Saturday, May 26, 2012


Report on the Earth Festival Kanagawa 2012



    On the weekend of the 19 and 20th of May, the Earth Festival was organized in Yokohama-shi, in Kanagawa Prefecture. Putting under the spotlight the various ethnic groups and cultures of the people living in Japan, this very popular yearly event features food stalls, dances, music performances, a world bazaar and lots of fun.
   
    Starting from Saturday morning, and until Sunday evening, colorful and smiling artists followed one another on different stages offered by the organizers. Arriving from Hongo-dai station, a mere 10 minutes train ride from Kamakura, the festival starts with the world bazaar, a very calm and peaceful outdoor market with lots of handicraft, clothing, jewelry, and various hand-made items. Inside of the nearby Earth Plaza building was the main stage and many workshops and happenings in the different stairs.
   
    But the core of the festival was of course the busy, steamy and noisy food stalls village. Situated right under the bazaar, all around a little pool containing an island where musical performances and various talks were held, there was food from all over the world, from the Spanish Empanadas, Thai noodles, Bangladeshi curry and Nan, to Indonesian Lawar, Indian beer or Brazilian style churros. All the different smells, colors, faces made it a very enjoyable event.
APFS held a Bangladeshi food stall, featuring curry, tandoory chicken, kebab and lassi. The delicious coconuts chicken curry prepared by the team of Bangladeshi professional cook was a huge success! Thank you very much to all the people who came to the stand.

    Don’t hesitate to participate next year !

Monday, May 21, 2012

Fourth hearing of the trial for compensation for Mr. Suraj

Today from 4PM in the court room 705 was held the fourth hearing of the trial aiming at State compensation for the incident that led to M. Suraj’s death.



The seats for the public were full again, which has a great importance for the following of the trial.
The state didn’t hand out the documents explaining their objection by the designated deadline of the 14th of May, and will have to do it by the 20th of June.

Regarding the dishonesty of the State, the Judge also referred to the fact that the criminal case does have to progress in any way.

He strongly stated that the state has to present objections by the next hearing. The points at stake becoming clear, we will be able to make progress.

After today’s trial we moved to the LAwyers building where the Attorneys at law spoke about the progress of the trial up until now, perspectives from now on and such topics (as shown on the picture).

Many questions were asked by the participants, and we were able to share with each other the cruelty and the irrationality of the incident.

The next hearing will take place in the court room 705 of Tokyo District court from 11 :30AM on the 30th of July.

Please everyone, come as an observer to the hearing, every single person lends a great power to the case.