Live 8

I've just started listening to the Live 8 concerts in Hyde Park via BBC Radio over the net. Why? Well, it because I can;t find any coverage of the concerts on Japanese TV. I;ve gone through all the channels more tha once, just in case it was on an ad break, and there's nothing.

But at least teh BBC is there to provide me with some coverage. I have access to all the radio channels which are covering the concerts. I also have access to the news pages too. Looking around I found this article. It says that the Live 8 concerts started in Tokyo with acts including Rise, Bjork, McFly and Good Charlotte. But it also says "Some 10,000 fans attended, although the arena was only half full." I'm both surprised and not surprised to hear this. I'm sur[rised because I thought the gig would be packed out. But then not surprised because Ive not seen any kind of promotion for Live 8 at all in Japan. It;s only because I've been listening to BBC Radio over teh internet that I;ve known abotu teh event. There's been no posters, no magazine campaigns, no TV ads, no nothing.

To be honest, this disappoints me. I thought Japan was compasionate enough to recoginise and promote ideas such as Live 8 and "Make Poverty History". From my point of view, Japan seems happy to ignore these issues. This upsets me and I feel like I should do something about it. Maybe I should be more assertive in lessons and introduce global issues.

It might be the only way my students will get to know about Africa, Debt and the inbalance between Developed and Developing nations.

UPDATE: Just found this article on teh Japan Times website. Apparently the Japan concert was a last minute addition to Live 8. Still, if it had been advertised more so people knew about it maybe it wouldn't have been such an anti-climax.