JAKARTA – What if three of the most hair-raising characters from Japanese horror movies came to life and played baseball?

Sadako, a female ghost from The Ring, together with Kayako and her son Toshio from Ju-On: The Grudge, recently took part in a baseball game between the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters and Yakult Swallows in Japan.

Spectators gasped as the giant screen showed Sadako’s eerie signature entrance. Slowly, she walked to the centre of the field to throw the ceremonial first pitch, followed by a bloodied Kayako and Toshio.

Despite her sickly appearance, Sadako had quite some technique, packing a mean curveball. Kayako also showed some talent, hitting the ball at 96 kilometers per hour.

Sadako, Kayako and Toshio will soon return to the big screen for the ultimate horror mash-up Sadako vs Kayako. Directed by Koji Shiraishi, the movie is scheduled for release on June 18.

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YouTube screengrabs

China’s first-tier cities are becoming more tolerant toward diverse sexual orientation, experts and business leaders said during a job fair in Shanghai for people identifying as LGBT.

The Annual China LGBT Talent Job Fair late last month was the second of its kind to be held in China.

It was hosted by the nonprofit business network WorkForLGBT that advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

The fair attracted 34 companies－double last year’s number－and about 500 job seekers.

Major multinationals, including Starbucks, L’Oreal, PwC, Ford, 3M and Morgan Stanley took part, in addition to a handful of Chinese brands that included Blued, China’s largest gay social networking app, and Didi Chuxing, the country’s biggest car-on-demand service provider.

“All 34 companies that registered for our job fair this year pledged their support for inclusive policies for LGBT employees, including prohibiting LGBT workplace discrimination”, said Steven Bielinski, the founder of WorkForLGBT.

“This is an enormous step forward for the business community in China as they increasingly realize the importance of LGBT talent.”

China is thought to have between 40 and 70 million LGBT people.

The number is based on estimates generated from overseas surveys that suggest the LGBT population is usually around 3 to 5 percent of the total population.

Official figures about the size of the LGBT population are not available, and some experts say being openly gay in the workplace is still something the majority of LGBT employees in China can only dream of.

Bielinski said companies wanting to remain competitive in China need forward thinking and innovative HR programs and policies supporting the LGBT community.

These include nondiscriminating workplace policies, diversity and inclusion training programs that create a welcoming environment, as well as employee networks that allow LGBT employees an organizational voice.

Geng Le, CEO of Blued, told China Daily that China has made progress and become more inclusive in recent years.

He said the first-tier cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen as well as overseas companies, technological firms and the fashion industry were all very tolerant of LGBT culture.

But he said discrimination still exists within many native companies in traditional sectors.

“In terms of working capabilities, LGBT people are no different from straight people,” he added.

Geng was also one of the bosses looking for employees on a reality TV show for job seekers broadcast by Tianjin Satellite TV.

He said his participation in the TV show as an entrepreneur with a company that specializes in the same-sex sector shows how traditional TV has changed in the way it deals with the LGBT community.

Jobseekers at the LGBT job fair were pleased to attend.

“I was worried about whether there would be any discrimination from employers and whether people from outside the LGBT community would attend,” said Li Liang, 38, an IT operator.

“But when I arrived, those concerns disappeared quickly.” Li also said that, as a gay man, the biggest problem he has in the workplace is concealing his sexual orientation and feeling isolated.

“I can’t reveal my orientation to my colleagues,” he said. The topics of marriage and girlfriends make him nervous, and he has pretended to be in heterosexual relationships that do not exist.

Li Na, 28, delivered two resumes at the job fair and was seeking a position as an accounting specialist. “I was surprised and very happy to learn there was a job fair specially for the LGBT group. I told myself that I must be there,” she said.

Transport authorities are currently investigating an accident on Monday involving an American cargo plane at Incheon International Airport.

According to Incheon International Airport Corp. and the Transport Ministry, a UPS cargo plane failed to takeoff from the airport on Monday night after skidding off the runway, losing its front wheels.

Four crew members, including the pilot, were able to safely escape the aircraft, which was bound for Anchorage, Alaska, with approximately 100 tons of cargo onboard.

Although the runway is closed while the cargo and debris are being removed, Incheon Airport’s two remaining runways are fully functional. Authorities said it would take approximately three days to tow the plane.

The accident damaged six localizer antennas on the ground, which help to guide planes as they land. Airport authorities said that they expect the antennas to be fully repaired in approximately three months.

HONG KONG – A pro-democracy protester told Wednesday how he was kicked and punched during mass rallies in 2014 as seven police officers stood trial over the attack, which was captured on film and beamed around the world.

Civic Party activist Ken Tsang testified for the first time in the much-anticipated trial which kicked off last week.

All seven accused officers have pleaded not guilty.

Video footage of the assault, filmed by local media near the city’s government headquarters, shocked residents and dented their faith in the usually trusted police force.

Police have been criticised for their heavy-handed treatment of protesters during the rallies, which brought parts of the city to a standstill for more than two months. The demonstrators were asking for fully free elections for their future leaders.

Tsang, 40, said he was “assaulted” by seven men after he was subdued by police at a rally.

“I was dumped to the ground, then I was kicked and punched. I curled up my body with my face facing towards the wall,” said Tsang, dressed in a suit and yellow tie.

“I sensed I was beaten with (a) hard object. Someone stepped on me…I was in great pain. The pain lasted for a long time,” he said through an interpreter as the seven defendants sat stern-faced.

Tsang was also shown video footage in which prosecution lawyers asked him to identify himself. In one clip, he was thrown to the floor before several men kicked him in a dimly-lit corner next to an electricity substation.

The seven police, including senior officers, are charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent on Tsang, while one also faces an allegation of common assault.

They were suspended from duty after their arrests.

Tsang himself was sentenced to five weeks in prison for assaulting and resisting officers after he splashed liquid on police on the same night he was beaten.

Tsang has said the accusations against him were to distract attention from his case against the police.

Pro-police supporters gathered outside court, chanting “We support our police force” while several Tsang supporters carried yellow umbrellas, a symbol of the democratic movement.

Defence lawyers have said they will challenge the authenticity of the videos.

Footage captured by local network TVB and broadcast at the time showed a group of men hauling a handcuffed Tsang to a dark corner in a public park, where he was beaten.

One man stood over him punching him while three others were seen repeatedly kicking him.

Nearly 1,000 people were arrested during the rallies, with student leader Joshua Wong facing a verdict later this month.

He was acquitted Tuesday in another protest-related case.

The hearings come as tensions remain high in the semi-autonomous city, with fears growing that Beijing is tightening its grip.

Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997 under a “one country, two systems” agreement and enjoys much greater freedoms than in mainland China, but there are concerns those freedoms are being eroded.

Another 30 children in Fukushima have been hit by thyroid cancer, up from 16 in February following the threat of radiation exposure after its nuclear plant exploded in 2011.

This brings the total number of Fukushima children diagnosed with thyroid cancer to 131 while 41 are suspected of having it.

Revealing the latest figures on Monday (June 6), the prefecture government said the findings were based on a second survey that began in April 2014. In February, authorities reported that 16 children were found to have thyroid cancer in the same survey.

Kyodo News reported that most of the children monitored in the first survey conducted after the disaster were thought to be problem free when their thyroid glands were checked.

The first survey, which ran for three years till March 2014, covered about 300,000 children under the age of 18.

But Hokuto Hoshi, head of the survey panel and a senior member of the Fukushima Medical Association, debunked the correlation between the disease suffered by the children and radiation exposure, maintaining his earlier stand on the issue.

However, he noted the growing concerns about the increase in the number of cancer patients among Fukushima residents. Hence, the government would “further conduct an in-depth study”, Kyodo News reported.

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AFP, Reuters

On March 11, Fukushima residents suffered a double whammy when a 9.0-magnitude earthquake triggered a tsunami that devastated the coastal areas and caused meltdowns in three reactors at the Fukushima plant.

It was the world’s worst nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. About 16,000 people perished – most were drowned in waters which went up as high as 10 metres. About 2,500 are still missing

After the nuclear disaster, residents within a 20km radius of the No. 1 nuclear plant were evacuated. Last October, Japan confirmed the first case of radiation-linked cancer – a former Fukushima nuclear plant worker.

chenj@sph.com.sg

Radioactive Fukushima

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Reuters, AFP