A new immigrant touches the promised land (Photo: AFP)
In 2009, for the first time in a decade, the number of immigrants to Israel rose from the previous year. Approximately 16,200 immigrants arrived in Israel from around the world over the last year, marking a 17% percent rise from 2008 when 13,860 immigrants made Aliyah, according the Jewish Agency and Israel’s Ministry of Immigration Absorption.
Noteworthy immigration includes Aliyah from countries with very small Jewish communities. In 2009, the figures included: 3 from Japan, 3 from China, 2 from Honduras, and one from each of the following countries – Martinique, Madagascar, Kenya and Taiwan. 4 others preferred Israel to Hong Kong, and a similar number came from the Island of Mauritius.
Robert Downey Jr.: “I probably should have seen there was a sign that said ‘No Felons Allowed’. That was in English and Japanese, and I haven’t had that expunged yet. You can actually get things expunged, but I’ve been pretty busy. I was detained, I was interrogated. God, it was a blast.” When Letterman asked, “Haven’t you kind of settled up, sort of ‘paid your debts’ to whatever that was, to whoever…” Downey Jr. cracked another joke: “Clearly I haven’t paid my debts to Japan.”
The U.S. Embassy in Tokyo reissued its July 10, 2009 warning advising American citizens from frequenting bars and clubs in the Roppongi area of Tokyo due to drink-spiking incidents. As stated in the American Citizenship Services (ACS) Newsletter, the U.S. Embassy “continues to receive reliable reports of U.S. citizens being drugged in Roppongi-area bars.”
