Abe to 'take responsibility' if ruling bloc fails to win 61 seats in Upper House election

Abstract: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Tuesday he will take responsibility should his ruling Liberal Democratic Party and junior coalition partner Komeito fail to achieve his self-imposed goal of securing more than a majority in July’s Upper House election. In a public debate with other party leaders at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo, Abe renewed his pledge for the LDP-Komeito coalition to win 61 of the 121 seats up for grabs in the crucial summer poll. “As both prime minister and leader of the LDP, I will make an all-out effort toward this goal,” Abe said. Asked what consequences will arise if the coalition fails to reach the 61-seat goal, he said: “Of course, the goal involves responsibility being taken.” He didn’t elaborate. Abe’s remark nonetheless differed from the more diplomatic stances taken by his political allies on the question of whether Abe should quit if he fails. In interviews with the media last week, both LDP Secretary-General Sadakazu Tanigaki and Komeito leader Natsuo Yamaguchi avoided clarifying what they think Abe should do in that eventuality and only repeated they will do their best to win. In the meantime, Abe acknowledged that his Abenomics policy has yet to achieve full effect and termed it “halfway through.” “But we will kick-start its engine and make sure the public will feel the economy has improved,” he said. Backpedaling from a campaign pledge of two years ago, Abe was forced to make the tough decision earlier this month to delay a scheduled sales tax hike for a second time because the economy didn’t recover as much as he thought it would. He and Yamaguchi were also gung-ho about assailing Katsuya Okada, head of the main opposition Democratic Party, over what they called a flawed electoral tie-up with the radical Japanese Communist Party. The DP and JCP are fielding joint candidates for the election to oust Abe. But while the JCP is eager to deepen the tie-up into a coalition government, Okada has steadfastly ruled out that possibility, saying some of the JCP’s extreme leftist policies — such as abolishing the Japan-U.S. security treaty — are unacceptable. The ruling camp sneers at the discrepancies. “Forming a coalition government with the JCP is impossible at this point,” Okada repeated. “But I’m not saying it won’t happen forever. It may take years or even decades, but our polices may eventually fall into line with each other.”

komeito
ldp
dp
jcp
sdp
2016 upper house election


U.S. swimmers using therapy dogs to relax before races

Abstract: OMAHA, NEBRASKA - Kacey Oberlander is missing her dogs back home, and she’s more than a little stressed competing in the high-pressure environment at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials. That’s where Holly comes in. The adorable, 4-year-old Havanese is available for petting and furry hugs. “It just calms me down a lot,” said Oberlander, who swims for York YMCA in Pennsylvania and will be attending the University of Alabama in the fall. “It’s nice to see the happy puppy dogs running around when everything is so intense and everyone’s so serious. The dogs are very happy all the time. It makes me calm.” Yep, these Olympic trials have gone to the dogs — and the athletes are loving it. USA Swimming, in an effort to ease some of the anxiety accompanying such a major meet, has partnered with Domesti-PUPS — a nonprofit organization based in Lincoln, Nebraska, that is providing four-legged companions for the athletes lounge at CenturyLink Center. In a section of the arena that is generally off-limits to everyone except the swimmers, dogs such as Holly and Larry, a Goldendoodle who will readily pose for a picture or pause for a pat on the head, have been welcomed with open arms. If anyone doubts their purpose, each pooch wears a collar that says, “Please ask to pet me. I’m friendly.” “There’s a lot of pressure,” said Leah Braswell, a teammate of Oberlander’s. “Having the dogs here is a great distraction, a way to take a break from all of that. They’re happy all the time. It just makes you happier. You can forget about whatever race you just had.” Given their gentle, soothing nature, “therapy dogs” have become more and more familiar around hospitals, retirement homes, hospice centers and disaster areas. They’ve provided comfort to veterans and those suffering from autism. They’ve even done time in prisons, nudging inmates along the road to rehabilitation. There’s no judgment from these animals. Fido merely wants to love and be loved. For someone in pain or anguish, they can be an invaluable companion. At the Olympic trials, their role is a bit different. But it’s really in keeping with the extensive training that Domesti-PUPS puts its animals through before sending them out into the world. “Anywhere there’s an elevated level of stress, we can take our dogs and try to de-stress them,” said Sandy Ludwig, who works with the organization. “These dogs are just lying there, waiting to have their bellies rubbed or their ears scratched.” That’s what Morgan Weinberg had in mind for the trials, an all-or-nothing meet that not only determines the powerful American team for the Rio Games, but also serves as a chance for many up-and-coming athletes to get their taste of a big-league atmosphere. There are more than 1,700 swimmers in Omaha, most of whom have no chance of qualifying for the Olympics. Yet the burden of competing weighs on all of them to some degree. “This is the first time we’ve ever done it,” said Weinberg, the program and services manager for USA Swimming. “I’m an animal lover myself, and I was trying to think of different ways in the athlete lounge that they would calm down and kind of just relax and have fun. I like dogs, I thought about dogs, and it just kind of evolved into therapy dogs.” She got in touch with Domesti-PUPS, which is providing about 30 dogs for all but the final night of the eight-day meet, which runs through Sunday. Four dogs at a time work in three-hour shifts — some rotating through during the morning preliminaries, others stopping by for the evening finals. They even have their own security credentials, complete with a photo. On the very first night of the trials, Ludwig knew she was on to something when a swimmer spent 20 minutes petting one of her pups. “About an hour later, she came back and said, ‘That was a best swim I ever had,’ ” Ludwig recalled. “She said, ‘I was so relaxed when I went and jumped in the pool.’ “ That’s not all. Many swimmers are missing their own dogs, the ones they had to leave at home, so they’re eager to just roll around on the floor with a canine they can at least temporarily call their own. Oberlander is one of those going through pet withdrawal. She has a pair of miniature dachshunds, Biscuit and Bella. “I miss them soooo much,” Oberlander said. “When I come in here and see the dogs, it’s just like home.” There’s one Labradoodle in particular who caught her eye — and her heart. “He’s very fluffy. I like him the best,” she said, breaking into a big grin. “It’s like bringing a piece of Pennsylvania here to Nebraska with me.”


Calls to revise SOFA in wake of Okinawa murder unlikely to bear fruit

Abstract: OSAKA - As a result of the recent murder of a 20-year-old woman in Okinawa, allegedly at the hands of a U.S. base worker and former marine, calls are once again growing for a revision to the U.S.-Japan Status of Forces Agreement, or SOFA. On Tuesday, Aiko Shimajiri, the minister in charge of Okinawa’s affairs, and other LDP lawmakers from the prefecture submitted a request to LDP Secretary-General Sadakazu Tanigaki calling for revision of the agreement. Tanigaki reportedly told the group that “the party will make every effort” regarding the issue. And elsewhere, in Kanagawa Prefecture, which hosts the U.S.’s Yokosuka naval base, the prefectural assembly on the same day unanimously called for the revision of the agreement to prevent recurrences of crimes like the latest in Okinawa, which is linked with the American military presence. What is SOFA? The agreement was originally signed by the United States and Japan in 1960. Among other things, it governs how U.S. military forces and related civilians, including the families of U.S. service personnel and civilian contractors, are to be treated in everything from minor traffic accidents to more serious crimes, by Japanese authorities while in Japan. Following the 1995 case where a 12-year-old girl was gang raped by three American servicemen in Okinawa, Tokyo and Washington reached an informal deal under which the U.S. side agreed to give “favorable consideration” to Japanese requests that it hand over suspects if they are suspected of having committed heinous crimes such as murder and rape. Still, the agreement has never been formally revised since its 1960 inception. Why has the issue come up again? The murder earlier this month of 20-year-old Okinawan office worker Rina Shimabukuro, allegedly at the hands of Kenneth Franklin Shinzato, a 32-year-old American working at Kadena Air Base, has sparked fresh ire in Okinawa. Many residents want Tokyo and Washington to formally revise SOFA to give local authorities nationwide more authority in questioning, and if necessary, prosecuting U.S. military personnel or civilians like Shinzato. An association of 14 governors whose prefectures host U.S. bases has called for SOFA’s revision to grant them more authority when such incidents occur. However, neither Prime Minister Shinzo Abe nor U.S. President Barack Obama raised the issue during their bilateral meeting at the G-7 summit in Japan last week. Why are both sides reluctant to revise? The U.S. and Japanese legal systems are very different. The U.S. side in particular is concerned about whether an accused U.S. citizen, especially a member of the military who is subject to U.S. military law, will receive a fair trial by U.S. standards in a Japanese court. This is interpreted by the U.S. side to mean a lawyer being present during questioning of suspects, and the interview process being recorded, all conditions Japan has found difficult to accept. But as a January 2015 State Department report on America’s SOFA agreements worldwide made clear, agreeing to hand over American suspects to foreign countries with drastically different legal systems could end up becoming problematic. “U.S. willingness to deploy forces overseas, and public support for such deployments, could suffer significant setbacks if U.S. personnel were at risk of being tried in an inherently unfair system, or at any rate, one that departs fundamentally from U.S. concepts of basic procedural fairness,” the report said. Thus, until the U.S. is satisfied that the Japanese legal system will treat those under the SOFA agreement in a way similar to how they would be treated under the U.S. system, the revisions Okinawa and local governments are seeking remain unlikely, and such alleged crimes will continue to be handled on a case-by-case basis.

okinawa
status of forces agreement
kenneth franklin shinzato
military bases


Okinawa anti-base faction boosts its majority in prefectural assembly election

Abstract: NAHA, OKINAWA PREF. - Okinawa’s anti-base faction retained and slightly increased its majority in the prefectural assembly following Sunday’s election, representing a victory for Gov. Takeshi Onaga and a setback for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Candidates who supported Onaga and ran in opposition to relocating the U.S. Marine base at Futenma, in central Okinawa Island, to the northern part of the island won 27 of the 48 assembly seats. Of the 21 remaining seats, 14 went to the LDP and four went to Komeito. The rest were taken by candidates who fundamentally oppose Onaga. Voter turnout was 53.31 percent, up 0.82 point from the previous prefectural assembly poll, in 2012. “The election showed that the people of Okinawa support efforts to stop the construction of a new base,” Onaga said at a press briefing early Monday morning. The poll outcome shows Okinawa’s support for Onaga, and it will represent a setback for Abe and the LDP, whose prefectural members are in the opposition. Officially, 71 candidates were vying for the assembly’s 48 seats, although two districts in Nago were uncontested. Before the assembly was dissolved, the LDP and national partner Komeito were in the minority. The majority support Okinawa Gov. Onaga, who took the prefecture’s helm after campaigning against the construction of a replacement facility in Nago’s Henoko district for U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, which sits in densely populated Ginowan. Of the 71 candidates, 37 were from a half dozen parties, including the Japanese Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party, that back Onaga. Another 12, including four from Komeito, four independents and three from Osaka Ishin no Kai, officially declared themselves “neutral,” positioning themselves between the Onaga supporters and the LDP. The LDP itself was backing 19 candidates, including three independents. Despite statements from Abe’s administration last week that the election results will have no impact on the Futenma relocation plan, the central government has made numerous efforts to quell Okinawan anger stemming from the murder of Rina Shimabukuro, 20, allegedly by a U.S. civilian worker at the Kadena Air Base. Subsequent promises by senior Abe administration officials to beef up security and take preventive action have largely failed to curb calls to revise the U.S.-Japan Status of Forces Agreement, even among local LDP members. A meeting in Singapore on Saturday between Defense Minister Gen Nakatani and U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter produced an agreement to review SOFA implementation practices related to U.S. personnel with SOFA status, including the civilian component. However, Okinawan media were quick to point out that it did not meet growing demands in the prefecture for a formal SOFA revision to give local officials, especially the police, more authority and autonomy when dealing with incidents involving U.S. military personnel, their dependents or civilian workers. With news Sunday that an American sailor attached to Kadena was arrested late Saturday evening after being involved in a drunken driving accident that injured two Japanese, central government officials once again found themselves forced to respond. The Foreign Ministry said Sunday afternoon that Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida had contacted U.S. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy over the incident, expressing deep regret that it occurred while Okinawa was still in mourning over the Shimabukuro slaying. Kennedy extended an apology and expressed concern over the two victims of the incident and said the U.S. will cooperate with the investigation. But Okinawan political resolve for officially revising SOFA is likely to grow stronger in the coming days, regardless of Sunday’s results or central government and U.S. statements.


Ransomware making costly inroads into online Japan

Abstract: Advances in technology always come at a price. Once just a hacker’s toy, the computer virus has evolved into something more sinister. Malware called ransomware, which can hold computer files hostage in exchange for a ransom, is increasing as a menace in Japan. According to IT security firm Trend Micro, Japanese companies reported 650 cases of ransomware infections in 2015, a more than 16-fold increase on the previous year. And the spread of malware shows no sign of abating, with a survey in May showing 740 cases in the first three months of this year. The following is a look at the surging cyberattack risk and how it can be prevented: How does ransomware infect a computer? Ransomware often gets into a computer through a malicious email attachment or by a user clicking on a link to a malicious website. According to one case reported to the government-affiliated Information-technology Promotion Agency (IPA), a person received an email notification of a “new invoice,” with a message written in nonnative Japanese urging the recipient to open an attached file to confirm the details. In such an example, if the attachment is opened, it can encrypt a user’s personal files, including Microsoft Office files and photos, that are stored on a computer. To restore the files, a ransom as big as millions of yen can be demanded — with payment made online or using the cryptocurrency bitcoin — in exchange for a decryption key to open the hostage files. Opening a website containing a malicious computer code or loading a malicious online advertisement can allow ransomware to infiltrate a computer. Infected websites are often hard to detect, and even major websites can be hijacked for use in a ransomware attack. How does ransomware differ from other computer viruses? Unlike traditional computer viruses, which are often created and spread by people seeking to show off their computer skills, ransomware has evolved as an organized business product, said Joji Hamada, a senior security response manager at Symantec Japan Inc. Some ransomware viruses are created by hackers and sold on the dark web, the hidden part of the internet that doesn’t appear in a web search, Hamada said. Such viruses are often sold to parties seeking to rob computer users, he added. The buyer of the virus can start a ransomware business without having to develop software, he said. Who is being targeted by ransomware? Recent ransomware targets include companies and institutions such as hospitals, Hamada said. Hospitals are prime targets because they could risk losing medical data, which might endanger patients’ lives, if they don’t pay a ransom, Hamada said, adding that attackers might think hospitals are more vulnerable to cyberattacks compared with private companies. Ransomware can also target individuals who don’t use a PC. In March, ransomware was discovered targeting Android smartphones in a first in Japan. Once a smartphone was infected, the malware locked the device to render it unusable and displayed a countdown timer and message — again written in nonnative Japanese — claiming to be a warning from the Justice Ministry, according to Trend Micro. The message warned the smartphone owner to pay a ¥10,000 “penalty” via an iTunes gift card to unlock the device otherwise a “case file” would be sent to a court. Hamada said ransomware poses a greater threat to society in the future, when more internet-linked devices — from home appliances to vehicles — are used in everyday life. He said hackers might be able to remotely lock the doors of internet-connected cars or even lock the brakes, putting drivers in danger. “Attackers might do anything to force people to pay money,” Hamada said. What can be done if a computer is infected? Unfortunately, once files are encrypted, there is not much victims can do to restore them without paying money, Hamada said. Worse still, paying the ransom won’t guarantee the files can be retrieved successfully, he said. “If you want to restore your files . . . it’s up to you whether to pay the money at your own risk,” he said. But Hamada said he did not recommend paying the ransom because the money will only further fund cybercriminals. How can ransomware attacks be prevented? The most important thing is to always keep computer operating systems and software up-to-date, Hamada said. “Many ransomware infect computers through websites by exploiting bugs in software. It is extremely important to patch security holes,” he said. Routinely backing up computer data is also effective in minimizing damage, so that important files can be restored as of the last backup even after they have been encrypted. Trend Micro recommends the 3-2-1 backup rule. It means making at least three copies of the same data and storing them on at least two different media, such as a DVD disk or an external hard drive, and keeping one of those off-site. Another effective measure is to have reliable anti-virus software installed, so that a dubious email attachment and corrupt websites can be detected and users notified before a ransomware attack, Hamada said.

ransomware
cyberattacks
computer viruses
cybersecurity


Seven Indonesian sailors kidnapped in Philippines: Jakarta

Abstract: JAKARTA - Seven Indonesian sailors have been taken hostage in the Sulu Sea in the southern Philippines, Indonesia’s foreign minister said on Friday, the latest in a string of abductions in the waters between the two Southeast Asian neighbors. “We got confirmation of an incident of kidnapping involving Indonesian crew of a ship,” Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi told reporters. He said the hijackings were carried out by two different armed groups. Six of the 13 crew on board were freed, Marsudi said, and were on their way back to Indonesia. The kidnappings come after the governments of Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia agreed last month to carry out coordinated patrols to secure the region’s busy waterways. The Abu Sayyaf group in the southern Philippines is known to have seized hostages across the border and held them for ransom. This year it murdered two Canadian men when their ransoms were not paid.

indonesia kidnappings philippines insurgencies


Family's pain over 2006 Yokosuka murder reflects desire for SOFA rethink

Abstract: Justice has been a long time coming for Masanori Yamazaki, whose common-law wife was murdered by a drunk U.S. sailor in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, 10 years ago, in an unprovoked assault. Yamazaki, 68, is refusing a U.S. government offer to settle over the death of Yoshie Sato, taking a stand at what he perceives as injustices under the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement, the legal framework that sets out criminal procedures for U.S. military offenders in Japan. As work on possible revision of the 56-year-old legal framework gets underway, Yamazaki’s case highlights how hard it can be for victims of crimes committed by troops or U.S. civilian workers to obtain closure. Sato, 56, was on her way to work at a bus company in Yokosuka on the morning of Jan. 3, 2006, when she was approached by William Reese, 21, an off-duty crew member of the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk. Reese, who had been drinking, asked her directions to the base. He then robbed her of ¥15,000 and beat and kicked her to death. He was convicted of robbery and murder in June that year. Yamazaki and other relatives of Sato sued Reese and the Japanese government in October 2006, demanding a combined ¥124 million in damages. In May 2009, the Yokohama District Court ordered Reese to pay ¥65 million and dismissed the claims against the government. Reese’s compensation order was finalized by the Supreme Court in June 2013. But because of SOFA, following through on the order has been slow and the path murky. In June 2015, the U.S. government informed the Defense Ministry in Tokyo that it would make an “ex gratia payment” of about ¥26 million because Reese is unable to raise the funds. The sum is about 40 percent of the total ordered by the court. Moreover, the U.S. government demanded immunity from further legal action, for it and for Reese. Yamazaki finds this unacceptable after waiting two full years for the U.S. offer. “If you drive a car and hit somebody in an accident, you would first fix the car you damaged, take the person to a hospital, and then ask for forgiveness, right?” he said. “It doesn’t make sense to say you pay money only if you are given immunity. Plus, we have no way of knowing whether Defense Ministry officials are conveying what the U.S. side is saying. We have no idea what the Japanese and U.S. governments are really negotiating.” Retired bus driver Yamazaki and his lawyers now contend they are willing to forgo claims against the U.S. government but not against Reese, since he is not paying. Yamazaki is also indignant at the assumption that the Japanese government should pick up the remainder of the ¥65 million tab. “If a member of the U.S. military commits a crime, the U.S. military should pay for it. Why should the Japanese government spend its taxpayers’ money to pay for U.S. crimes?” In past cases involving crimes committed by U.S. military personnel against Japanese citizens, it has always been up to the U.S. to decide the amount of ex gratia payments, according to Shinsuke Nakamura, a lawyer for Yamazaki. “The Japanese government is supposed to make claims to the U.S. side, but it is the U.S. that ultimately decides the amount. The Japanese government has also told us it will not pay the remaining sum unless we agree to the terms of the settlement.” A clause in the so-called Special Action Committee on Okinawa agreement struck between Japan and the U.S. in 1996 notes that in the past, there have been “only a very few cases” where payment by the U.S. government did not satisfy the full amount awarded by a final court judgment. Nakamura believes this is not so, saying when such cases occur the U.S. government often ends up offering less than half the sum demanded by the court. Unless such “unfair” arrangements are changed, crimes by U.S. troops against Japanese citizens will continue, Yamazaki said. He pointed to the recent rape and murder of a 20-year-old woman in Uruma, Okinawa. An American contractor working at the U.S. Kadena Air Base has been arrested in the case. “I cried, watching the news of the Okinawa girl,” Yamazaki said. “It must have been horribly painful for her. It’s always the children and women who are victimized.” Tens of thousands of Okinawa residents took part in a mass protest in Naha on Sunday over the murder and ongoing resentment against the presence of U.S. military bases. But compared with the situation in Okinawa, where anti-base sentiment has reached boiling point, the reactions of Yokosuka citizens to U.S. military-related crimes have been tame, Yamazaki said. He pointed to Yokosuka’s generally accommodating attitudes. His wife, for example, was taken advantage of when she tried to help the perpetrator with directions. Questions of history make the situation even more acute in Okinawa, he said, as people there were “deprived of their land,” and this contrasts with the situation in Yokosuka. “In Yokosuka, the U.S. took over the base of the former Imperial Japanese Navy, not citizens’ properties. Moreover, Yokosuka city officials have long promoted friendship with the naval base, hosting festivals and so on. “Unless SOFA is revised to become an equal treaty, the crimes will never go away. Orders to step up discipline of U.S. military personnel will never reach the rank-and-file, as long as the agreement allows them to take Japanese people lightly.”

yokosuka
sofa
masanori yamazaki
compensation
u.s. military


LDP and Komeito to boycott massive anti-U.S. rally Sunday in Okinawa

Abstract: OSAKA - Despite protesting the murder of a local woman and calling for revisions in the U.S. Status of Forces Agreement, local Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito officials will not take part in what may be the biggest Okinawan anti-base rally in nearly two decades. Organizers hope the rally Sunday will draw at least 50,000 people angered by the murder of Rina Shimabukuro, 20, allegedly by Kenneth Franklin Shinzato, an American civilian worker at Kadena Air Base. It will also denounce the construction of a replacement facility for U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma at Henoko in the prefecture. Those expected to attend include Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga, most if not all of the prefecture’s mayors and village heads, and local and national politicians from a broad coalition of opposition parties. Prefectural assembly members loyal to Onaga, who increased their majority in the June 5 local election, will also be present. The rally is expected to adopt a resolution calling for U.S. Marines to leave Okinawa and for Futenma to be closed and not relocated within the prefecture. Protesters are also expected to call for fundamental revision of SOFA, which governs U.S. military personnel, their dependents and civilian workers. Finally, they will demand apologies from Tokyo and Washington to the people of Okinawa and compensation for Shimabukuro’s family. While local LDP members and state minister of Okinawan affairs Aiko Shimajiri have called for SOFA’s revision, they cannot support a resolution that opposes relocating Futenma within the prefecture. Shimajiri represents Okinawa in the Upper House and faces a tough re-election campaign. On Tuesday, Moriyuki Teruya, the local LDP chapter’s vice-chairman, told a news conference his members cannot participate in the rally, given that its resolution cites opposition to Henoko. Komeito has also indicated it would not participate. The ruling coalition has complained about the timing of the rally, which takes place just three days before official campaigning for the Upper House election kicks off.

ldp
rally
okinawa
henoko
sofa
u.s. military


Minnesota memorial honors Hmong soldiers of 1961-1975 'secret war' in Laos

Abstract: ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA - A new memorial on the Minnesota Capitol grounds honors soldiers of the “secret war” in Laos. Hundreds gathered Saturday for the dedication of the memorial to the U.S. and Alliance Special Forces in Laos, Minnesota Public Radio News ( bit.ly/1PUzN2M ) reported. The 10-foot-tall bronze monument commemorates those who served in the Southeast Asian country, from 1961 and 1975. Laos was neutral during the Vietnam War, but the CIA recruited Hmong soldiers to carry on a covert campaign. After the U.S. pulled out of Laos and Vietnam, tens of thousands fled and lived in refugee camps in Thailand. Many refugees eventually resettled in the U.S. An estimated 66,000 Hmong live in Minnesota. Lt. Gov. Tina Smith praised the veterans at the dedication ceremony. “More than four decades ago, Hmong, Lao and Southeast Asian soldiers served during the Secret War, saved American lives and helped to advance the cause of freedom and democracy,” Smith said. “Your service embodies the ideal of sacrifice.” The memorial resembles a sprouting bamboo shoot, with its leaves bearing images of daily life, war and relocation. The ceremony featured Hmong music, a gun salute and the playing of “Taps.” Several officials including St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar spoke as well as veterans. The Americans recruited Gen. Vang Pao to encourage many in his country to fight. The general, who died in 2011, was represented by his son, Wang Chong Vang. Vang said it was a “special day for all of us to honor the Lao Hmong soldiers who served as the U.S. secret army in Laos.”

minnesota
hmong
laos
vietnam war
vang pao


Masuzoe clings to office as pressure mounts over funds scandal

Abstract: Japanese Communist Party representatives in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly announced Monday the party’s decision to submit a no-confidence motion against Tokyo Gov. Yoichi Masuzoe, which could force the embattled governor from office. Since late March, Masuzoe has faced strong criticism for inappropriate, personal use of political funds and public money. And despite promises to correct his “behavior as a politician,” some lawmakers and the public have demanded his resignation. Following are questions and answers about the controversy surrounding Masuzoe’s handling of public funds. What is Masuzoe accused of? The scandal was first exposed by Japanese weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun in late March, which revealed the governor had spent taxpayers’ money on expensive and luxurious overseas business trips. The Japanese Communist Party then revealed that Masuzoe had spent ¥213 million during eight trips to foreign capitals since becoming governor in 2014. In Tokyo’s rules on gubernatorial business trips, the governor is allowed to spend up to ¥40,200 per day on hotels, but the cost of his suites significantly exceeded that amount. It later emerged that Masuzoe had also been using public money and political funds since before assuming his post as governor to dine out and holiday with his family, as well as using his official car to travel to his vacation villa. All of the expenses were booked as work-related. Why does Masuzoe’s misuse of political funds continue to spur criticism? In May, Masuzoe asked two highly regarded lawyers, Zenzo Sasaki, who headed the committee that looked into former trade minister Yuko Obuchi’s money scandals, and Tetsuya Morimoto, to look into his use of the funds. The probe, covering the period 2009 to 2014, found that Masuzoe had inappropriately used about ¥802,000 for stays at hotels and resorts and ¥336,000 for dining with his family. They said two New Year holiday trips to a resort hotel in Kisarazu, Chiba Prefecture, where he spent ¥371,000, could not be considered work-related. The lawyers said artworks purchased by Masuzoe could serve to improve cultural exchanges with overseas guests, but the number of items, totaling 106, was too high. Two paintings, among the most expensive items, cost ¥580,420 in total. Other items, such as calligraphy utensils and silk Chinese shirts were deemed “research or work-related materials,” according to Masuzoe. The shirts alone cost ¥35,000. The lawyers accepted his explanation that he needed a new silk shirt because the old one was dirty. However, among the materials were books and comics apparently bought for family members that had nothing to do with Masuzoe’s official duties. But despite reports showing that the documentation of the governor’s expenses was insufficient and incomplete, the lawyers, who accompanied him to a June 6 news conference and were paid by Masuzoe, said there was no illegality in the way the money was handled. How has Masuzoe been countering the allegations? Masuzoe initially refused to take responsibility for handling his expenses, claiming that reservations were made by his assistants and that some “bookings may have been mistakenly made” by his former accountant. Amid the growing criticism, he admitted to diverting ¥455,000 to pay for hotel stays and restaurant dinners before assuming his current post in 2014. He said he would correct related claims and return the money. At the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly’s inaugural 2016 session on June 1, he said he would also refrain from traveling first class and staying in expensive hotel suites when on overseas business trips. Following the scandal, he said he would donate the amount of expenses deemed inappropriate to charity and give some of the artworks to museums or other facilities. He also said he would consider selling his villa. Eventually, due to growing pressure from Tokyo assembly members, he offered to halve his salary to take responsibility for the trouble caused by his actions. Will Masuzoe retain his position? According to a recent Mainichi Shimbun poll, many in the public are dissatisfied with Masuzoe’s explanation and wondered why loopholes in the Public Funds Control Law could be so easily exploited. Some 77 percent said he should resign. On Monday, Masuzoe attended one of two 6.5-hour-long General Affairs Committee sessions, which some lawmakers called his “last chance” to defend himself. According to the Liberal Democratic Party’s Hakubun Shimomura, a special adviser to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Masuzoe’s fate depends on whether he “takes the opportunity … and answers sincerely” to all questions posed to him. He said the party might support the no-confidence motion, to be submitted to the assembly Tuesday. If adopted, Masuzoe could be forced to resign. For the motion to pass, two-thirds of the assembly must be present and more than 75 percent of votes in favor are needed. If passed, the governor will be forced to dissolve his office within 10 days, which will require him to regain his position through re-election. The vote is scheduled for Wednesday.


Sugiyama appointed top bureaucrat in Foreign Ministry

Abstract: The Cabinet on Tuesday endorsed a set of key personnel changes at the Foreign Ministry, including the appointment of Shinsuke Sugiyama, deputy foreign minister in charge of political affairs, as the ministry’s top bureaucrat. The 63-year-old Sugiyama, former director-general of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, replaces Akitaka Saiki, 63, as vice foreign minister. Saiki is retiring after holding the top bureaucrat post for three years. Sugiyama is the first person to have attended a private university to assume the top bureaucrat post at the ministry, which has been dominated by graduates of the University of Tokyo and a handful of other national universities. Sugiyama passed the Foreign Ministry’s exam in 1976 while he was a student at Waseda University and joined the ministry the following April before graduation. Takeo Akiba, 57, director-general of the ministry’s Foreign Policy Bureau, succeeds Sugiyama as deputy foreign minister, while Kimihiro Ishikane, 58, director-general of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, will take Akiba’s post. All of the appointments were effective Tuesday. Kenji Kanasugi, 56, director-general of the Economic Affairs Bureau, succeeds Ishikane, while Kanji Yamanouchi, 58, minister at the Japanese Embassy in Washington, takes Kanasugi’s post. Keiichi Katakami, 62, ambassador to the European Union, was named deputy foreign minister for economic affairs, replacing Yasumasa Nagamine, 62, who moves to the Minister’s Secretariat. Nagamine is likely to become the new ambassador to South Korea, according to government sources.


Restaurants slash prices and frills as living standard in Japan drops

Abstract: According to statistician Ernst Engel (1821-96), the proportion of a person’s income that is spent on food tends to decline as that person’s income itself rises, even if the amount of money being spent on food increases. Engel’s law is usually used to illustrate the relative living standard of a country. If the portion that the average household spends on food is high, then it means the standard of living is relatively poor, since there is less discretionary income as a result. In other words, the more money you spend on food, the harder it is to get by. According to Engel’s law, Japan’s standard of living has fallen since 2012, just before the Liberal Democratic Party regained the reins of government. A Ministry of Internal Affairs survey found that the average household in which at least two people live spent 23.5 percent of its income on food. In 2015, this portion had risen to 25 percent. During that time the consumption tax was raised 3 percentage points and the value of the yen dropped against other currencies, thus making imported foods more expensive. At the same time, salaries did not keep up with the rise in food costs. Between 2012 and 2015, according to the ministry, average wages for “regular employees” rose by 1.7 percent, while the consumer price index (which does not track “fresh food”) rose by 3.9 percent. As a result, “real wages,” which factors in changes in CPI and inflation, actually decreased by 4.6 percent over this three-year period. Consequently, poorer families spent less money on food in 2015 than they did in 2012, even if a greater portion of their income went toward food. Between 2012 and 2015, the Engel Index for lower-income households in Japan, meaning those that make less than ¥3.34 million a year, increased by 1.6 percentage points. The Engel Index for higher-income households, meaning those that made more than 8.23 million, increased by 1.7 percentage points. The increase was the same, reflecting the rise in prices, but the difference in the 2015 index itself is the important factor: 28.7 percent for lower income households, and only 22.6 for higher income households. Certain costs of living, such as rent/mortgage payments and utilities, are nonadjustable. Food expenditures, however, can be reduced by cutting out certain items and looking for bargains, which tends to happen with greater frequency as income drops. In an article about household finances in the June 17 Tokyo Shimbun, a 59-year-old homemaker from Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, said she has adjusted to her family’s straitened financial situation by “not buying as much prepared food and not eating out.” A volunteer for a food bank in Kawasaki told the newspaper that the first thing families usually cut back on when they “fall into poverty” is clothing and household expenses, but the “new poor” — meaning families who are used to a middle-class lifestyle — try to keep up appearances, “so they cut back on food first.” As a researcher for Mizuho Securities told Tokyo Shimbun, people with lower incomes feel more of a burden when food prices rise, and since wages are dropping across the board, Japan’s standard of living is also dropping. What this means for the future is anybody’s guess, but one thing seems to be certain: Anyone who can sell food more cheaply is enjoying a larger pool of dedicated customers. And that goes for the restaurant business as much as it does for grocery stores — maybe even more so, given the primacy of food culture in Japan. Take Yoshinoya, the fast food chain that specializes in gyūdon —stewed beef over rice. In April, the company reintroduced butadon —stewed pork over rice — to its menu for the first time in five years. Over a two-month period, the chain sold 10 million butadon meals, boosting sales to a record ¥3.3 billion. Part of the appeal was nostalgic. Pork bowls were originally put on the menu in 2004 as a substitute for regular beef bowls, which were being discontinued due to the BSE scare in the United States, where Yoshinoya obtained almost all its beef. Once the ban on American beef was eased, Yoshinoya discontinued pork bowls in December 2011 and resumed beef bowl sales fully. However, prices in the meantime had risen due to the weaker yen and Yoshinoya was forced to increase the price of a standard ( nami ) meal from ¥280 to ¥300 in April 2014. In December it increased the price again, to ¥380. Year-on-year monthly sales decreased continually until April of this year, when the pork bowl came back. The price? ¥330 including tax, which, according to Sankei Shimbun, is considered cheap right now. But the chain that has really taken Engel’s law to heart as a business strategy is the relatively new Genkaritsu Kenkyujo, whose very name — which means “Cost Rate Research Center” — reveals its purposes. Genkaritsu sells plates of curry rice for only ¥200. The company has six stores in Niigata Prefecture and earlier this year launched a shop in the Takenozuka area of Tokyo. The place has been mobbed since it opened, despite the fact that the decor is homely (the company’s budget for a new outlet is limited to ¥500,000), there is no free water and curry rice is all you get. The company’s management says it plans to open 1,000 more stores nationwide. This being Japan, fast food does not automatically mean inferior food. Japanese consumers, even those with limited means, tend to demand good food almost as a matter of pride. McDonald’s understands this, and in order to reinvigorate its customer base recently introduced several new items specially designed for the Japanese market. Popular TV economist Takuro Morinaga, who is known as something of a gourmand, was talking about Yoshinoya’s improved fortunes on TBS radio recently and declared its butadon to be “very delicious,” so it’s not as if leaner circumstances mean bad cuisine. It just means restaurants have to be more clever about prices.


Can foreign media pressure force changes in Japan?

Abstract: Former Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara’s first-person “biography” of late Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka, “Tensai” (“Genius”) , remains atop best-seller lists. It is interesting to note that when Tanaka was alive Ishihara berated him as a crude opportunist. The years have obviously tempered his view, or perhaps Ishihara’s own political career helped him appreciate how an uneducated hick without connections could become the most powerful man in Japan. The incident that caused Tanaka’s downfall, the 1970s Lockheed bribery scandal , received greater coverage overseas than it did in Japan, and one of Ishihara’s favorite themes as a public figure has been how Japan should resist foreign pressure and assert its position as a world power. Takashi Tachibana was the journalist most instrumental in exposing Tanaka’s money politics, but it was foreign press attention that made the former prime minister’s actions impossible to ignore — even in Japan. A similar situation surrounds the rise of the right-wing lobbying group Japan Conference (Nippon Kaigi) , which has received close scrutiny by the likes of the U.K. newsweekly The Economist , Australia’s ABC News and other prominent foreign media over the past year. The Japanese press has shown less interest. In April, freelance journalist Osamu Aoki talked about “grass roots conservative movements” on TBS radio , and mentioned the overseas fascination with Nippon Kaigi, which counts among its 38,000 members Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, half his Cabinet and a good portion of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Local reporters tend to think of Japan Conference as a cult, and thus some have characterized the foreign opinion that Abe and his government are “under the thumb of Japan Conference,” as Aoki put it, as being akin to conspiracy theory. Nevertheless, citing how the foreign press helped advance the prosecution of Tanaka, Aoki says Japan Conference could be another big story the Japanese press is missing “even though it’s right there under its nose,” and so he plans to publish a book on the organization next month. If Aoki is hoping for a scoop, he’s too late. In April, a writer named Tamotsu Sugano published “Nippon Kaigi no Kenkyu” (“Nippon Kaigi Research”) which sold 126,000 copies in less than two months. The book purports to be the most detailed study of the group ever written, but its popularity is chiefly due to Japan Conference’s reaction. The organization’s founder, Yuzo Kabashima, wrote to Sugano’s publisher, Fusosha, asking it not to print the book. Fusosha ignored the request. Weekly magazine Shukan Post then called present and past members of Japan Conference asking why they hated the book so much. Most refused to comment. One professor who belongs to another nationalist organization told the magazine that Sugano’s report is “beyond the pale,” a “pile of lies” based on anonymous sources. “I don’t want to talk about it,” he is quoted as saying. “Whatever I say will benefit the book.” That seems to be exactly what happened. Interviewed on the web news channel DemocraTV , Sugano admitted that he is ideologically right-of-center and did not write his book “to be critical” of Japan Conference. He just noticed that the mainstream press was not covering the group. The book is based mainly on a series of articles he wrote for the Japanese Harvard Business Review, which attracted no attention from Japan Conference when they were originally posted online. “Japan Conference members are old men and women who don’t use the internet,” he said. When the book was slated for print publication, Japan Conference finally took notice, but it thought Fusosha was a right-leaning imprint and could thus be easily persuaded. Sugano says Fusosha publishes anything “that can make money for them.” Their biggest-selling book in the same format is a study slamming the nuclear power industry, hardly a conservative position. Sugano chronicles the group’s origins in the early ’70s. Several founding members belonged to the student wing of the religious group Seicho no Ie at the time, and its main purpose was to counterbalance the leftist student movement. After graduation, this group established its own right-wing organization, Nihon Seinen Kyogikai, which eventually merged with another like-minded group in 1977. This organization morphed into Nippon Kaigi in 1997. Japan Conference’s formidable organizational skills have influenced government policy, especially with regard to the legality of the national anthem and flag, the definition of the “Japanese family,” the direction of education and the Constitution, which they want to change. But Japan Conference is not “conservative” in Sugano’s eyes. Its interests are purely reactionary in that they were formulated in response to left-wing interests. So he interrogates its motives. Six lofty goals are listed on Japan Conference’s website. The first is to uphold Japan’s “beautiful traditions,” which he interprets as reestablishing a strict social hierarchy under the Emperor. Japan Conference says it wants to create an education system that “fosters a Japanese sensibility,” which Sugano says means getting rid of the teachers union, Nikkyoso, the Japanese right’s bete noire. Japan Conference aspires to contribute to world peace, which means elevating the Self-Defense Forces to the position of a national military and, according to Sugano, “bullying peace-loving liberals.” The author believes none of these ideas merit deep thought. Except for the Self-Defense Forces’ change, most citizens would probably find them regressive. In fact, that’s the reason Seicho no Ie, which now boasts 520,000 followers, has come out against the LDP in next month’s election. Because of Sugano’s book, the religious group felt compelled to explain that it rejected politics in the ’80s, and told Shukan Post that it doesn’t support the present administration or Japan Conference, which is “stuck in the past.” Sugano doesn’t think Japan Conference is as powerful as foreign media make them out to be, and he may be underestimating them. This lobbying group’s effectiveness lies in its ability to remain cloaked in anodyne sentiments. Sugano’s book reveals it still longs for a Japan that didn’t lose World War II — a country that doesn’t exist.

nippon kaigi
shinzo abe
japanese constitution
constitutional revision


Working harder to end death by overwork

Abstract: “When you’re in the office 20 hours a day, you don’t understand what life you’re living for anymore. (It’s so pathetic) you come to laugh.” — Twitter post by Matsuri Takahashi, as reported in the Mainichi Shimbun A week after the above message, Matsuri Takahashi, a 24-year-old first-year worker at Japan’s largest advertising firm, Dentsu, committed suicide on Dec. 25, 2015, by jumping from a corporate dormitory. Takahashi’s mother, suspecting that labor conditions played a role in her daughter’s suicide, lodged a formal complaint with a labor standards inspection office in Tokyo’s Minato Ward. In October, the office recognized that the suicide was related to death by overwork ( karōshi ). The office recognized that Takahashi had worked more than 100 hours of overtime in the month before her death. Takahashi’s suicide recalled a similar incident at Dentsu in 1991, when a 24-year-old employee killed himself, with his suicide also recognized as having resulted from overwork. Dentsu fought the initial ruling until ultimately losing a Supreme Court battle in 2000. The advertising giant vowed that such circumstances would never happen again, promising that it “takes the life and death of its employees seriously.” Dentsu repeated the same assurances after inspectors raided three of its offices last month. In addition, labor standards inspectors earlier this year ruled the 2013 death of a 30-year-old male Dentsu employee from illness as a result of overwork. In the past month, labor standards inspection offices ruled that two other deaths in Japan were also the result of overwork. One was an intern from the Philippines who died of a heart attack in 2014 after close to 120 hours of overtime in a month. The other was a Kansai Electric Co. employee who had spent more than 100 hours of overtime in a month preparing for an inspection of the firm’s nuclear facilities. The government published its first white paper on death from overwork this year, noting that labor accident insurance was paid out in 96 cases where workers died of heart or brain failure, and in 93 cases of suicide or attempted suicide caused by mental health issues in fiscal 2015. While compensation payments in cases where death was caused by heart or brain failure have declined slightly since 2002, payments related to deaths caused by mental health issues have increased. People naturally ask, “If working conditions are that bad, why don’t people just quit instead of killing themselves?” If, like myself, you have ever worked a 120-hour week for a Japanese company, you can perhaps understand their frame of mind. “An abusive boss can exacerbate the problem, but suicide from overwork usually happens when the victim is suffering from extreme sleep deprivation,” says Ichiyo Matsuzaki, an expert on workplace stress at Tsukuba University. “Cerebral fatigue occurs, causing the capacity for decision-making to diminish, and a small incident can lead them to believe that they have no other choice but to die. They aren’t able to see any other option because they can’t.” It’s worth noting that death from overwork isn’t the actual root of the problem; it’s simply an extreme symptom of a society where corporations known as burakku kigyō (so-called black, or dark, enterprises) are operating with relative impunity. The Japan Trade Federation Union suggests that 1 in 4 workers may be employed at such companies. Fatigue isn’t the only reason exhausted workers don’t quit, says Haruki Konno, author of “Dark Corporation,” a seminal book on corporate malfeasance in Japan. “In Japanese society, new graduates must work at least three years in their first company to qualify as having enough of a ‘career’ to change jobs,” he says. “So if you quit sooner than that, you are ‘damaged goods’ on the job market.” Konno highlights another problem. “There are no predetermined agreements on workload,” he says, “so it is impossible for employees to defy orders that come their way.” Konno suggests three simple measures that could be introduced to help fix the problem. “Place a cap on labor hours, enforce penalties when violations occur and increase the number of labor standard inspectors to execute this,” he says. “What’s more, penalize companies for failing to produce work records or for submitting fake data.” They are all excellent suggestions. However, here’s another: punish companies that work their employees to death. Why aren’t people getting married or having children? I’d suggest that it’s because young people are working all the time — unfortunately, that appears to be life for many in Japan. In a tweet posted in November last year, Takahashi herself expresses this sentiment: “Are we working to live or living to work? That’s life.” By now, we should know better. It’s important for Japan to adopt a work-life balance that isn’t tilted toward a tragic end.

overwork
matsuri takahashi
dentsu
black companies


How Japanese media have failed endangered species

Abstract: In October, a new documentary produced by Leonardo DiCaprio premiered on Netflix. “ The Ivory Game ” is a dramatic study of the illegal trade in elephant tusks that includes conservationists battling poachers, investigative journalists following the money trail and black market merchants in China. Experts say if the killing of African elephants continues apace, the species will be gone in a decade or so. What’s particularly discouraging is that, despite an intense and very expensive campaign by local authorities in various countries to stop poaching, the demand for ivory is such that policing becomes increasingly difficult because of the huge amount of money involved. The more poaching is suppressed, the more expensive the ivory becomes and thus worth the danger involved in obtaining it. A thousand African law enforcement personnel have been killed in the struggle. The only solution, as one conservationist points out while watching tons of confiscated ivory burn, is to inhibit demand by making the international trade of ivory completely illegal. The end of the documentary shows that this goal seems to be in sight, with China agreeing last summer to eventually phase out its legal ivory trade , which has helped make black market ivory trade possible. And while Chinese authorities did not announce a timetable, the fact that they acknowledge the environmental stakes means something. Ivory’s commercial standing is based on its value as a decorative material, which means only well-off people buy the artwork made from it. While it is possible that Chinese officials are involved somehow in the ivory trade, China has no national interest in sustaining the trade and, with the rise of Donald Trump, who has repeatedly stated his opposition to almost anything having to do with conservation, China has been given an opportunity to take the world lead in such matters. What’s conspicuously absent from “The Ivory Game” is Japan’s role in the issue. With China nominally withdrawing from the game, Japan remains one of the few countries in the world where ivory is traded legally. On a recent installment of TBS radio’s talk show “ Session 22 ,” about the recent Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) meeting in South Africa, a listener asked why Japan doesn’t completely close its ivory market. Reporter Tetsuji Ida , who has written extensively on the matter, answered plainly, “Because there is a market.” This market is worth about ¥2 billion a year, consisting mostly of ivory hanko (personal seals) and decorative items sold to Chinese tourists. The Japanese government says it’s OK to import ivory as long as it comes “through legal channels,” meaning from those few countries — South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe — that still export it. Supposedly, this ivory is taken from elephants that have died naturally and from stocks that existed before an international trade ban was enacted. Japan imported a large amount of ivory before it signed on to CITES in 1980, knowing it would become more difficult afterward, and since then it has worked to make ivory imports from South Africa “exceptions” to the limitations imposed by CITES. As “The Ivory Game” shows, using hidden cameras and the like, illegal trade in ivory is rampant in China and Vietnam, so it’s not a stretch to imagine that some of this makes its way to Japan . The government, however, insists there is no evidence that poached ivory is entering the country, but Ida says this assertion is based only on customs inspections. The government doesn’t address the possibility that smuggling could be taking place, which would be easy to determine: Just compare the amount of ivory sold to the amount being imported. “But they don’t do that,” Ida says. So while international trade in ivory is banned, domestic trade isn’t, and many members of CITES are seeking such a ban. Japan opposes this and other actions. It invariably registers “reservations” whenever a species of sea animal is subjected to greater controls, even if the one at issue has no commercial value in Japan. One example is sea horses, which Japan doesn’t import at all. When the species’ status was increased to “endangered,” Japan put in a reservation. Japan, as a matter of course — but not as a matter of record — rejects any limitations on the commercial exploitation of sea animals, since any movement in that direction is seen as a potential threat to its seafood industry. China finally bowed to pressure and has banned the trade in shark products for shark fin soup, a popular delicacy. Japan has not, seemingly because it has a lot of Chinese restaurants. More central to the issue is Japan’s position on eel, which was a major topic when CITES members met this year. Many signatory EU countries want to change the status of eel to Appendix II, which indicates the species will soon be endangered if nothing is done. Under Appendix II, certification is required to import the listed species. Japan is against changing this status, and the decision has been postponed to the next meeting. Something similar happened with bluefin tuna at the CITES members’ meeting held in 2010 . Ida says that the Japanese public knows nothing about these discussions because the media only reports them as matters that concern related industries and bureaucrats. The press reports the impact on markets but not the impact on species. Thus there is no connection made between the sale of hanko and the extinction of the African elephant. The only time such issues come up in relation to Japan is when someone tries to bring in endangered wild animals for pet stores or zoos, activities prohibited by CITES. As a treaty signed by countries with conflicting agendas, CITES itself is limited in its effectiveness. Activists take up the slack, with some calling for the boycott of online retailers such as Japan’s Rakuten , which sells ivory hanko, not to mention shark fin soup. The Japanese media doesn’t report on that, either.

endangered species
ivory
poaching
cites
wildlife


Steamer missing; Japan declares war on U.S., British Empire; woman wins court case for equality of sexes; anger grows over bullet train noise

Abstract: 100 YEARS AGO Wednesday, Dec. 13, 1916 Steamer goes missing en route to Calcutta It is feared that the steamer Kaiho Maru, which left Kobe on Nov. 3 for Calcutta with a cargo of 3,500 tons consisting mainly of matches and cotton goods, has met with disaster, as while she was expected to reach Calcutta on Nov. 29, no news has been heard of her. The fear is expressed in some quarters that she might have been sunk by a German submarine, but it is improbable that enemy submarines are in Indian or Oriental waters, and the Nippon Yusen Kaisha officials are led to believe that she met with disaster due to other causes. 75 YEARS AGO Tuesday, Dec. 8, 1941 Japan declares war on U.S., British Empire We hereby declare War on the United States of America and the British Empire. The men and officers of Our Army and Navy shall do their utmost in prosecuting the war. Our public servants of various departments shall perform faithfully and diligently their respective duties; the entire nation with a united will shall mobilize their total strength so that nothing will miscarry in the attainment of Our war aims. To ensure the stability of East Asia and to contribute to world peace is the far-sighted policy which was formulated by Our Great Illustrious Imperial Grandsire [Emperor Meiji] and Our Great Imperial Sire succeeding Him [Emperor Taisho], and which We lay constantly to heart. To cultivate friendship among nations and to enjoy prosperity in common with all nations, has always been the guiding principle of Our Empire’s foreign policy. It has been truly unavoidable and far from Our wishes that Our Empire has been brought to cross swords with America and Britain. More than four years have passed since China, failing to comprehend the true intentions of Our Empire, and recklessly courting trouble, disturbed the peace of East Asia and compelled Our Empire to take up arms. Although there has been reestablished the National Government of China, with which Japan had effected neighborly intercourse and cooperation, the regime which has survived in Chungking, relying upon American and British protection, still continues its fratricidal opposition. Eager for the realization of their inordinate ambition to dominate the Orient, both America and Britain, giving support to the Chungking regime, have aggravated the disturbances in East Asia. Moreover these two Powers, inducing other countries to follow suit, increased military preparations on all sides of Our Empire to challenge Us. They have obstructed by every means Our peaceful commerce and finally resorted to a direct severance of economic relations, menacing gravely the existence of Our Empire. Patiently have We waited and long have We endured, in the hope that Our government might retrieve the situation in peace. But Our adversaries, showing not the least spirit of conciliation, have unduly delayed a settlement; and in the meantime they have intensified the economic and political pressure to compel thereby Our Empire to submission. This trend of affairs, would, if left unchecked, not only nullify Our Empire’s efforts of many years for the sake of the stabilization of East Asia, but also endanger the very existence of Our nation. The situation being such as it is, Our Empire, for its existence and self-defense has no other recourse but to appeal to arms and to crush every obstacle in its path. The hallowed spirits of Our Imperial Ancestors guarding Us from above, We rely upon the loyalty and courage of Our subjects in Our confident expectation that the task bequeathed by Our forefathers will be carried forward and that the sources of evil will be speedily eradicated and an enduring peace immutably established in East Asia, preserving thereby the glory of Our Empire. This declaration was released by the Board of Information on Dec. 8, 1941. 50 YEARS AGO Wednesday, Dec. 21, 1966 Woman wins court case for equality of sexes A 26-year-old woman Tuesday won a two-year-nine-month legal battle at the Tokyo District Court against Sumitomo Cement Co. of Tokyo to annul as unconstitutional her mandatory dismissal by the company in 1963 under its internal regulations that all its female workers must quit if they get married. This was the first time in Japan that a law court verdict invalidated such a business rule as incompatible with the Japanese constitutional guarantee of equality of sexes. The company was ordered to pay Setsuko Suzuki of Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, ¥732,000 in unpaid wages since her dismissal and also to start paying her ¥22,875 in monthly wages by reinstating her to her former job as an office clerk at one of the company’s factories. 25 YEARS AGO Tuesday, Dec. 17, 1991 Nagoya citizens angry over bullet train noise Last night, Yusuke Nakano, 61, couldn’t sleep until after 11:44, when the last shinkansen train passed his house. This morning, the first bullet train woke him at 6:23. Nakano has been losing sleep since 1964, when the shinkansen line was built by his house. He lives 18 meters from the elevated line, 6 km east of Nagoya Station. At peak times, the trains pass every two minutes, traveling at maximum speeds of 220 kph. Passing trains cause noise levels inside Nakano’s house to reach 78 phons. At 65 decibels, the house begins to shake. A noise level of 78 phons is equivalent to being inside a subway train at its noisiest. In 1974, Nagoya-based Shinkansen Pollution Justice Group sued Japan Railways for compensation from noise pollution and vibration caused by the bullet trains. In 1986, the group won their case against JR and was awarded ¥480 million. During the last 10 years of the trial, JR spent an estimated ¥10 million to sound-proof 7 km of shinkansen track in Nagoya. The carrier was forced to do this by a 1976 government directive that set bullet train noise levels at 70 phons for urban areas and 74 phons for rural areas. “We are only asking one thing of JR — that it abides by the government directive,” Nakano says. “As soon as they do that, there will be no reason for our group to exist.”

bullet trains
shinkansen
transport
pearl harbor
sexism


Abe administration presents draft guideline for 'equal pay for equal work'

Abstract: The government has unveiled a draft guideline for a system of “equal pay for equal work” regardless of employment status. The draft, presented Tuesday at a government meeting for promoting employment reforms, stipulates that companies should provide equal payment to nonregular employees who engage in work equal to that of regular employees. It also says bonuses and commuting allowances should be given to nonregular workers. This is the first draft guideline formulated by the Abe administration on treatment of regular and nonregular workers in terms of wages and allowances. The government plans to continue discussing revising laws based on the draft guideline. The term nonregular is generally applied to part-time, contract or any other worker not employed as a regular employee. The inferior employment conditions provided to nonregular employees has grown in political and economic importance as the percentage of such people in the workforce has soared in recent years. But it remains unclear to what extent the disparity is going to be corrected as the draft guideline admits wage differences based on worker backgrounds. The draft says wages can differ depending on workers’ experience and performance outcomes, but employee benefits, in addition to commuting, late-night and holiday allowances, should be equal regardless of the job and performance. As for base pay, nonregular workers should receive the same amount if job experience, achievement and lengths of employment are the same, the draft says. With regard to dispatched workers, their treatment should be equal with that of employees at companies to which they are dispatched, it says.

equal pay for equal work
employment
workforce


Native Americans hail, Republicans rail at Obama's monument picks in Utah, Nevada

Abstract: SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH - President Barack Obama designated two national monuments Wednesday at sites in Utah and Nevada that have become key flashpoints over use of public land in the U.S. West, marking the administration’s latest move to protect environmentally sensitive areas in its final days. The Bears Ears National Monument in Utah will cover 1.35 million acres in the Four Corners region, the White House said. In a victory for Native American tribes and conservationists, the designation protects land that is considered sacred and is home to an estimated 100,000 archaeological sites, including ancient cliff dwellings. It’s a blow for state Republican leaders and many rural residents who fear it will add another layer of unnecessary federal control and close the area to energy development and recreation, a common refrain in the battle over use of the American West’s vast open spaces. In Nevada, a 300,000-acre Gold Butte National Monument outside Las Vegas would protect a scenic and ecologically fragile area near where rancher Cliven Bundy led an armed standoff with government agents in 2014. It includes rock art, artifacts, rare fossils and recently discovered dinosaur tracks. The White House and conservationists said both sites were at risk of looting and vandalism. “Today’s actions will help protect this cultural legacy and will ensure that future generations are able to enjoy and appreciate these scenic and historic landscapes,” Obama said in a statement. His administration has rushed to safeguard vulnerable areas ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. It has blocked new mining claims outside Yellowstone National Park and new oil drilling in the Arctic Ocean. Obama’s creation and expansion of monuments covers more acreage than any other president. But Trump’s upcoming presidency has tempered the excitement of tribal leaders and conservationists, with some worrying he could try to reverse or reduce some of Obama’s expansive land protections. Utah’s Republican senators vowed to work toward just that. “This arrogant act by a lame duck president will not stand,” U.S. Sen. Mike Lee tweeted about Bears Ears. Sen. Orrin Hatch said Obama showed “an astonishing and egregious abuse of executive power” and that “far-left special interest groups matter more to him than the people who have lived on and cared for Utah’s lands for generations.” Christy Goldfuss, managing director of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said the Antiquities Act that allows a president to create monuments does not give a president authority to undo a designation, a rule the courts have upheld. She acknowledged that Congress could take action, though. Opponents agree the area is a natural treasure worth preserving but worried that the designation would create restrictions on oil and gas development as well residents’ ability to camp, bike, hike and gather wood. New mining or energy development will be banned, but existing operations won’t be affected, federal officials said. Wood and plant gathering is still allowed as well as hunting, fishing and other recreation, they said. Members of Utah’s all-GOP congressional delegation had backed a plan to protect about 1.4 million acres at Bears Ears, while opening up other areas of the state for development. The boundaries of the monument are roughly based on that plan and significantly smaller than what a coalition of tribes had sought. But Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye called it an exciting day for his tribe and people of all cultures. “We have always looked to Bears Ears as a place of refuge, as a place where we can gather herbs and medicinal plants, and a place of prayer and sacredness,” Begaye said. “The rocks, the winds, the land — they are living, breathing things that deserve timely and lasting protection.” The Navajo Nation is one of five tribes that will get an elected official on a first-of-its-kind tribal commission for the Bears Ears monument. The panel will provide federal land managers with tribal expertise and historical knowledge about the area, federal officials said. Tucked between existing national parks and the Navajo reservation, the proposed monument features stunning vistas at every turn, with a mix of cliffs, plateaus, towering rock formations, rivers and canyons across wide expanses covered by sagebrush and juniper trees. In Nevada, retiring Democratic U.S. Sen. Harry Reid pushed for protections at Gold Butte, a remote area northeast of Lake Mead, but GOP members of the state’s congressional delegation have been vocal opponents. The “designation is a wonderful capstone to a career of fighting to protect Nevada’s pristine landscapes,” Reid said in a statement. Republican Nevada Sen. Dean Heller expressed disappointment, saying land designations should be done by Congress and not by presidential decree.

native americans
republicans
utah
nevada
barack obama
donald trump
u.s. monuments


Canadian man punches cougar attacking a dog near fast food chain

Abstract: CALGARY, ALBERTA - A Canadian man punched a cougar in the face to stop it from attacking his dog in a wooded area near a fast food chain in Whitecourt, central Alberta, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said on Wednesday. William Gibb, 31, from Red Deer, Alberta, had stopped at a Tim Hortons outlet, a popular Canadian restaurant chain on his 600-kilometer (372-mile) drive to Grand Prairie on the evening of Dec. 26 and let his dog out for a walk, Whitecourt RCMP Sergeant Tom Kalis said. Shortly after Gibb heard the 80-pound (36-kg) female Husky whimpering in pain and found a cougar pinning it to the ground. “He punched the cougar, yelled at it and got it to release the dog. Then he called the police,” Kalis said. “He was quite lucky.” Gibb kept the cougar at bay and tended to his injured dog until police arrived and killed the cougar. The dog need medical attention but Gibb was not seriously injured, RCMP said. Kalis said cougar sightings were not uncommon around Whitecourt because the town is surrounded by forests, but it is unusual for cougars to attack dogs or other animals.


Shiga man faces attempted murder charge for shoving woman on crowded Kobe train platform

Abstract: KOBE - A 53-year-old man was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of trying to kill a woman by pushing against her on a crowded train platform at JR Sannomiya Station in Kobe, causing her to lose her balance and brush against a train, police said. The police said Koichi Kubo, an unemployed man from Higashiomi, Shiga Prefecture, pushed Kaoru Akagawa, 43, at around 6:25 p.m. during rush hour after their shoulders touched each other. Akagawa stumbled and brushed against an arriving train, slightly injuring her right palm, they said. Kubo denied trying to kill the woman, claiming he does not remember what happened, according to the police. Akagawa, an artist who lives in Germany, was temporarily back in Japan with her 45-year-old husband, who reported the incident to the police. A station employee said he was shocked that such an incident occurred, because staff had been on alert after a 63-year-old woman was pushed off a train platform in Osaka on Dec. 11. A 23-year-old woman from Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, who was on her way to a relative’s house in Kobe, asked why there are no safety barriers on the platform of a major station like Sannomiya.


Scientific discoveries inspire amid a turbulent 2016

Abstract: A number of the notable science stories of the past year are, quite literally, out of this world. For me, the story of the year has to be the August discovery of an Earth-like planet orbiting the closest star to our own. The star, Proxima Centauri, is just 4.2 light-years from Earth. The planet circling that star has been named Proxima Centauri b. Proxima Centauri b was discovered by astronomers working on a project called Pale Red Dot, who reported that the planet lies in the star’s habitable zone, meaning that it could possess water and, maybe, life. It’s very exciting but it will be a while before we can confirm any of this. The planet can’t be directly observed with current telescope technology and, indeed, it was only first discovered by inference through the gravitational wobble a planet generates on a star. In November, by the way, astronomers confirmed another peculiar fact about Proxima Centauri. It is located near two other stars, Alpha Centauri A and B, and for a century scientists have wondered whether the stars orbit around each other. The relationship of these three stars was in fact the inspiration for the most extraordinary novel I read this year. “Death’s End,” the final installment of Chinese science-fiction writer Cixin Liu’s “Remembrance of Earth’s Past” trilogy, was published in English this year and it completely blew my mind. Liu knows a lot about cutting-edge science, and the relationship between the Alpha Centauri stars provided him with the name for the first book in the series: “The Three-Body Problem.” All three installments, though, are highly recommended. Fake news has been in the headlines this year but scientists at the National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities in Tokorozawa took this a step further in October with mice. Backing up a little, you might have heard of the “rubber hand illusion.” To produce the illusion, a subject sits next to a rubber hand with their own hand hidden. A scientist then strokes the subject’s hand and the rubber hand at the same time, and the subject’s brain is tricked into thinking the rubber hand is actually their own hand. Kenji Kansaku and his team found that mice can be tricked in the same way, except the researchers used a rubber tail instead of a rubber hand in their tests. Kansaku hopes the discovery might help develop new kinds of prosthetic limbs. In February, meanwhile, scientists confirmed the existence of gravitational waves, or ripples in the fabric of space and time that are created when massive objects move. Sceintists have suspected that gravitational waves exist ever since Albert Einstein formulated his theory of relativity, but this is the first time they have been directly detected. The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory detected the waves with sensors that can measure the expansion of space and time over the distance of a thousandth of the size of a proton. Let’s not also forget that it was a fantastic year for Yoshinori Ohsumi at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. Ohsumi won the 2016 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for his discovery of how autophagy works. This is a fundamental cellular process that allows cells to degrade, recycle and repair themselves. In June, forensic scientists discovered that some genes switch on only after we die, including genes that are involved in cardiac muscle and healing as well as genes linked to cancer. Scientists suspect the genes are activated as part of a last-gasp attempt to survive, despite the fact that the body has already mostly died. It’s sometimes hard to say when death occurs. There is brain death, for example, but this can happen when the body is still technically alive. However, I think it’s extraordinary that there is such a blurring of the lines between life and death. Staying with something almost otherworldly, I was amazed by reports in March from biologists in the Republic of Guinea that they had found evidence for what seemed to be a shrine in the forest — built and used by chimpanzees. Camera traps set up near trees marked with strange scratches revealed that chimps were laying stones in the hollow of certain trees. What’s more, the cameras showed that the chimps would strike the trees with rocks. Biologists suggested that such behavior demonstrated a ritualistic side of chimpanzees, something that could even point to the origins of human religious belief. And there we have it. While 2016 may have been blighted by some miserable news in the fields of politics, economics and entertainment, scientific discoveries have continued to inspire.

religion
genetics
astronomy
gravity
best of 2016


Undercover journalist infiltrates Uniqlo

Abstract: In her Dec. 14 Tokyo Shimbun column, media critic Minako Saito mentioned how the press is excited about the buzzword of the year and the kanji of the year. They are much less interested in another annual prize, the Black Company Award for the firm that most egregiously exploits workers. The nominations were announced and Saito says the media, “especially TV,” mostly ignored them, since many of the companies mentioned are advertisers. Consequently, those who have won the dubious honor in the past, like Tokyo Electric and 7-Eleven Japan, have never felt pressured to improve labor conditions. One company that was not nominated this year is Fast Retailing Co., which operates the huge low-price apparel maker Uniqlo, even though it has had a reputation as a black company ever since it sued publisher Bungeishunju in 2011 over a book that claimed Uniqlo forced employees to work long hours for low pay. The book, “ Light and Shadow of the Uniqlo Empire ,” written by Masuo Yokota, was an extension of articles he did for Shukan Bunshun, a magazine also published by Bungeishunju. The plaintiff insisted that Yokota’s investigation of Uniqlo’s labor practices was faulty and incomplete. The suit was dismissed in October 2013 by the Tokyo District Court, and the following year the Supreme Court rejected a second appeal, agreeing with the lower court that “core parts of the book (were) true,” according to a Jiji Press report . The suit was standard spin control for a powerful company such as Uniqlo. In March 2015, Uniqlo’s imperious founder and chairman, Tadashi Yanai, was interviewed for the business magazine President . At one point the interviewer asked him to comment on the opinion that Uniqlo might be a black company. “People who talk behind my back about such things have never met me,” Yanai answered. “They should actually experience working in our company.” Yokota read the interview and decided to do just that, as he explains in the Dec. 8 issue of Shukan Bunshun . In the past, Yokota has “gone undercover” at companies such as Yamato Delivery and Amazon so that he could write about what it was like to work there. He says he stands by his 2011 Uniqlo book, but acknowledges he devoted a small portion to the company’s labor sins — the bulk is about how Uniqlo became such a powerful company. That portion was the only part Yanai had objected to. Yokota felt he needed to know more, and the only way would be, as Yanai suggested in his 2015 interview, if he worked there himself. In the same Bunshun article, Yokota describes how in the fall of 2015 he assumed a new name and went to a Uniqlo outlet in Chiba to apply for a part-time job. At most outlets, the part-time staff is made up of college students, whereas regular employees are in their 20s and 30s. Yokota is in his 50s, so he knew he would stand out and prepared himself for questions about why he wanted to work retail at his age. It wasn’t a problem. Uniqlo is always desperate for help, and they hired Yokota the same day they interviewed him. He immediately started working in the back room, unpacking boxes. He was at Uniqlo for about 13 months, transferring outlets several times within the Tokyo area and paying close attention to the daily newsletters that outlined “directives from the top.” As a result of his earlier book and the attendant lawsuit, Uniqlo had made changes in its labor practices so as to cut down on overwork, but most of these changes seemed cosmetic — guaranteed days off for managers, strict break times. During the two busiest bargain sales — the New Year’s holiday and an anniversary “thank you festival” in November — Uniqlo typically earns half its revenues for the year, and because last year’s “thank you festival” was considered a failure, management extended the sale from four to seven days in order to reach their targets more readily. Head office employees were dispatched to stores to pitch in. Regular and semi-regular employees worked from 9 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. all seven days. “It was like a war zone,” Yokota says in the Bunshun article. He often observed instances of regular employees signing off for the day and then continuing to work for free, since the new rules strictly limited official overtime. These illegal actions were a makeshift response to changing realities on the sales floor. Yanai is overly fond of mid-term plans and sales targets, which are always altered capriciously, and in order to catch up with them employees and the personnel department have to improvise. During peak sales periods Uniqlo would hire temporary workers, who are expensive since the employer is paying a margin to the temp agency. These temps had no sales experience and were mostly worthless. It would have been better to increase the wages of part-timers. They’d likely be able to hire more and keep them, but that sort of logic doesn’t appeal to Yanai, who seems obsessed with short-term results. Even during the 2009 recession, Uniqlo’s profit rate for domestic sales was 20 percent. The average profit rate for a Tokyo listed company was 2 percent. Yanai can’t quite achieve that rate any more, so he is focused on cutting costs — meaning personnel costs. After the first of Yokota’s latest round of reports went public in Bunshun, Uniqlo management figured out who Yokota was and fired him. In the next article in the series that appeared in the Dec. 15 issue, he describes his dismissal, with the reporter asking the personnel chief what company rule he had broken. The official said the “content” of the article wasn’t the point, its very existence was. Yokota took up the gauntlet that Yanai threw down in the President interview, something journalists should do in other industries, including the media, which is notorious for overworking its charges. On Dec. 6, the Labor Standards Bureau warned Asahi Shimbun about falsifying hours for two employees, one a reporter, even while the newspaper was running a series on the changing face of work in Japan. Physician, heal thyself. Correction : This story was modified on Dec. 22, 2016, to reflect the correct spelling of Masuo Yokota.


Kansai towns gear up for the 'Pork Barrel-ympics'

Abstract: Aware that voters outside of the capital may lack the degree of anticipation for the 2020 Olympics that can be felt among Tokyo politicians and corporations who will directly profit from the games, and sensitive to rumors that taxpayers elsewhere will get stuck with a post-Olympics tax bill, the government has realized it needs to make the event more popular nationwide. As of this month, nearly 200 cities, towns and villages across Japan have registered to become so-called host towns. Cities such as Osaka, Nara and Kobe, as well as towns like Kyotanba, Kyoto Prefecture, have registered to serve as Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic host towns. Elaborate plans have been filed with the Cabinet Office (which is overseeing the initiative) to have athletes from Denmark, New Zealand, South Korea, Australia, Switzerland and Turkey, among others, pay a visit — even if it is a brief one — to places outside the capital. Of course, there is the obligatory mention in the proposals about promoting international friendship with Olympic athletes, learning about different cultures, teaching visitors local customs and showing the world that, yes indeed, Japan is not just Tokyo. Or Kyoto. Or any of the other well-trodden media stereotypes that we usually encounter. That is fine and dandy. But localities nursing their own dreams of an Olympics at some point were likely more interested in the part of the plan promising central government money for local Olympics-related events. The dash for Tokyo Olympic cash means Liberal Democratic Party-friendly boys and girls will get assistance for everything from printing up environmentally unfriendly glossy paper flyers advertising an Olympic-related event to upgrading their town’s sports facilities in order to hold friendly matches and training sessions with visiting athletes. Let the Pork Barrel-ympics begin! Nobody expects a village or town to bid for the games. But Osaka, badly beaten by Beijing for the 2008 Olympics, has never quite given up on its dream to host the event. That Sapporo has expressed an interest in the 2026 Winter Olympics (it hosted the 1972 Games), and the fact the next three Olympics are being held in South Korea, Japan and China, has some in Kansai worried whether the International Olympic Committee would award an Olympics yet again to an East Asian city — especially if Sapporo is successful in its bid. That hasn’t stopped the flow of rhetoric about how Osaka and the Kansai region are well-suited to hosting not only a few athletes and coaches prior the Tokyo Olympics, but also the games themselves. All that is needed is a bit of central government cash. Not just for Osaka, of course, but for nearby cities and towns. Sure, they might be mere host towns in 2020. If they play their cards right with the LDP and Osaka’s political leadership, however, they could be tapped to host a couple of lesser known, not-made-for-TV events in any future Osaka Olympic bid strategy. Which of course means more tax money for their local infrastructure. Osaka is already bidding to host the 2025 World Expo despite a noticeable lack of public enthusiasm and reports that Paris, which also wants the Expo, enjoys strong support. For 2020, Osaka has registered to host Australian athletes prior to the games, while the city of Izumisano, near Kansai International Airport, wants to host athletes from Uganda, with which locally based organic cotton towel manufacturers have a relationship. It remains uncertain as to whether such efforts to play the gracious host in 2020 will pay off down the road in the form of a formal Olympic bid that comes with the political support of the capital. In the meantime, becoming a host town means extra cash for pet construction projects and more money for LDP-supported politicians and businesses. Oh, and of course some worthwhile international cultural exchange … we hope.


Could easier adoptions stem child abuse in Japan?

Abstract: The national news has recently reported a number of stories about young children dying at the hands of their parents or guardians , either from neglect or direct physical violence. It’s hard to say if these tragedies constitute a trend since detailed child abuse statistics weren’t really available until 2005, when the welfare ministry starting compiling them in earnest. On Sept. 17, the Asahi Shimbun ran an article reporting that 71 children died of abuse nationwide in 2014, including those who died in so-called family suicides. When murder-suicides are not counted, more than 60 percent of children killed by parents are less than 1 year old. In 2014, 15 died within 24 hours of being born. Asahi’s research found that 90 percent of children who die of abuse are younger than 3 years old, and in 28 of the 39 cases it studied in 2014, the perpetrator was the biological mother. In 24 cases the reason given for the crime was that the child was the result of an unexpected pregnancy. Eighteen of these women said they did not seek medical care and many gave birth alone. Thirteen were not living with the father of the child and five didn’t know who the father was. In his book “Kichiku no Ie” (“ House of Brutality “), Kota Ishii explains that the Japan Pediatric Society assumes that official statistics about infant and toddler killings are the tip of the iceberg. The real number of child killings is probably three to five times higher, because doctors who evaluate the deaths of very young children in emergency situations are reluctant to accuse parents of abuse, even if they suspect as much. An expert on child development told the Asahi that it’s incumbent on social workers and teachers to be aware of this situation, because children who are the result of unexpected pregnancies are more likely to suffer abuse. The welfare ministry is now formulating a plan to “support women who become pregnant but do not want to give birth,” part of which means dispatching social workers to “obstetricians’ offices and midwife facilities.” Some may think the welfare ministry’s plan refers to giving abortions, but in Japan the procedure is illegal . The reason they are performed so often is due to a loophole that allows women to terminate pregnancies because of financial difficulties. The irony is that national insurance doesn’t cover abortions, so women of poorer means, which describes the majority of parents who kill their children, can’t afford them and carry their babies to term — often in secret. This year, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government assembled a children’s welfare advisory panel, which has recommended that these children be placed in foster care at younger ages so that they can bond more readily with their new families. Traditionally, social welfare staff ensured children stayed with their biological parents, but this attitude is changing due to greater awareness of the prevalence of parental abuse, especially in the case of unexpected pregnancies. The central government is also trying to make adoptions easier. A different Asahi article , which ran on Dec. 3, reported that the ruling and opposition parties have agreed to pass a bill to “regulate” agents who mediate between expecting mothers who don’t want to keep their babies and couples who wish to adopt. Currently, only public adoption services are subject to government control. Nonprofit organizations that act as go-betweens in such situations only need to “inform” their local governments that they are carrying out such activities. But in September, Chiba Prefecture ordered one such agent to cease activities after they discovered he received ¥2.25 million from a couple to move their name to the top of the list of people waiting to adopt. The bill compels adoption agents to “obtain permission” from authorities so as to prevent “improper business practices,” meaning trafficking. The type of adoptions covered are those of newborns whose names can be immediately placed in a couple’s koseki (family register) upon birth, meaning the child becomes the “natural” offspring of the couple. Because of the stigma of non-blood relations inculcated by the koseki system, these types of “special adoptions,” which can be carried out until a child turns 6, vastly outnumber those involving older children, whose status in the koseki indicates they were adopted. A recent installment of NHK’s news program “ Close-up Gendai ” addressed the Chiba case and the recent pattern of child killings. In one scene, the head of an Osaka NPO is waiting with an adopting couple at a train station for the mother to arrive with her newborn. There are tears, but the handover is completed in nine minutes. This NPO, which launched two years ago, is famous for quick turnovers. Public adoption services take time. Staff ask penetrating, personal questions of both expectant mothers and adopting couples, and there are many meetings before anything is decided. In big cities, the waiting list can be 100 to 200 names long. A couple at the bottom won’t receive a baby for at least five years. Most of the Osaka NPO’s screening work is done online, and they ask the couples matched with mothers to help defray the latter’s living and medical expenses until she gives birth. The Osaka government has complained about the NPO’s claim it will provide up to ¥2 million to mothers, because it makes it sound like a business. Nevertheless, it is the monetary aspect that appeals to mothers looking to give up their babies, since they often can’t afford prenatal care. It’s not a solution that makes people comfortable. A professor of child welfare in the NHK studio watched the video of the train station transaction, and while initially encouraged by the NPO’s streamlined approach he found the informality of the exchange distressing. “Maybe it should be more complicated,” he commented. A gynecologist sitting next to him added, “Every day I see women with unexpected pregnancies choosing either abortion or raising a child on welfare. If they know they can get ¥2 million, I’m afraid they’ll be persuaded to give their baby up too easily.”