European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 23, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 8 the stars and stripes sunday september 23,1990 another racist comment May Strain . Ties Tokyo apr a new japanese Cabinet minister has likened prostitutes in Japan to Black americans who move into White neighbourhoods and a ruin the  the remark was the latest in a series of gaffes by japanese officials who have offended american Minon to groups. It threatened to reopen an old wound in relations Between Black americans and the japanese government. Justice minister Sci Roku Kajiyama made the comment at a news conference Friday after observing a nigh to me raid on the Shin Juke District of Tokyo a notorious red Light District. A a it a like in America when neighbourhoods become mixed because Blacks move in and Whites Are forced out a Kajiyama said after watching police and immigration authorities arrest foreign women for alleged prostitution. Prostitutes Quot ruin the atmosphere of neighbourhoods in the same Way the 64-Ycar-old minister said. A Justice ministry spokesman confirmed the comments saturday after they appeared in japanese news reports. Shortly after the news conference the ministry issued a statement quoting Kajiyama As saying he meant to convey that people living in the Shin Juke area feel insecure and have been complaining. A i intended to say that we must take measures to solve this problem. I did not mean to talk about racial issues a Kajiyama said in the statement. The statement also said the ministers comments May have caused a misunderstanding a but it did not explicitly apologize. In observing the police raid Kajiyama was carrying out one of his first official duties As Justice minister. He was appointed last week to replace Shin Hasegawa who resigned because of illness. . Minorities have criticized Japan in recent years for similar statements made by japanese politicians As Well As advertising images and allegedly discriminatory hiring practices by  japanese companies. Sensitivity to racial issues a is a new ballgame for old survived attack lady Betty Terry still has a bruised Eye while recovering in a Hospital in Stafford England after an Ira shooting attack. Her husband sir Peter Terry retired Raf air chief marshal and former governor general of Gibraltar was seriously injured. Japanese politicians and they still done to know How to play it a said Patricia Steinhoff a University of Hawaii sociologist doing research in Japan. Quot there is a very High acceptance of discrimination in Japan a she said. A they done to realize this is out of Bounds elsewhere. The discriminatory comments have sometimes Arisen when politicians and other japanese Praise the a a homogeneity of Japan a population. American minority groups protested vigorously in 1986 when then prime minister Yasuhiro Nakasone said a on the average the United states is lower because of a considerable number of Blacks puerto Picans and  Nakasone said he was referring to literacy rate. He later apologized and said he realized his comment had a offended Many  but he did not retract his remarks. In 1988, Michio Watanabe policy chief for the governing Liberal democratic party said american Blacks have few qualms about going bankrupt and implied that they walk away from their debts. Prime minister Noboru Takeshita apologized for the policy chiefs remark. Later Watanabe also apologized. But the juror ignited a debate in Congress. The congressional Black caucus accused three japanese companies of producing products and mannequins that allegedly showed Blacks in a stereotypical and degrading Light. The products included wide eyed Black dolls with red lipped grins. The latest controversy comes at a time when american attitudes toward Japan have soured because of Trade tension and the belief that Japan has been slow in providing support in the persian Gulf crisis according to recent polls. Despite a Law outlawing prostitution in Japan it is a flourishing underground Industry. The number of foreign prostitutes has increased along with a flood of workers entering or staying in Japan illegally to earn highly valued yen. Mobsters Are known to recruit foreign prostitutes and operate bars and brothels where they  searing French coast Saint Maxime France up a rash of Forest fires whipped by Strong mistral winds continued to bum out of control saturday in Southern France after destroying More than 17,000 acres. About 1,000 residents were evacuated during the night and Many visitors were forced to sleep in their cars because of a Lack of accommodations in the Region. More than 1,200 firefighters were dispatched to Bat a tie the fires which spread Friday As winds reached up to 55 Mph. Several firefighting aircraft also were sent but wind limited their use. Hardest hit was the Massif Des Maures Mountain area West of Saint Maxime near the Mediterranean coast where some 12,000 acres of Oak and Pine forests were ravaged. Several dozen Homes were destroyed or damaged near the outskirts of the City and flames spread to a chemical warehouse in the area. A your primary objective is to save human lives a said Francois Robert commander for the firefighters adding that there was a a big difference Between what a needed to fight the fires and what a  around the coastal town of Cavalire some 4,000 acres were burned and some Homes were damaged. The flames appeared to be moving North. World today theft of painting blamed on Security problems Venice Italy apr Art experts called on saturday for More guards and improved Security systems after the theft of a 15th-Centuty painting from the correr museum in Central St. Marks Square. Lazzaro Bastianin a 20-by-16-Inch painting of the venetian doge Francesco Moscari was removed from its Frame in the second floor gallery of the City run museum. A i done to believe the painting can be sold because it is too Well known a said Giandomenico Romanelli director of the City a museums. The theft was carried out during regular museum hours Friday afternoon. Investigators theorize that the thief walked out with the painting hidden under his or her coat and then disappeared in the Busy Square. A by now its Clear we Are lacking personnel and Security systems to keep up with the crowds a Romanelli said. In August a painting by venetian master Giovanni Battista Tiepolo was stolen from the Academy Galley. But the thieves apparently unable to sell it sent it Back to police 20 Days  to 300 dead Reindeer leave Warden mystified Helsinki Finland a up to 300 dead Reindeer have been found at a Marsh in Finland a Northern wilderness and authorities say they can to figure out what killed them. Reindeer herders suggest a Wolf or other predator May have scared the Reindeer into the swamp. A game Warden agreed they were probably driven there by fear adding that he believes the animals later drowned or starved. A a in be never seen anything like it before. Hundreds of decomposed carcasses in a shallow Tundra marsh., just Bones and skeletons a said Warden Olavi Al Puranen a police officer serving As game Warden for More than 15 years. He said medical tests were impossible because he was unable to obtain samples from the skeletal remains. A Herder discovered the dead Reindeer near a Montekio. The site is More than 40 Miles from the nearest Village and close to the Borders of Sweden and  s suicide by fire triggers riots arson new Delhi India apr a student doused himself with fuel and burned himself to death saturday to protest the governments Job quota policy United news of India reported. The suicide set off riots Ana Large scale arson by students in kursk Shetraw 93 Miles North of new Delhi. The army was called out to bring the students under control the news Agency  in Hong Kong Rob Home of police chief Hong Kong apr two burglars posing As Telephone repairmen raided the Home of Hong Kong a police chief Friday stealing Gold ornaments and Cash police said. The thieves entered commissioner of police i Kwan has unguarded mansion on Hong Kong Island around lunch time when Only the commissioners wife and a maid were there police said. Police said that nobody was harmed during the incident. Long suffering wartime grads finally get ceremony London apr eighty two wartime University students attended their gradual Tremley patient Tion ceremony Friday 50 years after the original event was abandoned because of hitlers bombs. Old friends embraced and fought Back tears before the event at Manchester University in Northern England. A the University is so sorry to have kept you waiting for so Long a professor Brian Rodger told them. A you have been sex in 1940, the year they completed their degrees France had just fallen to the invading germans Hitler had begun his relatives applauded. The loudest clapping was for Una Andrews whose letter to the University prompted the special ceremony.  she had been sent a questionnaire by bombing Blitz on Britain and the umber is the University asking Veteran graduates to was in a a particularly nervous state a about their careers and wrote Back Sug Rodger said. The graduation ceremony Gesting that the University hold the Grad was cancelled a for fear of enemy  nation ceremony. At fridays belated ceremony the elder a i done to deserve any credit but it has by graduates lined up to be presented to the made a lot of people Happy. Many have Chancellor John Griffith As friends and come and thanked me said Andrews who lives in Cheltenham in southwestern England. Retired teacher John Wilson took the Opportunity to climb onto the University roof before the ceremony. He said he had spent Many hours there As a student watching for fires started by the German bombs. A it was a supremely uninteresting Job Quot Wilson said but i did see some bombs