Israel and Japan



Most of what we hear about Israel is what we hear on the news - bombings, assasinations, the building of fences. I didn't know much about Israel before Liat and Mike, members of Israel at Heart's current delegation to the US, talked about life in Israel as twenty-somethings. Liat came to Israel as a child, from Ethiopia. Her family walked for 12 days and stayed in a refugee camp in Egypt (?) for a year and a half before they were finally flown to Israel. There were casualties along the way and in the refugee camp, which she said was the worst experience she has ever had. Mike was born and raised in England. He moved to Israel when he turned 18, leaving his parents behind, and was drafted into the military and served for two years. He told us about how difficult it was to defend yourself against a Palestinian child who has been trained to attack. Before Saturday night, I had felt little empathy to the cause of the Jews in Israel. But listening to them talk about the sense of belonging that they felt in Israel, I felt their passion towards their country. Liat's coming to Israel was the end of a two-year-long journey, and Mike could have chosen to stay in England. Surely he wouldn't have been dodging bombs or carrying an M-16 there. This year, Joey Low brought 40 students to the US to talk about Israel. As far as I know, he founded the organization and takes care of the funding himself.



Israel at heart is an independent entity, whose single concern is the well being of Israel. We wish to do everything we can to promote a better understanding of Israel and its people. We are not part of any Jewish organization, do not represent any government agency or political party and are, therefore, free to express ourselves in any way we wish.



We believe that Israel has been unfairly portrayed in the media. It is not simply that it has gotten a bad deal from the world press, but more importantly, its significance as the only free democratic society in the Middle East has not been conveyed to the public at large. We are hopeful that if people truly understood what their Israeli counterparts are going through, they would be more supportive of Israel?s struggle.



While we aim to reach as diverse a group as possible, we have specifically chosen college campuses as the centerpiece of this effort. By targeting the leaders of tomorrow and one of the most misinformed groups, we think we can have the greatest impact. Accordingly, we think Israel?s best ambassadors are likely well-educated students that are fluent in the language of the country they visit. These Israelis have completed their military service and are between the ages of 21 and 27. They carry opinion sets and life stories that demonstrate the diversity within Israeli society-one of its greatest assets. By simply telling the stories of their lives, we hope they can begin to change the way people see Israel and its people.



We hope our efforts will convince more people to take a trip to Israel, study after high school there, do a junior year abroad program at one of its many universities, call a friend to let them know they care, buy an Israeli product, and most importantly, educate themselves about the conflict, so they can defend Israel against verbal attacks by its enemies.



Our efforts to date have centered on speaking tours for groups of young Israelis like those described above. The success we?ve seen has been overwhelming, and we have just completed our biggest trip yet. We find that no matter who is in the audience, because the stories these Israelis tell are so real, people?s views are changed forever.





If you want them to speak at your school/organization, the email address is info@israelatheart.com.



Liat said that the kids over there basically live lives that aren't that different from ours. They go to clubs and hang out with their friends. She said travelling to Israel, with a group tour, is quite safe.

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If you left your umbrella in the subway in Japan, chances are it's at the Tokyo Metropolitan Lost and Found Center, which is four stories, and is filled up to the kazoo with umbrellas.



I am posting the full story from the New York Times because I think it's amazing.





Never Lost, but Found Daily: Japanese Honesty

By NORIMITSU ONISHI



Published: January 8, 2004





TOKYO, Jan. 7 ? Anywhere else perhaps, a shiny cellphone fallen on the backseat of a taxi, a nondescript umbrella left leaning against a subway door, a wad of cash dropped on a sidewalk, would be lost forever, the owners resigned to the vicissitudes of big city life.



But here in Tokyo, with 8 million people in the city and 33 million in the metropolitan area, these items and thousands more would probably find their way to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Lost and Found Center. In a four-story warehouse, hundreds of thousands of lost objects are meticulously catalogued according to the date and location of discovery, and the information put in a database.



Smaller lost-and-found centers exist all over Japan, based on a 1,300-year-old system that long preceded Japan's unification as a nation and its urbanization. More recently, it has apparently survived an economic slump that has contributed to the general rise in crime.



Consider that in 2002 people found and brought to the Tokyo center $23 million in cash, 72 percent of which was returned to the owners, once they had persuaded the police it was theirs. About 19 percent of it went to the finders after no one claimed the money for half a year.



If the original owner is not found after half a year, the finder can claim the object or money. But most finders don't bother making any claims, and the objects and proceeds usually end up going to the Tokyo government.



Hitomi Sasaki, 24, sporting a suntan and a nose-pierce, found $250 in a tray under a plant outside the restaurant where she works.



"I always hand in something I find, like purses," said Ms. Sasaki, who had come to claim the money after waiting half a year. "I imagine that a person might be in trouble, losing money or a purse."



"I used to live in Chicago, so I can tell you how wonderful this is," she said. "Inside the center, I saw a woman come to pick up an umbrella today. Only for an umbrella. It's something almost impossible to imagine in other cities in the world."



Children are taught from early on to hand in anything they find to the police in their neighborhoods. So most of the 200 to 300 people who come to the center every day take the system for granted, as did Tatsuya Kozu, 27, who had just retrieved his leather business card case.



"I'm glad," he said. "I just dropped by here to pick it up, since my office is nearby."



On a recent morning, shelves were heaving under bags containing lost items that spoke of the rhythms of commuting life: keys, glasses, wallets, cellphones, bags. A small bicycle helmet with "Suzuki" on it and a toy horse testified perhaps to a child's fickleness.



Skis and golf bags attested perhaps less to misplacement than to an abandoned hobby; unclaimed wedding bands perhaps spoke of the end of something larger.



Wheelchairs and crutches were harder to explain, though Nobuo Hasuda, 54, and Hitoshi Shitara, 47, veteran officials of the lost-and-found system, had well-rehearsed lines.



"I wonder what happened to the owners," Mr. Shitara said.



Mr. Hasuda said with a smile, "If they didn't need them anymore because they got better, it's a good thing."



One floor was a sea of umbrellas, the most commonly lost item ? 330,000 in 2002, or 3,200 for every good rainfall ? and, at a rate of 0.3 percent, the least reclaimed.



The low rate is an indication of how rapidly Japan has grown rich in the span of a few generations. "In the past," Mr. Shitara said, "one person barely had one umbrella, or a family had to share one. So your father scolded you if you lost an umbrella."



Everything changes. Mr. Hasuda remembered that at a local lost-and-found center decades ago, people brought in cabbages, radishes, oranges and other vegetables and fruit they had found. Because the products would spoil, the police sold them at a bargain to the finders. Nowadays, fearing contamination, the authorities immediately dispose of any food.



The item with the highest return rate ? 75 percent ? is the cellphone, which has flooded the center in the last three years. Owners typically call their own phones, or the center traces the owners through their subscription and sends a notification postcard.



The lost-and-found property system dates to a code written in the year 718, according to Hideo Fukunaga, a former police official who wrote a book on the subject, "Notes on the Law on Lost Property."



Back then, lost goods, animals and, mysteriously, servants had to be handed over to a government official within five days of being found. After a year, the government took over the belongings, though the owner could still reclaim them. The code stipulated that people had no right to keep lumber found adrift in a flood.



In the 18th century, finders were given more rights and were rewarded with a certain value of the found property. Finders who did not hand in objects were severely punished. According to Mr. Fukunaga's book, in 1733 two officials who kept a parcel of clothing were led around town and executed.



A new law was created in the late 19th century and then reformed most recently in 1958. Currently, a finder must hand in an object to the authorities within seven days, or lose the right to a reward or ownership. In the case of lost money, if the original owner is found, the finder has the right to claim 5 to 20 percent of the sum, though usually it is 10 percent.



Today, the authorities are thinking of ways to update the system by creating an Internet listing of the items at all lost-and-found centers nationwide, or at least those in Tokyo. The system's survival, though, will depend less on technology than on simple honesty.



Last June, Tsutomu Hirahaya, 55, a photographer, found 13,000 yen ? about $120 ? on a counter at a betting booth. He handed over the money to an employee and left his name and address. A few weeks ago, he received a postcard from the police informing him the cash was his.



"I feel uncomfortable holding another person's money," Mr. Hirahaya said "I think many Japanese people feel the same way and hand over something they find. I think among Japanese there's still a sense of community since ancient times."





If you want to get your stolen phone back in Manila, you have to buy it back in Recto, where stolen things are re-sold.