Daily Archives: October 26, 2014

Osamu Dazais No Longer Human comprises a series of three fictionalized notebooks, with each increasingly darker than the last. The character writing these books, Yozo, is detached from the beginning and is afraid of human interactions, but he learns how to socialize with people by playing the clown and entertaining his way into favor from a young age. Yet his alienation remains, despite how he may appear from the outside.

No Longer Human, by Osamu Dazai, Translated by Donald Keene. New Directons, Fiction.

People talk of social outcasts, Dazai writes through Yozo. The words apparently denote the miserable losers of the world, the vicious ones, but I feel as though I have been a social outcast from the moment I was born.

After Yozo moves to Tokyo, he is captivated by the combination of the allure of women and alcoholic mirth, yet his enjoyment of life soon dissipates as he develops an alcohol addiction, and even the love of women does little to alleviate his internal suffering. The work recalls Fyodor Dostoyevskys Notes From the Underground, another novel about a misanthropic young man alienated from society and sickened by humanity in general.

Although the events of No Longer Human bare similarity to Dazais own personal life, the blunt style without sentiment or nostalgia distances it from the tone of an actual autobiography. The novel has a timeless quality: The struggle of the individual to fit into a normalizing society remains just as relevant today as it was at the time of writing.

Read archived reviews of Japanese classics at jtimes.jp/essential.

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No Longer Human

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN: Brunei Civil Society Organisations attended a dialogue which was held recently between the Asean Secretary-General, Asean Secretariat, Asean Committee of Permanent Representatives (CPRs) and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) from October 22-24 in Jakarta, based on the theme of a "Human Rights Roadmap", which was raised by the CSOs for the purpose of providing input for the new Asean Community 2016-2030 blueprint.

The blueprint is to focus mostly on human rights as well as effective and meaningful ways for civil society to engage with the regional bloc. CSO participants came from non-governmental organisations and think-tanks representing member states.

Asean Secretary-General, Le Loung Minh, welcomed the CSO representatives alongside Deputy Secretary General for Community and Corporate Affairs, AKP Mochtan.

The CSOs inputs were in the form of a summary statement regarding the human rights roadmap after 2015 and was presented to officials at the gathering.

The CSOs took note that the Asean Charter and the Post-2015 Asean Community Blueprint are reflections of the bloc's commitment to the protection and promotion of human rights in the region, however, not all the actions in the blueprints are consistent with the principle of human rights.

Human rights are virtually ignored on provisions related to free trade, labour mobility, traditional security, trafficking in persons and the issue of identity. "All human rights are cross-cutting, inherent, interrelated, indivisible and should concern everyone," was the message reiterated by the CSO statement.

It is important that the Post-2015 Asean Community Blueprint not only focuses on building an integrated society but also develop a roadmap towards achieving human rights and equality. A roadmap in which people are treated as the rights holders and key actors in the decisions that affect them making the aspiration of Asean to be people-centred a reality.

Brunei CSOs were represented by Vice President 1 of the Brunei Council on Social Welfare, Nur Judy Abdullah, and Head of the Youth Entrepreneurship Programme and International Relations Unit at the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, Ak Kamal Ghadafi Pg Hj Suhaimi.

Brunei's CSO representatives had the opportunity to meet Permanent Representative of Brunei Darussalam to Asean, Emaleen Abdul Rahman Teo, during the third Asean Community dialogue between the CSOs and the CPRs.

The Centre for Strategic and International Studies and Human Rights Working Group supported by the Embassy of Switzerland in Jakarta organised the dialogue which was based on 'The Future of Human Rights in Asean Community: Opportunities and Challenges'. BRUDIRECT.COM

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Human Rights Among Others Discussed At Asean Meeting In Jakarta

TIME Business Saving & Spending The 10 Most Livable Countries in the World Michael EchteldGetty Images/Flickr Select A surprising number one pick

This post is in partnership with 24/7 Wall Street. The article below was originally published on 247WallSt.com.

Based on the most recent release of the Human Development Index by the United Nations Development Programme, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the most and least livable countries. Data from the Human Development Index is based on three dimensions of human progress having a long and healthy life, being knowledgeable, and having a good standard of living. According to the index, Norway is the most livable country in the world, while Niger is the least livable.

One factor that influences a countrys development is its income. The U.N. used gross national income in its calculation of the Human Development Index to reflect the standard of living in a country. In the most developed countries, gross income per capita is generally quite high. All of the worlds 10 most livable countries had among the top 30 gross national incomes per person. The top-rated country, Norway, had the worlds sixth highest gross national income per capita of $63,909.

At the other end of the spectrum, the worlds least developed countries typically had very low incomes. Six of these 10 least livable nations were among the bottom 10 countries by gross national income per capita. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, which had the lowest gross national income per capita in the world, at just $444 last year, was the second least developed country worldwide.

Click here to see the 10 most livable countries

Similarly, these countries also generally had extremely high percentage of their populations living on just $1.25 a day or less, adjusted for purchasing power. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in Burundi, more than 80% of the population lived on less than $1.25 per day.

Life expectancies, another factor considered in the Human Development Index, were also far better in highly developed nations. Switzerland, Australia, and Singapore were all among the top rated countries with life expectancies greater than 82 years for individuals born in 2013. By this metric, the United States is a relative laggard. The median life expectancy at birth in the U.S. of 78.9 years was ranked just 38th worldwide.

For individuals born in the worlds least developed nations, the average life expectancy was far lower. In all but one of these nations, a person born in 2013 had a life expectancy of less than 60 years. Sierra Leone, the fifth-lowest ranked nation, had the worst life expectancy, at just 45.6 years.

Sadly, among the factors contributing to these low life expectancies are, almost certainly, high mortality rates for infants and young children. Sierra Leone, which had the lowest life expectancy, also had the highest mortality rates for infants and children under five, at 117 deaths and 182 deaths per 1,000 live births.

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The 10 Most Livable Countries in the World