http://newsonjapan.com/ All the latest news on Japan en-us http://newsonjapan.com/images/noj_logo_small120x60.gif http://www.newsonjapan.com/ All the latest news on Japan http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120208a5.html? Osaka Municipal Assembly members from Mayor Toru Hashimoto's Osaka Ishin no Kai (One Osaka) group are pursuing allegations that a city labor union attempted to gather votes for Hashimoto's opponent in last November's election in possible violation of campaign laws. The allegations surfaced Monday when Osaka Ishin no Kai announced it had obtained a 36-page list of 1,800 names of municipal transport workers from a city employee, who told the group the list had been drawn up by the city transport worker union in an effort to support former Mayor Kunio Hiramatsu in the November mayoral race. (Japan Times) Japan Times 2012-02-07 21:06:03 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94593.php http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120208a4.html? A Justice Ministry panel on Tuesday gave the green light for the ministry to write bills for new domestic laws in preparation for signing the Hague Convention, which would theoretically promise other countries that Japan will try its utmost to return abducted children. Critics, however, are not too optimistic because whether children will be returned to their original countries will depend largely on how Japan's family court judges interpret any new laws. The United States and countries in Europe have urged Japan to sign the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspect of International Child Abduction, and have criticized Tokyo for letting a Japanese parent get away with abducting his or her children from a spouse in failed international marriages. (Japan Times) Japan Times 2012-02-07 21:06:03 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94588.php http://www.japantoday.com/category/politics/view/gkb47-suicide-prevention-slogan-inspired-by-akb48-comes-under-fire The ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) has come under fire for using a catchphrase in an anti-suicide campaign that evokes images of popular all-girl group AKB48. During discussions in the Diet on Monday, a DPJ member called the anti-suicide slogan "deeply inappropriate," TBS reported. The catchphrase, which was unveiled last month, has already been criticized by mental health professionals, as well as members of both the DPJ and opposition parties for the way in which it apparently handles the issue of suicide, while simultaneously leveraging the popularity of AKB48. (Japan Today) Japan Today 2012-02-07 05:27:26 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94579.php http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T120206005042.htm Discussions about relocating key functions of the nation from Tokyo to other areas are heating up once again. In one example, the topic was discussed energetically at a meeting of the National Governors' Association on Dec. 20. "In addition to pursuing the establishment of a country where important hubs are spread throughout the nation, it is also important to protect our country from simultaneous earthquakes--even three or four happening at once--by having multiple bases of defense," Kochi Gov. Masanao Ozaki said. Oita Gov. Katsusada Hirose said: "We shouldn't approach this topic just from the viewpoint of rectifying the overconcentration of functions in Tokyo, which is a defensive approach. We must approach it from the viewpoint of how to develop local areas in the age of globalization." (Yomiuri) Yomiuri 2012-02-06 23:21:09 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94564.php http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120207a1.html? The government will do its utmost to ensure that the U.S. Marines will not be using the air base in Okinawa's crowded city of Ginowan for many more years, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said Monday. "I am aware that there are concerns over the Futenma base becoming fixed in its present form," Noda told a Diet session. "To make sure this will not happen, the government will do all it can in talks" with the United States. His remarks come after the U.S. indicated it may move some of the elements at U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to Guam regardless of whether tangible progress is made on relocating the base farther north on Okinawa Island to the Henoko coast of Nago. (Japan Times) Japan Times 2012-02-06 23:15:57 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94558.php http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120207a9.html Incumbent Kyoto Mayor Daisaku Kadokawa, an independent supported by the ruling Democratic Party of Japan and major opposition parties, was re-elected Sunday to a second four-year term after defeating the Japanese Communist Party-backed candidate he defeated in the previous election. With the incumbent's performance a key issue in the two-horse race, Kadokawa, 61, emphasized the fiscal and administrative reforms he made to the municipal government and efforts to closely cooperate with the governor. (Japan Times) Japan Times 2012-02-06 23:08:11 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94556.php http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T120205003550.htm The Democratic Party of Japan is in a bind over whether an administrative reform bill it plans to submit should specify a 20 percent cut in overall personnel costs of central government officials. Although the ruling party trumpeted the 20 percent figure in its election manifesto, some DPJ members are dreading the thought of being grilled in the Diet by opposition lawmakers over what many believe to be an unrealistic reduction target. The DPJ hoped to make the 20 percent cut a centerpiece of its efforts to build public support for a plan to increase the consumption tax rate. (Yomiuri) Yomiuri 2012-02-05 23:04:10 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94545.php http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120205/pl_nm/us_usa_japan_marines The United States and Japan have agreed to tweak a six-year-old agreement on Marines based on the southern island of Okinawa, allowing Washington to deploy forces to the Pacific island of Guam regardless of the debate over moving a disputed airbase. The Guam deployment had been held hostage by a political stalemate in Japan over the shifting of the Futenma base to another site on Okinawa, an issue given added importance in recent years by China's growing military might in the region. Japanese newspapers said the new plan would allow Washington to shrink the expensive Guam relocation plan at a time when it is under pressure to cut defense spending because of deficit woes even as it turns its attention to China. (Reuters) Reuters 2012-02-05 09:08:15 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94542.php http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120205a6.html? Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on Saturday said the sales tax could be raised higher than the 10 percent rate currently proposed, due to the radical overhaul of the welfare system he is pushing. "There is a possibility the consumption tax might be increased to more than 10 percent, as a result of implementing drastic reforms of the pension and social security systems," Noda said during a question and answer session after a speech in Tokyo. He also reiterated his determination to pass legislation during the current ordinary Diet session that would double the 5 percent sales levy, as part of a broader package of reforms to ensure the country's welfare system remains sustainable. (Japan Times) Japan Times 2012-02-05 00:58:39 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94536.php http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120204b3.html? A U.S. F/A-18 fighter jet flew over an elementary school in Miyoshi, Hiroshima Prefecture, at a dangerous and illegally low altitude in December, the Japanese Communist Party's local chapter said. According to an investigation by the party's Hiroshima prefectural committee, the aircraft flew over the school at an altitude of about 200 meters around 1:20 p.m. Dec. 20, in violation of the Aviation Law, which sets the minimum level at 300 meters. The committee said it has asked the Hiroshima Prefectural Government to urge the U.S. military to stop low-altitude flights, adding the flyby also violated a Japan-U.S. agreement that calls on American forces to show consideration over flight training around schools and hospitals. (Japan Times) Japan Times 2012-02-03 23:18:40 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94519.php http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia-pacific/japans-parliament-approves-fourth-extra-budget-to-fund-disaster-relief-projects/2012/02/03/gIQAldkFmQ_story.html Japan's parliament has approved a 2.5 trillion yen ($32.9 billion) extra budget bill, the fourth one to fund reconstruction projects after last year's disasters and support the nation's economy. The lower house on Friday approved the supplementary budget for the fiscal year ending March 31. The bill will be further debated in the upper chamber but will eventually become law due to the lower house's superiority. The budget includes 740 billion yen ($9.7 billion) to help small businesses hit by last March's earthquake and tsunami obtain loan guarantees to rebuild. The budget also earmarks 300 billion yen ($3.9 billion) to finance green vehicle promotion programs. (Washington Post) Washington Post 2012-02-03 11:48:13 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94516.php http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120203x3.html Ro Manabe, the Defense Ministry's Okinawa bureau chief, strongly denied Friday that he intended to break the law by urging ministry officials and their relatives to vote in the Ginowan mayoral election, or that he advised them to vote for a specific candidate, but also admitted his actions could be judged unlawful. Manabe, summoned for unsworn testimony in the Diet, has been blasted by the opposition for allegedly trying to influence the Feb. 12 mayoral race. The opposition camp is charging that Manabe suggested during two internal lectures last week that participants vote for the candidate who is relatively more in line with the government's contentious plan to relocate U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma from Ginowan to Nago, also in Okinawa. (Japan Times) Japan Times 2012-02-03 11:48:13 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94512.php http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T120202005570.htm A health ministry panel has approved a draft plan seeking to decrease the smoking rate to 12.2 percent by fiscal 2022, facilitating the ministry's long-hampered wish to officially set a target figure, it has been learned. The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry has sought several times since 1999 to set a target figure for cutting the smoking rate. However, it was foiled each time by stiff opposition from the tobacco industry and related ministries and agencies. The ministry's latest plan for decreasing the smoking rate by nearly 40 percent to 12.2 percent or less by fiscal 2022 was presented Wednesday at a meeting of the panel for discussing cancer prevention measures. (Yomiuri) Yomiuri 2012-02-02 21:03:45 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94502.php http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120203f2.html Foreign Minister Koichiro Genba met with members of all-girl idol group AKB48 on Thursday and thanked them for taking part in a campaign to attract Chinese tourists and dispel harmful rumors about the safety of Japanese food products. The "Vibrant Japan" campaign will start Feb. 16 in Beijing, before moving on to Shanghai toward the end of the month and Hong Kong in late March. During his meeting with three of AKB48's members - Tomomi Itano, Rie Kitahara and Yui Yokoyama - Genba, a Fukushima native, expressed his gratitude for the group's support of disaster-hit areas in the northeast and said he hoped its participation in the campaign will help deepen ties with China. (Japan Times) Japan Times 2012-02-02 21:03:45 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94500.php http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120202/ap_on_bi_ge/as_japan_china_gas Japan has accused China of unilaterally exploring gas deposits in the East China Sea, in violation of an agreement to jointly develop disputed areas. Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura told reporters Wednesday that Japan protested to China after a flare was seen Tuesday at a Chinese structure at an undersea gas deposit. Japan has made similar complaints several times in the past. "We have detected a flare, a sign that it is highly likely that there is a gas development going on," Fujimura said. "Any unilateral exploration is unacceptable." The deposit, known as Kashi in Japan and Tianwaitian in China, sits near a median line of the two countries' overlapping exclusive economic zones. (AP) AP 2012-02-02 04:43:45 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94488.php http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/02/japans-dilemma-over-iran-sanctions/252337/ Cutting off Iranian oil imports has put Tokyo in a difficult position. The United States and its European allies have already agreed to up the ante on sanctions against Iran, but the domestic costs that Japan has to bear in order to cooperate are higher. Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's government has indicated its desire to cooperate, and last December the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced new restrictions on the operations of 106 entities as well as one individual with potential links to proliferation-sensitive activities in Iran. But the real effort now is to reduce Japan's oil imports from Tehran, and to negotiate an exemption from more stringent restrictions on Japanese banks included in the new U.S. sanctions law. Rebalancing Japan's energy supply is even more delicate at the moment, as most of the nations' nuclear power plants remain offline. (theatlantic.com) theatlantic.com 2012-02-01 22:13:11 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94484.php http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120201/wl_nm/us_korea_japan_iran South Korea and Japan will soon meet U.S. officials in Washington to ask how much oil they can import from Iran under new sanctions that leave the Asian nations with few alternative sources for energy, government officials said Wednesday. Japan is the world's third biggest oil consumer, and South Korea is the fifth largest. Both nations import significant amounts of crude from Iran, which they are under pressure to cut back to secure a waiver from a U.S. law imposing sanctions on financial institutions that trade with Iran's central bank. Japan's foreign ministry said a delegation was due to hold talks in Washington Thursday as part of ongoing consultations and would seek clarity on the law, which is part of a raft of sanctions aimed at reining in Iran's nuclear ambitions. (Reuters) Reuters 2012-02-01 11:55:42 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94471.php http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120201a2.html The Defense Ministry came under fresh fire Tuesday for allegedly trying to meddle with the upcoming mayoral election in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, the host city for the Futenma U.S. air base. Defense Minister Naoki Tanaka told reporters his ministry has sent personnel to the prefecture to investigate the matter, which came to light after an opposition lawmaker raised the matter in the Diet. Seiken Akamine of the Japanese Communist Party, citing email he says he has obtained, told the Lower House Budget Committee that the bureau instructed its various divisions by email to find out which of its personnel's Ginowan-based relatives are eligible to vote and created a list of them in January. (Japan Times) Japan Times 2012-01-31 23:52:23 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94462.php http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120201f2.html Toshio Ogawa is the first justice minister to tacitly support capital punishment since the Democratic Party of Japan came to power in September 2009 and has no intention of engaging in the debate over whether to end the death penalty. He said the study group weighing the possibility of abolishing capital punishment has run out of things to discuss. "Whether or not the death sentence should be kept had been discussed in depth before the study group was set up (in September 2010 by then Justice Minister Keiko Chiba). "It has not yielded any new opinions and it is a waste of time to listen to the same opinions," Ogawa told journalists in his Tokyo office Jan. 23. (Japan Times) Japan Times 2012-01-31 23:51:53 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94461.php http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120201a8.html China said it has filed a protest with Japan over Tokyo's plan to name uninhabited isles near the disputed Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, calling the move "illegal and void." Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said Monday the Chinese government has lodged a "solemn representation" with Japan. "Any unilateral action taken by the Japanese side with respect to the Diaoyu Islands and surrounding isles is illegal and void," Liu said in a press release posted on the ministry's website. The Japan-administered Senkakus are known in China as Diaoyu. It is not clear what name Japan intends for any nearby islets. (Japan Times) Japan Times 2012-01-31 23:49:00 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94460.php http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2012-01/29/content_14501816.htm A decades-old territorial dispute that has prevented Japan and Russia from signing a peace treaty is showing no signs of improving following talks between the two country's foreign ministers here, but as Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov leaves Japan Sunday some progress has been made in bilateral economic and security cooperation. Relations between Russia and Japan have been clouded due to a heated territorial dispute regarding four islands off the coast of northern Japan's Hokkaido island. The dispute over sovereignty is largely concerned with the somewhat ambiguous San Francisco Peace Treaty between the Allied Powers and Japan inked in 1951, which states that Japan must give up its claims to the islands, but recognition of sovereignty over the islands was not given to the Soviet Union either, and therein lies the conflict. (China Daily) China Daily 2012-01-29 16:55:03 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94439.php http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120129x1.html? Environment Minister Goshi Hosono on Sunday apologized for the time it is taking to wrap up the issue of providing relief measures for uncertified patients of Minamata disease. "I would like to apologize for the fact that the issue hasn't been resolved and is still causing you suffering," Hosono said as he met with victims of the disease in Minamata, Kumamoto Prefecture, where Chisso Corp. poisoned the food chain by discharging mercury-tainted water into the ocean decades ago. It was his first meeting with Minamata patients since he was appointed environment minister in September. Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said last week that uncertified Minamata patients must be given a deadline for applying for government redress, which is being provided by a special law. (Japan Times) Japan Times 2012-01-29 16:43:43 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94436.php http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/eo20120130a1.html? Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda appears strongly committed to revising the Imperial Household Law to let female members of the Imperial family remain in the royal family even if they marry commoners. The Imperial family is the oldest royal family in the world and Chapter 1 of the Japanese Constitution is about the emperors. For Japan, to ensure stable imperial succession is an important matter. But much doubt has been expressed about his ability to implement such a revision, which could potentially split public opinion down the middle, because he already faces a large number of urgent and sometimes controversial issues, which include reconstruction of the areas devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami and the subsequent Fukushima nuclear crisis, raising the consumption tax rate, social security reform and Japan's possible entry into the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement. (Japan Times) Japan Times 2012-01-29 16:43:43 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94435.php http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120129a8.html? A government survey released Saturday found that more than 80 percent of respondents were largely unaware of details about an envisioned system that would number citizens to centralize control of tax payments and other personal data. In total, 83.3 percent of those polled said they are mostly ignorant of the system. Of this total, 41.8 percent responded that they are aware of the plan but not its specific details and 41.5 percent replied that they have never heard of the system. Only 16.7 percent claimed to have a thorough grasp of system's specific details. (Japan Times) Japan Times 2012-01-29 01:54:32 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94424.php http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120128a8.html The Cabinet approved a bill Friday to create a new child allowance system starting April 1, replacing the present framework that expires at the end of March. Although the ruling Democratic Party of Japan hopes the bill clears the Diet by the end of March, the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito have signaled they will oppose it. Without the rival camp's support the government will be unable to pass the bill through the divided Diet, where opposition parties control the Upper House, and the legislation's prospects at this stage remain murky. (Japan Times) Japan Times 2012-01-27 22:56:36 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94420.php http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/opinon/2012/01/137_103587.html Hiromura Gakurai was a prison guard at the Hintok work camp along the Thailand-Burma "death railway," infamous for the extremely high human toll on the Allied prisoners of war (POWs) and local Asian slave laborers during World War II. After the war, he was tried and sentenced to death by an Australian military court for inhumane treatment of POWs but commuted to 20 years' imprisonment and released on parole in 1956. Hiromura's case may not stand out among over 5,700 war criminals in the Asia-Pacific region ― except he was a sharecropper's son named Lee Hak-rae from Korea, then under Japanese colonial rule. And he is not alone: 148 Koreans and 173 Taiwanese were convicted as war criminals, of which 23 Koreans and 26 Taiwanese were executed. Most Korean war criminals were lowly prison guards ranking below buck privates. On paper, they were "volunteers"; in practice, certain military conscription or industrial slave labor awaited as an alternative. Some 3,000 Koreans manned the Japanese POW camps in Southeast Asia. (Korea Times) Korea Times 2012-01-27 12:11:38 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94414.php http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_re_as/as_japan_nuclear_crisis Japan's deputy prime minister acknowledged Friday that the government failed to take minutes of 10 meetings last year on the response to the country's disasters and nuclear crisis and called for officials to compile reports on the meetings retroactively. The missing minutes have become a hot political debate, with opposition lawmakers saying they are necessary to provide a transparent record of the government's discussion after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami touched off the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986. Deputy Prime Minister Katsuya Okada confirmed Friday at a news conference that the minutes were not fully recorded at the time and called for them to be written up, retroactively, by the end of February. Three of the meetings during the chaotic period had no record at all, not even an agenda, including a government nuclear crisis meeting headed by the prime minister. (AP) AP 2012-01-27 12:08:27 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94411.php http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120127a1.html? The government will start talks next month on lowering the voting age from 20 to 18, Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said Thursday. Though long debated, no panel meeting has been held on the issue since April 2010. The panel, Fujimura said, will be headed by a deputy chief Cabinet secretary and include other high-level officials from various related ministries. Though the issue will be taken up next month it is unlikely any bill will be submitted to the current ordinary Diet session. Affecting an estimated 200 to 300 laws, it is unclear how soon the government would be able to revise the Public Office Election Law, let alone submit the bill to the Diet. (Japan Times) Japan Times 2012-01-26 23:27:07 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94400.php http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120127a2.html Opposition lawmakers grilled Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on Thursday over planned social security and tax reforms and his "inability" to keep his party's campaign pledges, and pressed again for him to call a Lower House election. Just two days into the current 150-day ordinary Diet session, Liberal Democratic Party President Sadakazu Tanigaki blasted Noda for breaking a promise to the public in attempting to raise the consumption tax, which was not part of his Democratic Party of Japan's 2009 campaign platform. (Japan Times) Japan Times 2012-01-26 23:27:07 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94396.php http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_re_as/as_japan_nuclear_worst_scenario The Japanese government's worst-case scenario at the height of the nuclear crisis last year warned that tens of millions of people, including Tokyo residents, might need to leave their homes, according to a report obtained by The Associated Press. But fearing widespread panic, officials kept the report secret. The recent emergence of the 15-page internal document may add to complaints in Japan that the government withheld too much information about the world's worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl. It also casts doubt about whether the government was sufficiently prepared to cope with what could have been an evacuation of unprecedented scale. The report was submitted to then-Prime Minister Naoto Kan and his top advisers on March 25, two weeks after the earthquake and tsunami devastated the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, causing three reactors to melt down and generating hydrogen explosions that blew away protective structures. (AP) AP 2012-01-26 00:09:54 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94384.php http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T120125006461.htm The ruling Democratic Party of Japan and the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito have finally agreed on a plan to cut the salaries of national governmental employees by more than 8 percent. According to the agreement reached at a working-level meeting Wednesday, the salaries of national public servants will be cut first by an average of 0.23 percent starting in March as proposed by the National Personnel Authority. Their salaries will then be reduced by an average of 7.8 percent for two years from fiscal 2012, which starts in April. In total, the salaries will be cut by 8.03 percent on average. (Yomiuri) Yomiuri 2012-01-26 00:09:54 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94382.php http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T120124006289.htm Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda expressed his determination on Tuesday to end "indecisive" politics, vowing to achieve his key policy goal of raising the consumption tax rate in his policy speech to the Diet. During his speech in the lower house, Noda emphasized the significance of the reform, saying, "The first step to restoring hope for society as a whole depends on the success of this comprehensive reform" of the social security and tax systems. Noda said on the opening day of the 150-day ordinary Diet session that he would aim to break away from "the politics of indecision," and called for cooperation of the opposition parties to realize a "politics of decision." The government and ruling parties aim at passing bills to raise the consumption tax rate, the main pillar of integrated reform of the social security and tax systems, during the current Diet session. (Yomiuri) Yomiuri 2012-01-24 23:26:47 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94366.php http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120125a6.html Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto plans to form a new political party that aims to capture 200 seats in the next Lower House election and end the prefectural government system that has existed for nearly a century and a half. The strategy, unveiled Friday, aims to create a new nationwide party called Ishin Seiji Juku, or Political Restoration School, by March. It will seek to draw its ranks from Hashimoto's local Osaka Ishin no kai (One Osaka), as well as from established opposition parties including New Komeito, Your Party and the Liberal Democratic Party. (Japan Times) Japan Times 2012-01-24 23:18:46 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94359.php http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120123a1.html Responsibility for collecting data on parental abductions to Japan and settling cross-border child custody disputes resulting from failed international marriages will rest with the foreign minister, new guidelines said Sunday. The guidelines, drafted by the Foreign Ministry ahead of Tokyo's signing of the Hague Convention, state that the foreign minister can ask local governments, police, schools, childcare facilities and shelters for abuse victims to determine the whereabouts of abducted children. The Hague Convention is an international treaty spelling out procedures for settling international child custody disputes. Japan is the only member of the Group of Eight major countries that hasn't joined the convention. (Japan Times) Japan Times 2012-01-23 10:34:37 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94337.php http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i565kTjUT7tRlpprud35gg7ABsgg?docId=CNG.5fa661bb3a769ff2c8863ffeda85dc34.291 Voters in Japan have elected a 36-year-old woman as the country's youngest female mayor, in a nation where older men make up the vast majority of politicians. Naomi Koshi, a graduate of Harvard law school, beat a male incumbent twice her age to take the honours in Otsu, the capital city of Shiga prefecture. Shiga's governor is also female, meaning it is the first place in Japan where a region's two top jobs are held by women. Koshi, who was backed by the centre-left Democratic Party of Japan of Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, beat 70-year-old Makoto Mekata by a margin of five-to-four. (AFP) AFP 2012-01-23 10:29:20 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94335.php http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T120122003982.htm Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto has instructed high-ranking officials of the city government to always bow to the Hinomaru national flag as they take a seat in the municipal assembly's main conference hall and when replying to questions when the assembly is session, it has been learned. Hashimoto e-mailed the instruction earlier this month to bureau chiefs who sit on the platform of the conference hall during the assembly's deliberations. Titled "Paying homage to the national flag at the conference hall," the mayor's e-mail read, "You are asked to bow to the flag when seating yourself on the platform," assembly sources said. (Yomiuri) Yomiuri 2012-01-22 22:06:42 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94327.php http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120123a8.html Members of the Ainu indigenous ethnic group launched a political party in Ebetsu, Hokkaido, on Saturday, resolving to field 10 candidates in the House of Councilors election. The Ainu Party of Japan, headed by Shiro Kayano, decided at its inaugural meeting to fight to regain the rights of Ainu people and bring about a multicultural society. (Japan Times) Japan Times 2012-01-22 21:57:46 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94326.php http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nb20120121a6.html Japan has requested that the United States grant it a waiver from new sanctions it is leveling on Iran, pointing to the risk of another economic setback and its already extant plans to reduce oil imports, a senior Foreign Ministry official said. Japan asked a U.S. delegation on Thursday to "flexibly" apply a bill signed into law by President Barack Obama on New Year's Eve aimed at hampering Iran's crude oil exports, the official said after a two-day meeting in Tokyo. Japan, which imports about 10 percent of its oil from Iran, noted that the fragility of its economy since the March 11 disasters should be taken into account, although Tokyo well understands the need to step up pressure on Iran to curb its nuclear ambitions. (Japan Times) Japan Times 2012-01-20 23:30:37 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94309.php http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120121b3.html? The government will hold a memorial ceremony on March 11 in Tokyo to mark the first anniversary of the quake and tsunami that devastated parts of the Tohoku region and triggered the world's worst nuclear crisis since 1986, Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said Friday. Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, as well as Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and people representing various fields, are slated to attend the event, which will be held at the National Theater in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward, Fujimura said at a press conference. (Japan Times) Japan Times 2012-01-20 23:30:37 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94305.php http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120121b5.html In an interview with Time, U.S. President Barack Obama mentioned several world leaders with whom he has forged good relations, among them German Chancellor Angela Merkel and South Korean President Lee Myung Bak, but Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda was not on the list, the magazine's online edition said Thursday. Obama did mention Japan in the interview when referring to U.S. diplomacy in Asia, saying, "We've strengthened our alliances with Japan and South Korea - I think they're in as good a shape as they've ever been." But the fact that Noda's name was not mentioned was undoubtedly a disappointment, a Japanese government source admitted. (Japan Times) Japan Times 2012-01-20 23:30:37 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94303.php http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T120119006650.htm The Democratic Party of Japan's research committee on administrative reform on Thursday approved a proposal to decrease the number of independent administrative institutions from 102 to 65 through closures, mergers and privatization. Among other administrative reform proposals, the committee advised the government to increase the number of apartments for central government employees to be sold, to bring the total amount of money earned to no less than 140 billion yen, double the 70 billion yen the government had earlier envisaged. The government plans to draw up a basic policy on administrative reform based on the committee's proposals, and approve it as early as Friday's Cabinet meeting, according to sources. After that, bills on administrative reform will be submitted to the upcoming ordinary Diet session, the sources said. (Yomiuri) Yomiuri 2012-01-19 23:17:54 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94286.php http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120120a7.html? Workers have begun exhuming the remains of what are believed to be 11 Imperial Japanese Army soldiers at a war cemetery in India's northeastern state of Assam. The exhumations started Wednesday in the presence of officials from both countries and are being carried out at the request of the Japanese government, which will repatriate the remains, according to Japanese officials. At least some of the 11 men are thought to have died while fighting British and Indian troops during the Battle of Kohima. (Japan Times) Japan Times 2012-01-19 22:54:47 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94276.php http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia-pacific/us-faces-challenge-as-asian-submarine-fleets-swell-sending-battle-for-control-underwater/2012/01/19/gIQAEAoy9P_story.html It's getting a bit more crowded under the sea in Asia, where Andrew Peterson commands one of the world's mightiest weapons: a $2 billion nuclear submarine with unrivaled stealth and missiles that can devastate targets hundreds of miles (kilometers) away. Super high-tech submarines like Cmdr. Peterson's USS Oklahoma City have long been the envy of navies all over the globe - and a key component of U.S. military strategy. "We really have no peer," Peterson told The Associated Press during a recent port call in Japan. But America's submarine dominance in the Pacific is facing its biggest challenge since the Cold War. Nearly every Asian country with a coastline is fortifying its submarine fleet amid territorial disputes stirred up by an increasingly assertive China and the promise of bountiful natural resources. (Washington Post) Washington Post 2012-01-19 11:30:17 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94274.php http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T120118006268.htm Ruling and opposition parties have begun approaching Osaka Ishin no Kai (Osaka restoration group) to seek its support after the new party won landslide victories in the Osaka gubernatorial and mayoral elections last November. The parties have realized its success means they cannot afford to ignore Ishin no Kai's goal to field candidates in national elections, which could be held toward the end of this year. Their ability to cooperate with Ishin no Kai is shown through the response of each party to its vision to establish an "Osaka metropolis," which would transform the city into an administrative unit similar to Tokyo. (Yomiuri) Yomiuri 2012-01-18 22:23:57 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94260.php http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120118/ap_on_bi_ge/as_japan_nuclear Japan is backtracking on plans formed only this month to shut down nuclear reactors after 40 years, saying it could allow some plants to run for up to 60 years. Top Cabinet spokesman Osamu Fujimura said Wednesday that the government plans to stick to the 40-year cap in principle, but is considering allowing operators to apply for 20-year extensions. Each reactor could get only one extension, and it would have to meet strict safety requirements to qualify, he said. Concern about aging reactors has grown because three of those at the tsunami-hit Fukushima Dai-ichi plant were built starting in the late 1960s. Many more of Japan's 54 reactors will reach the 40-year mark in coming years. (AP) AP 2012-01-18 12:25:35 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94245.php http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120118/ap_on_bi_ge/as_japan_iran_oil Japan's finance minister expressed concern Wednesday about the effectiveness of U.S. sanctions on Iran and their potential impact on Japanese banks. Jun Azumi's comments came as a delegation U.S. government officials began talks with Japanese counterparts about the sanctions targeting Iran's oil industry in a bid to thwart what Western governments say is an effort to develop nuclear weapons. Japan has given mixed signals on the sanctions. Azumi declared last week that Japan would move quickly to reduce its oil imports from Iran after meeting with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, but other officials including the prime minister have said economic implications need to be considered. (AP) AP 2012-01-18 12:25:35 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94244.php http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-17/new-fukushima-probe-leader-vows-to-dig-deeper-into-japan-nuclear-disaster.html The head of Japan's latest investigation into the Fukushima nuclear disaster promised to dig deeper than previous inquiries into the events that unfolded after a earthquake and tsunami struck the country in March. A government investigation concluded last month that the Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant withstood the shaking of a magnitude-9 quake on March 11, before succumbing to the tsunami that followed, endorsing findings by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501) Three reactors had meltdowns after cooling and backup power was knocked out at the plant in the worst nuclear catastrophe since Chernobyl in 1986. The new panel appointed by Japan's parliament with subpoena powers may publicly question officials including former Prime Minister Naoto Kan, Kiyoshi Kurokawa, its chairman, told reporters after the inquiry's first open meeting in Tokyo. Kurokawa, a professor emeritus at Tokyo University, said he will present his findings by June. (Bloomberg) Bloomberg 2012-01-17 05:50:46 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94224.php http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120117a3.html? New Defense Minister Naoki Tanaka drew flak from the opposition camp Monday for making statements over the weekend that seemed to indicate Tokyo was intent on beginning the contentious relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa by the end of the year. On the same NHK news program Sunday, Tanaka also seemed to confuse the principle behind the Self-Defense Forces' use of weapons abroad with Japan's arms export ban, exposing his lack of knowledge on defense issues and causing him to be labeled an "amateur" by Nobuteru Ishihara, secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party. (Japan Times) Japan Times 2012-01-16 23:00:22 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94216.php http://news.yahoo.com/japan-name-islets-disputed-area-080227176.html Japan has decided to name several uninhabited islands in a group that is also claimed by China and Taiwan, a move likely to anger the Asian neighbors. Japan's chief government spokesman said Monday that 39 uninhabited islands will be given names by the end of March. The islands all are within what Japan claims as its exclusive economic zone. But four of them are in the Senkaku, or Daioyu, island group in the East China Sea, which is also claimed by Taiwan and China and have been a flashpoint in diplomatic relations. Soichi Yamagata, on official with the Cabinet office, said the names will be used for new maps. He said the islets are within Japan's established exclusive economic zone and will not change any maritime boundaries. (AP) AP 2012-01-16 23:00:22 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94214.php http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T120115003815.htm The approval rating for the reshuffled Cabinet led by Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda stood at only 37 percent, down from 42 percent in a December survey, a Yomiuri Shimbun survey has found. In the nationwide telephone survey conducted from Friday through Saturday, 51 percent disapproved of Noda's reshuffled Cabinet, up seven percentage points from the previous survey conducted Dec. 10-11. It is the first time the disapproval rating for Noda's Cabinet has exceeded 50 percent, and the second month in a row in which the negative rating has exceeded the approval rating, indicating a possibly irreversible slide. (Yomiuri) Yomiuri 2012-01-15 22:43:29 http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/94200.php