Too much of an education could be bad for your future

Abstract: Poverty comes in many forms but one color: gray. There is the poverty of the poor, the poverty of the rich, the poverty of the academically under-qualified, the poverty of the academically over-qualified. The poverty of the poor pretty much speaks for itself. The riches of the rich may be deceptive. The biggest drain on them is education for the kids. Luxuries and pleasures can be sacrificed, but to compromise where the children are concerned is (or is seen to be) to deprive them of the leg-up they need (or are seen to need) to gain a foothold in life. What high schools are open to graduates of inferior elementary schools? Inferior ones. What universities are open to graduates of second-rate high schools? Second-rate ones. What kind of career is open to graduates of merely ordinary universities? A merely ordinary one. The consequent financial strain can be felt as a kind of poverty. If it’s true of the rich, how much more so of the poor. The high cost of education is considered a main cause of the sunken birth rate. If educating your children as the economy demands its top tier be educated requires means beyond the average, means beyond you , childlessness might well seem the more responsible option. There’s education and education . Motives for acquiring it vary. It can be a quest for knowledge or a quest for credentials. The former is problematic. Shukan Gendai magazine tells some cautionary tales. “Kyoko-san,” 27, studied fine arts. It was her passion. She’d learn the subject, then teach it. Undergraduate school, graduate school, post-grad school. Hard at work on her Ph.D. thesis, she suddenly noticed something: Students graduating ahead of her weren’t getting jobs. Stupid of her not to notice before! Absorption in your studies can blind you to earthier realities. Panicking, she put aside her thesis and threw herself into job-hunting. Nothing. Universities were over-staffed, the private sector had no room for her. She eventually landed a job at a small small-town rural arts museum. The work is routine and she feels her expert knowledge rotting within her, but at least she can feed herself. Not every one is so lucky. “Nakamura-san,” 29, is a Ph.D. scientist struggling to repay a ¥6 million student loan on a ¥2 million-a-year salary. The good news is that his employer is a university and his job description includes the word “research” — followed, unfortunately, by the word “assistant,” which translates into part-time status and lab chores far from the cutting edge. Maybe in 10 years he’ll get an assistant professorship. Or maybe not — in which case he’ll be 40 years old and nowhere. In the meantime, he lives in a ratty ¥40,000-a-month apartment, eats at the university cafeteria and wonders, “How long can I take this?” It’s enough to make the private sector look attractive — but an exploratory foray into it showed that the private sector did not return the compliment. Knowledge beyond a certain range of commercial exploitability, comments Shukan Gendai, is to the private sector the rough equivalent of otaku -hood. “Takada-san,” 26, is pursuing a doctorate in literature at the University of Tokyo. He’s learning something the great books don’t teach — to wit: “To get anywhere in research you need connections. I didn’t know that when I started. You need to develop relationships with influential professors who can boost your career. “So, I get involved in academic meetings, I help out at the reception desk, I coach visiting overseas students. … In short, I’m so busy maneuvering behind the scenes that I have no time to study.” This is ironic, in view of the importance society attaches to education. Arrestingly symbolic, as the back-to-school season nears, is the iconic randoseru elementary school rucksack. The word, borrowed from Dutch, reflects the age and origin of the import, harking back as it does to the early 19th century, when a restricted number of Dutch traders were almost the only foreigners permitted in Japan. They bequeathed to their hosts a few European books, a smattering of the Dutch language, a bit of European science (and a hunger for more) — and the randoseru. Japanese kids have been saddled with it ever since. It’s no light burden. And it’s gaining weight, as the Asahi Shimbun noted last week. Carrying a full load of books, lunch, gym clothes and whatnot, it can weigh nearly 10 kilograms. The 7-year-old second-grader gamely bracing against its downward thrust probably weighs little more than 20 kg him- or herself. Why should the venerable randoseru be gaining weight? Because, the Asahi explains, textbooks are. There’s so much to learn! Never more than now, and more and more each year as knowledge, competition, pressure and standards rise. As of 2015, after six years of elementary schooling, an average child will have carried (and hopefully read) a total of 6,518 textbook pages — representing a 34 percent increase in 10 years. Moral education, a new subject swelling the curriculum beginning this year, will add, over six years, an estimated 1,067 pages to the load. “Higher” education, meanwhile, languishes. “Higher education” used to mean, simply, college. A hundred years ago less than half the population got beyond elementary school, which alone was compulsory. College was for the lucky and gifted few. Postwar democracy flung open the academic gates. What had been a mark of distinction became more or less a necessity to anyone with white-collar aspirations. Today, “higher education” means — if it means anything — not university education per se but learning for its own sake, and Shukan Gendai’s coverage is not encouraging. It shows the number of Ph.D. students declining at a rate the declining student-age population only partly accounts for: 14,927 nationwide in 2016 as against 18,232 in 2003. Philosophy remains a popular university alternative to raw science. Each year brings forth 1,000-odd newly fledged philosophers. They can’t all be professors. Most will have to leave academia and seek their fortunes in the “real world.” As what? Doing what? In an age of post-truth and artificial intelligence, who needs philosophers?


Japan Times 1918: Japan now has female street car conductors

Abstract: 100 YEARS AGO Sunday, April 21, 1918 A private street-car company, the Mino Denki Kido Kaisha, in the Nagoya district, following the example in other belligerent countries has made the interesting experiment of employing women conductors. Three girls, all under 20 years of age, have been on trial for some days and, according to all reports, are giving great satisfaction, both to the company and to the passengers. Already, says one correspondent, they cry “ Ugokimasu !” and “ Sho, sho, nakahodo ni negaimasu ,” with truly professional aplomb, and ring the bell — “ Chin! Chin! ” — as to the manner born. One of them, it is said, has a license to teach in elementary schools. They wear dark clothes like business girls and rubber boots, and work from 7 a.m. for seven hours daily. At present they are receiving 20 sen per day, but when they pass the probationary period they will receive 30 sen per day, with ¥5 per month extra. 75 YEARS AGO Wednesday, April 14, 1943 Eye-witness report on bombing of Merauke Landings and warehouses on the waterfront of the enemy’s base at Morauke in New Guinea were blown to bits when a Japanese air formation raided it recently. In one of the planes which made up the formation, I experienced the greatest thrill of my life when the bomber squadron arrived over Merauke only a short distance away from York Peninsula in Australia. It was on the morning of a clear day when we left our base, sent off cheerfully by the men of the ground crew and Papuan natives. In no time we were flying at a high altitude amidst numerous shreds of clouds, which added a grey film to the verdant scenery which unfolded below us. Soon the city of Merauke came into clear sight. The moment for the attack had at last come! I watched the squadron commander’s plane closely and was soon rewarded with the sight of numerous black objects dropping straight for the waterfront below. It was but an instant from the time when I heard the hollow sound of the rack release guns until I saw red flashes on the landing pier, followed immediately by a giant upheaval which seemed to hurl the whole waterfront works into the air all at once. Soon bombs were raining on the city and huge columns of smoke rose high into the sky from three places. Enemy anti-air shells next began to explode like so many cotton balls far below us. Then suddenly I heard the deep staccato of our plane’s machine gun pierce the compressed air of the cabin’s interior. “Enemy planes?” I instinctively looked about me. But no, our machine gun was raking the enemy below with a last farewell volley. The formation was soon circling widely to the right to start on its homeward journey. From the commander’s plane, the report was dispatched to home base that our operation had been a complete success. 50 YEARS AGO Tuesday, April 23, 1968 Historic architecture disappearing in Tokyo Tokyo is undergoing the kind of architectural metamorphosis that is prevalent in many other major cities of the world. Old brick buildings of historical value are disappearing one by one as modern curtain-wall buildings are jutting up everywhere. American architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1923 Imperial Hotel has been razed and foundation is now being laid there for a 17-story annex of the hotel, which is scheduled to be opened in 1970. In the business district of Marunouchi near Tokyo Central Station, the 1894 English-style Mitsubishi Higashi (East) No. 9 Building is being dismantled. Another red-brick building near the Imperial Palace, the 1909 masonry that once was the headquarters of the Imperial Guard Division, faces the possibility of demolition. The symbol of Tokyo’s modern architecture is the newly opened 36-story Kasumigaseki Building, the highest-ever building in Japan. Indications are that the space-short Tokyo will have more and more high-rise buildings. Plans are now afoot to build the 38-story Trade Center and the 30-story Tokio Marine and Fire Insurance Building in downtown Tokyo. With the work of razing in progress on the Mitsubishi Higashi No. 9 Building, the National Commission for Protection of Cultural Properties is looking for a site for its possible preservation. The owner of the brick masonry, Mitsubishi Estate Co., says it is willing to pay for the removal of the 744-year-old building. The building, designed by U.K. architect Josiah Conder, was completed in 1984 at the former site of a military parade ground that is now part of the Marunouchi district. Conder was instrumental in introducing English style of brick masonry into Japan. Similar brick buildings once lined a block of a street in Darunouchi and people called that block “London in Tokyo.” Mitsubishi bagan to tear down these buildings in the late 1950s and an alarmed National Commission for Protection of Cultural Properties asked the Tokyo firm in 1960 not to demolish the the Mitsubishi Higashi No. 9 Building, the last remaining building in the “London” block. Mitsubishi nonetheless began the dismantling work on it last month. 25 YEARS AGO Thursday, April 15, 1993 Local offices still restrict foreigners Nearly half of all local governments still bar foreign nationals from taking jobs in their offices, the All Japan Prefectural and Municipal Workers’ Union said Wednesday. The union said its provisional results are based on responses from a third of the nation’s local governments, or 38 prefectures and 1,123 towns and cities, in a survey carried out last April. Of all the prefectures and specially designated cities, only Tokushima Prefecture now bars foreigners from all jobs. Since a 1990 survey by the union, Ibaraki, Wakayama and Okinawa prefectures have partially lifted the blanket restriction. In Miyagi, Nagano, Ishikawa, Fukuoka and Gifu prefectures and the ordinance-designated city of Kitakyushu, the number of jobs open to foreigners in administrative offices has greatly increased. However when cities, towns and villages are included in the list, 537 local governments, or 46.3 percent, bar foreigners from all areas of employment. Foreigners are permitted employment in some areas at 272 local governments, while the ban is not in force at 352 local governments, or 30.3 percent.

architecture
wwii
world war ii
discrimination


Why knuckles crack: Bubbles in joints collapse

Abstract: PARIS - The problem has puzzled scientists for over 100 years, but now they appear to have cracked it: what causes the sound when you pop your knuckles? Earlier studies have established that not all joints can be cracked, and that — for those that can — the act can’t be repeated for another 20 minutes. But the source of the sound remained a mystery. And “popping,” it turns out, is exactly what it is, researchers said Thursday after finding that the distinctive cracking sound was caused by the collapse of microscopic bubbles of joint fluid in the hand. Using a mathematical model alongside a geometrical representation of the joint, experts from Paris’ Ecole Polytechnique and Stanford University in the United States simulated the events leading up to the crack. “The sound that is generated when one cracks his or her knuckles is due to the partial collapse of a cavitation bubble that’s in the fluid in the joint,” explained Abdul Barakat, a professor at Ecole Polytechnique. “It could be multiple bubbles, but we showed that the collapse of a single bubble is sufficient to give you the signature sound you get,” he said by phone. Although experts had initially linked the sound to the collapse of knuckle bubbles back in 1971, their findings were thrown into question after further studies showed there were still bubbles left in the fluid after the knuckles had been cracked. But the mathematical model appears to resolve this apparent contradiction by showing the sound can be produced by partial collapse, the researchers said. Earlier studies using ultrasound had reached a similar conclusion linking the sound to changes in pressure in the joint fluid. A 2015 paper suggested it was actually the formation of a bubble rather than its collapse which caused the distinctive crack. “We wanted to look at it mathematically because all the previous work was based on observation or imaging, so we tried to build a mathematical model that described the physical phenomena that governed this,” Barakat said. “We showed that the collapse gave you the right signature sound.” Although it may not settle the debate once and for all, the research is sure to trigger a spontaneous bout of knuckle-popping. “After publishing this paper, my daughter tried it out and now she cracks her knuckles,” said Barakat, himself a knuckle-cracker. So far, knuckle-cracking has not been shown to be beneficial or harmful. Contrary to popular belief, medics say it does not cause arthritis.


Chinese space lab set to fall from sky

Abstract: BEIJING - An out-of-control space laboratory that will plunge back to Earth in the coming days is unlikely to cause any damage, Chinese authorities say, and will instead offer a “splendid” show as it burns up in the sky. China’s space agency said Thursday that the nearly 8-ton Tiangong 1 will re-enter the atmosphere some time between Saturday and Monday. The European Space Agency has a smaller window between midday Saturday and early Sunday afternoon GMT. There is “no need for people to worry,” the China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSEO) said on its WeChat social media account. Such falling spacecraft do “not crash into the Earth fiercely like in sci-fi movies, but turn into a splendid (meteor shower) and move across the beautiful starry sky as they race towards the Earth,” it said. Anyone lucky enough to be looking at the right part of the sky when Tiangong 1 starts its fiery descent will likely see a glowing object moving for several minutes, like a shooting star but slower. The craft is expected to hit speeds of 27,000 kph (16,800 mph) and partly burn up. The rest will break up into fragments that could cover thousands of square kilometers. The lab was placed in orbit in September 2011 and had been slated for a controlled re-entry, but it ceased functioning in March 2016. Space enthusiasts have been bracing for its fiery return. Advancing China’s multibillion-dollar space program is a priority for President Xi Jinping, who has called for Beijing to become a global space power with both advanced civilian space flight and capabilities that strengthen national security. Beijing plans to send a manned mission to the moon in the future. China sent another lab into orbit, the Tiangong 2, in September 2016 and hopes to turn it into a crewed space station by 2022. Experts have downplayed any concerns about the Tiangong 1 causing any damage when it hurtles back to Earth, with the ESA noting that nearly 6,000 uncontrolled re-entries of large objects have occurred over the past 60 years without harming anyone. The CMSEO said the probability of someone being hit by a chunk of more than 200 grams is 1 in 700 million. During the uncontrolled re-entry, atmospheric drag will rip away solar arrays, antennas and other external components at an altitude of around 100 kilometers, according to the Chinese space office. The intensifying heat and friction will cause the main structure to burn or blow up, and it should disintegrate at an altitude of around 80 kilometers, it said. Most fragments will dissipate in the air, and a small amount of debris will fall relatively slowly before landing, most likely in the ocean. Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, estimates that the Tiangong 1 is the 50th-most-massive uncontrolled re-entry of an object since 1957. “Much bigger things have come down with no casualties,” McDowell said. “This thing is like a small plane crash,” he said, adding that the trail of debris will scatter pieces several hundred kilometers apart. At an altitude of 60 to 70 kilometers, debris will begin to turn into “a series of fireballs,” which is when people on the ground will “see a spectacular show,” he said.


China to create massive panda nature reserve: China Daily

Abstract: SHANGHAI - China’s Sichuan provincial government has secured 10 billion yuan ($1.58 billion) in funding over the next five years for a planned Giant Panda National Park, three times the size of the U.S. Yellowstone National Park, China Daily reported Thursday. The park will protect wild pandas across Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces, while the funding will help alleviate poverty for residents living within the reserve and improve infrastructure, the China Daily reported a planning official as saying. Last month, China’s environment ministry said it had approved plans by 15 provinces and regions to draw up “red lines” to keep large areas of its territory, including wetlands, forests, national parks and protected natures zones, off-limits to economic development.

china pandas nature parks forests animals endangered


U.S. amenable to trade talks with Japan and four other TPP members

Abstract: WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump is willing to start market liberalization talks with Japan and four other Trans-Pacific Partnership members that don’t already have free trade deals with the United States, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said Wednesday. Trump has “indicated a willingness to engage with the other TPP countries — either individually or collectively — on terms that will lead to significantly improved market outcomes,” the USTR’s annual report said. “In 2018, the Trump administration will continue efforts to build stronger, better and fairer trading relationships with these countries,” the report said in reference to Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, New Zealand and Brunei. The report, however, did not refer to Trump’s suggestion in recent weeks that Washington may rejoin what is now the 11-member TPP if it were a much better deal for the country. Trump pulled the United States out of the pact soon after his inauguration in January 2017. Despite Trump’s perceived attempt to divide the 11 members, they have agreed to promote a revised version of the TPP without the United States, and the so-called TPP 11 are planning to sign the new pact on March 8 in Chile with an eye on bringing it into force next year. The original TPP, a regional free-trade agreement Trump has blasted as costing American jobs, never took force after the U.S. exited. While the U.S. “seeks a closer trade relationship with Japan,” Washington is committed to achieving “a fair and reciprocal trading relationship” with Tokyo, the USTR report said. The Trump administration “seeks equal and reliable access for American exports to Japan’s markets to address chronic trade barriers, imbalances and deficits with Japan,” it said. The annual report, delivered to Congress by USTR Robert Lighthizer, noted that the United States already has FTAs with the six other TPP members — Canada, Australia, Mexico, Chile, Peru and Singapore. Trump’s team also pledged to address “unfair” trade barriers for American food and agricultural exports in economies such as Japan, China, India, Vietnam and the European Union. It seeks to “resolve barriers to American lamb, beef, horticultural products and processed foods to Japan,” the report said. Japan has led the TPP 11 negotiations with an eye to the United States rejoining the initiative. The Trump administration has not held bilateral trade talks with Asian economies to the extent it wishes as many countries prefer multilateral arrangements to further regional economic integration. Japanese officials have said there was no guarantee the U.S. would win better terms under a bilateral pact with Japan, as a multilateral framework like the TPP allows members to offset concessions made with one country through advantages gained from another. “It would be wrong for the Trump administration to expect that it could win more market access or other concessions from Tokyo in a bilateral trade deal than what Japan compromised under the TPP,” one official said.


Paul Allen-led team finds wreckage of World War II aircraft carrier USS Lexington in Coral Sea

Abstract: WASHINGTON - Wreckage from the USS Lexington, a U.S. aircraft carrier that sank during World War II, has been found in the Coral Sea, a search team led by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen announced Monday. The wreckage was found Sunday by the team’s research vessel, the R/V Petrel, some 3,000 meters (two miles) below the surface more than 500 miles (800 km) off the eastern coast of Australia. The search team released pictures and video of the wreckage of the Lexington, one of the first U.S. aircraft carriers, and some of the planes that went down with the ship. Remarkably preserved aircraft could be seen on the seabed bearing the five-pointed star insignia of the U.S. Army Air Forces on their wings and fuselage. On one aircraft, an emblem of the cartoon character Felix the Cat can be seen along with four miniature Japanese flags presumably depicting “kills.” The search team also released pictures and video of parts of the ship, including a nameplate, and anti-aircraft guns covered in decades of slime. The USS Lexington and another U.S. aircraft carrier, the USS Yorktown, fought against three Japanese aircraft carriers from May 4-8, 1942, in the Battle of the Coral Sea, the first-ever between carriers. The badly damaged Lexington, nicknamed “Lady Lex,” was deliberately sunk by another U.S. warship at the conclusion of the battle. More than 200 members of the crew died in the battle but most of the crew were rescued by other U.S. vessels before the Lexington sank. Adm. Harry Harris, who heads the U.S. military’s Pacific Command (PACOM) — and whose father was one of the sailors evacuated — paid tribute to the successful research effort. “As the son of a survivor of the USS Lexington, I offer my congratulations to Paul Allen and the expedition crew of Research Vessel (R/V) Petrel for locating the ‘Lady Lex,’ sunk nearly 76 years ago at the Battle of Coral Sea,” Harris said in a statement. “We honor the valor and sacrifice of the ‘Lady Lex’s’ Sailors — and all those Americans who fought in World War II — by continuing to secure the freedoms they won for all of us,” he said. The USS Lexington was carrying 35 aircraft when it went down. The search team said that 11 planes had been found, including Douglas TBD-1 Devastators, Douglas SBD-3 Dauntlesses and Grumman F4F-3 Wildcats. Search teams led by Allen have discovered the wreckage of a number of historic warships, including the USS Indianapolis, a U.S. heavy cruiser that sank in the Philippine Sea in July 1945 after being torpedoed by a Japanese submarine.

paul allen
uss lexington
harry harris
wwii
japan


Solemn Peace Park belies trove of buried A-bomb artifacts

Abstract: The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, located in Naka Ward, was full of international visitors during the New Year’s holiday. Some were from America and Europe, others were Chinese speakers and women from Islamic nations could also be seen. People stood in line to pray before the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims as if they were paying a visit to a shrine on New Year’s Day. This has become a typical scene since the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum began the practice of opening its doors on Jan. 1, 2013. The number of visitors to the A-bombed city, particularly from abroad, is steadily increasing. In the museum, they learn about the catastrophic damage to the city wrought by the atomic bomb. In the park, designated as a place of national scenic beauty, they tour the monuments and other memorial sites. How many of these visitors, though, actually reflect on the fact that the obliterated part of town now beneath their feet was once the bustling commercial district called Nakajima? On Aug. 6, 1945, one single bomb annihilated this area and its roughly 4,400 residents. Over the years, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum has received many items that convey fragmented memories of the former district. Marked by the bomb’s blast, many of these objects were picked up in the ruins by loved ones of the victims in the aftermath of the bombing. Others were unearthed from beneath the park during work to improve the grounds and its facilities, with many vestiges of that time and era still waiting to be found. Most of the A-bombed artifacts are held in storage and are not displayed in the museum. However, the story that accompanies each one relates the city’s history of horror and rebirth. A trove of artifacts still lies buried beneath the park’s grounds. When the city of Hiroshima was pursuing excavation work in 2015, prior to the start of seismic reinforcement work on the museum, a great number of A-bombed items were found. In the area known as Zaimoku-cho, many milk bottles, melted and deformed, were unearthed at the spot where a milk delivery business once stood. A lot of household items, including a charred rice paddle and a burned triangle ruler, were also dug out of the ground, reminders of the daily lives that were led before the bombing. Some have been put on display in the museum since last year, and they will eventually join the other items in storage. Last November, a citizens’ group held a meeting to discuss how best to preserve A-bombed artifacts that remain buried beneath the park. One man, who spent his early childhood in the Nakajima district, said that he often feels the impulse to ask park visitors to walk quietly through this area because the ground still contains many victims at rest. However, with the passing of generations, it is becoming more difficult to hand down detailed memories of the former district, even for those families with direct links to the area. This is why people must turn our thoughts to the lost history of the park, which now serves as a hub for sending out messages of peace. This year the Chuguku Shimbun will shed light on items that are stored, but not displayed, at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. To start, we will introduce four artifacts from the Nakajima district. The history of the Nakajima district is believed to extend back to the end of the 16th century, when a castle town was established in Hiroshima. This was delta land that lies between today’s Motoyasu River and the Honkawa River. The area flourished, in particular, from the end of the Edo Period to the early Showa Era (from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century). The area where the Peace Memorial Park is, along with land south of the park, are where the neighborhoods known as Nakajima-honmachi, Zaimoku-cho, Tenjin-machi, Motoyanagi-cho and Kobiki-cho once existed. There were many houses, businesses, temples, inns and hospitals standing side by side prior to the attack. This area was almost directly underneath the bomb when it exploded. Shacks erected after the war occupied parts of the district for a time. But that changed when park construction began on 12.21 hectares of land in the former Nakajima district and the area around the A-bomb Dome in accordance with the Hiroshima Peace Memorial City Reconstruction Law, enacted on Aug. 6, 1949. The Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims was completed in 1952, and the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum opened in 1955. When the A-bomb Dome was registered as a World Heritage site in 1996, the Peace Memorial Park became part of a protected zone. Then, in 2007, the park was designated a place of national scenic beauty.

hiroshima
atomic bombings
nuclear weapons
hibakusha
chugoku shimbun


Mega-banks to slash new hires in spring 2019 as ultralow interest rates take toll

Abstract: Japan’s three mega-banking groups plan to hire fewer new graduates in April 2019, it was learned Saturday. Mizuho Financial Group Inc. plans to hire some 700 new graduates next spring, or about half the 1,365 it hired this year, including at key units Mizuho Bank and Mizuho Trust & Banking Co. Mizuho Financial aims to shed 19,000 jobs by fiscal 2026 by improving efficiency via information technology. The hiring reduction is part of the move and was decided in light of the progress being made on its new core system. Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, the core unit of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., plans to make a 10 percent reduction in new hires next spring, after hiring 1,050 this year. Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., the core unit of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc., meanwhile plans to reduce new hires from the 810 employed this spring. For all three, the reductions are being driven by a deteriorating business environment caused mainly by prolonged ultralow interest rates. In Japan, major companies in other sectors are actively hiring new graduates on the back of an economic recovery and a labor shortage caused by Japan’s demographic woes. Despite the favorable job situation overall for new grads, securing employment at the big banks, one of the most sought-after jobs, is likely to become more difficult.

banks
hiring
mizuho bank
sumitomo mitsui banking
bank of tokyo mitsubishi ufj


Blog post sparks a constructive debate on office culture in Japan

Abstract: One person’s cultural observations can be another’s daily gripes but, with any luck, they can lead to an enlightening debate. That was the case last week when a blog post about one non-Japanese individual’s experience working in the country’s information technology sector proved popular with Japanese netizens, who found a lot they could relate to. San Francisco-based software engineer Alejandro Wainzinger uploaded a blog post titled “ Gaijin Engineer in Tokyo ” to the site Medium on March 8. The lengthy piece focuses on Wainzinger’s experiences while working at a Tokyo company over the course of five years. It touches on many topics, from specific information that engineers should keep in mind (“UTF8 vs Shift JIS and EUC-JP” reads one subhead) to larger points about Japanese office culture. He writes about the long length of simple emails, power harassment and being a non-Japanese in a majority-Japanese workplace (“Never forget, you’re a foreigner. They won’t ever forget,” reads a foreboding early line). It’s a welcome addition to a genre of English-language writing that offers a foreign perspective on the typical Japanese workplace. Putting aside the surplus of blog posts and YouTube uploads devoted to English teaching (even the sneaker fetishists at Hypebeast have gotten in on that action), the past decade has seen a fair amount of non-Japanese offer up views on life in the anime industry ( explored again this week ), video game market and as a general office worker , among others. YouTubers create clips about working in film and as a salaryperson (with a humorous twist). As other accounts in this style have in the past, Wainzinger’s Medium piece prompted similar reactions from those abroad and those embedded in the same kinds of workplaces. It took a little time — the post started popping up on social media and IT-leaning sites about a week later — but it became the top story on Hacker News last week. In the subsequent comments , there was general agreement with Wainzinger’s observations on Japanese engineering life — long emails, constant meetings — but the post also sparked discussion among fellow “outsiders” in other countries, including Britain and the United States. Scroll down far enough and you can even wade into a debate about the terms used to describe foreign workers, if you dare. This, though, is all to be expected — those living outside Japan love to learn about its inner workings, while those already here love voicing their opinions about Japanese culture at any given opporunity. I’m doing it right now. What wasn’t as certain was how many Japanese netizens would end up finding the post as well. The post ended up on the popular Hatena Bookmark site, with more than 1,000 users bookmarking it. Wainzinger’s writing then spread to Twitter, shared by users such as @JICRochelle and @haiji505 . The post — written mostly in English initially — gained enough attention from Japanese readers that Wainzinger tweeted his thanks , and promised to translate the article into Japanese. Non-Japanese individuals commenting on the country’s culture — work or otherwise — can be a dicey move, and many netizens rejoice in mocking YouTubers and journalists’ attempts at navigating the nation. Yet Wainzinger’s post has been embraced. That’s partially because of how he wrote it. He’s critical of several aspects of engineering culture, such as pointless meetings and ambiguous conversations, but fair (and offers lots of positivity, too). Despite approaching it from a foreign perspective, Wainzinger tapped into the same feelings Japanese engineers have about their industry. Comments on the Hatena Bookmark posting found people praising his realistic take on the less-than-stellar IT industry and praising his ability to look at it objectively. A writer at the “orangeitems’s diary” site went through the piece and shared their feelings, echoing many of the sentiments in the original. “Unfortunately, embarrassingly, this article is totally true,” wrote user Hiroki Yasui in response to Wainzinger on Medium. “I couldn’t share it with my colleagues because of horrible shame.” In recent years, some of the most popular TV shows — and given how popular recaps of television are, eventually popular posts online — have used non-Japanese visitors to the country as a way to underline Japan’s “uniqueness” to domestic viewers. Wainzinger’s Medium post taps into something similar: He’s presenting an outsider’s view of the Japanese workplace, but connecting with people here over something that appears to be pretty much universal — gripes about work.

japanese office culture
japanese workplace
social media
japan pulse


Once falsely convicted in Japan, rarely exonerated

Abstract: A lot of eating goes on in the new documentary “ Gokutomo ” (“Friends in Prison”), which is about five men, all convicted of murder, who spent many years in prison. Watching one of them casually buy a sweet bean bun at a convenience store, you realize that, as an indulgence, food can be the most obvious marker of freedom. Locked up for decades for crimes they say they didn’t commit, these men appreciate the relative luxury of being able to eat any time they want to. The director, Kim Sung-woong, began filming in 2010 as a means of finding out how one of the men, Kazuo Ishikawa, who spent more than 30 years in prison for allegedly killing a high school girl in 1963 before being paroled in 1994 , was adjusting to life on the outside. At the time, Ishikawa had asked for a retrial to prove his innocence. (Now 79, he is still trying to get a retrial.) Kim learned that Ishikawa befriended four other men in Chiba Prison who claimed they were wrongly convicted of murder, including two on death row. In 2011, two of the men, Takao Sugiyama and Shoji Sakurai , were acquitted of the same 1967 robbery-murders in a retrial. Similarly, Toshikazu Sugaya was acquitted in 2010 of the 1990 murder of a little girl after serving 17 years of a life sentence. The fifth member of this select club and oldest is 81-year-old Iwao Hakamada, who was convicted in 1966 of killing a family. Out on provisional release since 2014 , Hakamada is technically still on death row as he waits for his own retrial. Kim has already released two related documentaries, one about Hakamada and the other about Ishikawa. “Gokutomo” is mainly about the five men’s relationship, which has become more intense since their release. Although the movie presents various explanations of why they believe they were framed for murder — poverty, juvenile delinquency, discrimination — it focuses on their coming to terms with freedom. It is an optimistic, some might even say sunny, film. With the exception of Hakamada, the men even characterize their time behind bars as being good for them in the sense that they learned to appreciate life for what it is. Enzai (a false conviction) is not exactly a journalistic cottage industry, but the dramatic potential of such stories makes it a magnet for reporters, who usually don’t have to do much to make them interesting. While Kim is himself part of the action in “Gokutomo” — participating in parties and playing shogi with Hakamada — he doesn’t probe his subjects about the processes that convicted them or led to their release. These matters come up but aren’t pursued, because they are not the point of the movie. A similar approach was the most salient feature of an article that appeared in January in the weekly magazine Sunday Mainichi , which described an incident that occurred on Jan. 8. In 2007, Norimichi Kumamoto, one of the judges who signed off on Hakamada’s death sentence, publicly regretted his decision , saying he never thought there was enough evidence to convict Hakamada, much less sentence him to death, but that he felt pressured to do so. Ever since Hakamada’s release he wanted to meet him to apologize, but he was never able to do so. Kumamoto is now bedridden in Fukuoka, and Hakamada’s sister and guardian, Hideko, took her brother to see him. The Mainichi reporter describes the scene in heartbreaking detail, Kumamoto struggling to speak with tears streaming down his face, Hakamada seemingly oblivious to his pain due to his own diminished cognitive capacity. (Later, he said the retired judge looked like someone from his trial but that “his face had changed.”) Hakamada is the poster boy for false convictions, partly because he spent so long in prison, partly because the case was so sensational and partly because Hideko has worked so tirelessly toward his exculpation; but mainly because of what the daily threat of extinction did to his mind. Although it’s now generally assumed Hakamada is innocent, the authorities continue to exercise every means at their disposal to prove that their initial charges and decisions were valid. It is easier for prosecutors and judges to do this in Japan because of conditions peculiar to the system, such as the primacy of confessions, the broad acceptance of circumstantial evidence and, most significantly, the state’s ability to appeal verdicts it disagrees with. These factors are almost never questioned by the press. All that matters is the story itself. The exception is Enzai File , a magazine published three times a year that covers nothing but cases which have ended in — or are believed to have ended in — false convictions. The articles address the legal ramifications of these cases. There are publications for scholars and law professionals that do the same thing, but Enzai File is designed for general readers. Some famous people, including documentary filmmaker Tatsuya Mori and former lawmaker and capital punishment critic Shizuka Kamei, have written for the magazine. False convictions are hardly unique to Japan. A recent piece in The New York Times reports that at least 139 “convicted defendants” in the United States were exonerated last year thanks to the efforts of lawyers who re-studied their cases . Improved DNA testing has a lot to do with it — Sugaya’s exoneration was based on new DNA evidence, as was that of a Nepalese man convicted of killing a Tokyo woman in 1997 — but in general, legal experts in Japan who advocate for people they think have been wrongfully accused have a tougher time because the system is stacked against them. This June, plea bargaining will be introduced in Japan , and some fear it could lead to even more false charges. A number of high-profile false-conviction cases may be retried soon , including Hakamada’s, so it will be interesting to see if the press does more than just highlight their dramatic aspects. Perhaps the most affecting thing in “Gokutomo” is how Sakurai has forgiven his persecutors. Having been to hell and back, he has that privilege. The rest of us perhaps shouldn’t be so complacent.

false convictions
kazuo ishikawa
shoji sakurai
toshikazu sugaya
iwao hakamada
takuo sugiyama


Tiny tardigrades might hold the key to the origin of life

Abstract: The city of Tsuruoka in Yamagata Prefecture is famous for the three sacred mountains that are central to the practice of Shugendo. In this fascinating fusion of Buddhism and Shinto, disciples climb and descend the thousands of stone steps that lead to the summit of Mount Haguro. The ascetic practice is said to simulate the process of death and rebirth, and in the natural hot springs on Mount Yudono, pilgrims can revive their aching limbs and energize their spirits. It was in Tsuruoka — in the parking lot of his rented apartment — that Kazuharu Arakawa found a new species of one of the most extraordinary animals on the planet. (Or off of it: This animal has been taken into orbit and survived exposure to the vacuum of space.) The animal is a tardigrade, eight-legged micro-animals also known as water bears. In essence, they are the microscopic equivalent of pilgrims practicing Shugendo’s “death and rebirth.” Tardigrades go through cycles of total stasis, whereby almost all metabolic activity shuts down, and they can stay like that for decades, maybe hundreds of years. But put them in warm water and, like the disciples heading to Mount Yudono, they come springing back to life. Arakawa of the Institute for Advanced Biosciences at Keio University is fascinated by tardigrades — and with good reason. “Tardigrades can come to a complete stop of metabolism with almost complete loss of water, but can still restart life upon rehydration,” he says. By removing all water, the animals can put life on hold. This form of “life pause” is called anhydrobiosis. The animals have been studied in Japan for more than a century. With this new discovery, there are now 168 species of tardigrade in the country and, in theory, there are many more species remaining to be discovered. After all, Arakawa didn’t have to go anywhere unusual to find the new species: He just picked up some moss from his parking lot. I think it’s amazing that if you look at some ordinary moss under a microscope, you are very likely to be able to see these incredible animals. The tardigrade Arakawa discovered (Macrobiotus shonaicus) belongs to a family that is usually carnivorous. They feed on other microscopic organisms such as rotifers and nematode worms, but also algae, so this new beast is an omnivore. But it is the ability to restart life after rehydration that makes them so fascinating, and the study of the ability is at the forefront of biological research. Tardigrades may even provide clues as to the origin of life itself. “We have no idea how life arose from matter several billion years ago,” Arakawa says. By studying tardigrade revival we can get an idea of how molecules assemble in the spaces between cells in the tardigrade’s body. Before cells and life evolved, organic molecules had to put themselves together without the shelter provided by the cell, so what happens in tardigrades provides a good insight into that. “Tardigrades can endure many extreme environments,” Arakawa says, “including extreme cold, heat, space vacuum, high pressure, radiation, and chemicals.” The way they do it is fascinating. Arakawa and his colleagues recently found that tardigrades have a special protein that suppresses damage to DNA. By growing human cells in a petri dish with this protein, the team showed that the cells were able to tolerate higher doses of radiation than normal. “These new tardigrade-specific proteins may have a wide range of medical and industrial applications,” Arakawa says. The new species he has discovered is described in the journal PLoS ONE. The team used an electron microscope to examine the tardigrade’s eggs, which helped in determining that it is a new species. There are many species of tardigrade, but in 2016 one species had its genome sequenced. The results of that showed that the animal had “borrowed” chunks of DNA from a whole range of other lifeforms, including bacteria, fungi, plants and other animals. In fact, 17.5 percent of the tardigrade genome is not really tardigrade DNA at all, or it didn’t used to be. It seems that when the animals dry out and rehydrate, other bits of DNA can easily slip inside. Rather than cause a problem, tardigrades have embraced the benefits this can bring.


Oklahoma announces it plans to begin using nitrogen gas for executions

Abstract: OKLAHOMA CITY - Oklahoma plans to start using nitrogen gas for executions, officials said Wednesday, in what will be the first such method of capital punishment in the United States. The state is turning to nitrogen after it and other states became unable to acquire drugs required for lethal injections because of opposition from manufacturers to their products being used for capital punishment. Nitrogen is an odorless and tasteless gas that makes up about 78 percent of the air humans breathe but causes death when inhaled without any oxygen. Oklahoma has not carried out an execution since 2015 after a series of mishaps, including a botched lethal injection where an inmate was seen writhing in pain and another inmate who was executed using a drug not approved by the state. Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter said in a statement that the state will use nitrogen hypoxia — asphyxiation by breathing in the inert gas — as its primary means of execution once a protocol has been finalized for the process. “Using an inert gas will be effective, simple to administer, easy to obtain and requires no complex medical procedures,” Hunter said in the statement. Under state law, if lethal injection is unavailable, executions must be carried out by nitrogen gas inhalation, the statement added. A spokeswoman for Hunter declined to comment on when executions might resume. Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, a capital punishment monitor, said it will be some time before the state can seek a death warrant for an execution using nitrogen. He said it faces a court order requiring it to wait 150 days until after a use protocol is published and will likely face litigation. Dunham was not aware nitrogen hypoxia has ever been used anywhere in the world to execute a person. He said the American Veterinary Medical Association deemed the process inappropriate for euthanizing mammals and said it will take more than seven minutes to bring about the death of a 70-pound (32-kg) pig. “This is another execution process that is untested, untried and experimental” Dunham said. Hunter’s statement cited unnamed studies that said nitrogen hypoxia will lead to death in “just a few minutes.” Dale Baich, one of the attorneys for the 20 Oklahoma death row inmates challenging the state’s method of execution, said the state needs to show what scientific research it has to prove the safety and legality of this new process. “Without complete transparency, we have no assurance that executions won’t continue to be problematic,” Baich said in a statement.


Wife of Japanese Nobel-winner Eiichi Negishi found dead in Indiana landfill

Abstract: ROCKFORD, ILLINOIS - Authorities in northern Illinois are investigating the death of the wife of a Nobel Prize winning chemistry professor, whose body was found at a landfill hours after the couple were reported missing in Indiana. The Ogle County Sheriff’s Office has said in a news release that deputies found 80-year-old Sumire Negishi’s body and the couple’s car Tuesday at Orchard Hills Landfill outside Rockford shortly after they found 82-year-old Eiichi Negishi walking nearby. Police found them early Tuesday morning about 200 miles (320 km) northeast of their home, on land belonging to the Orchard Hills Landfill operated by the company Advanced Disposal. Police discovered Eiichi Negishi walking in the area, and his wife was found dead near their car. “Both her and the vehicle were found on the landfill property,” Lt. Brian Ketter of the Ogle County Sheriff’s office said. The couple had been driving to a nearby airport and became disoriented, and Eiichi Negishi crashed their car into a ditch, WTHR television reported. The TV station reported that Sumire Negishi had stayed behind while her husband went to find help. The Rockford airport is located approximately 8 miles (13 km) from where the couple were discovered. The couple were reported missing Monday from their home about 200 miles (320 km) away in West Lafayette, Indiana, where Eiichi Negishi is a Purdue University chemistry professor. The Japanese scientist won a Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2010. The local coroner’s office said an autopsy was pending. Eiichi Negishi was receiving treatment at a hospital, police said. Eiichi Negishi is a Japanese national who came to the U.S. on a Fulbright scholarship in 1960 to study chemistry. He joined the Purdue faculty in 1979. He, along with two other scientists, won the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 2010 for developing a method for creating complex chemicals. The method is widely used, including for the production of pharmaceuticals.

japanese
eiichi negishi
indiana
nobel prize
chemistry


Aichi farm machinery firm taps foreign talent in the region to drive overseas sales

Abstract: Kohshin Engineering Co., which produces and sells agricultural equipment for poultry farming, has successfully expanded its overseas sales by hiring foreign employees. Based in Ama, Aichi Prefecture, Kohshin Engineering is a small company with 35 employees. Its annual gross sales are approximately ¥700 million, and in some years sales from abroad have constituted up to 80 percent of the total. “Everybody, regardless of nationality, likes to work by utilizing their unique skills. I simply made the management decision that I thought was appropriate,” said Hiroki Sumiya, 65, the president of the company. The company’s factory is located next to its office. Mikee Rose Mejia, 24, from the Philippines is in charge of overseas sales. She uses mobile chat apps to converse with her clients in Spanish. One of them is a Mexican farm owner whom she called to make sure the equipment that had been installed was running properly. It is now Mejia’s second year in the company. She studied foreign languages at a university in Kansai, and joined a Japanese taxi company after graduation. But she wanted to “work in a place where she can use her language skills,” so she changed jobs in the summer of 2016. Now she uses both English and Spanish, and spends one-third of the year conducting sales activities in Central and South America and Europe. Meanwhile, Arnolfo T. Tangi, 52, who is also from the Philippines, is in charge of sales in Southeast Asia. He has experience working in a manufacturing department for nearly 20 years. “He has worked on-site for many years and has obtained the trust of our customers’ engineers,” said Sumiya. Six months ago, the company hired a man from the Dominican Republic to be in charge of sales in Central and South America. Kohshin Engineering was established in 1972. The company manufactures equipment to compost chicken manure, feeding machines for chicken coops and other machines, but it predicted that the domestic market would shrink so in 2000 it began expanding its overseas sales channel. Sumiya was in charge of sales at the time and visited some countries alone. He only started hiring foreign employees to be in charge of overseas sales when he became president of the company in 2012. Now, Kohshin Engineering has customers in 30 countries — including the Philippines, Brazil and Romania — and overseas sales support the business. “Some foreigners want to join our company after they hear that they can be in charge of overseas sales,” said Sumiya. “We can hire good employees and expand our market further,” he added. Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting, a private think tank, held a symposium on Feb. 27 in Nagoya on the topic of revolutionizing Japan’s working style. They noted that professional foreigners, women and seniors are not hired so frequently in Aichi Prefecture. According to statistics released by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare in 2017 a record-breaking number of 130,000 foreigners are working in Aichi Prefecture, but “highly skilled foreign professionals” only account for 12 percent. That’s 7 percentage points lower than the national average, which indicates that the tendency to view foreign workers as cheap labor is still strong in Aichi. The latest statistics reveal that there are roughly 9,000 foreign students in the three prefectures of the Tokai region. Approximately 70 percent of them want to work in Japan after graduation, but only just over 1,100 find employment in the region every year. Most companies focus on their Japanese language skills, but chief researcher Ayumi Minamida thinks that “there is fierce competition to hire global talents, and it is a waste not to hire foreigners who are skilled in other areas simply because their Japanese (is not good enough).” Aichi has the highest ratio of men aged between 25 and 44 in its workforce compared to other prefectures. “It shows that the prefecture has acquired sufficient men who are in the prime of their working life, but conversely, it means it does not have a diverse workforce, with women and seniors,” Minamida said. “With aging progressing in the population, the habit of hiring mostly Japanese men in their prime should be changed,” she added.

aichi prefecture
philippines
foreign workers


Taiwan digitizes Japanese colonial-era blueprints of railway stations

Abstract: TAIPEI - Taiwan is working to digitize the blueprints of railway stations built by Japan during its 50-year colonial rule of the island, the Taiwanese Ministry of Culture announced Wednesday. Yang Tzu-pao, deputy minister of culture, told a news conference that the digital images of the design drawings will be stored on cloud servers at the National Railway Museum, which is scheduled to open in about two years. “The museum will be the first museum managed by the ministry to provide digitized materials stored in the cloud,” Yang said, noting the public will eventually be able to access the material online. The one-year pilot project, which began last July and is scheduled to be completed this September, involves digitizing the building maps for seven major stations in Taiwan. Two are in the southern cities of Kaohsiung and Tainan; two are in Taichung and Chiayi in central Taiwan; and three are in Keelung, Hsinchu and Taipei in northern Taiwan. One of the project’s leaders, National Cheng Kung University architecture professor Liou Shuenn-ren, said he hopes the ministry will continue to support the project next year. While the first year of the project focuses on railway stations in seven big cities, Liou said he hopes the second year will focus on stations in small towns and the third year on stations that no longer exist. More than 5,000 blueprints of railway stations built by the Japanese all over Taiwan were discovered at the Japanese Railway Administration building, near Taipei Railway Station, in 1998 when the National Taiwan Museum was planning the building’s renovation. Tsai Fei-wen, a professor of conservation of cultural relics and museology at Tainan National University of Arts, leads a team of students responsible for maintaining and repairing the delicate paper drawings, some over a century old. Tsai said her team has already spent more than two months repairing one drawing that is in poor shape. Earlier, she spent over a year fixing another badly damaged drawing. Since the project began last year, Tsai said her team has repaired 11 damaged blueprints and plans to complete more than 300 by the time the first phase concludes in September. The National Taiwan Museum is also planning to digitize an archive of 120,000 blueprints produced by Taiwanese architects after World War II.


Osaka begins prep for largest international gathering in decades

Abstract: OSAKA - With the summit for the Group of 20 advanced and emerging economies coming to Osaka next year, preparations are underway to host the largest international gathering the city has seen in over two decades. Earlier this month, Osaka Gov. Ichiro Matsui, Osaka Mayor Hirofumi Yoshimura and senior Osaka business leaders met with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to discuss Osaka’s, and Kansai’s, role in the two-day summit, which is likely be held in June or July 2019. The venue is the Intex Osaka convention center along the city’s waterfront district, a 30-minute subway ride from the central Umeda district, where many top-end hotels that world leaders and their staffs are likely to stay in are located. Preparations include the formation of an all-Kansai business group that will assist with various pre-summit projects. Osaka Prefecture and the city of Osaka, meanwhile, will work with the central government to spruce up Intex Osaka, an aging facility in need of some renovation. “Osaka has previously hosted APEC (the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in 1995) and that experience, plus our facilities and large number of luxury hotels, was weighted in our favor,” Matsui told local reporters earlier this month. But concern is already growing over what the summit will mean for commuters, especially in Umeda, where trains connect Osaka to both Kyoto and Kobe. Streets will have to be shut down when world leaders ranging from U.S. President Donald Trump to Chinese President Xi Jinping and their long lines of limousines and all manner of security vehicles pass through. And that’s just Osaka. Now that they’ve been officially asked by Matsui to assist, political and business leaders in surrounding Kyoto and Kobe are likely to pressure the central government to extend invitations to the G-20 leaders, their spouses and other delegation members to pay quick visits to their localities before, during or immediately after the summit. That could mean anything from a photo-op of Trump visiting Kyoto’s Golden Pavilion, to a prime minister delivering a keynote speech to business leaders in Osaka or Kobe, to TV footage of lower-level delegates smiling and laughing while feeding the deer at Nara Park. Whether publicity of such events would do anything to increase the number of international tourists to the areas afterward is questionable. But Kansai’s business leaders, at least, see an opportunity. “At present, Kansai is enjoying a huge influx of inbound tourists. The G-20 summit offers Osaka a chance to raise its international profile and show the Kansai region to the world. It’s an excellent opportunity to further invigorate the Kansai economy,” said Masayoshi Matsumoto, chairman of the Kansai Economic Federation.


Kyoto gubernatorial race puts focus on demographic and economic challenges to come

Abstract: KYOTO - Faced with a rapidly aging society and a growing socioeconomic gap between its prosperous capital and the rest of the prefecture, Kyoto voters go to the polls April 8 to choose a new governor who will be either a well-connected insider or a complete outsider. After four terms, incumbent Keiji Yamada decided to step down rather than seek re-election. His handpicked successor is Takatoshi Nishiwaki, 62, a former Reconstruction Agency vice minister and transport ministry official who has deep ties with the central government and is backed by the Liberal Democratic Party, Komeito, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the Democratic Party of Japan and Kibo no To (Party of Hope). Nishiwaki, the clear front-runner, has emphasized he will continue most of Yamada’s policies, especially in terms of support for large public works projects in areas of the prefecture demanding better roads, bridges and other facilities. “Without infrastructure, local communities can’t be competitive,” Nishiwaki told supporters in the port city of Maizuru last week. His opponent is Kazuhito Fukuyama, 57, a lawyer who is running with the support of the Japanese Communist Party and is attempting to build an independent progressive local movement. Fukuyama is emphasizing support for small and midsize enterprises, which account for about 99 percent of the prefectural economy. His platform includes dealing with poverty issues, increased support for child-raising and opposition to the restart of nuclear power plants in neighboring Fukui Prefecture. Like most prefectures, Kyoto faces a looming demographic crunch. Estimates of future population changes by the central and prefectural governments show its population of roughly 2.5 million (as of 2012) will shrink to somewhere between 2.1 million and 2.4 million by 2040, and 1.35 million and 2.2 million by 2080, depending on the birthrate. These predictions have Kyoto politicians of all stripes wondering how to best respond to the dual needs of health care spending for elderly voters and ways to attract and keep younger, tax-paying voters with families who may otherwise migrate to a major city like Tokyo or Osaka, or even from their suburbs to the city of Kyoto. But Kyoto also has some unique challenges to meet. The unprecedented tourism boom of the past five or six years has been concentrated within its capital city, especially downtown or near the famous tourist spots. It’s had less of an economic effect on other parts of the prefecture, and many smaller unrelated businesses both inside and outside the capital have suffered. “Between 2015 and 2017, nearly 700 Kyoto prefectural small and midsize firms went bankrupt,” Fukuyama said earlier this month. At the same time, prefectural data show that monthly wages fell from an average of ¥380,000 in 1997 to about ¥290,000 in 2015, he added. “Younger people, particularly those between the ages of 25 and 29, are facing economic hardships. As governor, I will not prioritize large public works projects at the expense of assisting smaller businesses and will work for a minimum hourly wage of ¥1,500,” Fukuyama said. While acknowledging the importance of economic relief for younger workers, Nishiwaki is pushing his ties with the central government and the established parties as the key to funding issues important to elderly voters in rural areas, such as increased medical services and projects aimed at helping them live more active lives after retirement. “One in 4 Kyoto prefectural residents are now over the age of 65 and one in 5 this age and older live alone. But even though we call them ‘aged’, the image should not be the past public image of elderly as inactive, but people who are healthy and contributing to society,” Nishiwaki said in a debate with Fukuyama last week. In terms of disaster-response policies, though, Nishiwaki and Fukuyama have clear differences on what the largest threat to prefectural security might be. For Fukuyama, it’s the possibility of an accident at one of the nuclear power plants in neighboring Fukui, including the Oi plant’s No. 3 reactor, which was restarted March 14, and the No. 4 reactor, which is scheduled to go back online in May. “It goes without saying that the biggest concern is the Fukui reactors. In the event of an accident, the water of Lake Biwa, which provides water to the city of Kyoto, would be contaminated, while Maizuru lies within 30 km of many of the reactors and might have to be evacuated. This is why I oppose the restart of reactors and support their decommissioning,” Fukuyama said. Nishiwaki has not voiced opposition to nuclear power in principle, and said that it was important that the central government guarantee the safety and security of the plants. During the debate with Fukuyama, he was more focused on prioritizing the prefectural response to natural disasters. “Floods are a major problem for many residents and rainfall is much more intense than it used to be. A policy to deal more effectively with damage related to heavy rainfall is needed,” he said. Yamada won re-election in 2014 by well over a quarter-million votes, and as his designated successor, Nishiwaki appeared strong as campaigning kicked off. But the 2014 election also had a voter turnout rate of 34.45 percent, the lowest ever recorded, raising questions about whether Nishiwaki or Fukuyama is likely to benefit if more voters cast ballots this time.


Former chief of Japanese Communist Party lauds Emperor for staying out of politics

Abstract: Former Japanese Communist Party leader Tetsuzo Fuwa has praised Emperor Akihito for, unlike his father, staying away from politics as stipulated by Article 4 of the Constitution. Emperor Hirohito, posthumously called Emperor Showa, “did not seem to care about Article 4,” which bans the Emperor’s involvement in politics, Fuwa, 88, said in a recent interview. “The current Emperor understands and consistently takes the stance of observing Article 4,” the iconic communist dubbed the party’s “theoretical pillar” said. “The current Emperor is the first one to behave appropriately under the current Constitution.” The Constitution, which defines the Emperor as a symbol of the state, was established after World War II ended in 1945. During the war, Emperor Hirohito had been revered as a living god. The JCP’s mission statement once called for the abolition of monarchy. But under Fuwa’s initiative in 2004, the statement was revised to tolerate the Imperial institution, saying the issue should be settled by public consensus. “That doesn’t mean the party will propose and campaign for the abolition (of the Imperial system),” Fuwa said. Fuwa was elected to the House of Representatives, the more powerful lower chamber of the Diet, for the first time in 1969. He served 11 terms in a row and retired as a lawmaker in 2003. During the interview earlier this month, Fuwa emphasized that politics and religion should be separated when a series of ceremonies related to Crown Prince Naruhito’s accession to the throne on May 1, 2019, will be conducted, following Emperor Akihito’s abdication the preceding day. He meanwhile expressed an objection to the Imperial House Law, which limits the throne to only male descendants in the paternal line of the Imperial family, calling for the principle of gender equality to be observed. About the future of the JCP, Fuwa said the party should maintain its current name. Critics argue that the name of the party gives negative impressions to other opposition parties, hampering broader-based cooperation in the opposition camp.

tetsuzo fuwa
emperor akihito
emperor hirohito
jcp
imperial family


'Madder than hornets': Kentucky and Oklahoma teachers rally as red state rebellion grows

Abstract: OKLAHOMA CITY - The state Capitol in Kentucky filled with teachers protesting pension changes Monday, and thousands of Oklahoma educators walked out of classrooms in the latest evidence of teacher rebellion in some Republican-led states over education cuts. Many Oklahoma schools, including the three largest districts of Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Edmond, were closed Monday. Districts announced plans to keep campuses shut down into Tuesday with teacher demonstrations expected to last a second day. Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin signed legislation last week granting teachers pay raises of about $6,100, or 15 to 18 percent. But some educators say that isn’t good enough and walked out. “If I didn’t have a second job, I’d be on food stamps,” said Rae Lovelace, a single mom and a third-grade teacher at Leedey Public Schools in northwest Oklahoma who works 30 to 40 hours a week at a second job teaching online courses for a charter school. The demonstrations were inspired by West Virginia, where teachers walked out for nine days earlier this year and won a 5 percent increase in pay. Teachers in Arizona are now considering a strike over their demands for a 20 percent salary increase. “Their success has shown us that collective activity can work,” Kentucky teacher Corey Sayre said of the West Virginia walkout. Some schools in Oklahoma are offering free meals to students aged 18 or younger while various churches, faith organizations and charitable agencies are providing free day-care services. Spring break was last week in many Oklahoma districts. Oklahoma ranks 47th among states and the District of Columbia in public school revenue per student, nearly $3,000 below the national average, while its average teacher salary of $45,276 ranked 49th before the latest raises, according to the most recent statistics from the National Education Association. Alicia Priest, president of the Oklahoma Education Association, said during the rally that drew thousands to the state Capitol that teachers will continue pressing their demands for lawmakers to approve more funding for pay raises and classrooms. In Frankfort, Kentucky, teachers and other school employees gathered outside the Kentucky Education Association a couple of blocks from the Capitol, chanting “Stop the war on public education” and held signs that say “We’ve Had Enough.” “We’re madder than hornets, and the hornets are swarming today,” said Claudette Green, a retired teacher and principal. Kentucky teachers chanting “We won’t back down” crammed into the Capitol, filling the Rotunda and hallways near the House and Senate chambers. Schools across the state were closed, due either to spring break or to allow teachers and other school employees to attend the rally. The rally is happening after hundreds of teachers called in sick Friday to protest last-minute changes to their pension system. Teachers have rallied several times during Kentucky’s legislative session to protest the pension bill, but Monday was by far their biggest event. Republican lawmakers in Kentucky passed a pension overhaul Thursday that preserves benefits for most workers but cuts them for new teachers. The move was done in response to one of the worst-funded teacher retirement systems in the country at 56 percent and in defiance of a powerful teachers union that vowed political retribution. Opponents objected that the pension changes were inserted into an unrelated bill without a chance for public input, and worry that the changes will discourage young people from joining the profession. Republican Gov. Matt Bevin has not yet signed the bill, but last week tweeted his support, saying public workers owe “a deep debt of gratitude” to lawmakers who voted to pass it. During Monday’s rally, some teachers, angry at lawmakers who supported the bill, chanted “Vote them out.” Melissa Wash, a first-grade teacher form Gallatin County who has been teaching for 19 years, said she voted for Bevin, but now plans to become a Democrat. To the lawmakers who voted for the pension overhaul, she said: “You better not count on another year in office.”

kentucky
oklahoma
teachers
pensions
gop
wages
school spending


China says it has made real efforts toward establishing Vatican relations

Abstract: BEIJING - China has made real efforts toward establishing relations with the Vatican, a Chinese official said Tuesday, as expectations grow for a landmark accord between the Holy See and Beijing on the appointment of bishops. Chinese Catholics are split between those who attend officially sanctioned churches run by government-approved bishops and technically illegal “underground” churches, the vast majority of which are loyal to the Vatican. Full relations would give the Church a legal framework to look after all of China’s estimated 12 million Catholics and move on to focus on Catholic growth in a country where Protestant churches are already growing fast. The details of a framework accord that could eventually lead to diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Beijing were worked out when a Vatican delegation visited China late last year. “From our government’s prospective we have always maintained an honest desire to improve relations and the Chinese government has always made real efforts (toward this),” Chen Zongrong, former vice head of the State Administration for Religious Affairs, said at a news briefing. Tuesday’s remarks follow a statement last Thursday from the Vatican that, although dialogue between the two sides continues, the deal was not about to be signed, after reports suggested it might be completed in March. Under the expected formal deal, the Vatican will have a say in negotiations for the appointment of future bishops. Another issue that will have to be resolved is self-ruled Taiwan, which maintains formal diplomatic ties with the Vatican. China, however, considers Taiwan a wayward province with no right to state-to-state relations. Chen, who lost his position during a reshuffle of government departments China announced last month, added that channels of communication with the Vatican were unimpeded and Beijing hoped the Roman Catholic Church could meet it halfway. However, religion in China must be independent of outside influence and organized within the country, he said. Asked if denying the pope total authority to appoint bishops infringed upon the religious freedom of Chinese Catholics, Chen said, “I don’t accept that idea, and in the religious lives and practices of numerous Catholics, this does not exist.” Xiao Hong, a former spokeswoman of the agency, said China was actively pursuing talks with the Vatican. News of the impending deal has split Catholic communities across China and some faith leaders and believers both in and outside China have been critical of the accord. Cardinal Joseph Zen, 86, the outspoken former bishop of Hong Kong, said the Vatican would be “selling out” to China’s ruling Communist Party.


Japan's ruling parties agree on ¥6,000 casino entry fee, but foreign tourists would be exempt

Abstract: The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, Komeito, have adopted a plan to set the nation’s casino entry fee to ¥6,000 per visit for residents of Japan. The decision came Tuesday as the parties concluded negotiations on a bill that allows for the establishment of integrated resorts including casinos. The plan calls for foreign tourists to be exempt from the fee, but foreign residents of Japan would have to pay. The government will introduce the bill to the Diet with the aim of having it enacted during the ongoing session set to end on June 20. But it remains to be seen whether the bill can pass, as opposition parties still oppose the legislation, claiming it will create more gambling addicts. Before agreeing to compromise on the fee, Komeito called for the central government to collect ¥8,000 per visit, similar to the fee charged in Singapore, while the LDP proposed ¥5,000 to make casinos more accessible, which they said would provide greater benefit to local economies. During their negotiations, the ruling parties also agreed to build casinos at three locations, to allow Japanese nationals to visit the facilities three times a week for a total of 10 times a month, to limit floor space to 3 percent of the total floor space of integrated resort facilities and to collect a 30 percent tax on revenues generated by the resorts.

casinos
komeito
integrated resorts
gambling
ldp
tourism


Bowing to right-wing pressure, Netanyahu scraps African migrant relocation deal with UNHCR

Abstract: JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday he was cancelling an agreement with the U.N. refugee agency to relocate thousands of African migrants, bowing to right-wing pressure to scrap the deal. The agency, the UNHCR, said it hoped Israel would reconsider the decision soon and offered to work with it to identify and “respond to the protection needs” of asylum seekers in the country. Netanyahu’s critics seized on his backtracking on the arrangement — under which thousands of other migrants would have won the right to remain in Israel — as a sign of political weakness. The prime minister is the subject of police investigations into suspected corruption, which he denies. For the estimated 37,000 African migrants in Israel, most of them from Eritrea and Sudan, a whirlwind of announcements about their future has swept their status even deeper into limbo. Outside a government complex in Tel Aviv where Netanyahu said he was scrapping the deal, several African men wrapped themselves in chains in a protest that put their sense of powerlessness on display. On Monday Netanyahu announced an arrangement with the UNHCR that would have relocated about 16,250 migrants to Western countries. But the fact that thousands more would be allowed to stay raised an outcry from right-wing politicians and on social media from Netanyahu’s nationalist voter base, which wants the migrants expelled. He then posted on Facebook he was putting the agreement’s implementation on hold. By Tuesday, the deal was dead. “I have listened carefully to the many comments on the agreement. As a result, and after I again weighed the advantages and disadvantages, I decided to cancel the deal,” a statement from the prime minister’s office quoted Netanyahu as saying. He made the remarks at a meeting with representatives of residents of south Tel Aviv, a poor area that has attracted the largest migrant community and where many of its inhabitants want the Africans out. The fate of migrants who entered Israel illegally by trekking across a desert border with Egypt, has posed a moral dilemma for a state founded as a haven for Jews from persecution and a national home. In a statement, Israeli human rights groups condemned the decision to cancel the agreement, accusing Netanyahu of playing “political games.” The groups said Israel is capable of absorbing all of the migrants, describing them as “asylum-seekers who came knocking on its door. Before announcing the deal, Israel had been moving ahead with plans to deport many of the Africans to Rwanda. But the Supreme Court intervened, freezing such deportations in March, and Netanyahu said Rwanda had buckled to international pressure and reneged on the deal. “Despite legal restraints and international difficulties that are piling up, we will continue to act with determination to explore all of the options at our disposal to remove the infiltrators,” Netanyahu said in his statement on Tuesday. Netanyahu blamed the New Israel Fund (NIF), a U.S.-based non-governmental organization, for causing the deal with Rwanda to be scuppered, saying that through European states, it had persuaded the African nation to refuse to take in the migrants. In a Facebook post in Hebrew, he added that “for decades, the Fund contributes to anti-Zionist, pro-Palestinian organisations” and called for a parliamentary committee to investigate it. The NIF denied Netanyahu’s allegation and said on its Facebook page that it had not influenced Rwanda’s decision and that he had “once again resorted to lies about the New Israel Fund in order to score cheap political points.” “The New Israel Fund had nothing to do with Rwanda’s decision to refuse to participate in the Prime Minister’s cruel mass deportation plan.”

migrants
unhcr
benjamin netanyahu
israel
rwanda
africa
west


South Korea has a sting in the tail for drinkers who mix wasps and soju

Abstract: SEOUL - South Koreans who enjoy a rare flavor of soju , the country’s most beloved alcohol, have been discouraged from mixing wasps into their drinks as a tonic after a health warning from the food ministry. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said Tuesday that mixing wasps and soju could pose health risks for tipplers after the drink gained popularity on the internet. Some drinkers believe wasp soju is especially good for high blood pressure and diabetes. Some also add other insects, including centipedes and earthworms, to concoct their own soju health tonics. South Koreans often mix soju with other ingredients. “ Somac ,” a mixture of soju and beer, is the most popular soju-based cocktail. “It is no more than a rumor going around ordinary people that wasps could help restore health,” Kim Seung-hwan, a researcher at the Food and Drug Safety Ministry, told Reuters. Kim said it was a subculture that had been around for a long time, but had worsened since some people began sharing the recipe and even selling it online. “That’s when we felt a need to warn people of the danger before it gets out of control,” Kim said. Authorities discourage people from using wasps in food because they can cause severe allergic reactions that could lead to choking. An illegal wasp-based soju shop in Hwaseong, a city south of Seoul, was uncovered in February, according to a statement released by South Korea’s special judicial police. The ministry said it was not aware of the exact number of people who were involved in making soju with wasps but stressed that everyone should be aware of what they should and shouldn’t eat. “Isn’t it too obvious that wasps and centipedes aren’t edible?” Kim said.


Ex-Trump aide Steve Bannon: 'To hell with Wall Street' view on trade moves against China

Abstract: WASHINGTON - Steve Bannon, U.S. President Donald Trump’s former chief strategist and 2016 campaign CEO, had a fiery response on Wednesday to Wall Street’s dim view of Trump’s trade actions against China. “Ask the working people in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan about Wall Street. Wall Street supported and cheered on the export of their jobs. To hell with Wall Street if they don’t like it. It’s time somebody stood up to them and Donald Trump is the perfect guy. Wall Street is always short term. Trump is trying to protect the beating heart of American capitalism — our innovation,” he told Reuters in a telephone interview. Bannon, who maintains ties to the White House, said Trump’s recent moves to impose tariffs are a signal to the Chinese that “the game of continual delay is over” and that they will have to address the central issue of forced technology transfers.” “It’s full throwdown. Trump has planned this out for a long time. He led with the smart things, forced technology transfers. It’s obvious the Chinese have no real response to this. I think they played completely into his hands. By putting tariffs on agricultural products and avoiding addressing the technology questions they’ve shown once again they consider us nothing more than a tributary state.” “This is the beating heart of American capitalism: Technology innovation that the Chinese have either stolen or forced American companies to turn over. Trump has signaled that those days are over,” he said. Just 11 hours after the Trump administration proposed 25 percent tariffs on some 1,300 Chinese industrial technology, transport and medical products, China responded with a list of similar duties on key American imports including soybeans, planes, cars, beef and chemicals.

wall street
china
donald trump
tariffs
sanctions
trade war
stevew bannon


Oklahoma GOP Gov. Mary Fallin: Striking teachers like teen who 'wants a better car'

Abstract: OKLAHOMA CITY - Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin compared teachers striking for more classroom funding to “a teenage kid that wants a better car” as schools throughout the state plan to close for a fourth straight day in a protest over education funding that has spread to several Republican-led states. Fallin and other Republicans in the Oklahoma Legislature last week broke with the party orthodoxy and endorsed hundreds of millions of dollars in tax increases to fund public schools and give teachers a raise of 15 to 18 percent. But now that’s forcing them to walk a fine line in the months before midterm elections between placating constituents who are angry over education cuts and conservative supporters who want a smaller government and low taxes. They acted after Oklahoma teachers launched their protests, inspired by a nine-day strike in West Virginia, where they won a 5 percent raise. The rebellion also has spread to Kentucky as teachers thronged the state Capitol Monday to protest cuts in pensions. And in Arizona, restive teachers demonstrated again Wednesday, wearing red while walking around Phoenix-area high schools and demanding a 20 percent pay raise. Oklahoma Republicans have won little praise for approving major tax increases to fund the teachers raises and higher education funding, and Fallin appeared to reflect that frustration. “Teachers want more, but it’s kind of like having a teenage kid that wants a better car,” Fallin said in an interview with CBS News. Some Republicans are expressing support for the teacher rebellion. Three weeks before a closely watched special election for an open congressional seat in Arizona, Republican hopeful Debbie Lesko is running a TV ad that shows her reading a book to children as she vows to “fix our schools and give our teachers the raise they deserve.” As he runs for a second term, Republican Gov. Doug Ducey in Arizona epitomizes the dilemma for GOP candidates in 2018. He refuses to raise taxes and finds himself on the defensive amid growing frustration with education funding in a state where the budget was decimated during the recession and where he and other leaders have dramatically expanded voucher programs. Teachers have been filling the Capitol to protest a Ducey plan to provide a 2 percent raise for teachers, and they have been joined by the two Democrats trying to unseat him. The protests also have emboldened teachers across the country to run for office. About two dozen educators or former educators are running for office this year in Kentucky, most of them as Democrats. For the Democratic Party, which has been losing legislative seats in many of these red states for years, the intensity of the education movement is an opportunity. The Oklahoma Democratic Party set up a tent outside the Capitol during the teacher protests and urged demonstrators to register to vote. “I think the people who will be held responsible at the end of the day are the people in power,” said Party Chairwoman Anna Langthorn. “I think we have a lot of momentum.” Democrats already have made some gains in Oklahoma, winning four seats from Republicans in special elections in the past year, including two teachers elected to office after campaigning on improving school funding. But they are still deep in the minority in the Legislature. Recent U.S. history is mixed on whether such grassroots movements can translate into victories at the ballot box. Teachers were at the heart of massive protests at the Wisconsin state Capitol in 2011, fighting a proposal from then-newly elected Republican Gov. Scott Walker. Despite the closure of schools for four days as part of a coordinated sick-out among teachers, the bill that placed severe restrictions on unions passed anyway. An attempted recall of Walker in 2012 led to an even wider margin of victory than he enjoyed in the regular election in 2010. Kansas is a more encouraging example. After Republicans there approved massive personal income tax cuts beginning in 2012, budget shortfalls put a lid on education funding increases. A backlash against the GOP in 2016 led to the defeat of more than two dozen conservative state lawmakers, and the Legislature last year reversed many of the tax cuts. Pat McFerron, a Republican strategist and pollster in Oklahoma, said for many GOP incumbents who voted for the tax-hike plan to fund teacher pay raises, their greatest concern is a right-wing primary challenge. Former U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, a hero of the anti-tax movement, urged citizens to challenge their Republican legislators who voted for the plan. But Carri Hicks, a fourth-grade math and science teacher in the Oklahoma City suburb of Deer Creek, said she decided to run as a Democrat for a state Senate seat this year in part because of the declines in funding for public schools. “I want to be a voice for the teachers at the state Capitol,” Hicks said, saying the raise for teachers and more money for education was a good first step. “My campaign continues to finish the job.”

oklahoma
gop
mary fallin
teachers
taxes
school spending


Australian woman renews plea for Japan's government to amend U.S. forces agreement after rape ordeal

Abstract: An Australian woman who was raped by a U.S. military serviceman more than a decade ago renewed on Thursday her request to Japan’s government to amend the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), which critics claim allows both countries to evade responsibility for misconduct linked to U.S. bases. “(Tomorrow) will mark 16 years that I have been trying to change one part of Article 16 of the SOFA … to change just one word,” said Catherine Jane Fisher, a human rights activist and long-term resident of Japan, during a news conference in Tokyo. Fisher said she will meet with Foreign Ministry officials on Friday to ask them to work toward the revision. Court records show that Fisher was raped by American serviceman Bloke Deans near the U.S. Navy base in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, in 2002. In 2004, a Tokyo court ordered Deans to pay ¥3 million in damages as compensation. But he had already left Japan and has not returned. Fisher later asked the Foreign Ministry to locate him, but she said her request was rejected based on Article 16 of the bilateral agreement. Fisher said she was told by the ministry at the time that members of the U.S. military only have to “respect the laws of Japan, not obey them.” She believes the word “respect” in the article should have been interpreted to mean almost the same as “obey” when the pact came into force in 1960. Without support from either government, Fisher located Deans on her own after 10 years of searching. During her search she also found a report from a woman alleging Deans had raped her in the U.S. after he fled Japan. Fisher brought her case to the Milwaukee County Circuit Court in Wisconsin after locating Deans. Based on a document Deans submitted to the court, she discovered that the U.S. military had intentionally transferred him out of Japan. The Milwaukee court enforced a Japanese civil judgment convicting Deans of rape. The ruling is believed to have been the first time a rape judgment from Japan has been enforced in the U.S. Deans was never subject to a criminal prosecution. In an effort to secure justice, Fisher agreed to a $1 settlement in exchange for an admission from Deans that he committed the rape. “Justice is the only thing that matters,” Fisher said Thursday at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan. She received the $1 settlement in 2016. On the same day, Rina Shimabukuro, a girl from Okinawa, was raped and murdered by a civilian U.S. base worker. “What has changed? Nothing,” Fisher said. “It’s about time the buck stops here.”

sofa
catherine jane fisher
australia
sex crimes


China's Tiangong 1 space lab plunges into South Pacific after passing over Kyoto

Abstract: BEIJING - China’s defunct Tiangong 1 space station mostly burned up on re-entry Monday into the atmosphere over the central South Pacific, Chinese space authorities said. The experimental space laboratory re-entered around 8:15 a.m. Beijing time, the China Manned Space Engineering Office said. Space officials had promised the atmospheric disintegration would offer a “splendid” show akin to a meteor shower. But the remote location likely deprived stargazers of a spectacle of fireballs falling from the sky. Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, said the module zoomed over Pyongyang and Kyoto during daylight hours, reducing the odds of seeing it before it hit the Pacific. “It would have been fun for people to see it, but there will be other re-entries,” McDowell said. “The good thing is that it doesn’t cause any damage when it comes down and that’s what we like.” Scientists monitoring the craft’s disintegrating orbit had forecast the craft would mostly burn up and would pose only the slightest of risks to people. Analysis from the Beijing Aerospace Control Center showed it had mostly burned up. The U.S. military’s network of radars and sensors also confirmed that the Tiangong 1 had re-entered over the Pacific, but a minute later than the Chinese estimate, according to a statement by the Joint Force Space Component Command. The JFSCC said it confirmed the re-entry in coordination with Australia, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and South Korea. Brad Tucker, an astrophysicist at Australian National University, said Tiangong 1’s re-entry was “mostly successful” and that it would have been better if the space station had not been spinning toward Earth. “It could have been better obviously, if it wasn’t tumbling, but it landed in the southern Pacific Ocean and that’s kind of where you hope it would land,” Tucker said. “It’s been tumbling and spinning for a while, which means that when it really starts to come down it’s less predictable about what happens to it,” Tucker said. He likened it to an airplane landing, saying it’s more difficult to predict where a plane that is “shaking around and moving” will land than one that is smoothly descending. Launched in 2011, Tiangong 1 was China’s first space station, serving as an experimental platform for bigger projects, such as the Tiangong 2 launched in September 2016 and a future permanent Chinese space station. Two crews of Chinese astronauts lived on the station while testing docking procedures and other operations. Its last crew departed in 2013 and contact with it was cut in 2016. Since then, it has orbited gradually closer and closer to Earth on its own while being monitored. Earlier forecasts had said only about 10 percent of the bus-size, 8.5-ton spacecraft would likely survive re-entry, mainly its heavier components such as its engines. “The biggest takeaway from this is that as we put more things into space, all countries, we have to be aware that we do have to plan for these sorts of issues that are happening,” Tucker said. Roger Thompson, senior engineering specialist with the Aerospace Corporation in Virginia, said modeling of Tiangong 1’s re-entry by monitors in the U.S. had been highly accurate, leaving him feeling “great” about their predictions. “We believe it was an uncontrolled entry,” Thompson said, adding that the corporation’s own estimate had been just 15 minutes behind the time announced by China. The lack of control was not unusual given that about 15 percent of satellites re-enter the atmosphere prior to the end of their useful lives, he said. The corporation, which provides technical support for the space industry, had not been in touch with the Chinese side about the re-entry, Thompson said. China’s Foreign and Defense ministries said the country had relayed information about Tiangong 1’s return to Earth to the United Nations’ space agency and others. Debris from satellites, space launches and the International Space Station enters the atmosphere every few months, but only one person is known to have been hit by any of it: Lottie Williams, an American woman, was struck but not injured by a falling piece of a U.S. Delta II rocket while exercising in an Oklahoma park in 1997. Most famously, America’s 77-ton Skylab crashed through the atmosphere in 1979, spreading pieces of wreckage near the southwestern Australia city of Perth, which fined the U.S. $400 for littering. Tiangong 1, whose name translates as “Heavenly Palace,” had two modules, one for its solar panels and engines, and one for a pair of astronauts to live in and conduct experiments. A third astronaut slept in the Shenzhou spaceships that docked with the station, which also contained facilities for personal hygiene and food preparation. China’s space program has made rapid progress since it launched its first crewed mission in 2003 —becoming only the third country after Russia and the U.S. to do so— including placing a rover on Mars and conducting a space walk. A mission to land another rover on Mars and bring back samples is set to launch in 2020, while China also plans to become the first country to soft-land a probe on the far side of the moon. The program’s military background has at times been a barrier to greater cooperation with those run by other countries, and it was excluded from the 420-ton International Space Station that is now beginning to wind down.