Japan on Thursday indicted a Chinese trawlerman whose ramming of two Japanese coastguard vessels sparked a diplomatic showdown, in a symbolic move that was likely to fizzle out.
The formal indictment came after an independent review panel overturned a decision by prosecutors to drop charges against captain Zhang Qixiong over the incident near disputed islands in the East China Sea.
(AFP)
Japan indicts Chinese trawlerman at centre of spat
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Japan seeks to open more foreign embassies
Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba said on Saturday that Japan would seek a massive expansion of its embassies to enhance its diplomatic influence.
In remarks made in the Japanese city of Nagoya during a speech to explain foreign policy to the public, he said that Japan will enlarge the number of embassies abroad from 134 to at least 150.
China has 30 more embassies around the world than Japan and in particular, China has many more embassies in Africa, he said.
(China Daily)
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Police recruit shoots himself in head at police station
A police recruit in Nagareyama, Chiba Prefecture, is in a coma after he apparently attempted to commit suicide by shooting himself in the head at a police station, authorities said Monday.
Police say the 19-year-old man graduated from police training academy last month and was assigned to Minami-Nagareyama Ekimae police station, where the incident took place on Sunday afternoon at around 1:15, TBS reported. Aside from the officer in question, the only other people present in the station at the time of the incident are believed to have been a 30-year-old police sergeant and a counselor who discovered the man.
(Japan Today)
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Three injured after snow cave collapses in Nagano
Police said Monday that three people were injured after a cave they had dug on a snow-covered slope collapsed on their group in Iiyama, Nagano Prefecture, on Saturday night.
According to police, the group of seven men and women in their 40s to 50s met each other through the social network site mixi. They went camping in a snow-covered forest and dug a cave on a slope, six meters wide and 2 meters deep, where they planned to bivouack for the night, Fuji TV reported.
(Japan Today)
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Skeletonized remains found in Saitama
Police said Monday that the skeletonized remains of a human body were found on a median strip of a highway in Kusaka, Saitama Prefecture, on Sunday morning.
According to police, a worker who was man cutting grass on the median strip spotted a human skull and called authorities, TBS reported. Police searched the ditch and found other skeletonized bones five meters from the skull. They also found tattered clothing, including a T-shirt.
(Japan Today)
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Japan's teachers fund to start investing in REITs, hedge funds
Japan's Teachers' Mutual Aid Co- operative Society, which manages $8.4 billion on behalf of its members, plans to start investing in real estate investment trusts and hedge funds for the first time to diversify risk.
The organization may allocate as much as 60 billion yen ($719 million) in J-REITs and hedge funds as early as September, said Toru Higuchi, a general manager of the organization's asset management department. Teachers' Mutual Aid will also invest in open-ended real estate funds and stocks that provide stable dividends, such as utility companies, he said.
(Bloomberg)
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Nikkei gains for 5th day; Fanuc, Komatsu advance
Japan's Nikkei share average rose for the fifth straight session on Monday, with investors scooping up straggling blue-chips as they sought further evidence of U.S. economic recovery before pushing the index higher.
The Nikkei .N225 has gained 20 percent so far this year on the back of robust U.S. economic data and liquidity boosting programs by global central banks, taking the benchmark deep into "overbought" territory with its 14-day relative strength index at 78.8.
(Reuters)
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Ozawa enters final plea of innocence
Ichiro Ozawa, former president of the Democratic Party of Japan, entered his final plea of innocence Monday at the Tokyo District Court, claiming no false entries were made in his political funds reports and he never conspired with his former secretaries to make such entries.
The court will rule on his case on April 26. Court-appointed lawyers serving as prosecutors have sought three years' imprisonment for Ozawa for violating the Political Funds Control Law by conspiring with three of his ex-aides to falsify reports issued by his political fund management body Rikuzankai in 2004 and 2005 concerning a ¥400 million land deal in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo.
(Japan Times)
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Disney goods lure grownups
Disney-themed merchandise is becoming more popular with adults as products from handbags and wallets to curtains featuring Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh and other trademark figures proliferate in boutiques and other stores.
Demand is growing on nostalgia for the characters, which have been around since the adult consumers were children. In addition, chic goods developed by designer fashion houses are apparently capturing the hearts of women.
(Japan Times)
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Warming may be delaying eels' coastal arrival
Young Japanese eels, which have traditionally been caught at river mouths in the winter and then raised for human consumption, have been reaching the coast around May and June in recent years, possibly because of environmental changes, a research group said Monday.
The group led by Jun Aoyama, an associate professor at the University of Tokyo's Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, found the delay in the peak season for netting the eels, which have been in rapid decline, during a 2009-2011 survey at the Sagami River in Kanagawa Prefecture.
(Japan Times)
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Golf: Ishikawa takes special membership on PGA Tour
Japanese star Ryo Ishikawa has decided to take special temporary membership on the PGA Tour, which allows him to accept as many sponsor exemptions as he wants for the rest of the 2012 season.
The 20-year-old was runner-up in the Puerto Rico Open two weeks ago. In six events this year, he has earned $582,471, more than enough to be a special temporary member.
Non-members can play no more than 12 times on the PGA Tour.
(USA Today)
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Kakuryu upsets Hakuho again at spring tourney
Kakuryu's first win against Hakuho in 21 previous match-ups last time out must have been just the spinach he needed for a death-defying encore performance on Monday.
The Mongolian sekiwake assumed his role as Popeye the Destroyer in an adrenalin-fueled showdown to knock the yokozuna out of sole possession of the lead in the day's finale, throwing the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament into a four-way tie with six days remaining.
(USA Today)
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Hyogo bans smoking at schools, hospitals
The Hyogo Prefecture Assembly passed a total ban Monday on smoking at schools and hospitals that takes effect on April 1, 2013.
Hyogo is the second prefecture to introduce such restrictions on smoking after Kanagawa imposed a similar ban in April 2010, according to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry.
Hyogo initially planned to extend the total ban to private establishments, including department stores, hotels and restaurants, but was forced to back down in the face of stiff opposition from local business groups.
(Japan Times)
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India, China and Japan join hands for piracy control
India, China and Japan recently agreed for better coordination among their naval ships deployed for escort of merchant vessels in the piracy-infested Gulf of Aden, the Lok Sabha was informed on Monday.
In a written reply to a question in the Lower House, Defence Minister A K Antony said, "India, China and Japan have recently agreed for better coordination among their naval ships deployed for escort of merchant vessels in the Gulf of Aden."
(india.com)
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Japan asks B.C. for help to identify debris
Over the past few months, debris from Japan has been washing up on the shores near Tofino, B.C., sparking debate over whether the bottles, planks of wood and other items constitute regular ocean garbage or were swept out to sea amid last year's massive earthquake and tsunami. But as the country slowly rebuilds from the disaster, which left thousands dead and missing, Japanese officials aren't taking any chances, and have reached out to residents along Canada's West Coast to keep an eye out for personal items that may wash ashore.
(macleans.ca)
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Bank of Japan lending plan good for banks: Moody's
The Bank of Japan's plan to fund high-growth enterprises through a 1 trillion yen ($12.5 billion) lending program that draws on its U.S. dollar reserves is good for the creditworthiness of the nation's biggest banks, according to research released Monday by Moody's Investors Service. Moody's analysts writing in the rating agency's Weekly Credit Outlook said the scheme, unveiled last week, is "credit positive" for banks, noting that it provides them access to low-cost U.S. dollar funding for the first time. (MarketWatch)
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Bob Hawke receives top Japanese honour
Despite his words being lost in translation during his first visit to the country as prime minister, Japan has bestowed its highest order on Bob Hawke.
Mr Hawke, flanked by his wife Blanche, received the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun at a ceremony in Canberra today.
Japan's ambassador to Australia Shigekazu Sato said the former prime minister was a "truly, great Australian statesman".
(The Australian)
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Neil Young's path to the multibillion-dollar mobile social game market
Neil Young sold his San Francisco startup Ngmoco to Japan's DeNA for $403 million in the fall of 2010. And that was just the beginning of Young and DeNA's quest to create a multibillion-dollar mobile entertainment group, he told VentureBeat last year. DeNA, with $1.4 billion in revenues in the last year, has already cleared many hurdles on that path. Ngmoco has integrated its NG Core technology with DeNA's Mobage social mobile gaming network to create a new platform for smartphone entertainment.
(venturebeat.com)
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Radioactive water leaks at Japan nuclear plant
Japan's nuclear safety watchdog on Monday said a leakage of about 1.5 tonnes of low-level radioactive water occurred at a plant of Japan Atomic Power Co in the village of Tokai in Ibaraki Prefecture.
The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency launched an investigation to check whether the water had leaked into the sea, reported Xinhua.
The water was used to decontaminate radiation protection suits and other items and was contaminated to an extent of 33 becquerels per gram, Kyodo News said, adding that the leakage occurred when water was transferred from a storage tank to another tank of a nuclear reactor during decommissioning on Wednesday. (ibnlive)
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Japan turns to technology to meet needs of growing elderly population
With the most rapidly aging population in the world and a growing number of people living to be more than 100 years old, firms in Japan have come up with some innovative products and services to cater to the needs of the elderly.
On September 15 -- national Respect for the Aged Day -- the number of Japanese aged 100 or older hit a record 47,756, according to the health ministry, increasing for the 41st consecutive year. This growing demographic is driving the demand for everything from personal assistance robots to devices in a new generation of cars that warn the driver that they are driving erratically or consumer electronics gadgets that read a user's mind.
(thesqueeze.net)
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