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jp0001040
|
[
"national",
"media-national"
] |
2017/09/30
|
Japan's pensioners are literally getting older
|
Because of the election announced by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday, the new Cabinet he formed last summer to boost his falling support rate will do no work, since it was launched during the summer vacation and Abe dissolved the Diet as soon as it opened on Thursday. What this means is that Toshimitsu Motegi, the economic revitalization minister who was also appointed to the newest Cabinet portfolio, minister for human resources development, may never carry out any tasks in that latter role, which will disappoint a lot of journalists who are still scratching their heads trying to figure out exactly what the ministry does. The English name is more straightforward sounding than the Japanese one, which is hitozukuri kakumei tantō daijin , directly translated as Minister in Charge of the Revolution for Creating People, a phrase that sounds part Bolshevik, part sci-fi. As a number of media have pointed out, Abe’s second administration, despite its fondness for glib slogans such as “Make women shine” and “100 million working actively together,” has shown little interest in boosting social welfare programs. But this new ministry, as well as Abe’s campaign pledge to use revenues from the consumption tax for education and better day care, would seem to be reversing this policy. Or maybe it means something else. On Sept. 1, Japan’s financial newspaper, Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei), explained the government’s aim to extend the retirement age for civil servants to 65, starting in fiscal 2019. This summer, the Cabinet formed a study group of heads of government personnel departments to come up with a plan for revising the National Public Service Law by March, with the idea of passing the revision sometime in fiscal 2018. With the exception of some top bureaucrats, the current law stipulates that the retirement age for civil servants, whether national or regional, is 60. However, the government pension system changed in 2013, gradually pushing back the starting age for receiving pensions to 65 by 2025. That means retirees may not start receiving payments when they leave their jobs, so the government feels it should adjust the retirement age so that it matches the age when the retiree starts receiving their pension. The main problem is cost. If the retirement age is pushed back for civil servants, national and local governments will have to pay them for the extra years they put in, and civil servants get paid well — especially well at the end of their careers. The new law, therefore, would probably include some sort of provision to limit pay increases during these extra years. One way to do this would be to take away certain high-level workers’ titles that allowed them to receive automatic pay raises every few years. However, even if the worker’s salary remained the same for the rest of their time on the job, it would still cost the public more than if the person were replaced by a younger colleague, whose pay would be lower. But according to the article, the government is hoping for another change as a result of the civil servant pension revision. It wants the private sector to follow this lead and extend retirement ages as well. The Diet already put this idea in motion with the 2013 senior workers stability law, which says companies must retain employees until the age of 65 if those employees wish to keep working. Companies have three options in this regard: abolish their set retirement age, extend their set retirement age to 65 or re-employ workers after they retire. Presently, 16 percent of private employers have set their retirement age at 65, according to the labor ministry, and only 2.7 percent have abolished mandatory retirement ages. The government wants to increase these numbers and the revision to the National Public Service Law is a means of showing the private sector the way. There is a corollary to this plan, however, that Nikkei doesn’t mention, at least not in detail, and which seems to be the domain of the Ministry of Human Resources Development. As economist Takuro Morinaga explained on the Sept. 11 installment of Bunka Hoso’ “Golden Radio” talk show, no major media other than Nikkei covered the new government plan. Morinaga thinks it was more of a PR article than a piece of journalism: The government presented Nikkei with a bill of goods, which the paper was then supposed to sell to the business community that comprises its readership. The real objective is to promote the idea of extended employment as a means of alleviating the labor shortage. “I’m 60 years old,” said Morinaga, “and all my friends are reaching retirement age.” They all plan to keep working, he added, and most are in the private sector. The difference between company employees and the civil servants as described in the Nikkei article is that Morinaga’s friends are not going to make nearly as much money. He estimates they will get from one-third to one-half what they received before they reached retirement age. Private companies typically transfer or assign retired workers to lower paying positions. This is very different from the situation for civil servants, who may not enjoy any more pay raises, but at least won’t suffer pay cuts. “I’m not disparaging civil servants,” said Morinaga, “but they are protected by law, and it should be the same for private sector employees.” The real goal of the government plan, according to a Sept. 14 article in the online version of tabloid Nikkan Gendai , is to extend the retirement age — as well as the age for receiving pensions — to 75 for everyone. Doing so would not only ease the labor crunch, but also help the government save billions in social security. In 2014, the labor ministry admitted as much. This strategy, says Gendai, would also force older people to spend whatever savings they have, boosting consumption tax revenues that will help pay the salaries of all those civil servants who continue to work. The 100 million will definitely work together. Right up until they die.
|
shinzo abe;nikkei;toshimitsu motegi;tbs;nihon keizai shimbun;takuro morinaga;minister for human resources development;nikkan gendai
|
jp0001041
|
[
"national",
"media-national"
] |
2017/09/30
|
Should rail operators introduce men-only train carriages?
|
Men-only train carriages Commuting to work in Tokyo on crowded trains can be a tortuous affair, made worse by groping incidents that occur with a surprising degree of frequency. In an attempt to alleviate the problem, a number of rail operators have designated particular carriages to be women-only during rush hour. But what if rail operators were to introduce men-only cars? In June, market researchers Macromill asked 500 commuters living in Tokyo and Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba prefectures whether they would support the introduction of such cars. The results are as follows: 73.9%: The percentage of female respondents that backed the introduction of men-only train carriages. 26%: The percentage female respondents that opposed the introduction of men-only train carriages. 65.1%: The percentage of male respondents that backed the introduction of men-only train carriages. 34.9%: The percentage of male respondents that opposed the introduction of men-only train carriages. Women appeared to support the introduction of men-only cars because they thought it would lead to a reduction in groping. Men supported the idea based on the notion that it would reduce incidents in which they could face a false accusation of groping. Some said it was unfair to have women-only cars, but not men-only ones. (Natsumi Komiyama contributed to this report)
|
transportation;trains;railways;groping
|
jp0001042
|
[
"national",
"media-national"
] |
2017/09/30
|
'Ainori' reboot reflects attempt to attract a new generation
|
When Namie Amuro announced that she would be retiring in 2018, even those who weren’t hard-core fans were shocked to hear that the pop star who had been an influential part of their seishun jidai (coming-of-age) would be leaving the music industry. The news came less than a year after SMAP’s official retirement and as the idols that have dominated the entertainment industry for the past 10 to 20 years start to bow out of the limelight, television is looking for a way to attract its target audience. Several networks appear to be using nostalgia to woo an older crowd, rebooting shows that were once popular in the 1990s and 2000s. “Tokyo Friend Park II,” a popular variety show on TBS that ran from 1994 to 2011, returned to the airwaves with a three-hour special on July 3. What’s more, “Amazing Animals,” another variety show on TBS that aired from 1993 to 2009, was revived for a three-hour special in 2016 and returned to regular programming from July 1 this year. Reboots from the 1990s and 2000s are primarily gaining traction because they appeal to the arasa (around 30) generation that watched the shows as children and teens. TV networks are relying on a show’s original audience to tune in for a cast, storyline or concept they know and love, while at the same time introducing the series to a brand new generation. It isn’t only variety shows that are receiving the reboot treatment. Netflix has had success domestically and abroad mining content from the ’80s and ’90s. Popular American TV shows such as “Full House” and “Gilmore Girls” returned with the original cast members in 2016. Now there are even plans to bring back children’s shows such as “The Magic School Bus” and “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?” Netflix Japan recently announced it is resurrecting “Ainori” (literally, “ride together”), a popular reality show that featured seven young men and women looking for love while traveling the world in the show’s trademark pink van. The show was part travelogue, part dating show, with a twist that kept viewers hooked. When participants officially coupled up or were rejected by their love interest after a public declaration (or plea, depending how you looked at it), they would have to leave the van and return to Japan, which allowed new members to join the cast. According to the official Fuji TV website, the show visited 92 countries and brought together 44 couples, eight of which got married. The program ran for 10 years from 1999 to 2009. Twelve years after the show went off air, “where are they now” websites tracking the online presence and public appearances by former ‘Ainori’ members continue to keep fans up to date. As intended, the announcement of the reboot struck a nostalgic chord. Netflix Japan started auditioning new cast members on March 1 and the original concept remained unchanged: Participants must want to travel the world and find true love. Online users viewed the promotional video on the official Netflix JP Instagram more than 29,000 times, a huge increase compared to standard Netflix video posts that typically attract around 4,000 views. Instagram user @nonyunasara wrote, “Wow, ‘Ainori.’ I used to watch every episode. It’s been 10 years since then. I hope arafour (around 40) can enjoy it, too.” TV personality Becky publicized her role as the show’s MC with an Instagram post of a single chopstick rest. The post received more than 31,000 Likes. Comments from “Ainori” fans posted material on social media repeating the same sentiment: Natsukashii (That’s nostalgic). Instagram user @sakkkiiiiii said, “This really takes me back! I watched the show all the time! I’m looking forward to watching Becky on ‘Ainori.'” Becky herself stated that she is glad the reboot is staying true to the spirit of the original show. “What surprised me is that ‘Ainoi’ aired more than 10 years ago, but the show does not feel old at all,” she wrote on an Instagram post. “In fact, it might be perfect for this period. I would love to see young children enjoy the show.” Becky’s message reflects the network’s intention to serve multiple demographics. They want the best of both worlds by bringing back tried-and-true concepts to a generation yearning to revisit their youth, and drawing in the next generation of TV viewers on the cusp of adulthood.
|
netflix;becky;ainori;love bus;japan pulse
|
jp0001044
|
[
"national",
"media-national"
] |
2017/09/30
|
Gangsters prefer to do things by the book
|
Japan’s gangsters esteem tradition and prefer to do things by the book. As a result, they appear to love manuals — they have manuals for committing certain crimes as well as guides on how to avoid punishment for carrying out those crimes. Lately, however, gangsters don’t appear to be paying as much attention to the manuals as they used to. The Yamaguchi-gumi, the country’s largest crime syndicate, celebrated its 100-year anniversary in 2015. On Aug. 27 that same year, however, a number of powerful factions broke away from the syndicate and formed a new group called the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi. On April 30, a charismatic executive of the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi, Yoshinori Oda, left the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi to form a splinter group that called itself Ninkyo Dantai (Humanitarian Group) Yamaguchi-gumi. Members of the new syndicate held a news conference in which they criticized the other factions for being old-fashioned and violent. The response of the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi to that criticism appears to have been a traditional gangland-style assassination. According to the police department in Hyogo, three cars left Oda’s residence in Kobe’s Nagata Ward at 10:05 a.m. on Sept. 12. As the cars left the property, a vehicle containing members of the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi crashed into one of the cars, approximately 100 meters from the gates. Yuhiro Kusumoto, Oda’s 44-year-old bodyguard, got out of his vehicle and got into a shouting match with gang members from the rival syndicate. At one point, Kusumoto reportedly challenged the men saying, “If you’re going to shoot, then do it.” He was shot in the head and killed. The members of the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi then fled the scene, abandoning the car and taking the gun. There was also reportedly a man on a motorcycle in the area who was allegedly scouting for the shooters and a motorcycle helmet was later found near the scene of the crime. It was a textbook assassination — carried out in broad daylight, using a motorcycle for surveillance — but it was sloppy. Within a few hours, the police had identified one of the participants. and they issued a wanted notice within a few days. This was all a far cry from the Tokyo shooting of Ryoichi Sugiura, a leader of the Sumiyoshi-kai, on Feb. 5 in 2007. At the time, the Sumiyoshi-kai was in a territorial dispute with the Yamaguchi-gumi. At approximately 10 a.m., two men wearing motorcycle helmets approached his parked car on a motorbike and fired three shots through the back window, killing the 43-year-old. The perpetrators fled the scene, ditching the handgun and motorbike nearby. It took months for the police to catch them. On the other hand, the now-defunct Yamaguchi-gumi Goto-gumi led by criminal genius Tadamasa Goto excelled at these types of crimes, according to a National Police Agency report. “The division of roles is clear from the start,” the report says. “There is a preliminary inspection of the premises. The hit man, the lookout and the getaway driver come from different areas and don’t know each other. No one is apprised of who is actually in charge of the hit, making investigation impossible. They use passenger vehicles with plates taken from outside the prefecture when perpetrating crimes, thus making investigation difficult.” It took the Metropolitan Police Department more than five years to arrest most of the members of a syndicate involved in a 2006 hit on a real-estate agent. The Goto-gumi boss escaped punishment. The Goto-gumi manual of crime clearly wasn’t passed on the rest of the Yamaguchi-gumi when his organization fell apart. These days most gangsters are more focused on not getting caught for crimes rather than committing them effectively. The recent introduction of the conspiracy law has put the fear of God into gangsters, as they are becoming aware of how it could be used to prosecute them fairly — and unfairly — for any crime they commit. The Kodo-kai syndicate has even made a manual that advises gangsters how to avoid prosecution. Its manual does not pretend that crime syndicates don’t commit crimes. However, it does warn gangsters that they could be prosecuted for conspiring in a crime they had nothing to do with. Here’s some highlights from the manual: • “If a murder is discussed, or someone prepares a knife or other weapon, that could be sufficient grounds for being arrested. Even a person who withdraws money from an ATM could be arrested as a conspirator.” • “‘Liking’ a post on social media could be taken as evidence of approving of a criminal act and thus being involved in it. From now on, you should remember that emails and phone calls are monitored.” • “If you read a Line message about a criminal plan and don’t reply, you may still be regarded as a suspect.” • “When a gangster is arrested, give them notes from the lawyer and make sure they keep good memos on their interrogation.” Everybody needs guidelines to follow — even gangsters. The most frightening thing about all of this, however, is that upon reading the manual on how to avoid being arrested for criminal conspiracy, you realize just how easy it is for anyone to be arrested and detained for 23 days under the new law. Maybe we can learn from crime syndicates about how precarious our civil liberties can be. It’s a strange new world.
|
yamaguchi-gumi;yakuza;organized crime;kobe yamaguchi-gumi;yuhiro kusumoto
|
jp0001045
|
[
"national",
"history"
] |
2017/09/30
|
Japan Times 1992: 'Rush hour may be making "salarymen" fit'
|
100 YEARS AGO Saturday, Oct. 6 1917 Tokyo visited by the greatest typhoon A typhoon such as is rarely experienced in Tokyo at this time of year set in at about 1 a.m. on Monday and accompanied by heavy rain raged intermittently until dawn, causing considerable destruction and even deaths. The number of deaths from the typhoon and floods alarmingly increases hour by hour. According to the Metropolitan Police, the death toll in Tokyo is announced of 466, of which Kasai and Sunamura villages account for 336. These two suburban villages suffered most heavily from the floods, and the havoc wrought there and the suffering of the flood-ridden villages and beyond imagination. Todaijima, a small island off Urayasu-machi, Chiba Prefecture, was completely wiped out of existence by the sea, with all the islanders on it when the typhoon was at its height. It is reported that there were about 300 inhabitants on this little island, but not one of them has survived to tell the tale of the wholesale destruction. A relief party was dispatched to visit the island, but when it reached the scene it was greatly surprised to find nothing where it had once been. Meanwhile, it is reported that the coast of Kambe Village, Boshu, Chiba Prefecture, was invaded by the high seas and rice fields near the shore were swamped. On Monday, some farmers discovered, to their great surprise, five whales disporting themselves in the rice field under water and caught them all. Each whale is reported to measure over 20 feet in length. The typhoon is the worst storm to hit Tokyo Bay in the past 100 years. 75 YEARS AGO Tuesday, Oct. 20, 1942 Crew of U.S. bombers severely punished Captured members of the crews of the American warplanes that raided the mainland of Japan on April 18 who ignored the principles of humanity by bombing schools and hospitals and killing noncombatants have been severely punished in accordance with military law, according to a statement issued by the Chief of the Army Press Section of the Imperial Headquarters on Monday. The punishment was meted out as a result of the investigation of the captured enemy airmen, the statement said. Issued the same day was a proclamation by the commander of the General Headquarters for Home Defense to the effect that crews of any enemy aircraft raiding Japan, Manchouko or areas of Japanese military operations committing inhuman acts will be punishable even with death. During the investigations, it has been revealed that they stated that it was a proper act for them to deliberately bomb or burn hospitals, schools, civilian homes, etc that are not military establishments. They killed noncombatants even after clearly recognizing an objective as a primary school and seeing many children at play in the school grounds with the sudden thought of, “Let’s give the Japs hell,” diving and machine gunning deliberately and indiscriminately. On the grounds that the Japanese cannot tolerate such a cruel and depraved mentality nor such a cowardly and outrageous action, the army has, therefore, in accordance with military law, severely dealt with these Americans who have perpetrated such an outrage against humanity. 50 YEARS AGO Monday, Oct. 2, 1967 Ginza sees first and last Japan Times ‘tram tour’ Perhaps the most curious sight on the Ginza Sunday was a caravan of five street cars full of assorted gaijin, sprinkled with a very few English-speaking Japanese. The occasion, of course, was The Japan Times’ first and last annual Ginza Streetcar Tour — the first, because nobody thought of it before, and the last because the Ginza streetcars are due to disappear by the end of the year. One hundred and ten passengers, mostly Caucasian and ranging in hair color from strawberry blond to billiard bald, joined the tour, which began at Shinagawa Station and ended at Hyakkaen Garden near the Sumida River. Unfortunately, a light drizzle prevented the complete exploration of Hyakkean Gardens, where a closing party was held, but few seemed to care as they cozily huddled in the garden’s shelters, enjoying their free beer and peanuts and taking in the scenery, which included the international array of passengers themselves: Germans and Filipinos speaking English; Americans and Europeans speaking Japanese; and a healthy number of charming young ladies. 25 YEARS AGO Saturday, Oct. 10, 1992 Rush hour may be making ‘salarymen’ fit Weaving in and out of rush hour throngs to keep pace with a break-neck work schedule has helped Japanese men grow stronger and more agile over the past decade, researchers suggested Friday. Surprisingly, Japanese fathers, much-maligned as weekend couch potatoes, actually registered better scores in a battery of five strength and agility tests than their counterparts 10 years ago. Led by Tsukuba University professor Yoshiyuki Matsuura, researchers suggested that one cause for the improvement was a reduction in work hours and introduction of two-day weekends in some companies, allowing office workers time to recover physically. The team also suggested that the stress-laden life of the “salaryman” has led to physically stronger specimens. Men in all age groups living in metropolitan areas scored better that those in the countryside in a timed side-to-side jumping test, which researchers said approximated the office workers’ efforts to avoid colliding with people during rush hour. Men aged 30-59 registered their best average time since 1974 in the zigzag basketball dribble test and about a second better than the average 10 years ago. In the side-to-side jumping test for agility, the men in each group, with the exception of the 45- to 49-year-olds, managed an average of two to four more jumps during the 20-second test period than their counterparts in 1974.
|
tokyo;wwii;military;weather;world war ii;fitness;ginza;typhoons;trams;agility
|
jp0001047
|
[
"national"
] |
2017/09/24
|
Kyoto's pricey lodging tax plan spurs fierce debate over necessity, tourism impact
|
KYOTO - A necessity for improving Kyoto’s tourism infrastructure or a bad decision that might convince tourists to go elsewhere? That is the question being asked in Kyoto following an announcement by the city earlier this month that it plans to levy a lodging tax of ¥200 to ¥1,000 ($1.80 to $9) per night on most visitors starting in autumn 2018. The proposal is expected to pass this week. Kyoto’s new tax structure covers all facilities, including minpaku (private lodging), regardless of their rates. With the exception of students on official school trips, all visitors face a per-night tax of ¥200 for any facility that charges up to ¥20,000 a night, ¥500 for facilities charging between ¥20,000 to ¥49,999 a night, and ¥1,000 for those charging ¥50,000 or more. Tokyo introduced its own lodging tax in October 2002, charging ¥100 to ¥200 per person per day for rooms costing ¥10,000 or more. Osaka followed suit in January this year, introducing a tax of ¥100 to ¥300 for rooms costing ¥10,000 or more. What makes Kyoto’s proposal different is that it extends the surcharge to those who stay at facilities that cost under ¥10,000 a night. Also, the ¥1,000 charge for the top-end hotels and ryokan (Japanese-style inns) is five times Tokyo’s and three times Osaka’s for comparably priced rooms. Kyoto Mayor Daisaku Kadokawa defended the plan by saying that, while the city may in a tourism boom now, Kyoto must be proactive in anticipating the need for more revenue to improve tourism facilities. He also pointed out the problems presented by the massive increase in visitors over the past few years, especially the piles of garbage and the clogged roads, streets and public transportation. “It’s not as simple as saying that, because the financial situation is tight, we’re going to place the burden on tourists. (The new tax system) is about improving the level of tourist satisfaction and creating a good experience, and convincing Kyoto residents to continue to live within the city,” Kadokawa told reporters in announcing the tax. How, exactly, the extra tax revenue will be used has yet to be decided. A committee submitted a report to the mayor last month, saying the money might be used for cultural restoration and the preservation of assets, improving scenery by removing telephone poles, and introducing more pedestrian zones. The city assembly has just begun formal debate on the tax. Some smaller Kyoto businesses that have benefited from the influx of visitors are worried the new levy will negatively affect cheaper hotels and minpaku, and drive more budget-conscious visitors to hotels in neighboring Osaka, only 30 minutes away by train. “Restaurants, supermarkets, convenience stores and other business get visitors, especially foreign visitors, who stay at the cheaper business hotels or minpaku in the surrounding area. I’m worried my own place might see fewer customers with the new tax,” said Madoka Otani, 56, who runs a small restaurant north of Kyoto Station. Kyoto received over 55 million visitors in fiscal 2016, with more than 14 million spending at least one night in town, including about 3.18 million foreign visitors. A shortage of hotel rooms has encouraged cheap minpaku lodgings to sprout up all over Kyoto — and the internet is rife with stories of price-gouging. A growing number of visitors to Kyoto also stay in Osaka, where capacity hovers between 80 to 90 percent, depending on the season.
|
tax;kyoto;tourism
|
jp0001048
|
[
"national",
"politics-diplomacy"
] |
2017/09/24
|
Local, national agendas shade parties' prospects in expected snap poll
|
OSAKA - As Japan gears up for an anticipated snap election at the end of October, Kansai politicians and parties are staking out their positions on issues of national interest but with their eyes very much on local political needs. For the Osaka-centered Nippon Ishin no Kai, technically an opposition party but very close to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga and their allies in the Liberal Democratic Party, an uneasy alliance with Komeito at the local level means the party is limited in the number of candidates it can field for single-seat districts. Nippon Ishin has 15 seats in the Lower House, and its leaders have set an election goal of at least 21, which will be enough to introduce their own bills. Komeito has four Lower House district seats within Osaka. Nippon Ishin’s leaders have said they will not field candidates against Komeito for the simple reason that Nippon Ishin’s Osaka-based group, Osaka Ishin no Kai (One Osaka), still needs Komeito’s cooperation to form a majority in the municipal and prefectural assemblies. Komeito also holds the key as to whether Osaka Ishin will succeed in merging the municipal and prefectural governments. Osaka Ishin, which strongly supports the idea and has made it a core goal, has battled the Osaka chapters of Komeito and the Liberal Democratic Party for years on the issue. A 2015 referendum on an earlier merger plan was narrowly defeated, partially because many in Komeito’s substantial base of Osaka supporters were opposed. Osaka Ishin is working with the other parties on a new plan, and aims to put it to another referendum next year. Two referendum failures, however, would inflict permanent damage on the party. “I want to cooperate with Komeito in drawing up a plan for the merger, so there’s no need to argue with them,” Nippon Ishin leader and Osaka Gov. Ichiro Matsui told reporters last week in announcing the party’s decision to not challenge Komeito if a snap election is called. But regardless of local politics, the national party, Nippon Ishin, remains committed to backing the LDP on an issue likely to be draw heavy coverage in any election: constitutional revision. Earlier this month, at a Nippon Ishin meeting in Osaka, members gathered to discuss proposals for amending the Constitution — in particular pacifist Article 9. Nippon Ishin has generally supported Abe’s quest to revise the Constitution and formalize the role of the Self-Defense Forces. But many members have also expressed concern that Abe’s favored draft is too vague and does not properly define the limits of military power. “Unless a balance is struck between what’s necessary for military power and what’s permissible, there’s no answer to the issue of Article 9. This is not something the LDP has talked about,” Matsui told reporters after the meeting. He also confirmed that Toru Hashimoto, co-founder of the Osaka and Nippon Ishin movements, will not be involved with any upcoming elections, and that he will continue to remain a private citizen. For Osaka as a whole, two local issues requiring Diet debate and national support over the coming months will be of interest to voters. These include a new set of laws on running and managing integrated resort casinos. Osaka still hopes to receive one of the nation’s first resort licenses once the government approves the new system. The other issue will be increased national support, in the form of funding, for Osaka if it is selected to host the 2025 World Expo. The winner will be announced in Paris in November 2018. If the election picture in Osaka is clouded by the complicated relationships and rivalries between Nippon Ishin and the established parties, the LDP appears to have a lock on one other prefecture where national policy is of strong local interest. In Fukui, a snap election offers former defense minister and close Abe ally Tomomi Inada a chance to redeem herself after a string of scandals and gaffes earlier this year led to her ouster from the Cabinet last month. Locally, though, Inada is widely credited for using her influence to help secure funding so the Hokuriku Shinkansen Line will be ready to connect Kanazawa and Tsugura, Fukui Prefecture, by 2022, and possibly begin service from her electoral district in the city of Fukui before the 2020 Olympics. That means Fukui city residents would have a direct route to Tokyo via Kanazawa and Nagano. She is unlikely to face a serious challenger, but last week, at a meeting of supporters in the city of Fukui, Inada was out meeting voters and in campaign mode, attempting to strike a populist appeal. “I’ll return to basic politics and work hard as a Fukui mama,” Inada said.
|
nippon ishin no kai;osaka;ldp;komeito
|
jp0001049
|
[
"national"
] |
2017/09/24
|
Gundam's 20-meter replacement statue unveiled in Odaiba
|
Gundam’s upgrade was unveiled in Tokyo’s Odaiba waterfront district on Sunday, giving hope to its corporate sponsors that the giant robot statue will become a new tourist attraction ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The towering, full-scale 19.7-meter Unicorn Gundam replaces the previous model, which was removed in March. “I know that many people were waiting so long for this day to arrive. I was one of them,” Toshinobu Maeda, managing director of Tokyo Port Terminal Corp., which is in charge of the project, said at the media preview Saturday evening. “The Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics are coming up in three years, and the waterfront area has been chosen as one of the sites for the games,” he said. “I expect this Unicorn Gundam . . . to become the source of further revitalization for the waterfront area.” In August, at DiverCity Tokyo, Bandai Inc. opened a shop dedicated to selling, assembling and painting plastic models of the main character from the popular animation series. Yoshitaka Tao, chief Gundam officer at Bandai, said the company hopes more tourists come to see the statue and the Gundam Cafe nearby. “By offering products, services and events, the Bandai Namco Group hopes to continue sharing excitement and surprises with the fans. I’d like the world to know about the concept and history behind the ‘Gundam’ series,” Tao said. After the ceremony, an event was held to show how the Unicorn Gundam transforms from “unicorn mode” to “destroy mode,” as seen in the TV shows. Although details of the ceremony were not made public, some lucky fans who were passing by at the time were able to see a demonstration of the Unicorn Gundam’s transformation the day before it was shown to the public on Sunday. “It’s incredible. It’s perfectly modeled,” said Takei, a 19-year-old Gundam fan who was visiting with his friend Hayashi, also 19. Both declined to give their first names. “It’s absolutely something that Japan should be proud of,” Takei said, adding that he prefers Unicorn Gundam over the previous statue because the new one lights up. Hayashi said he can’t wait to take a closer look. “I’ll consider coming back here again,” he said.
|
robot;tokyo 2020;gundam
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jp0001050
|
[
"national",
"science-health"
] |
2017/09/23
|
Cephalopods show signs of intelligence
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Is it morally acceptable to eat intelligent animals? Everyone can make their own mind up about this. Some people think that there’s nothing wrong with eating any kind of animal. For me, I drew a somewhat arbitrary zoological line in the sand and decided that any animal “above” a fish was off-limits. In other words, birds and mammals are off the menu, whereas fish and invertebrates are OK to eat. For the most part, this has served me pretty well. As Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain put it, “it’s okay to eat fish, cause they don’t have any feelings.” And I didn’t mind eating prawns from a welfare or intelligence point of view. But there was a problem: cephalopods. Octopus and squid are invertebrates, so following my “rule” they were perfectly acceptable for me to eat. However, their lack of a skeleton does not mean they lack intelligence — far from it. Octopus and squid — and cuttlefish, which are also cephalopods — are some of the most intelligent of all animals, and that includes dolphins, crows and apes. I brushed these concerns under the carpet and carried on eating them. My will was put to the test when I stayed at a camp site on Hachijojima, an island in the Izu chain, almost 300 kilometers south of Tokyo. I went snorkeling with a Japanese fisherman and he caught a large octopus. He carried a large metal spike and used it to prise the animal out from a small cave. Once we got back to shore he drove the spike into the octopus’ head and mashed its brain. To my surprise, the animal didn’t seem to die. Two of its tentacles wrapped around my arm up to my shoulder. My fisherman friend had to unpop the octopus from me. I didn’t know at the time that a significant part of an octopus’ nervous system is located outside of the brain, in the “shoulders” at the top of each tentacle. So destroying the brain does not immediately immobilize the animal. The fisherman then set about scrubbing the top membrane from the skin of the animal and, while most of it was still wriggling around, he cut the octopus up and offered me some. This was obviously a test of my resolve. I’d made the decision that it was OK to eat octopus, and here was one to eat. Did it matter that the animal was still clinging to me? If by my rules octopus was acceptable, it would be hypocritical to say no. I took a piece of tentacle from the knife and chewed. It was incredibly chewy and not at all pleasant. Since then I’ve learned more about cephalopod intelligence and my misgivings about eating them have hardened. (Incidentally, I learned that the suction cups on octopus tentacles can detect a wide range of chemicals — when it was stuck to my arm, that octopus was literally tasting me.) Octopus and cuttlefish have the highest ratio of brain to body mass of any invertebrate. Some octopuses can navigate mazes and use tools — clear signs of high intelligence. Their brains have evolved on a different track to those of vertebrates, so represent a different kind of intelligence. Shuichi Shigeno, a Japanese biologist based in the Italian city of Naples, suggested in a paper published this year that the cephalopod neural system may form the basis for developing strong artificial general intelligence. Meanwhile, Noriyosi Sato from Nagasaki University has found that pygmy squid use ink for predation — the cloudy ink confuses prey — as well as defense. All cephalopods are masters of mimicry and disguise, but I would like to end by focusing on cuttlefish, because they are arguably the most neglected of this extraordinary group of animals. Kohei Okamoto at the University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa keeps pharaoh cuttlefish in his lab. One day he noticed an unusual behavior. The cuttlefish had raised their front tentacles and bent their rear tentacles as if they were jointed. The animals were moving in an odd manner, and changed color. They were mimicking hermit crabs! But why? They could have been acting that way to avoid being eaten, but mindful of species that use ink to conceal their attack, Okamoto conducted a few experiments. His team found that cuttlefish appeared to mimic hermit crabs when small fish were present. Perhaps they were attempting to trick the fish into thinking there were no predators nearby? Crabs are filter-feeders and scavengers, and therefore pose no threat to fish. But the cuttlefish also behaved in a similar crab-like manner when they were introduced into a larger tank for the first time. The cuttlefish were behaving like crabs, to be on the safe side. Just in case there were any predators around in the new space they were entering, the cuttlefish mimicked an unpalatable species. It’s just another example of the extraordinary intelligence of this group of animals. And talking of unpalatable species, the more I’ve learned about the intricacies of cephalopod behavior, the less I’m inclined to eat them. These days, octopus and squid are pretty much off the menu.
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intelligence;cephalopods
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jp0001051
|
[
"national",
"media-national"
] |
2017/09/23
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Political protest or textbook harassment?
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In 1979, The New Yorker ran a very long article by Frances FitzGerald about American history textbooks and how they had changed over the years. She said that the framing of history depends on who is writing it and, more importantly, who is supporting that writing. Publishers present history in such a way as to make their product more palatable to a very general audience. As a result certain aspects of history are lost or distorted. During the early years of the Cold War, for instance, America’s motives for past military adventures were invariably justified in contemporary textbooks, whereas after the combative 1960s those motives were questioned. These distortions were manifested by cultural and economic considerations rather than political ones. The prevailing mood of the country at any given time dictated how history was addressed. The federal government wasn’t involved, at least not directly. In Japan, the central government is involved in the production of textbooks, since they screen potential publications for use in the country’s schools. Generally speaking, the media assumes that the government’s view of history is a conservative one, especially when it comes to World War II, but it isn’t conservative enough for some people, or even for some media. On Aug. 8, the Mainichi Shimbun ran an article about Nada Junior High School, whose students often go on to the best universities. For more than a year, the school, located in Kobe, had been receiving postcards objecting to its use of a history textbook, “Tomo ni Manabu Ningen no Rekishi” (“Human History We Learn Together”) published by Manabisha. The messages on the postcards take issue with the book’s handling of the “comfort women” who sexually serviced Japanese soldiers during the war. The textbook said that the Imperial Army was involved in setting up and managing the so-called comfort stations ( ianjo ), and printed part of then-Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono’s 1993 statement admitting that women were forced to work in these military brothels. Manabisha also added a passage saying the Japanese government maintains there is no documentary evidence proving women were forced, but this contradiction is not explained. In an interview, Nada’s principal told the Mainichi that in Dec. 2015, after his school began using the textbook, they started receiving postcards, some anonymous, some not. The majority of the cards were obviously coordinated because they were so much alike in appearance and content. The senders accused Nada of being “anti-Japanese” and “ultra-leftist” for using the books. The principal was perplexed, because the textbook had been approved by the government. The Sankei Shimbun later ran article about how the textbooks were a “problem” and named some of the schools that had adopted them. “It was political pressure” to stop using the book the Nada principal told the Mainichi. The Sankei article, which appeared March 19, 2016, said Manabisha’s was the only junior high school history textbook that mentioned “comfort women,” and identified some of the “more than 30 schools” that were using it, including “elite schools that are difficult to get into.” These schools were either national or private, meaning textbooks were chosen by the schools themselves rather than local government education committees, as is the case with public schools. The article also pointed out that when Manabisha submitted its first version to the education ministry it was rejected, and then the publisher made some of the passages “softer.” After that, the ministry approved the text. Equally notable to the newspaper was Manabisha’s treatment of the “Nanking Incident,” in which many historians say tens of thousands of Chinese civilians were killed and raped by Japanese soldiers. In Sankei’s view, Manabisha “kindly” took into consideration the testimony of Chinese people. The publisher also relegated the only mention of the Japanese abducted by North Korea “to a table” rather then discuss the matter fully in the body of the text. Many of the schools contacted by Sankei declined to comment. One said the comfort women issue had little to do with its decision to adopt the textbook. Nada told the newspaper that since the government approved the textbook, “We don’t need to give our reason for selecting it.” Manabisha denied it had edited the volume “with elite schools in mind.” NHK went deeper into the story on a recent edition of its news show, “ Close-up Gendai .” According to its research, 38 junior high schools use the Manabisha textbook, of which 29 admitted they had received protesting postcards. The majority of the cards were either one of two types. The first were picture postcards, mostly from alumni of the schools targeted. The photos depicted scenes of Chinese civilians welcoming Japanese soldiers during World War II. NHK tracked down the source of the postcards, a man named Masanori Mizuma, who says he has done his own research into Nanking and the military brothels. He said the postcards were not threats. The purpose was to “enlighten” the schools. The second type of postcard featured uniform printed messages, though the postcards themselves were mailed from all over Japan. NHK contacted some of the senders and found that they had attended local seminars about Japanese history where they wrote down their names and addresses. These people, as well as some politicians and public officials, understood the reason for the postcards and agreed with the message printed on them. As NHK pointed out, controversy over textbook content is nothing new. What’s different about the Manabisha case is that the protesting parties, including the Sankei Shimbun, are targeting specific schools rather than government organs or publishers. They deny that their mission is to intimidate, but one school official in Nagoya told NHK that he found the postcards “creepy,” and some of the schools that received the cards told the Mainichi that if they continue receiving them then the next time they choose a textbook they’ll be more careful.
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nhk;sankei shimbun;textbook;mainichi shimbun;nada;manabisha
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jp0001053
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[
"business"
] |
2017/09/15
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Japan regulator scrutinizes regional banks' fund buying as risks soar
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The nation’s regional banks, desperate to boost returns with interest rates around zero, are coming under scrutiny from regulators as they increase purchases of risky investment trusts. The Financial Services Agency (FSA) has been talking to bankers to gauge whether the firms have the knowledge and structure to handle those products, which cover everything from stocks to real estate, according to its officials. Some of the lenders don’t appear to, the regulators say. The FSA has told them to strengthen their risk management, for example by adding staff if needed, said the officials who asked not to be identified due to the agency’s policy. Regional banks have struggled in recent years as a shrinking population and narrowed lending margins hurt their loan business, while investment in government bonds loses its appeal with yields below zero. To boost returns, so-called first-tier regional lenders poured a record ¥1.94 trillion ($18 billion) into a category of securities that includes investment trusts and other funds in the year ended in March, according to Regional Banks Association of Japan data, bringing the total outstanding amount to ¥7.02 trillion. “To put it simply, they are taking on more risk,” said Ryoji Yoshizawa, an analyst at S&P Global Ratings in Tokyo. It would be a problem from a credit perspective if banks lacking sufficient capital or solid profitability keep adding those investment trusts, he said. Investment trusts in Japan are like mutual funds in the U.S. — financial institutions such as brokerages raise money from investors and management firms make investments with the funds. Privately placed trusts are sold mostly to financial companies, and there were more than 5,000 of those funds covering equities and bonds in Japan as of August that managed a combined ¥78.81 trillion, according to the Investment Trusts Association. Japanese lenders’ foreign debt holdings have also been monitored by the FSA after investors suffered losses last year due to the jump in U.S. interest rates on Donald Trump’s election to the White House. Five of 11 regional banks surveyed by Bloomberg said the surge in U.S. Treasury yields caused significant damage to their portfolios. Some of those banks are turning toward private equity, hedge funds and real estate in search of higher returns, according to the survey. Regional banks accounted for 40 percent of the ¥1.36 trillion being invested in Japan’s private real-estate investment trusts as of June, according to the Association for Real Estate Securitization. They are less liquid than regular REITs traded on the exchange, and their owners generally have to ask the issuers to take their shares back or find buyers through financial firms if they want to exit. Other regulators have also been eyeing some of the risks.
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banks;assets;lending
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jp0001054
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"science-health-asia-pacific"
] |
2017/09/13
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China sets up first quantum communications network
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BEIJING - China has set up its first “commercial” quantum network in the northern province of Shandong, its latest step in advancing a technology expected to enable hack-proof communications. China says it is at the forefront of developing quantum technology. In August it sent its first “unbreakable” quantum code from an experimental satellite launched a year earlier. The Pentagon has called the satellite a “notable advance.” Now the country’s “first commercial quantum private communication network” has been set up for exclusive use by more than 200 government and official users in Shandong’s provincial capital, Jinan, the official Xinhua News Agency said late on Tuesday. It did not elaborate on how the system would be commercially operated. “Hundreds of pieces of equipment connected by hundreds of kilometers of fiber optics were installed within five months,” Xinhua said. The network provides secure telephone and data communication services and is expected to be connected to a Beijing-Shanghai quantum network, the news agency said. Quantum channels send messages embedded in light; attempts to disrupt or eavesdrop on them create detectable disturbances. Other countries, including the United States, have been working on their own quantum networks for years.
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china;hacking;cyberattacks;communications
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jp0001055
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[
"national",
"science-health"
] |
2017/09/13
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Saving heart attack victims? Now there's an app for that
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Suppose you are at a station and happen to see someone passing out after a heart attack. A crowd of worried onlookers gathers. Somebody shouts, “Call an ambulance!” What should you do next? Tokyo-based social venture Coaido is launching an iPhone app that helps bystanders assist as effectively as possible in the crucial few minutes after a cardiac arrest. The app prompts the user to send an SOS to people trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) nearby, checks whether they have already contacted the emergency number, 119, and connects them with facilities where automated external defibrillators (AEDs) are available. Coaido CEO Makoto Gensho, 36, came up with the idea for the app in 2013 at a “hackathon” software programming event, and founded the company in 2014. He has since enlisted support from people with medical expertise — including Takahiro Ozawa, a paramedic with 10 years’ experience in ambulance care and eight years teaching paramedical students — to develop and improve the all-in-one app. “While working at a fire department, I experienced firsthand how very few of the people (who experienced a heart attack) survived,” Ozawa, 44, said. “Nine out of 10 people did not.” Ozawa stresses that the odds of survival fall if no action is taken until the ambulance arrives. According to 2016 Fire and Disaster Management Agency (FDMA) statistics, it took an average of 8.6 minutes for an ambulance to arrive after an emergency call was made. Experts say that without resuscitative efforts, a person’s chance of survival falls by around 10 percent each minute. As such, it’s extremely important that citizen volunteers do all they can to help — to give a heart massage to someone who is unconscious and attach an AED — without waiting for an ambulance, Ozawa said. “Many people know the AED is important,” he said. “But if you just wait for an AED and don’t give CPR, the person’s brain and heart get damaged from lack of oxygen. The key is to keep up resuscitation efforts until help arrives.” That’s where the app, Coaido 119, comes in. When a user launches the free app, the “self-triage” screen shows up. At the top of the screen is a red section. A user is urged to tap the section if someone is unconscious and does not respond even on contact. The app then shows a map of the user’s present location, with a small pop-up window to show a real-time video of the location. The app then displays the number of pre-registered volunteers capable of offering CPR nearby. The user can send an SOS to these CPR-capable volunteers, who include doctors, nurses, paramedics, police officers and others who have registered beforehand with certificates of their CPR training. The app also checks that the user has called 119. The sender of the SOS can communicate with the registered volunteers through video, voice chat and text messages. “Our goal is for three to five certified helpers to arrive at the scene within two to four minutes,” Ozawa said, noting that the more quickly first action is taken, the greater the chances of survival. In 2015, of the 24,000 people across Japan who had cardiac arrest and whose condition was recognized by those around them, only 13 percent survived and just 8.6 percent had returned to normal lives a month after their heart attack, according to the FDMA. In addition, the app automatically contacts nearby facilities with AEDs, so someone from those facilities can bring a device to the scene. Coaido 119 directs users to other agencies in less serious cases, to steer people away from calling ambulances unless absolutely needed. For example, a section of the app’s self-triage screen, colored green, shows what to do with “light injuries.” By tapping the screen, the user can dial #7119, where an operator asks a series of questions to determine whether the caller really needs an ambulance, or calls a 24-hour hospital information service (for Tokyo residents only). Late last month, with funding from the industry ministry-affiliated Information-Technology Promotion Agency, the firm started testing the service in Toshima Ward, Tokyo. The app can be activated within a radius of 1 kilometer around JR Ikebukuro Station. So far, 90 people have registered for the six-month-long project as potential senders of SOS messages, among whom around 30 people are also registered as CPR-certified responders. Yuuki Imaura, director-general of the Toshima Ward disaster prevention/crisis management division, rates the app highly. He added, however, that getting more people to enlist as users of the service will be key. “We need at least 10 times more registered users,” Imaura said. “By getting qualified professionals to participate, I hope the ward will see a dramatic increase in the use of AEDs and the number of lives saved,” he added. Coaido, which has received funding from investment firm Mistletoe run by Taizo Son, aims to contract with municipal governments to offer its services. Gensho said the firm also wants to promote the app to developers of high-rise condos, where ambulance crews have difficulty reaching residents on upper floors. Gensho added that he hopes to see citizen-driven pre-ambulance response take root ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. “Every day, 200 people die from heart attacks,” Gensho said. “It’s 18 times more than the number of fatalities from traffic accidents. If we work harder on early responses, these lives could be saved.”
|
health;app;heart attack;aed
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jp0001057
|
[
"world",
"offbeat-world"
] |
2017/08/04
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Russian TV reporter punched in face while broadcasting live from Moscow park
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MOSCOW - A man walked up to a journalist broadcasting live from a Moscow park on a popular Russian television channel and punched him in the face. The journalist was reporting Wednesday for the NTV channel from the park, which was filled with former paratroopers lazing in the sun as Russia celebrated the annual Airborne Troops Day. He was approached by a burly, bearded man in a T-shirt and shorts, who was spewing curses at him. The journalist, Nikita Razvozzhayev, asked the man to keep away. The man then delivered a right hook to the journalist’s face and walked off. The network cut the broadcast. The attacker, who Russian media said was drunk, was arrested shortly afterward. Police described him as a known soccer hooligan. Angry social media users blamed the incident on paratroopers, labeled in Russia as a rowdy bunch who drink in public places, bathe in fountains and harass passers-by.
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violence;moscow;russia;military
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jp0001058
|
[
"national",
"media-national"
] |
2017/08/05
|
Speed bump won't stop Kiyomiya, Japanese baseball's teen powerhouse
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So far 2017 has been a banner year for sports prodigies. In June, Mima Ito and Hina Hayata, both 16-year-olds, became the youngest pair from Japan to reach the semifinals of the women’s doubles at the Table Tennis World Championships, winding up with a bronze medal. The same month, 14-year-old Sota Fujii won 28 straight official matches, equaling the all-time winning streak in the traditional board game of shogi. As Japan’s youngest professional, the modest Fujii received celebrity-level coverage on TV and in the print media during his streak, and has been credited with inspiring a shogi boom among the country’s youth. While no one is disparaging these pursuits, they cannot compare with the media’s coverage of baseball, which is solidly established as the nation’s most popular sport. Out of the 24 recipients of the People’s Honor Award bestowed by Japan’s prime minister, for example, professional baseball players have accounted for four, more than composers, actors, singers or practitioners of any other sports. When the Waseda Jitsugyo High School baseball team was eliminated from competition on July 30 by Tokai University Sugao High School by a score of 6 to 2, the nation let out a collective groan of disappointment. Elimination meant that Waseda Jitsugyo would not go on to this month’s summer high school baseball tournament at Koshien, which means that Japan’s all-time record of home runs by a high school player, held by 18-year-old slugger Kotaro Kiyomiya, would not be beaten for a while, if at all. While he did hit several in the playoffs, Kiyomiya is currently stalled in a two-way tie with Hiroki Yamamoto, formerly of Kobe’s Shinko Gakuen High School, at 107. Kiyomiya, son of Waseda University’s former rugby coach (who now heads the Sungoliath team sponsored by Suntory Ltd.), has demonstrated an impressive ability to knock baseballs into the outfield bleachers. It has not escaped fans’ notice that Waseda Jitsugyo High School also happens to be alma mater of all-time baseball great Sadaharu Oh. As a left-handed pitcher, Oh led his team to victory at Koshien in 1957 and was recruited by the nation’s most popular team, the Yomiuri Giants. After a coach recognized Oh’s batting ability he was moved to first base, where he could play every day, and he proceeded to slug a career 868 home runs. This figure, remarkable by any criteria, far surpasses U.S. major league record holders Barry Bonds (with 762) and Henry Aaron (755). Some fans have begun comparing Kiyomiya to another high school prodigy, Hideki Matsui, who also batted left and threw right. After joining the Giants and dominating the sport in Japan, Matsui enjoyed several productive years with the New York Yankees and other MLB teams. “I think Kiyomiya compares favorably with both Matsui (who hit a total 507 home runs in Japan and the U.S.) and Kazuhiro Kiyohara (525 home runs in Japan) at this point in his career,” said sports consultant Marty Kuehnert, the former general manager of Sendai’s Rakuten Eagles, who’s been involved in professional baseball for over 40 years. “Kiyomiya is big (184 centimeters, 100 kilograms), has great power, excellent bat speed, good balance and real skill at hitting, demonstrated by his ability to hit the ball with power to the opposite field. Come draft time in October, I’m sure many teams will be going after him.” At this stage in his career, Kiyomiya is already drawing large crowds. Shukan Bunshun (Aug. 10) reported that at one of Waseda Jitsugyo’s earlier games, Tokyo’s Jingu Stadium was a complete sellout. When Kiyomiya hit his record-tying 107th home run — a long shot to the left-center field stands — the fan who caught the ball was besieged by reporters. Clearly irritated by the cameras and microphones thrust into his face, he grumbled, “Hey, lay off and let me watch the game, will you?” Shukan Asahi, a weekly magazine published by the Asahi Shimbun, which sponsors the Koshien tournament, has accorded Kiyomiya what could be described as an unprecedented honor: for the duration, he’s the exclusive topic of a weekly column by sportswriter Yuji Yanagawa. After the loss to Tokai University Sugao ended his chance to vie for the nation’s top high school team at Koshien, Kiyomiya unashamedly shed tears before the TV cameras. And perhaps Kiyomiya wasn’t the only one feeling let down. The aforementioned Shukan Bunshun quoted several academics and researchers who have made a study of the business side of baseball — or, if you prefer, “ Yakyū -nomics.” One calculated that Kiyomiya’s team’s failure to make it to Koshien meant that a potential economic impact of ¥4 billion would not materialize. “Calculation of the estimated revenues are based on sales of tickets, food and beverages, souvenirs, plus expenditures to travel to Koshien, overnight lodgings, and so on,” said professor emeritus Katsuhiro Miyamoto of Kansai University, who cited the adage that “When many people or things move, money moves too.” In any event, sighed Shukan Shincho (Aug. 10), with the Koshien tournament now out of the picture, young Kiyomiya is facing a “looooong summer vacation.” The Aug. 1 edition of Tokyo Sports predicted that by “X-day,” probably in late September, Kiyomiya would announce his future plans: to turn professional, attend university or explore other options. Among those other options is rugby. Nikkan Gendai (Aug. 3) reported that Kiyomiya, who played the sport through his fourth year of elementary school, has been the subject of speculation online that he’ll keep in shape by playing for a team during the winter season. “Many high school baseball players play rugby during the winter, so it wouldn’t be particularly rare,” a source in the Japan Rugby Football Association is quoted as saying. Whether home runs or scrums, a star has been born.
|
baseball;media;hideki matsui;koshien;magazines;weeklies;kotaro kiyomiya
|
jp0001059
|
[
"national",
"media-national"
] |
2017/08/05
|
Bitcoin exchange operator arrested amid new questions about Mt. Gox theft
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Ever since Tokyo-based bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox filed for bankruptcy in February 2014, investigators have been puzzled by the disappearance of virtual currency worth hundreds of millions of dollars from its digital vaults. Mt. Gox, which claimed it once hosted around 80 percent of bitcoin trading worldwide, closed in 2014 after admitting that 850,000 coins — worth around $480 million at the time — had disappeared from its vaults. Former CEO Mark Karpeles blamed the loss on hackers. Karpeles later claimed he had found some 200,000 of the lost coins in a “cold wallet” — a storage device, such as a memory stick, that is not connected to computers. And yet investigators were never able to trace the remaining 650,000 missing coins. Police then arrested Karpeles in August 2015 over allegations of embezzlement and data manipulation. However, none of the charges he faces are related to the theft of the virtual currency. In its opening statements at the trial in July, Karpeles’ defense team, headed by Nobuyasu Ogata, argued that Mt. Gox’s former CEO was only arrested after investigators failed to solve the case. On the other side of the Pacific, however, U.S. authorities last month made some headway in the investigation, charging a 38-year-old Russian national of violating money laundering laws. Acting on a warrant, police in Greece arrested Alexander Vinnik in Athens on July 25. It was multinational effort, involving investigators in Greece and U.S. agencies as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Secret Service and Homeland Security, among others. The U.S. indictment filed on July 26 alleges that Vinnik was the owner and operator of BTC-e, one of the world’s largest digital currency exchanges. The investigation revealed that BTC-e received more than $4 billion worth of bitcoin over the course of its operation. Among violations outlined in the indictment, Vinnik is accused of using BTC-e and Tradehill, another U.S.-based exchange he owned, to process funds “obtained” from Mt. Gox between 2011 and 2014. BTC-e is believed to have processed more than 300,000 bitcoins in transactions that can be traced to the theft. Kim Nilsson, a cybersecurity expert, has been investigating the collapse of Mt. Gox for the past two years. “Vinnik is our chief suspect for involvement in the Mt. Gox theft (or the laundering of the proceeds thereof),” he wrote in a July 27 blog post on WizSec. “This is the result of years of patient work, and these findings were surely independently uncovered by other investigators as well. Everyone who worked on the case have patiently kept quiet while forwarding findings to law enforcement, so as not to tip suspects off and to maximize the chances of arrests.” A special agent working on the case in the United States said he was surprised that Karpeles had been arrested in Japan. “Mark Karpeles may be a terrible businessman and may have run his company into the ground,” the agent said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “He may have realized the BTC (bitcoin) were taken earlier than announced. But we have known for a long time that his firm, like Bitcoinica, was targeted by Eurasian hackers and the stolen BTC cashed out via BTC-e. Karpeles cooperated with the Silk Road investigation. He cooperated with this investigation. In our eyes, he’s a good guy and he hasn’t always been rewarded for doing the right thing.” Silk Road is an online black market that was using bitcoins to trade guns and narcotics. In fact, corrupt Drug Enforcement Administration and Secret Service agents not only sold Karpeles out to the criminal organization running the platform, they froze Mt. Gox funds worth $5 million and seized the firm’s accounts. They also used Mt. Gox to launder the bitcoin they stole while working on the Silk Road case. “We know we’ve got the right guy in this money laundering investigation,” the agent said. “We sort of wonder why the Japanese police arrested Karpeles rather than tried to work with him. But, then again, we don’t really understand the Japanese justice system.” I’d be surprised if they were alone in thinking that.
|
bitcoins;mt . gox;mark karpeles;alexander vinnik
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jp0001060
|
[
"national",
"media-national"
] |
2017/08/05
|
Parsing gender stereotypes in Japan's media landscape
|
Tomomi Inada’s resignation as defense minister ended a tenure that often made reporters wonder if her transgressions had more to do with ignorance than with incompetence. It would be wrong to associate her failures with her sex, though there were some in the media who harped on her fashion sense or supposed emotional instability as indications that she wasn’t suitable for the job. Inada didn’t actively discourage these indications. In June, she addressed the second plenary session of the International Institute of Strategic Studies’ Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, where she expressed in English how privileged she felt to “share the podium” with other defense ministers, namely Marise Payne of Australia and Sylvie Goulard of France, saying that “We belong to the same gender … the same generation and, most importantly, we are all good looking.” As mentioned in a June 14 article in the Huffington Post, Mayumi Mori, the Asahi Shimbun Singapore correspondent, noted that Inada was obviously making a joke “to relieve tension,” and that there were a few chuckles in the hall. The correspondent from Le Monde said the joke was in questionable taste. Regardless of Inada’s qualifications for her lofty post, she didn’t know how to read a room. The author of the Huffington article, editor-in-chief Ryan Takeshita, wrote that Inada has always played “cute” to be accepted by the men who control Japan’s political world, but even if her remark about the female ministers’ looks was made in jest, it reinforced the idea held by many people that appearance is paramount, especially for women. Japan doesn’t have a monopoly on sexist behavior and attitudes , but according to a recent series of forums in the Asahi Shimbun the Japanese media still subscribes to gender stereotypes in advertising and reporting. As one Asahi writer pointed out, these stereotypes are the media’s problem, not the public’s. In fact, responses to a survey conducted by the newspaper indicated that the general public is acutely sensitive to gender references in commercials and news bulletins. A cited example was a two-minute ad for Unicharm diapers featuring a young mother having a rough time caring for her newborn. What offended some viewers was the almost total absence of a man in this scenario, implying that mothers should expect to go it alone. Then again, the CM also had female defenders who said they admired the spot’s honesty, since in their experience husbands, despite PR to the contrary, still are too busy to participate in child rearing. At least the Unicharm spot stimulated a debate about how the media portrays gender roles. More problematic were older ads canceled due to sexist themes: a campaign for the Lumine department store in which a male boss ranks his female subordinates’ looks; a spot for Shiseido cosmetics showing two women celebrating their friend’s 25th birthday by saying, “You’re not a girl any more”; and a Suntory ad that portrayed women as convenient sexual targets. But the ad that received the most attention in this regard was Miyagi Prefecture’s recent PR campaign to boost tourism. Featuring actress Mitsu Dan, who is famous for flaunting her allure, the ad is filled with double entendres that make travel to Miyagi sound like a sexual adventure. The campaign triggered a backlash, but initially the governor of Miyagi, Yoshihiro Murai, said that such a reaction was intended — that the purpose of advertising is to get people’s attention, and the Mitsu tourism spot had done exactly that. Murai obviously adheres to the philosophy of “there’s no such thing as bad PR,” though he forgets that while people will surely gravitate to an ad because they are curious about all the fuss surrounding it, they could very well react negatively. But what Murai’s attitude really reveals is that he recognizes the sexism inherent in the ad and cynically accepts it because he thinks it sells the product. This position is a corollary of the old cliche that says everybody (meaning every man) has these nasty thoughts, so why not admit it? The problem — and it is just as manifest in Inada’s IISS speech as it is in the Miyagi ad — is that the appeal to appearances and impulses has little to do with the subject at hand, be it world security or tourism promotion. Though political correctness has been knocked lately for creating an atmosphere of intolerance, it has forced people to question their conventional values. The U.K., for example, says it will crack down on advertising that sets forth any kind of gender-specific roles. One of the most celebrated commercials shown during the 2017 Super Bowl was for the auto manufacturer Audi . It appealed directly to people with daughters and the message was clear: If you are proud of them, then you must demand that they be paid the same as your sons. Among the comments by respondents to the Asahi survey were objections to media assumptions that men’s and women’s tastes and sensibilities were by definition different; concern that salacious content was held to be automatically appealing to men; and strong feelings about how physical appearance was often the basis for comedy routines, particularly when it came to women. One exception to the general tenor of the responses was a man from Kyoto who wondered if discouraging or banning gender stereotypes wasn’t an undemocratic form of “mind control.” And a gay man complained about the thrust of the survey itself, which seemed to be “biased toward women.” These issues have been discussed for years in Japan, but the editor of the Asahi forum said that instead of obsessing over gender, the media should present the news in such a way as to “promote equality.” Nevertheless, there are just too many conventions that still hold sway. In sports and show biz reporting, for instance, female professionals are invariably described as bijin (beautiful women). Though the word is meant to be flattering, it makes these women’s achievements secondary to their appearance. It’s probably a word Inada uses often, perhaps because it informs the way she sees the world.
|
gender;tomomi inada;dan mitsu;stereotype
|
jp0001061
|
[
"national",
"history"
] |
2017/08/05
|
Japan Times 1967: 'Iconic Ginza streetcars are on their way out'
|
100 YEARS AGO SUNDAY, AUG. 5, 1917 Woman kills herself after keeping lost cash A message from Urawa states that one Miyo Sekine, a woman of 49 years, living at Hirakata-mura, Kita-Adachigori, Saitama Prefecture, committed suicide by throwing herself into a well in her neighborhood on Thursday. The woman picked up the other day a ¥5 bank note lost by one Hidekichi Shimadzu in her village but did not report it to the police. Hidekichi on the other hand lamented over the loss of the bank note, so much so that he at last killed himself by throwing himself into the Arakawa River on July 25. When Miyo heard of this, she was tormented with keen remorse, which finally led to her rash act. 75 YEARS AGO Tuesday, Aug. 18, 1942 Experts debate need of language for sphere The question of the language of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere demands an urgent solution as the great task of realizing the idea of the sphere progresses. Odoru Kenmochi, an expert in matters relating to language, has the following to say on this question: It is plainly evident that no language has greater claim to be the language of the Co-Prosperity Sphere than the Japanese language. This is the language of the country which is leading the races and the people of Greater East Asia. Moreover, it has been increasingly used in Manchoukuo since the Manchurian Affair, and in China since the China Affair. Thanks to the brilliant victories scored by the Imperial Forces in Greater East Asia , Japanese is coming into general use throughout East Asia. Some people talk of the difficulty of learning the Japanese language. However, these people have in mind the complicated system of expressing in characters the words of the language. This is a question of form and is not essential. Intrinsically, Japanese is far simpler than any of the languages of Europe. Dr. Kanae Sakuma says that Japanese is better suited than any other language to be the international language, and gives some features of the Japanese language on which he bases this contention: 1. The vocal sounds are simple. 2. The system of demonstrative words is complete. 3. The inflections of verbs and adjectives are simple and clear. 4. There are no rules concerning grammar such as gender, case, number. 5. There is a method of expressing the tense and mood which may be regarded as complete. 6. The method of expressing number is simple and quite according to reason. Everything points to the fact that Japanese is best fitted to be the language of East Asia than any other tongue in the world. 50 YEARS AGO Tuesday, Aug. 22, 1967 Iconic Ginza streetcars are on their way out The streetcars that have tootled along Ginza, Tokyo’s most glamorous shopping center for the past 56 years, will bow out by the end of the year. The Ginza lines, one running from Kyobashi to Shimbashi along Ginza Street, and the other, from Sukiyabashi through Ginza to Miharabashi near the Kabuki Theater, are the first among Tokyo’s total 37 tram lines that will completely disappear from the world’s most populous metropolis five years from now. “Poverty can never overtake diligence” says an old Japanese proverb. But this strikes an untrue, ridiculous sound for the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. Because officials of the bureau know from painful experience that the harder the tram motormen and conductors work, the deeper their bureau sinks in the red. In recent months, the tram service has been losing money at the rate of ¥100 for each running kilometer. To keep Tokyo’s 37 tram lines with a total extension of 194 kilometers in operation every day means an additional deficit of ¥20 million a day. The worsening traffic situation is the direct cause of the deficit. The average speed of a streetcar dropped from 14 kilometers per hour to 11.9 kilometers over the past 10 years. As a natural result of slowed speeds, streetcars lost passengers and revenue declined. This is the main reason why Tokyo Gov. Ryokichi Minobe was forced to clear Tokyo streets of old trams. For another, the tram service has outlived its usefulness as a means of transport. Today, the tram people live in humiliation and despair because they know the image of the streetcar has been reduced to that of a “big old clumsy good-for-nothing” conveyance in the eyes of daily commuters by subway and bus, especially car drivers. According to the Traffic Bureau, the abolition of the tram service will affect some 3,000 motormen, conductors and other workers. But practically all of them will be given new jobs in other sections of the metropolitan government, the officials said. 25 YEARS AGO Sunday, Aug. 2, 1992 Smoking ban starts at Yamanote Line stations All 29 Yamanote Line stations in metropolitan Tokyo implemented smoking bans on Saturday, East Japan Railway Co. officials said. However, the company has provided one or two smoking areas at each stop, they said. The officials said that if the move on the Yamanote Line wins passenger support, they will expand the ban to other stations on other lines. JR East has removed all ashtrays at Yamanote Line stations, except in smoking areas, and has provided new signs identifying smoking areas. At each of the stations on Saturday, railway workers used public address systems to reiterate the request that passengers cooperate with the ban. However, not everyone affiliated with JR East is happy with the move. Officials of East Japan Kiosk, a subsidiary of JR East, lamented the campaign, saying the regulations will probably hurt cigarette sales at the stations. The officials said Yamanote Line passengers annually buy ¥10 billion worth of cigarettes at platform kiosks.
|
smoking;ginza;yamanote line;trams;lanaguage
|
jp0001062
|
[
"world"
] |
2017/08/02
|
Native hunters kill protected gray whale that made its way up Alaska river
|
ANCHORAGE, ALASKA - A gray whale making a rare sojourn up an Alaska river was killed by Native hunters in boats who peppered the massive, federally protected animal with gunfire and harpoons. The 37-foot whale was then retrieved from the Kuskokwim River and cut up for distribution among Alaska Natives in the Yup’ik village of Napaskiak. Honorary chief Chris Larson told Anchorage TV station KTVA that the whale was “like a gift” to the community. Gray whales are off limits to Alaska hunters, including Alaska Natives. But many in the region believe the river brought subsistence food and it would be against Yup’ik culture not to accept it. Federal officials are investigating what they say appears to be the unauthorized harvest of a gray whale on Thursday.
|
alaska;native americans;gray whale;protected species
|
jp0001064
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"science-health-asia-pacific"
] |
2017/08/20
|
Low-cost prostheses give thousands of Indians chance to lead near-normal lives
|
JAIPUR, INDIA - Vishnu Kumar had barely reached adulthood when he lost his limbs in a freak electrical accident, seemingly condemning him to the life of penury endured by millions of amputees in India. A year later, the 22-year-old is preparing to walk again with the aide of a “Jaipur Foot” — a no-frills prosthetic made locally. These prosthetics allow amputees to work in muddy fields, sit cross-legged on the floor and comfortably use Indian-style squat toilets without needing to remove the limb. The manufacturers can churn out 50 prostheses a day from a simple workshop inthe western state of Rajasthan and, thanks to donations, fit them for free. According to government figures, an estimated 10 million Indians live with some form of movement impairment. It is common to see amputees begging at traffic stops or dragging themselves about on wheeled carts. Kumar, who worked as an electrician, feared he would endure a similar fate after his limbs were blown off in a catastrophic accident involving a high-tension wire. Just a fraction of those maimed in accidents have access to artificial limbs or other aids. “I was devastated thinking I will have to spend the rest of my life on crutches,” said Kumar, fighting back tears as he waited for a fitting at Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti, the charity behind the unique design. “These limbs have given me new hope.” Prostheses cost thousands of dollars and take weeks to manufacture in many parts of the world, but for 50 years the creators of the foot have been making dozens of limbs a day for roughly $60 apiece. “The technology we use is such that the limb can be made very, very quickly,” said Devendra Raj Mehta, the 80-year-old founder of the charity behind the Jaipur Foot. Mehta credits frugal engineering for the success of the design and its proliferation across India. Made from durable plastic piping the limb — available for above and below knee amputees — requires little maintenance and can be fitted in hours. Wearers can leave the clinic able to run, swim, climb trees and ride a bicycle, Mehta said. A unique design allows movement in the ankle and unlike models elsewhere they can be worn without shoes — a huge plus in a region where everyone goes barefoot in kitchens and temples or mosques. As the prosthesis endures wear and tear, or the shape of the leg changes over time, new fittings can be arranged quickly and free of charge. “I am getting my fourth leg and I didn’t have to spend a penny. It’s just like getting an all new gumboot,” said 50-year-old Rajkumar Saini, who lost his leg in a road accident 13 years ago. The design has been so successful that it has found its way abroad, assisting amputees in countries from Africa and Asia to Pacific islands. More than 25,000 artificial limbs and other aids have been distributed worldwide since Mehta’s charity first rolled the Jaipur Foot off the assembly line in 1975. It is now branching out into more advanced technology. One of its most successful new creations is a self-lubricating, oil-filled nylon knee replacement that can be manufactured for $20, a mere fraction of the $10,000 charged for models elsewhere in the world. Created in collaboration with Stanford University in the U.S., the artificial knee is considered so cost effective it was named one of 50 best inventions in the world by Time magazine. The advent of 3-D printing has opened up new possibilities, too. The charity has teamed up with Prashant Gade, a 24-year-old Indian engineer, to print inexpensive artificial hands using the revolutionary printing technology he was gifted at an MIT conference. Funding remains a constant challenge, but Mehta is confident his thrifty operation will continue to reach those in desperate need. “I strongly believe that even if 1 percent of people in this country or in the world are compassionate, we shall survive.”
|
india;medicine
|
jp0001065
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"offbeat-asia-pacific"
] |
2017/08/20
|
Filipino wins first Elvis in Asia contest
|
MANILA - More than 20 Elvis Presley impersonators shimmied, gyrated and belted out classics like “Jailhouse Rock” in Manila on Saturday at the first Elvis in Asia contest. The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll died 40 years ago last week and contest organizers said they aimed to keep his style and music alive for a new generation of fans. With trademark pompadours, side burns and bejeweled jumpsuits, 23 performers from the Philippines, Thailand, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and Australia paid tribute to their idol. “His music is timeless,” said Filipino Jun Espinosa, who won first prize after his rendition of the Elvis classic “Burning Love.” “Every generation can enjoy his music because it’s so natural and it’s so awesome and great. That’s king Elvis,” he said. First prize included a free trip to Graceland, the Presley estate in Memphis, Tennessee, where thousands of fans gathered last week to mark the anniversary of the singer’s death. The contestants at the Manila event were judged on their appearance and their ability to imitate the charisma and music of Elvis. “It’s incredibly difficult,” said Japan’s Yukihiro Nishijima who sang “You Gave Me a Mountain.” “Probably more difficult than any other artist because he has a ‘rainbow voice’ meaning he has seven different voices. Anyone who is a singer would know this,” he said. Elvis died suddenly at age 42 on Aug. 16, 1977, from heart failure after battling health problems including weight gain and a dependency on prescription drugs.
|
music;philippines;elvis presley;offbeat
|
jp0001066
|
[
"national"
] |
2017/08/27
|
Shiga tops in volunteerism; Osaka finishes in last place: leisure survey
|
OSAKA - If you’re the kind of person who prioritizes volunteer work, enjoys playing badminton and has an interest in studying, Shiga Prefecture might be your ideal home in Kansai. On the other hand, if education and learning new skills are your top priorities, you’re not too bothered about volunteer activities and you enjoy playing some sports, you might consider moving to neighboring Kyoto Prefecture. And if you don’t care at all about volunteer activities, but do enjoy learning, especially foreign languages other than English, you might want to consider Osaka Prefecture. These are just some of the conclusions that might be drawn from the results of the latest survey by the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry on how people in Japan’s 47 prefectures use their leisure time. Results for the fiscal 2016 survey, which drew responses from 200,000 people in about 88,000 households nationwide, were released last month. For Kansai’s prefectures, which compete with each other for business and tax revenue, the survey is a benchmark highlighting the more attractive places in the region to live. Shiga was No. 1 nationwide in terms of the number of respondents (33.9 percent) who said they’d participated in volunteer activities over the past year. But only Fukui (32.2 percent) and Nara (26.8 percent) scored above the national average of 26 percent in this category, which was also Hyogo’s average. Osaka (20.6 percent) was dead last among the 47 prefectures in terms of volunteer activities. Why are Shiga residents so keen to volunteer? One resident suggested that Lake Biwa — the largest freshwater lake in Japan — might have something to do with it. “The presence of Lake Biwa and the feeling among residents that they need to work to protect it is likely a big reason why the volunteerism spirit is strong in Shiga Prefecture,” said Ayako Fujii, a long-term Shiga resident who has advised the Environment Ministry and been involved with many local nongovernmental organizations, especially NGOs, over the past four decades. “There are also ties between Shiga volunteers and international environmentalist movements.” Osaka, on the other hand, made the top 10 list in the learning and training category, placing ninth, with 37.7 percent of the prefecture’s respondents saying they’d undergone some kind of study or training during the past year. Tokyo (46.2 percent) was No. 1 nationwide in this category, followed by Kanagawa (43.9 percent) and Chiba (41.1 percent). But Kyoto (41.1 percent) came in at No. 4, and Shiga (39.9 percent) at No. 5. Hyogo (38.9 percent) and Nara (38.7 percent) also made the top 10, which hover above the national average of 36.9 percent. Shiga was also the top Kansai prefecture and tied at No. 4 with Chiba nationwide in the category of participation in sports, with 71.6 percent of respondents saying they’d engaged in some kind of sports activity. Kyoto (70.1 percent), Hyogo (69.5 percent) and Nara (69.5 percent) prefectures also made the top 10 in this category, though neighbor Osaka ended up in 22nd place with only 66.9 percent of Osakans saying they’d engaged in sports during the past year. Among the many different sports, Shiga had the most residents who said they’d played badminton (8.6 percent versus the national average of 6.7 percent). When it comes to learning foreign languages, however, Tokyo was No. 1 nationwide across two categories. But Kyoto was the top prefecture in Kansai and fourth nationwide in terms of respondents (14.2 percent) who said they’d studied English in the past year. As for studying other languages, Kyoto was No. 3 nationwide (5.3 percent) and Osaka was No. 4 (4.1 percent). The survey, conducted every five years since 1976, is carried out on Japanese and foreign residents 10 and older. It is used by politicians and bureaucrats in Tokyo and other governments as a basis for policy decisions on work-life balance, dealing with a graying society, low birthrate and gender equality.
|
osaka;kyoto;shiga;volunteering;nara;leisure
|
jp0001067
|
[
"national"
] |
2017/08/27
|
Competition to host Japan's first casino resort heats up
|
OSAKA - As the Diet prepares to debate the structure of integrated casino resorts this autumn, competition in Osaka and neighboring Wakayama to win the rights to host one of the first legal gambling complexes in the country is heating up. The most talked-about candidate for the site remains Yumeshima, an artificial island in Osaka Bay. But two other places are also lobbying hard to host the tourism attraction — Rinku Town in Izumisano, Osaka Prefecture, and Wakayama Marina City in Wakayama Prefecture. Rinku Town, home to shopping centers, offices and logistics centers, sits across the bay from Kansai airport in southern Osaka, just a few minutes away by train. Proponents of the site believe it’s ideally located to attract planeloads of tourists heading to and from the airport. In fact, it was originally proposed in 2002 by Osaka Prefecture, the city of Osaka and local business groups as a possible casino site. After the city of Izumisano passed a resolution in 2013 in support of a casino, a local committee was formed the following year to explore the issue. A 2013 survey by the city showed 68 percent of residents supported lifting the ban on casino gambling, which happened last year through legislation in the Diet. “In order to lift the casino ban via last year’s legislation, long years were spent by municipalities talking to residents, conducting symposiums on integrated resorts, and setting up IR bid committees,” Izumisano municipal official Yoshihiko Matsushita told panel members at a public hearing in Osaka earlier this month. “These local governments have knowledge about efforts made to legalize casinos in Japan.” He added that even if the Osaka Prefectural Assembly approves a resolution to lure a casino resort, problems could occur if the host city’s assembly or its residents don’t agree. “Don’t turn away from municipalities that have been making efforts over long years to realize integrated resorts, and create a bill that makes local revitalization the top priority,” Matsushita said at the hearing. Takunori Nishimura, a representative from Junior Chamber International Izumo, said a final decision should ensure there is no heavy tax burden on residents for new roads and bridges, which would not be needed for a casino in Rinku Town. “Recent media reports indicate the city of Osaka will need to pour large amounts of tax revenue into building infrastructure for Yumeshima. It’s time to return to one of the original ideas behind integrated resorts for Japan, which called for a tourism policy that didn’t eat up tax money,” Nishimura said. Nishimura spoke earlier this month at a public hearing in Osaka, one of nine such hearings held nationwide. Suggestions made there are likely to be reflected in a bill to be submitted to the Diet in September and enacted as law by the end of the year. Late last month, a government panel appointed to recommend detailed rules and regulations on how licensed casino resorts would be selected, operated, and monitored presented its report to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Farther south, in Wakayama Prefecture, efforts are accelerating to secure a casino resort in Wakayama Marina City, about 45 minutes by car from Kansai airport and 70 minutes by car from downtown Osaka. The prefecture believes it can attract enough of the roughly 6 million foreign visitors to Kansai airport to make a profit. Officials say that if Wakayama Marina City were awarded a casino license, construction of facilities could begin immediately, unlike at Yumeshima. That could give Wakayama the edge in its bid to become the host of Japan’s first so-called integrated resort. Wakayama’s position is that the Diet needs to approach legislation on awarding casino licenses from the perspective of regional economics. “Looking at the panel’s report last month, at large-scale casino resorts like those seen overseas, the number of customers and the economic effect are the main focus,” the Wakayama Prefectural Government said in a statement after the report was released. “There is weaker emphasis on resorts contributing to reviving a local economy or spurring local creativity. More than the size of the facilities, emphasis should be on their quality and ability to contribute to regional revitalization.” Wakayama’s efforts have irritated officials in Osaka and Izumisano, who worry Tokyo would not award licenses for two casino resorts in the same general vicinity. Still, political and business leaders in the city of Osaka and Osaka Prefecture, as well as media outlets, have touted Yumeshima as an ideal site to host a casino resort, putting forward a plan complete with hotels, convention centers, and shopping and cultural facilities. The Yumeshima plan has attracted interest from overseas casino operators like Las Vegas Sands Corp. and MGM Resorts International, and especially Melco Resorts & Entertainment, which has said it prefers building in Osaka to Tokyo. As the head of the Osaka-centered Nippon Ishin no Kai party and an ally of Abe, Ichiro Matsui and his party have also pushed their recommendations for casino resort standards and operational policies on the government. But with the panel recommending that prefectural governments take the lead and work closely with casino resorts, some in Osaka Prefecture are concerned that prefectural politics will be prioritized over local considerations and economic logic in their rush to meet the requirements for building one. The government is expected to approve only two or three integrated resorts at first. While the central government has the final word on the location of the nation’s first casinos, the odds currently favor at least one of those being in Kansai.
|
osaka;gambling;casinos;wakayama
|
jp0001069
|
[
"business"
] |
2017/08/11
|
Dutch police nab Chickfriend execs in contaminated eggs debacle
|
AMSTERDAM - Dutch police arrested two suspects on Thursday as part of an investigation into the illegal use of a potentially harmful insecticide in the poultry industry, the Dutch prosecution service said. Millions of chicken eggs have been pulled from European supermarket shelves as a result of the scare over the use of the insecticide fipronil, and hundreds of thousands of hens may be culled in the Netherlands. Prosecutors said in a statement they had conducted raids at eight locations in the Netherlands and Belgium, confiscating cars and seizing bank accounts and real estate. The arrested suspects were directors at Dutch company Chickfriend, which is at the center of the scandal. Officials at the company could not be reached for comment. Raids were conducted at locations linked to Chickfriend, which allegedly used the pesticide, as well as potential suppliers. The company directors are suspected of threatening public health and possession of a prohibited pesticide, prosecutors said. Fipronil is a popular insecticide to treat pets for fleas and ticks but it is forbidden for use in the food chain. The World Health Organization considers fipronil to be moderately toxic and says very large quantities can cause organ damage. The German agriculture ministry estimates that 10.7 million possibly contaminated eggs were delivered to Germany from the Netherlands, according to a report to be published in the Rheinische Post newspaper on Friday. The ministry, in response to a query from the Greens party, also cited growing concerns about processed foods that might contain contaminated eggs, and said data received from the Dutch and Belgian governments had been “insufficient,” the paper said. Romania’s food safety authority, ANSVSA, seized 1 ton of German origin liquid egg yolk contaminated with fipronil from a warehouse in the western county of Timis, it said on Thursday. “The quantity was seized from the storage space of the unit which received it from Germany. No amount of that bunch was sold on the Romanian market. The 1,000-kg egg yolk will be neutralized by incineration,” ANSVSA said. In Britain, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) said it had found more eggs than previously believed had entered the food chain, mainly through processed food. “It is very unlikely that these eggs pose a risk to public health, but as Fipronil is unauthorized for use in food-producing animals we have acted with urgency to ensure that consumers are protected,” it said. It is likely that the number of potentially contaminated eggs to enter the U.K. is closer to 700,000 than 21,000 previously reported, the FSA said.
|
germany;netherlands;eggs;insecticide;fipronil;chickfriend
|
jp0001070
|
[
"world",
"social-issues-world"
] |
2017/08/11
|
Crime agency finds slavery, human trafficking common in Britain
|
LONDON - Modern slavery and human trafficking are more prevalent across Britain than previously thought, the National Crime Agency said Thursday, because more international gangs realize they can make significant sums of money from it. The NCA said there are 300 live police operations into forced labor, sexual exploitation and domestic servitude, problems that it said affects every large town and city across the country. “We’ve been shocked by the extent of it,” Will Kerr, the NCA’s officer in charge of tackling such criminality, told reporters. “This is a growing problem. This is 2017, this is not acceptable in any way, shape or form.” Previous estimates suggested there were up to 13,000 victims of these types of crimes in Britain, but Kerr said that figure is the tip of the iceberg. “The more we go looking for this, the more we are finding it,” he said, adding an operation by British police in May and June had led to 111 arrests with 130 possible victims identified. Kerr said the crime is becoming more attractive to gangs who can make up to £600 ($780) per day from each woman exploited for prostitution, saying one Romanian gang is making €5 million ($5.8 million) a month by trafficking women in the sex trade. Globally it has been estimated there are 46 million victims generating half a trillion dollars a year for organized crime gangs, he said. “We really have seen this . . . ‘commodification’ of people by criminals and crime gangs who have realized there is lot more money to be made by exploiting vulnerable people and that’s why we’re so concerned about it,” he said. Europe’s migrant crisis is undoubtedly connected, Kerr said, as it has created a larger pool of people who can be exploited. In Britain last year, victims from 109 countries were identified but the most common nationalities of those trafficked and offenders were people from Eastern Europe, Vietnam and Nigeria, although he said British victims made up the third highest group. Kerr cited the case of a 12-year-old Roma girl who had been trafficked to Britain to work in domestic servitude for one family, tasked with taking their children to school and cleaning the house. In 2015 the U.K. passed tough anti-slavery legislation introducing life sentences for traffickers and forcing companies to disclose what they are doing to make sure their supply chains are free from slavery.
|
immigration;organized crime;u.k .;women;sex crimes;gangs;prosititution
|
jp0001071
|
[
"reference"
] |
2017/08/28
|
Is Japan's annual student achievement test worth the cost?
|
Japan’s elementary and junior high school students have strong basic academic skills but struggle to solve complex questions, according to this year’s nationwide achievement test results, which were released Monday by the education ministry. Since its launch in 2007, the test has been drawing attention from schools and local governments, as the 47 prefectures are ranked according to their average scores. But at the same time, some question the necessity of holding the test every year, considering that recent results remain more or less the same. Here is a primer about the background and past arguments over the government’s nationwide test: What is the nature of the achievement test? The annual achievement assessment, conducted by the education ministry each April on sixth-graders and third-year junior high school students across the nation, is meant to gauge students’ basic knowledge of mathematics and Japanese and their ability to apply those skills to solve complex problems. The assessment is used to learn about how much knowledge students have gained as well as to spot areas of weakness. The findings are used for improving and bolstering teaching methods in a bid to improve students’ academic skills. The test also includes a survey of students and teachers about their daily habits and learning environments. From 2019, the education ministry will include English in the assessment as well, in line with the government’s plan to improve students’ English abilities. The government conducted similar achievement tests between 1956 and 1966. But they were discontinued due to intensified competition among schools. In a bid to push up student scores, some schools held extra classes solely to prepare for the test, and some teachers even helped children cheat in an effort to get higher scores. Why did the government relaunch the assessment? The system resumed mainly because of mounting concerns over the deterioration of students’ academic abilities after the government introduced the yutori (relaxed) education policy in the 1990s. The policy effectively cut Saturday classes and reduced textbook sizes in an effort to nurture creativity instead of focusing on rote memorization, depressurizing school life. But the “PISA shock” in 2003 — when Japanese students’ rankings dropped in math and reading in a global survey — prompted the government to revise the relaxed education policy and launch the annual assessment as a means to reverse the decline in academic ability. The survey was the Programme for International Student Assessment conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. In the 2003 PISA survey, Japan dropped to No. 6 from the top spot in math and to No. 14 from No. 8 in reading compared with three years before. What can be learned from this year’s results? This year saw results similar to last year: Students continue to have difficulty solving complex problems using their basic knowledge of Japanese and mathematics, but they had good basic knowledge of the subjects. Like in the previous assessments, Akita, Ishikawa and Fukui prefectures topped the charts in most of the subjects, while Okinawa Prefecture ranked at the bottom in all of the assessments for junior high school students. But the ministry said the gap between the national average and the scores of the prefectures ranked at the bottom have narrowed in recent years, thanks to efforts to make improvements in the low-ranking prefectures. What has been a key concern in conducting the assessment? One major concern has been the disclosure of the test results, because this is believed to have pressured schools and teachers to overly focus on training students just to achieve high scores. To avoid triggering excessive competition among schools, the education ministry has been disclosing only the average scores by prefecture and giving individual scores to municipal boards of education, instructing them not to publicize the results. However, several prefectural governments, including Osaka and Akita, disclosed the average scores by municipality, while Tottori and Saga prefectures went even further by disclosing the average scores of individual schools. Given this reality, the education ministry changed its policy in 2013, conditionally allowing municipal boards of education to make public the average test scores of individual schools. Another issue has been several cases of cheating reported in the past decade, including an incident in which an elementary school teacher pointed out a student’s wrong answer during the test. Another recent case took place at a junior high school in Naha, Okinawa, where teachers did not submit the answer sheets of a few students who did poorly to avoid lowering the school’s average score, according to media reports. How are the test results used? Analyzing the results has been considered useful in identifying students’ weaknesses and discovering more effective teaching methods to improve their academic skills. The survey also provides information on the relationships between students’ daily habits and their academic skills. Among such findings: Those who skip breakfast or use smartphones for long hours — or those from low-income households — tend to score low on the test. But after a decade, pundits say it is becoming meaningless to spend ¥5 billion a year to conduct the test every year, simply to confirm the same results over and over again. This year, ¥4.8 billion was used for the test, the education ministry said. Some say it would be more helpful to use the funds to support schools, such as employing more teachers to mitigate the increasing burden on educators.
|
children;education;schools;national achievement test
|
jp0001072
|
[
"business"
] |
2017/08/17
|
Japan's first Gundam Base to woo model-building fans in Odaiba
|
Bandai Co. is looking to tap Japan’s expanding tourism market by opening a Tokyo shop dedicated to selling, building and painting plastic models of robots from its popular Gundam franchise. Gundam Base Tokyo — set to open Saturday in the Odaiba district — will let visitors learn about or experience the joy of model building, Bandai said. The models, commonly called Gunpla, have been a hit since the first one came out in 1980. More than 473 million units had been sold worldwide as of March, Bandai says. “Odaiba is in the international spotlight since the Olympics is coming up, so it’s a great location to open a store,” Koji Fujiwara, general manager of Bandai’s hobby products department, said in a group interview Thursday during a sneak preview of the site. Tokyo’s waterfront district has long been a popular spot for international travelers. “We hope to show the world how interesting Gundam models are,” Fujiwara said, adding the varied line-up makes the products stand out. When it opens, the store will have the largest Gunpla lineup in Japan with more than 2,000 types — including 19 exclusive items. To accommodate non-Japanese customers, Fujiwara said the shop will have multilingual staff who can speak English, Chinese and Korean, among other languages. Customers will even be able to build their models immediately after purchase because the store has a dedicated model-building space equipped with tools from nippers to air brushes. Fujiwara said professional builders will be on hand to give tips to those in need. “Even if you have no idea what to get or how to build it, the experts can teach you everything you need to know,” he said. There is also a section dubbed the Factory Zone where visitors can learn about how Gunpla are manufactured in Shizuoka Prefecture. Events and contests will take place in the Event Zone. The first Gundam Base opened in South Korea in 2003, followed by a Taiwanese branch two years later. There are now 13 shops total in Asia including the new shop in Japan. The Odaiba branch will be the first location based in Japan, but Fujiwara said the company will consider expanding if it proves successful, and that new overseas branches are being considered. “The first shop in Japan will be a starting point,” Fujiwara said. For more information, visit www.gundam-base.net .
|
bandai;gundam;odaiba
|
jp0001074
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"science-health-asia-pacific"
] |
2017/08/10
|
Chinese quantum satellite sends 'unbreakable' code
|
BEIJING - China has sent an “unbreakable” code from a satellite to the Earth, marking the first time space-to-ground quantum key distribution technology has been realized, state media said on Thursday. China launched the world’s first quantum satellite last August, to help establish “hack-proof” communications, a development the Pentagon has called a “notable advance.” The official Xinhua news agency said the latest experiment was published in the journal Nature on Thursday, where reviewers called it a “milestone.” The satellite sent quantum keys to ground stations in China between 645 km (400 miles) and 1,200 km (745 miles) away at a transmission rate up to 20 orders of magnitude more efficient than an optical fiber, Xinhua cited Pan Jianwei, lead scientist on the experiment from the state-run Chinese Academy of Sciences, as saying. “That, for instance, can meet the demand of making an absolute safe phone call or transmitting a large amount of bank data,” Pan said. Any attempt to eavesdrop on the quantum channel would introduce detectable disturbances to the system, Pan said. “Once intercepted or measured, the quantum state of the key will change, and the information being intercepted will self-destruct,” Xinhua said. The news agency said there were “enormous prospects” for applying this new generation of communications in defense and finance. China still lags behind the United States and Russia in space technology, although President Xi Jinping has prioritized advancing its space program, citing national security and defense. China insists its space program is for peaceful purposes, but the U.S. Defense Department has highlighted its increasing space capabilities, saying it was pursuing activities aimed at preventing adversaries from using space-based assets in a crisis.
|
china;space;privacy;espionage;physics;surveillance
|
jp0001075
|
[
"national"
] |
2017/08/10
|
Japanese researcher focuses on U.S. minorities, without reservation
|
A Japanese researcher whose worldview was shaped by a transcontinental journey in his youth has spent years chronicling the lives of Native Americans and other minorities in the United States. “While moving across the continents to the west, just like a runaway boy, the faces of people I met changed,” Jun Kamata, 44, now an associate professor at Asia University in Tokyo, said of his two-month trip from China to Portugal in 1990. Attracted by the diversity he saw, Kamata left for the United States after graduating from high school. It was there that he happened to become acquainted with indigenous peoples while studying at a rural community college in New Mexico. The encounters eventually led him to transfer to the University of California, Berkeley, where he researched the lives of Native Americans, before earning a doctorate in urban planning at the University of California, Los Angeles. Kamata has visited more than 100 reservations over the past 25 years to hear what Native Americans have to say about their history and present life. He always totes his camera. “I never learned photography professionally. I put priority on building a good relationship when I visit reservations, and then I just wait for the chance to snap photos,” Kamata said. His interests have expanded to other minority groups as well. He recently published two photographic volumes: “Indigenous Peoples in America: Passing Memories Toward the Future” and “America — The Pride of Diverse Minorities.” The first book depicts the daily lives of Native Americans living on reservations. While many of them smile in the photos, Kamata explains the severity of their situations in the epilog. Kamata talks about how discrimination by Europeans who settled in the “New World” still affects Native Americans today, pointing out that more than a quarter now live below the poverty line. “Alcohol — and drug-related crimes, accidents and diseases still threaten indigenous communities,” Kamata said. “With their languages, traditional cultures and even human dignity denied, not a few young Native Americans choose to kill themselves in the face of racial discrimination.” Kamata also raises awareness about nuclear issues, such as a plutonium production plant built near the communities that is causing concerns about contamination of their environment. The second book focuses on sexual minorities in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities. There are also photographed scenes of a Latino community in San Francisco, homeless people and the remains of the wartime internment camps that imprisoned Japanese-Americans. While researching the history of Japanese-Americans, Kamata found that they had exchanges with Native Americans through the fences of the camps, which were in outlying areas near their reservations. After the end of the war, Native Americans used building materials from the internment camps to renovate houses, offices and churches on reservations, according to Kamata. The circumstances surrounding LGBT people have been changing drastically, with the U.S. Supreme Court recognizing same-sex marriage as legal and deeming state-level bans unconstitutional in 2015. But as U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent proposed military ban on transgender service members demonstrates, the battle rages on. “U.S. lawmakers cannot ignore voices of LGBT anymore at a time when people with various ethnicities and sexualities form a family,” Kamata says in the book. While studying for his doctorate, Kamata lived with Latino immigrants, who were always coming and going from his apartment in the process of building their own lives. Kamata said the fact that he was forced to speak Spanish and not English with the people sharing his apartment allowed him to relate to a segment of American society that does not speak the dominant language of the country. Looking back at his quarter-century of research and photography, Kamata reflected on meeting Native Americans — the oldest residents of America — as well as newly arrived Latino immigrants. “I have also met with sexual minorities and homeless people,” he said. He said the experiences helped him “understand the United States more deeply,” influencing him similarly to the journey as a teenager helped determine his path in life. One of his observations was that people who have experienced social discrimination tend to stick together. “LGBT-friendly communities, for example, are comfortable also for other social minorities, including the disabled and people of color,” Kamata said. “It is a challenge of the United States if or how it will be able to keep and expand such comfort.” He said he will continue to keep a watchful eye on American society, particularly in light of the controversial immigration policies of the Trump administration.
|
lgbt;sexuality;discrimination;native americans;jun kamata
|
jp0001076
|
[
"national",
"history"
] |
2017/08/10
|
Corregidor stands as silent sentinel of Philippine history
|
CORREGIDOR ISLAND, PHILIPPINES - Nearly five centuries after the Philippines was first colonized and more than 70 years since it was ravaged by World War II, Corregidor Island off Manila Bay continues to offer stark memories of its past. Amid the country’s evolution to a more modern society and economy, ruins, a prominent lighthouse, tunnels and gun emplacements remain preserved on the 9-sq.-km island. They offer glimpses from the period between the 15th and 19th centuries, when the Philippines was a Spanish colony, to the early 20th century, when the United States took over, as well as the 1940s when Japan invaded and World War II broke out. “In our history, Corregidor showed us the valor of the Filipinos, the Americans and the Japanese,” tour guide Edo Fernandez said of the tadpole-shaped island around 48 km west of Manila. While Corregidor served an important function during the Spanish occupation, its significance rose when the U.S. was ruling the Philippines as a colony for nearly 50 years. At that time, it was used to host military forces because of its strategic location. Streets were paved, barracks and quarters were erected, the famous Malinta tunnel was constructed, batteries were set up, and a hospital and cinema were built, among other structures. When the Pacific War broke out in 1941, the Japanese sought to take over Corregidor, which was the last bastion of the allied Filipino and U.S. forces. According to the official Philippine government website, “It was important for the Japanese to capture Corregidor so that their navy could utilize Manila Bay for their campaign.” It took more than 300 full-scale air raids and hundreds of thousands of heavy artillery rounds, or up to 16,000 on a single day, for the Imperial Japanese Army to finally take control of Corregidor Island on May 6, 1942. On that day, U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Jonathan Wainwright, commander of all troops on the island, surrendered to the Japanese, led by Lt. Gen. Masaharu Homma. The Corregidor Foundation, a nonprofit organization tasked with maintaining the island’s war relics, noted that Corregidor, known also as “the Rock,” was the stumbling block that kept the Japanese from annihilating the Allied Forces in 1942 in the Pacific. “Had it not been for Corregidor Island’s tenacious defense, Australia would have been overrun by the Japanese that would deprive Gen. (Douglas) MacArthur’s regrouping of forces to mount counterattacks two years later,” the foundation said. MacArthur was the commander of the U.S. forces in the Pacific during the war. When the Americans returned in 1944 to take the Philippines back, the fight for Corregidor posed another struggle. This time it took until March 1945 to retake it. During the 10th anniversary of the “Liberation of Corregidor,” Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay said, “Corregidor was democracy’s great bastion during the last war, and I hope, with its proclamation as a national shrine, together with Bataan, it will forever remain the symbolic sanctuary of freedom in Asia.” When the 75th anniversary of the Fall of Corregidor was commemorated last May, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana pointed out how the island also highlights the “strong relationship” between the Philippines and the United States. “This is very important because the Filipinos and Americans fought side by side here,” he said. Aside from the actual war relics, other structures that serve to remind the public of Corregidor’s value were put up on the island years later, including the Pacific War Memorial, made up of a rotunda under a dome, and a museum. Artemio Matibag, executive director of the foundation, laments the decline in the number of Japanese visiting the island in the last few years. “Japanese World War II veterans cannot travel abroad anymore, and the young generation or relatives of World War II veterans are less interested in history,” he noted. Fernandez, a licensed tour guide, recalled that from 2001 to 2005, “there were … still a lot coming in groups,” made up of those interested in WWII, as well as relatives of those who fought and died in the war. But because of the passing of many veterans or their immediate descendants, as well as the weakening of the Japanese economy, the trend slowly reversed. “The younger generation is not interested anymore, unlike the older generation,” Fernandez, 69, said during a recent tour on the island. In a separate email interview, Matibag said, “(Corregidor) is less significant now for the young Japanese generation” since “the world today has so many issues and concerns politically, socially and economically.” Acknowledging that many facts and aspects of the war were purposely kept from the Japanese by their government, Fernandez appealed to the younger generation, especially those from Japan, to visit Corregidor since “this is a good opportunity to learn about the war.” Matibag said the foundation is trying to slow the deterioration of World War II ruins by installing steel supports and cleaning up the island on a daily basis. The preservation efforts, Lorenzana said, are intended “for the future generations … who come here to see what their forefathers did in Corregidor.”
|
wwii;history;philippines;corregidor island
|
jp0001077
|
[
"national"
] |
2017/08/19
|
Lessons learned from the failure of the Osaka Foreign Settlement
|
This year, Osaka is celebrating the 150th anniversary of the opening of its port to the outside world. Numerous events, lectures and symposiums on how Osaka developed from 1868 to the present have taken place or are planned between now and early next year. Many of them focus on the engineering and technical skills needed to transform the port into a modern international hub, or how expanded trade benefited Osaka and Japan. But one aspect of the port’s history seems to have been forgotten and almost hidden, possibly because it’s viewed historically as a major business and diplomatic failure: the Osaka Foreign Settlement. Compared with the better-known Kobe Foreign Settlement — where 150th anniversary celebrations include an exhibition at Kobe city museum on the foreign settlement’s contribution to Japan — Osaka appears less interested in letting the world know that between 1868 and 1899 it, too, had a foreign concession where Western merchants and Christian missionaries lived and worked. The Osaka Foreign Settlement was located in the Kawaguchi district in Nishi Ward along the riverfront. It consisted of about two dozen Western-style buildings where European and U.S. merchants established themselves under the extraterritorial treaties Japan had signed to open itself up to the outside world. For three decades, it was a separate nation with Japan, but not a prosperous one. The settlement was plagued from the beginning by unfavorable conditions in Osaka bay that made transportation of goods by sea rough and dangerous. It was also plagued by political chaos in Osaka and by a lack of interest among local merchants which made steady, profitable trade impossible. By the 1870s, Kobe — not Osaka — was, along with Yokohama, the most prosperous of Japan’s foreign settlements. In the minds of Western traders in the Kansai region, Kobe was the port truly open to outsiders. But while 19th-century merchants abandoned Osaka for Kobe, the missionary movement flourished. Schools for young Japanese under missionary supervision opened in the settlement area. Today, the Kawaguchi Christ Church Cathedral is the most prominent reminder of the old foreign settlement. Finding scholarly and popular works on the Osaka settlement, even in this year of anniversary celebrations, remains difficult. Amateur history buffs interested in gleaning valuable lessons for today from the failures of the first Western merchants in Osaka are apt to be disappointed in the lack of available material. It’s not that the Osaka Foreign Settlement has been wiped from the history books. Rather, a tendency to study only success, not failure, has relegated it to a very minor historical footnote in Japan’s 19th-century development. Public public relations types generally only want to look on the bright side of life and create pleasant images rather than learn from history’s failures. But a deep understanding of the Osaka Foreign Settlement might not only satisfy the curiosity of history buffs but also provide timely tips to the city’s international PR flacks. Over the next couple years, Osaka will wage an international PR campaign to host the 2025 World Expo, to promote what they hope will be one of the country’s first casino resorts, and to win World Heritage Site status for ancient burial mounds. They will be very busy bees, buzzing around, creating all sorts of ways to promote Osaka. How Osaka dealt with the outside world long ago might seem unrelated to their efforts, but that is not the case. Such historical knowledge gives modern Osaka possible promotional material that would resonate more deeply with intelligent outsiders than pompous speeches, slick-but-vapid videos, or historically whitewashed brochures we too often see. In other words, the ancient history of a local international failure might contribute to Osaka winning international success today. Who’d have thought it?
|
osaka;kawaguchi;osaka foreign settlement
|
jp0001079
|
[
"national",
"media-national"
] |
2017/08/19
|
Facing up to the cold hard truth of war
|
Although Japan and South Korea reached a final settlement several years ago involving payments to Korean women who were forced to sexually service Japanese troops in the 1930s and ’40s, the issue won’t go away, and not just because the new South Korean president is questioning the settlement , which was concluded by his predecessor. Japan wants everyone to forget about those women, who are all nearing the end of their lives, and when the government cries foul because some Korea-related organization continues to draw attention to them and what they suffered, it’s because it thinks the other side is reneging on the deal. We’ve all agreed to drop the subject, Japan says. Can’t we get on with other things? In doing so Japan implies a refusal to acknowledge the ineluctable relationship between war and sexual violence . The “comfort women” will always be part of the history of World War II no matter how desperately the government tries to erase them from people’s memories or deny that it was what it was. This inalienable truth was reinforced this summer when two separate media outlets covered the same story about sexual violence that took place in a community of Japanese migrants in Manchuria right after Japan’s 1945 surrender. This story is being told publicly for the first time. One version appeared in the Tokyo Shimbun on July 2, explaining how hundreds of thousands of Japanese were compelled to move to Manchuria in the 1930s after Japan set up a puppet regime there. A good portion of the migrants were farmers charged with growing food for a country that was escalating its war on the Asian continent. Japan eventually lost that war, and the migrants were left to their own devices by retreating Japanese forces. Many communities committed group suicide rather than face the approaching Soviet Army or the returning Chinese whose property they had taken. The article focused on one farming community from the village of Kurokawa, Gifu Prefecture. The leaders of the community, which numbered about 600, also discussed suicide but in the end determined they would try to survive and return to Japan. They were already being attacked by Chinese bent on revenge, so they asked a group of Soviet soldiers for protection. In the end, they entered into an agreement where the soldiers would have sexual access to about 15 of the community’s unmarried girls and women. Three of these women are still alive. They kept silent about their ordeal for many years, but have now decided to talk about it. For three months, until the Soviets withdrew, they were raped frequently, often at gunpoint. “They’d use their rifles to push us down onto the futon,” one woman recalls, “as if we were logs.” Four of the women died before the nightmare was over. When the community, reduced by disease and starvation to about 400, finally returned to Japan in the summer of 1946, no one talked about these “ settai ” (recreational receptions), the euphemism used for the arrangement the community’s leaders had made with the Soviet soldiers, least of all the leaders themselves. One woman said she didn’t even know of the arrangement until the first day she reported to the special house prepared for the settai. Even after they were back in Japan, the men who made the decision never acknowledged the pain they had put her through. “They couldn’t understand how much we suffered,” she said. “But they should remember what happened to us so that they could return to Japan.” Another woman, now 91, said she contemplated escaping many times, but would instead dutifully go to the settai “when it was my turn.” She felt she had to do it to save her community. The only recognition of the ordeal until now was a small statue erected at a shrine in Shirakawa-cho (present-day Kurokawa) dedicated to the “maidens” ( otome ) who “sacrificed” themselves for the community, though the nature of that sacrifice is unspecified. Also unspecified in the Tokyo Shimbun article were the names of these women, but in its documentary about the Kurokawa migrants broadcast on Aug. 5, NHK identified two of them, as well as another woman who died several years ago. In fact, it was that woman, Yoshiko Yasue, who first came out with her story in 2013, at the age of 89. Her husband, who didn’t know about the settai before her public “confession,” told NHK, “I think she felt she had to talk about it.” Her son surmised, “She had to verbalize her experience, because she wanted to question why she had to endure it in the first place.” More than the Tokyo Shimbun article, the documentary stresses that the community believed they would have been killed by returning Chinese, who started looting as soon as Japan surrendered. NHK’s version is also more detailed, with testimony from surviving men of the village who express contrition for what happened, though they admit no one ever talked about it until Yasue’s testimony. One man, who was only a boy at the time, shows NHK the notebook of his father, who recorded what went on. However, in 1981, when he published an official history of the village’s time in Manchuria, he papered over the rapes by describing the settai as entertainments where the women served drinks to the soldiers. “We could not write the truth in 1981,” the man says, and shows NHK the passage in his father’s notebook describing the women’s screams as they were raped. The central figure of the NHK documentary is Harue Sato, who at 92 talks candidly about the rapes but, more significantly, shows how one moves past such a tragedy without denying or forgetting it. Unable to wed in Kurokawa because of “rumors,” she left for the mountains, spent three backbreaking years clearing inhospitable land and started her own dairy farm, which thrived with the help of a man to whom she told everything. “He understood and he married me,” Sato says, the point being that all men know what they’re capable of during war, but not all have the courage to face that ugliness openly.
|
wwii;military;comfort women;world war ii;gifu;manchuria;kurokawa
|
jp0001080
|
[
"national",
"history"
] |
2017/08/19
|
Wabi lies at the heart of Japanese history
|
You could spend your entire life in modern Japan without ever hearing the term wabi , though no overview of Japanese history or art is complete without it. It’s a beautiful word, hard to define like most beautiful words. Poverty is the heart of it, which sounds dispiriting, but there’s the Zen phrase “To fill a monk’s tattered robe with a cool refreshing breeze,” quoted by Zen master Daisetz T. Suzuki (1870-1966) as an invitation to see poverty through Zen eyes. “A life of wabi,” he says, affords “an inexpressible quiet joy deeply hidden beneath sheer poverty.” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, many of whose political goals spring from a professed love of Japanese tradition, has little to say about this particular one. It’s hard to blame him. A politician would sound silly campaigning on a wabi platform. Economic growth is Abe’s mantra. It’s every politician’s. It has to be, in keeping with the times. If tradition scorns it, who really cares? No one, not even traditionalists — at least those who run for office. “An inexpressible quiet joy hidden deep beneath sheer poverty.” If that’s wabi you can keep it, would be the modern verdict. These days we prefer other joys. But the sages and poets of old were curiously drawn to it. The seeds of wabi were sown by a poet and Shinto shrine official named Kamo no Chomei (circa 1153-1216), who bequeathed to posterity a charming little memoir known as the “Hojoki” (“The Ten Foot Square Hut”). His withdrawal from society, he candidly admits, was due less to religious yearning than to a string of disasters, natural and personal, that had frustrated his worldly ambitions. Retiring deep into the forested mountains near Kyoto, he lived alone for 30 years in a succession of primitive huts, each smaller than the one before, discovering in the process how little a person needs in order to enjoy the serene tranquility whose joys only poverty can reveal. His last and smallest hut became a model for the tea hut where the classical tea ceremony — wabi ritualized — came to be performed. “With this lonely cottage of mine, this hut of one room,” said Chomei, “I am quite content. … If your food is scanty, it will have the better relish. … My only luxury is a sound sleep, and all I look forward to is the beauty of the changing seasons.” The theme echoes down the ages. A century or so after Chomei, the priest Yoshida no Kenko (1283-1350), in a miscellany known as “Tzurezuregusa” (“The Grasses of Idleness”), wrote: “What a foolish thing it is to be governed by a desire for fame and profit and to fret away one’s whole life without a moment of peace. … You had best throw away your gold in the mountains and drop your jewels into a ravine.” The haiku poet Matsuo Basho (1644-94), setting off on one of several journeys undertaken not to arrive somewhere or accomplish something but because life itself is a journey, wrote, “Following the example of the ancient priest who is said to have traveled thousands of miles caring naught for his provisions and attaining the state of sheer ecstasy under the pure beams of the moon, I left my broken house on the River Sumida … among the wails of the autumn wind.” On the road he discovered, along with much else, “Fleas, lice/ the horse pissing/ near my pillow.” Revulsion is uncalled for, for Basho’s mind was “one with nature,” and “whatever such a mind sees is a flower, and whatever such a mind dreams of is the moon.” Then there’s the poet Ryokan (1758-1831) — beggar, monk, wabi personified: “I’ve forgotten my begging bowl/ but no one would steal it/ no one would steal it — / how sad for my begging bowl.” Speaking of fleas and lice: “Fleas, lice/ any autumn bug that wants to sing — / the breast of my robe is Musashino moor!” In other words: Come, fleas, come, lice, make yourselves at home in the breast of my robe. The tradition endured well into the 20th century. The protagonist in “Kikyo” (“Homecoming”), a novel by Jiro Osaragi published in 1948, is Kyogo, a disgraced naval officer who, having spent the war years as a vagabond in Europe, returns to a Japan in ruins and ponders the poverty around him in terms of wabi: “Kyogo had grown used to Europe, so that after his return he was able to see what a really meager and impoverished life the Japanese had had through the centuries. … It was because they were so poor, Kyogo saw, that the Japanese had discovered a world of beauty unknown to Western aesthetics and called it by names suggesting melancholy and unfulfillment. They had been denied the luxury of really satisfying their human desires, so they had suppressed them and found ways to enjoy poverty.” Wabi withered in the modernizing, industrializing blast of the Meiji Era (1868-1912). It breathed its last in the still more frenetic reconstruction boom of the postwar years. By 1980, some 90 percent of Japanese considered themselves solidly middle class. Poverty had been defeated. Wabi was no longer necessary. The victory proved ephemeral. One measure of the damage done by a recession that set in the 1990s and lingers still is the rising child poverty rate: 1 in 6 Japanese children is said to be growing up in poverty. Given a choice between economic growth and wabi, Kamo no Chomei, Basho and Ryokan would surely choose wabi, but they, having cut their worldly ties, could afford the indulgence. Their sexual abstinence didn’t affect the birth rate, and impoverished modern parents with children they are unable to feed and educate would sound more callous than enlightened offering them wabi instead. Wabi is, indeed, beautiful in its simplicity, but harsh, as Basho perhaps unwittingly reminds us. Approached on one of his journeys by a starving, abandoned child of about 3 years old, the poet wrote, “Alas, it seems to me that the child’s suffering has been caused by … the irresistible will of heaven and I must pass on, leaving it behind.”
|
matsuo basho;kamo no chomei;jiro osaragi;ryokan;wabi;yoshida no kenko
|
jp0001082
|
[
"national",
"media-national"
] |
2017/08/26
|
Japan's female politicians showing the way forward on maternity harassment
|
Since July 12, when Lower House lawmaker Takako Suzuki announced she was pregnant with her first child, the news media has been full of stories about “maternity harassment.” Suzuki’s announcement was met with negative comments posted to her blog. Some people believe she cannot be an effective public servant while she is expecting — her doctor has prescribed bed rest due to the risk of premature birth — and further imply that she will be distracted by the business of motherhood once the baby arrives. Suzuki, an independent from Hokkaido, has rejected the criticism, saying that although she might limit her activities before the baby is due in September, she was not going to abandon her responsibilities. In an Aug. 2 article , Tokyo Shimbun said that Suzuki’s reaction was encouraging, since it showed she wouldn’t be intimidated. It should be noted that Suzuki is the daughter of Muneo Suzuki , perhaps the most powerful politician in Hokkaido. Due to his 2004 conviction for accepting bribes, a charge he maintains was false, he has been banned from seeking public office, and it’s generally assumed that his daughter is his proxy in the government. Muneo is still popular in Hokkaido, so it isn’t likely that Suzuki’s matahara — the portmanteau of maternity harassment — will have an adverse effect on her chances for re-election in the future. A more instructive story regarding female politicians was that of the two pregnant women elected to the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly last spring, although their victories have been attributed to their allegiance to popular Gov. Yuriko Koike’s Tomin First (Tokyoites First) party. The fact that they were pregnant made it even more important, though they, too, were the targets of internet trolls. Ayumi Saigo, a former Chuo Ward assemblywoman, and Nami Goto, who has never held office before, say their agenda will be centered on “improving the environment” for working mothers, particularly in the Tokyo assembly itself, which has no rules regarding pregnancies or parental leave. According to Tokyo Shimbun , Tomin First actively recruited Saigo, saying they wanted more women in the prefectural government and were delighted that she is expecting, since it would draw attention to the situations of working mothers and help “normalize” them in the public’s imagination. Goto, on the other hand, wasn’t aware she was pregnant until after she responded to a public solicitation by Tomin First for candidates. Legally, Tokyo assemblypersons are considered “special position” civil servants, meaning they are not entitled to the same kind of maternity leave given to full-time bureaucrats — 14 weeks paid leave prior to birth and up to 18 months afterward. Tokyo Shimbun reports, however, that there is an informal agreement that allows female members to skip sessions if they are having a baby. Nevertheless, the two women said that, while there are ways to receive paid leave for pregnancy and childbirth — employment insurance ( koyō hoken ) provides compensation for regular employees who take time off to have children, and regular sick leave is available to assemblypersons — they would “feel bad” about doing so. Online trolls are accusing them of “stealing public money,” and though both refuse to quit, neither has said how much time they will take off to have their babies. Tokyo Shimbun says that regardless of the law, public attitudes need to change, implying that they haven’t since 2008, when Reiko Matsushita took a few days off to have a baby and, after returning to the Tokyo Assembly, was met with “pity” for her child, who, according to critics, wasn’t going to receive Matsushita’s full attention. Even when a female politician clearly fulfills her duties and raises her children responsibly, she gets grief. Megumi Kaneko, a Diet lawmaker from Niigata, was condemned for using an official vehicle to drop her son off at day care. Matahara is supposedly less of a problem in the private sector, but attitudes remain a roadblock, even in corporate Japan. Almost every outlet has quoted the statistic that says 100 percent of the women who take maternity leave at retail giant Aeon return to their jobs afterward, but what about those women who quit when they discover they are pregnant? In the general workforce, a majority do so. If these employees were factored in, the return rate for Aeon female employees would surely be lower. In recent years, even a company like Japan Airlines , once considered at the vanguard in hiring and promoting women in Japan, has been hit with a matahara lawsuit. Some have said the problem has more to do with Japan’s work culture than with lingering sexism. In a discussion last year on the Nippon TV morning show “ Sukkiri ” (which itself was once involved in a matahara controversy ), a representative of the anti-harassment group Matahara Net said that women who take time off to have children receive more resentment from female colleagues than they do from male supervisors because those colleagues will have to do her work while she’s away. Despite government efforts to change this culture, Japanese workers who take vacations or don’t work overtime are considered shirkers. An Aug. 17 article in Tokyo Shimbun reported how a female sales representative for household products company Lion put together a team of three novice sales reps after she returned from maternity leave. They maintain her network of contacts when she has family responsibilities and are gaining valuable experience in the process. The point being: Each employer needs to come up with its own solution. But maybe the most effective way of changing attitudes would be to show pregnant women on the job, which is where the media can make a difference. In other countries, on-air talent appear in front of the camera right up until their delivery date , and while some viewers may be put off by it , in general it’s accepted and even welcome. In Japan, it would be good to see more announcers continue working after they start showing.
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matahara;maternity harassment;takako suzuki;ayumi saigo;nami goto
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jp0001083
|
[
"reference"
] |
2017/08/21
|
Color-coded map identifies potential nuclear waste sites in Japan but local governments may only see red
|
OSAKA - On July 28, the central government released what it called a scientific, specialized map of the country highlighting areas where highly radioactive nuclear waste from the nation’s power plants might, or might not, be safely buried underground for as long as 100,000 years. The multicolored map ( link to a PDF version ) is further divided into regional blocks identifying locations in each prefecture where conditions are judged to be most favorable — both in geological terms (i.e., lack of active fault lines or low risk of volcanoes) and ease of transport — for burying high-level waste. It also indicated where such burial would pose scientific and logistical challenges. The general response from Hokkaido to Okinawa was: “Not in my backyard.” Regardless of whether the government will continue its policy of putting back in operation as many reactors as possible, Japan — like most countries that embraced nuclear power five decades ago without arrangements for long-term waste — now finds that it needs to build disposal facilities sooner rather than later. However, local opposition to hosting nuclear waste may not be easily overcome. What is the map and what’s the official plan for the waste? The map shows areas in the country the government has deemed either favorable or unfavorable to build underground waste storage facilities for high-level nuclear waste that would be in operation for as long as 100,000 years, at least in theory. Waste currently stored at nuclear power plants would be transported by truck or ship to final disposal sites, where the radioactive materials would then be transferred via automated trains at least 300 meters underground. The map has four colors. Dark green indicates favorable conditions, mostly concentrated within 20 km along the coast, and easily accessible in terms of transportation. Light green areas are generally favorable, but more than 20 km from the coast. Orange marks locations that would pose geological problems and silver highlights the potential existence of mineral resources. Where are the favorable and unfavorable sites, and how many have been identified? Close to 900 municipalities, nearly 70 percent of the country, were judged to be favorable. Much of the coastline of the four major islands was colored green, as was most of Okinawa. Areas that were flagged as unfavorable include Hokkaido’s Shiretoko region and, off Hokkaido, two disputed islands — Kunashiri and Etorofu — held by Russia. The tip of the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture, much of the Japan Alps region, Tottori and northern Hyogo Prefecture, and most of southern Kyushu were seen as unfavorable. What about Fukushima and Aomori prefecture, the site of the Rokkasho nuclear waste reprocessing plants? Both prefectures would technically fall into the favorable category using the outlined criteria; in the case of Aomori, locations close to shore mean favorable transport conditions. But the government has already promised that the disposal site would not be located in Aomori because of the Rokkasho plant, and that Fukushima residents would not be asked to bear the burden of a final burial site, taking both prefectures out of play for political reasons. On the other hand, much of the coastal areas of Fukui Prefecture, which has the largest concentration of nuclear power plants in the country, was deemed suitable for a disposal site. Political reaction has been cautious to skeptical. Many Fukui towns that host nuclear plants are now seeking promises from the central government that Fukui, home to 13 commercial reactors, will not also be asked to accommodate a burial site for nuclear waste. Are authorities reviewing the use of midterm storage facilities before transferring to a final site? In 2015, the Science Council of Japan, a national body that represents scientists and operates independently of the government, released a series of recommendations that called for storing the waste in provisional, above-ground facilities for a half century. According to the plan, during the first 30 years of temporary storage, locations for a final disposal site would be identified and selected, and during the last 20 years, those facilities would be built. That still requires a local government to accept a midterm facility, and none has yet. Also, such a course of action would only postpone the final site issue, putting it on the next generation to solve the predicament. Now that the map has been published, what happens next? The central government will begin to narrow the list of possible host sites. Much will depend on the strength of local opposition, and how much time, money and effort those who favor a particular locale becoming a final waste disposal site wish to spend on overcoming the local opposition. Convincing local populations that the nation’s underground radioactive waste can be stored in their neighborhood for millennia without destroying the above-ground environment will be a hard sell.
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map;nuclear energy;nuclear waste
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jp0001084
|
[
"reference"
] |
2017/08/07
|
Japan working hard to douse fire ant invasion
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Fire ants, a venomous, highly invasive nonnative pest, have been spotted over the past few months in various parts of Japan, prompting the Environment Ministry to both warn the public to seek immediate treatment for stings and take measures to prevent further infestation. First detected June 9 in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, fire ants had been identified in 10 locations nationwide as of July 27, from Oita Prefecture to Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo. The ministry has confirmed one injury caused by a fire ant; a male worker in his 30s developed a rash on his left arm after being stung in a warehouse in Fukuoka on July 27. Following is a look at why fire ants should be kept out of Japan: What are the characteristics of fire ants? They measure about 2.5 to 6 mm long, are reddish brown in color and have a venomous stinger on the tip of their deep-red abdomen. According to the ministry, fire ants originated in South America but have spread to more than 10 countries and territories worldwide, including the United States, Puerto Rico, Australia, China and Taiwan. Unlike Japan’s domestic ant species, fire ants build domed hills 25 to 60 cm wide and 15 to 50 cm high. The invasive species law bans the import, transport or keeping of fire ants in Japan. How dangerous are they? The Environment Ministry had in the past said that about 100 people in the United States are killed each year by fire ants, printing this figure in a pamphlet titled “Stop the Fire Ant.” However, the figure was not used in the pamphlet’s current version. A ministry official told The Japan Times last week they couldn’t find any evidence to back the figure up. Even so, the official stressed the importance of people steering clear of fires ants because it is possible to die from a sting. According to the Japanese unit of the International Union for the Study of Social Insects, 129 people were hospitalized in Taiwan between 2012 and 2014 after being stung by fire ants, although no cases resulted in death. Fire ants can also threaten biodiversity and agriculture. The ministry says the species is “highly aggressive,” killing and consuming insects, reptiles and even small mammals. Officials say fire ants can potentially kill livestock, including cattle or horses. The International Union for Conservation of Nature considers fire ants one of the world’s 100 worst invasive species that can drive other breeds to extinction, and do harm to human society. “They breed and spread rapidly and, if disturbed, can relocate quickly so as to ensure survival of the colony. Their stinging ability allows them to subdue prey and repel even larger vertebrate competitors from resources,” says the union’s database. They also proliferate quickly, with queens producing 800 to 2,000 eggs a day. The economic impact of fire ants on humans, agriculture and wildlife in the United States was estimated at about “half a billion, if not several billion, dollars per year,” according to a 2010 report by the union. The agricultural impact includes damage to crops and workers, the report says, adding that if inhabited by fire ants, playgrounds may no longer be safe for children. What happens when a person is stung? According to the ministry, victims can experience anaphylaxis, a life-threatening allergic reaction with symptoms such as difficulty breathing, decrease of blood pressure and loss of consciousness. Milder symptoms can include breaking out in hives centered around the areas where stung. Victims may also experience acute pain similar to a burn. If conditions worsen after a rest of 20 to 30 minutes, it’s best to visit a hospital and report being stung. If one encounters an army of fire ants, steer clear and contact the Environment Ministry or the prefectural department that handles pest extermination. What measures are being taken by the government? The Environment Ministry is urging early detection and extermination. According to the ministry, all fire ants spotted so far have been exterminated. The sites have been in Hyogo, Aichi, Osaka, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Fukuoka and Oita prefectures. The ministry has also begun a project to hunt down fire ants at 68 ports nationwide and is taking such measures as setting traps in areas within 2 km from the ports where they have previously been seen. The 68 ports regularly handle cargo from countries and territories where the ministry has confirmed that fire ants exist, including China and Taiwan. The government has also asked organizations involved in shipping to urge consignors to take active measures, and boards of education to teach students about the dangers posed by fire ants. Medical institutions and fire departments meanwhile have been informed by their prefectural governments about the appropriate treatment of victims.
|
environment ministry;pests;fire ants
|
jp0001086
|
[
"national",
"politics-diplomacy"
] |
2017/08/09
|
Internal affairs minister Noda eyes telecommuting to boost women's empowerment
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Newly appointed Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Seiko Noda said she wants to take the initiative to promote teleworking to pave the way for more flexible working environments. Noda, 56, whose son is developmentally disabled, said the practice, also known as telecommuting, can be a huge help for women who juggle work and family commitments. “I have a six-year-old child. And I also have to be a nurse and a caregiver to look after my son. It’s a heavy burden. So I want to make the most of ICT (information and communication technology) to balance work (and my family),” Noda said during a joint interview Tuesday with The Japan Times and other media outlets. “If I can balance these things, I believe any women can.” The ministry has been promoting telecommuting since 2015 as a way to change people’s working styles and ease heavy transport congestion ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. As of September 2016, about 13.3 percent of businesses had implemented the system, according to a ministry survey. The government aims to increase the figure to over 30 percent by 2020. Noda, who doubles as minister in charge of women’s empowerment, said she will continue her efforts to increase the proportion of female lawmakers in Japan’s male-dominated political hub at Nagatacho. “It’s been more than 70 years since women gained suffrage in Japan. Still, women account for less than 10 percent of the Lower House,” Noda lamented. “Women still are minorities in the world of politics.” Currently women account for a mere 9 percent in the powerful 475-seat Lower House. In a bid to change the status quo, a bipartisan group of lawmakers including Noda submitted a bill to the Diet earlier this year to oblige political parties to try to make the ratio of female and male candidates in local and national elections “as equal as possible.” Noda hopes to enact the bill in the extraordinary Diet session this fall. Although the bill does not include any punitive provisions, Noda said the legislation will help raise people’s awareness about the gender gap in politics. “Many still think politics are for men,” Noda said. But changing that mindset could also change the way people see women in business, she said.
|
women;seiko noda;teleworking
|
jp0001087
|
[
"national"
] |
2017/08/09
|
'Maternity harassment' still dogs female lawmakers despite government's empowerment goals
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While allowing female employees to take maternity leave is becoming the norm in the nation’s private sector, women in politics can still face a storm of criticism even for getting pregnant. On July 12, independent House of Representatives lawmaker Takako Suzuki, 31, announced on her blog that she was pregnant with her first child, writing, “On this occasion, I have been blessed with the gift of a new life.” She went on to say she felt “very conflicted” since she had been prescribed bed rest by her doctor due to the risk of a premature birth. This meant, she said, that she would have to limit, though not altogether cease, her political activities. Although Suzuki was sent a number of messages of congratulation and encouragement, she also received a torrent of criticism in her comments section. “I have doubts about you getting pregnant while you are still serving in office,” one person wrote. “You should quit for the time being,” remarked another, while someone else wrote, “This is why female lawmakers are a problem … .” Suzuki responded in a post that she found the notion that because she is pregnant she is somehow “abandoning her duties” as a representative of the people unacceptable. She added that she is ready to vigorously pursue her activities after giving birth. Suzuki’s father, Muneo, a former House of Representatives lawmaker, posted in his blog: “This is a gift from God. It is outrageous to call this an abandonment of duty.” Suzuki, who said she is scheduled to give birth in mid-September, is not the only female Diet member to have abuse thrown her way for daring to have a child. Megumi Kaneko, a 39-year-old House of Representatives lawmaker from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, gave birth to a son in February of last year. A person who saw her cradling her son in her home district in Niigata Prefecture told her, “You’re done as a politician.” That prompted Kaneko to later say, “In politics, I felt like prejudice remains and that it is something only for men.” The Mainichi Shimbun reported that Hiromi Suzuki, 33, a member of Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward Assembly, took four months of maternity leave four years ago and again last year. During her first leave, sexually vulgar insults were scrawled over her posters, and she was labeled a “traitor” and urged to “quit” on social media. For years the government has been touting the goal of increasing the number of women in senior jobs, in both the private and public sectors. A target has been set to raise the proportion of women in national and local politics to 30 percent by 2020, but female lawmakers currently make up just 13 percent of the Diet. More than 70 percent of female prefectural assembly members who responded to a Kyodo News poll conducted last year said the 2020 goal is “unachievable.” In the House of Representatives, where Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s LDP holds a majority, women hold just 44 seats, or 9.3 percent of the 475 seats in the chamber. According to a survey conducted earlier this year by the Geneva-based Inter-Parliamentary Union, Japan ranked 163rd out of 193 countries in terms of female lawmakers in the more powerful lower chamber. It also ranked the lowest among the Group of Seven countries. Quota systems to enhance women’s candidacy in elections have been implemented overseas, and there are also examples of systems to allow female lawmakers to take maternity or child care leave by bringing in surrogates to stand in their place. In Japan, there is no clear system for maternity or paternity leave based on the law. The Labor Standards Act also does not extend to politicians because they are not considered workers subject to industrial relations. But in 2000, LDP House of Councilors lawmaker Seiko Hashimoto’s absence from Diet sessions in order to give birth prompted the Diet to allow maternity leave for its members for the first time. According to the executive offices of both chambers of the Diet, 11 legislators have made use of the system. According to the Cabinet Office, all prefectures and assemblies in designated cities now have systems in which female lawmakers can take maternity leave, but the systems do not extend as far within municipal assemblies. Women are faring much better in the private sector, although they are still grossly underrepresented in leadership roles. Retail giant Aeon Co. is aiming to boost its proportion of women managers to 50 percent by 2020. Although the male-to-female ratio was split evenly when hiring new employees with similar abilities, many began to question why there was such a big difference at the managerial level. For the past four years, the company has been trying to figure out ways to incentivize women to remain in their jobs. As a result, it says that 100 percent of its female employees at its headquarters in Chiba have been able to take child care leave and return to their jobs. Matahara Net is a nonprofit organization that supports women who experience “maternity harassment,” or matahara in Japanese — the term used to describe women who suffer harassment in the workplace after becoming pregnant or giving birth. “Japanese people are too closed-minded. Policies should reflect diverse thinking, and the perspective of female lawmakers who have experienced childbirth and child care is essential,” said the NPO’s representative director, Hiroko Miyashita. “We have to have a society where women can continue working.”
|
pregnancy;women;female lawmakers
|
jp0001089
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2017/08/08
|
To pare losses, Japan Display eyes cutting 4,000 jobs
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Japan Display Inc. is considering slashing around 4,000 jobs, about 30 percent of its total workforce, by streamlining manufacturing lines, mostly overseas, to turn around its struggling business, sources close to the matter said Tuesday. The liquid-crystal display maker, formed in 2012 through a merger of the LCD operations of Hitachi Ltd., Sony Corp. and Toshiba Corp., incurred losses for the three fiscal years through last March. A harsh business environment will likely continue for the company as its key client Apple Inc. is turning away from LCDs and toward organic light-emitting diode displays. Japan Display lags behind rivals in OLED development. The struggling company is planning to cut around 3,500 jobs overseas by eliminating and integrating factories in countries including China and the Philippines. It will also solicit voluntary retirement from 250 workers in Japan by streamlining operations mainly at three plants in Ishikawa Prefecture. The Japan Display group’s workforce totaled around 13,000 at the end of March. With job cuts, it aims to slash ¥50 billion in its annual fixed costs and return to profitability. As for domestic production, the maker plans to suspend output of LCD panels for smartphones at its plant in Nomi, Ishikawa Prefecture, by the end of this year and shift workers to the nearby Hakusan plant equipped with cutting-edge production facilities. At its plant in Kawakita, production will shift to LCD panels for vehicles to better cope with an expected rise in demand for the products. The Nomi plant may resume operation eventually when production of next-generation OLED panels gets into gear, the sources said. With losses associated with the streamlining of the manufacturing bases estimated to reach ¥150 billion, it is seen as inevitable that Japan Display will remain in the red for the fourth straight year in fiscal 2017. The manufacturer is also hoping to receive a capital infusion to shore up its shaky financial base. An investment fund and a Chinese LCD panel maker have shown interest in becoming a partner, according to sources. Japan Display’s three main lenders — Mizuho Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank — are set to extend the company new lines of credit worth ¥110 billion, with its top shareholder, the government-backed fund Innovation Network Corp. of Japan, guaranteeing the loans. The maker also plans to introduce an in-house company system in October, dividing display operations for vehicles, mobile gadgets or for other installations in a bid to speed up its decision-making process and better control its costs and earnings. The company is expected to announce those restructuring measures Wednesday.
|
electronics;job cuts;corporate restructuring;japan display inc .
|
jp0001090
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"offbeat-asia-pacific"
] |
2017/08/08
|
Aussie teen soaks feet in sea, finds mystery creatures chewed them up
|
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - A teenager who went for a swim at a Melbourne beach and emerged with his feet covered in blood has stumped marine experts. Sam Kanizay’s legs felt sore after playing a game of football on Saturday, so he decided to soak them at the beach. About 30 minutes later, the 16-year-old walked out of the water with his feet and ankles covered in what looked like hundreds of little pin holes that were bleeding profusely. Upon returning home, his parents promptly took him to the hospital. Kanizay’s father, Jarrod, said hospital staff had no idea what kind of creature could have caused the injuries. So Jarrod went back to the beach the following night with a pool net full of meat and captured the animals he believes could have been responsible. He took a video of dozens of the tiny bug-like creatures chomping on the chunks of meat. “What is really clear is these little things really love meat,” he said. Jeff Weir, executive director of the Dolphin Research Institute, believes the teen may have been attacked by crustaceans called amphipods, which usually eat decomposing plant and animal scraps. But Thomas Cribb, a parasite expert from the University of Queensland, said it would be very unusual for amphipods to cause such extensive bleeding. “It’s not a parasite I’ve ever come across,” he said. Meanwhile, marine expert Michael Brown believes the small bugs eating the meat in the video could be jellyfish larvae. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” he told Channel Seven’s Sunrise program. Sam was still hospitalized Monday, but had been taken off antibiotics.
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oceans;australia;animals
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jp0001091
|
[
"business"
] |
2017/08/01
|
IMF urges Japan to boost foreign, female and elderly labor participation
|
WASHINGTON - The International Monetary Fund has called on Japan to promote the use of foreign workers and the participation of women and elderly people in the labor market as part of efforts to achieve firmer and sustained growth. In its assessment of the Japanese economy following annual consultations with the government, the IMF suggested advancing “reforms to bolster investment as well as diversifying and enhancing labor supply to raise potential growth.” “To this end, full-time work, female and older labor market participation, and use of foreign labor, should be facilitated,” the Washington-based institution said in a report released Monday. The IMF expects Japan’s growth momentum to carry through this year but weaken next year if fiscal support fades as currently scheduled, the report said. Recent growth, bolstered by fiscal support and firmness of the world economy, “could be temporary,” it said. Measured by real gross domestic product, the IMF estimates that the world’s third-largest economy will grow 1.3 percent in 2017, up from 1.0 percent in 2016. Growth, however, is projected to slow to 0.6 percent in 2018. “The possible expiration of fiscal support in 2018, together with a smaller expansion in foreign demand, would reduce the rate of growth, despite an anticipated Olympics-related boost in private investment,” the report said. The IMF offered a positive assessment of recent movements of the yen, saying, “The substantial real effective exchange rate appreciation in 2016 had moved the yen to a level consistent with fundamentals.” To underpin growth, the Bank of Japan should maintain its accommodative monetary policy, the IMF said. Citing the need for fiscal consolidation to address risks from Japan’s high level of public debt, the IMF “broadly supported” a pre-announced path for a gradual and sustained increase in the consumption tax. The tax is to raised to 10 percent from 8 percent in October 2019. However, a few IMF directors pointed to risks associated with implementing the planned hike, apparently in light of the uncertain outlook for the economy.
|
boj;women;imf;economic growth;foreigners;seniors;workforce;japan
|
jp0001092
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"science-health-asia-pacific"
] |
2017/08/01
|
Philippines has highest HIV infection growth rate in Asia-Pacific, U.N. says
|
MANILA - The Philippines has registered the fastest-growing HIV/AIDS epidemic in the Asia-Pacific in the past six years with a 140 percent increase in the number of new infections, the health ministry and the United Nations said on Tuesday. At the end of 2016, there were 10,500 Filipinos infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), up from 4,300 in 2010, Health Minister Paulyn Ubial told a news conference, citing data from UNAIDS. Ubial encouraged voluntary testing and use of condoms to help fight the problem, which in May 2017 alone saw 1,098 new cases of HIV infections in the Philippines, the highest recorded number of cases since 1984 when infections were first reported. The country can still end the public health threat by 2030 if the government can re-direct its focus on the people and locations most at risk, said Eamonn Murphy, UNAIDS regional support team director for Asia-Pacific. He said 83 percent of new HIV cases occurred among males who have sex with males and transgender women who have sex with males. Genesis Samonte, head of the health ministry’s public health surveillance department, said men who have sex with men were most at risk. “We’re not talking about those that are openly gay,” Samonte told a news conference. “Any male who has sex with another male, for whatever reason, is at risk.” Two out of three new HIV infections were among men aged between 15 and 24, who she said have insufficient awareness of HIV, its symptoms and treatment. Most of the men had their first sexual encounter at 16 and only get tested for HIV eight years later, she said.
|
philippines;u.n .;disease;hiv
|
jp0001093
|
[
"national",
"history"
] |
2017/08/01
|
Poetic justice: One American's 47-year campaign against nuclear weapons
|
A sense of responsibility toward survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki has led a U.S. man on a lifelong journey, working to achieve the abolition of nuclear weapons and using poetry to communicate their dangers. David Krieger, 75, is the president and founder of the nonprofit organization Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, which was launched in 1982 to campaign for a world free of nuclear weapons. Its advisory council includes several Nobel laureates, as well as academic and activist Noam Chomsky and Hiroshima hibakusha Setsuko Thurlow. Krieger has been working toward nuclear disarmament for 47 years. He has written five volumes of poetry as part of these efforts, two of which have been published in Japanese. “I believe we must appeal to both the mind and the heart,” Krieger said. “It is necessary to make both a practical appeal and a moral appeal for the abolition of nuclear weapons.” Themes in his poems range from the urgency of the need for peace to his impressions of hibakusha who lived through the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which had killed an estimated 214,000 people by the end of 1945. “I view the hibakusha as ambassadors of the nuclear age. … I have tried to capture their pain, suffering, forgiveness, wisdom and hope in my poetry,” Krieger said. Visiting Japan when he was a 21-year-old university graduate during the Cold War, Krieger was “awakened” to the horror of nuclear weapons by artifacts he saw at the memorial museums in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A child’s tricycle in the Hiroshima museum, burned and bent, seemed to him “a symbol of the death and suffering of children, who were undoubtedly beneath the bomb.” “I came to understand that if humankind did not solve the nuclear problem and continued with a mad arms race, we faced the prospects of a global Hiroshima,” Krieger said. His work in both activism and poetry reflects a frustration that 72 years later, the threat of nuclear war remains real. His foundation reaches out to political decision-makers to advocate for nuclear abolition. In January, the foundation released an open letter to then-President-elect Donald Trump urging him to enter talks for a world without nuclear weapons, and noting with alarm that he had suggested on occasion that Japan should someday acquire a nuclear arsenal. “Nuclear weapons have no place on our planet, and we must all work to abolish them before they abolish us,” Krieger said. He hailed the recent adoption at the United Nations of the world’s first nuclear ban treaty, but also voiced disappointment with Japan’s refusal to participate, along with the nuclear weapons states and other countries under the U.S. nuclear umbrella. “For the Japanese government to choose its security relationship with the United States over its bond with the people of Japan, including the hibakusha, seems to me to be an act of bad faith on the part of the government,” Krieger said. But it is not too late for Japan to sign and ratify the treaty, and the Japanese people must demand this of the government, he said.
|
wwii;atomic bombings;david krieger
|
jp0001095
|
[
"asia-pacific"
] |
2017/08/12
|
Building project threatens Beatles statue in Mongolian capital
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ULAANBAATAR - A statue of the Beatles erected in the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar could be at risk amid an alleged land grab, protesters say, as rapid development turns a city once famed for wide open spaces into a cluttered metropolis. Residents are protesting against plans to build commercial properties in an area known as Beatles Square, where a bronze bas-relief monument to the “Fab Four” commemorates the former Soviet satellite’s transition to democracy in 1990. “For a long time there were stories about construction on the land, but nobody wanted to believe it,” said Tsoggerel Uyanga, a community organizer and senior partner at research group MAD Investment Solutions. The monument, erected in 2008 with donations from politicians, businessmen and artists, marks the site where Mongolians gathered to talk about banned Western pop music and soon became a quirky tourist attraction. The music of the Beatles, ABBA and other Western pop groups helped launch the “Rock and Roll Communist Revolution” that inspired a generation to fight for Mongolian democracy 30 years ago. The protests began after an Aug. 2 announcement that construction work will start, with residents calling the project a “land grab” and expressing fears the Beatles statue could be moved or even demolished. Authorities have defended the development as part of a “car-free street” project to build an underground shopping complex complete with street gardens. A lawyer for Mongolia’s National Construction Association said there are no plans to remove the Beatles statue, however. “By implementing the project, there are a great deal of advantages, such as increasing jobs and reducing traffic congestion,” said D. Uuganbayar, the lawyer. The national association, the city government and a private contractor are leading the project. Congestion and pollution have grown in the capital as its population has doubled over the last two decades, with thousands of impoverished herders flocking to settle in makeshift residential areas. The strain on Ulaanbaatar’s infrastructure has forced the city to rethink its planning of urban spaces, and drawn criticism for the sale of public land to wealthy buyers. Investors have failed in the past to deliver on promises to protect public spaces affected by development, Uyanga said, pointing to the Bogd Khan conservation area where the World Bank had raised concerns about over-development. “It became a black market for land authorities during the early democratic years,” said Uyanga.
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music;sculpture;development;beatles;construction industry;mongola;ulaanbaatar
|
jp0001096
|
[
"national",
"media-national"
] |
2017/08/12
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METI seeks to pass nuclear buck with release of waste disposal map
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Taro Kono’s appointment as the new foreign minister is raising eyebrows. Though he hasn’t shown any indication that he will buck Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s agenda, Kono is considered a leftish maverick within the Liberal Democratic Party, especially with regard to its nuclear energy policy, which he has opposed. In an editorial , the conservative Sankei Shimbun insisted he maintain the LDP line when the 30-year U.S.-Japan nuclear energy pact expires next year . The pact’s ostensible purpose is to authorize the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel for energy purposes so as to limit the amount of weapons-grade plutonium Japan can stockpile. This system has been stymied, however, by the decommissioning of the experimental Monju fast-breeder reactor and the shutdown of most of the nation’s nuclear plants following the Fukushima No. 1 meltdowns in 2011. Whatever reprocessing of spent fuel that has been done has been carried out in the U.K. and France and, of the 47 tons of extracted plutonium possessed by Japan, 36 tons are still overseas. So the U.S. has no reason to worry about the prospect of Japan suddenly turning plutonium into bombs. Japan’s “peaceful” use of atomic energy, after all, was encouraged by America in the 1950s, when the horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were still fresh in people’s minds. But Japan’s long-term plan of recycling spent fuel into plutonium fuel has hit a wall, not only because of Monju’s failure, but also because of the continued postponement of the opening of the reprocessing plant in Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture. Nevertheless, two weeks ago, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) published a map showing plans for disposing of the high-level waste that’s a byproduct of processing. The map illustrates possible candidate areas for waste disposal. “Suitability” is indicated by color, with green being the most suitable and orange unsuitable due to geological phenomena such as earthquake faults, volcanoes and ground water movement. The green areas are mainly on the coastline because ships will likely be used to transport the waste. Silver is used for areas not being considered because they may contain deposits of minerals that can still be exploited. The map was drawn up so that the public would know the government still takes its nuclear energy program, as well as the stalled recycling plan, seriously, and most media outlets have conveyed those points. However, NHK has looked at the map and wondered if it has any real meaning. As the public broadcaster pointed out on its “ Jiron Koron ” explanation series, the waste will be kept underground for up to 100,000 years, buried 300 meters deep at the bottom of a series of deep tunnels. Consequently, getting local governments to offer land for disposal sites is going to be very difficult. METI insists that participation is voluntary and has sent requests to 1,750 municipalities, but given the public’s allergy to nuclear power in the wake of Fukushima, NHK doesn’t seem to think anyone is going to raise their hand, even though acceptance comes with rewards: ¥2 billion for the initial two-year data study and ¥7 billion for the followup on-site study. After accepting those two deliveries of cash, a local government could still reject METI’s request. And even if it grants METI’s request, landowners will later have to be consulted and paid. At present the cost of disposal is estimated at ¥3.7 trillion, but it is sure to go up. The plan is actually an old one, developed as part of the scheme to recycle spent fuel, a process that produces its own particular waste that is much more radioactive than the spent fuel itself. This waste is combined with molten glass and poured into steel canisters, which are eventually buried underground. According to international law, such waste is the responsibility of the country that owns the original fuel and cannot be exported for disposal. Because of the delay with Rokkasho, Japan has had the U.K. and France do their recycling, and the waste has been shipped back to Japan along with the recycled fuel. It’s now sitting at the Rokkasho plant in refrigerated containers. There is also a lot of spent fuel at Rokkasho waiting to be reprocessed, and the governor of Aomori, frustrated by the government’s equivocation , has been threatening to send it back to the reactors from whence it came if the plant isn’t opened for business. There are presently 18,000 tons of spent fuel in storage at the plants that produced it and there is no room left for any more. The disposal plan is only theoretical as long as Rokkasho remains inoperable and fuel reprocessing delayed. Moreover, there has been no public discussion about what happens to all the spent fuel if reprocessing is abandoned, though there are media reports of a “feasibility study.” NHK predicts “confusion.” The green areas will be studied for 20 years before their suitability is confirmed. Building tunnels will take at least another 30. By the time a disposal plan is achieved, present METI bureaucrats, not to mention the current captains of the nuclear power industry, will be deader than the waste they’re trying to get rid of. What the map actually represents is METI pushing the problem on to the next generation as nuclear reactors — if they are restarted as planned — continue to produce even more. On July 29, the Tokyo Shimbun commented that the map does nothing to gain the public’s understanding, but perhaps the government is not yet that desperate. During a recent discussion on Bunka Hoso’s “ Golden Radio ” program, economist Takuro Morinaga said, “METI doesn’t seem to be in a hurry,” because it is counting on the failing finances of rural areas to persuade local governments to take its money in return for disposal sites. “The best idea would be not to make any more waste,” added Morinaga, hinting at an alternative to the LDP’s pro-nuclear policy. “But that’s not how the government thinks.” Correction : This story was updated up on Aug. 13 to correct the depth at which the nuclear waste will be kept underground. It will be buried 300 meters deep, not 3 km deep.
|
nuclear power;meti;rokkasho;taro kono
|
jp0001098
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"science-health-asia-pacific"
] |
2017/08/13
|
Indian state suspends hospital chief following deaths of 60 children
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NEW DELHI - The head of an Indian hospital where dozens of children died in recent days has been suspended, as officials traded blame over cash shortfalls that led to supplies of medical oxygen being cut. The government of Uttar Pradesh state, run by India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), suspended Rajeev Misra, the head of the state-run Baba Raghav Das medical college, late Saturday and ordered an investigation. Indian media have said the deaths of 60 children, 34 infants among them, were caused in part by oxygen shortages after a private supplier cut the supply over unpaid bills. Hospital officials deny lack of oxygen caused the deaths, saying alternative supplies were found, and instead blamed many of the deaths on encephalitis and unspecified issues related to delivery of the infants. On Sunday, J.P. Nadda, health minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Cabinet, visited the hospital in the town of Gorakhpur, 800 km (about 500 miles) east of New Delhi, accompanied by the state’s chief minister, Yogi Adityanath. After the visit, the chief minister urged patience until the investigation is complete. “We will know whether it was because of an oxygen shortage or due to a lack of proper treatment,” Adityanath told reporters. “Those found guilty will not be spared.” Nadda said a team of doctors from New Delhi is working with the local authorities and the federal government is ready to send more assistance. He said Modi is also monitoring the developments. The issue of the unpaid bills for oxygen supply has become a flash point in relations between the hospital and the state government, after the suspended hospital chief accused state officials Saturday of not answering his requests for money. “I wrote at least three letters,” Misra told television reporters Saturday, adding that he had flagged the issue in video conference discussions. Reuters was unable to immediately contact Misra for comment. Adityanath, who visited the hospital last Wednesday, said no issue of unpaid bills was brought to his attention and all requests for funds were met promptly. Opposition parties have stepped up the pressure on the state government, demanding the resignations of Adityanath and the state health minister. “This government is a murderer,” said Raj Babbar, head of the opposition Congress party in Uttar Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh is India’s most populous and politically-prized state, where the BJP’s thumping victory has strengthened Modi’s claim to a second term in 2019. Gorakhpur, a down-at-heel town near the border with Nepal, is Adityanath’s political base, which elected him to parliament five times before Modi asked him to lead Uttar Pradesh, after a landslide BJP election victory in March. A study of government data by nonprofit body Brookings India showing the district has a 26 percent shortage of primary health centers. Encephalitis outbreaks kill hundreds in India every year, especially during the monsoon season. India’s expenditure on public health is about 1 percent of GDP, among the world’s lowest. In recent years, Modi’s government has increased health spending and vowed to make health care more affordable.
|
india;children;new delhi;medical;narendra modi;hospital;uttar pradesh
|
jp0001100
|
[
"national",
"history"
] |
2017/08/14
|
Japan officially gave U.S. consent to bring in nuclear weapons ahead of Okinawa reversion accord: document
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WASHINGTON - A recently declassified U.S. document confirms that Japan gave the United States its official consent to bring nuclear weapons to Okinawa shortly before the 1969 bilateral accord that led to the occupied island’s 1972 reversion to Japanese rule. The finding is significant because it shows Japan’s leaders officially agreed during the Cold War to violate the Three Non-Nuclear Principles set out by Prime Minister Eisuke Sato in 1967 while publicly telling the rest of Japan that nuclear weapons would not be brought to the prefecture. The principles, which helped Sato win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1974, state that Japan will not possess, produce or allow nuclear weapons on its territory. They have been the foundation of Japan’s nuclear arms policy ever since. That Tokyo and Washington had reached a secret deal on nuclear weapons in exchange for Okinawa’s reversion is well known, but the new document, a U.S. memorandum of understanding dated Nov. 17, 1969, shows that Japan actually expressed its stance using an official diplomatic channel. According to the 1969 memorandum, senior Foreign Ministry official Hiroto Tanaka told White House national security adviser Henry Kissinger that “The Japanese have no disagreement with the U.S.” on introducing nuclear weapons to Okinawa on an emergency basis. The Foreign Ministry is known to have secretly prepared a draft indicating Japan would not be bound by its non-nuclear principles, but no source confirming that Japan conveyed its message to the U.S. had been publicly available until now. The memorandum shows the Tanaka-Kissinger talks took place several days after Prime Minister Eisaku Sato and U.S. President Richard Nixon reached a secret agreement to allow the introduction of nuclear arms to Okinawa, and just two days before the Japan-U.S. summit that led to Okinawa’s reversion. Although Foreign Minister Kiichi Aichi and the ministry were unaware of the secret deal, they apparently feared a breakdown in the reversion talks and found it necessary to show that Japan was ready to comply with the U.S. demand. According to the memorandum recorded by the White House and declassified in May, Tanaka said the nuclear issue “was very important for the Japanese, and the success or failure of Sato’s visit would be decided on this question.” “He, Tanaka, had talked with the Foreign Minister, and was given to understand that the Japanese have no disagreement with the U.S. on matters of substance,” or the nuclear issue, according the document obtained by Kyodo News at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum. But Tanaka added the nuclear issue could not be made public due to strong anti-nuclear sentiment in Japan and asked the U.S. side to accept a joint statement that would make it a matter of prior consultation. At the Japan-U.S. summit on Nov. 19, 1969, Sato and Nixon agreed on the reversion of Okinawa. The Japanese government had told the public that nuclear weapons would not be brought to the war-torn island prefecture.
|
okinawa;nuclear weapons;henry kissinger;hiroto tanaka;declassified document
|
jp0001101
|
[
"reference"
] |
2017/08/14
|
Some Japanese brand legacies stand to profit from geographical indication; others, not so much
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In the not so distant future, Kraft Parmesan, a household name for grated cheese with its distinctive green package sold by a Japanese dairy company, may disappear from shelves in Japan or reappear bearing a different name. That is one example of what may happen after Japan and the European Union agreed to protect each other’s signature food and other agricultural products designated as geographical indications (GI). It is part of an economic partnership framework that the two sides came to a broad agreement in July. The following is a brief rundown of the kinds of products covered under GI and the rules governing the designation. What is the purpose of geographical indication? Geographical indications are aimed at protecting regional food products that have obtained high quality and reputation as a result of unique farming methods and distinctive characteristics, including climate and soil conditions. Normally GI-registered products bear the distinctive name of their location of origin, such as Kobe beef. Once a product is so recognized by the government, only designated producers can sell their product using the name. This prevents unauthorized third parties from selling products using the listed name or something similar. The GI system was introduced in Japan in June 2015, and 39 food and agricultural products were registered as of August, according to the agriculture ministry. The registered products have a GI mark to indicate authenticity. An individual who sells unapproved products bearing a registered name can face up to five years in prison and up to a ¥5 million fine, or up to a ¥300 million fine in the case of an organization. The agriculture ministry is responsible for registering food and other agricultural products, while the National Tax Agency, which oversees the sales of alcoholic beverages, is in charge of the liquor list. What kind of products are registered as GI? GI products include globally recognized names such as Kobe beef, Japanese sake and Yubari melons, as well as more locally known specialties such as Aomori cassis, Shimonoseki pufferfish from Yamaguchi Prefecture and Yoshikawa eggplants from Fukui Prefecture. Farmers and food processors can submit an application for registration for their products as a group. The government then examines whether a product’s quality and reputation have strong connections to its production location and whether the product has traditional value specific to the area, such as if it has been produced in the same location for about 25 years or more. For example, Yubari melons produced in Yubari, Hokkaido, made the list thanks to their juiciness and mellow flavor nurtured through the significant temperature swings between day and night, low precipitation and good drainage of the area’s volcanic ash soil, according to the agriculture ministry. Once it passes government screening, a product is placed on the GI list and producers pay a registration fee of ¥90,000 to the government. Some non-food products, such as Kumamoto igusa (straw reeds) and tatami mats made of Kumamoto reed, are also listed. Why do producers want their products to be registered as GI? The biggest reason is to prevent cheaper, lower-quality products bearing the same or similar name from being sold. The designation makes it easier for producers to protect their brand, according to the agriculture ministry. Being listed as GI also boosts the sales of the product. For example, the sales of Aomori cassis tripled between January and March 2016 from the same period a year before after being registered as GI in December 2015, according to the ministry. The price of Yubari melons also rose 10 percent after they were registered as GI. The ministry also says the increasing brand awareness could result in more farmers underpinning production of traditional agricultural products. How does GI play a role in international trade? GI products will be treated the same way in the exporting country if the two sides agree to protect each other’s registered products. The economic partnership agreement inked with the EU in July was the first such case for Japan to exchange the protection list of agricultural products with foreign nations. Japan has in the past concluded an agreement for liquor brands with Mexico, Chile and Peru. The EU’s list covered 71 brand names of cheese, olive oil and other foods, including Gorgonzola, Parmigiano Reggiano, Prosciutto Toscano and Scottish Farmed Salmon, according to the agriculture ministry. The list of liquors also included names of 139 alcohol beverages, including popular ones such as Bordeaux, Champagne and Scotch whisky, according to the National Tax Agency. Once the deal takes effect, Japan can ask the EU not to sell GI-listed products produced by other countries, and vice-versa. For example, EU dairy farmers won’t be able to name a locally raised beef as Kobe beef, while Japanese cheese makers cannot sell cheese named Gorgonzola or similar names branded as “Gorgonzola-styled” cheese. The agriculture ministry believes this will boost brand awareness of made-in-Japan products overseas while protecting brand value from counterfeit products. Some food products using Japan’s geolocation name are already sold in other countries, such as melons branded as “Yubari Japan Melon” in Thailand and “Hokkaido Udon” made in Hong Kong, according to an agriculture ministry report published in March. Are there any concerns? Some domestic farmers and food industries may have to change the name of their products once the deal with the EU takes effect. For example, the popular Kraft Parmesan grated cheese, sold in Japan by Morinaga Milk Industry Co., which boasts the biggest share in the domestic grated cheese market, may have to change its name. The product name comes from the English translation of Parmigiano Reggiano but is made of U.S. natural cheese. The EU Court of Justice ruled in 2008 that the name Parmesan can be used within the EU only for Italian-made Parmigiano Reggiano cheese registered in the EU’s protected designation of origin (PDO) system. A Morinaga Milk spokesman declined to comment on this issue. The agriculture ministry and the national tax agency are accepting opinions from the public sector regarding possible restrictions caused by the deal until October.
|
food;agriculture;eu;brands
|
jp0001102
|
[
"business",
"tech"
] |
2017/08/22
|
Prime time in worker-scarce Japan for investing in service robots
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Faced with their worst labor shortage in decades, Japanese service companies are finally turning to labor-saving technology, an investment that could lift the sector’s woeful level of productivity and allow them to raise wages. While the nation’s manufacturers are renowned for deploying advanced robotics, most domestic-focused services companies have fallen behind in information technology investment, put off by a stagnant economy, restrictive labor rules and a shrinking domestic market. But as the workforce declines and the nation ages, businesses in areas like nursing and retail have found it harder to attract and keep staff. As Partners Co. is among companies looking to software for a solution. It plans to spend about ¥300 million to install new technology at its 15 nursing homes in and around Tokyo to make life easier for staff and residents. At its sleek new Asheim Nerima Garden home, caregivers can monitor the health of dozens of residents from smartphones, receiving notifications if anyone so much as sits up in bed. “Once we install this system in all of our nursing homes over the next three years, job turnover will likely decrease and then we’ll be able to hire fewer workers,” President Kenji Uemura said. Investment in IT by service firms could help provide the elusive wage gains that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been seeking for years to revive economic growth. Software spending by nonmanufacturers, particularly those in sectors with an acute labor shortage, is picking up “dramatically,” helping to fuel a “long-overdue acceleration” in broader capital spending, said James Malcolm, chief Japan economist at UBS Group AG in Tokyo. “As capex (capital expenditure) increases, productivity goes up, wages can go up, and consumption will follow,” Malcolm said. “It’s a key.” Medium-size and smaller companies, particularly retailers, are driving the trend, which is accompanied by spending on research and development and employee training, Malcolm said. Conditions are perhaps the most favorable in years. With exports and domestic demand improving, overall business investment grew 2.4 percent during the second quarter, the most in three years. Six straight quarters of economic expansion have pushed growth to an annualized rate of 4 percent. And a Bank of Japan survey in July showed that small businesses are finding it easier to gain access to capital for investment. The upshot is that some analysts see a wave of spending on the horizon. Bank of America Merrill Lynch forecast IT investment to rise as much as 9 percent annually in coming years, with the difference in software investment per worker versus the U.S. falling to 5 to 1 by 2020 from about 10 to 1 now. IT service stocks that may benefit include Fujitsu Ltd., Otsuka Corp., Trend Micro Inc. and NTT Data Corp., according to analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Nonmanufacturing companies planned ¥2.4 trillion in software investment in the fiscal year ending next March, according to the Bank of Japan’s tankan survey that was released last month. That would be the most since 2009. Retailers plan to spend ¥146.4 billion on software this fiscal year, the most on record since 1999, when tracking such data started. Convenience store operators Lawson Inc., FamilyMart Co. and Seven-Eleven Japan Co. are among those working with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to boost productivity. One of their goals is for all products nationwide, some 100 billion a year, to use radio-frequency identification for price-scanning by 2025. Lawson is testing shopping baskets that enable customers to scan items as they drop them in, as well as an automated checkout system that would total the cost and bag the items. Customers could shop without ever interacting with human staff. Yet Japan has a long way to go to catch up with other advanced economies. While its average manufacturing productivity growth was the best among the Group of Seven countries in the two decades to 2014, its overall productivity was still the worst in 2015. In the services sector, productivity was about half that of the U.S. from 2010 to 2012, according to data from the Japan Productivity Center. And ingrained employment practices for the nation’s cohorts of salarymen mean change may come slowly for many white-collar jobs. For less desirable occupations, Japan is slowly beginning to tap overseas labor markets. The number of foreign workers in Japan rose 19 percent last year to top 1 million for the first time. But most are temporary workers, and Japanese leaders have ruled out opening the doors to full-scale immigration, which remains unpopular with the public. This leaves the country with little choice but to invest in robots, software and automation to maintain its high living standards. Capital spending is the most important factor in Japan’s productivity growth, Goldman Sachs economists wrote in a recent report. If investment doesn’t rise in response to the labor shortage, the country is likely to enter a period of “persistent zero growth” in the 2030s, according to Goldman Sachs. Izumi Devalier, head of Japan economics at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Tokyo, said the labor shortage could turn out to be an opportunity, forcing Japanese service-sector companies to finally start investing, and perhaps fueling an economic revival. “I think of it as the greatest chance Japan will get,” she said.
|
robots;robotics;aging society;workforce;labor shortage
|
jp0001103
|
[
"world",
"social-issues-world"
] |
2017/08/22
|
Chile court OKs new law allowing abortions on limited basis, nixing appeal against lifting ban
|
SANTIAGO - A Chilean court on Monday ruled that a law legalizing abortion in certain cases is constitutional, a win for President Michelle Bachelet’s center-left coalition and for groups that have campaigned for years against the country’s strict ban. With the decision by Chile’s Constitutional Court, women in the South American nation will be allowed to seek an abortion when their life is in danger, when a fetus is unviable or when a pregnancy results from rape. Chile was one of only a handful of countries worldwide where abortion was illegal without exception. The ban was put in place during the closing days of Augusto Pinochet’s 1973-1990 dictatorship, and Bachelet introduced a bill to loosen the prohibition soon after taking office for a second time in 2014. The road to congressional approval was difficult and met multiple delays due to deep divisions in the governing coalition and a unified opposition. The abortion bill was passed in its final form earlier in August, but conservative legislators then challenged its constitutionality. After listening to over 130 organizations over several days, the Constitutional Court rejected that challenge largely along partisan lines, meaning the bill now becomes law. Following the decision, women’s’ rights groups as well as left-leaning and centrist political parties celebrated outside the court in downtown Santiago. “What this decision definitively does is take Chile once and for all off the embarrassing list of countries that still criminalize abortion without exception,” said Ana Piquer, the executive director of Amnesty International Chile.
|
chile;abortions;michelle bachelet;constitutional court
|
jp0001104
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"science-health-asia-pacific"
] |
2017/08/22
|
Bonnie Tyler to 'goatality' countdown: Quirky sideshows during the Great American Eclipse
|
WASHINGTON - Native American elders led stargazers in prayer Monday as the Sun vanished behind the Moon at a ranch in Oregon, the first state to experience a rare total eclipse that swept the continent coast-to-coast. Time stood still as millions across the nation took in the celestial spectacle — unseen in a century — enjoying what some saw as a welcome moment of togetherness after weeks of national turmoil. But the Great American Eclipse also had its share of quirky sideshows — here are a few: Just don’t look In Washington, where the eclipse was partially visible, President Donald Trump turned out to watch from the White House with the first lady, Melania, and young son Barron — but the president appeared to have missed the memo on eclipse do’s and don’ts. At one point, Trump was seen glancing skyward without protective eyewear — a big no-no, according to experts. “Don’t look,” an aide shouted to him. The 45th U.S. president later donned glasses but the scene prompted howls of derision. “NASA: Don’t look! Media: Don’t look! Melania: Don’t look! Aides: Don’t look! My mom: Don’t look! Your mom: Don’t look! President Trump…” summed up the journalist Brandon Ambrosino. Comedian Michael Moore later purported to read the president’s mind: “Dishonest, fake news media said don’t look at eclipse w/o glasses, so I did!” The gift of Bonnie Tyler She said she would do it, and do it she did. As the arc of totality swept across the continent, Bonnie Tyler regaled a cruise ship audience with a live rendition of her “Total Eclipse of the Heart” as they were plunged into darkness by the awe-inspiring astronomical show. The 1983 mega-hit became an unofficial anthem for the Great American Eclipse, belted out at bars and viewing parties across the nation (with varying degrees of seriousness). Interviewing the Welsh pop singer about her signature song, CNN host John Nernan got down to the nitty-gritty questions. “How do you think a total eclipse of the heart differs from a total eclipse of the sun?” he asked her. “Can you stare into a total eclipse of the heart without glasses?” “That’s a good one,” she smiled back. “I will definitely be wearing my glasses later, but I’m sure that you can look into my heart. I wear it on my sleeve.” Tyler topped off the interview with a few lines, a cappella, of her signature hit, earning the following words of thanks from CNN’s Bernan: “Bonnie Tyler, you have given us more than we could ever have hoped for.” Countdown to ‘goatality’ Total eclipses are well known to send birds swooping back to their nests, but as part of its wall-to-wall coverage — the Washington Post set out to test another wildlife-and-astronomy theory: do they make fainting goats faint? It did so by livestreaming from a farm in Tennessee that rears the breed of livestock — known for freezing stiff and toppling over when panicked, and as such already the stars of a host of viral videos. While millions sat glued to TV footage of the natural wonder unfolding in real-time, many more kept an amused eye on the Post’s tongue-in-cheek countdown to “goatality.” Was the flock startled? Hard to tell since the screen turned pitch-black. But the question was eventually settled with a tweet from the paper. “Update: no goats fainted.”
|
u.s .;astronomy;eclipse
|
jp0001105
|
[
"world",
"offbeat-world"
] |
2017/08/25
|
U.S. teen tells judge he bought tiger cub on streets of Tijuana
|
SAN DIEGO - A California teenager who says he bought a Bengal tiger cub on the streets of Tijuana for $300 was arrested when he tried to bring it into the United States in his 2017 Chevy Camaro. Luis Eudoro Valencia was charged with smuggling a Bengal tiger into the United States after U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials found the furry cub lying on the floor of the passenger side of his car during an inspection around 1:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Otay Mesa border crossing. “CBP officers are often faced with unusual situations,” said Pete Flores, director of field operations for Customs and Border Protection in San Diego. The 18-year-old U.S. citizen, who lives in Perris, said he had purchased the tiger for $300 from someone who was walking a full-sized tiger on a leash in Tijuana, according to court documents. Several Bengal tigers, which are native to South Asia, have been seized this year by Mexican authorities in Tijuana. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service officials took custody of the cub and handed the male cat over to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park to care for it. In January, Mexican authorities seized a Bengal tiger in Tijuana after a resident called police to report a man was walking a tiger on a dog leash through the neighborhood. Officials said the 4-month-old tiger had been living in a private home with children. In April, Mexican officials seized a nine-month old Bengal tiger in Tijuana after the cub fell from a third-floor terrace onto a neighbor’s patio, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. Despite the fall, the tiger appeared to be in good health. Mexican circuses have been trying to get rid of exotic animals after a law went into effect in 2015 prohibiting such acts. Drug lords in Mexico have also been known to keep big cats as pets. All species of tigers are protected under the Endangered Species Act. Importing an endangered species into the United States requires a permit from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and a declaration filed with the agency. Prosecutors say Valencia lacked both. Valencia could not be immediately reached for comment and the office of his court-appointed attorney, Robert Schlein, said he has not had a chance to speak to his client. Valencia was released on a $10,000 bond and ordered to appear for a preliminary hearing on Sept. 5 in federal court in San Diego. If convicted, Valencia could face up to 20 years in prison.
|
u.s .;animals;mexico;pets;san diego;tijuana
|
jp0001106
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"science-health-asia-pacific"
] |
2017/08/25
|
SpaceX launches Taiwan's first home-built satellite; rocket lands on platform in Pacific
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LOS ANGELES - SpaceX on Thursday launched the first satellite designed and built entirely in Taiwan, a spacecraft that aims to boost disaster forecasts and mapping, environmental observation and space research. The satellite, called Formosat-5, weighs nearly 1,000 pounds (450 kg) and blasted off atop a Falcon 9 rocket in California at 11:51 a.m. “Falcon 9 has lifted off,” SpaceX engineer Lauren Lyons said as the rocket soared into the sky over the launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base, leaving billowing clouds of smoke in its wake. About 10 minutes after launch, SpaceX confirmed that Formosat-5 had been successfully deployed into orbit. The satellite is designed to operate for five years, and will orbit Earth once every 100 minutes. Its predecessor, Formosat-2, was decommissioned last year after 12 years, a life span in which it mapped a series of major disasters in parts of Asia and Africa. It, too, had been designed to operate for just five years. Continuing its effort to re-use expensive rocket components instead of jettisoning them into the ocean after each launch, SpaceX managed to land the first stage of the Falcon 9 on a platform floating in the Pacific Ocean. “This is the 15th successful landing of a Falcon 9,” Lyons said on the live webcast, as cheers erupted at SpaceX mission control in Hawthorne, California. After separating from the second stage of the rocket, the taller, first stage portion powered its engines and made a controlled return to Earth. Cameras mounted on the rocket showed it touch down, upright, on a drone ship named “Just Read the Instructions.” SpaceX plans to haul the rocket back to land and refurbish it so it can be used in a future launch.
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space;taiwan;california;spacex
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jp0001107
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2017/01/03
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Trump seen leaning toward Georgia ex-Gov. Sonny Perdue as farm chief
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WASHINGTON - Former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue is U.S. Republican President-elect Donald Trump’s leading candidate to run the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a senior Trump transition team official said on Monday. Perdue, a Democrat-turned-Republican who founded a grain and fertilizer business, served on Trump’s agricultural advisory committee during his presidential campaign. The official gave no other details about Trump’s choice for agriculture secretary, one of the few remaining posts Trump has to fill as he assumes the White House on Jan. 20. The appointment must be approved by the Republican-led U.S. Senate. Perdue, 70, led the Southern U.S. state for two terms as governor from 2003 to 2011 after previously representing a rural swath of central Georgia about 100 miles south of Atlanta in the state Senate. Elected in 2002, he became the state’s first Republican since 1871, according to the National Governors Association. After finishing his second term as governor, Perdue founded Perdue Partners, a global trading firm that consults and provides services for companies looking to export products. Trump had been meeting with a number of other possible candidates for U.S. agriculture secretary, including Elsa Murano, undersecretary of agriculture for food safety under President George W. Bush, and Chuck Conner, head of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives. He has also met with Abel Maldonado, former lieutenant governor of California and co-owner of Runway Vineyards; Tim Huelskamp, Republican U.S. representative from Kansas; and Sid Miller, Texas agriculture commissioner.
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agriculture;georgia;donald trump;sonny perdue
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jp0001109
|
[
"business"
] |
2017/01/04
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Egg prices soar, imports allowed in as South Korea poultry cull tops 30 million as bird flu rages
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SEOUL - South Korea has culled some 30.03 million chickens and other birds so far to contain the country’s worst bird flu outbreak, officials said Tuesday, with prices of eggs skyrocketing amid a shortage of supply. The number of poultry killed, announced by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, is more than double that of the 14 million birds destroyed in South Korea during a 2014 outbreak. About a third of the country’s egg-laying hens, or about 22.45 million birds, have been culled, causing the production of eggs per day to drop from about 43 million to 30 million. Trading prices of eggs at farms are approximately double that of prices a year ago. In Seoul, eggs were sold out at supermarkets, and business such as cake shops have also been affected by the shortage. Meanwhile, in a move aimed at resolving the shortage, the country’s Cabinet approved Tuesday a regulation to temporarily remove import tariffs on egg products, allowing local companies to import 98,000 tons of whole eggs and other types of egg products without tariffs between Wednesday and June 30, Yonhap News Agency reported. The first case of the highly pathogenic H5N6 virus in South Korea was reported in late October from droppings of migratory birds and has since spread rapidly across the nation. The first outbreak at a chicken farm was reported in mid November. Many have criticized the government for its slow response amid turmoil triggered by President Park Geun-hye’s political scandal and subsequent impeachment by parliament.
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south korea;tariffs;bird flu;eggs;poultry
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jp0001110
|
[
"national"
] |
2017/01/05
|
A new year, a new prayer, and hopefully luck
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New Year’s Day is not just the first day of the year in this country — it has a special meaning. Jan. 1 is when people invite a god into their homes — the Shinto deity that presides over safety and prosperity for the year to come. People believe that everything — the sun, the moon, water and fire — is reborn on the day when the new year begins. It is said that “the god of the year” visits each house to bring happiness for the year. To welcome the god and receive the blessing, people have created a variety of New Year’s Day rituals and customs. As the old year winds down, they sweep away the dust and clean every corner of the house, which they then decorate with auspicious ornaments and offerings, including kadomatsu , a decoration made with pine branches and bamboo, shimekazari , made of pine branches, rice straw, plastic cranes and other lucky charms, and decorative kagami mochi pounded rice cakes in a two-mound stack. ‘Kagami mochi,’ a rice-cake offering, sits at Koishikawa Korakuen Gardens on Jan. 2. | SATOKO KAWASAKI After the day breaks on Jan. 1, many people go out to greet the first sunrise of the year, which is also believed to bring luck. The custom, in which people make a wish and proclaim their new year’s resolutions, started to become widespread across the nation in the Meiji Era (1868-1912). During that time, it became popular to visit a Shinto shrine located in the direction of a lucky cardinal or ordinal point, depending on the year’s Chinese zodiac sign. People wait in line from first light to get the first amulet given by the shrine. The visit is thought to be the origin of the current custom of visiting a shrine or Buddhist temple for the new year. People visit Sensoji Temple in Tokyo’s Asakusa district on Sunday. | SATOKO KAWASAKI In recent times, regardless of direction, famous shrines and temples attract throngs of people who are keen to pray for good luck for the new year. Trains run all night on New Year’s Eve to accommodate them. Every year, about 3 million people visit Meiji Shrine and Sensoji Temple over the first three days.
|
temples;new year 's day;shrines
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jp0001111
|
[
"world",
"science-health-world"
] |
2017/01/20
|
Germany legalizes cannabis for medicinal purposes
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BERLIN - Germany’s lower house of parliament on Thursday passed a law that legalizes the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes for people who are chronically ill. Those suffering from serious illnesses such as multiple sclerosis and chronic pain or a lack of appetite or nausea could be offered marijuana under the law. The draft law says patients will only have the right to be treated with cannabis “in very limited exceptional cases” and patients will not be allowed to grow their own cannabis. “Those who are severely ill need to get the best possible treatment and that includes health insurance funds paying for cannabis as a medicine for those who are chronically ill if they can’t be effectively treated any other way,” said Health Minister Hermann Groehe. A Health Ministry spokeswoman said cannabis would only be used as a last resort when nothing else seemed to work. She said a scientific study would simultaneously be carried out to assess the effects of cannabis use in such cases. Until now patients had only been able to get access to cannabis for medicinal purposes with special authorization which had made it complicated, but now they will be able to get a prescription from their doctors and a refund for it from their health insurance fund, she said. She said the law was likely to take effect in March after a procedural reading by the upper house of parliament. State-supervised cannabis plantations will be set up in Germany in future and until then cannabis will be imported. Other countries that allow cannabis to be used for medical purposes include Italy and the Czech Republic.
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medicine;marijuana;health;germany
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jp0001112
|
[
"world",
"offbeat-world"
] |
2017/01/20
|
Hemp used for world's first 'bio-based' bridge
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EINDHOVEN, NETHERLANDS - While plenty of cannabis goes up in smoke in coffee shops around the Netherlands, Dutch researchers have found a new use for it — as an environmentally friendly building material to rival cement or steel. They have used hemp — a variety of cannabis which has many industrial applications including in textiles and insulation — and flax — the plant that linen is made of — to make an experimental footbridge to test the materials’ load-bearing properties. “Actually it’s the first ‘bio-based’ bridge in the world, as far as we know,” said Rijk Blok, an assistant professor of structural design at the Eindhoven University of Technology. The hemp and flax fibers are combined in a resin that is stuck to a core made of polylactic acid, a polymer also made of plant material, to form the span of the 14-meter (46-foot) bridge over a stream on the university campus. The developers — at several Dutch colleges and companies — are using sensors to monitor the bridge’s performance as people walk and run over it for a year. They first had to demonstrate that the bridge could withstand a load of 500 kilograms per square meter in laboratory stress tests before building permission was granted. “This was our research — trying to find out: Can they be used in a structural load-bearing capacity? And this bridge is the proof,” Blok said.
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marijuana;netherlands;architecture
|
jp0001113
|
[
"national"
] |
2017/01/18
|
Japan sees sharp rise in number of foreign nursing care students
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Nursing care schools have seen a surge in the number of foreign students following a legal amendment making it easier for prospective caregivers to acquire resident status in rapidly graying Japan. The rise in foreign students training to become caregivers is a boon for schools. As the nation faces a serious labor shortage in its nursing care sector, it has struggled to attract workers willing to toil in demanding conditions for poor pay. According to the Japan Association of Training Institutions for Certified Care Workers, comprising bodies including vocational schools and junior colleges, the number of foreign students nationwide has grown to 257 in fiscal 2016, more than seven-fold from 34 in fiscal 2011. Under bilateral economic partnership agreements between Japan and Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam, prospective caregivers can only obtain resident status in Japan after at least three years of work experience and passing the national qualification exam in their fourth year. But an amendment to the immigration law, which was passed last year and will come into force this year, enables foreign students at nursing care schools to obtain resident status in Japan after being certified as caregivers by the state. Spurred by this legal change, which the industry hopes will lead to an increase in foreigners working as nursing caregivers, foreign nationals including students at Japanese language schools are seizing the opportunity to study nursing care. The Japan Welfare Education College in Tokyo has 15 foreign students after 10 enrolled last spring. Nationalities include Vietnamese, Nepalese and Filipino, and many of the students wish to eventually work in Japan, school officials said. Among the group is Vu Thi Thu Trang, a 29-year-old Vietnamese. “I am glad that foreigners can now work in Japan when they become caregivers. I want to stay on and engage in nursing care,” Trang said. The Kansai College of Social Welfare in Osaka is set to welcome around 30 Vietnamese students from this spring, comprising around half of its maximum 60-student intake per academic year. The college has been preparing to accept foreign students for the past two years. “The situation, in which the nursing care industry will have to rely on foreign nationals, will remain unchanged in the years to come,” school Principal Yohei Yamamoto said. One school in Tokyo has seen foreign students making up more than three-quarters of the 60 students who enrolled last year. By contrast, the overall number of students in Japan aiming to join the nursing care sector has seen a sharp decline, with the figure standing at 7,752 as of last April. This comprises only 46.4 percent of the quota. Kazuhiko Mashiko, a senior official of the Japan Association of Training Institutions for Certified Care Workers, said he “welcomes” the growing number of foreign students. “Accepting foreign students will also be part of an international contribution,” he noted. Eager to take advantage of this development, the Japan Association of Geriatric Health Services Facilities has set up a working group to consider introducing a scholarship for prospective caregivers, who can both study and work, with an eye to hiring them when they graduate. But several hurdles remain, such as language and cultural barriers for foreign caregivers. The pass rate for foreign examinees in the national qualification exam for fiscal 2015 testing was 50.9 percent. Junya Ishimoto, chairman of the Japan Association of Certified Care Workers, said he hoped the association can help ease the concerns of such caregivers. “So long as (aspirants) obtain a qualification, their nationality does not matter,” he said.
|
vietnam;education;schools;caregivers
|
jp0001114
|
[
"world",
"politics-diplomacy-world"
] |
2017/01/11
|
Palestinians seek prayers across Mideast to protest Trump-pledged U.S. Embassy move to Jerusalem
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RAMALLAH, WEST BANK - A senior Palestinian official called Tuesday for mosque and church prayers “from Pakistan to Tehran, from Lebanon to Oman” to protest the possible relocation of the U.S. Embassy in Israel to contested Jerusalem. The appeal came amid growing concerns in the region that President-elect Donald Trump will quickly make good on a campaign promise to move the embassy from Israel’s coastal city of Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Jordan, a key U.S. ally in the fight against Islamic militants and the custodian of Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, said last week that moving the embassy is a “red line.” Jordan also has close security ties with Israel. Mohammed Ishtayeh, an adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said Palestinian officials were told by “American circles and diplomatic friends” that Trump might reaffirm the relocation plan during his Jan. 20 inauguration. A Trump adviser has said moving the embassy was a priority for the incoming president, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has welcomed the idea. His office had no immediate reaction to Ishtayeh’s comments. The Palestinians hope to make east Jerusalem the capital of a future state that would also include the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Israel captured all three territories in the 1967 war and annexed east Jerusalem later that year. Israel considers all of Jerusalem to be its capital, but several Israeli leaders over the years have said they are open to a partition of the city as part of a peace deal with the Palestinians. Netanyahu, the current Israeli prime minister, has said Jerusalem, home to key Jewish, Muslim and Christian holy sites, is not up for negotiation. With Jerusalem’s status unresolved, most countries, including the United States, have maintained embassies in Tel Aviv. In recent days, Palestinian officials have warned that an embassy move would derail long-standing U.S.-led efforts to negotiate a two-state solution to the conflict. Such a solution has broad international backing, and the U.N. Security Council reaffirmed in December that east Jerusalem is part of the occupied territories. In moving the embassy to Jerusalem, the Trump administration would effectively recognize the entire city as the capital of Israel and thus pre-empt the outcome of any future negotiations, Ishtayeh told reporters Tuesday. “If it does so, frankly, we think this is the end of the two-state solution,” he said. “I hope President Trump does not underestimate the importance of Jerusalem for the Palestinians, Muslims and Christians.” In response to an embassy move, the Palestinians might seriously consider canceling a mutual recognition deal that was signed between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, Ishtayeh warned. The 1993 Oslo accords paved the way for interim deals, including Palestinian self-rule in parts of the occupied lands. For now, the Palestinians and some of their allies are trying to exert greater public and diplomatic pressure. Abbas wrote to Trump and world leaders Monday, warning of the dangers of an embassy move. Ishtayeh said the Palestinian leadership is calling for protests after Friday prayers across the Muslim world. Churches in the region are being asked to ring their bells in protest on Sunday, he said.
|
israel;jerusalem;palestinians;u.s. embassy;west bank;donald trump
|
jp0001115
|
[
"world",
"offbeat-world"
] |
2017/01/16
|
German swimmers dive into frosty waters to become 'Ice King of Chiemsee'
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PRIEN, GERMANY - Some 30 swimmers braved the frosty waters of Germany’s Chiemsee over the weekend, racing to be crowned “Ice King” of the famous lake near Munich. In driving snow, with air temperatures around freezing and water temperatures around 4 degrees Celsius, men and women competed in several disciplines such as breaststroke and freestyle in a 50 meter course off the town of Prien. The lake is known for its beautiful scenery and for a palace on one of its islands. Begun but never completed by Ludwig II of Bavaria, the palace was meant to the king’s own Versailles, but he stayed only a few nights at the palace before his premature death in 1886. Competitor Mirko Roever told Reuters TV he enjoyed the challenge. “Ice swimming is one of those things where you ask yourself: Why are you doing this? Well, for the health, the stamina,” Roever said. “And it requires a bit of willpower. That is very important. To overcome your ‘weaker self’ and be able to say that you did it. That is the great thing about it,” he added. Ice or winter dips are common in Scandinavian and Baltic countries, where swimmers will take to saunas afterwards to warm up.
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germany;swimming;chiemsee
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jp0001116
|
[
"national",
"politics-diplomacy"
] |
2017/01/16
|
Australia disappointed by Japan's whale hunt in Southern Ocean
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SYDNEY - Australia said Monday it is “deeply disappointed” that Japan has continued whaling in the Southern Ocean after anti-whaling activists published a photograph of a dead whale two days after Australian and Japanese leaders discussed the issue. Australia has long opposed Japanese whaling and the contentious issue was raised in talks between Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Sydney on Saturday, sources familiar with the talks said. “The Australian government is deeply disappointed that Japan has decided to return to the Southern Ocean this summer to undertake so-called scientific whaling,” Australian Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg said Monday. “It is not necessary to kill whales in order to study them,” Frydenberg added, without confirming the exact location of the current hunt. The International Court of Justice ruled in 2014, in a case brought by Australia, that Japan’s whaling in the Southern Ocean should stop, prompting the government to suspend the hunt for one season, though it resumed in 2015. The government maintains that most whale species are not endangered and that eating whale is part of Japanese culture. The government started what it calls scientific whaling in 1987, a year after an international whaling moratorium took effect. The anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd published a photograph Sunday of what it said was a minke whale on the deck of the whaling ship Nisshin Maru. The whale appeared to have been punctured by a harpoon. Sea Shepherd claimed the ship was hunting in an Australian sanctuary off the Antarctic coast. The photograph is the first of the Japanese whaling fleet hunting in the Southern Ocean since the 2014 court ruling, Sea Shepherd said in a statement. Footage shows the dead whale was later covered with a blue tarp. Frydenberg said Australia will continue to press its strong opposition to whaling at the International Whaling Commission.
|
australia;sea shepherd;whaling
|
jp0001117
|
[
"reference"
] |
2017/01/16
|
Japanese law for endangered wildlife set for what critics call toothless revamp
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The Law on Conservation of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora is set to be revised once again to further improve government measures to prevent vulnerable animal and plant species from becoming extinct. Conservationists say they scored some victories in 2016, symbolized by the September announcement by the International Union for Conservation of Nature that the giant panda had been taken off the list of “endangered” animals and is now classified as “vulnerable,” a less-threatening class. The population of wild giant pandas grew to 1,864 in 2014 from 1,596 in 2004. However, the IUCN’s Red List is still 82,954 items long, with 23,928 species “threatened with extinction.” Japan is no stranger to the issue. According the Environment Ministry’s Red List published in 2015, 3,596 species in Japan are threatened. Because the amendment made to the law on conservation required further revisions three years after it took effect, the ministry in November drafted a report on additional measures the government could take and solicited public feedback until Wednesday. Reflecting those comments, a ministry official said another amendment bill will probably be submitted to the Diet by the end of the year. What is the government doing to protect endangered species? The conservation law took effect in 1993 as the only one in the nation aimed at preventing wildlife from going extinct. It was revised 20 years later after conservation groups including World Wildlife Fund Japan argued that the law had become outdated. Although more than 3,000 species were on Japan’s Red List then, only 90, or 2.5 percent, were actively being targeted for preservation. By comparison, a similar law in the United States covered 1,382 species, with conservation projects underway for 1,137 of them. After the revision in 2013, the government adopted “supplementary resolutions” affirming that “preserving biodiversity” was the law’s main objective and outlining a need to educate the public about its importance. The resolutions were praised by WWF Japan. The revision also raised the maximum penalties for violators. Individuals now face up to five years in prison or a ¥5 million fine, instead of a year in prison or a ¥1 million fine, and businesses can be fined up to ¥100 million rather than ¥1 million. What are the main measures proposed in the draft report? The 1993 law mandated that the government single out particularly fragile animal and plant species as “vulnerable domestic wildlife” and regulate their domestic trade. In the 2013 revision, the government set a numerical target of 300 species for the new designation by 2020. So far, 208 have received it, including 33 newly announced in December. These include insects such as the Kumejima firefly that inhabits Okinawa. The same month saw restrictions slapped on domestic and international trade in 22 foreign species, including the African gray parrot, a popular pet, and the Pangolin, which was considered nearly extinct by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) held in Johannesburg last year. However, the biggest takeaway from the report is that there are limits to what the government alone can do. Out of the 208 designated vulnerable species, measures have been taken to help only 63, led mainly by the government with assistance from private-sector organizations. The report says conservation programs should also involve facilities such as zoos and botanical gardens, adding that protection and breeding campaigns “will be limited if run only by the government.” In addition, it says intensive capturing and harvesting by commercial traders is a big concern. Revisions should be made to restrict such practices while leaving room for capturing endangered species for research, it says. What measures are being proposed to restrict trade in ivory or other items made from vulnerable species? The current law requires owners of ivory acquired from internationally endangered species, including elephants, as well as owners of animals obtained before they were deemed endangered and covered by CITES regulations, to obtain a license from the Environment Ministry to keep or trade such goods. Such licenses must also be returned if any of the ivory that was in their possession was cut into pieces. In addition, owners of endangered species must return the license to the ministry if the protected plant or animal in their possession dies . The ministry points out that the maximum fine for violating the process — ¥300,000 — is low, which means licenses often remain unreturned and are used by unscrupulous businesses to trade unregistered items. To counter the problem, the ministry is proposing that microchips be attached to all registered wildlife. What do conservationists think of the draft report? The law aims to protect both domestic and foreign species present in Japan from extinction. However, conservationists say the law lacks teeth and encourages the poaching of African elephants and other species abroad. The CITES conference in October voted unanimously to ban domestic trade of elephant ivory, but a clause was attached to let Japan continue using ivory, mostly for hanko (personal seals) or accessories, after the nation’s representatives claimed the market here is rigorously controlled. The U.S., by contrast, almost banned ivory trade entirely in July, and China announced in December that it would shut down its market by the end of 2017. In the report, the ministry proposes that all businesses be required to list their trading license numbers in ads online, where most of the trading takes place, because it is difficult for the public to tell which businesses are legal. Although the ministry has been cracking down on illegal traders, conservationists say the domestic ivory trade is providing shelter for illegal traders and smugglers. There are “several thousand tons” of ivory that domestic traders are hoarding in the form of whole tusks and large pieces, WWF Japan said, urging the government to introduce a stricter inspection and registration mechanism for such items.
|
endangered species;ivory;cites;environment
|
jp0001118
|
[
"national",
"media-national"
] |
2017/01/28
|
2017: a year for sumo nostalgia
|
On Jan. 22, 30-year-old ozeki (champion) Kisenosato (real name Yutaka Hagiwara) emerged victorious in the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament with an outstanding record of 14 wins and only one loss. His promotion to history’s 72nd yokozuna (grand champion) was confirmed by the Japan Sumo Association three days later. The announcement was greeted with jubilation in Kisenosato’s home prefecture of Ibaraki, as well as by fans across the nation. Whatever sumo fans might have been thinking, the domestic media was careful to avoid stating that Kisenosato was the first “Japanese” to be named to the top rank since Wakanohana in 1998. Rather, Kisenosato was referred to as “ Nihon-shusshin” — which in English has been rendered variously as “Japan-born,” “native-born,” “home-grown,” “made in Japan” or other such expressions. Since sumo has developed into an international sport, this steers away from the implication that a naturalized citizen should be regarded as any less “Japanese” than a person of so-called Yamato ethnicity. It’s a distinction that’s become increasingly important, because growing numbers of wrestlers from abroad have obtained Japanese citizenship, which is required by the JSA if they want to become a toshiyori (elder) and operate their own stable of wrestlers after they retire. One noted individual who went that route is a 72-year-old man with a bushy white beard who goes by the name Daigoro Watanabe. Born Jesse James Wailani Kuhaulua on the Hawaiian island of Maui in June 1944, he arrived in Japan in 1964 and during his sumo career competed under the name Takamiyama (“High-view Mountain”). The special Bessatsu Takarajima “mook” (magazine-book) dated Dec. 31 and currently on sale recalls that the coming Osaka tournament in March will mark 50 years since Takamiyama made headlines when he became the first foreign-born sekitori , as salaried members of sumo’s two highest divisions are called. At 192 centimeters and more than 200 kilograms, he was one of the tallest and heaviest competitors at the time, but his top-heavy physique made him vulnerable to quick moves. He depended mostly on sheer strength and momentum, as opposed to grabbing his opponents’ belts and downing them with throwing techniques. Nonetheless he avoided illness and serious injury and still holds sumo’s record for most consecutive top division bouts with 1,231. The late Andy Adams, sumo columnist for The Japan Times, believed this qualified Takamiyama as the “greatest sekiwake (junior champion) of all time.” He also deserves special recognition as a pioneer for non-Japanese entering the sport. According to Bessatsu Takarajima, out of the 186 foreign wrestlers who have attempted to enter professional sumo, 48 have reached the ranks of the top makunouchi division for at least one tournament. This puts their odds of making it at about 1 in 4, considerably better than for all competitors, which is said to be about 1 out of 10. Within a year of his ascension, Takamiyama was competing with top-ranked wrestlers. In a bout with yokozuna Sadanoyama, he took his first kinboshi (gold star), awarded to rank-and-file wrestlers who defeat a grand champion. Later the same year he defeated a second yokozuna, Kashiwado. In the Nagoya tournament of 1972, Takamiyama won his first and only tournament, with a record of 13 wins and two losses. He married a Japanese woman and took her surname, Watanabe, when he obtained Japanese citizenship in 1980. After retiring in 1982, he opened his own stable, Azumazeki, and his accomplishments continued, as he nurtured fellow Hawaiian Chad Rowan to become yokozuna Akebono in 1993. The Asahi Shimbun (Jan. 7), meanwhile, featured a nostalgic portrayal of the late David M. Jones (1915-2005), a nonwrestler who enjoyed a “career” in the sumo ring. In May 1961, 11 years and two months before Takamiyama was to win a tournament, Jones began presenting the Pan American World Airways trophy — an enormous winged globe standing 115 cm high and weighing 42 kg — on the final day of each tournament. He did this six times a year for the next 30 years. Clad in formal Japanese kimono, the diminutive Jones always began by exclaiming “Hyō-shō-JŌ!” (certificate of award) and then reading a brief presentation speech. When the tournaments were held in Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuoka, he would deliver his speeches in the local dialect — much to the delight of his audience. At the January 1973 tournament Jones lifted the top-heavy trophy, stumbled and toppled over backward, pinned beneath it until the tournament winner, Kotozakura — who was trying hard not to laugh — picked it up and helped Jones back on his feet. In addition to Japan, trophies or plaques are currently awarded at sumo tournaments by eight other countries: the Czech Republic, the United Arab Emirates, Mexico, China, Hungary, Mongolia, France and Bulgaria. While Pan American airlines is long gone, its trophy can be viewed at the sumo museum in Ryogoku. As a historical footnote, Jones also arranged for his airline to sponsor Takamiyama, who had been scouted as a high school football player in Maui by the veterans’ club of Hawaii’s famous 442nd regimental combat team. Takamiyama’s kesshō mawashi (ceremonial apron) bore the unit’s “Go for Broke” insignia. Returning for a moment to the subject of the newest yokozuna, Kisenosato, not all media coverage of his promotion has been rosy. Yukan Fuji (Jan. 25) cautioned sumo fans to brace themselves for the possibility of what it terms a “short-lived jinx.” It seems that since the introduction of the current system of six annual tournaments in 1958, only four ozeki (Asahifuji, Kotozakura, Mienoumi and Takanosato) achieved promotion to yokozuna after reaching age 30. Subsequently the former two only won a single tournament; the latter pair each won two tournaments. The post-promotion careers of the four turned out to be disappointingly brief, averaging less than two years. With the men in the top ranks starting to show their age, and no clear favorites yet among the younger up-and-comers, sumo might very well be in for a turbulent year.
|
kisenosato;tamiyama;sumo
|
jp0001119
|
[
"national",
"media-national"
] |
2017/01/28
|
Media starts to focus on Japan's aging prison population
|
When it comes to crime and punishment, Japan is a conundrum for progressives. It has low crime rates and small prison populations, but it is also one of the few developed countries that still enforces capital punishment, and its criminal justice system is often criticized for giving too much power to prosecutors. These issues will surely be discussed at the next U.N.-sponsored Crime Congress, which will take place in Japan in 2020. The Japan Federation of Bar Associations (JFBA) has said it will make greater efforts toward abolishing the death penalty and instituting life sentences without parole as a possible replacement before the conference takes place , but it is looking at other aspects of the Criminal Code, which hasn’t changed since 1907. The media lately has taken note of the aging population of Japanese prisons . Usually, their interest in criminal justice extends only until a suspect in a particular case has been tried and sentenced, but with more than 20 percent of prison inmates now over 60 years old, they’ve started paying attention to the prison system itself. One reason for the large number of old people in jail is recidivism. Many ex-cons can’t adjust to life outside and so purposely get arrested in order to be sent back to the only home they know. What the media doesn’t explain is that recidivism itself is a function of the justice system’s lack of will when it comes to rehabilitation. Prison in Japan is about punishment, which is why the LFBA has demanded revisions to the parole system. Last November, the Asahi Shimbun reported that for the past decade, less than 10 prisoners who had been sentenced to indefinite prison terms ( mukichōeki ) had been released on parole each year. In the 1970s, the average number of prisoners granted parole each year was 70. According to the JFBA, the problem has to do with sentencing. The longest definite prison term is 20 years. The only longer options are indefinite sentences and capital punishment. When foreign media report on trials in Japan they tend to translate “mukichōeki” as “life sentence,” and during a recent discussion on TBS Radio , professor Koichi Hamai of Ryukoku University said this interpretation is not far off the mark, though it would be more accurate to call it “life without parole,” because that’s what an indefinite sentence almost always turns into. Technically, a prisoner with an indefinite sentence can apply for parole after serving 10 years, but Hamai said this has never happened. Because the longest definite sentence is 20 years, practically speaking no one with an indefinite sentence will receive a hearing until he has served at least that long. And since 1998, when changes were made so that definite sentences could be “augmented” if there were aggravating circumstances — for instance, a murder happened during the commission of a robbery — almost no one with an indefinite sentence has received a parole hearing until he’s served at least 30 years. Moreover, if a hearing is allowed but the parole is denied, the prisoner has to wait another 10 years to apply again, and the number of applications is limited to three during an individual’s incarceration. In 2010, the JFBA said that indefinite sentences in most cases had become de facto life sentences, regardless of the crime committed. As of the end of 2015 there were 1,835 prisoners serving indefinite sentences, 45 percent of whom were over 60. Twelve had been in prison for more than 50 years. “More people serving indefinite sentences die in prison than get paroled,” Hamai said. And yet the public thinks the opposite — that mukichōeki inmates tend to go free after 10 years or so. Hamai’s interviewer, critic Chiki Ogiue, said this is the fault of the media, which, when covering sensational murder trials, imply that anything less than a death penalty could result in a convicted killer going free after a certain period of time, since criminals with indefinite sentences can apply for parole. But they never report how that never happens. This myth partly explains why the Japanese public supports capital punishment. One reason so few paroles are granted is structural. The JFBA insists that there are not enough qualified officers to supervise parolees and ex-convicts, and 80 percent of the existing officers are already over 60. This shortage of human resources puts back pressure on the system. Last year, only 31 parole cases were heard. Shinichi Ishizuka, a law professor, told the Asahi that the number of indefinite sentences has increased in the past two decades and placed a substantial burden on Japan’s prison system. He says the government has a responsibility to “create an environment where (ex-convicts) can return to society.” Right now, the government is discussing a new bill that will allow individuals to be tried as adults at age 18 instead of 20 . The policy for juvenile offenders is to rehabilitate them. That’s why they are sent to “correction facilities” and not prisons, which are places of punishment. Another Asahi report , published Jan. 23, says that the Justice Ministry responded to criticism of the bill by opening up possibilities for new forms of sentencing that will incorporate rehabilitation. Judges may be required to postpone sentencing for certain nonviolent crimes so that they can determine whether or not a convicted criminal “is capable of being rehabilitated.” Another change would be to offer educational opportunities to inmates who are now required to perform labor — printing, woodworking — that is skilled but not necessarily in demand on the outside. The Justice Ministry says it will form an advisory panel next month to study these changes, any of which would be monumental given that the Criminal Code hasn’t been amended for more than a century. The media’s focus on the aging prison population could help make such progress possible by also showing the public how inmates have human rights and prisons in their current capacity are simply dumping grounds for society’s losers.
|
prisons;elderly
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jp0001120
|
[
"world"
] |
2017/01/10
|
'Atmospheric river' triggers deluge, floods, evacuations across California, Nevada
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FORESTVILLE, CALIFORNIA/LOS ANGELES - A massive storm system stretching from California into Nevada sent rivers climbing out of their banks, flooded vineyards and forced people to evacuate after warnings that hillsides parched by wildfires could give way to mudslides. Northern California’s Russian River rose to its highest level since 2006, and schools and roads were closed across the wine-making region of Sonoma County, where thousands of people were without power. Avalanche concerns kept some California ski areas closed for a second day Monday in the Sierra Nevada. Forecasters said more snow and rain was on the way. In Nevada near Reno, Nevada National Guard high-water vehicles were deployed to help people evacuate from a town. The Russian River is prone to flooding, but this year’s flood has been particularly worrisome because it threatened to topple trees weakened by six years of drought. Jeff Watts, an artist, spent an anxious night listening for the sound of falling trees on his land. On Monday, he found his drive to work blocked by a tree that had fallen on a car. Emergency crews were working to extract the vehicle. “I couldn’t get past the tree, so I turned around and I’m doing this,” said Watts, who had pulled over to photograph oak trees and their reflections in the floodwater. Over the weekend, toppled trees crashed against cars and homes and blocked roads in the San Francisco Bay Area. Stranded motorists had to be rescued from cars stuck on flooded roads. A giant tree fell across a highway in Hillsborough to the south of San Francisco, injuring a driver who couldn’t brake in time and drove into the tree. And a woman was killed Saturday by a falling tree while she took a walk on a golf course. To the south near Los Angeles, commuters were warned of possible highway flooding and mudslides in hilly areas. Emergency workers in Nevada voluntarily evacuated about 1,300 people from 400 homes in a Reno neighborhood as the Truckee River overflowed and drainage ditches backed up. In the city of Sparks neighboring Reno, Bob Elsen said he never expected so much rain in Nevada’s high desert, where only 8 inches of precipitation normally falls each year. He moved to Sparks from perpetually wet Bremerton, Washington. “I don’t think I’ve seen this much rain since I moved here six years ago,” Elsen said, watching the Truckee River rise. “It’s why I moved out of Washington to get away from this stuff.” The worst flooding in Sparks was expected to send several feet of water early Monday into an industrial area where 25,000 people work. The back-to-back storms that have hit California and Nevada since last week are part of an “atmospheric river” weather system that draws precipitation from the Pacific Ocean as far west as Hawaii with potentially catastrophic consequences for areas hit by the heaviest rain. Schools were also canceled in Reno and Sparks, and Gov. Brian Sandoval told all nonessential state government workers to stay home Monday after he declared a state of emergency. In California’s Calaveras Big Trees State park, a well-known giant sequoia tree known for the huge tunnel carved through its trunk that cars once passed through came toppling down, The San Francisco Chronicle reported. Park volunteer Joan Allday said the tree had been weakening and leaning severely to one side for several years. “It was barely alive. There was one branch alive at the top,” she told the newspaper. Farther north, two major highways across the Sierra Nevada were partially closed because of mudslides and roads leading to Yosemite National Park’s valley floor remained were closed amid fears that the Merced River could overflow and cause major flooding. The storms have knocked out power for more than 570,000 customers of Pacific Gas and Electric in Northern and Central California since Saturday, but electricity has been restored to almost all of them, said company spokesman Tom Schmitz. The storms are the latest in a wet winter expected to put a considerable dent in California’s years-long drought. Just north of San Francisco, rains caused the Russian River in Sonoma County to flood early on Monday, the county Sheriff’s department said. That led to the evacuation overnight of more than 3,000 residents in the area of Guerneville, Jonathan Gudel, a spokesman for the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, said by phone. In Nevada, residents of about 400 homes in Reno were ordered to evacuate on Monday as rains swelled the Truckee River, which flows through the city, Washoe County health agency spokesman Phil Ulibarri said by phone. Officials in both California and Nevada said they were still assessing flood damage on Monday. Over the weekend, wineries in California’s Napa Valley were spared damage from the heavy rain, which is expected to replenish water supplies for the state’s wine-making industry after five years of drought, said Patsy McGaughy, a spokeswoman for the Napa Valley Vintners. “We’re actually grateful to see the rain,” McGaughy said. In a sign of the rain’s intensity, California officials for the first time in a decade were considering opening floodgates at a weir on the Sacramento River to prevent flooding in areas of Sacramento, Lauren Hersh, a spokeswoman with the state Department of Water Resources, said by phone. On Sunday, 27 homes were damaged from flooding in Monterey County south of San Francisco when the Carmel River breached its banks, swamping some nearby properties, and rainwater inundated homes in the town of Seaside, Gerry Malais, the county emergency services director, said by phone.
|
california;weather;floods;nevada
|
jp0001124
|
[
"national"
] |
2017/01/19
|
Global elites sample sushi, sake at Japan Night in Davos
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DAVOS, SWITZERLAND - More than 500 guests sampled Wagyu beef and sushi made with Uonuma Koshihikari rice Wednesday at an event to promote Japan’s produce on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Dishes featuring yellowtail and scallops were also served at Japan Night, held in conjunction with the annual gathering of political and business elites. Thanks to the popularity of Japanese food, Japan Night has been known to attract large crowds in recent years. This year, the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry supported to the event, from selecting food items to inviting top-level chefs from Kyoto and London. Sake brewed in Kumamoto Prefecture, which is undergoing reconstruction following massive earthquakes last April, was especially popular. “It has a great flavor,” an Indian business owner said. “We are seeing more imports of Japanese sake to India these days, and I can see why.”
|
davos;japanese cuisine;wef;washoku
|
jp0001125
|
[
"business"
] |
2017/01/21
|
Stress mounts as fees fall in Japan for home deliveries
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In early December, a YouTube video of a Sagawa Express Co. delivery man throwing and kicking parcels went viral. The scene was recorded outside a Tokyo apartment building to which, apparently, the man had failed to deliver some packages because the recipients were not at home. This caused him to lose his temper, since it meant he would have to return later, and he took out his frustration on the parcels. To make matters worse, the day was quite windy, forcing the man to chase after several boxes. Sagawa apologized to the public and said the delivery man “regretted” what happened, but by that point the video had already been viewed thousands of times and TV stations had covered it extensively. Public reaction was split between condemnation and sympathy. According to the transport ministry, the three main takuhai (home delivery) services — Yamato, Sagawa and Japan Post, which together account for 91 percent of all parcel deliveries in Japan — handled 3.4 million items in 2015. Given that the ministry estimates 23.5 percent of packages are not delivered on the first attempt, that’s a lot of potential tantrums. This situation has only become worse with the rise of online retailers, whose business in the past 10 years has grown from ¥900 billion a year to ¥11 trillion, a greater than tenfold increase. The Nihon Net Keizai Shimbun estimates that revenues will reach ¥20 trillion by 2020, and will eventually go as high as ¥60 trillion, which would represent 20 percent of all retail revenues in Japan. Needless to say, delivery services are essential to online sales, and the higher the volume, the greater the pressure that online retailers exert on delivery companies to cut their fees. By far the biggest online retailer is Amazon.jp , with ¥700 billion in annual sales. Amazon is followed by Bell Maison, Yodobashi Camera, Nissen and Dell Computer, which together account for ¥10 billion in sales, according to research by Gekkan Net Hanbai. Amazon thus has a great deal of power behind its demand for services, and apparently that demand became too much for Sagawa, which in 2013 did not renew its contract with Amazon, saying it was no longer basing its business on volume and would instead focus on “quality of service.” The Nihon Net Keizai Shimbun reported that Sagawa’s revenues dropped by ¥60 million the next year while Yamato’s increased by about 10 percent or ¥150 billion. Obviously, Yamato benefited from Sagawa’s withdrawal, but you have to wonder at what cost. The newspaper says that Yamato has continued to cut its delivery fees for Amazon. In his 2015 book “Takuhai Jingi Naki” (“Inhumane Home Delivery”), journalist Masuo Yokota says that contracted Yamato delivery personnel have to pay for these discounts over time, either in pay or just plain stress. One contract driver who works on commission told him that Yamato only charges ¥150 for an Amazon delivery. The usual charge for home delivery starts at ¥600. Many contract drivers supply their own vehicles and pay all their own expenses. The driver told Yokota that in order to break even he has to make 150 deliveries a day. Gekkan Net Hanbai says that in the past several years the number of items that delivery companies handle has increased while their revenues have remained about the same, which would seem to indicate that online retailers are always pressuring delivery companies to reduce fees. This would make sense, since 85 percent of online retailers offer free delivery in certain circumstances. Amazon in particular has a very liberal free delivery policy, and customers can return any item without having to explain why, with the return delivery being free as well. According to the Marketing Research Camp website, price is still the main criterion consumers use when selecting an online retailer, but free delivery comes a close second. In its survey of users, 90 percent of respondents said that free delivery “influenced” or “heavily influenced” their purchasing decisions. Due to price pressure on commissions for contract workers and quotas for staff wage earners, drivers have to make as many deliveries as possible in a short period of time, which explains the Sagawa meltdown. Obviously, having multiple deliveries in one building is more efficient, but if no one is home it can be multiply maddening. The ideal situation for a driver is to work an area of higher population density, since it requires less stops and time spent going from door to door to make deliveries. Also, higher-density areas mean more difficulty finding places to park your vehicle for free. Most end up parking illegally. Consequently, the vehicles get cited by traffic police, and the drivers are responsible for paying the fines. Last year a number of Sagawa drivers were arrested for sending acquaintances to pay their fines. Parking violations count the same as moving violations on a driver’s record. Citations are only given to vehicles, so the person who shows up to settle the ticket is the one who takes the penalty, though it’s supposed to be the person who was driving on the day of the citation. Delivery workers can’t afford to accumulate penalties because they might lose their driver’s licenses. Package delivery is a high-stress, low-pay job, which explains the industry-wide 13 percent turnover rate. All a person needs to get a job with a package delivery service is a driver’s license, so there will likely always be drivers available for such work, but labor shortages are endemic throughout the industry. Around the time the video went viral, Sagawa announced that customers should expect delays during the busy holiday season due to a lack of drivers, thus adding more stress. To help remove this pressure, some delivery companies ask people who order items online to designate the best time to make a delivery in order to avoid return trips. Some deliver to convenience stores where customers can pick them up at their leisure, an option that’s popular among women who live alone and don’t like opening their doors to strangers. Japan Post equips its drivers with automatic fuzaishahyō writing devices that save them the time of having to write out “unable to deliver” notices by hand, which is still the norm for other delivery companies. Yen for Living covers issues related to making, spending and saving money in Japan on the second and fourth Sundays of the month.
|
transportation;delivery;amazon;japan post;yamato transport;sagawa express
|
jp0001126
|
[
"national",
"media-national"
] |
2017/01/21
|
In uncertain times, Japan opts to save
|
A funny thing happened on the way to the marketplace. The crowd thinned out. Consumption? Been there, done that. Enough. It’s a watershed. Minimal consumption equals a minimal economy — which equals what, long-term? The dreadful deprivation of the 1930s and ’40s fed a consumption boom as prosperity returned in the ’50s and ’60s. The aspiration was clear: a middle-class lifestyle symbolized by the “three Cs” — car, air conditioner, color TV. By the early ’80s some 90 percent of Japanese felt they’d arrived. Frenzied, frivolous consumption characterized the “bubble” years that followed. The bubble burst in the early ’90s. The “lost decade” became lost decades. Today economists debate whether they are over. Some indicators are up, others down. Hiring and wages are up, consumption is down. It doesn’t compute. Or then again, muses the business magazine Shukan Toyo Keizai, maybe it does. Central to Abenomics, the reform package touted by the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, is the “virtuous circle.” Loose money would spark a corporate resurgence, creating jobs, raising wages, stimulating spending. As big business revived, so would small business. Jobs for job-seekers, good pay for hard work, eager buyers for proliferating products — and so on, all the way back to the ’80s, hopefully minus the crash landing. It would take two years, Abe confidently predicted four years ago. What went wrong? Nothing, say the government and the Bank of Japan. Two years was over-optimistic; otherwise, Abenomics is on course. Unemployment is 3 percent, the lowest in years. Salaries are rising, albeit slowly. Consumption is just around the corner. Patience. It’s starting to wear a bit thin even among optimists, Toyo Keizai finds as it makes the rounds of supermarkets, clothing retailers, restaurants, department stores and so on and hears tales of economic languor everywhere, the conspicuous exception being convenience stores, which seem to be holding their own. Major corporations, to be sure, are prospering, but it’s not trickling down. Consumer spending is 60-odd percent of the Japanese economy. Stagnant, it holds the whole economy hostage. What’s holding consumers back? Two things, says Toyo Keizai: demography and anxiety — to which might be added a third, satori. Demography, of course, refers to the rapidly aging and declining population. The biggest spenders are aged 15 to 64. That population sector declined 3.4 percent between 2011 and 2016. The swelling elderly population does not benefit from rising wages, and from where they sit the future looks anxious indeed. Will the pension system that sustains them collapse? Will they need ever more expensive care and medication as they age? Consumer spending amid such uncertainties would seem irresponsible. Better to err on the side of caution. Global insecurity only heightens the sense of being adrift. The year just past rattled complacency. The catastrophic Kumamoto earthquake in April, the hyper-severe typhoons of August, political upheavals from Britain’s exit from the European Union to the election of maverick U.S. President Donald Trump, have a psychological impact not confined to those directly affected. The climate, the world, life itself are changing rapidly and incomprehensibly, and not for the better. Money in the bank represents security. But money in the bank does not fuel the economy. Young people too, Toyo Keizai notes, are spending less. They too are anxious about the future. Those now in their 20s never knew the bubble. They’d be hard-pressed to imagine it. They grew up in tense, penny-pinching times, witnesses from childhood to expanding part-time and shrinking full-time employment. Will their own livelihoods be secure? Will they get stuck in one of the notorious burakku kigyō (black companies) whose working conditions amount to a kind of slavery? Will they earn enough to pay back university loans, or support infirm parents as the life expectancy soars? Who, weighed down with such thoughts, feels like splurging? “Yes, but,” an Abenomics apologist might say, “look at housing” — and the point must be granted: Home purchases are up, backed by rock bottom interest rates that make debt seem a less daunting burden. Maybe too much so. You sign the papers and reality sets in — shown by the fact, says Toyo Keizai, that families with housing loans spend 15 percent less on consumer items than families without. One sector’s gain is another sector’s loss. Economic planning is one thing on paper, another thing entirely in the marketplace where living, breathing, unpredictable people jostle each other, never reacting quite as the planners expected. Working women, for example, were supposed to buy more as their income rose. Did anyone consider that their work, combined in many cases with child rearing, would leave them no time for nonessential shopping? Less interest in it too, apparently, as job satisfaction fills the void once filled by consumption. The possibility that steals into view is that consuming for the sake of consuming — consuming for fun, pleasure, leisure and status — has, in Japan at least, had its day. A name for the new era lying ahead might have some relation to the word “satori.” In 2010, a book by journalist Taku Yamaoka sparked talk of a “satori generation.” What Yamaoka had noticed, to his dismay, was that young people don’t seem to want anything anymore. He titled his book “Hoshigaranai Wakamonotachi” (“Young People Who Don’t Want Anything”). What he described was no religious overcoming of desire but rather a languid indifference, shaped by economic constraints, to anything that costs money; also to a lot that doesn’t — love, for instance. Toyo Keizai offers a variation on that theme. The smartphone, it suggests, offers so wide a portal to a virtual reality cornucopia as to make virtual consumption, virtual travel, virtual anything, more attractive— certainly less troublesome — than anything the so-called real world can tempt us with. An economy premised on insatiable desire may be facing its moment of truth: Desire is not insatiable.
|
economy;consumer spending;economic anxiety
|
jp0001127
|
[
"national",
"media-national"
] |
2017/01/21
|
Emperor's abdication highlights the inconvenience behind the country's Imperial naming system
|
For two weeks the media has been buzzing about the news that Emperor Akihito will abdicate before 2019. Initially, it was reported that he’d step down on Dec. 31, 2018, and his son, Crown Prince Naruhito, would become the new Emperor the next day. Every media outlet seemed to accept this information despite the fact that no official announcement was made. When queried during one of his regular news conferences, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga expressed irritation while claiming that he knew nothing about any such report. The Imperial Household Agency was more specific in its articulation of annoyance, stating that such a scenario would be “difficult” owing to private Shinto rituals that the Imperial family conducts on New Year’s Day. The abdication report was a scoop by the Sankei Shimbun . The article appeared in the newspaper’s Jan. 10 morning edition, with all other media rehashing it by the next day. According to the Sankei’s anonymous sources, the main reason for the dates chosen is that having a new emperor ascend to the throne on New Year’s Day would cause the least amount of inconvenience to the public, since a new Imperial era would start on Jan. 1, thus allowing government offices, businesses and citizens to prepare for a new gengō (era name) that dovetailed perfectly with a new calendar year. Now, it appears the Emperor may abdicate on Dec. 23, 2018, his 85th birthday , and his son would ascend the throne on Dec. 24, a situation that could cause problems since the following seven days would comprise the first year of the new era, thus potentially messing up calendars, official documents and computer programs. Reports indicate that the government still hopes that even if abdication takes place on Dec. 23, it can postpone the start of the new era until Jan. 1, but that might require some legal hocus pocus. The Diet has yet to pass the special law to allow the current Emperor — and only the current Emperor — to abdicate, so they could possibly approve the era postponement at the same time. For all the attention the story has attracted, no media outlet has taken the opportunity to question the gengō system and its relevance in the 21st century — or any century, for that matter. The illogical nature of the system was built into the headline of the original Sankei story, which said that the new era would commence on the first day of “Heisei 31.” If, under the original scenario, the Crown Prince were to become emperor on Jan. 1, the Heisei Era, which designates the reign of his father, would cease to exist on that day, meaning Heisei 31 is an impossibility. The Sankei could have avoided this semantic quandary by simply writing “2019,” but being one of those media that steadfastly adheres to everything that counts as “traditionally Japanese,” the paper can’t bring itself to use a designation derived from an outside culture — or, at least, not in something as momentous as a headline. In the body of the accompanying article “2019” is written in parentheses right after “Heisei 31,” just in case some readers were confused. And “confusion” is the operative word here. The Sankei isn’t the only media that religiously sticks to gengō in its denotation of dates. NHK is even worse. I once saw an NHK news report that said the maglev express train currently under construction would probably not be paid off until Heisei 84, another year that only exists in “The Twilight Zone” unless some method is found to cryogenically preserve the current Emperor. The reason they use such a designation is because the start and the name of the next era can’t be known until the current Emperor dies or steps down, so it’s more convenient to project the Heisei Era into the future as a reference. Well, no. It’s more convenient to use the Gregorian calendar, the “most widely used civil calendar” in the world, according to Wikipedia , and one that is widely used in Japan as well. What makes gengō especially troublesome is its application to relative time. As long as a date falls within the current Imperial era, there’s no problem, but when it doesn’t, you need a calculator and an encyclopedia to figure out the proper designation, and the more eras that fall between now and whatever past event you’re referencing, the more difficult it is. Before the Meiji Era (1868-1912), it becomes impossible, since gengō didn’t often correspond to Imperial reigns. Many were reboots that occurred during a particular reign for arbitrary reasons, such as reversing bad luck following a natural disaster. One era lasted a single day. There have been 247 gengō since the system started in 646 A.D. Takao Yamada wrote an apologia for gengō in the Mainichi Shimbun last week. Opening with the syntactically challenging assertion that “there is no one who says that a new gengō is not necessary,” he nevertheless goes on to explain why some people object to it, namely, that it is “irrational, undemocratic and unusable in international society.” However, gengō must be maintained because it is “rooted in Japanese society” and, to Yamada, “we can’t live without it.” He relates its history and cites a scholar who believes that abolishing gengō “will lead to an interruption of history and tradition as well as a collapse of culture.” As an illustration, the scholar mentions how people no longer use the unit “go” to measure a volume of sake, as if were a soul-killing development. The Asahi Shimbun offered a more practical discussion of the matter on Jan. 14. Dozens of hired experts, the paper said, will have to pore over official records to make sure proposed gengō for the new era weren’t used before and that they don’t mimic place or personal names. On the other hand, printing companies will make a great deal of money churning out revised documents. In essence, the common media wisdom is that gengō is vital to the Japanese identity and creates a lot of unnecessary work. That sounds about right.
|
royalty;emperor akihito;imperial family;abdication;emperor naruhito
|
jp0001129
|
[
"national",
"media-national"
] |
2017/01/07
|
Are female scholars taken seriously in Japan?
|
There is a small group of female TV personalities whose claim to fame is that they graduated from the University of Tokyo , the most prestigious institute of higher learning in Japan. Like most TV personalities, these women have no demonstrable talent, and in almost every case when they appear on variety and talk shows they never discuss what they studied. They often show up on quiz shows where they can either confirm expectations about their intelligence or delight viewers by revealing they don’t know as much as they should, but overall there really isn’t any discernible difference between them and other entertainers peddled by production companies. What is it that makes these women interesting? The answer is that they represent a rare species. Not many women attend the University of Tokyo, colloquially known as Todai. Less than 20 percent of its undergraduates are female and now, it appears, the school itself is wondering if it shouldn’t do more to raise that rate. Starting this spring, Todai will offer housing subsidies of ¥30,000 a month to selected female students who would normally have to commute more than 90 minutes one-way to the Komaba campus in Meguro Ward. The subsidy would be available to some 100 students per year for no more than two years and regardless of their parents’ income. Todai thinks many qualified women are discouraged from applying to Todai because of the financial and safety concerns attendant with living away from home. The selected students will reside near the campus in an apartment building with strict security measures. In an article about the subsidy that appeared in Asahi Shimbun on Dec. 26 , an official of the school said, “We know parents of female students are worried about their daughters living on their own in a big city.” The Asahi reporter also talked to a number of young women who said that they were attending universities or colleges near their homes because their parents would not allow them to live anywhere else. However, safety and cost aren’t the only reasons women don’t move away from their families in order to go to college. Many told the reporter that their parents didn’t see the point in women receiving four years of higher education. Such an opinion sounds trite and old-fashioned, but apparently it still holds sway. One woman currently enrolled at Todai said that before she graduated from a high school in the Tohoku region, she was encouraged by her adviser to apply to Todai, but her mother and grandmother disapproved. “They thought it was a waste of time for me to work so hard, because I’m a girl,” she said. In her family, only boys went to university, but she applied anyway. The first time she took the entrance exam she failed, but the next year she took it again and passed. Interestingly enough, it was her father who encouraged her to keep trying. The story is meant to illustrate that higher education in Japan is not considered a priority for women, and in order for female applicants to succeed in gaining access to university, an extra measure of resolve is just as important as scholastic ability. Nevertheless, Todai has been criticized for the plan. Asahi reports that more than 80 people have accused the university of reverse discrimination. Advocates of the plan countered that there is nothing discriminatory about it, because women still have to meet the same rigorous entrance requirements as men. An expert on constitutional law sees the subsidy as a proactive attempt to promote gender parity, which would exist naturally if all other things in Japanese society were equal. In that regard, media coverage of the plan has sparked debate about whether or not female scholars are taken seriously. The upshot of the 2014 scandal involving STAP cell researcher Haruko Obokata , who was hounded out of academia for allegedly fabricating data, is that she was, like the TV personalities mentioned earlier, adored as a curiosity. However, once she was suspected of having sinned against science, her punishment was harsher than it would have been for a man. The implication was that, as a woman, she didn’t belong in that world in the first place. A feature about the subsidy that appeared in Tokyo Shimbun on Nov. 19 included interviews with female Todai students who said they still faced veiled opposition in society at large. One told the reporter that she believes people are somehow “scared” of female Todai students, as if being accepted at the university represented the death of a natural order. Another said she didn’t think the subsidy would make a difference until women gained respect as academics first. The situation is so twisted that some female applicants have been warned that they can’t hope to get married because potential husbands will be too intimidated by their elevated status as Todai graduates. Statistics seem to validate these suppositions. In October 2015, after the governor of Kagoshima Prefecture was blasted for saying that girls didn’t really need to learn trigonometry, an article appeared in Newsweek Japan confirming that Kagoshima had one of the worst rates in the country for female advancement to university. Moreover, in a survey of 59 countries carried out by the World Values Survey Association and cited by the magazine, 22.5 percent of Japanese said that university education was more important for males than it was for females, the third highest national portion on the list. The survey results and the Kagoshima governor’s remark reflect beliefs that permeate the conversation about education and thus influence a woman’s outlook while she is still young. There is, of course, no evidence that young women are less capable of excelling in certain scholastic fields than young men. Achievement depends at least partly on the message received. In Japan, males overwhelmingly dominate the fields of mathematics and hard science, while females overwhelmingly dominate music studies . It all has to do with what is expected of them.
|
gender equality;education;university of tokyo
|
jp0001130
|
[
"national",
"media-national"
] |
2017/01/07
|
Figuring out Japan's unsolved mysteries
|
As a visit to any large public library or online search will reveal, Japan boasts a superb body of crime literature, both fiction and nonfiction. Among these, English readers may be most familiar with a half-dozen works by Seicho Matsumoto (1909-92). Many of his novels, such as “Kuroi Fukuin” (“The Black Gospel,” 1959) were loose reconstructions of actual events. Matsumoto’s nonfiction work included “Nihon no Kuroi Kiri” (“The Black Mist of Japan”), which was serialized in the monthly Bungei Shunju magazine in 1960. It featured accounts of baffling incidents in the immediate postwar period such as the enigmatic Teikoku Bank murder-robbery of 1948, and the mysterious death of Japan National Railways President Sadanori Shimoyama in 1949. Koji Kata (1918-98) was another author who produced a massive body of work, much of which concerned historical crimes spanning the Edo, Meiji, Taisho and early Showa eras (from 1600 to the 1940s). He published several histories about Japan’s most celebrated bandits, brigands and thieves of yore, and can be credited with having penned the insightful observation, “Nobody ever set out in life with the ambition of becoming a yakuza.” More recently, one of Japan’s most prolific investigative reporters has been journalist Fumiya Ichihashi. Ichihashi is a nom de plume written with the same kanji characters as his alma mater, Hitotsubashi University; the characters for “Fumiya” can also be read bunya , a slang term for a newspaper reporter. Last November, Shogakukan published a compendium of the notes and records from stories Ichihashi has covered, titled “Mo Jiko Dakara, Subete Hanaso Ka: Judai Jiken Koko dake no Hanashi,” which can loosely be rendered in English as “Since the Statute of Limitations Has Already Expired, Shall I Tell It All? Stories About Major Cases You Can Only Get Here.” The chapters include several famous unresolved cases such as the Glico-Morinaga corporate blackmail incidents of 1984-85; the ¥300 million Toshiba payroll robbery in 1968; and the 2013 slaying of Takayuki Ohigashi, president of the Gyoza no Osho restaurant chain. Harnessing inductive reasoning, Ichihashi has shown an exceptional ability to deconstruct the details of a crime and suggest possibilities that the police may have overlooked. It’s fascinating, too, to read how he first examines a hypothesis from various perspectives and then rejects it. For example, in a series of articles appearing in Shincho 45 magazine in 1995 related to a gang that engaged in various crimes in the Kansai area in the mid-1980s, referred to collectively as the Glico-Morinaga incident, Ichihashi noted how the crimes commenced with the abduction of Ezaki Glico’s president, then-42-year-old Katsuhisa Ezaki, from his own home on the night of March 18, 1984. The day after the kidnapping, the value of the company’s shares fell from ¥745 to ¥620. By April 13, it had dropped below ¥600 and within two weeks it was down to ¥485. Ezaki fortunately escaped unharmed from captivity and his company recovered; but the same criminals then targeted Morinaga products, and the firm’s shares promptly plummeted from ¥670 to ¥508. By the end of 1984, their value was down by almost half, to ¥380. From the brazen nature of the crimes, investigators may have suspected the abduction and extortion was an attempt to profit from fluctuations in their share prices; but Ichihashi correctly pointed out that the country’s Finance Ministry required anyone selling short to post a retainer of at least 10 percent. And, of course, records of all the transactions were easily available to investigators. No arrests were ever made in the case and the statute of limitations expired years ago. Then came Jan. 1, 2001, the first day of the new millennium. Subscribers to The Japan Times — myself included — may recall arising to retrieve their newspapers while wondering what bright and hopeful message the front page might carry. However, a rather large headline on that day read: “Police suspect burglary after family found slain at home.” At around 10:56 a.m. on Dec. 31, the bodies of Mikio Miyazawa, 44; his wife, Yasuko, 41; their daughter, Niina, 8; and son, Rei, 6; were found brutally murdered in their home in the quiet residential neighborhood of Kamisoshigaya in Setagaya Ward. As details were gradually released to the public, it was clear that the circumstances of the crime bordered on the bizarre. According to a police reconstruction, upon entering the house shortly before midnight, the killer stabbed to death the two parents and daughter and strangled the son. He then lingered in the house, helping himself to the contents of the refrigerator (including ice cream), going online to surf the internet and using the toilet. He napped on the second floor sofa and departed the crime scene shortly after 10 a.m. The investigators must have felt confident they would get their man, as the criminal left behind a veritable cornucopia of forensic evidence. Shoes and articles of clothing suggested a possible link to South Korea. Even more curious was the DNA extracted at the scene, which pointed to a male with East Asian ancestry — but not necessarily Japanese — on his father’s side, and what appeared to be south European ancestry on his mother’s side. So far in addition to Ichihashi’s own work, the Miyazawa slayings have been the subject of six other books. Like the police, the writers have hit a brick wall, with no useful clues as to the killer’s identity or motive. Posting on Kodansha’s Gendai Business Premium website ( gendai.ismedia.jp ) on Dec. 30 — 15 years to the day since the slayings — Ichihashi remarked bitterly, “I know who the ‘real criminal’ is — this case has gone unsolved due to fatal mistakes by the police and negligence by the mass media.” Once again he raises some tantalizing points, but doesn’t offer any closure. Still, there’s no statute of limitations on the murders or, as far as Ichihashi is concerned, on investigative journalism.
|
crime;unsolved crimes;fumiya ichihashi
|
jp0001132
|
[
"national"
] |
2017/01/31
|
Tsukiji's fish wholesalers may be leaving but Showa Era outer market here to stay
|
Although the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and Tsukiji’s fish merchants are wrangling over the planned transfer of the site in Chuo Ward to the Toyosu district in Koto Ward a few kilometers southeast, there is still a portion of the world-famous market that will remain vibrant and unchanged. The Tsukiji outer market area, known as Tsukiji Jogai Shijo, is next to the inner market (Jonai Shijo), an area dedicated to the business of licensed wholesalers, whose move to Toyosu has proved contentious due to soil contamination at the new site. The outer market, however, is accessible to everyone, and is always crowded with tourists. The 460 shops, selling everything from fresh tuna sashimi and dried fish to kitchenware, will not move to Toyosu. The reclaimed land area, which also houses many stalls and restaurants serving sushi, curry and ramen, is reminiscent of the Showa Era (1926-1989), and is markedly different in its atmosphere from the high-end shopping district of Ginza nearby. After the food stalls (many close by 2 p.m.), visitors can go to Namiyoke Inari Shrine, built in 1959. It houses a deity believed to have helped calm the sea for the land reclamation project in the mid-17th century. A couple share a strawberry skewer bought at the Tsukiji fish market, which sells not only seafood but also snacks and desserts. | YOSHIAKI MIURA A tourist photographs the head of a freshly caught tuna at a sushi restaurant in Tsukiji, Tokyo. | YOSHIAKI MIURA The shops and food stalls in the Tsukiji outer market are packed with tourists on Jan. 19. | YOSHIAKI MIURA Visitors to Namiyoke Inari Shrine in Tsukiji, Tokyo, pass through a hoop made of grass that is believed to purify their spirits. | YOSHIAKI MIURA A tourist browses a dry foods store in Tsukiji, Tokyo. | YOSHIAKI MIURA A family enjoys noodles at one of the many stalls offering traditional Japanese food. | YOSHIAKI MIURA Tsukiji Honganji Temple, a Buddhist temple in Tsukiji built most recently in 1934, features a unique stone exterior combining Buddhist, Hindu and Islamic architecture. | YOSHIAKI MIURA
|
tokyo;food;fish;tsukiji;toyosu
|
jp0001133
|
[
"national"
] |
2017/01/30
|
'Father of Pac-Man,' Masaya Nakamura, dies at age 91
|
Masaya Nakamura, the founder of game developer and distributor Namco Ltd. and known as “the father of Pac-Man,” died Jan. 22, Bandai Namco Holdings Inc. announced Monday via a corporate website. Nakamura was 91. The cause of death was not announced. After graduating in 1948 from Yokohama Kogyo Senmon Gakko (now Yokohama National University), he founded Nakamura Seisakusho in 1955, which was renamed Namco in 1977. The company developed numerous hit video games, including “Galaxian,” “Pac-Man” and “Ridge Racer,” that could be played on home consoles or in entertainment facilities such as game centers. Namco merged with Bandai Co. in 2005 to form Bandai Namco Group, and its game production assets were branched into Bandai Namco Games Inc. in 2006, which is now known as Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc. Nakamura was a chairman and a supreme adviser of Bandai Namco Entertainment since 2006. “Pac-Man,” designed by Namco’s inhouse video game maker Toru Iwatani, is one of the most recognizable and popular video games in history. In 2005 it was listed by Guinness World Records as the “most successful coin-operated arcade machine.” The game became a social phenomenon soon after its release in 1980, inspiring all sorts of merchandise and even an animated TV series. “From its launch in 1981 until 1987, a total of 293,822 ‘Pac-Man’ arcade machines were built and installed in arcade venues around the world,” according to the Guinness World Records website. “Ms. Pac-Man” was the first video game to feature a playable female character, and “Pac-Man” was the first video game family, which also included “Baby Pac-Man” and “Jr. Pac-Man.”
|
video games;namco;pac-man;masaya nakamura
|
jp0001135
|
[
"national",
"history"
] |
2017/01/24
|
A-bomb museum shows newly discovered photos of 1945 mushroom cloud, A-bomb dome
|
HIROSHIMA - The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum on Tuesday showed to the press 10 newly discovered photos, including one taken by the crew of the Enola Gay that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The shot shows the mushroom cloud rising skyward on the morning of Aug. 6, 1945. The photographs collected from the Library of Congress and the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in the United States also include a picture of U.S. Navy sailors observing the so-called Atomic Bomb Dome 10 years after the bombing. With the new findings, the museum now holds two photographs of the mushroom cloud taken from the Enola Gay. Late last year, Hiroshima museum officials checked around 2,100 photographs related to the atomic bombing and found that at least 10 of them were not in the museum’s collection already. The photograph of the mushroom cloud is believed to have been taken by crew members aboard the Enola Gay when the plane approached Hiroshima a second time to confirm the extent of damage caused by the bomb. Among the pictures, one is an aerial photo of the city of Hiroshima in 1946. The signatures of three Enola Gay crew members are apparently written on it. “As they show the detailed cityscape soon after the bombing, we may have a new discovery if examined,” a museum official said.
|
wwii;hiroshima;nuclear weapons;a-bomb
|
jp0001137
|
[
"reference"
] |
2017/01/23
|
Conspiracy bill's fourth bid dressed in Olympic clothing
|
As the debate on counterterrorism heats up ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, some are pushing for stronger measures and others are warning against the potential for government overreach and the loss of constitutional rights. In the Diet, the government aims to pass a bill this year to revise the organized crime law so authorities can crack down on individuals who merely conspire to commit a crime. Although there have been three similar attempts to enact an anti-conspiracy law in the past, all failed under harsh scrutiny and were attacked for having vague criteria for determining both conspirators and their targets. This time, the government plans to change the name of the legislation and cast it as a measure against “cross-border terrorism.” Here is a look at the contentious bill and how an anti-conspiracy law would affect the public. What is the nature of the bill? Its purpose is to create an anti-conspiracy law that would allow the police to punish people who conspire and prepare to commit “serious crimes” warranting four or more years in prison. Similar bills were submitted to the Diet in 2003, 2004 and 2005 but failed amid criticism they were prone to vague interpretation. Because past bills had only referred to conspirators as “groups,” opponents claimed they could be used to silence citizen groups including anti-government activists, labor unions or other entities whose opinions differed from the government’s. To avoid this, the government is looking this time to narrow down the intended targets of the legislation to those deemed by authorities as “organized crime groups.” The targets would presumably include terrorists, gangsters and perpetrators of bank transfer scams, according to the Justice Ministry. The government also plans to stipulate that individuals would be subject to the law only if they committed preparatory acts for crimes, such as casing a target beforehand or raising funds to commit crimes. Past bills only required the act of conspiring to be prosecuted. Why is the government so eager to pass this bill? The government says this kind of bill is a prerequisite for ratifying the U.N. convention against transnational organized crime. The U.N. treaty was adopted in 2000 and took force in 2003 to crack down on organized cross-border crimes, such as human trafficking, narcotics trading and money laundering. The Diet approved the treaty in 2003. But because Japan lacked laws that made criminal conspiracy a crime in itself, the government couldn’t ratify it, the Foreign Ministry said, adding that signing the treaty will allow Japan to take part in international efforts to combat transnational crime. Currently, the police cannot prosecute individuals for conspiracy except in particularly serious crimes, such as illegal use of explosives. How many charges could be filed in connection with a conspiracy? The bill can technically apply to conspiracies involving more than 600 offenses, since the U.N. convention defines a “serious crime” as “an offense punishable by a maximum deprivation of liberty of at least four years or a more serious penalty,” according to the Justice Ministry. These would include murder and arson but could also include offenses not overtly related to counterterrorism, including traffic and election law violations. But the ministry insists any such law would only target “organized criminal groups” and stresses it would not affect the ordinary lives of the public. As examples, the ministry cited scenarios that would not be subject to such a law, including workers who, over drinks, idly voice a desire to kill their boss, or activists planning a sit-in at a construction company to block the building of a new structure, or labor unionists who agree not to let a company president go home until a pay hike has been granted. What are the main concerns with the legislation? Even if the list of potential conspirators is narrowed, there is still a risk that investigators will abuse their powers and authority, said Motoji Kobayashi, president of the Tokyo Bar Association. A conspiracy law will allow authorities to attack organizations they deem subversive and to disrupt their activities, Kobayashi said in a statement published earlier in January. “The legislation will infringe on not only their freedom of association and freedom of expression, but also encroach on their freedom of thought and beliefs,” he said. Kobayashi said the legislation also would allow investigative authorities to decide which entities count as criminal organizations. It can therefore be used to attack activists or labor unions once they are judged to have conspired to commit a crime. Another lawyer group, the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, warns that the legislation could also be used to justify the use of wiretapping and sting operations if those activities are deemed effective in cracking down on alleged conspiracies. What is the situation overseas? Among the Group of Eight developed nations, Japan is the only one that hasn’t signed the U.N. convention, the Foreign Ministry said. As of Dec. 20, 187 countries and regions had signed the treaty, the ministry said. But the JFBA pointed out that the government could name only two countries — Norway and New Zealand — that had newly enacted conspiracy laws for the purpose of ratifying the U.N. treaty. The JFBA also asserted that Japan can sign the U.N. treaty without criminalizing conspiracies involving over 600 types of crimes. The lawyer group said that at least five signatories — Brazil, Morocco, El Salvador, Angola and Mexico — managed to ratify the treaty without criminalizing all of the “serious crimes” outlined by the U.N. Japan has drawn criticism from activists and opposition lawmakers who say the government’s real intention is to silence dissent. The head of the secretariat at the Japanese Communist Party, Akira Koike, compared the conspiracy bill to a prewar law that was used to clamp down on people who opposed the government’s policies at the time, under the pretext of security.
|
terrorism;diet;organized crimes;conspiracy law;legislaton
|
jp0001138
|
[
"business"
] |
2017/01/13
|
Fiat Chrysler on back foot, awaits next administration after EPA alleges diesel emissions scam
|
WASHINGTON - The U.S. government accused Fiat Chrysler on Thursday of failing to disclose software in some of its pickups and SUVs with diesel engines that lets them emit more pollution than is allowed under the Clean Air Act. The Environmental Protection Agency issued a “notice of violation” to the company that covers about 104,000 vehicles including the 2014 through 2016 Jeep Grand Cherokee and Ram pickups, all with 3-liter diesel engines. The California Air Resources Board took similar action. “Failing to disclose software that affects emissions in a vehicle’s engine is a serious violation of the law, which can result in harmful pollution in the air we breathe,” said Cynthia Giles, EPA assistant administrator for enforcement and compliance. Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne denied any wrongdoing, saying the EPA was blowing the issue out of proportion. “We have done, in our view, nothing that is illegal,” he said Thursday on a conference call. “We will defend our behavior in the right environment.” Marchionne said he was told by company lawyers that the Justice Department is investigating the company in concert with the EPA, raising the likelihood of an ongoing criminal probe. He said the company halted production of Grand Cherokees and Rams with diesel engines in September, but will continue to sell models manufactured before then that are still on dealers’ lots. The company said it intends to present its case to the incoming Trump administration. “We will work with the new leadership to get this issue through,” Marchionne said. A spokesman for President-elect Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The White House said Thursday that the EPA makes enforcement decisions independently and that outgoing President Barack Obama wasn’t involved in the decision to cite the company. If found liable, Fiat Chrysler could face more than $4.5 billion in potential fines for violations of the Clean Air Act. EPA said it will continue to investigate the “nature and impact” of the eight software functions identified through an intensive testing program launched after Volkswagen was caught in a 2015 cheating scandal involving its “Clean Diesel” line of vehicles. Regulators were not yet defining the software found in the Fiat Chrysler vehicles as “defeat devices” intended to cheat on government emissions tests. However, the agency said that numerous discussions with Fiat Chrysler over the past year had not produced any suitable explanation for why the company had failed to disclose the software, which regulators said caused the vehicles to emit less pollution during testing than during regular driving. “This is a clear and serious violation of the Clean Air Act,” Giles said. “When companies break the law, Americans depend on EPA to step in and enforce.” On Thursday, California regulators also announced they were citing Fiat Chrysler for 11 violations under that state’s strict air quality standards. Fiat Chrysler said in a statement that its emissions control systems “meet the applicable requirements” and that it spent months giving information to the EPA to explain its emissions technology and proposed a number of actions including software changes to address the agency’s concerns. Regulators said owners of the affected models do not yet need to take any action and that they should continue driving their vehicles. Fiat Chrysler shares tumbled 20 percent to $9.12 Thursday morning as the EPA action was reported, wiping out about $3 billion of the company’s market value. The shares recovered a bit to $9.91 by early afternoon but still were down nearly 11 percent. Shares of Cummins Inc., which makes the diesel engines in the affected Fiat Chrysler vehicles, fell just over 2 percent to $137.59. The announcement comes one day after Fiat rival Volkswagen pleaded guilty in federal court to criminal charges related to widespread cheating involving emissions tests, agreeing to pay a record $4.3 billion penalty. Six high-ranking VW executives have been charged in the scandal, which prompted a nationwide recall of more than a half-million affected cars and SUVs. In the Volkswagen case, prosecutors alleged that top officials at the company approved of the cheating scheme, repeatedly lied to U.S. regulators and then orchestrated a mass attempted cover-up that included deleting computer files and emails. EPA regulators made no such allegations against Fiat Chrysler on Thursday, though they said their investigation is in the early stages and is ongoing. This isn’t the first time the company has run afoul of a federal agency. In 2015, Fiat Chrysler was slapped with $175 million in penalties by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for mishandling recalls and failing to report safety data. Marchionne, who clearly was agitated on a conference call with reporters, expressed confidence that the EPA will find no evidence of an illegal “defeat device” in the Jeeps and Rams. He said some of the computer software on the engines was not disclosed because it’s standard among automakers and disclosure wasn’t previously required. But he said the EPA changed the rules after the Volkswagen case. Marchionne said there is no comparison between his company and VW because there was no intent by Fiat Chrysler to deceive the EPA or cheat on emissions tests. “There’s not a guy in this house that would even remotely attempt to try something as stupid as that,” he said. “And if I found a guy like that I would have hung him on a door.”
|
epa;donald trump;clean air act;fiat chrysler;diesel emissions
|
jp0001139
|
[
"national",
"politics-diplomacy"
] |
2017/01/13
|
Bilateral pact limiting U.S. base workers' immunity to be inked next week
|
Aiming to deter crime, Japan and the United States will sign an agreement next week narrowing the scope of legal immunity granted to U.S. military base workers, Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said Friday. The pact will supplement the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), under which the United States has primary jurisdiction over U.S. military personnel and base workers accused of crimes while on duty. The move is a response to the arrest in May last year of a civilian U.S. base worker in Okinawa Prefecture over the violent death of a local woman. The victim, Rina Shimabukuro, 20, was allegedly raped and murdered by Kenneth Franklin Shinzato, a civilian employee at Kadena Air Base. The slaying intensified anti-base sentiment in the prefecture, which shoulders much of the U.S. military presence in Japan. “The U.S. will also make clear how it will control military personnel, helping to prevent incidents in Okinawa that involve them,” Kishida told a news conference. Amid the furor over the Shimabukuro slaying, the Japanese and U.S. governments decided in July last year to clarify the scope of the “civilian component” of the Status of Forces Agreement. They also established four distinct categories of civilian personnel to be covered. Shinzato, a former U.S. Marine, is to be tried in Japanese court. Kishida said in late December that the two allied governments had agreed to sign a supplementary pact. The announcement came ahead of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s historic trip to the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor, which followed U.S. President Barack Obama’s historic visit to Hiroshima in May. With numerous issues unresolved in Okinawa, Tokyo is apparently eager to settle the immunity issue while Obama is still in office, since the future of the Japan-U.S. alliance under President-elect Donald Trump is filled with looming uncertainties.
|
okinawa;fumio kishida;u.s. military;sofa
|
jp0001140
|
[
"national"
] |
2017/01/13
|
Rural 'furusato nozei' beer, beef thank-yous costing urban Japan much-needed revenues
|
Want a free case of craft beer? If you send ¥30,000 or more of your taxes to the town of Yamanouchi in Nagano Prefecture, they’ll send you 24 bottles of a locally brewed beer to say thanks. Want beef? Redirect ¥50,000 of your local area taxes to Miyakonojo in Miyazaki Prefecture, and you’ll get 3 kg of high-grade beef in return. This furusato nozei (hometown tax) system began in 2008 as a way for people to channel part of their taxes to help rural areas struggling with falling populations and shrinking revenues. But its popularity isn’t driven by altruism or nostalgia for the countryside. Belying the program’s name, money can be sent anywhere, and much of it is going to places that offer regional produce as gifts in return. Hokkaido — famed for its seafood, dairy and many other foodstuffs — is one of the prefectures that gains the most. On the other hand, Tokyo’s Setagaya Ward estimates the system will cost it ¥1.6 billion in tax revenue in the fiscal year through March — enough to build five nursery schools, said Akihiro Sasabe, chief of the policy planning division. Setagaya, which has almost 900,000 residents and the worst child-care crisis in the nation — with more than 1,000 children on waiting lists — is expected to lose more revenue to furusato nozei than any other municipality in Tokyo in this fiscal year. About all it can offer to attract tax revenue itself are frugal gifts such as museum tickets, which helped it bring in ¥15.8 million last fiscal year, said Sasabe. By comparison, Miyakonojo has almost 164,000 people and attracted ¥4.2 billion through the system during the same period. That’s the most among the 1,700 or so municipalities in Japan. Its website features beef, pork, chicken and shochu liquor that you can receive in return for directing tax to the area. “The main focus is to promote our city,” said Shuichi Nomiyama, an official who runs Miyakonojo’s tax program. “We only offer gifts made in Miyakonojo, and the local economic impact is big.” Nomiyama estimates that more than 90 percent of the people taking part have no connection to Miyakonojo. The equivalent of about 70 percent of the revenue from furusato nozei is spent promoting the program and buying gifts from local producers, he said. “We are well aware that part of the tax revenue in urban areas is donated to us,” Nomiyama said, but it has created local jobs and allowed the city to fund dental checkups, children’s centers and other community programs. “We can only return the favor by doing what we can do locally.” The rising competition among municipalities has drawn warnings from internal affairs minister Sanae Takaichi. She said in 2015 and again in 2016 that towns shouldn’t solicit tax revenue with gifts, offer cash-like gifts such as shopping vouchers, or reveal the retail price of a gift. Still, the system more than quadrupled to a record ¥165 billion last fiscal year after the government doubled the amount of local taxes that residents can channel into furusato nozei. And there are now commercial websites that show taxpayers how to shop around “hometowns” all over Japan and maximize the value of the “gifts” they get in return.
|
hometown tax;furusato nozei
|
jp0001142
|
[
"national",
"science-health"
] |
2017/01/14
|
Monkeys can make strategic choices based on memory: Japanese research
|
Monkeys can make judgments based on memory and be confident about their strategic choices, according to a study released Friday. Researchers from Juntendo University and Tokyo University tested to see if “metamemory” — the ability to monitor one’s memories, a process that is characteristic of humans — affected how confident macaque monkeys were in responding to prior stimuli, according to the study, published in the U.S. journal Science. The monkeys were shown four graphics and later were tested to see if they could identify those images among others. The researchers also tested to see how confident the primates were about their answers. The monkeys were presented with two choices tied to rewards. In the “high bet,” the reward was greater — a lot of juice — if the answer was correct but was nothing if incorrect. The other choice was the “low bet,” which rewarded the monkey with smaller amounts of juice regardless of whether or not the answer was correct. The study found the monkeys “more frequently chose ‘high bets’ when they correctly answered the precedent test than when they failed it,” the researchers wrote, indicating that when the monkeys were confident about their answers based on what they remembered, they would strategically choose the high-bet option. Yasushi Miyashita, the team’s leader, said the finding “could be helpful in the diagnosis and treatment of memory-related disability, as well as development of a new method for education.”
|
university of tokyo;monkeys;juntendo university
|
jp0001143
|
[
"national",
"media-national"
] |
2017/01/14
|
Media sidesteps calling Japan Tobacco out on advertising conflicts
|
When I want a coffee I seek out Starbucks, not because I think it has the best product, but because it’s the only coffee shop I know of that’s 100 percent nonsmoking. Almost all others in Japan have separate smoking and nonsmoking sections, which are useless in terms of keeping smoke away from people who don’t want to breathe it. Generally speaking, inhaling secondhand smoke is the norm for eating and drinking establishments in Japan, where smokers are allowed to light up almost anywhere as long as they observe “manners.” Here, the division between smokers and nonsmokers is not considered a matter of health, but one of civility. That’s why it’s unlikely Tokyo will pass a law prohibiting smoking in all indoor public spaces before the 2020 Olympic Games, despite the fact that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) demands not only that venues for the games be smoke-free, but that the entire host city be smoke-free. Since the dawn of the millennium every city except Tokyo that has held or will hold the Olympics has outlawed smoking in indoor public spaces , including Athens, Beijing and Pyeongchang, all of which are in countries with higher smoking rates than Japan’s . Last fall the health ministry came up with a “foundation” for new “ guidelines ” to address the problem of secondhand smoke. At present, Japanese law simply says that businesses and managers of public spaces must “make an effort” to prevent nonsmokers from breathing smoke-filled air, which is why separate smoking sections is considered sufficient. A recent edition of the NHK news shows “ Closeup Gendai ” showed a representative of the World Health Organization inspecting a family restaurant in Tokyo that had installed an “air curtain” to keep smoke from drifting into the nonsmoking section, but the representative explained that the technology doesn’t work. The NHK report was typical of the media’s handling of the issue. Although it showed how the family restaurant’s efforts were ineffective in solving the secondhand smoke problem, in an attempt at fairness it also visited a bar where everyone smoked. If smoking is banned in such places, the proprietor said, he would lose all his customers, thus suggesting that many eating and drinking establishments would go out of business if a blanket anti-smoking law were enforced in Tokyo. NHK didn’t bother to go to Starbucks, which seems to be doing fine with such a rule; or, for that matter, Tokyo drinking establishments that actually ban smoking, which are rare but nevertheless do exist. The health ministry guidelines were drawn up in response to an earlier study that estimates 15,000 nonsmoking Japanese will die each year due to the effects of secondhand smoke. Of married couples in which one spouse smokes and the other doesn’t, the latter has a 28 percent higher chance of contracting lung cancer than does a nonsmoking spouse whose partner does not smoke, not to mention a 29 percent higher chance of stroke and 23 percent higher chance of cardiovascular disease. However, while these statistics have been publicized in the press, countermeasures have not been discussed in a realistic way. The obstacle is the Liberal Democratic Party faction in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly. Two years ago, when then-Gov. Yoichi Masuzoe proposed a regulation to prohibit smoking in public spaces expressly as a response to the IOC, LDP assembly members blocked it , citing the belief that all dining and boozing operations would go bankrupt. They could do this because the central government, which is controlled by the LDP, has their back. The Finance Ministry, which is more powerful than the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Labor, has a stake in the prosperity of Japan Tobacco, since the government holds one-third of Japan Tobacco stock and collects a lot of money from taxes on cigarettes. Consequently, many Finance Ministry bureaucrats retire to cushy jobs at Japan Tobacco. These facts are not secret, but the media sidesteps them in its coverage of the smoking situation. The only press outlet to report recently on the apparent collusion between media and Japan Tobacco is the right-wing magazine Sentaku. The onus of the July 2016 article in question was placed mainly on the Mainichi Shimbun, which is thought to occupy a center-left position. On Jan. 28, 2016, the Mainichi ran an interview with a doctor who claimed that the “stress” from quitting cigarettes might be more harmful than cigarettes themselves. According to an anonymous ad executive quoted by Sentaku, the Mainichi article was “worth much more than any paid advertisement” to Japan Tobacco and the newspaper subsequently ran at least one Japan Tobacco ad a month. The Mainichi even ran an ad for Mevius cigarettes. Although cigarette ads are not illegal in Japan, newspapers voluntarily stopped running them on principle more than two decades ago. The Sankei Shimbun ran the same Mevius ad after publishing an article about Japan Tobacco’s “separate smoking section consulting business” and its promotion of “peaceful coexistence between smokers and nonsmokers.” Sentaku also asserted that on May 31, 2016, which was U.N. World No Tobacco Day as well as the day the health ministry was set to announce its secondhand smoke findings, only the Asahi Shimbun and Sankei Shimbun carried the ministry’s announcement due to pressure from Japan Tobacco and advertising giant Dentsu. Japan Tobacco spends ¥20 billion a year on advertising, almost all of which promotes “manners.” The real reason, according to Sentaku, that Japan Tobacco buys space and air time is to quash anti-smoking reporting by making media dependent on JT-related ad revenue. On Jan. 6, however, the Mainichi dedicated a full page to the dangers of smoking centered on a piece by columnist Hiroshi Fuse that blasted Japan’s cigarette-tolerant public stance, saying it was hypocritical and “shamed Japan before the world.” As long as the press uses a market-based revenue model, there will always be conflicts such as these between sales and editorial divisions, but in any case only in Japan is smoking considered a right.
|
smoking;japan tobacco
|
jp0001146
|
[
"national"
] |
2017/01/14
|
Kansai sizes up ways to work with a Trump administration
|
In 3½ weeks, Kansai’s business leaders will gather in Kyoto for their annual summit. Some of the world’s most recognizable firms will send their top executives to the two-day retreat. There, they will rub shoulders with local politicians, academics, and “business consultant” types who, like fortune tellers, cult leaders and foreign policy wonks, will provide soothing answers to the flock’s troubled — and troubling — questions. And they are in particular need of comfort this year. The corporate wizards must figure how, or even if, they can operate under Donald Trump as U.S. president. In a session likely to be standing-room only, the future of Kansai and Japan (meaning, of course, Kansai’s, and Japan’s, largest corporations) in the Trump era is to be discussed. Their Power Points will no doubt contain the latest media buzzwords (“alt-right,” “fake news,” “anti-elite”) used to describe Trump’s victory. However, there will also be pressure on those in the room to remain upbeat despite the gloomy headlines and dark predictions for life under Trump. Thus nobody should be surprised if the more cynical attendees feel inclined to sing not “We Shall Overcome” at the closing ceremony but Monty Python’s “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life!” The message of don’t worry, be happy may be partially due to a “ shikata ga nai ” attitude among business leaders who are unsentimental and pride themselves on their hard-headed ability to deal with unpleasant realities. Or it might because in Kansai as a whole, the traditional emphasis of the merchant class is on the Asian region. U.S. politics is not something that worries Kansai businesses as much as, say, possible border taxes against Toyota for building a plant in Mexico worries most of Nagoya. However, the main reason Kansai’s leaders could decide a Donald Trump presidency is something they can live with, and possibly benefit from, has to do with the make-up of Trump’s administration. So far, it’s, by and large, a collection of hard-core, fundamentalist corporate types from America’s leading financial and oil firms who are hostile to organized labor. Many also have right-wing views on government and society. That’s music to the ears of the elderly, hard-core fundamentalist types in the Kansai business community, many of whom are from financial or oil firms, have right-wing views on society and are hostile to organized labor. So their hopes for the future, expressed cautiously and with a long string of caveats as they will no doubt be, may rest on the assumption that Trump and his team are, in the end, a collection of fellow business wheeler-dealers whom they, and the Japanese government, can work with. After all, didn’t the president-elect himself write a book called “The Art of the Deal”? What if it turns out such hopes are misplaced and economic relations with the U.S. worsen? Several Kansai business leaders have already suggested the region should take the lead in pushing the central government to ignore the U.S. on issues such as multilateral trade deals, which are opposed by Trump. Not the kind of thing those outside the business world seeking to maintain good bilateral relations in other areas will see as helpful, and an attitude likely to strain Kansai’s relations with the U.S. government. The U.S.-Japan relationship is in uncharted territory, and intelligent people on both sides of the Pacific are concerned, if not downright frightened, and desperately searching for ways to handle the Trump era. But a pure business-is-business approach toward the new president of the kind Kansai might be hoping for forgets that countries are not corporations and politicians are not business executives. Worse, it too often ignores political and social issues business titans often have little patience for, things that cannot be resolved using negotiation tactics learned on the job, in business school or at a seminar taught by some consultant. And especially not in any books on artful deals Trump himself has written.
|
toyota;kansai;donald trump
|
jp0001147
|
[
"national"
] |
2017/01/22
|
A railroad runs through it: Nara wants help keeping popular ancient ruins serene and intact
|
NARA - Strolling around the ancient ruins of Nara’s Heijokyo Palace site, a 2,500-hectare area of footpaths and open green fields, it’s easy to imagine that one is back in the distant past, walking on ground first tread 1,300 years ago when it was Japan’s first true city. It’s a quiet, bucolic scene, until one’s thoughts are interrupted by the very modern sound of yet another train on the Kintetsu-Nara Line clacking along the rails that cut through the site heading either east to Shinomiya Station or west to Yamato-Saidaiji Station. The presence of a train running through the ruins, a World Heritage site, has long been a source of complaints. Tourists, archaeologists and local politicians, starting with Nara Gov. Shogo Arai, have all called for the tracks to be rerouted out of the area. And this year, talks involving the prefecture, city, central government and Kintetsu Railway Co. toward that goal are slated to kick off. Under a plan proposed by the prefecture, the tracks would be moved just south of the Heijokyo ruins, parallel to a main road. A new subway station along the new route, closer to the Heijokyo site than Yamaoto-Saidaiji Station currently is, might also be built. Talks will focus on cost issues, as well as whether the new line should be built underneath the road or above ground. A report is expected from the prefecture later this year. Since 2010, when it celebrated the 1,300th anniversary of the founding of Heijokyo, Nara has pushed to get more tourists to the site in the hope of drawing them to its other historical attractions. In 2015, the city of Nara alone drew nearly 15 million visitors, including day-trippers. That figure includes 975,000 foreign visitors. Local tourism surveys show visitors like Nara’s history and green open spaces, but many, especially from abroad, are surprised and disappointed Nara isn’t doing more to protect and preserve the environment of ancient sites. Nara, in turn, wants the central government to take the lead and offer more financial support for preserving sites of national importance.
|
kintetsu;nara;heijokyo ruins
|
jp0001148
|
[
"national",
"history"
] |
2017/01/22
|
Arizona holds ceremony to memorialize Gila River WWII internment camp
|
CHANDLER, ARIZONA - A city in Arizona memorialized a WWII internment camp for Japanese immigrants and Japanese-Americans on Saturday by unveiling a series of panels with information about the area’s wartime history. “I felt desperate after I was taken to the camp at 15, but baseball was my hope,” Kenso Zenimura, 89, said at a ceremony in Nozomi Park near Chandler, Arizona, referring to his time at the nearby Gila River camp during World War II. The park takes its name from a Japanese word meaning hope. “I secretly took water from a tap at night and sprinkled it in the outfield to grow the grass,” said Zenimura, a former infielder who played for the Hiroshima Carp after the war. Internees were permitted to play baseball while detained at the facility. The ceremony came ahead of the 75th anniversary of the Feb. 19, 1942, signing by President Franklin Roosevelt of an executive order that resulted in the incarceration of Japanese immigrants and U.S. citizens of Japanese descent, mostly on the West Coast. Chandler Mayor Jay Tibshraeny said in his address that what happened 75 years ago was a “difficult” part of history and that it is “important” to remember that the state once hosted such a camp. Gila River was among the 10 main internment camps set up under Roosevelt’s order. The total number of people detained, many of whom were stripped of their assets and the right to work, reached 120,000 by the end of the war. In 1988 President Ronald Reagan apologized for the violation of human rights and had the U.S. government pay compensation to the victims.
|
wwii;internment;japanese-americans;chandler;kenso zenimura
|
jp0001149
|
[
"national"
] |
2017/01/22
|
Kyoto making great climate strides but little progress seen beyond its borders
|
KYOTO - Two decades after the advent of the Kyoto Protocol to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, its namesake city is planning to commemorate the agreement this year with a number of events while moving forward with its own plan to achieve targeted greenhouse gas reductions by 2020. But with climate experts warning that faster action is needed at the national and international levels to mitigate the worst effects of rising global temperatures, municipal efforts like Kyoto’s will need to be complemented by similar policies in neighboring urban areas to be more effective. In December 1997, the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was hammered out during an all-night U.N. negotiator marathon. Under the agreement, the developed countries were obliged to reduce their collective greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 5.2 percent below 1990 levels with the purpose of reaching “a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system,” the protocol said. But there were no numerical targets provided for developing countries. The Kyoto Protocol turned out to be one of the most controversial environmental agreements ever negotiated. The United States would opt out of the protocol after George W. Bush became president in 2000, and, politically as well as scientifically, it was internationally condemned for failing to do little, if anything, toward curbing the world’s greenhouse gases. But the Kyoto Protocol did inspire local governments around the world, which were directly feeling the social and economic impacts of climate change in their communities in the form of severe storms, droughts, flooding and extreme cold and hot periods that damaged their economies. The protocol challenged such local governments to formulate their own policies that were as, if not more, ambitious than whatever their national leaders were supporting, or opposing. In Japan, Kyoto’s leaders also set their own course to combat climate change. In 2011, a year before the first commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol ended, the city announced the goal of a 25 percent reduction in its greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, and a 40 percent reduction by 2030, both based on 1990 levels. This would be accomplished through a number of measures, including the introduction of energy-saving technologies, better garbage disposal, recycling, and encouraging people to use public transportation. In an update released last October, Kyoto said it was on track to meet its 2020 reduction goal. But the volume of greenhouse gas emissions in fiscal 2014, the last year for which statistics were available, was estimated at nearly 7.82 million tons, only a 0.2 percent reduction compared with the 7.83 million tons recorded in 1990. To meet the 2020 goal, therefore, the city calculated total greenhouse gas reductions of about 1.94 million tons over a six-year period were needed. Technology improvements in electricity generation by Kansai Electric Power Co. were predicted to reduce emissions by 600,000 tons, so Kyoto drew up a policy for the remaining 1.34 million tons. These included targets for reductions among homeowners, small businesses, heavy industries, and the transportation sectors, and policies designed to promote more energy efficient homes. They also included measures to turn Kyoto’s main streets, notorious for being dangerously jammed with smoke-belching autos and buses, increasingly over to pedestrians, and to add more environmentally friendly forms of public transportation. The goal is to have 1 in 4 autos on Kyoto’s streets become eco-friendly cars by 2020. Other 2020 targets include increasing the number of homes with solar power from about 8,500 in 2014 to about 25,000. For Kyoto’s garbage, which reached 820,000 tons in 2000 and was reduced to 461,000 tons in 2014, the goal is a reduction to 390,000 tons by 2020, despite the huge influx of tourists over the past few years that has added, sometimes visibly, to the pile. While Kyoto trumpets its efforts, experts say the push needs to be supported by similar policies in other, larger municipalities to promote a more ambitious national climate policy. “Kyoto’s target may not be that impactful on its own, but it should be viewed as a stepping stone to getting Osaka and the rest of the Kansai region pursuing a common emissions target,” says Ken Sofer, a senior policy adviser at the Washington-based Center for American Progress who has written about climate politics in Japan. He added that a regional government like Tokyo, because of its size and political and economic power, can embark on certain climate policies that other cities in Japan and elsewhere cannot without significantly risking leakage, whereby polluters move just beyond the reach of regulators. “Unlike Tokyo, which benefits from neighboring Yokohama’s and Kanagawa (Prefecture)’s similar emissions targets, a smaller city like Kyoto will only be able to make so much progress without neighbors like Osaka putting in place their own emissions targets,” Sofer said. Kenro Taura, executive director of Kiko Network, a Kyoto-based environmental nonprofit group working to tackle climate change locally and worldwide, gives the city’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction plan good marks overall. But there remain challenges ahead for further reductions, he said. “Kyoto has announced it wants to pursue a policy of not relying on nuclear power and of emphasizing a sustainable energy policy. Whether it will be able to do that is uncertain, but decisions on energy supply will impact greenhouse gas levels,” Taura said.
|
kyoto;solar power;climate change;greenhouse gases
|
jp0001150
|
[
"business"
] |
2017/01/25
|
Hosting U.S. automakers, Trump pushes for new American plants
|
WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump urged the chief executives of the Big Three U.S. automakers on Tuesday to build more cars in the country, pressing his pledge to bring jobs to America and discourage the car industry from investing in Mexico. Trump, who has threatened to impose 35 percent tariffs on imported vehicles, opened a White House meeting with General Motors Co. CEO Mary Barra, Ford Motor’s Mark Fields and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV’s Sergio Marchionne by saying he wanted to see more auto plants in the United States. In return, Trump has vowed to cut regulations and taxes to make it more attractive for businesses to operate in the country. He promised during his campaign to be a job-creating president and stressed that message in his inaugural address last Friday. “We have a very big push on to have auto plants and other plants — many other plants,” he told reporters at the start of the meeting. “It’s happening. It’s happening big league.” Matt Blunt, who heads a U.S. automaker trade association and attended the meeting, said Trump asked what his administration could do “on domestic and trade policy that would help make the United States more competitive and strengthen the ability of automakers to add production here.” The hour-long meeting was the latest sign of Trump’s uncommon degree of intervention for a U.S. president into corporate affairs as he has repeatedly pressured automakers and other manufacturers to “buy American and hire American.” It was the first time the heads of the big three automakers met jointly with a U.S. president since a 2011 session with Barack Obama to tout a deal to nearly double fuel efficiency standards by 2025. Automakers have urged the Trump administration to rethink those aggressive mandates. The auto executives on Tuesday raised the issue of the fuel efficiency rules, trade policy and other regulatory matters, another person briefed on the meeting said. Marchionne told reporters afterward that Trump did not give them specifics on what regulations he would cut. The companies also discussed autonomous and electric vehicles and Trump asked about advanced vehicles, the person said. With flattening U.S. auto sales and excess capacity in the United States, U.S. automakers have been reluctant to open new U.S. auto plants in recent years. GM and Ford last built new U.S. assembly plants in 2004, while Fiat Chrysler opened a new transmission plant in Indiana in 2014. Kristin Dziczek, an analyst at the Michigan-based Center for Automotive Research, said automakers still had excess capacity in North America after suffering in the 1990s and 2000s from overcapacity and shifts in market share. Building a new plant would take three or more years and cost at least $1 billion, industry experts said. Automakers have expanded operations at existing U.S. plants to meet rising demand for trucks and SUVs. GM, Ford, Fiat Chrysler and foreign automakers have announced new U.S. jobs and investments in recent weeks. Ford’s Fields said automakers wanted to work with Trump to create a “renaissance in American manufacturing” and that Trump’s economic priorities were encouraging, including his move on Monday to formally bow out of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact championed by Obama. “The mother of all trade barriers is currency manipulation. And TPP failed in meaningfully dealing with that, and we appreciate the president’s courage to walk away from a bad trade deal,” Fields told reporters after the meeting. Barra said there was a “huge opportunity” to work together with the government to “improve the environment, improve safety and improve the jobs creation.” U.S. automakers have collectively added more than 78,000 jobs since 2009, the year when GM and Chrysler, now a unit of Italian-American Fiat Chrysler, filed for bankruptcy as part of government bailouts during the U.S. recession. They have invested more than $40 billion in U.S. facilities during that period. Despite the vocal pressure from Trump, the companies are unlikely to truly change their existing business plans for now, said Sam Fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecasting with AutoForecast Solutions. “We need to have more concrete policies from the president,” he said. “Automakers will make decisions on whether there is a solid business case. Does it make more sense to build outside the U.S. or to build in the U.S.?” GM said in 2014 it would invest $5 billion in Mexico through 2018, a move that would allow it to double its production capacity, and Barra has said the automaker is not reconsidering the plan. While automakers are adding U.S. jobs, they are also cutting U.S. production of small cars. On Monday, GM ended two shifts of production of small cars in Ohio and Michigan, cutting about 2,000 jobs. Barclays auto analyst Brian Johnson said in a note on Tuesday that “automakers will be willing to make a deal that would bring back jobs to the U.S. in return for a slower ramp of (fuel efficiency) targets and related state-level mandates.” Auto stocks rose on Tuesday. U.S.-listed shares of Fiat Chrysler gained 5.84 percent to $10.88, while Ford was up 2.44 percent to $12.61 and GM rose 0.96 percent to $37.
|
automakers;gm;ford;donald trump;fiat chrysler
|
jp0001151
|
[
"business",
"economy-business"
] |
2017/01/25
|
Japan urged to tap young workforce ahead of 2030: report
|
Japan should tap the potential of young workers and encourage more people in their 30s and 40s to become chief executive officers, as part of a reform to revitalize the economy toward 2030, a government task force said Wednesday. Amid the graying of its society, Japan also needs to step up support for people with dementia and work to eradicate car accidents involving the elderly by making use of an automatic braking and self-driving system. The task force outlined a series of steps that Japan needs to take in the years ahead, as the average age of the country’s baby boomers will reach 80 around 2030. The report was presented to a meeting of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy headed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The task force involves academics and members of the council, including Sadayuki Sakakibara, chairman of the Japan Business Federation, the country’s largest business lobby known as Keidanren. The report calls for improving the child-rearing and nursing care environment, enabling more people to work regardless of age, and increasing the number of skilled foreign workers. The use of artificial intelligence is also encouraged. The task force also said the country should aim to eliminate long work hours and karoshi , or death by overwork. Japan’s working-age population is projected to decline in the run-up to 2030 with an estimated 17.8 percent drop in the number of people in their 20s and 30s from 2015. The report said the percentage of young people who are satisfied with their life is higher than those in other age brackets, but that young people in Japan are less ambitious and hopeful about their future than in other countries. “We need to turn the situation around in 2030 so younger generations can use their vitality and take the lead in society,” it said.
|
shinzo abe;japanese economy;workforce;corporate executives
|
jp0001152
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2017/01/25
|
Panasonic targets 50% sales jump for TVs in Indonesia
|
JAKARTA - Electronics giant Panasonic Corp. is seeking to sell up to 50 percent more TVs in Indonesia this year by offering online shopping and a greater variety of models. The company’s TV sales have been stagnant for three years. “We hope this year we can sell around 250,000 to 300,000 units,” said Erwin Lim, a Panasonic Gobel Indonesia product manager. The figures represent increases of 25 to 50 percent from 200,000 TVs sold last year. As part of its goal, Panasonic launched a website designed to help consumers select TV models according to their needs and budgets. “We want to strengthen our relationship with our customers and make it easy for consumers to choose products effectively and efficiently according to their needs and budgets,” Panasonic Gobel President Hiroyoshi Suga said. Lim said one challenge is that TVs are not a primary need for consumers in Indonesia. “Therefore, we will also innovate (our marketing) in order to increase sales,” Lim said. “We will begin to focus marketing on digital means, seeing a trend in today’s society.” Referring to Panasonic’s medium-term target over the next three years, Lim said the company wants to move to the No. 2 or No. 3 position by boosting its market share to 14 percent or 15 percent from the current 11 percent. Panasonic, currently No. 4 in the market, is seeking to catch up with third-ranked Sharp Corp., a Japanese firm owned by Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co.
|
indonesia;panasonic;tvs
|
jp0001153
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"offbeat-asia-pacific"
] |
2017/01/25
|
Trump, Kim lookalikes take Hong Kong by surprise
|
HONG KONG - It is a scene unlikely ever to become reality — U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un hugging and leaning in for a kiss on the bustling streets of Hong Kong. The lookalikes of the controversial leaders turned heads and prompted many giggles as they paraded down a busy shopping district to promote a Lunar New Year song on Wednesday. “Die, America, die,” shouted the Kim lookalike, a Hong Kong-based Australian musician who gave only his first name, Howard, as he swaggered in the young leader’s trademark black uniform. His counterpart playing Trump, a 66-year-old American musician who goes by the name of Dennis Alan, pouted and took the insults in stride. Alan needed three times as much time as Howard to prepare for his appearance, taking 1½ hours to spread layer after layer of orange foundation on his face and getting a hair stylist to delicately affix his tailor-made wig. Tongue-in-cheek, the Kim impersonator praised the newly inaugurated leader of the free world, saying the two nations could finally be friends as both are now led by “dictators.” “I think he’s a great leader and he’s much like me, a dictator,” said Howard. “And I think with that in mind he’s going to turn the United States into North Korea 2.0. So we’re going to be great friends.” On New Year’s Day, the North Korean leader said his country was close to test-launching an intercontinental ballistic missile, which suggested the United States could be in range. “It won’t happen,” Trump replied on social network Twitter at the time. But on Wednesday, the two leaders’ lookalikes had only one decree for the people of Hong Kong — no selfies allowed.
|
u.s .;north korea;kim jong un;offbeat;donald trump
|
jp0001154
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"science-health-asia-pacific"
] |
2017/06/03
|
Australia must do more to protect Great Barrier Reef, UNESCO says
|
SYDNEY - The United Nations cultural heritage body, UNESCO, urged Australia on Saturday to accelerate efforts to save the Great Barrier Reef, saying long-term targets to improve its health are unlikely to be met. Progress toward achieving water quality targets has been slow, and Australia is at risk of falling short of its 2050 goals, UNESCO warned in a draft assessment of World Heritage sites prepared ahead of a meeting in Krakow, Poland, in July. “The World Heritage Centre and IUCN consider that the implementation of the Plan will need to accelerate to ensure that the intermediate and long-term targets of 2050 LTSP (Long-Term Sustainability Plan) are being met, in particular regarding water quality,” the report said. Australia’s Reef 2050 Plan was released in 2015 and is a key part of the government’s bid to prevent the World Heritage site from being placed on the United Nations’ “in danger” list. A negative rating for the Great Barrier Reef — located off the country’s northeast coast — would be embarrassing for the Australian government and damage its lucrative tourism industry. The reef is facing a number of threats, including poor water quality due to agricultural runoff, climate change, illegal fishing and coastal development. Back-to-back coral bleaching events driven by climate change and El Nino over the past two years have devastated large parts of the reef. UNESCO praised the inception and initial implementation of the government’s plan, as well as the $1.28 billion investment strategy for the next five years. But it noted important legislation regulating land clearing had not yet been passed, and climate change remained the most significant threat. Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg welcomed the draft decision in a joint statement. “The government acknowledges in its draft decision the Committee’s desire for accelerating actions towards water quality targets and will work with the Queensland government and the Independent Expert Panel on this matter,” the statement said. Environmental groups have said the report showed Australia needs to lift its game “Two years ago UNESCO put Australia on probation until the health of the reef improves. Clearly that probation is not going well. Since then there has been an unprecedented loss of coral,” said Richard Leck, WWF-Australia Head of Oceans.
|
nature;oceans;australia
|
jp0001156
|
[
"national",
"media-national"
] |
2017/06/03
|
The not-so-shady world of Japan's singles bars
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On May 22, the Yomiuri Shimbun published a curious article about Kihei Maekawa, a former administrative vice education minister who has said that he is willing to testify under oath about the Kake Gakuen scandal dogging Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The Yomiuri Shimbun published its “expose” of Maekawa five days after the former bureaucrat told the Asahi Shimbun about the existence of eight documents that suggest Abe pressured the government to approve the opening of a veterinary medicine department at a university run by Kake Educational Institute, a school operator chaired by Abe’s friend Kotaro Kake. The story in the Yomiuri Shimbun alleged that Maekawa frequented a shady dating bar in the Kabukicho district in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward for a few years until around the end of last year. The article implied that many of the women who come to the bar often invite the men out and offer sex for money. Now, here’s the billion-yen question: Are such places illegal? Putting aside for a second the Yomiuri Shimbun’s motivation in publishing the article, let’s focus on the nature of such “seedy dating bars,” or deaikei ( deai means “to encounter another person” in Japanese). In recent years, deaikei has been used to describe clubs, websites, bars, cafes or any place where people can go to meet other people. In the United States, such establishments would be called “singles bars.” Kabukicho is famous for being Tokyo’s red-light district, but since the metropolitan government launched a cleanup campaign back in 2003, the area has become progressively less seedy. A new multiplex movie theater has even opened in the district, offering such titles as “Beauty and the Beast” — not exactly racy entertainment. So it’s a bit of a stretch to say that a bar is shady simply because it’s located in Kabukicho. At a news conference on May 25, Maekawa admitted he used to go to a dating bar but said he went there to talk to the women and learn about poverty in the country. Maekawa said that he became interested in the topic after watching a TV documentary that said many women going to such bars are barely getting by. “Sometimes I had meals with women and gave them some pocket money,” Maekawa said. “Talking to them, I have learned that child poverty is connected to the poverty of women.” In this regard, he’s absolutely correct. In Japan, 50 percent of single mothers live in poverty. However, this doesn’t mean that the women who frequent such bars do so solely for the purposes of prostitution. That’s a massive assumption to make. Furthermore, let’s step back for a second and ask ourselves: What if someone’s real motive for visiting such a cafe was, in fact, to “hook up”? That is certainly not a crime. Even if a man went to a bar, met a woman and paid her for sex, in most cases neither could be arrested. Japan’s prostitution laws make the act itself a crime but the police don’t seek to prosecute the individuals, only the pimps or brothels involved. So unless the owner of a dating bar knows that prostitution is being conducted on the premises and takes a cut of the proceeds, they’re not doing anything illegal either. In short, Maekawa doesn’t appear to have done anything illegal and the people frequenting dating cafes certainly aren’t criminals either. Being lonely is hardly a crime.
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kabukichō;kihei maekawa;singles bars
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jp0001158
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[
"national",
"history"
] |
2017/06/03
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Japan Times 1967: 'New "James Bond" film drawing huge crowds'
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100 YEARS AGO Thursday, June 21 1917 Whole family of five go mad in Yamaguchi A whole family at Kamiyomura, Kugagori, Yamaguchi Prefecture, suddenly went frantic last Friday night, reports the “Jiji.” A 70-year-old man and four other people of the family cried, ejaculated, sobbed, etc. in a frantic manner the whole night, and the mysterious illness of the family surprised the neighbors. The doctor who was called in to investigate the cause stated that they were suffering from the effects of some kind of poisoning, and the next morning they were all restored to their former health. It proved that they treated themselves the previous night to vermicelli and leaves of a sort of eggplant, the latter of which had a poisoning effect on them. 75 YEARS AGO Friday, June 26, 1942 Imperial Naval Forces conquer Aleutians June 8, 1942, will go down in Japanese history as a day when Japan — fighting for the construction of a world order envisioned by its founder — placed itself in a position where it can make a thrust against America from behind, which will be in the light of a coup de grace to a country already beaten at its front. On that day the Imperial Naval Forces operating in the north landed on one of the Aleutian Islands and captured an enemy base that will be used by the Imperial Forces in the conduct of their operations against the American mainland. Shin Saito, a member of the Navy press corps, was with the Imperial Naval Forces which landed on the Aleutians. His vivid description of the remarkable landing operations of the unit which he accompanied appears in the Nichi Nichi. Mr Saito’s story, in diary form, follows: June 7 — It is the day for an attempt by us to make a landing in the face of resistance from the enemy. We have a sack containing rice balls and a flask. Our legs were gaitered. At 5:35 p.m., we sat for supper. Against the wall at the head of the table were put up, crossed, the Rising Sun flag and the naval ensign. We were served with rice boiled together with red beans. We rose from our seats and drank toasts. An atmosphere of penetrating silence reigned over the place. The ship’s captain called for cheers for the special landing party. Our shouts reverberated in the ship. The commander of the unit addressed himself to us. In a deliberate tone of voice, he told us: “Depend upon it that we will do our job to your complete satisfaction.” Thus he ended his memorable address. 50 YEARS AGO Sunday, June 18, 1967 New ‘James Bond’ film drawing huge crowds Despite the unfavorable publicity it received during its filming in Japan last year, Eon Films’ “You Only Live Twice,” the latest of the “James Bond” series, is drawing the biggest crowds since “Thunderball,” another Bond released in December 1965. The much-heralded film about the British secret agent opened at Hibiya Theater in downtown Tokyo on Saturday in a simultaneous world premiere with London and New York. A long queue surrounded the 1,483-seat theater, and the management said about 11,100 saw the film in six showings Saturday. Many who could not get seats stood to see the film. The shooting of the picture in Kyushu had raised eyebrows on a number of occasions. For one thing, the director wanted to change the appearance of a rural landscape to make it look — in the Japanese eyes — to be Meiji Era. Tampering with the reality of the landscape to make it look more “exotic” is a temptation few foreign filmmakers in Japan are immune from. Another “incident” occurred when the director allegedly asked a local high school girl extra to expose her body more than she had agreed to. One factor for the generally critical press, it is believed, was what appeared to be a lack of cooperation on the part of the production staff. The star Sean Connery, for instance, was seldom available for between-shooting interviews. Part of this seeming uncooperativeness has been explained by it having been necessary for production staff to keep secret the plot of the film story, which substantially departs from the original by Ian Fleming. 25 YEARS AGO Tuesday, June 16, 1992 Government approves U.N. peacekeeping bill The Diet gave final approval Monday evening to the government-proposed bill to enable overseas dispatch of Self-Defense Forces — a longtime taboo under the Constitution — to take part in United Nations peacekeeping missions. The bill passed 329-17 shortly before 8:30 p.m. with the joint support of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the two centrist parties — Komeito and the Democratic Socialist Party. The Japanese Communist Party voted against it. The largest opposition party, the Social Democratic Party of Japan, boycotted the voting after all Lower House SDPJ members submitted their resignations, which produced a tense, last-minute Diet confrontation over the controversial bill. The resignations, which have yet to be accepted, could disrupt Diet affairs and possibly revive speculation about the Lower House’s dissolution in the near future. At the end of a marathon plenary session of the Lower House that had dragged on for four days because of delaying tactics by the SDPJ and JCP, the LDP-centrist alliance voted in the bill. The government has recently been trying to give the SDF a bigger role in international peace-building efforts based on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s controversial security laws that loosened the constraints of the pacifist Constitution.
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wwii;u.n .;yamaguchi;poisoning;you only live twice;james bond;sean connery;aleutian islands;peacekeeping bill
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jp0001159
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[
"national"
] |
2017/06/05
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'Macho' photo contest hopes to boost demolition industry's image, draw more workers
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An unprecedented online photo contest highlighting demolition workers was held recently to raise public awareness of their profession in a chronically understaffed industry. The wrecking ball industry is struggling to find workers because many people have the impression that it is a tough job, so demolition workers rolled up their sleeves to show their mettle and provided the Macho Photo Contest for Demolition Workers with 68 photos. Many of the men took their shirts off and demonstrated bulging arms, big chests and six pack abs in various poses. Others wore a suit and tie while conducting paperwork, and another posed with his child near the driver’s seat of a heavy-duty machine, to give viewers a glimpse of their daily life. Nagoya-based Crassone Co., which manages websites related to housing and construction, held the contest from February to April. Overseeing the competition was a panel of six judges that included a manga artist and a magazine editor. The results were announced in early May and the overall winner was Yusuke Nagasaka, 27, from Hekinan, Aichi Prefecture, who works for a demolition company based in nearby Anjo. Until five years ago, Nagasaka was a member of the Ground Self-Defense Force’s elite paratrooper squad, where he had to undergo strict training. The judges praised Nagasaka for having a “striking body with his wide chest and thick neck.” When he joined his current company, he carried six to seven kawara (roof tiles) — a total of around 20 kg — up and down the scaffolding all day long. Nagasaka maintains his physique through his job alone, and does not work out at a gym. Both his father and grandfather were demolition workers and he had always admired his father’s vocation. When Nagasaka was young, he often watched his father work tirelessly as sweat poured down his back. “Regardless of the temperature, come rain or shine, we are there working. It’s a tough job, but it has a lot of pull, such as the sense of unity that I share with my colleagues and the sense of achievement we feel when we have finished a job,” Nagasaka explained. He took part in the contest at the recommendation of his supervisor. “Now I can proudly show my 1-year-old son that I am doing a cool job,” he said happily. “It is a physically demanding job, but they do not get a lot of money for it, so many young people quit not long after joining the company,” an industry insider said. “The current workers are aging and we’re having difficulty getting enough manpower.” One of the judges, manga artist Sadayoshi Ishii, drew pictures for a story about a demolition worker that ran in a manga magazine. “This industry has an image of being rough, but (the contest had) many cheerful and funny photos, so I think that will change people’s perception,” Ishii, 58, said. The photos can be viewed at http:// crassone.jp/photocon_photo/ . While Nagasaka was the overall winner, the best smile award was given to Kenji Takahashi, 38, of Gifu; the “dandy” award went to Kadir Akdeniz, a 40-year-old Turkish resident of Nagoya; the most “likes” award went to Masato Nakashima, 36, of Nagoya; and the best muscles prize was won by Yukihito Hida, 32, of Ome, western Tokyo.
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contests;construction industry
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jp0001160
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[
"reference"
] |
2017/06/05
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Japan copyright body courts anger by casting a wider net
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The Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers (JASRAC) sparked a public uproar in February when it announced it will start demanding that private music schools pay copyright fees. The nation’s largest copyright management agency says that when teachers play a song on the piano in front of their students without permission, they are committing a copyright violation. JASRAC drew fire again in May when media reports surfaced alleging the organization had demanded that Kyoto University pay a copyright fee for posting online a congratulatory address written by professor Juichi Yamagiwa that included a line from Bob Dylan’s classic song “Blowin’ in the Wind.” JASRAC has long earned notoriety for what critics see as strong-armed collection tactics. A JASRAC spokesman, however, told The Japan Times that its objective is to “contribute to the healthy development of music culture.” The agency distributed ¥112 billion to music labels and artists in 2016. “The copyright law requires people to obtain the permission of copyright holders when they benefit from the rights holders’ music,” he said. Here are some questions and answers about the copyright group: What are JASRAC’s main duties? It was founded in 1939 as Japan’s first organization managing music copyrights. As of March 31, the organization managed about 3.7 million pieces of music. JASRAC handles copyrights of songs and their lyrics on behalf of copyright owners, who include music publishers and artists. The organization was managing copyrights on behalf of 17,610 clients as of April 1. Operators of all businesses, including broadcasters, publishers, bars, cafes and hair salons, must sign an agreement with JASRAC and pay copyright fees to use music for commercial purposes. The organization also charges fees from operators of funerals and wedding ceremonies. If someone wants to play Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart” at a funeral, the operator must get permission from JASRAC and pay the copyright fee. The JASRAC spokesman said not many funeral operators have signed agreements, but the group will continue to send out notices. What are some of the ways that copyright-protected music is used? Uses include performing a song at a live gig or a karaoke tournament, playing a song as background music in a store or other business, such as a restaurant, and leasing out CDs. Meanwhile, publishers must pay copyright fees to print lyrics in a book, magazine or newspaper. For stores smaller than 500 sq. meters, the fee is ¥6,000 a year for unlimited use of JASRAC songs as background music. It costs more to hold a concert using JASRAC songs. To use 10 songs managed by the organization in a 100-minute concert with up to 100 people in the audience who pay ¥1,000 to get in, it would cost ¥4,320 per show for the operator, according to a price simulator available on the JASRAC website. How does the group operate? JASRAC has about 20 offices and 500 employees nationwide to inform new businesses that they’re required to pay for copyrighted music and to keep tabs on existing businesses to make sure they maintain the proper level of fee payments. On top of its own employees, the spokesman said JASRAC works with other organizations to collect fees, such as companies that lease karaoke machines to bars. When a bar rents a karaoke machine from a leasing company, its contract with the leasing company includes a section mandating that it pay JASRAC for the music played, the spokesman said. Why does JASRAC have a bad reputation? The organization has been criticized for being overly harsh with small businesses that use music without permission. JASRAC said that in June 2016, it filed petitions for arbitration against 212 hair salons, restaurants and clothing stores for allegedly failing to pay fees for background music. The move shocked many who were unaware they were supposed to pay JASRAC copyright fees simply for playing CDs or music from iPods or smartphones. JASRAC began managing the copyright fees for music played as background music in 2002 and in recent years has expanded its collection targets. The organization started gathering fees from fitness clubs in 2011, cultural centers in 2012, dance schools in 2015 and karaoke schools in 2016. The organization will begin collecting copyright fees from private music schools starting next year. What is the latest controversy over JASRAC? The organization caused a stir in February after announcing it will begin collecting copyright fees from private music schools operated by instrument manufacturers starting in January 2018. In response, about 350 music school operators and other music businesses, including Yamaha Music Foundation and Kawai Musical Instruments Manufacturing Co., formed a group to file a lawsuit against JASRAC as early as July. They argue that JASRAC should not demand copyright fees for using music for educational purposes. However, according to a press release issued by JASRAC in February, private music schools must pay fees because they operate for “commercial purposes.” It also said that regular schools teaching music classes as part of the standard curriculum are excluded. Copyrights expire 50 years after the death of an artist, meaning that most classical music is exempt from copyright protection. However, the agency spokesman said music schools tend to use contemporary music, including pop songs. Article 22 of the Copyright Law gives composers the right to perform their music. A copyright is violated if others play it without permission, JASRAC claims, adding that it therefore must demand that schools pay fees. “Our task is not about monitoring or banning music. We encourage legal use of music by signing a contract with us,” the spokesman said. To help “develop music culture in Japan,” the organization will continue to expand areas where rights holders are protected, he said.
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music;copyright;jasrac
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jp0001161
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[
"world",
"social-issues-world"
] |
2017/06/02
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Cubans rock to once-censored Beatles at Havana tribute concert feting 'Sgt. Pepper's' 50th anniversary
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HAVANA - Communist-run Cuba, which once frowned upon the Beatles as a decadent Western influence, on Thursday held an open-air covers concert in a Havana park to celebrating 50 years since the release of the band’s landmark album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” Beatlemania has flourished belatedly on the Caribbean island, where authorities in the 1960s and 1970s considered Beatles songs “ideological diversionism.” That censorship faded after the Cold War ended and late President Fidel Castro in 2000 pulled a cultural about-face, calling John Lennon a “revolutionary” hero and unveiling a bronze statue of him sitting on a bench in a park. Today, Beatles music is played on the Cuban airwaves and Lennon Park is one of Havana’s minor landmarks. Hundreds of Beatles fans turned up there on Thursday evening to rock to Cuban covers of emblematic songs from the band’s eighth album, considered by many to be their best, sometimes with a local twist like a salsa beat. “The Beatles are beloved in Cuba. They are the greatest there is in the history of music,” said Ivan Rico, a dock worker who like many at the concert sported a T-shirt emblazoned with the image of Liverpool’s Fab Four. Rico said he felt his school punished him for enjoying the Beatles so he was delighted now to be able to indulge his passion. Other music lovers recalled smuggling in tapes or records and listening to them at clandestine parties. “I couldn’t live this at the appropriate time of my life, so I’m fulfilling that dream I still have now,” said Ruben Urias Raurell, 62, who traded his fishing equipment for his first Beatles record as a youngster. Lennon Park has become a pilgrimage destination for local fans as well as foreign tourists. Guards ensure they do not make off with the iconic round-rimmed spectacles placed on the Lennon statue. “We look after them 11, 12 hours per day, and then we take the glasses home with us,” said Aleyda Rodriguez, 72. She said it hard to find the right type of glasses in Cuba so people traveling abroad would sometimes bring her some back. “You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one” from the song “Imagine” is engraved in Spanish at the feet of the statue. Around the corner from the park is The Yellow Submarine, one of several tributes bars across the island. The Rolling Stones, another band that was once censored in Cuba, played to a crowd of nearly half a million people in March 2016.
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rock;cuba;fidel castro;beatles
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jp0001162
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[
"national",
"science-health"
] |
2017/06/02
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Health ministry caves to LDP, shelves restaurant smoking ban vow
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The health ministry on Friday decided not to include a pledge to ban smoking in restaurants in its long-term policy on cancer control, yielding to pressure from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party to leave the lax regulations intact. The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry will still aim to eliminate smoking in government offices and medical institutions, officials said, as it seeks to implement tighter measures to counter passive smoking before Tokyo hosts the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics. In line with the goals of the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the ministry will reduce the proportion of the population exposed to the risk of passive smoking to 15 percent or lower by fiscal 2022. The ministry presented its final plan on smoking measures to a panel on Friday, with the six-year plan scheduled to start this fiscal year expected to be formally approved by the Cabinet next month. The ministry had earlier sought to ban smoking in restaurants by 2020, exempting only small bars under the new six-year plan. But the LDP, backed by the tobacco and restaurant industries, has proposed that smoking be allowed as long as smoking and nonsmoking areas are clearly separated. The six-year plan also aims to boost the cancer screening ratio to 50 percent and raise the ratio of suspected cancer patients who take detailed follow-up exams to 90 percent. The ministry is also seeking revisions to the 2003 Health Promotion Law to ban smoking in public places in time for the Olympics. Currently, the law says operators must “make efforts” to curb passive smoking. But it has not been able to introduce the revision bill to the Diet due to fierce opposition from the LDP’s pro-tobacco members. With less than a month left until the Diet closes, it is becoming increasingly difficult for Japan to ban indoor smoking before 2020. The ministry estimates that about 15,000 people die annually in Japan from passive smoking, which is known to cause heart disease, stroke and lung cancer. With no law to ban public smoking, Japan was among the countries in the lowest-graded group out of four in the World Health Organization’s 2015 report on the global tobacco epidemic. After the WHO and the International Olympic Committee agreed in 2010 to promote tobacco-free Olympic Games, all countries hosting the Olympics have implemented anti-tobacco regulations that include punishment, according to the ministry.
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shinzo abe;restaurants;cancer;health ministry;2020 tokyo olympics;japan;smoking ban
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jp0001163
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[
"national"
] |
2017/06/20
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Japan eyes U.S. nuclear pact that renews automatically amid Trump administration vacancies
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Japan will seek a nuclear energy pact with the United States that renews automatically while it continues reprocessing spent fuel and enriching uranium, government sources said Tuesday. The government plans to forgo a long-term pact similar to the 30-year bilateral agreement that expires in July next year, according to the source. Officials want the new type of agreement because they have little time for talks amid vacancies in U.S. departments tasked with negotiations under President Donald Trump’s administration, the sources said. Furthermore, the government apparently wants to avoid facing potentially harsh demands from Washington over such matters as the large stockpiles of plutonium that have built up over years of reprocessing under the current pact. The plutonium can be used to produce nuclear weapons, posing a potential proliferation risk, which worries Washington. The bilateral agreement that entered into force in July 1988 authorizes Japan for 30 years until July 2018 to establish a nuclear fuel recycling system in which spent fuel from nuclear reactors is reprocessed to extract uranium and plutonium. The two can then be recycled into fuel called mixed oxide, or MOX, for use in fast-breeder reactors or conventional nuclear reactors. But the reprocessing project has faced growing uncertainty as most nuclear plants have suspended operations amid safety concerns following the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 plant caused by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. The trouble-prone Monju prototype fast-breeder nuclear reactor in Fukui Prefecture will also be decommissioned despite its envisioned key role in the fuel recycling plan. Despite the setbacks, the government wants to extend the agreement in its current form — with the ability to reprocess spent fuel and enrich uranium for nuclear fuel. But the prospect of a further buildup of plutonium could prompt calls for caution from some in the United States. If the pact is renewed with the automatic extension clause, it could be terminated at a later date if either party gives notice six months in advance. But the government has judged that the U.S. is unlikely to greatly change its policy given that officials in charge of such negotiations at the State and Energy departments have yet to be named, the sources said.
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nuclear energy;monju;spent nuclear fuel;mox;u.s.-japan relations
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jp0001164
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[
"national"
] |
2017/06/20
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Another confirmed Kake document adds to pile suggesting Abe favoritism
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The education ministry confirmed Tuesday the existence of a newly reported ministry document suggesting the involvement of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the Kake Gakuen scandal, further deepening suspicion of alleged government favoritism for the Okayama-based school operator. On Monday, public broadcaster NHK reported that it obtained a document that was produced by a ministry official last year which allegedly provides a summary of what Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Koichi Hagiuda told Yutaka Tokiwa, head of the higher education bureau, during a meeting on Oct. 21. “We’ve found a file identical to the document in an (online) shared folder of the Technical Education Division,” education minister Hirokazu Matsuno told a news conference on Tuesday. If the allegation in the document is true, it would mean Hagiuda, a close aide to the prime minister, indicated that Abe had already chosen Kake Gakuen for a special deregulation project as of October, months before a ministry panel officially reviewed the application. The school operator applied for a new veterinary department at one of its universities and received the first such approval from the government in 52 years. The document quoted Hagiuda as saying “the prime minister set the deadline” for the department’s opening at April 2018. “For that purpose, (Kake Gakuen) needs to file an application for a construction permit by March 2017,” Hagiuda was quoted as saying. Hagiuda reportedly made those remarks three months before a government panel formally approved Kake Gakuen’s application. According to the document, Hagiuda said the education ministry “got cold feet” in promoting the Kake Gakuen project while the “Prime Minister’s Office has said it is determined to carry it out at any cost.” On Tuesday, Hagiuda denied that he made the remarks. “I have never been given any instruction by the prime minister concerning Kake Gakuen,” Hagiuda said in a statement. According to Hagiuda, the education ministry has apologized to him by saying the content of the document in question “was remarkably erroneous.” This is not the first time Hagiuda has denied that he put any pressure on the education ministry to favor Kake Gakuen. On Thursday the education ministry released an email sent by a Cabinet Office official in November. The official claimed that the Cabinet Office revised government regulations for allowing a university to open a new veterinary department based on “an instruction” from Hagiuda. The revisions reportedly favored Kake Gakuen as they disqualified rival Kyoto Sangyo University because nearby Osaka Prefecture University already has such a department. Hagiuda denied making such a direction. Given the discrepancies between education ministry records and Hagiuda’s denials, experts and journalists have called for a third-party investigation into the alleged government favoritism. But on Tuesday Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga rejected the proposal, saying that both education minister Matsuno and Cabinet Office minister Kozo Yamamoto “have already conducted investigations assuming their own responsibilities.” Kake Gakuen, whose formal English name is Kake Educational Institution, is chaired by Kotaro Kake, a close friend of the prime minister. Opposition lawmakers have maintained that Abe’s government picked Kake Gakuen for the special deregulation project because of its ties to Abe.
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shinzo abe;scandals;kake gakuen
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jp0001165
|
[
"national",
"politics-diplomacy"
] |
2017/06/27
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Adherence to 2015 'comfort women' deal with Seoul urged in Japan-U.S. talks
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WASHINGTON - Japan and the United States have affirmed the importance of Tokyo and Seoul implementing a 2015 bilateral agreement to resolve issues surrounding Korean “comfort women,” who were forced to work in Japanese military brothels before and during World War II. On Monday, Vice Foreign Minister Shinsuke Sugiyama and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan discussed the 2015 deal in talks at the State Department, ahead of a meeting later this week between U.S. President Donald Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the White House. Sugiyama said Sullivan agreed that the deal should be implemented. Moon, who took office last month, has criticized the agreement, which was reached under the administration of his conservative predecessor Park Geun-hye, saying it is not accepted by the people of South Korea. Sugiyama told Sullivan that Japan “intends to steadily implement the agreement that has been valued highly by the international community including the United States,” according to Sugiyama, who briefed reporters about the talks at the State Department. In accordance with the December 2015 agreement to “finally and irreversibly” resolve the issue, Japan disbursed ¥1 billion last year to a South Korean fund providing support for the affected women. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed his “most sincere apologies and remorse” to the comfort women for the suffering they experienced. But the deal was criticized by some in South Korea for failing to reflect the voices of the affected women, and Moon pledged during his election campaign to renegotiate the agreement. In Monday’s talks, Sugiyama told Sullivan that Japan and the Moon administration had “made a good start” in advancing bilateral relations, and that Tokyo seeks to strengthen the partnership, as well as trilateral coordination with Washington in the face of North Korea’s nuclear and missile development. Sugiyama said he and Sullivan agreed that Japan and the United States must apply pressure with sanctions on North Korea to curb its nuclear and missile programs. They also affirmed the need to press China, the North’s main economic and diplomatic benefactor, to play a larger role in reining in its neighbor.
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u.s .;south korea;comfort women;shinsuke sugiyama
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jp0001166
|
[
"national"
] |
2017/06/27
|
The era of young shogi pro Fujii is here, but so is the era of AI in changing the game
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The record-setting winning streak of a 14-year-old shogi sensation has turned the spotlight on another new phenomenon shaking up the centuries-old Japanese board game — the use of artificial intelligence to improve players’ skills. Sota Fujii, a junior high school student from Seto, Aichi Prefecture, set the all-time record for 29 consecutive victories on Monday, beating Yasuhiro Masuda, a 19-year-old pro. Fujii’s victory “symbolizes the beginning of a new era,” said Yoshiharu Habu, a shogi legend and ninth dan who became the first player to sweep all seven major titles of the game in 1996, describing it as “a historic feat.” And similar to the games chess and go, advanced shogi players, including Fujii, have turned to high-tech machines and computers, utilizing software to brush up their skills. The Japan Shogi Association began organizing matches between top pros and AI-equipped robots in 2012. Many pros, including those holding the highest rank of ninth dan, have been beaten by the robots. Fujii, a soft-spoken teenager who sometimes cracks a bashful smile before cameras after a win, started using computers as part of his training regimen last year. It remains unknown exactly what kind of digital training he has been doing, but top pros say he has made fewer mistakes recently. “Fujii has been doing far better than we expected,” said Taku Morishita, a spokesman and executive director for the Tokyo-based Japan Shogi Association. “He makes moves that we never think of,” said Morishita, a ninth dan. Morishita, 50, lost to a computer in an official match in 2014. “I felt as if I was hitting a fastball traveling at 200 kph,” he said. “But young competitors such as Fujii are more capable of maintaining that type of pace.” It has been just half a year since Fujii’s debut in December as the youngest ever shogi pro. He qualified as a fourth dan, the lowest professional rank, after surviving a competition involving about 160 dues-paying participants seeking to become pros at Shorei-kai , a training institute that operates under the Japan Shogi Association. In September last year, Fujii won one of the two slots opened to new professional players every six months. Fujii has yet to win any of the eight major titles of the game, but his 29th win made the front pages of all major Japanese newspapers Tuesday as he has remained unbeaten since turning pro. The association announced last month the creation of an eighth major title. His earnings from the 29 wins have not been disclosed, but the top prize for one of the major titles is ¥43.2 million. According to the association, an estimated 10 million people, including young children, play shogi across the nation. Ninth dan Habu earned ¥91.5 million from matches in 2016. “In Mr. Habu’s era, shogi players used computers mainly as databases,” said Takuya Hiraoka, the developer of the software behind the Apery shogi engine that won the 2014 international computer shogi championship. “But now, computers can evolve by themselves” to levels that can defeat professional players. “Some junior shogi pros in the past have had difficulty advancing their game play rapidly if they failed to find a good teacher. But today computers can help pros improve their skills,” said Hiraoka, 32. Hiraoka said he has been thrilled to see new developments in shogi, such as changes to even time-honored winning strategies based on suggestions from computers. “They could change every year,” he said. “Shogi is in a transitional stage in many aspects” and the association has yet to release a guideline for the use of computers in training players, including children, Morishita said. Morishita, who coached Masuda, the 19-year-old who lost to Fujii in the high-profile match Monday, said personally he stops short of telling his young apprentices to use computers as too many things remain unknown about how their use affects the brain. “I told Masuda to try to learn shogi in analog form at least before he turns 25,” he said. Morishita said, however, he can “understand” why professional wannabes struggling amid the fierce competition in the Shorei-kai academy would turn to computers. Members of the academy, in principle, have to leave if they fail to turn professional by the age of 26. When asked if he believes the day will come when junior professionals who are using computers to train will easily beat high-ranking veterans, Morishita said, “The possibility is not very high, but I would not say it’s impossible.” Moving up the ranks: A list of shogi trivia The following is a list of trivia related to the centuries-old board game shogi. The information was provided by the Japan Shogi Association. 14-year-old Sota Fujii now holds the all-time winning-streak record but remains at the fourth dan, the lowest among the six-stage ranking system, with ninth being the highest. All pros go through the qualification process at the association’s competitive Shorei-kai training institute, where selected amateurs with ranks from third dan down to sixth kyu compete. The bigger the number, the higher players are ranked according to the dan rankings. The order is reversed for the kyu rankings. Shogi has eight major title competitions, none of which Fujii has won. The highest prize among the eight is the ¥43.2 million awarded to the winner of the Ryuo Sen competition, while the Meijin Sen is another coveted title dating back to the 17th century. The Meijin Sen competition is widely regarded as a chance to gauge the latest strengths of each player regardless of rank. The amount of Meijin Sen prize money is not made public. The other six major titles are Eio Sen, Oi Sen, Oza Sen, Kio Sen, Osho Sen and Kisei Sen competitions.
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shogi;ai;sota fujii
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