Palestinian stabs U.S.-Israeli citizen to death at West Bank mall, is captured

Abstract: GUSH ETZION, WEST BANK - A Palestinian fatally stabbed an American-born Jewish settler in the occupied West Bank on Sunday then was himself shot and seized by armed civilians who gave chase. The victim, Ari Fuld, 45, was well-known among settlers as a pro-Israel advocate. According to his Twitter account, he had planned a lecture tour in the United States in November. Israeli police said the Palestinian who stabbed him in the back at a shopping mall in the Etzion bloc of Jewish settlements south of Jerusalem was shot and wounded by one of several armed civilians — including a bleeding Fuld — who gave chase. The suspected assailant was identified by his family as Khalil Youssef Jabarin, 17, from the village of Yatta in the southern West Bank. He was taken into custody. Palestinian street attacks against Israelis, many carried out by assailants with no known affiliation to militant groups, have been sporadic since 2015, a year after peace talks collapsed. Hundreds of mourners attended Fuld’s funeral, which began close to midnight at a cemetery at the Kfar Etzion settlement in the West Bank. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paid a condolence visit to Fuld’s family and wrote on Twitter: “I embraced them on behalf of all the people of Israel during their time of terrible sorrow. We live because of heroes like Ari, We will remember him, always.” Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas made what appeared to be an indirect reference to the killing while meeting former Israeli officials in Ramallah, the official Palestinian Wafa news agency said. “Abbas reaffirmed the commitment of the Palestinian side to achieving peace through peaceful, popular resistance, because killing, settlement building, destruction and displacing of residents will not achieve security and peace for any party in the region,” Wafa quoted him as saying. Fawzi Barhoum, a spokesman for the Hamas militant group that rules the Gaza Strip, called the West Bank stabbing a “natural response to Israeli crimes against Palestinians” in occupied territory. It did not claim responsibility for the attack. David Friedman, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, said on Twitter that “America grieves as one of its citizens was brutally murdered by a Palestinian terrorist.” Friedman, who as a private citizen raised money for Jewish settlements, said Fuld “represented the best of both countries and will be deeply missed.” Fuld, a father of four, lived in the settlement of Efrat, in the Etzion area. U.S. President Donald Trump’s Middle East negotiator, Jason Greenblatt, also issued a comment, on Twitter: “Words cannot express our feeling of loss as an American-Israeli, Ari Fuld, was stabbed to death by a Palestinian terrorist.” Most countries view Israeli settlements on occupied land Palestinians claim for a state as illegal. Israel disputes this.

palestinian
west bank
ari fuld
israel
benjamin netanyahu
hamas
donald trump
terrorism


In long-lived Japan, survey finds 20-year-olds don't want to live into their 80s

Abstract: A survey has found that young Japanese in their 20s don’t want to live into their 80s — a startling revelation in a country where the life expectancies for both men and women routinely rank among the world’s highest. Men and women between 20 and 29 hope to live to approximately 78.1 years old and 76.9 years old, respectively, according to the survey released Sunday by insurer MetLife Inc. The “desired life expectancy” figures are below the average life expectancy of 81.09 years for men and 87.26 years for women in 2017. The survey results indicate that the “100-year-life society” slogan of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government is not resonating with young people, observers said. The insurer conducted the survey on 14,100 people aged 20 to 79 in June. Of the respondents, 41.2 percent said they don’t want to live too long and 81.7 percent voiced concerns about old age. The survey found that the top cause of their anxiety was money, with 27.1 percent in their 20s expecting to receive no pension payments at all.

aging
pension
retirement
elderly
social welfare


Drawing on her own experience, Nagoya doctor offers transgender counseling

Abstract: A transgender doctor has opened a clinic in Nagoya specializing in counseling and hormone therapy for transgender people. While people diagnosed with gender dysphoria in Japan are receiving more social support, such as getting health insurance coverage for gender reassignment surgery, the more widely adopted hormone therapy remains uncovered by health insurance. Hime Muto, 41, formerly a pediatrician, began accepting transgender people last fall at Hisaya Clinic, which she runs in central Nagoya, believing it is necessary to provide proper diagnosis and adequate therapy. Muto offers support for people with various conditions to help solve each of their issues, drawing on her own experience of being assigned as male at birth but identifying as being female. The causes of gender dysphoria are unknown. For those who wish to reduce a sense of discomfort with the sex they have been assigned, there are various kinds of medical care available to bring their bodies more in line with their gender identity and make their lives easier. A dozen or so people visit Muto’s clinic each week, many of them feeling uncomfortable with being seen as a man and wishing to live as a woman like Muto. One such person, an Aichi Prefecture resident in her 30s, said she wants to be identified as female and has visited some psychiatrists but was told she couldn’t be treated because she was attracted to women. She said she was at a loss over how to identify herself, thinking that if she is mentally female, she should be attracted to men. She learned about Muto’s clinic on the internet, and visited for the first time in June. She said she was asked to talk about her childhood memories. “I thought my genitalia would disappear when I grew up,” she said. She preferred playing house with girls and was wondering why her mother kept asking her why she didn’t play with boys. She always kept her hair long, and was bullied by boys when she was young because she behaved more like a girl. She wanted to wear a skirt but could only wear one over pants, hoping others would interpret it as a fashion choice. After the first counseling session, which lasted more than half an hour, Muto diagnosed her as transgender, saying that many transgender people who identify themselves as women tend to be attracted to men but that there are some who are attracted to women. Muto said the person’s discomfort with her assigned sex in her childhood was the key in diagnosing her as transgender, adding that transgender people tend to behave differently from others when they are divided by gender in places like kindergartens. “Some transgender people become aware of their gender identity after they grow up, but when they look back to their childhood, they realize that they had actually been acting according to their identity,” Muto said. Now the patient is undergoing hormone therapy, and although it will take some more time for the therapy to produce changes in her body, she said her mental stress is largely relieved. Now she tries to eat more to build up enough physical strength to do well with the therapy. She used to wear a hat pulled down over her eyes when she went out, but now she leaves her house with the brim of her hat raised. The Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology first created a guideline for diagnosing and treating gender dysphoria in 1997. The nation’s first gender reassignment surgery was conducted the following year, and the availability of treatments including hormone therapy has gradually improved since then. Muto, however, expressed concern that in many cases, hormone treatments are conducted too readily on patients’ request. “Treatments should be conducted after careful consideration,” Muto says. “I don’t prescribe (hormones) unless a patient is really determined (to change his or her physical sex).” Muto said that people should be aware that hormone therapy has some irreversible effects, such as becoming sterile, as well as other side effects including nausea and risks of thrombosis. Muto sometimes even advises people who visit the clinic while undergoing hormone therapy at other hospitals to stop the treatment, suspecting that they have been given the medication without being properly diagnosed as transgender. “Since the treatment is not covered by health insurance, it is not checked by authorities and problems tend to be overlooked,” Muto said. “I hope (in the future) it will be covered by health insurance to ensure safety.”

transgender
hormone therapy
gender dysphoria


Nepal copter crash kills five, including Japanese man; one missing

Abstract: KATHMANDU - A helicopter flying in bad weather crashed in Nepal’s mountains on Saturday, killing five of the seven people on board and leaving another missing, police said. The pilot and four of the six passengers, including a 68-year-old Japanese man, were among those killed, said police official Basanta Kuwar. Another passenger was missing, while a woman survived the crash, he said. Her condition was not immediately clear. Rescuers were attempting to transport the injured woman out of the crash site, but fog and rain might be hampering their efforts, Kuwar said. He said rescuers were also scouring the area for the missing person but bad weather and the mountainous terrain were making the operation difficult. Aside from the Japanese man, all others aboard the helicopter were Nepalese. The area where the crash happened is about 80 km (50 miles) northwest of the capital, Kathmandu. The Airbus-manufactured Ecureuil helicopter belongs to Altitude Air in Nepal and has been used in mountain rescues.

nepal
japanese
helicopter
aircraft accidents


China bans large unofficial Protestant church in Beijing amid crackdown on 'underground' Christian meetings

Abstract: BEIJING - Beijing city authorities have banned one of the largest unofficial Protestant churches in the city and confiscated “illegal promotional materials,” amid a deepening crackdown on China’s “underground” churches. The Zion church had for years operated with relative freedom, hosting hundreds of worshippers every weekend in an expansive, specially renovated hall in north Beijing. But since April, after they rejected requests from authorities to install closed-circuit TV cameras in the building, the church has faced growing pressure from the authorities and has been threatened with eviction. On Sunday, the Beijing Chaoyang district civil affairs bureau said that by organizing events without registering, the church was breaking rules forbidding mass gatherings and was now “legally banned” and its “illegal promotional material” had been confiscated, according to images of the notice sent to Reuters late on Sunday and confirmed by churchgoers. “I fear that there is no way for us to resolve this issue with the authorities,” Zion’s Pastor Jin Mingri said. China’s religious affairs and civil affairs bureaux did not immediately respond to requests for comment. China’s constitution guarantees religious freedom, but since President Xi Jinping took office six years ago the government has tightened restrictions on religions seen as a challenge to the authority of the ruling Communist Party. Churches across China have faced new waves of harassment and pressure to register since a new set of regulations to govern religious affairs in China came into effect in February and heightened punishments for unofficial churches. In July, more than 30 of Beijing’s hundreds of underground Protestant churches took the rare step of releasing a joint statement complaining of “unceasing interference” and the “assault and obstruction” of regular activities of believers since the new regulations came into effect. China’s Christian believers are split between those who attend unofficial “house” or underground churches and those who attend government-sanctioned places of worship. Churchgoers were also given a notice from the district religious affairs bureau saying that the “great masses of believers must respect the rules and regulations and attend events in legally registered places of religious activity.” Zion’s attendees were also given pamphlets of officially sanctioned churches that they might attend instead. But for many worshippers and pastors, such as Jin, accepting the oversight and ultimate authority of the Communist Party would be a betrayal of their faith. “On this land, the only one we can trust in is God,” Jin said.


U.N.'s new rights chief Michelle Bachelet presses for new body on crimes against Myanmar Rohingya

Abstract: GENEVA - United Nations human rights chief Michelle Bachelet called on Monday for a new quasi-judicial body to collect evidence with a view to future prosecution of crimes against Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar including murder and torture. An independent U.N. team of investigators said in a report last month that there was evidence indicating “genocidal intent” by the military against Rohingya and that crimes against humanity and war crimes appear to have been committed. The investigators named six generals, including the commander-in-chief, whom they said should face justice. A year ago, government troops led a brutal crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine state in response to attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) on 30 Myanmar police posts and a military base. Some 700,000 Rohingya fled the crackdown and most are now living in refugee camps in neighboring Bangladesh. Bachelet, in her first speech to the Human Rights Council since taking office on Sept. 1, said that attacks and persecution appear to continue in Rakhine state. Investigators had also found indications of executions, torture and sexual violence against minorities in Kachin and Shan states, she said. “The persistence of these patterns of violations underscores the total impunity accorded to the Myanmar security forces,” Bachelet told the 47-member Geneva forum which opened a three-week session. She welcomed a decision by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) last week that it has jurisdiction over alleged deportations of Rohingya from Myanmar to Bangladesh as a possible crime against humanity. “This is an immensely important step towards ending impunity, and addressing the enormous suffering of the Rohingya people. “I also welcome efforts by Member States at this Council to establish an independent international mechanism for Myanmar, to collect, consolidate, preserve and analyze evidence of the most serious international crimes, in order to expedite fair and independent trials in national and international courts.” The new mechanism — similar to what has been set up for crimes in Syria — would complement and support the preliminary examination of the ICC prosecutor, she added. “I urge the Council to pass a resolution and refer the matter to the (U.N.) General Assembly for its endorsement so that such a mechanism can be established,” she said. Myanmar has denied committing atrocities against the Rohingya, saying its military carried out justifiable actions against militants. It has so far signaled it does not intend to cooperate with the international court.

rights
michelle bachelet
myanmar
rohingya
u.n .


Cambodian opposition leader Kem Sokha released from jail as Hun Sen eases crackdown on foes

Abstract: PHNOM PENH - Cambodia’s opposition leader Kem Sokha was released from jail early Monday a year after he was detained on treason charges, as the country’s strongman ruler loosens his grip on opponents after sweeping one-sided elections. Over a 33-year rule the wily Hun Sen has tightened and relaxed his chokehold on opponents at will, most recently launching a broad crackdown in the run-up to July elections that gifted his ruling party an uncontested victory. As part of that action, Kem Sokha, the head of the only serious opposition the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) was arrested on September 3, 2017, and accused of treason. The move took out one of the kingdom’s few outspoken political figures who can still pull a crowd. The case against the 65-year-old was widely seen as politically motivated. Just two months later the CNRP was dissolved by a court. That paved the way for the ruling Cambodia People’s Party to win all 125 parliamentary seats in the election, turning the country into a one-party state and extending Hun Sen’s stay in office. Dozens of supporters and media gathered outside Kem Sokha’s house in the capital, where he returned in the early hours of Monday morning after a year in a remote border prison. He was bailed from pretrial detention on the condition that he does not flee “proceedings” against him, a court in Phnom Penh said in a statement. The opposition figure still faces up to 30 years if convicted of treason. His bail conditions state he must be “confined to a block radius of his residence,” his daughter Monovithya Kem said, suggesting his movements will be restricted in some way. But the end to his prison ordeal — for now — was welcomed by supporters whose political views were muffled during the election period by Hun Sen’s repression. “We hope that from now Cambodians will have freedom to talk on all topics,” supporter Sun Socheat said. The CNRP made major gains during a 2013 election, propelled by significant dissatisfaction among Cambodia’s large youth population, in a surprise showing that rattled Hun Sen. But the party was then picked apart by Hun Sen, with many of its leading figures fleeing abroad. Kem Sokha’s predecessor Sam Rainsy lives in self-exile in Paris to escape a slew of charges that he says are politically motivated. Western countries — who have long been major aid donors to Cambodia — criticized the most recent election, refusing to send monitors once the opposition was effectively neutered. The U.S. government has said the election was neither free nor fair and it “failed to represent the will of the Cambodian people.” Last week, as he was sworn in for another term, Hun Sen insisted that the poll was “free, just, fair and transparent.” Since the polls Hun Sen has begun to release critics from jail, a common easing of his grip on power that has followed election wins throughout his time in office. Fourteen Cambodia opposition supporters jailed for insurrection were released last month. Faced with criticism over his rights record, Hun Sen has increasingly moved Cambodia closer to China in recent years with Beijing becoming both a top donor and international investor. Compared to western nations, Beijing’s largesse comes with far fewer strings attached in terms of pushing political freedoms and reform. A former Khmer Rouge commander, Hun Sen has been seen by some as a stabilizing force that helped bring roads and mega-malls to a country ravaged by decades of brutal civil war. But critics say his long rule has been authoritarian and done little to halt rampant corruption while enriching a small clique of families, politicians and business figures who are close to the leader.

cambodia
kem sokha
hun sen
treason
elections


Man charged with murdering family of five in Australia

Abstract: SYDNEY - A young man has been charged with the murder of five people, including three toddlers, after a mass killing in a suburban home, Australian police said Monday. Police found the remains of three young girls as well as those of their mother and grandmother in an unassuming detached family home near the southwestern city of Perth on Sunday. The gruesome discovery came after a 24-year-old man, who has not been named, walked into a police station in a remote mining area some 1,500 kilometers north of the city. He was due to appear in court via video link later Monday. The family has not been formally identified, but Australian media named the mother as Mara Quinn, a “fly-in fly-out worker” — an employee who is flown in temporarily to a remote location for a period of time — for a West Australian mining firm. Her children were named as 3½-year-old daughter Charlotte and 2-year-old twins Alice and Beatrix, and her mother as Beverley Quinn, 74. The police did not release details about when and how they were killed, or the family’s relationship with the man. A Facebook profile believed to be Mara Quinn’s showed her cradling a newborn in her arms, with a man beside her, and stated that she was engaged in August 2014. A real estate listing showed a modest three-bedroom house and a standalone garage. “She was pretty unlucky in love before she met him,” a friend told Fairfax Media. “So (when they got together) it was like ‘yay, now she gets to start a family.’ “ A neighbor told reporters he had returned from a holiday to “silence in the street.” “We noticed that the house next door was pretty quiet, which was unusual,” Richard Fairbrother, who lives next door to the family’s house, said. “We could hear and see the kids playing in the backyard quite often.” Other neighbors spoke of a shocked community that had been close, calm and peaceful. Mass killings are rare in Australia, but this appears to be the third such family tragedy to hit Western Australia state in recent months. In July a man allegedly killed his mother and two siblings. A grandfather shot dead his wife, daughter and her four children in a murder-suicide in May.


Japan's first case of swine fever in 26 years triggers pig cull, nationwide export ban

Abstract: GIFU - An outbreak of swine fever confirmed at a farm in Gifu over the weekend has led to the culling and burying of 546 hogs and the halt of pork exports across Japan, authorities said Monday. The shipment ban is expected to be in place for at least three months until Japan is declared clear of the disease, which only affects pigs and wild boars and has an almost 100 percent fatality rate. Japan’s pork exports totaled ¥1 billion ($9 million) in 2017. Around 140 pigs at the farm have died from the disease, also known as hog cholera, over the past week. The symptoms include motor difficulty and loss of appetite. The disease does not affect humans even if meat from an infected animal is consumed. All of the dead pigs had been buried at the farm by Monday morning, and the disinfection of the facility is expected to be completed by Tuesday. Though hog cholera is endemic in Asia, it is the first time since 1992 an infection has been found in Japan. Tokyo declared the virus eradicated in 2007. It is not yet clear how the outbreak started, and the central and prefectural governments will look into the cause. The Gifu Prefectural Government pointed to the possibility that inflected boars or pigs were brought in from outside. The farm had been shipping pork until last Wednesday, two days after a pig suddenly died there. While the animal did not test positive during a preliminary screening by the local government, further tests by the central government found Sunday that the pig was infected with the virus. At a task force meeting Sunday, farm minister Ken Saito pledged to contain the virus. “First responses are crucial,” he said. Pork exports can resume once countries that import Japanese pork products approve.

diseases
gifu prefecture
medicine
health


ICC to probe nonsignatory Myanmar's alleged crimes against Rohingya

Abstract: THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS - The International Criminal Court’s prosecutor opened a preliminary probe on Tuesday into Myanmar’s alleged crimes against Rohingya Muslims, including killings, sexual violence and forced deportations. Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda will look at whether there is enough evidence to warrant a full investigation into Myanmar’s military crackdown, which has seen some 700,000 people flee into neighboring Bangladesh. The move comes nearly two weeks after judges ruled that even though Myanmar has not signed up to the Hague-based ICC, the court still has jurisdiction over crimes against the Rohingya because Bangladesh is a member. “I have decided to proceed to the next phase of the process and to carry out a full-fledged preliminary examination of the situation at hand,” Bensouda said in a statement. Bensouda said the initial probe “may take into account a number of alleged coercive acts having resulted in the forced displacement of the Rohingya people, including deprivation of fundamental rights, killing, sexual violence, enforced disappearance, destruction and looting.” She said she would also consider whether other crimes would apply to the plight of the Rohingya “such as the crimes of persecution and other inhumane acts.” A preliminary examination can lead to a formal investigation by the ICC — which was set up in 2002 to investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity — and then possible indictments. The ICC announcement came on the same day as U.N. investigators said that Myanmar’s army had used “hard to fathom” levels of violence against the Rohingya and should be prosecuted for genocide. The U.N. fact-finding mission also repeated suggestions that crimes against the Rohingya be referred to the ICC. Rights group Amnesty International said it was “great that the International Criminal Court has opened this important avenue to justice for the Rohingya. “Keep the momentum going — the UN Security Council needs to refer the situation in Myanmar to the ICC to ensure it can investigate all crimes under international law,” the group said on Twitter. Myanmar’s army has denied nearly all wrongdoing, insisting its campaign was justified to root out Rohingya insurgents who staged deadly raids on border posts in August 2017. It has also “resolutely” rejected the ICC’s assertion that it has jurisdiction over the crime, saying that the decision was in “manifest bad faith” and was of “dubious legal merit. The Myanmar probe is a major advance for the ICC, which has so far largely focused on investigations into African conflicts and lacks the support of key countries, including the United States, Russia, China and Israel. The ICC recently faced threats and criticism from U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton over the possibility of a war crimes investigation into U.S. actions in Afghanistan. Bolton said the court was “already dead to us” and its judges could face U.S. sanctions. The court hit back at Bolton, saying that it would “continue to do its work undeterred, in accordance with those principles and the overarching idea of the rule of law.”

icc
myanmar
rohingya
bangladesh
genocide
u.s .


Number of Japan patients with rubella quintuples from 2017 level

Abstract: The number of rubella patients reported nationwide this year has jumped more than fivefold to 496 from 93 in the previous year, with many cases reported in and around Tokyo, a national institute warned Wednesday. The patients included many men in their 30s to 50s who have not been sufficiently vaccinated against the highly contagious disease that is often transmitted through coughing and sneezing, according to the National Institute of Infectious Diseases. In the week through Sept. 9, the number of current rubella patients rose to 127 from 81 in the previous week, according to the institute, which especially urged adult men to get vaccinations in order to protect women and children. By prefecture, Tokyo had the most patients with 32, followed by 27 in Chiba, 19 in Kanagawa, and 11 each in Saitama and Aichi, data showed. Rubella can have a serious health impact on babies if contracted by women in the early stages of pregnancy as it tends to cause birth defects such as heart disorders, hearing impairments and cataracts. Vaccination is effective in preventing infection but women who are already pregnant cannot be inoculated as the vaccine itself is feared to have an impact on the child. Notable rubella symptoms are fever, sore throat, and a rash. Its incubation period is two to three weeks. Japan experienced a major rubella outbreak in 2013 with over 14,000 people contracting the disease. There has been a resurgence in the number of cases since late July, with the annual number of patients reaching the highest level since 2014.


Japanese research team turns to dugout canoe to trace how archipelago's first humans arrived

Abstract: A Japanese team pursuing a multiyear project to learn how humans came to the Japanese archipelago 30,000 years ago is planning another experiment next summer, this time with a new approach: a dugout canoe. As part of the project, which started in 2016, the team has previously tested a straw boat and a bamboo raft to reproduce how people may have traveled from Taiwan to Japan, but to no avail. The team, led by the National Museum of Nature and Science, is now pinning its hopes on a dugout canoe, which is currently being built for a voyage from Taiwan to the southern island of Yonaguni, Okinawa Prefecture. Financially, the team has already procured more than ¥30 million, the target it set for online fundraising to pay for costs not covered by the team’s research expenses, such as those to prepare additional boats for safety and to film the experiment for the record. “We want to come as close as possible to an answer to the big mystery of how our ancestors succeeded with the great voyage,” said Yosuke Kaifu, a museum official who represents the team. It is known that humans had settled in what is now Okinawa by 30,000 years ago, and the team assumes that people traveled from Taiwan, which was part of the Eurasian continent at that time. But no remains of boats have been discovered and how early settlers arrived there remains unknown. Past experiments proved that a straw boat and a bamboo raft are stable but not fast enough to withstand the strong currents between Taiwan and Yonaguni Island. A dugout canoe can easily capsize but is likely to go faster, according to the team. The team is using primitive technology to make the canoe. They made an ax by attaching a wooden handle to stoneware, then used it to cut down a big Japanese cedar tree and hollow out its interior. The canoe will not be equipped with sails, due to a lack of evidence that they were used even in the Jomon Period, which is believed to have run roughly from 13,000 years ago to 2,300 years ago.

the national museum of nature and science


Japanese police crackdown on tailgating and other acts of road rage

Abstract: Police are toughening crackdowns on tailgating and other dangerous driving, reflecting heightened social interest in such reckless driving since the death of a married couple on the Tomei Expressway in June 2017 following an apparent road rage-induced chase. The Tomei incident in Kanagawa Prefecture has stimulated demand for event data recorders, or dashboard cameras, from drivers wishing to keep records for use as evidence if they are involved in trouble related to tailgating. Cautioning that even ordinary drivers may be tempted to tailgate, an expert on driving behavior called for people to recognize the “psychological mechanisms” of the driving practice. The suspect in the incident on the Tomei Expressway chased the couple’s vehicle after an argument at an expressway parking area and blocked it in the fast lane, forcing the family to stop their vehicle. A truck then crashed into the family’s vehicle from behind, killing the couple and injuring their two daughters. Four months after the incident, the Yokohama District Prosecutor’s Office indicted the male suspect, then 25 years old, on charges including dangerous driving causing death and injury. It was a rare application of the crime of dangerous driving against a driver who had stopped on an active lane. The National Police Agency instructed police departments across the country in January to disqualify people from driving, regardless of accumulated points for traffic violations, if they commit tailgating offenses, resort to acts of intimidation or cause damage to property after such a chase. The number of driver’s licenses suspended for tailgating totaled 30 in the first six months of 2018, up from 23 in the four years through 2017, according to preliminary data from the NPA. As confirmation of tailgating offenses is difficult, police are stepping up collection of objective evidence such as visual records from dashboard cameras. Yupiteru Corp., a Tokyo-based producer of dashcams, including 360-degree recorders, has received more inquiries from drivers since the fatal Tomei accident, company officials said. Total shipments of dashcams stood at about 2.7 million units in fiscal 2017, marking an increase of about 1.2 million from the previous year, according to sources including the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association. Noting that stress tends to increase while driving due to factors such as traveling speed differences and dangerous driving by others, Kazunori Shidoji, professor at Kyushu University Graduate School and Faculty of Information Science and Electrical Engineering and an expert on driving behavior, warned that even ordinary people may commit tailgating offenses because “being inside a car gives them a high degree of anonymity and makes them feel they can readily get away (with it).” “It’s important to drive while having plenty of leeway, both psychologically and in terms of time,” Shidoji said.

tailgating
driving
tomei expressway
dashcams
yupiteru corp .


Arrested senator and Duterte critic: 'Democracy lost today'

Abstract: MANILA - President Rodrigo Duterte’s fiercest critic in Congress was arrested Tuesday after the president revoked his 2011 amnesty for a failed coup attempt and revived rebellion charges against him in an unprecedented legal move the senator called a blow to democracy. Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV walked out of the Senate, where he had taken refuge for weeks, and was moved by police to their headquarters in Makati city, where his fingerprints and mugshot were taken. After being booked by police, Trillanes was escorted to a nearby court and posted bail, trailed by many journalists. “Democracy lost today,” Trillanes told reporters shortly before his arrest. “Darkness and evil prevailed in our country. Whatever happens in the future will be in the hands of the Filipino people.” Known for outbursts against his critics, Duterte has long expressed anger against Trillanes, who has accused him of large-scale corruption, involvement in illegal drugs and extrajudicial killings in an anti-drug crackdown that has left thousands of suspects dead since he took office in 2016. Duterte has denied the allegations. Trillanes, a former navy officer, was jailed for more than seven years for involvement in at least three army uprisings, including a 2003 mutiny against then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo when he and other young officers rigged part of a road in the Makati financial district with bombs and took over an upscale residential building. After being amnestied under Duterte’s predecessor, Benigno Aquino III, Trillanes successfully petitioned two Philippine courts to dismiss rebellion and coup cases, allowing him to later run for public office. Duterte said he voided Trillanes’ amnesty last month because the senator had failed to file a formal amnesty request and acknowledge guilt. Trillanes has strongly denied the president’s claims and has provided news reports and defense department documents to counter Duterte’s claims. The Department of Justice has asked two courts to issue warrants for Trillanes’s arrest and resume criminal proceedings against him. One of the courts issued the arrest warrant on Tuesday. Aside from the rebellion and coup-related charges in the two courts, Duterte has also ordered the military to resume an inquiry into the senator’s role in the mutinies. Legal experts and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, the country’s largest lawyers’ group, have expressed alarm over the legal moves against Trillanes for offenses that were canceled by the 2011 amnesty. The lawyers’ group said the move “runs roughshod over the constitutional guarantee against double jeopardy,” or holding a person to answer twice for the same offense. Duterte has also accused Trillanes, without offering evidence, of plotting with other opposition politicians, including the Liberal Party and leftist groups, to oust him. Trillanes and opposition groups have dismissed the claim as a lie and asked Duterte to focus instead on addressing poverty, inflation, rice shortages, traffic jams and a decline in the value of the peso currency. Human Rights Watch said Trillanes’s arrest “is part of the persecution of critics of the Duterte administration, the latest in the relentless campaign to silence those who dared to challenge the president’s murderous ‘drug war.’ “ Under Duterte, another opposition senator has been jailed on illegal drug charges, a critical Supreme Court chief justice has been ousted by fellow judges, and foreign critics, including an Australian nun, have been barred from entering the Philippines or threatened with deportation.

rodrigo duterte
corruption
drugs
philippines


Japanese government to mull new work visa to help more labor-hungry professions: top government spokesman

Abstract: The government is mulling an update to the nation’s visa system in order to accept more foreign workers in a growing number of professions facing manpower shortages, including those that serve the labor-hungry restaurant and fisheries industries, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Wednesday. As Japan grapples with an acute labor shortage, the government is eager to establish a new work visa with a view toward making it available as soon as April next year, the top government spokesman said. He added that, in an ongoing ministerial hearing of various industry groups, a dozen business sectors have so far expressed interest in utilizing foreign workers via the new visa status, including groups representing the restaurant and fisheries industries. The government is also reportedly eyeing letting foreign workers enter the country to work in five of the most short-staffed sectors — namely in the agriculture, construction, nursing, hotel and ship-building industries. “We want to create a system to accept a wider range of industry-ready foreign talent with a certain level of technical skills,” Suga told a regular news briefing Wednesday, echoing an earlier government statement. Suga’s comments followed a speech he delivered earlier in the day in Tokyo where he reportedly said the government plans to submit related amendments to the immigration law during an extraordinary session of the Diet expected to kick off at the end of next month. He also said that, according to reports, the sectors that are most keen to accept foreign workers have been plagued by such serious manpower shortages that “their operations would become severely derailed” without the help. Immigration-averse Japan officially maintains a policy of not letting in unskilled foreign workers, although in reality the nation already heavily relies on their services, tapping into “backdoor” employment channels through the use of technical interns and students. Suga’s latest remark is in line with a series of immigration policies adopted in June by the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy, chaired by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The panel’s guidelines, approved by the Cabinet, said that in a rapidly aging Japan, the “sustainability of its economy and infrastructure is in danger” due to a labor crunch but also stressed that the country remains opposed to full-fledged immigration. The government, the guideline said, will home in on business categories “truly in need” of foreign labor and create a new work visa valid for up to five years. The temporary nature of the envisioned status, it said, means the new policy wouldn’t amount to Japan opening itself up to new immigration. Among the most closely monitored sectors is the convenience store industry, where foreign students hailing from countries like China, Vietnam and Nepal already play a vital role in meeting its labor needs. Those on a student visa, however, are banned from working more than 28 hours a week. It remains to be seen whether the government will go so far as to give the green light for more foreign workers to work in that sector. Tokyo, however, “recognizes it’s an industry everybody is curious about, and we realize we have to do something about it, one way or another,” a senior government official said.


'Outrageous prejudice': Publisher suspends publication of Shincho 45 following furor in LGBT community

Abstract: Shinchosha Publishing Co. has announced one of its magazines will effectively fold after carrying articles that its president said contained “outrageous prejudice” against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. In a statement released Tuesday evening, Shinchosha said it will suspend publication of the monthly magazine Shincho 45, which debuted in 1985. Its October issue, which is currently on shelves, will be the last edition before the suspension, the firm said. “It is undeniable that our editing of articles and scrutiny of feature series in the pipeline has grown perfunctory over the years as we struggle with the magazine’s dwindling circulation and numerous trials and errors,” the publisher said in the statement. It is this compromised vetting process, Shinchosha said, that led to the publication of the articles slammed by President Takanobu Sato as full of prejudice against — and showing a “lack of understanding” toward — LGBT individuals. “We both thank and apologize to our readers and all parties concerned for their support and cooperation over the years,” the company said, adding it will conduct a thorough review of its editorial system. The latest decision means Shincho 45, although technically suspended from business, will all but “fold,” the firm’s public relations executive, Yukihito Ito, told reporters Tuesday evening. The downfall of Shincho 45 was precipitated by Mio Sugita, a junior lawmaker in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Sugita, author of the book “Naze Watashi wa Sayoku to Tatakaunoka” (“Why I Fight the Left”), contributed a contentious article to the August issue of the magazine, labeling the LGBT community as “unproductive” in terms of childbirth. Her assertion that taxpayer money shouldn’t be spent on policies supporting same-sex couples because, according to her, they were not productive, soon sparked an outpouring of criticism and prompted thousands to protest and call for her resignation. Then in its latest issue, Shincho 45 dug itself into a deeper hole by running a large series — spanning nearly 40 pages and comprising seven different articles — defending Sugita’s remark under the title “What’s so Wrong About the Mio Sugita Article?” Among those subject to the most fierce backlash was an article contributed by conservative commentator Eitaro Ogawa. In it, Ogawa asserted that LGBT is ultimately a “sexual preference” and an “absurd” concept on par with “SMAG” — a term he said he coined himself to denote “sadist,” “masochist,” “ass fetish” and “groper.” If society has to protect LGBT people, Ogawa said, “shouldn’t our society also protect the rights of gropers (who) can’t resist the urge to grope once they have caught a whiff of a female’s smell on a crowed train?” “If someone dares to complain SMAG is absurd, to hell with that. To someone as traditionally conservative as I am, LGBT sounds equally absurd, too,” he wrote. Ogawa, for his part, explained in a Facebook post dated Monday that the coining of “SMAG” was merely a hypothetical example of how the society’s “premature” recognition of the rights of a minority could “turn extreme to the point of insanity” and that he himself is not defending molesters on trains. Outcries over the October issue nonetheless ensued. Soon after someone defaced a sign near Shinchosha’s headquarters with protest graffiti that changed it to say “Did you read that hateful book?” from “Did you read?” Sugita’s apparent discrimination against the LGBT community has caused widespread repercussions elsewhere, too. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was successfully re-elected as LDP president earlier this month, was forced to respond to a groundswell of anger against her while campaigning for a third term. Abe, speaking during a TV debate, said Sugita’s diatribe against “unproductive” same-sex couples hurt his feelings because he himself is childless and that she should be more mindful of her words as a politician. Still, he refrained from calling for her to step down and give up her seat, saying “she is still young.” And in Wakayama Prefecture, a small bookstore is drawing praise on social media after announcing it has withdrawn the sales of all new titles published by Shinchosha. The temporary pullout is meant to be “an act of protest against propagation by Shincho 45 of derogatory commentary against sexual minorities,” Shota Shimada, the owner of the store Books Plug, said in a statement.

lgbt
shinchosha
mio sugita
discrimination
ldp


Coca-Cola and Walmart join G7-led plan to cut plastic pollution in oceans

Abstract: MONTREAL - Coca-Cola, Walmart and other big multinationals pledged on Thursday to help reduce plastic pollution in the world’s oceans in support of a campaign by five of the G7 industrialized nations. The United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany and Italy, along with the European Union, signed the Ocean Plastics Charter at a leaders summit in Canada’s Charlevoix region in June. The United States and Japan abstained but non-G7 nations Norway, Vietnam, Jamaica and the Seychelles are also backing the plan. The nations aim to develop more viable alternatives to plastic packaging to ensure 100 percent of plastics are recyclable by 2030, and to work towards a goal of having all plastics be recycled and reused by 2040. On the second day of a G7 ministerial meeting in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canadian Environment Minister Catherine McKenna announced “a new partnership with businesses” to reduce plastic waste. Backers include Loblaws, Walmart, Nestle Canada, IKEA, Dow Chemicals, the Coca-Cola Company, BASF Canada and A&W Canada. Consumer goods company Unilever also announced that it was launching a nonprofit entity to reduce consumer and business waste, while Volvo upped its target to make 25 percent of the plastics in its cars recyclable by 2025.

coca-cola
walmart
plastic
pollution
oceans
plastic waste
g-7 canada


Proliferation of marine parks in China fueling shadowy trade in cetaceans

Abstract: HONG KONG - Eight beluga whales jump in unison out of a bright blue indoor pool, flipping their tail fins and spewing water as a packed audience cheers and snaps photographs. Whale shows like the one at Chimelong Ocean Kingdom, located in Zhuhai on China’s southern coast, are proliferating at new marine parks across the country, driving demand for threatened species. Orcas and beluga whales are among the marine animals caught up in a shadowy trade in which individual cetaceans — often caught illegally — sell for millions of dollars, according to scientists, executives and activists. Marine parks and aquariums are opening monthly in China, with more than 36 large-scale projects set to launch in the coming two years. This comes as many live animal shows in the United States and Europe are being scrapped due to widespread opposition. “We’ve had great progress in shutting down marine parks in the West, but China is saying, ‘It’s my turn now,’ ” said Ric O’Barry, founder of the Dolphin Project, an advocacy group. Lured by booming domestic tourism, companies such as Haichang Ocean Park, Guangzhou R&F Properties, Dalian Shengya and Chimelong Group are spearheading the rapid growth of the industry. Haichang’s Shanghai Ocean World, which is due to open in November, and Chimelong’s Ocean Kingdom are preparing live orca shows for the first time in China. O’Barry, who captured and trained dolphins and orcas before launching a campaign against captive marine mammals in 1970, said China is the main driver of the industry globally. Over 60 marine parks already operate in China, ranging from large-scale developments like Chimelong’s Ocean Kingdom, to small facilities that are typically add-ons to big property projects. Cities often initiate marine park projects as an eye-catching way of raising their profiles, and offer developers vast tracts of land and cheap loans to build them. Noble Coker, president of Apex Parks and Entertainment Services, which works with theme parks in Asia, said marine facilities are often a secondary consideration in an overall deal to acquire land from municipal governments. Developers benefit from the quick development and sale of residential or commercial property, he said, with elements like marine parks typically paid for by the property sales. “All of the incentives for the developers are in the short term, so the 20-year moral and ethical impacts of the park or aquarium they are building are rarely, if ever, considered,” said Coker. Illegal captures Since 2014, 872 cetaceans — which includes whales, dolphins and porpoises — have been put into captivity in China, according to the China Cetacean Association. There are currently no local government regulations or international standards to monitor the trade, said Lucio Conti, vice president for marine facilities at Atlantis Sanya, a resort located in southern China’s Hainan province. Conti said Atlantis is working with the government to establish an animal welfare standard at a time when there is growing illegal trade of endangered wildlife. “If you go to the fishermen here on the island they can get you whatever you want. They can get you a whale shark, they can get you every species, endangered or not, because there is no such control.” Many Chinese marine parks feature whale sharks, belugas, dolphins and manta rays. But no orcas — or killer whales — have been displayed publicly up to now. At least 13 Russian orcas were imported to China between 2013 and 2016, according to CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. Another two were sent in 2017, and more are set to be imported this year, according to Oxana Fedorova, head of Dolphin Project Russia. CITES did not reveal the companies involved. Whale and Dolphin Conservation, a U.K.-based group, said Chimelong Ocean Kingdom possesses nine orcas, Shanghai Haichang Polar Ocean World has four and two more are at Wuxi Changqiao Ocean Kingdom. R&F said its planned resort will only include wild captured cetaceans if they had been rescued or came from reputable zoos and aquariums. Russia, which is the sole supplier of wild orcas and beluga whales to China, in July announced an investigation into the illegal sale of seven orcas. Four companies were involved in the sale of the orcas to China, according to a statement from the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office. It did not name the companies or their destinations. Russia approved a capture quota for 13 orcas in 2018. Several killer whales have already been caught in Russia’s Sea of Okhotsk, said activists monitoring the hunt in August. “The problem is the demand that is being created in China,” said Fedorova, who worked with the team, organized by Ocean Friends. She said the team of seven had been threatened, shot at and robbed by the hunters. The activists said they were unable to record the captures on film because their drone was shot down. Disposable manner Naomi Rose, a Washington-based marine mammal scientist at the Animal Welfare Institute, said the captures are unsustainable and inhumane. She added that the prospect of high profits will continue to attract a criminal element. Once in captivity, the rate of mortality is extremely high, said activists. This forces companies to continually buy animals. “They just suffer in captivity. Especially for orcas — they are the most unsuitable to be put in a tank. Their culture is in the wild,” said Taison Chang, chairman of the Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation Society. Squalid conditions and poor welfare practices are growing concerns amid the increasing flood of marine parks. In June, for example, an online video showed a trainer from Ocean World in China’s port city of Dalian applying bright-red lipstick on a beluga whale. The company later apologized and promised to strengthen the animal protections. Activists worry that once China’s biggest players start orca performances, it will spawn a copycat effect at smaller, less experienced parks around the country.

china whales oceans animals aquariums dolphins endangered nature


Cambodia pardons Australian filmmaker jailed for espionage

Abstract: PHNOM PENH - Cambodia granted a royal pardon on Friday to Australian filmmaker James Ricketson, who was sentenced last month to six years in prison on spying charges in a trial widely criticized as unfair. It was not immediately clear if he has already been released from Prey Sar prison on the outskirts of the capital, Phnom Penh. The pardon is the latest in a series of releases of political prisoners directed in recent weeks by Prime Minister Hun Sen after his ruling party’s landslide general election victory at the end of July. The election, which gave the Cambodian People’s Party all 125 seats in the National Assembly, was decried by Western nations and rights groups as unfair and undemocratic because the sole credible opposition party had been dissolved by the courts last year at the instigation of Hun Sen’s government. Hun Sen, who has been in power for 33 years, has a record of cracking down on his opponents when he feels threatened, then easing up when he has secured his political goals and seeks to tone down criticism of his actions. The recent releases come as he prepares to attend this month’s U.N. General Assembly session in New York, where he intends to defend his mandate as legitimate. Ricketson, 69, was arrested last year after flying a drone to photograph an opposition party rally. His arrest came as Hun Sen’s government was beginning a crackdown on critics and political rivals as the ruling party’s prospects for the general election appeared shaky. The opposition had made a strong showing in 2017 local elections, building on its surprisingly strong challenge in the 2013 general election. The pardon issued Friday was signed by Senate President Say Chhum, the acting head of state in the absence of King Norodom Sihamoni, who is reported to be visiting China. Pardons are normally issued at the request of Hun Sen. Ricketson’s trial was described as farcical by his sympathizers, largely because prosecutors never specified whom he was allegedly spying for and failed to present any evidence that he possessed or transmitted any secrets. He had been detained without bail since June last year in harsh conditions. It appeared that Ricketson was targeted by the government for perceived sympathy for the opposition Cambodian National Resue Party — the group that was dissolved last year — whose activities he had been filming. Ricketson repeatedly insisted he had no political agenda and his work making documentary films was journalistic in nature. His Aug. 31 conviction was met with only lukewarm public concern from Australia’s prime minister and foreign minister. Their public stance was criticized, but also led to speculation that an understanding might have been reached with Cambodian authorities for Ricketson’s early release. Ricketson’s lawyer, Kong Sam Onn, said his client would go first to Phnom Penh and then travel to Australia. “James will go back to his home country after he is released, but later he will be back to Cambodia because the pardon letter doesn’t bar him from re-entering Cambodia,” Kong Sam Onn said. However, there is no official statement guaranteeing he will be readmitted. Ricketson had said during his trial that he wished to re-establish a project that he had launched before his arrest to buy some land to resettle several poor Cambodian families who have been living at a garbage dump. He and several character witnesses had testified that he provided financial assistance to several poverty-stricken Cambodians.

cambodia
australia
hun sen
rights
courts


U.N. chief urges Myanmar government to free Reuters journalists

Abstract: WASHINGTON - U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday called on the Myanmar government to pardon and release two imprisoned Reuters journalists as soon as possible. “I hope that the government will be able to provide a pardon to release them as quickly as possible,” Guterres told reporters at the United Nations in response to a question about Aung San Suu Kyi’s recent remarks on the case. Reuters reporters Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, were convicted on Sept. 3 under the colonial-era Official Secrets Act in a case that was seen as a test of democratic freedoms in Myanmar. The reporters, who pleaded not guilty, said they were handed rolled papers by police shortly before they were detained last December, and a police witness testified in court that they had been set up. The reporters had been investigating the killing of 10 Rohingya Muslim men and boys by security forces and local Buddhists amid a military response to insurgent attacks last August. Some 700,000 Rohingya crossed from Myanmar into Bangladesh fleeing the crackdown, which U.N.-mandated investigators said last month was launched by senior Myanmar generals with “genocidal intent.

myanmar
reuters journalists
antonio guterres
aung san suu kyi
rohingya
genocide
u.n .
rakhine


Keio hospital ends fertility treatment due to shortage of sperm donors

Abstract: Keio University Hospital in Tokyo has stopped taking appointments for a certain type of fertility treatment due to a fall in the number of anonymous sperm donors. According to the hospital, fewer donors were willing to participate once they were made aware of the spreading global recognition of children’s rights to know their biological parents. Artificial insemination is used by couples when the man is infertile. Mamoru Tanaka, an obstetrics professor at the university who oversees the treatment, noted that if Japan recognizes donor-conceived children’s right to know their biological origins, it could lead to cases in which they effectively have two fathers. “It is crucial to establish through legislation a safe and comfortable donor system,” he said. The hospital has been offering the treatment since 1948 and conducted around 1,500 procedures per year. It used to take appointments as early as a year in advance but stopped doing so in August. It will discuss the procedure’s future in a meeting with outside experts in October.

sperms
keio university hospital
infertility


University of Tokyo student goes the extra trillions of miles to study exoplanets

Abstract: In 2009, the Vatican hosted a meeting aimed at assessing the impact on the Catholic church of discovering extraterrestrial life. There was nothing to worry about, the Vatican said, as any aliens would still have been created by a universally powerful God. Then in 2015, an apparently Earth-like planet was discovered 1,400 light years away from our planet, in the constellation Cygnus. Officially named Kepler 452b, the planet was deemed to be so similar to Earth that it was nicknamed “Earth 2.0” and “Earth’s cousin,” and its discovery generated huge excitement. Here was a planet, people said, that might harbor intelligent life. The Vatican’s chief astronomer, Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, said the discovery of Kepler 452b was great news. “It is probable that there was life, and perhaps a form of intelligent life,” he said, going somewhat further than any scientist. Nor is there any conflict between the existence of alien life and Catholicism, he added. Well, he would. In reality, the discovery even of some kind of alien bacteria would cause the greatest upset to Rome since Henry VIII filed for divorce. Religious institutions aside, evidence of alien life would be a game changer. It’s hard to think of another scientific discovery that would have as great an impact. Perhaps it would do for philosophy, and for our view of our planet, what Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution did for our view of our place in nature. It would connect us directly with the rest of the cosmos. It would (one hopes) inspire a firm and meaningful commitment to careful stewardship of this planet. Sadly I’m not about to report the discovery of alien life. But John Livingston, a Ph.D. student at the University of Tokyo, has recently helped discover 44 planets outside of our solar system. Such planets — known as exoplanets — were until recently only theoretical, but are now being observed in ever greater numbers. They inspire great excitement among astronomers. “It was also gratifying to verify so many small planets,” says Livingston. “Sixteen were in the same size class as Earth, one in particular turning out to be extremely small — about the size of Venus — which was a nice affirmation as it’s close to the limit of what is possible to detect.” Livingston worked with professor Motohide Tamura of the University of Tokyo to combine astronomical data from NASA’s Kepler space telescope, the European Space Agency’s Gaia space telescope, as well as ground-based telescopes. This enabled them to confirm the existence of 44 new planets. They published their findings in The Astronomical Journal. “Four of the planets orbit their host stars in less than 24 hours,” says Livingston. “In other words, a year on each of those planets is shorter than a day here on Earth.” You might be wondering why we study such things. Most exoplanets are incredibly far away. Even traveling at the speed of light, something very far from possible, it would take 1,400 years to reach Kepler 452b. The closest exoplanet orbits the star Proxima Centauri, and is just over four light years away. That’s 40 trillion kilometers. It would take tens of thousands of years for us to reach it with our best rockets. Livingston says that finding new planets gives us good options for studying alien atmospheres. It’s conceivable that we could spot the signs of life just by looking at the composition of gases in a planet’s atmosphere. But they also tell us how planets form. “The investigation of other solar systems can help us understand how planets and even our own solar system formed,” says Livingston. “The study of other worlds has much to teach us about our own.” Exoplanets inspire wonder and many people want to do more than merely observe them from afar: they want to visit them. Yuri Milner, a Russian billionaire and venture capitalist, is a space enthusiast. He is funding a $100 million project to research the feasibility of sending a laser-powered spacecraft to Proxima Centauri. If we could accelerate a small spacecraft to 20 percent of the speed of light, it could reach the nearest exoplanet in just 20 years. In the space of a generation, we could conceivably receive images from a planet in another part of the galaxy. As to whether it is safe to attempt to reach out to alien worlds, we’ll have to examine the arguments in a future column.

exoplanet
cygnus
kepler 452b
space
proxima centauri
yuri milner
astronomy


'Engineer-friendly' Fukuoka pitches merits in campaign to become tech hub

Abstract: It’s a fast-growing city but with a reasonable cost of living, diverse cuisine and close access to an airport. Plus, the city is willing to support new tech projects. Doesn’t that sound like a great place for engineers? That’s the sales pitch the city of Fukuoka made last month at a recruiting event in Tokyo as part of its effort to draw more engineers. Kyushu’s biggest city has also declared itself an “Engineer-Friendly City.” An engineer shortage, which is already severe, is expected to worsen, as such technologies as artificial intelligence, blockchain and virtual reality look likely to spread in the coming years. “We are acting fast before others start,” Fukuoka Mayor Soichiro Takashima said of the engineering push at the Tokyo event, which was held at Ippudo in Minato Ward, a restaurant and bar that’s part of the Fukuoka-born ramen chain. Along with representatives from three Fukuoka firms, Takashima pitched the merits of moving to the city. “In short, Fukuoka is a growing city … we have this determination to keep growing,” he said, adding that Fukuoka wants to turn itself into a center for technology firms. Fukuoka saw its population increase by 74,767 between 2010 and 2015, the biggest jump among 20 ordinance-designated big cities outside Tokyo with more than 700,000 residents. It had a population of more than 1.57 million as of Aug. 1. One of the policies spearheaded by Takashima is to attract and encourage entrepreneurs interested in launching startups. For instance, the city offers to cover a fourth of a startup’s annual office rent — up to ¥15 million — for a year as long as it hires three or more full-time employees and has an office space of at least 60 square meters. Fukuoka also hosts branches of some leading tech firms, including Line Corp. and Mercari Inc., and its biggest business districts have seen vacancy rates tighten in recent months, dropping to 2.87 percent in May from 11.5 percent in May 2013. “Not only startups but also various other creative firms have established bases in Fukuoka … (but) the city does not have enough human resources,” Takashima said, assuring the nation’s engineers that they will surely find jobs. He added that Fukuoka is also supporting corporate efforts to conduct tech experiments, since the city has been designated by Tokyo as a national strategic special zone, which allows companies to launch bold projects via deregulation. Once the city becomes a tech park, it will be easier for engineers to find more career options and remain there, the mayor said. What’s more, with rents running at an average of about 60 percent of Tokyo’s, Fukuoka’s living costs are far more reasonable than in the capital. It is also famed for its cuisine, including ramen, gyoza (dumplings) and udon (wheat noodles). The executives made their best pitches for moving to Kyushu. Yusuke Suzuki, a director at Line Fukuoka Corp., said both the company and the city will be running an experiment to promote cashless payment systems around Fukuoka, so Line hopes to hire more engineers. He added that Fukuoka has committed communities of engineers who frequently hold study sessions. Osamu Hashimoto, head of startup Skydisc Inc., a provider of AI and internet of things-based solutions, noted that in addition to the cheaper living costs, the city is less stressful than Tokyo for commuting. “Fukuoka hardly has any jam-packed trains,” said Hashimoto, adding the city is quite compact. “I can just bike to get around within my main work area,” he said. During a chat session, the mayor and the executives talked casually with the participants while slurping ramen and sipping sake from, of course, Fukuoka. “I am originally from Shizuoka Prefecture and my wife is not from Tokyo either, so we don’t necessarily have to stay in Tokyo. If there is a better environment to work at a different place, we’ve been hoping to do so,” said Tomotaka Furuhashi, an engineer in his 30s. He said he heard Fukuoka was a hot topic but did not really know why it was attracting so much attention. “Now I know that it’s a city that wants to support engineers and startups,” he said. “I’ll look at some job search services and apply if there is a good one.” Kenichi Tanaka, another engineer who came to the event, said his wife is from Oita Prefecture in Kyushu and wants to move to somewhere close to her hometown. He said he was reluctant to consider that option but the event made him reconsider. “Companies from Fukuoka seemed to be really loving the city … now I’d like to visit and check it out,” he said.


Talented Indian artist draws portraits with a typewriter, one key at a time

Abstract: MAHARASHTRA, INDIA - Clickety-clack, clickety-clack. Ding! rings out from a home in Mumbai where Chandrakant Bhide is creating his latest artwork — on a typewriter. The 72-year-old thumps the keys of the bulky, manual machine to draw portraits of famous people, all bearing an unmistakable resemblance to their subject. From politicians and film stars to cricketers, animation characters and religious symbols, Bhide has produced around 150 pieces of typewriter art over the past half century. “I have done many personalities like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy. This is my hobby, my passion,” he said. Bhide has held 12 exhibitions of his work and become something of a local celebrity since discovering his unique talent in the late 1960s while employed as a bank clerk. As a young man he had wanted to go to art school and become a commercial artist but his family was unable to afford the costs so he trained in stenography instead. Bhide was working in the administrative department of Union Bank of India when in 1967 his boss asked him to type up a list of staff intercom numbers. “I typed it in the form of a telephone itself. When I saw it I thought, ‘This is fantastic, I can make art through this medium.’ Everybody seemed to like it too,” he recalls. Bhide started using the x key to produce images of Hindu god Ganesha to mark India’s annual festival celebrating the elephant-headed deity. He then began to experiment with other keys — including w, dash, asterisk, ampersand and percentage sign — progressing to create portraits of celebrities from India and abroad. While Bhide takes only 15 minutes to draw Ganesha, several hours are required to complete a famous face in what is a painstaking process. With steely focus he uses his left hand to grip the knob that controls the platen — the roller that feeds the paper through — as he taps the keys with his right index finger. He stops every so often to change the angle of the page before typing again. Sometimes he’ll flick the color-change lever from black to red or vice versa and he’ll glance down regularly at the photograph he is working off to make sure he hasn’t made an error. “Typing requires dedication and concentration. If you put one stroke in the wrong place then you have to start again. “It’s not like a computer where you can delete. Many times I’ve made mistakes and had to start again,” says Bhide. The septuagenarian has drawn several Indian actors over the years including Amitabh Bachchan and Dilip Kumar as well as American cartoon characters like Mickey Mouse and Archie. Cricketers feature heavily, such as Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar, whose famous curly hair Bhide recreated with hundreds of “at” symbols used in email addresses. Bhide, who doesn’t sell his artwork or take orders, has been featured in several Indian newspapers and has been able to show his portraits to many of the Indian stars he has drawn. He says he plans to attempt U.S. President Donald Trump, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. All of his works have been produced on the same Halda typewriter he used for the 30 years that he worked at Union Bank. The bank gifted it to him for one rupee when he retired in the mid-90s. “I have got so many things out of this typewriter. Typing is an art,” he says.


Survey finds suicide is leading cause of maternal death in Japan

Abstract: A total of 102 women committed suicide before and after childbirth between 2015 and 2016, making it the leading cause of maternal death in Japan, according to a recent study by a team of experts that included personnel from the National Center for Child Health and Development. In the survey, the first of its kind to be conducted at a nationwide level, 92 committed suicide within a year of delivery. Around half of the 92 were aged 35 or older, while 65 percent had been pregnant for the first time. Many of the women belonged to households with no regular source of income. Postnatal depression, often caused by concerns and frustrations about raising children, is said to be one possible factor behind the women’s suicides. The team that carried out the survey is calling on women to consult doctors and health care centers “not just about their physical wellbeing but also about their mental wellbeing.” The findings also showed that, compared with other countries, the number of maternal deaths are small, but that the suicide rates are higher in Japan. “There may be more people (committing suicide) who are not shown in the data. … It is important to support anxious pregnant women and nursing mothers as well as those struggling with postnatal depression or other mental health issues,” said Rintaro Mori, a doctor at the center. The team analyzed the 2015-2016 population data on pregnant women and also those who had given birth within the previous 12 months. A total of 357 women died, of which 102 killed themselves. The cause of the death of the other women included cancers, diseases involving cranial nerves and bleeding. Suicide after childbirth was seen throughout the year, the survey also showed.


Japan gaming industry group to bolster educational activities in bid to prevent kids from becoming addicted

Abstract: A gaming industry group plans to boost its educational activities to prevent children from becoming obsessed with video games, informed sources said Friday. The move by the Computer Entertainment Supplier’s Association comes amid rising concerns about gaming addiction in Japan. Through an information magazine and its website, CESA plans to introduce parents to apps and other tools that restrict the amount of time their child can play video games, the sources said. Specifically, the association will bring back its magazine, discontinued six years ago, and hand out copies to visitors at the 2018 Tokyo Game Show, which is scheduled to begin at Makuhari Messe convention center in Chiba Prefecture on Sept. 20. In addition to introducing the apps, the magazine will carry an expert’s commentary explaining how the human brain becomes deeply absorbed in games. CESA, the organizer of the game show, will soon release similar content on its website as well, the sources said. Gaming addiction has attracted a lot of public attention since the World Health Organization classified it as a new disease in June. CESA decided to publicize its efforts to prevent gaming addiction because methods to restrict the amount of time children play games have not been widely publicized yet, according to Tatsuo Tomiyama, an executive managing director of the association.

video games
computers
smartphones
mental health


South Korea reports first MERS case in three years

Abstract: SEOUL - South Korea reported its first case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in three years, health officials said Saturday. A 61-year-old businessman was diagnosed with the highly contagious viral respiratory illness, according to officials at the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He returned to South Korea on Friday from a business trip in Kuwait where he stayed for three weeks, the KCDC said a statement. “Authorities have traced and separated 20 people who have come in close contact with the infected person,” KCDC head Chung Eun-gyeong told journalists. They include medical staff, flight attendants and passengers of the plane the man flew back to South Korea on, she said. He was hospitalized with fever and phlegm and has been quarantined at a university hospital, she added. It is the first case of MERS diagnosed in South Korea since 2015, when an outbreak killed 38 people and triggered widespread panic.


200-year-old Mie puppet's neck on the line as whaling ban makes crucial part scarce

Abstract: Onyudo is a giant kimono-clad, long-necked puppet that has been preserved by residents of the Nakanaya area of Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture, for more than 200 years. The puppet, regarded as a symbol of Yokkaichi, appears on a float in the annual Grand Yokkaichi Festival, showing off its red tongue. But Onyudo has recently been said to be on the verge of extinction because the ban on commercial whaling has made it extremely difficult to obtain baleen plates from right whales. The plates, which act as a filter-feeder system in the mouths of the whales, are traditionally used as a spring-like mechanism to bend and stretch the puppet’s neck. An Onyudo puppet float preservation group is thus struggling to find baleen plates while trying to develop springs that function the same way. The puppet, designated by the prefecture as tangible folk cultural property, is believed to have been created in 1805 in the late Edo Period (1603 to 1868) by renowned puppeteers Jusaburo Takeda and his son Tokichi of Nagoya. It has since been used in parades during the autumn festival put on by Suwa Shrine in October, and more recently at the Grand Yokkaichi Festival held in August. At 4½ meters tall, it is believed to be the largest puppet in Japan and has a neck that stretches as far as 2.7 meters from its position on the 1.8-meter-high float. Two baleen plates, each nearly 3 meters long, are installed in its neck, and the puppeteers in the float use them to manipulate it. In right whales, the plates are in the upper jaw, where they act as a strainer to separate their prey — usually plankton — from giant gulps of sea water taken into their mouths. Because they are strong yet highly flexible, baleen plates have traditionally been used to function as springs in Japanese puppets. The local preservation group has only two necks for the puppet, one produced in the Meiji Era (1868 to 1912) and the other in the early Showa Era (1926 to 1989). They used to alternate between the necks, but the group has been using only the newer one in recent years since the older one is beginning to show its age. The necks have been kept in action by mending the plates when they break, but the group fears it will become impossible to repair them in the future unless new plates can be obtained. In 1997 the group tried developing a replacement material for the neck by combining steel plates shaped like baleens with a cushioning material, but it didn’t work well, and the neck failed to stay still when stretched out. Two years ago, with the help of a spring-maker in Osaka, the preservation group managed to make the neck stay still with a coil spring. But it has not yet adopted this method out of fear that the steel plates, which are harder than baleens, might damage the neck’s wooden frame. While working on new ways to operate the neck, group members are also searching for baleen plates. They found a company in Kyushu that owns a 2.5-meter baleen plate and asked that it be kept for them, but they have been unable to raise the ¥2 million needed to buy it. “We strongly feel we want to hand down the tradition we have preserved,” said Hiromitsu Ieki, 76, who leads the group. “The best thing is to keep using baleen plates.” The group plans to reach out for information on available baleen plates and seek donations from businesses to purchase them.


Video gamers from across Japan, and the world, put down their controllers and head to Yokosuka

Abstract: The city of Yokosuka, located south of Yokohama, is mostly famous for feeling at times like a slice of America, as it is home to a large U.S. naval base. ( Some stores in Yokosuka even accept U.S. currency .) For foodies and fashionistas, Yokosuka is also well-known for its spicy curry and flashy bomber jackets . This summer, however, a new group took an interest in the city: video game fans. From Aug. 29 through Sept. 2, thousands of “Pokemon Go” players descended on Yokosuka for the game’s Safari Zone event , which offered a chance for fans to catch a variety of rare Pokemon that are normally hard to find. Yes, much to the chagrin of the “get off my lawn” crowd, “Pokemon Go” is still unfathomably popular . The Pokemon extravaganza was held last year in Yokohama, but after too many complaints were filed by locals , this year’s Safari Zone was relocated to Yokosuka. Businesses seemed to wholly embrace the chance to sell food and merchandise to players, however, setting up special signs welcoming people into their establishments. IGN’s Andrew Goldfarb tweeted that it was “the best day of my life.” 横須賀のスタバがすごい #ポケモンgo #pokemongo #SafariZoneinYOKOSUKA pic.twitter.com/MLNkU9GxFw — えだまめ@ポケモンGO (@edamame_phoo) August 29, 2018 Visitors posted online how they had a lot more elbow room at the Yokosuka event compared to last year in Yokohama, and even Eevee the Pokemon could comfortably walk down Dobuita Street without pushing through crowds. User @PgoJP tweeted that the Safari Zone was well-organized, and went on to compliment the sweet train station staff for pointing out where to go. The city also put up Pokemon-themed “Don’t walk and play” signs throughout the venues to make sure trainers kept their eyes on the road and not on their phones. And any Pokemon event that has rare monsters to be caught is sure to attract the most hardcore trainers from across Japan. A pair of gamers from Nagoya were spotted playing on four and five smartphones each. “ This is normal in Nagoya ,” they were quoted as saying. Twitter user @TAM_DDR’s mission to catch ’em all took him all the way to Yokosuka where he walked around with a sign begging anyone to trade him a Heracross (a rare bug Pokemon that can only be found in South America). He tweeted several times asking for some kind soul to give him the big blue bug, and in the end he was successful . Another set of video gamers are journeying to Yokosuka, but they are not searching for virtual monsters. Instead, they want to relive their favorite game, Sega’s “Shenmue,” which was re-released this summer and has renewed interest in the seaside city. Originally published in 1999, the adventure game “Shenmue” follows protagonist Ryo Hazuki ( fitted in a sweet bomber jacket, naturally ) as he traverses Yokosuka searching for sailors and the man who killed his father. Ryo looks for clues in the suburbs, the docks and Yokosuka’s famous shopping district, Dobuita Street . The original developers re-created the road into the game and the results can look nearly identical from certain angles . Even though so much time has passed since “Shenmue” was made, super-fans are still taking trips to Yokosuka to snap photos of the real-life versions of the game’s locales, while others have blogs identifying every shop and street corner that appears in the game. People who can’t visit Japan on a whim are doing their own detective work from home, mapping out exactly what every digital citizen of Yokosuka does on a daily basis , or deciphering the blurry, pixelated posters that appear in virtual Yokosuka. Sega has caught on to these fan pilgrimages and made a comparison video of its own . In the video, the company invited two fans to wander through Dobuita Street and identify some of the moments from the game, which they do in excruciating detail. “(‘Shenmue’) was really more than a game,” YouTuber Adam Koralik says in Sega’s video. “It was an experience.” The city of Yokosuka has been well aware of these obsessive gamers for quite some time now. The City Hall even has a foldable “Shenmue” map that fans can follow to see all of the sites from the game. The “Shenmue Chapter One: Yokosuka ‘Sacred Spot’ Guide Map” was created by Yokosuka city employee Eriko Furusaki, who, to tie everything together, worked on previous “Pokemon Go” events for the city . “We would be delighted for players to make a journey to Shenmue’s Yokosuka, seeing it through their own personal filter of memories and fondness for the game,” Furusaki told fan website PhantomRiverStone.com . “We are looking forward to even more fans coming to visit.”


China to launch nationwide inspections of ride-hailing companies

Abstract: HONG KONG - China will conduct comprehensive inspections on all ride-hailing service companies, the transport ministry has said, after a driver from dominant firm Didi Chuxing murdered a 20-year-old passenger this month. The inspections, starting from Sept. 5, will cover all ride-hailing service platforms nationwide, the ministry said in a statement released Friday. Didi said it welcomed the move and would fully cooperate to implement measures for improvement. “We accept the supervision and will do our best to improve our services to ensure the safety of the public,” Didi said in a statement posted on its official account on China’s Twitter-like Weibo website. The murder of the passenger who rode in a Didi vehicle took place in the eastern city of Wenzhou, and was the second such incident involving Didi since May. The latest case sparked outrage and raised concerns about safety in the fast-growing ride-hailing sector in China, prompting the company to say that it would suspend its Hitch service indefinitely until it comes up with a safety mechanism acceptable to its users.


Man who killed his ex-wife and daughter put to death in Taiwan in state's first execution in two years

Abstract: TAIPEI - Taiwan has executed a death row inmate, the first execution carried out under President Tsai Ing-wen’s government, despite ongoing calls from rights groups to abolish the death penalty. Lee Hung-chi was executed at a prison in the southern city of Kaohsiung on Friday afternoon by firing squad, according to the justice ministry, for killing his ex-wife and five-year-old daughter in 2014. Lee stabbed his ex-wife to death outside the kindergarten their two daughters attended and then took one of the girls to his car, where he attempted to kill both her and himself by carbon monoxide poisoning. Lee survived after they were rescued but the girl died two months later despite treatment. “His actions were brutal and ruthless … and inflicted irreparable harms to the victims’ families,” deputy justice minister Chen Ming-tang told reporters. The court had ruled there was no likelihood of Lee reforming, he added. Taiwan resumed capital punishment in 2010 after a five-year hiatus, with the death penalty reserved for the most serious crimes such as aggravated murder and kidnapping. Some politicians and rights groups have called for its abolition, but various surveys show majority support for the death penalty. Chen said the government was gradually decreasing its use, but would not abolish it for now. “Abolishing (the) death sentence is an international trend and a long-term goal for the justice ministry … but there is no consensus in our country,” Chen said. There are currently 42 prisoners on death row in Taiwan. Lee’s execution was the first since a former college student was put to death in May 2016 for killing four people in a random stabbing spree on a subway that shocked the generally peaceful island. In 2012 the murder of a young boy in a playground reignited debate over the death penalty, after the suspect reportedly said he was anticipating free board and lodging in jail and would get a life sentence at most even if he were to kill two or three people. The European Union expressed sympathy toward those close to Lee’s victims but said it was “unequivocally opposed to the use of capital punishment.” In a statement, the bloc called on Taiwan to “immediately reintroduce a moratorium on the death penalty … as a first step to its total abolition.”

taiwan
tsai ing-wen
death penalty
prisons


Examining the motives behind mass murder in Japan

Abstract: Japan is for the most part a safe country. Gun-control laws are so strict in this East Asian nation of more than 120 million that fatalities remained in single digits last year. And yet we still feel a palpable sense of relief when we make it through any given year without a mass murderer surfacing to inflict pain and suffering on their victims’ families. Take the following cases, for example: On Aug. 18, a former Yokohama nurse suspected of being a serial killer was served a third arrest warrant over several fatal poisonings at a hospital where she once worked. Ayumi Kuboki earlier told prosecutors she injected disinfectant into intravenous drip bags being administered to about 20 patients. In July 2016, former nursing home worker Satoshi Uematsu stabbed 19 people to death in a facility for people with intellectual disabilities in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture. In June 2008, Tomohiro Kato drove a motor vehicle into a crowd before going on a stabbing spree that left seven people dead and 10 injured on the streets of Tokyo’s Akihabara neighborhood. In June 2001, Mamoru Takuma, a former soldier and ex-convict, killed eight children at an elementary school in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture. Takuma remained unrepentant until his execution in September 2004. The country’s worst massacre took place in the Okayama village of Kamo in May 1938. Mutsuo Toi, a 21-year-old man, cut off electricity to the hamlet and killed 30 people, including his grandmother, with a shotgun, sword and ax before killing himself. Toi claimed to have felt ostracized from the other inhabitants in the village. What lessons can be learned from these cases? Some guidance can be found in a 2013 Justice Ministry paper titled “Research Into Indiscriminate Cases of Mass Murder and Injury.” The 198-page report examined 52 instances in which an individual seriously injured and/or killed people they didn’t know without a clear motive in an attempt to learn from them and hopefully prevent similar attacks. The report classified the attacks into five separate motives. Forty-two percent of the cases were fueled by a grudge, while 19 percent were driven by anger or envy toward a group or entity. Seventeen percent wished to escape society by being incarcerated, 11.5 percent wished to commit suicide or be killed in the act and 9.6 percent simply wanted to kill. Others included in the report gave no clear motive, but drugs or mental illness were believed to play a part in the crime. While it recognized that the sample size was small, the report drew some interesting conclusions. First, the report found that many mass murderers had previously been institutionalized. As a result, the report said, people who had been incarcerated for violent acts needed to receive ongoing treatment once they were released. The report suggested only one alternative. “In order to make (these) individuals not feel socially isolated, we need to work with all facilities to address mental illness, and prevent suicidal behavior so that people feel they have ‘a chance in the world’ and a place they feel at home,” the report said. In the end, the report concluded that untreated suicidal impulses could tragically lead to homicide. At the same time, the report was unable to identify any solutions that would help anyone who was fixated on the idea of murder. As for my own conclusion? Given the subject matter, it all seems quite simple: By shining a light on the darker side of human nature, perhaps some kind of understanding may be found that might prevent future tragedies. And as the report also notes, further study is required.

ayumi kuboki
satoshi uematsu
tomohiro kato
mamoru takuma
mutsuo toi


Tabloids in Japan unafraid to question Imperial scandals

Abstract: The domestic press is more deferential to Japan’s Imperial family than the British press is to its royal family. To secure access, Japan’s mainstream media must play by the rules of the Imperial Household Agency, which controls said access and watches the resulting coverage closely. The weeklies and tabloids have no direct access to the royal family, at least not through the Imperial Household Agency, and so they write whatever they want. For the most part, they don’t go as far as the British tabloid press does in covering their royals, but they’ve been known to report on scandals in the palace. At the moment, they’re fired up about Kei Komuro, the law firm employee who wants to marry Princess Mako, the elder daughter of Prince Akishino, the second son of Emperor Akihito. The couple announced their intentions last September and it was assumed they would be married sometime this year but then, in December, Shukan Josei started reporting that Komuro’s widowed mother owed money to a former boyfriend. The story was picked up by other weeklies and then the major media, the result of which has been a full-blown scandal that now incorporates sideshows about the Komuros’ religious beliefs and the deaths of Kei’s father and grandfather, both allegedly by suicide. On Feb. 6, the Imperial Household Agency announced that the formal engagement ceremony for Mako and Komuro had been postponed until 2020 , raising eyebrows across the board and prompting high-fives in the editorial offices of the weeklies. Then Josei Seven ran a scoop about Komuro going to the United States to gain an American law degree, a process that would entail three years of study. More rumors flew, the gist of which was that the Imperial Household Agency and, more specifically, Mako’s father and grandmother, Empress Michiko, wanted the couple to break up. The weeklies implied that the Imperial Household Agency may have cooked up the study-abroad scheme to separate the couple so that their affections would cool over time. Eventually, the Imperial Household Agency announced that Komuro would attend Fordham University in New York from August. More high-fives and raised eyebrows. These developments are regularly updated by Hiroyuki Shinoda in his column about the weeklies in Tokyo Shimbun and other publications that toe the Imperial Household Agency line when it comes to royal coverage. When Shinoda wanted to express disgust with the weeklies’ treatment of Komuro he referred to a New York Times article that said the tabloids were persecuting Komuro. The New York Times also talked about the Imperial Household Agency’s demand that Fordham remove from its home page a statement saying Komuro was the fiancee of Princess Mako, since no formal engagement ceremony had taken place. The university apologized and did as it was told. Shinoda called the Imperial Household Agency’s demand abnormal, and cited Shukan Josei as one of the instigators of Komuro-bashing, since the weekly relied on anonymous negative comments about the marriage sent to the Imperial Household Agency — comments that, according to Shinoda, were prompted by the very magazine that later reported them. Just as Shinoda was given license to write critically about Komuro’s situation by The New York Times’ coverage, most major media on Aug. 8 repeated the rumors about objections to Komuro from within the palace by simply reviewing weekly magazine coverage. The Asahi Shimbun took their word that news about “financial problems … prompted (Mako’s) parents to take the unusual step of demanding answers from the family of Kei Komuro.” The royal family is said to be worried about public opinion and the rituals that must be carried out prior to a royal wedding, even if, according to law, Mako will be leaving the royal family after the nuptials. Another media person who has come out publicly against this narrative is Masahiko Motoki, a former editor-in-chief of Shukan Gendai. In the online version of the financial magazine President , Motoki complained about the coverage. Referencing sentimental pop songs, he predicts that in the end “love will win” and the couple will get married despite the fact that “society can be cruel.” Motoki takes issue with the reporting of the debt scandal. The only “source” of information about the money owed to the former boyfriend is the boyfriend himself, who remains anonymous. Komuro and his mother have declined to speak on the record about it. Explaining that weeklies present both sides of a story even if the sources are nameless, Motoki finds it suspicious that the original revelation was based on one man’s uncorroborated version. Similarly, all subsequent quotes about dissatisfactions within the royal family come from anonymous acquaintances of the principals. It also appears that Komuro’s intentions to seek a law degree in the United States were prompted by his employer, which offered to pay the attendant fees. In fact, he applied for a slot at Fordham before the Imperial Household Agency’s February announcement about the engagement, which was postponed because of the fuss surrounding the present Emperor’s abdication next year. In Motoki’s version, Komuro is a hard-working young man who wants to build a career and start a family. Compare the coverage of Mako’s situation to that of Princess Ayako, the daughter of the late Prince Takamado. She recently announced her intention to marry commoner Kei Moriya . There’s no problem with their union because it was arranged by Ayako’s mother, Princess Hisako, but afterward it’s open season. Hisako also arranged the marriage of Ayako’s older sister to a Shinto priest that the weeklies believe is now on the rocks . Coincidentally, the husband of the Emperor’s daughter, Sayako, who left the royal family when she wed, was recently spotted by a weekly eating at a chain restaurant by himself , sparking rumors that their marriage isn’t going smoothly either. That one was supposedly arranged by Prince Akishino. Mako and Komuro have been sweethearts since they met in university. No important person introduced them, so in their case even the romance is fair game in the eyes of the media, regardless of affiliation.

imperial family
kei komuro
princess mako