My deepest apologies

I got so busy living in Japan that I forgot about telling you all about it. These past 2 months have taken me on some great journeys that I will be updating about shortly. A sneak peak...

* To much Sapporo beer got me crabs in northern Japan

* The "Obama for Obama" tour

*Fat guys in thongs is a sport in Hello Kitty Land

* School graduation had 46'900 bows

But for now I am going to publish an article that I recently wrote about HIV and AIDS in Japan. It is a little long for a blog but I think it has a lot of information and one person even told me it was good. Hey!!!!! Don't feel like reading about HIV/AIDS? Then here is the moral of the story....get tested even if you are in a monogamous relationship, wear a condom for the love of baklava, and NEVER think you in the clear for not contracting the disease. It is a world wide problem so get yourself educated and tested. Okay enough preaching. Read the article.

AIDS and HIV in Japan is a topic, which is not brought up much. Few conversations are being had about it, and even fewer articles are written about this topic, which is increasingly becoming a major problem for Japan. I have spent the better part of six months researching the epidemic and I feel as if I have only scratched the surface. About once a year an article or two pop up and they state the same thing with more current facts. Even the 2008 UNAIDS report, the most comprehensive and definitive voice on the world’s state concerning AIDS and HIV is filled with blanks and old information on Japan’s statistics. Starting up a conversation about the illusive topic is met with a lot of sucking teeth, clearing throats and blank, puzzled looks, the same reaction you get for asking for vacation time. What is most surprising is that the world’s second largest economic contributor has a rising rate of infection comparable to Sub-Saharan Africa. Japan has a problem y’all.

Before I get ahead of myself, let’s start at the beginning. Maybe you have heard about the blood tainting scandal that rocked Japan’s Ministry of Health. Here is what happened in a nutshell. In 1983 Japan imported 3.14 million litres of blood plasma and 46 million units of prepared blood products from the U.S, which were distributed and used throughout this country until 1986. Japan used these products to make their own blood supply. These supplies were said to be uncontaminated but unfortunately they were not. At that time though a company called BTL had begun manufacturing heat-treated blood products. This product was licensed by the U.S. FDA and proved to kill HIV in blood supplies. They offered this product to Japan but Japan refused for a variety of reasons like a "lack of evidence pointing to links between infection with HIV and the use of unheated blood products."(Japan Ministry of Health) And that Japan was not capable of competing with this product because it was "not prepared to make heat-treated agents itself". (Green Cross Corporation) So basically for fiscal reasons the product, which would have taken the first shipment of tainted blood off the shelf and replaced it with guaranteed HIV negative products, was rejected. Tainted blood was made and distributed and patients were never warned of the risk. Around 2’000 patients had become infected with HIV by 1990.

HIV infections were being reported as early as 1984 but nothing was documented until 1985, and still not until 1987 was any public knowledge made about HIV or AIDS. Hemophiliacs were the primarily infected people but Japan’s government created hysteria that the disease came via promiscuous foreigners and transmitted to sex workers. In 1989 a lawsuit was brought against the Ministry of Health and Welfare along with Japanese drug companies. A long investigation into multiple agencies and involving a number of officials facing murder charges dragged on until 2005 when a verdict of “guilty of professional negligence” was given to one individual who was sentenced to 2 years in prison.

The one thing Japan has got right when it comes to HIV/AIDS is the medical treatment. It may have taken them a little while to acknowledge the virus was here but once they did they put in place a system for those living with the disease to have support. At least financially there is little burden because of their universal health care. The government offers medicine at a very low rate, counseling and the latest treatments. There is just one little hitch, you cannot receive these benefits and remain anonymous. Privacy has gotten better recently but it is still not 100%. Going public means you face losing your job, friends, family, and being shunned by your own community. An opinion poll was taken a couple years ago and 45% of those surveyed said they would not work with an infected person. This idea that the disease should be kept hidden is one of the reasons the infection rat is rising so rapidly.
In addition to HIV/AIDS being a taboo topic, there is a lack of information being given to the public. This is the root of the problem. Currently there are over 14’000 people living with AIDS/HIV in Japan and that number is increasing by 13% each year. These are the reported cases. Experts believe it is closer to 35’000 people. The public is not being informed about testing and using condoms. Japan provides free and anonymous testing but many choose not to find out. Doctors estimate only 6-25% of sexually active people use condoms and that is usually only to prevent pregnancy. Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are “perceived to be someone else’s problem” says Shizuko Tominaga, a former health minister. The health ministry does have plenty of accurate information, and even offers it in five additional languages, all free and available at public health centers. Once a year there is even a “kenkou matsuri” or free HIV screening. In Nagano prefecture it coincides with a full check-up with interpreters on hand.
But educating the public needs to start early. Schools typically dedicate a class period year to sex education. It starts in junior high. The first year they learn about puberty, the second about pregnancy and the third about STIs. I asked why they do not dedicate more time to this subject and I was told that parents often don’t want their child exposed to the material for fear it will make them more sexually active. The education student’s get is more of an abstinence-only model versus promoting condom use and smart choices. The kids grow up to adults and still safe sex is not discussed. On top of this there is the belief that asking your partner to wear a condom is like calling them dirty. I discussed this with a lot of friends and once we got pass the uncomfortable giggles they opened up some. They confirmed all these things saying that they don’t really bring up condom use ever. One friend had never even heard about HIV and AIDS in Japan until a tiny article was printed in a local shopping magazine. None of them had ever considered being tested, stating that “it was someone else’s problem”. Those people they talk of are homosexuals and sex workers. A comment like this shows a lack of understanding about HIV/AIDS and safe sex, but I can see some of their reasoning. Sixty-three percent of new HIV infections happened because of homosexual relations. Another 23% come from heterosexual, 1% from drug use, and the remaining amount is unknown. The largest age range affected is 30-39 year olds, but among the heterosexual community it is 40 year olds and above and mainly men. Although in the foreign community it is women under the age of 30. So what experts say is that men are having unprotected sex at those special clubs we all know about, then they bring it home to their wives.

The main thing here is that while no country has figured out the best way to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic, Japan seems to be further behind than most people. They have access to the latest technologies and information. In spite of all of their social achievements, the problem lies in the mindset of its people. Acknowledging a problem can be hard to do, and changing minds can be even harder. A country who is facing a serious decline in population, staying quiet and uneducated is killing them.