There is one place in Japan that helps couple conceive a child. Known as Tagata Jinja, a Shinto shrine, it symbolizes the strong spatial and temporal linkage of the people to the community of Komaki, which until comparatively recently was a farming area. The Hounen festival at Tagata shrine is one of the most famous (or infamous?) festivals in Japan. Amongst foreigners visiting Aichi Prefecture it is frequently referred to as the "penis shrine", or "Japanese penis festival", primarily due to the ancient Hounen Matsuri (a festival celebrating fertility and renewal), which is held here every March 15th.

Every year on 15 March a huge two and a half meter wooden phallus is carried the short distance between two shrines attracting visitors from all over Japan and international media attention. The festival is fun with a lot of sake drinking, however the background of the festival is rather more serious. A shrine is a place of worship. It houses divine spirits and preserves the memory and practice of many aspects of Japanese culture. This file is intended to introduce some of the history, mythology, rituals, and customs of Tagata Jinja.

Tagata Jinja is believed to be about 1500 years old, due to discoveries in 1935 of an ancient sword and extensive pottery fragments. These days the shrine is surrounded by suburbia, but until recently it was surrounded by a forest called "Agata", a name believed to have derived from the name of one of the rulers of the local area during the end of the Yamato period (approx 3rd-5th century AD). These rulers were warriors who settled the area from Nara as the emerging feudal Japanese state defeated and displaced indigenous Ainu tribes and pushed its frontiers to the east. According to the official history of the shrine, the daughter of the feudal lord was called Tamahime, and was bethrothed to Takeinadane. The tradition holds that Takeinadane was killed in a distant battle and that his wife and children (and powerful father in law) developed the area. Tagata Jinja stands on the site of Tamahime's residence, and she is the principal deity (called kami in Japanese) enshrined here.

The bell at Shinmei shrine is a little different from the usual Enshrined as Tamahime-no-mikoto, she is worshipped in the main sanctuary of the building called the honden. This is the main shrine building. Behind and to the left of this structure, you can find another building called the Shinmeisha which contains a large number of natural and man-made objects, almost all of which are either shaped like a penis or have some phallic theme. It is important to understand that the worship is not of the phalli, but instead a worship of the earth, of the power that nature has through renewal and regeneration. It is this context that provides the phallus with its significance.

With everything from penis shaped candy to suck on, phallus keychains, azuki filled dumplings in the shape of the male member, and small wooden objects to take home as souvenirs, it is easy to think that it is the phallus that is being worshipped. This is not the case.

Each of the hundreds of objects in the shrine buildings are essentially offerings to the enshrined deity, and are venerated as such. In the past, the shrine often lended these phalluses to those in need, for example a couple wishing to conceive, an individual searching for a suitable spouse, or to cure childhood illnesses. The objects were returned with interest, for after the desired result was obtained the borrowed phallus was returned to the shrine, along with a new object donated in gratitude.

However what the veneration is about though is the worship of a feminine deity. The kami is female and embodies fertility and fecundity. Not far from Tagata shrine there is another place of worship called Ogata (Oogata) Jinja, where the objects are representative of female genitalia. In an agricultural community, the sacred feminine was worshipped, and the rituals that have survived to this day at the Tagata shrine were celebrations of this, conducted in order to ensure bountiful agricultural harvests, regeneration and renewal as well as human birth. In this way the Hounen matsuri is similar to other fertility rituals around the world. Hounen means bountiful year. The festival is held 15th of March because spring is the time of regeneration where seeds sprout and dormant trees and plants that seem to be dead come back to life.

Originally the phallus was much smaller and attached to a straw effigy of a samurai warrior, possibly representing Takeinadane. However in time this was considered a bit too risque even for a fertility ritual, so the effigy was discarded and the phallus was paraded by itself.

As its size was still about 1 meter long, the phallus was paraded by itself, carried by 4 or 5 people. This practice was later altered with the partial shielding of the phallus by a small portable shrine (mikoshi), the same style that houses it today. As if to compensate for not being fully revealed, the size of the phallus has grown considerably over the years until it is now about 2.5 meters (13 feet) long and weighs 280 kilograms (620 pounds). It protudes from both ends of the portable shrine, and when considering the extra weight of the later, the bearers are basically struggling under a weight of 400 kilograms (885 pounds). Some 60 men in total (sometimes more) work in teams of 12 to deliver it to Tagata Shrine.

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For those who frequent Asian car shows, the event always comes tinged with a touch of glamour in the form of scantily clad ladies acting as the car's ultimate accessory.

But do these models really help attract buyers or they are like potholes on the road to higher sales?

The question seems to be leaning towards the negative response as car manufacturers tries to trot out ever-more responsible vehicles. Automotive news report that anime-looking and scantily clad ‘booth babes’ in last year’s motor shows from Korea, China to Japan were frowned upon as being in poor taste. In fact, some car show aficionado joked that auto salon kitsch was in such short supply as to now be considered an endangered species.

It was also observed by some South Korean carmakers that a good number of female models usually don't attract buyers. Instead, it drives thousands of camera-wielding men snapping pictures of young women models in revealing costumes whose images quickly make their way to Web sites in the world's most-wired country.

"We would rather have the spectators' attention on our cars than the attractive ladies," said Hyundai Motor Company spokesman Jake Jang in an interview a few years back.

Hyundai, the world's sixth-largest car maker, has hired fewer models for the several events now and its affiliate Kia is planning to do the same. Renault Samsung Motors has also started to change the attire of its models from miniskirts to more modest business suits and gave them handheld computers to help answer questions.

"When we look at motor shows overseas, the foreign brands did not have models with provocative clothing," one Renault Samsung said when assured that his identity will be withheld. "It only seems to commercialize women and we want the car to shine, not the women."

At Paris, for instance, a more tastefully dressed young woman provided a noteworthy contrast to the demure charms of a Fiat 500 painted in 2011’s hot – or should we say “haute” – color: matte black.

This blog applauds this enlightened thinking, but if fewer cars move off dealers' lots, we're guessing the pulchritudinous pitch-people will go back into high gear soon.

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A study by the International Labour Organization (ILO) entitled, “Global Employment Trends 2012:
Preventing a deeper jobs crisis” reported that the year 2012 will be faced with serious jobs challenge and widespread decent work deficits.

The study further stated that after three years of continuous crisis conditions in global labour markets and against the prospect of a further deterioration of economic activity, there is a backlog of global unemployment of 200 million – an increase of 27 million since the start of the crisis. In addition, more than 400 million new jobs will be needed over the next decade to avoid a further increase in unemployment. Hence, to generate sustainable growth while maintaining social cohesion, the world must rise to the urgent challenge of creating 600 million productive jobs over the next decade, which would still leave 900 million workers living with their families below the US$ 2.00 a day poverty line, largely in developing countries.

Given these labour market challenges, it appears that the outlook for global job creation will become worse. The baseline projection of the study also shows that no change in the global unemployment rate between now and 2016, remaining at 6 per cent of the global labour force. This would lead to an additional 3 million unemployed around the world in 2012, or a total of 200 million, rising to 206 million by 2016.

If downside risks materialize and global growth falls to below 2 per cent in 2012, ILO estimated that global unemployment would rise more rapidly to more than 204 million in 2012, at least 4 million more than under the baseline scenario, with a further increase to 209 million in 2013, 6 million more than under the baseline scenario. Alternatively, under a more benign scenario – which assumes a quick resolution of the euro debt crisis – global unemployment would be around 1 million lower than under the baseline scenario in 2012, and 1.7 million lower in 2013. This would still not be sufficient to significantly alter the trajectory of the global unemployment rate, which is projected to remain stuck at around 6 per cent.

Among the various sectors, the study predicts that the youth or those between 15–24 years of age will be most affected. In 2011, for instance, 74.8 million youth aged were unemployed, an increase of more than 4 million since 2007. The global youth unemployment rate, at 12.7 per cent, remains a full percentage point higher than the pre-crisis level.

Globally, young people are nearly three times as likely as adults to be unemployed. In addition, an estimated 6.4 million young people have given up hope of finding a job and have dropped out of the labour market altogether. Even those young people who are employed are increasingly likely to find themselves in part-time employment and often on temporary contracts. In developing countries, youth are disproportionately among the working poor. As the number and share of unemployed youth is projected to remain essentially unchanged in 2012, and as the share of young people withdrawing from the labour market altogether continues to rise, on the present course there is little hope for a substantial improvement in near-term employment prospects for young people.

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Online access to bank account has been a problem for many home-based entrepreneurs for several years now, but it may come to end soon. Citibank is now offering ease and comfort for enterprising people who want to get more information and services from their credit cards and bank accounts right in the comfort of their own home. They even adopted the mobile banking application for Android phones to get in touch with Citi Mobile Payments.

The main purpose of this tool was to help track bank accounts, pay bills, transfer funds, view electronic statements and allow entrepreneurs to experience online banking services without having to go to the bank through the Citibank Online.

The Citibank’s mobile banking application or App for Android phones will also show its users shopping and dining offers exclusively for Citibank customers wherever they may be. This could easily be done by downloading from the Marketplace application in the Android phone.

"It is simple to navigate, assures you of secure access and has world-class banking features that allow you to do your transactions whenever you wish," said Roy Villareal, Consumer eBusiness director. "It even has a personal budgeting tool that can help you keep a close watch of your credit card expenses by creating a monthly budget for all your spending."

However, some sceptics are not too excited with this new application. Even if this is still new to many people and no known issues have been identified so far, some consumers are worried about the security measures the application has adopted. There are several cases in the past where mobile applications were hacked to either steal the user’s identity or to open their accounts and transfer their money without difficulty.

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For the past five years, IBM has come up with a list of five innovations it believes will become popular within the next five years. In this, the sixth year, IBM revealed to the public a list of mind-boggling and unbelievable innovations that it believes will gain traction to change the way people work, live and play.

"At IBM, we are bridging the gap between science fiction and science fact on a daily basis," said Lope Doromal, chief technologist of IBM Philippines.

Hold on to your sci-fi novels, because some of these are pretty far out there. And some of them, well, I wish we had them today to help us change the future of this planet:

1. Anybody can power their homes with the energy that they created themselves.
2. Nobody will ever need a password again.
3. Mind reading is no longer science fiction.
4. The digital divide will cease to exist.
5. Junk mail will become priority mail.

According to IBM, the next Five in Five is based on market and societal trends as well as emerging technologies from their labs around the world that can make these transformations possible.

On the power that can be generated to power a home, IBM explained that anything that moves or produces heat has the potential to create energy that can be captured. From walking, jogging, bicycling to the water flowing through the pipes has energy. Advances in renewable energy technology will allow individuals to collect this kinetic energy, which now goes to waste, and use it to help power homes, workplaces and cities.

On the claim that password will not be necessary anymore, IBM said that the biological makeup is the key to individual’s identity, and soon, it will become the key to safeguarding it. Nobody will again need to create, track or remember multiple passwords for various log-ins.

On their observation that mind reading will no longer be a thing in science fiction literature, IBM scientists are currently researching how to link a brain to devices, such as a computer or a smartphone.

On their prediction that the digital divide will cease to exist, IBM explained that the global society, growth and wealth of economies are increasingly decided by the level of access to information. And in five years, the gap between information haves and have-nots will narrow considerably due to advances in mobile technology.

Incredulously, IBM also thinks that junk mail will become priority mail because unsolicited advertisements may feel so personalized and relevant it may seem spam is dead. At the same time, spam filters will be so precise nobody will ever be bothered by unwanted sales pitches again.


"Trends #4 and #5 are especially relevant to the Filipinos because of the prevalent use of smartphones and gadgets. In addition, the Philippines is considered the most social media-addicted market globally according to comScore.com," Doromal added.

However, how good IBM predictions really are? Well, their track record of predictions over the past five years has been somewhat mixed. For instance, in 2006 they predicted that everyone will be able to access health care remotely, from just about anywhere in the world; there will be a 3D Internet and mobile phones will start to read minds.

At this time, we all know that remote health care is a reality, but real-time speech translation is, well, not quite as real. Also, we still waiting for the 3D Internet, but those mobile phones are becoming awfully smart.

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Before business owners decide who among their applicants is best suited to manage new ventures and critical enterprises it may be better if they should try to read first the result of MasterCards survey on Consumer Purchasing Priorities - Money Management. The survey reports that women have stronger money management skills than men in areas such as everyday financing and planning but struggle around more complex financial concepts.

Respondents from across seven Asia/Pacific markets were asked about their ability to handle everyday budgeting; keeping track of expenses; paying bills on time; knowledge of compound interest, and whether paying minimum amounts on unstructured loans such as credit cards was a good idea. The survey then polled the consumers on various aspects of financial literacy such as their basic money management skills, investment knowledge and financial planning.

From the data gathered from 15 March to 27 April 2011 and involving 4,359 consumers, it appeared that women scored better than men in most markets when it came to tracking expenses regularly, but trailed when it came to understanding investments and inflation compared to their male counterparts.

The data collection was made via internet surveys, personal, telephone and computer aided telephone interviews, with the questionnaire translated to the local language wherever appropriate and necessary. The survey and its accompanying reports do not represent MasterCard financial performance.

Results also showed that both men and women were adept at budgeting for their everyday finances-eight out of 10 respondents overall said they could handle budgeting. The survey also found that women believed it unwise to only pay the minimum amount for unsecured loan facilities such as credit cards, led by New Zealand (76 percent women vs 73 percent men) and Hong Kong (76 percent women vs. 66 percent men).

Survey findings further revealed a generally weak understanding of the concept of compound interest across most markets, with the exception of Chinese women who had the highest score (47 percent), followed by Chinese men (37 percent), and Japanese respondents (men 33 percent, women 30 percent). Women were found to be more money conscious and better at keeping track of their spending more regularly than men. Women in both Australia and New Zealand (76 percent of respondents) were especially systematic account keepers.

Women also edged ahead of men in their prudence, with Taiwanese women leading in regular savings (96 percent women vs 92 percent men) and the belief in having three to six months’ emergency cash savings. In a majority of the markets surveyed, women also showed up as being more financially prepared in taking out insurance for anything unexpected, led by Taiwan (92 percent women vs 89 percent men).

Survey questions about more complex financial concepts-such as understanding inflation or investment-favored men, with a significant proportion of women unable to answer or answering incorrectly when questioned about the concept of inflation. In Japan, 65 percent of the women did not know the answer or answered incorrectly, compared with 49 percent of men, with Australia a close second from the bottom (63 percent women vs 49 percent men).

Similarly, women did not have a clear understanding of whether single company stocks provide safer returns than a diversified stock portfolio. Across seven markets surveyed, on average 63 percent said they did not know or answer incorrectly on whether a single company stock portfolio was better than a diversified one compared to 57 percent for men.

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