A couple in their 60s were arrested early Saturday after a police bomb squad was deployed to check out suspicious items dumped along two expressways spanning five prefectures that later turned out to be containers of glue.
Fourteen parking and rest stops on the interconnected expressways were temporarily closed Friday until the police confirmed no explosives or toxic substances were in the metal containers, which were about 10 cm in diameter and 6 cm tall. (Japan Times)
Couple held after causing bomb scare
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The Scot who shaped Japan
This coming Friday, Dec. 16, 2011, marks the centenary of the death in his opulent home in the Shiba Park area of Tokyo's central Azabu district of the Scottish-born trader Thomas Blake Glover, who became the first foreigner ever decorated by the Japanese government when he was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun (second class) in 1908.
Despite that remarkable distinction, however, Glover's life and his contribution to the creation of modern Japan and, unknown (but not unsensed) by him, to its ultimate humiliation in 1945, has registered only unevenly and with some unease in today's still often palpably postwar Japan. And that despite it being a tale of such ambiguities, such outright roguery and cutthroat capitalism - and yet of such vision, too - that it beggars belief it has not already had the "Last Samurai" treatment. (Japan Times)
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Firms facing labor shortages at Vietnam plants
Japanese companies that built plants in Vietnam to capitalize on its lowly paid workforce are finding the country is no longer such a cheap and abundant source of labor.
Wages have risen steeply in Vietnam in line with the country's rapid economic development, while fierce competition for skilled workers has increased worker turnover rates at plants built by Japanese firms.
Japanese companies have flocked to Vietnam to tap its young workforce. According to the Japan External Trade Organization's office in Hanoi, the number of corporate members in the local association of Japanese businesses jumped from around 330 in 2001 to about 1,000 in October 2011. (Japan Times)
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Chilling out in a warm Kume Island way
The first thing a good beach does is immediately make you want to take your watch off. But what makes a really great beach is when you do that - and then kick off your shoes as well. That's exactly what I did when I arrived at Eef Beach on Kume Island, Okinawa.
The university near Naha on Okinawa Island where I teach on Tuesdays and Fridays canceled classes on Tuesday, Oct. 24 for a students' "Career Day" - meaning that, as my weekends are usually free, I was looking (with delight) at a windfall four-day break. Pacing my pleasure, though, I spent the Saturday taking care of this and that, and the Sunday sleeping in, resting up and checking out where to go, and how.
I opted to take the ferry named Naha from Naha's Tomari Port to Kume Island, about 95 km to the west in the East China Sea. (Japan Times)
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Meiji ignored tipoffs on cesium in formula
Meiji Co. was tipped off on three separate occasions in mid-November that its milk formula may be contaminated with radioactive cesium, but ignored the information for about two weeks, sources said.
The major food maker only looked into the matter after it was approached by Kyodo News and a citizens' group earlier this month, the sources said.
Meiji said it had initially concluded that "further investigation was unnecessary" because one of the tipoffs was made by an anonymous caller and the other two, from concerned consumers, cited Internet information the company was unable to confirm. (Japan Times)
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Wild monkeys to carry forest fallout monitors
Fukushima University researchers plan to measure forest radiation levels in Fukushima Prefecture by placing special monitoring collars on wild monkeys, in light of the nuclear crisis.
Each of the collars contains a small radiation meter and a Global Positioning System transmitter, and can be unclipped by remote control. This will allow a team led by robotics professor Takayuki Takahashi to recover the collars and collect the data within one to two months after the monkeys are released back into the wild, they said.
Radiation in forests is currently monitored mainly from the air, for example by helicopter, but the researchers believe they can get more detailed data through wild monkeys and aim to implement the project in an area of the city of Minamisoma by spring. (Japan Times)
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H-IIA radar satellite launch delayed
The launch of a radar satellite aboard an H-IIA rocket has been pushed back a day after inclement weather was forecast for Sunday, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said Saturday.
The launch from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture will now take place between 10:21 and 10:35 a.m. Monday.
The radar satellite is part of a government program aimed at enhancing its intelligence-gathering capabilities, but is also said to be useful for collecting data on natural disasters. The program was launched after North Korea in 1998 fired a Taepodong-1 ballistic missile over Japan and into the Pacific Ocean. (Japan Times)
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Govt decides tax cut plan for next year / Focus on car owners, 'eco' home buyers
After struggling until late Friday night to come to an agreement with a Democratic Party of Japan tax panel, the government decided early Saturday on an outline of a set of tax changes for fiscal 2012, including a cut of 150 billion yen a year on levies for car owners.
The outline approved by the Cabinet is in preparation of the compilation of an initial state budget for the next fiscal year starting April 1. The Finance Ministry is scheduled to draft the budget by the end of the year.
The biggest difference in views in the talks between the government and the DPJ on the tax changes was over the party's proposal for abolishing the acquisition and weight taxes for vehicle owners. (Yomiuri)
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Ichikawa hindering Okinawa tasks
With Defense Minister Yasuo Ichikawa remaining in his post despite the passage of a censure motion against him, further turmoil over the relocation of the U. S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture is inevitable.
The House of Councillors on Friday passed a censure motion against Ichikawa over a series of gaffes, including an injudicious statement related to the 1995 rape of a schoolgirl in Okinawa Prefecture. As a result, the Okinawa prefectural government has said it would be difficult to establish a relationship of trust with Ichikawa.
According to observers, it has become harder for the central government to obtain the understanding of the Okinawa prefectural government about the transfer of the Futenma base to the Henoko district of Nago in the prefecture as long as Ichikawa remains in the post. (Yomiuri)
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Fukushima gov. given details of recovery bill
Tatsuo Hirano, state minister for reconstruction, explained the gist of a bill on the special measures law on Fukushima Prefecture's restoration and revitalization in a meeting with Fukushima Gov. Yuhei Sato at the Fukushima prefectural government office on Saturday morning.
The central government plans to submit the bill at an ordinary Diet session to be convened next month.
In the wake of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, the bill will include provisions that enable the central government to take over the restoration work such as restoration of water supply and sewerage systems based on requests from local governments, according to government officials. (Yomiuri)
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Japan apologizes to Canadian war prisoners
The Japanese government on Thursday apologized to former Canadian prisoners of war for their suffering during the Second World War, according to a Canadian statement.
The apology was delivered in Tokyo by Japan's Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Toshiyuki Kato to Canadian Veterans Affairs Minister Steven Blaney and a group of veterans of the Battle of Hong Kong.
"The terrible pain and heavy burden of the Second World War have given way to a mutually beneficial, respectful relationship between Canada and Japan as mature democracies-a legacy of all who served in the Pacific campaigns," Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said in a statement. (AFP)
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Badminton: 16-year-old Okuhara becomes youngest national badminton champion
Nozomi Okuhara became the youngest champion ever at the national badminton championships Sunday at 16 years, 8 months, when five-time winner Eriko Hirose withdrew about 10 minutes before the women's singles final due to acute gastroenteritis.
Okuhara also became the first high school player to win the event since 18-year-old Aiko Miyamura achieved the feat in 1989.
"This hasn't sunk in yet because I didn't play today, but I'm happy," said Okuhara, who goes to Omiya Higashi High School in Saitama Prefecture. (Japan Times)
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Noda welcomes road map for new climate-talks framework
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda welcomed Sunday the outcome of just-ended U.N. climate talks, citing its adoption of a road map for launching a new framework in 2020 to tackle greenhouse gas emissions.
The 17th Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change "could reap significant results such as a road map toward building a new legal framework in which all countries participate," Noda said in a released comment.
The newly endorsed measure is supported by major emitters China and the United States. (Japan Times)
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Researchers develop method to form blood platelets from stem cells
A team of researchers from Kyoto University and the University of Tokyo has worked out a method using artificially created stem cells to produce a large volume of cells from which blood platelets can be derived outside the human body.
The method using so-called induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells may prove to be a boon for those who need repeated blood transfusions such as patients with blood cancers as well as aplastic anemia who suffer from declining bone marrow function.
(Japan Times)
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After Japan's apology, Canada's Hong Kong vets remember
Ian Englehart says his father hated Christmas Day.
On Dec. 25, 1941, his father Harold was one of the nearly 2,000 Canadian soldiers who surrendered to the Japanese while fighting in Hong Kong. The soldiers were taken prisoner, living in poor conditions, often without adequate food or medical treatment. Englehart's father was taken to a camp in Japan, where he was made to work in a coal mine. Englehart says although his father remained strong once he was freed, he found it difficult to tell his stories, and rarely spoke of the ordeal. (Ottawa Citizen)
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Japan consumer mood worsens in Nov, govt cuts view
Japanese consumer confidence
in November worsened from the previous month, a Cabinet Office
survey showed on Monday, suggesting that turmoil from Europe's
debt crisis and slowing global growth are weighing on sentiment.
The survey's sentiment index for general households, which
includes views on incomes and jobs, was 38.1 in November, down
from 38.6 in October.
The Cabinet Office downgraded its assessment to say that
consumer confidence is almost flat. Previously, it had said the
pace of pickup in consumer confidence was moderating. (Reuters)
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Nikkei gains on Europe deal; stops short of 75-day avg
The Nikkei average gained on
Monday after European leaders agreed to draft a new treaty for
deeper economic integration, but market players said the
short-covering bounce may not last as the deal was no panacea
for the region's long-term debt worries.
The Nikkei closed just below its 75-day moving average and
trading volume was thin, in a sign investors were still not
confident that the worst for the debt crisis is over in Europe.
"Europe is about one month behind the schedule they
announced in October, in terms of putting the bailout fund to
work and reinforcing banks capital. The European crisis will
continue to be a burden on the market," said Mamoru Suzuki,
chief economist at Mizuho Research & Consulting. (Reuters)
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Japan launches new spy satellite
Japan launched a new spy satellite into orbit on Monday amid concerns over North Korea's missile programme and to monitor natural disasters in the region, officials said.
The Japanese H-2A rocket carrying an information-gathering radar satellite lifted off at 10:21 am (0121 GMT) from the Tanegashima Space Center in southwestern Japan.
"The rocket was launched successfully," said Toshiyuki Miura, a spokesman for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which built the satellite and worked on the launch with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
"The satellite was separated into orbit around the Earth later," Miura added.
The government decided to build an intelligence-gathering system after North Korea launched a missile in 1998 that flew over the Japanese archipelago and into the Pacific, shocking many in Japan. (AFP)
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Christian Bale defends film on Nanjing Massacre
Oscar winning actor Christian Bale defended his upcoming Nanjing Massacre film "The Flowers of War," by China's most famous director, Zhang Yimou, as more than an anti-Japanese propaganda film.
In the film, Bale plays an American drifter who becomes the unwitting protector of a group of Chinese schoolgirls and prostitutes trying to escape the Japanese army's brutal sacking of China's wartime capital.
The Nanjing Massacre, in which Japanese troops killed tens of thousands of Chinese civilians, is an episode from history that Japan has never acknowledged to China's satisfaction. (telegraph.co.uk)
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Nuclear utilities face Y50 billion disaster fee
Nuclear power utilities might be ordered to chuck about ¥50 billion into the entity that's financing Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s compensation payments for the Fukushima disaster, government sources said Monday.
The utility known as Tepco is expected to be the largest contributor to the state-backed Nuclear Damage Liability Facilitation Fund, tossing in about ¥17 billion toward its own cause.
The annual contributions are designed to make utilities that run nuclear power plants in Japan share some of the burden of the Fukushima disaster, the world's worst nuclear accident since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
(Japan Times)
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