Special Lectures on Constructive Inheritance of Traditions
The past, present and future of the weaving cultures of
Japan and the Mekong region
On the occasion of the Mekong-Japan Exchange Year 2009, the Japan Foundation, Bangkok will organize a series of special lectures on "Constructive Inheritance of Traditions: the Past, Present and Future of the Weaving Cultures of Japan and the Mekong region" by Prof. Shinobu Yoshimoto of National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, on 11th November 2009 (Wed.) at Lecture Room 114, College of Arts, Media and Technology (CAMT), Chiang Mai University and 14th November 2009 (Sat.) at Research Institute of Northeastern Art and Culture, Mahasarakham University. This lecture will discuss the cultural aspects of Asian textiles including Japan, Indonesia, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Vietnam, China and Thailand, as to understand the ways of life of those people in the country and finding new perspectives of how their textiles will survive during the rapid globalizing economy and marketing.
What is the meaning of "tradition"?
How can tradition be inherited in a constructive and creative way?
A rich variety of weaving cultures has been developed and inherited from one generation to another through years of wide-area exchanges in the Mekong River Basin. However, mass consumption and standardized manufacturing are now spreading around the world, where manufacturers cannot "see" the users of their products and in turn remain "faceless" from the perspective of the users. Against this backdrop, the tidal wave of globalization is sweeping across the field of traditional crafts as well. Is it then possible for manufacturers and users to sustain and develop their weaving traditions as something precious that should be nurtured and expanded, while they are being tossed and turned by this mighty tide? Is it possible to maintain low-volume manufacturing in small societies, and seek industrial development of traditional crafts with well-balanced demand and supply? With awareness of these issues, Japanese and local textile experts will discuss the establishment of sustainable mechanisms for constructive inheritance of traditions.
Dr. Keiko YUKIMATSU
Lecturer's Profile
Professor Shinobu Yoshimoto is a Professor at the Department of Cultural Research of the National Museum of Ethnology. Engaged in cross-cultural research of weaving techniques around the world as well as the batik and ikat cultures of Indonesia and other countries. Having graduated from a university of fine arts, Professor Yoshimoto has a wealth of first-hand experience in the art of weaving and dyeing. Furthermore, he was born to a family of kimono shop owners and is thus able to develop on wide-ranging discussions from the perspective of distribution of textile products as well. His major publications include Jawa Sarasa (Java Batik) and Indonesia Senshoku Taikei (Traditional Dyeing and Weaving of Indonesia). In September 2009, Professor Yoshimoto planned and organized the exhibition "Try on! Check out! Asian textiles today" in Fukuoka.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Fights at the market
Two Cambodians got into a fistfight at a market in the border town of Poi Pet yesterday morning over ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra being appointed as economic advisor to Hun Sen.
"One man supports Hun Sen's decision but the other man believes Thaksin's appointment would only strain ties between Thailand and Cambodia," Chua Dee, a 35-year-old Cambodian who sells second-hand shoes in the Rong Klua market on the Thai side, said about the fistfight yesterday.
"If the border checkpoints are closed because of Thaksin's appointment, then many Cambodians will definitely be against him," he added.
Still, it was business as usual at the Rong Klua market yesterday, and Sa Kaew Governor Sanit Naksuksri said the market's total sales were well above Bt20-million every day.
"Closing the border will not be good for trade and export," he warned.
Thousands of Cambodians walk into Thailand via the Ban Khlong Luek checkpoint in Sa Kaew's Aranyaprathet district every day and were doing so yesterday as well.
However, a lecturer at the Nakhon Ratchasima Rajabhat University believes the Thai government should take a harder stance against Cambodia.
"The government should consider whether it's time to close the borders. Businessmen should understand that the country's sovereignty comes first.
The government should also decide if Cambodian workers should be allowed to stay in Thailand," Samart Jabjone said.
Samart, who chairs a network of Nakhon Ratchasima Rajabhat University lecturers and students, said he would be joining the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) rally in Sanam Luang on Sunday.
"Regardless of the colour of our shirts, we will be there to declare our intention to protect Thailand's national interests," he said.
On the other hand, a Thai tour operator complained that the souring of ties between the two nations had already cost her a few million baht in lost opportunities.
"At least 80 of my customers have cancelled their trips to Cambodia," Duangrudee Apapon, owner of the Avia Angker Travel Company, said, adding that tour guides and tour-bus operators were also feeling the pinch.
"Those not living near the border may not understand our plight, but we are really hurting," Duangrudee said.
"One man supports Hun Sen's decision but the other man believes Thaksin's appointment would only strain ties between Thailand and Cambodia," Chua Dee, a 35-year-old Cambodian who sells second-hand shoes in the Rong Klua market on the Thai side, said about the fistfight yesterday.
"If the border checkpoints are closed because of Thaksin's appointment, then many Cambodians will definitely be against him," he added.
Still, it was business as usual at the Rong Klua market yesterday, and Sa Kaew Governor Sanit Naksuksri said the market's total sales were well above Bt20-million every day.
"Closing the border will not be good for trade and export," he warned.
Thousands of Cambodians walk into Thailand via the Ban Khlong Luek checkpoint in Sa Kaew's Aranyaprathet district every day and were doing so yesterday as well.
However, a lecturer at the Nakhon Ratchasima Rajabhat University believes the Thai government should take a harder stance against Cambodia.
"The government should consider whether it's time to close the borders. Businessmen should understand that the country's sovereignty comes first.
The government should also decide if Cambodian workers should be allowed to stay in Thailand," Samart Jabjone said.
Samart, who chairs a network of Nakhon Ratchasima Rajabhat University lecturers and students, said he would be joining the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) rally in Sanam Luang on Sunday.
"Regardless of the colour of our shirts, we will be there to declare our intention to protect Thailand's national interests," he said.
On the other hand, a Thai tour operator complained that the souring of ties between the two nations had already cost her a few million baht in lost opportunities.
"At least 80 of my customers have cancelled their trips to Cambodia," Duangrudee Apapon, owner of the Avia Angker Travel Company, said, adding that tour guides and tour-bus operators were also feeling the pinch.
"Those not living near the border may not understand our plight, but we are really hurting," Duangrudee said.
US arms sales hit record of $38bn in 2009
US government-togovernment arms sales rose 4.7% to a record $38.1 billion this year, and are expected to total almost as much in 2010, the Pentagon agency that administers them said on Friday.
Arms deals, often sensitive because of regional politics, may become even more so for the administration of President Barack Obama, who won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize last month.
Some critics say Mr Obama should rein in arms transfers, partly to avoid regional arms races. But overseas sales are increasingly important to US contractors seeking to offset Pentagon belttightening at home.
Many if not most of the sales pacts signed in fiscal 2009, which ended on Sept 30, are part of a boom in conventional weapons sales that started under former president George W. Bush.
The 2009 figures represent over a quadrupling from a sales low point in fiscal 1998, according to Vice Admiral Jeffrey Wieringa, head of the Defence Security Cooperation Agency.
The sales are indicative of a drive to strengthen US partners and thus boost US national security, Vice Adm Wieringa said in an Oct 22 blog posting on his agencys website.
The 2009 tally, revised after that posting, was up from $36.4 billion in fiscal 2008 and $23.3 billion in 2007, said the security agency. It administers the Pentagons Foreign Military Sales Programme, a key part of US alliancebuilding.
Sales are expected to top $37.9 billion in fiscal 2010, which began on Oct 1,Vanessa Murray, an agency spokeswoman, said in a written reply to Reuters.
The top buyers in fiscal 2009 were United Arab Emirates ($7.9 billion),Afghanistan ($5.4 billion) and Saudi Arabia ($3.3 billion), followed by Taiwan ($3.2 billion), Egypt ($2.1 billion), Iraq ($1.6 billion), Nato ($924.5 million), Australia ($818.7 million) and South Korea ($716.6 million).
Rachel Stohl, co-author of a new book,The International Arms Trade , said Mr Obama, who took office on Jan 20, seems to be sticking with the Bush administration mantra of sell, sell, sell, rather than a more cautious approach.
William Hartung of the New America Foundation,aWashington-based research group focused on US defence and foreign policy issues, said Mr Obama should pay more attention to regional arms-race dangers, human-rights records and shun sales to countries that can illafford them.
Top US arms makers such as Lockheed Martin Corp, Boeing Co, Northrop Grumman Corp, General Dynamics Corp and Raytheon Co are hoping to boost foreign sales to hedge against US budget pressures that could slow big-ticket Pentagon arms purchases.
Overseas sales lower the unit price of US armed forces weapons and keep components available that would be otherwise hard to find, said Remy Nathan of the Aerospace Industries Association,which lobbies on behalf of US arms makers.
Demand is booming, fed in part by regional tensions fanned by nuclear and ballistic missile programmes in Iran and North Korea.
In September, for instance, the Pentagon told Congress of a possible sale to Turkey of the most modern model of its Patriot anti-missile missile in a package valued at up to $7.8 billion.
The Gulf states and Saudi Arabia are extremely worried about Irans pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability,Alexander Vershbow, US assistant secretary of defence for international security affairs, said last month.They want to buy Patriots or other systems over the coming years. So right now,demand exceeds supply because of the real sense of threat they feel, he said.
Other big sales could come from the best market in decades for fighter aircraft,with multi-billion-dollar competitions under way or planned in India, Brazil, South Korea, Japan, Greece and elsewhere, said Richard Aboulafia of the Teal Group, an aerospace consultancy.
Arms deals, often sensitive because of regional politics, may become even more so for the administration of President Barack Obama, who won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize last month.
Some critics say Mr Obama should rein in arms transfers, partly to avoid regional arms races. But overseas sales are increasingly important to US contractors seeking to offset Pentagon belttightening at home.
Many if not most of the sales pacts signed in fiscal 2009, which ended on Sept 30, are part of a boom in conventional weapons sales that started under former president George W. Bush.
The 2009 figures represent over a quadrupling from a sales low point in fiscal 1998, according to Vice Admiral Jeffrey Wieringa, head of the Defence Security Cooperation Agency.
The sales are indicative of a drive to strengthen US partners and thus boost US national security, Vice Adm Wieringa said in an Oct 22 blog posting on his agencys website.
The 2009 tally, revised after that posting, was up from $36.4 billion in fiscal 2008 and $23.3 billion in 2007, said the security agency. It administers the Pentagons Foreign Military Sales Programme, a key part of US alliancebuilding.
Sales are expected to top $37.9 billion in fiscal 2010, which began on Oct 1,Vanessa Murray, an agency spokeswoman, said in a written reply to Reuters.
The top buyers in fiscal 2009 were United Arab Emirates ($7.9 billion),Afghanistan ($5.4 billion) and Saudi Arabia ($3.3 billion), followed by Taiwan ($3.2 billion), Egypt ($2.1 billion), Iraq ($1.6 billion), Nato ($924.5 million), Australia ($818.7 million) and South Korea ($716.6 million).
Rachel Stohl, co-author of a new book,The International Arms Trade , said Mr Obama, who took office on Jan 20, seems to be sticking with the Bush administration mantra of sell, sell, sell, rather than a more cautious approach.
William Hartung of the New America Foundation,aWashington-based research group focused on US defence and foreign policy issues, said Mr Obama should pay more attention to regional arms-race dangers, human-rights records and shun sales to countries that can illafford them.
Top US arms makers such as Lockheed Martin Corp, Boeing Co, Northrop Grumman Corp, General Dynamics Corp and Raytheon Co are hoping to boost foreign sales to hedge against US budget pressures that could slow big-ticket Pentagon arms purchases.
Overseas sales lower the unit price of US armed forces weapons and keep components available that would be otherwise hard to find, said Remy Nathan of the Aerospace Industries Association,which lobbies on behalf of US arms makers.
Demand is booming, fed in part by regional tensions fanned by nuclear and ballistic missile programmes in Iran and North Korea.
In September, for instance, the Pentagon told Congress of a possible sale to Turkey of the most modern model of its Patriot anti-missile missile in a package valued at up to $7.8 billion.
The Gulf states and Saudi Arabia are extremely worried about Irans pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability,Alexander Vershbow, US assistant secretary of defence for international security affairs, said last month.They want to buy Patriots or other systems over the coming years. So right now,demand exceeds supply because of the real sense of threat they feel, he said.
Other big sales could come from the best market in decades for fighter aircraft,with multi-billion-dollar competitions under way or planned in India, Brazil, South Korea, Japan, Greece and elsewhere, said Richard Aboulafia of the Teal Group, an aerospace consultancy.
Magnificent seven
In the most important, most revered event since the invention of the brontosaurus trap,Microsoft shipped the most incredibly fabulous operating system ever made; the release of Windows 7 also spurred a new generation of personal computers of all sizes at prices well below last month's offers.The top reason Windows 7 does not suck: There is no registered website called Windows7Sucks.com
Kindle e-book reader maker Amazon.com and new Nook e-book reader vendor Barnes and Noble got it on; B&N got great reviews for the "Kindle killer"Nook, with dual screens and touch controls so you can "turn" pages, plays MP3s and allows many non-B&N book formats, although not the Kindle one;Amazon then killed the US version of its Kindle in favour of the international one, reduced its price to $260(8,700 baht), same as the Nook; it's not yet clear what you can get in Thailand with a Nook, but you sure can't (yet) get much, relatively speaking, with a Kindle;but here's the biggest difference so far,which Amazon.com has ignored: the Nook lets you lend e-books to any other Nook owner, just as if they were paper books; the borrowed books expire on the borrower's Nook in two weeks.
Phone maker Nokia of Finland announced it is suing iPhone maker Apple of America for being a copycat; lawyers said they figure Nokia can get at least one, probably two per cent (retail) for every iPhone sold by Steve "President for Life" Jobs and crew via the lawsuit,which sure beats working for it -$6 (200 baht) to $12(400 baht) on 30 million phones sold so far, works out to $400 million or 25 percent of the whole Apple empire profits during the last quarter;there were 10 patent thefts, the Finnish executives said, on everything from moving data to security and encryption.
Nokia of Finland announced that it is one month behind on shipping its new flagship N900 phone, the first to run on Linux software; delay of the $750(25,000 baht) phone had absolutely no part in making Nokia so short that it had to sue Apple, slap yourself for such a thought.
Tim Berners-Lee, who created the World Wide Web, said he had one regret:the double slash that follows the "http:"in standard web addresses; he estimated that 14.2 gazillion users have wasted 48.72 bazillion hours typing those two keystrokes, and he's sorry; of course there's no reason to ever type that, since your browser does it for you when you type "www.bangkokpost.com" but Tim needs to admit he made one error in his lifetime.
The International Telecommunication Union of the United Nations, which doesn't sell any phones or services, announced that there should be a mobile phone charger that will work with any phone; now who would ever have thought of that, without a UN body to wind up a major study on the subject?;the GSM Association estimates that 51,000 tonnes of chargers are made each year in order to keep companies able to have their own unique ones.
The Well, Doh Award of the Week was presented at arm's length to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development; the group's deputy secretary-general Petko Draganov said that developing countries will miss some of the stuff available on the Internet if they don't install more broadband infrastructure; a report that used your tax baht to compile said that quite a few people use mobile phones but companies are more likely to invest in countries with excellent broadband connections; no one ever had thought of this before, right?
Sun Microsystems , as a result of the Oracle takeover, said it will allow 3,000 current workers never to bother coming to work again; Sun referred to the losses as "jobs," not people; now the fourth largest server maker in the world, Sun said it lost $2.2 billion in its last fiscal year; European regulators are holding up approval of the Oracle purchase in the hope of getting some money in exchange for not involving Oracle in court cases.
The multi-gazillionaire and very annoying investor Carl Icahn resigned from the board at Yahoo ; he spun it as a vote of confidence, saying current directors are taking the formerly threatened company seriously; Yahoo reported increased profits but smaller revenues in the third quarter.
The US House of Representatives voted to censure Vietnam for jailing bloggers; the non-binding resolution sponsored by southern California congresswoman Loretta Sanchez said the Internet is "a crucial tool for the citizens of Vietnam to be able to exercise their freedom of expression and association;"Hanoi has recently jailed at least nine activists for up to six years apiece for holding pro-democracy banners. Iran jailed blogger Hossein "Hoder" Derakshan for 10 months - in solitary confinement.
Kindle e-book reader maker Amazon.com and new Nook e-book reader vendor Barnes and Noble got it on; B&N got great reviews for the "Kindle killer"Nook, with dual screens and touch controls so you can "turn" pages, plays MP3s and allows many non-B&N book formats, although not the Kindle one;Amazon then killed the US version of its Kindle in favour of the international one, reduced its price to $260(8,700 baht), same as the Nook; it's not yet clear what you can get in Thailand with a Nook, but you sure can't (yet) get much, relatively speaking, with a Kindle;but here's the biggest difference so far,which Amazon.com has ignored: the Nook lets you lend e-books to any other Nook owner, just as if they were paper books; the borrowed books expire on the borrower's Nook in two weeks.
Phone maker Nokia of Finland announced it is suing iPhone maker Apple of America for being a copycat; lawyers said they figure Nokia can get at least one, probably two per cent (retail) for every iPhone sold by Steve "President for Life" Jobs and crew via the lawsuit,which sure beats working for it -$6 (200 baht) to $12(400 baht) on 30 million phones sold so far, works out to $400 million or 25 percent of the whole Apple empire profits during the last quarter;there were 10 patent thefts, the Finnish executives said, on everything from moving data to security and encryption.
Nokia of Finland announced that it is one month behind on shipping its new flagship N900 phone, the first to run on Linux software; delay of the $750(25,000 baht) phone had absolutely no part in making Nokia so short that it had to sue Apple, slap yourself for such a thought.
Tim Berners-Lee, who created the World Wide Web, said he had one regret:the double slash that follows the "http:"in standard web addresses; he estimated that 14.2 gazillion users have wasted 48.72 bazillion hours typing those two keystrokes, and he's sorry; of course there's no reason to ever type that, since your browser does it for you when you type "www.bangkokpost.com" but Tim needs to admit he made one error in his lifetime.
The International Telecommunication Union of the United Nations, which doesn't sell any phones or services, announced that there should be a mobile phone charger that will work with any phone; now who would ever have thought of that, without a UN body to wind up a major study on the subject?;the GSM Association estimates that 51,000 tonnes of chargers are made each year in order to keep companies able to have their own unique ones.
The Well, Doh Award of the Week was presented at arm's length to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development; the group's deputy secretary-general Petko Draganov said that developing countries will miss some of the stuff available on the Internet if they don't install more broadband infrastructure; a report that used your tax baht to compile said that quite a few people use mobile phones but companies are more likely to invest in countries with excellent broadband connections; no one ever had thought of this before, right?
Sun Microsystems , as a result of the Oracle takeover, said it will allow 3,000 current workers never to bother coming to work again; Sun referred to the losses as "jobs," not people; now the fourth largest server maker in the world, Sun said it lost $2.2 billion in its last fiscal year; European regulators are holding up approval of the Oracle purchase in the hope of getting some money in exchange for not involving Oracle in court cases.
The multi-gazillionaire and very annoying investor Carl Icahn resigned from the board at Yahoo ; he spun it as a vote of confidence, saying current directors are taking the formerly threatened company seriously; Yahoo reported increased profits but smaller revenues in the third quarter.
The US House of Representatives voted to censure Vietnam for jailing bloggers; the non-binding resolution sponsored by southern California congresswoman Loretta Sanchez said the Internet is "a crucial tool for the citizens of Vietnam to be able to exercise their freedom of expression and association;"Hanoi has recently jailed at least nine activists for up to six years apiece for holding pro-democracy banners. Iran jailed blogger Hossein "Hoder" Derakshan for 10 months - in solitary confinement.
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