Bachelet tops Chile presidential vote, but fails to avoid runoff

Abstract: SANTIAGO - Michelle Bachelet won nearly twice as many votes as her closest rival in Chile’s presidential election Sunday, but she fell short of the outright majority needed to avoid a Dec. 15 runoff. With more than 92 percent of votes counted, the moderate socialist Bachelet had nearly 47 percent, to 25 percent for conservative Evelyn Matthei. Seven other candidates trailed far behind. Bachelet predicted she would win big in the second round and push forward major social reforms. “We’re going to have a decisive and strong victory that backs up the transformation program that we have been building,” she said. Matthei’s campaign celebrated getting another try at Bachelet, this time in a one-on-one race. “Going into a second round is certainly a triumph,” an exultant Matthei told supporters. Bachelet, 62, left office with an 84 percent approval rating after her 2006-10 presidency despite failing then to bring about major changes in society. This time, she has taken up the cause of protesters, vowing to revamp the constitution, raise corporate taxes to fund an education overhaul and reduce the wealth gap. But Bachelet’s center-left New Majority coalition failed Sunday to win the supermajorities in Congress needed to make those changes. Matthei, 60, an outspoken former labor minister, says Chile must continue business-friendly policies she credited for fast growth and low unemployment under center-right President Sebastian Pinera. She favors funding programs through improved economic growth, not by raising taxes. Bachelet and Matthei were childhood friends and neighbors, but found themselves on opposite sides after Chile’s 1973 military coup, when Matthei’s father ran the military school where Gen. Alberto Bachelet was tortured to death for remaining loyal to ousted President Salvador Allende. Both families have said Gen. Matthei had no direct involvement in Bachelet’s father’s death and the two women have remained cordial over the years while they rose through political ranks on the right and left. Chile is the world’s top copper producer, and its fast-growing economy, low unemployment and stable democracy are the envy of Latin America. But millions of Chileans have taken to the streets in recent years, venting frustration over the huge gap between rich and poor and the country’s chronically underfunded education system. Many voters blame free-market policies imposed during Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship for keeping wealth and power in very few hands. He sold off water services, undid land reforms, privatized pensions, cut wages and slashed trade barriers. Chile’s schools also were free before Pinochet pushed privatization and ended central control and funding of primary and secondary schools. “I’m voting for the first time in my life,” said Alvaro Torres, a 32-year-old warehouse worker casting his ballot at a school in the wealthy Santiago neighborhood of Las Condes. “I voted for Bachelet because she represents change. I hope change comes, especially in education.” “I voted for Evelyn Matthei because this is an historic moment and we need someone like her,” said Norma Sunkel, a 64-year-old sociologist. “I hope that she’ll force a runoff, but I have to admit that it’s very hard that she’ll win the presidency.” This was Chile’s first election after making voter registration automatic, increasing the rolls from 8.2 million to 13.5 million. But the new system also eliminated penalties for not voting. Pinera said late Sunday that he was sorry turnout was so low, with 44 percent of registered voters staying at home. With all 120 seats in the lower House of Congress and 20 of 38 Senate seats at stake, the low turnout probably didn’t help Bachelet’s efforts to gain super-majorities for her New Majority coalition. Under electoral rules imposed by Pinochet to frustrate change, the losing party gets half the seats in each region if the winning party fails to secure more than two-thirds of the votes. The dictatorship-era rules also require voting majorities in Congress of 57 percent for educational reform, 60 percent for electoral reform and nearly 67 percent for constitutional changes. But with most of the votes counted, Bachelet’s coalition had 51 percent in the Senate and 48 percent in the lower chamber. “You almost feel sorry for her because she’s going to be stuck between the future and the past,” said Peter Siavelis, a political science professor at Wake Forest University and author of “Democratic Chile: The Politics and Policies of a Historic Coalition.” “There all these demands in the streets for constitutional reform, but she’s facing a Congress that’s going to be elected by the binominal elections system,” Siavelis said. “There’s not going to be a majority there. So the influence of the dictatorship is going to impact on her reforms.”


J-blip: Tsutaya launches one-stop 'lifestyle' bookshop

Abstract: Following on the success of Daikanyama T-Site , an upmarket complex targeted at an older demographic of book lovers and one that included satellite boutiques for cameras, bikes and pets, bookselling behemoth Tsutaya has opened a new similar envelope-pushing book store in Honjō-Waseda, Saitama. By offering objects for sale related to a particular hobby or interest, the concept of the new store, which opened its doors on Nov. 2, is to sell not only books, but also a new lifestyle and, of course, to maximize profits. Make no mistake, though. The lifestyle being hawked here is a far cry from the tony Daikanyama T-Site. Catering to a more suburban and middle-class set, the store is divided into seven zones: cookery, interior decorating, beauty, kids, business, the arts and travel. In the cookery zone, cooking utensils and tableware are laid out next to cookbooks and in-store cookery demonstrations should further whet consumer’s appetite for purchasing more than just a recipe book. As more entertainment content — be it books, DVDs or games — becomes digitized and downloadable, could this mark the final chapter of the bookstores? The writing is on the brick-and-mortar wall.


U.S. bombers cross China's claimed air defense zone

Abstract: NEW YORK - Days after China asserted greater military control over a swath of the East China Sea to bolster claims to a cluster of disputed islands, the U.S. defied the move Tuesday as it flew two B-52 bombers through the area. The U.S. said what it described as a training mission was not flown to respond to China’s latest military maneuver, yet the dramatic flights made clear that the U.S. will not recognize the new territorial claims that Beijing laid out over the weekend. The two unarmed U.S. B-52 bombers took off from their home base in Guam and flew through China’s newly designated air defense zone, then returned to base, U.S. officials said. The bombers were in the zone for less than an hour, thundering across the Pacific skies during midday there, the officials said, adding that the aircraft encountered no problems. While the U.S. insisted the training mission was long-planned, it came just days after China issued a map and a new set of rules governing the zone, which includes a cluster of islands that are controlled by Japan but claimed by Beijing. U.S. officials would not publicly acknowledge the flights on Tuesday, but State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said China’s move appeared to be an attempt to change the status quo in the East China Sea. “This will raise regional tensions and increase the risk of miscalculation, confrontation and accidents,” she told reporters. China said Saturday that all aircraft entering the new air defense zone must notify Chinese authorities and are subject to emergency military measures if they do not identify themselves or obey Beijing’s orders. U.S. officials, however, said they have received no reaction to the bomber flights from the Chinese. The bomber mission underscores Washington’s immediate rejection of China’s new rules. The U.S., which has hundreds of military aircraft based in the region, has said it has zero intention of complying. Japan likewise has called the zone invalid, unenforceable and dangerous, while Taiwan and South Korea, both close to the U.S., also rejected it. White House spokesman Josh Earnest would not specifically comment Tuesday on the military flights. “It continues to be our view that the policy announced by the Chinese over weekend is unnecessarily inflammatory and has a destabilizing impact on the region,” he told reporters traveling with Obama in Los Angeles. China’s move to further assert its territorial claims over the islands is not expected to immediately spark confrontations with foreign aircraft. Yet it fits a pattern of putting teeth behind China’s claims and could potentially lead to dangerous encounters depending on how vigorously China enforces it — and how cautious it is when intercepting aircraft from Japan, the U.S. and other countries. While enforcement is expected to start slowly, Beijing has a record of playing the long game, and analysts say they anticipate a gradual scaling up of activity. The declaration seems to have flopped as a foreign policy gambit. Analysts say Beijing may have miscalculated the forcefulness and speed with which its neighbors rejected its demands. At least in the short term, the move undermines Beijing’s drive for regional influence, said Bonnie Glaser, an Asia expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “It doesn’t serve Chinese interests to have tensions with so many neighbors simultaneously,” she said. Denny Roy, a security expert at the East-West Center in Hawaii, said China’s enforcement will likely be mostly rhetorical at first. “The Chinese can now start counting and reporting what they call Japanese violations, while arguing that the Chinese side has shown great restraint by not exercising what they will call China’s right to shoot, and arguing further that China cannot be so patient indefinitely,” Roy said. China also faces practical difficulties deriving from gaps in its air-to-air refueling and early warning and control capabilities, presenting challenges in both detecting foreign aircraft and keeping its planes in the air, according to Greg Waldron, Asia managing editor at Flightglobal magazine in Singapore. Despite that, Beijing has shown no sign of backing down, just as it has continued to aggressively enforce its island claims in the South China Sea over the strong protests from its neighbors. Tensions remain high with Tokyo over islands in the East China Sea called Senkaku by Japan and Daioyu by China. Beijing was incensed by Japan’s September 2012 move to nationalize the chain, and Diaoyutai by Taiwan, which also claims them. Since then, Chinese and Japanese coast guard ships have regularly confronted each other in surrounding waters. Japan further angered Beijing last month by threatening to shoot down unmanned Chinese drones that Beijing says it plans to send on surveillance missions over the islands. Beijing’s move was greeted rapturously by hard-line Chinese nationalists, underscoring Beijing’s need to assuage the most vocal facet of domestic public opinion. Strategically, it also serves to keep the island controversy alive in service of Beijing’s goal of forcing Tokyo to accept that the islands are in dispute — a possible first step to joint administration or unilateral Chinese control over them. Beijing was also responding in kind to Japan’s strict enforcement of its own air defense zone in the East China Sea, said Dennis Blasko, an Asia analyst at think tank CNA’s China Security Affairs Group and a former army attache in Beijing. The Japanese zone, in place since the 1960s, overlaps extensively with the newly announced Chinese zone. Japan, which keeps a public record of all foreign incursions into its zone, actually extended it westward by 14 miles (22.5 km) in May.


Think caviar but brace for caveat

Abstract: In one of the most memorable scenes of the late, and sorely missed, Juzo Itami’s classic 1985 film “Tampopo” (“Dandelion”), Japanese businessmen enter a French restaurant. Confused by the exotic items on the menu, the elderly members of the party stick to what they know: sole meuniere, consomme soup and Heineken beer. The youngest member of the group, however, breaks the harmony by ordering quenelle, Boudin-style, like they serve it at the Taillevent restaurant in Paris, escargot wrapped in pastry with a fond de veau sauce, and an apple and walnut salad. The waiter is thrilled somebody in the room truly knows fine food, while his older colleagues fume with anger and embarrassment. Nearly three decades later, that scene looks less like a parody of high-end diners ignorant of gourmet food and more, as the recent food misrepresentation scandal shows, as a prescient profile of today’s finicky foodie who reads the menu carefully and knows which South African wine goes best with the Kobe beef or Okinawan pork. The revelation in October that eight hotels belonging to the Hankyu Hanshin group in Osaka, as well as the Ritz Carlton Osaka, had mislabeled about 50 food items on the menus of nearly two dozen restaurants and banquet halls turned out to be the tip of a very large iceberg. To date, in addition to Osaka-area hotel restaurants, a Tokyo Disneyland hotel and the Hyatt Regency Tokyo are just two of the many prominent names that have gotten caught up in the scandal. While the president of Hankyu Hanshin Hotels resigned to take responsibility for, among other things, claiming frozen fish as fresh and regular onions as a famed Kyoto variety, it was the Ritz Carlton Osaka’s president who created outrage when he said he originally thought there was no reason to announce one of the restaurants in his hotel was doing such things as using a different kind of shrimp than the one on the menu. Talentless “tarento” expressed shock that the famed Ritz was putting on its customers. Reporters scrutinized leather-bound menus of other Michelin-starred restaurants with a fine-toothed comb for lies, distortions, omissions and exaggerations. Suddenly, everybody was a food critic. Upscale Tokyo pundits assigned blame to the usual suspects — a sensationalist media, a few greedy corporations, and poor quality control by the line cooks. One restaurant industry source, speaking to the Asahi Shimbun, blamed the problem at the Ritz on a translation error. In Osaka, however, talk centered on the traditionally tightfisted, bargain-hunter culture of the natives toward spending money in a manner Tokyoites considered normal, even proper. The cost of living is 15 to 20 percent cheaper in Osaka than in Tokyo. Historically, Osakans, no matter their income level, have always been vocal in their demands for the lowest possible price for everything, especially in the service industry, regardless if certain sectors of it may be considered “high-end” elsewhere. This means even highly respected Osaka restaurants and hotels must go to extraordinary lengths to trim costs. Combine that with weak consumer protection laws and a hesitancy to question the waiter’s recommendation and you have an atmosphere ripe for abuse by those writing today’s specials on the chalkboard— at least until somebody in the know complains, is rebuffed by management and decides to blow the whistle. The young protagonist in “Tampopo” may have been showing off. But he instinctively understood the ancient concept of caveat emptor. As the food labeling scandal shows, today’s customers need to also heed the term’s gourmet cousin, which might be rendered as “caviar emptor.”

restaurants
hotels
hankyu
hanshin
ritz-carlton
menu falsifications


Japan meets Kyoto goal via credit buys

Abstract: WARSAW - Using the fiscal 1990 baseline, Japan achieved an 8.2 percent cut in emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from fiscal 2008 to 2012, meeting a 6 percent target under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on curbing global warming, government sources said Saturday. The preliminary figure shows Tokyo managed to fulfill its obligation during the first commitment period under the Kyoto pact due to a plunge in emissions in fiscal 2009 caused by a global financial crisis as well as forest absorption and the country’s purchase of emissions credits from overseas, the sources said. Environment Minister Nobuteru Ishihara is set to announce the nation’s achievement of the 6 percent cut target at the ongoing U.N. climate talks in Warsaw, they said. But greenhouse gas emissions in Japan have been rising since the 2011 Fukushima disaster, which left most of Japan’s nuclear plants offline and revived thermal power generation. Tokyo has decided not to join an eight-year second commitment period from 2013 for the Kyoto Protocol, saying the framework lacks effectiveness as major gas-emitting countries such as the United States and China are not part of the reduction efforts. On Friday, Tokyo set a new target of slashing greenhouse gas emissions by 3.8 percent in fiscal 2020 from fiscal 2005 levels, assuming nuclear power plants in the country remain offline. But the revised goal has immediately drawn criticism as it represents an rise of about 3 percent in emissions from the Kyoto Protocol base year of fiscal 1990.

greenhouse gas
kyoto protocol
nobuteru ishihara


Consumer body wants local-level food scrutiny

Abstract: Responding to recent food frauds committed by hotel and department store operators, the Consumer Affairs Agency is aiming to amend the products labeling law to let prefectures issue improvement orders to businesses that violate the law, government sources said Monday. Under the existing Act Against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations, only the Consumer Affairs Agency has the authority to order firms to stop misrepresenting items on their menus or to take steps to prevent further violations. But in practice, it is not possible for the agency to keep tabs on all the eateries and restaurants nationwide. The recent revelations of misrepresentations have triggered calls from the ruling bloc and prefectural and municipal governments to give local governments more authority. As things now stand, prefectural governments are allowed to inspect companies and instruct those linked to food fraud to stop breaking the law, or ask the Consumer Affairs Agency to issue orders. But the local governments have no legal grounds to issue such orders themselves. The Act Against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations prohibits attempts to mislead consumers by representing products as more expensive or better than they actually are. Violators are issued improvement orders, which if they fail to heed could result in imprisonment of up to two years or a fine not to exceed ¥3 million. The Consumer agency has 50 staffers who deal with issues related to the labeling law. However, since the agency’s establishment in September 2009, only four firms caught mislabeling food have been ordered to stop. Food fraud cases are expected to soar if local governments are authorized to go after violators.

consumer affairs agency
menues
mislabeling
food labeling


Firms tap apps that 'augment reality'

Abstract: Smartphone applications featuring “augmented reality” are being used by an increasing number of companies to promote their products. Ikea Japan K.K., the Japanese arm of the Swedish furnishing giant, launched a service in August that gives customers a virtual preview of how a piece of furniture will look in their home, with the help of a printed catalog, a smartphone or tablet and a mobile app. Customers first open the catalog at the selected product page and point the smartphone or tablet camera at a cross at the bottom of the page. This gives them access to augmented reality mode. Next, they close the catalog and place it on the spot where they intend to place the new piece of furniture. A virtual image of the selected sofa, bed or other furniture item will then be shown on the device’s screen with the room in the background. Customers can reposition the virtual furniture simply by touching the screen. About 90 kinds of furniture items can be viewed via augmented reality, which helps customers avoid buying the wrong size, shape or color by enabling them to picture the product in place first. “We want customers to know that purchasing furniture is easy and enjoyable too,” said Yuki Murata of Ikea Japan. A 30-year-old man who was visiting the Ikea outlet in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, along with his wife, said, “It is always a challenge to go and buy furniture, but by using this app we can see how it looks at home before actually coming to the store.” In another example, this winter, Sanrio Co. is selling two kinds of greeting cards, at ¥483 each, using augmented reality technology. It is the first time for the Tokyo-based character goods maker to sell the cards. One of the cards features four Santa Clauses that pop up when the card is opened. When the recipient holds a smartphone or tablet over the card, 11 Santa Clauses appear on screen, playing musical instruments. In the other card, Sanrio’s popular character Hello Kitty dances on the device screen and the recipient can even be in a photograph with Kitty. “We believe the cards combine the warmth of handwritten letters and the latest information technology,” said Shingo Yasutomo, a Sanrio official who developed them. Publishing firms also seem interested in products using the technology. Tokyo Shoseki Co. in August published a picture book for ¥1,995 about 33 species of animals at Asahiyama Zoo, a popular tourist draw located in Asahikawa, Hokkaido. By overlaying a smartphone on the book, a reader can view a virtual image of a bear swimming on the screen or a magnified image of the rarely seen cheek teeth of the Yezo deer. An official at Tokyo Shoseki said sales of the book are on the increase and the company has received favorable comments from readers, one of whom said, “It’s like being at the zoo.” Augmented reality technology is also used by many tourist spots and museums to offer visitors digital guidance, as well as in product ads on vending machines.

augmented reality
ikea
sanrio
tokyo shoseki


Hotel Okura latest to own up to fraudulent menus

Abstract: Hotel Okura on Thursday became the latest in a seemingly endless string of established hotels and department stores to admit to misrepresenting the items on its restaurant menus. Hotel Okura Co., the operator of the landmark hotel in central Tokyo and others nationwide, said 13 hotels and three restaurants under its wing had misrepresented 235 menu items. According to the hotel chain, a total of 386,000 dishes stemming from false menu descriptions, amounting to ¥870 million, had been sold since 2007. Separately, JAL Hotels Co., a unit of Hotel Okura, reported similar menu misrepresentations at its 13 hotels that amounted to 130,000 dishes worth ¥200 million since 2006. Hotel JAL City Tamachi Tokyo in Minato Ward, for example, served barnacle rock shell as premium “awabi” abalone. Also served was shark fin soup using fins made of artificial ingredients. Okura’s announcement came just a day after Japan’s three leading department stores — Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd., Sogo & Seibu Co. and Odakyu Department Store Co. — admitted using ingredients different from those listed on their menus. Though all three claimed the food fraud was committed by tenants, they’ve nonetheless taken heat for lack of oversight. Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings said that 14 restaurants in its group nationwide served misrepresented items. The fraud involved 52 menu items at eight department stores and one shopping mall, included the mislabeling of Vannamei shrimp as more expensive Shiba shrimp and processed beef as steak, Isetan Mitsukoshi said. In other cases, the origin of the food was false, such as pork raised in Iwate Prefecture being sold as from Miyazaki, and chestnuts from China baked into cakes labeled from Europe. Isetan Mitsukoshi said it will give refunds for those items. Meanwhile, Sogo & Seibu Co. admitted to misrepresenting 13 items at seven restaurants in its group stores nationwide. At a Sogo Tokushima restaurant in Tokushima Prefecture, for example, Awa beef, a local delicacy, was listed on the menu, though the beef was in fact from Kagoshima Prefecture. Odakyu Department Store Co. also acknowledged the same day that it had falsely represented dishes, including a product that claimed to contain prawns, not the tiger shrimp it actually did. “It’s the department stores’ responsibility to check how their tenants are managing food. Otherwise, they should not let (those restaurants) use their space,” said Yasuko Kono, director general of the National Liaison Committee of Consumer’s Organization. “The department store business, after all, is built on trust. And as a consumer, I am fuming by knowing the reality.” The Consumer Affairs Agency is studying whether the food fraud falls under the scope of the competition and policy law, which forbids mislabeling of any product, an agency official said. If it determines there were violations, it will order those companies to take preventive steps toensure they never happen again. Regardless of what the agency decides, the industries must stick to their own rules and guidelines to regain consumer trust, Kono said. “They are convicted criminals. They are professionals and there is no way they couldn’t have realized (the items were mislabeled). Their management culture has a huge problem and it needs to be changed,” Kono said. She also stressed that Japan needs to establish systems to track ingredients to their source. “At the moment, there is almost no such tracking system in Japan,” she said. The Consumer Affairs Agency instructed the hotel industry on Wednesday to take steps to correct its conduct. The agency handed written requests to representatives of the Japan Hotel Association and two other hotel industry groups. The groups received explanations of the law for preventing misleading representations of goods and services, and were shown past instances of menu descriptions found to violate regulations. The agency is currently discussing handing out similar requests to department stores, an official said. Companies implicated in the scandal include Prince Hotels Inc., Hankyu Hanshin Hotels Co., the Ritz-Carlton Osaka and department store operator Takashimaya Co. Information from Kyodo added

hotels
menu
restaurants
misrepresentation
food fraud
mislabeling


The secret of keeping official secrets secret

Abstract: “He that would keep a secret must keep it secret that he hath a secret to keep,” says Sir Humphrey Appleby, permanent secretary to the Department of Administrative Affairs, a fictitious branch of the British government. He is one of the main characters in the highly acclaimed 1980s BBC television series “Yes Minister” and its equally phenomenal sequel, “Yes Prime Minister.” Sir Humphrey’s axiom would surely be readily shared by current real-life Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as he bulldozes his bill for the protection of special official secrets through parliament. The bill would meet with Sir Humphrey’s high approval not least because it keeps secret what secrets it deems especially secret. People who supposedly violate the regulations set down by the legislation would never be sure what secret it was that they failed to keep secret. Civil servants would become even more secretive than they already are because they fear a potential 10-year imprisonment for divulging secrets whose degree of secrecy they are secretly never quite sure of. Their unwritten code of secret conduct would ultimately be: “When in doubt, keep secret.” Such a mindset would also be very much after Sir Humphrey’s own heart. Not only the civil service but ordinary citizens would also walk in fear of breaking the law whose notions of secrecy are shrouded in secrecy. The whole nation would turn into a secret society in which people’s lips are sealed because they do not know what secrets they may be unwittingly sharing with each other. The foregoing words of Sir Humphrey’s appear in an episode called “A Question of Loyalty” in the “Yes Minister” series. Sir Humphrey’s political master, Jim Hacker, is minister for administrative affairs at that point. By a quirk of fate and some astute political moves Hacker goes on to become prime minister. Sir Humphrey also moves up to the top of the administrative ladder and joins Hacker as chief secretary to the Cabinet. Enemies in friendly disguise as much as friends in seeming hostility, the two of them come up against some intriguing issues of secrecy in their respective top jobs in government. “Official Secrets” is an episode that crops up about two-thirds of the way into the prime ministerial series. Clearly neither fact nor fiction concerning government and politics can proceed without touching on the theme of secrecy. On this occasion, an increasingly power-conscious Prime Minister Hacker tries to suppress the publication of a chapter of his predecessor’s memoirs because it says a lot of very unkind things about Hacker’s conduct when he was still in charge of the Department of Administrative Affairs. The solicitor-general, who is the top civil servant in charge of legal interpretation, complains that the chapter cannot be suppressed on grounds of official secrecy because the criticisms against Hacker, while possibly libelous, are not a security risk. The outburst indicates how easily the prime ministerial job can go to somebody’s head. Hacker, as political head of government, now considers himself leader of the nation, whereas the government is actually there to serve the nation and not the other way around. This is the misunderstanding of a weak mind with strong delusions. To the owner of such a mind and such delusions, every nasty thing that is said against them becomes actionable as a breach of official secrecy. Freedom of speech would disappear from the radar screen of democracy. It could just as easily happen in real life as well as in television. Noriko Hama is an economist and a professor at Doshisha University Graduate School of Business.

shinzo abe
secrecy
state secrets
state secrets bill


Japan: The new Uzbekistan of press freedom in Asia

Abstract: If you’re living in Japan, you may be surprised to know that your right to know has been replaced by the right to remain silent. Shhh … don’t protest. It’s practically a done deal. The first rule of the pending state secrets bill is that a secret is a secret. The second rule is that anyone who leaks a secret and/or a reporter who makes it public via a published report or broadcast can face up to 10 years in prison. The third rule is that there are no rules as to which government agencies can declare information to be a state secret and no checks on them to determine that they don’t abuse the privilege; even defunct agencies can rule their information to be secret. The fourth rule is that anything pertaining to nuclear energy is a state secret, which means there will no longer be any problems with nuclear power in this country because we won’t know anything about it. And what we don’t know can’t hurt us. The right to know has now officially been superseded by the right of the government to make sure you don’t know what they don’t want you to know. Welcome to the new Dark Ages of Japan, brought to you by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party, Komeito and Your Party. If the economy and the actions of the government and its politicians seemed opaque up to now, the ruling bloc is making sure that it’s very solid obsidian. Every major news organization in Japan opposes the bill. Last week, thousands of ordinary citizens took to the street to protest the proposed legislation. The LDP — ever sensitive to the will of the people — took decisive action to address the issue last Tuesday. A debate was held in the morning and televised by state broadcaster NHK. As soon as NHK cut off the broadcast, the LDP ended the debate and rammed the bill through the Lower House. Democracy in action. Only the Upper House remains. The law has been compared to the pre-World War II Peace Preservation Law, which was used to arrest and jail any individual who opposed the government party line. “Japan already has a very weak freedom of information act which this will cripple,” said Yutaka Saito, a member of the Japan In-House Lawyers Association task force. “The bill takes everything bad about national security laws in the U.S. and then removes all the safeguards and checks.” According to one survey, more than 80 percent of the public feels that the new law will be misused by the government to coverup scandals, corruption and troubling information. That mistrust in the government is well founded: the Minamata disease coverup on behalf of corporate interests in the ’60s; the HIV-tainted blood scandal in the ’90s; Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry’s moves to bury a whistle-blower report on nuclear safety problems at Fukushima No. 1 and No. 2 nuclear power plants in 2000. Abe has assured us that the regulations for the bill clearly state that a third party organization should be put in place to keep checks on the system. Should . Should is an interesting word. You should brush your teeth. You should pay your taxes. You should believe Prime Minister Abe when he tells that he doesn’t know notorious yakuza financier Icchu Nagamoto — even though he had his photo taken with him in 2008 . We should believe Abe and yet I don’t. Japan should have a society where people have a right to know what their government is doing and where freedom of the press is guaranteed. Abe’s suggestion that there should be oversight does not mean that there will be. And judging by recent history, even if a token oversight committee is created, it will be about as effective as protecting the public’s right to know as the Nuclear Industrial Safety Agency was in preventing a triple nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant. On Nov. 27, Reporters Without Borders condemned the legislation cogently. “How can the government respond to growing demands for transparency from a public outraged by the consequences of the Fukushima nuclear accident if it enacts a law that gives it a free hand to classify any information considered too sensitive as a ‘state secret’?” the organization said. “By imposing heavy penalties on those who obtain classified information . . . and then publish it, Parliament is making investigative journalism illegal, and is trampling on the fundamental principles of the confidentiality of journalists’ sources and ‘public interest.’ ” Reporters Without Borders also noted that Japan’s ranking in the press freedom index had taken a record fall of 31 places from its position in 2012 to a new low of 53 out of 179 countries. If the state secrets law is passed, Japan’s press freedom ranking next year is expected to sink to nearly Uzbekistan or China levels. Welcome to the land of the setting sun. Let’s see how much darker it will get.

press freedom
state secrets
state secrets bill
shinzo abe
secrecy


In rare move, new medical department to be set up at university in Tohoku

Abstract: The government will permit a university in Tohoku to establish a new medical department, education minister Hakubun Shimomura said. To be launched as early as spring 2015, it will be the first medical department to open in the country since the University of the Ryukyus established one in Okinawa Prefecture in 1979, Shimomura said Friday. The education ministry has not approved the creation of new medical departments in recent years to prevent an oversupply of doctors, but the latest move aims to assist the regeneration of Tohoku following the March 2011 quake, tsunami and nuclear disasters. The government has yet to decide which university will get to open the medical department. The new facility will be required to train doctors capable of contributing to the recovery of Tohoku by studying medical therapies to assist those suffering as a result of the disasters. It will also be urged to establish a scholarship for students who commit to working in the region after graduating from university, the ministry said. The university chosen to host the medical department will be banned from recruiting as faculty members doctors and nurses from nearby areas so as not to disrupt the regional health care infrastructure. Currently, Tohoku Fukushi University and Tohoku Pharmaceutical University, both based in Sendai, have expressed willingness to open a medical department.

universities
tohoku
education
doctors
mext
medical schools


Inokashira park to open, Yangtze mine sweeping detailed, Kennedy eulogized, Japan-U.S. visa pact begins

Abstract: 100 YEARS AGO Sunday, Dec. 21, 1913 Tokyo’s Inokashira gets new park The proposal of providing a large public park at Inokashira for the benefit of the people of Tokyo has been approved by the Municipal Council. The Emperor has graciously offered the use of an extensive lot in that locality for that purpose. The park will be constructed with the pond at Inokashira as its center, extending to all directions. It will be only a few minutes’ walk from Kichijoji Station on the Central Railway Line about five miles west of Shinjuku. The pond is large enough to afford the pleasure of rowing boats. Almost the entire lot is under the shade of luxuriant trees. The Imperial gift to the park in extensive wooded land will make it one of the greatest attractions for pleasure-seeking persons of the capital. 75 YEARS AGO Sunday, Dec. 21, 1938 Captain details mine sweeping on Yangtze Captain Tokuji Mori, former Commander of the Japanese fleet on the Yangtze River, returned to Tokyo Monday to assume his office as the Chief of Staff in the Auxiliary Naval Station at Ominato. Spending nearly six months in sweeping numerous submarine mines, his fleet reduced the enemy’s strategic positions along the river one after another and made a triumphant entry into Hankow (Hankou) on October 26. Captain Mori had experience in sweeping mines in the Dardanelles in the Mediterranean as an officer of the Japanese destroyer Kashiwa during the World War. Captain Mori told the press: “I had made notes on the number of mines swept away until we approached Kiukiang (Jiujiang), but there were so many there that I became tired of this task. It was indeed a hard task to find the mines. “Encouraged by the nation’s support behind the guns, we were all in high spirits during the fight, however. Surrounded by the enemy’s mines and fortress cannons, we could not advance even a single step for five days in front of Kiukiang. “An American gunboat and a British gunboat were quietly watching our struggling. And we shed tears of joy when we captured this most important strategic position of the enemy.” 50 YEARS AGO Wednesday, Dec. 18, 1963 Nation’s leaders eulogize Kennedy The nation’s leaders assembled at Hibiya Public Hall in Tokyo Tuesday to express their deep mourning and sense of loss at the death of U.S. President John F. Kennedy. The memorial meeting, the first such public meeting held in Japan since Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas on Nov. 22, was attended by more than 2,000 people of all ages and walks of life. The meeting, held under the joint sponsorship of a national committee organized for the memorial gathering and the America-Japan Society, began at 1:30 p.m. with the playing of national anthems of the two countries. After a minute of silent prayer, the gathering heard the nation’s political, business and religious leaders deliver messages of condolence. They all identified themselves with the ideals Kennedy stood for and pledged their efforts to participate in the continuation of his unfinished work. In both English and Japanese, American Ambassador to Japan Edwin O. Reischauer expressed thanks for the messages of condolence from the Japanese people and gave assurances that the work of the late president has been taken up by President Lyndon B. Johnson. In his message, Prime Minister Hayato Ikeda said the Japanese people must realize that they have both the duty and the responsibility to keep working for peace and social justice in honor of the soul of the late U.S. president. Socialist Chairman Jotaro Kawakami said that although his party was opposed to U. S. Government policy toward Japan, Kennedy’s death was to be regretted because he died at the hands of an enemy of democracy “just as our late Secretary General Inejiro Asanuma did.” Asanuma was assassinated by an ultra rightist three years ago while delivering a campaign speech on the same stage of the hall. The NHK Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Wilhelm Loibner, played the second movement from Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 and Schubert’s “Ave Maria,” the latter a favorite of the President. 25 YEARS AGO Friday, Dec. 16, 1988 Japan-U.S. visa pact goes into effect A Japanese-U.S. agreement exempting tourists and business people from visa requirements went into effect Thursday. U.S. Consulate, Japanese immigration and airline officials attended a ceremony at the Osaka International Airport to send off the first group of Japanese passengers to the United States. “This agreement will promote tourism between the two countries. And with greater exchanges will come greater mutual understanding,” said U.S. Consul General John R. Malott. Of the 300 passengers who left for the U.S. Thursday, 30 chose to go without visas. Japanese and American travelers, however, must fill out a visa waiver form, which is available from airlines, travel agents, embassies and consulates. The waiver is a considerably simplified version of the visa process, said Dennis Ortblad, who is in charge of the consulate’s visa section. Under the agreement, Japanese citizens carrying valid passports can enter the U.S. for holidays or business travel without visas. The agreement allows travelers to remain in the country for up to 90 days. No extensions of changes of status are permitted.


Secrets bill raises fears among nuclear foes

Abstract: OSAKA - In late 2005, U.S. government officials, invited by Japan, observed a counterterrorism drill at the Mihama nuclear plant in Fukui Prefecture and came away worried about the security situation at the complex. Some 2,000 police officers, firefighters, nuclear power officials, local authorities and residents were involved in the exercise, in which the plant comes under attack by foreign terrorists who entered the harbor by boat. The focus of much of the drill was on evacuating residents, but the U.S. officials were more concerned about what they felt were security gaps. This led Washington to push Tokyo to pay more attention to physically protecting the facilities. Today, as the Liberal Democratic Party-New Komeito ruling bloc prepares to enact a new state secrets law, the question of what happens to information about nuclear plant security is being batted about, especially in Kansai. Fukui Prefecture is home to 13 commercial reactors, all of which, before the recent shutdown, provided power to distant Osaka and Hyogo prefectures, as well as neighboring Kyoto and Shiga. It is also home to the Monju prototype fast-breeder reactor. Originally designed to burn plutonium, Monju has been idle for nearly two decades after a sodium leak from a cooling unit and the resulting fire on Dec. 8, 1995, made headlines, along with the attempt to cover it up. Video shot inside the plant by the operator showing the extent of the damage was initially hidden, leaving it to the prefecture to uncover the truth. “In 1995, Fukui Prefecture courageously entered the Monju fast-breeder reactor accident site and videotaped the damage, thus revealing the coverup undertaken by the owner/operator. Passage of the state secrets bill would inhibit or prevent local authorities from taking such action again,” said Kyoto-based anti-nuclear activist Aileen Mioko Smith. The government says the purpose of the secrets bill is to prevent damaging leaks of information vital to national defense and diplomacy, and to prevent spies and terrorists from acquiring such sensitive information. In a blog, Upper House Councilor Yosuke Isozaki of the LDP recently took a jab at people who are concerned that information related to nuclear power plants would be classified. “Under the basic law, information can be classified to prevent terrorism. This means information related to the investigation of terrorist activities. Even people who have just a little bit of knowledge about the law should instantly understand when they read the (secrets bill) that it doesn’t apply to nuclear power information,” Isozaki wrote. But that raises the fundamental question of who, exactly, gets to judge what constitutes a terrorist activity at a nuclear plant and how they would make decisions about classifying information based on that judgment. In late October, at a meeting of opposition lawmakers, Ken Hashiba of the Cabinet Office said at a public hearing on the bill that it was possible information related to the security of nuclear power facilities could become classified. This appeared to be a more general statement than Isozaki’s. For their part, many in the Kansai region and elsewhere remain concerned. “There have already been 359 instances where the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has used the excuse of protecting nuclear materials (to not release information) and 449 cases where the Nuclear Regulation Authority has designated documents as secret,” the daily Kyoto Shimbun said in a recent editorial. The paper warned there was lots of room for the government to expand the “terrorism-related” category to things like evacuation plans or the routes to be used when nuclear fuel is transported by land or sea, often through crowded municipalities. Anti-nuclear activists often keep track of fuel shipments to and from the Fukui plants. The worries in Kansai were heightened in early October when the Fukushima Prefectural Assembly warned it was possible that, under the guise of preventing terrorism, the government would use the new law to designate atomic plant problems or information that could protect residents as classified, especially in an emergency. “Because information from the System for Prediction of Environmental Emergency Dose Information (SPEEDI) network was not appropriately disclosed (after the 3/11 quake), some of the residents in Namie were evacuated to an area with high radiation,” the assembly said in a statement, referring to one of the Fukushima Prefecture towns contaminated by radioactive fallout from the March 2011 core meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant. The SPEEDI network is a series of monitoring stations around the country that sound the alarm when large amounts of radioactive material are emitted by power plants or other atomic facilities. In an emergency, METI, the NRA and local governments would be responsible for warning residents about dosage levels. Officially, however, local government heads in the Kansai region have yet to address the issue. Most remain focused not on the secrets bill or nuclear power itself, but on what they will have to do to deal with an emergency involving Fukui’s reactors. Shiga Prefecture recently simulated a nuclear accident at one of the Fukui plants and learned that there might not be enough fresh water in storage to cope with the loss of a fallout-tainted Lake Biwa, which provides drinking water for 14.5 million people. Other Kansai governments, however, are more concerned about a bigger question: how to coordinate a widespread evacuation. While the apparent lack of transparency on nuclear safety measures under the secrets bill has been widely discussed, receiving less attention is the question of whether ordinary citizens who are involved in anti-nuclear protests might be targeted and investigated under the new law, or whether the heads of local government that host reactors will find their demands for data on plant operations or costs blocked in the name of “terrorism.” “In the past, Japanese utilities cooperated with the police to identify, isolate and observe members of the Japanese Communist Party and their supporters. But most of these efforts at ideological discrimination were ruled to be in violation of the Constitution,” Fukui Prefectural Assemblyman Masao Sato of the JCP wrote on his official blog. Many nuclear power employees either belong to, or support, the JCP. They have often helped bring to light information about problems at the plants. Saito fears the new secrets bill will empower the police to crack down further on their efforts. “It’s clear that security information at nuclear power plant facilities will be classified as secret. But it’s also possible that under the pretext of doing a background check, the families and friends of nuclear plant workers will be tracked and the information gathered on them will be kept secret,” he said.

secrets bill
terrorism
nuclear power
state secrets


Bullet trains on a pro-nuclear curve

Abstract: OSAKA - In the debate over the future of nuclear power, which provided about a third of Japan’s electricity needs before the Fukushima disaster began in 2011, commentators for and against resuming its use have argued their case. Experts on both sides often rely on arguments couched in status-quo assumptions or general platitudes. Serious discussions are backed by mind-numbing details on endless PowerPoint slides, requiring the patience of Buddha to endure, let alone comprehend. But in the Kansai region, which relied on nuclear power for nearly half of its electricity before the three core meltdowns in March 2011, and in Fukui Prefecture, where 13 reactors supplied it, one reason for going back to nuclear requires neither a degree in economics nor nuclear engineering to understand. It’s just good old-fashioned pork-barrel politics. This involves the future of trains. Specifically, the future route of the Hokuriku Shinkansen Line, which, if all works out, will link Nagano with Osaka, via Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, sometime in the middle of the century. The question for Kansai’s nuclear industry, however, is whether the central government will ensure Fukui gets a good chunk of the route and whether it will run down the eastern or western side of Lake Biwa, in Shiga Prefecture, to get to Osaka. Three routes have been proposed, including one that would take bullet trains through southern Fukui, where the reactors are. Kansai’s leaders are well aware of how important the Hokuriku line will be to Fukui and strongly support extending it southwest to Osaka. But for economic reasons, they want it to go from Tsuruga to JR Maibara Station, on the eastern side of the lake. That means that it would bypass other towns in the southern part of Fukui that host reactors. The third proposed route would take the line along Lake Biwa’s western shore, keeping it in Shiga. Fukui’s pro-nuclear governor and the towns hosting its reactors want, of course, for the line to pass through their backyards so they can take advantage of the extra new passengers it would provide and lots of central government subsidies. What if Tokyo picks a different route? Well, although not required by law, local approval is a de facto condition for restarting idled reactors. If the shinkansen don’t pull into their stations with cash subsidies, or if the people don’t indirectly benefit from the line somehow, Kansai may find Fukui’s mayors and governor suddenly less cooperative about approving restarts. In the meantime, Toyama and Ishikawa prefectures are sending signals that the shinkansen project is related to nuclear power. At a meeting last week, the heads of the three prefectural assemblies agreed on extending it to Osaka and on restarting the reactors as soon as possible. At the end of the day, the financial concerns of Fukui and the Hokuriku region are going to influence Kansai’s energy policy. The Hokuriku Shinkansen Line is a major bargaining chip for Fukui, Kansai and the central government in reaching a deal on just how those concerns can be addressed.


In Thai capital, 852 schoolchildren set human Christmas tree record

Abstract: BANGKOK - Christmas is not a holiday in predominantly Buddhist Thailand, and its palm trees outnumber pines, but the country still set a world record with its holiday spirit. One of the country’s largest shopping malls arranged a publicity stunt involving 852 schoolchildren dressed in green and red hoodies to break the Guinness world record for the largest human Christmas tree. They outdid a German record of 672 participants in 2011. To the relief of parents, and the chagrin of a few teenagers, the children were not hoisted onto a human pyramid shaped like a conifer. It was more an exercise in crowd control, grouping the assembled 6- to 15-year-olds into a treelike formation on the ground. “I kind of thought we’d get to stand on each other’s shoulders,” said Nattakit Liewkulnattana, 13. Like most participants at the event, he doesn’t celebrate Christmas. He wasn’t sure whose birthday the holiday marks — “Santa Claus?” he asked — but was excited to take part in a world record, and maybe get something in return. “I want presents!” the teen said. All participants got to keep their hoodies. The record was set in 15 minutes, 29 seconds. Guinness World Records representative Fortuna Burke certified the feat, counting on a clicker as children filed onto an outdoor verandah at Siam Paragon mall, the event’s organizer. Once in place, the children waved as a drone flew overhead to capture aerial images. Although Christmas does not appear on Thai calendars and is a regular workday, hotels and shopping malls decorate starting in mid-November for what is a big shopping season during Thailand’s peak tourism months. Thais set a number of other off-beat records this year. On Valentine’s Day, a couple broke the record for the longest kiss —58 hours, 35 minutes and 58 seconds — while in February, nearly 4,483 participants swung hula hoops for seven minutes, a record for the most people dancing with hula hoops simultaneously in one place.


ADIZs common but China's is worrisome

Abstract: China’s announcement Saturday of its establishment of an air defense identification zone in the East China Sea that includes the Japan-controlled Senkaku islets has worsened already tense bilateral ties. From 10 a.m. Saturday, China said any aircraft entering the ADIZ must obey its rules or face “defensive emergency measures.” Japan does not recognize the new Chinese claim, and government officials have lodged a protest with Beijing and demanded an end to the zone. What exactly is an air defense identification zone, and how legitimate is a country’s claim? Here are some details about ADIZs: What is an ADIZ? Established beyond national airspace, the zone is a defensive perimeter to monitor incursions by suspicious aircraft. The zone gives the military time to determine whether a foreign aircraft approaching territorial airspace is friend or foe. Zones are set up according to a country’s domestic laws. Many countries have established ADIZs, including Japan and the United States. China had none until Saturday. Japan’s ADIZ was originally set up by the Occupation forces after World War II. Based on its contours, Japan established its own zone in 1969, according to the Defense Ministry. Because ADIZs are based on domestic law, Japan has no legal grounds for preventing China from establishing an ADIZ over the Senkakus, which it claims, as does Taiwan. Do foreign aircraft need permission to pass through a country’s ADIZ? Under international law, aircraft have the right to fly freely in airspace over the high seas, where ADIZs are usually set up, thus no permission is required. However, because the ADIZ is set up to prevent unknown aircraft from entering its territorial airspace, Japan requests flight plans for all foreign aircraft entering the zone if the intention is to continue flying toward Japanese territory. What happens if an aircraft enters Japan’s ADIZ without a flight plan? Fighter jets are scrambled if an unknown aircraft enters the zone without advance notice and is approaching Japanese territory. The Defense Ministry declined to give further details for reasons of national security. The Air Self-Defense Force scrambled jets 80 times between July and September in response to Chinese aircraft, according to the ministry. So what’s wrong with China setting up such a zone? Is it any different from Japan’s ADIZ? One thing is that China’s ADIZ includes Japanese territorial airspace over the Senkaku Islands and that it theoretically forces Japan to obey its rule when flying in the zone. In a statement issued Sunday, Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida accused China of designating the airspace over the uninhabited islets as if it is China’s territorial airspace. Beijing is also violating the right to fly freely over the high seas, based on the guidelines it released Saturday, Katsunobu Kato, deputy chief Cabinet secretary, said Monday. While Japan only “requests” that foreign aircraft submit flight plans in advance if entering its ADIZ to approach its national airspace, China is demanding that all aircraft “must” report flight plans to the Chinese Foreign Ministry or the civil aviation administration of China, a ministry official said in Beijing. The Chinese demand affects even aircraft passing through the zone, heading away from Chinese territory, the official said. Foreign aircraft must also maintain radio communications and transmit transponder signals and registration ID clearly indicating its nationality, according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency. Aircraft that fail to obey face “defensive emergency measures” by China’s armed forces, it reported, details of which are unknown.


Has business blackballed the yakuza? Don't bank on it

Abstract: The Financial Services Agency (FSA) publicly spanked Mizuho Bank last month by slapping it with a “business improvement order” for letting Japan’s organized crime groups use its facilities. At least $2 million in illegal transactions were cited. Mizuho had been warned about the same thing in 2010 but didn’t do anything. It is quite a scandal. Even the venerable Nikkei Shimbun scolded Mizuho. Shocking. Appalling. But links between Mizuho and the mob date back longer than that. In February 2006, an executive in the bank’s business inspection department was arrested and confessed to having sold data on more than 1,250 customers to a yakuza front company. It was his department that was supposed to investigate and weed out yakuza clients, not sell them information. Oops. To be fair, though, despite Mizuho’s sordid history with yakuza finance, it was Citibank that used to be known in the underworld as 893 Ginko (893 Bank), since 893 can be read in Japanese as “yakuza.” The term comes from a losing hand in Japanese cards; many yakuza groups were originally federations of gamblers. Gamblers like banks. In 2009, the FSA ordered Citibank Japan to suspend its retail banking operations for a month after they found its system for monitoring crime syndicates and other antisocial organizations was not being updated. In addition, Citibank Japan was revealed as having maintained several hundred accounts for people affiliated with “antisocial groups” including yakuza bosses. Yeah, that was when we really knew the mob was non grata in the financial sector. Sorry, I forget: 2009 was the second time Citibank had been sanctioned. For similar reasons, its private banking division was closed down in 2004. Among its clients then was Saburo Takeshita, a notorious financier for the Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan’s largest crime group. However, Citibank has cleaned up its act these days. Of course it helped that, in February 2012, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on the Yamaguchi-gumi. The smarter gangsters all closed their remaining Citibank accounts immediately — some even before the announcement. (Go figure.) If the goal of the sanctions was to get yakuza money out of the U.S. economy or any U.S. connected financial entity, it seems to have had an impact. But back to the Mizuho Bank and that business improvement order — a measure whose timing was probably not random. In fact, it was likely the government’s way of celebrating Oct. 1, 2013 — the second anniversary of the Organized Crime Exclusionary Ordinances (OCEOs) going national in Japan. From then, it essentially became a crime to pay off the yakuza or share any profits with them. The results have been significant and the FSA would have timed things to remind people of that. A somewhat unexpected side effect of the OCEOs has been to largely drive individual yakuza — not just the mobs’ business — out of local banks, because almost every banking contract in Japan now has an “ordinary crime exclusionary clause” (OCEC). That simple but effective provision was the brainchild of an anti-yakuza crusader, the late Toshiro Igari. A former prosecutor, Igari came up with the idea after consultations with the Westin Hotel in Tokyo, which had had serious problems getting a senior gang boss named Tadamasa Goto to kindly vacate their premises after he had checked in. In fact the hotel found it had no legal grounds on which to kick him out — until Igari thought of a way to ensure such problems would henceforth be avoided. Now included in many contracts, the clause requires signatories to affirm they are not members of any “antisocial forces” — aka yakuza. If they are, but sign anyway, not only can the institution unilaterally invalidate the contract — but yakuza members can be (and now often are) arrested for fraud. Consequently, readily visible yakuza — those with tattoos and/or missing fingers — are now finding themselves unable to maintain a savings account or even rent an apartment. The magic cocktail of OCEOs, OCECs — and more stringent national anti-organized crime laws — have squeezed the yakuza harder than 1,000 arrests. In fact by 2013, the mobs’ membership, which had hovered around 80,000 for 16 years, was down to roughly 63,000 according to National Police Agency data. One group, the Kyushu Seido-kai, even disbanded this year, leaving only 21 designated organized crime groups out there. However, the Democratic Party of Japan, which was ousted from power in a landslide last December, had the open backing of two major crime groups, as I’ve written before. Indeed, its Minister of Justice, Keishu Tanaka, even had to resign because of his alleged ties to the Inagawa-kai crime group. But the bold actions of the FSA should let everyone know the game has changed. Doing business with the yakuza at any level will no longer be tolerated. There’s a new sheriff in town, and he’s as clean as they come; he’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of the now-ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Okay, there was that picture of him with Icchu Nagamoto, a Yamaguchi-gumi financier, published in the Shukan Post news weekly last year — but Mr. Clean said he didn’t really know him. And it was also reported that, after visiting the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant’s disaster zone on the 19th of last month, Abe had a covert meeting with the head of a major entertainment firm who is under investigation for organized crime ties. But hey, in order to root out the bad guys you have to know who they are. Right? So now it’s a new day in Japan. With Tokyo chosen to host the 2020 Olympics, the police are definitely feeling an impetus to remove the yakuza from public view. In addition, a movement to make casinos legal in Japan is also bad news for the yakuza, since illegal gambling is one traditional source of their income. However, the government will try to make sure the cops and politicians, not the yakuza, run the new legal racket. So the push is on. Yep. There’s a new sheriff, heat from the police, moves to cut the yakuza off from gambling money — and to kick them out of the financial sector as well. This time it looks to be curtains for the tattooed gangsters of old. But I don’t think I’d bet on it.

financial services agency
mizuho bank
citibank
tadamasa goto


JAL rehab a lesson for possible Tepco failure?

Abstract: Since the start of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant crisis, debate has raged over whether the government should have Tokyo Electric Power Co. go bankrupt. Even though the financial crises facing Tepco are far greater than those Japan Airlines Co. faced, one question that crops up is why the state won’t let Tepco fail like JAL did in 2010, after which the government stepped in and restructured the carrier. Observers say if Tepco goes bankrupt, the government would have to directly pay the trillions of yen it will cost to compensate disaster victims who had to evacuate their homes and abandon their livelihoods, to decontaminate the areas hit by radioactive fallout and to scrap the Fukushima plant. The government is reluctant to assume those costs, which would be akin to the state accepting the blame for the triple meltdown crisis, the observers say. “If Tepco goes bankrupt, there would be discussions over who should pay the compensation. It would have to be the government. It’s a matter of how to take responsibility, and the government wants that to fall to Tepco,” said Eiichiro Kume, a former JAL employee who unsuccessfully ran in the Lower House election in December 2012 from Your Party. Kume is now a secretary to Kenji Nakanishi, an Upper House lawmaker from the party, which wants Tepco broken up. Tepco is presently paying redress to the victims of the meltdowns, but it has to tap the state-backed Nuclear Damage Liability Facilitation Fund because the compensation is so vast. The fund has so far paid out more than ¥3 trillion in compensation, meaning the government is in reality footing the bill for the redress of victims, even though it appears like Tepco is directly in charge of making the payments. Another factor making it difficult for the government to liquidate Tepco is the cost to decontaminate the areas near the plant, said Shuya Nomura, a professor at the Chuo Law School. “In JAL’s case, it was possible to recover the taxpayer money if JAL made a successful comeback and profited,” said Nomura, who was on a Diet panel that investigated the Fukushima disaster. “In the case of Tepco, the government would be paying for things outside the utility’s main brief, including decontamination. It is unclear how much it would amount to and whether the money would ever be recouped,” he said. Nomura noted that JAL failed because of mismanagement but that Tepco was doing fine before monster tsunami from the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011, overwhelmed the insufficiently protected power plant. Bankruptcy would force shareholders and creditors to eat the loss too, which they would find unfair considering a natural disaster was the main cause of Tepco’s problem, Nomura said. Others, however, argue that Tepco could have prevented or at least mitigated the crisis, but managers and now-disgraced government regulators with cozy ties to the power industry failed to ensure the plant was adequately protected despite long being aware of the tsunami threat. Financial market players have been pressuring the government to keep Tepco from failing, claiming that a bankruptcy may lead to a default of the utility’s corporate bonds and bring chaos to the credit market, he said. Kume and Nomura both feel the government should scrap Tepco because under the current situation, it is required to turn a profit as a private firm and cover the costs of compensation, decontamination and decommissioning. “No matter how much profit Tepco makes, it will all go to compensation,” Kume said. “Do you think employees can keep their motivation in such a company?” Indeed, hundreds of employees have left the utility every year since the disaster started, including 712 who quit in fiscal 2012 and 465 in fiscal 2011, compared with just 134 in fiscal 2010, which ended on March 31, 2011. Kume warned that if the situation continues as is, Tepco may not retain the ability to provide a stable power supply. Kume said one lesson learned from JAL that can be applied to Tepco is that undergoing bankruptcy could enable the utility to have a fresh start and improve employee morale. Kume, who worked for JAL for more than 20 years and left the airline right before it went bankrupt, said he has met his former colleagues since the bankruptcy and their morale was much higher than before. Nomura said that another lesson to be drawn from the experience with JAL is that the government should have a firm vision of the future of the company and the overall industry if Tepco were to go bust. “The government had to build a basic policy for Japan’s airline industry in the process of reconstructing JAL,” Nomura said. Some argued that JAL did not have to survive because All Nippon Airways could be expanded to compensate for its disappearance. But JAL staged a comeback because the government decided the nation’s airline industry needed the flagship carrier, Nomura said. “This lesson indicates that a basic energy policy needs to be established (before any Tepco bankruptcy), otherwise, it would be hard to come up with a vision of a new Tepco,” he said, noting any new Tepco must embody that new energy policy. The government is currently reviewing its long-term energy policy, specially focusing on what to do with nuclear power and renewable energy.


The method behind the brashness

Abstract: Osaka While his inflammatory comments have made headlines and his combative, argumentative style has shocked and enraged those who take comfort in the traditional politician’s art of discreet ambiguity, there is method behind Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto’s perceived rhetorical madness. Since coming to power in 2008 as the governor of Osaka, no Japanese politician has more effectively used TV and social media, especially Twitter, to his advantage. But whether the subject is municipal services, budget cuts or the policies of his Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party), Hashimoto’s rhetoric often takes a recognizable path. First, he makes his point even if it isn’t related to the question (“Well, yes, bureaucratic reform in Osaka Prefecture is important. But, ultimately, this is about the need to eliminate bureaucratic waste by merging the city and prefecture of Osaka.”) Second, he identifies what he sees as the problem (“We’re in this mess because of lazy bureaucrats and greedy unions”). Third, he makes the case for change (“We have to compete with Tokyo and change the educational system so generations of Osakans develop the skills needed to compete internationally”). At that point, no matter the issue, Hashimoto will likely refer to the same basic set of pro-corporate solutions for bringing about change: budget and personnel cuts, union curbs and privatization plans, while of course demanding clear rules and a level playing field. Such talk warms the hearts of not only Osakans worried about their city falling behind Tokyo and East Asia economically, but also corporate supporters and some in foreign business community who, until his “comfort women” comments in May made him an international pariah, saw the 44-year-old populist as the best hope for leading Japan into a new era of prosperity. To get his message out, Hashimoto, a lawyer, uses news conferences to conduct trials in the court of public opinion so that he, the defense attorney (for the city), can do battle with the prosecution (the media, his enemies in the bureaucracy) using a direct debating style to win over the jury (the voters). Thankfully, his remarks are usually free of the vague euphemisms that more senior politicians use, and spiced with an occasional bon mot that ends up in the news. A logical argument in clear, direct Japanese is the only way to convince voters, he says. Hashimoto’s style also differs in that his rhetoric and media strategy are aimed at a new generation of Japanese who do not trust newspapers. The TV and Internet are his preferred media, and many of his appearances are online in unedited form. This allows him to repeat his points endlessly in front of the cameras and revise them, knowing it will all be publicly available, especially if —after followup questions — he believes TV producers will use an earlier sound bite that he does not like. Is this rhetorical style and media strategy working? Recent polls show Nippon Ishin has a popularity rating of about 1 percent. Yet the mayor himself still has a strong base, although many have doubts about his specific goals, like the city-prefecture merger. As long as Osakans continue to understand what he says, it seems, he will always have a political home, regardless of what happens to his political movement.


Hokuriku line bullet trains christened

Abstract: East Japan Railway Co. and West Japan Railway Co. have named four bullet trains that will run on the Hokuriku Shinkansen Line, which will connect Tokyo and Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, via Nagano, from spring 2015. The names — Kagayaki, Hakutaka, Tsurugi and Asama — were selected among proposals submitted by the public. Kagayaki will be used for the fastest trains, which will stop only at major stations between Tokyo and Kanazawa, while Hakutaka shinkansen will stop at more stations on the line. Trains shuttling between Toyama and Kanazawa will be named Tsurugi, while those running on the Nagano Shinkansen Line will retain the name Asama.

bullet train
names
hokuriku shinkansen
jr east
jr west


SDP woos Koizumi to lend clout to anti-nuclear drive

Abstract: If only briefly, former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi raised hopes he will stage a comeback as an anti-nuclear crusader when he met Tuesday with the head of a minor but like-minded opposition party. But, during their 45-minute meeting, Koizumi declined Social Democratic Party chief Tadatomo Yoshida’s request to cooperate with his five-Diet-member party’s push to abolish nuclear plants. According to Yoshida, Koizumi argued that it was the duty of each party and politician to appeal separately and directly to the public. “I asked him to cooperate, but he said that each party, which has its own arguments, should try to realize the abolition of nuclear power plants,” Yoshida, who took charge of the SDP earlier this month, told reporters after the meeting. Koizumi also insisted he is not planning to form a new party or a political force centered on anti-nuclear policy, Yoshida, said, noting Koizumi told him he will continue to seek to change public opinion, which will eventually influence the government. Once the most powerful opposition party and a longtime foe of Koizumi’s Liberal Democratic Party, the SDP has advocated a nonnuclear energy policy for years. It is now a minor party, with five Diet members. Koizumi met Yoshida at the Center for International Public Policy Studies in Tokyo, where Koizumi serves as an adviser. After stepping down as prime minister in 2006, Koizumi, 74, largely withdrew from the public eye, rarely remarking on politics. That changed earlier this year when he began calling for the abolition of nuclear plants after visiting a final disposal site in Finland that is supposed to store spent fuel up to 100,000 years. The SDP is attempting to expand its political clout by calling on antinuclear political forces, such as Koizumi. Officials at the prime minister’s office appear worried about Koizumi’s anti-nuclear call. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government has pledged to restart any of the now-shut 50 nuclear plants that pass Nuclear Regulation Authority safety tests.

sdp
junichiro koizumi
fukushima
nuclear energy
political alliance


Hotel's misleading menus leave bad taste

Abstract: OSAKA - Hankyu Hanshin Hotels Co., under fire for deceiving consumers by misrepresenting items on its menus, is drawing sympathy from some in the food and hotel industries. According to people involved in the food service industry, false advertising of this kind “happens quite often, and the company might have not intended to falsify the menus.” During a news conference Monday, Hankyu Hanshin Hotels President Hiroshi Desaki claimed that touting Vannamei shrimp as Shiba shrimp is a customary practice among people in the industry. Desaki also said the company did not feel it necessary to inform customers it was using a cheaper type of scallion than “kujo negi,” a traditional Japanese scallion mainly grown in Kujo, southern Kyoto. He said the scallions were served as “a side dish.” Desaki claimed that although lying about the nature of the items on the menus was far from a simple mistake, the company never intended to profit from the misrepresentations. He admitted, though, that it was a mistake “for which we have already received a severe rebuke.” According to sources in to the food industry, Shiba shrimp is available only in small quantities and at high prices. The sources said that a Chinese restaurant in the city of Chiba resolved the problem by offering “ebi” chili (stir-fried shrimp in chili sauce) as two different menu items. The price of the item named Shiba ebi chili sauce, apparently using Shiba shrimp, is 1½ times higher than for the item named ebi chili sauce. Desaki was criticized, however, by a man who has worked for Hankyu Hanshin Hotels restaurants and other eateries. “If a hotel with such a strong brand image labels an item as Shiba shrimp, everyone will be deceived,” he said. “All restaurants that I worked at had different policies, but the only difference was whether the owners advertised the items (with cheaper and more expensive ingredients) separately.” Amid the mounting criticism, a 53-year-old owner of a Chinese-style eatery in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, expressed understanding for the misrepresented fare. “When I entered this business, we used to call all small shrimp ‘Shiba shrimp,’ ” the owner said. “For people of my age, it can happen.” An owner of a restaurant in the Kinki region that serves dishes using kujo negi said: “We inform our customers” if ingredients have to be replaced due to a typhoon or in other similar situations. “In this business, (false labeling) is very common,” he said. “The point is whether the issue will come to light or not.” There are those who worry that the scandal, which involved eight restaurants run by Hankyu Hanshin Hotels, may spread to other companies. The hotel operator decided at a board meeting Tuesday to appoint Kazuhide Fujimoto, a managing executive officer of the Osaka-based company, to take over as president from Desaki, who will resign to take responsibility for the scandal. Fujimoto will succeed Desaki on Friday when Mitsuo Nozaki, a board member of parent company Hankyu Hanshin Holdings Inc., will become part-time chairman of the hotel chain. Fujimoto, a 63-year-old career hotelier, will be tasked with strengthening the company’s management and restoring customer trust.

hotels menu hankyu hanshin mislabeling falsifications


Psssst! Wanna bottle of fresh air?

Abstract: httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLAxtYxUuLI Frisk is taking the phrase “like a breath of fresh air” quite seriously — or rather not seriously at all. The breath-mints brand’s latest online campaign involves a lottery to win a grand prize of seven bottles filled to their brim with exotic air (or, if you’re a cynic, seven completely empty bottles). The Frisk Select World Fresh Air Collection campaign is promoting the introduction of the brand’s newest flavor — Fresh Herb Mint — as well as the return of Frisk Spearmint. And, doing what must be one of the most enviable jobs, one Frisk employee is being sent to seven scenic destinations across the world, just to pump air into glass bottles. So far he’s been to Waipio Valley in Hawaii to collect air of a “mysterious atmosphere.” You can watch a rather exhilarating video of the process. Yes, who wouldn’t want this man’s job? He’s being jetted around the world to simply don a lab coat and white gloves, and then stick an air-compressor tube into a bottle for 15 seconds. His next destination will be Canada’s glacial Moraine Lake for some “romantic” air, which will be followed by South America’s Iguazu falls (healing air), England’s Oxford (intelligent air), Matterhorn of the Northern Alps (freezing air), Tanzania’s Kilimanjaro (wild air) and finally Tasmania (beautiful air). To prove that the air really has been obtained and make anyone with a desk job feel completely inferior, sad and jealous, a video of the air-collection at each destination will be uploaded onto the campaign site. The Frisk Select World Fresh Air Collection is being described as a gift for people suffering the daily stress of modern life. Quite how it will help, though, is unclear. Perhaps it’s just a case of positive thinking: The bottles are NOT empty, they are full! Five sets of bottles can be won, as well as 50 original Frisk gift boxes. To enter the lottery, you just fill out the form here . And do it before 11:59 p.m. on Oct. 31, when the opportunity to win will vanish . . . into thin air.


Will Olympic glory carry beyond Tokyo?

Abstract: If Tokyo’s reaction to winning the 2020 Olympics, especially among the cash-strapped TV stations and other media types who rely on bread and circuses-type events to pay the bills, made you feel like Alice in Wonderland or a character in a Samuel Beckett play, you’re not alone. Well beyond the drawbridge of Old Edo, where the other roughly 90 percent of the country lives, the general feeling was a mixture of “Good for you” and “Don’t forget the victims of Tohoku and that problem in Fukushima. You know, the one you told the world was under control?” The triumph also came with contradictory feelings about the alleged benefits for the rest of the country. There is hope that the boastful predictions — all from Tokyo-based pundits, of course — about the Olympics being of great benefit to local economies will turn out to be something other than wishful thinking or cynical propaganda. However, there is also fear that the end result will be an even further shift of wealth and power to the capital, while the rest of the nation is left to grow older and poorer, withering in decaying towns and villages whose infrastructures age as rapidly as their remaining residents. A Hokkaido Shimbun editorial summed up the concerns of many local governments around the country, arguing that pouring national funds into Olympic-related construction that further promotes concentration in Tokyo at the expense of local finances is not acceptable. Or, as a Kyoto Shimbun editorial asked, why was Tokyo really chosen? For the reconstruction of Japan or for the revitalization of Tokyo? The editors added that the Tokyo that boasted of its compactness, vibrant youth culture, food and environmental safety, and ability to raise ¥400 billion in donations for the Summer Olympics, appears to be located in a different world from the one most Japanese inhabit. To be sure, parts of Japan may benefit from Olympic-related tourism. Kyoto, even as its newspaper editors protest, is no doubt calculating how many foreign tourists will visit the ancient capital between now and 2020. Sapporo, which has indicated an interest in hosting a future Summer Olympics (it already hosted the 1972 Winter Games), hopes visitors, after sweltering in Tokyo’s summer heat during the games, will cool off by traveling to Hokkaido. In Osaka, despite the city’s losing bid for the 2008 Games, Mayor Toru Hashimoto is dangling the prospect of an Osaka Olympics to push his agenda of unifying the city and prefecture. And you can be sure that local government officials and Diet members from all 47 prefectures are wondering how they can get a piece of the Olympic action. History, of course, is not going to repeat itself. In 1964, when Tokyo last hosted the Summer Games, Japan was a smaller, younger country of just less than 100 million people, a mere 6.3 percent of whom were 65 years or older. In 2020, nearly 30 percent of a population of about 124 million will be senior citizens. A decade later, in 2030, 20 percent of the population in 43 prefectures will be 75 years or older. The four exceptions include Tokyo. Thus, it is not spite or envy outside Tokyo that is driving Olympic criticism, but cold hard facts about unavoidable local demographic changes ahead, and the political, economic and social changes they will bring. Local leaders cannot afford, literally or figuratively, to sit back and let the Mad Hatters in Tokyo hold their nostalgic tea parties because they know that, at some point and in some form, they, too, will be asked to chip in to help cover the bill.


Flip a skirt a month in 2014

Abstract: The original run of Kari Kato ‘s “Skirt Flipping Calendar” did so well that it’s back this year in two colors: While the thrill of most novelty calendars is spurred by anticipating what the next month’s image will be, in this case, every month looks more or less the same… …which is not to say there’s no thrill here, because when all 12 skirts are flipped — well, you’ll have waited for all year, so let’s not spoil it. If you want to see how 2013 was rung in, check here . The new sticky notes seem even more fun. Gigazine ‘s example cracked me up, but really, I can’t think of a place to stick these that wouldn’t be entertaining. The calendars run ¥2,100, while the sticky notes are ¥680 for 20. They’re available through Village Vanguard or directly on Kaori Kato’s site . It’s amazing how design can take something that would be totally inappropriate in real life and make it not only whimsically cute, but functional. Anyone planning on watching the days go by with one of these pin-up girls?


Oh, to be blissfully unfree in Nippon's isles . . .

Abstract: “Freedom.” “Liberty.” Ringing words. Better than any other, they define modern times. They sparked three early-modern revolutions — England’s “Glorious Revolution” (1688), the American Revolution of 1776-83, and the French Revolution beginning around 1789. Japan then was a “closed country” — had been since 1638, would be until 1854, its citizens barred from leaving and almost all foreigners barred from entering, both on pain of death. While freedom was being born in the West, or being seized from recalcitrant rulers, a very different ideal was maturing in Japan — the ideal of submission. Absolute, total, unquestioning submission. Article 97 of Japan’s postwar Constitution declares, “The fundamental human rights by this Constitution guaranteed to the people of Japan are fruits of the age-old struggle of man to be free.” That and similar passages betray the document’s foreign origins. The “struggle of man to be free” does not shine in the Japanese tradition. What does is a diametrically contrary struggle — the struggle of man to be unfree. It boggles the modern mind, Japanese scarcely less than foreign. Prodigies of obedience, servility, self-surrender — heroic or abject, call them what you will! — characterize Japanese history and literature. They are held up as models of the highest conduct, epitomes of the loftiest aspirations. In his English-language classic “Bushido” (1900), the Christian scholar Inazo Nitobe tells with unconcealed admiration of a samurai lord who, falling into disfavor, fled into rustic exile. His son, still a child, became the object of pursuit by those bent on wiping out the entire clan. A retainer had a son of the same age who bore a striking resemblance to the hunted child. Duty spoke clear — the lower-ranking child must be sacrificed, his head presented to the authorities as proof of mission accomplished. Neither mother nor child hesitated for an instant. The retainer’s child was killed; the authorities were fooled; the young lord lived on; honor was served. The novelist Kikuchi Kan (1888-1948), in a short story titled “On the Conduct of Lord Tadanao” (1918), relates in fictional form the historical dispossession and banishment, in 1623, of the lord of Echizen (present-day Fukui). Lord Tadanao was (as we would say today) emotionally disturbed. His mad outrages grew scandalous. The authorities at last felt compelled to intervene. Kan describes the aftermath of a drinking party: “Lord Tadanao was in an unusually cheerful mood. His favorite page boy, Masuda Kannosuke, ventured to make a remark while replenishing his lord’s great wine cup. ” ‘Why have we not seen your lordship lately in the military drill hall?’ he asked.” Taking offense for some reason, “Lord Tadanao went white with rage. Seizing a tray for wine cups … he hurled it with the speed of an arrow toward Kannosuke’s face. The violence was unexpected, and Kannosuke blanched; but, rigidly trained as he was in the code of loyalty, he made no attempt to dodge. He took the impact of the tray full on the front of his face and fell prostrate where he was …” There was only one thing for Kannosuke to do and, that night, he did it: He disemboweled himself. The submission ethos reaches an apex (or nadir) with junshi , the custom of committing suicide upon the death of one’s lord. Of what value is life to a loyal retainer bereft of his lord? Though formally outlawed in 1663, the practice flourished almost into modern times, its last famous exemplar being Gen. Maresuke Nogi, hero of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05. When Emperor Meiji died in 1912, the general and his wife committed suicide in their Tokyo home. “The relationship between lord and vassal should be like that of lovers,” says the 18th-century “Hagakure,” a compendium of samurai ideals. “Whether (the vassal) is or is not loved by the lord, or may even be unknown to him, this makes not the slightest difference; he is continually grateful for his lord’s benevolence to the very marrow of his bones and weeps tears of gratitude as he devotedly renders him service.” Imagine Nitobe’s samurai, or Kannosuke — or Nogi, for that matter — reading the present-day Constitution. Would they not be puzzled? “We, the Japanese people … do proclaim that sovereign power resides with the people …” They would hardly recognize this as Japanese thinking. They would be right. It was crafted under the auspices of the postwar U.S.-led Allied Occupation and reflects Western, not traditional Japanese, ideals — a fact that has rankled the ruling Liberal Democratic Party since its founding in 1955. Last year a resurgent LDP issued a draft plan for revision of the Constitution. Conspicuous among its proposals is the deletion of almost all references to the universality of freedom, equality and human rights. Instead, the draft explains, “Rights are gradually formulated through the history, tradition and culture of each community. Therefore we believe that the provisions concerning human rights should reflect the history, culture and tradition of Japan.” To lovers of freedom, that is very ominous language. The “history, culture and tradition of Japan” boast peaks that enrich and inspire the world — in literature, painting, theater, sculpture, architecture, landscape gardening, anything you like, but not in freedom, at least not as we understand the word today. Understood differently, perhaps Japan can make a case for itself. The modern Zen master Daisetz T. Suzuki, in “Zen and Japanese Culture” (1959), says, “We talk very much these days about all kinds of freedom, political, economic and otherwise, but these freedoms are not at all real … The real freedom is the outcome of enlightenment.” The LDP draft Constitution does not call for a return to the ethics of the “Hagakure.” But it does unapologetically subordinate “freedoms and rights” to “duties and obligations.” That accords with Japanese tradition — not, however, with what to a modern mind seems best in it.

emperor meiji
hagakure
daisetz t. suzuki
japanese constitution


'Autograph-seekers' throw bucket of feces into Taiwan pop star's van

Abstract: TAIPEI - Taiwanese pop star Jam Hsiao said he’s outraged by an alleged attack in which two apparent autograph-seekers threw a bucket of fecal matter into his van. The 26-year-old singer told reporters Tuesday that two motorcyclists approached his van asking for autographs before the attack. He said his driver was hit and suffered bruises while pursuing the motorcyclists, but Hsaio himself was unharmed. Hsiao said he was outraged by Monday’s incident and called on the authorities to find the culprits, saying “I demand an answer.” He said the attackers asked if it was his car, so he believes they were looking for him, but he said he had no known enemies and did not know who would want to harm him. “I hope whoever hired these two men gets the harshest punishment,” Hsiao said. “I hope whoever was paid to do this . . . I want them to know, they will regret it.” Police are investigating but have taken no one into custody. Known for his explosive high notes, Hsiao rose to Mandarin pop prominence after appearing on the “Super Star Boulevard” talent show in 2007.


JT to cut 1,600 jobs, close four plants

Abstract: Japan Tobacco Inc. is cutting 1,600 jobs and closing four domestic factories as part of its plan to boost competitiveness at home and profitability. The job cuts will be made through a voluntary retirement program that will be offered to eligible employees in the domestic tobacco business and corporate functions, JT said in a statement Wednesday. “Our Japanese domestic tobacco business operates in an increasingly challenging environment, mainly due to consecutive tobacco tax increases, tightening of smoking-related regulations, growing health consciousness and an aging society,” the company in a statement to the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Asia’s largest listed tobacco maker, JT faces declining demand in the home market amid the shrinking population and has been expanding overseas to offset this weakness. The ratio of smokers in Japan has fallen 4 percentage points to 20.9 percent over the last four years, according to the company’s website. Overseas revenue accounts for about half of JT’s sales, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The most recent voluntary retirement program was in the year that ended in March 2005 and 5,796 employees accepted that plan, spokesman Hisashi Sekiguchi said before the announcement. The company cut jobs at that time to increase competitiveness, he said. JT shares climbed 3.65 percent to ¥3,550 after NHK reported the company plans to shed 20 percent of its workforce and close some factories. In April, JT forecast net income will climb 21 percent to ¥415 billion while sales will gain 12 percent to ¥2.37 trillion in the year ending on March 31. A weaker yen is boosting the value of revenue from tobacco operations overseas. The government, which had owned 50 percent of the company, cut its stake to 33 percent in March to help pay for reconstruction in the Tohoku region.


Anti-nuclear Koizumi agitating for comeback?

Abstract: Long silent and out of the public eye, former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s recent rumblings against nuclear power are causing many to wonder if the most popular leader of recent decades is laying the groundwork for a political comeback. The 74-year-old Koizumi has met separately with two opposition party heads — Tadatomo Yoshida of the Social Democratic Party and Yoshimi Watanabe of Your Party — to discuss his mission to rid the nation of all 50 of its nuclear reactors. A visit to a spent-fuel disposal site in Finland following the 2011 Fukushima crisis converted him to an anti-nuclear activist, Koizumi claims. Recent speeches given at closed-door meetings made the headlines of gossip magazines. Now Koizumi is stepping up his anti-nuclear campaign. On Oct. 16, for the first time he allowed TV cameras from media outlets to shoot an anti-nuclear lecture in its entirety in Kisarazu, Chiba Prefecture. Next up, Koizumi is scheduled to hold a news conference at the Japan National Press Club on Nov. 12, where he will face senior reporters from all the major news outlets for the first time since stepping down as prime minister in 2006. “He has great power to send messages to the public. That’s what I felt today,” Yoshida of the SDP said after meeting Koizumi on Tuesday. While serving as prime minister, Koizumi was often touted as a powerful communicator, a telegenic genius of the sound bite. Critics called him a political agitator who labeled his foes “anti-reformers.” But his popularity with voters carried the Liberal Democratic Party to a landslide victory in the 2005 Lower House election, in part due to his quest to privatize the postal system. In office, Koizumi rose above his party, a “lone wolf” who relied on communication skills to achieve his popularity. It is this approach, rather than by forming an alliance with a political force, that he appears to be adopting again to get his message across to the public. During Tuesday’s meeting, Koizumi declined Yoshida’s offer to team up on the abolition of nuclear plants. Instead, Koizumi stressed that each party and politician should make their own appeals to the public, and denied any intention to form a new political party, as gossip magazines have speculated, according to Yoshida. It’s possible that Koizumi sized up the SDP and other anti-nuclear suitors and decided an alliance would not benefit him. The SDP and Seikatsu no To (People’s Life Party) — the only parties to advocate for the immediate abolition of all nuclear plants — performed poorly in the latest Lower House election, in July, and their public support rates have remained below 1 percent all year, according to NHK polls. Another hurdle to an alliance: The two share few views with Koizumi other than the anti-nuclear stance. The SDP and Seikatsu no To support big government with increased spending on social security, while Koizumi was a champion of small government and free markets. An advocate of pacifist policies, the SDP calls for cutting back U.S. military bases in Japan, while Koizumi was an earnest supporter of the Japan-U.S. security alliance. “Nobody believes the SDP and Mr. Koizumi agree on (various policy issues.) They never agree on security issues, either,” LDP Secretary-General Shigeru Ishiba said Tuesday. Still, officials at the prime minister’s office appear worried about Koizumi’s potential to sway the public. Many LDP lawmakers have pushed long and hard for nuclear power plants to be built in their constituencies. And Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has pledged to restart any of the 50 reactors that pass Nuclear Regulation Authority safety tests. At the end of last month, Abe’s Cabinet appointed Shinjiro Koizumi, a son of the former prime minister, as parliamentary secretary at the Reconstruction Agency. This appointment was widely seen as an attempt to keep the young Koizumi, who is also popular with voters, under control, to prevent him from emerging, like his father, as a rising star of the anti-nuclear movement. As a senior official at the Reconstruction Agency, the son is now obliged to toe the government line, including its energy policies. On Wednesday, facing an opposition lawmaker during a Diet session for the first time, he was asked to explain his nuclear stance. He simply responded that he would concentrate on urgent issues related to the wrecked Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, such as the problems of radioactive water and compensating local residents. “I’m a parliamentary secretary and a member of the government,” he reportedly told the Diet session.

junichiro koizumi
political comeback
sdp
antinuclear activists