News On Japan

Trucker busted with 260 stolen undies

Japan Times — 2010-03-09 22:30:00

Kenichi Ikeda of the city of Nagasaki has carried around three bags and a secret he could not tell his family at home - inside the bags were hundreds of women's undergarments that he had stolen over 10 years, police said. Police arrested the 36-year-old truck driver, who allegedly had stolen about 260 pairs of women's underwear and kept them in bags behind the driver's seat of his truck. "I couldn't leave them home because I have a wife and children," Ikeda was quoted as saying by police. (Japan Times)

Chrysanthemum or Samurai?

foreignpolicy.com — 2010-03-09 22:51:24

In a thoughtful essay in today's Financial Times, Gideon Rachman asks whether Japan may now be tilting towards China after 60 years of aligning itself with the United States. This question is interesting on multiple dimensions -- including with regard to the future of U.S. primacy in Asia, the impact of China's rise on its neighbors, the nature of Japanese politics and identity, and our understanding of the deep structure of international relations at a time of systemic power shifts. Indeed, Japan is a critical case study for assessing how the developed world will respond to the rise of dynamic new power centers in Asia -- and what the implications will be for American leadership in the international system. (foreignpolicy.com)

Pet shop manager caught stealing penguin from Japanese zoo

telegraph.co.uk — 2010-03-09 22:42:27

A security guard at the Nagasaki Bio Park noticed Akira Honda, 24, ushering the Humboldt Penguin into his suitcase in January. According to the zoo, the penguin is worth about Y400,000. Mr Honda told police that he had run up debts which he intended to pay off by selling the creature to a collector. Humboldt Penguins are native to South America and grow to around 27 inches tall and up to 13lb in weight. They are currently listed as vulnerable, due largely to the destruction of their habitats, and an estimated 12,000 survive in the wild. (telegraph.co.uk)

Movie director Kitano awarded France's top cultural honor

AP — 2010-03-09 22:56:50

Japanese film director Takeshi Kitano has been named by France for the title of Commander of the Order of the Arts and Letters in recognition of his achievements, France's ministry of culture said Tuesday. Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand will bestow France's highest honor for artists on Kitano later in the day, the ministry said. To commemorate the honor, the films of the 63-year-old will be screened at the Centre Pompidou, a contemporary art museum in Paris, for three months from Thursday and artwork by Kitano will be displayed at another museum in the city from the same day. (AP)

No. of foreigners overstaying visas in Japan lowest in 21 years

AP — 2010-03-09 06:19:51

The number of foreign nationals staying in Japan after their visas expired was down 18.8 percent from a year before to 91,778 as of Jan. 1, 2010, slipping below 100,000 for the first time in 21 years, a Justice Ministry survey showed Tuesday. The number of people overstaying their visas has been falling after peaking at around 300,000 in 1993. An official at the ministry's Immigration Bureau said the introduction two years ago of a biometric system using fingerprints to verify identity contributed to the downtrend. (AP)

Sumo: Schoolboy tipped to crush opponents

ABC News — 2010-03-09 06:50:37

A 15-year-old Japanese schoolboy tipping the scales at 145 kilograms is set to make his professional sumo debut and is already being tipped as a future 'yokozuna'. National junior high school champion Ryoya Tatsu stands 1.93 metres tall and is expected to take part in the Osaka grand sumo tournament beginning this weekend. The Japan Sumo Association said Tatsu had passed his first health check and was waiting for the results of internal tests to determine if he could wrestle in Osaka. (ABC News)

Japan-U.S. secret pacts confirmed, gov't policy shift expected

AP — 2010-03-09 07:46:40

A Foreign Ministry panel concluded Tuesday that secret pacts on nuclear arms and other issues were reached between Japan and the United States in the Cold War era, leading the Japanese government to end its decades-long official denial of their existence. While such pacts have already been exposed through U.S. declassified documents and other sources, the panel investigation, launched following the historic change of government last year, made clear that previous governments were "dishonest" over the issue and raised questions over the management and disclosure of diplomatic documents. (AP)

The Gardens of Japan: earthly paradise

telegraph.co.uk — 2010-03-09 12:22:21

Kyoto was once the imperial capital of Japan, and it is here that many of the country's finest gardens are to be found. 'Throw nothing away' must always have been the motto of Japanese garden designers, for old and new co-exist in the country's gardens, which have much to tell us about the history of Japan. The oldest surviving gardens belong to the Heian era (794-1185), and they are known in Japanese as chisen shuyu teien, or 'pond-spring-boating-gardens'. The pond was at the heart both of the garden and of the wonderfully leisured, light-hearted and sensuous lifestyle of the aristocracy. The chisen shuyu teien garden was designed to be seen from the water, and the boating parties that took place in it were highly theatrical affairs. Guests drifted about in beautifully carved and painted boats to the accompaniment of music played by an orchestra that floated in the pond on a boat of its own. (telegraph.co.uk)

Japan's pet food sector: Growing sales volume despite waning ad spend

media.asia — 2010-03-09 12:23:55

Dogs come to resemble their owners, or so the saying goes. In Japan, the human population is greying, with a record 29 million of the island nation's 128 million citizens now over the age of 65, and with a life expectancy of 86.1 for females and 79.3 for males. Likewise, more than half of Japan's dog and cats are older than seven years, and roughly 30 per cent are past the 10-year mark. Here the mimicry ends, however. While the number of Japanese began dwindling in the mid-naughts, the number of pets has swollen. Last year, Japan had 13.6 million dogs and 11.3 million cats, a nine and 29 per cent increase respectively on 2004, according to the Japan Pet Food Association. (media.asia)

Foreigners rally over job security

Japan Times — 2010-03-08 03:05:29

Hundreds of foreign and Japanese people staged a rally Sunday in Tokyo demanding better working conditions and employment benefits for foreign residents. At the annual "March in March" event at Hibiya Park in Chiyoda Ward, Louis Carlet, deputy general secretary of the National Union of General Workers Tokyo Nambu, said foreign workers have a great need for job security and health care. The event also featured a live music by musicians from various countries, including Senegalese drum sessions and Ainu dancing from Hokkaido. (Japan Times)

Japan's top web forum an outlet for free speech -- and hate

independent.co.uk — 2010-03-08 03:14:49

Japan's biggest Internet forum, where anonymous netizens trade anything from cooking tips to death threats, has long been an anarchic zone of uninhibited free speech and a magnet for controversy. This week the raw commentary on 2channel - which with 10 million visits a month is one of the world's largest online bulletin boards - saw tempers flare anew. A massive hacker attack from South Korea crippled the site in retaliation for users' online slights against Olympic skater Kim Yu-Na, after she beat Japanese rival Mao Asada to take gold at the Vancouver Winter Games. The site was attacked on Monday, the anniversary of a 1919 uprising in Korea against Japanese colonial rule, and shut down for two days. (independent.co.uk)

Princess Aiko attends school after being mostly absent last week

AP — 2010-03-08 10:02:45

Princess Aiko, the only child of Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako, attended school Monday for the first time in six days after expressing anxiety since being "treated harshly" by boys at her elementary school. The 8-year-old princess was accompanied by the crown princess in going into the school and attending the fourth period of morning classes. They then left the school together, the Imperial Household Agency said. (AP)

Japan PM in a bind as upper house election looms

Reuters — 2010-03-08 10:09:18

Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, his party flagging in polls ahead of a mid-year election, promised on Monday to find a way to regain public backing but said he was not considering a cabinet reshuffle now. Only one in four voters plan to cast their ballots for his Democratic Party in an upper house election expected in July, a Yomiuri newspaper survey showed on Monday, as funding scandals and doubts about the premier's leadership erode his support. (Reuters)

Soccer: Is J-League about to become one of the world's biggest?

goal.com — 2010-03-08 10:16:15

It is a league that is seeing a growing number of international players in its stadia, it has some of the best facilities in the world and it is already one of the most-watched football leagues around but the J-League is not about to stop there. From the atmospheric old arenas like Shimizu S-Pulse's Nihondaira Sports Stadium where fans can gaze at Mount Fuji if the football is not up to much and Kawasaki Frontale's oddly shaped Todoroki Stadium, located in a picturesque park in the middle of a pleasant residential area to the space age World Cup arenas such as Urawa's Saitama Stadium and the Kashima Soccer Stadium - the J-League is growing in stature and reputation. (goal.com)

'The Cove' wins best documentary feature Oscar

AP — 2010-03-08 12:10:37

"The Cove," a U.S. film about a controversial dolphin hunt at a Japanese town, won the best documentary feature at the 82nd Annual Academy Awards ceremony Sunday in Los Angeles. Directed by Louie Psihoyos, one of the world's most prominent still photographers, the film depicts, partly through the use of hidden cameras and microphones, the capture of dolphins by local fishermen in the whaling town of Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture. (AP)

Crown Prince of Japan visits Ghana

AFP — 2010-03-08 03:13:54

Crown Prince Naruhito of Japan on Sunday began a three-day official visit to Ghana at the head of a 30-strong delegation. He was welcomed at Kotoka international airport by Vice President John Dramani Mahama to traditional Ashanti drumming and dance, an AFP reporter saw. The visit is at the invitation of Ghana and is aimed at boosting ties between the two countries, officials said. (AFP)

Japan defends honor in Mito's annual 'natto' speed-eating contest

Japan Times — 2010-03-06 23:21:00

The annual "natto" fermented soybean speed-eating contest was held Saturday in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture, drawing 72 contestants including competitive eating regulars from various parts of Japan and eight people from overseas countries such as Australia. Participants in the preliminaries had to eat about 100 grams of sticky natto beans mixed with a bowl of about 310 grams of rice. The 10 who advanced to the final stage had to then eat 350 grams of natto. The winner was Masaki Nakamura, a 44-year-old company employee from the city, who set a record time of 30.97 seconds. (Japan Times)

$10 visa charge by U.S. irks Japan

Japan Times — 2010-03-06 23:28:09

Japanese Ambassador to the United States Ichiro Fujisaki expressed concern Friday over Washington's new policy of charging travelers to the U.S. $10 if they don't have a visa, saying it runs counter to bilateral exchanges. Asked about the travel promotion act that President Barack Obama signed into law Thursday, Fujisaki told a news conference: "Such a measure is not desirable. Regardless of the amount of the fee, it will not contribute to exchanges" between Japan and the United States. (Japan Times)

Yoko Ono: Back to where she once belonged

Times Online — 2010-03-07 00:40:20

Yoko Ono is forever associated with the Beatles, yet her aristocratic family life in imperial Japan, long before she met John Lennon, was equally intriguing. For the first time, she opens up the Ono family album. Yoko explains that she came from exalted, upper-class stock to whom the Beatles were irrelevant. Both her socialite, feminist mother and banker father were scions of families with high-level imperial, political, industrial and financial connections. The family's money had been made several generations earlier by her great-grandfather Zenjiro Yasuda: this would intrigue Lennon when they returned to Japan in the 1970s. (Times Online)

Australian police search anti-whaling ships for Japan

AFP — 2010-03-07 00:59:56

Australian police searched two anti-whaling ships at the request of Japanese authorities on Saturday, seizing log books and videos, after activists called a halt to their turbulent harassment campaign. Police boarded the Sea Shepherd group's Steve Irwin and Bob Barker ships as they were greeted by well-wishers in Tasmania, but refused to reveal the reasons for the search warrant. "As a result of a formal referral from Japanese authorities, the Australian Federal Police can confirm it conducted a search warrant in boarding the Steve Irwin this morning," a police spokesman told AFP. (AFP)

Japan: the fallen angel

guardian.co.uk — 2010-03-06 00:23:15

If you listen to American, European, or even Chinese leaders, Japan is the economic future no one wants. In selling massive stimulus packages and bank bailouts, western leaders told their people: "We must do this or we will end up like Japan, mired in recession and deflation for a decade or more." Chinese leaders love pointing to Japan as the prime reason not to allow any significant appreciation of their conspicuously undervalued currency. "Western leaders forced Japan to let its currency rise in the second half of the 1980s and look at the disaster that followed." Yes, nobody wants to be Japan, the fallen angel that went from one of the fastest-growing economies in the world for more than three decades to one that has slowed to a crawl for the last 18 years. (guardian.co.uk)

In Japan, schussing among the spirits

Globe & Mail — 2010-03-06 00:24:40

Tokachidake (dake means volcanic peak), an active volcano that last spewed in 1989, is 40 kilometres from the small farming town of Furano and offers the purest easily accessed backcountry terrain in the park. We are the first to forge through the forest to break trail for an ascent of Furanodake. We slog higher on the steep slope, cut a path amid wild arms of frozen dancers - the snow-covered silver birch. Ryounkaku has an excellent onsen, its water coloured rust by iron. But nearby there is a particularly wonderful onsen, the unadorned Fukiage, a short amble down a snowy path from the road. Spirits surely swirl in the steam as water percolates out of the earth amid a forest and falling snow. (Globe & Mail)

Are you ready for wines from Japan?

FT.com — 2010-03-06 00:26:17

The words "Japan, wine exporter" have a somewhat unlikely ring but that is the aim of a new organisation, Koshu of Japan, which is keen to shine an international spotlight on a grape variety that is often dismissed within its native country. I have just made my second visit in 12 years to Yamanashi prefecture, the Bordeaux of Japan in terms of winemaking. Except it reminds me more of Switzerland than Bordeaux. Every square metre in the heavily populated Kofu basin overlooked by Mount Fuji is cosseted. Individual vineyards are tiny, partly thanks to the postwar policy, implemented by General Douglas MacArthur, who oversaw Japan's reconstruction, of weakening the powerful landowners by redistribution. Farmers are protected. Labour costs are high. And the most-planted vine variety, like the Chasselas that is known as Fendant in French-speaking Switzerland, is also a table grape. (FT.com)

Staggering holiday calendar could be a shot in the arm for tourism

Mainichi — 2010-03-06 00:30:02

The Japan Tourism Agency (JTA) has compiled a proposal to stagger long holidays by region in the spring and fall, alleviating the overcrowding of transportation services and hotels and stimulating demand for domestic tourism. According to the proposal, which the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) aims to implement in 2012, some of the days that are currently designated as public holidays will be eliminated. Instead, five-day holidays that include Saturdays and Sundays will be allotted to the public by region in both spring and fall. (Mainichi)

Japan says it would ignore bluefin tuna ban

AFP — 2010-03-04 20:49:10

Japan said on Thursday it would ignore any ban on international trade in Atlantic bluefin tuna, a proposal that has won US support ahead of a crucial vote next month. The ban, meant to save the species from extinction, has the support of many European nations but is opposed by Japan, which consumes three quarters of the global catch of bluefin tuna, a species much valued in sushi and sashimi. A ban on the tuna trade would require support by two-thirds of the roughly 175 nations that make up Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). (AFP)