Tokyo toilet gleams with more than cleanliness
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Locals worried by ice, snow falling from Tokyo Sky Tree
The builders of Tokyo Sky Tree have announced some of the technologies that have been installed to deal with the winter weather, after it was confirmed that chunks of snow and ice had fallen from the upper portion of the structure to the street below between January and March this year.
Fuji TV reported Sunday that local residents are concerned about the danger of falling bits of ice, some of which have landed within a 400-meter radius of Tokyo Sky Tree.
A spokesperson for Tobu Railway Company, which operates Tokyo Sky Tree, said that on the observation deck, the outside of the windows has been coated with a special kind of glass that is designed to prevent snow from falling to the ground. Embedded in the glass, developers say, are 3,000 tiny electric heaters that are designed to melt the snow and stop it from building up, Fuji TV reported. (Japan Today)
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Japan picks Lockheed F-35 fighter as allies stress tight ties
Japan picked Lockheed Martin's F-35 jet as its next mainstay fighter on Tuesday, choosing the aircraft over combat-proven but less stealthy rivals, as concern simmers over North Korea and as China introduces its own stealth fighters.
The decision came as Japan and the United States stressed that their security alliance was tight in the face of worry about an unstable North Korea after the death of its leader, Kim Jong-il.
Defence Minister Yasuo Ichikawa said the decision to buy 42 of the stealth aircraft, valued by analysts at more than $7 billion, would help Japan adjust to a changing security environment after Monday's announcement of the death of the 69-year-old North Korean leader. (Reuters)
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Japan says arrests China boat captain for illegal fishing
Japan's coastguard said on Tuesday it had arrested the captain of a Chinese fishing boat operating illegally in Japanese waters, though China's response to the incident has so far been muted.
Ties between the two countries deteriorated sharply last year following the detention of the captain of a Chinese trawler that collided with Japanese patrol boats near disputed islets in the East China Sea.
The latest arrest also comes as Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda is scheduled to visit Beijing for a bilateral summit on Dec 25-26. (Reuters)
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PS Vita Japanese release rocky
The initial launch of the PlayStation Vita handheld in Japan has been a bit rocky. Reports of a number of software issues, as well as system lockups and touchscreen freezes, seem to be the order of the day. Japanese buyers are not happy and are venting their displeasure on social media sites.
Sony is watching, and they have already issued a firmware update to address the issues and they are apparently preparing to issue an apology letter, as well, according to rumors. It is unclear why some of these issues were not resolved before the unit shipped, but at least Sony is trying hard to stay on top of the issues and get them resolved.
(fudzilla.com)
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Rugby: Ex-Wallaby coach Jones 'picked for Japan job'
Former Australia coach Eddie Jones has been chosen to replace All Blacks legend John Kirwan as head coach of the Japan rugby team, media reports said Tuesday.
The Japan Rugby Football Union recommended Jones as the sole candidate for the job when it convened a special meeting on Monday to review the structure of the national team, the reports said.
"I haven't got any comment to make at this stage. Unfortunately I can't help you," 51-year-old Jones, who has been managing Japan's Top League side Suntory Sungoliath since 2009, told AFP.
The union is expected to negotiate with Jones's current employer, Suntory, hoping to appoint him to the head coach's position in April after the Top League season ends in late February. (AFP)
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Japan sales tax debate in final stage as deadline looms
Japan's government has entered the final stage of debate on doubling the 5 percent sales tax to pay for welfare costs, a welcome step towards fiscal consolidation that would still require further tax hikes and spending cuts to lower public debt.
Any delay in the sales tax proposal could draw the ire of ratings agencies, which earlier this year threatened Japan with downgrades.
The government has set itself a year-end deadline to flesh out a plan originally floated in June to reform welfare spending. Some of the details that have emerged so far, such as linking pension payments to Japan's falling consumer prices, would take some pressure off state coffers. (Reuters)
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Analysis: Olympus ex-CEO looks to be losing boardroom bid
Michael Woodford, the ousted boss of Japan's Olympus Corp, has won the battle to force his former employer to admit to more than a decade of accounting fraud. His bid to return as chief executive officer, however, appears doomed.
Woodford has said major lenders to the maker of cameras and medical equipment will decide its fate - and those banks are already lined up behind Olympus managers, seemingly intent on slamming the boardroom door shut on him for good. (Reuters)
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Japan's 'Lolita' style: Cutesy and disturbing
Outlandish pannier skirts with layers of frilly lace; teenage girls with larger-than-life make-up; a dash of sexuality and lashings of Victoriana are the order of the day for Japan's Lolita girls.
What began as a street fashion two decades ago as youngsters aped the doll-like European styles of baroque and rococo has morphed into a near mainstream movement, with dozens of offshoots.
Popular Lolita models such as Misako Aoki were big hits at this autumn's Japan Fashion Week, showing off white parasols and pastel pink puff sleeves with high-laced boots, tiny top hats and huge ribbons.
Taking its name from the title of Vladimir Nabokov's novel about a middle-aged man's sexual obsession with a 12-year-old girl, Lolita style embodies the childhood world of fairytales and comic-book fantasy. (Economic Times)
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Mother cycling with 2 daughters run over at crossing; both children die
A mother riding a bicycle with her two young daughters was run over by a car at a crossing in Tatebayashi, Gunma Prefecture, on Monday afternoon.
Police said Tuesday that the woman has yet to regain consciousness, and that her two daughters died as a result of injuries suffered in the accident. Ayumi, 2, died shortly after the accident, while Junko, 4, died early Tuesday, TV Asahi reported. Neither child was wearing a helmet, reports say.
According to police, the incident occurred at around 5 p.m. on Japan National Route 354. The woman, identified as Clare Sakurai, 34, a Filipino, was riding across a zebra crossing with her two daughters when they were hit by a car, which then proceeded to collide with an oncoming truck and was knocked onto its side, TV Asahi reported. (Japan Today)
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Radioactive water floods tunnel at Fukushima plant
Tokyo Electric Power Co. on Dec. 19 released a photo showing about 230 tons of radioactive water that had accumulated in an underground tunnel at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
The tunnel, adjacent to the central waste treatment building, may have been flooded with water leaked from supposedly waterproof storage containers of highly radioactive water in the building.
The water in the tunnel was discovered on Dec. 18.
TEPCO said the tunnel is about 4.5 meters wide and about 54 meters in length. (Asahi)
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Nikkei gains in thin trade, mood still shaky on Europe
Japan's Nikkei average rose modestly on Tuesday as short-term players bought back shares that had been sold after news of the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il raised fears about regional instability.
Investors also picked up scandal-hit Olympus Corp (7733.T), which snapped a four-day losing streak and jumped 16 percent on a report that it was considering a $1.3 billion capital increase, with high-tech stalwarts Sony (6758.T) and Fujifilm (4901.T) cited as possible buyers.
"Some people are obviously seeing that this will add to its net assets and contribute to the financial health of the company and increase the value of the company," said Masayoshi Okamoto, head of dealing at Jujiya Securities. (Reuters)
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Olympus aims to tap Sony, others for $1.3 bln in new capital
Olympus Corp is preparing to issue about $1.28 billion (100 billion yen) in new shares to bolster its depleted finances, with Japanese high-tech stalwarts Sony and Fujifilm seen as possible buyers, the Nikkei business daily reported.
The report comes after a warning from one of the camera and endoscope maker's leading shareholders that the scandal-tainted board may try to retain control by issuing new shares to dilute the power of existing shareholders.
Olympus shares surged by their daily limit on Tuesday, after falling for four straight sessions on worries about how capital - raising may dilute existing shareholdings, with investors seeming to shift their focus to the firm's finances. (Reuters)
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Immigration changes to come as new law takes effect in July
The revised immigration law will take effect next July 9 and the government will start accepting applications for new residence registration cards on Jan. 13, the Cabinet decided Tuesday, paving the way for increased government scrutiny through a centralized immigration control of foreign nationals.
The amendment will affect foreign nationals who are residing here under medium- to long-term residence status as stipulated by the Immigration Control Act. While some will be exempt from the change, such as special permanent residents of Korean descent, most foreign residents will be required to make a few major changes, including obtaining new registration cards.
The current alien registration cards, overseen by local municipalities, will be replaced with the cards issued by the central government. (Japan Times)
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2011: The year when Japan went global over social networking
A report on Japanese social-networking services usage issued by Nielsen/NetRatings on Nov. 18 made a huge impact in Japan, as the statistics indicated that the number of Mixi users (8.39 million) has fallen below that of Facebook users (11.31 million).
This news was widely picked up by the Japanese media - forcing Mixi to issue an official statement that it has 15.16 million active users. According to Mixi, the Nielsen research only includes traffic coming from personal computers, which accounts for approximately half of Mixi's users. In the company's financial report issued Nov. 2, it states that 80 percent of the traffic to the site is coming from mobile phones, while there is no sign that the majority of Japanese Facebook users are accessing Facebook from their mobiles. (Japan Times)
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U.S. efforts to cut off Iran's oil exports put Japan in tight spot
The latest U.S. sanctions on Iran's oil exports have put Tokyo in a difficult position, with Japanese diplomats and companies scrambling to secure sufficient energy resources while avoiding penalties for continuing to do business with Tehran.
Under the U.S. legislation, which was recently passed by Congress and is awaiting President Barack Obama's signature, Washington will penalize any financial institution found to be conducting business with Iran's central bank, Tehran's conduit for its oil exports.
Iranian crude oil accounted for approximately 10 percent of Japan's total oil imports in fiscal 2010, and the government here is weighing how to end its oil trade with Tehran while maintaining the current level of supply. (Japan Times)
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Research reactor ceiling catches fire
A fire Tuesday partially burned the ceiling of a building housing a nuclear reactor in Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture, the prefectural government and the reactor's operator said.
The fire broke out at around 9:30 a.m. and was extinguished two hours later, they said, adding the blaze at the research reactor facility did not result in a radiation leak and no one was injured.
The ceiling under the building's steel plate roof was set alight by sparks during welding work on the roof, the Japan Atomic Energy Agency said. (Japan Times)
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Economy sees first signs of nasty drop
Kiyohito Okuda is a businessman and an optimist, and so he has found at least one redeeming angle to Japan's slow-motion economic decline: Never has the pain felt too acute to bear.
After years of shrinking sales and curtailed ambitions, he can still handle a little more bad news. When Toyota Motor Corp. recently urged its suppliers - Okuda's auto parts manufacturing company among them - to cut prices 3 percent, Okuda said OK.
Indeed, the request sounded fair. Okuda's profits will wither, but he won't need to take out loans, he said, and he won't lay off any of his 130 workers. The company will still throw its end-of-the-year drinking party. (Japan Times)
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Japan fighter buy bolsters U.S. leverage in Asia
Against the backdrop of renewed uncertainty on the nearby Korean Peninsula, Japan's government today gave a boost to the Pentagon's biggest weapons program by selecting the F-35 fighter as its first line of defense in future conflicts. The stealthy, single-engine fighter is being developed in multiple variants to meet the needs of three U.S. military services and nine overseas allies, but this is the first time it has beaten foreign and domestic competitors in a head-to-head competition.
The F-35, also known as the Joint Strike Fighter, was conceived by the Clinton Administration shortly after the Cold War ended as an affordable, exportable tactical aircraft that could help implement the administration's policies of coalition warfare and burden-sharing. At the time the U.S. was planning to buy a more costly twin-engine tactical aircraft called the F-22 Raptor so that the Air Force could operate a "high-low" mix of fighters, but that plane was not designed to be exported and it was terminated in 2009 with barely half of the service's production requirement met. (Forbes)
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Lady Gaga spending holidays in Japan
She may have spent Thanksgiving in New York City with her family, but Lady Gaga is traveling for Christmas and New Year's. The Mother Monster is going east for the holidays. The Far East, that is. The singer was photographed at LAX in Los Angeles on Monday (Dec. 19) where she caught an outbound flight to Tokyo, Japan.
Shots of Gaga were posted here, as she was cloaked in all-black, wearing a blond wig with bangs and extreme, round sunglasses while breezing through security. While many celebs like to travel comfortably in sweats and Uggs for lengthy flights, Gaga was dressed in typical Gaga regalia, even though she was about to hop on an at least a 12-hour flight. Sometimes we don't know how she does it. We definitely love those flared leg, tassel-decorated pants she was rocking. (popcrush.com)
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