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jp0009793
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"crime-legal-asia-pacific"
] |
2018/09/03
|
Reuters reporters who exposed Myanmar military abuses are jailed for seven years
|
YANGON/BRUSSELS - In a landmark case seen as a test of progress toward democracy in the Southeast Asian country, a Myanmar judge on Monday found two Reuters journalists guilty of breaching a law on state “secrets,” sentencing them to seven years in prison. Yangon Northern District Judge Ye Lwin said Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, had breached the colonial-era Official Secrets Act when they collected and obtained confidential documents. “The defendants . . . have breached Official Secrets Act section 3.1.c, and are sentenced to seven years,” the judge said, adding that the time served since they were detained on Dec. 12 will be taken into account. The defense can appeal the decision to the regional court and then the Supreme Court. The two reporters had pleaded not guilty and told the court police planted documents on them in the course of their work in reporting on Myanmar’s violence-plagued Rakhine state. Press freedom advocates, the United Nations, the European Union and countries including the United States, Canada and Australia had called for the journalists’ acquittal. “Today is a sad day for Myanmar, Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, and the press everywhere,” Reuters Editor-in-Chief Stephen Adler said in a statement. “We will not wait while Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo suffer this injustice and will evaluate how to proceed in the coming days, including whether to seek relief in an international forum.” The reporters had told the court two police officials handed them papers at a restaurant in the city of Yangon moments before other officers arrested them. One police witness testified the restaurant meeting was a setup to entrap the journalists to block or punish them for their reporting of a mass killing of Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine. At least 50 people were packed into the small court Monday, with many standing outside. Judge Ye Lwin read out a summary of witness testimony for about an hour before delivering his verdict. He said it had been found that “confidential documents” found on the two would have been useful “to enemies of the state and terrorist organizations.” Documents in their possession and on their phones were “not public information.” As the judge spoke, several reporters cried as they took notes. Kyaw Soe Oo’s wife, Chit Su Win, burst into tears after the verdict, and family members had to support her as she left the court. Wa Lone shook hands with supporters, telling them not to worry. Wearing handcuffs and flanked by police, he addressed a cluster of friends and reporters. “We know what we did. We know we did nothing wrong. I have no fear. I believe in justice, democracy and freedom,” he said. Kyaw Soe Oo also said the reporters had committed no crime and that they would maintain their fight for press freedom. “What I want to say to the government is: you can put us in jail, but do not close the eyes and ears of the people,” he said. Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo — who both have young daughters and have not seen their families outside of prison visits and court hearings for nearly nine months — were then taken back to prison. Kyaw Soe Oo has a 3-year-old daughter and Wa Lone’s wife, Pan Ei Mon, gave birth to their first child last month. Myanmar government spokesman Zaw Htay didn’t respond to requests for comment about the verdict. He has mostly declined to comment throughout the proceedings, saying the courts were independent and the case would be conducted according to the law. The verdict comes amid mounting pressure on the government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi over a security crackdown sparked by attacks by Rohingya Muslim insurgents on security forces in August 2017. More than 700,000 stateless Rohingya Muslims have fled across western Myanmar’s border with Bangladesh since then, according to U.N. agencies. The European Union on Monday called for the immediate and unconditional release of the pair, with its foreign policy service saying that the sentence “undermines the freedom of the media, the public’s right to information and the development of the rule of law in Myanmar.” “The prison sentences of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo should be reviewed and the two journalists be released immediately and unconditionally,” it said in a statement. U.S. Ambassador Scot Marciel, who attended the hearing, said he was troubled by the turn of events. “It’s deeply troubling . . . one has to ask, ‘Will this process increase or decrease the confidence the people of Myanmar have in their justice system,’ ” Marciel told reporters. U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Myanmar Knut Ostby said he was disappointed. “The United Nations has consistently called for the release of the Reuters journalists and urged the authorities to respect their right to pursue freedom of expression and information.” There was no immediate comment from Tokyo, but the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan joined the international chorus in protesting the sentence. “The arrest of any journalist for doing their job is an attack on press freedom and human rights,” the FCCJ said in a statement. “The FCCJ requests that the Myanmar authorities urgently review the sentencing decision,” it added. The reporters were arrested on Dec. 12 while investigating the killing of 10 Rohingya men and boys and other abuses involving soldiers and police in Inn Din, a village in Rakhine state. Myanmar has denied allegations of atrocities made by refugees against its security forces, saying it conducted a legitimate counterinsurgency operation against Muslim militants. But the military acknowledged the killing of the 10 Rohingya at Inn Din after arresting the Reuters reporters. A U.N. mandated fact-finding mission said last week that Myanmar’s military carried out mass killings and gang rapes of Muslim Rohingya with “genocidal intent” and called for top generals to be prosecuted. Myanmar rejected the findings. The International Criminal Court in The Hague is considering whether it has jurisdiction over events in Rakhine, while the United States, the European Union and Canada have sanctioned Myanmar military and police officers over the crackdown.
|
myanmar;genocide;rohingya;reuters;state secrets;rakhine
|
jp0009794
|
[
"national"
] |
2018/09/03
|
As state subsidies decline, Nagoya University turns to crowdfunding to support student activities
|
Amid cuts in government subsidies for national universities, Nagoya University has turned to crowdfunding to support student activities and educational projects. So far the university has raised roughly ¥5 million — more than the targeted amount — for five projects, including the development of a race car by a student team and the restoration and digitization of historical documents by its affiliated library. The university hopes to expand crowdfunding to other projects so the method will offer an independent source of revenue, as well as a way of strengthening its brand image amid increasing competition to attract students. Since national universities were made into incorporated administrative agencies with increased autonomy in 2004, the government has been reducing subsidies for the institutions’ operational expenses. Government subsidies to Nagoya University amounted to ¥31.7 billion in fiscal 2016, down almost ¥5 billion over 10 years, making it more difficult for the university to help fund student activities and educational programs other than research projects. Crowdfunding is the practice of raising money for projects online through small contributions from a large number of individuals. There are different types of crowdfunding, including loans, reward-based or donation-based funding. In many cases collected funds are refunded if a campaign does not meet its goal. Nagoya University is using a donation-based system. Crowdfunding has also been adopted by other national universities, including the University of Tsukuba and Tokyo University of the Arts. Nagoya University sought out suitable projects and registered five on a crowdfunding site. They received contributions from graduates of the university as well as companies and individuals. Formula Team FEM, an auto racing team made up of Nagoya University students, set a target of raising ¥650,000 to help them develop an electric race car and managed to collect nearly ¥900,000 from 26 people. The team has been developing a new electric vehicle for next year’s Student Formula Japan, which is expected to cost a total of about ¥6.5 million. Team members decided to use crowdfunding because support from the university and local firms would not be enough. “We are thankful that many people whom we don’t know made contributions,” said Hironori Nagata, 22, the leader of the team who is studying at Nagoya University’s Graduate School of Engineering. “They made us even more determined to achieve a good result.” According to the team, a woman from Fukushima Prefecture donated ¥200,000 and wrote in her email: “I have been interested in cars for a long time. I want to donate money which I won’t be able to use for traveling because I have to care for my parents.” The team plans to send gifts to contributors and display the names of major donors on the vehicle. Nagoya University also plans to use crowdfunding for other projects, such as the development of a cognitive ability test for children in Mongolia. “(Through crowdfunding,) we believe Nagoya University can increase its presence outside the Tokai region,” said Vice President Shogo Kimura, 55. “We also hope donations of small amounts of money will lead to large contributions in the future.”
|
crowdfunding;nagoya university;subsidies
|
jp0009795
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2018/09/04
|
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to enter European luxury ferry market following restructuring
|
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will enter the luxury ferry market in Europe as part of a restructuring of its ship-building business. Its subsidiary, Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Co., will expand production facilities at two shipyards, in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, and Nagasaki, to prepare for orders from Europe, President Koji Okura said in an interview Monday. “We are looking at the European market. We must win there on the price and performance (of our upscale ferries),” Okura said. While the company has already started marketing operations in Europe, it is also considering targeting the Asian luxury ferry market in the near future, Okura added. Mitsubishi Heavy spun off Mitsubishi Shipbuilding as a separate, wholly owned entity in January as part of a restructuring that included a withdrawal from the loss-making large passenger ship business. As demand is growing for various types of ferries in Europe, Mitsubishi Shipbuilding plans to focus on ferries with luxury interiors that carry passengers and vehicles. The Mitsubishi Heavy group plans to begin building ferries in Nagasaki by the end of March 2021. The group currently builds liquefied natural gas ships at the shipyard. Mitsubishi Heavy aims to boost sales in the shipbuilding business to ¥200 billion ($1.8 billion) a year over the next decade, up from about ¥100 billion in the last fiscal year, which ended in March 2018.
|
mitsubishi heavy industries;mhi;koji okura
|
jp0009796
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"social-issues-asia-pacific"
] |
2018/09/04
|
Seoul to check public lavatories daily as anger boils over 'spycam porn' targeting women
|
KUALA LUMPUR - Amid anger over “spycam porn,” authorities in Seoul have pledged to conduct daily checks in public toilets, but campaigners on Monday called for stronger regulations on hidden cameras commonly used to target women. The Seoul city government announced that the number of workers tasked to uncover hidden cameras at the city’s 20,554 public toilets would be boosted from 50 to 8,000, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported. Campaigners have raised doubts that the latest move will be effective in curbing the crime, arguing that it is more crucial to overhaul both the law on hidden cameras and attitudes toward women. “What is imperative is to regulate the distribution of spy cameras, rather than what is being planned,” said You Seung-jin, of the Korea Cyber Sexual Violence Response Centre. Authorities have in recent years struggled to stop perpetrators from using tiny, hidden cameras to film women in public places, or under their clothing. The videos are commonly shared or sold to illicit porn sites. Tens of thousands of women have taken to the streets in recent months to urge authorities to crack down on the crime, which they say traumatizes victims. You, vice president of the Seoul-based group that offers legal aid to victims of spycam crimes, said the phenomenon shows the country remains deeply patriarchal despite economic progress over the last few decades. “Misogyny is prevalent here and women are often treated as sexual objects,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone. “What we need is to educate people that this is cybersexual violence — it is not their porn.” The current task force of 50 people has not found a single hidden camera despite a spike in the crime from 2,400 incidents reported in 2012 to nearly 6,500 cases last year, the Yonhap news agency reported. Officials have said that it was hard to tackle the crime, as the tiny cameras are often removed quickly by the perpetrators after they are installed in public places. South Korea ranked 118 out of 144 countries on the Global Gender Gap Index by the World Economic Forum last year, after it scored poorly on the economic participation and opportunity for women.
|
women;seoul;me too;spycam port;public toilets
|
jp0009797
|
[
"national",
"science-health"
] |
2018/09/04
|
Having taken a dip, bears spotted in places in Japan they've not been seen for years
|
SAPPORO - Rumiko Hamaya, 52, of Nemuro, the easternmost city in Hokkaido, was surprised to see a brown bear swimming in nearby Lake Furen in mid-August. “It might have been swimming for about 15 minutes, dog paddling for about 800 meters,” Hamaya said. One of her colleagues told her that a bear was out in the lake. Through binoculars, she could see the bear swimming smoothly with only its head above the water. As she took photos, the bear reached the opposite shore and disappeared. “I’ve been working at this roadside store (beside the lake) since it opened in 2000, but it’s the first time I’ve ever seen a bear swim,” said Hamaya. Bears swimming in lakes and the sea have been witnessed in several places across the nation. Earlier this year on the island of Rishiri, in northern Hokkaido, a brown bear was seen for the first time in 106 years, leading experts to point out that the bears, which normally remain on land, may be looking for other bears to mate with or possibly searching for a new home. Others said it was taking a dip because of the scorching hot weather. After bear tracks were found on Rishiri, which is located 20 kilometers off Hokkaido, at the end of May, a surveillance camera captured images of a bear walking in the forest. The last time a brown bear was seen near the island was one swimming in 1912. Tsutomu Mano, a division chief at Hokkaido Research Organization, says studies have shown polar bears can swim for more than 100 km and brown bears can also swim for dozens of kilometers. “Bears in heat are probably swimming to find a male bear to mate with,” he said. “Islanders should avoid going out at night so that they don’t bump into bears.” On Oshima Island in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, where Asiatic black bears were not believed to be inhabitants, local residents witnessed the bears for the first time in May. Local fishers also saw them arriving on the island’s rocky shores in June and July, with some witnessing the animals returning to the mainland. “They may be going back and forth,” said a local police officer. Toru Oi, a professor at Ishikawa Prefectural University and leader of the Japan Bear Network research institute, says it is common knowledge among academics that bears can swim using their forefeet. “I’ve heard about bears swimming in Lake Towada, which straddles the prefectures of Aomori and Akita, and the shores of Iwate Prefecture,” he said. “They may be looking for a new place where young bears have less competition (to set up a territory).” Oi added that bears also go into the water to cool down. “Because this year was particularly hot, they may be swimming to cool down.”
|
animals;hokkaido;miyagi;bears
|
jp0009798
|
[
"national",
"politics-diplomacy"
] |
2018/09/04
|
Yuichiro Tamaki chosen as sole leader of the Democratic Party for the People, Japan's second largest opposition party
|
The Democratic Party for the People, Japan’s second-largest opposition party, elected one of its two former co-leaders as its new sole head Tuesday as it works to boost low support ratings ahead of key elections next year. The party was formed in May through a merger between two splinters of the now-defunct Democratic Party of Japan, which was in power between 2009 and 2012. Yuichiro Tamaki, a four-term member of the House of Representatives, beat challenger Keisuke Tsumura on Tuesday in the first leadership contest since that time. Tamaki, who worked for the Finance Ministry before winning his parliamentary seat, had led the party since May together with House of Councilors member Kohei Otsuka, who did not compete in the election. Tamaki, 49, will lead the party until September 2021. A total of 61 lawmakers across both Diet chambers belong to the party, making it the second-largest opposition force after the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan — which also emerged from the Democratic Party of Japan. The CDP has 75 seats. The new leader will be tasked with broadening the party’s support base and promoting cooperation with other opposition parties in the run-up to the unified local elections and the House of Councilors poll next year. The approval rating for the Democratic Party for the People remains low at 1.5 percent, in comparison with 43.8 percent for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party, according to the latest survey conducted by Kyodo News late last month. The ruling party, which controls the majority of both chambers, will also hold its leadership contest later this month. Abe is widely projected to secure his third consecutive term in the vote.
|
dpp;yuichiro tamaki;cdp;kohei otsuka;keisuke tsumura
|
jp0009800
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"crime-legal-asia-pacific"
] |
2018/09/05
|
Wives of Reuters reporters jailed in Myanmar call for their release
|
YANGON - The wives of two Reuters journalists in Myanmar jailed for seven years on official secrets charges insisted on Tuesday that the men were innocent and called for them to be released and reunited with their young families as soon as possible. A court found the two journalists guilty on Monday in a landmark case seen as a test of progress toward democracy in Myanmar, which was ruled by a military junta until 2011. Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, were investigating the killing of villagers from the Rohingya Muslim minority by security forces and civilians in Rakhine State when they were arrested in December. They had pleaded not guilty. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on Tuesday that the United States would become more vocal about their situation. Speaking at a news conference marking the U.S. assumption of the rotating chairmanship of the Security Council for September, Haley said the reporters were “in prison for telling the truth.” On Monday, she called for their immediate, unconditional release, saying it was “clear to all that the Burmese military has committed vast atrocities.” “In a free country, it is the duty of a responsible press to keep people informed and hold leaders accountable. The conviction of two journalists for doing their job is another terrible stain on the Burmese government,” Haley said. Both reporters have young daughters and have not seen their families outside of prison visits and court hearings since they were arrested in December. Kyaw Soe Oo has a 3-year-old daughter, and Wa Lone’s wife, Pan Ei Mon, gave birth to their first child last month. The wives, alongside Wa Lone’s brother, Thura Aung, and their defense lawyers, spoke to reporters at a news conference in Yangon on Tuesday. The defense can appeal the conviction, and the lawyers told the news conference they were considering all options. Kyaw Soe Oo’s wife, Chit Su Win, said she had expected the two reporters to be acquitted on Monday. “I believed that we would be able to go home together,” she said, adding that later she “almost went crazy.” “They are innocent. They were doing their jobs as journalists,” Chit Su Win said, She said she feared their daughter, Moe Thin Wai Zan, would be traumatized by the ordeal. Wa Lone’s wife, Pan Ei Mon, said she wanted the journalists to be released “as quickly as possible.” “I never thought such a harsh verdict would be handed down,” she said of the seven-year sentence. “Since I became pregnant, I stayed strong on the hope that Wa Lone would be released. After yesterday’s verdict, if feels like my hopes have been destroyed.” Pan Ei Mon said she was disappointed that Myanmar’s government leader, Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, had appeared to speak against the reporters ahead of the verdict. Suu Kyi told Japanese television station NHK in an interview in June that the reporters were not arrested for their reporting on Rakhine, but because they “broke the Official Secrets Act. “I am really sad about that … the person who we really admired for our whole lives misunderstood us like that,” Pan Ei Mon said. Neither Suu Kyi nor her government’s main spokesman have commented publicly on the case since the reporters were convicted.
|
myanmar;nhk;aung san suu kyi;rohingya;rakhine;official secrets act;reuters reporters
|
jp0009801
|
[
"national"
] |
2018/09/05
|
Kansai counts the cost of Typhoon Jebi
|
OSAKA - Osaka and the Kansai region spent Wednesday cleaning up after Typhoon Jebi roared through the area Tuesday, causing widespread damage. Most businesses in central Osaka reopened and trains and subways were running normally. But with Kansai International Airport still out of operation, thousands of passengers had to rebook flights from other international airports. A tanker crashed into the bridge connecting the airport to the mainland Tuesday, and high tides flooded the main runway and surrounding tarmac. There was no official word Wednesday on when flights would be able to resume, and concern is growing in the Kansai region over the economic losses that would be incurred by a prolonged closure of the airport. About 5,000 people were stranded Tuesday night on the artificial island on which Kansai airport is built. They were evacuated Wednesday by bus and boat. A Kyodo News tally as of Wednesday evening showed that 11 people had been killed due to the typhoon in western Japan and a combined 460 people had been injured nationwide. Kansai Electric Power Co. said about 349,000 homes and businesses in the Kansai region remained without power. Rescue and recovery efforts were also underway elsewhere in the region. A group of about 160 elementary school pupils in Kyoto have been stranded since Tuesday in a facility in Kyoto where they were staying on a school trip. Trees knocked down by the strong typhoon blocked surrounding roads, local officials said Wednesday. Of the pupils, two — a girl and a boy — have fallen ill and were taken to a hospital by helicopter on Wednesday morning, according to officials from the city of Kyoto’s board of education. Speaking to reporters Wednesday afternoon, Osaka Gov. Ichiro Matsui said that he was satisfied with the advance preparations the prefecture had made and the way it had handled the disaster response. Osaka Prefecture’s disaster response teams had already had to deal with heavy rains and an earthquake over the last three months before Tuesday’s typhoon. But attention is now focused on the damage to Kansai airport, a crucial air link to the region. “Kansai airport is the main international airport for all of western Japan and we want to make all effort at reopening it as soon as possible,” Matsui said. “But at this point, we’re still assessing the damage …. How long will it take? Passenger safety is first but we want to limit economic damage due to its closure.” Osaka Prefecture has requested financial assistance and expertise from the central government, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has promised to provide it. In a series of tweets, Abe hailed the relief operations and said the government will “come together to make every effort to urgently deal with the disaster and restore infrastructure.” The possibility of using Kobe and Itami airports more until operations are fully restored at Kansai airport is also something Osaka wants to discuss with the central government. Although the governor did not say so directly, that could mean a temporary return of some international flights to Itami airport. Itami served as the Kansai region’s international airport until Kansai airport opened in 1994.”The function of Kansai airport is currently at zero,” Matsui said. “If it is gradually raised to 50 percent, then we need to make efforts at cooperating, during this time of emergency, with Kansai’s other two airports (Itami and Kobe) in order to limit the economic damage to the region as much as possible.” “I want to discuss all possibilities,” he said, in reply to a question if he wanted both Kobe and Itami to take international flights. Kansai is extremely worried about losing business to other international hubs. Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways on Wednesday canceled flights departing from and arriving at Kansai airport. A JAL spokesman said the carrier is mulling arranging emergency international flights to and from Narita International Airport “as soon as possible,” but declined to specify a timeline. Kansai International Airport sits on reclaimed land in Osaka Bay, and is the main international airport for the Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, and Kobe areas. Itami, also known as Osaka International Airport, is located about 30 minutes north of Osaka station. Kobe also has a domestic-only airport. In fiscal 2017, Kansai airport hosted a total of 28.8 million tourists — a record high. The airport is linked by air routes with about 100 cities in the world. In that same fiscal year the volume of cargo handled at the airport stood at about 852,000 tons, while the number of flight landings and takeoffs totaled some 188,000.
|
osaka;kansai airport;typhoon jebi;kobe airport
|
jp0009802
|
[
"national",
"social-issues"
] |
2018/09/05
|
More men pass entrance exams than women at 80% of Japan's medical schools: survey
|
A government survey showed on Tuesday that men passed entrance exams more than women at nearly 80 percent of medical schools polled after a medical university in Tokyo admitted last month to altering exam scores to limit the enrollment of female students. Of 81 medical schools surveyed, men have passed entrance exams more than women at 63 schools over the past six years, while women got through such exams more than men at 17 schools. The 81 medical schools include Tokyo Women’s Medical University. The education ministry released the preliminary results of the survey after Tokyo Medical University admitted to unfairly lowering the scores of women applicants to curb their enrollment. The misconduct was severely criticized as gender discrimination. Excluding Tokyo Medical University, none of the universities surveyed said it had ever discriminated against applicants by gender or age, according to the survey. The rates of successful male applicants to female stood at 1.67 at Juntendo University and 1.54 at Tohoku Medical and Pharmaceutical University and Showa University, while the average rate of all 81 schools was 1.18. The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology said it will send additional questionnaires before releasing its analysis on the disparity in the final results of the survey in October. Kenji Yasuda, a senior executive of education information company Daigaku Tsushin, said the results indicate the possibility of some “adjustment” being made to enroll more male students than female. The number of men passing entrance exams is “unnaturally high” compared to that of women and medical schools could have given male students higher scores in interviews, reflecting school officials’ own evaluations, he said. Tokyo Medical University set a ceiling for women’s admission to avert a future shortage of physicians as a result of women doctors resigning or taking long periods of leave after marrying or giving birth, according to sources. The score-rigging was discovered in the course of an internal investigation amid a bribery scandal involving the university’s top executives and a senior education ministry official.
|
scandal;survey;entrance exams;japan;medical schools;tokyo women 's medical university
|
jp0009803
|
[
"national"
] |
2018/09/05
|
Preparedness helped JR West keep passengers safe amid raging Typhoon Jebi
|
As powerful Typhoon Jebi approached western parts of Japan, railway operators in the Kansai area acted quickly to inform customers they would halt services in the hope of preventing chaos at stations and encouraging businesses to let workers stay home to ensure safety. West Japan Railway Co. began alerting customers about its service suspension plans from Monday morning, a day before Jebi — the most powerful typhoon to hit Japan in 25 years — slammed into the region. By Tuesday afternoon, the company had suspended operations on all of its lines in the Kansai area. “You can ensure safety to some extent, once you stop trains,” said a spokesman for JR West. “Most (railway) companies now issue notice of planned disruption earlier, and it appeared that operators suspended more trains than usual this time,” said an official with the Kinki District Transport Bureau, which is affiliated with the transport ministry. Kansai University professor Seiji Abe, who specializes in safety science, praised the railway operators’ response, which he believes were based on lessons learned from past disasters in the region. Back in October 2014, when heavy rain hammered western Japan, JR West swiftly announced its suspension of services on all lines in the region, but later faced criticism from the public as the scale of the disaster ended up to be relatively small, Abe recalls. But such precautionary measures seem to be gaining public approval following a strong earthquake that jolted Osaka Prefecture in June and torrential rains that triggered flooding and landslides in western Japan in July. In July, JR West was the only operator in Kansai that informed customers it would suspend trains a day before the downpours, Abe said. “They (JR) made a good call … and this time other companies, including private operators, followed suit,” the professor said. Osaka Prefectural Government officials also benefited from the early call, and reminded its staff to return home earlier than usual, an official said by phone. “Now it’s easier to predict how weather conditions may affect (employees’) commutes,” he added. Mayumi Itoh, 33, a small business owner in the Umeda district of Osaka, said, “We had good advance warning of the typhoon and so were able to make preparations.” JR West now uses social media to better inform potential travelers of the status of train services. “We started using Twitter on Aug. 1, following the massive quake in June” during rush hour, the JR West spokesman said. But Kansai University’s Abe also called for railway operators to provide services that take account of foreigners coming to Japan, and lamented that information is mainly available in Japanese. “This information should also be published in English and Chinese, at least,” he said.
|
osaka;train
|
jp0009804
|
[
"national",
"science-health"
] |
2018/09/05
|
Forty percent of Japanese adults face higher risk of disease from lack of exercise: WHO
|
GENEVA - About 40 percent of Japanese adults were physically inactive in 2016, above the global average of 28 percent, exposing them to risks of heart disease, cancer, diabetes and dementia, a World Health Organization report showed Wednesday. The WHO report found more than 1.4 billion people age 18 and older — or a quarter of people in the 168 countries and regions surveyed — did not get enough physical activity to stay in shape due to such factors as long working hours, developed public transport and prevalence of smartphones. The ratio of such people in Japan compared with 67 percent in Kuwait, the highest in the world, 42 percent in Germany, 41 percent in Italy and 40 percent in the United States. The prevalence for low physical activity levels was more than double in high-income countries than in low-income countries. China and Russia had relatively low ratios of physically inactive adults at 14 percent and 17 percent, respectively. Uganda and Mozambique had the world’s lowest prevalence at 6 percent. The WHO study also found lower activity in women than in men, with the ratio of physically inactive adults registering 32 percent and 23 percent, respectively, in each gender. “Insufficient physical activity is a leading risk factor for noncommunicable diseases, and has a negative effect on mental health and quality of life,” said the study of world exercise levels published Wednesday by The Lancet Global Health Journal. Researchers found there had been no improvement in physical activity levels since 2001, despite numerous public health initiatives extolling the benefits of exercise. As recommended levels of exercises, the WHO calls on individuals to do “at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity, or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity per week, or any equivalent combination of the two.” Moderate-intensity activity includes walking and swimming, while vigorous intensity covers pursuits such as jogging and playing soccer. But in 55 nations, more than a third of adults did not meet this requirement. The WHO urged governments to implement policies to address the issue, such as improved provision of cycling and walking infrastructure and creating more opportunities for physical activity in public open spaces and parks, in workplaces and in other local community settings.
|
disease;who;diabetes;heart attack;exercise
|
jp0009805
|
[
"national"
] |
2018/09/05
|
Accounts of those who were left stranded by Typhoon Jebi in Japan
|
Typhoon Jebi tore through western Japan on Tuesday, leaving residents and tourists stranded throughout the Kansai region. Whether people took refuge in train stations, airports or hotels, most faced a large degree of uncertainty as to when they would be able to return home or move on to their next destination. Stories from those who spent a frantic day in the midst of the powerful storm: ‘Karaoke refugees’ Saitama Prefecture resident Daniel Fath was making his way from Tokyo to Kyoto by shinkansen with his daughter, father and stepmother, when Typhoon Jebi made landfall, forcing the train to stop at Hamamatsu Station in Shizuoka Prefecture for nine hours before it was able to continue on to Nagoya Station. Nearby hotels were already at capacity when they arrived in Nagoya around midnight and with no more trains departing until the next morning, Fath and his family could only find lodging in a karaoke room — sometimes tapped for a place to sleep by all-night revelers but hardly a common lodging for a family. Fath also noted that, while train station announcements were made in both Japanese and English through signboards and loudspeakers, the English announcements were slightly confusing. As a Japanese speaker himself, he also noticed that the Japanese announcements contained more specific information about when the trains were expected to resume service. Fath noticed that some travelers who were unable to speak either Japanese or English had trouble understanding the announcements. At 6 a.m. the next morning, Fath and his family were finally able to board the shinkansen from Nagoya Station without any more significant delays. Although there were hundreds of people waiting for the trains to restart, the crowds — both tourists and locals — filed back into the station in an orderly manner, he said. A long day at Kansai airport Osaka native Ami Kataoka, who works at Kansai International Airport, was unable to return home after her shift and spent 24 hours stranded at the airport as Typhoon Jebi flooded parts of the facility. Kataoka said that the situation at the airport was a little chaotic after the power went out and that there were long lines to buy food at convenience stores. She was able to take a bus to Osaka’s Izumisano Station on Wednesday morning, while others were taken by ferry to Kobe airport. Kansai International Airport is one of the largest in Japan, hosting 28.8 million passengers in 2017, 21.9 million of which came from international flights, according to the airport’s operator. A 30-story climb Nathan, a tourist from Vancouver who gave only his first name, spoke to The Japan Times through Twitter on Wednesday to talk about how scary it was to stay at a hotel in Osaka as the typhoon swept through the region. “Highlights of the experience were definitely the shaking in our hotel,” he wrote. “We were up high on the 30th floor and it was almost like a boat. We could feel the building moving. On the lower floors you could hear the banisters and glass windows creaking. “Elevators stopped working so we had to either walk up 30 stories worth of stairs or stay in the hotel lobby,” he added. “Most people did. Ended up becoming very crowded. “Honestly we got off quite easy compared to other places we saw on the news,” he wrote. “Just unsure of how to get home in our current situation. Our flight was supposed to be today but kansai airport is not functioning. “Took over a half hour for us to contact our airlines (air Canada) due to the amount of people calling in to reschedule flights,” he wrote.
|
osaka;kansai airport;typhoon jebi
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jp0009806
|
[
"national"
] |
2018/09/05
|
LIVEBLOG: Updates on Typhoon Jebi
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Live updates from The Japan Times newsroom and social media about Typhoon Jebi — the most powerful typhoon to hit Japan in 25 years.
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weather;kansai;shikoku;tokai;western japan;typhoon jebi
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jp0009807
|
[
"business",
"financial-markets"
] |
2018/09/02
|
Japan's FSA tightens screening process for aspiring cryptocurrency exchanges
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The Financial Services Agency has effectively tightened its registration screening for cryptocurrency exchanges to see whether they are properly conducting risk management, sources say. Such registration processes are conducted under the revised Payment Services Act, which took force in April 2017 to protect cryptocurrency users. The state watchdog has increased the number of questions asked when screening applications to about 400 items, up fourfold, sources said Saturday. It now obligates applicants to submit minutes of board meetings so it can check whether enough discussions have been held about measures to sustain the company’s financial health and ensure the security of its computer system, the sources said. The FSA’s screening of cryptocurrency exchanges resumed after a suspension was imposed following the cyber-theft in January of about ¥58 billion in customer assets from Tokyo-based Coincheck Inc. In its screenings, the FSA conducts on-site inspections to verify answers submitted to questions that were sent to the applicants beforehand. Previously, the questions only covered such items as an applicant’s financial status and measures to ensure system safety. The agency now intends to assess whether company executives are properly involved in decision-making by perusing the records of board meetings, the sources said. The upgraded screening process also regularly reviews the composition of an applicant company’s shareholders, while examining if an internal system is in place to check for links to antisocial groups, the sources said. The FSA’s on-site inspections have revealed sloppy internal controls at cryptocurrency exchanges, including a lack of board meeting minutes. More than 100 companies have shown interest in being registered as cryptocurrency exchange operators. The stricter process may prompt some to give up, analysts said.
|
currency;fsa;cryptocurrency
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jp0009808
|
[
"world",
"offbeat-world"
] |
2018/09/02
|
Serbian testicle chefs triumph in 'aphrodisiac festival'
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LIPOVICA, SERBIA - Spring rolls, ratatouille and curry were on the menu at a quirky food festival in rural Serbia on Saturday, with one ingredient in common: animal testicles. Now in its 15th year, the World Testicle Cooking Championship draws a motley mix of teams — from groups of friends to professional chefs — for a few days of fun in the Serbian countryside. There they set up cooking camps in a forest, stirring bubbling stews over wood fires as they vie for the coveted “Ball Cup.” While the testicles — gray and with a kidney-like texture — may spoil some appetites, festival-goers wax poetic about their taste and alleged aphrodisiac qualities. “There were some really interesting combinations of flavor. … The winner was super, really fantastic,” said Philomena O’Brien, an Australian woman who sat on the three-judge panel that blind-tasted dishes from nearly 20 teams. “Choosing the best balls is quite a responsibility.” The event was started by Ljubomir Erovic, the author of a recipe book called “Cooking with Balls,” who claims testicles boost a man’s libido. “It’s really an aphrodisiac festival,” he said before donning a chef’s hat and announcing the winner on stage. Flares and fireworks lit up the sky after a local Serbian team was crowned the winner, with a team of Japanese curry-makers and French restaurateurs also singled out. “It was quite challenging to do French gastronomy with testicles,” said a member of the French team, Philippe, who runs a restaurant in Paris. “But we are happy with the result,” he added, showing off the team’s four-course menu featuring bull testicles with foie gras and chocolate “salty balls,” for which it received a special award. Milos Kojanic, a 24-year-old from the winning team, said his group also took home last year’s trophy. The secret to their saucy stews? “That’s a mystery,” he said.
|
sex;serbia;cooking;contests
|
jp0009809
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"science-health-asia-pacific"
] |
2018/09/02
|
With rising sea levels, Bangkok struggles to stay afloat
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BANGKOK - As Bangkok prepares to host climate-change talks, the sprawling city of more than 10 million is itself under siege from the environment, with dire forecasts warning it could be partially submerged in just over a decade. A preparatory meeting begins Tuesday in Thailand’s capital for the next U.N. climate conference, a crunch summit in Poland at the end of 2018 to set rules on reducing greenhouse emissions and providing aid to vulnerable countries. As temperatures rise, abnormal weather patterns — like more powerful cyclones, erratic rainfall, and intense droughts and floods — are predicted to worsen over time, adding pressure on governments tasked with bringing the 2015 Paris climate treaty to life. Bangkok, built on once-marshy land about 1.5 meters (5 feet) above sea level, is projected to be one of the world’s hardest-hit urban areas, alongside fellow Southeast Asian behemoths Jakarta and Manila. “Nearly 40 percent” of Bangkok will be inundated by as early as 2030 due to extreme rainfall and changes in weather patterns, according to a World Bank report. Currently, the capital “is sinking 1 to 2 centimeters a year and there is a risk of massive flooding in the near future,” said Tara Buakamsri of Greenpeace. Seas in the nearby Gulf of Thailand are rising by 4 millimeters a year, above the global average. The city “is already largely under sea level,” said Buakamsri. In 2011, when the monsoon season brought the worst floods in decades, a fifth of the city was underwater. The business district was spared thanks to hastily constructed dikes. But the rest of Thailand was not so fortunate, and the death toll passed 500 by the end of the season. Experts say unchecked urbanization and eroding shorelines will leave Bangkok and its residents in a critical situation. With the weight of skyscrapers contributing to the city’s gradual descent into water, Bangkok has become a victim of its own frenetic development. Making things worse, the canals that used to traverse the city have now been replaced by intricate road networks, said Suppakorn Chinvanno, a climate expert at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. “They had contributed to a natural drainage system,” he said, adding that the water pathways earned the city the nickname ‘Venice of the East’. Shrimp farms and other aquacultural development — sometimes replacing mangrove forests that protected against storm surges — have also caused significant erosion to the coastline nearest the capital. This means that Bangkok could be penned in by flooding from the sea in the south and monsoon floods from the north, said Chinvanno. “Specialists anticipate more intense storms in this region in the years to come.” Narong Raungsri, director of Bangkok’s Department of Drainage and Sewage, admitted that the city’s “weaknesses” stem from its small tunnels and the hyperdevelopment of neighborhoods. “What used to act as water basins are now no more,” Raungsri said. “Our system can only handle so much — we need to enlarge it.” Today, the government is scrambling to mitigate the effects of climate change, constructing a municipal canal network of up to 2,600 kilometers with pumping stations and eight underground tunnels to evacuate water if disaster strikes. Chulalongkorn University in 2017 also built in central Bangkok an 11-acre (4.5-hectare) park specially designed to drain several million liters of rain and redirect it so surrounding neighborhoods are not flooded. But these ad hoc fixes may not be enough. “We need a clear policy of land management,” said Greenpeace’s Buakamsri, adding that the need for increased green spaces is outweighed by developers’ interests. “The high price of land in Bangkok makes economic interests a priority.”
|
thailand;climate change;floods;environment;bangkok;paris agreement
|
jp0009810
|
[
"national",
"science-health"
] |
2018/09/02
|
Diabetes camp helps Japanese children take control of disease at young age
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During a summer camp in Daisen, Tottori Prefecture, children screamed with excitement as they ran toward incoming waves at a beach. They were no different from other kids enjoying themselves except that they had diabetes. Type 1 diabetes, previously known as juvenile diabetes because it often develops during childhood and adolescence, requires that patients monitor their blood glucose and self-administer insulin to keep it at a proper level. Child patients are no exception in that they must thoroughly understand the disease but will not have to limit their physical activities as long as they can carry out self-management. In Japan, somewhere between one and two of every 100,000 children are said to develop Type 1, in which the body does not produce insulin. More common is Type 2, in which insulin is produced but the body does not respond normally. The Daisen camp, organized by a patients’ group that is part of a diabetes association in adjacent Shimane Prefecture, is intended to teach children with diabetes how to manage their condition without the assistance of their parents. Similar events have been held across Japan by hospitals and patients’ associations. The Daisen camp started in 1974. This year’s camp, the 45th held, ran for eight days and involved 27 participants. Every day, participants checked their blood sugar as usual and received insulin injections. Since the children use a variety of medicines and insulin pens, many learned that different options were available to treat their condition. The camp also held classes on various topics related to the disease, from the correct way to inject insulin to how to deal with low blood sugar. The children also received urine, eye and dental checkups as they learned about the medical complications Type 1 diabetes can cause. But the camp was not just about learning. It also included athletics contests and recreational activities ranging from mountain climbing to ocean swimming. Not all of the children were used to self-management, but there was plenty of medical support: This year’s camp attracted 59 doctors, 38 dieticians and cooks as well as 30 nurses and pharmacists. A total of 55 student volunteers from universities and elsewhere intent on careers in medicine also helped out. “In the past, it was normal that diabetic children were not allowed to go on school excursions. More people now understand the disease, but nothing has changed about the fact that children have to take care of themselves without the help of others,” said Akira Takeda, a former adviser at Tottori Prefectural Central Hospital. “We want the children to know that, and that is why we have continued this event.” Nearly 400 people have attended the event over the years, and some participants and their parents stay in touch even after it is over, providing an occasion to create friendships that may last a lifetime. It is also customary for participants to return to the event as assistants once they become university students. Another key part of the program is nutritional guidance. This year, by looking at a meal planning guide explaining about nutritional balance and calories for certain foods, children were asked to decide what they wanted to eat for dinner on the day of an athletics contest. Knowing how one’s blood sugar will change when certain foods are consumed is important for managing diabetes. The children seem to be hungry for knowledge, even though what they are taught seems to include technical, rather than practical, content. A 12-year-old junior high school student participating in the program for the third time said he had learned new things from each camp. “The first time was tough, but fun. I was also able to do things I cannot usually do, such as mountain climbing,” he said, adding he signed up the second time not because of peer pressure, but because he wanted to learn more about nutrition. The camp also enables trained medical staff to learn more about children with diabetes, said Kazuyoshi Murao, a doctor specializing in the disease at Tottori Prefectural Central Hospital. Murao attends the camp every summer. “(Ordinary medical staffers) hardly ever get a chance to spend a whole day together with children living with diabetes. The camp allows us to learn things we won’t notice if we just carry out medical examinations, such as what they usually have on their minds or their way of living,” he said.
|
children;diabetes;tottori
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jp0009811
|
[
"business",
"economy-business"
] |
2018/09/20
|
Japan's household assets rise for eighth straight quarter thanks to positive performance of shares
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Financial assets held by Japanese households stood at ¥1.8 quadrillion ($16.5 trillion) at the end of June, rising for the eighth straight quarter, the Bank of Japan said Thursday. The figure climbed 2.2 percent from a year earlier thanks to an appreciation in share prices. By asset type, cash and deposits grew 2 percent to ¥971 trillion, and equities rose 8.8 percent to ¥203 trillion. Investment trusts edged up 0.9 percent to ¥73 trillion, while debt securities fell 1.7 percent to ¥23 trillion. Assets held by companies other than financial institutions also grew for the eighth consecutive quarter, rising 6.5 percent to ¥1.1 quadrillion. Meanwhile, the outstanding balance of Japanese government bonds increased 1.3 percent to ¥1.1 quadrillion, of which the BOJ held ¥465 trillion, up 6.5 percent. The central bank’s holdings accounted for 42.3 percent of the total, the largest share it has held since March 2005, when comparable data became available, though the pace of purchases under its monetary easing scheme has slowed recently.
|
stocks;assets
|
jp0009812
|
[
"national"
] |
2018/09/20
|
In wake of bribery scandal, Tokyo Medical University taps first female president
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A medical university in Tokyo that was recently found to have manipulated entrance exam scores to discriminate against female applicants has chosen its first female president, officials said Thursday. Yukiko Hayashi, head of pathophysiology at Tokyo Medical University’s School of Medicine, on Wednesday beat her sole rival — a male pediatrician — in an election among professors. She is expected to officially assume the top post next Tuesday upon approval by the board of regents. Her predecessor, Mamoru Suzuki, stepped down in July after his alleged involvement in a bribery case came to light. He was later indicted on suspicion of ensuring backdoor admission for a bureaucrat’s son in exchange for a government subsidy. Hayashi, an alumna of the school, has taught at the university since 2013 as a senior professor and has served as deputy head of the university hospital’s center for genetic diagnosis since 2016. The choice of a woman to lead the university after the scandal is believed to be an attempt to limit the damage to the school’s reputation and recover public trust. On Aug. 7 the scandal-ridden university admitted that it had deliberately curbed female enrollment for at least 12 years by deducting exam points for women. The score-rigging was aimed at keeping the ratio of women studying at the university at around 30 percent. The practice was conducted to prevent a shortage of doctors at affiliated hospitals under the rationale that female doctors tend to resign or take long leaves of absence after getting married or giving birth. The revelation caused outrage among female medical professionals. It also prompted the education ministry to investigate whether the practice was widespread across the country. The ministry survey showed earlier this month that men passed entrance exams more than women at nearly 80 percent of the 81 medical schools polled over the past six years. Tokyo Medical University also deducted points from male applicants who had failed the school’s annual entrance exam more than three times. The university shunned them, believing they also tend to fail the national exam for medical practitioners, which would lower the school’s ratio of successful applicants and hurt its reputation. The school also padded the scores of some applicants with alumni parents to garner donations. The manipulation came to light in the course of an internal investigation prompted by a bribery scandal which also led to the resignation of university Chairman Masahiko Usui in July. The school is set to choose his successor in the near future. In 2017, the World Economic Forum ranked Japan 114th out of 144 countries in terms of gender equality. Among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development member countries, Japan has the lowest ratio of female doctors at 20.4 percent, according to 2015 statistics of the Paris-based group of 36 nations.
|
universities;gender discrimination;doctors;tokyo medical university
|
jp0009813
|
[
"national"
] |
2018/09/20
|
Town in Yamaguchi Prefecture adopts petition that opposes deployment of land-based Aegis missile defense battery unit
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YAMAGUCHI - The mayor of a town in Yamaguchi Prefecture that was named in May as a potential host site for an Aegis Ashore missile defense battery unit, said Thursday that he opposes the deployment, after the municipality adopted a petition against the plan. “(The site) is close to a residential area, and it goes against our policy of building a town that cares for nature and people,” Mayor Norihiko Hanada said at a plenary session of the Abu Municipal Assembly, which unanimously adopted a petition earlier in the day that called for the Defense Ministry to retract its Aegis Ashore deployment plan. “It is the responsibility of the town mayor to remove any threat to residents’ safety,” he said. Hanada is the first municipal leader of a potential host site to officially oppose deployment of the anti-ballistic missile defense system. The Defense Ministry, which intends to deploy two batteries to counter the threat of North Korean missiles, has listed as candidate sites a Ground Self-Defense Force training area straddling Abu and Hagi in Yamaguchi Prefecture, and another exercise area in the city of Akita in the northern Tohoku region. “The equipment is necessary to protect our country from the threat of ballistic missiles,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said in Tokyo. “The deployment must be based on local support and it is important to sincerely respond to various concerns and requests,” he added. The ministry plans to survey the candidate sites to see whether their geography and ground composition makes them fit to host Aegis Ashore missile launchers and related facilities. The petition adopted by the municipal assembly, which was compiled by 16 local residents’ associations and four farming bodies, states that hosting the Aegis Ashore system would be “too big of a risk” as Abu could become a target for attacks, and agricultural products could suffer reputational damage due to electromagnetic waves used in radar. Japan decided to acquire the ground-based missile defense system in December. North Korea test-fired around 20 ballistic missiles in 2017, two of which flew over Japanese territory. While North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pledged to work toward denuclearization at a historic summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in June, Japan believes the North Korean missile and nuclear threat remains and is aiming to introduce the defense system in fiscal 2023.
|
defense;north korea;missiles;yamaguchi;aegis ashore;abu;norihiko hanada
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jp0009814
|
[
"national"
] |
2018/09/20
|
'Workation' concept catching on in overworked Japan
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Yoshimasa Higashihara, a 35-year-old worker at Japan Airlines Co., worked for half a day at a cafe while he was on vacation in Singapore this year, drafting documents for a corporate event that was scheduled to take place right after he returned from his vacation. “I feel like I can take a vacation (by doing this) even if there is something imminent at work. I can now plan a longer holiday,” said Higashihara. Higashihara is talking about “workation,” a phrase coined for working while on vacation, which JAL introduced last year. Under the new system, employees bring their computers and smartphones to their travel destination, allowing them to work from there. This way, they don’t need to cancel their vacation plans even if they need to attend an important meeting, and it encourages them to take longer vacations, a practice that is beginning to spread in Japan. Some, like Noriteru Ino, 44, who works for an IT firm, even worked at a summer resort for an entire month in August, bringing their family with them. Ino spent this summer in Kitanomori, Yamanashi Prefecture, in the hope of spending more time with his family. He mainly worked at a home he rented or a local library, which effectively meant no commute. Like other colleagues who work remotely outside big cities, Ino started working at 8 a.m. and left early in the evening to play with his children. Ino has been working remotely from a resort during the summer for the past three years. He first looks for housing he can rent for a month and then makes sure he has a stable internet connection. “It’s cool and comfortable. My children are also glad to be able to play out in the woods,” said Ino. But he’s also careful not to make mistakes, which is the downside of working on your own. In an attempt to cash in on the trend, municipalities are trying to lure employees on workation. Wakayama Prefecture, for example, offered workers in the Tokyo metropolitan area the chance to stay in the town of Shirahama for workations on a trial basis in July. Still, critics argue that people on vacation should take their days off entirely. Hiroshi Amano, an official at Wakayama Prefecture, said the prefecture wants to offer an option for workers who can’t take long vacations. “People who have experienced it say their work efficiency improved” when they had a better work-life balance, said Amano. An official at JAL noted workations are a last resort. “It’s a safety net for those who have work that can’t be rescheduled,” the official.
|
jal;labor;yamanashi;workation
|
jp0009815
|
[
"reference"
] |
2018/09/20
|
Yusaku Maezawa: Japan's corporate enfant terrible with the world's first ticket to the moon
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Call it a flashy billionaire’s whimsy or a stroke of PR genius. When Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk hinted on Twitter last week that a Japanese person could be the first tourist to go around the moon on board Space X’s Big Falcon Rocket, social media began buzzing with speculation. Names being bandied about included Takafumi Horie, the brash former president of Livedoor Co., and Daisuke Enomoto, another former Livedoor executive who came close to becoming a space tourist. But the consensus seemed to point to Yusaku Maezawa, the wine- and art-loving founder of Japan’s largest fashion e-commerce company, Start Today Co., which operates the online apparel retailer Zozotown. Horie himself was quick to deflect attention toward his friend when asked on Twitter whether it was him or Maezawa. “No, I’m not. Only @yousuck2020 can pay for the seat,” he said, referring to Maezawa’s Twitter handle. With the live-streamed announcement this week of Maezawa’s plan to fly to the moon along with a group of yet-to-be-decided artists he plans to sponsor, the former punk band drummer may have sealed his reputation as one of Japan’s savviest self-promoters. Here’s a look at the 42-year-old billionaire’s skyrocketing career. What is Start Today? It’s a fashion e-commerce company Maezawa founded when he was 22. Prior to launching his company, Maezawa was a drummer for a hardcore punk band signed with a major label. He had another passion, however: collecting imported punk and hardcore records and CDs, a hobby that turned into a mail order catalog business that was incorporated into Start Today in 1998. The firm went online in 2000 and began offering niche fashion apparel in addition to music before opening the shopping website Zozotown in 2004. Today the site features about 6,800 brands with over 650,000 items, and the company, which began with just four staff members, now employs nearly 1,000. With a market capitalization of about ¥1.03 trillion and annual sales topping ¥98 billion in the fiscal year ended March 31, Maezawa, who owns about 38 percent of Start Today’s shares, is Japan’s 18th-richest man, according to Forbes. How is Maezawa seen in Japan? Much like Horie once was, Maezawa is his generation’s corporate enfant terrible — an anomaly in the nation’s conservative business climate that prefers low-key executives who shun the spotlight. He is active on social media, where he shares glimpses of his lavish lifestyle, and the father of three children from past relationships is a regular on entertainment news, most recently for dating popular actress Ayame Goriki. He also owns a private jet and is known as an avid wine collector, owning thousands of bottles. Unlike many startups, which often opt to headquarter their companies in Tokyo, Start Today’s main office has remained in Chiba Prefecture, where Maezawa was born and raised. Maezawa bought the naming rights to the home of the Chiba Lotte Marines baseball team in 2016, renaming the ball park Zozo Marine Stadium. Maezawa made headlines in July by declaring his desire to own a baseball team, a move that would put him alongside other team-owning tech giants such as Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank Group Corp. and Hiroshi Mikitani’s Rakuten Inc. But perhaps Maezawa is best known for his love of art. Last year he broke the auction record for a U.S. artist by splurging $110.5 million on a painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat at Sotheby’s. That followed a $57.3 million purchase of another Basquiat piece at Christie’s in 2016. He plans to open a museum in Chiba where he can showcase his vast collection of art, furniture and antiques. Maezawa is also a visionary of sorts, preaching world peace and universal basic income. In an essay he shared last month, he laid out his dream of seeing a world devoid of money, a radical change he believes will alter people’s attitudes toward work and relationships for the better. “You don’t really find Maezawa’s type in Japan,” said technology writer Hitoshi Sato. “While Zozotown is a household name in Japan, it’s still relatively unknown elsewhere. His decision to fly to the moon will help boost his company’s brand recognition overseas.” What’s next for Start Today? In an interview with The Japan Times in March, Maezawa said he intends to make his company one of the world’s leading apparel retailers. To that end, Start Today has been opening overseas offices and promoting the Zozosuit, a skin-tight garment that can capture 15,000 precise body measurements. Linked via Bluetooth to a special app, the data from the suit’s sensors allows shoppers to find the best fit from the thousands of brands offered on the Zozotown website, as well as purchase made-to-order clothing from Zozo, the company’s private brand. Start Today will be renamed Zozo Inc. from October. “I think there’s a chance for us to become the No. 1 apparel company in the world,” he said in the interview.
|
space;spacex;yusaku maezawa;zozotown
|
jp0009816
|
[
"national"
] |
2018/09/18
|
Japan sees surge in foreign nursing care students
|
The number of foreign students enrolling in nursing care schools has nearly doubled this academic year amid a labor shortage in the heath care sector, according to the Japan Association of Training Institutions for Certified Care Workers. The rise in the number of foreign students started in 2015, and gained momentum following a legal amendment last September making it easier for certified caregivers to obtain residential status, the association said Monday. The latest figure means one in six nursing care students in Japan is foreign, as the number of Japanese students fell by half over the last five years to 5,714 as of April, according to a survey conducted by the association on 365 institutions with nursing care programs, including vocational schools, junior colleges and universities. Japanese students appear to be steering clear of care giving jobs. The sector’s average monthly wage is about ¥100,000 less than in other industries. Of the foreign students, the most were from Vietnam, at 542, followed by those from China, at 167; Nepal, at 95; Indonesia, at 70; and the Philippines, at 68. The government has been trying to expand its use of foreign workers in the sector, as it is expecting to see a shortage of 340,000 caregivers in 2025 when those in the boomer generation reach age 75 or above. But it is unclear whether the nation will be able to continue to cultivate growth in foreign student numbers, as other countries such as Germany, Britain, the United States and Singapore are also looking for foreign workers in the health care sector. Japan needs to provide a more attractive work environment, with benefits such as higher wages and support for child-rearing, to keep attracting foreign caregivers, said Miku Ishibashi of the Daiwa Institute of Research. “The increase in international student enrollment is a good thing, but at the same time we hope many Japanese students will become interested in becoming caregivers,” an official at the association said.
|
foreign students;caregivers;graying society
|
jp0009817
|
[
"national",
"science-health"
] |
2018/09/18
|
Telemedicine via smartphone apps gaining in popularity in Japan
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Remote medical consultation services that connect doctors and patients via smartphones and other devices are spreading across Japan, with their popularity boosted by recent deregulation of telemedicine. Under deregulation in April, health insurance can now be used for such consultations, and health care startups are expected to further accelerate the development of remote health care services that use artificial intelligence amid wider accumulation of health data on individuals. The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry unveiled its vision for developing and utilizing a health care database to support telemedicine applications for remote diagnosis, remote treatment and telesurgery in its proposal titled “The Japan Vision: Health Care 2035,” along with changes in the social environment, including a rapidly aging population and the advancement of medical technology. As an experiment for remote consultations, this reporter tried using the health care mobile app called curon, which is operated by Tokyo-based health care startup Micin Inc. After explaining via smartphone that “I have been taking large amounts of painkillers because I have been bothered by frequent headaches and fevers recently,” the doctor who appeared in a videophone call replied, “You’ll lessen the strain on your stomach and kidneys if you change your medication.” The service was convenient since it could be used at leisure without requiring a physical visit to a hospital. Even the one-on-one dialogue via remote consultation somehow felt closer than a physical face-to-face meeting with a doctor. Currently, about 650 health care institutions use curon, which specializes in consultations for chronic diseases, including diabetes, that require continuous medical care. In July, the app was upgraded with new functions that allow patients to share information with doctors that is collected at home, such as their blood pressure, amount of exercise and hours of sleep. Generally, AI maximizes its potential in data analysis when large amounts of information are collected. Seigo Hara, a doctor and chief executive officer of Micin, imagines that in the future, AI will advise doctors to help compensate for their differences in ability or lack of experience in certain fields to provide “the best treatment plan for each patient.” AI, for example, might advise doctors about when a patient might likely stop taking medication or appropriate ways for patients to take their meals. China has seen an advancement in the merger of medicine and information technology. Health care and technology company Ping An Good Doctor has about 1,000 doctors who provide 370,000 online remote consultations per day in cooperation with other hospitals. By accumulating data from 300 million cases and with the support of an AI-based diagnostic system, the company has been able to provide enormous amounts of medical consultations beyond what could ever be conceived at a conventional hospital. In a lecture in Tokyo in July, Oliver Wang, chairman and CEO of Ping An Good Doctor, said, “Telemedicine can solve health care problems in China, such as shortages of doctors and long waiting lines at hospitals.” He stressed his goal of having “a family doctor for every family.” In Japan, curon vies with other remote consultation service platforms such as MRT Inc.’s Pocket Doctor and Medley Inc.’s Clinics, among others. One person with knowledge of the industry predicts “a pivot to the utilization of health data with apps serving as a basis” and the possibility of developing a health care service using remote consultations similar to China’s system. Even so, a Japanese expert on health care also pointed out issues that can arise with the expansion of remote medical consultations. “There is a risk that rare diseases, not included in data, can be overlooked,” Akira Yokouchi of the Nomura Research Institute said, while at the same time expressing his hope for the improvement of the quality of health care.
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medicine;smartphones;apps
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jp0009818
|
[
"national",
"science-health"
] |
2018/09/18
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Elon Musk's SpaceX names Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa as first passenger for moon voyage
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In July, Yusaku Maezawa, the founder of Japan’s major online fashion mall Zozotown, was donning chic suits designed by his firm’s private brand to give big presentations about global business strategies. But while the earthly bounds of his firm’s success have yet to become clear, we now know that in 2023 the billionaire entrepreneur is scheduled to leave the planet altogether — dressed in a very different suit (albeit probably not one designed by Zozo). Elon Musk’s SpaceX said Tuesday that Maezawa, CEO of Chiba-based Start Today Co., will be one of the first people to embark on an adventure to the moon aboard its spacecraft, and that he will also be inviting artists as his guests. “Finally, I can tell you that I choose to go to the moon,” Maezawa, 42, said at an event Monday evening at the headquarters of Musk’s space technology company in the Los Angeles suburb of Hawthorne. Maezawa will be the first lunar traveler since the last U.S. Apollo mission in 1972. While Maezawa did not reveal the cost of the SpaceX voyage, he said that he had already paid a deposit. Musk said at the event that the amount was large enough to “have a material effect” on the program, and that it will assist the development of the ship and ultimately help normal people travel to other planets. Musk has estimated that the development of the Big Falcon Rocket system and the spacecraft would cost about $5 billion. Musk praised Maezawa’s decision to travel to the moon, spelling out the safety risks. “He is a very brave person to do this,” Musk said. “I hope this is really seen as a positive thing. “It’s dangerous, to be clear … This is not, you know, (a) walk in a park here. When you’re pushing the frontier, it’s not a sure thing; it’s not like just taking air flight somewhere. There’s some chances something could go wrong and I’ll do anything to minimize (the risks).” Musk said that the Big Falcon Rocket has room for a hundred but will use the space to store extra fuel and oxygen to ensure the travelers have various options for recovery if something goes wrong. “We’d better get this flight right,” Musk added. Maezawa won’t travel alone — he wants artists to keep him company. “In 2023, as the host, I’d like to invite six to eight artists from around the world on this mission,” Maezawa told reporters, adding that he wants to reach out to “top artists” including painters, sculptors, photographers, fashion designers, musicians and film directors. The crew will spend a week in space. Maezawa is going to cover the travel expenses of all the guests, Musk said. Maezawa explained that he didn’t want to miss the opportunity to see the moon up close. “Ever since I was a kid I have loved the moon, and staring at the moon filled my imagination,” he said. The tycoon said his trip will be an attempt to contribute to world peace, in the belief that art has a power to promote this. “I love art and I’m very much looking forward to seeing what different artists getting together can bring to life,” Maezawa said of his expectations regarding the trip. Maezawa’s guests will be asked to create artworks reflecting their experience after returning to the Earth, Maezawa said. He believes the artworks will become a legacy for the entire human race. Maezawa has been known for his lavish spending, especially on art. He was ranked by Forbes as the 18th richest man in Japan this year, and owns works by famed artists such as Picasso, Giacometti and Calder. Last spring, he bought a 1982 painting of a skull by Jean-Michel Basquiat for a record-breaking $110.5 million.
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space;elon musk;spacex;yusaku maezawa
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jp0009819
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"science-health-asia-pacific"
] |
2018/09/27
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It's not that bad! Science, tourism clash over Australia's Great Barrier Reef
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SYDNEY - A dispute is raging over Australia’s warming-damaged Great Barrier Reef, with firms worried that scientists’ apocalyptic warnings are scaring visitors out of the water. Every year, more than 2 million snorkel-wielding tourists head to Australia’s famed coral ecosystem, generating revenues of $4.3 billion (5.9 billion Australian dollars) and supporting 64,000 local jobs. But damage done by higher temperatures — which turn patches of the reef ashen white — has threatened to put a break on the number of tourists willing to wrestle their way into a wet suit. There was surprise then, when the Reef and Rainforest Research Centre recently published a markedly more optimistic report, heralding “significant signs of recovery” at major dive sites around Cairns and prompting a flurry of upbeat news coverage. If the report’s findings seemed out of kilter with other studies about the reef, that was by design. It was part of an effort to show that not all of the Great Barrier Reef is an aquatic wasteland, according to Col McKenzie of tourism industry lobby group AMPTO, which helped carry out the research. “Overall, are we seeing a drop in visitation because of the negative press, absolutely we are, there’s no doubt about that,” McKenzie said. He suggested visitor numbers to the reef and nearby islands had dropped by 10 percent in 2017 and were on track to plunge by a further 15 percent this year. Although government data shows that the number of visitors to the broader region has actually increased, those figures are older and don’t include coral-viewing activities. McKenzie said it was vital to get the message out that some areas of the massive ecosystem are still teeming with color and life. “What people miss with our reef system is … it’s a massive structure,” he said. His comments are the latest salvo in a battle between ecologists and the tourism industry, as they struggle to come to terms with competing interests and new realities on the reef. Professor Terry Hughes of James Cook University, who leads the surveys of bleached corals, cautioned that while some damaged coral regain their color within several months, more badly damaged reefs can take a decade to recover. “It’s very early days yet,” he told AFP, describing a patchy recovery that makes generalizations difficult. “Basically we are in year one in the middle of the reef, or year two in the northern reefs, in the decade-long process of recovery.” The government’s Australian Institute of Marine Science says coral cover has “continued to decline due to the cumulative impacts of multiple, severe disturbances over the past four years.” The same institute showed that apart from the risk of extreme sea surface temperatures — with some areas more affected, the reef is also grappling with the impacts of farming run-off, development and severe tropical cyclones. Even within government there are conflicting interests at play, as well as rolling debates about how best to respond. Canberra has — so far successfully — urged UNESCO to hold off listing the reef as an endangered World Heritage site, fearing it would have an adverse economic impact and lead to tougher restrictions on local industry. It has allocated some $1.4 billion to protect the site, but at the same time backed a huge coal project nearby by Indian mining giant Adani and moved away from legislating climate targets under the Paris Accord. A parliamentary inquiry was recently set up to investigate why former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull gave nearly half a billion dollars to a small business-backed reef charity without a competitive tender process. Australians also appear divided on damage done to the reef. Only half of the country thinks that climate change is already causing the destruction of reef, according to an annual Ipsos poll on environmental issues. Whichever way the political winds blow, scientists like Hughes are determined to document changes to one of the world’s most biodiverse regions. But that remains a moving target. “It’s a critical recovery period,” Hughes said. “The unknown, of course, is whether we’ll get another bleaching event, which potentially could come as soon as early next year if we get a heat wave.”
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nature;oceans;australia;climate change;reefs;great barrier reef
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jp0009820
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"science-health-asia-pacific"
] |
2018/09/27
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Scientists look to Chinese soup ingredients to treat dementia
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SYDNEY, / SHANGHAI - The ingredients in this experimental brain treatment may be better known to enhance cooking, not cognition. Chinese scientists have borrowed three ingredients from its traditional medicine practice — a 3,000-year-old approach that aims to regulate the flow of energy in the body — and used modern pharmaceutical technology to devise a formula to tackle dementia, which has no cure. The resulting blend of ginkgo biloba, ginseng and saffron extracts, called sailuotong (SLT), is due to enter a late-stage study in Melbourne this month, and a larger clinical trial to validate its impact is slated to begin in China later this year. The herbal mix offers an untrodden avenue into a research field riddled with failures. Success for SLT could bring the first approved medicine to treat the vascular causes of dementia, a form of age-related deterioration that resembles Alzheimer’s disease. But its backers’ hopes extend beyond dementia: They seek to validate a new approach to pharmaceutical innovation combining the ancient wisdom of traditional medicines with the scientific rigor of modern drug development. “If we’re successful in treating vascular dementia, it will be a good example of how other traditional Chinese medicines could potentially be developed,” said Zhang Huajian, the Beijing-based director of clinical research at China Shineway Pharmaceutical Group Ltd. Dementia, afflicting about 50 million people worldwide, is a compelling target. Despite hundreds of clinical trials investigating potential treatments in recent decades, no new drug has been approved since 2003. The five medications sold for Alzheimer’s, the most common cause of dementia, provide only modest relief of symptoms. None can slow the disease’s progression. There are no specific drugs for vascular dementia, which SLT targets. Chinese herbal ingredients are already used in some important medicines, including the main treatment for malaria, thanks to a tradition preserved in texts such as Huangdi Neijing, the most important book of ancient Chinese medicine. The group that invented SLT is also working along a similar route to develop treatments for diabetes and related ailments. While modern pharmaceuticals tend to work on single targets, herbal extracts used in traditional Chinese medicine can interact with the body along multiple pathways, according to Zhang. For SLT, researchers isolated the chemical components from each ingredient, identified and characterized their biological activity, and then studied multiple combinations to determine the optimal formulation. Each capsule contains 10 active components, according to the drug’s inventor, Liu Jianxun, director of the research center at the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences’ Xiyuan Hospital in Beijing. Liu and colleagues documented how and where each component is taken up in the body, as well as the effects and mechanisms of action. It is a level of analysis that has tended to elude traditional Chinese medicines, but which is needed for quality control and standardization, said Liu, who began working on the project in 1999, a decade before SLT was licensed to Shineway. “Traditional Chinese medicine has advantages in treating geriatric and chronic diseases,” Liu said over the phone from Beijing, where he is also director of the standardized Chinese medicine pharmacology laboratory with China’s Ministry of Science and Technology. “We want to develop better medicines for dementia, regardless of the cause.” Each of SLT’s ingredients has been used individually in traditional medicine, said Dennis Chang, a clinical pharmacologist at the University of Western Sydney’s NICM Health Research Institute. Chang is chief investigator of the final phase study in Australia. Ginkgo biloba is taken to improve neurocognition and Panax ginseng is used as a “wonder herb” whose benefits include boosting memory and response. Saffron, a spice derived from the flower of Crocus sativus and used to flavor chicken soup in China, has a reputation for aiding blood circulation and offering antidepressant effects, he said. In SLT, the combination is designed to work to improve blood circulation and perfusion in the brain, reduce inflammation and enhance communication between brain cells, according to Chang. In vascular dementia, brain cells are killed by small strokes and other injuries that impede oxygen supply, causing changes in memory, thinking and behavior. While dead neurons can’t be recovered, the aim is to preserve and possibly increase brain function by improving the networks linking healthy cells, Chang said. The same benefits may apply across other forms of dementia, since vascular changes are found in the brains of a large proportion of deceased sufferers on autopsy. “We never say we will try to find a cure, but that there will be a significant slowdown of disease progression — that’s the hope,” Chang said. A 16-week pilot study of SLT in 17 vascular dementia patients used single-photon emission computerized tomography scans to look for changes in blood circulation in the brain and found improvements in areas that control cognition, language comprehension, and working memory, he said. That supported a mid-stage study in China, where SLT was found to improve cognition and daily functioning in patients with mild-to-moderate vascular dementia. The randomized, controlled study in Australia will enroll 230 patients, each of whom will take two capsules containing either SLT or a placebo twice a day for a year. The China one aims to recruit about 500 patients, according to Shineway’s Zhang. Studies in both countries are expected to be completed in 2020 with a possible market launch in 2021, Shineway said in May. SLT would probably cost about 5,000 yuan ($730) for one year of treatment, Zhang said. “This is a hopeful study,” said Amy Brodtmann, a cognitive neurologist who heads the vascular neurodegeneration research laboratory at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health in Melbourne. Brodtmann plans to enroll patients in the SLT trial. One advantage, she said, is that the active ingredients are “used and taken in everyday life all the time. The chances of an adverse outcome are incredibly low.”
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china;medicine;aging;dementia;alzheimer 's disease;mental health;tradition
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jp0009821
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"social-issues-asia-pacific"
] |
2018/09/27
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From chat room to courtroom: China's #MeToo movement takes legal turn with case involving TV star
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BEIJING - When a former intern at China’s state broadcaster wrote in July about being groped and forcibly kissed by one of the country’s most recognizable television stars, her story ignited a social media firestorm in a country where a backlash against sexual harassment was growing. Now her case is set to go before the Chinese legal system. The 25-year-old former intern said she had been informed Tuesday by a court in Beijing’s Haidian district that she was being sued in a civil case for damaging Zhu Jun’s reputation and mental well-being. Also named in the suit was Xu Chao, a friend who had been championing the case online. At her request, Reuters is withholding the name of the accuser and identifying her by her online name, Xianzi. Zhu is demanding that the two women apologize online and in a national newspaper, pay compensation of 655,000 yuan ($95,254.72) and cover the costs of legal fees for the case, according to a copy of the filing seen by Reuters. Descriptions of Zhu forcibly kissing and groping Xianzi were “pure fiction” and had caused “grave damage” to Zhu’s public image and his mental health, according to the filing, which was dated Sept. 18 and is not available to the public. In response, Xianzi applied to file her own civil suit against Zhu on Tuesday for “infringement of personality rights,” she said. Personality rights is a broad term used within Chinese law to refer to personal dignity rights, but does not specifically mention sexual harassment. “I decided that you have to use the law to prove what you said happened,” Xianzi said on Wednesday. Zhu, 54, whose lawyers have publicly denied the allegations, did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Zhu’s lawyer issued a statement earlier this month saying he had sued the two women. Reached by telephone, Xu confirmed the filing of the lawsuit. China’s justice and public security ministries did not respond to requests for comment. China does not have a law that specifically prohibits sexual harassment. However, on Aug. 27 China’s parliament announced that it was considering adding provisions to a civil code, expected to be passed in 2020, that would allow a victim to file a civil suit against someone who uses words, actions or exploits a subordinate relationship to sexually harass them. The changes would also require employers to take measures to prevent, stop and handle complaints about sexual harassment. Vague laws, culture of silence In recent months, women have made several allegations of sexual abuse against powerful men, including prominent university professors, the head of China’s Buddhist association and leading figures in the media and at nongovernmental organizations, which have reverberated across social media in China. That intensified with the arrest and release by U.S. police last month of Richard Liu, chief executive of Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com , on a rape allegation. Liu has not been charged and through a lawyer has denied any wrongdoing. Up to now, vague laws, patchy implementation and a lack of understanding among lawyers, judges, police and the public have hampered attempts to handle cases through the courts, and deterred many victims from filing suits, according to activist groups. The lack of a clear definition of sexual harassment, or an agreed upon standard for addressing complaints, entrenches a “culture of silence,” according to the nonprofit Beijing Yuanzhong Gender Development Center. The group said that while workplace sexual harassment is widespread in China, only 34 specific cases have been logged in the official court case database since 2010. Household name Xianzi was a 21-year-old intern at state broadcaster CCTV when she said she met Zhu, who is famous across China for hosting an annual spring festival extravaganza, one of China’s top-rated programs. In an interview, Xianzi said she had been alone in a dressing room with Zhu when he asked her if she wanted to work for the channel after her internship, before trying to take her hand on the pretext of reading her fortune. Despite her protests, Xianzi said, Zhu groped her under her skirt before pulling her head and forcibly kissing her, only stopping when interrupted by knocking on the door. CCTV did not respond to requests for comment. Xianzi said she was moved to act after reading accounts of sexual assault and harassment posted on Chinese social media by women emboldened by the country’s fledgling #MeToo movement. In July, Xianzi, now a screenwriter, wrote about her own experience on WeChat, sharing it with a small circle of friends. When Xu, her friend, shared the post on the Weibo platform, it went viral. On Tuesday, Xianzi returned to social media. “Still a bit angry, this is Xianzi, hello everyone, I’m getting ready for a fight,” she wrote on Weibo.
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china;media;courts;rights;women;sex crimes
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jp0009822
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"social-issues-asia-pacific"
] |
2018/09/27
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India's top court rules adultery is no longer a crime
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NEW DELHI - Adultery is no longer a crime, India’s top court ruled Thursday, declaring a colonial-era law that punished the offense with jail time unconstitutional and discriminatory against women. The more than century-old law prescribed that any man who slept with a married woman without her husband’s permission had committed adultery, a crime carrying a five-year prison term in the conservative country. A petitioner had challenged the court to strike down the law, describing it as arbitrary and discriminatory against women. “Thinking of adultery from a point of view of criminality is a retrograde step,” unanimously declared the five-judge bench of the Supreme Court. Women could not file a complaint under the archaic law nor be held liable for adultery themselves, making it solely the realm of men. The court said it deprived women of dignity and individual choice and “gives license to the husband to use women as a chattel.” “It disregards the sexual autonomy which every woman possesses and denies agency to a woman in a matrimonial tie,” said Supreme Court Justice D. Y. Chandrachud. “She is subjugated to the will of her spouse.” It was the second time this month the court overturned Victorian-era laws governing the sexual choices of India’s 1.25 billion citizens. Earlier this month, the court struck a ban on gay sex introduced by British rulers in 1861. The bench argued that Section 377 had become “a weapon for harassment” of homosexuals and “history owes an apology to the members of this community and their families.” On adultery, government lawyers argued it should remain a crime as it threatens the institution of marriage, and caused harm to children and families. But in its ruling, the court said extramarital affairs — while still a valid ground for divorce — were a private matter between adults. Prashant Bhushan, a lawyer in the Supreme Court, said watershed decisions on gay sex and adultery had shown the judges’ “adherence to liberal values and the constitution.” “Another fine judgment by the SC,” he Tweeted after Thursday’s ruling. In 1954, the court upheld adultery as a crime arguing “it is commonly accepted that it is the man who is the seducer, and not the woman.” But in their ruling on Thursday, the judges said this narrative no longer applied, noting also that Britain did away with its own laws penalising adultery long ago. “Man being the seducer and women being the victim no longer exits. Equality is the governing principle of a system. Husband is not the master of the wife,” the verdict added.
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india;courts;sex;marriage;adultery
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jp0009823
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"crime-legal-asia-pacific"
] |
2018/09/27
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China executes man who stabbed nine children to death
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BEIJING - A man whose brutal knife attack left nine schoolchildren dead and injured 12 others was executed in China on Thursday. Zhao Zewei was sentenced to death in July for the massacre — reportedly motivated by a grudge against the school in northern Shaanxi province, which he had attended as a child. The defendant “intentionally deprived others of their lives,” the court that handed down the decision said in a statement on its official social media account. “Because his work and life were not going well, Zhao Zewei held a grudge in his heart and took it out on innocents,” it said. The April attack on the Number Three Middle School came as children were heading home from class. At the time, Zhao told police he had been “bullied” when he attended the school as a child, “hated” his classmates and decided to use a “dagger” to exact revenge. Knife attacks are not uncommon in China. Incidents have targeted schoolchildren in the past, forcing authorities to increase security around schools. In January 2017, a man armed with a kitchen knife stabbed and wounded 11 children at a kindergarten in the southern Guangxi Zhuang region. The previous February, a knife-wielding assailant wounded 10 children on the southern island of Hainan, before committing suicide. The man had entered the school in the afternoon, claiming that he was there to pick up his son.
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china;murder;children;schools
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jp0009825
|
[
"world"
] |
2018/09/11
|
Millions on U.S. East Coast prepare for potentially catastrophic Hurricane Florence
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RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA - With mandatory evacuations already issued for parts of three East Coast states, millions of Americans are preparing for what could become one of the most catastrophic hurricanes to hit the Eastern Seaboard in decades. Carrying winds of up to 140 mph (220 kph) as a Category 4 storm, Hurricane Florence is expected to strengthen and become a Category 5 storm Tuesday. It’s then forecast to close in on North or South Carolina on Thursday, hitting a stretch of coastline that’s vulnerable to rising sea levels due to climate change. “Please be prepared, be careful and be SAFE!” President Donald Trump tweeted Monday evening. South Carolina’s governor ordered the state’s entire coastline to be evacuated starting at noon Tuesday and predicted that 1 million people would flee. And Virginia’s governor ordered a mandatory evacuation for some residents of low-lying coastal areas, while some coastal counties in North Carolina have done the same. The storm’s first effects were already apparent on barrier islands as dangerous rip currents hit beaches and seawater flowed over a state highway. For many people, the challenge could be finding a safe refuge: If Florence slows to a crawl just off the coast, it could bring torrential rains to the Appalachian mountains and as far away as West Virginia, causing flash floods, mudslides and other dangerous conditions. The storm’s potential path also includes half a dozen nuclear power plants, pits holding coal-ash and other industrial waste, and numerous hog farms that store animal waste in massive open-air lagoons. Airlines, including American and Southwest, have started letting passengers change travel plans that take them into the hurricane’s possible path. National Hurricane Center Director Ken Graham warned that Florence was forecast to linger over the Carolinas once it reaches shore. People living well inland should prepare to lose power and endure flooding and other hazards, he warned. “It’s not just the coast,” Graham said. “When you stall a system like this and it moves real slow, some of that rainfall can extend well away from the center.” A warm ocean is the fuel that powers hurricanes, and Florence will be moving over waters where temperatures are peaking near 85 degrees (30 Celsius), hurricane specialist Eric Blake wrote. And with little wind shear to pull the storm apart, Florence’s hurricane wind field was expected to expand over the coming days, increasing its storm surge and inland wind threats. By 11 p.m. Monday local time, Florence was centered about 1,085 miles (1,745 kilometers) east-southeast of Cape Fear, North Carolina, and moving west at 13 mph (20 kph). Its center will move between Bermuda and the Bahamas on Tuesday and Wednesday and approach the coast of South Carolina or North Carolina on Thursday, the National Hurricane Center said. Two other storms were spinning in the Atlantic. Hurricane Isaac was expected to lose strength as it reaches the Caribbean, and Helene, much farther out to sea, may veer northward into the open ocean as the 2018 hurricane season reaches its peak. In the Pacific, Hurricane Olivia triggered warnings for multiple Hawaiian islands as it blew west toward an arrival over the state as soon as late Tuesday or early Wednesday. Preparations for Florence were intensifying up and down the densely populated coast. Since reliable record-keeping began more than 150 years ago, North Carolina has been hit by only one Category 4 hurricane: Hazel, with 130 mph winds, in 1954. The parking lot has been full for three days at the Ace Hardware store in coastal Calabash, North Carolina, where manager Tom Roberts said he sold 150 gas cans in two hours Monday, along with generators, plywood, rope, manual can openers, sand bags and a plethora of other items. “I’ve been doing this since 1983,” Roberts said as he completed an order for another 18-wheeler full of supplies. “This is the craziest one.” Many newcomers have moved to the coast in the nearly 19 years since the last strong hurricane — Floyd — threatened the area. Roberts said he’s telling them to get out of town. “I’m telling them to go inland, but I’m worried about the rain and tornadoes too,” Roberts said. Several meteorologists said Florence could do what Hurricane Harvey did last year over Texas, dumping days of rain, although not quite as bad. “I think this is very Harvey-esque,” said University of Miami hurricane expert Brian McNoldy. “Normally, a landfalling tropical cyclone just keeps on going inland, gradually dissipating and raining itself out. But on rare occasions, the steering patterns can line up such that a storm slips into a dead zone between troughs and ridges.” On North Carolina’s Outer Banks, Dawn Farrow Taylor, 50, was gathering photos and important documents and filling prescriptions Monday before heading inland. She grew up on the island chain, and says this will be only the second time she’s evacuated. “I don’t think many of us have ever been through a Category 4. And out here we’re so fragile. We’re just a strip of land — we’re a barrier island,” she said. In announcing his evacuation order, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said an estimated 1 million people would be fleeing the coast. Eastbound lanes of Interstate 26 heading into Charleston and U.S. 501 heading into Myrtle Beach will be reversed when the order takes effect. An evacuation order from Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam applies to about 245,000 people, including parts of the Hampton Roads area and Eastern Shore. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said his state was “in the bullseye” of the storm and urged people to “get ready now.”
|
flooding;disasters;hurricanes;hurricane florence
|
jp0009826
|
[
"asia-pacific"
] |
2018/09/11
|
China tells U.N. rights chief to respect its sovereignty after Xinjiang comments
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BEIJING - China on Tuesday called for U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet to respect its sovereignty, after she urged it to allow monitors into the restive far western region of Xinjiang and expressed concern about the situation there. China has said Xinjiang faces a serious threat from Islamist militants and separatists who plot attacks and stir up tension between the mostly Muslim Uighur minority who call the region home and members of the ethnic Han Chinese majority. Last month, a United Nations rights panel said it had received credible reports that up to one million ethnic Uighurs may be held in extralegal detention in Xinjiang, and called for them to be freed. In Bejing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang signalled that China did not want the United Nations to get involved. “China urges the U.N. human rights high commissioner and office to scrupulously abide by the mission and principles of the U.N. charter, respect China’s sovereignty, fairly and objectively carry out its duties, and not listen to one-sided information,” he told a daily news briefing. The government has previously blamed anti-China forces for being behind criticism of its policies in Xinjiang. During the past two years, authorities have dramatically stepped up security and surveillance there, likened by critics to near martial law conditions, with police checkpoints, re-education centers and mass DNA collection. Bachelet’s appeal for access came as New York-based Human Rights Watch said the Turkic Uighur minority faced arbitrary detentions, daily curbs on religious practice and “forced political indoctrination” in a mass security crackdown. In her maiden speech to the U.N. Human Rights Council, Bachelet said the panel had brought to light “deeply disturbing allegations of large-scale arbitrary detentions of Uighurs and other Muslim communities, in so-called re-education camps across Xinjiang”. Reports had been received of “patterns of human rights violations in other regions”, added Bachelet, a former Chilean president, calling for Beijing to permit access for her staff across China, saying she expected discussions to start soon.
|
china;rights;u.n .;uighurs;michelle bachelet
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jp0009827
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"social-issues-asia-pacific"
] |
2018/09/11
|
In sign of further easing of childbirth controls, China shuts family planning offices
|
BEIJING - China’s health commission is getting rid of three offices that were previously dedicated to family planning, it announced late on Sunday, the latest signal that Beijing may further reduce restrictions on childbirth to combat an aging population. State-media has hinted in recent weeks that China, the world’s most populous nation, may be preparing to end its decadeslong policy of determining the number of children that couples can have. Last month, speculation of a further easing mounted after a new stamp unveiled by China Post featured a family of two pigs with three cheerful piglets, followed weeks later by a draft of the civil code dropping all mention of family planning. Three offices responsible for grass roots implementation of family planning policies have been removed from the new structure of China’s National Health Commission, according to an announcement from the commission. Instead, a new office for “population monitoring and family development” will be responsible for “improving birth policy and to organize implementation, and to establish and improve the system of extraordinary family assistance for family planning.” The commission still retains responsibility for “family planning management and facilitation work” and for the “improvement of family planning policy,” it said. “Family planning” was dropped from the commission’s name in March, as part of a sweeping government overhaul to reform government departments and reduce policymaking red tape. China has loosened its family planning policy as its population greys, birth rates slow and its workforce declines. In 2016, the government allowed couples in urban areas to have two children, replacing a controversial one-child rule enforced since 1979. While China’s population growth fell well below the world average under the one-child rule, Chinese policymakers have become wary of falling birth rates and a rapidly growing aging population. As of 2017, people aged 60 and above accounted for about 16.2 percent of China’s population, compared to 7.4 percent in 1950, according to the U.N. Population Division. Bloomberg reported in May that China was planning to scrap all limits on the number of children a family can have by the end of 2018.
|
china;children;family planning
|
jp0009828
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"social-issues-asia-pacific"
] |
2018/09/11
|
A rare look behind the wire in Australia's 'Pacific Gulag' on Nauru
|
YAREN, NAURU - A cluster of prefabricated huts pokes out of Nauru’s sweltering rocky landscape to reveal refugee settlement camp No. 5, a place defined by desperation and rarely visited by outsiders. Although access to the weed-infested camp is severely restricted, with the Nauru government seeking to prevent journalists from visiting the area, AFP recently managed to enter and speak with detainees. Inhabitants are there against their will, the subjects of a controversial deal between this island’s government and authorities in Canberra keen to avoid boat people setting foot on Australian shores. Most are asylum-seekers who tried to reach Australia by sea but were detained and processed in compounds run by the Nauru government and paid for by Canberra under its hard-line immigration policy. A swastika spray-painted on a large water tank alongside initials “ABF” make clear the inhabitants’ views on the Australian Border Force, which helps oversee them. Many are willing to speak only on condition of anonymity, but they describe existence on this remote speck of land in the South Pacific as devoid of hope, filled with desperation and of families living with the unbearable cloud of suicide attempts. A refugee from Iran — who asked not to be named — worries about himself, but above all about his children. His 12-year-old daughter once doused herself in petrol and threatened to set herself alight, after struggling to cope with spending half a decade and almost half her life on Nauru. “She took the lighter, she was screaming ‘Leave me alone! Leave me alone! I want to kill myself, I want to die,’ ” he said. He managed to wrest the lighter from her hands, but the despair that drove the girl to contemplate suicide still hangs over the lives of this family of four. Her 13-year-old brother said in a monotone: “I have no school, I have no future, I have no life.” Somali asylum-seeker Khadar Hrisi watches over his depressed wife like a hawk, afraid even to go to sleep because of her repeated suicide attempts, including one just a few days earlier. He took her to the nearest hospital, which is funded by Australia, but they received little help. “Last night, they called the police and they kicked us (out of) … the hospital,” he says. Refugees say medical services are limited and habitually overwhelmed because so many inhabitants suffer from psychological illnesses. Nauru’s roughly 900 detainees, including 100 children, often wait years to find out if they have been deemed genuine refugees. Even if they are, Australia still refuses to take them, leaving them stranded in the settlement camps unable to leave the 21 square-kilometer (8 square-mile) island they have come to regard as an open-air prison. ‘Stolen years’ A Refugee Council of Australia report released last week to coincide with the Pacific Islands Forum summit on Nauru said the mental health of many detainees was buckling because they could see no end to their plight. “Those who have seen this suffering say it is worse than anything they have seen, including in war zones … people are broken,” the report said. Rights activists say detainees endure harsh conditions including substandard housing in scorching heat, with reports also detailing allegations of physical and sexual abuse. Reporters Without Borders in August also accused the Australian government of failing to defend journalistic freedoms in relation to the camp, which it described as a “Pacific Gulag” and “Australia’s Guantanamo.” However, Canberra denies mistreatment and says offshore processing is needed to stop deaths occurring when people-smugglers cram asylum-seekers into rickety boats for the treacherous voyage to try to reach Australia. Nauru President Baron Waqa has dismissed the mental health fears and says the refugees can move freely around the island. “They’re provided all the services that are available to the Nauruans and we live together very happily,” he told reporters. But detainees say their relations with Nauruans are deteriorating and claim that they have been the target of violence and burglary at the hands of locals. The camp is an economic lifeline for Nauru, which has a population of 11,000 and scant natural resources. However, some Nauruans say they have yet to see any benefits from the Australian-bankrolled camps, with one young man saying: “We do not know where this money goes.” Many Nauruans live in dire conditions themselves and do not understand why the detainees are complaining. For their part, the refugees say they would be ready to move anywhere, as long as it meant their search for a home was finally over. “The Australian government has stolen five years of our life,” said the Iranian father whose daughter attempted suicide and whose son spends his days in depressed resignation.
|
australia;rights;refugees;mental health;nauru
|
jp0009829
|
[
"national",
"social-issues"
] |
2018/09/11
|
73.8% of Japan workers in the service sector are harassed by customers: survey
|
A labor union survey showed Tuesday that 73.8 percent of Japan workers in the service sector have faced harassment from customers. Of them, over 90 percent felt stressed due to such unreasonable acts, according to the survey by the Japanese Federation of Textile, Chemical, Food, Commercial, Service and General Workers’ Unions, or UA Zensen. The proportion of male workers who have faced harassing customer behavior stood at 79.5 percent, and that of female workers at 69.7 percent. Use of abusive language was most cited, by 24.8 percent, followed by threats or intimidation, by 21 percent, and repetitive complaints, by 14.9 percent. In one of the reported cases, a worker was given a death threat from a customer, according to the survey. In other cases, a customer put a lit cigarette on a worker’s skin and another pointed a cooking knife at an employee. Various cases of sexually harassing behavior were also reported, including the use of offensive language and physical contact. “It’s important for companies to draw up measures to protect their employees,” said Jiro Shimo, deputy chief of UA Zensen. “Society as a whole should promote necessary measures, including the establishment of related legislation.” The survey was conducted in February-May, with 30,396 workers from 95 unions giving valid answers.
|
harassment;labor;abuse
|
jp0009830
|
[
"national",
"science-health"
] |
2018/09/11
|
Rubella infection spikes in Japan, with many cases in Tokyo area
|
The number of rubella patients reported in the nation this year stands at 362, nearly four times the number seen the previous year, with many of the cases located in Tokyo and its vicinity, the National Institute of Infectious Diseases said Tuesday. The institute is warning a potential rubella outbreak could even affect the 2020 Games, and is urging people — mainly men in their 30s to 50s — to get vaccinations, as many have not been vaccinated fully against the disease. The latest report through Sept. 2 showed 75 cases had been newly reported in a week, down from 97 the previous week. Of these, 28 were in Tokyo, followed by 11 in Chiba Prefecture, eight in Kanagawa Prefecture, seven in Aichi Prefecture and five each in Ibaraki and Saitama prefectures. Rubella is highly contagious and is often transmitted through coughing and sneezing. It can have a serious health impact if contracted by women in the early stages of pregnancy as it tends to cause birth defects such as heart disorders, hearing impairments and cataracts in babies. Vaccination is effective in preventing infection, but women who are already pregnant cannot be vaccinated as the vaccine itself is feared to have an impact on the child. Japan saw a major rubella outbreak in 2013, with over 10,000 people infected. Cases of infection have since declined but there has been a resurgence since late July this year, with many of the patients being men in their 30s and older.
|
pregnancy;rubella;vaccinations
|
jp0009831
|
[
"national",
"science-health"
] |
2018/09/11
|
Japan's shut-in elderly men more likely to suffer from undernourishment
|
Elderly men who go out less than once a week are more likely to suffer from undernourishment than those who leave their house more often, a 2017 health ministry survey revealed Tuesday. There was little difference in the nutritional status for elderly women, regardless of how often they go out. “Elderly women tend to be more active while staying at home, doing their household chores,” the ministry said. “Men who don’t go out often tend to be physically inactive and don’t use up a lot of energy. They may be eating less as a result,” it added. The share of elderly men who said they go out once a week or more stood at 94.8 percent for the 65-74 age bracket and 92.6 percent for those 75 or older. For women, the share came to 97.2 percent and 87.5 percent, respectively. Of people aged 65 or older, those who are undernourished — defined by the survey as people with a body mass index of 20 or lower — totaled 12.5 percent for men and 19.6 percent for women, the survey said. Of the undernourished portion, men who said they leave their home at least once a week accounted for 11.5 percent and those who said they go out less came to 28.6 percent. There was little difference for women, standing at 19.5 percent and 18.6 percent, respectively. The annual health survey studied the daily lives and the muscle volume of the elderly for the first time. Among men and women aged 60 or older, the muscle volume in the four extremities is more likely to be larger for those who take more protein and spend more time doing physical work. “It’s important (for the elderly) to pay attention to both diet and exercise in their daily lives,” the ministry said. The survey was conducted in November last year and covered 5,149 randomly selected households nationwide, of which 3,076 households answered.
|
health;elderly
|
jp0009832
|
[
"reference"
] |
2018/09/11
|
U.S. base relocation top issue in Okinawa gubernatorial election
|
OSAKA - Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga’s death last month at age 67 from pancreatic cancer came just over three months before the originally scheduled gubernatorial election and just days after he announced the prefectural government would take steps toward retracting permission for landfill work related to a new U.S. military base in Henoko, in northern Okinawa Island. Onaga, who was elected in November 2014 by promising no new base would be built in the prefecture, had been ill for months. At the time of his death, it was uncertain if he would run again or designate a successor to carry on the legal battle with the central government over Henoko. Official campaigning kicks off Thursday for the election that was rescheduled for Sept. 30. Who are the main candidates? The front-runners include Atsushi Sakima, 54, who stepped down as mayor of Ginowan, in central Okinawa Island, to run for governor. Ginowan is home to U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, and many of its functions are to be relocated to Henoko, in northern Okinawa, where the new U.S. base is to be built. The other main challenger is Denny Tamaki, 58, a Lower House member representing the Okinawa No. 3 district in the northern part of the main island, which includes the city of Nago, where Henoko is located, as well as the city of Okinawa. Who is supporting the candidates and what are their positions and strategies on the base issue? Sakima has the strong support of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the Liberal Democratic Party, and is said to be ideologically close to Abe. In addition, Komeito, which did not officially endorse a candidate in 2014, is supporting Sakima this time around. He also has the support of Nippon Ishin no Kai and Kibo no To (Party of Hope). Many Okinawan firms and others who expect to benefit from base construction or subsidies from the central government for local public works projects have also thrown their support behind Sakima. Sakima is carefully avoiding a direct position on Henoko. His campaign strategy is not to debate the Henoko issue, but to emphasize the dangers of continuing to operate Futenma in crowded Ginowan and the need to close that base as quickly as possible. LDP politicians from the central government and local chapters have been told not to mention Henoko in their public messages of support for Sakima. Instead, the LDP’s focus is on support for Sakima in the Abe administration, which they insist will translate into more central government spending on a raft of local public works projects and local jobs. Tamaki has been tapped as Onaga’s designated successor and has the support of all major opposition parties except Nippon Ishin. He is also supported by Onaga’s “all Okinawa” coalition of traditional anti-base, anti-military activists, workers unions, students, and local small and medium business leaders, and individuals who support or are neutral on the U.S.-Japan military alliance but oppose the Henoko base. Tamaki’s strategy is to vow to continue Onaga’s fight to oppose the Henoko base transfer and appeal to Okinawans across the political spectrum by saying opposition is not a matter of political ideology but of Okinawan identity. His supporters also include those who want to put the Henoko plan to a local referendum to settle, they say, the issue once and for all. What are some of the promises being made by both sides? Sakima is proposing that once Futenma’s operations are finally relocated somewhere else, the land can be used to host an as-yet unspecified agency of the United Nations, which would provide a continuing source of income to the over 3,700 owners of the land on which the Futenma base is situated. The owners receive land-lease fees from Tokyo. On nonbase issues, Sakima has promised to raise the prefecture’s average annual income to ¥3 million per person from the current level, which is around ¥2.1 million per person. He also says he’ll lobby the central government to support child poverty issues and to provide free nursery schools and medical care to young children. He refers to higher central government subsidies that Yamaguchi Prefecture received after a previous realignment of U.S. bases in Japan as an example of how he might seek funding. Yamaguchi Prefecture is Abe’s home turf and it hosts a U.S. Marine base in Iwakuni. Tamaki is essentially vowing to continue Onaga’s policy of opposing the central government on building the Henoko base, including legal challenges against it. He supports efforts to withdraw landfill permission and has indicated he’ll continue the fight in the courts and through whatever administrative means he can employ as governor. He wants Futenma’s operations relocated outside of the prefecture. Beyond the base issue, Tamaki is emphasizing social welfare policies, the environment and support for women, children and the elderly, and investment for small and medium-size businesses. Tamaki has said he opposes revising Article 9 of the Constitution and of deploying Ground Self-Defense Force elements to Miyakojima and Ishigaki islands, which are part of Okinawa Prefecture. He has also indicated support for getting out of nuclear power and into renewable energy, and for laws to curb hate speech. What would a victory by Sakima likely mean, and what would a victory by Tamaki mean for the base issue? A Sakima victory would force him to decide quickly whether to continue the legal effort by the prefecture to revoke the landfill permit for Henoko, which is what the prefectural assembly wants, or to withdraw it, pleasing Abe, the central government and the U.S., but straining relations with the assembly. That decision would also allow the filling in of the offshore area to go ahead sooner rather than later, arousing the anti-base opposition. A Tamaki victory would be seen as a defeat for Abe and the pro-base crowd, and would mean the political standoff between Okinawa and Tokyo over building the Henoko facility, which dates back to the mid-1990s, would continue. It also means a prefecturewide referendum on the issue would likely become a reality, probably sometime next year.
|
okinawa;fyi;elections;u.s. bases;atsushi sakima;denny tamaki
|
jp0009833
|
[
"business"
] |
2018/09/29
|
Parent-subsidiary listings under closer scrutiny of Japanese investors
|
Companies listed on stock exchanges along with their subsidiaries have come under closer scrutiny by investors due to continuing concerns over corporate governance. Such listings serve a dual purpose for parent companies, as they can maintain their influence over subsidiaries and at the same time generate profits from the sale of some of their shareholdings in the units. But investors have questioned the independence of such listed subsidiaries. For listed subsidiaries, remaining under the auspices of their parent companies contributes to management stability, which in turn can help sustain morale and boost the hiring of capable workers. As listed companies, both a parent and a subsidiary have multiple ways of raising funds and can pursue faster growth as a corporate group. In July, SoftBank Group Corp. filed a preliminary application to the Tokyo Stock Exchange for approval of the listing of mobile phone subsidiary SoftBank Corp. Increased awareness of sound corporate governance has highlighted disadvantages in dual listings of parents and subsidiaries, however. The drawbacks sometimes outweigh the benefits. If a subsidiary is forced by a company with a controlling stake in it to do business on unfavorable terms, the rights of minority shareholders in the subsidiary can be impaired. Institutional investors are looking closely at companies’ independence from their parents. In December 2017, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank came up with guidelines requesting that at least one-third of listed subsidiaries’ boards of directors be outside directors. When Nisshin Steel Co., a subsidiary of Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp., failed to meet the guidelines this year, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust voted against a proposal to reappoint all 10 directors at Nisshin Steel. Dual listings of parents and subsidiaries may contravene the principle of fairness of shareholder rights as set out in the TSE’s corporate governance guidelines, so the exchange carefully examines listing applications to check whether mechanisms and operations are in place to enable management independence from parent companies, an official said. Requirements for high levels of internal controls mean higher costs for maintaining dual listings of parents and subsidiaries, and the number of businesses ending such listings may increase. According to the Nomura Institute of Capital Markets Research, the number of companies involved in dual listings stood at 263 at the end of March, down 40 percent from the peak of 417 in March 2007. “Some companies are reviewing their parent-subsidiary listings in an effort to lift corporate values by a strategy of selection and concentration,” said Kengo Nishiyama, chief researcher of the institute. “The number (of such listings) will likely continue to fall.”
|
softbank;shareholders;corporate governance;subsidiaries
|
jp0009834
|
[
"national",
"science-health"
] |
2018/09/29
|
About 40% of world's seabirds have toxic substances in their bodies due to plastic waste, research by Japanese universities shows
|
About 40 percent of seabirds surveyed around the world had toxic substances derived from plastic waste in their bodies amid concern over marine plastic pollution, according to a recent study by two Japanese universities. The research conducted by Hokkaido University and Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology from 2008 to 2016 found that about 43 percent of the seabirds had ingested toxic chemicals such as ultraviolet absorbers. Harmful substances such as brominated flame retardants and phthalate esters were also detected in most of the birds tested in 12 of the 15 regions surveyed, including Awashima Island in Niigata Prefecture. The research group examined 150 seabirds covering 37 species in 15 regions including areas in the Bering Sea, the Galapagos Islands, Greenland, Hawaii, and waters near Australia by taking fat samples secreted from glands near the birds’ tails. “The (maritime plastic) pollution has spread even to polar regions,” Hideshige Takada, a professor at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, said in a recent interview. “We need to further examine such seabirds as albatrosses in Hawaii, which are highly affected by various toxic chemicals, to see if they have shown any sign of the impact,” he said. The research showed nine species, such as the albatross in Hawaii and on Marion Island near the South Pole, face a serious risk from marine pollution because they also carried other contaminants not related to plastic waste. Plastics, used in grocery bags, bottles and many other products, do not disintegrate naturally in the environment. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has estimated in a report that the annual inflow of plastic waste to the oceans was 4 million to 12 million tons in 2010, and that it greatly affected the marine ecosystem and environment and damaged the fishing and tourism industries. There will be more plastic than fish in the oceans by 2050, according to an estimate by the United Nations. During the Group of Seven summit in June, only Japan and the United States failed to endorse the group’s Ocean Plastics Charter to cut plastic waste.
|
pollution;animals;environment;hideshige takada
|
jp0009835
|
[
"national",
"politics-diplomacy"
] |
2018/09/29
|
Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohamad warns against revising Japan's pacifist Constitution
|
NEW YORK - Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said Friday that Japan’s pacifist Constitution stands out in the world for embodying peace and should be emulated, not revised. “Japan is the only country that does not want to be involved in wars, aggressive wars,” he said at a news conference after delivering a speech at the U.N. General Assembly. “If Japan revises its Constitution and allows itself to go to war then I think we are making a very regressive step,” he said. “Instead of promoting peace, Japan will join all the other countries in the world about using war to settle problems.” Mahathir, who returned to power in May after stepping down from the post in 2003 following a 22-year rule, said he agrees with the ideal of rejecting wars and is considering following the Japan model for his own country. “We are thinking about following Japan’s current Constitution which does not allow Japan to go to war — we don’t want to go to war either,” he said. Malaysia has 100,000 troops in its navy, army and air force, whose supreme commander is its king. Revisions to its constitution require a minimum two-thirds approval in both houses of Parliament. Pacifism has been enshrined in Japan’s Constitution through Article 9. It calls for the complete renunciation of war, but debates about formalizing the legal status of the Self-Defense Forces have been ongoing for the past several years with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe being a part of the push for a change. Mahathir, in his remarks delivered at the U.N. General Assembly, stressed how the world has changed for the worst since he last took the stage in the hall in 2003 as part of the yearly debate. “Today the world is in a state of turmoil economically, socially and politically,” he said, identifying worrying new trends regarding trade where “two of the most powerful economies” — the United States and China — are making “the rest of the world feel the pain.” In the political arena, he pointed to global problems related to the huge influx of migrants around the world, wars that have been spurred on by terrorism, the worsening plight of the Palestinians and the alarming situation in Myanmar where he said Muslim refugees have been forced to flee.
|
shinzo abe;conflict;military;constitution;article 9;mahathir mohamad;malaysia-japan relations
|
jp0009836
|
[
"national"
] |
2018/09/29
|
Survey finds most firms are not interested in work hour exemptions for professionals
|
Most Japanese companies have no plans to utilize a new government scheme that removes work hour limits for some highly paid professions, a Kyodo News survey showed Saturday. Only 13 of 113 major firms that were polled are even considering adopting the “high-level professional system,” a key pillar of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s sweeping labor reforms set to come into effect in April. The scheme, which applies to white-collar workers such as financial dealers and researchers who earn at least ¥10.75 million a year, has faced criticism from opposition lawmakers and activists as opening the way for longer hours in a country that is plagued with karōshi , or death from overwork. Among the 49 companies who expressed no interest in the scheme, the most common reason was that they did not have any workers who would be eligible. Reasons cited by the 13 companies in favor included expectations of improved productivity. Many were financial institutions, while some manufacturers said they hope the scheme will eventually cover a wider range of professions. Forty-six firms said they were undecided, though some expressed concern that it will lead to some staffers working longer hours. Meanwhile, 53 — or nearly half of the companies — polled in July were in favor of expanding the “discretionary labor system,” a scheme already in place that allows employers to pay workers based on a fixed number of overtime hours rather than actual time worked. The companies said the move would give greater freedom to workers as well as put an emphasis on results rather than hours worked. Abe’s administration had initially sought to include the expansion in the labor reforms enacted by the Diet in June, but abandoned it after numerous errors were found in government data used to support the idea.
|
shinzo abe;labor;survey
|
jp0009837
|
[
"national",
"media-national"
] |
2018/09/29
|
Media appear to be ignoring maglev woes
|
Earlier this month, two different Tokyo District Court sessions associated with the maglev bullet train line now under construction were convened. In one, major contractor Obayashi Corp. was prosecuted for rigging bids for work on the project. In the other, a citizens’ network was suing the government to halt it because of the damage it will allegedly cause to the environment and the lives of people who live along the route. The first trial was covered by the mainstream media . The second was virtually ignored by them. The government loaned Central Japan Railways (JR Tokai) ¥3 trillion in 2016 to help finance the maglev bullet train, which is supposed to start operations between Tokyo and Nagoya in 2027. Consequently, the project has become one of “national interest,” which means the mainstream media generally avoids any negative coverage. The bid-rigging charges, which involve three other construction companies, were impossible to ignore and had to be reported, but covering the citizens’ lawsuit requires explanations of planning issues that might have made the government uncomfortable. In an interview with journalist Hideki Kashida in April 2015, even before the loan was approved, Yasumi Iwakami of Independent Web Journal was already saying that close coverage of the maglev was taboo for the mainstream media. Kashida had just published a book about the project that had been canceled by a previous publisher at the last minute — all printed copies were destroyed before they could be distributed — owing to pressure from parties with connections to JR Tokai. The only other media that has covered the maglev critically are the financial press and individual blogs. Among the latter is a blog produced by Toshinori Nakayama. An activist who specializes in public-interest issues, Nakayama wrote in July 2017 that suits to stop the maglev are quixotic efforts . No one who sues the bureaucracy wins unless they can rally public opinion to their cause, and that requires mainstream media exposure. The maglev project originated as a private enterprise, with JR Tokai pledging to shoulder the entire cost . However, extending the maglev to Osaka, which is not JR Tokai’s bailiwick, inevitably involved the central government. Nakayama mentions an Asahi Shimbun journalist who in 2014 revealed that he wanted to write about government involvement but was shot down by the editorial board. Coverage in the financial press has focused on cost. In a Feb. 6 article, Toyo Keizai said the bid-rigging scandal would likely delay completion of the Tokyo-Nagoya leg since there are still aspects of the project that have not been contracted out. Eighty-six percent of the route is underground, and construction of the South Alps tunnel, which goes through Shizuoka and Nagano Prefectures, is supposed to be finished by November 2026, but some sections will be 1,400 meters below the surface, a depth that has never been attempted before. Even if they do finish the tunnel by 2026, they still have to lay track and test them, which will take several years at least. The longer the maglev is delayed, the less revenue JR Tokai can generate from fares and the further it will sink into debt. More significantly, delays on the Tokyo-Nagoya leg will push back the opening of the Nagoya-Osaka leg, which has already been pushed up. Originally, service to Osaka was to start in 2045, but after the government approved the loan the launch was moved up to 2037. In a series of six articles written for Nikkei Business Online this summer, Shinichiro Kaneda and Jun Fujinaka speculated that the maglev debacle would become Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s third scandal after the Moritomo and Kake school controversies, since he is personal friends with JR Tokai Chairman Yoshiyuki Kasai and is believed to have lobbied for the collateral-free loan, approved at 0.8 percent interest and with no payment due on the principal for at least 30 years. It was Abe who announced the Osaka deadline would be advanced by eight years, presumably because that was the only way to get the Osaka business community on board. The president of the company handling the financing scheme told the Nikkei Business Online he had never seen such easy terms for such a risky public works project, and this was after the government had changed right-of-way laws and eliminated some property taxes to make it easier for JR Tokai to secure the land it needed for the route. Some of the Nikkei Business Online’s reporting overlaps with complaints in the citizens’ lawsuits, one of which is: What will be done with all the dirt and rock removed for the tunnels? A professor tells the Nikkei Business Online that 50 Tokyo Domes’ worth will be excavated, and JR Tokai has yet to find places to deposit it all. Roads and secondary tunnels must be built to transport this rock and dirt, which means more negotiations with local governments and residents. In addition, the tunnels will be built through aquifers. A book published by a citizens network opposed to the maglev points out that construction could reduce water volume in the source of the Oi River by up to 2 tons per second during excavation . About 620,000 people rely on this water supply. JR Tokai said it can return 60 percent of the water to the river , but Shizuoka Gov. Heita Kawakatsu demands they replenish 100 percent or he’ll withhold permission to continue construction. The opinion of experts cited in these media is that the maglev will not be completed on time or within budget, and when it is finished it will be inconvenient and unsafe. Since those concerns aren’t being aired in the mainstream media, the government can ignore them. As the president of the financing company told the Nikkei Business Online, by the time JR starts paying off the loan the main players will be “retired or dead.” They won’t be bothered when the chickens come home to roost.
|
bullet train;jr tokai;maglev
|
jp0009838
|
[
"national",
"media-national"
] |
2018/09/29
|
TV shows look to piggyback on the success of social media
|
A growing number of people in Japan are turning to the internet as their main destination for entertainment. Younger folk in particular opt for YouTube and Instagram as a first choice over TV. So how is traditional media adjusting to this new reality? In recent times, some media organizations have attempted to re-create a person’s online experience on their television screen. The most obvious effort to date, which premiered on Nippon TV in mid-September and also appears on the streaming service Hulu, is called “ #Watanabe Naomi no Yaba-stagram .” The show follows popular comedian Naomi Watanabe as she browses through Instagram to find interesting people, whom she then subsequently visits to learn more about the person behind the content. “Yaba-stagram” isn’t the first TV show that has embraced social media as a means of attracting a new generation of viewers used to much smaller screens, and it remains to be seen whether this shift to web-centric programming can woo the younger set back to television. Television and social media used to be viewed in a completely different light, with the prior being far more important than the latter as far as advertisers were concerned. Influencers such as Peco and Ryucheru initially developed huge followings on sites such as Instagram, but whenever they subsequently appeared on a variety show, they became just another celebrity. YouTube creators and Twitter titans can become successful personalities on their own platforms, but they’re typically just another face on broadcast TV. However, as online destinations start becoming a real alternative to TV — and, in the process, attract a much younger demographic — social media stars have seen their status rise. One of the big turning points in 2018 came when the NHK documentary show “Professional: Shigoto no Ryugi” devoted an entire episode to Japan’s most popular YouTuber, Hikakin. Given how internet creators often feel like second-class citizens in the world of domestic entertainment, one going under the microscope and being treated with an air of respect marked a big moment. Watanabe, meanwhile, has successfully managed to produce a show devoted to a social network based on images. She has appeared in movies , TV dramas and variety shows , but she’s best known online, and on Instagram , in particular, where she boasts the most followers of any celebrity in Japan. “Yaba-stagram” taps into Watanabe’s Instagram fame. The first episode features Watanabe meeting interesting Japanese Instagrammers ( getting a firsthand look at tricks they use when manipulating photos ). She gawked at Instagram-friendly catering. There’s no paradigm shift here — it’s still just a variety show — but one that uses Instagram as bait for a new type of audience. Television’s shift toward social media has also trickled over to educational programs. NHK’s “ SNS English ” has joined the national broadcaster’s lineup of language-learning shows, but this recent entry uses trending topics and hashtags from the Western world as lesson points. The concept itself has been a staple on YouTube for some time now , but an educational program built around such themes as “#StrugglesOfAMillennial” is a significant development for NHK’s regular stable. Taking this development a step further is AbemaTV . CyberAgent’s free streaming TV network features a plethora of midday dreck. It’s “ MTV Hits ” corner is a soul-crushing loop of sub “Jersey Shore” reality shows — but the main draw is in its original programming, which sometimes incorporates a social media aspect, albeit one that rarely rises above “Let’s check Twitter for comments.” After initially ignoring it, traditional TV is starting to allow social media closer to the world of Japanese entertainment. To date, however, the networks are simply showing off happenings on Twitter and Instagram, the equivalent of someone trying to explain a meme to you. A better example of a show fusing online and traditional formats came from Yahoo Japan earlier this year via the online series “ Koi no Hajimari wa Hokago no Chaimu Kara ” (“Love Starts when the End-of-school Bell Tolls”). The show itself is a typical high school drama, but the innovation comes from every adolescent character operating their own on-brand Twitter account . Whereas other networks treat social media like something to talk about weekly, the folks behind this one realize social media is always mutating, so they need to have a presence on those platforms updating frequently. And the best part of airing this type of content online? They give viewers something worth tweeting. The most popular online shows in recent years — from “ Kodoku no Gourmet ” to “ Nehorin Pahorin ” (which returns next month) — don’t force Web-centric elements into their structure. Instead, they make good, creative shows that attract a following that wants to discuss it on social media while it airs. Television networks might be better served trying to close the gap with online content by putting greater emphasis on quality.
|
nippon tv;japan pulse;naomi watanabe
|
jp0009840
|
[
"national"
] |
2018/09/29
|
73% of Japanese worried children may fall prey to sex crimes: Cabinet Office poll
|
Over 70 percent of people in Japan are worried that children close to them, including brothers, sisters or their own kids, may become victims of sex crimes, according to a Cabinet Office poll. According to the survey, released Friday, 73.5 percent of the respondents either said they were apprehensive or a little anxious children close to them may fall prey to sex crimes. It was the first time the government agency has conducted a survey on measures to prevent child pornography, child prostitution and other sex crimes related to children. The poll asked the respondents for the reasons behind their concern. Multiple answers were allowed. Those who answered that children are able to meet strangers easily through social media topped the list at 82.8 percent. This was followed by people citing the existence of so-called JK businesses, in which joshi kōsei (high school girls) and others entertain customers, at 34.3 percent, and those who said children lacked strong bonds with the community and hardly knew the faces of their neighbors, at 28.3 percent. Regarding steps they’d like to see online service providers take, 51.2 percent called for such providers to look out for and erase posts that can lead to children becoming victims of sex crimes, while 49.8 percent urged the providers to create terms of use that ban people from posting content linked to sex crimes. Respondents who asked for an age restriction for using online services came to 49.5 percent, while those who called on the operators to conduct thorough identification checks for people who use the services stood at 44.3 percent. The interview-based poll, conducted between July 19 and Aug. 5, covered 5,000 people age 18 or over across the country, with 58.1 percent giving valid responses.
|
survey;sex crimes;cabinet office
|
jp0009841
|
[
"world",
"offbeat-world"
] |
2018/09/16
|
Ashes of elderly woman's husband stolen in London burglary
|
LONDON - British police are asking the public to help identify two men suspected of stealing the ashes of an elderly woman’s husband along with cash, bank cards and jewelry. Police released images of the suspects Sunday. Detective Robert Costigan called it a “particularly harrowing crime” that has had a devastating impact on the 83-year-old victim. Police said a man posing as a plumber convinced the woman to let him into her home in the southeastern London borough of Greenwich, saying there was a leak. When the man left, the woman realized that items had been stolen, including a heart-shaped locket and a heart-shaped box that both contained her husband’s ashes. Police believe a second man entered the home while the victim was distracted by the man pretending to be a plumber.
|
crime;london
|
jp0009842
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"crime-legal-asia-pacific"
] |
2018/09/16
|
Australia offers reward amid mystery strawberry needle scare
|
SYDNEY - An Australian state has offered a large reward for information after sewing needles were found in strawberries sold in supermarkets, in what the federal health minister described as a “vicious crime.” The issue came to light last week when a man was taken to hospital with stomach pains after eating the fresh produce bought at a supermarket in Queensland state. Since then, people have posted on social media photos of other strawberries with small metal pins stuck into them. Several brands grown in Queensland have been withdrawn from supermarkets, and there have been multiple reports of other cases in the states of New South Wales and Victoria. “Whoever is behind this is not just putting families at risk across Queensland and the rest of Australia — they are putting an entire industry at risk,” Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said Saturday. Her government is offering a 100,000 Australian dollar ($71,500) reward for any information that leads to the capture and conviction of those responsible. “I would urge anyone with information that may be relevant to this incident in any way to contact police as soon as possible,” she added. Queensland police told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that the contamination of the strawberries — usually sold in small plastic boxes called punnets — was done “obviously to injure somebody.” They have yet to reveal possible motives but the Queensland Strawberry Growers Association said a disgruntled former worker might be responsible. Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said Sunday he had ordered the national food safety watchdog to assess the handling of the cases, calling the sabotage a “very vicious crime.” The Queensland strawberry industry is valued at about AU$160 million ($114 million). The ABC said Saturday wholesale prices had fallen by half to 50 Australian cents per punnet, below the cost of production. Consumers have been urged to cut up their strawberries before eating.
|
food;australia;police
|
jp0009843
|
[
"national"
] |
2018/09/16
|
Foggy Fukushima river tour draws influx of visitors
|
A river tour conducted by rowboat in the town of Kaneyama, Fukushima Prefecture, is becoming popular with tourists for its scenic views of the thick fog covering the quiet waterway. During the Mugenkyo no Watashi tour along the Tadami River, local photographer Kenko Hoshi leads his guests past the Mifuke district — a community that was lost following a massive landslide over 50 years ago. Under favorable weather conditions, visitors can travel through the serene setting and take in views of the beautiful fog that blankets the river. Thanks partly to photos posted on Instagram and other social media sites, visitors to the area had jumped threefold through August compared with a year ago. The tour was also covered by a major travel magazine, leading to an increase in both individual and group travelers. A further influx is expected in autumn, when the leaves begin to change. Rowboats were used by Mifuke’s residents to cross the river daily. But a landslide in 1964 destroyed the community, turning it into a ghost town. Deserted houses and abandoned statues of the bodhisattva Jizo still stand untouched 54 years on. The round-trip crossing, which lasts an hour, includes a short tour of Mifuke during which visitors can experience a kind of time warp back to the lost village. Kaneyama residents started the tour in 2010 with two boats as a step toward revitalizing the economy. But they were forced to suspend it in July 2011 because of torrential rain that damaged the region. After a rebuilt dam stabilized the water levels, the tour finally resumed in April 2017. Hoshi, 69, is from Mifuke. He has dedicated himself to taking photographs of the Tadami railroad line and the surrounding areas. During the tour, he discusses the Tadami River’s charms and the history of his abandoned hometown. An official at Fukushima Prefecture’s tourism promotion office said it is important to note that the town tapped local resources for the project and saw it succeed through social media. Aizu Bus Group, a local transportation firm, is cashing in on the river tour as well. In August it launched a new bus route called the Tadami River line and made a bus stop specifically for the Mugenkyo no Watashi tour. Accommodating the surge in visitors, however, is a challenge. Large tourist buses come on weekends but there are no parking and toilet facilities for the tour, forcing them to rely on a nearby hot springs facility. Moreover, there are only two skippers for the boats, forcing them to turn down some reservations. As the fog often appears early in the morning, it is not unusual for Hoshi to start rowing at 6 a.m. and continue until sunset. Train runs on the Tadami Line are expected to fully resume in fiscal 2021 after a partial suspension caused by rain damage. Officials say local resources must be developed further to attract rail passengers. “There is a limit to our work. We need to get more skippers and need more infrastructure development,” Hoshi said.
|
fukushima;tourism;river crossing;mugenkyo no watashi;kenko hoshi
|
jp0009844
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"science-health-asia-pacific"
] |
2018/09/28
|
World's first human case of rat disease found in Hong Kong
|
HONG KONG - A Hong Kong man has developed the world’s first human case of the rat version of the hepatitis E virus, according to new research from one of the city’s leading universities. There had previously been no evidence the disease could jump from rats to humans, the University of Hong Kong said Friday, warning the discovery had “major public health significance.” “This study conclusively proves for the first time in the world that rat HEV can infect humans to cause clinical infection,” the university added. Rat hepatitis E virus is very distantly related to human hepatitis E virus variants, HKU said. The disease was found in a 56-year-old man who persistently produced abnormal liver function tests following a liver transplant. He could have contracted the illness through food infected by rat droppings, researchers said, according to details of the findings reported in the South China Morning Post. The man lived in a housing estate where there were signs of rat infestation outside his home. He is now recovering after being treated for the virus, the SCMP added. The human version of hepatitis E is a liver disease that affects 20 million people globally each year, according to the World Health Organization. It is usually spread through contaminated drinking water. Symptoms include fever, vomiting and jaundice, and in rare cases liver failure. Rodent problems in Hong Kong have escalated in recent months because of a sustained spell of hot and humid weather. Hong Kong has been hit hard by disease outbreaks in the past. In 2003, almost 300 people died from SARS — severe acute respiratory syndrome. The bubonic plague, carried by rats, swept through mainland China and Hong Kong in the late 19th century, killing thousands.
|
hong kong;disease;pests;hepatitis
|
jp0009845
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"social-issues-asia-pacific"
] |
2018/09/28
|
China school sued by fired gay teacher in potential landmark case
|
BEIJING - A gay kindergarten teacher in China is suing his former school after being fired last month, in what his lawyer called a landmark case to test China’s protection of minority groups. The teacher was dismissed in August from a school in the coastal city of Qingdao after he posted a comment on social media about an LGBT event he had attended, he said. The teacher, who declined to be identified, said he was told by the school principal that parents may not want a gay man teaching their children. He said that made him feel “grave apprehension” that parents were choosing to raise their children in a society where people of different sexual orientations were not respected. “I hope that I can use this case to push forward Chinese society to be more balanced and accepting,” he said. After decades of prudent rule by China’s Communist Party, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people are now openly tackling bureaucracy, legal uncertainty and entrenched social norms to assert their place in society. The teacher was asked to leave without sufficient severance or payment for his 10 percent stake in the school, said his lawyer, Tang Xiangqian. “The main reason we filed this case is not just as a labor dispute but to make the gay community more visible to a wider group of people. To let more people realize that they can easily be victims of discrimination,” Tang said. Chinese labor laws lack specific sections on LGBT issues, but there are broad provisions against discrimination that can be used by minority groups to protect their rights, Tang said. A court in Qingdao accepted the teacher’s case on Thursday. Tang said, as far as he was aware, it is the first case in China of a gay teacher taking a school to court after being fired over sexual orientation. The teacher is seeking a court order that he be rehired and paid compensation for his financial losses, according to a copy of the court filing seen by Reuters. The name of the school and the court were redacted in the court filing. Tang declined to give the names of the court and the school because he said it might affect the case. Chinese activists have organized rallies to press for greater protections for the LGBT community — and same-sex marriage — to be included in a civil code set to be passed in 2020. Despite thriving gay scenes in many of China’s big cities and growing awareness of LGBT issues, gay people have battled against conservative Confucian values and government censorship.
|
china;rights;lgbt;sexuality;same-sex marriage
|
jp0009846
|
[
"national"
] |
2018/09/28
|
Record 385 foreign nationals in Japan stripped of resident status in 2017
|
A record 385 foreign people were stripped of their resident status in 2017 as suspicious cases involving students surged, the Justice Ministry said Friday. The figure is 31.0 percent higher than a year earlier and the highest since 2005, when comparable data became available. With cases linked to student status doubling from a year earlier and accounting for 44.7 percent of the total, a ministry official said the overall rise in foreign students in Japan may have pushed up the figure. As of May last year, the number of foreign students in Japan stood at a record 267,042, up 27,755 from a year earlier, according to the Japan Student Services Organization. In some cases, students were found to have remained in Japan after being expelled from schools. By type of status revoked, the top three were “student” at 44.7 percent; “spouse or child of Japanese national” at 17.4 percent, including those who received that status through bogus marriages; and “engineer/specialist in humanities/international services” — a working visa status — at 17.1 percent. Vietnamese accounted for the largest portion of those stripped of residency status at 46.5 percent, followed by Chinese at 21.8 percent and Filipinos at 7.8 percent. Some were found to have obtained the status by listing the names of companies that had no plans to hire them in their visa applications. The ministry also revoked residency from individuals who used a status obtained under the government-sponsored technical training program to work at other companies after disappearing from their originally assigned workplaces. If document falsification and other circumstances deemed doubtful arise, the justice minister or the heads of regional immigration bureaus must decide whether to revoke resident status after hearing from the individual concerned. If their residency is stripped, foreign nationals face deportation and can be detained at immigration facilities. In the meantime, 26 people have been arrested by Tokyo’s Metropolitan Police Department and the Fukushima Prefectural Police over alleged fake marriages involving Japanese men, which granted residential status to Filipino women, investigative sources said Friday. Among those arrested were two marriage brokers in Tokyo’s Katsushika Ward — Emma Red Hiratsuka, a 50-year-old Filipino restaurant employee, and Hiroyuki Hoshino, a 54-year-old company executive. An international sham marriage syndicate may be behind the case, the sources said. The 26 were arrested for their alleged involvement in submitting false marriage papers for 10 couples to the Sumida Ward Office in Tokyo and elsewhere between 2013 and 2017. The Japanese men who entered the sham marriages are believed to have cooperated in return for being paid ¥50,000 per month. The Filipino women were working at places including a restaurant, which Hiratsuka has effectively been running, the sources said. Hoshino was married, but his own marriage also proved to be fake, the MPD said. Amid a labor crunch, the government is aiming to lure more foreign workers and students to Japan while stepping up a crackdown on those staying in the country illegally. The central government is set to open the door to blue-collar laborers from abroad in April and upgrade the Immigration Bureau to an agency to respond to the anticipated surge. The justice and labor ministries are expected to share information on the employment of foreign nationals so they can swiftly identify those whose activities are incompatible with their status. Police and local immigration branches will also collaborate to strengthen their clampdown on those in the country illegally. As of October 2017, Japan’s foreign population had doubled from 680,000 in 2012 to a record 1.28 million, according to statistics compiled by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry. In 2015, a record 15,657 foreign students secured jobs in Japan right after graduating from schools in the country, according to the Justice Ministry. But to work in Japan, foreign students need to switch their resident status in line with the industries in which they work.
|
immigration;labor;foreign students;police
|
jp0009847
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2018/09/17
|
Palestinian stabs U.S.-Israeli citizen to death at West Bank mall, is captured
|
GUSH ETZION, WEST BANK - A Palestinian fatally stabbed an American-born Jewish settler in the occupied West Bank on Sunday then was himself shot and seized by armed civilians who gave chase. The victim, Ari Fuld, 45, was well-known among settlers as a pro-Israel advocate. According to his Twitter account, he had planned a lecture tour in the United States in November. Israeli police said the Palestinian who stabbed him in the back at a shopping mall in the Etzion bloc of Jewish settlements south of Jerusalem was shot and wounded by one of several armed civilians — including a bleeding Fuld — who gave chase. The suspected assailant was identified by his family as Khalil Youssef Jabarin, 17, from the village of Yatta in the southern West Bank. He was taken into custody. Palestinian street attacks against Israelis, many carried out by assailants with no known affiliation to militant groups, have been sporadic since 2015, a year after peace talks collapsed. Hundreds of mourners attended Fuld’s funeral, which began close to midnight at a cemetery at the Kfar Etzion settlement in the West Bank. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paid a condolence visit to Fuld’s family and wrote on Twitter: “I embraced them on behalf of all the people of Israel during their time of terrible sorrow. We live because of heroes like Ari, We will remember him, always.” Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas made what appeared to be an indirect reference to the killing while meeting former Israeli officials in Ramallah, the official Palestinian Wafa news agency said. “Abbas reaffirmed the commitment of the Palestinian side to achieving peace through peaceful, popular resistance, because killing, settlement building, destruction and displacing of residents will not achieve security and peace for any party in the region,” Wafa quoted him as saying. Fawzi Barhoum, a spokesman for the Hamas militant group that rules the Gaza Strip, called the West Bank stabbing a “natural response to Israeli crimes against Palestinians” in occupied territory. It did not claim responsibility for the attack. David Friedman, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, said on Twitter that “America grieves as one of its citizens was brutally murdered by a Palestinian terrorist.” Friedman, who as a private citizen raised money for Jewish settlements, said Fuld “represented the best of both countries and will be deeply missed.” Fuld, a father of four, lived in the settlement of Efrat, in the Etzion area. U.S. President Donald Trump’s Middle East negotiator, Jason Greenblatt, also issued a comment, on Twitter: “Words cannot express our feeling of loss as an American-Israeli, Ari Fuld, was stabbed to death by a Palestinian terrorist.” Most countries view Israeli settlements on occupied land Palestinians claim for a state as illegal. Israel disputes this.
|
israel;terrorism;benjamin netanyahu;hamas;west bank;palestinian;donald trump;ari fuld
|
jp0009848
|
[
"national",
"social-issues"
] |
2018/09/17
|
In long-lived Japan, survey finds 20-year-olds don't want to live into their 80s
|
A survey has found that young Japanese in their 20s don’t want to live into their 80s — a startling revelation in a country where the life expectancies for both men and women routinely rank among the world’s highest. Men and women between 20 and 29 hope to live to approximately 78.1 years old and 76.9 years old, respectively, according to the survey released Sunday by insurer MetLife Inc. The “desired life expectancy” figures are below the average life expectancy of 81.09 years for men and 87.26 years for women in 2017. The survey results indicate that the “100-year-life society” slogan of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government is not resonating with young people, observers said. The insurer conducted the survey on 14,100 people aged 20 to 79 in June. Of the respondents, 41.2 percent said they don’t want to live too long and 81.7 percent voiced concerns about old age. The survey found that the top cause of their anxiety was money, with 27.1 percent in their 20s expecting to receive no pension payments at all.
|
retirement;pension;aging;elderly;social welfare
|
jp0009849
|
[
"national"
] |
2018/09/17
|
Drawing on her own experience, Nagoya doctor offers transgender counseling
|
A transgender doctor has opened a clinic in Nagoya specializing in counseling and hormone therapy for transgender people. While people diagnosed with gender dysphoria in Japan are receiving more social support, such as getting health insurance coverage for gender reassignment surgery, the more widely adopted hormone therapy remains uncovered by health insurance. Hime Muto, 41, formerly a pediatrician, began accepting transgender people last fall at Hisaya Clinic, which she runs in central Nagoya, believing it is necessary to provide proper diagnosis and adequate therapy. Muto offers support for people with various conditions to help solve each of their issues, drawing on her own experience of being assigned as male at birth but identifying as being female. The causes of gender dysphoria are unknown. For those who wish to reduce a sense of discomfort with the sex they have been assigned, there are various kinds of medical care available to bring their bodies more in line with their gender identity and make their lives easier. A dozen or so people visit Muto’s clinic each week, many of them feeling uncomfortable with being seen as a man and wishing to live as a woman like Muto. One such person, an Aichi Prefecture resident in her 30s, said she wants to be identified as female and has visited some psychiatrists but was told she couldn’t be treated because she was attracted to women. She said she was at a loss over how to identify herself, thinking that if she is mentally female, she should be attracted to men. She learned about Muto’s clinic on the internet, and visited for the first time in June. She said she was asked to talk about her childhood memories. “I thought my genitalia would disappear when I grew up,” she said. She preferred playing house with girls and was wondering why her mother kept asking her why she didn’t play with boys. She always kept her hair long, and was bullied by boys when she was young because she behaved more like a girl. She wanted to wear a skirt but could only wear one over pants, hoping others would interpret it as a fashion choice. After the first counseling session, which lasted more than half an hour, Muto diagnosed her as transgender, saying that many transgender people who identify themselves as women tend to be attracted to men but that there are some who are attracted to women. Muto said the person’s discomfort with her assigned sex in her childhood was the key in diagnosing her as transgender, adding that transgender people tend to behave differently from others when they are divided by gender in places like kindergartens. “Some transgender people become aware of their gender identity after they grow up, but when they look back to their childhood, they realize that they had actually been acting according to their identity,” Muto said. Now the patient is undergoing hormone therapy, and although it will take some more time for the therapy to produce changes in her body, she said her mental stress is largely relieved. Now she tries to eat more to build up enough physical strength to do well with the therapy. She used to wear a hat pulled down over her eyes when she went out, but now she leaves her house with the brim of her hat raised. The Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology first created a guideline for diagnosing and treating gender dysphoria in 1997. The nation’s first gender reassignment surgery was conducted the following year, and the availability of treatments including hormone therapy has gradually improved since then. Muto, however, expressed concern that in many cases, hormone treatments are conducted too readily on patients’ request. “Treatments should be conducted after careful consideration,” Muto says. “I don’t prescribe (hormones) unless a patient is really determined (to change his or her physical sex).” Muto said that people should be aware that hormone therapy has some irreversible effects, such as becoming sterile, as well as other side effects including nausea and risks of thrombosis. Muto sometimes even advises people who visit the clinic while undergoing hormone therapy at other hospitals to stop the treatment, suspecting that they have been given the medication without being properly diagnosed as transgender. “Since the treatment is not covered by health insurance, it is not checked by authorities and problems tend to be overlooked,” Muto said. “I hope (in the future) it will be covered by health insurance to ensure safety.”
|
transgender;hormone therapy;gender dysphoria
|
jp0009850
|
[
"world"
] |
2018/09/10
|
Nepal copter crash kills five, including Japanese man; one missing
|
KATHMANDU - A helicopter flying in bad weather crashed in Nepal’s mountains on Saturday, killing five of the seven people on board and leaving another missing, police said. The pilot and four of the six passengers, including a 68-year-old Japanese man, were among those killed, said police official Basanta Kuwar. Another passenger was missing, while a woman survived the crash, he said. Her condition was not immediately clear. Rescuers were attempting to transport the injured woman out of the crash site, but fog and rain might be hampering their efforts, Kuwar said. He said rescuers were also scouring the area for the missing person but bad weather and the mountainous terrain were making the operation difficult. Aside from the Japanese man, all others aboard the helicopter were Nepalese. The area where the crash happened is about 80 km (50 miles) northwest of the capital, Kathmandu. The Airbus-manufactured Ecureuil helicopter belongs to Altitude Air in Nepal and has been used in mountain rescues.
|
japanese;nepal;helicopter;aircraft accidents
|
jp0009851
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"social-issues-asia-pacific"
] |
2018/09/10
|
China bans large unofficial Protestant church in Beijing amid crackdown on 'underground' Christian meetings
|
BEIJING - Beijing city authorities have banned one of the largest unofficial Protestant churches in the city and confiscated “illegal promotional materials,” amid a deepening crackdown on China’s “underground” churches. The Zion church had for years operated with relative freedom, hosting hundreds of worshippers every weekend in an expansive, specially renovated hall in north Beijing. But since April, after they rejected requests from authorities to install closed-circuit TV cameras in the building, the church has faced growing pressure from the authorities and has been threatened with eviction. On Sunday, the Beijing Chaoyang district civil affairs bureau said that by organizing events without registering, the church was breaking rules forbidding mass gatherings and was now “legally banned” and its “illegal promotional material” had been confiscated, according to images of the notice sent to Reuters late on Sunday and confirmed by churchgoers. “I fear that there is no way for us to resolve this issue with the authorities,” Zion’s Pastor Jin Mingri said. China’s religious affairs and civil affairs bureaux did not immediately respond to requests for comment. China’s constitution guarantees religious freedom, but since President Xi Jinping took office six years ago the government has tightened restrictions on religions seen as a challenge to the authority of the ruling Communist Party. Churches across China have faced new waves of harassment and pressure to register since a new set of regulations to govern religious affairs in China came into effect in February and heightened punishments for unofficial churches. In July, more than 30 of Beijing’s hundreds of underground Protestant churches took the rare step of releasing a joint statement complaining of “unceasing interference” and the “assault and obstruction” of regular activities of believers since the new regulations came into effect. China’s Christian believers are split between those who attend unofficial “house” or underground churches and those who attend government-sanctioned places of worship. Churchgoers were also given a notice from the district religious affairs bureau saying that the “great masses of believers must respect the rules and regulations and attend events in legally registered places of religious activity.” Zion’s attendees were also given pamphlets of officially sanctioned churches that they might attend instead. But for many worshippers and pastors, such as Jin, accepting the oversight and ultimate authority of the Communist Party would be a betrayal of their faith. “On this land, the only one we can trust in is God,” Jin said.
|
china;religion;rights
|
jp0009852
|
[
"asia-pacific"
] |
2018/09/10
|
U.N.'s new rights chief Michelle Bachelet presses for new body on crimes against Myanmar Rohingya
|
GENEVA - United Nations human rights chief Michelle Bachelet called on Monday for a new quasi-judicial body to collect evidence with a view to future prosecution of crimes against Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar including murder and torture. An independent U.N. team of investigators said in a report last month that there was evidence indicating “genocidal intent” by the military against Rohingya and that crimes against humanity and war crimes appear to have been committed. The investigators named six generals, including the commander-in-chief, whom they said should face justice. A year ago, government troops led a brutal crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine state in response to attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) on 30 Myanmar police posts and a military base. Some 700,000 Rohingya fled the crackdown and most are now living in refugee camps in neighboring Bangladesh. Bachelet, in her first speech to the Human Rights Council since taking office on Sept. 1, said that attacks and persecution appear to continue in Rakhine state. Investigators had also found indications of executions, torture and sexual violence against minorities in Kachin and Shan states, she said. “The persistence of these patterns of violations underscores the total impunity accorded to the Myanmar security forces,” Bachelet told the 47-member Geneva forum which opened a three-week session. She welcomed a decision by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) last week that it has jurisdiction over alleged deportations of Rohingya from Myanmar to Bangladesh as a possible crime against humanity. “This is an immensely important step towards ending impunity, and addressing the enormous suffering of the Rohingya people. “I also welcome efforts by Member States at this Council to establish an independent international mechanism for Myanmar, to collect, consolidate, preserve and analyze evidence of the most serious international crimes, in order to expedite fair and independent trials in national and international courts.” The new mechanism — similar to what has been set up for crimes in Syria — would complement and support the preliminary examination of the ICC prosecutor, she added. “I urge the Council to pass a resolution and refer the matter to the (U.N.) General Assembly for its endorsement so that such a mechanism can be established,” she said. Myanmar has denied committing atrocities against the Rohingya, saying its military carried out justifiable actions against militants. It has so far signaled it does not intend to cooperate with the international court.
|
myanmar;rights;u.n .;rohingya;michelle bachelet
|
jp0009853
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"crime-legal-asia-pacific"
] |
2018/09/10
|
Cambodian opposition leader Kem Sokha released from jail as Hun Sen eases crackdown on foes
|
PHNOM PENH - Cambodia’s opposition leader Kem Sokha was released from jail early Monday a year after he was detained on treason charges, as the country’s strongman ruler loosens his grip on opponents after sweeping one-sided elections. Over a 33-year rule the wily Hun Sen has tightened and relaxed his chokehold on opponents at will, most recently launching a broad crackdown in the run-up to July elections that gifted his ruling party an uncontested victory. As part of that action, Kem Sokha, the head of the only serious opposition the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) was arrested on September 3, 2017, and accused of treason. The move took out one of the kingdom’s few outspoken political figures who can still pull a crowd. The case against the 65-year-old was widely seen as politically motivated. Just two months later the CNRP was dissolved by a court. That paved the way for the ruling Cambodia People’s Party to win all 125 parliamentary seats in the election, turning the country into a one-party state and extending Hun Sen’s stay in office. Dozens of supporters and media gathered outside Kem Sokha’s house in the capital, where he returned in the early hours of Monday morning after a year in a remote border prison. He was bailed from pretrial detention on the condition that he does not flee “proceedings” against him, a court in Phnom Penh said in a statement. The opposition figure still faces up to 30 years if convicted of treason. His bail conditions state he must be “confined to a block radius of his residence,” his daughter Monovithya Kem said, suggesting his movements will be restricted in some way. But the end to his prison ordeal — for now — was welcomed by supporters whose political views were muffled during the election period by Hun Sen’s repression. “We hope that from now Cambodians will have freedom to talk on all topics,” supporter Sun Socheat said. The CNRP made major gains during a 2013 election, propelled by significant dissatisfaction among Cambodia’s large youth population, in a surprise showing that rattled Hun Sen. But the party was then picked apart by Hun Sen, with many of its leading figures fleeing abroad. Kem Sokha’s predecessor Sam Rainsy lives in self-exile in Paris to escape a slew of charges that he says are politically motivated. Western countries — who have long been major aid donors to Cambodia — criticized the most recent election, refusing to send monitors once the opposition was effectively neutered. The U.S. government has said the election was neither free nor fair and it “failed to represent the will of the Cambodian people.” Last week, as he was sworn in for another term, Hun Sen insisted that the poll was “free, just, fair and transparent.” Since the polls Hun Sen has begun to release critics from jail, a common easing of his grip on power that has followed election wins throughout his time in office. Fourteen Cambodia opposition supporters jailed for insurrection were released last month. Faced with criticism over his rights record, Hun Sen has increasingly moved Cambodia closer to China in recent years with Beijing becoming both a top donor and international investor. Compared to western nations, Beijing’s largesse comes with far fewer strings attached in terms of pushing political freedoms and reform. A former Khmer Rouge commander, Hun Sen has been seen by some as a stabilizing force that helped bring roads and mega-malls to a country ravaged by decades of brutal civil war. But critics say his long rule has been authoritarian and done little to halt rampant corruption while enriching a small clique of families, politicians and business figures who are close to the leader.
|
elections;cambodia;hun sen;treason;kem sokha
|
jp0009854
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"crime-legal-asia-pacific"
] |
2018/09/10
|
Man charged with murdering family of five in Australia
|
SYDNEY - A young man has been charged with the murder of five people, including three toddlers, after a mass killing in a suburban home, Australian police said Monday. Police found the remains of three young girls as well as those of their mother and grandmother in an unassuming detached family home near the southwestern city of Perth on Sunday. The gruesome discovery came after a 24-year-old man, who has not been named, walked into a police station in a remote mining area some 1,500 kilometers north of the city. He was due to appear in court via video link later Monday. The family has not been formally identified, but Australian media named the mother as Mara Quinn, a “fly-in fly-out worker” — an employee who is flown in temporarily to a remote location for a period of time — for a West Australian mining firm. Her children were named as 3½-year-old daughter Charlotte and 2-year-old twins Alice and Beatrix, and her mother as Beverley Quinn, 74. The police did not release details about when and how they were killed, or the family’s relationship with the man. A Facebook profile believed to be Mara Quinn’s showed her cradling a newborn in her arms, with a man beside her, and stated that she was engaged in August 2014. A real estate listing showed a modest three-bedroom house and a standalone garage. “She was pretty unlucky in love before she met him,” a friend told Fairfax Media. “So (when they got together) it was like ‘yay, now she gets to start a family.’ “ A neighbor told reporters he had returned from a holiday to “silence in the street.” “We noticed that the house next door was pretty quiet, which was unusual,” Richard Fairbrother, who lives next door to the family’s house, said. “We could hear and see the kids playing in the backyard quite often.” Other neighbors spoke of a shocked community that had been close, calm and peaceful. Mass killings are rare in Australia, but this appears to be the third such family tragedy to hit Western Australia state in recent months. In July a man allegedly killed his mother and two siblings. A grandfather shot dead his wife, daughter and her four children in a murder-suicide in May.
|
murder;australia;police
|
jp0009855
|
[
"national",
"science-health"
] |
2018/09/10
|
Japan's first case of swine fever in 26 years triggers pig cull, nationwide export ban
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GIFU - An outbreak of swine fever confirmed at a farm in Gifu over the weekend has led to the culling and burying of 546 hogs and the halt of pork exports across Japan, authorities said Monday. The shipment ban is expected to be in place for at least three months until Japan is declared clear of the disease, which only affects pigs and wild boars and has an almost 100 percent fatality rate. Japan’s pork exports totaled ¥1 billion ($9 million) in 2017. Around 140 pigs at the farm have died from the disease, also known as hog cholera, over the past week. The symptoms include motor difficulty and loss of appetite. The disease does not affect humans even if meat from an infected animal is consumed. All of the dead pigs had been buried at the farm by Monday morning, and the disinfection of the facility is expected to be completed by Tuesday. Though hog cholera is endemic in Asia, it is the first time since 1992 an infection has been found in Japan. Tokyo declared the virus eradicated in 2007. It is not yet clear how the outbreak started, and the central and prefectural governments will look into the cause. The Gifu Prefectural Government pointed to the possibility that inflected boars or pigs were brought in from outside. The farm had been shipping pork until last Wednesday, two days after a pig suddenly died there. While the animal did not test positive during a preliminary screening by the local government, further tests by the central government found Sunday that the pig was infected with the virus. At a task force meeting Sunday, farm minister Ken Saito pledged to contain the virus. “First responses are crucial,” he said. Pork exports can resume once countries that import Japanese pork products approve.
|
medicine;health;gifu prefecture;diseases
|
jp0009856
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"crime-legal-asia-pacific"
] |
2018/09/19
|
ICC to probe nonsignatory Myanmar's alleged crimes against Rohingya
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THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS - The International Criminal Court’s prosecutor opened a preliminary probe on Tuesday into Myanmar’s alleged crimes against Rohingya Muslims, including killings, sexual violence and forced deportations. Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda will look at whether there is enough evidence to warrant a full investigation into Myanmar’s military crackdown, which has seen some 700,000 people flee into neighboring Bangladesh. The move comes nearly two weeks after judges ruled that even though Myanmar has not signed up to the Hague-based ICC, the court still has jurisdiction over crimes against the Rohingya because Bangladesh is a member. “I have decided to proceed to the next phase of the process and to carry out a full-fledged preliminary examination of the situation at hand,” Bensouda said in a statement. Bensouda said the initial probe “may take into account a number of alleged coercive acts having resulted in the forced displacement of the Rohingya people, including deprivation of fundamental rights, killing, sexual violence, enforced disappearance, destruction and looting.” She said she would also consider whether other crimes would apply to the plight of the Rohingya “such as the crimes of persecution and other inhumane acts.” A preliminary examination can lead to a formal investigation by the ICC — which was set up in 2002 to investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity — and then possible indictments. The ICC announcement came on the same day as U.N. investigators said that Myanmar’s army had used “hard to fathom” levels of violence against the Rohingya and should be prosecuted for genocide. The U.N. fact-finding mission also repeated suggestions that crimes against the Rohingya be referred to the ICC. Rights group Amnesty International said it was “great that the International Criminal Court has opened this important avenue to justice for the Rohingya. “Keep the momentum going — the UN Security Council needs to refer the situation in Myanmar to the ICC to ensure it can investigate all crimes under international law,” the group said on Twitter. Myanmar’s army has denied nearly all wrongdoing, insisting its campaign was justified to root out Rohingya insurgents who staged deadly raids on border posts in August 2017. It has also “resolutely” rejected the ICC’s assertion that it has jurisdiction over the crime, saying that the decision was in “manifest bad faith” and was of “dubious legal merit. The Myanmar probe is a major advance for the ICC, which has so far largely focused on investigations into African conflicts and lacks the support of key countries, including the United States, Russia, China and Israel. The ICC recently faced threats and criticism from U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton over the possibility of a war crimes investigation into U.S. actions in Afghanistan. Bolton said the court was “already dead to us” and its judges could face U.S. sanctions. The court hit back at Bolton, saying that it would “continue to do its work undeterred, in accordance with those principles and the overarching idea of the rule of law.”
|
u.s .;myanmar;bangladesh;icc;genocide;rohingya
|
jp0009858
|
[
"national",
"science-health"
] |
2018/09/19
|
Number of Japan patients with rubella quintuples from 2017 level
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The number of rubella patients reported nationwide this year has jumped more than fivefold to 496 from 93 in the previous year, with many cases reported in and around Tokyo, a national institute warned Wednesday. The patients included many men in their 30s to 50s who have not been sufficiently vaccinated against the highly contagious disease that is often transmitted through coughing and sneezing, according to the National Institute of Infectious Diseases. In the week through Sept. 9, the number of current rubella patients rose to 127 from 81 in the previous week, according to the institute, which especially urged adult men to get vaccinations in order to protect women and children. By prefecture, Tokyo had the most patients with 32, followed by 27 in Chiba, 19 in Kanagawa, and 11 each in Saitama and Aichi, data showed. Rubella can have a serious health impact on babies if contracted by women in the early stages of pregnancy as it tends to cause birth defects such as heart disorders, hearing impairments and cataracts. Vaccination is effective in preventing infection but women who are already pregnant cannot be inoculated as the vaccine itself is feared to have an impact on the child. Notable rubella symptoms are fever, sore throat, and a rash. Its incubation period is two to three weeks. Japan experienced a major rubella outbreak in 2013 with over 14,000 people contracting the disease. There has been a resurgence in the number of cases since late July, with the annual number of patients reaching the highest level since 2014.
|
health;rubella;infections
|
jp0009859
|
[
"national",
"history"
] |
2018/09/19
|
Japanese research team turns to dugout canoe to trace how archipelago's first humans arrived
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A Japanese team pursuing a multiyear project to learn how humans came to the Japanese archipelago 30,000 years ago is planning another experiment next summer, this time with a new approach: a dugout canoe. As part of the project, which started in 2016, the team has previously tested a straw boat and a bamboo raft to reproduce how people may have traveled from Taiwan to Japan, but to no avail. The team, led by the National Museum of Nature and Science, is now pinning its hopes on a dugout canoe, which is currently being built for a voyage from Taiwan to the southern island of Yonaguni, Okinawa Prefecture. Financially, the team has already procured more than ¥30 million, the target it set for online fundraising to pay for costs not covered by the team’s research expenses, such as those to prepare additional boats for safety and to film the experiment for the record. “We want to come as close as possible to an answer to the big mystery of how our ancestors succeeded with the great voyage,” said Yosuke Kaifu, a museum official who represents the team. It is known that humans had settled in what is now Okinawa by 30,000 years ago, and the team assumes that people traveled from Taiwan, which was part of the Eurasian continent at that time. But no remains of boats have been discovered and how early settlers arrived there remains unknown. Past experiments proved that a straw boat and a bamboo raft are stable but not fast enough to withstand the strong currents between Taiwan and Yonaguni Island. A dugout canoe can easily capsize but is likely to go faster, according to the team. The team is using primitive technology to make the canoe. They made an ax by attaching a wooden handle to stoneware, then used it to cut down a big Japanese cedar tree and hollow out its interior. The canoe will not be equipped with sails, due to a lack of evidence that they were used even in the Jomon Period, which is believed to have run roughly from 13,000 years ago to 2,300 years ago.
|
taiwan;ancient;the national museum of nature and science
|
jp0009860
|
[
"national",
"crime-legal"
] |
2018/09/19
|
Japanese police crackdown on tailgating and other acts of road rage
|
Police are toughening crackdowns on tailgating and other dangerous driving, reflecting heightened social interest in such reckless driving since the death of a married couple on the Tomei Expressway in June 2017 following an apparent road rage-induced chase. The Tomei incident in Kanagawa Prefecture has stimulated demand for event data recorders, or dashboard cameras, from drivers wishing to keep records for use as evidence if they are involved in trouble related to tailgating. Cautioning that even ordinary drivers may be tempted to tailgate, an expert on driving behavior called for people to recognize the “psychological mechanisms” of the driving practice. The suspect in the incident on the Tomei Expressway chased the couple’s vehicle after an argument at an expressway parking area and blocked it in the fast lane, forcing the family to stop their vehicle. A truck then crashed into the family’s vehicle from behind, killing the couple and injuring their two daughters. Four months after the incident, the Yokohama District Prosecutor’s Office indicted the male suspect, then 25 years old, on charges including dangerous driving causing death and injury. It was a rare application of the crime of dangerous driving against a driver who had stopped on an active lane. The National Police Agency instructed police departments across the country in January to disqualify people from driving, regardless of accumulated points for traffic violations, if they commit tailgating offenses, resort to acts of intimidation or cause damage to property after such a chase. The number of driver’s licenses suspended for tailgating totaled 30 in the first six months of 2018, up from 23 in the four years through 2017, according to preliminary data from the NPA. As confirmation of tailgating offenses is difficult, police are stepping up collection of objective evidence such as visual records from dashboard cameras. Yupiteru Corp., a Tokyo-based producer of dashcams, including 360-degree recorders, has received more inquiries from drivers since the fatal Tomei accident, company officials said. Total shipments of dashcams stood at about 2.7 million units in fiscal 2017, marking an increase of about 1.2 million from the previous year, according to sources including the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association. Noting that stress tends to increase while driving due to factors such as traveling speed differences and dangerous driving by others, Kazunori Shidoji, professor at Kyushu University Graduate School and Faculty of Information Science and Electrical Engineering and an expert on driving behavior, warned that even ordinary people may commit tailgating offenses because “being inside a car gives them a high degree of anonymity and makes them feel they can readily get away (with it).” “It’s important to drive while having plenty of leeway, both psychologically and in terms of time,” Shidoji said.
|
driving;tomei expressway;yupiteru corp .;tailgating;dashcams
|
jp0009861
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"crime-legal-asia-pacific"
] |
2018/09/26
|
Arrested senator and Duterte critic: 'Democracy lost today'
|
MANILA - President Rodrigo Duterte’s fiercest critic in Congress was arrested Tuesday after the president revoked his 2011 amnesty for a failed coup attempt and revived rebellion charges against him in an unprecedented legal move the senator called a blow to democracy. Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV walked out of the Senate, where he had taken refuge for weeks, and was moved by police to their headquarters in Makati city, where his fingerprints and mugshot were taken. After being booked by police, Trillanes was escorted to a nearby court and posted bail, trailed by many journalists. “Democracy lost today,” Trillanes told reporters shortly before his arrest. “Darkness and evil prevailed in our country. Whatever happens in the future will be in the hands of the Filipino people.” Known for outbursts against his critics, Duterte has long expressed anger against Trillanes, who has accused him of large-scale corruption, involvement in illegal drugs and extrajudicial killings in an anti-drug crackdown that has left thousands of suspects dead since he took office in 2016. Duterte has denied the allegations. Trillanes, a former navy officer, was jailed for more than seven years for involvement in at least three army uprisings, including a 2003 mutiny against then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo when he and other young officers rigged part of a road in the Makati financial district with bombs and took over an upscale residential building. After being amnestied under Duterte’s predecessor, Benigno Aquino III, Trillanes successfully petitioned two Philippine courts to dismiss rebellion and coup cases, allowing him to later run for public office. Duterte said he voided Trillanes’ amnesty last month because the senator had failed to file a formal amnesty request and acknowledge guilt. Trillanes has strongly denied the president’s claims and has provided news reports and defense department documents to counter Duterte’s claims. The Department of Justice has asked two courts to issue warrants for Trillanes’s arrest and resume criminal proceedings against him. One of the courts issued the arrest warrant on Tuesday. Aside from the rebellion and coup-related charges in the two courts, Duterte has also ordered the military to resume an inquiry into the senator’s role in the mutinies. Legal experts and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, the country’s largest lawyers’ group, have expressed alarm over the legal moves against Trillanes for offenses that were canceled by the 2011 amnesty. The lawyers’ group said the move “runs roughshod over the constitutional guarantee against double jeopardy,” or holding a person to answer twice for the same offense. Duterte has also accused Trillanes, without offering evidence, of plotting with other opposition politicians, including the Liberal Party and leftist groups, to oust him. Trillanes and opposition groups have dismissed the claim as a lie and asked Duterte to focus instead on addressing poverty, inflation, rice shortages, traffic jams and a decline in the value of the peso currency. Human Rights Watch said Trillanes’s arrest “is part of the persecution of critics of the Duterte administration, the latest in the relentless campaign to silence those who dared to challenge the president’s murderous ‘drug war.’ “ Under Duterte, another opposition senator has been jailed on illegal drug charges, a critical Supreme Court chief justice has been ousted by fellow judges, and foreign critics, including an Australian nun, have been barred from entering the Philippines or threatened with deportation.
|
drugs;philippines;corruption;rodrigo duterte
|
jp0009862
|
[
"national"
] |
2018/09/26
|
Japanese government to mull new work visa to help more labor-hungry professions: top government spokesman
|
The government is mulling an update to the nation’s visa system in order to accept more foreign workers in a growing number of professions facing manpower shortages, including those that serve the labor-hungry restaurant and fisheries industries, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Wednesday. As Japan grapples with an acute labor shortage, the government is eager to establish a new work visa with a view toward making it available as soon as April next year, the top government spokesman said. He added that, in an ongoing ministerial hearing of various industry groups, a dozen business sectors have so far expressed interest in utilizing foreign workers via the new visa status, including groups representing the restaurant and fisheries industries. The government is also reportedly eyeing letting foreign workers enter the country to work in five of the most short-staffed sectors — namely in the agriculture, construction, nursing, hotel and ship-building industries. “We want to create a system to accept a wider range of industry-ready foreign talent with a certain level of technical skills,” Suga told a regular news briefing Wednesday, echoing an earlier government statement. Suga’s comments followed a speech he delivered earlier in the day in Tokyo where he reportedly said the government plans to submit related amendments to the immigration law during an extraordinary session of the Diet expected to kick off at the end of next month. He also said that, according to reports, the sectors that are most keen to accept foreign workers have been plagued by such serious manpower shortages that “their operations would become severely derailed” without the help. Immigration-averse Japan officially maintains a policy of not letting in unskilled foreign workers, although in reality the nation already heavily relies on their services, tapping into “backdoor” employment channels through the use of technical interns and students. Suga’s latest remark is in line with a series of immigration policies adopted in June by the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy, chaired by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The panel’s guidelines, approved by the Cabinet, said that in a rapidly aging Japan, the “sustainability of its economy and infrastructure is in danger” due to a labor crunch but also stressed that the country remains opposed to full-fledged immigration. The government, the guideline said, will home in on business categories “truly in need” of foreign labor and create a new work visa valid for up to five years. The temporary nature of the envisioned status, it said, means the new policy wouldn’t amount to Japan opening itself up to new immigration. Among the most closely monitored sectors is the convenience store industry, where foreign students hailing from countries like China, Vietnam and Nepal already play a vital role in meeting its labor needs. Those on a student visa, however, are banned from working more than 28 hours a week. It remains to be seen whether the government will go so far as to give the green light for more foreign workers to work in that sector. Tokyo, however, “recognizes it’s an industry everybody is curious about, and we realize we have to do something about it, one way or another,” a senior government official said.
|
yoshihide suga;labor;foreign workers
|
jp0009863
|
[
"national"
] |
2018/09/26
|
'Outrageous prejudice': Publisher suspends publication of Shincho 45 following furor in LGBT community
|
Shinchosha Publishing Co. has announced one of its magazines will effectively fold after carrying articles that its president said contained “outrageous prejudice” against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. In a statement released Tuesday evening, Shinchosha said it will suspend publication of the monthly magazine Shincho 45, which debuted in 1985. Its October issue, which is currently on shelves, will be the last edition before the suspension, the firm said. “It is undeniable that our editing of articles and scrutiny of feature series in the pipeline has grown perfunctory over the years as we struggle with the magazine’s dwindling circulation and numerous trials and errors,” the publisher said in the statement. It is this compromised vetting process, Shinchosha said, that led to the publication of the articles slammed by President Takanobu Sato as full of prejudice against — and showing a “lack of understanding” toward — LGBT individuals. “We both thank and apologize to our readers and all parties concerned for their support and cooperation over the years,” the company said, adding it will conduct a thorough review of its editorial system. The latest decision means Shincho 45, although technically suspended from business, will all but “fold,” the firm’s public relations executive, Yukihito Ito, told reporters Tuesday evening. The downfall of Shincho 45 was precipitated by Mio Sugita, a junior lawmaker in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Sugita, author of the book “Naze Watashi wa Sayoku to Tatakaunoka” (“Why I Fight the Left”), contributed a contentious article to the August issue of the magazine, labeling the LGBT community as “unproductive” in terms of childbirth. Her assertion that taxpayer money shouldn’t be spent on policies supporting same-sex couples because, according to her, they were not productive, soon sparked an outpouring of criticism and prompted thousands to protest and call for her resignation. Then in its latest issue, Shincho 45 dug itself into a deeper hole by running a large series — spanning nearly 40 pages and comprising seven different articles — defending Sugita’s remark under the title “What’s so Wrong About the Mio Sugita Article?” Among those subject to the most fierce backlash was an article contributed by conservative commentator Eitaro Ogawa. In it, Ogawa asserted that LGBT is ultimately a “sexual preference” and an “absurd” concept on par with “SMAG” — a term he said he coined himself to denote “sadist,” “masochist,” “ass fetish” and “groper.” If society has to protect LGBT people, Ogawa said, “shouldn’t our society also protect the rights of gropers (who) can’t resist the urge to grope once they have caught a whiff of a female’s smell on a crowed train?” “If someone dares to complain SMAG is absurd, to hell with that. To someone as traditionally conservative as I am, LGBT sounds equally absurd, too,” he wrote. Ogawa, for his part, explained in a Facebook post dated Monday that the coining of “SMAG” was merely a hypothetical example of how the society’s “premature” recognition of the rights of a minority could “turn extreme to the point of insanity” and that he himself is not defending molesters on trains. Outcries over the October issue nonetheless ensued. Soon after someone defaced a sign near Shinchosha’s headquarters with protest graffiti that changed it to say “Did you read that hateful book?” from “Did you read?” Sugita’s apparent discrimination against the LGBT community has caused widespread repercussions elsewhere, too. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was successfully re-elected as LDP president earlier this month, was forced to respond to a groundswell of anger against her while campaigning for a third term. Abe, speaking during a TV debate, said Sugita’s diatribe against “unproductive” same-sex couples hurt his feelings because he himself is childless and that she should be more mindful of her words as a politician. Still, he refrained from calling for her to step down and give up her seat, saying “she is still young.” And in Wakayama Prefecture, a small bookstore is drawing praise on social media after announcing it has withdrawn the sales of all new titles published by Shinchosha. The temporary pullout is meant to be “an act of protest against propagation by Shincho 45 of derogatory commentary against sexual minorities,” Shota Shimada, the owner of the store Books Plug, said in a statement.
|
ldp;lgbt;discrimination;mio sugita;shinchosha
|
jp0009864
|
[
"business"
] |
2018/09/21
|
Coca-Cola and Walmart join G7-led plan to cut plastic pollution in oceans
|
MONTREAL - Coca-Cola, Walmart and other big multinationals pledged on Thursday to help reduce plastic pollution in the world’s oceans in support of a campaign by five of the G7 industrialized nations. The United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany and Italy, along with the European Union, signed the Ocean Plastics Charter at a leaders summit in Canada’s Charlevoix region in June. The United States and Japan abstained but non-G7 nations Norway, Vietnam, Jamaica and the Seychelles are also backing the plan. The nations aim to develop more viable alternatives to plastic packaging to ensure 100 percent of plastics are recyclable by 2030, and to work towards a goal of having all plastics be recycled and reused by 2040. On the second day of a G7 ministerial meeting in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canadian Environment Minister Catherine McKenna announced “a new partnership with businesses” to reduce plastic waste. Backers include Loblaws, Walmart, Nestle Canada, IKEA, Dow Chemicals, the Coca-Cola Company, BASF Canada and A&W Canada. Consumer goods company Unilever also announced that it was launching a nonprofit entity to reduce consumer and business waste, while Volvo upped its target to make 25 percent of the plastics in its cars recyclable by 2025.
|
pollution;oceans;coca-cola;plastic;walmart;plastic waste;g-7 canada
|
jp0009865
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"social-issues-asia-pacific"
] |
2018/09/21
|
Proliferation of marine parks in China fueling shadowy trade in cetaceans
|
HONG KONG - Eight beluga whales jump in unison out of a bright blue indoor pool, flipping their tail fins and spewing water as a packed audience cheers and snaps photographs. Whale shows like the one at Chimelong Ocean Kingdom, located in Zhuhai on China’s southern coast, are proliferating at new marine parks across the country, driving demand for threatened species. Orcas and beluga whales are among the marine animals caught up in a shadowy trade in which individual cetaceans — often caught illegally — sell for millions of dollars, according to scientists, executives and activists. Marine parks and aquariums are opening monthly in China, with more than 36 large-scale projects set to launch in the coming two years. This comes as many live animal shows in the United States and Europe are being scrapped due to widespread opposition. “We’ve had great progress in shutting down marine parks in the West, but China is saying, ‘It’s my turn now,’ ” said Ric O’Barry, founder of the Dolphin Project, an advocacy group. Lured by booming domestic tourism, companies such as Haichang Ocean Park, Guangzhou R&F Properties, Dalian Shengya and Chimelong Group are spearheading the rapid growth of the industry. Haichang’s Shanghai Ocean World, which is due to open in November, and Chimelong’s Ocean Kingdom are preparing live orca shows for the first time in China. O’Barry, who captured and trained dolphins and orcas before launching a campaign against captive marine mammals in 1970, said China is the main driver of the industry globally. Over 60 marine parks already operate in China, ranging from large-scale developments like Chimelong’s Ocean Kingdom, to small facilities that are typically add-ons to big property projects. Cities often initiate marine park projects as an eye-catching way of raising their profiles, and offer developers vast tracts of land and cheap loans to build them. Noble Coker, president of Apex Parks and Entertainment Services, which works with theme parks in Asia, said marine facilities are often a secondary consideration in an overall deal to acquire land from municipal governments. Developers benefit from the quick development and sale of residential or commercial property, he said, with elements like marine parks typically paid for by the property sales. “All of the incentives for the developers are in the short term, so the 20-year moral and ethical impacts of the park or aquarium they are building are rarely, if ever, considered,” said Coker. Illegal captures Since 2014, 872 cetaceans — which includes whales, dolphins and porpoises — have been put into captivity in China, according to the China Cetacean Association. There are currently no local government regulations or international standards to monitor the trade, said Lucio Conti, vice president for marine facilities at Atlantis Sanya, a resort located in southern China’s Hainan province. Conti said Atlantis is working with the government to establish an animal welfare standard at a time when there is growing illegal trade of endangered wildlife. “If you go to the fishermen here on the island they can get you whatever you want. They can get you a whale shark, they can get you every species, endangered or not, because there is no such control.” Many Chinese marine parks feature whale sharks, belugas, dolphins and manta rays. But no orcas — or killer whales — have been displayed publicly up to now. At least 13 Russian orcas were imported to China between 2013 and 2016, according to CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. Another two were sent in 2017, and more are set to be imported this year, according to Oxana Fedorova, head of Dolphin Project Russia. CITES did not reveal the companies involved. Whale and Dolphin Conservation, a U.K.-based group, said Chimelong Ocean Kingdom possesses nine orcas, Shanghai Haichang Polar Ocean World has four and two more are at Wuxi Changqiao Ocean Kingdom. R&F said its planned resort will only include wild captured cetaceans if they had been rescued or came from reputable zoos and aquariums. Russia, which is the sole supplier of wild orcas and beluga whales to China, in July announced an investigation into the illegal sale of seven orcas. Four companies were involved in the sale of the orcas to China, according to a statement from the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office. It did not name the companies or their destinations. Russia approved a capture quota for 13 orcas in 2018. Several killer whales have already been caught in Russia’s Sea of Okhotsk, said activists monitoring the hunt in August. “The problem is the demand that is being created in China,” said Fedorova, who worked with the team, organized by Ocean Friends. She said the team of seven had been threatened, shot at and robbed by the hunters. The activists said they were unable to record the captures on film because their drone was shot down. Disposable manner Naomi Rose, a Washington-based marine mammal scientist at the Animal Welfare Institute, said the captures are unsustainable and inhumane. She added that the prospect of high profits will continue to attract a criminal element. Once in captivity, the rate of mortality is extremely high, said activists. This forces companies to continually buy animals. “They just suffer in captivity. Especially for orcas — they are the most unsuitable to be put in a tank. Their culture is in the wild,” said Taison Chang, chairman of the Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation Society. Squalid conditions and poor welfare practices are growing concerns amid the increasing flood of marine parks. In June, for example, an online video showed a trainer from Ocean World in China’s port city of Dalian applying bright-red lipstick on a beluga whale. The company later apologized and promised to strengthen the animal protections. Activists worry that once China’s biggest players start orca performances, it will spawn a copycat effect at smaller, less experienced parks around the country.
|
china;dolphins;nature;oceans;whales;animals;endangered;aquariums
|
jp0009866
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"crime-legal-asia-pacific"
] |
2018/09/21
|
Cambodia pardons Australian filmmaker jailed for espionage
|
PHNOM PENH - Cambodia granted a royal pardon on Friday to Australian filmmaker James Ricketson, who was sentenced last month to six years in prison on spying charges in a trial widely criticized as unfair. It was not immediately clear if he has already been released from Prey Sar prison on the outskirts of the capital, Phnom Penh. The pardon is the latest in a series of releases of political prisoners directed in recent weeks by Prime Minister Hun Sen after his ruling party’s landslide general election victory at the end of July. The election, which gave the Cambodian People’s Party all 125 seats in the National Assembly, was decried by Western nations and rights groups as unfair and undemocratic because the sole credible opposition party had been dissolved by the courts last year at the instigation of Hun Sen’s government. Hun Sen, who has been in power for 33 years, has a record of cracking down on his opponents when he feels threatened, then easing up when he has secured his political goals and seeks to tone down criticism of his actions. The recent releases come as he prepares to attend this month’s U.N. General Assembly session in New York, where he intends to defend his mandate as legitimate. Ricketson, 69, was arrested last year after flying a drone to photograph an opposition party rally. His arrest came as Hun Sen’s government was beginning a crackdown on critics and political rivals as the ruling party’s prospects for the general election appeared shaky. The opposition had made a strong showing in 2017 local elections, building on its surprisingly strong challenge in the 2013 general election. The pardon issued Friday was signed by Senate President Say Chhum, the acting head of state in the absence of King Norodom Sihamoni, who is reported to be visiting China. Pardons are normally issued at the request of Hun Sen. Ricketson’s trial was described as farcical by his sympathizers, largely because prosecutors never specified whom he was allegedly spying for and failed to present any evidence that he possessed or transmitted any secrets. He had been detained without bail since June last year in harsh conditions. It appeared that Ricketson was targeted by the government for perceived sympathy for the opposition Cambodian National Resue Party — the group that was dissolved last year — whose activities he had been filming. Ricketson repeatedly insisted he had no political agenda and his work making documentary films was journalistic in nature. His Aug. 31 conviction was met with only lukewarm public concern from Australia’s prime minister and foreign minister. Their public stance was criticized, but also led to speculation that an understanding might have been reached with Cambodian authorities for Ricketson’s early release. Ricketson’s lawyer, Kong Sam Onn, said his client would go first to Phnom Penh and then travel to Australia. “James will go back to his home country after he is released, but later he will be back to Cambodia because the pardon letter doesn’t bar him from re-entering Cambodia,” Kong Sam Onn said. However, there is no official statement guaranteeing he will be readmitted. Ricketson had said during his trial that he wished to re-establish a project that he had launched before his arrest to buy some land to resettle several poor Cambodian families who have been living at a garbage dump. He and several character witnesses had testified that he provided financial assistance to several poverty-stricken Cambodians.
|
australia;courts;rights;cambodia;hun sen
|
jp0009867
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"crime-legal-asia-pacific"
] |
2018/09/21
|
U.N. chief urges Myanmar government to free Reuters journalists
|
WASHINGTON - U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday called on the Myanmar government to pardon and release two imprisoned Reuters journalists as soon as possible. “I hope that the government will be able to provide a pardon to release them as quickly as possible,” Guterres told reporters at the United Nations in response to a question about Aung San Suu Kyi’s recent remarks on the case. Reuters reporters Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, were convicted on Sept. 3 under the colonial-era Official Secrets Act in a case that was seen as a test of democratic freedoms in Myanmar. The reporters, who pleaded not guilty, said they were handed rolled papers by police shortly before they were detained last December, and a police witness testified in court that they had been set up. The reporters had been investigating the killing of 10 Rohingya Muslim men and boys by security forces and local Buddhists amid a military response to insurgent attacks last August. Some 700,000 Rohingya crossed from Myanmar into Bangladesh fleeing the crackdown, which U.N.-mandated investigators said last month was launched by senior Myanmar generals with “genocidal intent.
|
myanmar;u.n .;genocide;aung san suu kyi;rohingya;rakhine;antonio guterres;reuters journalists
|
jp0009868
|
[
"national",
"social-issues"
] |
2018/09/21
|
Keio hospital ends fertility treatment due to shortage of sperm donors
|
Keio University Hospital in Tokyo has stopped taking appointments for a certain type of fertility treatment due to a fall in the number of anonymous sperm donors. According to the hospital, fewer donors were willing to participate once they were made aware of the spreading global recognition of children’s rights to know their biological parents. Artificial insemination is used by couples when the man is infertile. Mamoru Tanaka, an obstetrics professor at the university who oversees the treatment, noted that if Japan recognizes donor-conceived children’s right to know their biological origins, it could lead to cases in which they effectively have two fathers. “It is crucial to establish through legislation a safe and comfortable donor system,” he said. The hospital has been offering the treatment since 1948 and conducted around 1,500 procedures per year. It used to take appointments as early as a year in advance but stopped doing so in August. It will discuss the procedure’s future in a meeting with outside experts in October.
|
infertility;sperms;keio university hospital
|
jp0009869
|
[
"national",
"science-health"
] |
2018/09/21
|
University of Tokyo student goes the extra trillions of miles to study exoplanets
|
In 2009, the Vatican hosted a meeting aimed at assessing the impact on the Catholic church of discovering extraterrestrial life. There was nothing to worry about, the Vatican said, as any aliens would still have been created by a universally powerful God. Then in 2015, an apparently Earth-like planet was discovered 1,400 light years away from our planet, in the constellation Cygnus. Officially named Kepler 452b, the planet was deemed to be so similar to Earth that it was nicknamed “Earth 2.0” and “Earth’s cousin,” and its discovery generated huge excitement. Here was a planet, people said, that might harbor intelligent life. The Vatican’s chief astronomer, Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, said the discovery of Kepler 452b was great news. “It is probable that there was life, and perhaps a form of intelligent life,” he said, going somewhat further than any scientist. Nor is there any conflict between the existence of alien life and Catholicism, he added. Well, he would. In reality, the discovery even of some kind of alien bacteria would cause the greatest upset to Rome since Henry VIII filed for divorce. Religious institutions aside, evidence of alien life would be a game changer. It’s hard to think of another scientific discovery that would have as great an impact. Perhaps it would do for philosophy, and for our view of our planet, what Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution did for our view of our place in nature. It would connect us directly with the rest of the cosmos. It would (one hopes) inspire a firm and meaningful commitment to careful stewardship of this planet. Sadly I’m not about to report the discovery of alien life. But John Livingston, a Ph.D. student at the University of Tokyo, has recently helped discover 44 planets outside of our solar system. Such planets — known as exoplanets — were until recently only theoretical, but are now being observed in ever greater numbers. They inspire great excitement among astronomers. “It was also gratifying to verify so many small planets,” says Livingston. “Sixteen were in the same size class as Earth, one in particular turning out to be extremely small — about the size of Venus — which was a nice affirmation as it’s close to the limit of what is possible to detect.” Livingston worked with professor Motohide Tamura of the University of Tokyo to combine astronomical data from NASA’s Kepler space telescope, the European Space Agency’s Gaia space telescope, as well as ground-based telescopes. This enabled them to confirm the existence of 44 new planets. They published their findings in The Astronomical Journal. “Four of the planets orbit their host stars in less than 24 hours,” says Livingston. “In other words, a year on each of those planets is shorter than a day here on Earth.” You might be wondering why we study such things. Most exoplanets are incredibly far away. Even traveling at the speed of light, something very far from possible, it would take 1,400 years to reach Kepler 452b. The closest exoplanet orbits the star Proxima Centauri, and is just over four light years away. That’s 40 trillion kilometers. It would take tens of thousands of years for us to reach it with our best rockets. Livingston says that finding new planets gives us good options for studying alien atmospheres. It’s conceivable that we could spot the signs of life just by looking at the composition of gases in a planet’s atmosphere. But they also tell us how planets form. “The investigation of other solar systems can help us understand how planets and even our own solar system formed,” says Livingston. “The study of other worlds has much to teach us about our own.” Exoplanets inspire wonder and many people want to do more than merely observe them from afar: they want to visit them. Yuri Milner, a Russian billionaire and venture capitalist, is a space enthusiast. He is funding a $100 million project to research the feasibility of sending a laser-powered spacecraft to Proxima Centauri. If we could accelerate a small spacecraft to 20 percent of the speed of light, it could reach the nearest exoplanet in just 20 years. In the space of a generation, we could conceivably receive images from a planet in another part of the galaxy. As to whether it is safe to attempt to reach out to alien worlds, we’ll have to examine the arguments in a future column.
|
space;astronomy;cygnus;exoplanet;yuri milner;kepler 452b;proxima centauri
|
jp0009871
|
[
"business",
"tech"
] |
2018/09/07
|
'Engineer-friendly' Fukuoka pitches merits in campaign to become tech hub
|
It’s a fast-growing city but with a reasonable cost of living, diverse cuisine and close access to an airport. Plus, the city is willing to support new tech projects. Doesn’t that sound like a great place for engineers? That’s the sales pitch the city of Fukuoka made last month at a recruiting event in Tokyo as part of its effort to draw more engineers. Kyushu’s biggest city has also declared itself an “Engineer-Friendly City.” An engineer shortage, which is already severe, is expected to worsen, as such technologies as artificial intelligence, blockchain and virtual reality look likely to spread in the coming years. “We are acting fast before others start,” Fukuoka Mayor Soichiro Takashima said of the engineering push at the Tokyo event, which was held at Ippudo in Minato Ward, a restaurant and bar that’s part of the Fukuoka-born ramen chain. Along with representatives from three Fukuoka firms, Takashima pitched the merits of moving to the city. “In short, Fukuoka is a growing city … we have this determination to keep growing,” he said, adding that Fukuoka wants to turn itself into a center for technology firms. Fukuoka saw its population increase by 74,767 between 2010 and 2015, the biggest jump among 20 ordinance-designated big cities outside Tokyo with more than 700,000 residents. It had a population of more than 1.57 million as of Aug. 1. One of the policies spearheaded by Takashima is to attract and encourage entrepreneurs interested in launching startups. For instance, the city offers to cover a fourth of a startup’s annual office rent — up to ¥15 million — for a year as long as it hires three or more full-time employees and has an office space of at least 60 square meters. Fukuoka also hosts branches of some leading tech firms, including Line Corp. and Mercari Inc., and its biggest business districts have seen vacancy rates tighten in recent months, dropping to 2.87 percent in May from 11.5 percent in May 2013. “Not only startups but also various other creative firms have established bases in Fukuoka … (but) the city does not have enough human resources,” Takashima said, assuring the nation’s engineers that they will surely find jobs. He added that Fukuoka is also supporting corporate efforts to conduct tech experiments, since the city has been designated by Tokyo as a national strategic special zone, which allows companies to launch bold projects via deregulation. Once the city becomes a tech park, it will be easier for engineers to find more career options and remain there, the mayor said. What’s more, with rents running at an average of about 60 percent of Tokyo’s, Fukuoka’s living costs are far more reasonable than in the capital. It is also famed for its cuisine, including ramen, gyoza (dumplings) and udon (wheat noodles). The executives made their best pitches for moving to Kyushu. Yusuke Suzuki, a director at Line Fukuoka Corp., said both the company and the city will be running an experiment to promote cashless payment systems around Fukuoka, so Line hopes to hire more engineers. He added that Fukuoka has committed communities of engineers who frequently hold study sessions. Osamu Hashimoto, head of startup Skydisc Inc., a provider of AI and internet of things-based solutions, noted that in addition to the cheaper living costs, the city is less stressful than Tokyo for commuting. “Fukuoka hardly has any jam-packed trains,” said Hashimoto, adding the city is quite compact. “I can just bike to get around within my main work area,” he said. During a chat session, the mayor and the executives talked casually with the participants while slurping ramen and sipping sake from, of course, Fukuoka. “I am originally from Shizuoka Prefecture and my wife is not from Tokyo either, so we don’t necessarily have to stay in Tokyo. If there is a better environment to work at a different place, we’ve been hoping to do so,” said Tomotaka Furuhashi, an engineer in his 30s. He said he heard Fukuoka was a hot topic but did not really know why it was attracting so much attention. “Now I know that it’s a city that wants to support engineers and startups,” he said. “I’ll look at some job search services and apply if there is a good one.” Kenichi Tanaka, another engineer who came to the event, said his wife is from Oita Prefecture in Kyushu and wants to move to somewhere close to her hometown. He said he was reluctant to consider that option but the event made him reconsider. “Companies from Fukuoka seemed to be really loving the city … now I’d like to visit and check it out,” he said.
|
kyushu;fukuoka;startups;engineers
|
jp0009872
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"offbeat-asia-pacific"
] |
2018/09/07
|
Talented Indian artist draws portraits with a typewriter, one key at a time
|
MAHARASHTRA, INDIA - Clickety-clack, clickety-clack. Ding! rings out from a home in Mumbai where Chandrakant Bhide is creating his latest artwork — on a typewriter. The 72-year-old thumps the keys of the bulky, manual machine to draw portraits of famous people, all bearing an unmistakable resemblance to their subject. From politicians and film stars to cricketers, animation characters and religious symbols, Bhide has produced around 150 pieces of typewriter art over the past half century. “I have done many personalities like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy. This is my hobby, my passion,” he said. Bhide has held 12 exhibitions of his work and become something of a local celebrity since discovering his unique talent in the late 1960s while employed as a bank clerk. As a young man he had wanted to go to art school and become a commercial artist but his family was unable to afford the costs so he trained in stenography instead. Bhide was working in the administrative department of Union Bank of India when in 1967 his boss asked him to type up a list of staff intercom numbers. “I typed it in the form of a telephone itself. When I saw it I thought, ‘This is fantastic, I can make art through this medium.’ Everybody seemed to like it too,” he recalls. Bhide started using the x key to produce images of Hindu god Ganesha to mark India’s annual festival celebrating the elephant-headed deity. He then began to experiment with other keys — including w, dash, asterisk, ampersand and percentage sign — progressing to create portraits of celebrities from India and abroad. While Bhide takes only 15 minutes to draw Ganesha, several hours are required to complete a famous face in what is a painstaking process. With steely focus he uses his left hand to grip the knob that controls the platen — the roller that feeds the paper through — as he taps the keys with his right index finger. He stops every so often to change the angle of the page before typing again. Sometimes he’ll flick the color-change lever from black to red or vice versa and he’ll glance down regularly at the photograph he is working off to make sure he hasn’t made an error. “Typing requires dedication and concentration. If you put one stroke in the wrong place then you have to start again. “It’s not like a computer where you can delete. Many times I’ve made mistakes and had to start again,” says Bhide. The septuagenarian has drawn several Indian actors over the years including Amitabh Bachchan and Dilip Kumar as well as American cartoon characters like Mickey Mouse and Archie. Cricketers feature heavily, such as Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar, whose famous curly hair Bhide recreated with hundreds of “at” symbols used in email addresses. Bhide, who doesn’t sell his artwork or take orders, has been featured in several Indian newspapers and has been able to show his portraits to many of the Indian stars he has drawn. He says he plans to attempt U.S. President Donald Trump, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. All of his works have been produced on the same Halda typewriter he used for the 30 years that he worked at Union Bank. The bank gifted it to him for one rupee when he retired in the mid-90s. “I have got so many things out of this typewriter. Typing is an art,” he says.
|
india;art;mumbai
|
jp0009873
|
[
"national",
"science-health"
] |
2018/09/07
|
Survey finds suicide is leading cause of maternal death in Japan
|
A total of 102 women committed suicide before and after childbirth between 2015 and 2016, making it the leading cause of maternal death in Japan, according to a recent study by a team of experts that included personnel from the National Center for Child Health and Development. In the survey, the first of its kind to be conducted at a nationwide level, 92 committed suicide within a year of delivery. Around half of the 92 were aged 35 or older, while 65 percent had been pregnant for the first time. Many of the women belonged to households with no regular source of income. Postnatal depression, often caused by concerns and frustrations about raising children, is said to be one possible factor behind the women’s suicides. The team that carried out the survey is calling on women to consult doctors and health care centers “not just about their physical wellbeing but also about their mental wellbeing.” The findings also showed that, compared with other countries, the number of maternal deaths are small, but that the suicide rates are higher in Japan. “There may be more people (committing suicide) who are not shown in the data. … It is important to support anxious pregnant women and nursing mothers as well as those struggling with postnatal depression or other mental health issues,” said Rintaro Mori, a doctor at the center. The team analyzed the 2015-2016 population data on pregnant women and also those who had given birth within the previous 12 months. A total of 357 women died, of which 102 killed themselves. The cause of the death of the other women included cancers, diseases involving cranial nerves and bleeding. Suicide after childbirth was seen throughout the year, the survey also showed.
|
pregnancy;suiciden;maternal death
|
jp0009875
|
[
"business"
] |
2018/09/08
|
Japan gaming industry group to bolster educational activities in bid to prevent kids from becoming addicted
|
A gaming industry group plans to boost its educational activities to prevent children from becoming obsessed with video games, informed sources said Friday. The move by the Computer Entertainment Supplier’s Association comes amid rising concerns about gaming addiction in Japan. Through an information magazine and its website, CESA plans to introduce parents to apps and other tools that restrict the amount of time their child can play video games, the sources said. Specifically, the association will bring back its magazine, discontinued six years ago, and hand out copies to visitors at the 2018 Tokyo Game Show, which is scheduled to begin at Makuhari Messe convention center in Chiba Prefecture on Sept. 20. In addition to introducing the apps, the magazine will carry an expert’s commentary explaining how the human brain becomes deeply absorbed in games. CESA, the organizer of the game show, will soon release similar content on its website as well, the sources said. Gaming addiction has attracted a lot of public attention since the World Health Organization classified it as a new disease in June. CESA decided to publicize its efforts to prevent gaming addiction because methods to restrict the amount of time children play games have not been widely publicized yet, according to Tatsuo Tomiyama, an executive managing director of the association.
|
smartphones;computers;video games;mental health
|
jp0009876
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"science-health-asia-pacific"
] |
2018/09/08
|
South Korea reports first MERS case in three years
|
SEOUL - South Korea reported its first case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in three years, health officials said Saturday. A 61-year-old businessman was diagnosed with the highly contagious viral respiratory illness, according to officials at the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He returned to South Korea on Friday from a business trip in Kuwait where he stayed for three weeks, the KCDC said a statement. “Authorities have traced and separated 20 people who have come in close contact with the infected person,” KCDC head Chung Eun-gyeong told journalists. They include medical staff, flight attendants and passengers of the plane the man flew back to South Korea on, she said. He was hospitalized with fever and phlegm and has been quarantined at a university hospital, she added. It is the first case of MERS diagnosed in South Korea since 2015, when an outbreak killed 38 people and triggered widespread panic.
|
health;south korea;diseases
|
jp0009877
|
[
"national"
] |
2018/09/08
|
200-year-old Mie puppet's neck on the line as whaling ban makes crucial part scarce
|
Onyudo is a giant kimono-clad, long-necked puppet that has been preserved by residents of the Nakanaya area of Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture, for more than 200 years. The puppet, regarded as a symbol of Yokkaichi, appears on a float in the annual Grand Yokkaichi Festival, showing off its red tongue. But Onyudo has recently been said to be on the verge of extinction because the ban on commercial whaling has made it extremely difficult to obtain baleen plates from right whales. The plates, which act as a filter-feeder system in the mouths of the whales, are traditionally used as a spring-like mechanism to bend and stretch the puppet’s neck. An Onyudo puppet float preservation group is thus struggling to find baleen plates while trying to develop springs that function the same way. The puppet, designated by the prefecture as tangible folk cultural property, is believed to have been created in 1805 in the late Edo Period (1603 to 1868) by renowned puppeteers Jusaburo Takeda and his son Tokichi of Nagoya. It has since been used in parades during the autumn festival put on by Suwa Shrine in October, and more recently at the Grand Yokkaichi Festival held in August. At 4½ meters tall, it is believed to be the largest puppet in Japan and has a neck that stretches as far as 2.7 meters from its position on the 1.8-meter-high float. Two baleen plates, each nearly 3 meters long, are installed in its neck, and the puppeteers in the float use them to manipulate it. In right whales, the plates are in the upper jaw, where they act as a strainer to separate their prey — usually plankton — from giant gulps of sea water taken into their mouths. Because they are strong yet highly flexible, baleen plates have traditionally been used to function as springs in Japanese puppets. The local preservation group has only two necks for the puppet, one produced in the Meiji Era (1868 to 1912) and the other in the early Showa Era (1926 to 1989). They used to alternate between the necks, but the group has been using only the newer one in recent years since the older one is beginning to show its age. The necks have been kept in action by mending the plates when they break, but the group fears it will become impossible to repair them in the future unless new plates can be obtained. In 1997 the group tried developing a replacement material for the neck by combining steel plates shaped like baleens with a cushioning material, but it didn’t work well, and the neck failed to stay still when stretched out. Two years ago, with the help of a spring-maker in Osaka, the preservation group managed to make the neck stay still with a coil spring. But it has not yet adopted this method out of fear that the steel plates, which are harder than baleens, might damage the neck’s wooden frame. While working on new ways to operate the neck, group members are also searching for baleen plates. They found a company in Kyushu that owns a 2.5-meter baleen plate and asked that it be kept for them, but they have been unable to raise the ¥2 million needed to buy it. “We strongly feel we want to hand down the tradition we have preserved,” said Hiromitsu Ieki, 76, who leads the group. “The best thing is to keep using baleen plates.” The group plans to reach out for information on available baleen plates and seek donations from businesses to purchase them.
|
whales;festivals;puppet;yokkaichi
|
jp0009878
|
[
"national",
"media-national"
] |
2018/09/08
|
Video gamers from across Japan, and the world, put down their controllers and head to Yokosuka
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The city of Yokosuka, located south of Yokohama, is mostly famous for feeling at times like a slice of America, as it is home to a large U.S. naval base. ( Some stores in Yokosuka even accept U.S. currency .) For foodies and fashionistas, Yokosuka is also well-known for its spicy curry and flashy bomber jackets . This summer, however, a new group took an interest in the city: video game fans. From Aug. 29 through Sept. 2, thousands of “Pokemon Go” players descended on Yokosuka for the game’s Safari Zone event , which offered a chance for fans to catch a variety of rare Pokemon that are normally hard to find. Yes, much to the chagrin of the “get off my lawn” crowd, “Pokemon Go” is still unfathomably popular . The Pokemon extravaganza was held last year in Yokohama, but after too many complaints were filed by locals , this year’s Safari Zone was relocated to Yokosuka. Businesses seemed to wholly embrace the chance to sell food and merchandise to players, however, setting up special signs welcoming people into their establishments. IGN’s Andrew Goldfarb tweeted that it was “the best day of my life.” 横須賀のスタバがすごい #ポケモンgo #pokemongo #SafariZoneinYOKOSUKA pic.twitter.com/MLNkU9GxFw — えだまめ@ポケモンGO (@edamame_phoo) August 29, 2018 Visitors posted online how they had a lot more elbow room at the Yokosuka event compared to last year in Yokohama, and even Eevee the Pokemon could comfortably walk down Dobuita Street without pushing through crowds. User @PgoJP tweeted that the Safari Zone was well-organized, and went on to compliment the sweet train station staff for pointing out where to go. The city also put up Pokemon-themed “Don’t walk and play” signs throughout the venues to make sure trainers kept their eyes on the road and not on their phones. And any Pokemon event that has rare monsters to be caught is sure to attract the most hardcore trainers from across Japan. A pair of gamers from Nagoya were spotted playing on four and five smartphones each. “ This is normal in Nagoya ,” they were quoted as saying. Twitter user @TAM_DDR’s mission to catch ’em all took him all the way to Yokosuka where he walked around with a sign begging anyone to trade him a Heracross (a rare bug Pokemon that can only be found in South America). He tweeted several times asking for some kind soul to give him the big blue bug, and in the end he was successful . Another set of video gamers are journeying to Yokosuka, but they are not searching for virtual monsters. Instead, they want to relive their favorite game, Sega’s “Shenmue,” which was re-released this summer and has renewed interest in the seaside city. Originally published in 1999, the adventure game “Shenmue” follows protagonist Ryo Hazuki ( fitted in a sweet bomber jacket, naturally ) as he traverses Yokosuka searching for sailors and the man who killed his father. Ryo looks for clues in the suburbs, the docks and Yokosuka’s famous shopping district, Dobuita Street . The original developers re-created the road into the game and the results can look nearly identical from certain angles . Even though so much time has passed since “Shenmue” was made, super-fans are still taking trips to Yokosuka to snap photos of the real-life versions of the game’s locales, while others have blogs identifying every shop and street corner that appears in the game. People who can’t visit Japan on a whim are doing their own detective work from home, mapping out exactly what every digital citizen of Yokosuka does on a daily basis , or deciphering the blurry, pixelated posters that appear in virtual Yokosuka. Sega has caught on to these fan pilgrimages and made a comparison video of its own . In the video, the company invited two fans to wander through Dobuita Street and identify some of the moments from the game, which they do in excruciating detail. “(‘Shenmue’) was really more than a game,” YouTuber Adam Koralik says in Sega’s video. “It was an experience.” The city of Yokosuka has been well aware of these obsessive gamers for quite some time now. The City Hall even has a foldable “Shenmue” map that fans can follow to see all of the sites from the game. The “Shenmue Chapter One: Yokosuka ‘Sacred Spot’ Guide Map” was created by Yokosuka city employee Eriko Furusaki, who, to tie everything together, worked on previous “Pokemon Go” events for the city . “We would be delighted for players to make a journey to Shenmue’s Yokosuka, seeing it through their own personal filter of memories and fondness for the game,” Furusaki told fan website PhantomRiverStone.com . “We are looking forward to even more fans coming to visit.”
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yokosuka;video games;japan pulse
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jp0009882
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[
"asia-pacific",
"crime-legal-asia-pacific"
] |
2018/09/01
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China to launch nationwide inspections of ride-hailing companies
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HONG KONG - China will conduct comprehensive inspections on all ride-hailing service companies, the transport ministry has said, after a driver from dominant firm Didi Chuxing murdered a 20-year-old passenger this month. The inspections, starting from Sept. 5, will cover all ride-hailing service platforms nationwide, the ministry said in a statement released Friday. Didi said it welcomed the move and would fully cooperate to implement measures for improvement. “We accept the supervision and will do our best to improve our services to ensure the safety of the public,” Didi said in a statement posted on its official account on China’s Twitter-like Weibo website. The murder of the passenger who rode in a Didi vehicle took place in the eastern city of Wenzhou, and was the second such incident involving Didi since May. The latest case sparked outrage and raised concerns about safety in the fast-growing ride-hailing sector in China, prompting the company to say that it would suspend its Hitch service indefinitely until it comes up with a safety mechanism acceptable to its users.
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china;murder;didi chuxing
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jp0009883
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[
"asia-pacific",
"crime-legal-asia-pacific"
] |
2018/09/01
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Man who killed his ex-wife and daughter put to death in Taiwan in state's first execution in two years
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TAIPEI - Taiwan has executed a death row inmate, the first execution carried out under President Tsai Ing-wen’s government, despite ongoing calls from rights groups to abolish the death penalty. Lee Hung-chi was executed at a prison in the southern city of Kaohsiung on Friday afternoon by firing squad, according to the justice ministry, for killing his ex-wife and five-year-old daughter in 2014. Lee stabbed his ex-wife to death outside the kindergarten their two daughters attended and then took one of the girls to his car, where he attempted to kill both her and himself by carbon monoxide poisoning. Lee survived after they were rescued but the girl died two months later despite treatment. “His actions were brutal and ruthless … and inflicted irreparable harms to the victims’ families,” deputy justice minister Chen Ming-tang told reporters. The court had ruled there was no likelihood of Lee reforming, he added. Taiwan resumed capital punishment in 2010 after a five-year hiatus, with the death penalty reserved for the most serious crimes such as aggravated murder and kidnapping. Some politicians and rights groups have called for its abolition, but various surveys show majority support for the death penalty. Chen said the government was gradually decreasing its use, but would not abolish it for now. “Abolishing (the) death sentence is an international trend and a long-term goal for the justice ministry … but there is no consensus in our country,” Chen said. There are currently 42 prisoners on death row in Taiwan. Lee’s execution was the first since a former college student was put to death in May 2016 for killing four people in a random stabbing spree on a subway that shocked the generally peaceful island. In 2012 the murder of a young boy in a playground reignited debate over the death penalty, after the suspect reportedly said he was anticipating free board and lodging in jail and would get a life sentence at most even if he were to kill two or three people. The European Union expressed sympathy toward those close to Lee’s victims but said it was “unequivocally opposed to the use of capital punishment.” In a statement, the bloc called on Taiwan to “immediately reintroduce a moratorium on the death penalty … as a first step to its total abolition.”
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taiwan;death penalty;prisons;tsai ing-wen
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jp0009884
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[
"national",
"media-national"
] |
2018/09/01
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Examining the motives behind mass murder in Japan
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Japan is for the most part a safe country. Gun-control laws are so strict in this East Asian nation of more than 120 million that fatalities remained in single digits last year. And yet we still feel a palpable sense of relief when we make it through any given year without a mass murderer surfacing to inflict pain and suffering on their victims’ families. Take the following cases, for example: On Aug. 18, a former Yokohama nurse suspected of being a serial killer was served a third arrest warrant over several fatal poisonings at a hospital where she once worked. Ayumi Kuboki earlier told prosecutors she injected disinfectant into intravenous drip bags being administered to about 20 patients. In July 2016, former nursing home worker Satoshi Uematsu stabbed 19 people to death in a facility for people with intellectual disabilities in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture. In June 2008, Tomohiro Kato drove a motor vehicle into a crowd before going on a stabbing spree that left seven people dead and 10 injured on the streets of Tokyo’s Akihabara neighborhood. In June 2001, Mamoru Takuma, a former soldier and ex-convict, killed eight children at an elementary school in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture. Takuma remained unrepentant until his execution in September 2004. The country’s worst massacre took place in the Okayama village of Kamo in May 1938. Mutsuo Toi, a 21-year-old man, cut off electricity to the hamlet and killed 30 people, including his grandmother, with a shotgun, sword and ax before killing himself. Toi claimed to have felt ostracized from the other inhabitants in the village. What lessons can be learned from these cases? Some guidance can be found in a 2013 Justice Ministry paper titled “Research Into Indiscriminate Cases of Mass Murder and Injury.” The 198-page report examined 52 instances in which an individual seriously injured and/or killed people they didn’t know without a clear motive in an attempt to learn from them and hopefully prevent similar attacks. The report classified the attacks into five separate motives. Forty-two percent of the cases were fueled by a grudge, while 19 percent were driven by anger or envy toward a group or entity. Seventeen percent wished to escape society by being incarcerated, 11.5 percent wished to commit suicide or be killed in the act and 9.6 percent simply wanted to kill. Others included in the report gave no clear motive, but drugs or mental illness were believed to play a part in the crime. While it recognized that the sample size was small, the report drew some interesting conclusions. First, the report found that many mass murderers had previously been institutionalized. As a result, the report said, people who had been incarcerated for violent acts needed to receive ongoing treatment once they were released. The report suggested only one alternative. “In order to make (these) individuals not feel socially isolated, we need to work with all facilities to address mental illness, and prevent suicidal behavior so that people feel they have ‘a chance in the world’ and a place they feel at home,” the report said. In the end, the report concluded that untreated suicidal impulses could tragically lead to homicide. At the same time, the report was unable to identify any solutions that would help anyone who was fixated on the idea of murder. As for my own conclusion? Given the subject matter, it all seems quite simple: By shining a light on the darker side of human nature, perhaps some kind of understanding may be found that might prevent future tragedies. And as the report also notes, further study is required.
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mamoru takuma;satoshi uematsu;tomohiro kato;ayumi kuboki;mutsuo toi
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jp0009885
|
[
"national",
"media-national"
] |
2018/09/01
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Tabloids in Japan unafraid to question Imperial scandals
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The domestic press is more deferential to Japan’s Imperial family than the British press is to its royal family. To secure access, Japan’s mainstream media must play by the rules of the Imperial Household Agency, which controls said access and watches the resulting coverage closely. The weeklies and tabloids have no direct access to the royal family, at least not through the Imperial Household Agency, and so they write whatever they want. For the most part, they don’t go as far as the British tabloid press does in covering their royals, but they’ve been known to report on scandals in the palace. At the moment, they’re fired up about Kei Komuro, the law firm employee who wants to marry Princess Mako, the elder daughter of Prince Akishino, the second son of Emperor Akihito. The couple announced their intentions last September and it was assumed they would be married sometime this year but then, in December, Shukan Josei started reporting that Komuro’s widowed mother owed money to a former boyfriend. The story was picked up by other weeklies and then the major media, the result of which has been a full-blown scandal that now incorporates sideshows about the Komuros’ religious beliefs and the deaths of Kei’s father and grandfather, both allegedly by suicide. On Feb. 6, the Imperial Household Agency announced that the formal engagement ceremony for Mako and Komuro had been postponed until 2020 , raising eyebrows across the board and prompting high-fives in the editorial offices of the weeklies. Then Josei Seven ran a scoop about Komuro going to the United States to gain an American law degree, a process that would entail three years of study. More rumors flew, the gist of which was that the Imperial Household Agency and, more specifically, Mako’s father and grandmother, Empress Michiko, wanted the couple to break up. The weeklies implied that the Imperial Household Agency may have cooked up the study-abroad scheme to separate the couple so that their affections would cool over time. Eventually, the Imperial Household Agency announced that Komuro would attend Fordham University in New York from August. More high-fives and raised eyebrows. These developments are regularly updated by Hiroyuki Shinoda in his column about the weeklies in Tokyo Shimbun and other publications that toe the Imperial Household Agency line when it comes to royal coverage. When Shinoda wanted to express disgust with the weeklies’ treatment of Komuro he referred to a New York Times article that said the tabloids were persecuting Komuro. The New York Times also talked about the Imperial Household Agency’s demand that Fordham remove from its home page a statement saying Komuro was the fiancee of Princess Mako, since no formal engagement ceremony had taken place. The university apologized and did as it was told. Shinoda called the Imperial Household Agency’s demand abnormal, and cited Shukan Josei as one of the instigators of Komuro-bashing, since the weekly relied on anonymous negative comments about the marriage sent to the Imperial Household Agency — comments that, according to Shinoda, were prompted by the very magazine that later reported them. Just as Shinoda was given license to write critically about Komuro’s situation by The New York Times’ coverage, most major media on Aug. 8 repeated the rumors about objections to Komuro from within the palace by simply reviewing weekly magazine coverage. The Asahi Shimbun took their word that news about “financial problems … prompted (Mako’s) parents to take the unusual step of demanding answers from the family of Kei Komuro.” The royal family is said to be worried about public opinion and the rituals that must be carried out prior to a royal wedding, even if, according to law, Mako will be leaving the royal family after the nuptials. Another media person who has come out publicly against this narrative is Masahiko Motoki, a former editor-in-chief of Shukan Gendai. In the online version of the financial magazine President , Motoki complained about the coverage. Referencing sentimental pop songs, he predicts that in the end “love will win” and the couple will get married despite the fact that “society can be cruel.” Motoki takes issue with the reporting of the debt scandal. The only “source” of information about the money owed to the former boyfriend is the boyfriend himself, who remains anonymous. Komuro and his mother have declined to speak on the record about it. Explaining that weeklies present both sides of a story even if the sources are nameless, Motoki finds it suspicious that the original revelation was based on one man’s uncorroborated version. Similarly, all subsequent quotes about dissatisfactions within the royal family come from anonymous acquaintances of the principals. It also appears that Komuro’s intentions to seek a law degree in the United States were prompted by his employer, which offered to pay the attendant fees. In fact, he applied for a slot at Fordham before the Imperial Household Agency’s February announcement about the engagement, which was postponed because of the fuss surrounding the present Emperor’s abdication next year. In Motoki’s version, Komuro is a hard-working young man who wants to build a career and start a family. Compare the coverage of Mako’s situation to that of Princess Ayako, the daughter of the late Prince Takamado. She recently announced her intention to marry commoner Kei Moriya . There’s no problem with their union because it was arranged by Ayako’s mother, Princess Hisako, but afterward it’s open season. Hisako also arranged the marriage of Ayako’s older sister to a Shinto priest that the weeklies believe is now on the rocks . Coincidentally, the husband of the Emperor’s daughter, Sayako, who left the royal family when she wed, was recently spotted by a weekly eating at a chain restaurant by himself , sparking rumors that their marriage isn’t going smoothly either. That one was supposedly arranged by Prince Akishino. Mako and Komuro have been sweethearts since they met in university. No important person introduced them, so in their case even the romance is fair game in the eyes of the media, regardless of affiliation.
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imperial family;princess mako;kei komuro
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jp0009886
|
[
"national",
"media-national"
] |
2018/09/01
|
Japan's celebrities are using social media to turn criticism on its head
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Social media present a tightrope for celebrities in Japan. An increasing number of high-profile people are becoming savvy with platforms such as Instagram and Twitter, helping them to develop an online fan base. However, the internet also opens them up to criticism, and the past couple of weeks have highlighted how confusing the conversation about celebrities in Japan can get. The biggest celebrity story online over the past two weeks has revolved around Ryuji Higa, who is better known as Ryucheru . The fashionable influencer-turned-TV-presence-turned- performer welcomed a son into the world earlier this summer . To celebrate, the 22-year-old celebrity got tattoos with the name of his progeny, Link, and one of his wife, fellow celebrity Peco . (He also released a pop song about his baby but, er, let’s ignore that.) Many reacted negatively to his ink. According to articles on Cyzo and J-Cast , some responded to images of Higa’s tattoo with criticism. Some suggested that he was bound to feel bad about being unable to take his child to a pool or hot spring one day, while others went as far as to argue he would end up regretting getting tattooed altogether. Others described the move as being selfish, with some arguing that he now couldn’t donate blood (although in general, Higa would probably have to wait a year ). Fans defended him, while plenty also had more reasonable pro-and-con discussions . Higa responded on Instagram , posting a familiar kind of celebrity response to social media-born criticism that mixed earnest positivity about family life with “haters gonna hate” posturing. Nestled near the end was a line about how he wants to fight prejudice against those with tattoos in Japan. いろんな意見を、ありがとうございます。 言いたいこと、きちんと書くね!! まず、今まで応援してくれていた方が、冷たいコメントだけを残し、ぼくのことを一瞬で嫌いになるのが本当ならおどろきです。 それなりに予想はしてたけど、こんなにも偏見されるのかと思いました。 こんなに偏見のある社会 どうなんだろう。仕方ないよね。ではなく、僕は変えていきたい。 優しい言葉を投げかけてくれる人が好きと言うわけではなく、本当に僕のことを応援してくれている方と、そうでない方のコメント、言葉の違いくらい僕にも分かります。 結婚して、子供がいつかできたら、 家族の名前を身体に刻もう。と結婚する前、３年前から決めてました。 その３年でたくさん考えて、それなりの覚悟で入れました。 ぼくたちは、日本の温泉や、プールには行かないとおもいます。 その理由は名前を刻んだということとは関係ありません。 ぼくたちは、子供の顔を出していないので 子供の写真を盗撮されると困るし、子供がびっくりしたり、怖くなってしまうことが、あるかもしれないので、大勢の人が集まる場所には なかなか行かないと思います。 でも、そんな僕たちのお家を選んで生まれてきてくれたんだから、僕たちだからこそしてあげられることもたくさんあるし、僕の身勝手な行動で 大切な子供の楽しい思い出作り、人生を邪魔することは絶対しません。 そして僕のお父さんも、僕が生まれたとき 背中に 龍 (ドラゴンの絵) を入れました。僕は一度も嫌な思いをしたことがないし 嬉しかったです。 不自由をしたこともないし、ママからも パパからも たくさんの愛をもらい、育ててくれました。 だから、僕自身、偏見もなにもありませんでした。それも大きいかもしれません。 この体で、僕は大切な家族の笑顔を守るのです。なので、この体に、大切な家族の名前を刻みました。隠すつもりもありません。でも意地でも出したいわけでもありません。自然に生きていきたいです。偏見が無くなりますように。 そして最後に!!! 僕も色々こうしてSNSで発信することが怖いときもあります。またどんな風に どんな見出しで ネットニュースにされてしまうのか 怖いです。だけど何かにおびえて何もせずに生きててもこの社会は変わりません。世の中への思いや、変えていきたいことを どんどん発言、発信していかないと何も変わらないんです。だから、今回も勇気を振り絞りました。共感してくれる方がもしいれば、自分らしく、そして社会を変えようという強い気持ちで一緒に明日も頑張ろうね。こんなに長分なのにここまで読んでくれて、どうもありがとうございました ????✨ A post shared by Prince Ryuchell (@ryuzi33world929) on Aug 21, 2018 at 5:34am PDT Intentionally or not, Higa managed to flip the conversation about his personal choices to a broader discussion about Japan. It prompted tweets about sexism in the country, but above all else pushed the topic of tattoos to the forefront . This had been bubbling up in relation to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics , but carried over domestically. Buzzfeed Japan looked into the onsen issue, while no shortage of others used the news to defend tats . AKB48 member Rino Sashihara scored online cheers thanks to a nuanced take on TV that found her saying Higa should do what he wants, but understand as an online personality he will face criticism — and that it isn’t really prejudice . Others showed off their own tattoos, including one that was just a part of the Constitution that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants to change. You know things have taken a turn when the discourse goes from “Harajuku model” to “Article 13.” Thankfully, someone brought the tension down with a joke about Russian pop duo t.A.T.u. It’s important to note Higa’s online reputation before this tattoo snafu. While having a large fanbase of young folks built around social media, he’s also always been made fun of, mainly for all the same reasons people trying to be an influencer get mocked for ( plus his terrible music ). Social media networks develop their own heroes and villains — not restricted to Japan; just look at Taylor Swift’s transformation from “critical darling” to “ snake ” — and Higa has long been an easy target to mock. Some have pointed out that other Japanese entertainers have tattoos as well, but only Higa is criticized for it. But Higa showed he can also use social media to fight back, rally fans and change the narrative. Another case involves model Rola , who has at times been embraced online but recently lost appeal after moving to Los Angeles and … becoming pretty LA in the process (a whole other can of worms there). She recently donated a large sum of money to UNICEF, and was criticized by some for just being “celebrity pretension .” Again, part of the judgment came from her claims of wanting to change the world for the better . 今回UNICEFのイベントに参加しました。わたしはいま頭の中が子供達や動物の幸せと地球をまもることでいっぱいです。それと調べるほど許せないこともたくさんあり、悲しい気持ちになります。今回は自分ができる事として1000万円を寄付する事にしました。まだまだ足りないです。何をするために生きているか何をしないといけないか冷静に考えて自分の感情を信じて生きて行こうと思います。リスクがあっても嘘のない、人にとっても地球にとっても幸せが続くことに精一杯力を注いで頑張っていきたいです。 I attended a UNICEF event! I've had the welfare and happiness of children and animals, as well as ideas about how to protect our planet on my mind a lot lately. There's a lot of sad feelings and actions I just can't forgive on my mind as well. Therefor, I've made a $100,000 donation to UNICEF, because I really believe they're working to improve these conditions that really need to change. It's still not nearly enough, though. I've been thinking lately, "What is my purpose in life?" and "What do I have to accomplish during my time here?" and I've decided to follow my heart from this point forward. No lies, finding ways to make people happy and save our planet are the things I've made up my mind to put my energy into. I've gotta try my best! A post shared by ROLA (@rolaofficial) on Aug 11, 2018 at 8:50pm PDT Yet many defended Rola, criticizing the article above and arguing that her move should be praised regardless of the optics of it. It became a celebration of earnestness , with some netizens pointing to the similarities with Higa’s situation . The discussion evolved because the celebrities themselves were able to speak for themselves — both Higa and Rola can connect with people and get them on their side. Compare their cases with what’s happening to Arashi member Sho Sakurai. Shukan Bunshun reported that the J-pop star is having a tryst with a 21-year-old college student. This allegation made many online feel uncomfortable about Sakurai , leading to more criticism of him . Sakurai doesn’t have any social media presence — as is normal with Johnny & Associates entertainers — and while some do defend him, he doesn’t have a chance to steer the discussion in another direction in the same way as Higa and Rola have done. As a result, it’s all criticism for this celebrity, which is rare in Japan’s online environment in 2018.
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rola;japan pulse;ryucheru
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jp0009888
|
[
"national",
"history"
] |
2018/09/01
|
Japan Times 1993: Fatherhood courses to meet children's needs
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100 YEARS AGO Friday, Sept. 20 1918 Prince Yamagata’s residence disturbed THE JAPAN TIMES An intoxicated man about 30 years old wearing plain cotton clothes on a kuruma (motor vehicle) drove straight to the porch of Prince Yamagata’s residence at Goban-cho, Kojimachi, on the evening of Sept. 18 and demanded an interview with Prince Yamagata on some very important question of state but the man was soothed and taken to Kojimachi Police Station by a policeman on guard at the gate. The intoxicated man is now being examined. 75 YEARS AGO Thursday, Sept. 23, 1943 Tales of ‘Momotaro’ thrill Indonesian kids THE JAPAN TIMES The gallant adventures of the legendary “Momotaro,” intrepid boy-hero of one of the most famous of all Japanese folk tales, thrilled Indonesian children of the Taman Siswa School in Djogjakarta today when Joji Tsubota, a well-known Japanese author of children’s stories, on visit to the school vividly related the favorite story of Japanese children. After watching the eager attention given by the Indonesian children as he unfolded the details of the popular story, Tsubota told the newspapermen that he had found many points of similarity between Japanese and Indonesian children. Tsubota said that this was especially noticeable in Indonesian children’s games and plays that were performed for his benefit. 50 YEARS AGO Sunday, Sept. 1, 1968 Our Times: Student violence again THE JAPAN TIMES Student violence at Tokyo University last week has heralded the end of the summer vacation period and the beginning of the fall semester. For the collegians of more than 50 universities in the country, it will mean a return to violence and strikes as the radical students, although only a minority, have promised to take up where they left off at the end of June. It is naturally hoped that the incidents at Tokyo University during the past week are not a forerunner of events to come. At that venerable seat of learning, student gangsters occupied the main building of the medical school, in addition to the university’s administrative offices. They also subjected the medical faculty dean to a kangaroo court and assaulted a reporter of a leading newspaper. This display of sheer brutality has much in common with the Soviet rape of Czechoslovakia. In both instances, brute strength and violence were called upon to work their will on others. We were especially reminded of this day by a photo of a “mass bargaining” session between the lone medical school dean and more than 100 students. The students, if they can be called that, wore helmets in military fashion and had their faces covered with towels with only their eyes showing in the manner of robbers or hoodlums. Incredibly, they claimed to be “negotiating.” The student lock-up of the medical faculty building is causing a serious disruption of valuable research being carried on, with months of painstaking work going down the drain. Being medical students, they should know the seriousness of their action, but they consider their “struggle” much more important. And, of course, no sane person can ever condone the criminal assault on the reporter by the student thugs. Yet, these are presumably students who will go out into society as doctors to save human lives? What makes their action even more reprehensible is that almost all of their demands are being met. Key faculty members have been dismissed, reforms have been promised and the reprimand meted out previously to erring students will be reviewed. Their continuing rebellion is clearly opposition for the sake of opposition. The student hoodlums obviously have no intention of compromising on anything. Thus, agreement is impossible. In Tokyo University, as in other beleaguered colleges, a very small radical minority is at the core of the dissent. It is, of course, encouraging that a number of Tokyo U. medical students have reportedly “defected.” But the time has surely come for the majority of the student body to rise up against the gangster elements in their midst. In any event it must be made adequately clear that the violence will not be tolerated anywhere, not excluding the campus. It must be understood that university autonomy and academic freedom are being threatened, not by the police but by the student thugs. The school authorities are, of course, called upon to make reforms where necessary. But it must also be realized that reforms cannot come all at once, and more important, that they cannot be carried out under duress. The tax-paying public has a direct interest in what is going on at the 37 state-operated universities where law and order are being flouted. It is not our intent that the taxes from our hard-earned money should be subsidizing the “education” of thugs and gangsters. An op-ed contribution on page 1 from Masaru Ogawa, a former editor of The Japan Times. 25 YEARS AGO Sunday, Sept. 5, 1993 Fatherhood courses to meet children’s needs THE JAPAN TIMES The Education Ministry has appropriated funds to send lecturers to work on fatherhood because men have become too busy with their jobs to maintain adequate contact with their children, ministry sources said Saturday. According to the results of a survey conducted in 1990 by the Prime Minister’s Office, fathers spend an average of 36 minutes a day with their children, except during the holidays. In the survey, 84 percent of fathers who responded said it is the responsibility of their wives to teach their children manners. The survey results showed 46 percent of the responding fathers felt they are only needed when their children get into trouble or when they are deciding the course of the child’s education. The ministry hit upon the idea of the program for fatherhood courses because it feels Japanese fathers are not responsive enough to their children’s needs, the sources said. Under the program, municipal education boards will select lecturers and themes for the courses, then send them to companies on request, they said. Lecturers are expected to take up such topics as problems children face today, when children need their fathers and how to decipher children’s distress signals, they said.
|
parenting;prince yamagata;momotaro;student riots
|
jp0009889
|
[
"world",
"offbeat-world"
] |
2018/09/06
|
Guinness World Records celebrates new achievements in latest edition, including those of 83-year-old Japanese DJ
|
LONDON - An 83-year-old Japanese disc jockey, an elderly flying trapeze artist, the owner of the world’s fastest jet-propelled go-kart and a dog named Feather with a flair for jumping are among the record-breaking stars to win a place in the latest edition of Guinness World Records. Others to feature in the 2019 edition of the book, which went on sale on Thursday, include the creator of the world’s largest knitting needles and an Irish butcher, Barry John Crowe, who has produced the most sausages — 78 — in one minute. Sumiko Iwamura, an 83-year-old owner of a Tokyo gyoza restaurant who in the evening turns into DJ Sumirock, was honored in the book as the world’s oldest professional club disc jockey. Another octogenarian honored in the book is Californian Betty Goedhart, who has been named the world’s oldest trapeze artist at 85 and attributes her success to “doing things I enjoy doing.” “I’m hoping I encourage people, women, to not think that when they hit the age of 55, they are old. We have got a lot more on our journey,” said Goedhart, who only began trapeze classes at the age of 78 but looks as though she has spent a lifetime swinging through the air upside down. British art student Elizabeth Bond, 31, decided to draw attention to her exhibitions by creating knitting needles that measure some 4.42 meters (14 feet 5 inches) in length. Another Briton, Tom Bagnall, 26, racked up a record speed of 112.29 mph (181 kph) for a jet-propelled go-kart. Animals also feature among the latest world record-breakers. Dog owner Samantha Valle from the U.S. state of Maryland trained Feather, whom she adopted from a rescue center, to jump over ever higher hurdles until she set a new canine record at 191.7 cm (6.3 feet).
|
guinness world records;records;contests;stunts
|
jp0009891
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"social-issues-asia-pacific"
] |
2018/09/06
|
India's top court decriminalizes homosexual acts
|
NEW DELHI - India’s top court has struck down a colonial-era law that makes homosexual acts punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The court gave its ruling Thursday on a petition filed by five people who challenged the law, saying they are living in fear of being harassed and prosecuted by police. In 2009, a New Delhi High Court declared unconstitutional Section 377 of the law, which says “carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal” — the first two parts of which are widely interpreted to refer to homosexual sex. That decision was overturned in a ruling by three Supreme Court justices in 2013 on the grounds that amending or repealing the law should be left to Parliament. But lawmakers failed to take action, and in July the government told the Supreme Court to give a ruling in the case. “The law had become a weapon for harassment for the LGBT community,” Chief Justice Dipak Misra said as he announced the landmark verdict. Activists had been fighting the ban since the 1990s. Thursday’s verdict sparked celebrations among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender groups across the vast nation. Members of the LGBT community hugged each other and cried as news of the verdict spread. “I am speechless! It’s taken a long time to come but finally I can say I am free and I have equal rights as others,” said Rama Vij, a college student who wore a rainbow scarf. Gay sex has long been taboo in conservative India, particularly in rural areas, where homophobia is widespread. According to official data, 2,187 cases under Section 377 were registered in 2016 under the category of “unnatural offenses.” Seven people were convicted and 16 acquitted.
|
india;courts;rights;sex;lgbt;sexuality;discrimination
|
jp0009892
|
[
"national",
"science-health"
] |
2018/09/06
|
In world first, Japan study 'grows' skin from tissue to heal wounds
|
In a world first, Japanese researchers have transformed tissue cells into skin cells to help heal serious wounds, a technique that could revolutionize care for victims of burns and other severe injuries. The research is the culmination of a decade of work and holds promise for a variety of patients, including those with serious burns or elderly patients with bedsores and other recurring lesions. The study, published Thursday in the journal Nature, involves a technology called “cell reprogramming” in which genes are inserted into cells to change them from one form to another. “This is the first description of reprogramming of tissue cells to skin cells,” said lead author Masakazu Kurita. “I’m really excited about the results.” Kurita, a plastic surgeon and professor at the University of Tokyo, began working on the technique 10 years ago. It has been a laborious and painstaking process since then. The first stage involved identifying genes present in skin cells but not in tissue cells, which could be isolated and then inserted into tissue cells to transform them. “We picked around 80 candidate genes featured in skin cells, then we tried combinations,” Kurita said. His breakthrough came in 2014, when he successfully reprogrammed tissue cells into skin cells in a culture dish using a combination of 28 genes. In 2015, he moved to the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in California to collaborate with a team of specialists from around the world. In all, he and his colleagues conducted around 2,000 trials with different combinations of genes, looking for the most efficient way to transform cells. Eventually, they hit upon a four-gene combination and began testing it in wounds on mice. They sealed the wounds off from the surrounding skin to replicate the difficult conditions at the center of a large burn or similar injury, with no adjacent skin to promote healing. Using the technology, along with existing drug treatments, they were able to heal a lesion 1 cm in diameter in around two weeks. “Our data suggests the feasibility of a completely new therapy which could be used for the closure of wounds from various causes,” Kurita said. The most obvious application would be severe burns covering large parts of the body, which are usually treated with skin grafts, he added. “When the areas involved in burns are extremely broad and no skin is available for the patients, no one could offer the patient a way to survive … our technique could offer a way.” But he cautioned that the research was still far from being available to patients, with perhaps another decade of work needed before then. He wants to see research done on better ways to deliver the four-gene combination that transforms the tissue into skin. For the study, the researchers used a virus that has been used in other work transforming cells as the delivery system for the four-gene combination. But future research could develop a potentially more efficient delivery system specifically designed for their technique. And, Kurita said, more work could be done on the types of drugs used to support healing. This study used existing drug combinations, but “if we could make other combinations, other drugs, everything will be optimized exclusively for our purpose. “Probably the efficiency could be far better and shorten the period of time for healing.” There are also risks to consider. The study monitored the newly transformed skin cells in test mice for eight months, and found they remained intact in their new form throughout that period. But longer monitoring would be needed to make sure the transformation was permanent. And any process of transforming cells with genes carries the risk of mutations, including cancer formation. “We didn’t find any of those signs so far but this is really short-term,” Kurita said. “For the future, we have to work with the greatest caution to eliminate these kind of side effects.”
|
university of tokyo;genes;burns;cells;skin
|
jp0009893
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"politics-diplomacy-asia-pacific"
] |
2018/09/24
|
Thai junta scandals and political angst provide material for new wave of spray-can satirists
|
BANGKOK - Thailand’s junta chief caricatured as a “lucky cat” with a paw raised to rake in money, or his face crossed out by a thick, red line — daring graffiti is cropping up across Bangkok as the city’s walls become a canvas for rare political scorn. The pioneer of the new wave of street artists is Headache Stencil, whose spray cans satirize the powerful in a country where free expression has been muted since a 2014 coup. Dubbed Thailand’s Banksy after the famous British graffiti artist, Headache — whose nickname alludes to the pain he hopes to inflict on the mighty — catapulted to fame in January with a piece skewering junta No. 2 Prawit Wongsuwan, who was struggling to explain his collection of undeclared luxury watches. The stencil art showing Prawit’s face inside an alarm clock was a jab at the lack of financial transparency by generals who seized power claiming that only they could save the country from untrammeled graft. It was a bold move in a tightly-controlled country where simply reading George Orwell’s “1984” novel in public is deemed defiant and whose well-connected elite are quick to file criminal defamation charges. Speaking at his Bangkok studio, Headache is unrepentant. “The root of street art is that people have no rights, no voice,” he said, his face masked as much for a dramatic flourish as protection from authorities. “The aim is to spread the words we want to say but cannot. So we paint them for those who walk by … for officials or the general public to understand.” After the clock image went viral, police attempted to monitor the artist and city officials hit the streets to paint over subversive graffiti. Prawit insists the watches were borrowed from friends, but nine months later Thailand’s anti-graft body has yet to finish its investigation into the issue. Headache again stole the spotlight in March — this time with graffiti showing a black panther crying tears of blood. It was a reference to the case of a Thai construction magnate who was later charged with poaching one of the protected cats during an illegal safari hunt in a national park. Once again, the artwork was a hit online, cheered for its brazen lampooning of another wealthy target. Much like Banksy, the graffiti artist-turned-multimillionaire art auction darling, Headache’s carefully maintained mystique adds to the allure of his work. And it has caught the imagination of a country where an increasing number of people are looking to art to dissect the anti-junta angst that lurks below the surface. “Street art has a fast life … you can cover it with paint but once it is on social media, it stays,” said Apinan Poshyananda, artistic director of the Bangkok Art Biennale which debuts next month and will feature other street artists. Headache now holds workshops across the country including in the northeastern provinces, the political heartland of the toppled civilian government. Meanwhile a mushrooming number of galleries and studios are hosting dance and art performances addressing the kingdom’s political culture and complex social issues in subtle ways that dodge censure. Among the Thai artists is Kawita Vatanajyankur, 31, whose video installations allude to the notoriously poor working conditions in Thailand’s factories and fishing industry. “It’s such a major issue and it’s something that we need to fix,” she said. Kawita is part of a wider artistic awakening in Thailand, whose highly skilled painters, sculptors and performers traditionally took inspiration from the conservative establishment, but who are now confronting different themes. The launch of the biennale will display work by headline names such as Marina Abramovic and the late Jean-Michel Basquiat, bolstering Bangkok’s claim to being the art capital of Southeast Asia. Meanwhile the political winds are slowly changing. Last week, Thailand’s junta partially lifted a ban on politics, with a long-delayed election next year promising to pit army-aligned and civilian politicians against each other. That collision of values could provide ample material for street artist rebels like Headache. His latest work tackles the impact of military spending — which has risen each year since the coup — on Thai society. It depicts a soldier on the heavy end of a see-saw, a young schoolgirl suspended in the air at the other. “We put more budget towards weapons than brains,” he said.
|
thailand;art;graffiti;satire
|
jp0009894
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"crime-legal-asia-pacific"
] |
2018/09/24
|
Aussie filmmaker freed from Cambodia prison for spying arrives in Sydney
|
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - An Australian filmmaker arrived in Sydney on Sunday after a pardon by Cambodia’s king released him from a six-year jail sentence for espionage that he received after flying a drone over an opposition rally. James Ricketson, 69, was last month found guilty of spying and collecting information harmful to the nation following a trial that was criticized by rights activists. His arrest in June 2017, after he flew the drone above a rally by the now-dissolved opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), came amid a wider crackdown on freedom of expression by the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen. Ricketson, who spent more than a year behind bars, denied the charges and sought a pardon from King Norodom Sihamoni. On Friday, he was released from Phnom Penh’s Prey Sar prison. Greeted by family and friends at Sydney airport, he told reporters he planned to return to Cambodia. “I’ll be going back as soon as I can but I’ll need to recover obviously,” Ricketson said. His family thanked the king for bringing their “nightmare” to an end. Australia’s foreign ministry also thanked Cambodia for the release of Ricketson, who has been visiting Cambodia for more than 20 years. In a letter to Hun Sen last month, the filmmaker apologized for statements to media that were disrespectful to the long-serving prime minister. In July, Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) claimed victory following a general election in which it was largely unopposed. Rights groups said the vote was neither free nor fair given the absence of a significant challenger to Hun Sen, who has ruled for 33 years.
|
australia;cambodia;spying;hun sen;james ricketson
|
jp0009896
|
[
"national",
"science-health"
] |
2018/09/24
|
Fujifilm plans iPS-based trials to treat complications from bone marrow transplants
|
Fujifilm Corp. aims to start clinical trials with artificially derived stem cells next year to prevent serious complications from bone marrow transplants used to treat leukemia, company officials say. The camera and medical equipment maker, which has been expanding its pharmaceuticals business, will apply for government permission for the trials by the end of March. It would be the first Japanese company to conduct such trials, which could help accelerate the use of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. In the trials, Fujifilm plans to inject mesenchymal stem cells generated from iPS cells into individuals with acute graft-versus-host disease to prevent immune cells in transplanted marrow from attacking their bodies. About 1,000 people develop the disease every year in Japan. Cynata Therapeutics Ltd., an Australian medical venture in which Fujifilm holds a stake, has started similar trials in Britain, and some of the patients have fully recovered, they said. Fujifilm will apply Cynata Therapeutics’ techniques to the clinical trials in Japan and aim to start selling products made from iPS cells in 2022 at the earliest, the officials said Sunday.
|
medicine;health;ips;disease;fujifilm corp .
|
jp0009897
|
[
"national"
] |
2018/09/24
|
Aichi couple sets up phone booth for people seeking to connect with loved ones they have lost
|
A red, wooden telephone booth stands on a hill in Tahara, Aichi Prefecture, overlooking Mikawa Bay. Inside sits a disconnected black telephone. The booth was set up in June by a married couple who run a free school in the city as a spiritual way to connect with a student who took her own life in 2009 at age 18. Tomohiko Kutsuna, 66, and his wife Kazuko, 69, named the booth Shiokaze no Denwa (phone of the sea breeze) after Kaze no Denwa (phone of the wind), a similar booth built on a hill in Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, that was hit by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. The booth in Otsuchi, created by garden designer Itaru Sasaki in his garden overlooking the ocean, has attracted about 30,000 people from Japan and abroad seeking to “talk” to those they have lost. “We hope our telephone booth will also be used by people who lost their loved ones, just like us, in any way they want,” Tomohiko said. In 2001, Kazuko, a schoolteacher, had been concerned about the limits placed on children with diverse needs and abilities by the uniform education system. She quit her job and, along with Tomohiko, a painter, opened a free school called Yuzuriha Gakuen. Three years later, a girl from the prefecture, then a second-year junior high school student, started attending the free school. She had stopped going to classes when she was in elementary school because she did not get along with her teacher. She had difficulty sharing her feelings with others, and amid her struggle, she repeatedly attempted suicide, saying she couldn’t think of a reason to live. The couple continued to offer support, letting her stay at their house and giving counseling. But in January 2009, she took her own life at her home, leaving a note that said she would live if she failed to die this time. “Deep in her heart, she wanted to live,” Kazuko said. “It is our responsibility as adults, having made this society a place difficult for her to live. We are the ones who made her die.” Kazuko said she considered closing the free school, but she decided not to because the girl’s parents asked her to keep going. The girl did not have a grave — due to her own preference expressed prior to her death — and the couple had a difficult time sorting out their feelings during the grieving process. This was when they learned about the telephone booth in Otsuchi. In June, nearly a decade after the girl’s death, the couple took possession of a telephone booth, gave it a fresh paint job and set it up on their school’s grounds. When they first picked up the telephone, they said they felt like they could understand the girl’s true feelings. They finally had peace of mind by creating a place to talk to her. Every now and then, they go into the booth and speak to the girl, sometimes apologizing for not having been able to save her. “I feel like she is always there,” Kazuko said, explaining that she was a kind girl who liked to bake bread. The couple has so far supported more than 3,000 parents and children through their school, looking out for children who ran away from home or exchanging messages with troubled parents. “We could continue our activities because of her. I never want such a sad thing to happen again,” Tomohiko said.
|
suicide;education;aichi;tahara
|
jp0009898
|
[
"reference"
] |
2018/09/24
|
Wild boar carcasses found in Gifu dull prospects for declaring containment of swine fever
|
An outbreak of swine fever on a farm in Gifu Prefecture earlier this month seemed to come to an end after the culling of hundreds of pigs and the disinfection of all related facilities. But the prospects of officially declaring next month the containment of the classical swine fever look increasingly dim after the virus was detected in local wild boar carcasses after the prefectural government completed the disinfection of the farm. By Sunday, six dead wild boars that were found within a radius of 10 km from the farm tested positive for the disease. The following are some questions and answers regarding swine fever: What is swine fever ? Also known as hog cholera, the viral disease is highly contagious, affecting pigs and wild boars. It does not affect humans. Pigs can be infected by direct contact with infected swine or anything contaminated with the virus, such as vehicles and clothes. Infected pigs spread the virus via saliva, mucus, urine and feces. Symptoms include fever, loss of appetite, discoloration of skin and constipation followed by diarrhea. Infected pigs often stay together. Many die within 10 to 30 days, according to the website of the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO). There is no treatment. Thus to control the spread of the disease, entire herds are usually culled when an infected pig is found on a farm. The virus can survive in pork and processed pork products for months when meat is refrigerated and for years when it is frozen, according to the World Organisation for Animal Health, or OIE. The disease found in Gifu is called classical swine fever, which is different from the African swine fever virus that broke out in China over the summer. Has the disease hit Japan before? Yes. According to the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry, swine fever was first seen in Hokkaido in 1888. Since then, Japan has seen repeated outbreaks. But after the introduction of a vaccine in 1969, the number of swine fever cases declined sharply. The last outbreak was in Kumamoto Prefecture in 1992. Aiming to eradicate the disease without the use of vaccinations, the government reduced the use of shots in stages until it finally terminated them in 2006. The following year, Japan was recognized as a classical swine fever-free country by the OIE. Where did the pigs and wild boars get the virus from? What happened at the pig farm? The answer remains unclear. But according to NARO’s genetic analysis, it is highly likely to have come from overseas, because the detected virus was a type of classical swine fever that was never found in Japan before. The Gifu Prefectural Government received a report from the farm that many pigs were getting weak and dying in August, but they were diagnosed as being victims of heatstroke. But after a positive hit resulted from genetic testing conducted on Sept. 7, the agriculture ministry conducted blood tests and confirmed there was an outbreak of swine fever on Sept. 9. About 140 pigs died at the farm, and the remaining 546 were slaughtered and buried to control the spread of the disease. Since the outbreak, the prefectural government asked all pig farms to give a daily report regarding any hog that could be infected with the disease. So far, no cases of infection occurred within other farms in the prefecture. Will the outbreak have a significant impact on the nation’s pork industry? The influence is widely considered to be limited because of Gifu’s small-scale pork industry. According to prefectural government data as of February last year, there were only 40 pig farms in Gifu, which accounted for less than 1 percent of the nation’s total. Pork production in Gifu in 2016 amounted to about ¥7.9 billion, the 21st-largest of Japan’s 47 prefectures. The government halted pork exports across Japan following confirmation of the first case of swine fever on Sept. 9. But given that no case has been detected from other prefectures, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Macau resumed importing pork from Japan, excluding Gifu. Japan exported about ¥1 billion worth of pork products in 2017. Hong Kong was the top importer of Japanese pork, accounting for roughly 60 percent of total exports, followed by Macau and Singapore, according to the agricultural ministry. What’s the situation overseas? Although Japan was listed as a classical swine fever-free country by the OIE until the recent outbreak, the disease has been endemic in Asia. A total of 34 countries are currently recognized as classical swine fever-free by the OIE, including the U.S., U.K., Australia and New Zealand. In the past, however, many countries that were free of the disease suffered from swine fever outbreaks, including the Netherlands in 1997, resulting in the culling of about 11 million pigs at a cost of about $2.3 billion, according to the OIE. Apart from classical swine fever, a clinically similar African swine fever made headlines this summer as it spread rapidly in China, the world’s largest pork producer. Given the outbreak, which resulted in the slaughtering of thousands of pigs in China, the Food and the Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) warned last month that the deadly pig virus may spread elsewhere in Asia at any time.
|
animals;infections;gifu prefecture;swine fever
|
jp0009899
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"crime-legal-asia-pacific"
] |
2018/09/23
|
Needle found in Australian strawberries sold in New Zealand
|
WELLINGTON - The Australian strawberry scare has spread to New Zealand with a supermarket chain announcing Sunday that needles were found in a box of the fruit sourced from the neighboring country. The Countdown supermarket chain said it had taken a brand of Australian strawberries off the shelves after a sabotaged punnet — a plastic box — was sold in an Auckland store. The strawberries, from Western Australia state, were sold in Countdown stores nationwide last week and only one incident of tampering was reported. “We take food safety very seriously,” the company said in a statement, adding it was in touch with authorities investigating incidents of needles found in strawberries in Australia in recent weeks. “Customers can return any Choice brand of strawberries they may have at home to Countdown for peace of mind and a full refund.” Countdown advised customers to cut up any Australian strawberries before eating them. The statement said there have been no reports of any illness or injury in New Zealand. It added that the brand of strawberries affected by this withdrawal “have not previously had any issues of this nature reported and had not been withdrawn from sale in Australia.” In Australia, more than 100 alleged incidents of pins and needles found in fruit have been reported since the scare began in Queensland state earlier this month. Most are thought to be pranks or jokes on social media, but at least two minors have been questioned by police for carrying out hoaxes. Woolworths Australia, Countdown’s parent company, has withdrawn needles from sale as a “precautionary step” as police hunt for the original culprit amid a spate of copycat episodes. The Australian government last week raised the maximum prison sentence for fruit tampering from 10 to 15 years.
|
australia;new zealand;hoaxes;police
|
jp0009900
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"crime-legal-asia-pacific"
] |
2018/09/23
|
Australian filmmaker returns home after receiving royal pardon in Cambodia
|
SYDNEY - An Australian filmmaker freed from jail after receiving a royal pardon in Cambodia returned home Sunday as his family spoke of being “overwhelmed with happiness” at his release. James Ricketson was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment last month after being convicted of espionage. He had been in detention since June last year after he flew a drone over an opposition rally. He was given a royal pardon Friday after strongman Prime Minister Hun Sen requested it. The 69-year-old landed in Sydney late Sunday after being deported Saturday. “The Ricketson family are overwhelmed with happiness to have James home safely in Australia,” they said in a statement reported by on a commercial TV station. “James still deeply loves Cambodia and its people and remains committed to helping however he can.” The family thanked supporters for campaigning for his release, as well as King Norodom Sihamoni for “bringing this nightmare to an end.” They added that the 16-month term of imprisonment took a huge physical and emotional toll on Ricketson’s health. Ricketson’s pardon came a few days before Hun Sen — who has held power for more than 33 years — is scheduled to travel to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly. It also followed the freeing of activists and opposition lawmakers in the weeks after July’s national election, which critics said was neither free nor fair. Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne thanked her Cambodian counterpart, Prak Sokhonn, and said the pardon ended a “distressing time” for Ricketson and his family. Ricketson was detained after footage emerged of him using a drone to film a rally of the now-defunct opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP). His six-day trial — which rights groups slammed as a farce — showed him to be defiant and combative. It featured a surprise appearance by Hollywood director Peter Weir, who served as a character witness for his friend. The prosecution accused Ricketson of working as a filmmaker in Cambodia as a front for spying activities, but the verdict failed to name which country he was allegedly spying for. The CNRP, the sole legitimate opposition force to Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party, was dissolved in the lead-up to the controversial election — clearing the path for his party to take all 125 parliament seats.
|
australia;sydney;cambodia;hun sen;james ricketson
|
jp0009901
|
[
"national"
] |
2018/09/23
|
Need to back up sinking Kansai airport stymies region ahead of G20, elections
|
OSAKA - When Kansai airport in Osaka Prefecture was shut down earlier this month after Typhoon Jebi flooded the main runway and terminal building — and caused a tanker to break loose and crash into the only bridge to the mainland — there were fears the damage meant the region’s largest and only international airport would be closed for a long time and cripple the local economy. Instead, nearly three weeks later, the sinking offshore airport’s runway and terminal building are back in operation and all passenger flights have resumed. Train service across the bridge was restored on Tuesday. The speed of Kansai International Airport’s recovery surprised a lot of people, including Osaka officials. “Wow, that was quick,” Osaka Mayor Hirofumi Yoshimura tweeted on Sept. 15 when it was announced that the trains were resuming operations. “That’s only about two weeks since the tanker rammed the bridge.” The faster-than-predicted recovery now leaves questions about what happens to plans for Kobe and Itami airports to accept up to 35 round-trip international flights rerouted from Kansai airport. At present, only two flights — an arrival from and a departure to Hong Kong next month via Japan Airlines at Itami airport — have been announced. Yet, local business leaders and Osaka Gov. Ichiro Matsui remain committed to having the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry grant temporary international routes to both airports. On Sept. 18 Kansai Economic Federation Chairman Masayoshi Matsumoto called for relaxing restrictions on international flights, telling reporters it was time to seriously discuss how to divide the international routes among Kansai’s three airports. “Recognition of the damage done by Typhoon Jebi offers a fresh opportunity for local governments and the Kansai business community to discuss what needs to be done,” he said. Matsumoto added, however, that there’s no point in quickly having lots of international flights take off from Kobe and Itami. He said the priority should be to ensure that additional flights from the three airports will not create noise pollution concerns or safety issues regarding air space. The remarks came a day after transport minister Keiichi Ishii toured Kansai airport and told reporters that local approval for new flights was critical. “A new agreement by local governments and the business community is needed,” Ishii said. Kansai faces short- and long-term questions over international operations at its three airports. In the short term, customs, immigration and quarantine operations must be established along with other temporary logistical operations and services to handle international passengers. The more difficult questions are the longer-term ones. Especially if, as Matsui and the business community want, Kobe and Itami are remodeled to serve as “backup” international airports in case something happens to Kansai airport again. Or even if they continue to offer permanent, regularly scheduled flights abroad. The possibility starts with demand at each airport. The operator of all three airports, Kansai Airports Co. Ltd., says that no airlines based overseas have applied to have international flights depart from Itami or Kobe airports. If operational costs at both become much cheaper than at Kansai airport, that would draw interest from low-cost carriers from East Asia, in particular. On the other hand, further lowering landing fees to attract new routes or keep current ones at any one airport could lead to less revenue at the other two. But such questions are taking a back seat to more immediate concerns about losing business to other regional competitors. That might seem strange, given that flights have resumed and most train and bus services to Kansai airport from Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Kobe and other parts of the region are back to normal. The repair work on the bridge is ongoing, but it hasn’t created any major transport delays so far. Yet Kansai officials still fear that international passengers will be slow to return, noting they could decide to use Chubu Centrair in Nagoya or book a flight from Itami airport to Narita instead. The transport ministry aims to complete the bridge repairs by the end of April 2019. That’s not only in time for the Golden Week holidays, it’s also two months before Osaka hosts the Group of 20 summit, which is expected to bring world leaders and 30,000 others to the region. Security and logistical concerns had been raised in the wake of the typhoon about what the various G20 delegations will do if transport to Kansai airport remains problematic during their preparatory visits to Osaka prior to the summit. Now, however, the bigger concerns are less about technical and logistical problems and more about politics and marketing. For Kansai’s leaders, this means convincing the central government and the airlines to continue with plans to have Kobe and Itami serve as international airports despite the fact that Kansai’s flights are back to normal and despite the fact that the airlines appear uninterested in offering lots of regular flights at either. With local elections in April 2019, Kansai-area politicians who want the region to have three international airports will have to convince voters in the coming months that it’s still possible, a task that seems harder now than it did just a few weeks ago.
|
transportation;osaka;disasters;airports;typhoon jebi
|
jp0009902
|
[
"national",
"social-issues"
] |
2018/09/23
|
Japan urged to up ranks of female politicians to reach U.N. sustainable development goals
|
OSAKA - To help meet the United Nations’ 2030 sustainable development goal for gender equality and empowering all women and girls, Japan needs more female politicians, especially at the local level. That was one of the recommendations civil society leaders and residents in the Kansai region discussed at the first Kansai Sustainable Development Goals Citizens Agenda meeting in Osaka earlier this month. When world leaders gather in Osaka for the Group of 20 summit in June 2019, discussions will include the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has hinted that one of the 17 development goals, women’s empowerment, may be on the official agenda, which is expected to be formalized after the G20 summit in Buenos Aires in December. Recommendations from civil society groups in Japan, including some of those who participated in the Sept. 11 meeting, will form part of Japan’s approach to the summit and broader domestic policies to achieve the SDGs as a whole. “One of the issues that can lead to gender equality is a system that promotes the participation of women in politics, and Japan has been insufficient in this regard,” says Atsuko Miwa, director of the Osaka-based Asia-Pacific Human Rights Information Center. Miwa is closely involved with civil society preparations for the G20 summit . Statistics compiled by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications show that as of Dec. 31, only 264 of 2,614 prefectural assembly members, or 10.1 percent, were women. While 28.6 percent of Tokyo’s assembly members were women, the figure in second place Kyoto was only 19 percent. In 28 of the 47 prefectures, the ratio was under 10 percent. In Osaka Prefecture, ranked 40th nationwide, only four of the 86 members are women. The figure is only slightly better at the municipal and ward assembly level, where 2,855 out of the 19,103 members, or 14.9 percent, were women. Tokyo again held the top spot, with women holding 28.1 percent of the seats. Saitama Prefecture was in second place, with female assembly members in its cities and wards accounting for 21.3 percent of the total. Osaka, poorly represented in the prefectural assembly, finished third, with 163 of its 804 city and ward assembly members, or 20.3 percent, women. At the national level, only 10.1 percent of the Diet members were women as of the end of 2017, according to data from the Inter-Parliamentary Union, a global organization of national parliaments that is based in Geneva. Japan was ranked 165th among 193 countries. With a round of nationwide local elections scheduled just two months before the G20 summit, the timing appears right for Japan to show the world in Osaka that it’s making progress on gender equality. Not only in the urban economic arena, where much government, media, and corporate attention is focused, but in prefectures, towns and villages facing rapidly aging, declining populations, and wondering whether they will be extinct when the world meets in 2030 to judge which SDGs were met.
|
osaka;women;united nations;g20;politicians;sustainable development goals
|
jp0009903
|
[
"national",
"science-health"
] |
2018/09/23
|
Japanese supply ship Kounotori heads to International Space Station after delays
|
An unmanned Japanese space capsule is headed to the International Space Station filled with cargo including food, experiments and new batteries. The craft was launched Sunday at 2:52 a.m. from Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture and will take 4½ days to reach the space station. The launch was delayed for about two weeks because of bad weather and a mechanical problem. The delay led NASA to postpone two space walks to install six new lithium-ion batteries until new crew members arrive next month. They will replace the aging nickel-hydrogen batteries that provide the station’s electrical power, enabling it to extend operations. The supply ship is a 9-meter-long (30-foot) cylinder that will be retrieved by the space station’s robotic arm. It is named Kounotori, which means white stork. The 5,500 kg (12,000 lbs.) of cargo includes racks and equipment for experiments and an experimental re-entry capsule to try to demonstrate a novel technology to bring back samples from the space station. Once it is unloaded, the supply craft will be filled with trash and sent Earth-ward. It will be destroyed when it re-enters the atmosphere.
|
iss;space;jaxa;astronomy
|
jp0009904
|
[
"national",
"history"
] |
2018/09/23
|
Monument to chief of WWI POW camp, known for humanitarian treatment of POWs, unveiled in Fukushima
|
AIZUWAKAMATSU, FUKUSHIMA PREF. - A monument commemorating the Japanese head of a World War I camp who was known for his humanitarian treatment of German prisoners of war was unveiled in his hometown of Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima Prefecture, on Saturday. During his tenure as head of the Bando Furyo Shuyojo camp in Naruto, Tokushima Prefecture, Toyohisa Matsue (1872-1956) created opportunities for the POWs to interact with residents on Shikoku. The POWs were also allowed to perform Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, believed to be the first performance of the symphony in Asia. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the performance. “POWs are patriots, not criminals,” he had said. After serving as the camp’s head, Matsue became mayor of Aizuwakamatsu and contributed to the development of the city. His achievements are inscribed in Japanese, German and English on the monument, which is about 2 meters tall. Among those present at Saturday’s unveiling ceremony were his relatives: Aizuwakamatsu Mayor Shohei Muroi and Naruto Mayor Michihiko Izumi. “I’d like to show my respect to Matsue, who laid the foundation of Aizuwakamatsu,” Muroi said. “We hope to further deepen our friendship with Naruto,” he added. Izumi said Matsue created “strong bonds” between the two cities. “I’m happy that my grandfather’s deeds are praised and remain in people’s minds,” said Yukihiko Matsue, 72, Matsue’s grandson.
|
fukushima;history;germany;pows;wwi;tokushima;toyohisa matsue
|
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