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jp0010240
|
[
"national"
] |
2018/06/08
|
Okinawa car rental agencies wary of Chinese tourists with improperly obtained licenses
|
Believing it would be convenient to get around by car in Okinawa, a 30-something Chinese woman decided to access a major online shopping site before her 2016 trip to obtain a driving permit that would be valid in Japan, since Chinese licenses aren’t permitted in Japan. The license was issued in the Philippines and obtained through an agent listed on the website for about ¥40,000. The woman was worried about the legality of the process, but she was reassured by her friend that she wouldn’t have any issues. After sending her photo and a copy of her Chinese driver’s license to the agent, an international driving permit was sent by mail about a month later to the woman’s accommodations in Okinawa in December 2016. With the permit, she rented a sports car and drove around the prefecture’s main island, where public transportation services are scarce. But she realized she should no longer use the permit after seeing Japanese media reports in January that highlighted the problem of international licenses obtained by Chinese tourists in a similar fashion. Chinese driver’s licenses cannot be used here because, unlike Japan, China is not a party to the 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic. The treaty is designed to facilitate international road traffic and increase road safety by establishing standard rules among the signatories. Japan’s road traffic law states that foreign drivers need to have: a license issued in Japan, or an international driving permit based on the Geneva Convention or a license from countries or regions recognized by Tokyo to have similar systems for driving permits, such as Germany, Switzerland and Taiwan. The Philippines is a party to the convention. Holders of forged licenses could be charged with driving without a permit, according to police. Such license dealers couldn’t be found when a reporter from the Okinawa Times searched the Chinese online shopping website on May 18 for agents offering international driving permits issued in the Philippines. A Chinese tourism industry worker in Okinawa said the number of such dealers sharply dropped after the January media reports. According to a fiscal 2016 survey on foreign tourists conducted by Okinawa Prefecture, 11.1 percent of 349 Chinese visitors surveyed said in a multiple-choice question that they traveled around by rental car. Car rental companies in the prefecture have been concerned that international driving permits presented by Chinese tourists could have been illegally obtained online. But they say it is difficult to find out about those licenses because Chinese drivers can legitimately acquire international permits if they stay in countries that are parties to the Geneva pact, including South Korea and the Philippines. The National Police Agency said it is aware of the problem and has been investigating the situation in cooperation with other central government agencies and the All Japan Rent-a-Car Association. At an outlet of Luft Travel Rent-a-Car Co. near Naha airport, several Chinese customers have presented international driving permits issued in the Philippines since last September, but the company has refused to rent cars to them. When staff asked whether they have been to the Philippines, some gave answers that couldn’t be understood and others said they did not directly go through procedures to obtain the licenses. Others appeared to be shocked to learn they were deceived , according to the company. Times Mobility Networks Co., which runs Times Car Rental offices across Japan, enhanced its system in late April to check for licenses obtained improperly, requiring staff to confirm whether holders of international driving permits issued in countries different from theirs have actually traveled to the place of issuance. In March, the Okinawa Rent-a-Car Association distributed leaflets to member companies that state they could refuse to rent cars to customers if international driving permits are suspected to have been obtained illegally. But an official of the association said, “There is no way we can verify the authenticity of (international) licenses.” As some Chinese passport holders may have legitimately obtained local and international driving permits during their stays in Geneva Convention member countries, the official said the association cannot tell companies to question all Chinese customers about how they obtained their permits. An official of the All Japan Rent-a-Car Association also said companies are not required to make a judgment on the authenticity of international driving permits. Yasushi Nakamura, vice president of Okinawa Tourist Service Inc., a major travel agency in the prefecture, suggested that Japan and China sign a bilateral accord to allow Chinese tourists to drive rented cars in Japan. But he added, “We will aim to set up an environment in which tourists can enjoy Okinawa without renting cars,” noting that more traffic jams and crashes could occur if there are more drivers of rental cars on the road.
|
okinawa;chinese;drivers ' license;car rental
|
jp0010241
|
[
"world",
"social-issues-world"
] |
2018/06/01
|
Pope promises 'never again' to sex abuse in Chile, reopens investigation
|
VATICAN, CITY/SANTIAGO - Pope Francis on Thursday promised Chilean Catholics scarred by a culture of clergy sexual abuse that “never again” would the Church ignore them or the coverup of abuse in their country, where a widespread scandal has devastated its credibility. The pope issued the comments in a letter to all Chilean Catholics as the Vatican announced that Francis was sending his two top sexual abuse investigators back to the country to gather more information about the crisis there. The Vatican’s most experienced sexual abuse investigator, Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta, and Father Jordi Bertomeu, a Spaniard, had visited Chile earlier this year. In the letter released by Chilean bishops, Francis also praised the victims of sexual abuse in the country for persevering in bringing the truth to light despite attempts by Church officials to discredit them. “The ‘never again’ to a culture of abuse, and the system of cover-up that allowed it to perpetuate, calls on all of us to work towards a culture of carefulness in our relationships,” he said in the eight-page letter. He described the Chilean scandal as a “painful open wound.” Hours before the letter was released in Chile, the Vatican said Scicluna and Bertomeu would concentrate on the diocese of Osorno in southern Chile, seat of a bishop who has been most caught up in the scandal. A Vatican statement said the purpose of the trip, due to start in the next few days, was to “move forward in the process of reparation, and healing for victims of abuse. The two prepared a 2,300-page report for the pope after speaking to victims, witnesses and other Church members earlier this year. On May 18, all of Chile’s 34 bishops offered to resign en masse after attending a crisis meeting with the pope in the Vatican about the coverup of sexual abuse in the south American nation. Francis has not yet said which resignations he will accept, if any. In his letter, the pope said the renewal of the Church hierarchy on its own would not bring the transformation needed in Chile, calling for unity in a time of crisis and a deepening of faith. The scandal revolves around Father Fernando Karadima, who was found guilty in a Vatican investigation in 2011 of abusing boys in Santiago in the 1970s and 1980s. Now 87 and living in a nursing home in Chile, he has always denied any wrongdoing. Victims accused Bishop Juan Barros of Osorno of having witnessed the abuse but doing nothing to stop it. Barros, who was one of those who offered to stand down, has denied the allegations. During a visit to Chile in January, Francis staunchly defended Barros, denouncing accusations against him as “slander.” But days after returning to Rome, the pope, citing new information, dispatched Scicluna and Bertomeu to Chile. Some of their findings were included in a damning 10-page document that was presented to the bishops when they came to Rome. In April, the pope hosted three non-clerical victims who said they were abused by Karadima, and this weekend he will be meeting with priests who said they were abused by Karadima when they were young.
|
vatican;catholic church;chile;pope francis;sex abuse;fernando karadima
|
jp0010242
|
[
"national",
"politics-diplomacy"
] |
2018/06/01
|
Breaking down the Kake Gakuen scandal: Who's lying, Abe or his political opponents?
|
Opposition camp lawmakers roared in anger. Stenographers were ordered to stop transcribing. The prime minister accused an opposition leader of lying. This was the chaotic scene Monday at the Diet during an Upper House Budget Committee session. The scandal The issue in question was a familiar one: The opposition was protesting Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s denial that he favored school operator Kake Gakuen — run by his longtime friend Kotaro Kake — for a special deregulation project in Imabari, Ehime Prefecture. While Abe has repeatedly rebutted claims of favoritism toward Kake during Diet sessions over the past year, Monday’s denial struck a particular nerve with the opposition. Tetsuro Fukuyama, secretary-general of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, presented a display board to the audience in the chamber that summarized key points of five documents separately produced in 2015 and 2016 by the Ehime Prefectural Government and the education ministry, plus two testimonies from former education vice minister Kihei Maekawa. The documents and testimony quoted at least five senior government officials — some of whom are very close to the prime minister — all separately saying they were pushing for the Kake Gakuen project on behalf of Abe. “The prime minister has said he learned (of Kake Gakuen’s application for deregulation) for the first time on Jan. 20 last year. But did all these people voluntarily take action without first reporting to the prime minister? It’s unrealistic,” Fukuyama said during the session. “Voters won’t believe it,” he added, prompting Abe to start accusing Fukuyama of fabricating a story and throwing the session into chaos. “That’s a story you just made up,” Abe told Fukuyama. Evidently, someone was lying. So who fabricated the story: Fukuyama or Abe? The Japan Times looked into the contents of the documents, testimony from officials close to the matter, and counterarguments by Abe after the fact. The documents A 2015 memo produced by Ehime Prefecture officials that quoted Kake Gakuen officials as saying Abe told Kake in a meeting on Feb. 25 of that year that the opening of a veterinarian department at one of Kake’s universities would be “a good idea.” Kake Gakuen later issued a statement saying one of its officials lied about Abe’s remarks during the meeting with Ehime officials. Records from Ehime Prefecture, produced in April 2015, quoted Tadao Yanase, then an executive assistant to Abe, as telling Ehime officials that the Kake Gakuen project is “the prime minister’s matter.” Ehime officials and Yanase met at the Prime Minister’s Office on April 2 that year, according to the file. According to parliamentary testimony by Maekawa on July 24 of last year, Hiroto Izumi, a special adviser to Abe, urged him to “quickly promote” the deregulation project, adding he was making the request “on behalf of the prime minister because (Abe) cannot say this.” The meeting took place in September 2016, according to Maekawa. Izumi denied he made the remark. An undated memo produced by education ministry officials quoted Cabinet Office officials during a meeting on Sept. 26, 2016, as saying, “the highest-level” officials in the Prime Minister’s Office want the education ministry to create the “shortest possible schedule” to open the new veterinarian department in April 2018. Another education ministry memo quoted Cabinet Office officials as saying “the prime minister’s intent” is to allow the new veterinarian department to be opened as quickly as possible in Imabari — an apparent reference to the university’s proposal. A third ministry memo quoted Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Koichi Hagiuda as saying during a meeting on Oct. 21, 2016, that “the prime minister set the deadline at April 2018” for opening the department in the deregulation project. During the Upper House session, Fukuyama argued that, without instructions from the prime minister, it is unlikely so many different officials would promote the Kake Gakuen project, acting solely on estimations of Abe’s intent. The rebuttal In response, Abe emphasized that he was promoting deregulation projects in general and not looking to help Kake Gakuen in particular. The prime minister also pointed out that members of the panel in charge of deregulation projects, including those from the private sector, have said they were not affected by any intention of the prime minister or his aides, and all the processes were transparent. The polls Opinion polls have suggested most voters don’t buy Abe’s repeated denials over the Kake Gakuen scandal, a fact that Fukuyama pointed out during the session. Recent polls by major news outlets, including the Mainichi Shimbun, Asahi Shimbun and Kyodo News, found around 70 to 80 percent of respondents said they don’t trust or are not convinced by Abe’s explanation over his alleged favoritism toward Kake Gakuen.
|
shinzo abe;koichi hagiuda;kihei maekawa;kotaro kake;kake gakuen;cronyism
|
jp0010243
|
[
"world",
"offbeat-world"
] |
2018/06/24
|
English bulldog crowned world's ugliest dog
|
PETALUMA, CALIFORNIA - A 9-year-old English bulldog was named the winner of the 2018 World’s Ugliest Dog contest in the San Francisco Bay Area. Zsa Zsa won the title Saturday night at the Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds in Petaluma. The dog’s owner, Megan Brainard of Anoka, Minnesota, will receive $1,500 for Zsa Zsa’s win. Brainard found Zsa Zsa on a pet-finding site, according to the contest bio. Dogs in the annual competition flaunt their imperfections — some have hairless bodies, others have lolling tongues. The dogs and their handlers walk down a red carpet. The dogs are evaluated by a panel of judges. The contestants included a blackhead-covered Chinese Crested-Dachshund mutt, a bulldog mix with excess wrinkly skin and a Pekingese named Wild Thang. Last year’s winner was a 125-pound (57-kilogram) gentle giant named Martha — a Neopolitan mastiff with gas and a droopy face. The contest is in its 30th year. It is usually held on Friday nights, but organizers moved the competition to Saturday in an effort to draw a bigger audience.
|
pets;dogs;contests
|
jp0010244
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"science-health-asia-pacific"
] |
2018/06/24
|
India speeds up environmental approval process for major industrial projects
|
PEDAVEEDU, INDIA - India is fast-tracking environmental clearances for projects like power plants and coal mines in a bid to boost growth, setting off alarm bells among environmentalists and affected residents who say the decisions are being made too quickly. In a country where state machinery typically moves slowly, the Environment Ministry under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has slashed the average time taken to grant clearances to 170 days from 600 days, said two government sources with direct knowledge of the matter. “We’re standardizing processes and taking decisions swiftly,” said one of the officials, who did not want to be named, citing government policy. “We know the basic issues, and merely taking more time for approvals does not mean much.” The ministry did not respond to requests for comment. The push appears to be similar to U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to speed up infrastructure approvals — his administration has said it wants environmental reviews for major projects to take no longer than 21 months, instead of years. India’s industrial sector grew at 4.3 percent last year but growth slowed from 4.6 percent a year ago. The speedier approvals come as some big-ticket infrastructure projects face delays, including the proposed $100 billion Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor and the Japan-backed $17 billion bullet train. Any loss of jobs from slowing growth could hurt Modi as he seeks a second term in 2019. Environmental group Greenpeace says India’s construction sector and coal-fired power plants are major contributors to rising levels of particulate matter in the air. The World Health Organization says India is home to the world’s 14 most polluted cities. The PM10 index, which measures the concentration of particulate matter of 10 microns in diameter or less in the air, hit 999 in New Delhi last week, the highest measure on monitoring devices. This coarse particulate matter is mostly dust, which attaches to toxic material from other emissions. A level of 500 is considered “hazardous” and people are advised to remain indoors. The government halted construction activities in the capital and nearby cities to ease the pollution and by Friday afternoon it was at 124, although that is still considered unhealthy. “The way in which in the last 10 years government has allowed power plants to come up in the periphery of Delhi and its surrounding region is a major contributor to pollution,” said Sunil Dahiya, senior campaigner with Greenpeace. Tribal protests Projects across the country cleared by the Environment Ministry this year include three new thermal power plants, a carbon black manufacturing facility, two cement plants and the expansion of four coal mines, according to government data. “Faster clearances can certainly compromise the quality of evaluation,” said Srestha Banerjee, program manager at the private Centre for Science and Environment. “By standardizing terms of references for various sectors the government has tried to reduce time in the environment clearance process. This is not a bad step. But in order to reduce time, it has exempted public hearings for some important sectors. This is extremely problematic.” In India’s villages and smaller towns, protests are mounting against rapid industrialization because of the environmental damage. The Lambada, a tribe in the southern state of Telangana, is opposing a 200-megawatt coal-fired power plant near the village of Pedaveedu that the Environment Ministry cleared in 78 days this year. Environmentalists say it usually takes at least six months to clear such projects. The ministry did not respond to questions on the time taken for the approval. “I won’t let this power plant be constructed,” said Mudavath Vui, a 60-year old Lambada woman dressed in a bright blue embroidered top with clinking bells and coins and colorful beads around her neck. “I have seen my husband die from cancer and I don’t want this plant to increase our suffering.” Her community, which forms a major chunk of the population in three villages around the proposed site of the power plant to be built by privately held MG Power Projects, has also been opposing two large cement plants in the area that they accuse of triggering respiratory and other problems. Groups of Lambada villagers frequently gather around Pedaveedu to shout slogans against the power plant. They and activists said they plan to intensify protests against MG Power’s plant when construction starts. An MG official said the company has yet to firm up plans on starting construction. Protests by villagers and local tribesmen have also erupted at Vedanta’s copper smelter in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, where 13 activists were killed in a protest last month, and at its bauxite mine in the state of Odisha. Fixed time frame Securing faster environment clearances has become crucial for businesses that have struggled to overcome the chaotic implementation of a nationwide sales tax last year. This year the Environment Ministry has cleared 38 percent of total projects within 100 days, compared with 16 percent in the same period a year ago, government data showed. The number of projects cleared has jumped 37 percent in the first five months of the year compared with the same period a year ago. Gujarat Agrochem Pvt. Ltd., an insecticides, chemical and herbicide manufacturer in the western state of Gujarat, secured approval in April to expand a plant after submitting its proposal at the end of January. The speed surprised the company itself, said its regional head, Sunish Nair. Earlier this decade, the company had to wait two years to get the go-ahead to build a herbicide plant in Gujarat. By the time the approval came, in 2013, the project’s estimated cost had jumped 28 percent and demand for the particular product had waned, Nair said. “It seems they are now adhering to a fixed time frame,” Nair said, welcoming the faster clearance process under the current government. In Pedaveedu, however, the fast clearances have led to even more entrenched opposition. “We will pour kerosene onto ourselves and die, but not let the power plant be set up,” said V. Koteshwar Rao, a resident and vice president of the Jana Chaitanya Society, a local activist group.
|
pollution;india;energy;utilities;electricity;environment
|
jp0010245
|
[
"national"
] |
2018/06/24
|
Kansai entities team up on U.N. development goals as Japan angles for World Expo
|
KOBE - When the Group of 20 summit takes place in Osaka a year from now, the bulk of media reporting and commentary will no doubt emphasize what the presidents and prime ministers say about the international financial or geopolitical crisis of the moment, and what dramas are taking place among world leaders behind the scenes. Possibly lost in the blizzard of reports and tweets will be what the G20 says about meeting the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The goals might not sound sexy to some editors and producers. But they are far more important to the future of our planet than pointing out which world leader behaved boorishly over dinner. Over the past few months in the Kansai region at least, official recognition of the SDGs’ importance has increased dramatically. Osaka’s bid for the 2025 World Expo relies heavily on a message that holding an expo in the city would provide solutions to meeting the 17 U.N. goals adopted in 2015, which include ending extreme poverty, achieving food security, ensuring healthy lives, achieving gender equality, and ensuring the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all, among others. Last December, before Osaka was awarded the G20 summit but after it had presented its expo bid in Paris, Kansai-based industry associations, universities, government leaders, the local bureau of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, as well as the Japan International Cooperation Agency, met to launch the Kansai SDGs Platform. Its 10-member steering committee includes senior members of the Kansai Economic Federation and Osaka Chamber of Commerce, a representative from the Union of Kansai Governments, academics and NGO representatives. The platform is based in the JICA Kansai office in Kobe. “There is a lot of great technology in the Kansai region that can offer solutions to SDG issues, and bringing people from different sectors together can lead to innovative solutions to realize the SDGs,” says Masahiro Tawa, deputy director-general of JICA Kansai. “At the same time, there are a lot of people in Kansai who wonder what the SDGs are. One of the platform’s goals is to expand local knowledge of them through workshops, symposiums and other events.” Osaka Prefecture has also set up an office to address how it might contribute to SDGs, especially in the context of its 2025 Expo bid. Osaka Gov. Ichiro Matsui has said that next year’s G20 summit offers a chance for Osaka and the region to show it can contribute to specific SDG goals as well. For example, he has suggested the region’s firms and technology can make a strong contribution to the SDG goal of ensuring everyone has access to safe and affordable drinking water. The official agenda for Osaka’s G20 summit will not be decided by the central government until December, after this year’s summit in Buenos Aires wraps up. But Tawa said the Japanese government will likely seek G20 support for SDG goals that are also areas of special interest to firms and scientific researchers in the Kansai region. “In Kansai, we have Kyoto, home of the Kyoto Protocol (on global warming), so environmental issues will be raised, especially the problem of garbage disposal, as well as ensuring clean water,” he said. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also spoke on the SDGs and Japan’s efforts over the next year to promote them at the G20 and elsewhere. “As we move toward the 2019 G20 summit and the TICAD conference (in Yokohama), we’ll strengthen efforts to meet the health and education goals, and promote the growth of green businesses as part of a long-term strategy to deal with climate change,” Abe said. The Tokyo International Conference on African Development was launched by the government in 1993. The SDGs are sometimes assumed by the general public in developed countries to be goals in developing countries that are being met through national and international organizations. But the Kansai SDGs Platform also aims to focus attention on regional contributions, including technological innovations by local businesses and local expertise, as a way to meet the U.N. targets. So whatever happens at the G20 next year, Kansai’s interest in regional solutions to the ambitious 2030 SDG goals appears set to continue long after the summit’s final photo op and news conference.
|
health;u.n .;poverty;g20;world expo;sdgs
|
jp0010246
|
[
"national"
] |
2018/06/24
|
Osaka gears up for final stage of 2025 World Expo bid
|
OSAKA - With less than five months to go until the host of the 2025 World Expo is decided, Osaka is gearing up for a final push that will include efforts to raise local enthusiasm and draw international attention with financial incentives for countries that can’t afford to attend the event. But with strong bids by rivals Baku, Azerbaijan, and Ekaterinburg, Russia, and questions growing about why Japan should host a third World Expo following the Osaka and Aichi expos in 1970 and 2005, respectively, the Kansai bid no longer looks like a sure bet. Earlier this month, the three candidates made their final presentations to the 170-member Bureau International des Expositions in Paris. Osaka officials remain concerned about Ekaterinburg, which is pitching an expo that will emphasize technological innovations for younger generations, and has promised to turn its site into a “smart city” once the event finishes. The oil-rich city of Baku is proposing to showcase ways of developing human capital and meeting several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including those related to improving global health, education and labor standards. Baku’s efforts come across as less focused on new technologies compared with Osaka and Ekaterinburg, and more focused on nontechnological methods of addressing common social issues. Ekaterinburg, which lost its bid for the 2020 Expo to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, is believed to have the support of many European delegates. Osaka Gov. Ichiro Matsui and Mayor Hirofumi Yoshimura were joined in Paris earlier this month by industry minister Hiroshige Seko, senior business leaders and Nobel laureate Shinya Yamanaka. Seko announced that Japan would provide $218 million to 100 countries, or $2.2 million each, so they can travel to Osaka and build their own pavilions. “You should have absolutely no worry about the cost,” he said. Osaka officials also used the Paris presentation to lobby directly with BIE members. Delegates from Africa as well as Central and South America are the key to obtaining the majority of the votes, and Osaka announced it would offer its own support. Matsui said the city and prefecture were both prepared to provide public housing to delegates from developing countries during the course of the Expo, which would take place from May to November. In addition, shuttle bus services between the public housing units and the expo site on Yumeshima, a man-made island in Osaka Bay, are being considered. “We want to offer assistance, as a local government, that doesn’t burden the delegates,” Matsui told reporters in Paris. Whether that will be enough to convince the BIE members, who are not scheduled to visit Osaka between now and November, when the winner will be decided, is unclear. Osaka is selling its bid as the safest choice financially, and, implicitly, as the safest choice in terms of security. Azerbaijan Prime Minister Novruz Mammadov is directly involved in international lobbying efforts for Baku’s bid and led the city’s delegation in Paris earlier this month. The former Soviet republic hosted a reception at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January and its presentation in Paris hinted at the question Osaka is now most concerned about — why award Japan a third World Expo? “Baku is a strong rival. The prime minister touched on aid to developing countries and said that because the city had no experience hosting an Expo, there was potential and that it needed to be given a chance,” Yoshimura tweeted after Baku’s presentation. The Osaka mayor added that the city’s “air war” for the 2025 Expo had gone well so far, meaning that official, public events to promote the bid had succeeded. Now, he said, it was time to step up the “ground war,” the direct, face-to-face, personalized lobbying that would be required to win. But it’s there where Osaka faces a geographic hurdle. It is much easier and cheaper for delegates from Baku and Ekaterinburg to meet with BIE delegates or their representatives at the organization’s headquarters in Paris or, in Ekaterinburg’s case, Russia during the World Cup. Osaka, by contrast, must figure out how to promote its bid effectively from a distance while also relying on the central government and business representatives to lobby on its behalf, since extended overseas tours are beyond the budgets of Matsui and Yoshimura. The good news for Osaka is that BIE has given high marks to the technical aspects of its bid, and the governor and mayor are satisfied the theatrical production they staged in Paris earlier this month received rave reviews. But now that the spotlight has dimmed, Osaka’s leaders have to work the backstage over the summer and autumn effectively and, along with the central government, use financial incentives and other means to convince individual BIE members to return once again to Japan rather than take the event to a new country. As Yoshimura hinted, a superior strategy is required to win the ground war.
|
osaka;ichiro matsui;2025 world expo
|
jp0010249
|
[
"national",
"media-national"
] |
2018/06/23
|
Struggling to stay on top of fake social media posts in a disaster
|
Shortly after the Kansai region was rattled by a magnitude 6.1 earthquake on June 18, photos of the damage started popping up on social media. Tweets showed a bookstore that looked as if it had been turned upside-down , a damaged electronic sign at a train station and shattered glass in front of a ticket booth at Universal Studio Japan . These were shared quickly on the platform, as were countless other shots and videos from Osaka and the surrounding area. In the hyper-speed media landscape of 2018, Twitter has become many people’s go-to stop for updates on breaking news, whether from established outlets or regular people caught up in the situation. Many in Japan watched last week’s earthquake unfold online, with many posts going viral. These included user @satnfc2, who claimed that a zebra was on the loose following the shake , and @happyura12, who shared a photo of what appeared to be a crack in the city’s Kyocera Dome . Others alleged a train had derailed. Scattered across some sites were posts that accused non-Japanese residents of Osaka of looting convenience stores or poisoning the water supply . These were all fake. Posts spreading misinformation following the earthquake became so problematic that the Osaka prefectural government told people to beware of baseless information and avoid spreading it further. Other politicians shared similar messages, including Kumamoto Mayor Kazufumi Onishi . And he should know — his city’s 2016 earthquake inspired claims of a lion escaping a zoo along with the same xenophobic rumors that have cropped up in the past seven days. The spread of misinformation — “fake news” if that’s more your speed — has long been an issue, but social media has accelerated it significantly. It’s no more glaring than in the early hours of a developing story, where facts are scarce but the Twitter timeline moves at a rapid pace. Mistruth can occur in the rush to find out who committed a crime ( see the Boston Marathon bombing ) or to assign ideological blame (see every terrorist attack or mass shooting in the United States and Europe). In Japan, major breaking news such as natural disasters bring out a combination of internet trolls who engage in it for a laugh and those with more sinister intentions aimed at non-Japanese residents of the country, specifically those from China and the Korean Peninsula. It also extends beyond specific happenings and can just pop up randomly in feeds — one much-shared but inaccurate post from a few years ago purportedly showed a South Korean woman spitting into kimchi bound for Japan. While plenty of netizens on 2ch and Twitter spread outright lies, Japan’s online media tries to work swiftly to counter falsehoods. In the case of the Kansai earthquake, sites such as Buzzfeed Japan and Huffington Post Japan posted articles pointing out the inaccuracy of these tweets (while also sharing helpful “earthquake safety” pieces ). Other online destinations picked up on it, too, as did more classically mainstream outlets such as NHK . Yet speed is important in countering claims, and digital-first publications manage to move at the same tempo as the people creating mistruths. It helps that the fragmentation found in U.S. media has yet to really take hold in Japan. A Journalism Research News report from April found that no major ideological divide between readers has emerged in the country, with people on the left and right reading the same news sources. Compare that to the United States, where a distrust of mainstream media has prompted many to embrace more politically slanted sources of information, at its most extreme resulting in many following “ false flag ” conspiracies and whatever the hell radio show host Alex Jones is talking about . Japanese netizens have also become far better at sniffing out fakeries over the years. Chalk it up to frequent exposure — “matome” (summary) sites have tags dedicated to disproving social-media lies , while some Twitter users run accounts focused on debunking viral posts. On June 18, many users reminded folks to be careful about spreading information , and called out those posting lies . They also reminded others of just what happened to the Kanagawa resident who posted the Kumamoto lion tweet — he was subsequently arrested, although no charges were filed . The biggest obstacle to fighting fake news might be Twitter itself, as the platform suspended accounts of people who berated those spreading falsehoods. They got called out on that, too . Importantly, many of them online understand the harm that slander and libel can lead to. A goofy post about a zebra might not cause too much damage, but accusations leveled at non-Japanese have resulted in deaths before — Koreans in Tokyo were killed by mobs after rumors circulated that they had poisoned the wells in the wake of the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake. Many on Twitter referenced this specific incident , a reminder that misinformation can have serious consequences. Plenty of Japanese online users use disasters as a way to promote hate, but fortunately many more take the lessons from the past to heart and counter the haters before they can cause real, lasting damage.
|
osaka;social media;earthquakes;twitter;fake news
|
jp0010250
|
[
"national",
"media-national"
] |
2018/06/23
|
Public remains ignorant of the hazards associated with smoking
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“Secondhand smoke” describes the fumes in the air that result from someone smoking tobacco. “Sidestream smoke” ( fukuryūen ) comes off the tip of the cigarette itself rather than out of the mouth of the person smoking it. Since sidestream smoke is estimated to make up about 85 percent of environmental tobacco smoke, it is the main component of secondhand smoke and, therefore, deserves greater scrutiny. Such scrutiny has been lacking in Japan, as suggested by freelance reporter Tetsuo Jimbo’s reaction to health ministry findings he produced during a recent installment of his web program, “ Video News .” The health ministry says that sidestream smoke contains 1.27 milligrams of nicotine, 34.5 milligrams of tar and 148 milligrams of carbon monoxide — the harmful substances in tobacco smoke. In contrast, mainstream smoke, which people inhale when they smoke a cigarette, contains 0.46 milligrams of nicotine, 10.2 milligrams of tar and 31.4 milligrams of carbon monoxide. Jimbo said he was shocked by these differences. If one of Japan’s most knowledgeable journalists admits he wasn’t aware of the greater dangers of sidestream smoke, which informs other countries’ public smoking bans, then it’s likely the average Japanese person isn’t aware of them either. Keeping the public ignorant of these hazards appears to be the strategy of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in its quest to weaken smoking restrictions, a key component of proposed revisions to the Health Promotion Law. The health ministry, which estimates that 15,000 Japanese a year die from the effects of secondhand smoke , had wanted to prohibit smoking in all public places by 2020 in accordance with International Olympic Committee guidelines, but the pro-tobacco faction of the LDP has successfully stymied those intentions. The final plan released by the ministry on June 1 allows restaurants and bars to permit smoking as long as it’s done in separate smoking sections. As the World Health Organization has stated , separate smoking sections do nothing to prevent patrons — smokers and nonsmokers alike — from passively inhaling sidestream smoke. Anti-smoking activists, however, have been encouraged by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, which is considering draft legislation that prohibits smoking in most restaurants and drinking establishments in order to protect employees, who, unlike customers, cannot choose to avoid a smoke-filled environment in businesses that allow smoking. Tokyo will likely pass such an ordinance because the LDP is a minority force in the assembly. The contrast between measures taken nationally and those passed in the capital lies at the crux of the vernacular coverage of the issue, rather than the health promotion idea at its core. The nominally liberal Asahi Shimbun’s reporting of the Diet bill focuses on how the LDP is complicating discussion of smoking matters by splitting hairs with regard to restaurant or bar size and the implementation of an indefinite interim period , during which businesses can decide how to address a possible smoking ban. In its coverage of the Tokyo bill, the newspaper talks about party politics . The country’s main financial newspaper, the Nikkei Shimbun, focuses on the economic ramifications of a smoking ban , in particular how much money the relevant leisure industries will lose (about ¥840 billion). And while the Nikkei does mention the WHO and antismoking groups, it’s in the context of smoking bans in other countries that have not seen a net negative economic impact as a result. One of the few recent articles about smoking regulations that touches on the dangers of secondhand smoke appeared in the May 31 Asahi Shimbun , which surveyed policies in local government facilities. In most cases, smoking is banned in areas open to the general public, but allowed in areas that are accessed only by government officials, thus implying that civil servants and politicians have the right to ruin their own health but not that of other people. That should be the central point in any discussion of smoking regulations, but as Shigefumi Matsuzawa, a member of the Upper House who represents Kanagawa Prefecture, told Jimbo during a different Video News program , the government and major media have too much at stake to allow such a discussion to reach the ears of the public. Matsuzawa, a vocal antismoking advocate in the government, said that the revised Health Promotion Bill will do nothing to curb secondhand smoke in public places. At the forefront of the movement to weaken regulations are commercial interests — restaurants, bars, cigarette retailers — who say their livelihoods will be ruined by smoking prohibitions. However, the real force behind the movement is the Finance Ministry, which holds one-third of the stock in Japan Tobacco Ltd. Corp. The public thinks that the company, formerly a government organ, was privatized in the ’80s, but Japan Tobacco is still dependent on the Finance Ministry, which regulates tobacco farmers, buys all their produce and controls all cigarette distribution, even that of imported brands. The Finance Ministry earns up to ¥70 billion a year in dividends. More importantly, the tobacco tax is used to keep local governments in line because they rely on handouts from the tax. Anyone who has read foreign coverage of Japan’s smoking issue knows this, because practically every article mentions the Japan Tobacco stock connection. But as Matsuzawa points out, the Japanese media outlets don’t. More significantly, Japan Tobacco still buys ads from publications and broadcasters. It’s not allowed to mention cigarette brands, but the content isn’t important (though Japan Tobacco currently pushes “heated tobacco” products because, among other things, they’re perceived to be safer ). What’s important is that media outlets depend on them for revenue and so don’t report on matters that might bother Japan Tobacco. For his efforts, Matsuzawa says he has received death threats from criminal groups with ties to leisure industries. The government ignores his plight because supporting him would hurt their interests. “In Japan,” he says, “there are just too many beneficiaries of tobacco.”
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smoking;tobacco;passive smoking
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jp0010251
|
[
"national"
] |
2018/06/23
|
Japanese dancer Hyuma Kiyosawa, 17, wins silver medal at prestigious U.S. ballet contest
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JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI - A Japanese dancer won the silver medal Friday in the junior male division of an international ballet competition held in Jackson, Mississippi. The winner, 17-year-old Hyuma Kiyosawa, who lives in San Francisco, was happy with his achievement at the USA International Ballet Competition. No gold medal was awarded. “While I am frustrated at failing to have won the top prize, I am happy with the good result at the contest,” Kiyosawa, who hails from Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, said. It was his first time dancing to live orchestra music. “It just felt wonderful. It was such a great experience,” Kiyosawa said. Kiyosawa’s father, Hidehiko, said he was surprised by his son’s performance. “I am very honored, and I am happy for him,” he said in Matsumoto. “We made him take ballet lessons to gain physical strength, but I’m surprised that he actually achieved this.” Chisako Oga, a 21-year-old dancer born in Dallas who represented the United States in the senior women’s category, won the bronze medal. Oga, who lives in Cincinnati, said she was surprised as she did not expect to win any medal. The two-week-long event began on June 10. Eighteen dancers from eight nations were given awards or medals, organizers said. Held once every four years, it is known as one of the three most prestigious ballet competitions in the world. At the Jackson contest, dancers aged 14 to 18 compete as juniors and those 19 to 28 as seniors in three stages.
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japanese;ballet;hyuma kiyosawa
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jp0010252
|
[
"national",
"crime-legal"
] |
2018/06/23
|
Mt. Gox creditors get new avenue in years-long attempt to recover bitcoin losses
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NEW YORK - Things may be looking up for creditors of Mt. Gox, which was the world’s biggest bitcoin exchange before going in flames after saying thousands of bitcoins had disappeared. The Tokyo District Court on Friday approved the start of civil rehabilitation proceedings, meaning the bankruptcy process that has been underway since 2014 will be put on hold, according to a document posted on mtgox.com . This may mean traders will finally get their bitcoins back. In Japanese bankruptcy proceedings, nonmonetary claims such as bitcoin are converted into traditional money based on the value of the asset at the start of the proceedings, the statement said. That means creditors will not reap the rewards of the token’s price appreciation in recent years. But the document indicates that in the case of Mt. Gox’s civil rehabilitation process, the bitcoins will not be turned into monetary claims, indicating creditors could be reimbursed in bitcoins at current prices. Mt. Gox filed for bankruptcy protection four years ago after disclosing it lost 850,000 bitcoins, then worth about $500 million, or around $5 billion at today’s price levels. The now-defunct company, which later said it recovered about 200,000 bitcoins, blamed hackers for the loss. The Friday statement appeared to be written by attorney Nobuaki Kobayashi, the bankruptcy trustee who has been liquidating cryptocurrency on behalf of Mt. Gox creditors. Many have blamed bitcoin’s recent plunge on Kobayashi, known in the industry as the Tokyo “whale.” The trustee, who hasn’t previously provided much detail on his selling strategy, attempted to offer some clarity: “Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash were sold in a manner that had no effect on market price and not by ordinary sale on an exchange,” the statement said. “At present, nothing has been determined regarding the sale of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies split from bitcoin (collectively, ‘bitcoin, etc.’) in the future.” Some traders interpreted the latter excerpt as confirmation the trustee will stop dumping bitcoins, though the statement didn’t explicitly say that. Kobayashi reminded creditors that he is still in control. “The power and authority to administer and dispose of Mtgox’s assets is still vested exclusively in me,” he said. Traders who filed proof of claims in the proceedings will need to refile for the civil rehabilitation, the document said. Those who missed out on the bankruptcy process will be allowed to file claims in the new process, and the deadline for submissions is Oct. 22. Mt. Gox must submit a proposed rehabilitation plan by next Feb. 14.
|
courts;scandals;theft;bitcoin;currency;mt . gox;cryptocurrency
|
jp0010253
|
[
"business"
] |
2018/06/15
|
Governor lays down $40 as New Jersey kicks off era of legalized sports betting
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OCEANPORT, NEW JERSEY - With two $20 bets and a rambunctious crowd awaiting their turn, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy placed the state’s very first legal sports bets on Thursday, capping a years-long battle to end the ban on sports betting in the Garden State. “This is a huge step forward for gaming, for the tracks, for the economy of this state,” Murphy said before placing his bets, with a crowd of media swarming him as he stepped to the counter at Monmouth Park Racetrack. Murphy’s wagers — that Germany will win the World Cup and the New Jersey Devils will take home hockey’s Stanley Cup next year — may not seem monumental. But the beginning of legal sports betting in New Jersey likely paves the way for much of the rest of the United States to eventually regulate and tax it. While sports betting is legal in many other countries, a 1992 U.S. law barred it in the United States except for a limited number of states, such as Nevada, where casinos have long included sports betting. New Jersey voters agreed in 2011 to change the state’s constitution to legalize sports betting, in part as an economic and revenue boost to the state’s ailing horse racetracks and gambling hub Atlantic City. State lawmakers quickly passed bills to legalize it, but professional sports leagues pushed back in court, arguing that it was illegal under the old federal law and that sports could be more easily corrupted due to increased money at stake. But in May, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with New Jersey and overturned the 1992 law. Now West Virginia, Connecticut, Mississippi and New York are looking to bring sports wagering out of the shadows, with other states are likely to follow. As Murphy placed the first official wagers, a crowd of hundreds, energized by finally being able to bet on their favorite teams, lined up eagerly at Monmouth Park. They picked up forms listing the day’s games for various sports and placed bets with clerks at one of at least a dozen counters at the $2 million sports betting parlor built by William Hill PLC’s U.S. division. In an adjacent bar, the mostly male crowd that could place bets and grab a beer watched and cheered at televisions streaming golf, horse racing, baseball and soccer. Larry Cook, 47, was there to bet on baseball’s New York Yankees. He said he already likes to gamble in Atlantic City, and enjoys sports, so being able to wager on the sports he already watches is a perfect melding of two worlds. Plus, he appreciates that some of the betting money will make its way to his state, an unusual refrain from heavily taxed New Jerseyans. “If I’m gonna lose, at least it’s going to a good cause,” he said. He drove an hour to place his bet. But once sports betting launches at the Meadowlands Racetrack closer to home, he said he will go there instead. Joseph Correnti, 30, also drove an hour from his home the night before to stay with a friend nearby. He was among the first to place bets. Clutching cash and a betting form, he too bet $20 on the Yankees to win Thursday’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays and another $20 that the New York Mets will prevail over the Arizona Diamondbacks. And he bet $10 that Russia will win the World Cup opening match against Saudi Arabia — a winning wager after Russia prevailed 5-0. “I’ve been waiting for sports betting in New Jersey for the longest,” he said.
|
u.s. supreme court;new jersey;nevada;atlantic city;sports betting
|
jp0010254
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"science-health-asia-pacific"
] |
2018/06/15
|
Hong Kong scientists say new research points to universal antibody drug for HIV
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HONG KONG - A team of AIDS researchers in Hong Kong says its new research, tested on mice, indicates a functional cure for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, eventually leading to a new antibody that could be used for both prevention and treatment. The findings, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, come as China faces a growing epidemic among high-risk groups, such as sex workers and men who have sex with men. The U.N.-supported AIDS Data Hub says about 850,000 people in China are infected with HIV, which disables the immune system and makes people far more vulnerable to infections and disease. A team led by Professor Chen Zhiwei at Hong Kong University’s AIDS Institute says its discovery shows the new antibody can help control the virus and eliminate infected cells. The antibody would be able to treat all varieties of HIV— a first, Chen said — as there is no one vaccine to treat the many different types of HIV viruses. “For our newly discovered bispecific antibody, it works for all of them, so that’s the major difference,” Chen said. Chen and his team say they aim to bring the antibody into clinical trials within three to five years. Chen said a “functional cure” meant the virus level would be so low as to be undetectable in the body, as long as patients kept taking injections of the antibody, perhaps on a quarterly basis, or less frequently. Those infected with HIV can keep the virus under control with antiretroviral drugs that stop it from infecting new cells. However, treatments must be taken daily and do not eliminate the infected cells from the body. So the virus can still exist, and symptoms return, if patients stop taking medication properly. Promising results did not mean the treatment would be readily available soon, said Andrew Chidgey, chief executive of the charity group AIDS Concern in Hong Kong. “Governments are being very slow to implement programs here,” he added. “So just because a treatment becomes available, doesn’t mean that people will get it, or that it will have an impact.”
|
china;medicine;hong kong;disease;aids
|
jp0010255
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"social-issues-asia-pacific"
] |
2018/06/15
|
Indigenous Taiwanese, seeking rights to ancestral lands, set up camp in Taipei city park
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TAIPEI - Taipei’s Peace Memorial Park is an oasis of calm in the bustling city, home to morning walkers and lunchtime strollers — along with a camp of indigenous protesters demanding justice. For several months, the small group has lived in tents in a corner of the park, with a makeshift kitchen and a cluster of painted rocks, photographs and posters tracing the history of Taiwan’s indigenous people and their fight for land rights. They want the repeal of regulation, announced last year, that they say denies their right to ancestral land. The guidelines are on the delineation of traditional territory and its return to indigenous people. But they are limited to state-owned land and do not include private land — which the group says denies them a sizable piece of territory. “We have been betrayed by the government,” said Panai Kusui, an indigenous leader and singer. “We are the original inhabitants of this island, the collective custodians of all land before the concept of public land and private land. This regulation denies us what is rightfully ours.” Taiwan’s indigenous people make up about 2 percent of its 23.5 million people, and they have long suffered marginalization that has left them poorer, less educated and with a higher percentage without jobs than their Chinese counterparts. In an unprecedented move, newly elected President Tsai Ing-wen in 2016 apologized to the indigenous people for “centuries of pain and mistreatment” and promised to improve their lives. One step was to recognize their ancestral land. The government’s Council of Indigenous Peoples (CIP) in February 2017 declared 1.8 million hectares (4.4 million acres) — about half of Taiwan’s total land area — to be traditional territory. About 90 percent of this is public land that indigenous people can claim and to whose development they can consent, said Kolas Yotaka, a legislator with the ruling Democratic Progressive Party who belongs to the Amis tribe. The remainder is privately owned and cannot be claimed. “The legislation allows us to take back control of most of our ancestral land. It’s a big deal,” Kolas said during an interview in her office. “No one is disputing that we are the original owners of the land. But today, 98 percent of the population is non-indigenous, and we cannot go back to how it was 400 years ago.” Taiwan’s first inhabitants are believed to be Austronesian tribes who hunted and farmed on the island thousands of years before Han settlers from mainland China arrived in the 17th century. With the arrival of settlers, indigenous people faced violence and loss of land. Their marginalization continued at the hands of Japanese colonizers in the 19th century. After the Kuomintang took control in 1945, indigenous people’s access to traditional lands was further limited as authorities built modern cities and high-speed rail lines and created national parks and tourist facilities. The Indigenous Peoples’ Basic Law, passed in 2005, granted a wide range of rights to Taiwan’s tribal people. But its implementation was stalled, said Panai, who was joined at the protest site last year by English singer Joss Stone on his tour of Taiwan. “Indigenous leaders would like to see a return of all traditional territories,” said Scott Simon, co-chair in Taiwan studies at the University of Ottawa. “But any legislation is always subject to negotiation and compromise.” Tsai has acknowledged past failures to implement the Indigenous Peoples law and has promised a justice commission, as well as better education, health care and economic opportunities. The CIP has asked the nearly 750 indigenous communities in Taiwan to apply for recognition of their traditional territory under the 2017 legislation. More than 250 have already submitted claims, said Kolas. “There are divisions even between the indigenous people over the legislation, but a majority have welcomed it,” she said. “We’ve been neglected for so long — we are losing our language, our tradition. But at least there is now a process for us to define our land and get it back.” Indigenous land rights are contentious the world over. In poorer countries in Asia and Latin America, tribal people lack property rights and face violence from state officials, miners and loggers eyeing their land. In wealthy nations such as Australia and Canada, indigenous people are negotiating with governments for a greater say over land and resources. In Taiwan, which China claims as its sacred territory, focusing on indigenous people may also be a way to establish a cultural identity that is different from China’s, analysts say. But the challenge is exacerbated by the island’s small size: just over 36,000 sq. km (14,000 sq. miles). Kolas has drafted the Indigenous Land and Seabed Act, which comprehensively defines land and sea rights. It passed its first reading on May 25. “We need jobs, we need opportunities to improve our economic status,” she said. “If we kick out the hotel or the mining company without negotiating for better terms, what’s the option? We have to demand more rights, but we have to do it smartly,” she said. But activists say they must have rights over all traditional territory to ensure “environmentally friendly and culturally sensitive” developments that also create opportunities for them. “The deterioration of our culture and economic status are tied to the loss of our land. We will not stop protesting until the regulation is repealed,” said Panai.
|
history;taiwan;protests;ethnicity
|
jp0010256
|
[
"national"
] |
2018/06/15
|
Disaster-hit Fukushima struggles to secure forest industry workers but efforts slowly bearing fruit
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In a mountainous area in Fukushima Prefecture, junior high school students saw at trees as professional forest workers give them instructions and pointers. “I can smell and feel the warmth of the trees,” says one of the students participating in the field trip to Iwaki’s Tabito district. The trip is one of several local efforts to nurture a dwindling number of potential successors to conserve one of Fukushima’s most important resources. While dealing with an aging population and restricted zones set after an earthquake and tsunami triggered reactor meltdowns in March 2011, the prefecture has been struggling to secure younger workers to sustain and revive its forests. “We hope more and more children will be interested in working in the forest industry,” said Hirataka Midorikawa, 46, a forester and member of a local timber group that for 10 years has organized classes to give students experience in forestry. The Tabito district is known for rich forests which occupy 90 percent of its land and a once-thriving timber industry. Although more than 14,000 people worked in Fukushima Prefecture’s forest industry in 1960, the number had dropped to 2,183 by 2015, primarily due to a graying population. Many forest owners are also believed to have left the industry due to declines in timber prices. In Tabito, the number of foresters has plunged below half of its peak level. Midorikawa, who studied forestry at the Tokyo University of Agriculture, returned to his hometown to “keep the local industry running.” Inheriting mountain forests that were originally taken care of by his great-grandfather, he now produces cedar and cypress timber to be mainly used as building materials. Midorikawa joined the local timber group in 1995 and worked on branding locally produced timber in Tabito. His group’s effort to familiarize children with the industry through the classes and public displays of handmade Christmas trees and kadomatsu (New Year’s decorative pine branches) has been a success, as some young forest workers have joined the group. But with entry into some forests restricted following the 2011 meltdown at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, the number of new workers to join the prefecture’s forest industry in fiscal 2016 fell to 84, about one-third of the pre-disaster level. With thinning operations stalled in some areas, young successors are “urgently needed to revive forests,” an industry worker said. A forest industry association in Fukushima has been helping young workers improve their skills through training in logging or other tasks. The prefectural government also subsidizes incomes for timber workers and allows local high school students to inspect professionals’ jobs on-site. “We’d like to change the notion that (the forest industry) requires grueling work, since mechanization has progressed,” said a Fukushima government official in charge of promoting the local timber industry. In the town of Minamiaizu, loggers are trying to boost the business by branding their lumber as environmentally friendly. At a local timber company, certified cedar logs are marked in green to show they meet the criteria set out by the Sustainable Green Ecosystem Council. The SGEC is a third-party group in Japan that certifies timber from forests which clear specific criteria, including those where measurements are taken to maintain soil and water resources when trees are cut. As of April, about 13,000 hectares of forests in 11 municipalities in the prefecture have been certified by the council. “If we encourage a greater use of SGEC-certified lumber, consumers will have greater awareness of environmental sustainability,” said Shun Matsuzawa, 30, an executive at a Minamiaizu-based nonprofit organization of 20 forestry companies which promotes member companies’ SGEC-certified lumber. The group’s effort is beginning to pay off. One of the member’s SGEC-certified cedar timber has been shipped to Tokyo to be used in the construction of facilities for the 2020 Games. Minamiaizu used to be well-known for forestry, with many locals working in the industry. But as the market shifted to imported lumber and the industry shrank nationwide, the number of timber businesses in the town declined to less than a third of the 70 companies it boasted in its heyday. That’s when the certification system caught the attention of Matsuzawa and others in the town. In 2015, the Forestry Agency designated the organization as a role model to promote the usage of certified timber. “Our effort is bearing fruit,” Matsuzawa said. But hurdles remain. Since the SGEC certification system isn’t widely recognized, it hasn’t triggered a large number of shipments so far. “The central and prefectural governments should create a system that would promote the use of certified timber,” said an official who works in Minamiaizu’s lumber business.
|
fukushima;forests;environment
|
jp0010257
|
[
"business"
] |
2018/06/12
|
Germany: 774,000 Mercedes cars have unauthorized software defeat devices
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BERLIN - Germany’s Transport Ministry said on Monday that 774,000 Mercedes-Benz vehicles in Europe had been found to contain unauthorized software defeat devices and ordered Daimler to recall more than 200,000 cars in Germany. Mercedes-Benz C-Class and Vito models with diesel engines and a sports utility variant of the sedan, known as the GLC, were the main cars found to be at fault, the ministry said. “The government will order 238,000 Daimler vehicles to be immediately recalled Germany-wide because of unauthorized defeat devices,” the ministry said in a statement. Germany can only order the recall of vehicles within its own borders, or of those vehicles issued with a pan-European road-worthiness certification via German authorities. Daimler has pledged to work on removing the software and to cooperate with authorities, the ministry said. Daimler Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche said on Monday that the carmaker had found a technical solution for updating the software on its vehicles, and he therefore expected the company would avoid a fine. In a separate statement, Daimler confirmed the recall and said the question over the legality of the software would still need to be clarified. Evercore ISI analyst Arndt Ellinghorst predicted the costs for the required software update for Daimler would be less than €100 million ($118 million). “We don’t see any evidence that Daimler was designing software to deliberately cheat on emission testing,” he said. “Overall, this outcome should de-risk the stock.”
|
recall;eu;germany;emissions;software;mercedes;daimler
|
jp0010258
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2018/06/13
|
Takeda CEO talks about Shire acquisition and the future integration of the firms after Japan's biggest outbound takeover
|
Christophe Weber says growth and innovation are the metrics for success in Takeda Pharmaceutical Co.’s $62 billion purchase of Shire PLC. The first order of business is bringing global shareholders around to Japan’s biggest-ever outbound takeover. The Takeda CEO is facing a 21 percent drop in the stock price since the company disclosed its interest in March, while Shire is trading £9 ($12) below the offer price of roughly £49 a share. He’s also contending with some domestic shareholders who are averse to expansion as Weber looks to create a global pharmaceutical giant. In an interview at Takeda’s new Tokyo headquarters, the French-born CEO discussed his push to sell the deal overseas — and in Japan — and plans to integrate the 237-year-old drugmaker with a London-listed company with mostly U.S.-based operations. The following excerpt has been edited for clarity and brevity. Is there a difference dealing with investors in Japan versus the U.S.? They all want to better understand our vision for the combined company — what the new business will look like, when it will be combined. I think investors are starting from very different points. In Japan, many didn’t know Shire at all; it’s more difficult for them to understand the combination of the two. In the U.S., many people in the health care investment sector know about Shire; some of them know about both companies. Shire still trades below the offer price. What is the market missing? It’s not that they don’t see the benefit of the combination, it’s that there is no precedent. And so people don’t know exactly how it will happen. For example, there is no precedent for a Japanese company buying a foreign company with its own shares. There is no precedent for delisting, so U.K. shareholders will have to exchange its shares with either Japanese shares or an ADR (American depositary receipt) in New York. How are you approaching the issue of integration? This is an area we’re quite comfortable with, otherwise we wouldn’t have done the deal. My team is truly global. There are eight nationalities and a majority of my team is not based in Japan. The other element is that Shire’s operational headquarters are in Boston and in Zurich, where we have our two hubs outside of Tokyo. So I think this proximity will help greatly. It will not be easy but we really analyze that, because most mergers are not super successful because of integration. What will be the hardest part of integration? I think M&A (mergers and acquisitions) or integration in the pharmaceutical industry is often highly disruptive for R&D (research and development). And this is where we have a big advantage because Shire has not invested strongly in research. We don’t have to go through the disruption of closing a research site or merging a research site, which takes a long time and has some impact on the pipeline and is so complicated. The R&D integration is relatively simple because of that. What do you need to do to bridge the cultural gaps? We’ll have to build a new business organization and we’re actively starting to work on that. Takeda has a much longer history and stronger culture in terms of value system. We are very patient-centric — it’s do the right thing for the patient, reinforce trust with society, develop the reputation of the company and develop the business, in that order. I think Shire is also patient-centric because in rare diseases you need to have this mindset. I think their business organization is not too dissimilar from Takeda’s. How will you determine if integration has been a success? In three years we will have to look at Takeda and where it is positioned in the global pharma market. We’ll look at what type of pipeline and science it is generating, the type of resilience the company has, its growth and its ability to innovate. … We will design a new company which will be very R&D driven, very very science driven. But also very fit for the future environment that we will face. Many say your legacy will hinge on the success of the Shire deal. I don’t have any personal agenda. I don’t have any ego to feed. I’m doing this deal because I think this is a unique opportunity for Takeda to be much more competitive. And this is a unique opportunity for Japan, because Japan doesn’t have a global champion and might never have one if we don’t do this deal. The countries that have one, they all built it by M&A — GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi. It’s easy to say their M&A has been bumpy along the way, but what would those companies be if they had not done it?
|
m & a;christophe weber;shire plc
|
jp0010259
|
[
"world"
] |
2018/06/13
|
American Indians fear U.S.-Mexico border wall will destroy ancient culture
|
EL PASO, TEXAS - To the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo Indians, the water of the Rio Grande that divides the United States and Mexico sanctifies religious rites and purifies their hunts. Indian communities living miles away use the river to send messages to fellow tribes downstream, said tribal chief Jose Sierra. “They go to the river and talk to the river, and the river sends it down,” said Sierra, a barrel-chested man with long, graying hair and thick turquoise bracelets at his wrists. “They put messages in the river that come to us through the water.” But now tribal leaders fear a proposed border wall as envisioned by U.S. President Donald Trump will sever access to the river, spoiling traditions and ruining ancient culture. The Ysleta and more than two dozen American Indian tribes — designated by U.S. law as sovereign nations governing themselves — live along the 1,900 mile (3,060 km) border with Mexico, with some vowing to fight the wall to defend tribal culture. Rene Lopez, a member of the Ysleta Traditional Council, said if the chief asked tribal members to knock down the wall, “we’ll do it. That’s how deeply it means to us.” For while Trump and his supporters say a security wall is necessary to stop drug smuggling and illegal immigrants from Mexico, Indian leaders say otherwise. “Back off, Trump. Let us be,” said Sierra, whose ancestors settled in Texas in 1682 after being forced out of New Mexico during violent conflicts with Spanish settlers. But experts say the likelihood of stopping the wall with claims of Indian sovereignty or freedom of religion is unlikely, even though for some its impact could be dramatic. The Tohono O’odham people in southern Arizona live on a reservation that straddles the border and would be cut in two. “It would be just devastating,” said Verlon Jose, vice chairman of the Tohono O’odham. “Walls are not the answer to the issues that we face. … Walls have never solved problems, whether that’s in terms of immigration, in terms of militarization.” Border security could be boosted with more hi-tech tower systems that provide long-range surveillance, tracking and detection and by immigration reform allowing more migrants to work temporarily in the United States without having to sneak in, Jose said. Native people globally have been blocked from sacred grounds, burial places and ancestral migration routes by borders and walls, said Christopher McLeod, director of the California-based Sacred Land Film Project who has documented sacred sites. A study by U.S. geographer Reece Jones from the University of Hawaii found that in 1990 there were 15 border walls in the world — but now there are almost 70. “When people are cut off from their land, from their sacred lands and their ceremonies, then the culture dies. Their spiritual vitality is weakened,” McLeod said. “A border and a wall are not just symbols. They’re very physical insults.” Many Ysleta, a tribe of about 4,200 members, live in low mud-brick houses on a dusty west Texas reservation, already rankled at needing the U.S. government’s permission to visit the river. Fencing guarded by U.S. Border Patrol agents divides Ysleta land from Mexico and from the river bed, and agents must unlock secured gates to let tribal members through. The fencing dates back to a previous U.S. border security effort in 2006. “We’ve been doing that for 350 years, and now they want us to ask for permission? It’s like you asking permission to go to church,” said Sierra. But arguments of religious and cultural freedom are not likely to hold much weight against the wall, said Gerald Torres, an expert on federal Indian law and a professor at Cornell Law School in Ithaca, New York. A 1988 Supreme Court ruling allowed the U.S. Forest Service to build a paved road on land that had historically been used by American Indians for religious rituals, Torres said. The ruling said the government could not operate if it had to “satisfy every citizen’s religious needs and desires.” “Tribes’ interest in religious ceremonies can’t be used to stop the federal government from pursuing its objectives,” Torres said. Some advocates have argued that Indian tribal rights under the 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples would be violated. Members of other border-area tribes — such as the Cocopah, the Fort Mojave and the Pasqua Yaqui in Arizona and the Kickapoo who run a casino in Eagle Pass, Texas — have also spoken out against the wall. Even the Carrizo/Comecrudo tribe, which has neither a reservation nor official recognition, says it would be harmed. Carrizo/Comecrudo members lived at the river centuries ago before they were dispersed by war and forced migration, Tribal Chairman Juan Mancias said. “We have songs we sing to that river,” said Mancias, who lives 200 miles northeast of the river in Floresville, Texas. “With the border wall, they’re disrespecting who we are.” About 700 miles of fencing and wall exist, built as part of the 2006 Secure Fence Act under former President George W. Bush. But so far no funding for the entire wall is in place. A measure by Congress two months ago provided $1.6 billion for six months work on the wall. Trump asked for $25 billion. The Trump administration has waived two laws concerning American Indians so it can build part of the wall in California. One law protects the rights of tribes to human remains, sacred burial objects and other historic items, and the other law protects their religious and cultural practices. Javier Loera, who holds the title of Ysleta War Captain, said the river has sustained his people for centuries. “The river is like the veins of our mother earth. Sever those veins, and it’s catastrophic,” he said.
|
u.s .;immigration;mexico;native americans;donald trump
|
jp0010260
|
[
"national"
] |
2018/06/13
|
Private-sector test results to account for 20% of national university English entrance exam scores
|
The Japan Association of National Universities (JANU) has adopted its new English proficiency benchmarks for entry into state-run universities, which now measure English speaking and writing skills, giving high school students a better grasp of the language before entering college. The new standard approved by JANU on Tuesday, stipulates that scores on private-sector English tests that assess across-the-board English skills, such as the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language), should ideally account for at least 20 percent of the English proficiency assessments used for university admission. The benchmark, which will be introduced in January 2021, is not binding, meaning the degree to which private-sector test results are incorporated may vary among universities, association members said at JANU’s general assembly held Tuesday in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward. The existing unified English exam, called the National Center Test for University Admission, uses computer-read answer sheets and mainly measures reading and listening skills. Under the 2020 university admission reforms, the entrance exam will be renamed the Common Test for University Admission, and those hoping to enter universities will be required to also take private-sector English tests that assess speaking, writing, listening and reading levels. The association adopted its policy last November on assessing English proficiency with both the Common Test and private-sector tests between the 2020 and 2023 academic years. From 2024 onward, only private-sector test results will be used. “We place importance on the holistic evaluation of four different English skills … however, on the other hand, high schools have expressed concern that a high ratio (in test scores) focused on those four skills would be troublesome,” said Masaaki Oka, president of Yamaguchi University and vice president of JANU, at a news conference following the general assembly. “We believe that 20 percent is an appropriate weight for helping students (to focus on the four different skills) to some extent, and we can always increase the level in the future,” he added. Amid various entrance exam reforms proposed by the Education Ministry, the weight of private-sector English tests has been a major topic of discussion because too high a weighting could be seen as unfair to students from lower-income households. Prices for the eight accredited private-English tests range from about ¥7,000 for the Global Test of English Communication to around $235 (¥26,000) for the TOEFL. Six other English tests are available, including the Cambridge Assessment English and Eiken. High school students in their third year and other university hopefuls can choose to take any of the permitted English tests up to two times between April and December. Their scores will then be standardized by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), which categorizes the results into six different levels. Those private-sector English test results will also be used as a qualification benchmark for applicants to universities. For example, JANU said that students who scored at least A2 — the second lowest English proficiency level given by CEFR — should be eligible to apply for national universities. Juichi Yamagiwa, president of Kyoto University and JANU, said he hopes that introducing assessments of the four different skills will contribute to the raising of English education levels in high schools. “(University standards) are not unrelated to high school education levels, so it is necessary to pursue (admission) reforms for their improvement,” he said.
|
university;toefl;english test
|
jp0010261
|
[
"national",
"crime-legal"
] |
2018/06/13
|
Two men arrested in connection to woman's body abandoned on mountain in Shizuoka Prefecture
|
SHIZUOKA - Two men have been detained in connection with the abandonment of a woman’s body, which was confirmed Tuesday to be that of a nurse who went missing last month, police said. The men, one in his 20s and another in his 40s, were arrested on suspicion of illegally confining Mayuko Uchiyama, a 29-year-old nurse from Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture. Security camera footage showed Uchiyama being abducted by several men in a gym parking lot in the city on May 26 as she was getting into her car, which was also driven away, according to investigative sources. The man in his 40s, who turned up at a police station in Nagoya on Monday, has admitted to the allegation of abducting a woman he did not know in Hamamatsu, the investigative sources said. Uchiyama’s body was found Saturday on a mountain in Fujieda, Shizuoka Prefecture, police said, adding there was no sign of major injury. She appeared to have died about two weeks earlier. Police tracked the record of the car navigation system in Uchiyama’s car, which was found in Kuwana, Mie Prefecture, about 100 kilometers northwest of Hamamatsu.
|
abduction;hamamatsu;mayuko uchiyama
|
jp0010263
|
[
"national",
"social-issues"
] |
2018/06/14
|
Japan's social security net for transgender people improving but obstacles loom for seniors
|
People diagnosed with gender dysphoria in Japan are getting more support from social security, including the ability to have the names they usually go by printed on their health insurance cards and to get coverage for gender reassignment surgery under certain conditions. But even as greater consideration is shown toward transgender individuals, problems still loom for them in old age, including pension payouts that might be altered by transitioning and potential problems receiving appropriate nursing care. Last year, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry notified prefectures that people with gender dysphoria can have the names they go by printed on their health insurance cards if they submit a medical certificate issued by a doctor and other documents. Since April, transgender individuals have been covered by insurance for sex reassignment surgery as long as they are not receiving hormone treatment, among other conditions, lowering medical costs. Transgender man Aki Nishino, 32, officially changed his name after feeling distress when called by his former female name during hospital consultations. “It was harsh when people would just say, ‘You’re a woman’ to my face or look at me in a bizarre way,” Nishino said. He filed for the name change in court, taking a unisex Japanese name instead. “There are people who are unable to change their names because of the wishes of their family or other reasons. I welcome being able to use a new name since it increases my options,” Nishino said. Takamasa Nakayama, who works in Tokyo, said people were always suspicious that he was using someone else’s insurance card before he had sex reassignment surgery and changed his family registry. Nakayama also welcomes the added support from social security. “There are cases where health conditions worsen because people want to avoid the hassle of going to a hospital. This will be helpful for such people,” Nakayama, 45, said. But despite the improvements, there are still reasons for concern when addressing the social security net for transgender people as they age. For example, the earnings-related component of employee pensions is paid out later for men than for women, putting those born female at birth at a disadvantage if they have gender reassignment surgery before they reach retirement. Receipt of survivors’ pensions also differs by sex. “If you turn 60 and it is after your pension payouts have been decided, there wouldn’t be any influence from a sex assignment, but people have to be mindful of changes in the conditions even though they might have paid the same insurance premiums all this time,” said Koji Nakajima, a licensed social insurance consultant. Another difficulty is posed by nursing care for transgender seniors, which requires the use of separate rooms and the bathing of residents by gender. Transgender people worry their wishes will not be respected if they become senile or other illnesses prevent them expressing themselves anymore. “It’s necessary to have the flexibility to respond to individual wishes at these facilities. One way is leaving a notarized document with one’s wishes,” Kazuyuki Minami, a lawyer and legal expert knowledgeable about the challenges facing sexual minorities, said. Minata Hara, representative director for a national sexual minority support network, suggested establishing a nongender-based social security network. “Today’s social security system is based on sex. What we hope for is a structure that guarantees on an individual basis, not between the sexes,” Hara said.
|
lgbt;sexuality;national health care
|
jp0010264
|
[
"national",
"social-issues"
] |
2018/06/14
|
Many of Japan's growing number of singles claim they are comfortable facing death alone
|
In graying Japan, where a rising number of people are living alone, being single doesn’t necessarily equate to being lonely. More than 70 percent of single people in their 40s and above not only reject the idea of eventually tying the knot but claim they are satisfied with solitude and that they’re prepared for the autumn of life alone, according to findings by end-of-life consultancy firm Kamakura Shinsho Ltd. The company believes the outcome of an online survey in May of single people — including divorcees and widowers — in their 40s or older nationwide, reflects the rise of solo living and associated concerns about dying alone. “We’ve been receiving an increasing number of phone calls from people seeking advice on preparations for the end of life, and many people have been calling to book a gravesite,” the firm’s spokeswoman Yoshiko Enomoto said Thursday. “Now more people migrate to different areas within the country seeking jobs and end up alone more often than before. In the past more people would settle down in their hometowns, where they would live with their families that were much bigger than today.” “It also shows how living in the city is convenient for singles,” she noted, adding that many respondents said that living alone is much easier than being married. As many as 62.6 percent of the 444 single men and women who responded to the survey said they were doing their best to stay healthy, and about 40 percent said they were devoting their time to hobbies. Enomoto said that results also showed that many people were satisfied with their solitude, citing freedom to manage time and money without restrictions. She added that women pay more attention to their personal affairs before death, including closing their bank accounts and handing their belongings to others. One in five respondents said they were organizing their possessions in preparation for death, but the number for women was two times higher than it was for men. Kazuhisa Arakawa, the author of “Super Solo Society,” which depicts societal problems surrounding the emergence of solo lifestyles, believes that men, in particular, who claim they’re fine with facing death alone may change their minds when they get older. Women are more capable of dealing with death alone because they typically live longer than men, said Arakawa, who researches solitude in Japanese society for PR firm Hakuhodo Inc. In the survey, more than half are comfortable with the idea of being single in the after life. “But the level of awareness differs between men and women,” Arakawa said. “A majority of survivors who fall ill after the death of their loved ones are men … And a larger number of male survivors tend to die by suicide compared to their female counterparts,” Arakawa said. “Men are too naive and don’t give deep thought to their death … Or even more to their current lifestyles. They just don’t think they might eventually be alone. “Japanese men simply depend (too much) on their wives and children. Women are more capable of building personal connections, and are thus more independent.” Arakawa estimates that by 2035, half of people over 15 years of age will be single and about 40 percent will live alone. According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, there were 13.43 million solo dwellers in Japan as of June 2016. The government-run National Institute of Population and Social Security Research estimates that one-person households will total 39 percent by 2040. Kamakura Shinsho’s Enomoto also believes it is necessary to improve services for singles and offers to help municipalities with administrative procedures such as handling pension funds. “Even if the deceased are allowed to benefit from public funeral services, people who die alone may not have anyone to arrange it,” Enomoto said of the need to improve support for those living in solitude so that they can approach their death with a sense of security. “I think Japan is not offering enough support yet,” she added.
|
retirement;elderly;marriage
|
jp0010265
|
[
"national"
] |
2018/06/22
|
New graduates hope for work-life balance rather than boardroom role
|
Working long hours to move up the job ladder is a lower priority for newly employed graduates in the nation, according to a recent survey published by the Japan Productivity Center (JPC). The 50th edition of the annual research, released Thursday, showed that over 40 percent of young hires work in order to “live an interesting life” — a roughly 15 point increase from 20 years ago — while only 10.3 percent of new hires indicated that they aimed to secure a role as company president — a record low in the survey’s history. The results are part of a decades-long trend of new graduates placing a stronger emphasis on maintaining a work-life balance, in a clear departure from perceptions of past generations who put in long hours to move up the corporate hierarchy. “Promotion-oriented new workers have decreased over the years, not only for top jobs but also for other management positions,” said Mitsuru Shimomura, one of the researchers in charge of compiling the annual report, which polled 1,664 new graduates. Part of the lack of motivation to move up the corporate ladder may come from new hires’ increasing propensity to change employers. Rather than toil at one company and move up the ranks, graduates appear increasingly willing to test the job market for better opportunities. An April survey of new graduates conducted by Deloitte Tohmatsu Consulting Co. showed that new workers who wish to stay at their company indefinitely has decreased by about ten percentage points since 2015, standing at 53.8 percent in the 2018 survey. The JPC survey also showed that the motivation for new graduates to outperform their peers has dropped in recent years. Over 61 percent of respondents said that they are content to work similar hours to their peers, up from around 45 percent five years ago, while those who aimed to outwork their peers fell to about 30 percent. The pressure to outperform peers may have decreased in recent years due to stronger economic conditions and a shrinking labor force, a situation that has given many workers the upper hand over employers. The jobs-to-applicants ratio was 1.59 in April, meaning there are 159 job openings for every 100 workers, according to data from the labor ministry. “The health of the economy is an important determinant of new graduates’ outlook,” said Shimomura. “Around ten years ago the economy was not good, so many people had a strong desire to work hard.” “Now that the economy is good it is a seller’s market, so to speak. Thus, there is less will to work hard,” he added.
|
employment;workforce;presidents;surverys
|
jp0010266
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"science-health-asia-pacific"
] |
2018/06/25
|
Australian feral cats kill a million reptiles a day: study
|
SYDNEY - Feral cats kill more than 1 million reptiles every day in Australia, a new study showed Monday, with the staggering slaughter threatening many species. Cats have wiped out entire populations of some animals in Australia since being introduced by Europeans settlers two centuries ago, with efforts to cull or sterilize them so far failing to slow their march. The new findings are based on more than 10,000 cat dietary samples contributed by environmental scientists across the country. In total, about 650 million lizards and snakes fall victim to feral and pet cats annually, they found. “On average each feral cat kills 225 reptiles per year,” said lead researcher John Woinarski, from Charles Darwin University, adding that feral cats consume more reptiles in Australia than in the United States or Europe. “Some cats eat staggering numbers of reptiles. We found many examples of single cats bingeing on lizards, with a record of 40 individual lizards in a single cat stomach.” The study, published in the journal Wildlife Research, showed cats were killing 250 different types of reptile — including great desert skinks, bearded dragons and geckos. Of these, 11 are threatened species. Feral cats in Australia number in the millions and are considered the main culprit behind the country’s high rate of mammal extinction. Research by the same team last year showed cats were killing more than 1 million birds in Australia each day, including threatened species like the spotted quail thrush, the squatter pigeon and the night parrot. While there is an undeniable impact, Australia’s Threatened Species Commissioner Sally Box said it was hard to pinpoint exactly how badly cats were affecting reptiles. This is because population sizes are not known for most reptile species. The government has earmarked more than AU$30 million ($23 million) for projects to reduce the impact of feral cats on wildlife. The Australian Wildlife Conservancy last month finished a 44-kilometer-long electrified fence to create a cat-free zone of almost 9,400 hectares in the desert. The area will be extended to around 100,000 hectares and will allow native animals that have been pushed to the brink of extinction by the predator to be reintroduced.
|
australia;cats;reptiles
|
jp0010267
|
[
"national"
] |
2018/06/25
|
Aichi team develops self-driving robots to tackle labor shortage in farming
|
Amid a severe shortage of manpower, a team comprised of researchers from private companies and a university in Aichi Prefecture is working on developing a self-driving robot that uses cutting-edge technology to support flower-growing farmers. In fiscal 2019 the group hopes to start marketing automated, handcart-type robots that follow pickers of roses and chrysanthemums, carry the cut flowers, and deliver them to collection points. In a laboratory at Toyohashi University of Technology in Toyohashi, a roughly 1-meter-high handcart-type robot — equipped with three cameras and two infrared radar devices — moves back and forth, changing direction smoothly. The robot, which recognizes its location through camera footage, can self-drive on the farm grounds or inside greenhouses, follow flower pickers while keeping a certain distance, collect picked flowers, and carry them to designated collection points. Following flower pickers and transporting cut flowers became possible through the use of autonomous driving technology that involves the 3D mapping of farm grounds. Institutions from which researchers are participating in the development team include Sinfonia Technology Co., an electric appliances manufacturer which has its main factory in Toyohashi, and Aichi Agricultural Research Center. The project started in fiscal 2016 with a subsidy from the prefectural government to support next-generation robot development. Among Japan’s 47 prefectures Aichi has maintained the top position in flower shipments for 55 years in a row. In fiscal 2016 the value of shipments reached ¥57.2 billion, accounting for 16 percent of the nation’s total. However, the industry has recently faced a shortage of workers due to the aging of farmers, and growers have become alarmed by an increase in imports of flowers mass produced in countries where labor costs are lower. The robot project began in response to farmers’ hopes to further improve work efficiency. “Handcart-type robots are highly versatile as they can be used in sectors other than the flower industry, such as picking fruit and vegetables and delivering components inside factories. We expect strong demand for the product,” said Mitsuo Tsume, 69, who heads Sinfonia Technology’s new project planning division. The labor shortage in the agriculture industry is worsening as each year passes. According to farm ministry statistics, the number of laborers working on the nation’s farms fell by about 50 percent over the last decade, dropping from 3.12 million in 2007 to 1.81 million in 2017, and is expected to continue declining. The average age of Japanese farmers is climbing; it reached 66.6 years old in 2017. Major farm machinery manufacturers are working hard to develop self-driving vehicles and other products to facilitate automation in agriculture. Kubota Corp. began trial sales last year of its self-driving robot tractor that plows the land using GPS data. Similar robots have also been developed by rivals Yanmar Co. and Iseki & Co. The companies are also aiming to sell automated machines for rice planting and harvesting.
|
agriculture;robots;flowers;self-driving;aichi
|
jp0010268
|
[
"national"
] |
2018/06/25
|
Host city reps for Rugby World Cup brainstorm ways to draw tourists to Japan
|
Representatives of the 12 cities hosting matches for Rugby World Cup in 2019 met in Tokyo for the first time Monday to discuss ways to draw fans to their tourist spots during the 44-day sporting event. The tournament scheduled between Sept. 20 and Nov. 2 next year is expected to draw 400,000 foreign visitors. The meeting of host cities was organized by the Japan National Tourism Organization to share methods that have worked in the past and to share their tourism know-how. “It will be the first time the Rugby World Cup is held in a country that does not have roots in rugby . . . and worldwide rugby fans are sure to be interested in exploring other parts of Japan as well,” said Masahiro Kato, a senior official of the Rugby World Cup 2019 Organizing Committee. “I hope that 2019 will not simply become a one-off event, but rather an opportunity to connect each local municipality with world cities.” The 12 hosts are Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture; Kumagaya, Saitama Prefecture; Toyota, Aichi Prefecture; Higashi-Osaka, Osaka Prefecture; Kobe; Oita; Shizuoka Prefecture; Sapporo; Tokyo; Yokohama; Fukuoka and Kumamoto. In a recent online survey conducted by JNTO that drew responses from about 2,000 fans in the major rugby countries of Australia, France, Ireland, Italy, and New Zealand, around 62 percent said they were interested in visiting Japan. Of that group, 88.8 percent said they had never visited and 50 percent said they would visit popular sightseeing spots if they did. The previous event in England attracted 420,000 foreign visitors. The upcoming tournament in Japan is expected to generate economic benefits to the tune of ¥437.2 billion, according to the World Cup organizer. “The rugby match period lasts six weeks, which is quite long compared to other sports because there are a few days when no games will be held,” Kato said. “During that time, we expect foreign tourists to explore all over Japan.” JNTO is considering producing promotional videos in which legendary players will introduce the 12 host cities. It hopes the videos will be broadcast on major foreign TV networks, including Fox Sports and Sky Sports. Last year, JNTO launched a website called Discover Japan that provides brief introductions to each of the host cities and their tourist spots. So far, the site has drawn more than 500,000 visitors, with most checking out the page detailing each team and the match locations. In the run-up, Japan will host the Bledisloe Cup, a match between Australia and New Zealand on Oct. 27 at Nissan Stadium in Yokohama, followed by a match between Japan and New Zealand at Ajinomoto Stadium in Tokyo on Nov. 3.
|
foreign tourists;rugby world cup;sightseeing;jnto
|
jp0010269
|
[
"business",
"tech"
] |
2018/12/03
|
Turning the page on an era: Pager services to end in Japan after 50 years
|
Japan will soon be out of pagers after its only provider said Monday it will terminate the service next September, with the device — first introduced half a century ago — made redundant by mobile phones. Around 1,500 customers have remained subscribers to Tokyo Telemessage Inc., including people working in hospitals who favor the device because it doesn’t emit electromagnetic waves. The company’s current service area covers Saitama, Kanagawa and Chiba prefectures as well as Tokyo. Tokyo Telemessage is planning to start a new radio service using the frequencies that were allocated to pagers. President Hidetoshi Seino said it will provide governments in other regions with information to help manage disaster relief operations more efficiently. Beeper services began in Tokyo’s 23 wards in July 1968 with Telephone Public Corp., a predecessor of NTT Corp., and eventually spread nationwide. They aroused strong demand from hospitals, businesses and government offices, with the number of subscribers topping 10 million in 1996. The popularity of pagers grew in the 1990s with female high school students becoming ardent fans; they came up with clever number combinations to exchange messages. For example, the feature allowed users to send short numerical messages such as “0840,” which in the Japanese language can be pronounced as “ ohayō ” (good morning). Other messages following this pattern included “0833,” or “ oyasumi ” (good night) and “0906,” or “ okureru ” (I’ll be late). The wireless devices were also featured in TV series and songs at the time, becoming a symbol of the age. The number of pager service subscribers peaked at 10.61 million in 1996. But around that time use of mobile phones increased, supplanting beepers. One provider after another ended their service in the years that followed. NTT Docomo Inc., the mobile unit of NTT, terminated its pager service in 2007, leaving only regional operators such as Tokyo Telemessage in the business. Last year, Okinawa Telemessage, based in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, ended its service. Tokyo Telemessage once filed for bankruptcy but was purchased by another firm and has continued its pager service.
|
pagers;pocket bells;tokyo telemessage inc .
|
jp0010270
|
[
"business",
"financial-markets"
] |
2018/12/03
|
Tokyo stocks up for seventh session on U.S.-China trade truce
|
Stocks continued their bull run for the seventh consecutive session Monday after the United States and China struck a temporary truce Saturday in their trade dispute. The Nikkei 225 average rose 223.70 points, or 1.00 percent, to end at 22,574.76 after rising nearly 350 points to hit a level unseen since mid-October on an intraday basis. On Friday, the key market gauge added 88.46 points. The Topix, which covers all first-section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, finished 21.60 points, or 1.30 percent, higher at 1,689.05 after gaining 7.98 points Friday. A broad range of issues attracted buy orders from the outset, after U.S. President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, agreed to a 90-day suspension of new U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports when they met on the sidelines of a Group of 20 summit in Buenos Aires, brokers said. The signing on Friday of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, an update of the North American Free Trade Agreement, was another positive factor for stock prices, brokers said. “Investors who assumed the worst bought back stocks” following the U.S.-China agreement, an official of a bank-affiliated securities firm said. The agreement was not a “big surprise” as there had been many media reports suggesting progress in U.S.-China talks, the official said, adding that the latest development between the world’s largest economies alone “would not shore up the global economy.” Tomoaki Fujii, head of the investment research division at Akatsuki Securities Inc., expressed hope for a further recovery in stock prices later this year thanks to the 90-day trade war cease-fire and growing expectations for a halt to U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate hikes. “The trade issue and rate hikes have weighed on Tokyo stocks this year,” Fujii said. Risings issues outnumbered falling ones 1,579 to 472 in the TSE’s first section, while 68 issues were unchanged. Volume decreased to 1.340 billion shares from 1.819 billion Friday. Automakers were buoyant after the USMCA deal, brokers said. Toyota gained 3.37 percent, Mazda 3.26 percent and Subaru 3.33 percent. China-linked issues attracted purchases as concerns over U.S.-China trade friction receded to some extent. Major gainers included industrial robot producers Fanuc and Yaskawa Electric, and construction machinery maker Komatsu. Other major winners included mobile phone carrier SoftBank Group and game maker Nintendo. On the other hand, drugmaker Takeda and clothing retailer Fast Retailing closed lower.
|
stocks;tse;nikkei 224
|
jp0010271
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2018/12/03
|
Nissan 'CEO whisperer' Greg Kelly ponders fate from Tokyo jail
|
Inside Nissan Motor Co. he was known as the “CEO whisperer”: The chief of staff who would deliver the most delicate messages to Carlos Ghosn, and the man Ghosn would count on to enforce his directives. Today, Greg Kelly is locked up in a small Tokyo jail cell with a toilet and wash basin, cut off from Ghosn and barely able to speak with his own lawyers. Kelly, the only American to serve on Nissan’s board, was arrested Nov. 19 along with Ghosn, both on suspicion of financial misconduct. Nissan has called Kelly a mastermind of a criminal plot to underreport his boss’s income. Barely known outside Nissan circles, Kelly’s decadelong role as Ghosn’s loyal gatekeeper and confidant now thrusts him to the heart of the investigation by Japanese authorities. That relationship may put him in the thorny position of holding Ghosn’s legal fate in his hands. Kelly, 62, could spend years in prison if it’s shown he was complicit in any wrongdoing. “If their behavior was illegal, then the people who know about it have an obligation to tell the truth; it has nothing to do with loyalty,” said Maryann Keller, an independent auto analyst in Stamford, Connecticut. “That goes for Greg Kelly, too. If he was ordered to do illegal things by Carlos Ghosn, he’d be a fool not to say that.” A whistleblowing tip from inside Nissan sparked the investigation, according to CEO Hiroto Saikawa. This may have come as a personal blow to Kelly, as he placed the people who are privy to the intricacies of Nissan executives’ compensation in their positions. Aubrey Harwell, Kelly’s Nashville, Tennessee, lawyer, said his client “takes the position that what he did was legal and appropriate.” Kelly claims Japanese regulators had approved his practice of not including Ghosn’s deferred pay in securities reports, according to Kyodo News. Ghosn has denied any wrongdoing, NHK reported last week. Neither man has been formally charged yet. Ghosn also denies passing on personal trading losses to the carmaker, according to his lawyer, Motonari Otsuru. This account of the relationship between Kelly and Ghosn is based on interviews with four people who worked with them closely, and who requested anonymity to protect themselves from possible reprisal. Kelly joined Nissan in 1988 as an attorney in Smyrna, Tennessee, at what is now North America’s largest assembly plant. The following year, Kelly helped organize and win an anti-union campaign there against the United Auto Workers. Kelly rose quickly, first to head of human resources at Smyrna and then, by 2006, to running the department for all of North America. He personally recruited dozens of replacements for executives who balked at moving when the company shifted its U.S. headquarters from Gardenia, California, to Nashville. Two years after that, he was in Tokyo running the office of the CEO for Ghosn. In 2012, he was elevated to the Nissan board of directors. “Greg is a smart, high-character, hard-working individual,” said Jim Press, a former Toyota and Chrysler executive who has advised Kelly on executive recruitment. “I was shocked and saddened by headlines that taint his contribution to the company.” The office of the CEO put Kelly at the heart of Nissan’s operations. The automaker’s worldwide human resources, legal, communications, audit and compliance staffs all reported to him. He controlled the flow of paperwork and telephone calls that reached Ghosn. He coordinated Ghosn’s increasingly complex interactions as chairman of an alliance composed of Nissan, Renault SA and six additional companies they were partners or affiliates with. After each executive committee meeting, it was Kelly’s job to make sure Ghosn’s wishes were carried out. Kelly was on speed dial with Ghosn. He was often the first person Ghosn met with after arriving back in Tokyo following his many overseas trips. He accompanied Ghosn as part of a tight inner circle that shared long hours away from families. In conversation, Kelly was usually soft-spoken and relaxed. But he was a demanding boss, issuing detailed instructions and rapid-fire changes in priorities, and sidelining people whom he or Ghosn felt were not keeping up. Channeling the management style of Ghosn himself, he ruled through fear more than affection. The UAW remained a constant bete noire through Kelly’s career. He chaired informal committees to run anti-organizing campaigns, and to monitor how union support ebbed and flowed on the factory floor. Nissan beat back the UAW again by decisive margins in Smyrna in 1997 and 2001, and in Canton, Mississippi, last year. Executive pay was another focus, as Ghosn came to chafe over Japanese and French social mores that blocked the kind of pay his peers were receiving. For 2009, for example, the Nissan human resources department — led by Kelly — released a Towers Watson report showing that Ghosn’s $9.5 million Renault-Nissan pay package substantially trailed that of Ford’s Alan Mulally and Fiat Chrysler’s Sergio Marchionne. Kelly retired from day-to-day management in 2015, though he remained a Nissan director until Nov. 22. He spent more and more time at his home on Sanibel Island, Florida. Ghosn left the Nissan CEO job last year, naming Saikawa as his successor. Saikawa retained the office of the CEO and populated it with executives who, like himself, had been personally backed by Kelly. The associations apparently weren’t enough to stop at least one of them from calling the police.
|
scandals;nissan;carmakers;carlos ghosn;greg kelly
|
jp0010272
|
[
"world"
] |
2018/12/03
|
Trump-Xi truce does little to bridge vast U.S.-China divide
|
BEIJING - For most of the past year, the U.S. and China have failed to make significant headway in resolving issues at the heart of an escalating trade war. Another 90 days is unlikely to change much. Donald Trump and Xi Jinping called a truce at a high-stakes meeting on Saturday night in Argentina, with the U.S. president agreeing to postpone a planned tariff hike on Chinese goods for three months in return for greater purchases of American goods. The arrangement provides breathing space to both leaders as they face slumping stock markets and economic warning signs. While the detente is a welcome relief to equity investors, the fundamental divide between the world’s biggest economies is still vast. Negotiations have long been stuck over U.S. demands for deep structural reforms such as stopping forced technology transfers, enforcing intellectual property rights and ending state subsidies for strategic industries — all of which China sees as an American strategy to thwart its rise as a global power. “I will eat my hat if this means anything substantive,” Michael Every, head of Asia financial markets research at Rabobank in Hong Kong, said of the truce. “Neither side is fully ready for the war, but neither side will budge.” Even so, the agreement should help alleviate immediate concerns that trade tensions would further stoke geopolitical tensions, a prospect that has raised worries of a new Cold War. The White House emphasized that Xi agreed to continue pushing for a nuclear-free North Korea, while Beijing said Trump would respect the “One-China” policy regarding relations with Taiwan — one of the biggest potential flash points between the nations. It also showed that both sides could be pragmatic. Xi won at least another three months before punitive tariffs on $200 billion in goods rise to 25 percent, allowing Chinese policy makers more time to offset the blow as growth slows. ‘Santa rallies’ Trump, meanwhile, got China to buy more American agricultural, energy and industrial goods while still maintaining the leverage of a tariff increase to pressure Xi into making greater concessions on structural issues. China also pledged action to clamp down on the synthetic opioid fentanyl, and Trump said Xi was open to approving a possible $44 billion deal for Qualcomm Inc. to purchase NXP Semiconductors NV if the companies are still interested. Risk appetite returned to markets on Monday, as U.S. equity futures climbed alongside Asian stocks, the Australian dollar and the Chinese yuan. Shares from Sydney to Seoul gained and the 10-year Treasury yield jumped back above 3 percent. “The presidents want the markets to enjoy Santa rallies first,” said Junheng Li, the founder of JL Warren Capital LLC, a China-focused research company in New York. “And when February comes we can start worrying again.” Farmers to benefit All in all, the moves give Trump a positive message for the business community as well as farmers, particularly those growing soybeans in states he needs to win to get re-elected in 2020. He hailed the “incredible deal” on Air Force One while heading back to the U.S., telling reporters that China will buy “a tremendous amount’ of agricultural goods. “Trump doesn’t give up much by a short pause and gets a chance to ship the soybean harvest to China while the negotiations are ongoing,” said Brad Setser, a former Treasury official and now a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington. “The hard part is finding the basis for a real deal that settles the broader issues rather than agreeing on a pause.” One sign of the discord was the failure to issue a joint statement laying out the framework for talks. Each side gave its own readout of the outcome, and they contained key differences: China, for instance, made no mention of the 90-day time frame, while the U.S. didn’t reference the “One-China” policy regarding Taiwan ties. China’s omission on the deadline indicates it has reservations on how to handle U.S. demands, according to Wang Peng, an associate research fellow of the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China. Making the type of domestic reforms sought by the U.S. is “extremely difficult as such moves involve the country’s reputation, the party’s authority and the structure of the domestic economy,” he said. The crux of Washington’s deeper concerns with Beijing could be found in a 53-page report issued by Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer’s office about 10 days before the Trump-Xi meeting. It accused China of continuing a state-backed campaign of intellectual property and technology theft, downplayed its moves to ease foreign investment restrictions and raised alarm about its “Made in China 2025” policy to lead the world in sectors such as artificial intelligence and robotics. In China, officials repeatedly say moves to ease rules on foreign ownership of financial firms and automakers show they are opening up to the world. They also strictly rule out dropping government support for companies in strategic “Made in China” industries over fears that would undermine China’s future economic prospects and threaten the power of the ruling Communist Party. The divergence in worldviews makes any lasting solution difficult to achieve unless either Trump or Xi backs down. Still, given the emerging risks to the global economy, and the political costs that entails for each leader, it may be in both of their interests to keep dragging out the talks. “Growth is going to slow in both countries,” said David Loevinger, a former China specialist at the U.S. Treasury and now an analyst at fund manager TCW Group Inc. in Los Angeles. “While it doesn’t remove the sword of Damocles hanging over trade, having blinked tonight you’d have to guess that the U.S. will blink again in March.”
|
china;u.s .;trade;xi jinping;donald trump
|
jp0010273
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"crime-legal-asia-pacific"
] |
2018/12/03
|
'Hundreds' of Aussie convictions in doubt after mob lawyer named as informant
|
SYDNEY - Hundreds of criminal convictions — including those meted out to some of Australia’s most notorious gangland figures — hang in the balance, after their defense lawyer was revealed as a police informant Monday. Court documents disclosed that a high-profile Melbourne barrister had for years been giving information to Victoria Police, while representing clients like crime boss Tony Mokbel and six of his associates. The revelation came after court injunctions were lifted Monday, blowing the lid off one of the biggest legal scandals to hit the country in years and prompting the authorities to immediately announce a public inquiry. In a secret court battle spanning more than two years, police had tried to stop state prosecutors from informing the seven people about their barrister’s role as an informant. They were finally knocked back by Australia’s highest court last month. The High Court blasted police as being “guilty of reprehensible conduct” and said they were “involved in sanctioning atrocious breaches of the sworn duty of every police officer.” “The prosecution of each convicted person was corrupted in a manner which debased fundamental premises of the criminal justice system,” the High Court added in a scathing judgment. The lawyer — given the code name 3838 by police when she was working as an informant between 2005-2009 — kept in daily contact with her handlers, who passed on information provided by her to various police task forces, court documents stated. While the courts only mentioned Mokbel and his associates, more than 600 cases could be tainted, according to Melbourne’s Herald Sun. Mokbel was jailed in 2012 for a minimum of 22 years for masterminding a drug-trafficking empire. The High Court decision means criminals would be notified that their barrister, who still cannot be named, was a police informant, thus possibly affecting their cases. It would mean these criminals could then appeal their convictions. Victoria Director of Public Prosecutions Kerri Judd said she has written to 20 individuals about their cases, and was assessing others. “If appropriate, I will also write to those affected individuals,” she said in a statement. Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews meanwhile announced a royal commission into the scandal, saying the public had a “right to know that every part of the justice system acts fairly and lawfully at all times.” Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton said the force changed how it managed informants in 2009, so such incidents cannot be repeated today. Ashton said while police would cooperate with the probe, what was happening in the underworld at that time should be taken into account. “Melbourne was in the grip of what is now rightly known as the gangland wars,” he told reporters. “The risk to the community at this time was significant.” Legal advocacy group The Human Rights Law Centre said an independent investigative body should also be established to probe all allegations of police misconduct. “This case touches the highest levels of Victoria Police. While this is an extreme case it’s not an isolated example of police misconduct,” said the centre’s Ruth Barson in a statement.
|
courts;gangs;police
|
jp0010274
|
[
"national"
] |
2018/12/03
|
Iga, known for its ninja, looks to draw foreign tourists by turning castle town into a hotel site
|
The Mie Prefecture city of Iga, the origin of one of Japan’s most famous ninja clans, plans to open the growing number of vacant homes in its castle town to tourists. Under the “castle town hotel” project, the Iga Municipal Government will renovate traditional Japanese homes — some built in the Edo Period — in the district south of Ueno Castle. The idea is to appeal to foreign tourists by offering the experience of staying in a castle town. “We hope to make use of historically valuable buildings and curb the decline of the city center,” an Iga official said. Around a corner from the main street in Iga, homes line a quiet street. Some have gates and gardens, many overtaken by weeds. “There are more than six vacant houses along this street alone,” said Takashi Toyomi, a municipal government official in charge of vacant houses. “It would be a waste not to utilize the houses with such an atmospheric feel. If vacant houses keep on increasing, the community would disappear as well.” According to the local government, there are 308 vacant houses in the city center, making up 15 percent of all empty housing in the city. The city will start by renovating five vacant homes in the area within a radius of 500 meters by the spring of 2020, with the idea of creating a small villa with a reception area, a restaurant, a gallery and an information center for foreign tourists. The city will also create a map showing restaurants and public baths in the neighborhood. According to the municipal government, as many as 111 vacant houses in the city center were evaluated as having high historic value, having been built in the Edo Period (1603 to 1868) or the Meiji Era (1868 to 1912), with some more than 200 years old. The city plans to start renovating them in 2020. The idea of transforming a castle town into a hotel started in Sasayama, Hyogo Prefecture, in 2015, when officials there launched a project to revitalize the area. Nipponia is a group of traditional homes scattered around Sasayama that are used as accommodations for tourists. The buildings maintain their traditional look on the outside but have been refurbished inside with changes such as turning a kitchen into a lobby. “In addition to the increase of tourists who stay longer, we are seeing more people settling in or starting businesses here,” said Takeshi Fujiwara, head of Note, a Sasayama-based company that operates Nipponia. Regarding Iga, Fujiwara said: “The size of the castle town (in Iga) is bigger than that of Sasayama, and the place is already well known thanks to ninja, so it has a lot of potential.” Iga Mayor Sakae Okamoto, who visited Sasayama on an inspection tour, said: “We hope to follow suit in Iga with the help of the private sector.”
|
tourism;ninja;mie;sasayama;iga
|
jp0010275
|
[
"national",
"politics-diplomacy"
] |
2018/12/03
|
New Japan-Russia framework set, but obstacles to territorial talks abound
|
BUENOS AIRES - A new framework between Japan and Russia has been set for negotiations on their decades-old territorial row and a peace treaty, with a critical point in the talks seen coming sometime in the first half of next year. But the talks are expected to be tough as the two sides remain far apart over the territorial dispute concerning four Russian-controlled islands off Hokkaido, informed sources said, noting that the course of the negotiations will likely be influenced by public opinion in both countries as well as moves by the United States. Under the new framework agreed to by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin at their meeting in Buenos Aires on Saturday, Deputy Foreign Minister Takeo Mori and his Russian counterpart, Igor Morgulov, will mainly engage in the negotiations, with the overall framework led by the two nations’ foreign ministers — Taro Kono of Japan and Sergey Lavrov of Russia. Mori and Morgulov have been appointed to be the special representatives of Abe and Putin, respectively. At their previous meeting in Singapore in mid-November, Abe and Putin agreed to accelerate the negotiations based on the 1956 Japan-Soviet joint declaration, which stipulated that two of the four islands, the Habomai group and Shikotan, as they are called in Japan, be handed back to Tokyo after the conclusion of a peace treaty. But Putin has suggested Moscow’s intention to maintain its sovereignty over the two islands — even after the possible handover. The handling of the other two islands — Etorofu and Kunashiri — is more uncertain. Japan’s basic position is that Tokyo and Moscow should conclude a peace treaty after resolving the sovereignty of all four islands, but Abe has apparently indicated his readiness to deal with the Habomais and Shikotan first. Former Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said that Abe appears to have backed down from the conventional government policy, adding that the prime minister has “given no explanation at all” as to the about-face. Japan has claimed that Russia continues to illegally occupy the four islands, while Moscow has maintained that its sovereignty resulted from World War II and was recognized by international law. Russia may possibly urge Japan to change its view in this regard, experts have said. The territorial issue has prevented Tokyo and Moscow from concluding a peace treaty to formally end their wartime hostilities. The islands were seized by the former Soviet Union at the end of the war. Russia’s recent seizure of Ukrainian warships is also expected to cast a pall over the Japan-Russia negotiations. While the international community is increasingly critical of Russia over the incident, it will be difficult for Japan alone to push for bolstered dialogue with Moscow. The ships’ seizure “could affect” the Japan-Russia negotiations, a senior Japanese Foreign Ministry official said. At the Buenos Aires meeting, Abe conveyed Japan’s concern over the matter to Putin. Russia is wary that if any of the islands are handed over to Japan, an ally of the United States, the U.S. military could set up a base there, upsetting the strategic balance in the area. Russia may call on Japan to lift sanctions it launched with the United States and European nations in response to the 2014 Ukraine crisis, a scenario that would put Tokyo in a difficult position. If progress has been made on the territorial issue, which has remained unresolved for over 70 years since the end of World War II, Abe may dissolve the House of Representatives, the all-important lower chamber of the Diet. This would allow him to set a general election on the same date as the triennial Upper House election in the summer of 2019, some sources said. However, if Japan is unable to keep even the possible return of two of the islands on track, the Abe administration could face headwinds, leaving his ruling Liberal Democratic Party forced to fight an uphill battle in the Upper House election, the sources added. Putin, also, is believed to be facing his own set of challenges, including a faltering public support rate following pension reforms. With his political foundation less than solid at home, Putin “will never make territorial concessions that would draw a backlash from the Russian people,” a senior Japanese government official said.
|
territorial dispute;russia-japan relations;russian president vladimir putin;prime minister shinzo abe
|
jp0010276
|
[
"national"
] |
2018/12/03
|
Japanese government starts accepting exam applications from people with disabilities
|
The National Personnel Authority began accepting applications on Monday for the first-ever unified examinations to hire people with disabilities as government workers. The exams will be conducted in the wake of an investigation that found central government ministries and agencies had padded the number of disabled employees to meet legally required levels. Through the exams, which comprise first-round paper tests set for February and subsequent interviews by separate government bodies, a total of 676 people will be hired. The successful applicants will be announced on March 22. The authority said people can take the exams if two or more years have passed since their junior high school graduation and they have certificates stating their disabilities. Applications will be accepted until Dec. 14. The paper tests, to be held in Tokyo, Osaka and seven other cities, will ask takers to answer high school-level questions about general matters and write an essay. Braille answer sheets and other special measures, such as approval for guide dogs and the use of personal computers, will be available upon advance request. A joint job explanation session held late last month by government ministries and agencies was swamped with more applicants than expected, indicating disabled people’s high interest in the upcoming exams. The central government aims to hire about 4,000 disabled people as full-time and part-time employees by the end of next year.
|
jobs;disability;national personnel authority;bureaucracy
|
jp0010277
|
[
"national",
"crime-legal"
] |
2018/12/03
|
Carlos Ghosn continues to deny wrongdoing as experts question prosecutors' framing of case
|
Ousted Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn has continued to deny allegations of financial misconduct, saying he cannot accept making what he said would be a false confession as doing so would harm his reputation, sources said Monday. The 64-year-old, who is known for rescuing Nissan from the brink of bankruptcy in the 1990s, was arrested last month for allegedly understating his compensation. He was subsequently removed as chairman of the automaker. He is suspected of breaching the Financial Instruments and Exchange Law by reporting only ¥5 billion ($44 million) of his ¥10 billion in compensation during the five years through March 2015. Ghosn’s annual compensation had been set at around ¥2 billion, but he is charged with failing to report around half of the amount, which he was to receive after stepping down. Ghosn has told prosecutors that it was unnecessary to report some of his remuneration as the payment had yet to be settled, according to different sources with knowledge of the investigation. He was also quoted as saying that the remaining remuneration was just an amount he had hoped to receive. According to the sources, Ghosn said he consulted with close aide Greg Kelly, 62, a former Nissan representative director who was arrested along with Ghosn for alleged conspiracy, and was told by Kelly that it was legal even if he did not report the post-retirement payment. The post-retirement compensation that went unreported for eight years through March 2018 is believed to have totaled more than ¥8 billion. Prosecutors are also considering charging Ghosn over ¥3 billion he failed to disclose during the three years through this March. Ghosn and Kelly were arrested Nov. 19 and their detention period will expire next Monday. As the detention period has grown longer, experts have questioned the way prosecutors have framed the case. One of the biggest mysteries surrounding Ghosn’s arrest is over how he allegedly could have underreported his income by millions of dollars for years and why the company is going after the suspected wrongdoing now. “Wait a minute. Who wrote the financial statements? The accountants. Who audited them? The auditors,” Christopher Richter, auto analyst for CLSA Securities Japan Co., said of the case. “How do you do this without other people being complicit?” Prosecutors say Ghosn and Kelly were arrested because of flight risks. But the timing of the scandal, given the length and scale of the alleged wrongdoing, is raising questions. Why did Nissan choose to come forward now, asked Eric Schiffer, chief executive of Reputation Management Consultants in the Los Angeles area. “If Nissan knew about this all along and decided to pull the trigger, such Machiavellian tactics will significantly backfire on the brand,” Schiffer said. Media reports have said that two other company employees contacted authorities as whistleblowers and sought plea deals. Ghosn has not made any public statements about the case. Kelly’s American lawyer, Aubrey Harwell, said his client, who was dismissed as a Nissan executive director after his arrest, did nothing wrong. Kelly acted “according to the law and according to company policy,” Hartwell said. “He had talked to people in the company and to outsiders, and he believed everything he did was done totally legally,” he said in a telephone interview from his office in Nashville, Tennessee. Prosecutors have released very little information. Neither man has been officially charged. Under Japan’s criminal justice system, suspects can be held for weeks and months for questioning without any charges being formally filed.
|
scandals;nissan;carmakers;carlos ghosn;greg kelly
|
jp0010278
|
[
"national"
] |
2018/12/03
|
Japanese weather observatories shift to forecasting snow over shorter spans
|
Weather observatories are shifting toward providing snow forecasts for shorter time frames, hoping to better accommodate sudden weather changes and prevent disasters and traffic disruptions. The observatories have traditionally forecasted snow for the next 24 hours, but many have shifted to 12 hours and some even to six hours as snow has been causing delays in train services and stranding vehicles on roads even in the early stages of accumulation, according to the Meteorological Agency. The observatories issue heavy snow warnings based on the forecasts for each municipality, and shortening the forecast span means the warnings would be based on more accurate information than before. The 12-hour forecast was introduced in Hokkaido in 1995 and has since spread to Tokyo and 31 prefectures, the agency said. Among the areas that have adopted the system are some that are not accustomed to receiving much snow. They include those on the Pacific coast, such as Shizuoka and Mie prefectures, which often only get snow for half a day due to a low pressure system that develops during winter and spring and travels eastward along Japan’s southern coasts. Meanwhile, many areas that receive heavy snowfalls have adopted the six-hour forecast. A part of the Ishikari region, including Sapporo, issues heavy snow warnings if 30 cm is expected in the next six hours or 40 cm in next 12 hours, while Niigata issues such a warning if 30 cm of snowfall is forecasted in the next six hours. “Snow-caused road closures have a big social impact. We are considering what would be effective standards in issuing warnings and advisories,” said an agency official. The standards, including the time frame and amount of snowfall, are set for each municipality, excluding those in Okinawa, which has a subtropical climate, and are subject to reviews if necessary.
|
snow;weather;disasters;meteorological agency
|
jp0010280
|
[
"business"
] |
2018/12/04
|
Japanese economy minister returns salary over pay offer to government-backed fund that was 'too high'
|
Economy minister Hiroshige Seko said Tuesday he will voluntarily return a month’s pay after his ministry offered annual remuneration of over ¥100 million to executives at a government-backed investment fund and later retracted it for being “too high.” “We have caused an administrative blunder where we proposed an undetermined plan to the management of the (Japan Investment Corp.) and canceled it, triggering mutual distrust” between the ministry and the fund, Seko told a news conference. Takashi Shimada, vice minister at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, will voluntarily return 30 percent of a month’s wages to take responsibility for insufficient supervision as the ministry’s top bureaucrat. The ministry said Monday it will retract its proposal of annual remuneration of up to over ¥100 million made on Sept. 21 to four JIC executives, including for President and CEO Masaaki Tanaka, after judging that the amounts were higher than at other public-private funds. “I had not been briefed on the amount of remuneration,” Seko said. “There is a sense of appropriate level that the public can accept. (The proposed amount) was too high.” Following the decision to review the level of remuneration, the ministry notified Tanaka and held talks with him, including on Nov. 9 and Nov. 24, but the fund chief rejected the suggested changes, according to the ministry. On Nov. 28, the fund applied to the ministry for approval of its budget plan for the fiscal year starting April, with the assumption that the amount of remuneration would be at the level initially proposed by the ministry. The ministry decided Monday not to approve it. The fund said Monday that it responded in line with the ministry’s proposal in September and with relevant laws such as the Companies Act. Executive remuneration has become a hot topic following the arrest of Carlos Ghosn, former chairman of Nissan Motor Co. and one of the highest-paid executives in the country, for allegedly understating his pay in securities reports presented to regulators. The government holds nearly 100 percent of the shares in the Japan Investment Corp., which was launched in September to invest in ventures, replacing the government-backed Innovation Network Corp. of Japan fund.
|
salaries;hiroshige seko;jic
|
jp0010281
|
[
"business",
"financial-markets"
] |
2018/12/04
|
TSE's winning streak ends at seven
|
Stocks turned sharply lower Tuesday, hit by a wave of selling to cash in gains after a seven-session rally. The Nikkei 225 average tumbled 538.71 points, or 2.39 percent, to end at 22,036.05 after gaining 223.70 points Monday. The Topix, which covers all first-section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, finished 39.85 points, or 2.36 percent, lower at 1,649.20. It rose 21.60 points Monday. Profit-taking took the upper hand amid a dearth of major trading incentives, market sources said. In afternoon trading, the market accelerated its downswing in line with the yen’s strengthening against the dollar. “Profit-taking easily emerged after the Nikkei gained over 1,000 points at a rapid pace” over the last seven sessions through Monday, said Yoshihiko Tabei, chief analyst at Naito Securities Co. Chihiro Ota, general manager for investment research and investor services at SMBC Nikko Securities Inc., stressed that the market tumbled “in the absence of buyers.” Buying was held in check due to the yen’s strength, Ota noted. An official of an asset management company indicated that the market was dragged down by futures-led selling. Falling issues far outnumbered rising ones 1,960 to 125 in the TSE’s first section, while 34 issues were unchanged. Volume grew to 1.551 billion shares from 1.340 billion Monday. Game maker Nintendo closed 5.28 percent lower after its recent surge. Beverage producer Itoen dived 5.98 percent due to selling prompted by its dismal group operating and net profits for the six months through October, brokers said. Other major losers included clothing retailer Fast Retailing and semiconductor-related Tokyo Electron. By contrast, precision equipment producer V-Technology attracted purchases after announcing a share buyback plan Monday. Camera maker Konica Minolta was among a handful of gainers.
|
stocks;tse;nikkei 225
|
jp0010282
|
[
"business",
"financial-markets"
] |
2018/12/04
|
Dollar weaker around ¥113.10 in late Tokyo trading
|
The dollar was softer around ¥113.10 in Tokyo trading late Tuesday, hurt by sluggish local stock prices. At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥113.10-11, down from ¥113.46-47 at the same time Monday. The euro was at $1.1380-1380, up from $1.1368-1368, and at ¥128.72-72, down from 128.99-¥129.00. After moving around ¥113.50-60 in early trading, the dollar fell to around ¥113.30 midway through the morning due to a drop in long-term U.S. interest rates in off-hours trading. The greenback dropped to around ¥113.10 in the afternoon as the Nikkei 225 stock average expanded losses, traders said. In late trading, the U.S. currency resisted falling further and fluctuated around the ¥113.10 line, thanks to a halt to the fall in long-term U.S. interest rates. The dollar came under selling pressure versus the yen as an agreement between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, was regarded as “a mere postponement” of trade issues, an official of a foreign exchange margin trading service firm noted. The official also said that dollar selling versus the yen from speculators emerged amid low market liquidity before the U.S. stock and bond markets will be closed Wednesday to mourn for former U.S. President George H.W. Bush, who died Friday. “The dollar did not fall below ¥113 during Tokyo trading hours, but it rebounded only slightly” in late trading, a currency broker said, warning that the U.S. currency may fall further in European trading hours.
|
exchange rates;forex;currencies
|
jp0010283
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2018/12/04
|
Directors meet to decide who will fill Carlos Ghosn's shoes as Nissan chairman
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Nissan Motor Co.’s independent board members met Tuesday to discuss who should succeed Carlos Ghosn as chairman. Their choice to replace the ousted car titan, now languishing in Tokyo Detention House, will indicate the direction the automaker’s alliance with Renault SA will take. The most likely successors fall on each end of the spectrum: President and Chief Executive Officer Hiroto Saikawa, who has emerged as a driving force behind the investigation into Ghosn’s financial reporting, and Toshiyuki Shiga, a former Ghosn confidant, according to sources familiar with the situation. The external directors have already said they will choose an existing board member as the next chairman. Nissan’s board is due to vote on their choice Dec. 17. At stake is the direction of the world’s biggest car alliance between Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi Motors Corp., as differences surface among the companies that Ghosn’s leadership held together. The embattled executive, who was arrested Nov. 19 in Tokyo on allegations by Nissan of underreporting his income and misusing company money for personal use, will likely be served with a fresh arrest warrant next week as prosecutors add a new claim, sources familiar with the investigation said. Saikawa’s ascendance to the position of chairman would solidify his power at Nissan, which wants to push for a more equitable partnership with Renault in their alliance after Ghosn’s ouster. The balance of power at Nissan is now tilted toward Saikawa, who has turned from a former Ghosn protege into one of the most vocal critics of his alleged wrongdoing. Shiga’s selection would likely result in more collective management of Nissan. Renault is the largest shareholder of Nissan and has voting rights in the company. Nissan is the second-largest shareholder in the French company but has no power to vote. That has created an imbalance that has worsened over the years with Nissan’s success in markets like China and the U.S., where the French carmaker is absent. Nissan has rejected external chairman candidates suggested by Renault, according to the sources, who asked not to be identified discussing private matters. A Nissan representative declined to comment on the directors’ meeting and the chairman candidates. Ghosn was dismissed as chairman of Nissan on Nov. 22 in a stunning downfall for the jet-setting executive. While Mitsubishi Motors also ousted Ghosn, Renault refused to remove the 64-year-old as CEO, and instead named an interim leader. Meanwhile, Tokyo prosecutors plan to arrest Ghosn on a fresh claim of understating his income, the Sankei Shimbun reported Tuesday, in a move that could keep him in detention until the end of the month. Citing unnamed sources, the newspaper said prosecutors plan to arrest Ghosn and Kelly next Monday for the same crime covering the period from 2015 to 2017, during which the suspects allegedly understated Ghosn’s income by about ¥4 billion. If authorities approve the maximum detention for that case, Ghosn and Kelly would remain in custody until Dec. 30, the paper said. The prosecutors’ office declined to comment on the report.
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scandals;nissan;carmakers;renault;carlos ghosn;hiroto saikawa
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jp0010284
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2018/12/04
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Former unit of Toshiba's PC business aims for IPO in 2021 fiscal year
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Toshiba Client Solutions Co., a former unit of Toshiba Corp.’s personal computer business that’s now owned by Sharp Corp., is aiming for an initial public stock offering during the 2021 business year, company officials said. Toshiba Client Solutions wants to create corporate value that ensures a successful IPO, Chairman Yoshihisa Ishida told a news conference in Tokyo on Monday. The company said it will be renamed Dynabook Inc. next month, using the name of the world’s first notebook PC, which was developed by Toshiba. The name change is designed to boost the company’s corporate value by utilizing the strength of the Dynabook brand, Ishida said. Sharp, owned by Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., acquired Toshiba Client Solutions in October. Toshiba Client Solutions may join hands with Hon Hai on manufacturing in the future, Ishida said.
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computers;toshiba;sharp;ipo
|
jp0010285
|
[
"world"
] |
2018/12/04
|
50 wounded Houthi rebels evacuated to Oman ahead of Yemen peace talks as U.N. envoy visits
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SANAA - The U.N.’s Yemen envoy visited rebel-held Sanaa on Monday as wounded insurgents were flown out of the capital for medical treatment, a key step towards bringing warring parties to the negotiating table in Sweden. A U.N. source said efforts were being made to reopen Sanaa International Airport, closed for the past three years because of the war between the Iran-aligned Houthis and the Yemeni government backed by a Saudi-led coalition. A U.N.-chartered flight left Sanaa with 50 wounded rebels on board and landed in Muscat, Oman’s official ONA news agency reported. The transfer was “in support of the efforts of the U.N. to prepare the ground for the negotiations planned in Sweden,” ONA said on Twitter. A U.N. source said the wounded had been evacuated in a “confidence-building measure” aimed at pushing ahead with negotiations between the Houthis and the Saudi-led coalition this month. Houthi spokesman Mohamed Abdalsalam tweeted the rebels’ appreciation of U.N. envoy Martin Griffiths for his “humanitarian effort that treats a small part of the Yemeni suffering caused by the closure of the airport and blockade.” Griffiths was “pleased to confirm” 50 injured Yemenis were to be treated on neutral ground in Muscat and “urged all Yemenis to work together in pursuit of peace and stability,” according to the envoy’s Twitter account. The evacuation marked a key step in kick-starting stalled negotiations as world powers press for an end to the devastating conflict that has pushed Yemen to the brink of famine. Saudi Arabia and its allies, who back Yemen’s embattled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, had agreed to allow for the 50 wounded combatants, 50 escorts and a team of Yemeni and U.N. doctors to be flown out to Muscat — a condition set by the Houthis for negotiations. Kuwait’s Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled al-Jarallah told reporters that a Houthi delegation was set to leave Sanaa for Stockholm on Tuesday morning together with his country’s ambassador to Yemen. The oil-rich Gulf emirate, which has been a mediator in the devastating conflict, hosted Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom for talks in Kuwait City on Monday. The fate of wounded rebels had been a stumbling block to the start of a previous round of aborted peace talks in Geneva in September. The rebels had said they would attend the talks in Sweden if they were guaranteed safe passage and the evacuations. Journalists were banned from Sanaa airport in the hours leading up to the departure of the U.N. evacuation flight. Wounded rebels were transported across the capital, controlled by the insurgents since 2014, in ambulances as they made their way to the long-defunct airport. The proposed U.N.-brokered peace talks have been backed by both the rebels and the government and were expected to take place in Sweden this week. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, however, has played down the early December schedule and said he hoped talks would start “this year. A U.N. source said the reopening of Sanaa airport was a priority at the next talks. A UN panel of experts this year said the “effective closure” of Sanaa airport since 2015, when the Saudi-led alliance intervened in the Yemen war, constituted a violation of international humanitarian law. The opposing sides have cautiously reiterated their willingness to attend negotiations. Yemen’s information minister, Moammer al-Eryani, said the government had agreed to the Sweden talks as a first step towards “facilitating negotiations” and to end “all excuses invoked by the coupists (rebels) to evade finding peace.” Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the rebels were ready to hold talks “starting with a ceasefire” by the rival coalition, at a press conference broadcast on the insurgents’ Al-Masirah television. Iran also offered support on Monday, saying it was ready to cooperate with the international community to resolve the crisis. Previous talks planned for September in Geneva failed to get underway as the Houthi delegation never left Sanaa, saying the United Nations could not guarantee their safe return. Talks initially broke down in 2016, when 108 days of negotiations in Kuwait failed to yield a deal and left rebel delegates stranded in Oman for three months. U.N. aid chief Mark Lowcock warned last week that Yemen was “on the brink of a major catastrophe. His comments followed renewed deadly clashes between Houthi rebels and pro-government forces in the Red Sea port city of Hodeida, which is vital for the flow of humanitarian aid and controlled by the rebels. The coalition spokesman said military operations in Hodeida were “ongoing” on Monday. The U.N. has described Yemen as the world’s worst humanitarian disaster, with at least 10,000 people killed since the coalition intervened. Rights groups fear the actual toll is far higher.
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yemen;sweden;u.n .;civil war;peace talks;oman;houthis;martin griffiths
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jp0010286
|
[
"world",
"science-health-world"
] |
2018/12/04
|
WHO plans team to consider standards for 'uncharted water' gene editing
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GENEVA - The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Monday that gene editing “may have unintended consequences” and that it was setting up a team of experts to study the ethical, social and safety dimensions and set guidelines. “Gene editing may have unintended consequences, this is uncharted water and it has to be taken seriously,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, told a news briefing. “WHO is putting together experts, we will work with member states to do everything we can to make sure that all issues — be it ethical, social, safety — before any manipulation is done.” The Chinese government last Thursday ordered a temporary halt to research activities for people involved in the editing of human genes, after a Chinese scientist said he had edited the genes of twin babies.
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china;genetics;who;ethics;dna;twins;gene editing
|
jp0010288
|
[
"national"
] |
2018/12/04
|
Labor union says 3,000 foreign workers laid off at Sharp plant in Japan
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Nearly 3,000 foreign workers dispatched to a Sharp Corp. plant in Mie Prefecture have apparently had their contracts terminated, according to a labor union. The massive reduction of contract workers on the back of a cut in display panel production comes at a time when the government is seeking to revise the immigration law and accept more foreign blue-collar workers into Japan amid opposition parties’ fierce protests. About 3,000 foreign workers were hired by a group of about 10 Sharp subcontractors in Mie and were dispatched to the plant in Kameyama. During collective bargaining last month, the employers told the union that the number of contract workers dispatched to the plant, which mainly manufactures display panels, has dropped to some 100 from 3,000, according to the union. The companies told the union the job cuts resulted from Sharp’s cutback in production of liquid crystal display panels for smartphones. Sharp said it did not directly hire the workers and is in no position to comment on the contract termination, while declining to elaborate on the reduced production. One of the subcontractors said some workers quit voluntarily. According to the company, it and three other firms started hiring foreign workers, including Japanese-Brazilians and Peruvians, from around 2013 and dispatched as many as 2,000 foreign workers to the factory. “Even Japanese descendants are forced to work in a disadvantaged environment. It’s evident that foreign workers who will be accepted after the legal revision will also be denied their human rights,” Hojo Hirooka, the secretary-general of Union Mie, which is based in the prefecture, said Monday during a news conference in Tokyo. Currently, second- and third-generation Japanese immigrants can stay long term and work freely after meeting certain conditions, while fourth-generation people can stay in the country for up to five years when they are between 18 and 30 years old and have a certain level of Japanese language ability, according to the Justice Ministry. Anticipating Sharp’s possible output cut, the companies repeatedly renewed two-month contracts and most of the contracts were terminated by around May, one official said. “It’s a convenient employment control for a prime contractor, and there’s no legal countermeasure,” said Hisanori Shikata, a lawyer versed in foreign labor issues. “The expansion of foreign worker employment is being discussed (in the Diet), but improving the labor environment should come first,” Shikata said.
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jobs;unions;sharp;nikkei community;expats;mie;kameyama
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jp0010289
|
[
"national"
] |
2018/12/04
|
Lawyers in South Korean wartime labor case set deadline for response from Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal
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Lawyers representing South Korean plaintiffs in a World War II labor court case against Japan’s Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. have set a Dec. 24 deadline for the firm to show willingness to discuss a court verdict on compensation. If the firm fails to respond, the lawyers, who spoke after being denied a meeting with company officials for a second time on Tuesday, said they would start procedures to seize its South Korean assets. Tuesday’s incident stemmed from a ruling by South Korea’s Supreme Court late in October that Nippon Steel must pay 100 million won ($90,500) to each of four South Koreans for forced labor during the war. The Japanese government has denounced the verdict, saying all wartime reparations were dealt with in a 1965 treaty that normalized ties between the two nations. At the time of the ruling, Nippon Steel called it “extremely regrettable,” but added that it would review the decision carefully in considering further steps. On Tuesday, the lawyers visited Nippon Steel’s Tokyo headquarters for a second time, only to be turned away at reception, said Lim Jae-sung, one of the attorneys. The lawyers left documents at reception regarding the case, Lim told a briefing at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan. Lim said two options for seizing Nippon Steel’s assets include shares of PNR, a joint venture between Nippon Steel and South Korean steel company POSCO, and intellectual property the company owns in South Korea. The Japanese firm confirmed that it refused to meet the lawyers because its stance has not changed, a company spokeswoman said, adding that the company had received a letter, although she did not comment on the contents. Asked about the Dec. 24 deadline, the spokeswoman said the company would consult the Japanese government and take appropriate action.
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nippon steel & sumitomo metal;wartime labor;south korea-japan relations
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jp0010290
|
[
"national"
] |
2018/12/04
|
Nobel medicine laureate Tasuku Honjo visits longtime barber ahead of ceremony
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KYOTO - Nobel Prize-winning Japanese scientist Tasuku Honjo stopped in over the weekend at a Kyoto barbershop he has been visiting for over half a century as he prepares for his trip to Stockholm next week for the award ceremony. On Sunday, the 76-year-old, who won this year’s Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine along with American James Allison for their studies on cancer therapy, was seen at the shop in Kyoto chatting with his 81-year-old longtime barber. “Hey, your hands are shaky. Haven’t you ever thought of retiring?” the professor emeritus at Kyoto University asked barber Koichi Ueda, who works with his son at the Biriken barber shop near the university. “He was the kind of student who did not hesitate to speak up about his opinions,” Ueda said about his impression of Honjo back when he first came to the shop. Their discussions while Honjo was in the barber’s chair ranged from the student uprisings of the 1970s to baseball. “He is a skilled listener. It’s fun chatting with him,” Ueda said. “I was so happy for him to win the prize.” Honjo became the 26th Japanese Nobel prize winner and is best known for his discovery of a protein that led to the development of an immunotherapeutic drug against cancer.
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kyoto;nobel prize;tasuku honjo;university of kyoto
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jp0010291
|
[
"national"
] |
2018/12/04
|
China's import ban on plastic waste pushes Japan and other rich nations to rethink trash options
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China’s ban on imports of plastic waste is forcing other nations, including Japan and the United States, to scramble for new ways to deal with their trash, including exporting recyclable waste to Southeast Asia. But instead of finding solutions, it appears the problem has only gotten worse, especially with the exploitation of developing countries, including Malaysia and Vietnam, that lack the regulatory infrastructure to prevent illegal dumping. The ripple effects of developed nations being banned from shipping their scraps to China, previously the world’s biggest importer of plastic waste for recycling, have also surfaced in Japan. Waste management companies are being flooded with requests to handle the extra plastic waste, but many have reached their legal limits. “The storerooms of intermediary companies are filled to the brim with garbage from businesses and factories,” said one official at a waste management company in Kanagawa Prefecture. China was criticized at a meeting of the World Trade Organization in October for its abrupt policy shift, which many Western countries believe is detrimental to the global environment. But after decades of importing most of the world’s trash, China has said “enough” — something advocates and activists say should come as no surprise since China has an obligation to consider the health of its people as the second-largest economy in the world. As the quality of life improves, the nation has naturally decided to reduce its emissions, including those from recycling plastics, experts say. For decades, nearly half of the planet’s rubbish had been sent to China, where items such as pop bottles, food wrappers and plastic bags are recycled to make more plastics and raw materials for chemicals. In 2015, China imported about 47 million metric tons of recyclable waste, according to U.S. media reports. The journal Science Advances says research done at the University of Georgia shows that China’s import ban will leave 111 million metric tons of plastic trash displaced by 2030. In July last year, China said it would ban 24 types of solid waste, including plastics, scrap paper and discarded textiles, from overseas vendors because of the damage it does to the environment and people’s health. Since the ban started in January, recycling businesses around the world have been thrown into turmoil, with recyclable waste piling up at waste treatment sites, according to Western media. In Japan, even if intermediate processors are commissioned to dispose of recyclable waste, facilities are subject to legal limits and there are many vendors that refuse to accept the trash. Japan exports about 1.5 million tons of plastic waste per year and until last year around half went to China. According to about a quarter of 102 local governments that responded to an Environment Ministry survey, the amount of plastics stored at local scrap companies increased between January and July, with some reporting that piled-up waste had exceeded the legal limits. Limit violations were found at five local governments, while 34 municipalities said they are struggling to find destinations for their waste. Plastic waste disposal increased at 56 percent of intermediate processors that incinerate or shred plastics and at 25 percent of final processors that bury waste in landfills. A total of 34.9 percent of companies said they are limiting or considering restricting the amount of plastics they accept. Japan produces the largest amount of plastic waste per capita after the U.S. and has lagged behind other countries in curbing the use of plastics despite growing fears over environmental pollution. Some industry insiders say the only option is to enhance the technical capabilities of recyclable facilities through deregulation as well as to raise awareness of wasteful behavior among retailers and consumers. The ministry is compiling a strategy to reduce plastic waste, and sources say it is considering including a numerical target for cutting the amount of disposable plastic waste by 25 percent by 2030, while increasing the use of environmentally friendly bioplastics made from plants. Countries feeling most of the sting brought the import ban up at the WTO’s meeting Oct. 22. Along with the European Union, South Korea, Canada and Australia, the U.S. voiced concerns that China has not given a sufficient explanation for its policy change. Washington argued that if the disruption of the global recycling trade continues, there “could be a heightened threat of increased marine litter,” among other complaints. Japan also expressed its concern over the recycling crisis. China, however, has doubled down, saying it plans to expand its import ban on scrap materials to cover more categories. It says that waste facilities that don’t meet environmental standards are still rampant, leading to water and air pollution. “The problem of foreign garbage is loathed by everyone in China,” an official in charge of international cooperation at China’s environmental protection ministry said at a press briefing when the ban was first announced. Since China’s ban, exports from the U.S. and other Western nations to countries like Malaysia, Vietnam and India have surged. But after it was revealed in October that a large amount of illegal dumping had occurred in Malaysia, many developing nations have hinted they intend to follow in China’s footsteps with their own restrictions on recyclable waste. At any rate, the policy is forcing rich nations to reconsider what to do with their waste in the long term now that they can no longer dump their scrap waste in China’s backyard.
|
china;recycling;waste;kanagawa
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jp0010292
|
[
"national",
"crime-legal"
] |
2018/12/04
|
Ex-Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn to be served with fresh arrest warrant
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Tokyo prosecutors have decided to seek a fresh arrest warrant for former Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn on suspicion that he failed to report around ¥4 billion ($35.5 million) of his remuneration in its securities reports for the three years through March, sources close to the matter said Tuesday. Ghosn, who is being held at the Tokyo Detention House, has already been accused of breaching the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act after allegedly reporting only ¥5 billion of his ¥10 billion compensation during the five years through March 2015. Along with Greg Kelly, a former Nissan representative director, Ghosn is expected to be served with a fresh arrest warrant on Dec. 10, when the detention period for the pair expires. Ghosn and Kelly, who was arrested along with the former chairman on Nov. 19 for alleged conspiracy, have told the prosecutors that it was unnecessary to report some of the remuneration as the payments had yet to be settled, according to different sources with knowledge of the investigation. The unreported remuneration of the 64-year-old charismatic automotive industry figure, known for rescuing Nissan from the brink of bankruptcy in the 1990s, is believed to total ¥9 billion. In Japan, crime suspects can be kept in custody for 10 days and that can be extended for another 10 days if a judge grants prosecutors’ request for extension. At the end of that period, prosecutors must file a former charge or let the suspect go. However, they can also arrest suspects for a separate crime, in which case the process starts over again. This process can be repeated, sometimes keeping suspects detained for months without formal charges and without bail.
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arrest;nissan;mitsubishi motors;renault;carlos ghosn
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jp0010293
|
[
"business",
"financial-markets"
] |
2018/12/05
|
Tokyo stocks fall further on Wall Street rout
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Stocks lost further ground on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Wednesday following an overnight plunge in U.S. equities. The 225-issue Nikkei average fell 116.72 points, or 0.53 percent, to end at 21,919.33, the first close below 22,000 since Nov. 27. It plunged 538.71 points Tuesday. The Topix index of all first-section issues finished down 8.71 points, or 0.53 percent, at 1,640.49, after retreating 39.85 points the previous day. The Tokyo market opened sharply lower, with investor sentiment bruised by heavy sell-offs in U.S. equities traced to receding optimism over a U.S.-China trade deal and growing worries about a possible U.S. economic slowdown, market sources said. The Nikkei briefly dropped over 320 points soon after the opening bell. But Tokyo stocks cut much of their earlier losses later thanks to buybacks, according to the sources. Buying was held in check before the U.S. stock market closure on Wednesday to mourn for former U.S. President George H.W. Bush, who died on Friday, Yutaka Miura, senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities Co., noted. Ryuta Otsuka, strategist at the investment information department of Toyo Securities Co., said that Wednesday’s drop “was not as bad as I had expected.” Many investors found it difficult to step up selling of Japanese stocks a day after their sharp falls, Otsuka indicated. The market’s downside was supported by buying on dips as Japanese stocks were considered to be undervalued, according to an official of a midsize securities firm. Falling issues outnumbered rising ones 1,469 to 590 in the TSE’s first section, while 60 issues were unchanged. Volume decreased to 1.463 billion shares from 1.551 billion shares Tuesday. JFE Holdings Inc. was downbeat after Mizuho Securities Co. revised down its stock price target for the steel-maker on Tuesday. Also on the minus side were convenience store operator FamilyMart Uny Holdings Co. and cosmetics maker Shiseido Co. By contrast, apparel shop operator Adastria Co. jumped 11.15 percent after announcing Tuesday that its sales in November grew 3.6 percent from a year before on a same-store basis. Other major winners included drugmaker Eisai Co. and mobile phone carrier SoftBank Group Corp. In index futures trading on the Osaka Exchange, the key December contract on the Nikkei average sagged 190 points to end at 21,880.
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stocks;nikkei;tse;markets;topix
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jp0010294
|
[
"business",
"financial-markets"
] |
2018/12/05
|
Dollar almost flat around ¥113.10 in late Tokyo trading
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The dollar was almost flat around ¥113.10 in Tokyo trading late Wednesday, after overcoming the early sluggishness thanks to Tokyo stocks’ resilience. At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥113.07, down from ¥113.10 at the same time Tuesday. The euro was at $1.1330, down from $1.1380, and at ¥128.13, down from ¥128.72. After falling below ¥112.70 in early trading, the dollar rebounded above ¥113 later in the morning due to purchases from domestic importers, with the benchmark 225-issue Nikkei stock average recouping some earlier losses. For most of afternoon trading, the greenback moved above ¥113, with the Nikkei continuing to show some resilience on its downside, traders said. With the dollar’s topside capped by a fall in long-term U.S. interest rates, concerns over an economic slowdown in the United States has emerged due to an inversion of two- and five-year U.S. Treasury yields, a currency broker said. The dollar “failed to advance (versus the yen) substantially” before the closure of the U.S. bond and stock markets on Wednesday, the broker added.
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yen;euro;dollar;forex;currencies
|
jp0010295
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2018/12/05
|
How could Carlos Ghosn possibly have hidden billions of yen from Nissan?
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How could one of the world’s most visible employees go about hiding billions of yen worth of salary and benefits paid to him by one of the world’s biggest companies, without the company knowing it? Two weeks after Tokyo prosecutors arrested Carlos Ghosn for allegedly underreporting his compensation, that question is still unanswered. What is certain is that Nissan Motor Co.’s own corporate governance rules gave unusual powers to its former chairman, a business celebrity who was given extraordinary deference for having once rescued the automaker from financial ruin. Those powers included near-total say over how much — and how — he was paid, according to Nissan’s own internal rules. Several people familiar with the prosecutors’ investigation now say the probe appears to hinge on a relatively arcane point of accounting: whether retirement payments were properly booked. Whether or not Ghosn broke Japan’s securities law by feeding the wrong numbers to Nissan’s board and its accountants (at this point, the allegations are unproven), corporate governance expert Jamie Allen says the deeper question is how anyone could have gotten away with something like that. “It all comes back to a lack of internal controls,” said Allen, head of the Hong Kong-based Asian Corporate Governance Association. “If the board genuinely didn’t know that the disclosure of his remuneration was inaccurate, that doesn’t say much for governance. And if they did know, they should take collective responsibility for the failure.” Fights over pay have been a constant for Ghosn almost since the moment he took over in 1999 as chief operating officer of the then-troubled Japanese automaker. Early on, he caught flack for rewarding Nissan’s senior managers for performance instead of seniority. Later, in 2010, when Japan’s new rules on disclosure of executive compensation outed him as the country’s top-paid boss, he caught flack again. The $10 million he reportedly made that year might not have been out of line by Western standards, but it rankled in Japan where the brash executive was seen to be taking home six times what Toyota Motor Corp.’s chairman made. It now appears that even those numbers were understated. Ghosn’s salary had actually been much higher before public disclosure was required; to minimize criticism, a plan was devised to defer about half his annual pay until after retirement, keeping the numbers off the books, according to people familiar with the investigation. Ghosn has denied any rules were broken around deferred compensation, people with direct knowledge of the case have said. His defense is that the amount of such pay wasn’t certain, and therefore it was appropriate to omit it from securities filings, they said. Ghosn hasn’t had an opportunity to respond in public because he’s held in detention. The law allows people to be kept for weeks without being charged. Prosecutors were alerted to Ghosn’s alleged wrongdoing after a whistleblowing tip from inside Nissan. The timing prompted some analysts to say the scandal may have been manufactured in order to block a merger that Ghosn was advocating between Nissan and its partner, Renault SA. If Ghosn’s celebrity once helped him rally Nissan’s troops, it may have also made misbehavior easier. Inside the company, an unquestioning cult-of-Ghosn took root, according to several people familiar with the situation. By 2015, when Japan introduced its corporate governance code, it was clear even to some within the company that Nissan was an outlier in terms of how much control it gave its chairman. “We had governance in name only,” Nissan Chief Executive Officer Hiroto Saikawa told the media after Ghosn’s arrest. “Ghosn’s team thought that the best way to ensure governance was to concentrate power,” said Satoshi Egi, an expert on corporate compliance at Tokyo’s NLI Research Institute. “It works when you have outstanding leadership. And it’s risky when you don’t.” Zuhair Khan, an analyst at Jefferies Inc. in Tokyo, had been warning investors for years that Nissan stood out for its poor governance. Two years after the nation adopted its corporate governance code, Khan says Nissan was the only big, global company with a board that still didn’t have the required two independent directors. Independent directors were eventually hired, but only after an embarrassing recall scandal in 2017, when it was discovered that vehicle safety inspections had been performed by unqualified workers. The qualifications of the new board members also raised eyebrows. One was a retired government bureaucrat. The other was a former race car driver and ex-model. “It was as if they purposely picked people who wouldn’t be able to ask questions,” Khan said. The corporate governance code is closer to a wish list than a set of actual regulations. Firms aren’t forced to comply, but must give shareholders an explanation in any instance where they haven’t. One guideline Nissan chose not to adopt was setting up independent advisory committees on executive pay. The omission gave Ghosn broad power to decide how much he was paid. It also allowed him to determine the compensation of the people who were supposed to keep him in check. Nissan’s Corporate Governance Report says plainly: “The chairman of the board determines the compensation of each director” based on consultation with the company’s two other top officials — one of whom was Greg Kelly, the American arrested along with Ghosn. Employees in Nissan’s finance department weren’t responsible for verifying the details of C-Suite salary numbers disclosed in annual securities reports, according to one person familiar with the company’s practices. That was the board’s job, but no one dared to ask questions, the person said. Nissan spokesman Nicholas Maxfield declined to comment for this story. Hui Chen, a compliance expert and former attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice, says the bigger and more complicated the company, the more opportunity for misbehavior by top executives. Sprawling businesses like Nissan may have hundreds of subsidiaries, operating in dozens of countries, each with its own sets of books and payrolls — which is why, she said, oversight is so important. “The general fact pattern here indicates that questions should be asked about Nissan’s corporate governance and corporate culture,” she said.
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nissan;renault;carlos ghosn;corporate governance
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jp0010296
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2018/12/05
|
Takeda gains shareholders' approval for Shire buyout plan
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OSAKA - Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. won approval from shareholders Wednesday for its plan to purchase Irish drugmaker Shire PLC in what would be the biggest-ever overseas acquisition by a Japanese company. Although some founding family members and former employees opposed the purchase at an extraordinary meeting, at least 88 percent of Takeda shareholders gave the nod to a plan to buy the Dublin-based company to create the world’s ninth-largest drugmaker with combined sales of about ¥2.8 trillion ($24.8 billion). “We are delighted that our shareholders have given their strong support to our acquisition of Shire,” Takeda CEO Christophe Weber said in a statement. Takeda has already won approval from antitrust regulators in relevant countries including Japan, China and the United States. The drugmaker aims to complete the purchase by early January. The approval came in the face of opposition from a group of shareholders who had sought to vote down the takeover plan, since their initial attempt to do so was rejected at a general shareholders’ meeting in June. They believe the deal is too costly to pursue. At the meeting in Osaka, an opponent of the takeover asked, “Isn’t the acquisition a gamble?” But Weber said the deal would enable Takeda to strengthen its spending on research and development and gain competitiveness in the pharmaceutical industry. Opponents include founding family members Kunio Takeda and Kazuhisa Takeda, a former chairman and former director of the country’s largest drugmaker, respectively. Kazuhisa Takeda told a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan in Tokyo earlier this week that the deal is too risky. “It may be true that Takeda has not been successful in recent years to strengthen its new drugs. … But I think Shire is not the answer.” The merger is expected to increase Takeda’s net interest-bearing debt to more than ¥5 trillion, about 10 times the amount before the acquisition. Opponents of the Shire acquisition were concerned about the hefty debt and the reduction in earnings per share that will result from the new share issuance to finance the deal. Takeda is looking to add London-listed Shire’s know-how in rare diseases including hemophilia to Takeda’s core businesses of oncology, neuroscience and gastroenterology. More than 60 percent of Shire’s sales come from the United States. Analysts have said the buyout would be a smart move by Takeda as it looks to diversify and could pay off in the long term, but they have also raised concerns that the Japanese firm could be overextending itself financially. Takeda plans to finance the £46 billion (¥6.6 trillion) buyout through issuing new shares in exchange for Shire stock, bank loans and bond issuance. “The company averted the worst-case scenario in which opposition to the deal wins and throws its business planning into a mess,” said Makoto Sengoku, market analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Institute. But Sengoku noted the price was still down more than 30 percent from about ¥6,500 at the start of the year, as investors worried over a dilution of the stock’s value due to the planned issuance of new shares. “From here, market players will be watching details of the deal, including exactly how many shares will be issued,” he said. The buyout is the latest in a flurry of merger and acquisition activity in the pharmaceutical industry as traditional players see profits eroded by competition from generic medicines. Japanese firms in particular are facing pressure domestically as the government tries to cut prices of many branded drugs and increase the focus on cheaper generics to curb health spending as the population ages. Takeda, led by Frenchman Weber, has been actively looking overseas for acquisitions. In 2011 it took over Swiss rival Nycomed for €9.6 billion ($13.6 billion at the time).
|
acquisitions;takeda;drugmakers;shire
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jp0010297
|
[
"national",
"social-issues"
] |
2018/12/05
|
Local governments in Japan get creative in bid to secure child care workers
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Local governments are desperately trying to recruit licensed child care workers in a bid to address an acute shortage in day care staff. As part of their strategy, they are emphasizing favorable labor conditions, such as short commuting distances and reasonable working hours, in a bid to attract licensed child care workers, including those who are stay-at-home moms. In April, Ibaraki Prefecture launched a program to introduce prospective licensed child care workers to day care centers for children in cooperation with ManpowerGroup Co., a staffing firm in Yokohama. To recruit as many workers as possible, the prefectural government is prioritizing efforts to meet desired working conditions, without expecting staff to work full time. To make it more likely that workers will stay, Ibaraki offers prospects a one-month trial, fully paid, so that they can get a feel for the workplace — the first such program in Japan. Sachiko Watanabe, 35, of Tsukuba, Ibaraki, has returned to child care work after a one-year hiatus thanks to the program. She works Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. while raising three boys. Watanabe welcomed the one-month trial as she felt it made the job easier once she got started. “I was able to get a good sense of my work environment and the relationships at the day care center during the trial period,” she said. According to ManpowerGroup, 24 child care workers have returned to the workforce under the program, many of whom have opted for part-time work to avoid overtime or weekend work. The oldest is a 63-year-old. Amid a severe shortfall in child care workers, the ratio of effective job offers to seekers stood at 2.79 in September, meaning roughly three child care centers are competing to hire one worker. Local governments are striving to secure child care workers with additional pay or rent subsidies. In urban areas with long waiting lists for day care, facilities are being improved at a fast pace to attract child care workers, while young workers able to work long hours are being lured with higher pay. But in rural areas unable to secure enough workers, understaffed day care centers are going out of business despite the demand that exists for their services. Competition between local governments to recruit child care workers with favorable job terms is nearing its limit, said an official. “At any rate, we’re in no position to compete.” But competition for child care workers is predicted to increase as early childhood education and child care services are expected to become free of charge next October, adding to demand for day care center places. A growing sense of urgency is prompting local governments to take countermeasures. The Toyooka city office in Hyogo Prefecture, for example, has begun to reform working practices at day care centers on a trial basis, in cooperation with child care consultants, to increase options for part-time work, so that even unlicensed people can work as child care staff based on their experience of raising children. “We want to secure workers by making improvements to conditions so that child care work is attractive as an occupation,” an official in charge said.
|
children;day care;ibaraki prefecture;manpowergroup co .
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jp0010298
|
[
"national"
] |
2018/12/05
|
Swine fever reported at public research institute as Gifu Prefecture logs third case this year
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GIFU - Officials from the city of Minokamo, Gifu Prefecture, said Wednesday that a case of classical swine fever has been discovered at a public research institute — the third such case of the virus being reported this year and just over a decade since it was official declared eradicated in Japan. The latest case follows infections reported in September at a pig farm and another at a public livestock center park in November, both in the same Gifu city. The prefectural government began culling hogs at the research institute, which breeds about 500 pigs for the development of brand-name pork products, after two animals tested positive for the virus that has a high mortality rate. Swine fever does not affect humans even if an infected animal is consumed. The outbreaks at public facilities could spark criticism against the local authority, which is at the forefront of measures to protect livestock. At a meeting held Wednesday to respond to the outbreak, the minister of agriculture, Takamori Yoshikawa, said, “It is extremely serious that the infection was detected at the prefectural institute. It will have a huge impact.” The minister said he may visit Gifu to deal with the outbreak. Gifu Gov. Hajime Furuta apologized at the meeting, saying, “We are very sorry that the outbreak occurred at the prefectural facility, which is supposed to have well-prepared preventive measures in place.” Deputy Gov. Takanori Kawai told reporters, “We make every effort in implementing preventive measures at core livestock industry facilities, but the positive test result indicates there was a failure in the process.” According to the prefecture, on Monday, staff at the facility noticed four pigs had lost their appetite. In tests conducted by the central government, infections were confirmed in two of the pigs on Wednesday. There have also been 63 confirmed cases of wild boars in four municipalities neighboring Minokamo being infected with the virus. The virus detected in the two pigs at the research institute matched the type found in the first two cases and the wild boars. In the outbreak on Sept. 9, prefectural and city officials initially made an incorrect diagnosis that several pigs in a weakened state were suffering from heat exhaustion. The livestock center park where the Nov. 16 outbreak occurred was found to have violated rules of hygiene. Some farmers and experts have criticized the response by authorities to the third outbreak. “The administration has been treating these outbreaks too lightly. It’s incredible that this has happened again,” said a Gifu hog farmer. He noted that even private animal husbandry farms follow hygiene rules as a matter of course, referring to the second outbreak at the park, which was found not to have strictly observed rules such as wearing specifically designated clothing when handling pigs. “I can’t believe that the infections occurred in a prefectural facility,” said a 70-year-old man who lives near the institute and who attended a local briefing session. “(The facility) was not very conscientious” about preventing the epidemic, he added. “It is possible that even within the same prefectural organization, awareness differed between the department that gave guidance to farmers on animal control and the department that encouraged production,” said Masuo Sueyoshi, head of the University of Miyazaki’s Division of Prevention and Control for Animal Diseases. Before the virus was detected in September, swine fever was last seen in the country in Kumamoto Prefecture in 1992 when five pigs were infected. The government declared the virus eradicated in 2007.
|
gifu;hog cholera;minokamo;swine fever
|
jp0010299
|
[
"national",
"crime-legal"
] |
2018/12/05
|
South Korean court upholds ruling against Mitsubishi Heavy over forced wartime labor in Japan
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GWANGJU, SOUTH KOREA - A South Korean high court on Wednesday upheld a lower court ruling that ordered Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. to pay compensation to South Koreans conscripted as laborers during World War II, when Japan ruled the Korean Peninsula. The Gwangju High Court told the Japanese company to pay a total of 470 million won (about $422,000) to three female former workers and a bereaved family member of a deceased female worker. In August 2017, the Gwangju District Court ordered Mitsubishi Heavy to pay the compensation. The company appealed to the high court. The plaintiffs said they were promised opportunities to study and earn money but were instead put to work at a wartime munitions factory in Nagoya in central Japan during the war. Wednesday’s court decision is the latest in a string of rulings in favor of those made to work for Japanese firms, following a landmark May 2012 decision by South Korea’s Supreme Court. In its 2012 ruling, the top court ruled that the right of individuals to seek compensation was not invalidated by the 1965 Japan-South Korea accord that Tokyo claims settled all postwar compensation claims “completely and finally.” The treaty also established diplomatic ties between the two countries. The South Korea’s Supreme Court last week ordered Mitsubishi Heavy to compensate two groups of South Koreans over wartime labor, in a move that Japan’s foreign minister, Taro Kono, decried as “extremely regrettable.” In October the top court ruled similarly against Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. On Tuesday, lawyers representing South Korean plaintiffs in the case against Nippon Steel said they have set a Dec. 24 deadline for the firm to show willingness to discuss a court verdict on compensation. If the firm fails to respond, the lawyers, who spoke after being denied a meeting with company officials for a second time on Tuesday, said they would start procedures to seize its South Korean assets. Tuesday’s incident stemmed from a ruling by South Korea’s Supreme Court late in October that Nippon Steel must pay 100 million won ($90,500) to each of four South Koreans for forced labor during the war. At the time of the ruling, Nippon Steel called it “extremely regrettable,” but added that it would review the decision carefully in considering further steps. On Tuesday, the lawyers visited Nippon Steel’s Tokyo headquarters for a second time, only to be turned away at reception, said Lim Jae-sung, one of the attorneys. The lawyers left documents at reception regarding the case, Lim told a briefing at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan. Lim said two options for seizing Nippon Steel’s assets include shares of PNR, a joint venture between Nippon Steel and South Korean steel company POSCO, and intellectual property the company owns in South Korea. The Japanese firm confirmed that it refused to meet the lawyers because its stance has not changed, a company spokeswoman said, adding that the company had received a letter, although she did not comment on the contents. Asked about the Dec. 24 deadline, the spokeswoman said the company would consult the Japanese government and take appropriate action.
|
south korea;wartime labor;gwangju;mitsubishi heavy industries ltd .
|
jp0010300
|
[
"national",
"crime-legal"
] |
2018/12/05
|
Man to face charges for carrying fertilized wagyu eggs into China
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The agriculture ministry will pursue criminal charges against a man who tried to take the fertilized eggs of wagyu Japanese beef cattle into China, it was learned Tuesday. “We’re taking procedures to file a criminal complaint” against the person, believed to be a Japanese national, in a bid to prevent similar cases and strengthen the management of wagyu cattle, said agriculture minister Takamori Yoshikawa. Wagyu marbled beef is popular among both Japanese and foreign consumers. The ministry plans to refer the man to the Osaka Prefectural Police on suspicion that he violated the law on domestic animal infectious diseases control. According to ministry officials, the man left a port in Osaka Prefecture for Shanghai in July, carrying hundreds of fertilized wagyu eggs in a container. The eggs did not pass Chinese customs. After he returned home, the man claimed that an acquaintance had asked him to transport the eggs and that he did not know the practice was illegal. This is the first case in the last decade in which the transport of fertilized wagyu eggs out of Japan has been detected. Japan bans the export of fertilized and unfertilized wagyu eggs and semen under the animal infectious diseases control law. In practice, however, it is not very difficult to smuggle wagyu eggs or semen abroad, critics say. Yoshikawa suggested the latest case should have been prevented in Japan, saying that the special container he used must have been “easy” to recognize as suspicious. The ministry will consider steps to prevent the smuggling of wagyu eggs and semen, while calling on shipping firms, airlines, customs authorities and others to remain vigilant. The government aims to boost annual exports of wagyu and other beef to ¥25 billion by 2019. Last year, exports totaled ¥19.2 billion, with major importers including Hong Kong, the United States and Singapore. The government is poised to strengthen the promotion of Japanese beef in Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries. Meanwhile, wagyu beef produced in Australia is already popular in Southeast Asian and other markets. The breeding of wagyu cattle in Australia is believed to have started using those taken from Japan in the past. Japan’s beef industry is wary of any further spread of wagyu cattle overseas. “Our efforts to improve the beef quality could end in vain,” an official of the Japan Livestock Products Export Promotion Council said.
|
china;osaka;smuggling;beef;eggs;wagyu
|
jp0010301
|
[
"business"
] |
2018/12/02
|
Trump puts Japan in crosshairs after trade truce with China
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BUENOS AIRES - Now that U.S. President Donald Trump has agreed to a cease-fire with Chinese leader Xi Jinping over a trade war between their countries, Trump appears certain to shift his focus toward crafting a bilateral trade deal with Japan. After signing a revamped trade pact Friday with Mexico and Canada with better terms for the United States, Trump agreed with Xi on Saturday to work to resolve issues such as forced technology transfer and intellectual property protection in exchange for suspending new U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports for 90 days. The developments on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Buenos Aires came as Washington readies for negotiations with Tokyo on a bilateral trade deal that could come as early as mid-January. Trump has repeatedly voiced his determination to slash Japan’s trade surplus with the United States. Advocating “fair” and “reciprocal” trade, Trump has called for reducing the U.S. trade deficit with trading partners such as China, Mexico and Japan — the first to third-biggest generators of goods trade deficit with the United States last year. Under Trump’s “America First” mantra, addressing trade imbalances with these countries is a top agenda item in his 2020 re-election bid, especially after his Republican Party lost a majority in the House of Representatives in the Nov. 6 midterm elections. In a meeting Friday with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Argentina’s capital, Trump called the U.S. trade deficit with Japan “massive” and “pretty substantial.” “We hope that we’re going to be balancing it very quickly,” he added. While Japanese officials insist Tokyo and Washington aim for a bilateral trade agreement on goods only, U.S. officials have pushed for the inclusion of services and even a provision to prevent currency devaluations in an envisaged deal. Analysts are watching how the Trump administration will balance its ambitions for a comprehensive pact, like a free trade agreement with the U.S. agricultural industry’s thirst for a deal, when other farming nations such as Australia and Canada are gaining greater access to the Japanese market through the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, an 11-nation FTA that will enter into force on Dec. 30. Similarly, Japan and the European Union are speeding up domestic procedures for the early enforcement of an FTA, making U.S. farmers and ranchers less competitive than their European counterparts in terms of access to the world’s third-largest economy. “What the Japanese are hoping to do is to drag this out as long as they can, even potentially waiting out the end of the Trump administration,” said Benjamin Self, vice president of the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation in Washington. Self, an expert on U.S.-Japan relations, was referring to the upcoming trade negotiations, which will be led by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Toshimitsu Motegi, Japan’s economic revitalization minister. “They’ll agree to a smaller deal faster if what Trump wants is a faster deal,” he said, in reference to Japanese negotiators. In the talks, the Trump administration is expected to demand increased market access to Japan’s automobile market, as well as to push Japanese automakers to expand their manufacturing in the United States, a measure that would reduce exports into the country and create more jobs there. Trump regards automobiles as a symbol of the trade imbalance with Japan, apparently because automobiles and auto parts accounted for about 75 percent of the U.S. deficit with the country as of 2017. Given that Japan imposes no tariffs on foreign cars, analysts expect the administration to focus on nontariff barriers and demand that Tokyo ease safety and environmental requirements for American vehicles, for example. Aside from automobiles, tough negotiations are expected in agriculture, as well. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue’s calls on Japan to reduce tariffs on farm products beyond levels agreed to under the CPTPP runs counter to the understanding reached between Trump and Abe in September that Washington would not demand deeper farm tariff cuts than levels Tokyo has agreed in other trade pacts, such as the CPTPP and the Japan-EU FTA. Perdue’s action, which may be seen as a hardball negotiation tactic ahead of the talks, may not serve the U.S. farm industry’s desire for a swift deal, either. “Unfortunately, U.S. beef faces a massive 38.5 percent tariff in Japan — a trade barrier that hurts America’s beef producers,” said Kevin Kester, president of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, the marketing organization and trade association for 1 million cattle farmers and ranchers in the United States. The organization “looks forward to working closely with the Trump administration to secure increased market access for our industry,” Kester said in September, when Trump and Abe agreed to launch bilateral trade agreement talks. “The faster negotiations conclude, the faster U.S. producers can provide more Japanese consumers with the high-quality beef they demand,” Kester added. Under the CPTPP — a pact from which Trump withdrew the United States last year — Japan’s 38.5 percent tariff on beef imports will be lowered in stages to 9 percent over 16 years.
|
china;shinzo abe;trade;u.s.-japan relations;donald trump
|
jp0010302
|
[
"business"
] |
2018/12/02
|
Japan to extend tax cuts for sales of inherited houses
|
Japan’s government and ruling bloc are considering extending tax breaks for those who sell houses they inherited from their parents by four years until the end 2023, sources have said. The tax cut extension is aimed at helping shore up real estate trading and preventing an increase in the number of unoccupied houses, the sources said. Under the system, which covers houses that were built on May 31, 1981, or before, income and residential taxes are reduced under certain conditions. If people live apart from their parents, the parents’ houses inherited by the children are highly likely to become unoccupied in the future. The number of empty houses in Japan, excluding those for rent and sale, stood at 3.18 million as of 2013. The figure is expected to increase further reflecting the country’s falling population, becoming a major problem across the country. The government aims to curb the pace of growth, estimating the number of empty houses at about 4 million by 2025.
|
taxes;ldp;housing
|
jp0010303
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2018/12/02
|
Nissan-Renault alliance row developing into diplomatic feud
|
BUENOS AIRES - A hastily arranged Franco-Japanese summit Friday has highlighted how the Nissan-Renault auto alliance is increasingly developing into a diplomatic feud — one that could soon reach a head. The summit-level talks, held at the request of the French side, apparently saw Paris work to put the brakes on an attempt by Nissan Motor Co. to review its capital ties with Renault SA. Those ties currently favor the French auto giant. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and French President Emmanuel Macron met in Buenos Aires for about 15 minutes on the sidelines of the two-day Group of 20 summit Friday. Despite a jam-packed schedule, the two sides found time to meet, a move that was said to reflect the French government’s strong interest in the fate of the alliance between Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. That tie-up has been shaken by the Nov. 19 arrest of alliance chief Carlos Ghosn for allegedly underreporting his executive pay from Nissan. On Thursday, leaders of the three automakers held a meeting, where they agreed to maintain the alliance and introduce a system to decide on management policies by mutual agreement. Renault holds a 43.4 percent equity stake in Nissan. The major Japanese automaker owns 15 percent of the French partner, but its stake does not carry voting rights. According to sources, a number of Nissan officials have voiced unease about Renault’s voting rights in an alliance where the Japanese automaker is actually supporting the French company in terms of earnings and technology. This has prompted Nissan to look at concrete measures for reviewing what it regards as an “unfair” capital alliance with Renault, the sources said. Abe and Macron agreed on the importance of maintaining the stability of the alliance among the three automakers. While Macron hopes to maintain the status quo, Abe said he believes the concerned private-sector parties should themselves decide the course of their relationships, effectively voicing his view that the governments should not excessively intervene. For the French government, which is Renault’s top shareholder, the automaker is a symbol of the country’s industrial prowess. Ceding Renault’s influence over Nissan’s management would have devastating effects for the French economy — and Macron’s government. After holding talks with industry minister Hiroshige Seko following Ghosn’s arrest, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said he and the Seko had affirmed that the principle of corporate governance remains unchanged. With this, the focus has now shifted to who will succeed Ghosn as Nissan chairman. The carmaker plans to name one of its incumbent directors as the successor at a board meeting on Dec. 17. Meanwhile, Renault is hoping to dispatch an official to Nissan to serve as its chairman, based on a pact signed when the two companies entered into the alliance in 1999, officials said. As the French government is believed to be in support of this policy, which is being spearheaded by Renault, observers say Nissan and the Japanese government are likely to face a number of difficult decisions about the alliance and its future.
|
shinzo abe;mitsubishi;scandals;nissan;renault;carlos ghosn;emmanuel macron
|
jp0010304
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2018/12/02
|
Seven-Eleven Japan asks all Tokyo stores to get rid of ashtray receptacles
|
Leading convenience store chain Seven-Eleven Japan Co. has asked franchise outlets in Tokyo to remove ashtray receptacles from the store premises, it was learned Sunday. Seven-Eleven Japan, a unit of retail giant Seven & i Holdings Co., will decide whether to take the step nationwide after examining the results at the Tokyo outlets, informed sources said. The move comes as many customers are complaining about passive smoking and an increasing number of restaurants in Japan are introducing smoking bans, according to the sources. Seven-Eleven Japan has some 2,700 stores in the capital, including about 1,000 with ashtray receptacles standing in front of the shops. The request for removal was made to those 1,000 stores about a month ago, the sources said. While the request is not binding, since the ashtray receptacles belong to the stores, outlets that agreed have posted written notices to shoppers and will remove them starting on Monday, according to the sources. No ashtray receptacles are installed at stores directly run by Seven-Eleven Japan in Tokyo. Seven-Eleven Japan sells tobacco at more than 90 percent of its stores across the country, accounting for about 20 percent of its overall sales. Many outlets have installed the receptacles to promote sales as some customers buy tobacco and smoke in front of the stores after making purchases. The receptacles are also intended to prevent nearby areas from being littered with cigarette butts. It remains unclear whether ashtray receptacles will be removed from all Seven-Eleven Japan outlets, pundits said, noting that convenience stores in suburban areas, especially those with parking spaces, are often used as rest areas by customers.
|
smoking;seven & i holdings;seven-eleven japan;ashtrays
|
jp0010305
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2018/12/02
|
Dramatic downfall of Carlos Ghosn reverberates in Lebanon
|
BEIRUT - He may have fallen from grace internationally as one of the auto industry’s most powerful leaders, but Carlos Ghosn can count on continued support in at least one corner of the globe. Lebanon has long held hopes that Ghosn, whose grandparents were Lebanese and who holds extensive development projects in the country, would play a bigger role in politics one day, or help rescue its increasingly sluggish economy. But Ghosn, ex-chairman of Nissan Motor Co., was detained in Tokyo last month on allegations of underreporting his income, and on Friday, a court approved extending his detention for 10 more days. Now, politicians across the board in Lebanon are mobilizing in his defense, with some suggesting his detention may be part of a political or business-motivated conspiracy, and the government even considering extraditing him from Tokyo to face trial here. “To Carlos Ghosn in his predicament I say, a Lebanese phoenix will not be scorched by the Japanese sun,” Interior Minister Nohad Machnouk said at a security conference in Beirut last week. Lebanon, a tiny country of 4.5 million, takes excessive pride in its huge emigrant community and successful businessmen and celebrities of Lebanese heritage. They include Mexican business magnate Carlos Slim, Colombian singer Shakira, Mexican-American actress Salma Hayek, Lebanese-British barrister Amal Clooney, and fashion designers Elie Saab and Reem Accra. The Lebanese took special pride in the auto industry icon, who holds a Lebanese passport, speaks fluent Arabic and visits regularly, including a last visit right before he was detained in Tokyo. Born in Brazil, where his Lebanese grandfather had sought his fortune, Ghosn grew up in Beirut, where he spent part of his childhood in a Jesuit school. As he began his ascent in the auto industry, first with Renault and then by bringing Nissan back from the brink of bankruptcy, Ghosn kept in touch with old friends. He married twice, first to a Lebanese woman who resides in Beirut and again in 2016 to Carole Nahas, also of Lebanese heritage. As a Maronite Christian, Ghosn’s name occasionally popped up as a possible candidate for the presidency, but he repeatedly dismissed suggestions he would run for office, saying he is not a politician. The post of president is reserved for a Christian in Lebanon’s sectarian-based system of government. Although the extent of his businesses in Lebanon is not known exactly, Ghosn has spoken in interviews about various real estate projects in the country and sits on the board of several universities, hospitals and charities. In 2012, he became a partner in the Lebanese winery IXSIR, and is a board member of family-owned Saradar Bank. In 2017, the government honored him with a special postage stamp, a show of respect to a man considered a model of Lebanese entrepreneurial spirit. So when news broke Nov. 19 that Ghosn, 64, had been detained on allegations he underreported billions of yen in income, and that Nissan is accusing him of using company money for personal gain, people in Lebanon were stunned — and many were unconvinced. Foreign Minister Gibran Bassil promptly issued a statement saying Lebanon would stand by Ghosn, adding he had asked Lebanon’s ambassador to Tokyo to look out for “the model of Lebanese success abroad.” The ambassador has since reportedly met three times with Ghosn — who is being held in a small cell in Tokyo Detention House — providing him with a mattress and food, according to one report on a local TV channel. Ghosn’s dramatic downfall has sparked various conspiracy theories, with some claiming that his arrest was a U.S. ploy to punish him for resisting sanctions on Iran and others speculating it was an internal coup engineered by Nissan executives. Melhem Riachi, the information minister, urged officials to intervene with the Japanese government, tweeting: “An investigation is extremely important. Something stinks.” Allegations against Ghosn that have reported in the Japanese media, but unconfirmed, suggest he spent Nissan funds on fancy homes in Paris, Beirut, Rio de Janeiro and Amsterdam, and on family vacations and other personal expenses. Ghosn has denied the allegations against him, saying he had no intention of underreporting his income, the reports say. Ghosn’s three-story property in one of Beirut’s most prized real estate districts stands out for its pink walls and blue shuttered windows. The traditional old Lebanese house was acquired and renovated in 2014, according to neighbors who said they occasionally saw him visiting. “He is a successful businessman with a good reputation … he is not someone you would expect to be a cheat,” said Rouba Rabah, who owns an art gallery opposite Ghosn’s property. Another neighbor who declined to give his name said he was stunned by the news like every other Lebanese would be, recalling how he would see Ghosn personally overseeing the renovation work four years ago. Lebanese businessmen, many of them personal friends of Ghosn, have rallied around him, even after he was stripped of his title as chairman at Nissan and at partner Mitsubishi Motors Corp. A group of Lebanese lawyers is now considering forming a team for his defense, and Justice Minister Salim Jreissati told Lebanese newspaper An-Nahar that the government is considering asking Japan to extradite Ghosn to face trial on Lebanese soil. Lawyer Amal Haddad said she and the current head of the Lebanese Lawyers’ Syndicate, Andree Chidiac, were considering the options. “That’s all I can say until we are formally assigned the case,” Haddad said. In Ghosn’s downfall, many here see a lost opportunity. The country’s economy is struggling, with experts warning it is dangerously close to collapse after decades of mismanagement, corruption and nepotism. Cabinet Minister Mouin Merhebi said Ghosn’s arrest is regrettable. “He is an important personality, an economic personality we had hoped would one day play a role in Lebanese political life, a role to salvage Lebanon,” he said.
|
lebanon;scandals;nissan;carlos ghosn
|
jp0010307
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"politics-diplomacy-asia-pacific"
] |
2018/12/02
|
Lost idol: New wave of Myanmar youth activists look beyond Aung San Suu Kyi
|
YANGON - Myanmar youth activist and television host Thinzar Shun Lei Yi would once have called herself one of Aung San Suu Kyi’s greatest fans. Now she is one of her most vocal critics. The 27-year-old belongs to a small but high-profile group of liberal activists, many of them former die-hard Suu Kyi supporters, who are growing increasingly disillusioned with the administration they voted into power with sky-high hopes three years ago. “I lost my idol. I’m confused, frustrated and lost,” said Thinzar Shun Lei Yi, who hosts the “Under 30” talk show on a popular local website. “Most of the activists and youths are now thinking: ‘What is next?’ ‘What will happen?’ ‘What can we do?’ At this stage, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is going her own way, and nobody can intervene, and she won’t listen to civil society organizations,” she said, using the honorific for women in Myanmar. While Suu Kyi continues to inspire devotion among many, the emergence of a dissenting youth movement — driven by anger over her handling of ethnic minorities, including the Muslim Rohingya, as well as curbs on the media and civil society — presents a new challenge for her administration. At stake is the future of Myanmar’s transition toward democracy after years of military rule. With a general election looming in 2020, the first civilian government in decades is confronted by growing divisions among activists who once coalesced around her National League for Democracy party. Suu Kyi took power in 2016 after a landslide election win, vowing to continue democratic reforms and end the country’s long-running civil wars. Since then, the administration has come under pressure over its response to a military crackdown against the Rohingya — which the United Nations has described as “ethnic cleansing” with “genocidal intent” — as well as faltering peace talks with ethnic armed groups and a stagnating economy. Activists say the civilian government has also become increasingly authoritarian, failing to use its overwhelming parliamentary majority to scrap colonial-era laws that are used to stifle dissent and tightening restrictions on civil society. In recent months, they have staged several protests, including an anti-war march in the commercial capital of Yangon in May that ended in scuffles. A total of 17 people were charged with unlawful protest, including Thinzar Shun Lei Yi. Their trial is ongoing. “Sensitive issues are banned, and protesters arrested and beaten,” she said. “The National League of Democracy, the party using the name of democracy, must respect democracy and human rights.” According to free speech organization Athan, which means “voice” in Burmese, 44 journalists and 142 activists have faced trial since the Suu Kyi government took power. They include Reuters reporters Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, who were sentenced to seven years in prison in September after being convicted of breaking the colonial-era Official Secrets Act. The journalists are appealing their conviction to the country’s High Court, citing evidence of a police set-up and lack of proof of a crime. Suu Kyi said in September their jailing had nothing to do with freedom of expression. The government says Myanmar’s court’s are independent. While she has no control over the military, Suu Kyi has faced international criticism for failing to defend the Rohingya, more than 730,000 of whom fled a sweeping army cracking in western Rakhine state in 2017, according to U.N. agencies. The crackdown was launched in response to insurgent Rohingya attacks on security forces. Myanmar denies almost all the allegations of atrocities made by refugees, saying the army was carrying out a legitimate campaign against terrorists. While many among Myanmar’s Buddhist majority revile the Rohingya, the young activists offer a rare sympathetic voice. “We acknowledge Rohingya. We totally denounce the fact that they are referred to as ‘Bengali,'” said Maung Saung Kha, referring to a term commonly used in Myanmar to imply the Rohingya are interlopers from Bangladesh despite a long history in the country. “We haven’t seen any acknowledgement or punishment for the things that happened,” he said. “The refugees will not come back as long as these people think of them as less than human, and that it is not a crime to kill them.” Khin Sandar, another young activist facing unlawful protest charges, spent months campaigning for the NLD ahead of the 2015 election but lost faith in Suu Kyi over her handling of the Rakhine crisis. Her family was affected in a wave of communal violence in 2012, when not only Rohingya but members of the Kaman Muslim minority, who also face discrimination but unlike the Rohingya are considered citizens, were driven from their homes. They live in crowded displacement camps outside the Rakhine capital of Sittwe and are subjected to severe restrictions on movement. In a speech after last year’s violence, Suu Kyi said all residents of Rakhine “have access to education and health care services without discrimination.” Khin Sandar said: “My own nephew and nieces are still living in the Sittwe camps, and they don’t have those rights. I was shocked. How can she say that in her speech?” She has now quit her job as researcher for an NLD lawmaker. While the youth activists represent only a small segment of Myanmar society they are increasingly influential in the grassroots activism scene, while their protests and public comments have attracted significant attention from media and from their vast social media followings. Mostly in their 20s and 30s, they highlight the gulf between Myanmar’s young population — the median age is 27 — and its aging leadership, comprised of mostly men in their 60s and 70s. “Myanmar is a very conservative country, these young people especially from Yangon are now challenging that,” said Myat Thu, at the Yangon School of Political Science. “In order to have a revolution of ideas, not many people need to know. They will spread it gradually.”
|
myanmar;rights;aung san suu kyi
|
jp0010308
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"politics-diplomacy-asia-pacific"
] |
2018/12/02
|
Trump says three sites under consideration for January or February meeting with North Korea's Kim
|
A second U.S.-North Korea summit is expected to be held in either January or February, with three sites currently under consideration, U.S. President Donald Trump said Saturday. Speaking aboard Air Force One, Trump was quoted as saying that said a second meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will happen soon, with the location and timing continuing to be hashed out as the two sides work toward the goals agreed to at the landmark first summit in Singapore in June. Media pool reports quoted Trump as saying that he and Kim are “getting along very well” and have a “good relationship,” and that at some point he’d like to invite the North Korean leader to the United States. Trump did not announce the candidate sites, but some observers have speculated that the president’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and Seoul could be possibilities. At the Singapore meeting, Kim agreed to a vaguely worded 1½-page joint statement to “work towards the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” while Trump committed to “provide security guarantees” to the North Korean regime. But there has been little progress since, with denuclearization talks between the two countries effectively deadlocked. Still, Trump has repeatedly boasted about what he says are North Korean steps toward relinquishing its nukes, hailing the absence of missile or nuclear tests since last year and the return of remains of U.S. service members killed in the 1950-53 Korean War as “incredible progress.” Pyongyang has not tested a missile since November last year. With that test, of its powerful Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile — which experts believe is capable of striking most, if not all, of the United States — the North said it had “completed” its nuclear program. But Trump has faced criticism over his claims of progress, with some saying there is no evidence the North has taken significant steps toward denuclearization, despite the president’s remarks to the contrary. Earlier Saturday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo echoed the White House’s line, saying that the second summit would happen “pretty soon.” “We’re working hard at it. I think it’ll happen shortly after the first of the year,” Pompeo said in an interview with CNN. Pompeo also pointed to the halted missile and nuclear tests, and said that talks between the two sides were ongoing. “We continue to have conversations about the right next step — that is the right substantive next step, not the process next step of meetings,” Pompeo said. “We’re working with partners all across the world — South Koreans, the Japanese.” It was not clear what a “substantive next step” would be, but Washington has reportedly pushed for a declaration detailing the North’s weapons programs or a promise to rein in the deployment of its existing arsenal. For its part, the North has said that crushing economic sanctions must be eased as a “corresponding” measure after its unilateral missile and nuclear test moratorium, the destruction of its main nuclear test site and the ongoing dismantling of a key missile engine test facility. The White House, however, has given no hint that it is ready to lift sanctions. “These are global sanctions put in place by the United Nations Security Council, which deny North Korea the capacity to improve their economy,” he said. “That’s not going to change, unlike previous administrations that when they got to a point that became difficult wrote checks for tens and hundreds of millions of dollars and let the North Koreans off the hook in that sense. We’re determined to fulfill the commitments that were made by Chairman Kim in Singapore and we’re working hard at it.” Stephen Nagy, a senior associate professor at International Christian University in Tokyo, said Trump’s interest in a second summit with Kim has likely grown after the midterm elections, which resulted in a Democratic-controlled House that is expected to question and resist his more adventurous foreign policy endeavors. Trump, Nagy said, is now having to orient his efforts toward areas of governance where he has the most ability to act unilaterally — namely on the North Korean nuclear issue. “It is strategically in Trump’s interests” to have the meeting before the new House convenes sometime in January, Nagy said. “If he achieves some real take homes, such as an accounting of DPRK capabilities, a formal moratorium on missile and nuclear development … he may be able to argue that has been an effective statesman in achieving a diplomatic breakthrough with Pyongyang.” DPRK is the acronym for the North’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Nagy, who also serves as a visiting fellow at the Japan Institute for International Affairs in Tokyo, added that such a breakthrough could see North Korea making additional gestures such as destroying other missile systems, dismantling launch sites, revealing additional uranium processing sites or agreeing to international inspections. “Pyongyang has numerous (nuclear weapons and missile) sites, according to open sources, and as a result they can allow inspectors to one site to demonstrate a kind of ‘good faith'” move, he said. Such a gesture “may allow the president to provide some targeted sanctions relief, as he is not wedded to any political view.”
|
u.s .;north korea;kim jong un;nuclear weapons;north korea nuclear crisis;donald trump;kim-trump summit
|
jp0010309
|
[
"national"
] |
2018/12/02
|
Common Japanese language test eyed for new visas
|
The government is mulling introducing a common Japanese language test for applicants seeking one of two new types of visas for foreign workers, informed sources have said. The Foreign Ministry and the Japan Foundation, an independent administrative agency, are making necessary preparations, the sources said Saturday. Of the two new resident statuses, type one will be granted to foreigners with certain professional skills and type two to those with higher skills. The government aims to introduce the new resident statuses in April next year. The language test will be taken for the type one category, the sources said. To pass the test, applicants need to have Japanese skills good enough for daily life, according to the sources. The language test will likely start in April 2019 at the earliest and will be conducted up to about six times a year, mainly in Southeast Asian nations from which Japan has accepted a number of people under its existing on-the-job training program for foreigners, the sources said. Applicants’ professional skills will be tested through paper and practical exams in each industry. Holders of type one status will be allowed to work in 14 industries, including nursing care, construction, agriculture and automobile maintenance. For automobile maintenance, for example, applicants will be tested to see whether they have skills equivalent to those required for grade three under Japan’s national certification system for automobile technicians. Professional skill tests for type two status will be decided later as the government expects to see no applicant for the category in the first year, the sources said.
|
japanese;foreign labor;tests;languages
|
jp0010310
|
[
"business",
"financial-markets"
] |
2018/12/20
|
Nikkei tumbles to 15-month low after U.S. equities fall
|
The benchmark Nikkei average hit a 15-month closing low on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Thursday following an overnight slump in U.S. equities. The 225-issue Nikkei tumbled 595.34 points, or 2.84 percent, to 20,392.58, its lowest finish since Sept. 29, 2017. On Wednesday, the index lost 127.53 points. The Topix index of all first-section issues was down 38.99 points, or 2.51 percent, at 1,517.16, a level unseen since April 24, 2017. It shed 6.36 points Wednesday. In afternoon trading, Japanese shares accelerated their downswing due to speculative futures-led selling, market sources said. Foreign investors “beat the Tokyo market blindly ahead of the Christmas holidays,” an official of a bank-affiliated securities firm said. Masahiro Ichikawa, senior strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management Co., said that investor sentiment was battered by a fall in Chinese equities amid concerns over the course of the global economy. Hiroaki Kuramochi, chief market analyst at Saxo Bank Securities Ltd., said that market participants were disappointed at the outcome of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s monetary policy meeting. The Fed on Wednesday hinted at a slower pace of interest rate hikes next year, but this was not as dovish as expected, brokers said. The Fed “lacked consideration for (U.S. and Japanese) stocks being in a correction phase,” Kuramochi said. Falling issues far outnumbered rising ones 2,047 to 74 in the TSE’s first section, while nine issues were unchanged. Volume grew to 1.82 billion shares from 1.73 billion Wednesday. Semiconductor-related Tokyo Electron, Advantest and Shin-Etsu Chemical fell sharply after their U.S. peers fared poorly on Wednesday. Other major losers included clothing retailer Fast Retailing and convenience store operator FamilyMart Uny. By contrast, mobile phone carrier SoftBank closed 1.09 percent higher a day after its disappointing debut on the TSE. Also on the plus side were daily goods manufacturer Kao and automaker Suzuki as well as Takeda Pharmaceutical. In index futures trading on the Osaka Exchange, the key March contract on the Nikkei average plummeted 710 points to 20,210.
|
stocks;nikkei;tokyo stock exchange;topix
|
jp0010311
|
[
"business",
"financial-markets"
] |
2018/12/20
|
Dollar falls below ¥112 line in Tokyo after sharp drop in stocks
|
The dollar fell below ¥112 in Tokyo trading Thursday after being dragged down by a tumble in Japanese shares. Speculative selling apparently from European players pushed the dollar below ¥112 in late trading, an official of a foreign-exchange margin trading service company said. At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥111.85-85, down from ¥112.40-40 at the same time Wednesday. The euro was at $1.1414-1415, up from $1.1397-1397, and at ¥127.69-70, down from ¥128.11-11. The dollar rose to around ¥112.60 in the morning on purchases by Japanese importers but lost momentum on the sharp fall in Japanese stocks. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei stock average dropped 2.84 percent to 20,392.58, its lowest finish since September last year, amid growing concerns about a global economic slowdown. “A fall in long-term U.S. interest rates in off-hours trading also prompted dollar selling against the yen,” a Japanese bank official said. The dollar may test October lows of around ¥111.40 in the days to come, a think tank official said. Market players reacted little to the Bank of Japan’s decision to keep its massive monetary easing policy unchanged as it was widely expected.
|
forex;currencies
|
jp0010312
|
[
"business",
"financial-markets"
] |
2018/12/20
|
Tokyo stocks slide 595 points as Fed's outlook on rates disappoints global markets
|
Tokyo stocks tumbled Thursday, with the benchmark Nikkei average falling to its lowest level in about 15 months after the U.S. Federal Reserve raised rates as expected and kept most of its guidance for additional hikes next two years, dashing investor hopes for a more dovish policy outlook. The 225-issue Nikkei stock average closed down 2.84 percent, or 595.34 points, at 20,392.58, after shedding 3.3 percent at one point. The broader Topix index dropped 2.51 percent, or 38.99 points, to close at 1,517.16. The Tokyo market opened lower, extending losses in U.S. shares amid worries the Fed would hike rates at a faster pace than expected, analysts said. In addition to disappointment over the Fed meeting, “concerns over the slowing of the global economy also weighed on the market,” Okasan Online Securities said in a commentary. Markets across Asia are nearing gloomy milestones, with the Topix and South Korea’s Kospi heading into bear market territory, or down over 20 percent from their recent highs, to join Shanghai and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng. China’s benchmark Shanghai Composite and the blue-chip CSI 300 fell 1.3 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was off 1.5 percent. In New York, U.S. S&P 500 Index lost 1.54 percent to hit its lowest level since September 2017. U.S. stocks are on pace for their biggest December decline since 1931, when America was in the depths of the Great Depression. “I think the Fed may be underestimating other factors at play,” said Bob Baur, chief global economist at Principal Global Investors in Des Moines, Iowa. “Trade has been making headlines, but I think a gradual tightening of monetary policy has been the driving force behind recent market volatility. With corporate borrowing and spending still high, and the Fed continuing to reduce its balance sheet, I’d expect volatility to remain if this tightening continues,” he said. The Fed raised key overnight lending rate rates by 0.25 point as expected to a range of 2.25 percent to 2.50 percent, after weeks of market volatility and calls by U.S. President Donald Trump for the Fed to stop raising interest rates. It said “some further” rate hikes would be necessary in the year ahead, with its policymakers projecting two rate hikes on average next year instead of the three they saw back in September, a change that was also largely in line with expectations. But the slight revision was not enough to ease market fears over a further U.S. economic slowdown on the back of trade tensions, a waning boost from tax cuts and tightening monetary conditions for companies. U.S. junk bonds sold off sharply, with their exchange-traded funds falling 0.9 percent, the biggest decline since March 1. As investors flocked to the safety of government bonds, the 10-year U.S. Treasurys yield fell below its May 29 low of 2.759 percent to as low as 2.750 percent, a level last seen in early April. A rise in short-term interest rates and a fall in the long-date yield rekindled worries of an inversion in the yield curve, where shorter-debt yields become higher than longer-term ones. Historically, an inversion between short yields, such as three-month and two-year yields, and 10-year yields has been seen as a fairly reliable indicator of a recession down the road. “We expect additional rate hikes will invert the three-months to 10-year yield curve, which is a reliable signal for a bear market for stocks and a coming recession for both the U.S. and the rest of the world,” said Jeffrey Kleintop, chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab in Boston. “So, seriously something to keep a close eye on. We do expect a very difficult year for investors.” The two-year U.S. yield stood at 2.656 percent, just 0.097 percent less than the 10-year yield. As one 25 basis point rate hike would likely invert the yield curve, many market players are skeptical whether the Fed can raise rates at all next year. Fed funds futures are now pricing in only about 50 percent chance of one rate hike. The dollar bounced back against major currencies after the Fed was perceived to be more hawkish than anticipated. The euro traded at $1.1383, off Wednesday’s high of $1.14395 before the Fed’s policy announcement. The dollar stood at ¥112.20, slightly off the seven-week low of ¥112.09 touched just before the Fed. “Traders sold the dollar yesterday, on hopes today’s Fed would be even more dovish,” said Kengo Suzuki, chief currency strategist at Mizuho Securities.
|
economy;stocks;federal reserve
|
jp0010313
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2018/12/20
|
Japan Post to take 7% stake in U.S. insurer Aflac for closer tie-up
|
Japan Post Holdings Co. will acquire a 7 percent stake in U.S. insurer Aflac Inc. in 2019, after gaining regulatory approval, and make it an affiliate four years after the purchase to expand their cooperation, both firms said Wednesday. Following the stake purchase — worth about ¥270 billion ($2.4 billion) — Japan Post and Aflac will jointly develop new insurance products and make investments. The Japanese financial and postal service firm will not get involved in the U.S. firm’s management, they said. The former state enterprise has been in partnership with Aflac Life Insurance Japan Ltd., selling Aflac’s cancer insurance products at its post offices in Japan. The share purchase is subject to regulatory approval in Japan and the United States, expected by the end of 2019. Aflac’s shareholder rules state that an entity holding ordinary shares of the company for four years will receive 10 units of voting rights per share. Japan Post’s stake will eventually increase to 20 percent. Under its three-year business plan through fiscal 2020, Japan Post is expanding its businesses in Japan and abroad by investing several hundreds of billions of yen in corporate acquisitions.
|
japan post;aflac;insurers
|
jp0010314
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"science-health-asia-pacific"
] |
2018/12/20
|
Smiling at danger, China's finless porpoise fights to survive
|
HUBEI, CHINA - In an oxbow lake along the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, a breathy sigh pierces the surface stillness as one of China’s most endangered animals comes up for a gulp of hazy air. A slick black back with no dorsal fin arches briefly above the water line before plunging back down. Such glimpses of the shy Yangtze finless porpoise, the only aquatic mammal left in China’s longest river and known in Chinese as the “smiling angel” for its perma-grin, are increasingly rare. Pollution, overfishing, hydroelectric dams and shipping traffic have rendered them critically endangered, worse off even than China’s best-known symbol of animal conservation, the panda. China’s government estimates there were 1,012 wild Yangtze finless porpoises in 2017, compared to more than 1,800 giant pandas, which are no longer endangered. But researchers see signs of hope. Porpoise numbers fell by nearly half from 2006 to 2012, to an estimated 1,040. But the rate of decline has slowed markedly since then, suggesting that conservation may be making a dent. A central component of the rescue effort is the introduction of porpoises to several conservation areas off the busy river, where researchers say numbers have been actually increasing. At the Tianezhou Oxbow Nature Reserve in central China’s Hubei province, a curving lake linked to the Yangtze by a stream, around 30 to 40 porpoises were brought in beginning in the 1990s. There are now around 80. “We found out animals can not only survive but also reproduce naturally and successfully at Tianezhou. That’s very encouraging,” said Wang Ding, 60, a porpoise expert with the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Researchers also credit official clampdowns on polluting activities and fish over-harvesting, artificial reproduction projects, and growing environmental awareness among China’s emerging middle class. “The voice and supervision of the public has played an important role,” said Zhang Xinqiao, the species’ project manager at the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Chinese officials are keen to avoid a repeat of the “baiji,” or Yangtze dolphin, the river’s only other aquatic mammal, which since 2006 has been considered extinct in a huge conservation setback for China. Losing the “smiling angel” would be a further tragedy, conservationists say. One of the world’s few freshwater porpoise subspecies, it is considered a natural barometer of the overall health of China’s most important river. The finless porpoise is mentioned in ancient Chinese poems and has been considered a harbinger of rain. Some locals call it the “river pig” for its plump body and rounded head. Adults can reach 2 meters (6 feet) long and were sometimes eaten, despite not being considered particularly tasty. Their livers were used in traditional medicines. Since China reopened to the world four decades ago, living standards have soared, but so have air and water pollution. The Yangtze contributes more to ocean pollution than any other world river, according to Dutch NGO Ocean Cleanup. Hydroelectric dams built on the river to satisfy soaring energy demand have also been disastrous for biodiversity. But in January 2016, President Xi Jinping called for a river protection push. Steps have included curbs on development, stricter fishing rules and other protection projects. Later that year, a formal porpoise action plan was launched, including increased relocations away from the river, more reserve sites and research on artificial breeding. The Tianezhou reserve, established in 1992, claims to be the world’s first and only example of cetaceans — which include dolphins and porpoises — surviving and reproducing after relocation. Local fishermen near the lake were encouraged to change professions. One, Wang Hesong, 46, became a patrolman at the reserve. “Look over there, a mother and a baby,” Wang said, as his pilot cut their patrol boat’s engine at the sight of two arched backs breaking the silvery surface. The shy mammals quickly submerged. “They only come up for a couple of seconds to breathe. … We go out patrolling every day and we see them every day,” Wang said. The 21-kilometer-long (13-mile) lake offers sanctuary, but porpoises within the river face intense pressure. The WWF’s Zhang said the species’ days in the river may be numbered. “They have nowhere to hide in the river,” he said. “As long as danger exists, such as a further deterioration of natural habitat, it’s very likely their numbers could drastically decrease again.” With the clock ticking, a research facility in the nearby industrial city of Wuhan hosts six finless porpoises for research, breeding and to engage the public. Two gracefully circled by an observation window that looks into their huge tank, playfully tilting their bodies to glimpse the human visitors. “They are saying ‘hi’ to us,” said Liu Hanhui, a volunteer. “I think they understand human feelings.” The WWF says adult Yangtze finless porpoises have the intelligence of a 3- to 5-year-old child. Just before feeding, they are coaxed to open their mouths on cue, show off their smiles, and shake hands by extending a flipper. Yet they are difficult to breed in captivity. A calf born in June at the dolphin aquarium — founded in 1980 — is just the second produced there to survive more than 100 days. Wild calves often die before adulthood due to human impact on the environment. Liu, an aquaculture student at a nearby university, and 40 other volunteers help feed them on weekends and holidays, and take part in various activities to promote awareness. Conservation programs and events in the region have proliferated in recent years, backed by scores of businesses and NGOs aiming to instruct the public and encourage greater government protection efforts. “Our development has caused a species to rapidly disappear. I feel like I’m atoning for mankind’s crimes,” Liu said.
|
china;nature;animals;endangered;rivers
|
jp0010315
|
[
"national"
] |
2018/12/20
|
Japan to regularly release figures for foreign workers by region and sector under new visa system
|
The government said Thursday it plans to regularly release data on the number of foreign nationals working in Japan under a new visa system from April, as part of its efforts to avoid having them concentrate in large cities. Regional communities face more severe labor crunches than metropolises. To prevent the excessive concentration of foreign workers in Tokyo and other big cities, the Justice Ministry plans to make it publicly known how many foreign people are working under the new system by prefecture and industry once every three months. The ministry unveiled the plan in a meeting with ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers, who adopted a set of government steps to accept more foreign workers under the revised immigration law that was enacted earlier this month. The government is expected to formally endorse the measures, which also include support for foreign workers, on Tuesday. Japan plans to accept up to 345,150 blue-collar workers from abroad across 14 business sectors, including construction, farming and nursing care, over five years from 2019 under the new visa system. The move marks a major policy shift for the country, which has typically granted working visas mainly to doctors, professors and other highly skilled professionals. The government has rushed to come up with concrete steps to accept foreign laborers amid criticism that the legislation, which was railroaded through the Diet by the ruling parties, lacks specifics, including what types of jobs the foreign workers would engage in. Under the draft basic policy, Japan would accept foreign workers in sectors that suffer from manpower shortages despite their efforts to improve productivity or secure human resources domestically. The new visa system calls for the creation of two new resident statuses. The first type allows people to engage in work that requires a certain level of knowledge and experience, while the second type is for workers with a higher level of skill. Applicants for the new working status will be required to pass Japanese-language and technical skill exams. The industry-specific draft policies stipulate the estimated number of workers to be accepted by sector and when Japanese-language assessment tests for hopeful applicants can start. The technical exams are expected to be conducted from next April in only three sectors: nursing care, accommodation and restaurants. The remaining 11 industries are likely to initially take in interns that possess visas under the existing government-sponsored technical training program, which doesn’t require such tests, and start conducting technical exams later. Support measures for foreign workers may include the creation of one-stop consultation centers, and the provision of administrative services and multilingual natural disaster information.
|
immigration;visas;foreign labor
|
jp0010316
|
[
"business",
"tech"
] |
2018/12/18
|
Lovot, Japan's new touchy-feely family robot, aims to spread a little love
|
Tokyo is one of the biggest cities in the world, but it also might be the loneliest. So much so that its people may need to be taught how to love by a robot. On Tuesday, robotics venture company Groove X Inc. unveiled a cute knee-high robot called Lovot. The name is a combination of the words “love” and “robot,” which befits a device whose primary function is to provide people with comfort and companionship. “Lovot does not have life, but being with one is comforting and warm,” said Kaname Hayashi, president of Groove X and leader of the development team that created Pepper, the semi-humanoid robot from SoftBank Robotics. “We want people to see that though something may seem useless at first glance, it serves a meaningful function in other ways.” Born from the concept that “a small amount of love will change the world,” Lovot was created to redefine the role that robots play in our society. A thermographic camera on its head allows Lovot to track the motion of people around it. It pays careful attention to minute details like facial expressions, hand gestures and even posture. It has tactile sensors on every surface, LCD eye displays, high speed movement and a high-powered computer. It even has dilating pupils. Lovot also functions as a makeshift surveillance camera or baby monitor by transmitting live footage from a device on its head. For those concerned about privacy, it can function without an internet connection and its cameras can be configured so the footage is not preserved in any way. “But it can do much more than that,” Hayashi said. “Lovot is a mysterious and cute presence that will behave differently based on its interactions with its owner.” Lovot responds to individuals based on how they treat it, the company said. Someone who treats it well, for example, will gain its affection. On the other hand, Lovot will likely avoid or ignore anybody who abuses or neglects it. Beyond its technical capabilities, Lovot has many eerily human attributes as well. The small, spherical robot wanders around, mapping the layout of the room as it goes. When it encounters a person, it often flaps its arms to signal that it wants to be held. With a soft outer shell, interchangeable clothing and an internal temperature just above human body heat, Lovot was designed with the family in mind, Hayashi said. Lovot is being sold in sets of two for ¥598,000. In 2020, individual units will be available for ¥349,000. Online orders can be made as of Tuesday and most units will be delivered around fall or winter 2019. “It’s important for trust to be created between people and machines,” Hayashi said. “Until now, such things were beyond the reach of modern technology. Our predecessors predicted that this day would come.”
|
softbank;robots;pepper;lovot
|
jp0010317
|
[
"business",
"financial-markets"
] |
2018/12/18
|
Dollar weaker below ¥112.60 in late Tokyo trading
|
The dollar was softer below ¥112.60 in Tokyo trading late Tuesday, hurt by a slide in Japanese and U.S. stock prices. At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥112.52-52, down from ¥113.40-40 at the same time Monday. The euro was at $1.1357-1357, up from $1.1318-1318, and at ¥127.80-80, down from ¥128.36-37. After moving around ¥112.80 in early trading, the dollar lost ground gradually in line with a fall in the Nikkei 225 average. “The absence of follow-up buying made any rally in the dollar short-lived as sentiment was hurt by weak stock prices,” an official at a foreign exchange brokerage service firm said. “The dollar may fall further against the yen in overseas trading hours if U.S. and European stocks retreat,” the official said. A technical chart suggests that the dollar will fall below ¥112.50 briefly and explore its near-term bottom, an official of a foreign exchange margin trading service firm said.
|
exchange rates;forex;currencies
|
jp0010318
|
[
"business",
"financial-markets"
] |
2018/12/18
|
Tokyo stocks turn sharply lower on Wall Street's rout
|
Stocks turned substantially lower Tuesday, tracking an overnight plunge on Wall Street. The Nikkei 225 average tumbled 391.43 points, or 1.82 percent, to end at 21,115.45. On Monday, the key market gauge gained 132.05 points. The Topix, which covers all first-section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, was down 31.69 points, or 1.99 percent, at 1,562.51, its lowest finish since May 19, 2017. It climbed 2.04 points Monday. Japanese equities came under heavy selling pressure after U.S. stocks plumetted Monday amid growing concerns about slowing global growth, brokers said. The Tokyo market was also hurt by the yen’s strengthening against the dollar, they said. Stocks met with “futures-led selling by short-term players,” said Ryuta Otsuka, strategist at the investment information department of Toyo Securities Co. A sluggish performance of Chinese stocks was another factor prompting massive sell-offs of Japanese equities, Otsuka added. Worries about a global economic slowdown intensified after the Empire State Manufacturing Survey’s general business conditions index for December, released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on Monday, fell far short of market expectations, an official of a bank-linked securities firm said. Falling issues overwhelmed rising ones 1,982 to 132 in the first section, while 15 issues were unchanged. Trading volume increased to 1.625 billion shares from Monday’s 1.362 billion. Park24 plummeted 12.50 percent after the hourly parking service provider on Monday gave disappointing profit estimates for the year through next October, brokers said. Lower crude oil prices dragged down oil companies JXTG, Cosmo Energy and Inpex. Takeda Pharmaceutical and mobile phone carrier SoftBank Group were also on the minus side. By contrast, Daito Trust Construction rose after the company announced a boost in its share buyback plan. Other major winners included Semiconductor equipment maker Advantest and automaker Suzuki.
|
stocks;tse;nikkei 225
|
jp0010319
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2018/12/18
|
Democrats jockeying over coming probes into Trump's finances, Russia ties
|
WASHINGTON - With less than three weeks to go before they take control of the U.S. House of Representatives, Democrats are jockeying to lead overlapping investigations into President Donald Trump in a scramble that could cause headaches for Nancy Pelosi, who is expected to be House speaker. The investigations will be led by as many as six different House committees with some falling under the possible jurisdiction of two or more, Democratic congressional sources said. The main areas of investigation include Trump’s tax returns and business properties; any collusion between his campaign team and Russian interference in the 2016 election; any violations of a constitutional clause that forbids the president from accepting gifts from foreign governments without the consent of Congress; and allegations that he broke campaign finance laws with hush money payments to two women who said they had sex with him. Democrats are keen to start digging but could face problems if they move too quickly and are seen to be neglecting legislation on key issues or if they bicker among themselves over who leads the investigations. Democratic sources familiar with weeks of regular talks between the senior lawmakers who will lead the House committees said a key issue has been how to prevent overlap between dozens of possible probes. Most of the investigative roles have been agreed on but there is still some jostling, especially from rank-and-file committee members who want a piece of the action. “There’s going to be jockeying. But there’s also got to be some refereeing,” said Rep. Elijah Cummings, who is in line to chair the House Oversight Committee. “One thing we’ve vowed to do is not step on each other. We may be in disagreement but we’re not going to be disagreeable,” he said. Nancy Pelosi, likely to be elected speaker of the House in January, will have a central role in deciding which committees take on the investigations, and how they coordinate. Ashley Etienne, a senior adviser to Pelosi, said Democrats have had weekly strategy meetings on their oversight work throughout Trump’s presidency and are “incredibly coordinated” and ready to go after winning a House majority in elections last month. “The American people deserve answers and demand accountability,” Etienne said. “Given the magnitude of the corruption, cronyism and incompetency in this administration, it’s definitely a war room-style effort.” Most of the investigative work will be done by six House committees — Intelligence, Government Reform and Oversight, Ways and Means, Judiciary, Financial Services and Foreign Affairs. Sources say Democrats on several committees want to probe Trump’s ties to Russia, especially his plans to build a Trump Tower in Moscow and whether he told his former attorney, Michael Cohen, to lie about them in testimony to Congress. “The Russia piece is the most complicated because there are so many moving parts,” Cummings said. The incoming chairs of at least three committees also have expressed interest in examining Trump’s debts and financial relationships, including his dealings with Deutsche Bank. Other issues that could attract multiple committees include the Trump administration’s controversial immigration policies. The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the likely House investigations. Trump denies any collusion between his campaign and Moscow ahead of the election, calling an investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller and congressional probes part of a “witch hunt” against him. He also has denied any wrongdoing in his business affairs, the efforts to seek a property deal in Moscow or in his government’s immigration policies. Pelosi said last week that obtaining Trump’s tax returns will be a priority. “There is popular demand for the Congress to request the president’s tax returns,” she said, adding that “the first steps” will be taken by Ways and Means, the only House committee authorized to request them from Treasury. Some Democrats are concerned, however, that an aggressive early effort to dig into Trump’s taxes could be risky, with Trump’s allies almost certain to allege he is being harassed. To avoid that, Democrats are debating a different approach: investigate other companies and individuals involved in controversial Trump properties and combine that with transaction data on file with government agencies in order to justify a request for Trump’s tax returns. When he was running for president, Trump refused to release his tax returns, saying he would do it once an audit was completed. He has yet to release them and his administration is expected to resist any congressional request for them, meaning a likely legal battle ahead. Other elements of Trump’s financial and business dealings also are in House Democrats’ crosshairs. The Intelligence Committee’s incoming chairman, Rep. Adam Schiff, has said Democrats need to look into “credible allegations that the Russians may have been laundering money through the Trump organization.” Aides to Rep. Jackie Speier, a key Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, already are compiling evidence about the alleged involvement of organized crime figures in Trump property deals, including some outside the United States. Trump has said he wants to work with Democrats on passing bipartisan legislation but that it will not happen if they start investigations against him. “We’re going to go down one of two tracks,” he said in an interview last week. “We’re either going to start the campaign and they’re going to do presidential harassment. Or we’re going to get tremendous amounts of legislation passed working together. There’s not a third track.”
|
congress;russia;democrats;finances;u.s. house;nancy pelosi;donald trump;trump organization;adam schiff
|
jp0010321
|
[
"asia-pacific"
] |
2018/12/18
|
U.N. Security Council considers move to push Myanmar on Rohingya crisis, but Russia and China boycott talks
|
UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. Security Council is considering action to push Myanmar to work with the United Nations to address the Rohingya refugee crisis, although China and Russia have so far boycotted talks on a British-drafted resolution, diplomats said Monday. The draft resolution aims to put a timeline on Myanmar allowing the return of more than 700,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees from neighboring Bangladesh and addressing accountability, diplomats said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The Rohingya have fled Myanmar’s Rakhine state since August last year, when attacks on security posts by Rohingya insurgents triggered a military crackdown that the United Nations, the United States, Britain and others described as ethnic cleansing. Myanmar denies the accusations of ethnic cleansing. The draft resolution would warn that the 15-member Security Council could consider further steps, including sanctions, if there was not enough progress made by Myanmar, diplomats said. It would also ask U.N. officials to report back regularly to the council. It was unclear if or when the draft resolution could be put to a vote. A resolution needs nine votes in favor and no vetoes by Russia, China, the United States, Britain or France to pass. “I think it’s inappropriate, untimely and useless,” Russian U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said Monday. China’s U.N. Ambassador Ma Zhaoxu declined to comment. Myanmar’s U.N. Ambassador Hau Do Suan did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The draft was circulated to council members late last month and diplomats said that there had been several rounds of discussions. Russia and China attended an initial meeting, but have not taken part in any further talks, diplomats said. The text would push Myanmar to implement a memorandum of understanding with the U.N. development and refugee agencies that Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s government signed in June, as well recommendations made by the Rakhine Advisory Commission that was led by former U.N. chief Kofi Annan. The draft resolution does not include a referral of the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court, diplomats said. Security Council envoys traveled to Bangladesh and Myanmar in late April. In October, China, backed by Russia, failed to stop a Security Council briefing by the chair of a U.N. inquiry that accused Myanmar’s military of genocide against Rohingya Muslims. Myanmar has rejected the findings of the U.N. report.
|
china;human rights;russia;myanmar;united nations;u.n. security council;genocide;rohingya;refugee
|
jp0010322
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"social-issues-asia-pacific"
] |
2018/12/18
|
'No place for a mother': South Korea battles to raise birthrate
|
SEOUL - When Ashley Park started her marketing job at a Seoul drugmaker she had a near-perfect college record, flawless English, and got on well with her colleagues — none of which mattered to her employer once she fell pregnant. Nine months after she joined, Park said, “They said to my face that there is no place in the company for a woman with a child, so I needed to quit.” All the women working at the firm were single or childless, she suddenly realized, and mostly below 40. Park’s case exemplifies why so many South Korean women are put off marriage and childbirth, pushing the country’s birthrate — one of the world’s lowest — ever further down. Earlier this month Seoul announced its latest set of measures to try to stem the decline, but critics say they will have little to no effect in the face of deep-seated underlying causes. Many South Korean firms are reluctant to employ mothers, doubting their commitment to the company and fearing that they will not put in the long hours that are standard in the country — as well as to avoid paying for their legally-entitled birth leave. When Park refused to quit, her boss relentlessly bullied her — banning her from attending business meetings and ignoring her at the office “like I was an invisible ghost” — and management threatened to fire her husband, who worked at the same company. After fighting for about six months, she finally relented and offered her resignation, giving birth to a daughter a month later. Aside from a brief stint at an IT start-up that did not keep its promise of flexible working hours, she has been a stay-at-home mother ever since. “I studied and worked so hard for years to get a job when youth unemployment was so high, and enjoyed my work so much … and look what happened to me,” Park said. Now 27, she has been rejected at several job interviews as soon as she revealed she had a child, and has given up seeking employment, trying to set up her own trading business instead. “The government kept telling women to have more children… but how, in a country like this?” she asked. The South’s fertility rate — the number of children a woman is expected to have in her lifetime — fell to 0.95 in the third quarter of 2018, the first time it has dropped below 1 and far short of the 2.1 needed to maintain stability. As a result of the trend, which has been dubbed a “birth strike” by women, the population of the world’s 11th largest economy, currently 51 million, is expected to start falling in 2028. Many cite reasons ranging from the expense of child-rearing, high youth unemployment, long working hours and limited day care to career setbacks for working mothers. Even if women hold on to their jobs, they bear a double burden of carrying out the brunt of household chores. Patriarchal values remain deeply ingrained in the South: nearly 85 percent of South Korean men back the idea of women working, according to a state survey, but that plummets to 47 percent when asked whether they would support their own wives having a job. Employment rates for married men and women are dramatically different — 82 percent and 53 percent respectively. Now nearly three-quarters of South Korean women aged 20-40 see marriage as unnecessary, an opinion poll by a financial magazine and a recruitment website showed. But almost all children in the South are born in wedlock. Against that backdrop, the South’s government has spent a whopping 136 trillion won ($121 billion) since 2005 to try to boost the birthrate, mostly through campaigns to encourage more young people to wed and reproduce, without success. Earlier this month it announced yet another round of measures. They included expanding child subsidies of up to 300,000 won ($270) a month, and allowing parents with children younger than eight to work an hour less each day to take care of their offspring. More day care centers and kindergartens will be built, and men will be allowed — but not obliged — to take 10 days of paid birth leave, up from the current three. But many measures were not legally binding and carried no punishment for firms that denied their workers the promised benefits, and the package met a disdainful response. “The government policies are based on this simplistic assumption that ‘if we give more money, people would have more children,’ ” the Korea Women Workers Association said in a statement. Seoul should first address “relentless sexual discrimination at work and the double burden of work and house chores” for women, it added. The centrist Korea Times newspaper also questioned whether such “lackluster” state policies would bring in real change unless the government tackled the real drivers of women shunning marriage and childbirth. “Unless these harsh conditions for women change, no amount of government subsidies will convince women having children is a happy choice.”
|
children;population;birthrate;south korea;mothers
|
jp0010323
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"crime-legal-asia-pacific"
] |
2018/12/18
|
Defendant suffers setback in Malaysia trial over murder of Kim Jong Nam
|
SHAH ALAM, MALAYSIA - An Indonesian woman due to begin her defense next month in her trial for the murder in Malaysia of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s half brother suffered a setback Tuesday when a judge rejected her bid to secure statements given to police by seven witnesses. Siti Aisyah’s lawyer, Gooi Soon Seng, said he will appeal the High Court’s ruling that the statements were privileged. He said the statements were crucial because most of the witnesses were unreachable. In August, a High Court judge found there was enough evidence to infer that Aisyah and her Vietnamese co-defendant, Doan Thi Huong, along with four missing North Korean suspects, had engaged in a “well-planned conspiracy” to kill Kim Jong Nam. The two young women are accused of smearing VX nerve agent on Kim’s face in an airport terminal in Kuala Lumpur on Feb. 13, 2017. They have said they thought they were taking part in a prank for a TV show. They are the only suspects in custody. The four North Korean suspects fled the country the same morning Kim was killed. Aisyah was due to begin testifying on Jan. 7, but Gooi said there will be a delay pending the appeal. He said one of the witnesses, the man who chauffeured Kim to the airport, had died. He said they have managed to interview only two of the seven witnesses offered by prosecutors, while the others couldn’t be contacted. As such, what they had told police could help provide a clearer picture of Kim’s death, he said. Gooi said Tuesday’s ruling would “compromise our case.” In his ruling, the judge agreed with prosecutors’ contention that the statements shouldn’t be made public because there is a risk of tampering with witnesses. The judge said, however, that prosecutors are required to ensure that the witnesses turn up for the trial. The court didn’t set any new trial dates.
|
malaysia;murder;north korea;kim jong un;kim jong nam
|
jp0010324
|
[
"national"
] |
2018/12/18
|
Japan defense plan calls for aircraft carriers at sea and vigilance in space and cyberspace
|
Japan decided Tuesday to pursue the deployment of aircraft carriers for the first time since the end of World War II and beef up its defense in new domains of warfare, such as cyberspace, under its new 10-year defense policy. The latest national defense guidelines, which will enable Japan to modify helicopter carriers so they can launch U.S.-made F-35B fighter jets, were adopted as the government sees the security environment as increasing in uncertainty amid China’s expanding military activities and rapid advances in technology. “We need to develop truly effective defense abilities, rather than simply expanding traditional ones,” the government said in the policy, which covers a period from fiscal 2019 and is endorsed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Cabinet. The policy was last updated in 2013. In the new guidelines, the government says China’s military activities in the East China Sea and other surrounding waters are a source of “strong concern” in the region, while warning of China’s quest for military supremacy in space and the cyber domain, which could enable the country to disrupt command and control systems. As part of its efforts to enhance the defense of islands in the Pacific Ocean and other areas where not many airfields exist, the government said it plans to upgrade Izumo-class flat-top helicopter carriers to enable it to transport and launch fighter jets, such as F-35Bs. “We will refit Maritime Self-Defense Force multipurpose helicopter destroyers so fighter jets capable of short takeoffs and vertical landings can be deployed when necessary,” the government said in its new five-year midterm defense buildup program, which was endorsed along with the defense guidelines the same day. The idea, however, has already been criticized by some defense experts who call it a deviation from the country’s self-defense policy under the pacifist Constitution. In an apparent effort to reassure the public, the government has stipulated in the defense buildup program that it has no intention of possessing an offensive type of aircraft carrier deemed to exceed the constitutional limit. “The planned modification to the Izumo-class carriers is to increase their applications,” Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya told a news conference after the guidelines were approved. Given that the ships will not constantly carry fighters, their operations will be defensive in nature and will not violate the Constitution, Iwaya added. The government has placed considerable emphasis on the need to address the fields of cyberspace, outer space and electronic warfare, saying in the guidelines that the areas have the potential to “fundamentally change the shape of national security,” which has so far mainly focused on conventional ground, sea and air domains. Noting the increasing need for the country’s ground, maritime and air units to act flexibly across all kinds of domains, the government says it will aim to form a “multidimensional joint defense force.” The Self-Defense Forces are also expected to drastically improve their cyberdefense capabilities, such as by possessing an ability to obstruct the enemy’s use of cyberspace when the nation is under attack, it says. But it may require careful consideration for Japan to carry out such “counterattacks,” as the country restricts the use of force for self-defense to certain conditions in light of the Constitution. Further complicating the issue is the lack of an established definition of cyberattacks internationally, and it is also believed to be difficult to identify the attacking source at an early stage. Regarding outer space, where Japan is seen to be lagging behind other countries in the race to gain military superiority, a new unit will be created inside the Air Self-Defense Force to continuously monitor space and act for the nation’s defense. The government also plans to invest in artificial intelligence technologies and underwater drones. To achieve the latest Medium Term Defense Program, which covers a five-year period from fiscal 2019, the government says it expects to spend around ¥27.47 trillion, a record high. The program includes a plan to purchase a total of 18 fighter jets — apparently to put them on Izumo-class carriers — and install two U.S.-developed land-based Aegis missile systems to counter the North Korean nuclear and missile threat. The defense budget has been on the rise under the administration of Abe, who took office in 2012. For the next fiscal year starting in April, the Defense Ministry has requested another record-high budget of about ¥5.3 trillion, including around ¥235 billion in costs related to the acquisition of the Aegis Ashore system. With Japan purchasing U.S. defense equipment mainly through the foreign military sales arrangement, the government says in the latest defense guidelines it will seek to “streamline” the process to procure the sophisticated armaments “efficiently.” Japan has been under pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump’s “Buy American” policy. The foreign military sales arrangement is used by Washington to prevent sensitive military technology from leaking, but critics say it is making Japan buy equipment at an asking price that is extremely expensive. To secure enough SDF personnel as the country’s overall population ages and birthrates decline, the government says in the guidelines it plans to raise the retirement age of members and more actively recruit women. New defense guidelines and midterm buildup program The following is the gist of the new National Defense Program Guidelines and the fiscal 2019-2023 midterm defense buildup program approved by the Cabinet on Tuesday. Japan: will upgrade Izumo-class helicopter carriers so that they can transport and launch fighter jets. will buy 18 F-35B fighter jets capable of short takeoffs and vertical landings. will beef up defense in new domains of warfare such as cyber and outer space. aims to build “multidimensional” defense capabilities for operations across various domains. expresses “strong concern” over China’s military activities. will install two land-based Aegis missile systems. will spend over ¥27 trillion — a record — in the five-year period.
|
defense;guidelines;cyberspace;izumo;aircraft carriers
|
jp0010325
|
[
"national"
] |
2018/12/18
|
Petition calling for halt to Okinawa base work meets threshold to warrant White House reply
|
NEW YORK - A petition to Washington that calls for a temporary halt to reclamation work for the construction of a U.S. base off Okinawa hit the signature threshold on Tuesday to warrant a response from the White House. Robert Kajiwara, a 32-year-old Japanese-American from Hawaii, started the online petition on Dec. 8 through the White House’s We the People website and garnered more than 100,000 signatures within 10 days, well within the 30 days necessary for a reply. Full-fledged reclamation work off the Henoko coastal district of Nago started on Friday despite stiff local opposition. The work is being carried out for the planned transfer of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, based on a bilateral agreement in 1996. Addressing U.S. President Donald Trump, the petition asks the work to be stopped until Feb. 24 when the southern island will hold a prefectural referendum on the base transfer plan. “Please STOP the landfill work in Okinawa until a democratic referendum can be held,” it asks. The petition also references the election this September of Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki who ran on a platform to end the transfer of the Futenma base within Okinawa. His predecessor, Takeshi Onaga, died of cancer in the midst of his fight to oppose the plan. “The Japanese government and U.S. military have so far IGNORED the democratic will of Gov. Tamaki & the Okinawan people,” the petition says. Requesting a halt to the construction work “to ensure that democracy prevails,” the petition says, “Please show Okinawans that America is indeed an honorable and GREAT nation.” The petition also mentions that continuing the work will “forever strain U.S.-Okinawa relations.” Having hosted the bulk of U.S. military facilities in Japan for decades, many people in Okinawa are frustrated with noise, crime and accidents linked to the military and do not want to see any new bases built in the prefecture. The White House is supposed to respond within 60 days to any petition that gathers 100,000 signatures within 30 days of its starting date. Petitioners can be of any nationality but must be over 13 years of age. Japan-based celebrities such as model and actress Rola and pop star Ryuchell, who hails from Okinawa, have raised awareness about the petition via their social media accounts. On her Instagram account, which has some 5.2 million followers, Rola said that the reclamation of Okinawa’s beautiful sea can be stopped if people join hands, calling for their messages to be delivered to the White House.
|
okinawa;white house;u.s. bases;futenma;rola
|
jp0010326
|
[
"national"
] |
2018/12/18
|
Japan rises four places to lowly 110th in WEF's global gender equality rankings
|
LONDON - Japan has been placed 110th in the World Economic Forum’s global gender equality rankings for 2018, released Tuesday, up from 114th last year. The rise reflected narrower wage gaps and an increase in women’s labor participation rate. Still, the nation remains low in the WEF rankings five years after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe set out a policy of promoting the empowerment of women as part of his government’s growth strategy and more than three years after a related law was partially implemented. The WEF survey, covering 149 countries, examined gender equality in the fields of politics, economy, education and health. Japan received poor marks for political empowerment, such as the proportions of women among lawmakers and Cabinet ministers. In the economic field, the country ranked low for annual income equality and the proportion of women in managerial positions. In education, the country received a low evaluation for the proportion of women enrolled in higher educational institutions. Iceland topped the rankings for the 10th straight year, followed by Norway, Sweden and Finland. The United States came 51st, China 103rd, South Korea 115th and Saudi Arabia, 141st.
|
world economic forum;women;discrimination;gender equality rankings
|
jp0010327
|
[
"business",
"tech"
] |
2018/12/27
|
Does Toyota dream of robotic housekeepers?
|
Toyota Motor Corp. has sold enough cars to put one outside every Japanese home. Now it wants to put robots inside those homes. Well-known for its automated assembly lines, Toyota envisions a not-so-far-off future in which robots transcend the factory and become commonplace in homes — helping with chores and even offering companionship, in an aging society where a quarter of the population is over 65 and millions of seniors live alone. Machines have become much smarter in the past decade or so. Yet, every attempt to build one that can do simple things like load a washing machine or carry groceries encounters the same basic, physical problem: The stronger a robot gets, the heavier and more dangerous it becomes. What Toyota has going for it are $29 billion in cash reserves, a new artificial intelligence research center and a well-respected inventor, Gill Pratt, heading its efforts. “This is a company with so many resources that you can never ignore them,” said Morten Paulsen, a Tokyo-based analyst at CLSA Japan Securities Co. who has covered the robotics industry for decades. Toyota has been experimenting with robots since at least 2004, when it unveiled a trumpet-playing humanoid with artificial lips, lungs and movable fingers that could accompany a human orchestra. Since then, research has become more practical. Toyota’s latest android, the T-HR3, is a kind of avatar that can be manipulated remotely, via wearable controls, with vision goggles that allow users to see through the machine’s cameras. The device could one day serve as arms and legs for the bedridden, or as a surrogate for relief workers in disaster zones. In 2015, the automaker spent a billion dollars to open its AI-focused Toyota Research Institute in Silicon Valley. Last year it set up a $100 million fund to invest in startups and new robotics technology, and this year the company restructured its Partner Robot division to speed decision-making and shorten development time. “There’s internal pressure all of a sudden to move faster,” senior manager Keisuke Suga said at a recent industry forum near the automaker’s Toyota City headquarters in Aichi Prefecture. The road to robots has had its setbacks. In 2011, Toyota demonstrated a machine for lifting patients in and out of bed, but engineers had only tested it on healthy volunteers. Once they discovered that the frail and elderly required a more delicate touch, the product was shelved. Another device, a personal scooter that resembled a Segway, looked promising in trials but was kept off the streets by regulatory holdups. Outside of factories and warehouses, in fact, unfulfilled promise has been the main story for robots. For example, Boston Dynamics, a ballyhooed firm started by engineers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has spent more than 12 years developing four-legged automatons but still hasn’t proved they can be commercialized. Most of the $2.1 billion spent by consumers last year on household robots was for automated vacuum cleaners and lawn mowers — not exactly the stuff of science fiction. Toyota says the need for elderly care will change that. The automaker illustrates the point with a chart showing Japan’s inverted age pyramid in the year 2050, when a third fewer workers will have to support twice as many old people as today. (Some 22 percent of the world’s population will be over 60 by then, according to the World Health Organization.) Toyota’s Human Support Robot is the machine the automaker sees as closest to making the leap from lab to living room. The robotic equivalent of a Corolla — all function and no frills — the HSR is basically a retractable arm on wheels with a video screen on top and two large camera eyes that give it the rudiments of a face. While the hefty high-tech contraption weighs as much as half a dozen bowling balls, it can only lift a 1.2-kilogram payload. Still, with the right software the machine can do some interesting things. In a demo this fall by an AI startup called Preferred Networks Inc., one of Toyota’s partners, the robot was able to learn where books, pens and other items belonged on a shelf, and clean a room that looked like it had been turned upside-down by a 3-year-old. Using its sensor eyes and its pincer, the machine arranged a pair of slippers neatly on the floor next to each other, with both feet pointing in the same direction. Asked when its home helpers will be available to consumers, Toyota wouldn’t say. But adviser Masanori Sugiyama, a former top manager in the robot program, says the HSR could be ready to perform simple tasks, like tidying up or delivering meals, for hospitals and rest homes in two or three years. For machines with more profound skills, the wait will be longer. “They need to be able to understand what people are thinking, and have empathy,” said Sugiyama. “The idea is for the robot to be a friend.”
|
toyota;robots;ai
|
jp0010328
|
[
"business",
"financial-markets"
] |
2018/12/27
|
Nikkei average finishes above 20,000
|
The benchmark Nikkei average powered higher to close above 20,000 on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Thursday, thanks to a strong overnight rally in U.S. equities. The 225-issue Nikkei average jumped 750.56 points, or 3.88 percent, to end at 20,077.62 — its first finish above 20,000 since Friday. It had gained 171.32 points Wednesday. The Topix index of all first-section issues closed up 70.16 points, or 4.90 percent, at 1,501.63, after climbing 15.92 points the previous day. The Tokyo market attracted hefty purchases across the board after the Dow Jones industrial average closed 1,086.25 points, or 4.98 percent, higher in New York on Wednesday, posting its largest single-day point gain ever. The yen’s weakening against the dollar also served as a tailwind to Japanese shares, market sources said. “Investor sentiment improved to some extent” on the back of the strong U.S. market, traced partly to the announcements of brisk U.S. retail sales data for the holiday season, an official at a bank-linked securities firm said. The official also said Wall Street’s rally came after Kevin Hassett, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, denied the possibility that Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell would be fired by President Donald Trump. Tomoaki Fujii, head of the investment research division at Akatsuki Securities Inc., expressed his view that Japanese stocks advanced Thursday after they had been oversold. Ryuta Otsuka, strategist at the investment information department of Toyo Securities Co., said the Tokyo market attracted “mainly buybacks.” Rising issues overwhelmed falling ones 2,112 to 11 in the TSE’s first section, while six issues were unchanged. Trading volume increased to 1.576 billion shares from Wednesday’s 1.388 billion shares. Cosmetics maker Shiseido Co., daily goods manufacturer Kao Corp., convenience store operator FamilyMart Uny Holdings Co. and other issues related to personal consumption attracted heavy purchases after U.S. retail stocks fared well in New York on Wednesday. Higher crude oil prices lifted oil companies JXTG Holdings Inc., Idemitsu Kosan Co., Showa Shell Sekiyu KK and Inpex Corp. Other major winners included mobile phone carrier SoftBank Corp. and air conditioner producer Daikin Industries. Meanwhile, clothing retailer Taka-Q Co. was among a handful of losers. In index futures trading on the Osaka Exchange, the key March 2019 contract on the Nikkei average shot up 630 points to end at 20,020.
|
stocks;tse;nikkei 225
|
jp0010329
|
[
"business",
"financial-markets"
] |
2018/12/27
|
Dollar firmer above ¥110.90 in late Tokyo trading
|
The dollar was stronger above ¥110.90 in late Tokyo trading Thursday, supported by an overnight sharp rebound in U.S. equities. At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥110.92, up from ¥110.42 at the same time Wednesday. The euro was at $1.1380, down from $1.1401, and at ¥126.31, up from ¥125.89. The U.S. stock rally eased risk aversion among financial market participants, boosting the dollar to around ¥111.40 in early trading, traders said. The dollar spent the rest of the day in Tokyo mainly around ¥111. The greenback gave in to fresh sales in late trading to fall below ¥111 again, according to the traders. The late bout of sales reflected a risk-averse mood rekindled by news reports that U.S. President Donald Trump is considering an executive order to bar U.S. firms from using telecommunications equipment made by Chinese companies, including Huawei Technologies Co., a currency broker said. Market activity was generally muted amid a strong wait-and-see mood to check the movements of U.S. stocks later on Thursday, said an official at a foreign exchange margin trading service provider.
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exchange rates;foreign exchange;forex;currencies;fx
|
jp0010330
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2018/12/27
|
Sharp to spin off semiconductor business
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OSAKA - Electronics maker Sharp Corp. has said it will spin off its semiconductor business, possibly in April 2019. The move is aimed at establishing a structure that enables prompt management decisions and the active introduction of outside resources through tie-ups with other firms. Sharp will set up two wholly owned subsidiaries that will absorb the semiconductor-related operations to be spun off, the company said Wednesday. One of the two units will focus on semiconductors and sensors and the other on semiconductor lasers. Sharp Chairman and President Tai Jeng-wu told reporters that the company’s management resources are limited in the field of semiconductors so he wants to tap overseas and domestic resources, showing eagerness to forge alliances with other firms including Sharp’s parent, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. of Taiwan. Currently, Sharp manufactures semiconductor-related products at its plants in the prefectures of Hiroshima and Nara. As the company has been concentrating its resources on liquid crystal-related businesses since the 1990s, however, it has not made any large-scale investment in its semiconductor business in close to 20 years.
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sharp;semiconductor
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jp0010331
|
[
"world",
"crime-legal-world"
] |
2018/12/27
|
Argentine woman rescued in Bolivia 32 years after kidnapping at age 13 by human traffickers
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BUENOS AIRES - An Argentine woman kidnapped 32 years ago as a teenager has been found alive and well in Bolivia following a joint investigation between the two countries, Argentine police said Wednesday. Now 45, the woman was the victim of human trafficking at just 13 years old, police said. Bolivian officers had been gathering evidence on the woman’s whereabouts for several months at the behest of their Argentine counterparts, before locating her in a small town in the south of the country. Once Bolivian authorities gave the authorization, police liberated the woman and her son. The pair were transferred to Mar del Plata, her home town some 400 km (250 miles) to the south of Buenos Aires, where she was reunited with family, Argentine police said.
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kidnapping;argentina;bolivia;human traffickers
|
jp0010332
|
[
"national"
] |
2018/12/27
|
36% of cancer patients in Japan spend final months in pain: survey
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About 36 percent of terminal cancer patients in Japan spent their last months in pain in 2016, according to a National Cancer Center survey. The result highlights the need to improve palliative care, the center said Wednesday. The questionnaire-based survey was conducted between February and March, covering 3,204 family members of cancer patients who died in 2016. Of them, 1,630 gave valid responses. Of the total, 39 percent were spouses and 40 percent children. The average age of the patients when they died was 78.1. Asked whether the cancer patients’ final months had been spent relatively pain-free, the respondents were given a choice of three positive and four negative answers. Of them, 52 percent answered they “strongly believe so,” “believe so,” or “sort of believe so,” and 36 percent answered they “don’t believe so at all,” “don’t believe so,” “don’t very much believe so,” or “it’s difficult to say.” Twelve percent didn’t respond. Those who recognized psychological pain in the patients accounted for 36 percent of the total. Regarding the situation a week before their deaths, 64 percent said their cancer-suffering family members were in physical pain, including 28 percent who sensed strong pain. Of the total, 42 percent answered that the nursing burden on families was heavy. The share of those who had experienced depression after the ordeal came to 17 percent. The focus of palliative care is to keep patients comfortable, mainly through narcotics for medical use. “We believe we can reduce the number of patients who suffer pain by improving palliative care,” said Masashi Kato, head of the center’s department for cancer treatment assistance. Next year, the center will expand the size of the survey to cover some 50,000 people nationwide to include terminal patients who died of heart and cerebrovascular diseases, pneumonia and kidney failure.
|
survey;cancer;national cancer center;palliative care
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jp0010333
|
[
"national",
"science-health"
] |
2018/12/27
|
Osaka University approves iPS-linked clinical study for corneal damage
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OSAKA - An Osaka University team Wednesday obtained broad approval for its plan to conduct a clinical study on a method to treat patients with a damaged cornea by transplanting cells made from induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells from other people. The team will now file for health ministry approval for the study. If approved, the team hopes to carry out the first transplant surgery in May or June. Four patients aged 20 or over with serious symptoms of a disease called corneal epithelial stem cell deficiency are slated to participate in the study. The cornea is the transparent portion of the outer fibrous coat of the eyeball. If corneal stem cells are lost due to injury or disease, its transparency will also be lost, leading to a drop in visual clarity and possible blindness. A current treatment option for patients with a damaged cornea is to receive a transplant from a donor, but hurdles for this treatment include rejection by the host and a lack of donors. The team, including Osaka University professor Koji Nishida, plans to create corneal epithelial stem cells from iPS cells stockpiled at Kyoto University’s Center for iPS Cell Research and Application. The newly created cells will be transplanted onto the patients’ eyeballs after being set in a sheet structure to examine the safety and effectiveness of the iPS-based therapy. “It’s very important to make the therapy widely available,” Nishida said. “We aim to offer a safe treatment to patients as soon as possible.” In Japan, iPS-derived cells have been transplanted into patients with serious eye disease and Parkinson’s, while clinical studies are planned for heart disease patients and people with damaged spinal cords.
|
ips;osaka university
|
jp0010334
|
[
"national"
] |
2018/12/27
|
Will Japan's decision to quit the IWC pay off?
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In its decision to quit the International Whaling Commission and resume commercial whaling, announced Wednesday, Japan prioritized the protection of the practice as part of the nation’s traditional culture over the potential backlash it could face from the global community. Behind the government’s decision were pro-whaling lawmakers, mainly of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, whose constituencies include traditional whaling communities. “No country is allowed to complain about other countries’ food cultures,” LDP Secretary-General Toshihiro Nikai has argued. Nikai is from the well-known whaling prefecture of Wakayama. Hopes for a breakthrough in the deadlock at the IWC had grown in Japan ahead of a general meeting of the international body in Florianopolis, Brazil, in September, the first Japanese-chaired meeting in about half a century. Tokyo’s delegation was twice as big as at previous IWC meetings and ready to “fight with its back to the wall,” according to a senior official of the Fisheries Agency. But the proposal to restart commercial whaling was voted down at the key IWC meeting, sparking calls at home for the country’s withdrawal from the international body and movement toward that end by the government. “We gained understanding from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe” on the move, an LDP lawmaker said. Questions remain, however, about whether the Japanese decision will prove worthwhile as the move could damage international trust in the country. Meanwhile, annual consumption of whale meat in Japan has plunged well below 10,000 tons since commercial whaling was suspended in 1988, compared with levels over 200,000 tons in the 1960s, when whale meat was a major source of protein in the nation’s diet. It is uncertain whether the resumption of commercial whaling will lead to a rebound in domestic consumption, as many young people have never eaten whale meat and major retailers are reluctant to sell it due to possible criticism from opponents of whaling. Major seafood firm Maruha Nichiro Corp., which withdrew from the whaling business more than four decades ago, has recently made clear its intention not to reenter the business even after the government leaves the IWC. Nippon Suisan Kaisha Ltd. ended its production of canned whale meat in 2006 due to sluggish sales. “We can’t expect demand for dishes using whale meat,” said an official of a major izakaya (Japanese-style pub) chain. The resumption of commercial whaling, now planned for July next year, may not just draw protests from anti-whaling countries but could even provoke a domestic backlash. The planned move “could lead to Japan’s isolation from the international community,” said Yukio Edano, head of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan.
|
whaling;focus;iwc
|
jp0010335
|
[
"national"
] |
2018/12/27
|
Anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd 'delighted' by Japan's IWC withdrawal
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LOS ANGELES - A U.S.-based marine wildlife conservation organization declared a “victory” in making the Antarctic Ocean a whaling-free zone after Japan announced its withdrawal from the International Whaling Commission to resume commercial catches in its economic zone in July. “Sea Shepherd’s objective of ending the slaughter of whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary has been realized,” the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society said in a statement Wednesday. Japan has caught whales in the Antarctic Ocean for what it claims are research purposes, but states that aren’t part of the IWC are banned from conducting research whaling there. Paul Watson, the organization’s founder, said, “We look forward to continuing to oppose the three remaining pirate whaling nations of Norway, Japan and Iceland.” At the request of Japanese authorities, the International Criminal Police Organization has issued an international wanted persons alert for Watson in connection with two incidents that took place in 2010 against a Japanese whaling ship in the Antarctic Ocean. The Sea Shepherd, which describes its activism as “innovative direct-action tactics” that “confront illegal activities on the high seas,” has intervened in Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary since 2002, according to the nonprofit organization. In 2012, a U.S. appeals court ordered the group’s activists to cease “physically attacking” and interfering with Japanese vessels in the Antarctic Ocean.
|
sea shepherd;whaling;southern ocean;iwc
|
jp0010336
|
[
"national"
] |
2018/12/27
|
About 40% of Japanese teens say sex education at school is useless: survey
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About 40 percent of those aged between 17 and 19 think sex education at school is useless, an online survey by the Nippon Foundation think tank showed Thursday. Almost one in four respondents said they have had sex, and three out of four said they were worried about sexually transmitted diseases. Nearly 90 percent feel contraception is necessary, according to the survey. In the survey conducted in October targeting 800 young people nationwide, 59.1 percent said sex education at school was useful but the remainder said it was of no help. One female respondent said schools should explain more about the importance of contraception, while a male said the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases should be given more emphasis. The questionnaire indicated students were dissatisfied with the lack of specifics taught, with one female student saying many teachers were vague in their expressions when teaching about sex. For a multiple-choice question asking respondents where they got information about sex, 55.8 percent cited websites, followed by friends at 50.2 percent. Of the total, 66.7 percent had masturbated, with 74.8 percent of them using smartphones to access explicit content and 8.8 percent simply fantasizing. Since September, the Nippon Foundation has been surveying teenagers to seek opinions on topics related to adult responsibilities. The legal age of adulthood in Japan will be lowered from 20 to 18 in April 2022 following a Civil Code revision. The minimum voting age was reduced to 18 after a revised election law came into effect in June 2016.
|
sex;survey;students;nippon foundation
|
jp0010337
|
[
"business",
"tech"
] |
2018/12/11
|
Lawson tests fried chicken-dispensing robot in Tokyo
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Major convenience store chain Lawson Inc. began experimenting Tuesday with a hot-and-ready food-dispensing robot that looks like its famous mascot, Karaage-kun, at an outlet in Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo. Karaage refers to Japanese fried chicken. The robot, Dekitate (ready-to-eat) Karaage-kun Robo, can prepare food quickly as well as increase efficiency among workers. Depending on the results of the trial, it may be used to make other kinds of fried food as well, according to Lawson. The robot is equipped with state-of-the-art technology that allows it to fry food in just over a minute. Originally, it used to take six minutes to prepare the food, which was kept warm until a customer made an order. Since the new robot is faster, the food is prepared after the order is placed and served fresh. Lawson President Sadanobu Takemasu said he wants to “maximize efficiency and minimize food preparation time.” The trial, which is only held during the daytime, will run until Dec. 28 at the Lawson outlet located inside the TOC Osaki Building near Osaki Station.
|
robots;lawson;fried chicken
|
jp0010338
|
[
"business",
"tech"
] |
2018/12/11
|
Mistrust of Huawei around the world imperils China's ambitions to lead tech revolution
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SHANGHAI - China’s ambitious drive to dominate next-generation 5G technology faces a sudden reality check as fears spread that telecom companies like Huawei could be proxies for Beijing’s intrusive security apparatus. Fifth-generation mobile communications are the next milestone in the digital revolution, bringing near-instantaneous connectivity and vast data capacity. They will enable the widespread adoption of futuristic technologies such as artificial intelligence and automated cars and factories — advances China is desperate to lead. With 5G’s rollout expected to gain pace in coming years, the race to dominate standards and control security and data traffic underpins much of the current high-tech rivalry between the United States and China, technology experts said. Huawei’s status as a leading world supplier of the backbone equipment for telecoms systems — mostly in developing markets — gives China an inside track. But analysts say mounting concern over Huawei imperils that lead. “This is a big threat because if Huawei loses access to lucrative Western markets, this will impact its ability to grow and finance R&D,” said Paul Triolo, a global technology policy expert with risk consultancy Eurasia Group. It also could hinder the deployment of 5G networks in China, which are “a key piece of China’s overall effort to upgrade its industrial base,” he added. The U.S. defense establishment fears China’s dominance of critical 5G infrastructure could enable it to disrupt American military communications or otherwise wage asymmetrical warfare in a confrontation. Triolo warned of potentially disastrous fallout for China if U.S. law enforcement efforts — in the spotlight after the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in Canada — result in a ban on sales of U.S. chips and other vital technology to Huawei. “This could be catastrophic for China’s tech ambitions, threatening (Huawei) itself, supporting industries and future development,” he said. New Zealand recently joined Australia and the U.S. in essentially barring use of Huawei equipment in domestic networks. Following Meng’s arrest on Dec. 1, similar sentiments have arisen from Tokyo to Brussels. On Monday, Kyodo News reported Japan’s top three telecom companies will forego procuring equipment from Huawei and another big Chinese player, ZTE. U.S. officials and lawmakers have long expressed concern that China could use its tech firms to steal trade secrets — accusations Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang on Monday dismissed as “ridiculous.” “These people do not provide a single (piece of) evidence to show how Huawei affects their national security,” Lu said. Distrust of Huawei stems in part from the background of founder Ren Zhengfei, a 74-year-old former People’s Liberation Army engineer. The U.S. has already put the squeeze on ZTE, which faced insolvency earlier this year after the Trump administration temporarily banned American companies from selling vital components to it. Huawei has secured many leading 5G patents and supplied networking equipment for telecom systems around the world that will inevitably carry huge amounts of U.S. data, putting that information at potential risk. “One way to envision (the threat) is to imagine the person who built your house decides to burgle it,” James Lewis, a technology policy expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, wrote in an analysis last week. “They know the layout, power system, access points (and) may have kept a key.” But U.S. firms like Intel and Qualcomm produce the advanced chips critical for 5G, giving Washington huge sway over Huawei, which depends heavily on those technologies. If the U.S. cuts off Huawei’s chip supply and further isolates the company, the blow “will be huge, bigger than ZTE,” said Shi Yinhong, an expert on China-U.S. relations at Beijing’s Renmin University. “If Huawei is hit hard, China will lose its 5G lead.” China observers say President Xi Jinping’s more assertive global stance bears much of the blame for Huawei’s troubles. Late leader Deng Xiaoping famously observed that China’s strategy should be to “hide your strength, bide your time,” to avoid triggering a crippling foreign backlash. But Xi has dumped that, accumulating one-man power, scrapping term limits and openly declaring China’s ambition to become a high-tech power. Beijing also passed a law in 2015 obliging its corporations to aid the government on matters of national security. These moves have sparked alarm in the West, and the U.S. has accused Chinese entities of massive cyberattacks. “One of the biggest criticisms of Xi in China is: ‘Did he take the stage too fast, did he try to push Chinese power too soon?'” said Christopher Balding, a China expert at Fulbright University in Saigon. “He has behaved as near-totalitarian and is acting similarly internationally and people are saying, ‘We don’t like it.'”
|
china;cybersecurity;huawei;zte
|
jp0010339
|
[
"business"
] |
2018/12/11
|
In-house lawyers becoming more common in Japan, and nearly half of them are women
|
In-house lawyers are becoming more common in Japan as a result of judicial system reform that was aimed at boosting the number of legal professionals and companies’ growing need to strengthen their legal work. In-house lawyers have only one client — the company that employs them. Their number has been growing noticeably since 2007, when legal apprentices began to complete the required course of education under the judicial system reform, accompanied by a large increase in the establishment of new law schools. The number of such lawyers totaled more than 2,000 in 2018, up from 146 in 2006, and is expected to keep increasing. According to the Japan In-House Lawyers Association, there were 2,161 such attorneys as of June, including 870 women. While women account for less than 20 percent of all lawyers, the proportion rises to more than 40 percent for in-house lawyers. Many respondents to a JILA questionnaire said they chose this career path to “achieve a work-life balance” or “work close to the front line of business.” Yoko Kano, a lawyer in the legal department of Hitachi Transport System Ltd., said she “wanted to work with colleagues as a team.” “I also thought of a work-life balance,” Kano said, recalling her decision to join the major logistics company in 2012. She enrolled in law school after working for a company and passed the law examination in 2010. Kano was the only lawyer when she joined Hitachi Transport and has been involved in major projects. “Commitment to business gives me both joy and agony,” she said. “I’m 99 percent a company employee, but the remaining 1 percent of my identity is a lawyer.” Noriyuki Nakazawa, a lawyer working for adhesive-maker Cemedine Co., said, “I consider my license as a lawyer to be an effective tool in name and reality to secure employment.” Nakazawa worked as a company employee after receiving a postgraduate degree in science and then enrolled in law school. After passing the bar in 2011, he joined Cemedine as its first in-house lawyer. “It didn’t matter whether I found employment at a law office or not, but I wanted to work for a company,” he said. At Cemedine, Nakazawa takes part in a wide range of services, including examining contract documents, dealing with complaints and shareholders meetings, and offering legal compliance education to employees. He is also busy with frequent requests from various sections of the company for legal advice. “I am depended on because I am a lawyer,” Nakazawa said. The number of in-house lawyers has increased sharply because the population of attorneys has grown at a time when companies need to reinforce their legal work amid greater emphasis on compliance and the globalization of business operations, said Takuo Murase, an executive member of the JILA. “Lawyers joining companies from law offices are increasing in number these days,” Murase said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if the total figure for in-house lawyers reaches 4,000 to 5,000 in the future.”
|
courts;women;lawyers
|
jp0010340
|
[
"business",
"financial-markets"
] |
2018/12/11
|
Nikkei extends losses on external uncertainties
|
Stocks lost further ground Tuesday, as investors stayed cautious over the course of U.S.-China trade friction and other external uncertainties. The Nikkei 225 average lost 71.48 points, or 0.34 percent, to end at 21,148.02, a level unseen since March 28 on a closing basis, after plunging 459.18 points Monday. The Topix, which covers all first-section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, closed 14.50 points, or 0.91 percent, lower at a year-to-date low of 1,575.31. It shed 30.64 points Monday. After opening slightly higher on the heels of a modest rally in U.S. equities, both indexes were mired in negative territory for most of Tuesday’s session in the absence of active buyers. Uncertainties over the outlook of Britain’s exit from the European Union also sapped investors’ buying appetite, brokers said. “The environment for investment is fairly weak,” an official of a major securities firm said. Sporadic selling to cash in stocks ahead of the Dec. 19 listing of SoftBank, the mobile phone unit of major internet and telecommunications conglomerate SoftBank Group, weighed on the market, an official of a bank-affiliated securities firm said. Although there is no major deterioration in economic data, investors appear to believe that the economy has hit a peak, an official of a midsize securities firm said. Falling issues far outnumbered rising ones 1,745 to 324 in the first section, while 54 issues were unchanged. Volume increased to 1.476 billion shares from 1.383 billion Monday. Nissan lost 3.1 percent after the automaker and former Chairman Carlos Ghosn were indicted over a pay scandal Monday. Keyence and Yaskawa Electric met with selling after Credit Suisse Securities (Japan) Ltd. lowered their target stock prices, brokers said. Other major losers included construction machinery maker Komatsu and oil names Idemitsu and JXTG. On the other hand, major gainers included retailer FamilyMart Uny and SoftBank Group.
|
stocks;tse;nikkei 225
|
jp0010341
|
[
"business",
"financial-markets"
] |
2018/12/11
|
Dollar firms to above ¥113.10 in late Tokyo trading
|
The dollar was firmer above ¥113.10 in Tokyo trading late Tuesday amid a wait-and-see mood. At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥113.11-11, up from ¥112.65-66 at the same time Monday. The euro was at $1.1369-1370, down from $1.1425-1425, and at ¥128.60-61, down from ¥128.71-72. The dollar rose above ¥113.30 in early trading thanks to spillover effects from its strengthening against the euro amid uncertainties over Britain’s exit from the European Union, traders said. The U.S. currency dropped to levels around ¥113 later in the morning as the Nikkei 225 average moved on a weak note. After firming back above ¥113.10 in the afternoon, helped by a rise in long-term U.S. interest rates, the dollar moved directionlessly in late trading as market players took a wait-and-see stance to see the course of Brexit negotiations, traders said. Media reports on telephone talks between Chinese Vice Premier Liu He and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on trade issues gave a temporary boost to the dollar versus the yen in the morning, a currency broker said. But “dollar buying lost momentum afterward,” the broker said. “Investor concerns over U.S.-China trade friction appeared strong.” “Investors will likely find it difficult to boost trading” for sometime, an official of a major Japanese bank said, citing unfavorable external environments.
|
exchange rates;forex;currencies
|
jp0010342
|
[
"business",
"corporate-business"
] |
2018/12/11
|
Tokyo firm to help non-Japanese find work under new visa category
|
A company called one visa Inc., which supports online visa applications, has announced plans to launch new services for foreign workers hoping to come to Japan under a newly created visa category. The Tokyo-based company will collaborate with Kansai University and Seven Bank to help prospective foreign workers receive Japanese-language education and open a bank account in Japan after their arrival, according to the plans announced Monday. The visa category, including for blue-collar workers, is one of two categories to be introduced next April under the revised immigration control law that was enacted Saturday. The aim is to accept more foreign workers to ease the labor shortage in the face of the declining population. The company will introduce prospective foreign workers to Japanese-language schools in their countries and to places of employment in Japan. It will in turn receive fees from relevant businesses. The company has already opened a training center in Cambodia under the supervision of Kansai University to help people learn Japanese and other skills. The center is funded through fees paid by companies and does not collect tuition from students who wish to work in Japan, officials of one visa said. To help foreign workers live and settle in Japan, one visa plans to provide rent guarantee services by using credit scores based on their information at the time of visa acquisition and income information obtained from their workplaces in Japan. Seven Bank aims to use the information to shorten the time necessary for foreign workers to open a bank account to a few days from the roughly six months it usually takes due to various checks. One visa will set further details of the new services after examining government and ministerial ordinances on the new visa program, the officials said.
|
immigration;jobs;expats;one visa inc .
|
jp0010343
|
[
"world",
"science-health-world"
] |
2018/12/11
|
Climate policies put world on track for 3.3 C warming, still far above target in Paris accord, study shows
|
KATOWICE, POLAND - Average world temperatures are on track to far exceed the central goal set in the 2015 Paris agreement on limiting global warming, a study showed on Tuesday. But the overshoot by the end of this century could be slightly less severe than previously expected thanks to significant efforts by some countries to combat climate change, said the report by Carbon Action Tracker — a consortium of three independent European research groups. The Paris deal aims to restrict warming to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times. The CAT report said there had been some progress on the ground since 2015, and current policies meant the world was heading for warming of 3.3 degrees. That compared with the 3.4 degrees it predicted a year ago, and it said that if governments were to implement planned or extra policies they had in the pipeline, warming by 2100 could be limited to 3 degrees. Even a rise of 3 degrees could cause loss of tropical coral reefs, alpine glaciers, Arctic summer sea ice and perhaps an irreversible melt of Greenland’s ice that would drive up world sea levels, a United Nations science panel has said. The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said in October that keeping the rise to 1.5 degrees was possible but would require rapid and unprecedented changes in human behavior. “We have yet to see this translate into action in terms of what governments are prepared to put on the table,” said Bill Hare, chief executive of Climate Analytics, one of the three CAT research groups. Since the Paris accord was agreed upon, countries including Argentina, Canada, Chile and India plus the European Union have been moving in the right direction towards cutting emissions. “If extended and scaled, these combined efforts could begin to bend the global emissions curve,” the report said. But other countries such as the United States, Australia, Brazil, Indonesia, Russia and the United Arab Emirates have made either no progress or taken backward steps.
|
global warming;climate change;paris agreement
|
jp0010344
|
[
"world",
"offbeat-world"
] |
2018/12/11
|
Fish sperm sacs, maggot cheese or virgin boy eggs — bon appetit at the Disgusting Food Museum
|
LOS ANGELES - Care for some fish sperm sacs, maggot cheese, fried tarantula or a bat? Or how about fried locusts, grasshoppers or virgin boy eggs? These delicacies are among some 80 items featured at the Disgusting Food Museum that opened in Los Angeles on Sunday, aiming to expose visitors to different cultures and foods and what we may all be eating in the future. Samuel West, the museum’s founder, said he came up with the idea for the two-month exhibit — which first opened in his native Sweden in October — in light of the ongoing debate about environmentally sustainable sources of protein and food security. “If we can change people’s notions of disgust, maybe we can also open them up to new sustainable proteins,” said West, pointing to platefuls of Iru locust beans eaten in Nigeria, mopane worms eaten in South Africa or Nsenene, grasshoppers considered a delicacy in Uganda. The entrance ticket to the museum in downtown Los Angeles is a vomit bag that visitors can use should any of the items from some 40 different countries be too much to stomach. Some of the foods on display might be considered revolting because they simply stink. That includes French Epoisses cheese, shark meat from Iceland or surstromming, a Swedish delicacy that is considered one of the most pungent dishes in the world and is usually eaten outdoors. It consists of fermented Baltic Sea herring and is so smelly that it reportedly got one tenant in Germany kicked out by his landlord in 1981 after he opened a can of surstromming in the apartment building’s stairwell. Other foods in the exhibit could be considered disgusting because of the way they end up on our plate and include Chinese mouse wine, which involves drowning and brewing baby mice in rice wine. And let’s not forget the virgin boy eggs, a traditional dish in China made from boiling eggs in the urine of young boys. Of course Japan, home of a number of stomach-turning dishes, is also featured at the museum, with one exhibit being shirako (fish sperm sacs). Andreas Ahrens, co-curator of the exhibition, said the foods chosen haven’t gone down well with several countries that have taken offense. “The Vegemite from Australia is causing a bit of an international incident,” he said, referring to the thick, black food spread. “They have been quite pissed off that we’ve included it in the exhibit. “The Americans are upset about the Root Beer and Twinkie … and we’ve had Peruvians upset that we have included Cuy, or roasted guinea pig, a famous Peruvian dish.” He said focusing on the word “disgusting” misses the point of the exhibit. “This is aimed at getting people to realize that we shouldn’t judge the foods of other cultures as disgusting so quickly,” Ahrens said. “But if we would have named this the Museum of Sustainability or the Exhibit of Cultural Differences, no one would come. “It wouldn’t be interesting.”
|
u.s .;food;museums;offbeat
|
jp0010345
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"social-issues-asia-pacific"
] |
2018/12/11
|
Majority of Australian women sexually harassed at work: survey
|
KUALA LUMPUR - Two in three Australian women have been sexually harassed at work, with the majority of cases unreported, according to a survey released on Tuesday that highlighted challenges activists said prevent women from advancing in their careers. Some 64 percent of women and 35 percent of men said they had been harassed at their current or former workplace, according to the survey of over 9,600 people by the Australian Council of Trade Unions, the country’s main group representing workers. The majority of those surveyed said they were subjected to offensive behavior or unwanted sexual attention. However only about a quarter of them made formal complaints, due to fears of repercussion, the survey found. “Everyone should go to work free from the fear of harassment and unwanted sexual attention,” the council’s president, Michele O’Neil, said in a statement. “For many people — mainly women — today in Australia this is not the reality. Our workplace laws have failed women who are experiencing harassment at work.” Campaigners said sexual harassment creates a workplace environment that is discriminatory towards women, which can prevent them from moving forward in their careers. “Sexual harassment in the workplace closes off women’s opportunities and supports the attitudes that make violence more likely,” Merrindahl Andrew, from the Australian Women Against Violence Alliance, said by email. Australia was ranked 35 out of 144 countries in the World Economic Forum’s 2017 Gender Gap Index, up from 46 in 2016 due to greater female representation among legislators and managers. Although the global #MeToo movement has helped raised awareness about sexual harassment, the advocacy group Plan International said the lack of strong policies and enforcement has discouraged victims from coming forward in Australia. “The survey finding is disturbing, yet not surprising to us,” said the group’s chief executive in Australia, Susanne Legena. She urged the government to improve reporting mechanisms, including by setting up a specific hotline and enhance training for police officers to fight underreporting of cases.
|
australia;harassment;me too movement
|
jp0010346
|
[
"asia-pacific",
"crime-legal-asia-pacific"
] |
2018/12/11
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U.S. levels sanctions at three North Korean officials over human rights abuses
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WASHINGTON - The United States said Monday it was imposing sanctions on three senior North Korean officials over human rights abuses, despite President Donald Trump’s efforts to woo the regime into a denuclearization accord. The sanctioned officials include Choe Ryong Hae, who has been considered a right-hand man to leader Kim Jong Un. The Treasury Department said it was taking action against “North Korea’s reprehensible treatment” of its citizens in accordance with a 2016 U.S. law that requires sanctions over rights abuses. “The United States has consistently condemned the North Korean regime for its flagrant and egregious abuses of human rights and fundamental freedoms, and this administration will continue to take action against human rights abusers around the globe,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. The orders — announced on the U.N.-backed Human Rights Day — include the seizure of any assets of the three officials in the United States and a ban on any U.S.-based financial transactions with them. Such restrictions may have little immediate impact on officials in one of the world’s most closed countries but will have a clear symbolic impact as North Korea seeks greater acceptance by the United States. Kim and Trump held a first-of-a-kind summit in June in Singapore as North Korea seeks a historic declaration of the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. Choe is one of the closest aides to Kim and has been described in the past as the effective number-two in controlling the military. He is often trusted to conduct foreign policy or make high-profile announcements. At a major military parade last year, he warned that North Korea was ready to “beat down enemies with the power of nuclear justice.” The Treasury Department noted that Choe is head of the ruling Workers Party’s Organization and Guidance Department, which enforces ideological discipline and ensures that all officials keep in line. Another of the officials targeted is Jong Kyong Thaek, the minister of state security. According to a State Department report submitted to Congress, Jong directs censorship as well as human rights violations by the ministry, which is the regime’s chief counterintelligence agency.
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u.s .;north korea;human rights;kim jong un;u.n .;sanctions;denuclearization;choe ryong hae
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