Kaparu's victory in 2018 mascot awards gives Saitama a reason to shine

Abstract: The Yuru-kyara (Promotional Mascot) Grand Prix in Japan has become one of the internet’s most anticipated events of the year. The 2018 edition lived up to expectations, and even featured a little voting drama . In the end, the city of Shiki’s Kaparu captured the crown. Reaction came in fast, most celebrating Kaparu’s triumph. The kappa -inspired character generated plenty of fan art , several comics and even a latte design . Other costumed legends offered their congratulations . And Kaparu got plenty of media shine, including on Buzzfeed Japan’s web show, where hosts talk about topics while playing with puppies . However, Kaparu’s victory carried undertones of a different kind of celebration. Shiki sits in Saitama Prefecture, and the green mascot’s triumph quickly became a win for the region at large. Many online users, hyped by the result, had Saitama listed somewhere on their profile. One of the publications celebrating the results happens to be a digital portal devoted to all things Saitama . Even Saitama Gov. Kiyoshi Ueda played down the reasons for Kaparu’s victory , saying that “people know its face.” It was a chance for Saitama netizens to — ever so briefly — walk back the narrative surrounding their home prefecture. Few places in Japan are as mocked and degraded online as Saitama. In 2018, however, folks from this derided prefecture are getting a chance to celebrate it in their own way. Saitama’s reputation came about well before the rise of the internet. TV celebrity Tamori reveled in poking fun at the prefecture in the 1980s, playing the comedy song “Naze Saitama” (“Why Saitama?”) and implying that most of the young people participating in takenoko-zoku (the ’50s-style rock-a-billy dancing that was once omnipresent in Yoyogi Park) hailed from the neighboring area. Most importantly, he coined the term “dasai-tama” (ダ埼玉, or ダさいたま), a portmanteau that pretty much sums up the prefecture’s uncoolness. The term has been used for decades and is now commonplace online. Lists have been assembled trying to figure out why this reputation persists — one theory: Saitama is not located next to the ocean — while the Wikipedia entry for the term is surprisingly thorough and includes a detour into ancient history . Even if the term isn’t referenced directly, many of the stereotypes linger. Saitama residents are believed to be far less sophisticated than their Tokyo counterparts, and only come to the city to get up to no good. See this year’s Halloween mess in Shibuya as one example, which netizens blamed on people from prefectures outside of the capital — but especially Saitama). It’s classic city vs. countryside dynamics in the same vein as the way in which New York views almost every other part of the United States. This image of Saitama has lead to conflicted views from many actually born and living in the prefecture over the years, often played out online. The biggest response is the “ Saitama pose ,” a popular gesture where you cross your arms while making an “OK” sign with your fingers. Entire music videos have been made celebrating it, soundtracked by songs riffing on the “dasai-tama” phenomenon. It has also graced the cover of magazines . Others kick back, however, or at the very least openly question the prefecture’s tarnished reputation. This year, YouTubers have made videos rallying against Saitama’s uncool image . They have also highlighted the prefecture’s attractions, or uploaded more gimmicky posts in which they try to name 100 good things about Saitama in a limited amount of time (spoiler: they made it as far as 48). Recently, the man claiming to have invented the Saitama pose released a book that focuses on why Saitama people appear to be OK with being teased. On Twitter, however, there have been plenty of chances for anybody to celebrate Saitama in their own way. Kaparu’s triumph in the grand prix gave people a chance, as did the “Saitama No Hi” (Saitama Day) hashtag . Held on Nov. 14, Saitama Day allowed users to share maps explaining what the region was all about (or even ones from early in the Showa Era ), create comics honoring non-kappa-inspired mascots and produce and show off their best Saitama photos . Or, simply enough, it gave famous folks from the area a chance to show some pride . Saitama’s overall image is probably not going to change anytime soon, but more individuals who call the prefecture home are willing to defend and honor it … or, at least, twist the dasai-tama idea around a bit. And don’t expect either side to disappear. The trailer for the live-action adaptation of “Tande Saitama” was released recently. It is based on a comic from the 1980s about how people from Saitama are persecuted by those in Tokyo. And the clip features both portrayals of Saitama as virtual badlands … and of characters doing the Saitama pose. Here’s hoping Kaparu can make a late cameo and really get the discourse going.

mascots
saitama
yuru-kyara grand prix
japan pulse


Variety show's fabrication scandal offers a glimpse into the nature of TV content

Abstract: Earlier this month, weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun ran several articles on Nippon Television Network Corp.’s Sunday night variety show, “Sekai no Hate Made Itte Q,” claiming that the program had fabricated “festivals” in foreign countries and presented them in one of its semiregular segments as real local events. Allegations of yarase (faking it) are not uncommon in Japanese television, especially when it comes to variety show programming, with its focus on reporting that tests a viewer’s capacity for incredulity. The Bunshun pieces betrayed a tone that implied an even greater level of incredulity: Did Nippon TV really think anyone would believe this stuff? When the Bunshun writer confronted Nippon TV with his suspicions , the company insisted the festivals were genuine. Later, after further scrutiny by other media outlets, Nippon TV walked back its defense and admitted that some things in the segments weren’t kosher. The matter is now being investigated by the network and the foreign festival segment has been pulled from the program for the time being. Given the implausibility quotient of variety show content, this matter shouldn’t be that big a deal, but “Itte Q” is one of the most popular TV series in Japan and, more than exposing the show’s producers as possible charlatans, the scandal reveals how overconfident Nippon TV has become in an industry that has refused to acknowledge its steady erosion of significance. According to a 2017 survey conducted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications and the University of Tokyo , people under the age of 50 spend more time online than they do watching TV. Overall, peak viewing time seems to be Sunday evenings, and the survey says the audience is split “clearly” between people who watch NHK’s historical drama at 8 p.m., and those who watch commercial TV stations. In a Nov. 17 article about the scandal, the Tokyo Shimbun said that, ratings-wise, Nippon TV owns Sunday night based on four programs: the long-running comedy show “ Shoten ” at 5:30 p.m.; “ The Tetsuwan Dash ,” starring boy band Tokio, at 7 p.m.; “ Itte Q ” at 8 p.m.; and the legal advice show “ Gyoretsu no Dekiru Horitsu Sodanjo ” at 9 p.m. Of these, “ Itte Q ,” which premiered in 2007 and whose audience share can go as high as 20 percent, is the anchor, but a source at Nippon TV told the Tokyo Shimbun that ratings have not been “stable” lately, implying that the network takes the scandal seriously. Variety shows in Japan typically follow a pattern. TV personalities comprised mostly of comedians assemble in a studio and comment on recorded segments featuring other comedians and shot on location. In the case of “Itte Q,” these comedians go to foreign countries where they “challenge” some activity that is difficult and/or dangerous. The comedian featured in the “festival” segments has always been Daisuke Miyagawa, who is dispatched wearing typical Japanese neighborhood festival regalia to attend festivals in other countries, although the show’s definition of “festival” is loose. One could credibly call the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain, an event Miyagawa once attended, a festival, but most of the events depicted are really competitions — the stranger the better: a cardboard-box boat race in Italy, a log-rolling contest in the United States, an office chair grand prix in Switzerland; essentially, anything that holds Miyagawa’s amateur game face up to ridicule. On-air personalities are the driving force behind all variety shows, as professor Noboru Saijo of Edogawa University told the Tokyo Shimbun . The primary limitation for producers is the schedules of the selected talent. For “Itte Q,” that means the program can only attend festivals when Miyagawa is available, and Saijo thinks many of the events featured can’t realistically be called “festivals.” From this interpretative stretch it’s a short leap to actual fabrication, which, according to Bunshun, is what Nippon TV did in a segment that took place in Laos. The segment, shown in May , claimed to cover a “bridge festival” centered on a stunt wherein contestants ride bicycles across a narrow plank laid over a manmade pool of muddy water. The Bunshun reporter said he was alerted to the show after it aired by friends who doubted its veracity. He then watched a recording of the segment “in shock” at how obviously fake it was. In fact, Miyagawa himself, when he sees the “bridge” layout for the first time, says that it reminds him of “Takeshi’s Castle,” an old variety show that popularized this kind of slapstick stunt. If anything, the bridge setup depicted is a variety show cliche. The Bunshun writer flew to Vientiane and found that the bridge was built by the “Itte Q” staff at the edge of a festival to promote local coffee production. The writer talked to local officials who said there was no such thing as a “bridge festival” and, in fact, bicycles were very rare in Laos. The Nippon TV crew had simply shot footage of the coffee festival to use as crowd scenes and paid a few laborers to pretend they were contest participants. Logistics was carried out by a contracted company from Thailand. In other words, Nippon TV had made up a festival that couldn’t be considered even remotely Laotian. Prior to the episode of “Itte Q” broadcast on Nov. 18, the producers aired an apology and explained that their use of the word “festival” didn’t necessarily align with the meaning that Japanese people are familiar with. It was used to cover a wider range of activities. Since no one will mistake anything on “Itte Q” for journalism, viewers may not care whether the apology is sincere. They tune in to laugh. All the segments on the program use a template that Japanese variety shows have pushed for decades: Show foreign cultures in an entertaining light and humiliate the Japanese celebrities in their attempts to understand those cultures. In that regard, resorting to yarase could be seen as admitting they ran out of ideas a long time ago.

sekai no hate made itte q
nippon tv
daisuke miyagawa


Kura's Kunihiko Tanaka: From peddling vinegar to running a sushi empire

Abstract: Kunihiko Tanaka was peddling vinegar to sushi restaurants in western Japan when he spotted the opportunity that would change his life. It was the 1970s, and the sushi industry was set to boom. But Tanaka thought it was seriously flawed in how it operated. Artisan chefs presided over restaurants with poor quality control. They charged different prices to different people for the same meal, and bills weren’t affordable to the average person, except for special occasions. Tanaka decided to establish his own sushi restaurant. But he would do it differently. And so, with ¥3 million that he’d borrowed, he opened his first restaurant in 1977, setting out on a path that would eventually lead to the founding of Kura Corp. in 1995. The firm embraced a range of modern technologies, aiming to bring sushi to the masses. Kura is now Japan’s second-largest chain of kaiten sushi restaurants, where the food is delivered on revolving conveyor belts. It has a market value of about ¥130 billion and hundreds of outlets nationwide. “I believed kaiten sushi would keep the sushi legacy going,” Tanaka said in an interview at the company’s headquarters in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture. “And I was right.” Kura’s restaurants are about as far removed as it gets from the notion of artisan sushi-making. The chain uses robots in the kitchen for some tasks instead of expensive and sometimes erratic chefs handling the food with their bare hands, and an express delivery order lane above the revolving conveyor belt that speeds dishes to customers’ tables. Kura is also different from other firms in that it refuses to use additives or preservatives in its food. In a typical sushi restaurant, those would be in the vinegar for the sushi rice and the soy sauce and wasabi used to flavor the sushi, but in Kura’s restaurants, they’re all custom-made to avoid this, according to Tanaka. He says he eats many meals at his company’s restaurants. And the sushi dishes are cheap, starting at around ¥108, a price that has barely changed for three decades, even as many of its rivals gradually raise their prices. Tanaka says he keeps the prices low through tight cost control, which includes an automated cleanup process. Finished plates are dropped by customers into a slot at their table, from which they’re transported automatically to the dishwasher and counted to calculate a customer’s bill. This means the company’s restaurants can operate with a small staff. Kura owns 31 patents for inventions it made in developing the restaurants’ unique system. The most-prized one is called Sendo-kun, or Mr. Fresh, which is a transparent dome-shaped cover placed on top of each plate of sushi. It flips open when you slightly lift the plate. That way, customers or chefs never need to touch the cap, reducing the risk of germ transmission. Not only that, it contains an embedded chip that lets Kura’s monitoring center keep track of how long a plate has been making the rounds. Surging stock Kura has more than 420 outlets across Japan, 19 restaurants in the U.S. and 15 in Taiwan. Its stock has risen more than fourfold since the start of 2014, hitting a record in May before tailing off with the broader market. Tanaka said he wanted to “dream big” when he was growing up in western Japan. With the country reeling from the war, his parents sold goods at markets to support the family. Tanaka had no interest in pursuing academic goals, so he joined a vinegar company after college. Vinegar is a key ingredient in the rice used in sushi. He remembers nervously borrowing about ¥3 million to start the business after his visits to sushi restaurants convinced him that the model had to change. He recalls being served raw squid in one restaurant and breaking out in a severe rash, finding out later that the squid had been meant for fried dishes, not for raw consumption. He couldn’t believe how careless the restaurant had been. Saturated market? Kura commands a 20 percent share of Japan’s kaiten sushi market, according to CLSA Ltd. That puts it second after Sushiro Global Holdings Ltd., which has a share of 26 percent, the brokerage says. But while the domestic industry has grown rapidly, commentators say that it’s becoming increasingly mature, creating challenges for firms such as Kura. “You’re reaching a point where it’s not a saturated market but it may get that way in a couple of years,” said Robert Purcell, an analyst at CLSA in Japan, who rates Kura as a “buy”. “So, will they acquire someone else? You need other growth opportunities.” Tanaka has said that Kura isn’t looking at domestic mergers and acquisitions. Instead, he’s focusing on overseas growth, betting that Kura’s additive-free food will take off globally amid an increasing consumer trend toward healthy diets. The company hopes to add at least 10 restaurants each in the U.S. and Taiwan every year, and to go public in the U.S. as early as 2020. He anticipates bringing Kura to Europe one day, and also listing shares in Taiwan. Time will tell whether he succeeds in these plans, but whatever happens, Tanaka has come a long way since his days as a traveling vinegar salesman. At current prices, his family’s stake in Kura is worth hundreds of millions of dollars. But he isn’t content with that success. “I’m not there yet, far from it,” he said when asked if he’s realized his dream. “The real show starts now.”


China seeks new markets for its traditional medicines

Abstract: SHANGHAI - A crowd gathers at a Shanghai hospital, queuing for remedies made with plant mixtures and animal parts including scorpions and freeze-dried millipedes — medicines that China hopes will find an audience overseas. With a history going back 2,400 years, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is deeply rooted in the country and remains popular despite access to Western pharmaceuticals. Now the authorities are hoping to modernize and export the remedies, but they face major obstacles. A veritable forest of medicinal plants surrounds patients waiting at Yueyang Hospital’s pharmacy. Some leave with boxes of pills, others take away plastic sachets filled with herbal extracts. Lin Hongguo, a 76-year-old pensioner, has bought herbal remedies that he will boil to make a tea to treat his “slow beating heart.” “I prefer it to Western medicines. It’s not about the cost, it’s because it works well,” he said. Another patient, pet fish-seller Wang Deyun, 51, is also a believer. “Two months ago my skin had an allergic reaction to a modern medicine for high blood pressure,” she said from her hospital bed. But after a treatment of face masks and plant infusions, she said she’s almost fully healed. Traditional medicine is subsidized in China and is cheaper than Western medicine. It consistently makes up one quarter of the country’s pharmaceuticals market — even as China increasingly opens up to modern medicine. The World Health Organization will next year include a chapter on traditional medicine in its “International Classification of Diseases” — a tome of reference for medical trends and global health statistics. China hopes the WHO inclusion will spur global recognition of its traditional remedies as it seeks to export them. But Beijing still faces significant hurdles, not least the fact that TCM focuses on tailoring treatment to each individual, which means different people with the same condition can be prescribed different medicines and dosages. “It’s like a painting — it’s composed differently each time, while Western medicine is more similar to photography” with its standardised products, said Wang Zhenyi, a proctologist at Yueyang Hospital. That is the crux of China’s challenge in gaining overseas acceptance: its traditional medicine is largely incompatible with modern clinical trials, which require an identical product to be tested on a large number of patients. As these medicines typically contain dozens of ingredients, understanding how they work together and proving their effectiveness is a complex task. Even within China there have been public skirmishes over the efficacy of TCM, pitting its proponents against doctors who advocate evidence-based, peer-reviewed medicine. Conservationists also say growing demand for products such as rhino horn and pangolin scales — which are used by some practitioners even though they have no proven medical properties — have decimated vulnerable species. China partially lifted a ban on trading tiger bones and rhino horns last month despite warnings from conservationists, though state media later quoted an official saying the change had been “postponed.” Chinese experts say endangered animal parts are increasingly being replaced by synthetic versions, but TCM may still prove a tough sell abroad. “I think the best potential is in the consumer market, such as nutritional supplements,” said Tony Ren, a pharma analyst with Kim Eng Securities in Hong Kong. Few Western pharmaceutical companies are keen to try to untangle these difficulties. But French biotech company Pharnext has taken on the challenge, partnering last year with Tasly, one of China’s biggest producers of traditional medicines. Together, they are looking to transform the industry by streamlining “the procedures to have a more stable production of plants which have identical properties and understand why the mixture works,” said Daniel Cohen, founder and CEO of Pharnext. The two companies are using artificial intelligence to understand how the medicines work as they look to standardize them, he added. They face an uphill battle. In the United States, Tasly has been trying for more than 20 years to get approval for Dantonic, an angina medicine based on sage and ginseng that was legalized in China in 1993. Though the firm has completed medical trials, it has come up hard against U.S. law, which does not allow treatments composed of different plants. But Chinese medical professionals still feel the quest for acceptance abroad is worth the effort. “Medicine is still a very young science, with many unknowns. You increase your ability to heal if you know both Western and Chinese medicine,” said proctologist Wang of Yueyang hospital. “It’s the result that counts.”

china
medicine
traditional chinese medicine
pharnext
tasly


In 27-24 vote, Hong Kong lawmakers reject motion to consider same-sex unions

Abstract: LONDON - In a region where no country allows gay or lesbian couples to marry, Hong Kong’s Legislative Council on Thursday rejected a motion that could have paved the way to legalizing same-sex unions. The measure, which would have urged the government to consider granting “equal rights” to same-sex couples, was rejected by 27 votes to 24, with six abstentions, the council said on its website. “The government keeps avoiding studying policies for homosexual groups,” the South China Morning Post, a Hong Kong newspaper, quoted gay lawmaker Raymond Chan, who proposed the motion, as saying. “Opponents of this motion have to explain why they reject even such a small step forward.” No country in Asia currently allows same-sex couples to marry or enter civil unions of any kind. Socially conservative attitudes prevail across the region, and opponents of same-sex marriage say such unions could destroy society and family institutions. Homosexuality was decriminalized in 1991 in Hong Kong, which is more supportive of LGBT+ rights than mainland China. However, marriage is legally defined as a monogamous union between a man and a woman and same-sex marriage is not recognized. Hong Kong said in September it would recognize overseas same-sex partnerships when granting dependent visas, a move that was supported by global banks and law firms operating in the former British colony. Chan’s motion would have urged the city’s government “to study the formulation of policies for homosexual couples to enter into a union so that they can enjoy equal rights as heterosexual couples.” Lawmaker Priscilla Leung opposed Chan’s motion on the grounds that Hong Kong should keep marriage between men and women and “refrain from shaking existing marriage institutions.” The self-ruled island of Taiwan, regarded as a beacon of liberalism in Asia, on Saturday will vote in a referendum on whether it should recognize same-sex marriage. Taiwan’s Constitutional Court said last year that same-sex couples have the right to legally marry, the first such ruling in Asia.

hong kong
china
same-sex marriage
lgbt
sexuality


As attacks and rising rhetoric stoke concern in Malaysia's LGBT community, punk band Shh...Diam! uses music to fight bias

Abstract: KUALA LUMPUR - With songs like “I woke up gay” and “Lonely lesbian,” LGBT punk band Shh…Diam! is making a rare splash in Malaysia, using music to fight long-running discrimination. The four-member group is a rarity in a country where gay and transgender issues are often seen as taboo, cross-dressing is illegal and anal and oral sex are banned under a British colonial-era “anti-sodomy” law. The band’s name, which means “shut up” in the Malay language, is meant to mock critics for seeking to silence the country’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. “We never intentionally set ourselves up as an LGBT band,” lead singer Faris Saad said before a performance on the outskirts of the capital Kuala Lumpur. “But eventually your life experiences make their way to your music so you can’t help it. You’ve got to be honest — so that’s what we are with our music,” said the 34-year-old transgender man, who began transitioning in 2014. Several incidents in the Muslim-majority nation this year have stoked concerns among campaigners that the climate for the country’s LGBT community is deteriorating further. In August, government officials ordered the removal of portraits of two LGBT activists from an art exhibition and a transgender woman was attacked, sparking public outrage. In September, two women in the conservative state of Terengganu were caned under Sharia law after being caught attempting to have sex in a car. Shh…Diam! had its unlikely beginning nine years ago. The organizer of a lesbian pool party was looking for a band to entertain revellers, so aspiring musician Faris quickly assembled the group with some acquaintances. Since then, it has built up a small but steady fan base among the LGBT community, producing two albums and performing in several European countries. Raised in a Muslim family, Faris knew from a young age that the female body he was born with was wrong. He decided to transition soon after turning 30. But to get the hormone treatment he needed, he had first to undergo a six-month psychiatric evaluation to be diagnosed with “gender identity disorder.” “I feel more confident that I am now in my own body,” said Faris, adding that the band wanted to encourage other LGBT people to embrace themselves as he has, while changing skewed perceptions toward the community. “We have been vilified by the government. According to the government, LGBT people are perverts and pedophiles,” added Faris, who also works as a freelance journalist. “I want to change that.” The recent surge in attacks on the LGBT community and anti-gay rhetoric from senior officials has dovetailed with what critics say is a rise in religious conservatism, which has eroded Malaysia’s traditionally tolerant brand of Islam. More than 60 percent of Malaysia’s 32 million people are Malay Muslims, but the country is also home to a large number of ethnic minorities who practice other religions. Religious leaders are among those who have spoken out against the LGBT community, arguing that homosexuality is forbidden by religious teachings. “God has created man and woman and created them in pairs. We cannot go against this — it is wrong,” said Harussani Zakaria, an outspoken Islamic scholar. “We are not against democracy, we just can’t defy God’s orders. Even animals do not engage in homosexual acts,” he added. Since Shh…Diam! was set up it has not had any run-ins with the authorities, and has stuck to performing in independent venues and in urban areas that its members see as generally accepting of their music. The band’s sound is a mix of metal, punk and jazz. Their songs also touch on topics as broad as housemates fighting and Bollywood movies. The guitarist, who asked to be referred to as Yon, said the band aimed to give LGBT people a way to escape daily discrimination and just have fun through music. “It’s our experiences and random things that we like which we put into our songs,” said Yon, who is bisexual. “The main purpose of the band is to have fun. We love to play music, we play music, the LGBT activism that comes with the band is just a reflection of who we are,” she added. Indie music fan Gary Tay, who was among the small crowd that showed up to watch the band’s performance, said he believed artists such as Shh…Diam! should be allowed to sing about what they believed in. “I wish that one day in Malaysia in the near future, we can talk about these kinds of issues very openly,” Tay said.


Government draws up disaster reduction measures after summer floods across western Japan

Abstract: The government has drawn up a planned outline of disaster reduction measures in response to several large natural disasters this year, including steps to prevent airports from being inundated. The draft outline includes the results of emergency inspections of crucial infrastructure that were conducted after the disasters, including landslides and earthquakes. Measures to be taken include protecting emergency power sources at airports from flooding, and work to make levees higher along rivers considered particularly at risk from overflowing. These measures should be implemented mainly over the next three years, according to the draft, which was presented at a closed-door meeting of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s research panel on measures to boost resilience to natural disasters. The government and the ruling party are considering allocating a total of ¥3 trillion to ¥4 trillion from state funds for the disaster reduction measures. Of the sum, more than ¥1 trillion will likely be secured under a planned second supplementary budget for fiscal 2018. Potential financial resources include surplus budget funds and fresh construction bonds. The outline sets out a requirement for local governments to create hazard maps indicating where there is a risk of landslides, after torrential rains caused landslides and flooding at many locations across the west of the nation in July. There are also measures to prevent large-scale blackouts, similar to the one that happened across Hokkaido after a powerful earthquake hit in early September. The government conducted inspections of airports nationwide after buildings and a runway at Kansai International Airport in Osaka became flooded in September due to a powerful typhoon, damaging power equipment and causing a blackout. Measures will be taken against flooding, as the inspections found that some airports have installed their emergency power sources underground. The emergency inspections covered 132 areas governed by 12 government agencies. The government is expected to release the official version of the inspection results and disaster reduction measures as soon as the end of November.

disasters
flooding
airports
landslides
earthquakes
kansai airport


The little blind fish that can mend a broken heart

Abstract: I have a new favorite animal, and it’s a fish. Not just any old fish, this one lives deep underground in caves in Mexico, and not only is it blind, it has lost its eyes altogether. The Mexican tetra is a small and boring-looking animal, but appearances are deceptive. This fish is famous among evolutionary biologists, physiologists and sleep scientists for its hidden talents. The Mexican tetra comes in two forms, a “normal” form that lives in rivers and streams, and a blind form that lives in caves. Charles Darwin wrote about blind cave fish in “Origin of Species”: “By the time that an animal had reached, after numberless generations, the deepest recesses, disuse will on this view have more or less perfectly obliterated its eyes, and natural selection will often have affected other changes, such as an increase in the length of antennae or palpi, as compensation for blindness.” In other words, after many years of living in darkness, the fish starts to lose the ability to see. There is no point going to the bother of growing eyes if they are never needed, so the cave fish use the energy they would have put into making eyes into growing and reproducing. Darwin guessed that animals losing their vision in this way would compensate in other ways, and this is what has happened with the blind cave fish. The animals are able to sense tiny vibrations in water and fluctuations in water pressure, and use this information to get around. Blind cave fish are also of great interest to scientists trying to figure out how humans can better cope with diabetes. It turns out the fish carry a gene that induces an insatiable appetite. It makes evolutionary sense because the fish live in caves and often have to endure times of food scarcity. When there is food present it means the animals can gorge and stock up on supplies. It’s one of the reasons why the fish don’t just go blind but entirely lose their eyes. Food resources are in such short supply that there is a big advantage in not having to grow eyes. They eat pretty much anything — algae, and dead and rotten plants and animals. In people, when this kind of voracious appetite takes hold, we can get high blood sugar levels and develop diabetes. Blind cave fish, however, are resistant to insulin, the hormone that turns blood sugar into energy. They do develop high levels of blood sugar, but not the problems of diabetes that usually go with it. If we can figure out how they do it, it might be able to help the tens of millions of people — 30 million in the United States alone — that suffer from diabetes. Now Yoshiyuki Yamamoto, a developmental biologist at University College London, U.K., and colleagues have studied the Mexican tetra and discovered another remarkable feature. The fish living at the surface — the ones that have not lost their eyes — are able to regenerate their hearts after an injury. Humans have only limited capacity to regenerate damaged tissue. Our livers are able to regenerate, for example, but if anything else gets worn out or damaged, we just have to live with it. It’s one of the reasons we get slower and less fit as we get older. Naturally, discovering the secrets of regeneration is a hot area of research. It turns out that the surface fish have the ability to regenerate damaged hearts but the cave fish do not. Some other species of cave fish in different regions have retained the ability to regenerate, so it means ecological and geological differences among the caves may influence the evolutionary loss of regeneration. Yamamoto and colleagues cross-bred animals from the surface with those from caves to find out what happens with intermediate forms. The hybrid fish showed different levels of regeneration, indicating that the ability to regenerate heart tissue is heritable, and they narrowed the ability down to a gene called lrrc10. “We have identified three regions in the DNA that contain genes that make the difference between regeneration or scarring after heart injury,” says Yamamoto. The next step is to find out which genes are key to heart regeneration. If we can understand how to trigger regeneration, and especially in vital organs such as the heart or brain, it could open the door to a whole new kind of medicine. “If the genetic mechanisms are the same between the cave fish and humans, it might be possible to switch it back on again for helping patients with wounded hearts,” says Yamamoto. You can imagine — eventually — being able to replace and repair damaged tissue in the body, and so extend human lives for many years.

mexican tetra
charles darwin
yoshiyuki yamamoto
medicine
genetics
evolution


Under new visas, Japan will require firms to fund foreign workers' return home when they can't pay themselves

Abstract: The government plans to require companies hiring foreign nationals with planned new work visas to shoulder costs for their return home if the individuals cannot pay their own way, officials said. The move comes in response to concerns that the introduction of the new work visas will boost the number of illegal foreign residents in Japan and worsen the country’s security situation. Revisions to the immigration control law are now under deliberation in the Diet with the goal of introducing the new visas in April next year. The move is meant to open the country to more foreign workers to alleviate labor shortages. The government estimates that up to 345,000 foreign workers will come to Japan under the new system over five years. Under the system, companies hiring foreign workers with the new visas will be required to conclude contracts with them to guarantee the same or higher levels of pay compared with their Japanese counterparts, among other details. The government plans to issue an ordinance that will encourage such companies to set aside a certain amount of money to pay for the cost of sending foreign workers back home after the expiration of their contracts if they are unable to pay for the journey themselves. The number of illegal foreign residents in the country stood at 69,346 as of July 1. To address security concerns, the government also plans to exclude countries which refuse to take back their own citizens deported from Japan from the list of nations eligible for the new visas. The government plans to enact the immigration law revisions during the current Diet session, which is set to end on Dec. 10.


Dollar weaker around ¥113.50 in late Tokyo trades

Abstract: The dollar stayed on a weak note around ¥113.50 in Tokyo trading late Thursday, as investors took a wait-and-see stance amid a dearth of fresh trading incentives. At 5 p.m. the dollar stood at ¥113.52-53, down from ¥113.89-89 at the same time on Wednesday. The euro was at $1.1338-1338, up from $1.1292-1293, and at ¥128.70-70, up from ¥128.62-62. In foreign trading the previous day the dollar fell to levels near ¥113.30, hurt by a decline in U.S. stocks and lower U.S. long-term interest rates. The greenback rose above ¥113.60 in early Tokyo trading, helped by short-term yen selling to cash in gains, traders said. The dollar moved on a firm note in midmorning trading on the back of dollar buying by Japanese importers. But the greenback dropped to around ¥113.50 later in the morning and traded around the level in the afternoon. The dollar’s topside was capped by a decline in the benchmark 225-issue Nikkei stock average, an official at a major Japanese bank said. An official at a foreign exchange margin trading service firm suggested that uncertainty over U.S. policies after the Nov. 6 midterm elections also prompted dollar selling. In the elections the Democratic Party won back a majority in the House of Representatives, while the Republican Party maintained its control of the Senate.

foreign exchange
exchange rates
forex
currencies


Tokyo stocks turn down on Wall Street slump

Abstract: Stocks turned lower on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Thursday, hurt by an overnight drop in U.S. equities and the yen’s strengthening against the dollar. The 225-issue Nikkei average dropped 42.86 points, or 0.20 percent, to end at 21,803.62. On Wednesday, the key market gauge had risen 35.96 points. The Topix index of all first-section issues closed down 2.29 points, or 0.14 percent, at 1,638.97, after gaining 2.81 points the previous day. Selling outpaced buying from the outset of Thursday’s trading, with financial issues leading the way down, as investor sentiment was dampened by Wall Street’s slump the previous day and a stronger yen against the dollar, brokers said. The Nikkei briefly lost over 200 points in early trading. After the initial selling ran its course the Nikkei and Topix resisted falling further, supported by buying on dips and bargain hunting, brokers said. Weak U.S. stock prices sapped investors’ buying appetite, said Ryuta Otsuka, strategist at the investment information department of Toyo Securities Co. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost over 1,100 points in the four sessions through Wednesday. Explaining the Tokyo market’s sluggishness, Otsuka also pointed to major Japanese companies’ “not so impressive” earnings forecasts for the year to March 2019. An official at a Japanese asset management firm said, “Investors are unlikely to chase higher ground without positive trading factors regarding U.S.-China trade friction.” Rising issues outnumbered falling ones 1,111 to 911 in the TSE’s first section, while 89 issues were unchanged. Volume increased to 1.500 billion shares from 1.432 billion shares Wednesday. Financial issues met with selling after their U.S. peers fared poorly overnight. They included megabank groups Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. and Mizuho Financial Group Inc., insurer Tokio Marine Holdings Inc. and brokerage giant Nomura Holdings Inc. Skylark Holdings Co. dropped 1.49 percent after the restaurant chain revised down its consolidated earnings projection for the year to December 2018 on Wednesday. Other major losers included mobile phone carrier SoftBank Group Corp. and drugmaker Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. By contrast, Japan Post Holdings Co. rose 0.73 percent a day after announcing an upward revision in its consolidated earnings forecast for the year to March 2019. Also higher were cosmetics maker Shiseido Co. and power firm Tokyo Electric Power Company Holding Inc. In index futures trading on the Osaka Exchange, the key December contract on the Nikkei average ended unchanged at 21,820.


Rock, investment, paper: Goldman Sachs to buy stake in startup making paper from limestone

Abstract: Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is buying a stake in TBM Co., a startup that has become known for its technology that turns limestone into paper. The two parties confirmed the deal on Thursday. TBM, which makes business cards, posters, catalogs and stickers from limestone, is seeking to raise a total of ¥3.1 billion ($27 million). Goldman Sachs is seeking to make investments in 10 to 15 Japanese startups through 2019, people with knowledge of the matter said. The investment is part of a renewed push by Goldman Sachs to seek out and back potential Japanese unicorns that can compete globally with their technology while being environmentally responsible, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is not yet public. TBM’s Limex paper is made without water. By comparison, it takes 100 tons of water to make a ton of regular paper. That also required 20 trees, while the TBM process uses less than a ton of limestone together with 200 kilograms of polyolefin. Representatives from Goldman Sachs visited TBM more than three years ago as a potential investment target because their technology is unique and the firm can be bigger than a unicorn, they said. Nobuyoshi Yamasaki, TBM’s chief executive officer, said in an interview last year that he’s aiming for an initial public offering by 2020. The company was founded in 2011. Prior to the global financial crisis in 2008, Goldman Sachs had poured ¥550 billion into Japanese companies, including a lender, an electronics company and an amusement-park operator. It then scaled back investments in the decade that followed.

investments
paper
goldman sachs
startups
limestone
tbm
limex
nobuyoshi yamasaki
entrepreneurs


Stormy Daniels' attorney Michael Avenatti arrested in Los Angeles on suspicion of domestic violence

Abstract: LOS ANGELES - Attorney Michael Avenatti, who represents adult film star Stormy Daniels in her legal battles with U.S. President Donald Trump, was arrested in Los Angeles on Wednesday on suspicion of domestic violence, a police spokesman said. Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Jeff Lee said no further details were immediately available, but he said Avenatti was released on bail after he was formally booked in the case. “It will be presented to the district attorney’s office just like any other case,” Lee said. “They’ll take a look at it and see if there’s enough evidence to proceed.” The celebrity news website TMZ, which broke the news of Avenatti’s arrest, reported that it stemmed from a physical confrontation between him and a woman at an apartment building Tuesday night in the Century City district of Los Angeles. Avenatti, who has indicated that he might run for president in 2020 as a Democrat, denied wrongdoing in a statement issued through his law firm and in a statement to reporters outside the LAPD West Los Angeles police station following his release. “I have never struck a woman. I never will strike a woman. I’ve been an advocate for women’s rights my entire career,” he said, adding that he would never “disrespect” his two daughters “by touching a woman inappropriately or striking a woman.” “I look forward to a full investigation at which point I am confident I will be fully exonerated,” he added, without taking any questions. In the statement from his law office, he said, “I have never been physically abusive in my life, nor was I last night. Any accusations to the contrary are fabricated and meant to do harm to my reputation.” Avenatti came to national prominence as the lawyer for Daniels, a porn actress whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, who sued Trump for defamation after he denied her assertion that she had a sexual encounter with him in 2006. That lawsuit was dismissed by a federal judge last month. Daniels has filed a separate lawsuit over a $130,000 hush-money agreement stemming from the alleged encounter. Avenatti’s clients have included Julie Swetnick, who accused Brett Kavanaugh of aggressive sexual behavior before his recent confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court.

stormy daniels
michael avenatti
los angeles
domestic violence
donald trump


U.S. lawmakers introduce bill hitting China for Uighur repression

Abstract: WASHINGTON - A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers introduced legislation Wednesday seeking to punish China over its “human rights abuses” of the majority-Muslim Uighur population in the country’s west, a move that drew immediate anger from Beijing. Legislation introduced in both the Senate and House of Representatives seeks to toughen U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration’s response to what the lawmakers say are gross violations of human rights in China’s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. The bill urges U.S. authorities to impose targeted sanctions on members of China’s government, the ruling Communist Party and state security apparatus, as well Xinjiang Party Secretary Chen Quanguo and other officials “credibly alleged to be responsible for human rights abuses in Xinjiang and elsewhere.” China’s Uighurs have faced unprecedented surveillance in recent years, and the United Nations has determined that up to 1 million Uighurs have been rounded up in detention camps. Washington must hold government and Communist Party officials “responsible for gross violations of human rights and possible crimes against humanity, including the internment in ‘political reeducation’ camps of as many as a million Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim minorities,” Sen. Marco Rubio, a chief sponsor, said in a statement. Fifteen senators in total, including Democrats Robert Menendez and Elizabeth Warren, are sponsoring the legislation. A companion bill was introduced in the House by congressman Chris Smith, an ardent critic of China’s human rights policies. Menendez described China’s treatment of Uighurs as “beyond abhorrent,” and urged Trump to formulate a “clear and consistent approach” to China. The measure would mandate a U.S. intelligence report on the regional security threat posed by China’s crackdown; a list of Chinese companies involved in building and operating the camps; and an FBI report on efforts to protect Americans from Chinese government harassment. It would also require a State Department report on the scale of the crackdown and beef up the department’s monitoring of the region, and urge a review of U.S. Commerce Department export controls. Beijing delivered a scathing response. “Where do U.S. lawmakers get this inexplicable sense of superiority from, and how can they make irresponsible remarks about the internal affairs of other countries?” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said at a briefing. “Unfortunately, they always choose to ignore their own domestic issues while over-enthusiastically interfering with other country’s domestic affairs with irresponsible remarks, which are based on incorrect information and strong ideological bias,” she added. The defense chiefs and top foreign affairs officials of the two countries met in Washington last week for a regular dialogue that had been pushed back amid months of spiraling tensions between the world’s two largest economies.

china
uighurs
donald trump
sanctions
marco rubio
u.s. congress


Vietnam-born rights advocate Bungo Okabe steps in to stifle abuse of technical trainees in Japan

Abstract: When it came to light in March that a Vietnamese man in Japan’s foreign trainee program was duped into performing radioactive decontamination work in areas devastated by the 2011 nuclear disaster, Bungo Okabe, 36, was the first to offer help in seeking justice. Okabe, a Vietnamese by birth who grew up in Japan, took the 24-year-old man to a shelter he runs for trainees in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture, and helped him to receive unemployment insurance payments and find a new workplace to complete his three-year training program. The man, whose name was being withheld for privacy reasons, is one of many trainees Okabe has defended since he opened the shelter in January after hearing stories of abuse and struggles from Vietnamese trainees living in his neighborhood. “Without help they are left in limbo, as neither the government nor the organizations dispatching (trainees to Japanese firms) bother intervening to protect the rights of trainees facing problems at their workplaces,” Okabe told The Japan Times in a recent interview. “And with poor Japanese skills they keep their struggles to themselves, fearing they’ll be sent back home or that the abuse will escalate.” The Technical Intern Training Program is designed to help people from developing countries acquire skills at Japanese firms, but it has long been criticized as being a cover for importing cheap labor as the nation suffers from rapid shrinkage of its working population. As of June, 285,776 people were in Japan under the trainee program, according to labor ministry data. Among them Vietnamese accounted for 134,139, or about 47 percent. According to data from various ministries, 299 legal violations related to the technical trainee system were reported last year, such as underpayment and overtime work. “The only way to stop the abuse is to allow them to switch employers,” so that trainees can seek better working environments and to encourage employers to improve the situation,” Okabe said. But the current scheme does not allow trainees to change their jobs or employers with the exception of cases where abuse is detected by the Justice Ministry. For such people, Okabe’s help sometimes is the last resort to continue to remain and work in the country. The government submitted a draft revision to the immigration control law earlier this month in order to accept more foreign workers with “specified skills” in sectors suffering from severe labor shortages. But Okabe argues that revising the trainee scheme should be the priority when so many are suffering from human rights violations. Okabe, who fled Vietnam and came to Japan at age 8 on his family’s second attempt to defect, opened the shelter in a formerly vacant house in Koriyama in January. He renovated the two-story house using about ¥1 million raised through crowdfunding, and has since taken in 15 trainees who for various reasons couldn’t stay with their employers. He has offered them a place to sleep, food and other forms of support, including Japanese language tuition. Okabe, whose Vietnamese name is Pham Nhat Vuong, has traveled across the country to help trainees renew their visa statuses, negotiating with immigration bureaus and municipal governments so they don’t get deported while seeking compensation or possibilities to continue training in Japan. Currently three people are staying at the shelter and Okabe is also negotiating on behalf of trainees from across Japan for further work opportunities. “I’ve always wanted to help underprivileged people,” said Okabe, who closed down an eatery he ran in the city to dedicate himself to supporting trainees. One of the people Okabe has helped is Nguyen Ba Cong, 34, who came to Japan in 2015 under the foreign trainee scheme. Nguyen was supposed to do rebar work, but in fact he was assigned to do decontamination work in Namie in Fukushima for a year and half without being given sufficient information. After realizing he had been exposed to radiation working in the town — parts of which are still designated as “difficult to return” zones amid the nuclear disaster — Nguyen escaped the company where he had been assigned for training and came to the shelter. “I’ve been played,” Nguyen told The Japan Times, taking care to choose the appropriate words to explain his situation in Japanese. Okabe said Nguyen’s case, in which the employer violated the program’s regulations, is just the tip of the iceberg. “I’ve assisted many abused victims, including a woman who had to abort a pregnancy,” said Okabe, adding that the woman said she had been raped by her employer. The woman, who was 21 when the incident happened during her stay at a farm, had already returned to Vietnam without seeking justice in court as she did not want to cause trouble to her family, Okabe said. A 22-year-old man who introduced himself as Lam said he came to the Koriyama shelter after Okabe stopped his deportation — the man called Okabe from Kansai Airport after completing boarding procedures. He was given a ticket for a flight home by his employer six months after arriving in Japan because the firm faced financial difficulties. Lam may soon be allowed to work again, but procedures enabling trainees to switch firms last months and require cooperation by all sides involved, Okabe said. “Many trainees contact me when they’re ordered to go back by their employers out of the blue,” he said. A Justice Ministry official familiar with the scheme and exploitation problems agreed in a recent phone interview that the program needs improvement to protect the rights of trainees. He said, however, that switching jobs is not an option, as the government believes allowing this would be a step toward allowing economic immigrants. He also said the government believes trainees don’t need to change jobs as they are supposed to come to gain skills in one specific field and then return home. “What should be corrected is the employers’ notion that they’re allowed to treat trainees as cheap labor — it’s unacceptable,” the official said. The official said he was hopeful that the introduction of new visa statuses will help curb the violations resulting from that erroneous belief. “So far, foreigners have had to pretend they came to Japan to learn something (if their true motive is to earn money) and employers have been unable to openly accept unskilled workers,” he noted. “The new visa statuses will be more transparent and I believe this amendment should stop rogue employers from misusing the trainee system.”

vietnam
bungo okabe
foreign trainees
fukushima
immigration


Over 80% of Japanese positive about robotic nursing care

Abstract: Over 80 percent of people in Japan hold positive views about receiving nursing care from robots, according to a survey by nursing care service provider Orix Living Corp. The result suggests that people feel a psychological burden from being taken care of by humans, Orix Living said. The online survey, conducted in September, covered 1,238 people aged 40 or above across the nation. The proportion of respondents who said they are ready to or want to receive nursing care from robots stood at 84.3 percent, hitting the highest level since a related question was introduced in 2011. Of the respondents who prefer not to use robotic nursing care, 46.9 percent — the largest group — said the reason for their choice was that they would prefer to be taken care of by humans. In the survey, most respondents said they see nursing-care robots as serving a supplementary role to alleviate burdens on care receivers and caregivers. The survey also found that 84.2 percent of men want to care for their wives, while 65.8 percent of women said they want to care for their husbands. According to the survey, 53.5 percent of men want to share a room with their wives in housing for the aged, while 41.6 percent of women said they would wish to share a room with their husband.


Takamatsu High Court rejects calls from residents to halt Shikoku Electric's Ikata nuclear reactor

Abstract: TAKAMATSU, KAGAWA PREF. - A high court Thursday rejected calls from local residents to suspend the operation of a nuclear reactor at Shikoku Electric Power Co.’s Ikata plant that was recently restarted. In upholding a lower court decision from July last year, the Takamatsu High Court said the No. 3 unit of the Ikata plant in Ehime Prefecture poses no danger, as it meets stricter safety standards introduced after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis. While the residents had claimed the new safety standards underestimate the risk of earthquakes and the reactor faces the threat of a nearby volcanic eruption, presiding Judge Ryuichi Kamiyama said the standards created by the Nuclear Regulation Authority “cannot be concluded to be unreasonable.” “We consider it an appropriate decision. We will ensure safe operation, keeping in mind that there is no end to improving safety,” Shikoku Electric said in a statement following the high court ruling. Last December, the Hiroshima High Court issued a provisional injunction ordering the utility to suspend the operation of the reactor, citing the risk of an eruption at a volcano some 130 km away. It was the first such ban by a high court since nuclear meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 complex triggered by a massive earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011. But the same Hiroshima court revoked the decision in September, saying worries over a volcanic eruption damaging the plant were “groundless.” The decision allowed the unit to reboot the Ikata reactor on Oct. 27, with commercial operation expected to begin Nov. 28. In July last year, the Matsuyama District Court turned down the residents’ plea to halt the Ikata unit, saying the reactor design was based on a reasonable earthquake projection, and it has been sufficiently proven that there is no risk of a volcano eruption damaging the plant during its operating time.

courts
ikata
nuclear power plant
shikoku electric power co .


Dollar firms to above ¥114.10 in Tokyo

Abstract: The dollar topped ¥114.10 in Tokyo trading Monday, thanks to spillover effects of the U.S. currency’s firming against the euro. At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥114.16-16, up from ¥113.84-85 at the same time Friday. The euro was at $1.1259-1263, down from $1.1336-1337, and at ¥128.55-55, down from ¥129.06-06. The dollar rose above ¥113.80 in early trading after moving around ¥113.70. The greenback crept up later in the morning despite the Nikkei 225 average’s weak start. It was buoyed around ¥114.00 by noon. “Risk-averse selling did not gain strength,” an official at a foreign exchange margin trading service firm said. After moving narrowly, the dollar rose around ¥114.20 in late afternoon trading. Increasingly concerned about the Italian budget and Brexit issues, players “stepped up euro selling to buy dollars,” a Japanese bank official said. “The dollar has been bought back since the U.S. midterm elections,” a major life insurance firm official pointed out.


Nikkei logs a small rise amid thin trading

Abstract: The Nikkei 225 average finished slightly higher in thin trading Monday, as participation by foreign investors was limited ahead of Veterans Day in the U.S. The Nikkei rose 19.63 points, or 0.09 percent, to end at 22,269.88. On Friday, the key market gauge lost 236.67 points. But the Topix, which covers all first-section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, ended 1.03 points, or 0.06 percent, lower at 1,671.95, after shedding 8.27 points the previous trading day. The market took a dive at the outset of trading, after U.S. shares finished last week with losses on rekindled concerns over the adverse economic effects of the trade dispute between the United States and China. Wall Street was pressured, among others, by China’s weakening manufacturing activities as shown by slowed growth in the producer price index for the fourth consecutive month in October. After the initial selling subsided, however, both the Nikkei and the Topix recouped their losses, led by buying in stock index futures, brokers said. In the afternoon, the market came almost to a standstill. Trading was thin due to a lack of incentives that were powerful enough to move the entire market. Only shares of some firms that released their earnings recently attracted transactions, an official of a bank-affiliated securities firm said. Non-Japanese players, particularly U.S. investors, largely took to the sidelines ahead of the holiday Monday, when the currency and bond markets will be closed, but stocks can be traded. For the time being, the Tokyo market will be limited to selective trading on announcements of earnings results as no major events are scheduled to come up this week, a brokerage firm official said. Falling issues outnumbered rising ones 1,142 to 887 in the first section, while 83 issues were unchanged. Volume decreased to 1.231 billion shares, from 1.477 billion Friday. Low crude oil prices hurt oil names, including JXTG, Cosmo Energy and Showa Shell. Mitsui Kinzoku plunged 18.00 percent due to its profit warning for the business year through next March. Other major losers included technology firms Sony and Murata Manufacturing. Meanwhile, Mitsui Fudosan gained 3.46 percent after the real estate company announced a rosier consolidated earnings forecast for the same business year. Also higher were clothing retailer Fast Retailing and mobile phone carrier KDDI.


Supporters of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi gather in Istanbul

Abstract: ISTANBUL - Around 200 people on Sunday gathered in Istanbul to honor the memory of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Supporters met to talk and watch videos of eulogies for the Washington Post contributor who was killed inside the Saudi consulate in the city on Oct. 2. Turan Kislakci, head of the Turkish-Arab Media Association (TAM), to which Khashoggi belonged, called for justice to be done “so that these barbaric tyrants can never do the same thing again. Yemeni human rights activist Tawakkol Karman, who won the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize for her participation in the Arab Spring uprisings, said the killing was reminiscent of crimes committed by the Islamic State group. Khashoggi was last seen entering the consulate on Oct. 2 to obtain documents for his forthcoming marriage. After repeated denials, Saudi Arabia finally admitted the 59-year-old had been murdered at the mission in a “rogue” operation. Turkish pro-government daily Sabah on Saturday reported Khashoggi’s killers poured the remains of the insider-turned-critic of Riyadh down the drain after dissolving him in acid. Samples taken from the consulate drains showed traces of acid, Sabah said without quoting sources for its story. Erdogan has accused the “highest levels” of the Saudi government of ordering the hit. Some officials have pointed the finger at the all-powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and some analysts say Ankara is keen to have the heir sidelined from the nexus of power in Riyadh.

jamal khashoggi
istanbul
murder
human rights
saudi arabia
mohammed bin salman


Myanmar prepares for first Rohingya returnees but U.N. warns against rushing

Abstract: YANGON/COX'S BAZAR, BANGLADESH - Myanmar officials said on Sunday the country was ready to receive more than 2,000 Rohingya Muslims sheltering in Bangladesh on Nov. 15, the first group from 5,000 people to be moved under a deal between the neighbors struck last month. But more than 20 individuals on a list of potential returnees submitted by Bangladesh have told Reuters they will refuse to go back to northern Rakhine state from where they fled. Bangladesh has said it will not force anyone to do so. The United Nations also says conditions are not yet safe for their return, in part because Myanmar Buddhists have been protesting against the repatriation. “It depends on the other country, whether this will actually happen or not,” Win Myat Aye, Myanmar’s minister for social welfare and resettlement, told a news conference in the commercial capital of Yangon on Sunday, referring to Bangladesh. “But we must be ready from our side. We have done that.” Abul Kalam, Bangladesh relief and repatriation commissioner, said he was hopeful the process could begin on Thursday. “The return will be voluntary. Nobody will be forced to go back,” he told Reuters. The countries agreed on mid-November for the start of repatriating some of more than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims who fled a sweeping army crackdown in Myanmar last year. They say soldiers and local Buddhists massacred families, burned hundreds of villages, and carried out gang-rapes. U.N-mandated investigators have accused the army of “genocidal intent” and ethnic cleansing. Myanmar denies almost all of the allegations, saying security forces were battling terrorists. Attacks by Rohingya insurgents calling themselves the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army preceded the crackdown. Myanmar does acknowledge the killing of 10 Rohingya by security forces in Inn Dinn village. Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were sentenced to seven years in prison earlier this year for allegedly breaking the country’s Official Secrets Act after reporting on the massacre. Reuters says the court’s ruling was wrong and lawyers for the two have appealed against their conviction. Win Myat Aye said preparations had been made for 2,251 people to be transported to two transit centers by boat on Thursday, while a second group of 2,095 could follow later by road. Once processed by the authorities, they would be sent to another center where they would be housed, fed, and asked to build homes through cash-for-work schemes. Returnees would only be allowed to travel within Maungdaw township, one of the three they fled, and only if they accepted National Verification Cards, an identity document most Rohingya reject because they say it brands them as foreigners. Many Rohingya, the majority of whom have been left stateless after decades of persecution, oppose going back without guarantees of citizenship and freedom of movement.

myanmar
rohingya
bangladesh
rakhine
genocide
ethnic cleansing
u.n .
refugees


Labor activists in China go missing after suspected coordinated raids

Abstract: SHENZHEN, CHINA - At least 12 Chinese labor activists have gone missing in recent days, in what sources close to them believe was a coordinated effort by authorities to silence the vocal group, most of them university students or recent graduates. Authorities took away at least nine activists in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen late Friday, and three more activists were taken away Sunday in the city of Wuhan, the sources said. The Ministry of Public Security, which oversees police forces across the country, did not respond to a faxed request for comment. The detentions appear to be the latest action by the authorities against a small but growing movement driven by students and graduates of some top universities who have said they are motivated by the principles of Marxism. The ruling Communist Party, which espouses Marxism as one of its leading ideologies, opposes any form of activism or organization that has the potential to slip beyond its control. At least five graduates of Peking University, one of the country’s top universities, were among those picked up Friday, student activists said. Last month, Cornell University in the United States ceased cooperation in two exchange programs with Renmin University, another prominent institution in Beijing, after students there were punished for supporting labor rights. The young activists attracted attention from authorities in August when about 50 students from across China converged in the south to support factory workers at Jasic International, a welding machinery firm, seeking to form a union. Later that month, police in riot gear stormed an apartment in the city of Huizhou where the students were staying, detaining some of them. “I think the authorities have decided now is the right time to settle the score,” one student activist at a university in Beijing said. “The authorities want to shut down the Jasic Workers Support Group in one fell swoop. Why else would they suddenly conduct raids of such a large scale and arrest so many people at once?” the student added, speaking on condition of anonymity. On Friday, unidentified men grabbed Zhang Shengye, a recent Peking University graduate, on the university’s campus at around 10:30 p.m. and bundled him into a car, according to a witness and screenshots of posts, apparently written by students, on the university’s internal messaging board. The posts were later deleted. A video circulated on social media by a Peking University student who said he was at the scene and who described what happened to Zhang. “I heard one of them yell ‘that’s him, shove him into the car’, and then I saw three to five people grab a student and bundle him into a car,” the student says in the video. He said he and other students who were nearby were pushed to the ground and prevented from leaving until they deleted any photos or videos of the scene. Reuters could not independently verify the authenticity of the video, which showed no pictures of Zhang’s suspected detention. A Peking University spokesman confirmed that someone had been detained but said the incident did not involve teachers or students. “Public security organs in accordance with law seized noncampus affiliated persons suspected of committing a crime,” the spokesman said. Zhang had been in southern China in August to protest against the treatment of the Jasic factory workers and had been involved in a wide range of social issues on campus. “We aren’t solely focused on one particular issue. We’re interested in improving society in all kinds of ways, whether it is improving the lives of factory workers, fighting for gender equality or advocating for environmental sustainability,” Zhang said Aug. 23 in a crowded apartment in a village that primarily houses migrant workers in Huizhou.


Ohitorisama: the Japanese art of going solo becomes growing consumer trend

Abstract: Every so often, 33-year-old Masaki Kitakoga slips into a tiny booth with a desk and a chair and belts out karaoke tunes for 90 minutes — completely on his own. Kitakoga is part of a growing trend in Japan favoring solo activities that is now so widespread it has its own name: ohitorisama , or “on your own.” Analysts say that Japan’s demographic makeup — more than one third of households contain just one person — makes it perfect for the solo market, with many also craving “me time” in a fast-paced, interconnected and workaholic society. Karaoke, in many ways the archetypal social activity, is a case in point. Six years ago, the Koshidaka karaoke chain realized that some 30 percent of its customers in certain locations came on their own, so it set up “1Kara” — tiny booths for solo singers. Now the firm runs a network of eight specialty karaoke parlors that each sees “tens of thousands” of crooners flock to its solo booths, according to Daiki Yamatani, a spokesman for the chain. “It’s a truly liberating experience,” said Kitakoga. “I like to sing. But beyond that, this lets me shake off stress.” As demand for such services grows, the stigma of doing activities alone has decreased, added Kitakoga, who also sings karaoke occasionally with friends. Many lone karaoke singers say they like singing just the songs they want to, without bowing to peer pressure for sing-along classics that everyone else knows. Signs of ohitorisama are everywhere in Japan, from cinemas offering seats with partitions to theme parks that let singles jump the line at certain rides. Grocery stores sell condiments and vegetables for single diners while travel agents design itineraries aimed at the solo voyager. The “super solo society” has become a buzzword among social scientists and marketing gurus. “Businesses are offering various goods and services to meet the trend of people enjoying solo activities,” said Motoko Matsushita, senior consultant with Nomura Research Institute. “The depth and range of such services reflect the expanding nature of the consumer trend,” she said. The growing phenomenon is also helping to liberate individuals from feeling like they have to conform to peer pressure, added Matsushita. Surveys show Japanese consumers — especially younger ones — rate quality time alone above hours spent with family and friends. Official data show the ratio of households with parents and children is gradually shrinking as fewer adults form relationships. In 1980 in Japan, only one in 50 men had never been married by the age of 50 and one in 22 women. That ratio is now 1 in 4 and 1 in 7, respectively. The demographic shift comes as Japan also grapples with a rapidly graying population, with nearly 28 percent of Japanese people over the age of 65. And the pace of modern life, with its ubiquitous social media, is also pushing this trend, experts say, as fatigued people seek relief from round-the-clock contact. “Our data show sociable individuals tend to … seek solo activities,” said Matsushita, a married mother-of-two, who says she too is partial to a spot of solo karaoke. Restaurants are also cashing in. At the Ichiran ramen chain, it is possible to have a meal with barely any human interaction whatsoever. Customers order from vending machines and then sit in a partitioned booth to slurp down their noodles, unlike the experience at many ramen joints, where orders are shouted by teams of chefs behind greasy counters. “We were doing this even before the solo activities trend started. This ‘personal space’ concept has been well received in foreign markets too,” said Satomi Nozaki, spokeswoman at the popular chain, which also has outlets overseas. Karaoke fan Kitakoga also enjoys solo travel, taking himself off alone to a remote island in southern Japan last year. “Sure, it would have been fun to travel with friends too. But I knew what I wanted to do there and it was fantastic because I was able to do everything I wanted to do at the pace I wanted to do it,” he said.


Entrepreneur generates electricity solely from used cooking oil collected throughout Tokyo

Abstract: For Yumi Someya, Tokyo is an untapped oil field, full of potential to generate electricity. The precious fuel, however, doesn’t exist underground. It’s a resource sitting in the kitchens of millions of Japanese homes — cooking oil. Someya’s ultimate goal is to collect every last drop of used cooking oil, turn it into fuel and distribute the electricity generated from it to the households and businesses that provided it in the first place — a perfect cycle of energy. “I want to tell consumers that there is an environment-friendly way to generate electricity that does not rely on nuclear power plants at all,” said Someya, 50. Someya runs two organizations — U’s Corp., which turns used cooking oil into fuel, and Tokyo Yu Denryoku, which distributes electricity from two power plants that utilize the recycled fuel. U’s collects around 60 tons of oil per month from 3,000 restaurants and 500 collection sites at pharmacies, gyms and other places throughout Tokyo and the surrounding area. Someya has been in the business of recycling cooking oil for the past 27 years, but she became even more determined after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, causing three core meltdowns that contaminated the Tohoku region and depriving it of power. Someya and her employees delivered food and supplies sent from Taiwan to Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture. Each of the company’s cars bore a logo that said, “Fueled by used tempura oil.” “People who saw them kept talking enthusiastically, saying Japan needs such renewable energy,” she said. “Even the local people who went through the worst and faced severe losses tried to encourage me to continue on with it.” Someya first rose to fame in 2009 when she was listed as one of Time magazine’s Heroes of the Environment for her efforts to turn cooking oil into biodiesel fuel. In the nine years since, Someya pioneered a way to turn cooking oil into fuel without changing it into biodiesel first. She also launched an electricity distribution company that provides power generated solely from used cooking oil in the same areas served by Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc., better known as Tepco. “My oil-recycling company has evolved into an electricity distribution company,” Someya said. The passion for recycling used oil runs in the family. Her grandfather started a resale business in a small factory in Tokyo’s Sumida Ward in 1949, when Japan was trying to rebuild from the devastation of World War II. Her father eventually became the president of the company — Someya Shoten. Fast-forward to the late 1980s, when Someya, then 18 and fed up with the competitive academic life in Tokyo, left home with a backpack and began traveling around Asia. Her travels led her to a near encounter with a deadly landslide along the border of Nepal and China that local people claimed was triggered by deforestation. “I could have been killed if I had passed that section of road just five minutes earlier,” she said. “I was overwhelmed by the fact that human activities could cause such an environmental tragedy.” She returned to Tokyo determined to start a business as a social entrepreneur, only to be shot down by everyone she talked to. It didn’t help that it was the late 1980s, when Japan was in the midst of the bubble economy and consumerism was rampant. “Everyone talked to me as though I was an idiot because it was believed that environmental businesses would not benefit the Japanese economy,” said Someya. Fed up, Someya retreated to Hong Kong, working at a travel agency to support backpackers like herself. However, during a later visit to her father’s oil recycling shop, she came to realize that “the solution to my quest was where I was born.” Upon turning 23, Someya joined her father’s oil-recycling company, which two years later succeeded in turning used cooking oil into biodiesel. Marketed as Vegetable Biodiesel Fuel, Someya Shoten was the first in the world to commercialize such a fuel, which does not produce sulfur oxides and reduces black smoke emissions to about half that produced by conventional diesel. Despite the success, Someya started her own company in 1997 with a focus on being environment-friendly after clashing with her father over business strategy. Just a few employees from her father’s company joined her. However, for many of those who have long worked in the business as truck drivers, it was difficult to understand Someya’s mindset since she urged them to be not only drivers but salespeople. They thought the whole idea was a big hassle, so they left the company one by one. It was also hard to motivate people to save their used oil for the company’s weekly collection. Unlike cans and bottles, Someya’s company charged restaurants and companies where collection sites were located ¥10,000 per year as a collection fee. “For cans and glass bottles, people get paid for collecting and recycling them. But for the used oil, my company was charging clients. They did not really see the benefit,” said Someya. After enduring the ups and downs, Someya’s company now operates two power plants that generate 100 percent of their electricity from used cooking oil. Her latest mission is to create a society in Sumida Ward where fuel is recycled to generate electricity. Since her company provides electricity to people and businesses who provide used oil, she aims to have 20,000 ward residents participate in the program. “Once I succeed in building a model at the ward level, it will be possible to apply it to any town, even in the countryside,” said Someya, adding that such a system would avoid having all profits just go to major utilities. “‘Think globally and act locally’ as well as ‘produce and consume locally’ are my mottos,” Someya said. “And I’m still not giving up on becoming a used-oil magnate.”

yumi someya
environment
renewable energy


South Korean lawyers representing wartime laborers rebuffed by Nippon Steel in Tokyo

Abstract: Lawyers representing four South Koreans, recently awarded damages by the country’s top court for wartime labor, were rebuffed Monday when they visited a Japanese steel maker in Tokyo to demand it pay the compensation. After a request to hold a meeting was rejected by Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp., Kim Se-un, one of the lawyers, told reporters that they will “start procedures to seize” the assets of the Japanese company’s affiliates in South Korea as a way to secure damages. The lawyers and supporters of the plaintiffs had planned to hand over a document calling on Nippon Steel to comply with the final ruling, which was issued Oct. 30. The South Korean top court ordered the company to pay a total of 400 million won ($350,000) to the four victims who were forced to work during Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. The lawyers were greeted by a security guard at reception, who read out a message stating that the company believes the ruling “goes against” the Japanese government’s position that the issue of compensation was settled under a 1965 bilateral accord. The lawyers gave up on submitting the document and left the building after making another request for a meeting. “We are disappointed that the company made the security guard, who was not even an employee, read out the statement and turned us away at the door,” Im Jae-song said. He said the assets that the plaintiffs plan to seize will include stocks of Nippon Steel’s related companies. “Three of the four plaintiffs have already died. We will continue … to call on the company to comply with the ruling as a company in a country ruled by law,” Im added. The Japanese government has called on Nippon Steel not to comply with the South Korean ruling. The company has not yet clarified its own position. Naoyoshi Yamamoto, secretary-general of a Japanese group supporting the former laborers in the lawsuit, who accompanied the South Korean lawyers, said, “The plaintiffs’ lives were destroyed by the forced labor. I want the company to face the fact, and offer an apology.” The newspaper of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party carried an editorial Sunday supporting the South Korean court ruling. The editorial in the Rodong Sinmum lambasted objections to the ruling by Japanese government officials as “barefaced impudence.” It is possible that North Korea will in the future push its own demands for compensation for Japanese colonial rule by referring to the same ruling. The newspaper criticized by name Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has called the Seoul ruling “unbelievable” and indicated that Tokyo could take the case to the International Court of Justice.

wartime labor
nippon steel & sumitomo metal corp .
south korea-japan relations


Despite depopulation, only 14.6% in Japan feel local communities should accept foreign workers: survey

Abstract: While more than half of Japanese feel that their communities are shrinking, only about 14 percent believe it is necessary for society to actively accept foreign workers and those wishing to settle in order to keep their regions going, a survey has found. The survey, which covered 2,000 people aged 18 or over nationwide, was conducted by Jiji Press in an interview format between Oct. 5-8 and received valid answers from 62.6 percent of participants. According to the survey, 83.5 percent said they enjoyed living in their communities. The combined share of respondents who feel that the population of their community is decreasing either “very much” or “somewhat” came to 56.4 percent. The proportion was high among elderly respondents, standing at 68.5 percent for people aged 70 or over and 65.8 percent for those in their 60s, and low among younger generations, at 38.8 percent for people aged 18-29 and 43.0 percent for those in their 30s. Asked about the measures needed to keep their communities viable, with multiple answers allowed, 71.8 percent — the largest group — called for financial assistance from local authorities to attract young couples raising families to live there. The second-largest group, or 27.9 percent, cited the need to create jobs in local areas through deregulation in the agriculture, forestry and fisheries industries, followed by 19.8 percent who pointed to the importance of companies introducing teleworking systems to enable employees to work in remote areas. Only 14.6 percent said that local communities should actively accept workers and settlers from abroad, according to the survey. The proportion showed little difference between respondents who support the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and those who do not support the administration, coming to 15.6 percent and 16.0 percent, respectively. A government-sponsored bill to revise the immigration control law has been submitted to the Diet. A major feature of the amendment is a plan to introduce new types of resident status, designed to accept more foreign workers in order to cover serious labor shortages in the nation.

depopulation
survey
foreign residents
regional areas


From Yukio Mishima with love: Former lighthouse keeper reminisces about correspondence with novelist

Abstract: Michio Suzuki, 87, of Toyohashi, Aichi Prefecture, met renowned novelist Yukio Mishima (1925-70) in March 1953 when he was working at Kamishima Lighthouse in Toba, Mie Prefecture. Since then, they exchanged letters, nine of which Suzuki has kept for more than 50 years. “(The letters were) like love letters. He was such a kind person,” Suzuki said. Mishima visited Kamishima Island, located at the mouth of Ise Bay, twice — first in March 1953 and again during August and September of the same year — and published “Shiosai” (The Sound of Waves), one of his best-selling novels, the following year. The novel depicts a romance between a fisherman and an ama (female diver) set on a fictional island in Ise Bay. Kamishima is believed to have been the island that inspired Mishima to base his story on. He was awarded the first Shincho Prize for the book, and several films have been made since it was published. “He was pale-faced and I had the impression that he was an urban-style young man,” Suzuki said, recalling the time when he first met Mishima at the age of 21. “He called me with (the honorific suffix) san and behaved politely and sincerely.” Out of curiosity, Suzuki tagged along with Mishima with a camera as he explored the island. Suzuki said he doesn’t remember how they started exchanging letters. “Maybe I sent him photographs,” he said. The nine letters he kept are dated between March 20, 1953, soon after his first visit, and Nov. 19, 1965, five years before Mishima committed suicide. In the first letter, Mishima talked about Suzuki’s task of keeping records of ships that pass by the lighthouse and sending telegrams so that cargo owners at ports nearby can start preparing. He wrote: “I like Kamishima Lighthouse much more (than other lighthouses) because of the records of shipping movements, which is fascinating.” During his roughly one-week stay, Mishima repeatedly visited the lighthouse to watch Suzuki write in the log and send telegrams. “Maybe he liked that kind of solitary job,” Suzuki said. Mishima, apparently having taken to Suzuki, asked him if it was alright to make Suzuki appear in the novel he was working on. But, after hearing that the novel was a romance, Suzuki politely declined the offer. Then Mishima told him later that he wrote about a young lighthouse watchman based on Suzuki in a play “Fune no Aisatsu” (Greetings at the Boat). “I wanted to nurture that watch house, and you, with my poetic urge,” Mishima wrote in the letter. “Since (the play) was not a romance, I wasn’t embarrassed but was happy that he wrote about me,” Suzuki said. Suzuki sent letters with photographs when he got married and had a child. Their exchanges of letters continued until Mishima committed suicide. “He was a kind man who laughed wildly. I couldn’t associate him with suicide,” he said. The nine letters were put on public display in July, after they were confirmed by Hideaki Sato, head of Mishima Yukio Literary Museum in Yamanakako, Yamanashi Prefecture, as examples of Mishima’s unpublished letters. “The letters are written in a far too passionate way for those sent to a young man he met on an island,” Sato said. “Maybe he was trying to control his feelings toward Mr. Suzuki when he was writing them.” “Telegrams reporting on passing ships appear also in his last work ‘Tennin Gosui’ (The Decay of the Angel). He must have been thinking of Mr. Suzuki until his last years.”

yukio mishima
lighthouse
michio suzuki
kamishima
mie
shiosai


Dollar weaker around ¥114 in late Tokyo trading

Abstract: The dollar was weaker around ¥114 in Tokyo trading late Tuesday, after trimming early losses due to some easing of concerns over U.S.-China trade friction. At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥114.06-06, down from ¥114.16-16 at the same time Monday. The euro was at $1.1237-1238, down from $1.1259-1263, and at ¥128.17-18, down from ¥128.55-55. The dollar moved around ¥113.80 in the early morning amid a risk-averse mood generated by a plunge in U.S. and European equities overnight. The U.S. currency dropped below ¥113.60 as fears for a global stock sell-off strengthened after the Nikkei 225 stock average briefly plunged 785 points following a weak start. Later in the morning, the dollar moved around ¥113.70, partly backed by dollar buying by Japanese importers. The dollar rose above ¥114 in the early afternoon following a media report from Hong Kong that Chinese Vice Premier Liu He will visit the United States ahead of the planned U.S.-China summit late this month. “The risk-averse mood receded due to rises in Shanghai stocks and U.S. long-term interest rates following the report on the Chinese vice premier’s U.S. visit,” an official of a bank-affiliated securities firm said. “The Nikkei’s resistance to a further drop supported the dollar against the yen,” a currency broker said. In late trading, the dollar gained further steam, aided by position-adjusting purchases. Tuesday was the deadline for Italy to submit a revised budget draft to the European Commission. “The dollar has no momentum to chase higher ground,” the currency broker said, noting investor caution over the Italy issue.


Nikkei follows Wall Street deep into negative territory

Abstract: The Nikkei 225 average took a plunge Tuesday, with investor sentiment battered by an overnight tumble in U.S. stocks. The Nikkei fell 459.36 points, or 2.06 percent, to end at 21,810.52 after losing nearly 800 points briefly in morning trading. On Monday, the key market gauge rose 19.63 points. The Topix, which covers all first-section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, closed 33.50 points, or 2.00 percent, lower at 1,638.45. It dropped 1.03 points Monday. The TSE opened sharply lower after the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index sagged 2.78 percent Monday, as investor concerns about earnings at Apple Inc. spurred selling of the U.S. technology giant and industry competitors. Lower European equities also dampened sentiment in the Tokyo market, brokers said. In addition, investors were worried about a deterioration in the market’s supply-demand balance following the planned Dec. 19 listing on the TSE of SoftBank Corp., the mobile phone unit of major internet and telecommunications conglomerate SoftBank Group, announced by the exchange Monday, brokers said. After the initial selling ran its course, stocks recouped some losses in the afternoon, helped by the yen’s weakening against the dollar following news that Chinese Vice Premier Liu He will visit the U.S. soon, brokers said. Liu’s reported visit, believed to be aimed at easing U.S.-China trade friction, alleviated investor worries, an official of a foreign-affiliated brokerage firm said. “Apple and SoftBank are the main factors” behind the Tokyo market’s plunge, an official of a bank-linked securities firm said. But the official suggested that individual investors hunted for bargains, supporting the market’s downside. “Stocks are expected to move unstably” until early next week, said Yutaka Miura, senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities Co. Miura said he expects Tokyo stocks to rebound from late next week to the end of the month on hopes for a U.S.-China summit slated for the end of the month. Falling issues far outnumbered rising ones 1,846 to 230 in the first section, while 35 issues were unchanged. Volume increased to 1.609 billion shares from 1.231 billion Monday. Apple-related issues met with selling. They included Murata Manufacturing, Kyocera and Alps Electric. Kajima lost 3.82 percent after an upper revision to its operating profit forecast for the year to March, released by the general contractor Tuesday, failed to beat market expectations, brokers said. By contrast, SoftBank Group and cosmetics maker Shiseido were higher.


Amnesty International strips Aung San Suu Kyi of highest honor

Abstract: LONDON - Amnesty International on Monday stripped Aung San Suu Kyi of its highest honor over the de facto Myanmar leader’s “indifference” to the atrocities committed by the country’s military against Rohingya Muslims. The London-based global human rights organization said it was revoking the Ambassador of Conscience Award it gave Suu Kyi in 2009 while she was still under house arrest. “Today, we are profoundly dismayed that you no longer represent a symbol of hope, courage, and the undying defense of human rights,” Amnesty International chief Kumi Naidoo said in a letter to Suu Kyi released by the group. “Amnesty International cannot justify your continued status as a recipient of the Ambassador of Conscience award and so with great sadness we are hereby withdrawing it from you.” The group said it informed Suu Kyi of the decision on Sunday. She has so far issued no public response. Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) party swept to power in 2015 in a landslide victory ending decades of military rule in the southeast Asian country of around 50 million. But her tenure has been marred by a failure to speak up for Rohingya Muslims who were driven out of the country by the army in what the United Nations has called an ethnic cleansing campaign. The 73-year-old was stripped of her honorary Canadian citizenship over her failure to speak up for the Rohingyas last month. She has also lost numerous smaller awards from individual universities and local and regional governments. More than 720,000 Rohingya Muslims fled the Buddhist majority’s western Rakhine state in a military crackdown from August last year. Many are believed to have been either murdered, tortured or raped. Suu Kyi was globally hailed as a freedom fighter who stood up to her country’s feared military dictatorship while spending 15 years under house arrest. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.

aung san suu kyi
myanmar
rohingya
rights
ethnic cleansing


Myanmar's neighbors to call for 'accountability' in Rakhine crisis: draft statement

Abstract: SINGAPORE - Southeast Asian nations will call for those responsible for atrocities in Myanmar’s Rakhine state to be held “fully accountable,” according to a statement prepared for a regional summit, reflecting a stronger line being taken within the group. The draft of the chairman’s statement, which was reviewed by Reuters but may change before it is delivered by host Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the close of meetings of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), said the situation in Rakhine State was a “matter of concern.” The Singapore government did not immediately comment on the draft statement. A final statement could be issued after the ASEAN leaders meet late on Tuesday. Myanmar government spokesman Zaw Htay did not answer calls seeking comment on the summit message. A U.N. report in August detailed mass killings and gang rapes with genocidal intent in a Myanmar military crackdown that began in 2017 and drove hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims from Rakhine into neighboring Bangladesh. It called for its commander-in-chief and five generals to be prosecuted under international law. Myanmar has denied most of the allegations in the report. Myanmar’s de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, who will be joining the summit in Singapore, has been widely criticized for her handling of the crisis. Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, ASEAN’s seniormost leader, was scathing about the Nobel peace laureate on Tuesday when asked about the situation in Myanmar. “It would seem that Aung San Suu Kyi is trying to defend what is indefensible,” the 93-year-old told reporters in Singapore. “We are very disappointed, because someone who has been detained before knows the sufferings, and should not inflict it on others.” Amnesty International said on Tuesday it had withdrawn its most prestigious human rights prize from Suu Kyi, accusing her of perpetuating human rights abuses by not speaking out about violence against the Rohingya. “We called on the Independent Commission of Enquiry established by the Government of Myanmar to carry out an independent and impartial investigation of the allegations of human rights violations and related issues, and hold those responsible fully accountable,” said the ASEAN chairman’s draft statement. The Rohingya crisis is one of the biggest man-made disasters involving a member since ASEAN was founded in 1967, and it is one of the thorniest issues yet faced by a group that traditionally works by consensus and is reluctant to get involved in matters deemed internal to its members. In July, Myanmar established a commission of inquiry to probe allegations of human rights abuses in Rakhine, which includes two local and two international members from Japan and the Philippines. The draft statement repeated ASEAN’s previous calls on the importance of the repatriation of displaced persons to Myanmar, humanitarian relief and reconciliation among communities, but went further in calling for accountability for the alleged atrocities. The strengthening of rhetoric in the draft was flagged earlier this year by Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan who said his ASEAN peers had urged Myanmar to give the inquiry commission a full mandate to hold those responsible accountable. A source close to pre-summit discussions, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Singapore was leaning towards a stronger stance because it is the most internationally engaged member of ASEAN and feels responsibility as summit host to protect its credibility. It was not clear if all members of the grouping would back the sternest statement to date from ASEAN on the Rakhine issue. ASEAN’s Muslim-majority members- Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei- tend to take the toughest line on the Rohingya question, while Myanmar has close regional allies in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. Under military control in recent years, Thailand has also provided cover for Myanmar.

myanmar
asean
rohingya
aung san suu kyi
mahathir mohamad
rights