeNeedIt

EgyptAir Stands by Purported Interview With Drew Barrymore

EgyptAir is standing by a writer for its in-flight magazine who penned a bizarre article purportedly based on an interview with American actress Drew Barrymore.

The article, riddled with misspellings and grammatical errors, led with a description of Barrymore as “being unstable in her relationships” and quoted her as saying that motherhood was “the most important role in my life.”

In a tweet sent late Wednesday in response to online criticism, the national carrier thanked author Aida Tekla for “the clarification” in which she claimed the interview was indeed real and took place in New York.

Barrymore has yet to issue an official statement and her representatives could not be reached for comment. Press reports in the U.S. have quoted representatives as denying any such interview took place, with some suggesting the author must have based her article on misinterpretations of a press conference.

Barrymore shot to fame as a child starlet in Steven Spielberg’s 1982 film “E.T.” and is now featured in the Netflix horror-comedy series “Santa Clarita Diet.”

The article on the inflight magazine Horus was first noticed by Yemen analyst Adam Baron, who published photos of it on Twitter and called it “surreal.”

The article says Barrymore had failed relationships because her parents divorced.

“It is known that Barrymore had almost 17 relationships, engagements and marriages; psychologists believe that her behavior is only natural since she lacked the male role model in her life after her parents’ divorce,” Tekla wrote.

In another passage, she quoted Barrymore as being pleased with recent weight loss after having a second daughter. Another quote describes Barrymore as celebrating women’s achievements in “the West” because they handle tasks that men cannot.

“Women exert tremendous efforts that men are incapable of exerting due to their numerous commitments and obligations,” the article quoted her as saying.

EgyptAir’s inflight magazine has Arabic and English sections, but translations are often poor and English-language articles are filled with errors.

The Egyptian government has waged a heavy crackdown on dissent and independent media in recent years, and has passed vaguely worded laws that criminalize the spreading of false news.

 

 

From: MeNeedIt

Tokyo’s Famed Tsukiji Fish Market Moves to New Site Soon

After years of delays Tokyo’s 80-year-old Tsukiji fish market is closing Saturday to move to a more modern facility on reclaimed industrial land in Tokyo Bay.

The new, 569 billion yen ($5 billion) facility at Toyosu will open Oct. 11, over the objections of many working in Tsukiji who contend the new site is contaminated, inconvenient and unsafe.

“If the new place were better, I’ll be happy to move,” said Tai Yamaguchi, whose family has run fish wholesaler Hitoku Shoten since 1964.

​Beloved local institution

The 75-year-old leader of a group of 30 women whose families run shops in Tsukiji opposed to the move, Yamaguchi feels it has been mishandled by authorities who failed to fully consult those affected.

“They are hiding so much,” she said.

Tsukiji now has more than 500 wholesalers employing several thousand people. About 40,000 people visit each day. Much of the angst over the move has to do with closing down a beloved local institution.

A labyrinth of quaint sushi stalls and shops selling knives and ice cream encircling the huge wholesale market famous for its predawn haggling over deep-frozen tuna and other harvests from the sea, Tsukiji has been supplying Tokyo’s fancy restaurants and everyday supermarkets since 1935. Its origins date back nearly a century.

Opponents of the move fear tourists will be less likely to visit out-of-the-way Toyosu, which resembles a huge, modern factory and lacks the picturesque quality of Tsukiji.

​Place of unusual diversity

Makoto Nakazawa, 54, who has worked in Tsukiji for more than 30 years, said he dislikes the new space he will be working in and is angry over the closure of a market that has “fed Tokyo for years.”

Tsukiji is special, a place of unusual diversity in conformist Japan where misfits like avant-garde theater actors and convicts are accepted, Nakazawa said.

“People who want us out want to redevelop this place. I can’t imagine any other reason,” he said. “There’s obviously money to be made.”

Some of Tsukiji’s sprawling shops will remain in their old locale surrounding the market site. But the wholesale market itself, which clears an average of 1.6 billion yen, or about $14.5 million, worth of seafood a day, is leaving for good after a decade of controversy.

In the latest setback, Gov. Yuriko Koike postponed the move, which had been scheduled for November 2016, after an inspection found arsenic and other contaminants in the groundwater at Toyosu, a former gas plant.

“Safety has been ensured,” Koike declared at a recent opening ceremony for the new market after extra concrete was poured and better water pumps installed. Even now, cracks stretching for several meters have appeared in the paving in Toyosu’s loading area. City officials say they’re not dangerous and will be fixed.

Koike stressed Toyosu will carry on the “Tsukiji brand.”

Old site becomes parking lot

The long-term future for the Tsukiji site is still undecided.

Spanning more than 230,000 square meters, or the equivalent of about 17 baseball fields, it first will be turned into a parking lot for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Ideas for the long-term include an amusement park, a casino, a shopping mall — all of them and more. Its location in downtown Tokyo within walking distance from the glitzy Ginza shopping district makes for lucrative opportunities.

An informal opinion survey by Yamaguchi’s group found that 80 percent of 261 Tsukiji businesses that responded were unhappy about the move. The survey’s response rate was about 50 percent.

Several hundred market workers joined by labor union members, housewives and others marched on a rainy Saturday afternoon from Tsukiji through Tokyo’s downtown in a final protest.

“What’s wrong with Tsukiji? What’s wrong with Tsukiji? Tsukiji for another hundred years!” they shouted, banging on drums and waving placards.

City hall insisted a more modern and efficient facility was needed. Workers say Tsukiji’s layout, with its myriad of zipping carts, is a work of art that evolved over the years.​

​‘Old Japanese culture’

As the shutdown neared, Gianluca Lonati, 31, a chef, and Kayleigh Gill, 25, a bar manager, visiting together from Sydney, were among many tourists and locals visiting the market one recent afternoon.

They said they were planning to have some fresh Tsukiji fish with their feast of ramen, green tea ice cream and savory “okonomiyaki” pancakes.

“It’s very sad,” Gill said of the plans to close the market. “You really get to see inside old Japanese culture.”

Keahi Pagatpatan, an airline worker from Long Beach, California, strolling recently in Tsukiji with a friend praised the market’s emotional and cultural backdrop.

Toyosu just won’t be the same, he said, “It takes away from the authenticity.”

From: MeNeedIt

Tokyo’s Famed Tsukiji Fish Market Moves to New Site Soon

After years of delays Tokyo’s 80-year-old Tsukiji fish market is closing Saturday to move to a more modern facility on reclaimed industrial land in Tokyo Bay.

The new, 569 billion yen ($5 billion) facility at Toyosu will open Oct. 11, over the objections of many working in Tsukiji who contend the new site is contaminated, inconvenient and unsafe.

“If the new place were better, I’ll be happy to move,” said Tai Yamaguchi, whose family has run fish wholesaler Hitoku Shoten since 1964.

​Beloved local institution

The 75-year-old leader of a group of 30 women whose families run shops in Tsukiji opposed to the move, Yamaguchi feels it has been mishandled by authorities who failed to fully consult those affected.

“They are hiding so much,” she said.

Tsukiji now has more than 500 wholesalers employing several thousand people. About 40,000 people visit each day. Much of the angst over the move has to do with closing down a beloved local institution.

A labyrinth of quaint sushi stalls and shops selling knives and ice cream encircling the huge wholesale market famous for its predawn haggling over deep-frozen tuna and other harvests from the sea, Tsukiji has been supplying Tokyo’s fancy restaurants and everyday supermarkets since 1935. Its origins date back nearly a century.

Opponents of the move fear tourists will be less likely to visit out-of-the-way Toyosu, which resembles a huge, modern factory and lacks the picturesque quality of Tsukiji.

​Place of unusual diversity

Makoto Nakazawa, 54, who has worked in Tsukiji for more than 30 years, said he dislikes the new space he will be working in and is angry over the closure of a market that has “fed Tokyo for years.”

Tsukiji is special, a place of unusual diversity in conformist Japan where misfits like avant-garde theater actors and convicts are accepted, Nakazawa said.

“People who want us out want to redevelop this place. I can’t imagine any other reason,” he said. “There’s obviously money to be made.”

Some of Tsukiji’s sprawling shops will remain in their old locale surrounding the market site. But the wholesale market itself, which clears an average of 1.6 billion yen, or about $14.5 million, worth of seafood a day, is leaving for good after a decade of controversy.

In the latest setback, Gov. Yuriko Koike postponed the move, which had been scheduled for November 2016, after an inspection found arsenic and other contaminants in the groundwater at Toyosu, a former gas plant.

“Safety has been ensured,” Koike declared at a recent opening ceremony for the new market after extra concrete was poured and better water pumps installed. Even now, cracks stretching for several meters have appeared in the paving in Toyosu’s loading area. City officials say they’re not dangerous and will be fixed.

Koike stressed Toyosu will carry on the “Tsukiji brand.”

Old site becomes parking lot

The long-term future for the Tsukiji site is still undecided.

Spanning more than 230,000 square meters, or the equivalent of about 17 baseball fields, it first will be turned into a parking lot for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Ideas for the long-term include an amusement park, a casino, a shopping mall — all of them and more. Its location in downtown Tokyo within walking distance from the glitzy Ginza shopping district makes for lucrative opportunities.

An informal opinion survey by Yamaguchi’s group found that 80 percent of 261 Tsukiji businesses that responded were unhappy about the move. The survey’s response rate was about 50 percent.

Several hundred market workers joined by labor union members, housewives and others marched on a rainy Saturday afternoon from Tsukiji through Tokyo’s downtown in a final protest.

“What’s wrong with Tsukiji? What’s wrong with Tsukiji? Tsukiji for another hundred years!” they shouted, banging on drums and waving placards.

City hall insisted a more modern and efficient facility was needed. Workers say Tsukiji’s layout, with its myriad of zipping carts, is a work of art that evolved over the years.​

​‘Old Japanese culture’

As the shutdown neared, Gianluca Lonati, 31, a chef, and Kayleigh Gill, 25, a bar manager, visiting together from Sydney, were among many tourists and locals visiting the market one recent afternoon.

They said they were planning to have some fresh Tsukiji fish with their feast of ramen, green tea ice cream and savory “okonomiyaki” pancakes.

“It’s very sad,” Gill said of the plans to close the market. “You really get to see inside old Japanese culture.”

Keahi Pagatpatan, an airline worker from Long Beach, California, strolling recently in Tsukiji with a friend praised the market’s emotional and cultural backdrop.

Toyosu just won’t be the same, he said, “It takes away from the authenticity.”

From: MeNeedIt

Tokyo’s Famed Tsukiji Fish Market Moves to New Site Soon

After years of delays Tokyo’s 80-year-old Tsukiji fish market is closing Saturday to move to a more modern facility on reclaimed industrial land in Tokyo Bay.

The new, 569 billion yen ($5 billion) facility at Toyosu will open Oct. 11, over the objections of many working in Tsukiji who contend the new site is contaminated, inconvenient and unsafe.

“If the new place were better, I’ll be happy to move,” said Tai Yamaguchi, whose family has run fish wholesaler Hitoku Shoten since 1964.

​Beloved local institution

The 75-year-old leader of a group of 30 women whose families run shops in Tsukiji opposed to the move, Yamaguchi feels it has been mishandled by authorities who failed to fully consult those affected.

“They are hiding so much,” she said.

Tsukiji now has more than 500 wholesalers employing several thousand people. About 40,000 people visit each day. Much of the angst over the move has to do with closing down a beloved local institution.

A labyrinth of quaint sushi stalls and shops selling knives and ice cream encircling the huge wholesale market famous for its predawn haggling over deep-frozen tuna and other harvests from the sea, Tsukiji has been supplying Tokyo’s fancy restaurants and everyday supermarkets since 1935. Its origins date back nearly a century.

Opponents of the move fear tourists will be less likely to visit out-of-the-way Toyosu, which resembles a huge, modern factory and lacks the picturesque quality of Tsukiji.

​Place of unusual diversity

Makoto Nakazawa, 54, who has worked in Tsukiji for more than 30 years, said he dislikes the new space he will be working in and is angry over the closure of a market that has “fed Tokyo for years.”

Tsukiji is special, a place of unusual diversity in conformist Japan where misfits like avant-garde theater actors and convicts are accepted, Nakazawa said.

“People who want us out want to redevelop this place. I can’t imagine any other reason,” he said. “There’s obviously money to be made.”

Some of Tsukiji’s sprawling shops will remain in their old locale surrounding the market site. But the wholesale market itself, which clears an average of 1.6 billion yen, or about $14.5 million, worth of seafood a day, is leaving for good after a decade of controversy.

In the latest setback, Gov. Yuriko Koike postponed the move, which had been scheduled for November 2016, after an inspection found arsenic and other contaminants in the groundwater at Toyosu, a former gas plant.

“Safety has been ensured,” Koike declared at a recent opening ceremony for the new market after extra concrete was poured and better water pumps installed. Even now, cracks stretching for several meters have appeared in the paving in Toyosu’s loading area. City officials say they’re not dangerous and will be fixed.

Koike stressed Toyosu will carry on the “Tsukiji brand.”

Old site becomes parking lot

The long-term future for the Tsukiji site is still undecided.

Spanning more than 230,000 square meters, or the equivalent of about 17 baseball fields, it first will be turned into a parking lot for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Ideas for the long-term include an amusement park, a casino, a shopping mall — all of them and more. Its location in downtown Tokyo within walking distance from the glitzy Ginza shopping district makes for lucrative opportunities.

An informal opinion survey by Yamaguchi’s group found that 80 percent of 261 Tsukiji businesses that responded were unhappy about the move. The survey’s response rate was about 50 percent.

Several hundred market workers joined by labor union members, housewives and others marched on a rainy Saturday afternoon from Tsukiji through Tokyo’s downtown in a final protest.

“What’s wrong with Tsukiji? What’s wrong with Tsukiji? Tsukiji for another hundred years!” they shouted, banging on drums and waving placards.

City hall insisted a more modern and efficient facility was needed. Workers say Tsukiji’s layout, with its myriad of zipping carts, is a work of art that evolved over the years.​

​‘Old Japanese culture’

As the shutdown neared, Gianluca Lonati, 31, a chef, and Kayleigh Gill, 25, a bar manager, visiting together from Sydney, were among many tourists and locals visiting the market one recent afternoon.

They said they were planning to have some fresh Tsukiji fish with their feast of ramen, green tea ice cream and savory “okonomiyaki” pancakes.

“It’s very sad,” Gill said of the plans to close the market. “You really get to see inside old Japanese culture.”

Keahi Pagatpatan, an airline worker from Long Beach, California, strolling recently in Tsukiji with a friend praised the market’s emotional and cultural backdrop.

Toyosu just won’t be the same, he said, “It takes away from the authenticity.”

From: MeNeedIt

Olympics: Progress to Lift Kuwait Ban Made

Negotiations to lift an Olympic ban on Kuwait are making progress, but more issues need to be ironed out before the country’s Olympic return, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said Wednesday.

Kuwait’s national Olympic committee (KOC) has been banned since October 2015 after the government was accused of interference with a new sports law.

As a result, Kuwaiti athletes had to compete under the Olympic flag at the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016 and they have no access to IOC funds.

With the dispute still to be resolved Kuwait now risks missing out on a second consecutive summer Olympics with the 2020 Tokyo Games less than two years away.

The issue was discussed at the IOC executive board in the Argentine capital Wednesday, IOC spokesman Mark Adams said.

“There is progress there but there is still a lot of work to be done,” Adams told reporters. “But we are heading in the right direction.”

The IOC, in what it said was a gesture of goodwill, provisionally lifted a ban on Kuwait two days before the start of the Asian Games in August, allowing the country to participate under its own flag.

Talks in past years, however, failed to yield a result, and Kuwait in 2016 repeatedly sued the IOC unsuccessfully for $1 billion as compensation for the ban.

Kuwait said at the time the ban was unjustifiable and unfair and the IOC had not conducted “an appropriate investigation.” Kuwait had also been suspended in 2010 over a similar dispute but was reinstated before the 2012 London Olympics.

More than 15 of the country’s national sports bodies have been suspended in the past years, including its football federation.

From: MeNeedIt